World of Cultivation 修真世界 Chapter Six to Ten

Edited by WanderingGummiOfDoom, and cactuar0.

Chapter 1 – 5| Main Page | Table of Contents | Chapter 11 – 15

Chapter Six – Highly Dangerous

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Hua!

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

The sword strike was so penetrating!

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

Fei Yun came over. “How does s.h.i.+xiong feel?”

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

Fei Yun cheered, “s.h.i.+xiong has good eyes!”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Thankfully, everything was calm and no accidents happened.

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

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

It was a crowd of aphids.

The calm [Aged Gold Energy] was like a shark that smelled blood, furiously rus.h.i.+ng at the target. Through the information that the [Aged Gold Energy] pa.s.sed along, Zuo Mo could clearly feel the tyrannical state of the aphids and the intense rejection it had towards the [Aged Gold Energy].

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

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

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

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

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

This was a great and fierce battle!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

At this time, he felt the fear come on.

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

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

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

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

Chapter Seven – Ye’ll[1] Wait For You

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Was he wrong about [Aged Gold Energy]?

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

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

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

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

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

Hesitating for a second, he decided to try once.

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

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

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

Why was it like this?

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

Where was it different?

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

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

What benefit was more realistic than increasing production? Ling grains were jings.h.i.+, jings.h.i.+ were talismans, spells… …

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Such a strange event!

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

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

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

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

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

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

d.a.m.n it, he couldn’t move!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The unwillingness and wrath inside his heart suddenly lit up.

Go to h.e.l.l!

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

This was his only solution.

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

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

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

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

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

He didn’t feel it.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ping!

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

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

He could move!

That d.a.m.ned energy had disappeared!

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

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

“Bad Person!”

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

Such a vicious woman! She wanted his life!

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

That meant, the vicious woman’s power surpa.s.sed all of his sect’s s.h.i.+xiong.

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

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

Ge was naïve!

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

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

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

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

“Ye’ll wait for you!”

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

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

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

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

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

Chapter Eight – Changes

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

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

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

“But, really such an interesting person.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

But what happened at that time?

He had no idea.

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

Ge is very busy!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

His expression became serious.

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

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

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

He couldn’t help but cheer up.

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

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

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

A delusion?

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

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

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

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

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

After making the rain, he went to the s.h.i.+xiong whom he had the contract with.

After activating [Little Art of Cloud and Rain] twice, the seriously injured Zuo Mo wavered, and frightened the s.h.i.+xiong he was working for into rus.h.i.+ng him back to rest.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

And then, it was the devil.

The aged gold energy happily revolved around his finger, like a golden sand twister, flas.h.i.+ng in front of his eyes. The faint gold of the energy was now a true gold, carrying the special l.u.s.tre that belonged to the metal gold. The gold light flashed entrancingly.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Safety first!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Chapter Nine – Forging

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

He grimaced as he took out a second-grade jings.h.i.+ and inlaid it in the center of the formation.

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

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

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

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

“Go!”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Good thing!

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

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

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

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

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

This made his heart beat fast. Nothing was more real than ling grains and jings.h.i.+!

Successfully forging on his first try gave Zuo Mo great encouragement. The unluckiness of the past while seemed to sweep away. He started to familiarize himself with the other three arts, especially [Art of Flora]. The uses of the three arts were completely different. [Art of Crimson Flame] was used to activate seeds, to speed up germination. It also concentrated the essence of the sun and was most suitable for yang- type[2] ling plants. [Art of Earth Energy] could concentrate the energy of the earth and was especially suitable for the growth of some yin-type[3] ling plants.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Suddenly, he heard the sound of a woman crying.

Woman?

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

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

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

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

Mama… …

That strange familiarity rose again in his heart.

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

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

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

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

“Why are you crying? It’s so bothersome!” Zuo Mo scolded ill-temperedly, sitting down on his b.u.t.t.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Did something happen to the ling gra.s.ses?

“What happened? Be more detailed.”

Chapter Ten – Weeds

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A Bao… …

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

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

That large tongue covered in saliva made Zuo Mo disgusted.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Zuo Mo expressionlessly looked at her.

Xiao Guo cowered back a step, her crying instantly disappearing. This s.h.i.+xiong was too scary!

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

“What about the others?”

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

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

Just simply weeding clearly couldn’t solve the problem. At this time in the ling fields, it was the weeds that were flouris.h.i.+ng, and the Green Sword gra.s.s was rare.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Instantly, they all exploded.

“He dares to bully Xiao Guo!”

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

“Right!”

“Definitely!”

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

Seeing the situation, the others quickly followed.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

An extremely thin green sword energy shot at Zuo Mo,

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

A golden sword energy flashed.

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

The two sword energies met in the air.

Ding!

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

The two faced each other.

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

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

A term jumped into her head – talisman!

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

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

This unfamiliar s.h.i.+di’s cultivation definitely wasn’t lower than lianqi eighth level!

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