World of Cultivation - Volume 01 - Money Grubbing Madman

by Fang Xiang

  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 pagoda; 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 glass. 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 damned 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 surpassed all of his sect’s shixiong.

  But having arrived at death’s door once, he wasn’t that scared, not even if the other’s strength surpassed 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 8: 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 sh
ook 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 shixiong. 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 grass 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 shixiong, it wasn’t easy to ask any of them for help. He doubted that any shixiong 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 shixiong whom he had the contract with.

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

  After finishing 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 grass.

  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, flashing in front of his eyes. The faint gold of the energy was now a true gold, carrying the special lustre 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 yes
terday.

  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 shixiong was Xin Yan’s best disciple. But for Master Xin Yan among his generation, or Xu Yi shixiong 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 9: Forging

  Xu Yi Shixiong 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.