by Fang Xiang
“Congratulations, Shijie for successfully zhuji!” Zuo Mo smiled as he congratulated, but his expressionless features made it weird.
“Shidi is too polite.” Li Ying Feng’s face was full of joy as she responded: “It won’t be long before I would probably hear shidi’s good news.” In Li Ying Feng’s heart, this shidi that kept himself concealed in the dark, it wouldn’t be unexpected to her if he completed zhuji. Behind her, there were three other female disciples, Xiao Guo among them.
Zuo Mo hurriedly said: “It’s still early, still early. Shijie, please.”
Xiao Guo’s adorable and tender apple face was still timid. Zuo Mo suddenly felt this little girl was really bashful. Taking advantage of when Li Ying Feng turned, he blinked his eyes at Xiao Guo. As expected, Xiao Guo’s face flushed red.
After everyone was seated, Li Ying Feng declared her intentions: “Coming this time, it’s to ask for a favour from Shidi.”
Zuo Mo was surprised.
Seeming to have detected Zuo Mo’s puzzlement, before he could ask, Li Ying Feng herself answered the question, lightly sighing: “Entering the inner sect, in the future, I’m afraid I won’t have the time again to care for these sisters. Shidi’s growing skills, no one in the sect can compete, Shijie can only come with a thick face to beg.”
Zuo Mo hurriedly deflected: “Shijie, please tell.” In the future, Li Ying Feng was an inner sect disciple. As long as Zuo Mo would still stay in Wu Kong Sect for one more day, he wouldn’t offend them.
Li Ying Feng took out a small bag, putting it on the stone table, informing: “This is twenty pieces of second-grade jingshi. It’s a little bit of regard from Shijie. Shidi, don’t decline. Shidi, if you are free, spend some time at the Eastern Peak and attend a bit. Their lives aren’t easy. If something like last time occurred, with Shidi’s help, they wouldn’t have no one to ask for aid.”
Beside her, Xiao Guo’s mouth twisted and the rims of her eyes instantly turned red, the other two also had red eyes.
Zuo Mo sighed inside. Compared to Wei Sheng Shixiong the eldest shixiong who only had cultivation, Li Ying Feng, as the eldest shijie, was undoubtedly more competent. Only now did he understand why her reputation among the female disciples was so high.
Thinking, Zuo Mo pushed the bag back in front of Li Ying Feng, declaring: “Helping each other, it is a part of friendship. Shijie, don’t worry, Shidi will do his best.”
Xiao Guo stared with wide eyes at Zuo Mo. The other two females also had strange expressions on their faces. They couldn’t understand why this money-grubbing zombie changed his personality this time.
Li Ying Feng shook her head and pushed the jingshi again in front of Zuo Mo: “Shidi, don’t decline. The sect has provisions for the inner sect disciples each month. Shejie doesn’t lack for jingshi. But Shidi, you aren’t far from zhuji, so you would most likely need it soon. Having some jingshi, it’s just in case.”
The strange expression on the three female’s faces turned to shock.
Zhuji? This ill-tempered zombie shixiong was going to zhuji soon?
To be called nearing zhuji, at the very least, it had to be eight level of lianqi and above. They were frightened out of their wits by shijie’s words. A cultivation of lianqi eighth level in the outer sect disciples could be counted on one hand. Even Guo Lu Shixiong was just at lianqi seventh level. And among the female disciples of the outer sect, other than Li Ying Feng who just entered zhuji, the highest person was just lianqi sixth level. In the outer sect disciples, other than Wei Sheng, Zuo Mo’s cultivation was the highest.
This zombie-face, he was actually the second best in the outer sect disciples!
This was something they would have never thought about.
Originally planning to grant a boon to Shijie, Zuo Mo saw the situation and didn’t stand on courtesy, and accepted the jingshi: “Then many thanks, shijie.”
“It should be me that gives thanks to Shidi.” Li Ying Feng smiled and informed: “After I leave the Eastern Peak, Xiao Guo will be responsible for communicating with Shidi. Her personality is soft and obedient. Shidi, don’t bully her.”
Zuo Mo couldn’t help laugh: “What is Shijie talking about, my temper is the best.”
“That’s good.” Li Ying Feng nodded. On the side, Xiao Guo wrinkled her adorable nose, clearly disagreeing with the words.
She turned to show a dark face and said to the three people: “In the future, if you have any questions, find Zuo Mo Shixiong, he’ll help you solve them. Zuo Mo Shixiong’s words are my words. If someone doesn’t listen, I will personally punish!”
“Yes! Shijie!” The three females replied.
As expected from the eldest shijie. Just this bearing, no disciples in the younger generation could compete. Zuo Mo couldn’t help but compliment inside
After chatting for a while, Li Ying Feng left with the three other females.
Zuo Mo suddenly didn’t have any interest in cultivation. This was a society with strict classes. Like Li Ying Feng Shijie, after successfully zhuji, she had to bid farewell to the life of an outer sect disciple. She had to aim for even higher goals, no matter if it was her own goal or the needs of the sect.
The lifespan of a jindan was about three hundred years. Before that, zhuji, ningmai, and lianqi didn’t have any differences in lifespan.
His own sect was temporarily deficient in manpower and had been for a long time.
Including the leader of the sect, the shishu were all jindan. This was the basic reason that Wu Kong Sword Sect had expanded so well these past years. However, even the youngest shishu, Shi Feng Rong was more than two hundred years old. And among the disciples of the second generation, there wasn’t even a ningmai disciple, much less a jingdan. If there wasn’t a successor, Wu Kong Sect, not a very big sect to begin with, would quickly decline.
No matter which jie, a sect, once it declined, it was harder to rise again than to reach the heavens.
Why did he suddenly become so melancholic? Zuo Mo shook his head. Suddenly, he thought of the third-grade fire dragon grass that Wei Sheng shixiong gave into his care. Li Ying Feng Shijie had already entered zhuji, Wei Sheng Shixiong must be close as well. Thinking about it, the desire to go to Cold Mist Valley formed.
Chapter 22: Silver Horned Worm
It wasn’t the first time he came to Cold Mist Valley, but he didn’t know if it was the fact that his consciousness had improved but the jinzhi that he could only just feel the pressure of last time, were now like a beast that revealed the tip of its horn. That heavy power was multiple times stronger, making him feel unable to breath. Zuo Mo walked with a trembling heart and rushed through the thick mists.
The suddenly open valley was drifting with the fragrance from the herbs. Zuo Mo unconsciously looked with trepidation at the roaring cold pond. Even though he successfully completed one breath, the feeling of oncoming death was in front of his eyes. He definitely didn’t want to try again.
He should be realistic and become a ling plant farmer, he told himself.
Walking in front of the fire dragon grass, he was instantly shocked. The fire dragon grass was drooping, a hint of death coming from the red leaves. His heart instantly panicked. This fire dragon grass was intimately related to the big event of Wei Sheng Shixiong entering zhuji. If something went wrong, what would happen? He was extremely admiring of Wei Sheng Shixiong, and truly hoped for Wei Sheng Shixiong to successfully zhuji.
He hurriedly bent down to inspect this fire dragon grass.
The soil in the surroundings was still moist, it wasn’t a problem of under-watering, then what was the problem? His knowledge of ling herbs was pitiful, not to mention for a third-grade fire dragon grass. He ran through his brain, furiously going through his experiences of growing plants in these two years and at what time the symptoms were similar to what the fire dragon grass was experiencing now.
Was it that there was a pest?
He was uncertain but he still put his hand on the fire dragon grass. In any cas
e, [Art of Aged Gold] wouldn’t harm the ling herb so it wouldn’t hurt to try.
The dark gold grains of sand enter the inside of the fire dragon grass from Zuo Mo’s fingers. His consciousness carried with the aged gold energy entered the interior of the grass as well.
The interior of each ling grass was a different world. The insideof ling grains was green. And the interior of the fire dragon grass was completely bright red.
Before he could examine clearly, a dark and icy presence locked onto his consciousness.
Contrary to expectations, Zuo Mo’s heart calmed. What he was most afraid of was not knowing what was happening. Now that he knew where the problem was, it was much easier.
In any case, ge has the aged gold energy, specializing in killing all kinds of pests!
A crowd of silver-colored armored worms slowly climbed around the interior of the fire dragon grass.
Their presence wasn’t very strong, not as vicious as the aphids he met the first time. Zuo Mo felt slightly relieved. His abilities with [Art of Aged Gold] were limited. If it was some strong worms, it wasn’t that he would have no solution, he would also be in danger.
He pushed the aged gold energy, sweeping towards the crowd of silver armored worms.
The silver armed worms weren’t panicked. They only kept on chewing the plant material in front of them.
The aged gold energy was like a gold cloud, quickly surrounding these silver armored worms. Zuo Mo’s heart settled. He believed he would quickly finish the battle. The aged gold energy was much stronger than before, and he was full of confidence.
After ten minutes, sweat appeared on Zuo Mo’s forehead.
He had encountered trouble.
No matter how much power he put into the aged gold energy, it was all useless against these silver armored worms that were indifferent! He could clearly feel the ever-successful aged gold energy be blocked off, unable to move an inch. The aged gold energy, as sharp as steel sand, couldn’t even leave a single mark on the surface of these silver armored worms.
Such hard shells!
Third-grade was really third grade, even the pests it had were stronger. Zuo Mo wanted to cry.
[Art of Aged Gold] was his only method of dealing with pests. And the other person in the sect whose [Art of Aged Gold] was at the second level, Guo Lu Shixiong, was still lying on the sickbed.
What should he do now?
The sweat poured down even more, his heart becoming panicked. Wei Sheng Shixiong was depending on this to zhuji, please don’t let anything happen in his hands!
Just when Zuo Mo had no ideas, Pu Yao suddenly appeared: “Tsk, tsk. Can’t even deal with a little silver horned worm. You actually want to become a ling plant farmer?”
Zuo Mo suspiciously looked at Pu Yao: “You have a way?”
Not waiting for Pu Yao to speak, he rolled his eyes: “Even if you have a solution, I wouldn’t ask you.”
The painful experiences of the past told him to never to even think of trying to take advantage of Pu Yao. It would be a cruel death. But inside, he silently noted down the name, silver horned worm. He thought he would go research at some other time to see if he could find silver horned worm.
Pu Yao wasn’t angry, a faint curve to his mouth, his crimson right eye slightly narrowed: “Hee hee, the way you are now, it really makes one feel hurt! Oh, that what’s his name shixiong of yours, the jade stick he gave you, isn’t there some basic sword moves there? You could try to use sword moves with your aged gold energy.”
“That works?” Zuo Mo was puzzled.
“You could try and find out.” Pu Yao left behind before disappearing.
Pu Yao was very strange today! Very strange!
Even though he hadn’t interacted with Pu Yao for a long time, couldn’t see how deep he went, but Zuo Mo was very clear that this guy wasn’t someone good. And suddenly becoming kind today, it wasn’t normal, definitely not normal! However, the only think he could pick out was the abnormality. As to why he was strange, he couldn’t find a reason no matter he spend a long time pondering it.
This question was quickly thrown to the side. What was most important at this time was solving these silver horned worms. Pu Yao’s words, he was half convinced.
The sword moves recorded in the jade stick that Wei Sheng Shixiong gave him were some of the most basic moves. There wasn’t anything deep in them. Even someone like Zuo Mo who had never practised the sword before could easily understand.
To use sword scripture with aged gold energy?
He sat on the ground, sinking into his thoughts.
A beat later, he suddenly jumped up, the dark gold aged gold energy appearing at his fingertip. The aged gold energy was a cloud that seemed to be composed of gold sand, slowly revolving, extremely pretty. The aged gold energy suddenly restlessly turned, rapidly shrinking. Seconds later, it formed into a dark small sword the size of a grain.
Calling it a small sword was really an overstatement. It was like a thin gold flake that had been flattened from a gold grain.
But Zuo Mo didn’t care. He had only ever seen just a few flying swords in total. In this area, his imagination was nothing to write home about.
He gestured each movement according to the moves in the jade stick. Very quickly, he found the benefits to his consciousness becoming stronger. He could easily manipulate the tiny sword.
It was really just a few moves. He quickly familiarized himself.
Entering the inside of the fire dragon grass again, the silver horned worms were still unconcernedly chewing on the inside material of the fire dragon grass. Zuo Mo didn’t send a greeting and directly sent the sword over!
Ding!
The indifferent silver worm shook, sparks flying on the silver armor.
Effective! Zuo Mo was very happy!
One blow after the next, according to the sword moves in Wei Sheng Shixiong’s jade stick, Zuo Mo’s hand wasn’t lenient.
Ding ding ding ding!
The shell of the silver horned worm was incomparably hard. The sparks flew but there still weren’t any cracks. But to Zuo Mo, the silver horned worms were the best targets. No matter how hard, it was still a target that wouldn’t fight back!
Zuo Mo forgot himself. The rawness and unfamiliarity of sword moves slowly became familiar. The strength of the little aged gold swords gradually started to show itself.
Ding!
The sound was majorly different than before. On the armor of the silver horned worm, a crack had been chopped out!
Zuo Mo had originally started to become tired. Using the sword moves to manipulate the aged gold little sword, it used up more ling energy that using aged gold energy. And, it required much more from his spirit. If he hadn’t achieved one breath in [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation] before, his spiritual power wasn’t enough to do this.
Finally breaking through the silver horned worm’s defenses, Zuo Mo became motivated and sent out a flurry of blows.
Ding ding ding!
The silver horned worm finally couldn’t endure it and with a crack, suddenly exploded.
Fighting with me, serves you right!
Zuo Mo stared with disdain at the corpse of the silver horned worm. However, his spirit became unstable and he hurriedly came out of the fire dragon grass. He had used up a lot of his ling energy and consciousness. He hurriedly sat cross-legged to recover his ling energy.
His ling energy recovered very quickly, but the usage of his consciousness hadn’t recovered. To recover his consciousness, the only thing he could think of, the only way, that was [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation].
Was this Pu Yao’s aim?
He couldn’t help but hesitate. When his gaze landed on the fire dragon grass, he struggled for a second but still decided to first exterminate these silver horned worms.
This was the first time he practised [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation] after achieving the first breath. It seemed that as soon as he sat down, the breath was circulatin
g in his body. A feeling of numbness that he never felt before seemed to spread from inside his bones. His entire person felt like it was flying.
His mind was calm, as though it was a void. That was when he found that at some unknown time, in the sky of his sea of consciousness, there was an addition of one star. The star wasn’t very bright, it was actually really dark. The flickering bright fire took away its light. Normally, he wouldn’t have even noticed it.
An illusion?
Zuo Mo wasn’t certain.
The addition of a star, his sea of consciousness becoming a sea of fire. All these changes, they didn’t bring many changes to him.
Waking up from his mediation, Zuo Mo’s mind was refreshed. He made an inspection. His spirit seemed to be just a sliver stronger. He was both joyed and worried. It was a good matter for his spirit to be stronger, but the lesson of last time when he reached one breath was right in front of his eyes.
After destroying these silver horned worms, he definitely wouldn’t practise it anymore!
He told himself inside. That extremely comfortable feeling just now made him automatically intoxicated and he was deeply alert. The most beautiful didn’t have to be fish soup, it could be poison. Pu Yao’s abnormality made him feel that the chance it would be poison was extremely large.
Gradually becoming fluent, Zuo Mo’s efficiency increased greatly, the sword moves became even more penetrating. The silver horned worms that he could do nothing about previously, in just a few strokes, they were taken down!
Zuo Mo felt exhilarated but he was extremely rational and didn’t practice anymore.
The fire dragon grass, rid of the silver horned worms, instantly sent out exuberant vitality. Zuo Mo had found a pattern. If he killed the natural predators inside the plants, the corpses of these natural predators would become the best fertilizers.
In the next few days, he guarded the fire dragon grass, fearful of another accident.
This day, like normal, he came to Cold Mist Valley.
Huh, what was this?
His gaze was on the fire dragon grass. A rice-sized red fruit. Before, this fruit had been green but now it was red. But with his pitiful amount of ling herb knowledge, he couldn’t distinguish if this small fruit was really a fruit or a seed.