by Fang Xiang
Eldest Shijie Gong Sun Qing supposedly was engaged to a disciple in a certain large sect. She wouldn’t be spending too much time in the sect but her influence in the sect was the greatest among all second generation disciples. She could even influence the sect leader. This was probably due to her fiancé.
Third Shijie Xu Yi Xia was deeply loved by all the shishu. Yan Le Shishu had meant for her to take over his work. However, her personality was lively and carefree, uninterested in business.
Zuo Mo sighed ruefully. No place was spared from conflict. Many times, it wasn’t a question of whether you fought or not. He and Li Ying Feng weren’t unfamiliar with these matters. The outer sect disciples fought even more viciously, the little groups as plentiful as trees in a forest. Both of them were experienced. Zuo Mo had went from being bullied by all at the beginning to the end where everyone flattered him. From an outsider perspective, his experiences went deep. And Li Ying Feng, to become the top dog of the Eastern Peak female disciples, there were no doubts to her abilities.
Zuo Mo saw it very clearly. Wei Sheng Shixiong might be the leader of the three of them but on these matters, Shixiong wouldn’t pay attention. Other than the sword, Shixiong was indifferent and unconcerned with other matters. Zuo Mo was certain that Shixiong would be happy not to be Eldest Shixiong. That way, he could concentrate on cultivation.
Shixiong might not have to consider these things, but he couldn’t not consider. Shixiong’s talents and power was displayed there. Even Qin Cheng would treat Shixiong with the utmost respect. But Li Ying Feng and his circumstances would be much trickier. There was a large difference between good and bad.
Li Ying Feng was also very satisfied with the tacit understanding between the two of them and thought inside, this Zuo Mo Shidi’s appearance might be frightening, but he had a clever heart. A clever companion was much better than a stupid one.
Some things only need to be touched upon. She changed the topic: “Coming this time, it’s to deliver jingshi to Shidi.”
This was undoubtedly the words that Zuo Mo liked to hear the most. He instantly became alert: “Oh, how much?”
“This is seventy six second grade jingshi. That’s after taking away the down payment.” Li Ying Feng handed Zuo Mo a jade scroll: “This has the detailed accounts. Shidi can take it back for a look.”
Zuo Mo took the jade scroll, his happiness unrivalled. The profit this time far surpassed his expectations.
Suddenly remembering a matter, Li Ying Feng asked: “Does Shidi still have some of the Great Strength Pill?”
Great Strength Pill…….
If LI Ying Feng hadn’t mentioned it, Zuo Mo had almost forgotten that lingdan.
“Last time, a cultivator had brought it. Two days ago, he came asking if there was any more. He wants to by another ten. Each one twenty pieces of second grade jingshi.” Li Ying Feng said.
Ten pills! Each one twenty pieces of second grade jingshi. In total, two hundred pieces of second grade jingshi . That was, two third grade jingshi !
Zuo Mo seemed to see countless jingshi flying towards him. This was the biggest order he had received up until now. Two pieces of third grade jingshi! The raw materials for Great Strength Pill were only three pieces of second grade jingshi. With twenty pieces of second grade jingshi as the sale price, the profit from one pellet reached seventeen pieces of second grade jingshi. No wonder his heart was beating so frantically.
His only worry right now was the success rate. He had accidentally made Great Strength Pill. He wasn’t certain that he could successfully make it.
“I’ll try first.” He was still very cautious.
“En, okay. If Shidi gets results, tell me anytime.” Finishing, Li Ying Feng left.
Seeing Shijie leave, Zuo Mo instantly rushed into the valley, flipped onto the grey beaked goose to rush for Fragrant Ginger Yard. One pill was twenty pieces of second grade jingshi! This was almost half of his income every year in the past.
Entering Fragrant Ginger Yard, he brought a pile of materials to make the Great Strength Pill from Xu Qing Shijie, and then burrowed into the dan room.
Nothing would make him more enthusiastic than jingshi.
He didn’t start the process immediately but sat down first and thought back to every action that occurred last time. When his emotions had calmed down, he then folded his legs to enter meditation and started [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation].
Four hours later, he woke up from meditation. The face was frozen like it was dead, but the eyes were clear and serene.
Zuo Mo’s mind was peaceful, completely absent of the glee he had before. His consciousness, mind and ling energy were all at their best. Putting the raw materials for Great Strength Pill into the cauldron, Zuo Mo’s hands touched the eight trigrams plate and his consciousness silently spread out.
Adding in ling energy, the li fire seal formation on the dan-making cauldron suddenly started, the ling energy inside the cauldron twisting and turning.
In the middle of the process, Zuo Mo’s spell changed and [Art of Crimson Flame] was cast at full force.
A gold line dropped into his hands from the sky. Then its direction was deflected and it entered the cauldron.
Up until now, nothing was different compared to last time. Zuo Mo’s heart relaxed slightly. Just before, when he had thought back to every action in great detail but last time, it had basically been an accident that had created this strange lingdan. He was muddled about many places and didn’t remember clearly.
Suddenly, his heart jumped and he cried misfortune. The ling energy inside the cauldron was vibrating abnormally.
As expected, a sharp and burnt smell spread through the dan room.
Zuo Mo had made enough mental preparations. It wasn’t too difficult to accidentally make a new kind of lingdan. What that needed was luck. But to actually grasp the method for making the ling dan, that was knowledge. Anything that required study, it had to be built from the ground up, there were no tricks.
He knew the general idea, the basic steps, and the raw materials. There was also enough profit. Was there anything other than this that was more appropriate for a greenhorn like Zuo Mo?
As to the difficulties involved, Zuo Mo wasn’t afraid.
In this world, was there something good that would earn jingshi without any difficulty?
Chapter 50: Finding The Way
After three continuous failures, Zuo Mo had to stop experimenting.
Even though he had sufficient wealth at this point, but it wasn’t enough for him to squander it. He had to plan it out and spend wisely. Three continuous failures. That meant there was a crucial step that he had missed.
He entered into deep thought.
What he didn’t know was that the difficulty of this matter far surpassed the limits of what he could cope with. He had swallowed down some records, but in the area of dan-making, he was the newest of the new, his experience was almost zero. Going through speculations to find the basic changes in a certain part of the dan-making process, many cultivators that were far more experiences may not be able to do it.
But no one had told Zuo Mo this point.
If Zuo Mo knew this, he most likely would have thrown the matter to the side. Why was he making Great Strength Pill? It was for jingshi. If it was too difficult, the risk too high, it wasn’t profitable. Then he should go to find a more realistic method. He wasn’t afraid of difficulty, he was afraid that his ignorance and those questions that were far out of his level would be tangled together. In Zuo Mo’s eyes, that was an unprofitable business.
But Zuo Mo hadn’t realized that the problem he was facing was out of his range. He twisted his brain as he thought in the dan room.
In the Sword Cave, not even the fingers on a hand could be made out. The rock underneath the feet was ice-cold, the blood river not far away roiled relentlessly. Wei Sheng panted heavily and couldn’t persevere any longer, falling to the ground to enter mediation.
The exhaustion between
his brows were unable to be disguised. He made a sorry figure, half naked, about ten or so scars criss-crossing, alarming to the eye. On his lower half, there was only a short length of pants. He quickly entered mediation, almost immediately after sitting down. In meditation, Wei Sheng’s spine was as straight as a sword, a few hints of dignity and imposingness faintly appearing through his serene appearance.
Time slipped away yet he remained motionless.
A black shadow quietly neared Wei Sheng. In mediation, Wei Sheng did not detect it. Suddenly, the black shadow leapt at Wei Sheng!
In mediation, Wei Sheng unexpectedly opened his eyes. With an unknown move, a green sword energy flashed in the dark and the shadow was split in half.
Squeak!
The scream the black shadow gave was dissonant as it turned into black smoke and disappeared without a trace.
Wei Sheng stood up from the cold rock ground, his face unaffected. In his eyes were an eternal resolve. Barely visible was sword essence roiling behind. In the silence and darkness, he raised his bare foot, following the blood river, as he slowly and steadily headed deeper.
In a place extremely far away from Tian Yue Jie.
“Stars in daytime… …”
“Yes. This matter has alarmed many people. There are already many that are rushing to investigate in Tian Yue Jie. Some people say that stars in daytime is a great treasure appearing!”
“Great treasure appearing?” The person who spoke had heavy disdain,“People die for wealth, bird die for food. This rationale is unchanging.”
“Then we……”
“Send someone! Pay attention to this matter!” The person who spoke gave an unquestionable order.
“Yes.”
In the Fragrant Ginger Yard of Wu Kong Mountains, seeing Shi Feng Rong come out of the dan room, Xu Qing hurriedly followed. She could become the first seat of the outer sect disciples of Fragrant Ginger yard, one point was she was obedient and could listen, and she was reliable at her job. The other important reason was that she could tolerate Shi Feng Rong’s strange temper.
Shi Feng Rong looked at the surroundings and furrowed her brows,“Where’s your Shixiong?”
Xu Qing hurried responded,“After Shixiong entered the dan room a few days ago, he hasn’t come out.”
“Dan room? What dan is he making?” Shi Feng Rong’s brow smoothed as she asked casually. It seemed that Zuo Mo was really focused on dan-making. She was very satisfied.
“It’s probably fasting pills. Shixiong had bought some materials for fasting pills from me a few days ago.” Xu Qing answered. She had been at Fragrant Ginger Yard for a long time and her experience in the area of dan was much deeper than Zuo Mo.
“Fasting pills!” Shi Feng Rong’s brows furrowed again as she said discontent, “Why is he still making fasting pills now? How can he improve that way?” Fasting pills were the most basic dan. It couldn’t even be considered a lingdan. As a zhuji cultivator, it was a very comical thing to spend effort on that.
Xu Qing’s heart jumped and she regretted what she had just said. If Shixiong was punished by Shishu because of what she said, it would be bad for her.
As she spoke, Shi Feng Rong moved in front of the door to Zuo Mo’s dan room. Without knocking, she pushed open the door.
Once the door was open, a thick and choking burning smell rushed out. Shi Feng Rong’s expression became even uglier. Failure at making fasting pills? Was it that the five fasting pills last time had been brought to deceive her? Her expression became dark.
Zuo Mo was like a puppet, blankly sitting on the ground. He didn’t even notice Shi Feng Rong and Xu Qing entering.
She Feng Rong noticed that Zuo Mo’s empty eyes were full of blood and the rage inside slightly decreased. She could see that Zuo Mo was deep in thought. Suppressing the fire inside, she didn’t disturb Zuo Mo, walking straight to the waste piled beside the cauldron. It really was the materials for fasting pills. She was sure after one look. The rage inside instantly shot up again. She decided that later she would have Zuo Mo make one in front of her.
Her gaze was just going to move away from the waste when it suddenly stopped. She bent down and started to flip through the waste, and occasionally took up a bit to examine carefully.
Xu Qing was so envious. She sighed. Inner sect disciples were really inner sect disciples. She had spent so many years at Fragrant Ginger Yard, but had never seen Shishu been this concerned for another disciple.
Zuo Mo only managed to wake up at this time. Seeing that two more people were in his dan room, the fire that had formed due to his struggles shot up. It was common knowledge that the dan room wasn’t a place that others were allowed to enter, especially when making dan. That could easily cause the dan to fail.
But when he saw who the person was, the curses that had reached his mouth instantly shrunk back into his stomach.
Danger!
It’s a catastrophe… …
He hurriedly stood up and respectfully gave a bow to Shi Feng Rong: “Master.”
“You are making that lingdan from last time?” Shi Feng Rong’s head didn’t even rise as she unconcernedly crouched by the waste.
“Yes.” Zuo Mo obediently answered: “But I haven’t succeed once yet.”
Shi Feng Rong threw away the waste in her hands and stood up, the expression on her face cold: “When you don’t know how to walk, you want to run?”
Hearing this, Zuo Mo sweated, and said: “Please, Master, give me guidance.”
“In the path of dan-making, the amount of ways to change the recipes involved, there are too many that cannot be passed on through just words. You should first follow the records. form a good foundation before considering these matters.” Finishing, Shi Feng Rong left with a cold face.
Returning to the Little West Wind Yard, Zuo Mo was extremely disheartened. He had thought that he had a method for earning lots of jingshi but it was really just a mirage, unable to be touched. In the next few days, Zuo Mo was somewhat dispirited. There were no jingshi that could be earned, no contribution points that could be earned, no sword scriptures that could be practiced. With no other choice, Zuo Mo could only practice [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation].
Sitting above the ling vein in the rock room, Zuo Mo woke up from meditation. [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation] which had always progressed rapidly had started to slow down recently. This was the first time that Zuo Mo had encountered something like this after breaking through one breath. Was he going to break through two breath?
According to the records in [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation], after one breath was two breath. If one could achieve two breath, not only would the entire body’s points be able to breathe but at that time, his presence could be restrained. Many people that had higher cultivations wouldn’t be able to detect it.
This spell was much better than those concealing spells recorded in Elder Wei Nan’s jade sticks.
Thinking about that, Zuo Mo suddenly remembered that Elder Wei Nan had made dan and was a ling plant farmer. Would he have met similar problems? Once the idea was seeded, he hurriedly took out the jade sticks and looked carefully.
As expected, he quickly made a discovery.
In Elder Wei Nan’s dan-making experiences, Zuo Mo found a similar method. But what Elder Wei Nan used wasn’t a fire method, but a rarely found water method.
There were many methods to make lingdan and they all couldn’t be counted. The most mainstream one right now was naturally using a cauldron, which was the fire method. The core of the fire method was using the power of the fire to stimulate the ling energy in the materials. Then the ling energy of different attributes would be merged together to form a lingdan. However, many ling herbs and grasses were of the yin attribute, like those ling grasses grown in water. If fire was used, it would ruin their effects. At this time, it required a different method such as the water method. Other than water and fire, there were still countless other methods of dan making.
&nbs
p; Water was warm and gentle, far from the fierceness and power of fire. So most water methods required a longer time to form dan. The path it walked was nurturing the dan.
Only now did Zuo Mo know that the cold spring in the rock room had such a purpose. Before, he had completely dismissed the ling spring. He had wondered why Elder Wei Nan had made a spring in the rock room since after cultivators reached zhuji, they almost didn’t need to consume anything.
The jade stick recorded a method that Elder Wei Nan used with [Little Art of Cloud and Rain] to make [Moisture Dan]. [Moisture Dan] was a kind of dan that couldn’t enter the grade. It’s use was even more frivolous. It could change a person’s appearance and skin but it was only effective for cultivators with lianqi third level or below.
This kind of dan that Zuo Mo felt had no use at all, after Elder Wei Nan used [Little Art of Cloud and Rain] to make it, it entered the rank of first grade. Its effectiveness had greatly improved. It could improve the features of cultivators that did not go above zhuji. According to what the jade stick said, this became one of the important ways Elder Wei Nan made wealth. But due to the fact the time used in the water method, Elder Wei Nan only used this method for a period of time before switching to a different method.
Different from Zuo Mo’s accident, Elder Wei Nan’s investigations were extremely thorough and were recorded very clearly.
Elder Wei Nan though that the reason that those two could combine was due mostly to water. [Little Art of Cloud and Rain] was the classic water element spell. It was naturally constructive when paired with the water method. There were also large amounts of records on his analysis of the reasons he failed.
Zuo Mo pondered each character as he kept on reading, his thoughts becoming clearer. No wonder he could make Great Strength Pill. [Art of Crimson Flame] belonged to fire, and the method the fasting pill used was the fire method. Using [Art of Crimson Flame] to collect the essence of the sun into the fasting pill, that became the Great Strength Pill.