by Fang Xiang
Below his feet was a piece of rock about ten zhang in radius that was floating in the air. In front of him rocks, large and small, floated without end. The river curved and flowed between these floating pieces of rock.
Some rocks had flowers and grasses growing vibrantly on them.
Zuo Mo’s mouth was wide open. Looking at this scene that far surpassed his imagination, he was flabbergasted.
“Oh, this place changed a lot.” Pu Yao’s mood seemed to be pretty good as he looked around.
After a while, Zuo Mo recovered. He carefully walked to the edge of the rock and looked down. What was below was a blurry space that nothing could be made out.
“Below is the endless void. Don’t fall down.” Pu Yao smiled freely, “If you fall down, I can’t save you.”
Zuo Mo’s body froze as he carefully shrank back to the center of the rock. He suddenly turned to stare hard at Pu Yao and gritted through his teeth, “You perverse renyao! Send ge back!”
“Hee hee.” Pu Yao was not angry. “Relax. Right now, you are just a thread of primary soul that has been pulled into the Ten Finger Prison, it’s not like your real body came.”
Zuo Mo was slightly reassured, but Pu Yao’s next words caused the anger in his heart to erupt.
“Oh, but if this thread of your soul can’t return, it isn’t any different than death.”
“Pu, what do you really want to do?” Zuo Mo bit each word out as he asked.
“It is such a familiar smell.” Pu Yao smelled the air of the Ten Finger Prison and showed an intoxicated expression. A moment later, he opened his eyes. “The Great Day mo physique is unyielding and peerlessly powerful, you know this. But you definitely don’t know that compared to the strength of the fleshly body, what the Great Day mo physique requires most is the strength of the inner heart, the strength of the soul, that is the crux to advancement.”
“This place cannot exercise your body, but it can exercise your heart and soul.”
“Welcome to the First Finger Prison of the Ten Finger Prison, Vast Water Clear Skies.”
Pu Yao bowed his body slightly, and made a very elegant gesture.
Zuo Mo quickly composed himself, and started to patiently listen to Pu Yao’s introduction. The more he heard, the more reassured he was. There was a time limit to the Ten Finger Prison. With the strength of Zuo Mo’s consciousness, he could only stay a maximum of four hours in here each time. Even Pu Yao had no way to change this.
Just four hours. The shadow over Zuo Mo’s heart instantly dissipated greatly.
“Ten Finger Prison is also called the Yao Training Prison. Any yao that has a little bit of accomplishment would basically have come here. The Yao Art Houses will even form teams and have events to increase the combat abilities of their students. Oh, you xiuzhe have similar places. Like Wu Kong Sword Sect’s sword cave, but that place is very small in comparison. Large sects like Kun Lun have their own training grounds. They are very big, about ten jie or so. We yao aren’t so extravagant. Oh, we’re so poor there’s no other way.”
Zuo Mo found that as Pu Yao entered the Ten Finger Prison, his words became more abundant, and was almost chatty. However, this matched his wishes. He could get some information from this guy’s mouth.
“Then won’t I encounter yao here?” Zuo Mo said doubtfully. He then became slightly excited. In any case, it was just four hours. Thinking that way, this trip to the Ten Finger Prison was more like a vacation.
“Right,” Pu Yao then twisted his mouth, “but this is the First Finger Prison, they will all just be beginners.”
“Oh. If they all like coming here, then this place should have some benefits.” Zuo Mo instantly showed his practical side.
“The Ten Finger Prison was supposedly created by an ancient Great Yao, and includes almost all the yao arts. Of course, that’s just a boast, you can just listen to it. But it does have a lot of yao arts. For example, the First Finger Prison, Vast Water Clear Skies, it is made from thirteen thousand low-level yao arts. I counted when I was young.” Pu Yao said with interest.
Zuo Mo looked at Pu Yao like he was looking at a monster. Alright, this joke was slightly bad.
“You were so idle when you were young.”
When the admiration in his heart reached his mouth, it became scorn. From this, it was possible to see that Zuo Mo was still angry over Pu Yao pulling him into the Ten Finger Prison for a four hour trip.
“Yes!” Pu Yao responded emotionally as though he was thinking of the times in the past.
Zuo Mo’s mind shifted. “Pu, what were you like when you were young?”
“A person as weak as you cannot understand.”
Pu Yao’s answer instantly smashed the remaining good feeling in Zuo Mo’s heart. He rolled his eyes. “So the powerful you came here to count? Counted all the way to thirteen thousand?”
“Ha ha!” Pu Yao laughed freely.
Zuo Mo flew among the rocks. He was very careful. Every rock, flower, grass, and drop of water here was related to the yao arts. Of the forty-six pieces of rock Zuo Mo had passed, every one of them had a different attribute.
Pu Yao continuously explained the different yao arts to him, how to use them, and how to deconstruct them. Zuo Mo found that Pu Yao actually did have some skill. Pu Yao could confidently talk about every kind of yao art, explain it effortlessly and was simple to understand. Having already learned the Great and Little Thousand Leaf Hands, Zuo Mo did not have a hard time understanding low level yao arts, but deconstructing them still required some effort.
What depressed him the most that the four hours was spent between these forty-six rocks. He had originally assumed that he could see some exotic locations. Zuo Mo was very disappointed. To leave each rock, it required deconstructing them.
Did this guy pull him here to destroy rocks?
What heart and soul becoming stronger … …
Zuo Mo was very suspicious this was an excuse this guy made up on the spot. He did not doubt this guy would do such a thing.
The power of low level yao arts were very limited, and far less than the Great and Little Thousand Leaf Hands. After learning the forty-six yao arts, there was no actual benefit to his combat abilities.
It was just four hours, Zuo Mo could only comfort himself so.
Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw a shadow flying towards him. His mind became alert, was he going to encounter a yao?
Just as he was filled with admiration, his surroundings rippled like waves and became blurry.
Damn it!
His vision blurred and Zuo Mo returned to reality. His expression was very ugly. He didn’t leave early or late, but returned at the most interesting moment. This made his four hour tour of Ten Finger Prison turn into a trip to view rocks.
———
Just after Pu Yao and Zuo Mo disappeared, a figure flashed past the rock the two of them had been on and couldn’t help but make a slight sound of surprise.
An expression of shock flashed across her face.
When her gaze landed on the other pieces of rock, the surprise on her face increased. She seemed to have seen something that was impossible.
———
Zuo Mo shook his head. His head still felt dizzy. Everything in front of him seemed slightly unreal.
“Daren, are you alright?” Shu Long asked in concern. He was slightly worried. Daren’s attention had been unfocused in the past four hours.
“Oh, nothing.” Zuo Mo suppressed the depression in his heart and raised his head to look in the direction of Hundred Flower Valley. “Has Xie Shan done anything?”
“Nothing.” Shu Long shook his head.
Just at this time, the black clouds above Hundred Flower Valley started to move forcefully, the five colored aurora moving in layers, and the outline of the multi-colored ling beast became even clearer.
Zuo Mo became alert. He felt the rate that Xie Shan was absorbing ling power suddenly increased.
It had come!
A rainbow
light suddenly lit up in the black clouds like hundreds of rainbow needles piercing the eyes of the onlookers. Even Zuo Mo unconsciously closed his eyes.
The rainbow light was visible for hundreds of li.
A long howl passed from inside Hundred Flower Valley and rang into the surroundings!
When everyone opened their eyes, the black clouds in the sky had completely disappeared. There were no clouds for ten thousand li, and the sky was clear blue.
A figure shot from Hundred Flower Valley into the sky. It was Xie Shan. He looked around and then suddenly disappeared in the air.
Sighs rose among the crowd. Only jindan could possess such fast speed!
Xie Shan’s figure seemed to flash and then appear in front of Zuo Mo out of thin air. At this time, he was like an unsheathed sword with all his edges revealed. The presence of his body continuously smashed against the surroundings. Shu Long’s figure waved, and his expression changed to a wary one.
Zuo Mo was like a spear and remained motionless. He was not affected by Xie Shan’s presence at all.
“Daren, Xie Shan is a jindan!” Xie Shan respectfully bowed, his presence instantly decreasing.
Zuo Mo was stunned, and then a joyous expression came onto his face. He had originally assumed that Xie Shan would leave after becoming a jindan. In his view, that was normal and logical.
“Xie Shan hopes to follow Daren like before,” Xie Shan said with a serious expression.
“En, good.” Zuo Mo pressed his lips together tightly. He didn’t know what to say but his heart felt warm and moved.
Ma Fan, who had been nervous, seemed to be relieved of his burden and gave a blinding smile. No matter if it was Vermillion Bird Camp, Guard Camp, or the forging division, everyone’s mouths uncontrollably opened, their grins reaching their ears.
In an instantly, the cheers thundered!
* * *
Translator Ramblings: No, Xie Shan is not going to stay behind, and he wants to go with Zuo Mo. Zuo Mo has gone on a nice field trip as Pu Yao shows how much he has recovered by eating that jindan.
Chapter 325: This Is … …
In the night, the five slave transporting boats silently advanced.
“A Gui, we are going to Cloud Sea Jie,” Zuo Mo lightly said to A Gui beside him. The puppet-like A Gui was lifeless, appearing so fragile she invoked pity. Whenever he thought of A Gui blocking the attack above Golden Crow City sacrificing herself in the process, Zuo Mo felt his heart tremble.
Lil’ Black was still sleeping as usual, Lil’ Pagoda and Lil’ Fire were playing without worry but Silly Bird was acting out of the ordinary. She stood silently beside A Gui, her grey feathers lightly trembling.
Gongsun Cha, Shu Long, Xie Shan, and the others were gathered on this slave transporting boat. After Xie Shan entered jindan, he left the Sky Peak Platoon to act as Zuo Mo’s personal guard. Ma Fan became the leader of Sky Peak Platoon, Nian Lu and Lei Peng his vice-commanders. In this period of time, the effect of continuous battle was very evident on everyone’s development. There were eighteen more xiuzhe of Vermillion Bird Camp that had comprehended sword essence. The number of people in Sky Peak Platoon had increased rather than decreased even with Xie Shan’s departure, and reached a total of thirty people.
The forging division hadn’t been idle in this time. Due to the fact everyone used Golden Crow Fire, adopting the name Golden Crow Camp had received unanimous consent. Golden Crow Camp underwent further reorganization. The forging division was its most important division. Other than that, the dan-making division and other divisions were made into separate branches of Golden Crow Camp. Of the five slave transporting boats, two were especially set aside for Golden Crow Camp to construct specialized dan-making and forging rooms.
As their experience accumulated, everyone gradually created an effective system.
Xie Shan who had been resting suddenly opened his eyes. He glanced in the distance and a light flashed through his eyes. “This group of people are really not letting go.”
From the moment they had departed Hundred Flower Valley, there had been people following them along the entire way.
“Ignore them,” Zuo Mo said. Their travel was concealed as much as possible but it could not be completely concealed from those with the intention to follow. These scouts were very alert, did not come close and only trailed from far away.
After flying for another four hours, the ground underneath them turned from hills to plains. An enormous formation entered everyone’s field of view.
“Whoa, so big!”
“Powerful! Such a big transporting formation!”
The people on the slave transporting boats became excited, stretching their necks out to look at the enormous formation at the ground.
The Sky Water Transporting Formation was over ten li in radius and was one of the largest transporting formations in Sky Water Jie. In the darkness, the enormous transporting formation flashed with light that made it even more enchanting.
Zuo Mo’s face was filled with shock. Of all the kinds of formations, transporting formations were famed for their difficulty. It was hard to imagine just how difficult it had been to make such an enormous formation. The transporting formations of Sky Moon Jie compared to this one were like toys that children played with. Sky Water Jie was much stronger and prosperous than Sky Moon Jie. This transporting formation was a evidence of the difference in wealth.
“Let’s go down.”
The five slave transporting boats slowly landed. Vermillion Bird Camp spread out and went on their guard to stop others from coming close.
Zuo Mo impatiently flew off the boat and into the air above the transporting formation. Gazing at the complex seal scripts of the transporting formation, he was full of admiration. Zuo Mo quickly found that this formation had many places that he could not understand. However, he was not rushed, but took out a blank jade scroll to record down all the seal scripts of the transportation formation so he could study it in the future.
“Such a waste. You xiuzhe’s stuff is just grand yet impractical.” Pu Yao’s voice sounded in Zuo Mo’s mind. He said temptingly, “Little Mo Mo, come learn yao arts, yao arts are very useful.”
Zuo Mo ignored it and asked, “Pu, can you understand this formation?”
Pu Yao deflated. “Don’t understand … …” Then he argued, “I’m a yao, why do I need to understand your formations?”
“If you don’t understand, then shut up,” Zuo Mo shot back. A hint of suspicion flashed across his mind. Why was Pu Yao recently tempting him to learn yao arts? He couldn’t help but think at the same time that the golden core had been a very substantial meal. Pu Yao was much more lively than in the past.
If he ate a few more golden cores, would Pu Yao become a chatterbox?
Zuo Mo shook and decided to guard against this. A person couldn’t be overfed.
After flying multiple circles in the air around the transportation formation, Zuo Mo landed. Even though there were many details on this transportation formation that he did not understand, but he did not find it difficult to use it.
The five slave transporting ships flew inside the formation, and Zuo Mo started to bury jingshi inside the formation. One hundred and twenty four pieces of fourth-grade jingshi. Zuo Mo’s heart bled at the expenditure.
After all one hundred and twenty four pieces of fourth-grade jingshi were embed into the formation, the jingshi lit up one after the other like stars being ignited in the sky. Ten breaths later, all one hundred and twenty four pieces of fourth-grade jingshi were lit up. If one looked down from the sky, they looked like stars. The light started from each pieces of jingshi and flowed following the seal scripts.
Looking at the complex seal scripts slowly light up, everyone felt curiosity and novelty.
The seal scripts of the entire formation were activated. It was extremely crowded, grand and dazzled the eyes. The light suddenly left the seal scripts and slowly floated towards the sky.
“Everyone, pay attention,
we’re leaving!”
The excited Zuo Mo couldn’t help but yell.
Before his words landed, everyone inside the formation disappeared. The blinding and grand light turned to countless pieces of light and scattered in the wind like rain.
A moment later, two people appeared beside the formation. One of them was Yan Yang.
Yan Yang’s face was unusually excited. When he had learned of Zuo Mo’s trip, he knew that they were going towards the Sky Water Transportation Formation. They had hurried to get here first, and silently altered the formation to trick Zuo Mo. Yan Yang suppressed the ecstasy in his heart, and respectfully bowed to the person beside him. “Shishu, many thanks for doing this!”
“It’s nothing. I liked Gao Xiu too. This is avenging him,” This person said lightly. “However, you shall not move against Little Mountain City. If Sky Water Jie is in chaos, no one will benefit. The other sects will not agree.”
“This disciple understands,” Yan Yang couldn’t help but ask, “Where will they be transported to?”
“Three thousand jie are like stars in the sky. Only the heavens know where they will go.”
This person waved his sleeve, and dots of light flew out. The dots entered the formation and some seal scripts silently changed.
“This has ended. Let’s go.”
“Yes.”
———
Zuo Mo looked in front of him at the sky that seemed to be dyed with blood and suddenly had a bad feeling. Gongsun Cha, Xie Shan, and the others also had serious expressions. Anyone could see that something wasn’t right.
“This isn’t Buddhist Flower Jie!” Zuo Mo said darkly.
Sky Water Jie didn’t have a transportation formation connected directly to Cloud Sea Jie, so they had to first arrive in Buddhist Flower Jie. There was a clear description of Buddhist Flower Jie in Zuo Mo’s jie map. Buddhist Flower Jie’s seasons were all like spring, and the climate was mild.