by Fang Xiang
When the trio saw Zuo Mo lying on the ground, their expressions greatly changed.
However, when they walked forward and found that Daren was only exhausted and nothing else had happened, they hurriedly propped Zuo Mo up, gathered their spoils, and left.
When Turtle Island saw Zuo Mo being carried back, it instantly exploded!
Everyone’s expressions were peerlessly ugly. Without a second word, Gongsun Cha ordered everyone to gather! Even the one who always had a good temper, Wei Sheng, drew his black sword, his face murderous!
Zuo Mo hurriedly stopped the group.
If they charge over like this, it would actually be harder to find the person.
Zuo Mo pulled everyone and hid in the little back room as they conversed and maliciously planned something.
This matter was not finished!
———
“They have not acted?” Tian Yong Qing asked with a creased brow.
Tian Heng Bo was also puzzled. He shook his head, “No, have they admitted defeat and gave up?”
It had been the Tian Family manipulating this event from the shadows. It had been they who had told the news of the Ren Family’s death to Gu Xiang Tian, and their shadow was behind every step of the plan.
“Impossible!” Tian Yong Qing shook his head. “They do not seem like people who would give up easily, otherwise, they would not have gotten into conflict with the Ren Family in the first place.”
“Then what are they doing?” Tian Heng Bo asked in puzzlement.
Tian Yong Qing thought of something and hurriedly asked, “Where is Qing Xu Saren?”
“In hiding!” Tian Heng Bao said, “Gave him a sum of jingshi and told him to go and hide for a while.”
“That’s good.” A rock in Tian Yong Qing’s heart landed. He smiled and said, “Then we shall sit and see what they do.”
“If it was up to me, I would just steal it,” Tian Heng Bo muttered.
“Steal? I want to too, but there has to be a reason.” Tian Yong Qing said amusedly, “Without a reason, how can we steal it?”
“What reason do we need? Just steal it!” Tian Heng Bo said. “Let Tian Ye Battalion go, they can steal it in a snap, do we need to waste this much effort?”
“Stupid!” Tian Yong Qing stared at Tian Heng Bo. “Our Tian Family is not this group of outsiders. If we do this, what would the other families think? Hmph, don’t think I don’t know what you think. Don’t you just feel that your fist is bigger?”
“Yes!” Tian Heng Bo was righteous. “The one with the bigger fist makes the rules!”
“Then is our Tian Family’s fist bigger than Xu Ling Sect’s?” Tian Yong Qing said with a cold smile, “Based on your philosophy, there should only be one sect in this area, Xu Ling Sect! Who is a match for them?”
Tian Heng Bo instantly was speechless.
“Don’t be stupid!” Tian Yong Qing said in a heartfelt tone, “Every family has their own territory. Xu Ling City is the place where everyone does business together. Our Tian Family cannot mess around, even Xu Ling Sect would not mess around! No one will care if you mess around on your home territory, but if you mess around in Xu Ling City, everyone will not agree.”
Tian Heng Bo did not speak this time. Thinking back, this was the truth. A while later, he hesitantly spoke, “Then how long do we have to wait for the reason?”
“Don’t be impatient, it will be soon.” Tian Yong Qing was confident.
———
“He ran?” Zuo Mo paused where he stood. He hadn’t thought that Qing Xu Saren had ran away. This caused all of his plans fail.
Everyone’s faces were slightly ugly. They had prepared, and planned for a long time, waiting to make trouble for the other. It was like a punch that had been preparing for a long time that missed its mark. The feeling was uncomfortable.
Were they going to be unable to settle the score this time?
Never the generous one, Zuo Mo naturally did not feel good about this, and his hair almost broke as he pulled on it. But Qing Xu Sanren had ran, and he could do nothing. He needed a target to make trouble for. They had thought of the fact that someone was the mastermind behind the scenes and planned on squeezing some information from Qing Xu Saren’s mouth, but this guy had ran away!
This guy had thrown down some heavy words, but he was an impotent one!
Zuo Mo furiously cursed this impotent guy, one hundred times, one hundred times!
Qing Xu Sanren had ran away, they could not find the mastermind. There was no way around it, the strong dragon could not suppress the local snakehead. Zuo Mo only had Shang Wei Ming. He was methodical when carrying out his normal duties, but in terms of finding information, his resources were very limited.
He quickly did not think further on the matter. The other had not succeeded this time, and would definitely jump out next time. If he waited for a chance, he could grab the other’s weakness!
Wait for ye, ye’ll settle all the debts at that time!
Zuo Mo could only comfort himself like this.
But the gains this time were a source of joy for Zuo Mo. Gu Xiang Tian was very rich, and what cheered him up the most was the sixth-grade black gold seal soldier!
Having experienced its power for himself, Zuo Mo held it as though it was a precious treasure. What made his heart hurt was the damage his blow had made. It was clear that a section of the seal scripts on the seal paper had been damaged.
Other than the black gold seal soldier, there were many jade scrolls for seal xiu cultivation. Coincidentally, Zuo Mo had a group of seal xiu. This group had been troubled for a long time by the lack of jade scrolls to cultivate, and this time, they were overjoyed.
Their cultivation level was too low and could not produce higher grade paper seals. Low grade paper seals did not have much use to the comparatively strong Vermillion Bird Camp. Gongsun Cha who had high hopes for them could only transfer them to Golden Crow Camp and they only did work like engraving seals and formations. No one was interested in their paper seals and they were always depressed over this.
Gu Xiang Tian’s power wasn’t very high, but his skill in making paper seals was very good.
Desiring the power of seal soldiers, Zuo Mo invested even more resources on the seal xiu. He would instantly provide any materials they wanted. However, Zuo Mo also knew that even if there were jade scrolls, his batch of seal xiu would need a long time to reach the level he hoped for.
However, this was still a good event.
In this battle, what Zuo Mo hadn’t expected the most was not the black gold seal soldier, but the Thousand Gem Illusory Disk!
It could trap someone inside it!
Zuo Mo remembered it clearly. He had not been on his guard at all when he was attacked. In his view, that Thousand Gem Illusory Disk was a great weapon to make sneak attacks! Stay in the shadows, come out and suck the enemy in, that was a move hard to defend against.
This event also rang an alarm for Zuo Mo.
Until now, Zuo Mo had relied on brute power to fight after cultivating the Great Day mo physique and lost interest in other moves. This ambush reminded him about the power of talismans, especially good talismans, they were too powerful!
No wonder the yaomo had lost so badly to the xiu back then, wasn’t this the cause?
He had entered a wrong path!
He instantly recalled the armaments of his subordinates, and Zuo Mo felt extremely regretful.
The golden crystal swords could be considered top-notch, but other than that, there was nothing else that was acceptable to be seen. Their ling armors were varied, and most of them were taken from their enemies in Little Mountain Jie, and were only third-grade. Due to numerous battles, many of them were barely held together, and on the verge of falling apart.
Theirs was a beggar troop!
Looking at the troop decorated in various colors, Zuo Mo came to this conclusion.
And then he made a decision!
Motherf***er!
There only
ever was I, Xiao Mo Ge, using talismans to smash other people, when was it other people’s turns to use talismans to smash ge?
Talismans? Wasn’t that just competing on who had the most jingshi?
Did you not know that ge is the true jingshi madman?
Zuo Mo ran over to Bao Yi and asked abruptly, “How many pieces of jingshi do we still have?”
Bao Yi stilled, but he held the accounts inside his heart. “One piece of sixth-grade jingshi, twenty six pieces of fifth-grade jingshi; fourteen thousand pieces of fourth-grade jingshi; one million two hundred and twenty four thousand, nine hundred and sixty three pieces of third-grade jingshi!
Zuo Mo was shocked. “This much?”
Shocked, he couldn’t help but feel proud. Ge really is a jingshi madman, hearing this, just the number instills safety!
One fourth-grade jingshi was equal to five hundred pieces of third-grade jingshi, and one fifth-grade jingshi was one thousand fourth-grade jingshi.
One million two hundred and twenty four thousand, nine hundred and sixty three pieces of third-grade jingshi was equal to more than two thousand and four hundred pieces of jingshi or two and a half pieces of fifth-grade jingshi.
From a certain perspective, xiuzhe possessed increasingly more jingshi with increasing cultivation, but the desire for jingshi also increased because they had to use more of them.
Of course, for the present Zuo Mo, this number was enough for him to feel satisfied.
Content, Zuo Mo patted his tummy, his eyes smiling into lines.
Ge is finally a rich man!
* * *
Translator Ramblings: Yes, jingshi do not increase linearly in value per grade. I’m just trying to imagine the amount of space that more than a million pieces of jingshi take up. Even if spatial rings … …
Also, to clarify, there were two people in that attack. Gu Xiang Tian controlled the black gold seal soldier while Qing Xu Saren was the one with the high grade disk and the illusions.
Chapter 453: Spending Jing Like Dirt
Hearing that Big Boss Zuo Mo needed to buy large amounts of talismans, Liao Qi Chang proactively came to visit with many talisman specimens. One of the things that had left a deep impression in his mind, on his last trip to the island, was that there were a lot of people. Zuo Mo clearly said that he was going to buy large numbers this time would be to outfit his battalion. This was major business!
The Cloud Pavilion usually sold on the high-end products to the market but there was no reason to not take such a large order like this. Liao Qi Chang had come personally with the additional hope that he could forge a good relationship with Zuo Mo.
The hall was full of people. When Lei Peng and the others heard that Boss was going to be buying talismans for them, they became alert and squeezed around to watch.
Liao Qi Chang displayed the talismans he had brought along to Zuo Mo one by one.
“This Blue Soul Cold Light Armor is intermediate fourth-grade, it can form a very thin but outstanding space shield, and can greatly decrease the damage caused by flying swords and talismans to the wearer. Because this space shield’s nature is cold and icy, it is even more effective against fire element spells and flying swords. The formation techniques on it [Slight Flow] [Strong Ice] can increase its defensive power.”
Inhales sounded inside the hall, Lei Peng and the others staring at the light blue ling armor in Liao Qi Chang’s hands as though they wanted to swallow it up. The light blue ling armor seemed to be woven beautifully from fragmented ice.
Space shields, wasn’t that something only fifth-grade yao beasts would have? Everyone know how powerful that was! This was something good, something good!
Liao Qi Chang was very satisfied with the expressions of Zuo Mo’s subordinates. This showed that his hawking had stirred their interest.
“This set of Cloud Wings were forged with a secret method using the top grade cloud souls of our Cloud Sea Jie. Its greatest attribute is its speed, as fast as wind, and would greatly increase your speed! I believe I do not need to speak more on the importance of speed. The elite of the battalion, especially scouts should have this essential item! How fast is it? Why don’t one of these men here try it on?”
Even Zuo Mo was moved as he listened. He turned and asked, “Who wants to try?”
Many pairs of hands instantly rose up.
In the end, he chose Nian Lu. Nian Lu’s display was extremely fast and caused exclamations. Everyone were people that stayed long times on battlefields, and they compared it in their minds. If the two sides were equal in power, and they had the advantage in talismans, then they really had a great advantage!
For Liao Qi Chang, this was just the beginning!
“For a battalion, long distance campaigns occur regularly, how can one lack a good steed? They can help save ling power for you, allow you to fly for longer distances, they should be your most trusted companions! The Cloud Wings are fast, but they are not suited for long distance flight. Here, let me recommend to everyone the best steed that is produced by our Cloud Sea Jie, Nimbus Cloud!”[i]
Like magic, a snowy-white ball of cloud appeared in front of him.
“The Tumble Cloud is forged by harvesting Flower Sinew Cloud. It reaches intermediate fourth-grade, and can travel three thousand li in a day! It does not need you to feed it, does not require you to spur it along, it is hard-working, uncomplaining, the best companion for you to travel the world and for long distances!”
Liao Qi Chang’s words were like a river that flowed endlessly and emphasized spectacular feats. Zuo Mo naturally would not be fooled by him, but the talismans this person put out were, truly, good talismans and people’s hearts would be uncontrollably moved.
At the end, after Zuo Mo and Gongsun Cha discussed it, Zuo Mo placed, what could be called, a colossal order!
When Liao Qi Cheng took the order list, he almost fainted!
The order included entire armor sets. Each set included one set of Blue Soul Cold Light Armor, one pair of Cloud Wings, one pair of Tiger-Style Flowing Light Boots, one Serene Heart Intelligence Hat, and a Nimbus Cloud.
The abilities of this armor set were versatile, and any item in it was fourth-grade, making this a true fourth-grade armor set! No fourth-grade set was cheap. The least expensive item in this was sixty pieces of fourth-grade jingshi and the entire set would cost five hundred pieces of fourth-grade jingshi!
This kind of set on the market would not be considered high-end but it definitely was not low end either! Those that had the ability to buy something like this would be xiuzhe on the cusp of entering jindan and had accumulated some wealth! Those jindan that were not very wealthy might also wear a set of armor similar to this.
What truly caused Liao Qi Chang to feel dizzy was the number at the end—two thousand sets! An entire two thousand sets!
Momma-mia!
That was one million fourth-grade jingshi, or one thousand and five hundred fifth-grade jingshi, or one sixth-grade jingshi!
Even a person like Liao Qi Chang used to seeing big business couldn’t help but become excited!
One million pieces of fourth-grade jingshi!
A rich man! Definitely a rich man! He rejoiced that he had come this time, it was worth it!
Look look, to spend jingshi like dirt, the other didn’t even bat an eyelash!
Xu Zheng Wei who had also come was left in shock. He had never expected Boss Zuo who did not seem so eye-catching was this extravagant. Boss Zuo was also really generous to his people. He had never heard of someone spending so much!
A completely fourth-grade talisman outfit. If this kind of battalion was put into public, just the treasure light on their bodies would be enough to tempt other people!
Xu Zheng Wei’s eyes turned red!
He might be a jindan and didn’t really lack jingshi usually, but to spend a thousand jingshi, no, a million jingshi, he could not imagine it! How many talismans could that buy! He could even buy many fifth-grade talismans! He didn’t even know if
he could ever make so much over his entire life!
He had several good fourth-grade talismans and one fifth-grade talisman that Liao Qi Chang had given to him. Look at these people, they were ningmai and were wearing fourth-grade talismans all over!
It was frustrating to compare!
Xu Zheng Wei shook his head as though he was the one paying the jingshi.
Zuo Mo’s heart also hurt slightly. One sixth-grade jingshi! That was more than nine-tenths of his entire wealth. Before, his total wealth had been one thousand and thirty or so fifth-grade jingshi, no he had just over thirty fifth-grade jingshi! But he thought that everyone’s lives were more important. He gritted his teeth! Buy them!
Having made the decision, Zuo Mo quickly finished paying the deposit.
Hmph! Compete based on talismans?
Ge will let you see what is called competing on talismans!
Fantasizing about battling in all directions with such an extravagant troop, Zuo Mo was in both pain and ecstasy!
Liao Qi Chang naturally provided all the services for such a large order. He didn’t just agree to deliver the shipment to the island as quickly as possible, he had also agreed to provide a batch of materials for repairs free of charge. Talismans would be worn down and broken, but some slight damage could be repaired. Of course, if the damage was too great, then it would be scrap.
Everyone in Vermillion Bird Camp was excited. Each set was five hundred pieces of fourth-grade jingshi! As expected, they had to follow Daren to live good days! With their cultivation, in any normal place, they probably didn’t have to think about making five hundred pieces of fourth-grade jingshi without seven or eight years of work.
Everyone had admired the outfit of the Golden Armor Guards for a long time but no one had thought about owning a set. It was too expensive! In other places, only the personal bodyguards of those large personages could experience such grandiose treatment! But when they truly possessed such a set, many people felt as though they were dreaming! Even more people planned on passing this set of talismans to the next generation, even though none of them had descendants at this point!