World of Cultivation - Volume 03 - Seeking Survival On A Desolate Island

by Fang Xiang

Just this little bit of ling power?

  She was slightly discontent. What was this guy doing? Using this little bit of ling power, how long would it take to process all the medicinal power? She securely held onto the medicinal power but the medicinal power of the Intense Fire Dan was extremely domineering. Even though it was caught in the grasp of her ling power, but it was like the wild beast in a cage and struggled to break free. Her ling power was slowly being consumed, even if the rate was not fast.

  At this time, another two streams of ling power went to the back of the medicinal power.

  Still not enough!

  Su wanted to remind Zuo Mo that processing medicinal power required large amounts of ling power, and for him not to skimp on ling power at this time.

  Before she could speak, there was another two streams of ling power!

  Two streams!

  Another two!

  … …

  In an extremely short period of time, Zuo Mo’s ling power turned to eighty something slender streams of ling power.

  Su gaped with wide eyes. What, what was this … …

  The scene that took place was completely out of her imagination.

  The eighty-something streams of ling power were like extremely slippery earthworms that burrowed into the ling power she had wrapped around the Intense Fire Dan. In the blink of an eye, the domineering and explosive medicinal power was cut by Zuo Mo’s tiny ling power into seven or eight pieces.

  Looking at the domineering medicinal power slowly nibbled away by those tiny ling power. No, it wasn’t nibbling. Even though they moved bit by bit, but the processing speed was extremely fast.

  In a short moment, there was only a little bit of the medicinal power left.

  Quickly, all the medicinal power of the Intense Fire Dan had been processed.

  What remained after processing was a strand of extremely pure deep red fire power. Zuo Mo could feel the terrifying temperature contained in this tiny bit of fire power. It was all the essence of the entire Intense Fire Dan and it was Zuo Mo’s target.

  It was rare to see such pure fire power, even if it was just a thread. Thinking about what Su had said, that the Intense Fire Dan was made from lava deep underground, it was no wonder that the fire power contained was so pure. In the descriptions of flames in the [Yin Fire Bead Chapter], all kinds of earth fire were not low-grade fire seeds.

  This pure thread of earth fire, to him, it was the best “nourishment”!

  Zuo Mo carefully controlled the Stalagmite fire. As the Stalagmite fire appeared, a dark and cold presence instantly spread.

  The milky white Stalagmite fire quickly wrapped around the thread of deep red earth fire.

  One was yin and cold, the other was hot, yet the two strangely merged together. Zuo Mo could clearly feel that a wondrous change had occurred after the Stalagmite fire had absorbed this thread of earth fire. However, limited by the amount of earth fire, the change could not be clearly seen.

  This surprised him. The trouble he had predicted did not occur. The entire merging process was so smooth he was shocked.

  There were thirty six Intense Fire Dan. In other words, there were still thirty five threads of earth fire!

  He began to feel anticipation. If all thirty six threads of Lava Earth Fire was merged into the Stalagmite fire, what change would occur?

  Since there was no problems with the merging, Zuo Mo instantly increased his speed, throwing another Intense Fire Dan into his mouth.

  Su steadily stabilized her ling power. Without her notice, a layer of fine sweat appeared on her forehead. She started to feel the burden. Zuo Mo’s speed was truly too fast, processing one pill after the next. She didn’t have a chance to breathe and rest.

  She desired very much to stop but she suppressed it. A ningmai xiuzhe asking a zhuji to stop and rest, she couldn’t say it! Even more, all she had to do was just stabilize the medicinal power. The ling power consumed in processing was even greater. Zuo Mo hadn’t relented, so how could she?

  She could only bear it!

  Up until now, she did not understand how Zuo Mo did all this.

  It should have been the person doing the processing who used up ling power more quickly, but up until now, after more than ten Intense Fire Dan, Zuo Mo did not show any signs of exhaustion. How was it possible? He was just a zhuji xiuzhe!

  Su gritted her teeth. Her ling power was tightly wrapped around the medicinal power of the Intense Fire Dan. Zuo Mo’s ling power needed to go through her ling power in order to interact with the medicinal power, so she clearly perceived every movement of Zuo Mo’s ling power.

  But even if she knew, she still found it impossible.

  Zuo Mo used several dozen streams of ling power, each of which was controlled extremely delicately. It was clear that this was not the first time he had done this. This was the first time she had seen a processing method like Zuo Mo’s strange one. She couldn’t help but admire Zuo Mo’s idea. To cut the medicinal power into multiple parts, dividing before processing. It could greatly increase the efficiency.

  What shocked her was those each of the tiny streams of ling power were as sharp as knifes. Their power may have been small, but they could easily cut the medicinal power into little pieces.

  She had more experience and her cultivation was much higher than Zuo Mo’s , so she naturally understood how he accomplished it.

  He only needed to find the weakest spot in the medicinal power to achieve this result.

  But the crux of the problem was, how could Zuo Mo be so fast and accurate in finding the most fragile place on the medicinal power? Her ling power was wrapped around the medicinal power but she knew she couldn’t do such a thing.

  Not just her, even her shixiong Gu Rong Ping definitely could not do such a delicate task!

  This was probably Zuo Mo’s secret!

  Having thought it through, the shock in Su’s mind gradually faded. Each person had their own skills. A person that displayed such talent at the Sword Test Conference like Zuo Mo, must have some unique talent.

  Her mind calming down, she started to admire Zuo Mo’s “performance.”

  Zuo Mo’s fine control of ling power truly could live up to the word “performance.” Several dozen strands of ling power were being controlled according to his wishes, cooperating among themselves easily like an army. They all had their individual tasks combining to create the larger picture. The explosive and domineering medicinal power in comparison was like a gigantic beast which only looked fierce yet had no substance, and was easily dismembered. The entire process was fast and accurate, clean and crisp without any unnecessary movements.

  Seeing them move was a pleasure.

  However, this also exposed that Zuo Mo’s ling power was not strong. It was beneficial in formations to have strong fine control over ling power, but for sword scriptures, there were not many benefits.

  In a short period of time, Su made her conclusion.

  In her eyes, Zuo Mo was still strong but this strength was different than others. His weakness was also clear. In other words, Zuo Mo’s strength could only be expressed under certain conditions. She thought about the Sword Test Conference and the shocking formation that Zuo Mo had set up. Hadn’t he created an environment where he could use his strength?

  She couldn’t help but shake her head. In her eyes, a strength like Zuo Mo was superficial, he had too many limitations.

  Sword cultivation was the correct path. No matter the circumstances, sword xiu could grasp their own fate! Thinking about it, she strengthened her resolve to cultivate the sword, full of anticipation towards the sword billet that was to be forged.

  Six hours later, the last Intense Fire Dan landed in his stomach and quickly turned into a thread of Lava Earth Fire.

  As the thirty-sixth thread of Lava Earth Fire merged, the Stalagmite fire suddenly changed!

  * * *

  Translator Ramblings: Su and Zuo Mo get started on forging her new sword. Su’s review of Zuo Mo’s strength is pret
ty much what Zuo Mo has for himself, not enough ling power so he needs other tools.

  Chapter 161: Forging the Sword Billet

  The Stalagmite Fire suddenly grew as though oil had been poured on the fire. The flame jumped in height, the presence increasing along with it.

  Zuo Mo couldn’t help but become nervous. The most important moment had come.

  The large Stalagmite Fire spat like a furious beast, the cold and explosive presence spreading into the surroundings. Even Zuo Mo’s channels were affected, feeling like they were pierced by needles.

  Su hurriedly took back her ling power. At this time, her ling power was unable to help Zuo Mo, and would only distract him.

  She opened her eyes and saw Zuo Mo trembling as he sat in front of her. His forehead was covered in a layer of frost.

  Such a powerful cold fire!

  Su was shocked inside. She stared nervously at Zuo Mo. If the merging this time failed, then there definitely wouldn’t be any forging of her sword billet.

  Zuo Mo’s heart was in the air. He had done what he could do. The rest was up to fate.

  As time passed, the restless Stalagmite Fire slowly quieted. The flame continued to shrink down and finally stabilized.

  The new Stalagmite Fire had formed!

  The present Stalagmite Fire was completely different compared to before. First, the size was about one third larger than before. The biggest difference was the past Stalagmite Fire had been milky white but the present Stalagmite Fire was surprisingly divided into three levels.

  The outermost layer was the same milky white flame as before, and the middle was a dark red flame. What surprised Zuo Mo the most was the black fire in the very center. Even though it was just a thread, it was still easily detectable. The three levels were clearly divided.

  The white flame was the Stalagmite Fire, the deep red flame was the Lava Earth Fire processed from the Intense Fire Dan, then what was the thread of black fire? Zuo Mo was slightly curious.

  After investigating, he finally understood. This extremely thin strand of black fire was actually the toxin which had infected the flame when he had processed the Inky Black Lotus seed last time! If it wasn’t for the abnormal change this time, he wouldn’t have detected that his fire seed contained such a powerful toxin. What he hadn’t even thought about was that toxins could turn into flames!

  The new flame was very different from the past Stalagmite Fire and it felt different to control.

  The cold and yin energy had greatly decreased but the shift between ice and fire was more easy to accomplish. What Zuo Mo did not understand at all was how the thread of black fire could be used. In this three leveled fire, the Stalagmite Fire was of the lowest grade, then it was the Lava Earth Fire. The highest grade was this black fire which Zuo Mo knew nothing about. Upon further thought, Zuo Mo felt it was normal. This thread of black fire was received through processing the fourth-grade Inky Black Lotus Seed. That was fourth-grade!

  The Stalagmite Fire was just a second-grade fire seed.

  He didn’t hurry, slowly exploring the new flame. This was a completely new flame. Even the [Yin Fire Bead Chapter] did not describe this kind of flame. This meant that Zuo Mo could only explore and understand on his own.

  Being deep in his investigation of the new flame, Zuo Mo forgot the passage of time.

  Su noticed Zuo Mo’s body had resumed normal. The frost on his forehead had disappeared. She released a breath. Seeing that Zuo Mo seemed to be in meditation, she didn’t hurry him, sitting down at the side to recover her ling power. She had waited so long, she didn’t care about a few more days.

  ———

  Zuo Mo sat for three days.

  When he opened his eyes again, other than exhaustion, there was a light that was unable to be disguised in his eyes.

  Su’s heart relaxed.

  After another day, Zuo Mo had recovered to his optimal state and was finally going to start forging the sword billet.

  Zuo Mo did not allow Su to watch. If people watched, it was easy for the forger to be disturbed. He went into a seclusion room. The materials he needed had already been placed there. There was also a pile of jingshi for Zuo Mo to recover his ling power.

  Zuo Mo snickered. He naturally would take the jingshi. Starting from now until he successfully forged the billet, he would stay inside the room. Su personally stood guard outside.

  He took out a jade scroll. The jade scroll contained all the formations that needed to be carved onto each sword billet as well as the method to forge the sword billet. There was nothing exceptional about the forging method. Zuo Mo only needed to glance through it to understand the process.

  His mind was quickly attracted to the four kinds of formations.

  These were four kinds of formations he had never seen before. Just this was enough for him to be full of interest. To allow the forger to be able to successfully finish the forging, the jade scroll had extremely detailed descriptions of the four formations.

  After he finished, Zuo Mo couldn’t help but inhale sharply.

  A fourth-grade formation!

  Four kinds of completely different fourth-grade formations!

  Now he understood why Su hadn’t managed to find someone to forge the sword billet until now. Each sword billet needed to have a fourth-grade formation carved onto it. Four sword billets, four completely different kinds of fourth-grade formations.

  Also … … there was a strange connection between these four formations.

  Zuo Mo had thought that he had properly prepared, found that the difficulty in forging the sword billets was much higher than he had predicted. It was much much higher!

  He helplessly shook his head. He really was going to take a loss on this job! This difficulty, he could have asked for a much higher price. Zuo Mo felt deep regret for having lost such a good opportunity, especially since he was now penniless.

  His attention went back to the formations. The first step he needed to do was understand these four formations.

  If he didn’t understand the formations, how could he carve the formations on the small sword billets?

  If this was before the Sword Test Conference, he would have definitely patted his ass and left. Four kinds of completely different fourth-grade formations was definitely outside of his abilities. Zuo Mo had just upgraded his fire seed and bathed in the introductory formations of the jade scroll from Kun Lun, leaving his confidence at its peak.

  He decided to challenge this difficult task!

  According to the description on the jade scroll, he started to study the four types of formations. From this, it was possible to see how much help the Kun Lun jade scroll was to him! Having studied the Kun Lun jade scroll, Zuo Mo’s vision and understanding had gone up several levels.

  Fourth-grade formations. Naturally, they had places that were profound and cryptic, especially when it was four completely different fourth-grade formations.

  But Zuo Mo, in the span of five days, slowly managed to grasp the four kinds of formations bit by bit.

  When the four kinds of formations appeared in front of him, his heart was filled with an indescribable feeling of accomplishment. All of his exhaustion washed away. His heart was so free he wanted to howl.

  Zuo Mo did not use the double Four-Turn Fire formation that Lin Qian suggested. He planned to use this chance to try out his new fire seed.

  In any case, it wasn’t his stuff, he thought heartlessly.

  Zuo Mo put the four pieces of Cold Magnet in front of him. When he had cut the Cold Magnet last time, they were not of the same size. However, this was not a big problem for him.

  Putting up a Ling Gathering Formation, he sat within the formation, the Five Colored Pagoda floating in front of him. The Five Colored Pagoda could greatly increase his abilities to control the five elements. Control of fire was naturally included.

  He flipped his palm and the new fire seed appeared above the tip of the Five Colored Pagoda. Zuo Mo decided to name this new fire seed [Inky Lava White
Fire]. Since no one had named it before, it was up to him.

  A black center, deep red in the middle flame, and milky white on the outside.

  The Inky Lava White Fire silently burned tamely without any of the explosiveness previous.

  Zuo Mo’s eyes became serious. He threw the smallest piece of Cold Magnet into the Inky Lava White Fire.

  His ling power started to flow towards the Inky Lava White Fire. The flame grew and wrapped around the Cold Magnet. The first step he needed to do was to use the flame to rid the Cold Magnet of any impurities it had. This was just a matter of large amounts of time. However, that did not include Zuo Mo. His consciousness was strong. He could easily detect where the impurities were in the cold magnet. This way, his efficiency was much higher.

  He only spent one day to purify the piece of Cold Magnet.

  In this time, what he needed to do was maintain a steady output of ling power. With the aid of the mo matrix and the Five Colored Pagoda, this laborious process was extremely easy.

  Next was forging the Cold Magnet into the shape of a sword.

  Zuo Mo took a deep breath and increased the amount of ling power he was channelling. The Inky Lava White Fire jumped up. In the seclusion room, cold and hot, two different presences, crashed together, and created explosions.

  Inside the flame, the Cold Magnet slowly melted until it became a puddle of metal liquid.

  What was strange was the metal liquid was not red but a strange black-blue that released a strong chilling presence.

  Under the Inky Lava White Fire, the Five Colored Pagoda suddenly spun, faster and faster until it became a five colored shadow.

  The metal liquid inside the fire seemed to be pulled by an invisible force and slowly changed shape.

  Time passed and sweat appeared on Zuo Mo’s forehead. His breathing became panting, and he seemed to be under a great burden. However, under his control, the spinning of the Five Colored Pagoda did not slow, and still kept on increasing speed!

  Inside the flame, the metal liquid slowly flowed until it was almost in the shape of a sword.

  At this time, Zuo Mo finally had a chance to take a breather and rest. The Ling Gathering Formation around him had already been expended and turned to dust. He used the change to make another Ling Gathering Formation. The most important step was coming! Zuo Mo widened his eyes, not daring to relax.