by Fang Xiang
———
Lil’ Pagoda was very skilled at controlling the [Skyring Moon Chime Formation]. However, those in the formation were not average people.
Up until now, the greatest damage that Lil’ Pagoda had done to the other side was the series of attacks it had done when Zhang Hao and Zuo Mo had clashed. Other than that, it had not achieved any results. None of the remaining four ningmai had been injured.
Zuo Mo was connected to Lil’ Pagoda and so he knew the situation inside the formation.
He set his target on Zuo Han. With the guidance of Lil’ Pagoda, he could easily find Zuo Han’s position.
Zuo Han’s figure was concealed inside a rainbow cloud of poison. When the [Micro Void Arrow] hit the poisonous mist, it did not have any effect.
Zuo Mo wasn’t stupid enough to touch the poisonous mist. If he accidentally touched it, relying on the second-grade detoxification dan he had made was akin to seeking death.
However, in the eyes of Zuo Mo who had just killed Zhang Hao, the power of this guy who used poison was much lower than Zhang Hao.
Silently sneaking near Zuo Han, a yin fire bead appeared in Zuo Mo’s hand.
He usually did not dare to use the yin fire bead. This thing was incredibly powerful, but if it was exposed, the trouble it would bring would be far beyond what he could deal with. But right now, he didn’t have to worry about this problem. The entire Desolate Wood Reef was concealed by the Skyring Moon Chime Formation. People outside could not see a thing, and people inside were separated by illusory formations.
It was definitely a good chance to use the yin fire bead.
Originally, he had planned to use it in Zhang Hao. But Zhang Hao had detected him coming closer so the first battle of this yin fire bead landed on Zuo Han.
Zuo Han was completely ignorant that Zuo Mo had already come close to him. His heart was insecure.
The other people were still doubtful but he was almost certain that the Head was already dead. In the middle of the wilderness, he felt the surroundings were cold. Even with the protection of the poison mist, he couldn’t feel a hint of warmth.
The only thing that reassured him was the orange moon in the sky had become much dimmer. The formation probably couldn’t not be maintained for much longer.
Up until now, he had not encountered one other person.
His expression changed. It came again!
Ding ding ding!
Three invisible sound arrows entered the poisonous mist. Just like the previous times, he lightly channeled ling power. The poisonous mist flowed strangely and the three sound arrows disappeared.
The other was always very sudden in sending sound arrows. However, his poisonous mist was the perfect counter of straightforward spells.
Ding ding ding!
A storm of sound arrows shot at him without warning!
Zuo Han was very calm. The poisonous mist slowly flowed around him. The sound arrows that entered the mist seemed to have sunk into quicksand, rapidly disappearing.
A small cold smile suddenly floated into his dark face. It was useless!
Suddenly, he detected a small object had hit his poisonous mist. It wasn’t a sound arrow.
His expression abruptly changed. He instantly reacted. The storm of sound arrows had been to provide a cover for this little object!
Damn it!
The outside layer of the poisonous mist was dyed a bone white.
Coldness followed the white color as it spread with astonishing speed. Terrified, Zuo Han didn’t have the time to even make a response. The coldness blew through his body like the wind. He froze to his spot, his body a frozen and eerie white statue, frightened expression shown to all.
* * *
Translator Ramblings: Everything is jingshi to Zuo Mo, even large unstable balls of energy. To the commenters that wanted the yin fire bead, here you go!
The sect is a major entity in many Chinese wuxia and fantasy novels. Many times, the sect is this gigantic force in the area, and there are many branches in the sect that compete against each other. Then there are events such as missions, annual fighting tournaments, and competitions against different sects.Master-disciple relationship are akin to parent-child relationships. Also common are mysterious pasts of the masters and inheritance of disagreements by the next generation.
Wu Kong Sword Sect is pretty typical as Fang Xiang has written it, and all the infighting does occur on a minimal level. Fang Xiang’s tournament and sect events seems more like a tribute to these commonly-used events, but he’s off on his own thing. It’s also quite rare nowadays in popular novels for the main character to tie or lose fights and tournaments like Zuo Mo has done, but Zuo Mo can’t lose all his fights since that means he won’t progress.
Shi Feng Rong isn’t the typical master. First, she’s female, which is very rare for a master as she is not a part of Zuo Mo’s harem (he doesn’t have one), or his main love interest. Teacher-student flirtation is very common in many stories, but not in this one.
Shi Feng Rong also differs from the traditional role in that she does not offer great amounts of resources, ie. money or precious treasures, or pass extremely rare skills to Zuo Mo. Wu Kong Sword Sect appears more like a business rather than how a traditional sect works. Shi Feng Rong is Zuo Mo’s manager in upper management when Zuo Mo moved up from low-level laborer to skilled laborer.
Shi Feng Rong is a complete contrast to Pu Yao, and despite how little she taught, she was instrumental in getting Zuo Mo started with the Golden Crow Pill and his path to wealth.
Chapter 192: Buddha Sound Hoop
Zuo Han crumbled away in the wind, only leaving behind a few talismans. The poisonous fan and mist had been frozen into ice by the yin fire bead. Despite this, Zuo Mo didn’t feel it a pity. That poison fan was not very endearing, and the glow of the remaining talismans were very good.
It was a pity there wasn’t the time to admire them one by one, so Zuo Mo threw it all into his ring.
Zuo Mo sighed. What he sighed at was not the power of the yin fire bead, but the maxim”We are sword xiu, whatever we need we will take it with our sword!” that the sect leader and others always said.
Battle was truly one of the fastest ways to gather wealth!
He had just killed two ningmai, and the talismans and jingshi he received were enough for him to feel his wallet swell up.
With the powerful yin fire bead as his support and the temptation of extreme wealth, Zuo Mo’s eyes turned red.
His gaze as he turned on the other xiuzhe was like he was staring at a delicious and fat sheep!
So much jingshi!
At the same time, a Buddha sound rang out. A bright gold light appeared inside the formation and headed for the clouds.
Joy came only Zuo Mo’s face. The tempering of the Buddha Sound Hoop was complete!
The Buddha Sound Hoop had turned from red to gold and did not feel like copper but a hoop of gold. Lightning occasionally flashed across the golden hoop. Had the Hard Lightning from the ball of light also been absorbed by the Buddha Sound Hoop? Zuo Mo was overjoyed.
Each time the lightning flashed, the Buddha Sound Hoop would sound out with a deep and dignified ring!
At this time, the environment of the Skyring Moon Chime Formation suddenly changed. A bright sun hung high up in the sky, warm golden light falling down. The thin strands that fell down were dyed gold. The rings of light on the gold wire turned from a clear moon color to gold.
The serenity of before was swept away. The feeling of the present formation was like standing under the sun, destroying all evil!
The remaining Black Wind Bandits felt something completely different. Before it was like they were in the wilderness, scary and dark. Now, they stood before a burning sun. They had moved from a cold wilderness to a hot and burning desert. When touched by the ripples of Buddha sounds, those with weaker minds easily lost all of their motivation.
The Black Wind Bandits inside the formation were all cruel people who live
d on a knife’s edge. Their minds were not so weak, but they felt wave after wave of pressure!
The previous Skyring Moon Chime Formation made people wary of the sudden ambushes. The present formation demanded that they channel ling power at all times to defend against the Buddha sounds. The offensive power of the formation was stronger now!
No wonder Zuo Mo was so happy. It was like someone delivered a pillow to him just when he wanted to nap!
With the yin fire bead and the completely transformed new formation, his chances of victory had risen against this group of bandits.
Zuo Mo quickly changed ideas. Previous, he had planned to wound as many as possible. Now, he decided to not let even one of them go. Each one was so much jingshi!
These criminals whose hands were soaked in blood, let ge release you from your mortal coil! Zuo Mo thought righteously.
At this time, Zuo Mo was like an experienced hunter. He wasn’t in a hurry to pull close the net. His consciousness was connected to Lil’ Pagoda. He slowly went through all the changes in the new formation. The changes of the Buddha Sound Hoop were so drastic even he needed to accustom himself.
———
The Black Wind Bandits inside the formation started to panic. The Head’s presence had disappeared, his status unknown. After landing inside the formation, they had become like a crowd of flies, not knowing what to do.
The new formation increased the pressure on them. The sounds that permeated everywhere needed to be fended off with ling power, further increasing their consumption. They were not greenhorns. What they were most afraid of was situations like this when they needed to keep using ling power.
On the battlefield, ling power was the greatest support of a xiuzhe, and experienced xiuzhe would carefully control the consumption of their ling power.
———
Lil’ Pagoda really lived up to being a soul-tethered talisman. The new changes of the Buddha Sound Hoop flowed through Zuo Mo’s mind. Zuo Mo instinctively praised it and hadn’t expected a joyful emotion to pass onto him from Lil’ Pagoda.
Zuo Mo first stilled and then was stunned.
Did Lil’ Pagoda really have its own emotions and thoughts?
The formation process of Lil’ Pagoda had been very mysterious. Zuo Mo still felt there were many impossible places even now, but in his eyes Lil’ Pagoda was just a talisman. It originated from his consciousness and was connected to his mind. Usually, Lil’ Pagoda would frequently reveal a personality, but Zuo Mo only felt it only a rudimentary intelligence. He had never thought that Lil’ Pagoda would really have his own sense of self.
When a talisman developed its own sense of self, it was called ling cognition.
The thought that came from Lil’ Pagoda made Zuo Mo realize that Lil’ Tower had ling cognition!
Heavens! How was it possible?
Any talismans that could have ling cognition were the finest and greatest talismans without an exception. Zuo Mo felt that he was very luck that he had a soul-tethered talisman and had stumbled into a pile of jingshi.
A soul-tethered talisman that had ling cognition!
Oh!
The sudden good fortune made Zuo Mo vibrate in excitement. His eyes glowed as he looked at Lil’ Pagoda as though he wanted to shove Lil’ Pagoda into his mouth! Lil’ Pagoda instantly shrank back timidly, the five levels of its body shaking.
“Come come come, good son, let Daddy take a good look at you!” Zuo Mo drooled as he beckoned at Lil’ Pagoda, his expression unspeakably wretched.
Lil’ Pagoda could be considered to be half a son of his. Its ling cognition came from his consciousness.
Lil’ Pagoda’s body shrunk into a ball and trembled.
After closely examining for a while, he could not see anything. Helplessly, he could only release Lil’ Pagoda.
He pondered that he needed to take the time sometime to recall how he had forged Lil’ Pagoda. He dreamed of himself surrounded by light, a procession of soul-tethered ling cognition talismans that did not end behind him, it would be amazing!
He would only steal from wandering bandits. Anyone that would resist, all the soul-tethered talismans would bang down on their heads!
Fantasizing about himself grandly sweeping all directions, something suddenly hit his waist. Looking down, he found it was Lil’ Pagoda. Zuo Mo refocused and wiped the saliva off the corner of his mouth.
Lil’ Pagoda was reminding him the wandering bandits wanted to flee.
Flee?
Zuo Mo snickered coldly. Before, he had still been wary. Now, this remaining bunch of wandering bandits were just meat on the chopping board.
The Buddha Sound Hoop had risen to fourth-grade previously. The tempering this time had not increased its grade, but the power had risen. It had fire, sound, and lightning. The fire was the Golden Crow Fire that could rank in the top ten of fourth-grade fire. The lightning was fourth-grade Yang Fiend Hard Lightning. The only regret would probably be the Buddha Sound formation carved on the hoop, it was only third-grade. Otherwise, this Buddha Sound Hoop would definitely be a rare top-level fourth-grade talisman!
But even so, the present Buddha Sound Hoop definitely could be an upper-level fourth-grade talisman.
After talismans reached the fourth level, due to the increase in power, they needed to be divided even further. Fourth-grade talismans, the highest were the top level; they were the most outstanding fourth-grade talismans. Coming down, it was the upper, intermediate, and lower levels. However, talismans that were soul-tethered and had ling cognition like Lil’ Pagoda were above the top level.
The upper fourth-grade Buddha Sound Hoop, adding on the soul-tethered talisman Lil’ Pagoda that had ling cognition, the yin fire bead that could instantly kill ningmai, and the third-grade seal soldier that Zuo Mo had not used yet.
Zuo Mo’s confidence rose. He discovered that he had so many killing moves!
Such a good chance, would Zuo Mo let these Black Wind Bandits escape?
Lil’ Pagoda flew into the sky, once again taking control of the big formation. The light illusions of the big formation changed. The Buddha Sound Hoop slightly vibrated, waves of sound passing outwards like water.
———
Inside the formation, the Black Wind Bandits felt the scenery changing. The pressure that had been somewhat ethereal before became strong. Calls rang out in their ears, a strong feeling of numbness made them unconsciously stop moving, like there was a voice muttering in their minds, “Sleep, just sleep for a while … …”
Their eyelids were strangely heavy, the wariness disappearing from their hearts. Their hearts gradually became calm, the desire for sleep increasingly strong.
The Black Wind Bandits were very experienced. Pushing away their fright, they could only speed up the circulation of their ling power to fend against the sound.
They finally realized the longer it dragged, the more disadvantageous it was for them.
They all sent their killing moves at almost the same time!
Numerous sword energies and talismans shone as they rushed into the sky, shooting for the burning sun in the sky!
———
The last attack of the Black Wind Bandits before their death frightened Zuo Mo. The smugness in his heart instantly dissipated. His little heart beat rapidly. If the target of their attacks was him, not even dust would be left behind.
Clang!
The Buddha Sound Hoop suddenly shook!
The golden light exploded, the sound was like thunder. The deep and dignified sound turned into the angry shout of Buddha, strong and fierce! The Black Wind Bandits inside the formation felt their bodies shake, the ling power inside their body out of their control. Everyone’s faces changed. When they raised their heads, their faces became pale. Countless fist-sized hard lightning rolled down along the thin strands like marbles.
The big formation turned at its highest power. A deep and domineering presence destructively spread, unable to be stopped.
Zuo Mo gaped. So
powerful! The counter-attack from the Buddha Sound Hoop wasn’t any less powerful than the [Moon Chime Sound Storm] of the Sword Test Conference!
The Buddha sounds were like anger, and the hard lightning like rain!
The Black Wind Bandits lost their minds. These fist-sized hard lightning wasn’t as strong as when Zuo Mo used them, but this was still the true Yang Fiend Hard Lightning! The domineering Buddha sounds had not disappeared, their ling power out of their control, just as the hard lightning fell upon them!
———
Wails and swearing entered Zuo Mo’s ears.
The body count was high! After this one attack, not even thirty of the Black Wind Bandits could still stand. Many Black Wind Bandits were wailing and groaning in puddles of blood. The faces of the still standing Black Wind Bandits were full of hopelessness, their eyes terrified.
Peerlessly domineering!
Zuo Mo sighed in shock and then felt heart pain. The golden light and lightning around the body of the Buddha Sound Hoop was clearly much dimmer than before. He hurriedly took the Buddha Sound Hoop back. If this happened again, the Buddha Sound Hoop would probably be destroyed. Even if it wasn’t destroyed, the grade would definitely drop.
It had been so difficult to obtain an upper fourth-grade talisman, could Zuo Mo bear to have it destroyed?
Even more, the wandering bandits that had lost all motivation and he didn’t need the Buddha Sound Hoop to subdue them anymore.
He and Lil’ Pagoda could get them!
The harvest was about to begin. His gaze was hot as he turned back to the formation, rubbing his hands. Lil’ Pagoda, connected to his mind, was also yearning, and excited.
Just at this time, Pu Yao suddenly came out.
“Wait.”
* * *
Translator Ramblings: Zuo Mo’s fantasies are so … … interesting.
My personal theory, upon further re-reading, was that Pu Yao was trying to force Zuo Mo to accomplish something similar to the leaf hand during the Sword Test Conference when he told Zuo Mo to multi-task but Zuo Mo ended up with Lil’ Pagoda since he had no idea what Pu Yao wanted and he entered the weird state. Pu Yao could have also been playing with Zuo Mo since it’s not so easy to form a leaf hand.