World of Cultivation - Volume 06 - All Hail Our King

by Fang Xiang

  All of them were seventh-grade Fire-Stepping Hell Horses. They were tall, their hides completely black and their eyes dark red. Their hooves were wrapped up bright red flames. The Fire-Stepping Hell Horses were outstanding for their endurance, suited for long journeys. They were vicious and not afraid of battle. They were a good fighting mo steed species.

  "Increase the scouts by thirty teams, pay special care as to not alert the enemy." Tang Fei ordered.

  The subordinate hurriedly passed on her orders.

  Miao Jun looked on with a smile at his student. The past Tang Fei caused people's eyes to light up, but she had not been so methodical and calm like now. In these past years, he had spent almost all of his energy to teach Tang Fei. He was extremely satisfied with Tang Fei. Even in Mo Cloud Sea that had many geniuses, Tang Fei was still exceptional.

  When he thought of this, he couldn't help but feel emotional. If he wasn't part of Mo Cloud Sea's inner core, he could not imagine the strength Mo Cloud Sea had in their battle generals. Any of them would be a person that could take control of a region if they were of another faction. What he felt even harder to believe that the great majority of these talented young battle generals had been unknown before joining Mo Cloud Sea, and many were not even battle generals before.

  Tang Fei's strong voice interrupted his pondering.

  "Eastern Spring Jie is not an important jie, and stationed there are four battalions lead by mo generals. It is not difficult to take it and then we can threaten the Sun Mountain and Eastern Might defense line. There are many important jie concentrated in the region, all of them resource jie for the Mo Marshal Alliance. They have stationed many soldiers there. We will encounter attacks from multiple fronts."

  Miao Jun listened to Tang Fei's analysis.

  "Bie Han Daren's goal is naturally not those places. The most likely reason he has us attacking Eastern Spring Jie is to diminish the other's ability to reinforce Bright Mountain Jie. A Zha Ge's task should be similar to us. From the position, it seems that A Zha Ge, us and BIe Han Daren form a triangle. Bie Han Daren is the corner at the front. Shi Dong's use is the hardest the guess. That place is a target that has no value!"

  Tang Fei had a puzzled expression in her eyes. Seeing this, Miao Jun smiled and said, "Let's continue this talk after taking down Eastern Spring Jie."

  Tang Fei still and said embarrassedly, "Teacher is right."

  Her expression turned stern, coldness rising on her determined face. She silently raised her right hand.

  The scouts had encountered enemy battalions!

  The commanders around her immediately turned serious. Orders were quickly sent down. The team leaders became alert, shouting rising in waves. They urged on the mo steeds under them, moving into formation. The mo soldiers behind them quickly adjusted as well.

  The troops which had been swiftly moving quickly changed. Within ten breaths, the shape of the troops turned from a marching formation to an offensive battle formation!

  Tang Fei urged the cloud steed under her forward. Her cloud seed was a silver Thunder Cloud Steed. Compared to the large brawny and vicious Fire-Stepping Hell Horses, the Thunder Cloud Steed seemed much thinner. It moved elegantly at a measured pace, its entire body covered in dark blue cloud patterns.

  Tang Fei appeared at the front of the entire battalion. After seven years, the Tangzi Battalion had expanded to three thousand people.

  The crowd of dots in the horizon became clearer as the enemy approached closer at a rapid rate.

  Tang Fei's face seemed to be made from granite and was unmoving. However, that pair of calm eyes burned with fighting spirit. She lightly tapped the Thunder Cloud Steed under her. The Thunder Cloud Steed knew its master's intention. It whinnied, lightning exploding off its body as it suddenly accelerated.

  Without any hesitation, the entire battalion accelerated in unison!

  The shen equipment on each mo soldier suddenly lit up. Mo Cloud shen power moved at the same time, gathering through the levels, from the mo soldiers to the mo captains, from the mo captains to the mo colonels. After being tempered, they gathered to Tang Fei.

  The Tangzi Battalion seemed to be one being, a ball of furious shen power, like a great axe being swung in the hand of a giant!

  And Tang Fei, shrouded in lightning at the front of the troops was the silver edge of the axe's bright blade!

  The opposing mo general paled but the two sides were too close to order a change. There was no time for them to turn back. The mo general knew that this was not the time to hesitate. If he did, they would perish. Charging forward would be their only chance of living. He gritted his teeth and then suddenly shouted, "Kill!"

  The power gathered on his body yet it could not give him the usual feeling of safety and confidence.

  The two floods of bodies neared at an astounding speed.

  The Tangzi Battalion was like a sharp and powerful axe that cut into the other's battalion!

  The enemy's power was as fragile as paper in front of this heavy axe, not able to withstand even one attack. Everywhere it passed, blood and flesh flew. Anyone that was even touched would be torn apart!

  In a blink, Tang Fei saw a sliver of light. She knew that she was about to penetrate through the other's battalion!

  Without any hesitation, Tang Fei released her control of the power gathered on her.

  The savage power suddenly exploded with the Tangzi Battalion as the center!

  She had timed it perfectly. The power that suddenly lost its restraints was like a bomb exploding inside the enemy battalion's ranks. It threw up blood and limbs, and the other's ranks were completely thrown into chaos!

  The disorganization of the troops meant that power could not be effectively gathered and controlled.

  If its enemy still maintained their battle formation, then what waited for it was the fate of being slaughtered.

  In comparison, Tang Fei was clearly more skilled. After finishing such a strong charge, her battalion ranks were not disordered in the slightest. She didn't need to reorganize her battle formation before she started a second charge!

  This battle was determined already.

  ———

  Lin Qian was stunned by Chao Xin's daring speculation. A long time later, he slowly spoke, "If this is true, then it is a piece of significant news!"

  "Xi Xuan will not continue." Chao Xin's expression was relaxed. "No matter if Zhong De lives or dies. If he lives, a conflict will occur between the sect leader and his best battle general, Zhong De, who is not of one mind as him. If he's dead, without Zhong De, Xi Xuan will lose its greatest shield. How will the sect leader prop up Xi Xuan? I don't believe it. Unless Gu Liang Dao's trio is willing to return to Xi Xuan. However, I do not think that the Xi Xuan sect leader is willing to tolerate them. A person who has lost power for decades has a far greater possessiveness about power than normal people. Gu Liang Dao, he is a strong and proud person, is he willing to bow his head? These few years are the strongest years of Xi Xuan, the light of the sunset will always intoxicate people."

  Lin Qian was thoughtful. He nodded. "Yes, Mo Cloud Sea is the one more worthy of wariness."

  "Yes!" Chao Xin put away his frivolous expression and turned serious. "The one truly worthy of guarding against is Mo Cloud Sea. Mo Cloud Sea is filled with life and it is progressing. This is not something that Xi Xuan, a sinking ship, can compare to. If the two ally, the one that benefits the most is not Xi Xuan but Mo Cloud Sea."

  "Mo Cloud Sea … …" Lin Qian murmured to himself and then smiled helplessly. He said, "I had not thought that Mo Cloud Sea would grow to something that we would have a headache about."

  "Mo Cloud Sea does have weaknesses." Chao Xin's eyes flashed with light. He said with a cold smile, "From the surface, Mo Cloud Sea is small but strong. It possessed the two great battle generals ranking top four and top ten. It has strong battalions, many experts. It is strong in forging, and wealthy. Yet it has a great weakness, it lacks a person who can manage its internal affair
s."

  Lin Qian thought. He really could not find anyone in Mo Cloud Sea that was famous for managing affairs.

  "This weakness will not be evident when their territory is small. But if their possessions expand ten times, no, only five more times, they will be a mess." Chao Xin was filled with great intelligence. "Sixty something jie and three hundred something jie has several levels of difference in the difficulty in management."

  Lin Qian's eyes lit up. "Yes!"

  Chao XIn had clearly worked hard. "This is a hidden weakness if they do not resolve it. Once they start to expand, this weakness will become fatal. We are expanding, if they do not follow, they will fall even further behind us. At that time, they wouldn't even have the chance to fight back. If we increase our expansion speed, they only have one choice, expand! Haha, a snake that gorged itself to death. They know they will die from overeating but have no other choice."

  Lin Qian smiled. "It seems that we need to give them a bit of pressure.

  "Also, they have another weakness." A cold light flashed through Chao Xin's eyes. "They rely too much on transportation formations!"

  ———

  The Nine Great Dhyana Sects sent people to sneak to the transportation formations to take control. Fortunately, Eldest Shixiong Wei Sheng was nearby and quickly arrived. He killed more than a dozen dhyana xiu before they retreated.

  The other's infiltration had been planned for a long time. Even the jinzhi around the transportation formations were unable to stop them. It could be seen how strong the enemy was.

  Looking at the corpses on the ground, Zuo Mo who hurried here inhaled in shock.

  Most of Mo Cloud Sea's connections to the outside world were through transportation formations. While they were expensive, they were convenient and fast to build. For the wealthy Mo Cloud Sea, this was not a great problem.

  In the past, nothing had ever happened to the transportation spots. How come someone had sneaked through this time?

  After walking around the transportation spot, Zuo Mo finally understood the reason. There was a complete set of jinzhi set up around each transportation formation. In the past, when everyone cultivated shen power, the jinzhi was enough to guarantee the safety of these transportation formations. After entering the era of shen power, everyone's power had grown tremendously, but the jinzhi had not changed much. This imbalance caused the previously safe transportation formations to become extremely dangerous.

  Zuo Mo immediately recognized the severity of the problem.

  Golden Crow Camp had focused almost all of its power into the shen devices and the shen equipment. He had not thought that there would be a weakness in the jinzhi. This had caused the development of jinzhi to fall behind. The only one that could be used was the [King's Forbidden Firmament]. However, this set of jinzhi was so expensive to set up, so difficult, that it was not realistic for the many transportation formations that Mo Cloud Sea had.

  Zuo Mo's first thought was to close the transportation formations.

  But he quickly rejected this idea. The transportation formations were Mo Cloud Sea's only connection to the outside world. If they closed the transportation formations, then all of Mo Cloud Sea's products would be unable to be transported out, and they would be isolated from the world.

  That would be a fatal blow to Mo Cloud Sea.

  Translator Ramblings: Trouble is coming … …

  Chapter 758: Cutting One's Flesh, and Inspiration

  Zuo Mo carefully inspected the corpses on the ground.

  "They aren't bad." Wei Sheng's words rang an alarm for Zuo Mo. Those that could be called not bad by Wei Sheng Shixiong were definitely not weak.

  "It is Heart Leaf Dhyana Sect," a guard carefully reported. Daren rarely had a dark expression like this.

  "Heart Leaf Dhyana Sect?" Zuo Mo's eyes flashed with a cold light.

  "Yes! These people are not wearing shen equipment but they cultivate heart leaf shen power. Daren, take a look." Finishing, the subordinate forced open the hand of a corpse. There was the mark of a tree branch with a leaf on the palm.

  "Daren, this is the mark of heart leaf shen power. They have reached the level of one branch one leaf."

  "One branch one leaf?" Zuo Mo asked.

  "When heart leaf shen power reaches a new level, their mark will grow and add another leaf," the person said respectfully.

  "You know a lot." Zuo Mo asked in surprise, "What's your name?"

  "This subordinate is Jin De Wei," the guard was slightly embarrassed. "This one's duty is to inspect the merchant caravans that travel through here, and I have heard some things in the process."

  "Oh, then speak, what other information is there on Heart Leaf Dhyana Sect?" Zuo Mo stood and asked interestedly.

  Jin De Wei had a hesitant expression.

  Zuo Mo smiled and said, "It's just chatter, and I'm just listening."

  Jin De Wei finally spoke, "This subordinate coincidentally heard the manager of a merchant caravan mention that Heart Leaf Dhyana Sect secretly consorts with Tian Huan. This subordinate felt they were slightly suspicious and paid attention to them secretly. I heard this from their members."

  "Why did you find them suspicious?" Zuo Mo seemed to be more interested in Jin De Wei.

  "This subordinate found that they were going around and asking questions, especially about shen equipment and shen power. They also asked about the general location of Golden Crow Island. The range of items they brought was wide, they bought a few of everything but not many of any particular item, they did not seem like business people," Jin De Wei explained.

  The admiration in Zuo Mo's eyes grew. This person did not have an attention-catching appearance, but he was perceptive and he was a careful person. This was a talent.

  He then asked, "What do you think of this matter?"

  Jin De Wei knew that Daren was testing him and immediately focused. After a moment of thought, he said gravely, "They are very familiar with the jinzhi and probably have come before to study them. There were not many people in this attack, just twenty, they did not have any reinforcements. It seems more like a probing mission."

  After he said this, Jin De Wei's expression turned ashen. He was frightened by his own conclusion.

  Zuo Mo's expression turned dark.

  ———

  "There are about ninety eight transportation formations to the outside world, in twenty or so jie, these outer border jie have been labeled." There was a jie map in front of Gongsun Cha. Almost all of out the outermost jie were labeled in red.

  Because Mo Cloud Sea's connection to the outside was almost completely reliant on the transportation formations. Ninety eight transportation formations, twenty two of the outermost jie, on average, each jie had more than four transportation formations connected to the outside.

  "Of these ninety eight transportation formations that go to different jie, forty two of them are to xiuzhe jie that are not connected to Tian Huan and Kun Lun. These forty two jie are mostly from the Nine Great Dhyana Sects and some smaller powers. These factions are easy to infiltrate and the transportation formations have become a fatal weakness for us right now."

  Gongsun Cha raised his head to look around. "The most secure method right now is to relocate the transportation formations. The best option is to gather the transportation formations, and designate specific business jie where we will station troops to guarantee their safety. However, there are also problems with this plan. The expenses in setting up new transportation formations will be huge, and this way, the cost of many of products will increase as well as reduce our offensive abilities."

  Zuo Mo had a grimace. Gongsun Cha's method was possible, but just as he had said, the investment would be enormous.

  Transportation formations that could move large volumes for long distances were expensive. Even with Zuo Mo's wealth, he had only accumulated these ninety eight transportation formations after seven years of development. If he had to rebuild so many transportation formations, the amount of money he had
to spend was a great sum.

  This was a relatively safe plan but it was too expensive.

  "The price is too great!" Zuo Mo shook his head. "We do not have the capital."

  Everyone nodded. This plan cost too much. In their view, even if they took over all these jie, they didn't need to spend so many jingshi.

  Gongsun Cha also knew that this plan was not realistic and continued, "We do not need to guess what will happen next. Kun Lun and Tian Huan will use our weakness by infiltrating the other powers and harass our transportation formations, even destroying them to destroy our connections to the outside world."

  Inhales sounded in the conference room. Those with the slightest bit of knowledge understood how great a blow it would be to Mo Cloud Sea if the situation came to that step!

  "The problem is that even though we know what they will do next, we do not have many solutions."

  Lil' Miss' expression was black. He had originally thought that they built Mo Cloud Sea to be impenetrable and hadn't expected that they had left such a fatal weakness.

  At this time, a paper crane suddenly appeared in Zuo Mo's hand. After Zuo Mo unfolded it and read through, he said coolly, "Three transportation formations were attacked at once, and one was destroyed."

  The conference room was deathly silent. Everyone had black expressions.

  Zuo Mo knew that Mo Cloud Sea was in a dangerous situation. At this time, he had to make a decision.

  "Other than the crucial transportation formations, close all others," Zuo Mo said deeply. Angry flames burned in his eyes.

  His heart dripped blood. The closure of each transportation formation meant the loss of large amounts of jingshi.

  Mo Cloud Sea's economy was about to receive a great blow. For Little Mo Ge whose wealth was his life, this was like cutting his flesh.

  Breaking someone's path to riches was akin to killing one's parents.

  Zuo Mo's face twisted in pain. He was completely infuriated by the enemy's actions.

  "If we have to suffer losses, then everyone will suffer with us. How can we be the only to lose?" Zuo Mo gritted out. "Our transportation formation jinzhi have problems, their transportation formation jinzhi will also have similar problems. They can infiltrate and destroy, we can do the same."