by Fang Xiang
“Travelling night, encounter over twenty Blood Duck Bats, hard battle, injured twenty one places, all slaughtered.”
“Streamside met Iron Ape, skin like steel, hard to wound with blade, tempted enemy two hundred so miles, wounded eye, no strength to chase.”
……
These phrases were all extremely short, yet the vicious and resolute aura came through the words. Life and death, they were the characters that appeared the most. The Wei Sheng Shixiong in the jade stick and the person he saw today were like two people.
What made the biggest impression on Zuo Mo and gave him the most shock were these few segments.
“Walked hundred days, finally saw nine rivers falling over sky, gazed from bottom, galloping and rolling, like the godly thunder of heaven, weight like thirty thousand catties, vast and unending, cannot be resisted. My heart follows, if aura of sword can be so, no regrets in death!”
“Sat and gazed three months, thought day and night, but due to dumbness, cannot find the meaning. Stood on top of waterfall seven days, not sleeping, not drinking or eating, suddenly comprehended. Fish jump following the water and down, moving among, forgetting life and death, consciousness clear, and finally found flavour! Broken bones thirteen, bedridden half year, loss hearing and sight, so practised in heart……”
Zuo Mo fell into a daze, muttering: “Insane!”
Such insanity, such obsession, it wasn’t anything he had ever thought of.
Under the stars, he sat on the roof, hand holding the jade stick as his thoughts wandered.
In his own world, there wasn’t anything that made him so crazy, so obsessed. He had great talent in the field of the five elements. He easily learned any kind of spells. He didn’t have high expectations for life. He put effort into learning and comprehending the five elements spell, it was only so that he could live a better life.
The obsession that Wei Sheng Shixiong had towards the sword, it gave him an unparalleled blow to his spirit. He could see the sweat and fresh blood behind each character.
Something inside his body seemed to be turning and vibrating, making him feel uncomfortable.
A long time later, his emotions gradually calmed down but he didn’t have any desire for sleep. Under the night sky, he just started to learn the sword motions according to the sword scripture in the jade stick.
There was a set of sword scriptures recorded in the jade stick. It was moves Wei Sheng Shixiong had picked out of the sword scriptures he practised and read everyday. Wei Sheng Shixiong had rich battle experience and these sword moves were extremely useful. There were not beautiful techniques, it was extremely simple to start with. It was a pity he didn’t have a flying sword. After motioning for a while, he could only sit down.
Once he sat down, he started to muse about [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation] again.
[Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation] was cryptic, but now he wasn’t discouraged at all, only ashamed. The obsession of Wei Sheng Shixiong deeply provoked him. Compared to Wei Sheng shixiong, what were the little difficulties that he ran into?
Alright, if he wanted to see ge’s humiliation, Pu Yao, wait for the next life!
Deeply inhaling a breath, he started to once again investigate this [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation] that he couldn’t wrap his head around.
The days passed one by one. Other than going once a day to Cold Mist Valley, he didn’t take a step out any other time.
In the sea of consciousness, Pu Yao sat on the gravestone and leisurely listened to the sound tablet.
Zuo Mo gritted his teeth but still went forward, fawningly asking: “Pu, what is really the main point of the first step of [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation]? I’m stupid, can’t you show a little bit?”
“The first step? Very simple, there’s no main point.” Pu Yao didn’t even raise his eyelids, still listening to the sound tablet.
Looking at the sound tablet that Pu Yao held on his leg, Zuo Mo thought that since asking didn’t work, then it had to be enticement.
He asked: “Pu, this sound tablet isn’t bad, right?”
“Pretty interesting.” Pu Yao inattentively responded.
“Do you want a better one?” Zuo Mo’s voice was like that of a strange uncle that was holding a lollipop to fool little girls.
For the first time, Pu Yao opened his right eye, the deep red pupils expressing interest: “Want.”
Zuo Mo shook his head: “If you help me explain [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation, I’ll buy a better one……”
“I can buy it myself.” Pu Yao said carelessly. He closed his eyes again, listening to the sound tablet.
Zuo Mo stared with an open mouth: “You have jingshi?”
“No.” Pu Yao’s eyes were still closed. With a face full of enjoyment, following the music that the sound tablet broadcasted, his body strangely swayed.
Zuo Mo released a breath, his tone smug again: “If there’s no jingshi, you can’t buy anything.” He suddenly realized, with Pu Yao’s strength, if he tried to snatch one, that wasn’t impossible! Or he could steal one, he definitely wouldn’t leave a trace.
“You have jingshi.” Pu Yao moved his body following the beat of the music.
“Then you have to explain……” Zuo Mo’s heart was comforted, and he continued to emphasize the relationship between jingshi and the sound tablet. Inside, he muttered: Thankfully he hadn’t thought to just use brute force.
Pu impatiently interrupted Zuo Mo. Holding out his right hand, he showed a handful of jingshi: “I can take it myself.”
Zuo Mo was dumbstruck, staring at the jingshi on Pu Yao’s hands. So familiar. After a silent moment, he suddenly gave a sky-shaking bellow like a beast in desperate straits.
“Damned renyao! You dare to move ye’s jingshi, ye will kill……”
Beside the pond in Cold Mist Valley, Zuo Mo gazed at the pond water, scared. The pond water was cold to the bone. He had touched it with his hand. Even now, the palm was still stiff.
There was only three days left until the last deadline. He still hadn’t made it past the gate of the first breath. Pu Yao still didn’t seem to care. Zuo Mo understood. This guy really didn’t care about his life and death. But in these many days, it wasn’t he hadn’t made any progress. He thought of a method. Right now, he was thinking of trying to find out if this method was right or not.
But……
The rushing waterfall couldn’t stop the coldness of the pond water from spreading. Just from beside the pond, he still could feel the oppressive coldness.
He nervously licked his lips. He didn’t want to try this method. But seeing that there were only three days left, he had no other choice. He hesitated for a moment, hardened his heart, closed his eyes, and jumped into the pool.
The bone-aching iciness of the pond water seemed to freeze his entire body into an ice cube in an instant. He couldn’t help shudder. He was like a rock, continuously sinking. The pond water flowed up his mouth and nose. The outside world seemed to have been blocked off, so quiet he could hear his own heartbeat.
After the initial panic, Zuo Mo quickly calmed down. He then followed [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation] to move his breath.
He didn’t know if it was the stimulation from the cold pond water but he was abnormally alert, the movement of the breath was abnormally smooth.
After ten minutes, when his breath was almost consumed, the feeling of suffocation became even stronger.
Zuo Mo raised his awareness. He knew. The most crucial time had arrived. Before, everytime, it was at this step that he would unconsciously open his mouth to breathe. [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation] didn’t have much elaboration on this step, as though in the eyes of the xiuzhe that created this scripture, this was the simplest thing.
Chapter 21: One Breath
He didn’t know if [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation] was correct. Even if he didn’t want to admit it, but with Pu Yao’s cunning, if he
wanted this little life, he only had to curl his fingers. There wasn’t a need to use a half-accurate scripture to fool him. But with Pu Yao’s perverseness and strange sense of humor, finding ways of torturing him, that was almost certainly the case.
However, Pu Yao was usually very quiet. Other than forcing Zuo Mo to cultivate [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation], he didn’t make any other moves. There wasn’t any hint of tormenting. Zuo Mo couldn’t understand Pu Yao, and didn’t know what was Pu Yao’s true aims.
Pu Yao definitely had a goal.
Sometimes, this thought was extremely clear and certain in his mind. However, when he tried to think about it, he found it was as though he was facing a vast and deep ocean. You never knew what was really hidden at the bottom.
Maybe Pu was really trying to help him. Zuo Mo knew just how difficult it was to heal wounds of the spirit. If it wasn’t [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation], it would still be a question of whether he would be breathing right now.
Blaming Pu Yao, it seemed unreasonable.
It could only say that Pu’s strangeness and sense of perversion made him instinctively afraid.
The most tragic thing was that no matter which kind it was, he had no space to rebel. No matter if this [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation] was true or not, no matter what aims Pu Yao had, he had no room to rebel. In front of the kind of great existence that was Pu, he was pitifully weak. The only thing he could do was force himself to charge forward in hopes of finding that glimmer of light.
If it was really just tormenting, as one already in the situation, he would sink in Pu Yao’s torment or make it through.
Damn it! How did he provoke such a calamity!
Time passed drop by drop, accompanying the strong feeling of suffocation was terror that uncontrollably rose.
His awareness started to fade. He was completely unaware of the face his legs were instinctively moving, trying to rise out of the water. But he had been sinking the whole time and it was now too far from the surface.
Was he going to die?
Even this thought was incomplete, he was paralyzed, weak as he swam in the limitless ocean.
No!
I can’t die!
He tried to struggle, tried to wake his own awareness.
But all of it was useless. Under the feeling of suffocation, his awareness slowly dissipated, became muddled.
Was he really going to die……
In a stupor, he seemed to hear someone was yelling.
“Don’t forget!”
……
“Even in death, you must not forget!”
……
For some reason, those two phrases that he considered nightmares seemed to be like a large hand that suddenly pulled him back from unconsciousness.
I can’t die!
Zuo Mo used up the last remaining strength in his body, furiously shouting soundlessly inside! His body shook violently like a sieve, the blood vessels under his skin quickly expanding, visible to the naked eye. Raven black and thick, twisting and turning like earthworms, covering the entire body, unspeakably terrifying.
That breath at the chest that had become extremely weak turned into a candle flame, a flame that could be easily extinguished.
Yet this weak feeble candle flame became a prairie fire, lighting up the sea of consciousness –– like lighting up firewood that was bone dry and then soaked in oil. Dark red flames, spitting and roaring, followed the ground in the sea of consciousness, rolling forwards. The grasses and woods instantly turned to dust. Nothing could stop it.
In the blink of an eye, the consciousness became a burning hell. Endless dark red flames flickering in every corner of the sea of consciousness.
The bright and hot red fire recklessly danced. On the strange black gravestone shrouded in black smoke, there sat a handsome male with a strange cold face. No one was able to forget his beautiful and enticing features.
The sound tablet was on his knee, the concentrated sounds of the zither were like a hurricane that made people unable to breathe!
The red sea of fire burned soundlessly. Under the hair that blocked half his face, Pu’s thin blade-like lips imperceptibly rose on one side. Just as usual, enchanting yet cold.
Zuo Mo curiously examined the surroundings. After achieving one breath, his perception of the surroundings changed dramatically. It was hard to explicitly describe. It was as though the surroundings had been cleaned, changed beyond recognition. This feeling was extremely unique. It took a long time for him to get used to it. The other change was his sea of consciousness. Right now, it had turned into a sea of fire. A sea of fire that might extinguish sometime.
Other than that, he didn’t have any new discoveries. As to whether [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation] had any good attributes, he didn’t have any high hopes. He was just a guy that wanted to be a ling plant farmer. What did he need such a strong consciousness for? If he could pass this obstacle, keep his little life, he was content.
The game was too dangerous. Ge won’t play.
Thinking about the danger yesterday, there were still lingering fears.
However, the sharp sword hanging over his head finally disappeared. He could finally release a breath. He resolutely decided that no matter what Pu Yao gave him next time, he wouldn’t take it if it meant his heath. The painful experiences gave him a hard lesson. To steal benefits from Pu Yao’s hands, that was an action leading to death.
Zuo Mo found his own little life very precious.
Pu Yao didn’t seem to care if he was practising [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation]. Everyday, he guarded his new sound tablet, endlessly amused.
Every time he saw the brand-new sound tablet that was higher in quality than the one in his hands, he would feel pain. Ten pieces of second-grade jingshi was wasted. His teeth hurt. His heart sour, he could only hold in the tears as he took the sound tablet that Pu Yao was preparing to throw away. That was, his old sound tablet that Pu Yao had taken from his hands.
Enamored with the new, bored with the old. This was another bad habit that he found on Pu Yao’s body.
But coming back to it, did Pu Yao have any good habits?
[Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation]was like a small detour in his life, and Pu Yao seemed to have put away his perverseness, silent as a virgin. It made Zuo Mo feel unaccustomed. But malicious curses like “Renyao is just renyao, do you think if you don’t speak, you can turn into a woman?” naturally weren’t avoidable.
What made him happy was that he sped through the five elements spells. He didn’t know if it was because he completed the one breath. Many of the fuzzy part previously were abnormally clear now, easily realized.
He became even more motivated.
He didn’t have any interest in something as strange as [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation]. The kind of things like [Art of Aged Gold] which could get him real things like jingshi, and spells were his true love!
He was like a monk, living an extremely dull life each day. Cultivating [Ten Principles Scripture], accumulating ling energy, again and again, practising all kind of spells, finger motions. Just like when he had practised [Little Art of Cloud and Rain], he furiously cultivated.
The one that had the most improvement was [Art of Aged Gold]. Presently, the aged gold energy was dark gold, the light subdued, changing according to his wishes. And compared to before, there was now an addition of a hint of imposingness. Even though it was extremely faint, but in actual use, the effects multiplied and made Zuo Mo gleeful.
It wasn’t strange that [Art of Aged Gold] improved since the most important aspect of [Art of Aged Gold] was consciousness. Even though he had just finished one breath in [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation] but compared to before, his consciousness was much stronger. So it was expected that [Art of Aged Gold] would improve. What made him surprise was that [Art of Earth Energy] also improved much.
The crucial factor in [Art of Earth Energy] was c
ommunication and perception. Did his consciousness help with communication and perception?
He didn’t know, but since it was a good thing, he went with the flow and didn’t examine it deeper.
Zuo Mo was in the yard as he practised [Art of Aged Gold], when suddenly a calm and authoritative voice echoed through Wu Kong Mountain.
“Outer sect disciple Li Ying Feng, continuously practised and broke through to zhuji. From today, she is formally taken into this sect’s inner disciples. Outer sect disciples should take this as an example, cultivate relentlessly in order to reach the right result!”
This voice wasn’t loud but clear. It rippled through Wu Kong Mountain and reverberated endlessly.
Li Ying Feng managed to successfully zhuji? Zuo Mo couldn’t help but admire and feel happy for Li Ying Feng Shijie. He hadn’t interacted for a long time with Li Ying Feng Shijie, the two of them even had a misunderstanding but he admired this brisk and clever Shijie. This was the role model a shijie should be. In comparison, Hao Min Shijie was greatly lacking.
His life wasn’t affected by the news. His interest in zhuji was much smaller than to become a ling plant farmer. Zhuji was the first great step to cultivation, but other than achieving jindan, there wasn’t much of a difference in lifespan compared to a normal person. As to jindan, don’t even think about it, not just an outer sect disciple like him, even among those inner sec disciples, how many would achieve jindan?
And if he became a ling plant farmer, that was true and real jingshi.
He continued to bury himself in practising his spells. To something he decided on, he never was remiss. Just like practising [Little Art of Cloud and Rain], without anyone to teach him, he cast it again and again. He didn’t know how many thousands of times he casted, but he managed to fill up the large pond in the yard using [Little Art of Cloud and Rain]. Just like that, he managed to achieve the third level of [Little Art of Cloud and Rain].
His cultivation was interrupted by an uninvited guest. The one who came was the one who just became an inner sect disciple, Li Ying Feng Shijie.
