World of Cultivation - Volume 01 - Money Grubbing Madman

by Fang Xiang

  Zuo Mo’s mouth was wide as he panted heavily, his eyes bulging like a fish before death as he stared at the ice crystal sword floating in front of him. He was like a bamboo stalk swaying in the wind, his body trembling. The clothing was soaked, pasted to his body and revealing his thin stature.

  Bam, he fell down. He lost control of the ice crystal sword in midair and with a clang, it dropped to the ground.

  Weakly looking at the sky, Zuo Mo’s brain was ringing. The last bit of ling energy had been cleanly wrung out.

  Five thousand nine hundred and twenty three times!

  If he sliced four thousand more times, he would reach ten thousand……

  He hadn’t wasted his time slicing five thousand nine hundred and twenty three times. Any move in [Li Water Sword Scripture], right now, he could unthinkingly complete it in one breath, with no pauses or raw spots. But it was only the sword moves.

  The sword moves were the appearance, the sword essence was the bones.

  Sword moves without sword essence, it was like a paper tiger, only appearing frightening.

  Each sword scripture, the sword essence they had was different. Even in the same sword scripture, different cultivators would form different sword essences. What Zuo Mo had comprehended was Xin Yan Shishu’s tidal sword essence and not Li Water sword essence!

  Only a matching sword essence could merge with the sword moves into one.

  When he had sliced four thousand times, Zuo Mo realized this rule. The tidal sword essence he had secretly learned from Xin Yan Shibo, it would only have the greatest effect with its matching sword moves. He might have used the sword energy from the golden sword ring to form it one, but Zuo Mo postulated, it was either because the sword energy of the gold ring sword was too low or that he had performed abnormally well that time.

  He had tried countless times but was still unable to merge the tidal sword essence into the sword moves of [Li Water Sword Scripture]. The two were like two completely different entities, unable to tolerate each other.

  If Zuo Mo hadn’t comprehended a sword essence, he wouldn’t be facing this problem. But after personally experiencing being sliced so many times, the power and greatness of sword essence had already been struck into his heart. A power that easily could slice a soul. Compared to that, the beautiful and grand sword moves were only pretty but not practical.

  Sword essence, this was undoubtedly the question he cared about the most.

  There wasn’t much time. He had no method to rely on himself to find it so he could only go find Pu Yao.

  “Hee hee, want to know? Uh-huh.” Pu Yao gave an intoxicating smile.

  Zuo Mo proactively threw the jingshi that he gained from making the golden crow pills to Pu Yao.

  “It seems that we have connected on a deeper level now.” Pu Yao gave a light laugh and then said absent-mindedly: “Of course the sword essence from each sword scripture is different, do you need to think about such an idiotic question? Go comprehend Li Water sword essence. Just find a river, go look, what is water. Oh, as to fire, there it is!”

  Zuo Mo scanned the surroundings. The deep red flames seemed leap to attention, the flames sprouting higher.

  “Open your eyes and take a good look. It won’t be free next time.” Pu Yao voice came out from the sea of fire.

  The consciousness was entirely fiery red, the flames dancing rapidly. Countless deep red flames slowly started to rise. It was like countless red flowers blooming in the sky. Each ball of flame was jumping at a certain rhythm. The outer red flames were like the tongues of snakes, spitting randomly.

  The whole sky was filled with balls of flames. Suddenly, they all started to head for the center. The entire process was done without a sound, like water flowing into the ocean, not a ripple was made.

  An enormous flame rose in Zuo Mo’s sea of consciousness. It exchanged light with the star in the void. It burned quietly. None of the flame flowers could be seen. What could be seen was a red-black sun. A pure red color, as though it was made from crimson metal liquid. Some places were so red it was black. On the surface of the ball, dense flames spit and spat.

  “Hot.” Zuo Mo felt as if he was in a stove. A wave of heat rushed over. His entire body seemed to be roasting over a fire. He actually felt a strong burning pain.

  He was stunned.

  Everything in the sea of consciousness wasn’t material. Even he was just a bit of spirit. Like these flames, in the past, no matter if they took over the consciousness, Zuo Mo hadn’t felt any heat. But this time, this red ball so hot it was almost black, it made him frightened.

  The ball of fire serenely floated in midair, burning quietly. But this quiet held agitation and danger. It made Zuo Mo feel awe. The quiet here was like a thin layer of eggshell, able to break at any time.

  Just at this time, the ball of flame exploded without a warning!

  Zuo Mo saw an extremely awe-inspiriting picture!

  Countless red-black flames flowed like a volcano’s lava flows, heading in all directions. The flames were like rain. Everything that Zuo Mo could see was dyed red!

  The countless flames colored the black sky crimson red!

  Big and small flames, after the shock of the initial high-speed impact, their speeds slowed down.

  A sky full of fire flowers, they floated slowly like red dandelion seeds blown by the wind, travelling where the wind blew. The scorching heat caused the air to warp, making the scene seem unrealistic.

  Zuo Mo stood dumbstruck in his spot. Suddenly, he remembered that black sea, the picture of the countless black dandelion seeds flying.

  The dark red flames jumping in air finally landed on the ground. Once they landed, it was like they grew roots and quickly spread. In the blink of an eye, Zuo Mo was surrounded by a sea of fire. Everything returned to normal. But this sea of fire didn’t give off a feeling of burning. He dazedly reached out a hand, and like it didn’t exist, the hand traveled through the flames.

  Was this fire……

  What he had just seen gave him a shock that he had never had before!

  In the next few days, Zuo Mo’s mind was in a trance. The scene in the sea of consciousness continuously repeated in front of his eyes. Like a puppet, he lost his soul, muddled.

  The bewitching scene full of power, every detail, it was like it was burned into his mind.

  Like fire……

  Xiao Guo wiped her sweat. Seeing that mark on the wooden board in front of her, a happy expression appeared on her naive and adorable apple face.

  She could send out a sword energy now!

  Also, this was not relying on the aid of the golden sword ring that Zuo Mo Shixiong had given her, but a sword energy she had made based on her own cultivation. She had persisted in practicing the jade scroll that Zuo Mo had given her last time. She didn’t know how she had come through this time. The things in the jade stick were not complicated, but to a girl who had stayed in the zoo from very little, the difficulty was like trying to ascend the heavens.

  Sweat, tiredness, pain, incorrect, not understanding, lost…….

  In secret, she had cried so many times that even she didn’t know. Cried until her eyes were like peaches. But after crying each time, she would start practicing again. Pain, tiredness, and then cry, and then start practicing……

  That pair of soft and tender hands, right now, it had a bit of strength and power.

  Shijie became an inner sect disciple, Shixiong also became an inner sect disciple……

  Her pink fists tightened, that pair of bright eyes full of resolve –– Xiao Guo will definitely become an inner sect disciple!

  Before, there had been Shijie protecting her, after, it had been Shixiong. Even though Shixiong was a bit ugly, and his temper wasn’t good, but, unknowingly, Xiao Guo felt that this Shixiong that she was slightly afraid off became her role model. Especially when Shixiong gave the jade scrolls to her and told her to practice hard and protect everyone else, Xiao Guo made a decision, she would do her best!
/>   Tilting her head, she thought innocently.

  “Xiao Guo, Xiao Guo.” Someone was calling her.

  “Hey.” She hurriedly responded.

  A few of the shijie ran over and said: “Let’s go together to Dong Fu, it’s been so long since we went.”

  “Come with us.”

  No one knew she was practicing sword scriptures. She would always sneak away to practice every day by herself.

  She really didn’t want to go. She still hadn’t finished her practice for today. When she was going to decline, she suddenly remembered that Shixiong said to her to protect everyone. When the word reached her mouth, it became: “En, okay!”

  Dong Fu Hall, Yu Bai was reporting to Tian Song Zi: “The letters and invitations have all been sent out. Wu Kong Sword Sect and Dong Qi Sword Sect, it had been this disciple personally delivering them.”

  “En, it was hard for you.” Tian Song Zi nodded in praise. He suddenly remembered something and ordered: “For the next while, make sure to control the people in the city. Pay attention that nothing will happen.”

  “Is something going to happen?” Yu Bai hurriedly asked.

  “Still remember the stars in daytime?”

  “Remember. Has there been any discoveries?” Yu Bai’s heart shook. That strange and odd marvel, he probably wouldn’t forget it in his lifetime. The apparition of Wei Sheng’s zhuji had been sword energy reaching the heavens, stunning him greatly. But in comparison, that quietly appearing, stars that appeared without a sign in the sky, what he felt was a bone-aching cold.

  Tian Song Zi shook his head: “Nothing. The Jie Master had scanned the entire jie with his mind and hadn’t found any abnormalities. But, when Jie Master asked for help from his sect, he found that stars in daytime are related to yaomo.”

  “Yaomo?” Yu Bai cried out.

  “Right. But, even in the oldest texts, the records about it are very vague. They only say that it is related to yaomo.” Tian Song Zi’s face was heavy, and he said in a deep voice: “Most importantly, it is a great ominous omen!”

  “Ominous omen!” Yu Bai’s face slightly paled.

  Apparitions, even though they weren’t common, but they would occasionally appear. When a treasure came out of the ground, when someone had a breakthrough in cultivation, forging or dan-making, they all could create apparitions. But of the apparitions that could be called an ominous omen, Yu Bai only knew a few of them. And each one of them all meant the sky and earth changing, blood flowing in rivers. Like when a jie was going to shatter, the land would crack, water would flow in the sky, that was an ominous omen. Under such circumstances, even those of the highest cultivation could not escape. They would be destroyed with the jie, turned to nothing.

  Tian Song Zi sighed: “The world is going to have an upheaval! Yaomo is going to rise!” He glanced at Yu Bai and then said: “Do not worry too much. Yaomo is the natural enemies of all xiuzhe. On this point, no matter which sect, they would not retreat. This time, Sky Guard Jie has sent quite a few strong people who will soon arrive at Sky Moon Jie to investigate this matter. The cultivators all have high cultivation. To avoid conflict, you need to put effort into restricting the people. Don’t create a disorder. Remember to notify all the sects.”

  “Yes!” Yu Bai hurried complied.

  “Hopefully they will resolve it.” Tian Song Zi muttered to himself.

  Yu Bai was silent. He didn’t know how to comfort Master.

  Chapter 58: Terror

  Nine thousand four hundred and eleven!

  After dazing around for three days, Zuo Mo started to furiously practice sword moves again. The picture in his sea of consciousness gave an unparalleled shock. He seemed to have understood something, but couldn’t grasp it. Three days later, he suddenly woke and understood.

  All kinds of comprehension, it wasn’t a building in the sky. Without a solid base, even if you understood it, you could not produce it. Even more, Zuo Mo didn’t understand sword essence completely. Wei Sheng Shixiong had sat in front of the waterfall for months, battled lots of times, before he had comprehended just those basic things. His talent at the sword was far from Wei Sheng Shixiong. How could it be so easy?

  Finally knowing where the problem was, Zuo Mo controlled his panicking heart and started to practice the sword moves of [Li Water Sword Scripture].

  When he was tired to his limits, his ling energy used up, he would meditate in the rock room.

  Recovering, he would start again. Just like this, without a break in between.

  Nineteen thousand and twenty two!

  Zuo Mo’s clothing was torn, his body a mess, his eyes sunk deep. Only that pair of eyes were lit up like a fire, burning relentlessly.

  Seven moves. Each detail of each move, he had thought it over countless times. He was so familiar to a point that he couldn’t even believe it. The ice crystal sword was like a part of his body. He could easily control it to do any move. That bit of consciousness, it was like a strong spider silk threat that held on to the sword.

  In the air, the ice crystal sword slowly wavered like a fish waving its tail as it swam against the current. The rate at which the ice crystal sword wavered continuously increased. With the ice crystal sword as the center, large circles of transparent ripples appeared in the air.

  Zuo Mo’s eyes were slightly closed as he tasted the tiniest changes on the ice crystal sword.

  Without a sound, the ice crystal sword suddenly disappeared from its spot, only leaving behind transparent ripples that shook in the air.

  Ding!

  A sound that was the lightest possible!

  The ice crystal sword entered into the rock face of the valley, leaving behind a small hole. After a while, the rock surrounding the tiny hole became covered in a dense yet thin layer of ice.

  The sword was like water, illusory and shapeless.

  Zuo Mo closed his eyes, reminiscing on the entire process. The path the ice crystal sword had taken was actually a curve. Like water flowing down a mountain, extremely natural and smooth. This move [Flowing Water], according to the words of [Li Water Sword Scripture], it was a small progress. But Zuo Mo was very dissatisfied. If this move had sword essence, the sword would have gone beyond the three feet into the rock.

  There was someone in the valley. Zuo Mo felt it in his heart. In this amount of time, other than practice sword scripture, all his other time was put onto meditation. Other than the improvement of his sword scripture, his cultivation had increased ferociously!

  “Shijie.” Zuo Mo saw it was Li Ying Feng and got off his guard.

  Li Ying Feng saw Zuo Mo’s state and jumped. Then she frowned: “Shidi, fighting is important, but speed isn’t everything. If you are too exhausted, it would have the opposite effect.”

  Zuo Mo: “I’m fine.”

  “For you.” Li Ying Feng couldn’t deal with Zuo Mo and handed over a jade scroll: “Xu Yi Xia Shijie came back. This is a jade scroll that she gave me. Recorded inside is one of the times that Luo Li Shixiong was fighting. If you have the time, you could take a look.”

  Zuo Mo stilled. He hadn’t thought that there was this matter and couldn’t help but be curious. Before Wei Sheng Shixiong had zhuji, Luo Li Shixiong had always been the genius of the sect. Even Wei Sheng Shixiong was just his sword servant. Zuo Mo was very curious what level he really was at. Looking at Li Ying Feng Shijie who looked slightly tired, he was grateful, and raised his hands. He said: “Many thanks, Shijie.”

  “It was just a coincidence that Xu Yi Xia Shijie returned.” Li Ying Feng said: “Shidi needs to work hard. Not just Xu Yi Xia Shijie has returned. Supposedly, Eldest Shijie is also returning soon.”

  “En, I will!” Zuo Mo said resolutely.

  Li Ying Feng added a few more cautions before leaving.

  Returning to the valley, Zuo Mo impatiently added ling energy to the jade scroll.

  It looked like the battlefield was a mine underground. The light was poor, and it was very dark. Zuo Mo couldn’t help but furrow h
is brows. He didn’t know if it was that he was used to sunlight but he really didn’t like this kind of dark underground place. Suppressing the dislike inside, his head turned quickly.

  This should be the mine that Luo Li governed.

  Luo Li Shixiong’s personality was cold and his relationship with the other shixiong wasn’t very good. Supervising a sect was a hard duty. It was long term underground, dull and harsh. Other than Luo Li Shixiong, no one was willing to go.

  Zuo Mo looked extremely carefully, afraid of missing a detail.

  He saw a crowd of people facing Luo Li Shixiong.

  “Brothers, since we can’t even get full, it’s just a death. Rather than starve to death, we should rather fight against him!” Someone shouted. But his shaking legs clearly betrayed the terror in his heart. The other people shook all over as well but their eyes were red.

  Zuo Mo remembered that he had heard of xiu slaves from the sound tablet. These people should be xiu slaves.

  Seeing these people’s eyes, Zuo Mo suddenly thought, when a wild animal was in desperate straits, were they like this as well?

  “Huang Ze, I promoted you to head, and you repay me like this?” Luo Li said coldly.

  “Head?” The leader of the crowd smiled bitterly: “Can’t even live, what’s the use in being the head? The jingshi under is becoming rare, the rules didn’t chance. One piece of jingshi exchanged for that little bit of food. We’ve continuous to dig down. The corrosion from the earth energy is even stronger. The month before last, ten of us died. Last month, thirty of us died! It’s only been half of this month, but thirty five have already died!”

  The crowd was very excited. The people that had been trembling were not trembling any longer. Their eyes didn’t have any more terror, only rage!

  Luo Li looked indifferently at these people

  “Hope! Since there isn’t a f—ing hope!” The person’s eyes were bloodshot as he howled: “We’ll just ask for an enjoyment!”

  “Enjoyment?” Luo Li suddenly opened coldly: “Then I will give you enjoyment!”

  As his words landed, without a warning, a blood line appeared on the people’s necks. The excited and uncontrolled people didn’t detect it.