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

by Fang Xiang

  The ling power pathways of macro formations were clear, but compared to their counterpart micro formation, they were crude and rough. It was hard to use the macro formations to do such detailed changes. Zuo Mo had ran into great trouble. His original plan had been to set up a Golden Crow Formation that was about five zhang wide, but what he produced was fifty zhang in diameter.

  It was like an enormous nest. Hollow in the center, while in the surroundings countless materials floated in the air, forming a complete circle.

  What caused his heart pain was that the cost of the macro Golden Crow Formation was far greater than his predictions. This one formation cost a thousand third-grade jingshi!

  Once the formation was activated, he would lose one thousand jingshi. This experiment could really be called expensive. It was also why Zuo Mo was hesitant. One thousand third-grade jingshi!

  Pu Yao appeared beside Zuo Mo. Looking at the materials floating in the air, he twisted his mouth, “It’s really ugly!”

  Zuo Mo didn’t pay attention to that guy. He gritted his teeth and decided to activate the formation.

  Stepping into the already formed formation, his expression was stern, and his ling power began flowing through all ten of his fingers. A faint light appeared on his fingertips, as his fingers danced.

  Lights flashed, extinguishing as quickly as they appeared.

  A golden pillar of light came down from the sky and connected with one that came from between his hands.

  As his fingers formed shapes, the golden pillar of light turned to ten beams that spread throughout the formation.

  The golden light was reflected and passed around by the jade pieces in the formation. The jade pieces instantly became coated in gold light when the golden light touched them.

  In the sky above the formation, it was possible to see the golden light slowly spread out in the formation like water. Everywhere it passed, the floating jingshi lit up becoming blindingly bright, like stars in golden colored lake. The entire process took an hour before the great formation started to give off a uniform golden glow.

  The noise from the formation had alarmed many of the shidi, but when the discovered it was caused by Zuo Mo Shixiong, other than expressing amazement found it extremely normal. If Shixiong wasn’t working on formations, was it still the shixiong that was famed for his formations?

  Zuo Mo’s hands did not dare to stop, the Art of Crimson Flame being pushed to the extreme.

  At this time, the formation changed again.

  Countless golden lights flew out of the jade pieces like fish, gathering in the empty space in the middle of the formation.

  In the center of the formation, about two zhang from the ground, a ball of golden light was taking form.

  Once the ball of light formed, the speed the light gathered suddenly increased. The golden lights were as dense as rain as they ran to merge into the golden ball of light.

  The golden ball of light continuously increased in size, starting from the size of a basket in the beginning and growing to the size of a dining table. Zuo Mo’s expression became even more nervous.

  Why wasn’t there a change yet?

  Zuo Mo stared at the ball of light, his hands continuously changing. He did not notice that the pillar of light from the sky that entered his hands was as thick as his arm.

  Theoretically, a change should be happening now!

  But the ball of light was still expanding. The change he had predicted had not occurred yet

  –– Becoming fire!

  The most important step of the formation of Golden Crow fire. If this step did not happen, the essence of the sun could not form the Golden Crow Fire!

  Time slowly passed. After eight hours, Zuo Mo felt extremely dizzy, his hands limper than ever. In the middle of the formation, the ball of light was now about the size of a house. Even the person who made it all, Zuo Mo, felt scared when he saw such an enormous ball of light.

  All of this, it was the explosive essence of the sun!

  If he was not careful … …

  He could not imagine what would happen! The present situation was completely beyond out his predictions and control.

  Just as he carefully acted as though he was on thin ice, he detected a change in the ball of light!

  * * *

  Translator Ramblings:

  WanderingGummiOfDoom has calculated the formation is about 8 football fields.

  Zuo Mo wants to make money because it is the only way he can cultivate at this point. The ling veins are being used for farming and they are not very high level so he needs a source of ling power.

  Chapter 175: Fire!

  Inside the ball of light, something seemed to break.

  A flame seemed to jump out of the ball of light. In the blink of an eye, the ball of light became a ball of pure golden-yellow flame spitting in the air. The ball of fire quickly collapsed into itself, and the house-sized ball shrinking into a flame the size of a fist.

  Even though the flame was now the size of a fist, an extremely yang and extremely strong presence emanated from it.

  Zuo Mo was affected, and his finger motions stumbled. Luckily, the formation had already been completed. The flame’s presence made Pu Yao furrow his brows. He wore an expression of digust.

  “I’m very curious how you are planning to deal with this?” Pu Yao glanced at the flame before looking towards Zuo Mo, “Do you want to absorb it? I’m warning you, This Golden Crow Fire is not something you can tolerate.”

  “No, I’m not planning on absorbing it.” Zuo Mo shook his head. Pu Yao wasn’t wrong. Sensing the strong presence radiating from the Golden Crow Fire, he understood this wasn’t something he could absorb at the moment. The amount of Golden Crow Fire in the Golden Crow Pill was just a thread so it was not hard to absorb, but this ball of Golden Crow Fire was pure and strong, beyond what he could endure. If he was a ningmai, it would be a wonderful fire seed.

  This answer was not out of Pu Yao’s expectations. He gave a scornful expression, “You made all this noise and got this little ball of flame. So now what, do you want to use it for a barbecue?”

  Staring at the burning golden-yellow flame at the center of the formation, Zuo Mo licked his lips, his eyes like a hungry wolf staring at a lamb. “So this is Golden Crow Fire!”

  “So what? You can’t use it!” Pu Yao said scornfully like he always did. “Your formation can only be maintained for five days at most , and then this ball of Golden Crow Fire would naturally dissipate. Do you want to forge it into lingdan?”

  “No, I changed my mind!” Zuo Mo’s eyes were fixed on the fist-size Golden Crow Fire.

  “En?”

  “I’ll sell fire! Directly sell Golden Crow Fire!” The light in Zuo Mo’s eyes grew, like the blinding light produced by countless jingshi. He waved his arms, his voice filled with excitement and joy. “I’ll split this Golden Crow Fire into a few dozen fires, seal them in jade boxes with a formation, and sell them!”

  Pu Yao had to agree that Zuo Mo’s idea was interesting. However, he glanced at the ball of Golden Crow Fire and said, “You can divide this, you know the formations to seal it? Don’t ask me, the methods I know, you can’t use it, even I can’t use it at present.”

  “That’s a problem,” Zuo Mo said. He didn’t answer and sunk deep into thought.

  Pu Yao did not disturb him. It had to be said that if Zuo Mo’s method really worked, then the business opportunity in here was astounding! Fourth-grade Golden Crow Fire did not lack for demand. Right now, he was tied together with Zuo Mo. Only if Zuo Mo had jingshi could he spend it. Even more, his Nether Pool was still lacking all of the materials needed to complete it. The black water was uselessly sitting in the middle of nowhere.

  The damage accumulated over a few thousand years, it could not be repaired so easily.

  However, troubled times were coming … …

  He liked that.

  Zuo Mo entered a period of mania. If he could solve this problem, Heavens! The jingshi! No
ne of the business that Zuo Mo had done before could rival this one!

  He seemed to see a great pathway made of jingshi in front of him. Any piece that he could chip off was fourth-grade!

  The thoughts of jingshi did not mess up Zuo Mo’s mind. Quite the opposite, he was full of excitement and motivation. At this time, if a ningmai came, no, even a jindan, then Zuo Mo would howl and charge to chop the other into pieces!

  Five days, the macro Golden Crow Formation could only be maintained for five days. Zuo Mo didn’t bear to waste one blink.

  ———

  The fourth day.

  Zuo Mo held the jade box in his hand and roared with laughter.

  Pu Yao came with the noise. “Success?”

  Looking at the concern on Pu Yao’s face, Zuo Mo was smug. He roared with laughter again.

  He definitely succeeded!

  The formations he studied came from the Kun Lun introductory formation jade scroll. This jade scroll, which Zuo Mo thought could also be called the Encyclopedia of Basic Formations, had all kinds of fundamental formations and naturally included formations to seal things.

  What Zuo Mo picked was a formation called [Mini Lock Formation.] It was suitable for sealing in items that were intangible.

  Naturally a mere second-grade formation like the [Mini Lock Formation] was not enough! Golden Crow Fire was fourth-grade, even if it was split into a dozen parts and weaken greatly, it was still not something a [Mini Lock Formation] could seal. Using the [Mini Lock Formation] as a basis, Zuo Mo had thought of ways to strengthen it.

  His original intention had been to try to strengthen the [Mini Lock Formation], but he had not been able to find an appropriate method. Incidentally, of the micro formations he had discovered, he found an unique formation.

  Its purpose was very strange, it could suppress medicinal power. Usually, it was used in lingdan that were quite domineering. It would suppress the medicinal power so the medicinal power would slowly enter the channels without damaging them.

  This was an unexpected, happy surprise for Zuo Mo. Without strengthening the formation, he could suppress the Golden Crow Fire, it was the same!

  It did not take him too long to merge the two formations. Zuo Mo named the new formation the [Mini Seal]. The Mini Seal was put on a palm-sized jade box. Zuo Mo used the best jade that he had for the box, third-grade icy jade, and called it a mini box.

  Embed on each jade box were nine pieces of third-grade jingshi to provide ling power for the [Mini Seal]. In one go, he forged almost one hundred jade boxes.

  Just the value of one of these jade boxes alone was not low. If it wasn’t that they were to be used to containing the Golden Crow Fire, Zuo Mo couldn’t bear to have use such good ice jade to make simple jade boxes. Looking at the attractive appearance of the mini box, Zuo Mo decided to raise the price of the Golden Crow Fire.

  Ha ha, anyone that was able to by the Golden Crow Fire, they wouldn’t care about spending another few dozen more jingshi!

  Pu Yao thought it was too early to be happy. He reminded Zuo Mo, “What about dividing the fire?”

  “Ha ha, just keep on watching.” It was rare that he could show off in front of Pu Yao. Zuo Mo deliberately concealed his plan.

  However, when Zuo Mo faced that fist-sized ball of Golden Crow Fire, he pushed all thoughts of showing off to the back of his mind.

  The pure golden-yellow Golden Crow Fire was a true sovereign. Silently burning, it was like the king of lions unconcernedly smoothing its fur. Each time the flame jumped and spat, a oppressive presence would ripple into the surroundings.

  With Zuo Mo’s cultivation, if it wasn’t that his spirit was strong enough, he wouldn’t even be able to stand up against this Golden Crow Fire. A benefit of a strong spirit was that his mind was very stable, and not easily affected by outside factors.

  He didn’t start dividing the fire immediately, but hammered many large metal nails around the Golden Crow Fire. These nails were longer than a chi, about the thickness of three fingers. Cinnabar character seals could be seen glistening on the body of the nails. These were metal nails that were commonly used in formations. Being second-grade, they were useful for many formations.

  Zuo Mo imbedded a dozen metal nails.

  Standing and taking a breath, he hung the Streaming Fire Core Manipulation Pendant on his waist to increase his control over fire.

  However, the method he used this time wasn’t one that was used to control fire!

  He inhaled heavily, his chest rising, his eyes bulging as his hands suddenly started to whirl!

  Bam!

  A suddenly explosion sounded without a warning.

  The floating ball of Golden Crow Fire suddenly shook, as though it was alarmed. Explosions sounded, one after the other.

  After just one round, and Zuo Mo’s heart tightened. It seemed it was more difficult than he had thought! However, he didn’t have the time to think more. His hands continuously increased their speed.

  Pia pia pia!

  The explosions became more rushed and close together, the shaking of the Golden Crow Fire increased.

  Zuo Mo’s forehead was covered in sweat, steam rising off like smoke. His eyes were filled with blood and widened greatly.

  The ten fingers on his hands twirled so fast that it was as if they were a ball of shadows. If someone happened upon this scene, they would be unable to clearly see his fingers.

  The shaking Golden Crow Fire convulsed erratically, and could collapse at any moment. The fierce and pure presence of the fire was completely sent out. Like a flood, it furiously pushed at everything in the surroundings.

  Crack crack crack!

  Cracks continued to appear on the jade pieces of the macro Golden Crow Formation. The formation was going to collapse!

  If Zuo Mo did not successfully divide the fire, the Golden Crow Fire would instantly disappear. Without the support of the formation, the Golden Crow Fire would dissipate quickly.

  The tendons on Zuo Mo’s forehead bulged like green earthworms.

  “Open!” His voice was like spring thunder, his hands suddenly turning with power he never had before!

  Boom!

  The Golden Crow Fire exploded, turning to dozens of thumb-sized flames. The fierce presence that Zuo Mo felt afraid of instantly became much weaker.

  The alarming cracking sounds also stopped. The moment before the large formation collapsed, Zuo Mo successfully divided the fire and the formation managed to stay whole. This way, he received precious time to breathe.

  Zuo Mo panted furiously, his arms sagged as if they were filled with lead, unable to be raised. But in his eyes, there was only joy!

  Success!

  He really did it!

  Pu Yao gaped. The method Zuo Mo used was completely out of his expectations. Zuo Mo actually used the method to divide dan!

  During dan-making after the raw materials were added, medicinal fluid would take form, and this fluid would become lingdan in the end. However, the number of lingdan that would be produced from a single cauldron would depend on the skill of the dan-maker dividing the dan. Skilled dan-makers could produce more than a hundred lingdan from each cauldron.

  For low-level lingdan, if they were made one by one, the time needed could not be imagined. Dan dividing was then one of the techniques that those who studied dan-making had to learn. However, Pu Yao never would have imagined that Zuo Mo would use the strange method of dan-dividing to divide fire!

  This guy … …

  He looked at Zuo Mo.

  When some feeling returned to his hand, a bottle of lingdan appeared on Zuo Mo’s hand. Removing the cork, he shoved all of the contents into his mouth. He didn’t have the time to resolve the medicinal power so he used sheer quantity as a substitute.

  After one bottle of lingdan was consumed, he felt much better.

  But .,. …

  The medicinal power of one entire bottle … …

  Zuo Mo quickly experienced the aftereffects. The ling power t
hat suddenly exploded in his body was like a flood bursting through a dam, rushing through his body!

  Damn it!

  Zuo Mo’s face twisted. However, he didn’t have the time to slowly absorb the lingdan. He quickly took out the mini boxes and started to harvest the Golden Crow Fire seeds.

  Quickly, he had sealed all the Golden Crow Fire but the ling power in his body did not show any signs of exhaustion.

  He had calculated wrong!

  Compared to the astounding consumption of before, the ling power used to harvest was pitifully little!

  Pu Yao was laughing at him from the side.

  Just when Zuo Mo felt he would explode and die, suddenly, someone quickly flew over, their voice filled with terror.

  “Shixiong, there’s trouble! Trouble!”

  * * *

  Translator Ramblings: Zuo Mo finally finds a product to tempt people to travel. After more than one hundred chapters, Zuo Mo finally gets Golden Crow Fire.

  Time is so blurry in this story. Fang Xiang doesn’t give time intervals. It’s definitely more than a year since the beginning of the story, but there isn’t much else.

  Chapter 176: Brute Strength!

  “What is it?” Zuo Mo gritted his teeth as he forced the words out one by one through his teeth. He was putting all he could into suppressing the ling power that was rushing through his body.

  Damn it!

  His ling power was like a wild beast that was caught, furiously struggling, furiously charging around to try to break through the layer of imprisonment.

  But his state was not betrayed by Zuo Mo’s zombie face.

  “There’s a Blue Spiked Crocodile that suddenly charged out of the water! It wounded one of the shixiongs … …,” The disciple’s expression was one of panic, but his speech was relatively clear.

  “Go!” Zuo Mo spat out through his teeth.

  He just took one step, and the ling power in his body shuddered. He staggered. The restless ling power in his body made him jump. Disregarding the mocking laughter from Pu Yao inside his sea of consciousness, he hurriedly activated his [Vajra Profound Sutra].