by Fang Xiang
“That is Star Source.” Pu Yao sat on the gravestone and raised his head to look at the ten stars above his head.
“What is Star Source?” This question had always been buried in Zuo Mo’s mind. Seeing that Pu Yao seemed to have intentions of explaining today, he played along and asked.
“Star Source is the origin of the spiritual power,” Pu Yao slowly said. “You can also think of them as the crystals formed from ling power. Don’t you xiuzhe like to talk about how many jing of ling power?”
“Ten star spiritual power?” Zuo Mo asked in response.
“Or you can see them as the springs that birth spiritual power. Ten stars mean that you have ten springs that can produce spiritual power.”
“One time, I saw that these stars could spray out silver star dust. What is that?” Zuo Mo couldn’t help but ask in curiosity.
“What did you say?” Pu Yao suddenly opened his bloody pupil, his spine straightening, changing from his lazy attitude.
Zuo Mo feel slightly terrified under Pu Yao’s bloody gaze. Inside, he wondered if the other had started to go crazy again.
“Is something wrong?” Zuo Mo weakly asked.
After a beat, he saw Pu Yao say dazedly, “The second consciousness … …”
He forcefully shook his head as he refocused. He looked deeply at Zuo Mo. “The stardust that you saw is a purer form of spiritual power. We usually call it spirit dust. These ten stars, bright and dull are different. The brightest star can produce the most star spirit dust, the speed that it produces spiritual power is the fastest.”
Zuo Mo didn’t really understand. Pu Yao didn’t attend to him, and kept on talking.
“What yao cultivate are the laws of the world. All objects in the world all contain the laws of the world, all objects in the world can cultivate their spirit. Stars are just one of them. The path of the stars is profound and cryptic. There are very few yao that walk the path of star spirit cultivation.”
Hearing this, Zuo Mo suddenly had a slightly bad premonition. “What spirit cultivation are you?”
“What I chose is Sky Fire Spirit Cultivation.” Pu Yao smiled, his teeth showing.
Zuo Mo interjected, “Then why am I star spiritual cultivation?”
“Because what you cultivate is [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation],” Pu Yao snickered. “I hadn’t thought that this [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation] is actually a star spirit cultivation. I was fooled by the name.” He muttered in a small voice, “I had expected it was trash, hadn’t thought that it was actually high level, such a loss … …”
An fire suddenly shot up from Zuo Mo’s heart. He was enraged, pointing at Pu Yao’s nose as he swore. “You trash, you gave something you hadn’t tested for ye to cultivate! You actually wanted to use trash to con ye, ye isn’t finished with you … …”
“Don’t be like this!” Pu Yao wasn’t angry, and said, chuckling, “In any case, you didn’t lose. Look, you even managed to cultivate to ten stars. In two years, you’ve gotten to manifestation. This speed is very fast!”
“You you you … …” Zuo Mo pointed, hearing Pu Yao’s heartless words became so angry his finger trembled.
“Do you want to know how to cultivate next?” Seeing the situation, Pu Yao crisply turned to temptation.
“Yes,” Zuo Mo did not hesitate in answering, all his anger flying away.
Pu Yao was not shocked in the slightest by Zuo Mo’s one hundred and eighty degree turn in attitude. This guy was very pragmatic.
“That’s right.” Pu Yao smiled. “I can tell you, and I can give you even more help. But I have a small request.”
“Say it!” Zuo Mo was very familiar with Pu Yao’s conduct as well.
“I want the golden core of the jindan of Clear Sky Sect.”
Zuo Mo was dumbstruck. When he managed to respond, he instantly jumped up. “Are you crazy? Jindan! Go get it yourself if you want it! Run to a little ningmai like myself to say you want the golden core of a jindan, humph humph, the other can turn me to dust with one slap.”
Finishing, he turned and left, waving his hand. “If you want to play, play by yourself, ge won’t play with you.”
Pu Yao’s expression was calm, and not angry, “Add a fifth-grade sword scripture.”
Zuo Mo pretended not to hear, and continued to walk forward.
“Add a fifth-grade movement method.”
Zuo Mo was not moved at all, his steps not changing.
“I’ll make seven more golden armor guards for you.”
Zuo Mo decided to ignore him.
“And another move of [Little Thousand Leaf Hands].”
Zuo Mo instantly stopped his body, and turned to walk towards Pu Yao.
“What to do?”
* * *
Translator Ramblings:
Pu Yao reflects on Gongsun Cha and Zuo Mo. Chun Yu Cheng is not included since he hasn’t shown much yet and that isn’t Pu’s area of specialty. But Pu Yao is also selectively blind about his own role in Gongsun Cha’s development even as he acknowledges influencing Zuo Mo’s development. “Wild” battle generals had to accumulate knowledge and experience through fighting which eliminates all but the most talented so they can out-compete those that were trained by sects and did not have to fight so hard.
Gongsun Cha is getting abused daily by a wise and experienced yao battle general. That is a lot of experience that most people won’t get on a very high level. It’s akin to getting a chess grandmaster to play with all his power daily against a child. Zuo Mo’s support using jinzhi is enough at this point to force compliance from the ranks which means that Gongsun Cha’s learning environment right now is better than any sect since he has motivation through his desire to survive this place.
Pu Yao and Zuo Mo also know each other very well now. Zuo Mo is getting better at negotiating with Pu.
Chapter 213: Ma Fan Reaching Target
Ma Fan felt very troubled.
No matter if it was his ningmai second stratum cultivation or the nameless scripture he cultivated, they made him one of the top practitioners in this group. But to someone as afraid of trouble as he was, this prestige wasn’t a good thing.
He became one of the important prospects to be “nurtured”.
The requirements for his training far surpassed everyone else’s. Everyone looked at him with gazes full of sympathy.
That’s right, it really was sympathy.
The training for everyone was extremely strict, so the training regime of an important prospect, Ma Fan’s, could only be imagined. However, other than sympathy, they did not feel any joy at his misfortunes. They didn’t even have the power to save themselves. Everyone in the camp put all their strength into furiously training. If they did not complete their training, their outcome would be extremely tragic.
On the first day several people did not obey. But now when everyone saw the somewhat feminine, delicate, and shy youth, they could not control the deep terror that came out of their heart. The terrified screams that meant a fate worse than death haunted their ears. The inhuman state of the people who didn’t listen frequently haunted their thoughts. Whenever they thought of it, these people that were used to seeing storms of blood couldn’t help but tremble.
Devious, vicious, and cold-blooded, he thought of a life like grass … …
These words were not enough to describe this seemingly harmless and beautiful youth in front of them. Even the most rebellious person was docile and obedient in front of him.
This handsome youth might be strict, but if you could successfully finish your training nothing would happen. He would never try to punish you for unsubstantiated reasons. He didn’t take your talismans or scriptures. After discovering this point, everyone competed to be first, afraid of being slow, and having to taste that terrible torture that was worse than death.
Ma Fan felt his life was hopeless. Each day was endless training.
Heavens!
How can this be completed?
; It hadn’t been long since he had broken through to the second stratum of ningmai. The ling power in his body was around fifteen jing. The content of his training focused on only one thing, one of his sword moves. That’s right, just the one move. Of the three sword moves that he knew, the strongest was the [Illusory Shadowless Sword of Destruction]. The power of this move was very high. Most important was that it did not cause ling power ripples when it was cast. Without a sound or wind, it never attracted the eye, but it was surprisingly powerful.
In reality, after learning it, he had only used it in combat two or three times before now.
He usually was afraid of trouble, and rarely engaged in combat. If he saw the situation was not right, he would quickly use the illusory movement method to escape.
His training content was just this move. However, it wasn’t so simple. Gongsun Cha had two demands. The first was that he could use this killing move when he was using the illusory movement method. The second was that he had to be able to cast this move three times or more in the span of fifteen minutes. And in one hour, he had to be able to use this move seven or more times.
When he first received the training regime, it was normal for his face to be ugly.
With his present cultivation, if he cast [Illusory Shadowless Sword of Destruction], he couldn’t do it when he was in motion, and could only cast it four times. After casting it, he needed to rest for a while before casting again. This clearly short of Gongsun Cha’s demands.
Ma Fan didn’t know how Gongsun Cha had thought of such a fatal demand. Wasn’t it just asking for his life?
He had once gathered his courage to request Gongsun Cha to change it. What he received was Gongsun Cha’s light words, “Cultivate well, for putting your life on the line is better than losing it.”
When Ma Fan heard this, and his heart instantly became cold. With no other solution, he could only train with his life on the line. From the time he had started his cultivation, he had never cultivated so hard before.
Using the illusory movement method at the same time as the [Illusory Shadowless Sword of Destruction], this was something that he had never thought of before. With no sect, to be able to become a ningmai second stratum, Ma Fan’s talent in cultivation was not low, and his intelligence was not bad. Of course even he could see that if he could use his movement method and sword move at the same time, the power of the move would increase greatly.
But with his personality of avoiding trouble, if he thought of this in the past, he would have gave up after trying a few times.
But now, the blade hung above his neck. If he retreated slightly, his little life would be gone. There was no room to change his current trajectory. He could only push forward.
His ling power was so expended that he almost spat blood, his body was sore and soft that it felt like his skeleton was coming apart. For the sake of his little life, he must cultivate! Cultivate! Cultivate! He had cultivated to the point that he wanted to throw up when he saw a flying sword … …
He actually succeeded!
A flickering figure fluttered uncertainly in the air, and without warning, several explosions suddenly occurred in the air!
Boom!
The ground fifty zhang away from him seemed to have been struck by something invisible, suddenly exploding open, sending dirt flying. The people who had been training near by were alarmed, and put out their ling shields. Pia pia pia, the flying dirt hit the ling shields like rain. Those with weaker cultivation even felt their ling shields shake.
Everyone was shocked!
When they looked at the ground, they saw seven deep holes in a row, each hole that was two zhang deep!
Crashing down through the air, yet still so powerful, if this was someone’s body … …
Their eyes as they looked at Ma Fan instantly changed. This guy definitely had been holding back before! However, some with nimbler minds had happy expressions. Right now, everyone was on the same rope, Ma Fan getting stronger was good for all of them. At least, the probability of keeping their lives was now higher.
———
Gongsun Cha also had a surprised expression .He hadn’t thought that Ma fan would be the first to achieve his demands. In his plan, Ma Fan was the primary attacker, or rather, it was better to say he was the ambusher. With the unpredictable illusory movement method, and the undetectable but powerful [Illusory Shadowless Sword of Destruction] that could kill with one blow, wasn’t he born for ambushing?
It was a pity that while the illusory body movement method was hard to follow, but it was easy for people to guard against, lowering the abruptness of an ambush. If there was a movement method that could completely conceal him, then Ma Fan’s power would be even greater.
Gongsun Cha felt he needed to think thoroughly about how to use Ma Fan to his greatest potential. He may look confident and calm in front of these xiuzhe, but in reality, his mind had been tense from the beginning.
He was a beginner, and had not been trained. Zuo Shixiong trusted him, so Shixiong certainly wouldn’t blame him for making mistakes in the beginning. However, though Gongsun Cha might look soft, he was actually very proud. Would he permit himself to make mistakes at such an important time?
All of his days were spent on these xiuzhe. He had long stopped his own cultivation.
He disliked failure!
———
Ma Fan looked in disbelief at the seven deep holes in front of him on the ground, his mind blank.
He did it … … he really did it … …
Was this really something he had done?
Dazedly landing on the ground, his mind was wandering. He had never thought that he could really do it!
He gritted his teeth and persisted in training because he was forced to; but when he really met the goals which he never could have possibly conceived of before, a different emotion filled his heart.
Looking at the flying sword in his hand, a seed called confidence gradually sprouted in his heart.
———
“Right now, do not create new stars. You cannot bite off more than you can chew. You should spend more time to temper these ten stars, so they will be as bright as your brightest star. The stars are the source of your spiritual power, and the brighter they are, the more spiritual power they produce, especially stardust. The brighter the star, the more pure the star dust they spray out. This alone will be more beneficial to you.”
In meditation, Zuo Mo’s mind had retreated to his sea of consciousness. He sat cross legged facing the stars, a ethereal strand of star light dropping from one of the stars and entering Zuo Mo’s forehead.
As Zuo Mo breathed, the star light brightened and dimmed pleasantly.
Bathing in the star light, Zuo Mo channeled the spell and communicated with the star. Communicating with the star was the first step in tempering it. After this, Zuo Mo needed to find a star home, take in star power, and then use it to nurture the stars in his consciousness to increase the Star Source.
This time, Pu Yao’s teachings were extremely detailed, answering all his questions patiently. He also didn’t drag his heels on what he had promised Zuo Mo, and paid upfront.
After communicating with the star in his sea of consciousness, Zuo Mo stopped his cultivation. Absorbing star power had to be done at night. He spent some time on reading through the good things he had gotten from Pu Yao before he started to think.
The stage of jindan was a stage that every xiuzhe dreamed about that time. At that time, the ling power of the xiuzhe would form into a golden core, hence the name. The golden core was the best parts of the ling power of a xiuzhe. Even the source of their life was inside it. A xiuzhe that lost their golden core would die. In other words, to obtain the golden core of a jindan, one had to kill them.
Kill a jindan!
That really was a crazy idea!
But behind this crazy idea, Zuo Mo had his own considerations. He would definitely have a battle with Clear Sky Sect. This jindan was an enemy he would have to meet
. Zuo Mo didn’t have any thought of being so lucky as to avoid it.
To pass through the jie river, they had to defeat this jindan. That was the lowest goal. Right now, it was just increasing from defeating a jindan to killing a jindan. It sounded shocking, but in reality, there wasn’t much of an increase.
After a jindan was defeated, they would definitely flee. It was better to kill them. If the other escaped, they would never face him directly again. It wouldn’t be difficult for the jindan to wait in the shadows to kill him. If the other went to invite a few of his jindan friends, then this little Zuo Mo would definitely die.
Taking a few hundred people to scheme against a jindan, Zuo Mo felt that he had a slightly probability of victory. But if it was two jindan, Zuo Mo guessed he wouldn’t even be able to escape.
Thinking about it now, no matter if he agreed to Pu Yao’s demands or not, he definitely could not let Clear Sky Sect’s jindan live.
Zuo Mo’s heart was scared. It was lucky that he had agreed to Pu Yao’s request. Otherwise, if he had let the other go after the battle, he would have caused himself many problems.
After thinking it through, the rock in Zuo Mo’s heart instantly landed. People were like this. If they heard the great reputation of the other, it was easy to be intimidated and scared. However, once they understood that there was no other path, even against a god, they would take off a few pieces of flesh.
The effect that Zuo Mo’s personal power could have in this battle was pitifully small. It wasn’t even as high as the three golden armor guards.
Luckily, he was never a person that relied on brute power to eat.
He had a daring idea.
* * *
Translator Ramblings: Ma Fan’s sword technique is so long, four long words plus a preposition. Might be the longest name so far in the story.
