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

by Fang Xiang

  Theoretically, there was a level of strength between the two. Xie Shan was ningmai third stratum, and Ma Fan was just ningmai second stratum. However, from the battle, it did not seem like a battle between two opponents of different power levels.

  Xie Shan had never seen the confidence and determination that Ma Fan showed in another person. Was this what it was to be the core?

  Each of Ma Fan’s blows would create many fake illusions that dazzled the eyes, but what shocked Xie Shan right after was that the afterimage of each sword energy did not disappear, but howled as they shot towards Xie Shan as though they were tangible!

  Sword essence!

  Ma Fan actually also comprehended sword essence!

  The last thread of underestimation in Xie Shan’s heart disappeared. He did not use his full power, but he was also clear the other also had killing moves.

  A ningmai second stratum was able to match him. Xie Shan couldn’t help but feel slightly bitter inside.

  The multicolored aurora and the intangible sword shadows flew into the sky. There were continuously sounds of explosions but were controlled to an extremely small area, sounding like corn popping.

  The xiuzhe in the camp had all stopped, turning their faces up to watch the fight. Everyone had an excited expression. One was the definite core of the troop, one was the xiuzhe with the highest cultivation of the camp. The battle between the two was the strongest collision!

  In the sky, a multicolored ball of light dozens of zhang appeared. Inside the ball of light, it was tightly packed with multicolored sword energies and illusory sword energies, the figures of Ma Fan and Xie Shan flickering in and out of sight.

  Gasps rose at the ground. The two had displayed extremely high control to have suppressed the sword energies to such a narrow space. Inside the light ball, the ling power and sword energy density had reached a terrifying level. Any consciousness that wanted to peer in would be torn to shreds.

  Everyone’s hearts reached their throats. What was the situation like inside?

  No one would have thought inside the ball where sword essences were blowing and killing intent was spilling, the two people were chatting and smiling.

  ———

  “What’s the situation?” Xie Shan said with a smile.

  Ma Fan praised Xie Shan inside. The two had never cooperated before. Xie Shan was very strong to be able to detect his intentions.

  He didn’t waste words. “There’s a person crouching in the reeds.”

  “Oh.” Xie Shan was very surprised. He had carefully inspected the surroundings when Ma Fan had asked him for a spar, but had not found anything. He did not doubt Ma Fan’s skill. Gasping on the inside, his expression became serious. “What do you plan on doing?”

  “Kill!” Ma Fan did not hesitate in saying.

  Xie Shan was shocked at Ma Fan’s viciousness. A normal person would first think of capturing the enemy alive in this kind of situation in hopes of obtaining useful knowledge through interrogation. He hadn’t expected that Ma Fan didn’t think before he said to kill the other.

  He did not object, and said briskly, “Okay.”

  “I’ll flee and you’ll chase in the direction of the reeds.”

  ———

  The people on the ground saw a figure suddenly break through the ball of light, the sword essences that made up the light ball collapsing. Sword energy pieces that could not be countless lost control, and shot into the surroundings!

  The surrounding crowd jumped in right and took up their flying swords to block these sword energy pieces. These sword energy pieces might look broken and scattered, but in reality, they were extremely sharp and deadly.

  As the ball of light dissipated, Xie Shan’s hands were covered in a five colored light.

  A multicolored sword about half a zhang wide, and three zhang long appeared above Xie Shan’s head.

  “Go!”

  Xie Shan’s hands suddenly closed together, the enormous aurora sword turning to a thick multicolored light that shot at Ma Fan in the air!

  As the enormous aurora sword appeared, the expressions of those on the ground changed slightly.

  The terrifying presence spread by the enormous sword made everyone feel shock! When it turned into a stream of light, the entire sky seemed to change color.

  Ma Fan was in danger!

  Just as Ma Fan appeared to have been hit by the flowing light, he suddenly disappeared.

  Impossible!

  The sword essence of the enormous sword was very dense. If it had locked on, it was an extremely difficult matter to escape. Any kind of movement method would be slowed, no matter how short the pause would be.

  But Ma Fan did not show any pause. He disappeared in the air!

  Having lost the target, the enormous sword light rushed at the reeds!

  A grey shadow suddenly shot out of the reeds and moved to escape.

  The enormous sword made an unexpectedly nimble turn in the air and charged at the grey figure.

  The grey figure stilled slightly. He felt a bone-aching sword essence pressuring him in from all side. The enormous sword essence had tightly locked onto him!

  Damn it!

  Shocked, he channeled all the ling power in his body towards the flying sword and aimed it at the streaming sword light! With this attack, his own flying sword would undoubtedly be destroyed.

  He didn’t have the time to mourn. He suddenly saw a grey flying sword silently appear at his side.

  His pupils suddenly expanded, his heart dropping in an instant.

  He ferociously bit through his tongue, a flush of blood flashing on his face as he spat out a bloody arrow!

  If he could stop this attack, he could escape!

  The other did not seem to have any intentions of dodging, the second flying sword welcoming the arrow of blood. A joyous expression came onto his face. This arrow of blood was his secret life-saving method. It was extremely powerful! If the other wanted to meet it head on, it would definitely stop the enemy for a few moments.

  Pia!

  A clean and crisp collision, the joy on his face froze.

  Everything in his vision became so slow, he could see it with the utmost clarity. The arrow of blood collided with the flying sword, the expected retreat did not occur.

  The arrow of blood was turned to a handful of bloody mist, a cloud of dust-sized blood droplets that flashed in front of his eyes as beautiful as a painting.

  A flying sword emerged from the bloody mist and entered his body.

  It was as though he was hit with a thirty-thousand-catty hammer. A bloody mist floated out of his body, the surroundings moved backwards with astonishing speed. A last thought flashed through his mind

  –––– Such a heavy sword!

  * * *

  Translator Ramblings: The cast page has been updated but I forgot to include the pets this time. Thank you for your comments.

  Ma Fan is becoming someone that doesn’t find trouble troublesome anymore. All of this is due to Gongsun Cha who has really shifted his attitude around. Ma Fan is obvious as the teacher’s pet. Xie Shan is powerful, and he’s trying to find a way to carve his own spot into this group. The events of this chapter are an exercise in teamwork.

  Chapter 229: Formation Breakthrough

  When Lil’ Pagoda led Zuo Mo into a storeroom, he was dumbstruck.

  Inside the storeroom, the piles of Rotten Metal Silver were like mountains. Other than the Rotten Metal Silver ore, there was a little pile of ore of various colors.

  “Where did this come from?” Zuo Mo pointed at the little pile and asked Lil’ Pagoda.

  Lil’ Black shot and climbed up to his hands, furiously waving its pair of antennae. Zuo Mo instantly understood. So it was Lil Black. He complimented, “Lil’ Black is very smart!” He put a lingdan on his palm. Lil’ Black used its forelimbs to grab the lingdan and cheerfully climbed away.

  Lil’ Pagoda was connected in mind with Zuo Mo. He could feel Lil’ Pagoda’s intentions of want
ing credit. As he saw its round and chubby body swing and tremble, he instantly grinned.

  Feeling Zuo Mo’s happiness, Lil’ Pagoda was even more smug, twirling around Zuo Mo, shaking its body so the gourds on the eaves rang.

  Silly Bird was full of pride, but her eyes were staring greedily at the lingdan that Lil’ Black was pinching. Gulp, the throat visibly swallowed. Zuo Mo coincidentally caught it, and instantly roared with laughter, pointing at Silly Bird and mocking, “You glutton!”

  Zuo Mo was not angry, and threw two lingdan at it. Silly Bird easily picked them up in her beak, shook the feathers on her body, and, without a trace of shame, proudly left.

  After he finished laughing, Zuo Mo looked at the mountainous piles of ore and felt a dilemma.

  After making the Black Processing Meditation mats, his need for Rotten Metal Silver had instantly decreased. However, if he didn’t use the large amount of ore that was piled up here, then it was such a waste. The grade of the Rotten Metal Silver was not high, but it was a frequently used material. But if it was to be smelted and purified, it wouldn’t take just a while to finish with such a large pile. It was not worth it to spend the time.

  Zuo Mo quickly thought of a solution to roughly process the ore.

  He would make billets of Rotten Metal Silver, and then forge them again when it was time for them to used. Metal billets would not take as much space as raw ore. Zuo Mo had to consider the amount of space his dimensional ring had. The other reason was that he could use formations to do rough forging which saved time.

  Zuo Mo had never seen formations used specifically for forging, but it did not stop him from making such a decision.

  As his comprehension of formations deepened, Zuo Mo’s confidence increased. It was undoubtedly an extremely interesting matter to do something that had never been seen before. He decided to make a large formation that could forge all of the Rotten Metal Silver ore into billets.

  Rotten Metal Silver was a third-grade material, and it was not hard to smelt. It did not require Golden Crow Fire. Zuo Mo did not plan on using Golden Crow Fire. Golden Crow Fire might be pure, but there was not enough, especially to smelt so much ore at once.

  The fire formation Zuo Mo chose was of course not a low level formation like Li Fire Formation, but a fourth-grade fire formation called [Jade Flame Formation]. [Jade Flame Formation] could produce green flames that were more than enough to smelt the Rotten Metal Silver ore.

  However, it was the first time Zuo Mo was working with so much ore. He needed to carefully consider how to set it up.

  ———

  Pu Yao and Gongsun Cha were fiercely fighting in War Chess.

  To let this person and yao play War Chess anywhere, Zuo Mo remade the War Chess again. The excuse was to make it a leveling kind of game. Then he threw it to Gongsun Cha. Gongsun Cha guessed it, but was happy to play stupid. In any case, he just wanted to play War Chess with the mysterious person.

  Without anything to do, Pu Yao was naturally willing, especially when he saw how smug Zuo Mo was recently, he became very discontent. His [Golden-Wing Great Roc Matrix] did not produce the effect he predicted. Pu Yao vented all his displeasure onto Gongsun Cha.

  The pitiful Gongsun Cha, having just managed to make an acceptable three section wave killing charge and just as he reached the level of being able to use ten soldiers to kill five of Pu Yao’s soldiers, Pu Yao, without a second word, directly put out a new killing move – the interlocking wall style defense formation that was specially made to defeat the three second wave killing charge.

  Consequently, Gongsun Cha was defeated by Pu Yao so badly he couldn’t find which way was north.

  Gongsun Cha was so abused that he wanted to die. He gritted his teeth with red eyes as he started the game again.

  Feeling that he had not vented the displeasure inside, Pu Yao did not hesitate in accepting.

  Twelve matches, Pu Yao used twelve different tactics. Each time, Gongsun Cha’s forces were completely obliterated, not one soldier remaining.

  ———

  Even if Gongsun Cha was extremely hardy, and did not falter, he had been killed to the point that his face became green. When he returned to the camp, Gongsun Cha’s black face, and the terrifying pressure and coldness exuded by him made everyone shudder, their little hearts jumping rapidly.

  Gongsun Cha slightly raised his head. On his handsome face, there was a small dark smile.

  The camp instantly became deathly silent.

  At night, Gongsun Cha found Zuo Mo. “There was someone spying on us today, he was killed.” He looked full of energy, without any of the displeasure and darkness he had during the day.

  “Did you find who it was?” Zuo Mo stopped what he was doing.

  “A subordinate of someone called Venerable Chi. Xie Shan recognized him,” Gongsun Cha said unconcernedly. “Supposedly, he has about one hundred people.”

  “They have intentions towards us?” Zuo Mo felt slightly surprised. It was the first time he had encountered someone that had tried to find trouble with them of their own accord.

  “Maybe they feel that we pose a threat,” Gongsun Cha pondered as he rubbed his chin.

  “Why don’t we fight?” Zuo Mo probed. He was very surprised. Gongsun Cha was a battle maniac, but speaking up until now, he still hadn’t mentioned fighting.

  “The group has progressed very quickly recently. It’s best to wait a while longer,” Gongsun Cha explained. They had enough jingshi at the moment, and did not need to rush.

  Zuo Mo also understood. After the formations had been carved, the equilibrium of their bodies had been broken, the growth of ling power had increased. This situation would continue for a while longer until they reached a new equilibrium.

  He suddenly thought of a wonderful idea. “I have a way for them to quickly increase strength.”

  Gongsun Cha hurriedly asked, “What way?”

  “But there is a possibility of injury.” Zuo Mo hesitated.

  “That isn’t a problem!” Gongsun Cha said in a normal tone of voice.

  ———

  Everyone smelt something different when Boss came to the camp again. Even though everyone was training hard, but secretly, they were all paying close attention to Boss and Lil’ Miss.

  Thinking about the inhuman treatment they had received yesterday afternoon … …

  Even Ma Fan, the core who usually received the best treatment, couldn’t help but shake.

  A nightmarish memory!

  They saw Boss start to work at a corner of the camp. Pieces of materials appeared in Boss’ hands and then quickly turned to streaks of light that entered the ground.

  So he was making a formation. Their hearts landed. Everyone knew that Boss was skilled in formations.

  Maybe Boss felt the camp was not safe enough after the spy had come yesterday!

  However, many people felt that Boss’ caution was unwarranted. These recent days, they had detected their improvement. After two consecutive victories, two victories where they were fewer in number than the enemy, their confidence had exploded. The effect of the three formations were too evident. Many people wanted someone to come to their doors so they could try it out.

  Zuo Mo worked for half a day before finally standing up in satisfaction.

  He took out his five essence sword set. The five flying swords of different colors spun restlessly in front of him. Looking at the five flying swords, he felt something that he didn’t know how to describe. After the five essence sword set had been completed, he had never used them in battle. Now, he was using them to make a formation.

  He was using the five essence sword set to make a formation as he suddenly recalled the sword essence formation when Gongsun Cha said the group was in a period of increasing strength.

  The sword essence formation of the sect had many transformations, and had been incredibly effective to the growth of his strength, especially his understanding of sword essence.

  The group of people under his comman
d were growing their ling power. If he could give them some pressure, it was beneficial for their progress. When Zuo Mo discovered that only five people of the one hundred or so had comprehended sword essence, it strengthened his thinking.

  It had not been hard for Zuo Mo to comprehend sword essence. At Wu Kong Sword Sect, both Wei Sheng Shixiong and Luo Li Shixiong had comprehended sword essence. In the Sword Test Conference, the majority of competitors had comprehended sword essence which had caused Zuo Mo to unconsciously feel that it was not a very difficult matter to comprehend sword essence.

  How could one not comprehend sword essence?

  With the five essence sword set as the core, and adding on some necessary formations, it was the weaker version of the sword essence formation.

  Other than adding pressure to the people, it could also help them comprehend sword essence. Sword essence was shapeless, everyone’s sword essence was different. Many things could only be understood and could not be passed on in speech. It was better to throw them into a place full of sword essence. Even if he could not guarantee that they could definitely comprehend sword essence, but it could greatly increase the possibility they could comprehend sword essence.

  As to injuries, Gongsun Cha who thought of life like grass didn’t care, how could this bunch that lived so dangerously care?

  The entire formation took up seven or eight mu. When the formation took form, sword essence dominated, and killing intent was dense. In the sky above the formation, a black cloud formed, thunder and lightning occasionally occurring. People’s hearts shook.

  When they saw Gongsun Cha’s faint smile, their hearts sank.

  ———

  Zuo Mo had gained great inspiration from the creation of the sword formation. When he finished, he ran to the storeroom to start to set up the formation to smelt the ore. He didn’t move the ore, using the storeroom as the dan cauldron and started to set up formations.

  Many of the rules and restrictions now flew away. He felt free and unrestrained. Spells and materials flowed from his hands, flying into the walls of the storeroom as though they had eyes.

  He was completely in a trance, his mind open. Every detail of the formation continuously floated up into his mind. It seemed that just as a thought would appear, the spell on his hands would finish!