by Fang Xiang
But among this pile of treasures, the three most eye catching were the golden leaf, the Sun Shen Tree, and the inky jade bones.
He didn't know what tree the golden leaf came from. It was entirely golden and made of a weighty material. Every pattern on it was extremely detailed. At the beginning, Zuo Mo thought that this was the leaf of the Sun Shen Tree. But later when he compared, he found the two were completely different. Tens of thousands of years had passed, but the golden leaf still held a faint vitality and it was a marvel.
Zuo Mo held the golden leaf in his hand. Feeling the faint vitality exuded from the leaf, he couldn't help but marvel.
This golden leaf had been placed in a position of great consideration. From a glance, it could be seen that it wasn't anything normal. Yet when he examined it over and over, he could not identify what was special about it.
His mind shifted and Zuo Mo tried to channel a thread of shen power into the leaf.
Boom!
Numerous thoughts rushed into Zuo Mo's mind like a furious flood.
He seemed to have landed in an endless sky of stars. Countless stars spun around him and pulled at him. The thoughts that originated from the ancient era were like the vast and deep stars. At this moment, he lost himself!
The stars changed, and at the empty part of the dark void, an imperceptible light rose.
The light quickly became brighter. In a blink, the light was like the stars that lit up the deep and black sky. It was beautiful.
But this beauty was only condensed for a brief moment. Then the burning light that tore apart the darkness swallowed Zuo Mo up!
Zuo Mo didn't have to time to close his eyes, yet the piercing pain he imagined did not appear.
A cryptic and primitive song floated out of some unknown place but Zuo Mo felt unspeakably close to it. Even though he could not understand, his restless heart calmed when hearing the distant song. Zuo Mo fell into a trance.
As he listened, Zuo Mo suddenly detected that pitifully weak thread of shen power in his body started to circulate in his body of its own accord.
Was this … …
A daring idea appeared in Zuo Mo's mind.
But when his attention slip, the shen power in his body instantly shrunk back like a frightened mouse.
Zuo Mo hurriedly refocused and put his attention back on the song. The shen power inside his body quickly started to circulate again and slowly moved around Zuo Mo's body.
Zuo Mo silently noted down the pathways the shen power circulation took.
This was strange. As expected, this was strange!
The pathways the shen power took to circulate were extremely strange and completely different than the three powers. It did not follow the channels in his body like ling power, nor did it stay in his sea of consciousness like his spiritual consciousness, nor did it become purified between his blood and bone like the mo skills.
The pathways it took included the channels, included the sea of consciousness, as well as his blood and bone, but had innate differences to the mainstream cultivation methods.
Suddenly, a thread of exhaustion rose. The song became even more distant.
Zuo Mo was shocked!
Opening his eyes, the song suddenly stopped. He looked down. The golden leaf in his hand was gradually dimming. Zuo Mo hurriedly examined the golden leaf. He saw that the leaf had dimmed but the thread of vitality on the leaf had not disappeared before he released a breath.
So this was not one-use only!
Good, good!
At this time, Zuo Mo seemed to have learned a bit of this golden leaf's use. It should be a treasure that the Sun Tribe used in the past to record the cultivation methods. From this function, the golden leaf was similar to jade scrolls. However, Zuo Mo had a feeling. It shouldn't just be a "golden leaf jade scroll," it should have other uses.
Compared to the golden leaf, the use of the Sun Shen Tree was much simpler. However, Zuo Mo was stuck with a problem. What grade was the Sun Shen Tree?
It was at least a great treasure of the Sun Tribe and it was called a shen tree. Even the Sun Seeds it produced were extraordinary. It should be at least seventh-grade!
Zuo Mo unconfidently thought.
However, while he was unable to judge the grade of the Sun Shen Tree, this did not stop him from using its power. The Sun Tribe planted Sun Shen Trees to get more Sun Fruits and Sun Seeds. Zuo Mo naturally did not have the patience to guard the Sun Shen Tree for decades.
The wood of the Sun Shen Tree was likely a great material but its exact uses were unknown.
Zuo Mo also didn't bear to use this ancient shen wood that had lived for tens of thousands of years to forge into talismans. It would be a waste.
After some thought, Zuo Mo quickly had an idea.
He flew into the sky and looked around the island. He suddenly headed towards the south end of the island. Not long in flight, he landed on a little mountain top and entered a cavern.
Entering the cavern, the thick fire element power hit him in the face.
There were five fire element caverns on the island. This was one of them. The air was filled with the smell of sulphur. Zuo Mo had a content expression. This fire cavern was connected with earth fire, and was the best place to plant the Sun Shen Tree.
The Sun Shen Temple was connected to earth fire. If it wasn't for the nurturing earth fire, this Sun Shen Tree would not have been able to live for so long!
Zuo Mo carefully took out the Sun Shen Tree.
When the Sun Shen Tree's roots touched the lava rock, the roots suddenly twisted like slender snakes and burrowed into the rock. In front of these soft roots the hard granite was easily penetrated as though it was tofu.
A crimson red light spread at a visible rate from the roots towards the body of the tree.
When the red light reached the topmost part of the Sun Shen Tree, there was a light snap and golden flames erupted out of the tree.
A shocking wave of heat spread outwards.
Zuo Mo could not tolerate it and retreated a few steps. The granite under his feet showed signs of melting. He had a grave expression. His body contained both the Great Day Banded Flame and the Sun Crystal Seed. He had extremely high resistance towards all kinds of flames but he felt burdened in the face of this flame. The strength of this flame was shocking.
At this time, Zuo Mo's expression suddenly changed!
Deep beneath his feet, earth fire was furiously heading towards this direction like a flood!
Damn it!
Without a word, he sprinted towards the outside!
Just as Zuo Mo sorrily flew out of the cave and turned around, he inhaled sharply.
The green flora on the mountain were producing green smoke as they popped and turned to ash. The entire little mountain was bright red. Every piece of rock seemed to have been taken out of the kiln just now and could melt at any moment.
Vast fire element power almost erupted through the restraint of the earth surface.
Zuo Mo's expression changed again!
Damn it!
If he waited for this earth fire to erupt, he would not be able to conceal it.
Even though the Sun Shen Temple had been burned away and the xiuzhe that came to Cloud Sea Jie from different places were gradually leaving, but there were still many xiuzhe who had stayed behind.
If the earth fire suddenly burned the sky at Turtle Island, those with intentions could guess that the masked person in the Sun Shen Temple was him!
Zuo Mo was decisive. No matter what, the eruption could not occur!
But even through the eruption had not occurred yet, Zuo Mo could still clearly feel its power at such a distance.
What could he do?
His gaze at sweeping the surroundings, his eyes lit up.
He had set up the island protecting formation with his own hands. There were two large formations. One was the Yinyang Thunder Cloud Formation, the other was the Meridional Azure Aether Formation.
The Yinyang Thunder Cloud Fo
rmation had been set up when the Ren Family was here. Even though Zuo Mo had planted the Sonic Lightning Walnut at the core and had increased its strength, it still could not compare to the Meridional Azure Aether Formation.
But at this time, using the Yinyang Thunder Cloud Formation was a better choice than the Meridional Azure Aether Formation.
Light flowed on Zuo Mo's hands and lights entered the ground in succession.
Everyone on the island was disturbed by the earth fire and started to gather in its direction. However, when they saw Zuo Mo's movements, they instantly understood what was going on and stopped their movements.
Ten minutes later, everyone from Golden Crow Camp had come. Seeing the situation, their expressions became grave. Under the directions of Master Sun Bao and JI Wei, they quickly prepared to give aid when necessary.
The surroundings were quiet. Everyone quieted their breathing and watched Zuo Mo's actions.
Zuo Mo's hands were moving slowly as though he was pulling something thousands of catties heavy. His expression was extremely serious.
The earth fire in the cavern became even more restless. The granite on the mountaintop started to dissolve. The earth fire could erupt at any moment. The earth fire slowly pulsed. Every time it pulsed, the raging power contained was exposed and caused people's hearts to beat rapidly.
Even Eldest Shixiong Wei Sheng that never lost his composure showed a rare worried expression on his face as his right hand was placed on his sword hilt.
In the sky, Zuo Mo suddenly grabbed at the mountain.
Pew!
A streak of earth fire suddenly shot out of the little mountain like a raging dragon.
Zuo Mo's right hand guided the dragon of fire and it seemed to be forcibly pushed towards the ground. At the same time, Zuo Mo's left hand swiped as he recited.
At this tense moment, Zuo Mo unconsciously used the control method of shen power!
His attention used in three ways!
Pew!
The earth fire was forced back into the ground. Flames flew out. A golden seal script landed from the sky onto the body of the dragon of fire.
The dragon of fire suddenly formed a curving gold seal script line!
Golden Crow Camp was shocked. Just now, they had sighed at the high difficulty of Zuo Mo's move. Even though they tried their best to not make a sound, sharp inhales were clear to hear.
At this time, the earth fire suddenly erupted and advanced following the golden seal line that was produced by the dragon of fire!
Translator Ramblings:
Zuo Mo: Oops, I didn't mean to make a volcano that might destroy my island.
Chapter 509: Inventory II
The brightly burning earth fire continuously sparked as the temperature of Turtle Island quickly increased. Waves of high heat spread into the surroundings.
When the dragon of fire covered the entire red line, the Yingyang Thunder Cloud Formation suddenly activated. Lightning flashed and thunder roared among the cloud layers in an intimidating display.
Just as everyone had released a breath, a bright red cloud of fire suddenly rose out of the little mountain with a muffled bang.
Pia pia pia!
Red clouds rose up from the little mountain and seemed to fly and merge into the cloud layers of the Yinyang Thunder Cloud Formation.
If one looked from the outside, they would find the thick clouds that never dissipated around Turtle Island were becoming red.
Zuo Mo released a breath and so did the other people. The burning waves of heat disappeared and the temperature of the island slowly returned to normal.
The fire clouds were still being produced.
What Zuo Mo did not know was that after his actions, the Yinyang Thunder Cloud Formation was completely transformed. The power of the sonic lightning walnut could not compare to the Sun Shen Tree. Fortunately, thunder and fire were not in conflict so the sonic lightning walnut was not subdued by the Sun Shen Tree. However, the walnut now only made up a very small portion of power in the formation.
Zuo Mo wiped away the sweat from his forehead with lingering fear. From the beginning, he didn't dare to underestimate the power of the Sun Shen Tree but he hadn't thought that he would make such a great mistake. He almost created a great problem.
But they were past it!
Seeing the situation resolved, the people quickly left. No one came over to ask, even Wei Sheng left directly. Zuo Mo would always cause all kinds of situations. People were now used to it. If there was a peaceful period, people couldn't help but wonder how Daren had been so peaceful recently.
The production of the fire clouds slowed but did not stop.
Zuo Mo estimated that the entire process would take several days. Even he did not know what the Yinyang Thunder Formation would look like in the end.
He ended up waiting by the little mountain for the entire process to finish. Bored, he could not resist the temptation and started to inspect his other spoils.
He didn't dare to mess around with the ink jade bones. If he made another ruckus, it wouldn't be enough even if he had another life. However, he found something strange. These ink jade bones were unable to be pieced together into a complete skeleton.
There were three bones missing.
Had he missed one? Zuo Mo was puzzled. He had searched with great care and theoretically, he shouldn't have missed them. Zuo Mo might not know whose bones these were and what they were used for but he had a strong suspicion that these bones, carved from ink black jade, were anything but ordinary.
Zuo Mo quickly threw this riddle to one side and started to inspect his other spoils.
What he got the most of was the Sun Seed from the Sun Shen Temple. Zuo Mo knew they could help him cultivate shen power and also could be forged into "Crow Thorn" which was supposedly extremely powerful. Even Big Brother Qing Lin had been wounded by it, but the problem was Zuo Mo did not know how to use the Sun Seed or how to forge the Crow Thorn.
After flipping for a while, Zuo Mo found to his sorrow that while these ancient treasures were good, but Zuo Mo had no inkling how to use them.
In comparison to those ancient talismans of the Sun Shen Temple that were not useful, what Shen Wu Hai and the others "gave" Zuo Mo could be used immediately. There were many high-quality talismans. Even Zuo Mo who was used to seeing good talismans brightened up when he saw them.
Jade Hook Tree, Blood Script Bell, Corpse Sea Bamboo … …
Any one of these if they were sold on to the market would be priceless!
However, what moved Zuo Mo the most was what he had taken from Shen Wu Hai, who was of Yuanying cultivation, and a Tian Huan Elder. These two qualities meant that his wealth was something that the Old Bamboo Staff Man and others could not rival.
Shen Wu Hai did not have any talisman that was below sixth-grade. Even though they were of different types, all of them were very fine. What Shen Wu Hai felt the most pain over losing was his ring. Inside were the treasures and materials that he had scrounged together over many years and with great effort. They all benefited Zuo Mo now.
Of course, Zuo Mo had his own troubles.
These numerous talismans dazzled his eyes but he could not take them out and use them directly. These were dirty. If someone got even a hint of where they came from, it would be a great calamity to him, much less using them in the open! He also did not dare to sell them. There probably were an unknown number of eyes staring at him. Any trace connection to the Sun Shen Temple would be fatal.
Tian Huan was a titan. It only needed to breathe and he would turn to dust.
Could not use them directly, could not sell them, then there was only one solution—forge them all into new talismans.
Such a vast task!
Zuo Mo gazed at the mountain of spoils and grimaced. Did he profit or lose this time after getting in so much trouble?
———
Just as Cloud Sea Jie's xiuzhe were immersed in the incident of the Sun Shen Temple, in a deep region of the cloud
sea, there was a fissure about ten zhang wide. The inside of the fissure was pitch black without any light.
Suddenly, a tall figure stepped out of the fissure.
After a while, other figures successively walked out.
The leading figure suddenly turned.
"I smell the scent of xiuzhe."
———
Shen Wu Hai crushed the paper crane in his hand with a dark face. Below him, Li Shu hesitated and then carefully asked, "Elder … …"
Li Shu recognized the paper crane. It was a paper crane unique to the sect. Had the sect given them a punishment sentence? Had they said ugly words? Why was the elder so furious?
Shen Wu Hai was a yuanying in the end and good at keeping his composure. With a long exhale, he recovered his normal composure.
"We're returning!"
"Return?" Li Shu stilled and said with disbelief, "We have not found … …"
"There is not time to investigate!" Shen Wu Hai was slightly impatient but still relaxed his tone. "The sect leader is urging us to return! Do not ask this old man the reason, this old man does not know!"
Shen Wu Hai's tone was filled with unwillingness. He had tripped up so greatly this time, and under the eyes of so many people.
How could he accept this?
In these days, he had used all the influence and power that Tian Huan had in Cloud Sea Jie to investigate this matter. What almost drove him crazy was that they had not discovered anything even now. There wasn't a trace to found!
How could he be willing to return, when the sect suddenly ordered them to?
However, Shen Wu Hai was slightly puzzled. The upper management of the sect would rarely interfere with missions. It was the first time he had seen such an nonnegotiable order.
Was it … … that something happened to the sect?
When this thought formed, he erased it. What could happen to the sect? The sect leader had been in his position for over two decades and his position was rock-solid. The other parts of the management occasionally fought for power, but compared to other sects, it was very gentle. They were more willing to immerse themselves into seal scripts.
Even Shen Wu Hai was like this usually. Otherwise, he would not have been able to form the Dark Void Fire.
