Chapter One Hundred and Fifteen – Exploring the Sword Cave Again
Zuo Mo opened his eyes, the dark gold covering his entire body slowly fading.
If one was to slice peel away Zuo Mo’s skin, they would see that the flesh under the skin would appear have countless slivers of gold embedded in it. The third level of [Vajra Profound Sutra], “Golden Clothing of Flesh”, became deeper each day. The mo matrix seemed to have the greatest pairing with [Vajra Profound Sutra]. Even Zuo Mo was shocked at the progression speed of [Vajra Profound Sutra]. Originally, he had assumed that the gravestone version of [Vajra Profound Sutra] would be slow and steady. Who knew that with the addition of a mo matrix, it dramatically transformed.
Based on this speed, he would soon reach the fourth level of “Red Lotus Flowing Gold”. It was a pity that other than body cultivation, Zuo Mo didn’t know how to use it.
Even though his body was “golden clothing of flesh” and was not easily injured by normal flying sword. But the sorry state he was in when he had encountered the yin fiends last time made him understand that even though his body could not be destroyed, he could do nothing against spiritual attacks.
Zuo Mo felt he was a complete tragedy. He had a gigantic consciousness but didn’t know how to use it; he had cultivated his body to “Golden Clothing of Flesh”, but similarly, he didn’t know how to use it; he knew the attributes of countless materials, but could not forge an acceptable talisman… …
The only thing he felt fortunate about was that he knew how to make formations disks now. He could now use the formations he had learned!
Pu Yao, who had become impatient long ago, nagged, “Start working! Start working!”
He didn’t wait for Zuo Mo to speak up. Throwing out the jingshi a blur, of light, and one person, and one yao disappeared from their spots.
“We agreed. Fifty seriously injured yin fiends,” Pu Yao emphasized, “Alive!”
“I know,” Zuo Mo was extremely conscious that he had to pay what he owed. Even more, he owed Pu Yao. It wasn’t easy to take advantage of Pu Yao.
These past few days, he had made large amounts of all kinds of formation disks and wanted to try their abilities.
“There’s one there,” Pu Yao instantly became excited as he floated towards one corner. Zuo Mo followed in a hurry.
As expected, a yin fiend was silently floating in the corner. Zuo Mo noticed the mist around the body of this yin fiend was denser than last time.
“What’s this? It looks harder to deal with than last time,” He asked Pu Yao.
Pu Yao stared fixedly at this yin fiend with his eyes bright. The only thing lacking was him drooling. Without turning his head he said, “What place is this? The yin fiends absorbed yin energy every day. It’s natural that they grow quickly.”
Zuo Mo muttered in responded, “So that was why.”
This yin fiend was stronger than the last one. It quickly found Zuo Mo, gave a dissonant sound, and then leapt at Zuo Mo.
At the same time a consciousness stab came. However, Zuo Mo was prepared the time. With a snicker he flipped his hand, and he lightly threw out a formation disk!
The formation disk was like it was thrown into the water. The air vibrated and the formation disk disappeared.
The air next to Zuo Mo’s ears shook. The consciousness stab brushed passed him. His heart was joyful. The formation was already effective!
The yin fiend that had travelled not far away from Zuo Mo suddenly stopped in its place, seemingly confused. Due to desiring to see the effect of the formation, Zuo Mo wasn’t in a hurry to attack and circled around the yin fiend. The yin fiend inside the formation didn’t respond at all, and was just turning in circles.
As expected joy could barely be disguised in Zuo Mo’s eyes, I hadn’t guessed wrong!
Pu Yao had told him the requirements for yin fiends to form. Adding on the attack of the consciousness stabs that the yin fiend had used last time, Zuo Mo had deduced that yin fiends were vulnerable to illusory formations. Yin fiends were born from yin energies. Even though they knew how to use consciousness stabs, however their intelligence was low and were easily prey to illusory formations.
The formation he threw out was called [Path Confusion Formation]. It was one of the simplest illusory formations. Its effect was to make others lose track of their position.
Due to the limited materials, Zuo Mo was not able to create a more complex Path Confusion Formation. In real battles, a second-grade Path Confusion Formation wouldn’t be very effective. It basically was not effective against any xiuzhe above the stage of zhuji. Even more so, the Path Confusion Formation released by the formation disk was less powerful.
However, this little and mostly useless Path Confusion Formation successfully trapped a yin fiend.
In an instant, Zuo Mo’s heart was filled with the feeling of accomplishment!
After Pu Yao had said that if he could not increase the storage of ling power, then he should decrease the use of ling power to increase the efficiency of ling power, it had given him great inspiration. What he understood and was skilled at were all low-level spells. Right now, the improvement in his cultivation was extremely slow, and those high level spells and formations all had high demands on ling power. He had been disappointed for a long time, but the mo matrix and yao seed could not be removed. He could not solve the problem of storing ling power, that meant he was destined to work with only low-level spells.
Without any other method, he could only rely on these low level spells and formations. He had a feeling, if he could use them well, low level spells and formations could also release a significant power
Reality proved that he was correct!
As long as the direction was right, a second-grade formation could trap a yin fiend.
It was great motivation that he had been right. This caused him to completely forget Pu Yao. All of his attention was on the trapped yin fiend. He wanted to see how long this Path Confusion Formation that was not even second-grade could trap this yin fiend? This yin fiend, what counterattack would it have?
Seeing Zuo Mo not moving, Pu Yao was slightly dissatisfied, but he suppressed it. He also wanted to see what Zuo Mo wanted to do.
The yin fiend inside the formation gradually became irritable. It could be seen from the boiling yin energy around it. From the time it had been trapped, the yin fiend had released five consciousness stabs, all of them failing to hit anything, and in all directions. This was evidence that the yin fiend had completely lost its sense of direction.
Squeak!
The yin fiend suddenly gave an extremely piercing yell, and from the restless yin energy, there were five grey thin splinters that suddenly shot out!
Bam, a light sound, and the Path Confusion Formation instantly broke. The five grey splinters were not hampered and continued to travel in their path.
Zuo Mo’s expression changed slightly. One of the grey splinters was shooting towards him!
Hurriedly casting a spell, the Moonwater Black Turtle armor’s formation started up. A semi-clear turtle shell shield appeared in front of him. Pew! The turtle shield shook, the light fading but it managed to stop it.
Zuo Mo was shocked. This grey splinter was this powerful! He was extremely clear just how strong the turtle shell defense that the Moonwater Black Turtle armor put out. It had almost been broken. If that had landed on his body, it definitely would have left a bloody hole!
Gritting his teeth, another formation disk appeared on his hand – Dragon Tying formation!
When the formation disk left his hand, it turned to three thin blue chains, and headed for the yin fiend. The five grey splinters seemed to have been harmful to the yin fiend as well. It was drooping at its spot, unable to dodge in time. The three blue chains were like three blue snakes, securely tying it up. Speaking of it, it was strange. This yin fiend was completely made up of yin energy, but these blue chains could tie it like it was tangible, tying it so that it could not move.
Only now did Zuo Mo release a breath.
This [Dragon Tying Formation] was one of the fine formations in the jade scrolls that he had earned. To make this Dragon Tying Formation, he had used up a lot of materials. This was one of the biggest insurances he had this time. He hadn’t thought he would use it so early.
“Do you need be to help?” Zuo Mo calmed down and turned to ask Pu Yao.
“No need,” Pu Yao licked the corner of his mouth and walked towards the yin fiend that was tied up. The yin fiend seemed to be extremely terrified of Pu Yao, furiously squeaking.
Pu Yao was not moved. Walking in front of the yin fiend, he reached with his hand into the yin energy.
There didn’t seem to be any movement but the squeaks of the yin fiend gradually became smaller. The grey yin energy covering the body of the yin fiend was sucked into Pu Yao’s palm at a speed visible to the naked eye. Pu Yao revealed an intoxicated expression, “So long since I tasted something this delicious!”
In the blink of an eye, he had sucked the yin fiend dry.
The three blue chains vanished into the air without a support.
“Oh, there’s still forty nine more!” There seemed to be a new glow on Pu Yao’s face, the smile at the corner of his mouth even more enchanting.
Luckily, Zuo Mo had prepared large amounts of formation disks for this trip to the sword cave. The Dragon Tying Formation was just one of them.
Gradually, Zuo Mo became familiar with the specialties of the yin fiends. The grey splinters was the last life-saving move of the yin fiends. After they used it, they would shrink and become weak. The illusory formations were one hundred percent successful against the yin fiends. Zuo Mo had to sigh that it was wondrous how things in the world would have their weaknesses.
As Zuo Mo became familiar with the yin fiends, his moves became much more skilled.
He spent more time now examining how the yin fiends used the consciousness. Yin fiends were extremely primitive and crude in their use of consciousness, but to Zuo Mo who didn’t know how to use his consciousness at all, it was an extremely valuable experience. When he encountered the tenth yin fiend, Zuo Mo could form a consciousness stab after trying a few times to condense the yin energy into needles. Zuo Mo could skillfully use it after practicing a few times, but he was not very satisfied with the power.
This move could be used as an ambush, but if the other person was prepared, it basically didn’t have any use. The first time, Zuo Mo had been unprepared and that had caused his sorry state.
Pu Yao expressed his usual disdain and mockery.
Zuo Mo then put his attention on the grey splinters the yin fiends released because he found the grey splinters were much stronger than the consciousness stab. Every time, he would push the yin fiend to the limit to get the yin fiend to release the grey splinter for him to inspect. His consciousness was much stronger and larger than the yin fiend. After repeated inspections, he finally understood the gist.
The center of the grey splinter was consciousness, and the outer layer was a dense skin of yin energy. The grey splinter was much more skilled than the consciousness stab. It would use less spiritual power than the consciousness stab but the consciousness stab couldn’t compare to it in power.
Pu Yao’s mood was extremely good. He had ate more than ten yin fiends in a row. There was an additional glow on his face, even the red pupil and the red crystal on his ears became bright and luminous.
In opposition to Pu Yao, Zuo Mo’s mood was terrible.
He spent so much effort to understand what the grey splinter was but he could not use it. Was there anything that would make someone more depressed?
He felt it was not very hard to control his consciousness, but he wasn’t a yin fiend, where would he get such dense and pure yin energy?
The grey splinters must include yin energy for them to be used. Without the available materials, without yin energy, Zuo Mo couldn’t do it.
Wait!
Zuo Mo, who had been following with his head down beside Pu Yao, suddenly felt a light flash across his mind. His feet couldn’t help but stop.
Floating at the front, Pu Yao was slightly surprised. He also stopped and looked back in slight puzzlement.
He coincidentally saw Zuo Mo’s raised eyes, and the glee that could not be disguised!
Translator Ramblings: Zuo Mo makes some progress on his body cultivation. His defenses have now gotten up. But he is still lacking a lot of techniques and knowledge.
