Chapter Nineteen Shixiong Wei Sheng
The breeze blew coolly. Again and again, Zuo Mo practised the finger movements. The fingers moved faster and fast, but suddenly, with a crisp sound, the fingers paused and turned into a mess.
This was already the seventh time.
Practicing finger motions today, he wasn’t successful once.
Exhaling a long breath, he supressed the fretfulness in his heart. The finger motions of [The Art of Flora] were complicated. If his mind wasn’t calm, it was easy to make mistakes. But how could Zuo Mo calm down his mind? Two months have passed but he still couldn’t complete one Embryonic breath. That wasn’t what made him most discourage was that he was unable to find the door. Before, no matter if he was studying [Little Art of Cloud and Rain] or the other four spells in the jade stick that he had brought, even if he temporarily could understand, but at the very least, he knew in which direction to work in.
But after he fixed his consciousness using [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation], he couldn’t find the direction. He wanted to spend more time, however, the amount of time spend practising [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation] couldn’t be over four hours. The ball of light hadn’t explicitly stated why it couldn’t surpass four hours but Zuo Mo was suspicious it could cause harm so he didn’t dare to experiment.
According to the directions in the ball, he only needed to stop breathing with the nose and mouth before he would be able to turn to embryonic breathing.
But not matter how he close his breathing, the instinct for living always made him unconsciously open his mouth. He couldn’t even find the feeling of the embryonic breathing.
In the following two months, other than his consciousness recovering to full health, he hadn’t made any new breakthroughs.
In the rest of the time, he could only practise other spells. What was unexpected to him were that the great speeds his ling energy and spellwork improved. Especially his spellwork. Other than [Little Art of Cloud and Rain] and [Art of Aged Gold], in just two short months, he managed to elevate the remaining three spells to the second level.
This kind of speed, even he found it unimaginable.
Other than joy, his heart was also worried. [Embryonic Breathing Spirit Cultivation] hadn’t improved at all. There was only one month left until the three month deadline. Whether a reversal of blood flow was as horrifying as Pu Yao said, he wasn’t clear, but any of the feelings he got from the four words were not good ones. He tried to ask for aid from Pu Yao, but Pu Yao’s sneer instantly provoked him.
For some unknown reason, he was easily enraged in front of Pu Yao.
The ling grains had a bountiful harvest. Compared to the other shixiong, the output of his ling grains were clearly higher. In the disaster last time, even though his ling grains were affected, but the situation had been much better than Old Black and the others. After that, he basically didn’t try to conceal it. [Art of Flora], [Art of Earth Energy], [Art of Aged Gold] were all used. Only [Art of Crimson Flame], due to the fact that it was opposite the yin attribute of the ling grains, was not used.
Adding on the five mu of ling fields in the yard, the overall output far surpassed his estimates.
Taking out the rent for the sect, he kept a portion of the ling grains for his own use before selling all of the rest. His income was sixty two pieces of second-grade jingshi. Adding on the fifteen pieces of second-grade jingshi from last last time from Li Ying Feng, his total assets now totalled seventy seven pieces of second-grade jingshi. The reason that he had profited so much was that the price of ling grains were increasing.
Even Old Black, so seriously affected by the calamity, had enough to pay the sect’s rent. It could be seen just how much the price of ling grains had grown on the market.
And the other thing that made Zuo Mo worried was Hao Min Shijie and Luo Li Shixiong. Up until now, those two still hadn’t returned to the sect. In the past few days, he had found that some of the ling herbs in the medicine fields of Cold Mist Valley were showing hints of illness. Taking care of ling herbs was an extremely meticulous job, much more care was needed than taking care of ling grains. His own [Little Art of Cloud and Rain] could only guarantee their water intake. From the perspective of the plant, this was just its most basic requirement.
In the short term, nothing could be seen, but as time passed, it was easy for problems to occur.
At present, he was hard pressed. His purse had become the fullest it had ever been yet he didn’t have any joy.
The dammed [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation]!
The horrid Hao Min Shijie and Luo Li Shixiong!
And the twice-accursed Pu Yao!
Why was it that ge has such a kind heart yet have to face such evil? He wanted to cry.
In the previous few days, other than [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation], he spent all of the other time on [Art of Aged Gold]. In the five arts that a ling plant farmer required, at least three had to reach the third level. Zuo Mo’s [Little Art of Cloud and Rain] had already reached the fourth level. And in the four remaining arts, the one most likely to reach the third level was [Art of Aged Gold].
Today, he didn’t have the mood to practise [Art of Aged Gold]. He widened his eyes, frantically running over every word in [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation] in his head. If his face could have expressions, then right now it would be twisted into a ball.
One month!
Only one month left!
Biting the corner of his lip, he carefully thought over every word. Pu Yao was still sneering. This completely aroused the stubbornness in Zuo Mo’s bones.
The damned bastard!
By now, he finally understood why he was easily provoked in front of Pu Yao. Pu Yao could easily tear away a person’s disguise. He would explicitly or implicitly guide the other’s emotions and expose the other’s most basic personality. And once he knew that, to someone of such cunning like Pu Yao, swearing wouldn’t really provoke him, Zuo Mo didn’t try to restrain his own emotions anymore.
If he couldn’t vent, he felt that he would, under the damned renyao’s attacks, die!
As to suffering a little, he didn’t care. Even if he was obedient, would Pu Yao be kind to him? That would be clear even if one used a toe to think. It was better to get some back verbally, and he would feel better.
Ge is a little stalk of grass, no matter how you blow, you can’t blow me down!
Thud thud thud!
A series of urgent knocks sounded.
“Little Mo ge, Mo ge!”
It was Old Black, why did he come?
Zuo Mo controlled his fretful heart and stood to open the door.
Opening the door, as expected, it was Old Black’s wind-blown face, but there was a unfamiliar male standing beside him.
Seeing Zuo Mo, Old Black released a breath: “Oh good, you’re here!”
Finishing, he introduced the male beside him: “This is Wei Sheng Shixiong.”
Wei Sheng. Zuo Mo was slightly shocked. This male stranger in front of him was the head of the outer sect disciples, Wei Sheng. He couldn’t help staring an examination. Not very tall, thick and broad shoulders, square face, thick brows. He looked extremely honest, but the flickers of light that occasionally came from the pair of eyes made one unable to underestimate him.
“Wei Sheng Shixiong!” Zuo Mo made a greeting. Wei ShengShixiong rarely showed his face outside but his reputation within the outer sect disciples was extremely high. To have good relationships with this kind of person, there were only benefits and no drawbacks.
Wei Sheng scrutinized Zuo Mo for a few seconds and returned the greeting, smiling warmly and responding: “Zuo Mo Shidi is really hidden deep.”
Zuo Mo was slightly shocked but he wasn’t too surprised. Wei Sheng Shixiong’s cultivation was higher than him. His mouth was humble: “Shixiong over-compliments. Come, let’s come in to talk.”
The three walked into the yard.
Wei Sheng gazed at the surroundings and praised: “Such a big yard!”
And Old Black’s two eyes were rooted to the ling fields in the yard. A beat later, he said, vexed: “Why didn’t I think of this way! Isn’t this exempt from the rent?”
Zuo Mo smiled, saying: “I’m just taking advantage. I don’t know which shixiong built this yard, and put in five mu of ling fields. But it was a pity that it was barren for two long, the grade dropped one. One grade ling fields, at least it’s better than nothing.”
Old Black gave a sorrowful expression: “Such a pity to waste the good ling fields.”
Zuo Mo didn’t speak. He didn’t know if it was that Old Black had farmed for too long but towards ling fields, Old Black had an unique affection.
“Even the yard is all ling fields. Zuo Mo shidi really lives up to being a farming madman. It seems that I found the right person this time.” Wei Sheng added.
The three sat down under the old tree. Zuo Mo quickly boiled a pot of tea. His [Art of Crimson Flame] was only on the first level, and he could only form a small ball of fire which wasn’t very useful. But it was convenient to use to lit fires.
“Shixiong was looking for me?” Zuo Mo didn’t decline and headed straight for the main topic: “Have you encountered something? Shixi might be limited in cultivation, but if I can add in an effort, I will certainly do so.”
Wei Sheng didn’t stand on courtesy: “Coming this time, it really is to trouble Shidi with something.” He carefully took out from his bosom a jade box. Opening the jade box, a flow of extremely thick ling energy wafted out, a stalk of ling herb inside. This ling herb was about thirty centimeters long, leaves fire red, a black line running through. Contrasting against the red leaves was a completely green fruit.
If the muscles on his face weren’t paralyzed, Zuo Mo’s expression would have been very rich. The ling plant that he couldn’t name was shockingly thick with ling energy. He cautiously took it up, putting it in front of his eyes for examination. The ling plant seemed to have been carved out of a piece of red fire jade, translucent and glowing.
Definitely third-grade and above!
In this segment of time, as he helped Hao Min shijie take care of the medicine fields in Cold Mist Valley, his knowledge in the subject of ling herbs broadened greatly. He might not be able to call out its name, but from the appearance and the ling energy it emitted, it was better than most of the ling herbs in Cold Mist Valley.
“This Fire Dragon Grass, its grade is a rare third-grade, and was very hard to find.” Wei Sheng’s expression was solemn: “There is still a length of time before I reach zhuji. In this time, I ask for Shidi to help take care of this fire dragon grass for me.”
“Take care?” Zuo Mo was surprised. His response was extremely quick, “Is Shixiong using this fire dragon grass to zhuji?”
If Wei Sheng didn’t say this was fire dragon grass, Zuo Mo probably wouldn’t have recognized it. Was it because it was third-grade? This fire dragon grass was very different from the one in Zuo Mo’s memory.
“Yes.” Wei Sheng nodded, his face calm.
At the side, Zuo Mo and Old Black couldn’t help but give an admiring look. There were many ling herbs that were required for zhuji, but only a few of the primary herbs were the crucial ones. Fire dragon grass was one of them but not the best choice because it needed to be consumed raw and its effects were violent. Someone without great willpower might not be able to endure the violent nature and cause the ling energy of the body to dissipate. These years, there were very few that would use it to finish zhuji.
However, even though fire dragon grass was akin to a poison, but if one overcame it, it was extremely beneficial to the cultivation. The effect was much better than normal ling herbs.
But third-grade fire dragon grass, think how violent the effects would be!
In just a few words, Zuo Mo felt respect form for this shixiong that he just met for the first time. He had heard some of the rumors about Wei Sheng Shixiong. Supposedly, Shixiong had been orphaned from young. After he was taken into the sect, he was entranced with cultivating the sword. In order to learn a better sword art, he didn’t even hesitate about going to Luo Li Shixiong’s place to be a sword servant.
Meeting him today, Zuo Mo found that Wei Sheng Shixiong lived up to the rumors.