Chapter One Hundred and Ninety Eight – What Is The Situation?
After venting his joy, Zuo Mo gradually calmed down. He quickly made a new discovery. His vision had little tiny threads.
What was this?
Zuo Mo’s heart moved and he started using his scripture.
As expected, these strands flowed towards him.
Ling energy!
So that was how ling energy looked in the air! Zuo Mo suddenly realized. Quickly, another question popped up in his head. Then where did the ling energy in the air come from? Ling veins? Then where did ling veins come from… …
Zuo Mo laughed. Not even jindan experts could explain these topics. He was just a ningmai, what was the use in thinking so much?
He brought his attention back to his body. Now that he broke through to ningmai there were many places that needed a reassessment.
If someone asked Zuo Mo what the dominant feeling of ningmai was, then it was the feeling of enough ling power!
The ling power in his body was three times what it had been previously. The feeling of having enough ling power was extremely pleasurable, as though his body was filled with power. The lack of ling power had been his biggest limit before. Now that he had broken through the limit it was an exhilarating feeling. The spells that he could not complete before he could easily cast them now.
This was just the first stratum of ningmai.
He made a rough guess of the ling power inside his body. It was about three jing. When one reached ningmai, the ling power inside the body was measured with a new unit— jing. The ling power of one jing was the ling power contained in a standard third-grade jingshi.
The peak of the first stratum of ningmai was about ten jing.
After that, he would reach a period of steady growth.
The ling power in ningmai was far purer than in zhuji. There was a change of properties in regard to power and control.
Zuo Mo flipped his hands, threads of fire began dancing. In an instant a Four Turn fire formation had taken form. There was none of the previous difficulty. The feeling of ease made it enjoyable for Zuo Mo.
Previously, when he then tried using Li Water Burning Heavens, this move would have taken half of his ling power, but now it was easily accomplished. The flame like water carried a killing intent with it. Zuo Mo, having killed now, had a slight aura of killing that he did not have before. The plentiful ling power flooded through the sword, the water-shaped flame was abnormally detailed.
Ling power was the foundation of a xiuzhe. Without ling power even if one had the best talismans, they could not be used. An example were fourth-grade talismans; to use killing moves with flying swords under fourth-grade, it would usually take one jing of ling power. Zuo Mo was able to use it three times now. In zhuji, he could only just manage it once.
Li Water Burning Heavens was a killing move. Zuo Mo had to almost use half of his ling power to use it one. Now that his ling power was more pure the expenditure was also less. He could easily cast it ten times.
To use an intermediate fourth-grade flying sword to cast a killing move, it would use approximately two jing of ling power.
Good talismans were powerful, but the ling power they consumed were also very terrifying. Not everyone could use them. Only the best talismans were powerful and used little ling power, like the soul-tethered talismans. But those talismans were a matter of luck.
The exhilarated Zuo Mo furiously worked himself.
———
Chun Yu Cheng carefully inspected the butterfly chrysalises in the beast pool. Three butterfly chrysalis silently hung on the wall of the best pool. The patterns on each of the butterfly chrysalis were different. One was multi-colored, another was faint blue, and the last one was grey and nondescript. Of the six infant worms, only three had become chrysalises. This success rate was not very high, but Chun Yu Cheng was not demotivated instead he was full of anticipation.
The transformation process of the three infant larva had been completely different than any he had seen before. From the patterns on the chrysalises, the three ling butterflies would be different types.
This point made him sigh. In his previous experience, he had never encountered this kind of situation. The treatment of the three infant larva had not been different. Theoretically, the mature ling butterflies should have been the same type, and only differed in quality.
The more he studied the beast pool, the more wondrous he found the beast pool.
He still held a grudge about the incident with the Black Wind Bandits. That feeling of helplessness, of only being able to watch, he would never forget in his life. Having been stimulated, he put two hundred percent of his effort into these ling butterflies.
Being abandoned by the sect was not a huge blow to him. He had only been in Wu Kong Sword Sect for a short period of time, and didn’t have a strong sense of belonging to the sect. He knew that many of the shixiong were leaving, but he did not go with them.
After these days, his confidence in Zuo Mo far surpassed his confidence in sects.
Compared to the tragic outlook of other people, he felt this situation was pretty good. At least, Zuo Shixiong would not be restained by the sect, his future prospects may even be better. Gongsun Cha Shidi also did not leave. The three most powerful people in this group were still together.
Those people that left would definitely regret it, he thought.
Quickly, he threw those thoughts far away, his eyes staring at the beast pool.
Sounds of footsteps came over. He didn’t turn around. A head appeared over his shoulder.
“How is it?” Gongsun Cha asked in a low voice.
The two of them chose to stay and their relationship had become close. Gongsun Cha was a butcher, but they hadn’t hunted any ling beasts recently, so he was very idle. Zuo Mo was in seclusion everyday so he only had Chun Yu Cheng’s company.
The duty of taking the tolls landed on Gongsun Cha’s body. This guy looked gentle and refined but his face was thick, his heart dark, and extremely brave. Facing ningmai experts, he wasn’t timid at all, tearing pieces off. The docile Chun Yu cheng could only gape as he watched.
“Soon,” Chun Yu Cheng didn’t dare to move his eyes away, nervousness was apparent in his voice.
Gongsun Cha wasn’t so nervous. He looked in interest at the three chrysalises in the beast pool.
Boop, a light sound. The multi-colored chrysalis was the first to move. It first swayed and then something broke through and made a little hole. Chun Yu Cheng’s gaze became even more nervous.
A dash of multiple colors flashed through the little hole, and a nimble multi-colored butterfly appeared in the beast pool.
Joy came onto Chun Yu Cheng’s face.
Boop boop. Another two sounds. Soon, another two ling butterflies appeared in the beast pool, one grey, one blue.
Thee ling butterflies danced in the beast pool nimbly, but no matter how they flew, they could not fly out of the beast pool.
Chun Yu Cheng’s expression was excited. At the side, Gongsun Cha laughed, and hurriedly reminded, “Take a look!”
Hearing this, Chun Yu Cheng came back to his senses and his hands cast a spell. A dash of light flew out of his hands and accurately covered the multi-colored ling butterfly.
His eyes suddenly widened as though he had seen something he could not believe.
Gongsun Cha hurriedly asked, “How is it?”
Chun Yu Cheng’s lips trembled. He didn’t speak, his hands casting another spell covering another ling butterfly. His eyes that had been wide suddenly bulged, his lips trembling again!
“What is it, tell me!” Gongsun Cha’s curiosity had been stirred and he pressed for an answer.
Chun Yu Cheng still didn’t speak, his lips trembling without stopping like waves. His hands were not very smooth as they cast a spell, stuttering so much that he failed a few times before he succeeded.
Another dash of light flew out and covered the last ling butterfly.
It was like he was struck with a body paralysis curse, suddenly freezing and looking in a daze at the ling butterfly covered in the light.
“Is there a problem?” Gongsun Cha felt his heart was speeding up. He swore inside, damn it, this docile and reliable really guy knows how to whet someone’s appetite!
At this time, he suddenly heard Chun Yu Cheng shriek. He jumped in fright and turned over to face.
Chun Yu Cheng, face bright red, fell backwards like a piece of wood.
This, this … … what was this situation … …
Gongsun Cha gaped at he stood in his spot, not understanding what the situation was.
———
Zuo Mo contentedly came out of the lava cave. Having broken through into ningmai, the insecurity in his heart had lessened greatly. To say of nothing else, just stepping into ningmai, with the aid of the big formation of the Desolate Wood Reef, he wasn’t afraid of ningmai third stratum experts.
If he used some more thought, and forge the five essence sword set, his power would increase a few more fractions.
His howl had alarmed all of the Desolate Wood Reef. The xiuzhe that had been staying on the island instantly understood that Zuo Mo had broken through to ningmai. The xiuzhe that had previously been restless instantly became quiet. No matter how strong the formation was, before people saw it, many did not believe it.
Zuo Mo did not lack for fame, but what was also famous was his zhuji cultivation. In the eyes of the great majority, this point was enough to erase his advantages in other areas.
This was Sky Moon Jie, dominated by sword xiu Sky Moon Jie.
But now, Zuo Mo had managed to fill in the last shortcoming. In the hearts of others, Zuo Mo’s danger had risen linearly. A ningmai xiuzhe who could fight ningmai when he was in zhuji, his danger did not have to be stated now that he was in ningmai.
All of that didn’t have much to do with Zuo Mo. He was hungering after his five essence sword set, but before that, he had to first absorb Golden Crow Fire.
After the Stalagmite fire turned to Inky Black Lava White Fire, it was a third-grade fire seed. However, for the present Zuo Mo, it wasn’t quite enough. After a third-grade fire was used with the Four-Turn fire formation, it could barely process fourth-grade materials. It could barely forge fourth-grade materials like Fox Teeth and Blue Icicle Crystal into sword billets. But if he wanted to forge a flying sword, it was not enough.
For other people, finding a fourth-grade fire seed was as difficult as ascending to the Heavens, but for Zuo Mo, he completely did not have worry about this area.
The amount of Golden Crow Fire on his hands could be counted in double digits.
Golden Crow Fire was a rare fine quality specimen in fourth-grade fire seeds, and was one of the most sought after fire seeds.
But the problem that Zuo Mo faced was a difficult one. Was he to use the pure Golden Crow Fire to replace Inky Black Lava White Fire, or use the Golden Crow Fire as the primary body and merge it with Inky Black Lava White Fire?
Both actions had their advantages and disadvantages.
Pure Golden Crow Fire was undoubtedly strong in its power but its domineering and yang qualities made it so that it could be used to process a smaller range of items. If Inky Black Lava White Fire was added, the power would not be as good as pure Golden Crow Fire, but because it had many qualities it could be used to process a larger range of items. For example, it could process cold and icy items like the Blue Icicle Crystal, but pure Golden Crow Fire could not do that.
It really was a painful problem. Zuo Mo had a headache.
Just at this time, he saw Gongsun Cha pant as he ran over in a panic. Seeing him, the other shouted, “Shixiong, not good! Chun Shidi has fainted!”
Translator Ramblings: Yes, his ningmai breakthrough was simple but does it have to be complicated? Most people do not have very noisy and eye-catching breakthroughs. Think about the waste of energy for all that light and noise.
Only Gongsun Cha and Chun Yu Cheng remain of the disciples that came with Zuo Mo from Wu Kong Sword Sect. Remember, Zuo Mo deliberately picked disciples that hadn’t entered the sect for long and were production xiu. So leaving is the rational decision for these disciples.
We are introduced to the levels of ningmai and the concept of jing. It’s weird how stages in cultivation are divided sometimes, which provides interesting ways that authors play with special talents, equipment, and the attacks. Zuo Mo was able to fight people above his ling power level, because his consciousness and physical strength was stronger which increased his overall cultivation. You could say he has hidden attributes. Putting numbers on each level is sometimes risky because then people wonder how a person gathers energy so much more quickly. For an “in-universe” explanation, you could say that each level is to reach a certain understanding of energies, and the amount of ling power in a body is just a construct used to measure others for their “value” and so they don’t end up provoking someone more than two times as powerful as they are even though they are on the same stage.