Chapter Two Hundred and Sixty Three Zuo Mo’s Determination
Hearing Pu Yao’s words, Zuo Mo’s mind became alert. He pretend to accidentally glance at the female xiu before secretly entering the sea of consciousness.
“What solution?” Zuo Mo asked straightforwardly. However, when he saw Pu Yao, he stilled. Pu Yao wasn’t sitting on the gravestone like he usually did but sitting in front of it.
Weren’t these two at odds?
Suspicion flashed across Zuo Mo’s heart, but his attention was quickly attracted by Pu Yao’s words.
“I know what you are worried about.” Pu Yao’s thin lips curved in an enchanting smile.
Zuo Mo was slightly distracted by a nonsensical question in his mind. Why was everyone around him so evil and feminine? Even Gongsun Cha seemed to be progressing towards abnormal now. The strong girl that had appeared was also very evil.
Pu Yao seemed very confident. “It is a pity to waste jingshi on their body.”
Zuo Mo rolled his eyes upon hearing this. “Just say the solution, don’t waste words.”
“Hee hee.” Pu yao wasn’t moved, his bloody pupil narrowing slightly. “Why don’t you consider making them cultivate mo?”
“Cultivate mo?” Zuo Mo instantly froze.
“Exactly, cultivate mo,” Pu Yao smiled. “The ling energy of Little Mountain Jie is corroded, but that doesn’t affect mo cultivation. This group of xiu slaves have just entered lianqi, and their cultivation is rough. It would not be difficult for them to switch to mo cultivation. Also, cultivating mo does not require ling energy, and you do not need to use up jingshi.”
Zuo Mo’s interest was stirred by Pu Yao’s suggestion. He asked with curiosity, “How to cultivate mo?”
“There are mo skills,” Pu Yao said in a matter of fact tone.
Hearing this, Zuo Mo was furious. He jumped off the ground, pointing at Pu Yao’s nose and swearing, “Ha, you do have mo skills! What did you say in the past to ge? You said you didn’t have mo skills, making ge practice [Sky Wave Fist Scripture]! Now you run out and say you have mo skills, you were fooling ge!”
Pu Yao was speechless.
The matter of cultivating mo was quickly finalized. Pu Yao took out a set of mo skill called [Hardship Guard].
“The previous version of [Hardship Guard] was a mo skill called [Hardship Abyss]. It was first created by a heart-addicted monkey. He was born very weak and untalented. He could not cultivate the [Heart Addiction] mo skill of his clan. After many troubles, he personally created [Hardship Abyss], and in the end, cultivated to the rank of mo general. Later, this mo skill landed in the hands of a king. He changed the [Hardship Abyss] and bestowed it to one of his personal guards. This mo skill therefore changed its name to [Hardship Guard].
Pu Yao proudly introduced.
“The greatest specialty of this mo skill is that it is suitable for mo that do not have outstanding talents. Oh, this group of xiu slaves is very well suited. Hmph, hmph, in any mo jie, this mo skill is high level stuff. It can sell for a good price. These xiu slaves really picked up a bargain.”
After Zuo Mo finished reading [Hardship Guard], he jumped in fright. Unless one had great endurance they couldn’t cultivate this mo skill, much less to a high level. Mo skills were based on hard work and persistence. The person that made this mo skill really was perverse!
He had originally been thinking if he could cultivate it. After reading it, Zuo Mo decided to give up. This wasn’t something anyone could cultivate.
Pu Yao understood Zuo Mo’s misgiving.
“Normal people aren’t suited to cultivate this, but these xiu slaves have encountered many obstacles and hardships in their life so they are actually very suited to this mo skill. In any case, you just don’t want them to use jingshi right now.”
Zuo Mo agreed with Pu Yao. In any case, he wasn’t hoping that these xiu slaves would accomplish anything.
The xiu slaves were reorganized into a camp called the Guard Camp. Zuo Mo counted one thousand people. He passed down the first chapter of [Hardship Guard] and picked a few xiuzhe to supervise them before going back to his city construction work.
———
After a few days when Gongsun Cha returned with eight hundred captives, Zuo Mo finally released a breath. The two exchanged a few words before they attended to their own matters. Zuo Mo had to build the city, Gongsun Cha had to organize the captives and make new groups, and consolidate what he learned etc.
The preliminary structure of the Golden Crow City caused everyone, including the captives, to feel excitement and anticipation.
After continuous construction, the formation battle watchtowers of Golden Crow City reached thirty six in number. They were tightly packed together, pointing towards the sky like sharp swords. Looking at these formation battle watchtowers that rose above the city walls, everyone was filled with the feeling of safety.
The completion of thirty six formation battle watchtowers meant that the xiuzhe of the camp could start to move in.
Wei Cheng Bin followed Master Ji Wei into Golden Crow City, his expression excited. As he stepped into the city, a feeling of warmth surrounded him, feeling like he was soaking in the sun. The people in the surroundings sighed in amazement.
“What formation is this? It is so wonderful!”
“Comfortable, way too comfortable! Even if you kill me, I won’t return to that mountain cave!”
“Worth it, it’s worth it even if I die now!”
… …
Hearing the discussion around him, Wei Cheng Bin suddenly felt his nose was sore and almost cried. He hurriedly lowered his head to disguise his state. When he raised his head, what he saw was a flash of tears at the corner of Master Ji Wei’s eye.
For people like him, the Golden Crow City in front of them was the final dream in their hearts!
One after the other, the formation battle watchtowers covered in complex formations scripts appeared in their vision, causing them to sigh in amazement again. Everyone’s hearts was instantly comforted. The enormous group of formation battle watchtowers seemed to be announcing their power and gave them a strong feeling of safety.
“Alright, move quickly!” Master Ji Wei bellowed at the top of his lungs to wake the group of people up. “We need to go first build the places we will be living in. Otherwise, we need to return to the cave tonight. Which one of you wants to return?”
Of course, no one was willing so everyone hurried to start building.
The xiuzhe that knew earth element spells usually were also skilled in building houses. The xiuzhe of the forging division were never properly educated. Many of them had a pretty good earth element spell.
“Everyone work hard! Let’s try to finish before dusk so we can have a little fun tonight.” Master Jie Wei waved his arms with excitement.
———
As Zuo Mo had already divided out the different living districts beforehand, the camp was naturally the most important part. Gongsun Cha first needed to reorganize the numerous troops under his command. He didn’t interfere with the Guard Camp. He didn’t understand the things Shixiong was doing with the Guard Camp. Just the xiuzhe under his command were enough to give him a headache.
He didn’t want to break down the organization of the six divisions. These xiuzhe cooperated very well among themselves. If new people were added, their offensive capabilities would decrease.
However, Gongsun Cha was not the same greenhorn that didn’t understand anything anymore. He easily worked to reorganize.
The six divisions were the primary force, and were under the command of Vermillion Bird Camp. The fact that the first camp created was called Vermillion Bird Camp, and not Black Warrior Camp[1] was enough to express how much everyone liked Golden Crow City from the bottom of their hearts. The xiuzhe that had comprehended “essence” and were led by Ma Fan and Xie Shan were put into one platoon, Sky Peak Platoon. What was a surprise was the Shield Guard Platoon was led by Zong Ru. The main purpose of the Shield Guard Platoon was to protect Gongsun Cha, and transmit Gongsun Cha’s orders.
The remaining two thousand xiuzhe were divided into the Eastern and Western Camps. In Gongsun Cha’s plans, Eastern Camp and Western Camp were the reserve that would provide talented xiuzhe for Vermillion Bird Camp.
In Gongsun Cha’s vision, Vermillion Camp would have twelve divisions, one thousand six hundred and sixty four people. Adding on the quartermasters and supporting xiuzhe, it would be a full one thousand and five hundred people. There were just six divisions now, so it was only half complete.
But he was also clear that Vermillion Bird Camp which was skilled in ambushing was not in great demand since they possessed the Golden Crow City. The most pressing matter at the moment was to train the xiuzhe of the Eastern and Western Camps to use the formation battle watchtowers.
The reorganization calmly progressed.
As to the Guard Camp, that was Shixiong’s headache. Having finished his preparations, Gongsun Cha quickly moved into the Golden Crow City.
When the night came, Golden Crow City was very loud. The lanterns at the sides of the street filled the little city with brightness. From afar, it looked like a city that was floating in the air!
Today was a holiday for everyone in the city!
Many people cried from happiness. They finally had a place to rest, a place to shelter them from the elements, they finally had a place where they could relax and sleep!
In the calamity-ridden Little Mountain Jie, Golden Crow City was one of a kind!
Gongsun Cha silently watched his subordinates celebrate. Those people that usually weren’t afraid of death were sobbing like children at the moment. His heart didn’t feel so good. He knew more. He knew the city was just to prepare for the big battle against the Clear Sky Old Forefather.
From the moment it started to be built, the fate of Golden Crow City was set in stone.
He pressed together his lips, quietly leaving the partying camp to find Shixiong. He found Shixiong at a formation battle watchtower. He was slightly shocked. As everyone was partying madly, Shixiong was staying by himself at the formation battle watchtower.
Noticing Gongsun Cha come over, Zuo Mo raised his head. “I’m trying to see if I can use the formation battle watchtower to nurture the Sonic Lightning Walnuts.”
Gongsun Cha became alert. “Did Shixiong find something?”
“En, it seems plausible but I still need to test it.” Zuo Mo noticed Gongsun Cha’s low mood. “What? Has Shidi encountered something unhappy?”
He understood the two shidi very well. Cheng Shidi was a person obsessed with animal-keeping. While Gongsun Shidi usually seemed vicious and murderous, but in reality, his mentality was not any different than Cheng Shidi. They were both very naïve and did not know worldly matters.
“I just saw they are so happy. But in the end, there will be nothing. This city is destined to be destroyed,” Gongsun Cha said dejectedly.
Zuo Mo was silent. He walked to the guardrail and looked into the distance. After a moment, he smiled and said, “I hadn’t thought such a violent person as Shidi would be so sentimental.” He paused slightly, turned his face, and said seriously, “Little Mountain Jie is a cage. Can there be a paradise in a cage? What we want is to survive because we understand that if we cannot escape the cage, we will die. It is like using warm water to cook a frog, we will be cooked slowly.”
“Among them, some understand and some do not. Those that understand are not willing to think. Why? They feel if they can live one more day, it is one day.” Zuo Mo said in a deep voice, “But I don’t think the same. I would rather to use those miserable days to trade for a chance, a chance to escape.”
“Golden Crow City has never been a paradise! If we succeed, even if this city does not exist anymore, they will still be able to find their paradise!” Zuo Mo said resolutely.
Gongsun Cha raised his head. The depression on his delicate face swept away cleanly. Those eyes that were usually covered in killing intent and people could never see into were so clear now there was no impurity.
The two exchanged a look, and smiled at each other.
[1] The Vermillion Bird (Zhu Que) is one of the four sacred/benevolent animals of Chinese culture. It is actually a five- colored bird, not just one color. Its element is fire and the cardinal direction it represents is the south. Black Warrior (Xuan Wu) is another name for the Black Turtle (Xuan Gui). Its cardinal direction is the north, and its element is water. In mythology, the black warrior is made of two entities, a tortoise, and a snake who are two great generals. Due to the origins (Wikipedia), Xuan Wu would usually be a much better name for a military troop.
Translator Ramblings: Ah, Zuo Mo is always sensitive to anything that can impact his bottom line. He doesn’t care that a few thousand people are cultivating to be mo if he doesn’t have to spend jingshi. Pu Yao is now offering help without being asked … … this is a large improvement compared to the beginning of their relationship.
Zuo Mo’s city is now habitable and the people are excited. He really points to the main problem: there is no freedom in Little Mountain Jie. If they don’t rebel, they will forever be living in a place they cannot leave and at the mercy of Clear Sky Sect since they control the only entrance, and therefore the flow of all goods imported and exported.