Chapter Four Hundred and Eighty One – Ruins
The two stared at each other.
One was as cold as ice, the other calm and normal.
The middle-aged person showed a serious expression and said coldly, “I hadn’t thought to find an expert like Sir here. This one is Ling Wei, Sir, please tell me your name!”
“Zong Ru.” Zong Ru calmly bowed in greeting
The two’s gazes were still locked together.
Ling Wei suddenly spoke, “We have other matters, farewell.” Finishing, he took his group and turned to leave.
Zong Ru stared at the backs of the group thoughtfully.
———
“Boss, that guy is very powerful?” the red-clothed male asked probingly.
Ling Wei snorted. “Don’t provoke that person.”
Hearing this, all the others were shocked! Even though Boss had not directly said the other was powerful, it was the first time since they arrived that he had cautioned them so.
The red-clothed male curiously looked back and saw that normal-looking dhyana xiu was still standing silently.
He couldn’t see how he was powerful!
He shook his head and pushed his puzzlement to the bottom of his mind. He was arrogant sometimes but he did not lack caution. A person that caused such wariness in boss definitely was not a normal person. Thinking about the goal of the trip this time, he suddenly asked, Boss, is he also … …”
Ling Wei’s expression did not change and his tone was as cold as usual. “If he is, then he is, if he is not, then he is not.”
“Then we?”
“First, we find a place to reside.”
———
Zuo Mo’s cultivation was disrupted because many non-local xiuzhe came to Xu Ling City. More accurately, many experts had come.
Experts?
These days, those that could be considered experts were at least jindan xiuzhe. The abnormal situation of many jindan coming into Xu Ling City suddenly instantly aroused everyone’s caution.
Supposedly, several fights had broken out already in Xu Ling City. The participants were jindan and there were many casualties and injuries. Even the Turtle Island Cultivation Classes were affected. Many low-level students did not dare to come to class.
For any local power, the peace in the surroundings was something they needed to maintain. Any kind of business required a peaceful environment.
The flood of experts became the problem they had the greatest headache about. These people either were alone or arrived in small groups. Most of them did not have good tempers, and killing people in anger became as common an occurrence as eating. They were a very unpredictable variable in public safety.
However, Zuo Mo had never thought about maintaining the public safety of Xu Ling City. That was something for Xu Ling Sect to look after. But from this unusual situation, he felt an incoming storm.
What had happened?
What could cause so many jindan xiuzhe to run to Xu Ling City? Xu Ling City wasn’t a large city and did not have any outstanding products.
Zuo Mo decided to get to the bottom of this matter.
The mood on Turtle Island suddenly became tense. The island-protecting formation was activated again and the cultivation classes were halted.
News continuously came from Xu Ling City.
In a short two days, the number of jindan in Xu Ling City passed one hundred people. This was a number that made everyone feel a chill. One hundred jindan were enough to flatten Xu Ling City!
The jindan were still coming in.
After seven days, the number of jindan in Xu Ling City reached an astonishing five hundred!
The fighting inside Xu Ling City increased. People frequently fought on the streets of the city. The damage caused by fighting between jindan was astonishing. Xu Ling City was damaged all over the place. No one dared to stop them. Low level xiuzhe were as insignificant as dust in front of this kind of battle and no one cared about them.
Large amounts of low level xiuzhe started to flee Xu Ling City.
Many low level xiuzhe, especially the students of Turtle Island Cultivation Class, ran to Turtle Island in hopes of protection. Zuo Mo naturally would not reject free labor that came to his door and took all of them in. He hadn’t expected his action to cause a ruckus among low level xiuzhe.
In the eyes of others, low level xiuzhe could be found everywhere and did not hold any value. Who would protect xiuzhe that were worthless?
The reputation of Turtle Island had been very good among low level xiuzhe before this. Hearing that Turtle Island was willing to accept low level xiuzhe, those that were unwilling to leave took their families and ran to Turtle Island.
Zuo Mo accepted these masses well. In any case, Turtle Island was very big and could hold them.
But when Zuo Mo saw Xu Zheng Wei, he couldn’t help but pause and hurriedly gave a greeting, “Isn’t this Elder Xu? What wind has blown Elder Xu over?”
Xu Zheng Wei’s old face blushed. “This old man has come to enter Island Master’s faction!”
Zuo Mo paused again and then said with a smile, “Elder Xu, please don’t joke.”
It was normal for low level xiuzhe to join him, but Xu Zheng Wei was a jindan and shouldn’t have any problems with survival.
“This is no joke.” Xu Zheng Wei gave a long sigh. “Ah, Island Master must not know how they have ruined Xu Ling City! Those people have been fighting and killing all day and they don’t know to how to stop. This old man almost died a few times.”
Seeing the fragility of Xu Zheng Wei, Zuo Mo finally learned that the situation was much more serious than he had imagined. He hurriedly said, “Come in, let’s talk inside the island.”
After he finished speaking, he ushered Xu Zheng Wei into the island.
The fighting inside the city had been very serious. Previously, Shang Wei Ming had been lightly wounded so Zuo Mo got him to return to the island. Therefore up until now, he did not know what these people had come for. Xu Zheng Wei was a jindan and definitely should know a bit regarding this.
As expected, as Zuo Mo inquired closely, the matter slowly floated out of the water.
———
Someone had heard there was the ruins of an ancient Sun Tribe Shen Hall near Xu Ling City, and was sleeping in the sea near Xu Ling City.
At the start, those that heard the news all snorted at it.
In these days, it would be unusual if stuff like ruins, treasure hoards, and immortal residences did not show up several times in a year. The rumors would be heavily inflated as though they were really real. But after losing many lives, everyone would discover it was a con.
But as the news spread, more details were revealed and gradually attracted the attention of those watching.
When a damaged Sun Tribe mask suddenly appeared in a large auction house, it caused everyone to believe the rumors. Many xiuzhe skilled in forging were invited to certify this damaged ancient mask. When each person returned, they all marveled at the mask without exception.
The ancient presence on it caused every xiuzhe that came into contact with it to feel shock.
Another rumor was also floating on the market. The biggest sect in Xu Ling City, Xu Ling Sect, had been secretly searching for these ruins during these past years. This mask was also one of their spoils but had been leaked onto the market for some reason.
Supposedly, there was a greater power behind Xu Ling Sect, and Xu Ling Sect had been founded just to find and explore these ruins!
All kinds of news quickly spread through the entire Cloud Sea Jie.
For some unknown reason, after Zuo Mo heard Xu Zheng Talk, he instantly felt that the rumors were true! Because Xu Ling Sect’s actions were too strange. He had been fighting so fiercely with the Tian Family but Xu Ling Sect had not acted at all. Any local power that was ruling the surroundings definitely would not ignore this unless their attention was not on maintaining their power at all!
Learning the cause of the matter, he finally understood why so many jindan were gathering at Xu Ling City.
“Is there no response from Xu Ling Sect?” Zuo Mo suddenly thought of a question.
“None.” Xu Zheng Wei shook his head. “How can they react? With this many jindan! Right now, many people are talking about going to Xu Ling Sect and pressuring Lu Zhen to reveal the location of the ruins.”
Zuo Mo thought that it was correct. Xu Ling Sect was not a match for this many jindan. They were most likely seeking aid from the power backing them.
“How many jindan have come?” Zuo Mo asked.
“Probably about half of the jindan of the entire Cloud Sea Jie,” Xu Zheng Wei said, “Any that have any ambition would not give up this chance. Any tribe with the sun as its totem would be a powerful tribe. If they can really get one or two talismans, then they’ve struck it rich.”
Zuo Mo did not speak. People died for wealth, birds for food, this principle did not change over time.
Danger was everywhere under the cloud sea with all kinds of powerful yao beasts. So what if they were jindan, they would also be unable to retreat unharmed. After experiencing the Sealed Extinction battlefield, no one was clearer to the dangers of ancient ruins than Zuo Mo and his group. If the strange corpse, Shi, wasn’t there then it was unknown if they could have walked out of there.
Thinking to this point, he couldn’t help but think of the strange corpse.
Did the strange corpse find his birthplace … …
As his thoughts turned in his mind, Zuo Mo decided to not participate in this matter. The enormous Turtle Island was rich in its products and he did not have to worry about making a living. He would wait a few months and see if he could buy Water Cloud Embryo to heal A Gui. If he couldn’t buy it, then they would have to make a trip into the cloud sea themselves.
Treasure was good but he would not unnecessarily gamble with his life over it.
Seeing that Zuo Mo was disinterested, Xu Zheng Wei couldn’t help but be puzzled. “Is Island Master uninterested?”
“Too many people, and too little food. Look at the amount of people, there is no place for us,” Zuo Mo said unconcernedly. He then comforted Xu Zheng Wei, “Elder Xu, don’t worry, rest your heart and stay on the island.”
Zuo Mo had interacted with Xu Zheng Wei and knew this was a honest person.
Learning the cause, Zuo Mo closed the formation and buried his head in cultivation. The low level xiuzhe on the island also settled down and the cultivation classes started again.
After arranging everything and releasing a breath, Zuo Mo suddenly saw Lil’ Pagoda fly in front of him.
The chubby Lil’ Pagoda’s eaves were like round fleshy paws, and increasingly adorable. When it saw Zuo Mo, it seemed to see a savior, its little fleshy paws grabbing on Zuo Mo’s clothing.
“Good son, Daddy doesn’t have to time to play with you! Go play!” Zuo Mo patted Lil’ Pagoda with affection.
Lil’ Pagoda was extremely panicked, furiously pulling Zuo Mo’s clothing and flying in one direction.
“Don’t mess around!” Zuo Mo scolded with laughter. He didn’t expect Lil’ Pagoda to pull even harder and detected that something was wrong.
His heart suddenly jumped. Had something happened?
Lil’ Pagoda saw that Zuo Mo seemed to understand and hurriedly flew forward with Zuo Mo tightly following behind.
Zuo Mo quickly came to the entrance of a cave.
Translator Ramblings: In the great span of things, the last little arc with the Tian Family was just to introduce people to Cloud Sea Jie and the people of Xu Ling City. We’re heading into more substantial stuff now.