Chapter Four Hundred and Ninety Seven – Activation of the Shen Temple
It was impossible to describe the shock Zuo Mo was feeling.
The enormous rock hole that seemed to have been carved with a knife was completely smooth. It surpassed everything that Zuo Mo knew. Before this, Zuo Mo had felt that he was able to understand this power yet he found that its profoundness was much deeper and advanced than he had imagined.
At this time, Zuo Mo suddenly felt his body shake. Pia, something inside his body seemed to explode.
A familiar feeling returned to his body.
Zuo Mo’s eyes widened and an expression of disbelief came onto his face.
The exhaustion in his body swept away. He dazedly raised his arm. The familiar Great Day mo physique had returned to his body. His mind moved. As well, his consciousness and ling power had returned to normal.
Was it … …
A daring idea rose in his mind.
The shock on Zuo Mo’s face uncontrollably turned to joy.
Excited, Zuo Mo instantly started to experiment. He quickly proved what he had guessed. For some unknown reason, his shen power could revert back to the three powers and the three powers could merge to become shen power!
What was even more joyous was that he could control this change!
He could not resist and roared with laughter!
The laughter echoed in the cave and even disturbed the hardship guards that were standing guard outside. However, they did not rashly charge in. Even though they did not know what was making Daren so happy, but it definitely was something good.
When he had achieved shen power before, Zuo Mo had not been this happy. Shen power was unrivaled in its power, but he was more familiar with the three powers, and could not help but feel disappointed at their loss.
Now that he discovered that the three powers and shen power could freely transform into each other, the last bit of hesitation disappeared. If he wanted to use shen power, he would use shen power, if he wanted to use the three powers, he would use the three powers.
However, the three powers that had been deconstructed were slightly changed. His mo physique and consciousness had decreased with different magnitudes, especially his mo physique which had weakened the most. The opposite had happened with his ling power which had increased greatly.
The three powers had became equal.
This change did not disappoint Zuo Mo. Rather he felt overjoyed. The problem of his ling power was one of main the problems he had had a headache about. He was living in the xiuzhe world. If he used the mo physique and yao arts every day, and someone with good eyes detected it, then it would be great trouble!
Ling power was good, it was safe! As for spells he could use, that wasn’t a problem. They had won many spells over the course of their battles. As a last resort, he could even go to Pu Yao and nag and bother him, he would eventually get one.
He felt the thick ling power inside his body. He was just a line away from jindan, and the feeling of clarity of his mind made him greatly intoxicated.
Thinking about the shen power of just now, he felt that the three powers were more enjoyable.
However, now with shen power, he had another ultimate technique to protect himself.
Who would scorn themselves for having more techniques?
Even more, it was a shen technique!
Zuo Mo seemed to have been struck dizzy by jingshi that fell from the sky.
After experiencing for a while, Zuo Mo once again went back into his cultivation. He had to familiarize himself with the transformation between the three powers and shen power. This was a killing move, an ultimate move!
As he practiced, he suddenly pondered a question.
When shen power turned to the three powers, the three powers that were obtained were extremely equal. Since that was the case, couldn’t he cultivate ling power through cultivating the mo physique?
Once this daring idea jumped into his mind, he became alert.
If he could really do it … … then it really was … …
Very profitable!
The three powers were each a system unto themselves and were strongly separated. There were many reasons that Zuo Mo’s ling power was a shortcoming, Pu Yao’s and Wei’s influences caused Zuo Mo to cultivate yao arts and the mo physique but the most important cause was that his talent at cultivating ling power was far less than his talent in the mo physique and yao arts.
Wei Sheng was the opposite and was a genius at cultivating ling power.
The three powers could merge and form shen power, the shen power could transform and divide equally into the three powers.
Didn’t that mean that Zuo Mo did not have any cultivation shortcomings?
Zuo Mo tried it and as expected, his idea was realized! However, he quickly calmed down. This matter had advantages and disadvantages.
Even though he did not have any cultivation shortcomings, but if he wanted to improve the same amount as other people, the gains he needed to advance in cultivating was three times that of other people.
This wasn’t an insignificant cultivation amount!
Zuo Mo was full of motivation. He was frightened by the triple amount of cultivation. He dreamed about all three of his powers progressing together, stepping on all of his enemies, Zuo Mo felt his body heat up and wanted to start cultivating immediately.
However, he didn’t get swept up in the moment and kept some of his intelligence. Cultivation was a long-term effort and there was an enormous treasure hoard waiting for him.
For Zuo Mo, being satisfied was a very simple yet difficult task.
He decided to explore the Sun Shen Temple.
Sitting cross-legged on the ground, he entered the state of cultivation and only stood up again when he had recovered to his best state.
Facing the rock wall, the three powers in his body merged into shen power. His head rang, as though there was a chord plucked right next to his ear. That strange “space shield” returned to his body.
The rock wall that had been blank suddenly became filled with strange characters that were like earthworms.
Zuo Mo didn’t recognize any of them.
But that was alright. He reached out an arm and his palm placed on the rock wall.
The golden earthworm characters on the rock wall suddenly lit up. The black and dense rock wall became clear, and Zuo Mo unhesitatingly stepped in.
As Zuo Mo passed through the transparent rock wall, the rock wall resumed its previous appearance.
Passing through the rock wall, Zuo Mo was frightened by the scene in front of him.
He was situated in a stone corridor. The corridor was very large and about six to seven zhang wide. The height was even more astonishing, about twenty zhang tall. Exquisite carvings could be seen on the stone walls on both sides. Even after tens of thousands of years, there were still many carvings that were undamaged. Among the carvings, the most commonly seen were depictions of the sun.
These sun carvings released warm light and illuminated the corridor as though it was under direct sunlight.
The enormous stone slabs showed weathering in many places due to the passage of time.
But what attracted Zuo Mo’s attention was that there were armored soldiers standing along the two sides of the corridor. These armored soldiers wore heavy armor as they stood with their battle-axes. Not far away were many pieces of damaged armor and there were some bones next to the armor.
These soldiers must have been the guards for the Sun Shen Temple. The warriors that were standing guard would have been in this position before they were dead.
Zuo Mo did not worry about these people. After tens of thousands years, they were completely dead.
As expected, when Zuo Mo passed by these armored soldiers, they were motionless.
He looked painfully at the damaged armor that was scattered on the floor. He didn’t know what the armor was made from. A portion of them had weathered after thousands of years but they were mostly preserved.
These were not ordinary objects!
However, Zuo Mo remembered what Big Brother Qing Lin told him and did not touch the armored warriors.
The corridor was silent and without a sound. Even though Zuo Mo was daring, he was unconfident and regretted that he had not brought people with him.
A ruckus suddenly came from behind him.
Zuo Mo jumped in fright and hurriedly turned around. He found that a rock slab from the wall had fallen down, smashed to the ground and caused a cloud of dust to rise.
After this false alarm, Zuo Mo hurriedly gathered his mind and forced himself to depart for the inner parts of the shen temple.
His present position was in the Greenwood Secret Realm, but Qing Lin had passed away so there was no one controlling the Greenwood Secret Realm. It had stopped its activity but that did not mean that this was safe for him. Every tile, every carving in this place could be a trap.
Zuo Mo kept the map that Qing Lin gave him in readied his mind. It was packed with all kinds of warnings and caused Zuo Mo’s scalp to tingle. There were many large and small secret realms in the shen temple. If he accidentally became trapped in one of them, he could be lost for his entire lifetime and then die as the shen temple was destroyed.
Zuo Mo became as alert as he could.
The corridors were like a maze. If he didn’t have a map, Zuo Mo would not have it so easily.
Zuo Mo stopped moving. In front of him was a lake.
The endless water was as smooth as glass and it was possible to faintly discern mountain peaks in the distance. There were bubbles of various sizes floating on top of the lake among the ethereal mist. These bubbles of various colors changed in the sunlight and were beautiful.
Zuo Mo inhaled sharply, his face serious.
This was the “Bloody Water Secret Realm!”
It was a very dangerous secret realm! The guardian of the Bloody Water Secret Realm was a female called Tu. She had once been a princess of the Benthic Water Tribe. However, that had been far distant in the past and she had lost her sanity, only to become a monster that only knew to kill.
These seemingly beautiful air bubbles were all dangerous. Each bubble was a water secret realm. If one ended up in it, they would be unable to escape Tu.
Qing Lin’s imprint also told Zuo Mo honestly that even he was not a match for Tu. Even though everyone’s shen power was gradually disappearing, but Tu was still very powerful.
There was definitely no chance if he fought her!
Reviewing and remembering every warning that Big Brother Qing Lin gave him, he made sure he did not miss anything before stepping forward.
Stepping on the lake surface, every step caused ripples to spread outwards. A light wind suddenly formed on the lake surface. The colored bubbles flowed with the wind and floated towards Zuo Mo.
Seeing the air bubbles increase and come closer, Zuo Mo’s body became even more nervous.
At this moment, a warm flow suddenly came from his body. The Sun Crystal Seed suddenly flew out of his body, floated above his head, and gave off a warm golden light like a sun. This layer of sunlight was like a golden shield that covered Zuo Mo.
The five-colored bubbles seemed extremely afraid of the golden light and instantly ran far away.
Zuo Mo finally released a breath.
Qing Lin told him that the Sun Crystal Seed in his body was the crux to being able to enter the shen temple.
With the protection of the Sun Crystal Seed, Zuo Mo safely passed through the Bloody Water Secret Realm. He did not encounter Tu. Tu probably had felt the presence of the Sun Crystal Seed and avoided him.
They had lost their minds but the jinzhi inside their bodies were still present so they innately feared the presence of the sun.
The Sun Crystal seed was a true sun, even though it had not fully formed, it still had the purest sun presence. Qing Lin had also used the entire power of the shen temple to open a bit of the Sun Crystal Seed’s seal. Even though it was just a thread, it was the purest sun presence and was bright like a star in the night sky.
Passing through the Bloody Water Secret Realm, he came to the sacrificial altar.
The altar in the Sun Shen Temple was extremely large in scale. It was shaped like a sun, its entire structure was golden yellow like it was made from pure gold. It was more than three li in diameter, and had eighteen flights of stairs that were each five li long which spread outwards from the altar to form eighteen sun flame strips.
At the very center of the sacrificial altar, a bright red flame was silently burning.
Zuo Mo climbed onto the alter. Under his feet were dense scripts that formed formations that he could not understand. Maybe it wasn’t a formation. It was hard to say if there were formations in that era.
His gaze landed on that thread of red flame in the center of the altar.
That flame was just the size of a finger, its entire body as red as blood as it silently pulsed.
At this moment, the Sun Crystal Seed on top of Zuo Mo’s head suddenly hummed, a golden light shooting from the Sun Crystal Seed towards the red flame in the center of the altar.
The red flame suddenly expanded to the height of a person.
Boom!
An invisible ripple spread inside the shen temple with the flame as the center.
The scripts on the floor of the altar started to light up. The red light flowed onto the scripts on the ground as though red blood was being added.
Zuo Mo felt his head ring.
An ancient and desolate horn, the howls of unusual beasts that covered the sky, the figure among the sunlight that seemed like a god … …
It flowed across his mind and he lost focus.
———
The sun in the sky above the Sun Shen Temple suddenly released countless red flames that wrapped onto the dark gold sun!
A deep rumble came from the ground as though there were monsters underneath.
The xiuzhe that had been staying near the Sun Shen Temple gaped. Their eyes seemed to be glued to the Sun Shen Temple and were unable to move away.
The Sun Shen Temple of which only a corner could be seen was now being pulled up.
There seemed to be an invisible hand that was forcibly pulling it up.
The cloud sea roiled, the golden light was thousands of zhang!
After being sealed for tens of thousands of years, the shen temple of the once-greatest tribe slowly rose and showed its true appearance.
After the passage of tens of thousands of years, it was enough to turn sea into land, enough for immortals to turn to dust!
The hero that had once dominated the world only had one last gasp left, like an old person that was sick and weak.
But the hero was still the hero. Even if there was only one breath left, he still had the presence that could look down on the world!
Among the great rumble, the Sun Shen Temple was pulled up. The blinding light pierced the sky and the layers of the cloud sea roiled.
The Sun Shen Temple that had disappeared for tens of thousands of words appeared proudly in front of the world with its powers from the ancient era tens of thousands of years ago.
On some of the eighteen enormous golden pillars was a golden crow statue. The golden crows stood silently at the top of the pillars and looked down indifferently at the people. It was unknown if they were inanimate or not.
The enormous pillars seemed to be made from gold. It had flowers, grasses, strange beasts and suns carved on it. The eighteen golden pillars were placed in a zig-zag manner. Light and shadow moved between the pillars and there were layers of light so that one was only able to barely discern the structure of the temple inside it.
The curtain of light was like thin layer of silk that separated the shen temple from the outside.
The mountains around the shen temple were dyed gold by the light and became golden mountains.
Elder Shen and Li Shu who had rushed over due to the disturbance had ugly expressions. Their faces were full of disbelief as they looked at the shen temple. For the first time, Li Shu had a panicked expression.
Was the shen temple being activated … … how was it possible … …
How could the sect leader’s divination be incorrect?
Wasn’t there two more days before the shen temple would open?
———
Not far away from them, the middle-aged male’s face was black.
Impossible … … how could the shen temple activate prematurely?
Beside him, the Masked Assassin stood woodenly.
At this time, the empty eyes of the golden crows on the tops of the pillars sudden became filled with golden flame. The statue-like golden crows twisted their bodies. Crack bang, crack bang, shattered stone continuously dropped from their bodies.
They had become alive!
Translator Ramblings: Filler chapter … …
And in addition to my workload, I am officially a part of the winter flu population.