Chapter Four Hundred and Ninety Nine – Those Daring Die From Bursting
“This is the Overflowing Earth Secret Realm, be careful of what is under your feet.” Elder Shen’s tone was serious as he looked into the distance. It was vast there with endless dunes that stretched without end.
Nothing grew on the endless dunes and it was possible to see a pile of bones occasionally. The entire landscape was unspeakably desolate and lifeless. The air was abnormally hot that even jindan like Li Shu and Lu Zhen felt their mouths dry.
This caused the two to become alarmed. At their cultivation level, they were not affected by water nor fire. How could their mouths feel dry?
“The Overflowing Earth Secret Realm is an earth element secret realm,” Elder Shen said slowly. “Rather than say it is an earth element secret realm, it is more accurate to say it is an earth element cage. The guardian of the realm must be someone skilled in earth element shen power.”
However, a thread of a smile came onto his tightly tensed face. “Fortunately, Sect Leader had foresight.”
As he finished, he took out a little tender and green tree sprout.
The little tree sprout was just a few cun tall, slender and soft. Each leave was just the size of a fingernail. When Elder Shen took out this tree sprout, a cool and clear essence swept Li Shu and Lu Zhen and took away the frantic heat.
Li Shu asked in shock, “Shishu, what is this? How is this so wondrous?”
“A Jade Hook Tree,” Elder Shen replied without turning his head. He then bent down and put the Jade Hook Tree sprout in his hand into the sand dune.
As the tree sprout touched the surface of the sand, its roots rapidly burrowed into the sand down.
The green jade on the dry sand dune was abnormally eye-catching.
“Jade Hook Tree … …” Li Su murmured. Inside, he was extremely shocked. The Jade Hook Tree was one of the greatest treasures of the sect, and was usually protected in a restricted area of the sect. He hadn’t thought that the sect leader had even let Elder Shen take the Jade Hook Tree for dealing with the ruins.
Jade Hook Tree, emerald green, a upper sixth-grade ling tree, could produce Jade Hook Beads, , and was one of the best wood element beads in the world. It could be used to forge all kinds of wood element talismans. The Jade Hook Tree itself was a very rare and hard-to-obtain forging material.
The most important attribute of the Jade Hook Tree was that it could absorb earth element power to strengthen itself.
As the Jade Hook Tree entered the sand dune, it started to grow furiously. The green spread at an astounding rate towards every corner of the Overflowing Earth Secret Realm.
The heat in the air instantly decreased greatly.
At this time, the sand dune under their feet had started to tremble violently. Countless sand dunes collapsed and the rumble sounded in the earth. In a blink, the patches of green were swallowing the collapsing sand dunes.
Li Shu and Lu Zhen were alarmed. They were almost unable maintain their upright posture. The sand dunes under their feet seemed to have woken up from its slumber.
Elder Shen snorted coldly, his expression unchanging. “This Jade Hook Tree has grown in our sect for nine hundred years. Generations of our sect poured our hearts into caring for this. It can completely transform with just a bit more effort. This encounter is perfect for it.”
Lu Zhen’s face was confused. He did not understand.
Li Shu understood and he became alert. If the Jade Hook Tree was cared for correctly and nurtured constantly with earth element power, it had a chance to become a seventh-grade Celestial Green Jade Hook Tree.
Above seventh grade, it was the divine ranks!
The difference between sixth and seventh grade was the different between earth and sky. Sixth-grade was very rare on the market but it could still be brought. It was impossible to buy seventh-grade materials on the market. When a seventh-grade material came onto the market, it would disappear without a trace in the shortest time.
Materials seventh-grade and above would usually be labeled divine-grade.
Other than its rarity, it had completely different qualities from sixth-grade talismans. Each material seventh-grade and above was a natural talisman!
Talismans forged from seventh-grade materials were also called divine talismans, ultimate treasures every xiuzhe dreamed of.
If the Jade Hook Tree could rise another grade and become the Celestial Green Jade Hook Tree, then the sect would have another divine talisman!
Not just Li Shu, even Elder Shen couldn’t help but show desire unconsciously when he said this.
Talismans were easy to obtain, divine talismans were hard to find!
Even if he had stepped into the stage of yuanying a long time ago, it was still the same.
As expected, no matter how loud the sand dunes howled, the green of the Jade Hook Tree was hardy and tensile. It burst out of the sand and quickly spread into the surroundings.
The weak trunk of the tree continuously trembled in the sand and wind, but never broke.
Woosh woosh woosh!
The sand seemed to flow and gather at a place that was rapidly shifting.
A sand puppet slowly rose from the sand dunes.
The sand flowed towards the sand puppet from all directions and wrapped around the sand puppet as though they were snakes. They quickly flowed along the body of the sand puppet.
The body of the sand puppet quickly expanded and in a blink, its body’s size surpassed all the sand dunes yet it was still growing.
All of the sand in the secret realm was absorbed by it. The Jade Hook Tree that lost the support of the sand quickly withered. The endless green quickly disappeared like a retreating tide.
There was only one Jade Hook Tree left by Elder Shen’s foot.
Looking at the Jade Hook Tree, it was greener than before, Elder Shen felt pity. Just a bit more, and this Jade Hook Tree would have finished its transformation. If he had a Celestial Green Jade Hook Tree, then leaving this secret realm was an easy task.
However, Elder Shen was not worried. The Overflowing Earth Secret Realm was the same as the divination results of the sect leaders and others. This caused him to be full of hope towards defeating the Overflowing Earth Secret Realm.
He had come prepared!
Zuo Mo was so comfortable he wanted to groan.
The warmth that came from his bones flowed slowly through his entire body. He did not feel his power increasing, but felt unspeakably comfortable.
Right, it was unspeakably comfortable.
The warmth slowly disappeared. He woke up from his intoxication and opened his eyes.
If someone was looking, he found find to his shock that Zuo Mo’s gaze in the instant he opened his eyes looked very similar to the golden birds on top of the ten pillars.
Cold and empty, looking down at everything.
At the very center of his eyes, a dot of gold glinted and disappeared.
The air around him seemed to condense. Even the erupting flame had froze in place.
The pause was just maintained for the blink of an eye and everything returned to normal. Zuo Mo was still immersed in that unspeakably comfortable feeling and didn’t detect anything.
He shook his head and regained his clarity of mind.
This wasn’t a warm bed and room suitable for sleeping.
The light of the sacrificial altar dimmed. While the sun in the sky was still burning, Zuo Mo seemed to detect a feeling of exhaustion.
Was his feeling wrong?
He shook his head, turned his face, and looked at the red flame.
A feeling hard to verbalize formed inside. Almost unconsciously, he walked towards the flame at the center of the sacrificial altar. Zuo Mo didn’t feel any heat from the burning flames but rather a closeness.
As though he was possessed, Zuo Mo put his hand into the flame.
Boom!
The scenery around him changed. He was situated in a sea of fire with a sun hanging high above his head.
Beside him, flames of fire pulsed. These flames seemed to be reflecting something.
Zuo Mo was shocked but not panicked. When his attention turned to the flame, many scenes uncontrollably floated into his mind.
Falling stone bricks, spiderwebs everywhere, and it was possible to see some people looking around occasionally.
This was … …
He looked at another few wisps of flame. Several different scenes flowed across his mind. Zuo Mo’s strange expression grew.
Zuo Mo hurriedly recalled the warnings that Big Brother Qing Lin had given him, and his strange expression grew even heavier.
The shen temple had recognized him as the master!
This … … this was too fantastical!
Zuo Mo’s mind was dazed. He was completely stunned by this large pie that dropped from the sky! He was able to encounter such a fortuitous occurrence?
Haha, there’s really nothing that could be done to people with good moral standing!
Zuo Mo roared with laughter and rejoiced!
If this was a descendant of the Sun Tribe, they would be extremely excited and their thoughts would be how to recover the glory of the once-strongest tribe. But the first thought of Zuo Mo that was recognized by the shen temple was…
Treasure!
Treasures of the shen temple!
All of them belong to ge!
Once this idea came out, it could not be suppressed. At the start, Zuo Mo only wanted to mix in with the crowd and get one or two items before running of. Yet now that he was recognized by the shen temple, his appetite had changed.
How could Little Mo Ge tolerate other people taking meat from his bowl?
The situation at all parts of the shen temple appeared before his mind. Recognized by the shen temple, Zuo Mo received the highest level of control of the shen temple. All kinds of shen techniques to control the shen temple was imprinted in his mind.
After browsing for a bit, Zuo Mo who was versed in formations gained a general understanding. Zuo Mo could see the beginning shapes of formations from the shen temple techniques but compared to the present formations, those shapes looked primitive and were almost entirely reliant on numerous sacrificial ceremonies, medical parasites, and beast souls. It was cryptic and hard to understand.
Zuo Mo didn’t plan on studying these things at this time.
Their reasoning was cryptic but as long as he had the shen technique, he could eventually activate them.
Zuo Mo carefully counted the people in the shen temple. There were thirty four in total and they had been transported into different corners of the shen temple. At this time, all of them were carefully exploring their surroundings.
Among these people, Zuo Mo saw the Masked Assassin that almost killed him and several people from Xu Ling Sect … …
Each person’s strength was above average, especially the three yuanying that were even more powerful than the rest. Zuo Mo’s heart beat rapidly when he saw this and the pride inside was swept away.
He was walking on a tightrope!
If he was careless and got caught by these people, this group would not hesitate to tear him to pieces!
No! He could not let them know that he had sneaked into the shen temple! Otherwise, there would be endless calamities!
But Zuo Mo would not leave the shen temple at this time even for his life.
He entered the shen temple before the other people, had the aid of Big Brother Qing Lin, and also was recognized by the shen temple. He had a higher starting point than other people! If he missed such a rare chance, he definitely would not get another one!
No matter what, he had to try!
Zuo Mo emboldened his heart, do it!
He suddenly snickered darkly and looked maliciously at the people in the flames.
Stealing from ge? Come on, have a good taste of the warm welcome from the ancient era!
Following the shen techniques in his mind, he clumsily and crudely channeled shen power, his body twisting like a snake as he produced muffled sounds.
The Sun Shen Temple abruptly trembled fiercely. The shen scripts in the corners of the temple rippled like a wave and started to light up. The carvings all over the shen temple receded as though something was going to come out.
There seemed to be a string connecting sets of bones and armor scattered on the temple grounds. They slowly struggled to stand up.
The golden birds on the pillars whose shapes were now indistinct called out in unison, flapped their wings and burrowed into the little sun.
The shen temple instantly changed!
Translator Ramblings: I have progressed to sore throat, wet coughing, sniffles and muscle soreness. I hope this is one of those one week bugs, I really do. I haven’t had the energy to translate for a few days and I fell asleep before posting my weekly chapter for my other series.
On another note, gluttony. Zuo Mo just wants it all.