Chapter Seven Hundred and Eighty Nine – Sin Battalion
The situation had changed.
Zuo Mo now had five tokens in his possession. In other words, including himself, twenty five people could enter the ruin. It seemed that their numbers had increased, but their probability of success did not increase. Previously, no one knew their identity and there was a possibility they could sneak in and obtain the treasure. However, Heart Leaf Dhyana Sect and the others knew of the transaction between himself and Yang Yuan Hao.
Lotus Sutra Temple and the others could not stop Heart Leaf Dhyana Sect and the other three temples. Everyone knew this. However, they had not broken their ties in public. If Heart Leaf Dhyana Sect and the others really did split with the rest of the Nine Great Dhyana Sects at this time, then the present equilibrium would be immediately disrupted.
Zuo Mo and his group had been revealed, and became public targets. They were the strongest group going into the ruins, but they were also everyone’s enemy. No matter who, if they wanted to get the shen device nucleus, they had to kill Zuo Mo’s group.
They were now everyone’s enemy and surrounded by wolves.
Zuo Mo and the others only had one path, step over the corpses of their competitors. However, while it was more dangerous, there were also benefits. The sides were clearly defined. Other than the twenty five people, everyone else was an enemy. They did not need to worry about exposing their identity and harming potential allies.
Zuo Mo quickly concluded that the main issue would be that once they entered the ruins, everyone would become their enemy. If they wanted the shen device nucleus, there was only one way, kill everyone else.
The people accompanying Zuo Mo were all the elite of Mo Cloud Sea. Individually they were outstanding, but they were also trained and skilled in battle formations.
The power of a battle formation was directly linked to the number of people in it. Usually, the smaller the number of people, the lower the threat of the battle formation posed. A battle formation composed of twenty people definitely surpassed a battle formation of five people.
While the enemy had the advantage of numbers, they belonged to different factions. They were unlikely to cooperate, and even if they did they would not trust each other so battle formations of larger scale were not feasible.
Zuo Mo did not need to worry about himself. Other than himself, A Gui, Wei Sheng, Ceng Lian’er, Luo Li and the others, everyone else could advance as a part of a battle formation. Their strength might not match the carefully selected experts of other factions, but they had been trained by Lil’ Miss. Once they formed a battle formation, they were not so easily defeated.
When the ancient ruins opened, if one had the token, they would be sucked into the ruins if they were close by.
Zuo Mo and the other entered the ruins through the mountain valley that Lotus Sutra Temple had arranged before. This mountain valley was heavily guarded by Lotus Sutra Temple to leave behind only one safe passageway.
Zuo Mo and the others felt their vision blur and the surrounding scenery changed.
Everything in front of him was white, and shrouded in mist. Under his feet were slate stones carved with ancient beasts. The mist here was strange. The mist seemed to contain all kinds of colours and a kind of indescribable power.
Yet when he saw the surroundings clearly, Zuo Mo’s expression changed slightly.
They had been split up!
He only had A Gui with him.
Damn it!
Zuo Mo immediately recognized the seriousness of the situation. They were known by everyone else and once their forces were split up, they would be in danger! He had originally planned on using their numbers to fight their way through. The plan was unusable now. They had been split up. Undoubtedly, the people from Mo Cloud Sea were the first targets people would want to eliminate.
He hurriedly used a spell unique to Mo Cloud Sea to try to communicate with the others. Yet the spell seemed to fizzle out. There was no response.
His heart continued to sink.
He turned to look at A Gui. Without a second word, he took out two sets of normal shen equipment to put them on himself and A Gui, a disguise so they did not appear so eye-catching.
While Zuo Mo had confidence in his strength, it would be dangerous if they were attacked from all sides.
“Let’s go!”
Zuo Mo charged out first. The urgent matter now was to find everyone else. It was alright for he and the other shen power experts. They should not be in too much danger. But those guards were not individually strong enough in here. Without the use of a battle formation, they were in great danger.
While Zuo Mo desired the shen device raiment, he did not want to trade for it with the lives of his comrades.
These people had followed him the longest and were the group he was closest to.
Zuo Mo and A Gui quickly disappeared into the white mist.
———
Resting Island, it was situated in a remote and unpopulated corner of Cloud Sea Jie. The island was just three hundred li wide and less than seven hundred li long. It was a very average island among the Cloud Sea Jie islands.
Before this, this little island did not have a name. After Bie Han built his residence here he named this island Resting Island.
Resting Island was surrounded by jinzhi. No one would be able to force their way in. There was only one way to enter Resting Island, transportation formations. There was a transportation formation on Resting Island. The other end of the transportation formation was Bie Han’s bedroom.
Only Bie Han would come to Resting Island. There was only a memorial hall on the island.
Bie Han had built the seven story memorial hall himself. There were memorial tablets placed in the hall. The drapes swayed with the cold wind and caused this place to look eerie.
Bie Han held a blank memorial tablet on his left hand and held a brush on his right. He carefully wrote the names in strokes.
He silently wrote. Behind him stood less than half of Sin Battalion. The ranks with their empty spaces stood silently like they were dead.
When the last name was written, Bie Han carefully put the memorial tablets onto their places before lightning incense.
He did not bow, but stood there silently as though he was inspecting his battalion like usual. He inspected the clean ranks of memorial tablets.
His expression was cold as he stared for a long. Suddenly, he said to himself facing the memorial tablets.
“I don’t know if your spirits will return. You are tired, sleep, I’m going ahead.”
He turned, and walked to the transportation formation with the remains of Sin Battalion.
He returned to his residence and then to Chun Yu Cheng’s cloud island to find Chun Yu Cheng.
Chun Yu Cheng might be muddle-headed sometimes but that depended on the person he was speaking to. In front of a killing god like Bie Han, he was cooperative. Also, Bie Han never asked him for complex tasks. Moreso, Zuo Shixiong had been the one to forge those blood beads. Chun Yu Cheng was also very curious what the results were.
“Here, they are growing well.” Chun Yu Cheng pointed to a ball of blood in the blood pool and said with a small frown, “They have started to have some of the mo steed traits, but very preliminary.”
Bie Han stared at the ball of blood in the blood pool without a word.
The blood pools here stretched out. Inside every blood pool, a ball of blood was growing.
“The blood beads retained their instincts to fight so they are aggressive. If there are two blood balls in a blood pool, they will fight until one dies. I had to build this many blood pools. I have to tell you first that you have to pay the expenses.” Chun Yu Cheng chattered on.
“Alright.” Short and terse Bie Han treated his words like gold.
“I don’t know what the growth and maturation is like? I’m curious.” Chun Yu Cheng looked around and seeing no one was around, he lowered his voice and said, “I got some shen crystals and put them in as well. Those things are very useful. However, you know, shen crystals are rare, and I only have so many pieces. You have to repay me double … …”
“Alright.” Bie Han suddenly asked, “Shen crystals are useful?”
“Yes, very useful. They can absorb shen crystals. Look at these ones, the ones that have consumed shen crystals are clearly bigger in size. Later, at Golden Crow Camp, they will be easier to forge. Let’s agree, you have to pay me back double, otherwise, I will really suffer a loss … … hey hey hey, don’t leave.”
Before Chun Yu Cheng finished his explanation , Bie Han turned and left.
“I didn’t say I wanted them now … … hm, why are you so murderous?” Chun Yu Cheng looked at Bie Han’s back with puzzlement.
A few hours later, Bie Han once again appeared in front of Chun Yu Cheng.
Woosh, he poured out a pile of shen crystals.
Chun Yu Cheng’s eyes went straight. “My heavens … …”
———
Zuo Mo and A Gui changed their appearances to be less eye-catching. However, the mist in front of them was very strange. Whenever Zuo Mo decided to search the surroundings, his shen power would encounter great resistance.
This kind of situation was rare. He shen power he cultivated was the sun shen power from the Sun Tribe. It was so dominant that it had been one of the strongest shen methodologies even in the ancient era.
Even sun shen power was encountering resistance. This ruin was not simple.
At this time, Silly Bird suddenly came out of Zuo Mo’s ring. Then Lil’ Pagoda, Lil’ Fire, Lil’ Black, and the Black Gold Seal Soldier also streamed out of the ring.
The group immediately multiplied in number and seemed much bigger.
Once Silly Bird came out, her eyes glared. Red flames shot out of her body, her feathers raising up as though there was something dangerous in the surrounding white mist.
Lil’ Pagoda looked around curiously and suddenly opened its mouth to suck in the mist.
The white mist was quickly sucked into Lil’ Pagoda’s mouth like a whale inhaling.
The white and black body of Lil’ Pagoda became even more defined as it contrasted against the mist. It even became shinier. Was this mist something good?
Zuo Mo knew how picky Lil Pagoda was. If it was not something good, this guy would not open his mouth. Also, Lil’ Pagoda seemed to be enjoying this. This mist probably was not ordinary.
Did this mist have something?
Without a word, Zuo Mo took out a jade bottle and started to move his hands in a spell. The mouth of the bottle pointed at the mist, and the mist seemed to be pulled by an strong force. It shook, but it did not fly over.
Strange!
Zuo Mo felt even stranger. The jade bottle in his hand was a magnetic bottle forced specially to take in materials of this kind. Yet it could not suck this in?
Zuo Mo channeled in shen power.
The white mist finally could not resist the strong magnetism of the magnetic bottle and immediately flowed into the bottle.
In a flash, a space appeared around them. The white mist in the surroundings seemed to be constrained by a power and did not move in this direction. It was like a piece of the cake had been cut and Zuo Mo and the others were standing in the empty space.
Zuo Mo’s attention quickly moved away from the mist.
A strange thing appeared in the empty space in front of them.
Translator Ramblings: I have to wonder if it’s always luck that A Gui end up with Zuo Mo when everyone else gets sent to a different place or she’s just so strong they cannot pull her away.