Chapter Ninety One – Merging Sword Essences
When Pu Yao saw Zuo Mo, he smiled.
“Pu Yao, I don’t want this garbage scripture. Either you return the jingshi, or exchange it for another scripture!” Zuo Mo’s eyes were red, like a furious thin zombie, hatefully staring at Pu Yao.
“Hee.” Pu Yao’s light laugh was like the hiss of a snake. He slowly drawled, “There’s no such thing as refunds and exchanges here.”
“In the future, don’t think about getting jingshi!” Zuo Mo hatefully said.
Pu Yao wasn’t affected. He propped up his chin, his peerlessly beautiful face full of mockery, relaxed and carefree, “I don’t need your permission anyway.”
Hearing this, Zuo Mo stopped breathing. Finally, he remembered that he didn’t seem to have any ways of stopping this guy.
He wasn’t satisfied, wasn’t satisfied!
Zuo Mo hated so much that his teeth ached but didn’t know what to do.
Being shut down by Pu Yao wasn’t a surprise. If he could have gotten something off Pu Yao, then it would be an amazing matter.
The making of Golden Crow pills was stuck, the Fiery Red flowers in the ling gardens hadn’t matured, Zuo Mo instantly lost all avenues of income. Especially right now when he was penniless. Without jingshi, he couldn’t do anything.
Zuo Mo could only stay in the little yard and cultivate, go to the ling garden. Any other times, he would go to Fragrant Ginger Yard to practice dan-making. He couldn’t make Golden Crow pills but the other dan medicines were not affected. It was lucky that his reputation was now great, and since Master was in seclusion to make dan, his tab with Xu Qing could be greater.
It was a pity that he couldn’t find a dan that was as easy to sell and as profitable as Golden Crow pill. From the accounts, he was more in debt. Xu Qing wasn’t concerned. This was normal. If people would earn jingshi from the moment they started learning dan-making, then everyone would be learning dan-making.
Zuo Mo remembered what Master had said to him, spend more time practicing the sword!
This sentence, he remembered it very clearly. The meaning behind these words didn’t need to be said.
Okay, since he couldn’t make jingshi, then he will practice the sword. He had already reached a pretty good level with [Li Water Sword Scripture] but he had reached a barrier. He didn’t have any idea of how to develop it further. What he could think about now was to see if he could merge Xin Yan Shibo’s tidal sword essence and Li water sword essence together.
This idea had sprouted when he had seen the sword river in his consciousness that was divided in two.
However, merging two different sword essences was an extremely difficult matter. Luckily, almost all the jade scrolls in the sect were open, including Xin Yan Shibo’s [Ice Dragon Sword Scripture].
This time, the effect of opening the jade scrolls to the disciples wasn’t large. Wei Sheng Shixiong was in the sword cave, Xu Yi Shixiong was obsessed with forging, Gong Sun Qing Shijie was packing up to travel to her betrothed, Luo Li Shixiong was still in seclusion, Xu Yi Xia and Hao Min didn’t have much interest in the sword. Eldest Shixiong Qin Cheng was on a trip to manage affairs.
Overall, the person most interested in these sword scripture scrolls was Zuo Mo. What Zuo Mo was most interested in was [Ice Dragon Sword Scripture]. In reality, this was the jade scroll he was most surprised about when the scrolls had been released this time. They even let this one out?
The sect’s strongest was [Void Sword Scripture], but in Zuo Mo’s heart, [Ice Dragon Scripture] was the strongest sword scripture. He had never seen how powerful [Void Sword Scripture] was but he had personally experienced Xin Yan Shibo’s terrifying sword essence many times and it had left a deep impression on him.
To be able to see the entirety of [Ice Dragon Sword Scripture], it was a matter that Zuo Mo was overjoyed about.
However, he quickly found that [Ice Dragon Sword Scripture] was like some of the jade scrolls in Fragrant Ginger Yard. The contents you were able to see were appropriate for the cultivation you had. If the cultivation wasn’t high enough, you couldn’t see the contents. This was to stop people who didn’t have the cultivation but forced themselves to practice from damaging themselves.
Zuo Mo couldn’t see much of the contents, just the impression method of the flying sword and some of the shallower contents. Seeing this, he couldn’t help but sigh. Water Drop sword might be much higher in grade than ice crystal sword but it wasn’t as suited as ice crystal sword for practicing [Ice Dragon Sword Scripture]. This firmed Zuo Mo’s determination to merge the two sword essence. If for nothing else, it was worth it just for the Water Drop sword.
The language of [Ice Dragon Sword] was extremely profound and cryptic. But since Zuo Mo had a rough understanding of Ice Dragon sword essence, using it as a reference, he was actually able to understand the majority of the contents. After reading what was available to him, Zuo Mo put down the scroll and fell into contemplation.
This deep contemplation of his was ten days long!
He did not eat, drink, nor sleep, and did not rest for ten days!
On the tenth day, Zuo Mo suddenly opened his eyes and raised his hand to form a sword energy!
Poof!
A streak of cool yet fiery light, containing the sharpness of a sword, hit the ground. It left behind a deep hole. On the edges of the hole, there were many traces of ice.
It was a pity he could only force the two together like this. There were still many places in the new sword essence that Zuo Mo felt were very vague. It could only wait until Zuo Mo had a deeper understanding of [Ice Dragon Sword Scripture] and continuous battle for comprehension before he would become familiar.
The new sword essence was with the li water sword essence as the primary and the Ice Dragon sword essence as the auxiliary. Originally, Ice Dragon sword essence was of higher grade than li water sword essence and it should have been Ice Dragon sword essence as primary and li water sword essence as auxiliary. But Zuo Mo’s understanding of li water sword essences was far deeper than his understanding of Ice Dragon sword essence.
After the two were merged, the power of the sword energy increased dramatically!
In comparison, the merging of sword moves was much easier than merging sword essences. No matter if it was [Ice Dragon Sword Scripture] or [Li Water Sword Scripture], they didn’t have complex or long moves.
It was a pity no one came for him to test his sword with. Zuo Mo suddenly started to miss those people from Ling Ying Sect. If, once in awhile, someone came for him to test his sword with, and also came with a fine talisman, how great would that be!
When Zuo Mo found out that his thinking had took ten days, he instantly jumped. Uncaring of anything else, he rode the grey beaked goose towards the ling garden. What he could celebrate was that the state of the Fiery Red flower and the other herbs in the ling garden were very good and there wasn’t much change. He could finally release a breath.
Extremely tired, he simply laid down on the grass in the ling garden and fell asleep.
——–
Dong Fu had recovered from the previous chaotic situation. This place had once again become a gathering ground for low level xiuzhe. Without those high level xiuzhe, the pressure that had been in the hearts of the low level xiuzhe instantly was swept away. The city became lively once again.
“Did you hear? The Dong Fu Sword Test Conference is going to begin!”
“I heard. You can go as long as you are zhuji. The qualification is really low this time!”
“Dong Fu Hall has really put in a lot of resources this time. So many prizes, they are really generous.”
“Che, so what? In the end, it would be Yu Bai who gets it. Just moving from the left pocket to the right.”
“That’s not so certain. Didn’t Wu Kong Sword Sect have a genius called Wei Sheng? I feel he could be a dark horse!”
“Wei Sheng? I also heard about him. Supposedly, Wu Kong Sword Sect also has a guy called the Scalping Zombie, extremely vicious!”
“Who isn’t vicious? It’s only us that aren’t vicious. Yu Bai, Zong Ming Yan, they are all vicious!”
“That’s so true… …”
… …
The news that the time for the Dong Fu Sword Test Conference was quickly approaching became the hottest topic in Dong Fu. The number and quality of prizes offered this time was enough to make everyone gape. No one understood what was going on in Tian Song Zi’s head that he would pay such a great price to hold a sword test conference.
Fourth-grade Green Pine sword, fourth-grade Hundred Desolation Lucky Beast belt, fourth-grade Fragmented Gold coronet, third-grade Rowan sleeve, third-grade Sky shirt, third grade Icy Cobra ling armor… …
It had to be said that this move was extremely effective. The generous prizes greatly stirred the excitement of young xiuzhe, especially the poor disciples of those small sects. Where would they have the jingshi to buy talismans? They all drooled as they looked at the prizes.
Once the news was announced, the people who registered were numerous. Since it didn’t cost anything to register, it would be stupid not to. If they were lucky, they might be able to scoop up a talisman. They wouldn’t lose anything if they lost. However, they had to start from the Preliminary Sword Test Conference and go through several rounds before entering the Sword Test Conference.
The more significant sects in Dong Fu had an allotment of slots. They could directly attend the Sword Test Conference without first going through the Preliminary Sword Test Conference.
Even though the treatment was different, the attendees didn’t have many angry words. The lower the level of the xiuzhe, the more they understood the realities of the world. If the world was like this, what could they be angry about?
Other than the xiuzhe in Dong Fu’s surroundings, the Sword Test Conference this time had attracted large numbers of skilled people from the other twelve primary towns!
Under the lure of a heavy reward, there would be courageous people!
Due to holding a sword test conference, Dong Fu became abnormally busy.
It was the second day when Zuo Mo woke up. The blinding sunlight woke him from a deep sleep.
With his body fully rested, he became as vigorous and energetic as usual. When he returned to the Little West Wind Yard, he went to clean out the ling fields, sorting out the ling grasses which had matured. He was planning on going to Dong Fu at some time. These ling grasses could be exchanged for some jingshi.
Just like normal, he burrowed into the stone room and started to practice [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation] and [Vajra Profound Sutra].
Four hours later, he opened his eyes, revealing joy. Just now, his cultivation had broken through to the fourth level of zhuji. Different from his consciousness which had kept on stopping before reaching third breath, the increase in his ling power was very quick. In a very short amount of time, he had broken through to zhuji fourth level. This speed could be called terrifying.
Of course, the ling vein had played a crucial role. If it wasn’t for this ling vein, he would probably still be at the second level.
Based on this speed, he would quickly break through to ningmai! By that time, he would finally have some measure of self-protection.
In Sky Moon Jie, jindan was undoubtedly the highest level of existence. The next level down was ningmai. However, the difference in power between different ningmai xiuzhe was very big but no matter what, if he reached ningmai, he would finally leave behind the ranks of low level xiuzhe.
If one didn’t have much ambition, ningmai xiuzhe could live a pretty good life in Sky Moon Jie. The benefits and tribute a ningmai xiuzhe received wasn’t on the same level as a zhuji xiuzhe.
After practicing [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation], Zuo Mo started [Vajra Profound Sutra]. As to [Fragrance Knowledge], he threw the scripture to one side.
Studying women, it was better to study maze formations!
The version of [Vajra Profound Sutra] Zuo Mo practiced was the gravestone version. After practicing it for a length of time, he discovered the difference between the two versions was increasingly greater.
In meditation, Zuo Mo sat upright, his entire body was like a statue forged from dark gold.
Suddenly, his entire body started to tremble furiously.