Chapter Five Hundred and Twenty Four – Omen
Looking at the little path that was leading into the Cloud Sea, Zuo Mo released a breath for some unknown reason. Truthfully, the suddenly appearance of the Xuan Kong Temple's dhyana xiu gave him enormous pressure. Anything that could attract Xu Kong Temple's dhyana xiu was not going to be anything normal. Zuo Mo wasn't interested at all. He just didn't want anything to happen as he tried to heal A Gui.
"There are so many divergent paths, you know all of them?" Zuo Mo asked Kang De in curiosity. There were hundred of these little paths that criss-crossed and confused the eyes.
"Daren don't worry, this subordinate has been hunting here for over a decade and won't walk wrong even with the my eyes closed," Kang De said proudly. He then introduced, "These little paths might look complex, but if one goes through a few times, they can learn them. Starting from here, we will enter the true Cloud Sea. The cloud mist here is not thick, the deeper we go down, the thicker it becomes."
Kang De led the group at the front.
They walked onto a curved little path and quickly disappeared in the Cloud Sea.
———
"Shishu, are those people suspicious?" Ming Jing asked probingly. Of the three young disciples, his mind was the nimblest and he noticed Shishu's abnormalness.
Pu Yao was correct, these people were dhyana xiu from Xuan Kong Temple. The white-browed purple robed dhyana xiu was called Ding Zhen, and the disciples in blue robes were third-generation disciples. Ding Zhen had come out with these disciples for them to gain experience. Along the way, they had received a message from the sect leader and turned to Cloud Sea Jie.
Ding Zhen nodded, "That dhyana xiu is from an unknown sect, he actually possesses wish power, it really is rare."
"Wish power?"
The three disciples stammered, their face filled with belief. The dhyana xiu that they had seen didn't appear much older than them. He also did not look special.
Wish power was one of the rarest powers of all the dhyana xiu powers. The three of them were among the top ranks of the young disciples of Xuan Kong Temple and naturally knew what wish power meant.
The number of people Xuan Kong Temple, the greatest temple in the world, who possessed wish power could be counted on the fingers.
"There are always better people, the world outside is filled with hidden dragons and crouching tigers." Ding Zhen glanced at the trio. "Also, that sword xiu's sword essence is so pure and condense that I have only seen such a thing before on a few Kun Lun disciples. If you encounter him, do not be careless."
The other disciple reacted the quickest. "Shishu, could they be disciples from Kun Lun?"
"Not Kun Lun." Ding Zhen shook his head, "The sword essence of Kun Lun does not feel like this."
The expressions of the three disciples relaxed. It was good that it was not Kun Lun. Kun Lun had dominated the top position of the Four Realm Heaven for thousands of years. Even disciples of Xuan Kong Temple were not willing to encounter Kun Lung disciples. The four great sects fought openly and in the shadows, but there were rarely any direct conflicts. All of them were colossal beings. If fighting really started, it could not easily end.
As long as those were not disciples of the other three sects, they didn't feel the need for any consideration. The enemies they were wary of and would treat equally were only disciples of the four great sects, people that were on the same level as themselves.
Seeing the unconcerned expression on the faces of the three disciples, Ding Zhen shook his head inside. But when he recalled how he had been similarly proud when he was young, he smiled and let it pass.
The disciples of Xuan Kong Temple had the right to be proud.
———
Along the way, Kang De chatted about all the strange tales and rumors of the Cloud Sea. His oratory skills were not good but he was very experienced and knew many details. Zuo Mo's group listened attentively.
This trip took a day and night before the cloud mist started to become thick enough to obscure their vision. The pure white mist that seemed like cotton almost filled all of their vision. Little paths flickered in and out of the view in this cloud mist. If they were not careful and wandered off into the cloud mist, they would lose their direction. Then it would really be dangerous.
Zuo Mo curiously examined the cloud mist floating in the air. These cloud mist were in the air but they did not float everywhere. These little paths were very fine but there wasn't any mist on the path.
Zuo Mo asked Kang De about this.
Kang De scratched his head. "Daren, this subordinate has never thought about this. This subordinate has been here for over a decade. Even though the cloud mists will change annually, but these little paths rarely change."
"Would there be any dangers here?" Zuo Mo asked.
"There are rarely any dangers in this area. Xiuzhe frequently come through here so cloud beasts and other things have been cleaned out," Kang De said.
As Kang De finished speaking, Zong Ru who was walking in the rear of the group, with his eyes closed, suddenly made a sound and stopped walking.
A cold light flashed through Zuo Mo and Wei Sheng's eyes. They instantly stopped moving and held themselves warily.
Kang De was extremely confused.
"Something is nearing us," Zong Ru said in a low voice.
Zong Ru's Samadhi deepened and his sixth sense was extremely sensitive. Unless Zuo Mo expanded his consciousness, he was not a match for Zong Ru. However, Zuo Mo and Wei Sheng were powerful people. At almost the same moment Zong Ru spoke, they had also detected danger!
Wei Sheng held his black sword in his hand. Zuo Mo's shen power turned into the three powers and was held in waiting.
Woosh woosh woosh!
Several white mist arrows suddenly shot out of the cloud mist with tearing sounds.
Zuo Mo's movement were extremely rapid. His consciousness shifted and several [Ice Mirrors] were cast. Ever since he listened to Kang De speak about the unique qualities of the cloud bests hears, Zuo Mo felt that yao arts were more suited to the Cloud Sea.
[Ice Mirror] was a kind of little yao art. When Zuo Mo used it, it was so fast people could not catch it.
Bam bam bam!
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The ice mirrors shattered and a cold energy spread in the air.
Several white shadows that charged out of the cloud mist instantly froze as their bodies entered the cold energy.
Inside the cold energy were three cloud beasts that were shaped like squirrels. Their body was frozen by the cold energy into ice, and they still maintained their charging position.
They were transparent and glowed like ice statues. Their faint blue eyes were beautiful.
Bam bam bam!
They crashed onto the ground and instantly shattered into a pile of ice.
The ice quickly melted into water, and then dissipated into cloud mist to disappear.
"Cloud mice!" Kang De's expression was shocked as he murmured to himself, "No! No! How can there be cloud mice here?"
Hearing this, Zuo Mo's brow furrowed. "You are saying these things should not appear here?"
Kang De refocused and hurriedly said, "Yes Daren! Cloud mice are very sensitive to the movements of xiuzhe, and usually live deep in the Cloud Sea where there are no people. Also ... ..."
He halted.
"Also what?" Zuo Mo asked in a deep voice.
"Cloud mice would rarely attack xiuzhe proactively." Kang De's expression was not well. "Cloud mice are very gentle and their temperament makes them suited to be pets. Female xiuzhe often like them. It is the first time that this subordinate has seen cloud mice attack xiuzhe unprovoked."
"State your point!" Zuo Mo saw Kang De's hesitating and his face darkened.
Kang De gritted his teeth and stated his speculation, "This subordinate thinks that something might have happened deep in the Cloud Sea so these cloud mice are acting ... ..."
"I understand. We will be careful and take precautions for our safety." Zuo Mo understood what Kang De meant but he was definitely unwilling to go back like this.
Before departing, he had made the decision to find a water cloud embryo.
This matter did not just concern A Gui, but also his birth and origins. He had a strong feeling that the relationship between he and A Gui was definitely not simple!
Zuo Mo had prepared fully for this trip. He had asked Gu Ming Gong for several transportation seals and he was not afraid of encountering danger.
Seeing Zuo Mo's determined attitude, Kang De could not do a thing. The other person was his boss.
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———
"Shishu, something's not right." Ming Jing's expression was not well. They had encountered several waves of attack. He felt a thread of uncertainly. Ming Jing had come to the Cloud Sea to hunt cloud beasts before and was not unfamiliar with this place. The unusual situation was clearly a sign of something wrong.
"What is not right?" Ding Zhen asked.
"This disciple has come to the Cloud Sea before. These cloud mice are fearful of people and would never attack xiuzhe first. Right now, they are so restless, this disciples suspects that something under has changed," Ming Jing carefully responded.
"A change?" A light suddenly flashed through Ding Jing's indifferent eyes. He seemed slightly excited as he looked towards the depths of the Cloud Sea.
Ming Jing jumped in fright at Ding Jing Shishu's burning gaze. It was the first time he saw such a gaze from the composed and indifferent Ding Zhen Shishu. Was there ... ...
His mind suddenly shifted as he recalled Ding Zhen Shishu having received a message from the sect leader in the middle of their journey. Ding Zhen Shishu immediately had hurried to Cloud Sea Jie by travelling day and night.
Was there something that the sect leaders cared about that was hiding in the depths of the Cloud Sea?
Ding Zhen glanced at Ming Jing. Ming Jing's heart jumped. Shishu's gave was as sharp as a sword and seemed to piece to the bottom of his heart.
"Let's go." Ding Zhen's expression became aloof again as he started to walk deeper into the Cloud Sea.
———
Li Shu's mood was terrible.
The mission of the Sun Shen Temple had failed. Even though the sect leader did not punish him, but thinking about what he had lost, there seemed to be a fire burning inside of him.
The invasion of the mo army and the news that Turtle Island had instantly taken over all of Cloud Sea Jie had also arrived in his ears.
Turtle Island's power shocked him again. To be able to win against a mo army, even a normal mo army, Turtle Island was more powerful than they appeared.
They had disguised themselves so well that he had not discovered their true strength!
It was a pity that the sect had no interest in Cloud Sea Jie after the Sun Shen Temple. Chaos rifts were continuously appearing in the jies governed by Tian Huan. Several small-scale yaomo battalions had been discovered in several jie, and the strength the sect had to spare for minor endeavors had instantly became limited.
This was to the point that the number of battalions sent to the front lines had dramatically decreased. If their homeland was invaded by the yaomo, there would not be any value in guarding the front line.
Jingshi, materials, ling grains, and etc. Every kind of resource supply was having problems. These were all major problems.
Elder Shen was sent to the front lines and Li Shu received orders to go to a place called Tong Yu Jie to assist the local battalion because they had discovered a small yaomo battalion there.
Tong Yu Jie was the producer of the ling jade which was important to Tian Huan. Ling jade was a very important raw material for forging seals. The importance of Tong Yu Jie to Tian Huan did not need to be said.
In comparison, the remote Cloud Sea Jie that did not produce anything significant and wasn't worth a mention.
The Sky-Splitting Calamity had come without any warning and caused every sect to descend into chaos, and their responses disorganized.
No matter how much Shen Wu Hai and Li Shu wanted to settle their debts, the order had come down and they could only obediently accept the missions.
But, he really was not content ... ...
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Chapter Five Hundred and Twenty Five – Cloud Crystal Mist Flow
In the seven days and nights they advanced through the mist, the coldness inside the cloud mist increased. Everyone had to channel ling power to withstand the cold energy. Zuo Mo and the others finally understood why only those jindan and above dared to enter the deepest reaches of the Cloud Sea. This coldness alone was not something those below jindan could withstand.
Zuo Mo had the Great Day Banded Flame and the precious treasure of the Sun Crystal Seed. The coldness did not affect him at all. What shocked him was that the Little Ones, each played happily and were extremely lively. Even Lil' Fire whom he had thought would not be able to persist didn't seem uncomfortable at all in the coldness.
They occasionally encountered some cloud beasts along the way, but fortunately, they did not encounter cloud beasts that were two powerful.
Kang De's expression was full of worry. The abnormality of the Cloud Sea caused him to feel extremely unsafe.
"Daren, the cloud river is up ahead," Kang De's expression lightened. "Past the cloud river, we can find water cloud embryos."
This sentence caused moral to rose and the group accelerated forward.
Soon later, a large river appeared in their field of view, but when their eyes landed on the cloud river, they all stilled.
Kang De suddenly became overjoyed and exclaimed, "Cloud Crystal Mist Flow! How can there be Cloud Crystal Mist Flow at this season?"
There wasn't any cloud mist on the surface of the river yet what was flowing inside the river was not river water, but densely pack ice crystals. These ice crystals were each the size of an egg and were rhomboid. It was clear and transparent, and there was a small ball of cloud mist which slowly flowed inside each rhombus.
When the wide river surface that was tens of li in expanse were filled with this kind of ice crystal, countless rays of lights reflected and was dazzling.
Zuo Mo raised his hand and an ice crystal flew into Zuo Mo's hand. Strangely, once the ice crystal left the river, it quickly melted into a thread of cloud mist that disappeared into the air.
Wei Sheng and Zong Ru had never seen this before and tried to grab the ice crystals as well.
Wei Sheng made a light sound of surprise. "Such heavy coldness!"
Kang De said with a smile, "The cloud mist would condense into a flow of water and gather in the cloud river. Every decade, a cold flow would come. When the coldness invaded the cloud river, it would form the Cloud Crystal Mist Flow. The little ball of cloud mist inside these ice crystals are the purest of cloud essence and is something great for forging! Every time the Cloud Crystal Mist Flow appears, there would be troops of xiuzhe that come here to harvest the cloud essence! We are very fortunate to encounter this!"
Zuo Mo found that many xiuzhe had appeared on the shores of the river. Each person's face was full of joy as they used all the talismans they had to gather cloud essence.
Kang De took out a jade bottle and started to carefully gather cloud essence.
Zuo Mo snickered and said, "We cannot enter a treasure mountain and leave empty-handed!"
Finishing saying this, hundreds of jade bottles and boxes appeared in front of him.
Wei Sheng and Zong Ru also started to harvest.
If cloud essence was forged into flying swords, the flying sword would become more nimble and quick. Wei Sheng threw the black sword into the air. The black sword hummed lightly and then suddenly produced a strong suction. Like a whale, it sucked in ice crystals. When the ice crystals left the river, they quickly melted and then the thread of cloud essence was sucked into the black sword before it could dissipate.
Zong Ru activated his Attainment Golden Body. When the enormous golden figure appeared, a faint and authoritative dhyana presence spread. A blurry bottle suddenly appeared in one of the hands of the mountainous golden body. The mouth of the bottle was pointed towards the river and countless ice crystals flowed into the bottle like birds returning to their nest.
In comparison to the other two, Zuo Mo was lacking. Even though his efficiency was high and he filled up all of his jade boxes and bottles, he still was not satisfied.
His eyes turned and then he suddenly thought of the [Yin Fire Bead Chapter]. Didn't this cloud essence belong to the yin? He then tried to cast the spell of the yin bead and motioned at the cloud river.
Bam!
Hundreds of ice crystals in the river suddenly exploded. The threads of cloud essence were like a barrage of rain that shot into Zuo Mo's hands and gathered into a thumb-sized bead. This bead was round and glowing as though it was carved out of crystal. What was most marvelous was that there was a faint cloudy mist floating around it that made it very beautiful.
Zuo Mo saw that this method was workable and he laughed. He became even more motivated.
Lil' Pagoda laboriously flapped its eaves to absorb cloud essence. In Zuo Mo's eyes, the xiuzhe that had forged Lil' Pagoda's was creative, but his method had been very primitive and crude. The reason that Lil' Pagoda was able to reach this level was completely through relying on piles of talismans and rare materials.
Gold, wood, water, fire, earth were the five levels of the pagoda. Zuo Mo had put the sixth-grade Jade Hook Tree on the wood level and Zuo Mo's unique Great Day Banded Flame was on the fire level. The gold level was filled with vast amounts of gold crystal sand. Now they had coincidentally encountered the Cloud Crystal Mist Flow. It was definitely a one in a thousand opportunity.
As the cloud essence continuously flowed into Lil' Pagoda's body, its dim water level slowly lit up and then exuded faint cloud mist.
The xiuzhe on the river shores were disturbed by the noise going on over at Zuo Mo's side and gave respectful and awed looks.
———
"Attainment Golden Body!" Ding Zhen's eyes suddenly became bright. The figure behind Zong Ru's back was blurry but it was the dignified golden body. His shock overtook his ability to speak and he was silent for a while.
"Shishu, what is the Attainment Golden Body?" Ming Jing was astounded. What could cause Shishi to lose his composure?
The other two people also stopped what they were doing.
"I hadn't expected that it was the Attainment Golden Body!" Ding Zhen forced a calm smile, "It is a wondrous dhyana scripture. Ever since the thousand year battle, it had disappeared. I had thought it was lost and it is unexpected that a branch has survived. No wonder this boy was able to attain wish power. The successor of [Attainment Golden Body] is as extraordinary as one would expect!"
The three disciples showed expressions of understanding. So this was a lost dhyana scripture.
Ming Zhu who had been silent suddenly spoke, "The other two are also very strong."
Hearing this, Ding Zhen stilled. Of the three disciples, Ming Zhu was the most stoic but he was usually correct in his words. Ding Zhen's gaze finally moved away from the Attainment Golden Body. When it landed on Wei Sheng's black sword, his pupils expanded.
"Such heavy fiendish energy! Such heavy killing intent! There is actually such a vicious weapon in the world!"
When he looked at Wei Sheng, he found that the other's gaze was clear without any maliciousness and his actions were honest. It was possible to see that the killing intent of the sword had not influenced his mind. He couldn't help but praise, "Such a determined and strong-minded man!"
His gaze moved to Zuo Mo.
He made a sound of surprise and his expression became bewildered. "Strange, there's something strange!"
He said to himself, "He clearly is not in the stage of jindan, so how was he able to reach this place? His hand technique is also very strange, I cannot understand it."
He kept on shaking his head.
When his gaze turned to Lil' Pagoda, his eyes lit up but then he said regretfully, "It is a pity."
The three disciples were confused by his words.
Ding Zhen did not explain and just said, "These three are of extraordinary origins. We need to be extremely careful in our journey this time and not get in conflict with them."
Seeing the unconcerned faces of the three disciples, Ding Zhen's brow furrowed. But when he thought about how they would have him, a yuanying, supporting them, he couldn't help but laugh. He was too cautious.
He did not continue to persuade them and said with a smile, "You may want to harvest some more. It would be difficult to encounter such pure cloud essence in the future. It is a very good gift to give to your shixiong and shidi when you return to your sect."
This time, even Ming Zhu took out a jade bottle and started harvesting.
———
Of the three, Zong Ru was the first to finish. The bottle became even more defined. It had grown longer and there was a blood red lotus on the surface of the bottle that flickered. The bottle was shrouded in cloud mist as it slowly faded into the golden body.
Zong Ru's palms came together as he stood up and bowed towards the cloud river.
Zuo Mo had also formed hundreds of cloud beads. He had used up all of the ling power inside his body. He stopped, threw a few ling dan into his mouth and sat down cross-legged to recover his ling power.
Lil' Pagoda seemed to be over stuffed as he swayed back into A Gui's arms and laid down with its tummy facing up.
The black sword's absorption of the cloud mist had not decreased.
Wei Sheng stared attentively at the black sword and found to his surprise that the shape of the black sword was slowly changing.
The body of the sword became even narrower, and caused the sword to look longer in comparison. Compared to its previous vicious appearance, it seemed nimbler and more spirited. Despite appearances its length was actually shortening. The long sword which had been the length of a person was now about the same length to Wei Sheng's ribs. The ruler-straight sword was still simple and unadorned, it had a deep black luster that did not give off any light.
The present black sword was still a size larger than normal flying swords but was much more delicate in appearance than in the past. It was as though an ancient wild beast had hidden away its thick claws and teeth to silently settle down.
There wasn't any aura of viciousness or fiendish energy, no killing intent, but for some unknown reason, Wei Sheng's heart was full of a faint joy.
It took two whole hours before the black sword stopped absorbing cloud essence.
The black sword suddenly disappeared and then reappeared in Wei Sheng's hand.
Wei Sheng gripped the hilt of the sword which was the perfect thickness and length for his hand. A smile blossomed on his face.
Kang De had finished before Zong Ru did. He had not expected to encounter the Cloud Crystal Mist Flow and had not prepared. However, he was not greedy and was very satisfied with the surprise.
"Daren, after crossing this cloud river and walking for two more days, we will enter the grounds of harvesting water cloud embryos ... ..."
Before Kang De finished speaking, his voice suddenly choked off. Almost at the same time, Zuo Mo and the others looked at the cloud river.
A blue light suddenly flew out of the cloud river, covered in layers of ice crystals, and struck a xiuzhe. The xiuzhe hit was instantly frozen into a statue of ice. He didn't even had the time to scream before he dropped into the cloud river and disappeared!
"Ice Breath Beast!" Kang De's face turned ashen and his voice trembled.
The xiuzhe who were harvesting by the river shore instantly started to panic. Each of them had ashen faces as they turned and tried to escape.
Dozens of blue energies flew out of the river. The xiuzhe that were struck instantly turned to ice sculptures. Even the expressions of their faces were preserved as though they were alive.
This time, even Zuo Mo's group changed expression!
These dozens of xiuzhe were all jindan but were able to withstand one blow of this blue light!
What was even harder to believe was that the ones that were hit were the xiuzhe who had turned in order to escape!
Zuo Mo's heart shook. Such high intelligence!
Suddenly, someone exclaimed in shock, "Heavens! The cloud river is growing!"
As he had said, the layers of ice crystals were growing upwards. They quickly reached the same level as the rivers of the shore and they were still rising!
At this time, several bolts of blue light suddenly shot at Zuo Mo's group!
Face ashen, Kang De's soul almost left his body!
Translator Ramblings: The course to the water embryo is never a smooth one.