World of Cultivation

The skin that once had a black sheen now seemed slightly transparent like black jade. There was none of the shock that came with the first transformation. Zuo Mo examined his body with curiosity. Thankfully, there was not much change on his face. It wasn’t that he was afraid of becoming ugly, but it was not a good feeling when the face he had recently adjusted to had become strange once again.

He tested his strength. It was about two-tenths greater than before. Not bad, he thought inside as he started the [Sky Wave Fist Scripture]. He wanted to see how many revolutions his arms could tolerate this time.

Fourteen revolutions had been the limit when he had faced the Bloody Horn Serpent last time.

He started the [Sky Glass Wave] and the ling power quickly circulated through his arms.

Starting from the seventh revolution, his arms started to feel inflated. After ten revolutions, the feeling of inflation in his arms became more evident. After twelve revolutions, the feeling of inflation became even more pronounced in his arms. After that, with every new revolution, the feeling of inflation should increase greatly.

When it reached twelve revolutions, Zuo Mo’s mind jumped. It was possible!

Even though his arms felt very inflated, but there was still leeway compared to last time. He continued to channel ling power. He wanted to see where the limits of his new body were.

Fourteen revolutions, there was a pain caused by the feeling of the pressure.

Sixteen revolutions, Zuo Mo felt like his arms were going to explode.

Threads of light flooded out of his arms, and swam along his arms like little snakes moving about. It was the first time Zuo Mo had seen such a thing. He knew that if he completed two more revolutions, the Sky Glass Wave would probably undergo another change.

He weighed his options. He felt that he could still tolerate more. Bracing his heart, he continued to channel ling power!

Seventeen revolutions, the feeling of explosion in his hands became even stronger, and a needle like pain appeared. The light of the fist energies around his arms became even thicker, and the rate of movement increased.

The air around him did the exact opposite, their rate of flow was decreasing continuously.

At eighteen revolutions, the lights that swam around his arms increased in speed, and showed extremely unique whirlpool fist energies! Due to the increase in speed, the threadlike fist energies that had been wrapped around his elbow joints quickly were pulled astray. They were like springs that were pressed down by an invisible force. The spring disks that were now flat quickly revolved with amazing speed at Zuo Mo’s fists!

Zuo Mo knew that this was his limit. The air around him had stopped flowing as though it had turned solid at this moment.

Without a hesitation, Zuo Mo raised both his hands, and shouted, “Go!”

The center of the disk-shaped fist energies seemed to have been heavily struck and turned into the start of a helix that flew out with astounding speed!

There was no sound, no howling. When the two fist energies left his fists, they seemed to have disappeared into the air. They were so quick that Zuo Mo himself did not catch them.

As these two fists were released, the ling power and strength in Zuo Mo’s body seemed to have been completely pulled out. Extremely sore, he collapsed onto his bottom on the ground. After a while, he managed to struggle up and sway over to inspect the result of his two punches.

Twenty zhang away, two holes bored into the earth, each was more than two zhang in diameter. They were so deep the bottoms could not be seen. Zuo Mo couldn’t help but show slight joy as he gaped. It wasn’t possible to create this kind of clean and deep hole, like a knife cutting tofu, with just raw strength.

The power of the eighteen revolutions Sky Glass Wave was definitely more than twice as powerful as the fourteen revolutions one. Because there were not quantifiable measurements, he could only make a general estimate on its power. Zuo Mo instantly became happy. Pu Yao’s methods were quite painful, but they were very effective.

After this metamorphosis, the strength of his body had taken another leap forward. Otherwise, it wouldn’t have stood up to support the eighteen revolutions. The technique required in the Sky Glass Wave was not high, but starting from twelve revolutions, the demands on the body rapidly increased with each additional revolution.

This Jade Metal Head really lived up to being a mo physique, it was full of potential! Zuo Mo wondered inside about going to ask Pu Yao some other time to see if he could press some more out. When he had been at Wu Kong Mountain, when he heard the mention of yaomo, he would fear it. Now that he had experienced more, he didn’t have much feeling.

What mo physique, what yao art? When it was used, where was the energy of yaomo? He didn’t feel that his personality had become evil and vicious. As he experienced more, he gradually could see clearly. The so-called yao, mo, and xiuzhe were just different cultivation paths for different innate talents.

Like the yao, born from flora or the essence of the world. They were born understanding the power of the world, and naturally learned how to use their consciousness as a lever to manipulate the power of the world. Mo were born from intelligent beasts, with strong bodies and a mo matrix. It was no wonder they walked the path of awakening the potential of their bodies. And xiuzhe were humans. Their bodies were not strong, not close to the world, but they were intelligent. It was rational they would walk the path of assimilating outside forces to their benefit.

He gradually understood the hatred between yaomo and xiuzhe as he spent this time in Little Mountain Jie. The ling power that xiuzhe cultivated emphasized using outside objects. They needed all kinds of resources. Jingshi required jingshi mines, ling grains, and other ling grasses needed ling veins. Forging talismans required all kinds of materials, needed ores, and other precious treasures of the world.

But no matter if it was ore, or ling veins, all of them needed tens of thousands of years to mature. Even those treasures of the world usually needed several thousand years before they would mature.

But who could wait for more than a thousand years?

Xiuzhe could only continuously expand out and find new jie. However, this meant conflict with yaomo could not be avoided. In here, it couldn’t be said who was right or wrong. No matter if it was xiuzhe or yaomo, these were all for their existence, for development.

Zuo Mo did not have good feelings about yaomo but held no dislike. Things like wars were not something a little character like him had to worry about. After gradually understanding this, Zuo Mo did not have any more mental barriers about cultivating mo skills and yao arts.

Without mental barriers, his progress in cultivating was naturally quick.

Before, he had always struggled with the concept of talent. His talent with swords was really very average. If Pu Yao did not exist, he may never have cultivated to sword essence. That was a sword essence created through being cut up thousands of times. His talent with formations and the five elements were more exceptional.

Now he felt that while talent was important, but many things could not be explained by talent. Comprehension was comprehension, incomprehension was incomprehension. If one did not have talent, they would still be strong if they could comprehend. If they had talent, and did not comprehend, there was no use.

Talent could increase the probability of comprehension but it was not always a certainty. There wasn’t just talent, even talismans and spells could be included in this. Even if the grade was higher, and the power was greater, but it depended on whether it was suited to oneself.

The [Sky Wave Fist Scripture] was just a third-grade fist scripture without any exceptional qualities. For the great majority of Dhyana xiu, it was very normal in terms of power, but in Zuo Mo’s hands, it was incredibly powerful. It was not that other Dhyana xiu could not understand the profoundness of Sky Glass Wave, but that their bodies just could not tolerate the shocking burden that came with the eighteen revolutions of ling power.

Zuo Mo comprehended many things.

The eighteen revolution Sky Glass Wave increased Zuo Mo’s confidence but he only had the power for one attack. Jindan xiuzhe like the Clear Sky Old Forefather moved like lightning. It would be extremely hard to hit them. His anticipation of the formation he was going to set up increased.

He suddenly saw the scattered blood beads beside the feet of the female xiu and made a sound of surprise, “Where did these come from?”

The female xiu did not respond.

Zuo Mo muttered inside but still collected the blood beads. The blood beads sparkled as though each one was made from fresh blood. When held in his hands, he felt a feeling of closeness.

Facing the silent female xiu, Zuo Mo did not have any ideas. The female xiu of unknown name and history was a mystery all over. As to whether or not she was mute, that was just ridiculous. With the female xiu’s deep cultivation, even if she was born with a natural deficiency, there were countless ways to fix it.

She didn’t speak, there was only one reason. She didn’t want to speak.

The only person that Zuo Mo could ask was Pu Yao. He had too many questions he had accumulated.

Pu Yao was not surprised at Zuo Mo’s arrival.

“I know what you want to ask.”

He was sitting cross-legged on the gravestone, lazily supporting his chin with his hand. The gleaming black sleeve naturally feel down, and revealed an arm that was even paler than that of a woman’s. The right bloody pupil that was not covered by his hair was slightly open.

“The greatest unique quality of the Jade Metal Head is equilibrium. Even though none of it is outstanding, but it is pretty good in every area. In this period of time, you had been practicing with your body, ling power, and consciousness. It has matured.”

Several questions came into Zuo Mo’s mind after Pu Yao’s words. “I know the relationship of ling power and the body, the ling channels. But what relationship is there between the consciousness and the body? The Jade Metal Head matured? What do you mean matured?”

Pu Yao rolled his eyes. He had gotten used to Zuo Mo frequently asking him questions he found extremely idiotic. “How can there not be a connection? Those with strong bodies usually have strong minds. Ling power, body, and consciousness, the three of them come from the same source. Do the xiuzhe of present not know this?”

Zuo Mo’s face was already as thick as city walls. He snickered, and was not angry at Pu Yao’s mockery. “Then what about the level up of Jade Metal Head.”

“Mo physique, there was no maturity in the beginning. At the start, everyone just found that some special bodies were very suited to practicing mo skills. Over time, everyone called them mo physiques. After that, about tens of thousands of years, I’m not too clear about mo’s history, oh, don’t think that xiuzhe have the longest history. The history of yaomo is much longer than the history of xiuzhe.”

Zuo Mo found that Pu Yao showed hints of going off-topic and hurriedly pulled him back, “Then why was there leveling up later?”

“Because of advancement,” Pu Yao said then continued, “Jade Metal Head is captain level, and Star and Moon Wheel is colonel level. This is called advancement. Maturation, mo physiques are very special kinds of bodies, but they have a common quality, they can grow. Isn’t it interesting! Having a mo physique, it does not mean that your body is stronger than other people, but that you have more potential than other people.”

“I seem to understand a bit. Potential needs to be stimulated before it can turn to strength.”

Pu Yao nodded, “Right, that’s the idea. Maturation, it means the degree that the potential of your mo physique has been expressed. Maturation and advancement have a strong connection. Only mo physiques of sufficient maturity can advance.”

“In other words, even if I can cultivate to moon soul, if my maturation is not enough, I cannot cultivate to Star and Moon Wheel?”

“Right. There is much scholarship associated with the advancement of mo physiques. There are many paths that Jade Metal Head can advance to. Star and Moon Wheel is only one of them. For example, there is also the Mountain Fiend Root that emphasizes strength, the Clear Wind Fighter that emphasizes lightness and agility. They had explored many kinds of weird advancement pathways. I only know the generalities.”

“Then what is my maturation right now?” Zuo Mo hurriedly asked the question he was most concerned about.

Translator Ramblings:

Long thing today. First, a whole theory from WanderingGummiOfDoom . He doesn’t allow me to tell him any spoilers (unlike warlord212 who knows a lot about this) so ... ...

So as far as I can figure is she knows ZM from before he lost his memories, and her exact identity I am unsure of.

1) She knows him, otherwise protecting and watching over him makes 0 sense. This is assumption 1, but is supported by point 5).

2) Given 1) This means she cannot recognize him from his physical appearance (since his body has changed), meaning she is using the 5 elemental bead to do so.

3) The power inside her is a similar to ZM’s bead, except it is 1 element. Ice since they describe her powers as being icy. This is assumption 2 and completely unsupported at this point. This only makes makes sense if she is from his past and the beads are a technique of his clan/family/sect.

4) Given 3) based on the power inside of the mystery lady is more powerful than ZM’s bead. This means either A) her bead is more valuable than ZM’s or B) ZM’s is more valuable.

4A) She is his elder.

4B) She is his subordinate. ZM’s bead is more valuable presumably has higher potential because it has 5 elements, but his bead is less powerful because he lacks the appropriate cultivation practices to strengthen it. This is assumption 3, and highly reliant on assumption 2.

5) She wanted something or had business in Little Mountain Jie, which is why she went there after attacking the Yao. If she wanted to kill the Yao leader, she would have stayed in Sky Moon Jie to try again. BUT! After getting to Little Mountain Jie she sticks around with ZM, without going off to deal with her business first. Suggesting her business is ZM. This greatly supports assumption 1.

Given 1) 4A/4B) and 5) the reasonable conclusion is the fact she knows ZM from his past, and attacked the Yao find ZM, since the Yao army was blockading the river and her path to him, and intends to protect him after he was abandoned by Wu Kong Sword Sect. I just can’t figure out if it is 4A) or 4B) at this point. I am leaning towards 4A since she is more powerful/doesn’t bother to talk to him, but 4B could make sense if ZM’s parents/elders gave her certain instructions. This is all based on if she knew ZM from before, but given the evidence I think it is highly probable.

And back to the regular dump of thoughts from me. First, in where Fang Xiang truly disappoints me, Zuo Mo ends up doing environmental destruction immediately after his power-up. I guess the only part that makes this somewhat alright is that he’s pretty much the ruler of this local area so no one will get him to pay or discipline him for seriously deep potholes.

Mo physiques are like pokemon and evolve. Zuo Mo finally lets go of his prejudice against yaomo, hindered in no small part by how terrible Pu Yao once was, and gets to see reality a bit more clearly. Zuo Mo has slightly grown up in the sense he can see a part of the bigger picture and general motivations behind events. He’s gained a lot of information and managed to piece it together to get the general history of the three races. But he still thinks the war will have nothing to do with him, and remains blind to the fact the yao army has him as one of the objectives. This is the first chapter that definitively said that xiuzhe were “human.” It really wasn’t possible to interpret the text for another meaning.

The main character isn’t the best at everything, and Zuo Mo doesn’t have any feelings of jealousy about how Wei Sheng is more talented in one area. In most C-fantasy stories, the main character is the most talented of the generation, and then moves up in power levels until the main character is an equal to the best of a generation ten times his age. Zuo Mo did have a bit of a mental struggle with how he did not progress in the sword as expected, and I thought how he tried so hard to forge the five essence sword set could be a reflection of how he tried to improve what he wasn’t good at, the sword, by using it with what he was good at, the five elements and formations. So he could say, I’m a sword xiu, look, I use five sword together.