This chapter has been brought to you by me, and WanderingGummiOfDoom.
Chapter Eight Hundred and Sixty Three – Preparations
This really was a land of death!
Zuo Mo couldn"t help but lament as he looked at the scenery outside. The grey mountain peaks in the distance appeared endless. Many of the peaks were shrouded in grey mist. Here the world was grey, black, and white. There were no other colors.
Seeing Zuo Mo"s interest in the distant mountains, the guard spoke up to introduce, "That is Billion Bone Peaks."
"Billion Bone Peaks?" Zuo Mo was frightened by this name.
"Yes, that mountain is made entirely of bone, bones everywhere, innumerable. Sometimes, when it rains, the bones will flow down like water. Many of the bones here were washed over from there." The guard was like a tour guide.
"Where did so many bones come from?" Zuo Mo was extremely interested.
"No one knows!" The guard shook his head. "Before, many people were interested in Billion Bone Peak, but after searching for a long time, they did not find anything. Some people dug into Billion Bone Peak to seek the source but they never came out alive. There are many bones there. Some people are interested in bone materials so they like to go there to harvest and gather. Gu Wu Shuang Daren lives there."
Gu Wu Shuang, that skeleton that could talk.
Zuo Mo"s mind suddenly s.h.i.+fted. "Where are the best death energy pools?"
"The best death energy pools … …" the guard thought about it. "I"m not clear about that. But there is the Sea of Ten Thousand Boiling Pools. If Grandmaster is interested, you should take a look."
"Sea of Ten Thousand Boiling Pools!" Zuo Mo noted that down.
This guard was skilled at talking and discussed many unique locations of the Ten Thousand Tombs of the Netherworld. It really broadened Zuo Mo"s view. The Ten Thousand Tombs of the Netherworld were unique even in the Nether Realm. There was a reason why the Yin Tomb Guards were the only ones here. Normal mo could not tolerate such thick death energy.
If one did not cultivate the Yin Tomb Guards" unique scripture, they would be corroded by the death energy here and die.
Zuo Mo could hear from his tone that this guard was reverent of and faithfully loyal to the Yin Tomb Ghost Lord. Zuo Mo felt that the way the outside world saw the Yin Tomb Guards were not like what he saw.
Soon, they reached the residence of the Ghost Lord.
The Yin Tomb Ghost Lord"s residence was simple. If he had not been told, he would not know that one of the top people in the Nether realm was living in a very ordinary building.
There were no guards outside the residence.
The guard came to the door and said respectfully. "Ghost Lord, Grandmaster is here!"
"Come in." The Ghost Lord"s dissonant voice came from behind the door.
The door opened on its own.
Zuo Mo walked in. The yard was also ordinary and did not have any decorations. The Ghost Lord was sitting at the center of the yard. He slowly stood up and nodded to Zuo Mo. That could be considered a greeting.
"Grandmaster has come, do you have any thoughts about the shen device?" The Ghost Lord was expressionless.
Two chairs and a table of bone rose from the ground. The Ghost Lord sat in one of the bone chairs and gestured to invite Zuo Mo to sit down. After Zuo Mo sat down, two cups of bone appeared on the table. The cups were filled with a b.l.o.o.d.y red liquid.
"Please." The Ghost Lord picked up a cup and drained it.
Zuo Mo curiously picked up the bone cup. He smelled it. There was no strong b.l.o.o.d.y tang he had expected, but an unique fragrance.
The Ghost Lord saw Zuo Mo"s action and gave off dissonant chuckles. "This is one of the products of the Ten Thousand Tombs of the Underworld, Vermillion Red Marrow. It looks like blood, but it is actually the milk of a stone."
Zuo Mo drained it. When it entered his throat, he felt extremely refreshed all the way to his heart.
Good stuff!
Zuo Mo became alert!
A presence slowly revolved around his flesh and blood in a comfortable manner.
The Ghost Lord seemed to be in a good mood. He laughed and said, "Grandmaster likes this. I have a batch here, and will give it to Grandmaster."
"Many thanks!" Zuo Mo did not refuse. After savoring the taste, he spoke, "I have come this time for the matter of the shen device."
"Please speak," the Ghost Lord said.
"The forging of a shen device is both easy and hard. If the materials are good and the effort is there, that"s about all you need. Good materials are top materials. Those that can tolerate shen power, especially strong shen power, they will not be low in grade. Effort, that is the engraving of shen glyphs and seals formations have to be paired appropriately so that they can express the attributes of the materials and benefit the user," Zuo Mo said casually.
"Good explanation." The Ghost Lord nodded. "Then what kind of materials does Grandmaster need?"
"I"m not familiar with nether materials." Zuo Mo said after a moment. "What kind of materials can Ghost Lord not destroy with your shen power?"
The Ghost Lord stilled. He tilted his head to think and said, "Grandmaster, please wait."
Then he disappeared.
Zuo Mo was not in a panic when the other did not appear for a long time.
The Ghost Master appeared an hour later. Clack clack clack, some materials fell to the ground. The Ghost Lord said, "My shen power cannot destroy these materials."
Zuo Mo first picked up a bone. This looked to be the femur of a human, but it was an unique dark gold as though it was carved from metal.
When it entered his hand, Zuo Mo suddenly felt a feeling of familiarity. Faint warmth came from the bone.
"Could you give this bone to me, I can trade for this with other things," Zuo Mo lifted his head and said.
The Ghost Lord was slightly surprised when he heard this. But he shook his head and said, "There is no need to trade, I will give it to Grandmaster."
Zuo Mo changed expression. He didn"t believe the Ghost Master could not see the extraordinary nature of this bone. He hadn"t expected the other to be so generous to give it to him. Zuo Mo smiled. "Then I will accept it."
He had no more intentions of skimping. He decided to forge a good shen device for the Ghost Lord. Zuo Mo had a lot of materials to work with as he had the a.s.sets.
He put the dark gold bone into his ring. Zuo Mo started to inspect the other materials.
A pale skull. The empty eye sockets seemed bottomless. When Zuo Mo looked, he felt his body being pulled in. He was alarmed and he immediately woke up. He stood motionlessly where he was.
This skull was slightly strange!
The two b.a.l.l.s of mist in the empty eye sockets were deep and serene.
Without even looking, Zuo Mo knew that this was a top-tier material. Even with his G.o.d-level cultivation, he had been pulled in. The illusory ability of the skull was incomprehensible.
Zuo Mo put down the skull and reached his hand to another material.
This was a black stone. It looked ordinary but when Zuo Mo held it, he was not able to move it.
He tried again. The stone still remained motionless.
"This rock is thirty thousand catties heavy. I accidentally obtained it," the Ghost Lord said woodenly.
Zuo Mo was slightly shocked. This stone the size of his hand was thirty thousand catties heavy! No wonder he could not pick it up! While Zuo Mo"s cultivation was G.o.d-level, his body had not recovered and he could not lift such a heavy stone.
The third material was a grey piece of wood. The wood was covered in burnt marks.
The wood was extremely light and seemed like nothing when held in his hands. What surprised Zuo Mo the most was that this stone had a clear wasteland presence.
Zuo Mo had ancient records and he guessed that this was the Grey Feather Wood, one of the shen woods of the world. The Ghost Lord"s shen power naturally would not be able to destroy it.
Zuo Mo pa.s.sed the Grey Feather Wood to the Ghost Lord and said, "Ghost Lord, please channel shen power."
The Ghost Lord did not waste words. He picked up the Grey Feather Wood and channeled shen power.
A dark, cold and vicious presence immediately covered the yard. Zuo Mo"s expression was calm and unaffected as he quickly a.n.a.lyzed in his mind. Moments later, he nodded and said, "That"s good."
The Ghost Lord would never think that in such a short span of time, Zuo Mo had completely a.n.a.lyzed his shen power.
Zuo Mo"s G.o.d-level cultivation caused his ability to a.n.a.lyze to reach a terrifying level. While the Ghost Lord had just demonstrated his shen power, it was more than enough for Zuo Mo.
"This stone is not suited for you. The Grey Feather Wood and this skull can be used. But other materials are also needed." Zuo Mo said in a professional tone of voice.
He was not tricking the other. In terms of forging shen devices, there was no one more professional than him.
"Grey Feather Wood?" The Ghost Lord raised the grey piece of wood in his hand.
"Yes," Zuo Mo introduced, "this is a very rare kind of shen wood. It is as light as a feather. The ancient tribes frequently used them to make shen arrows. It is rare to see such a big piece of Grey Feather Wood."
"Grandmaster is knowledgeable." The Ghost Lord continued to speak in his dissonant voice. "What other materials are needed? Grandmaster can make a list."
Zuo Mo shook his head. "I"m not familiar with nether materials. It would be better if you have someone take me to the storehouses. After I examine them, I will know if they can be used or not."
"Alright." The Ghost Master treasured words like gold.
The guard that had guided Zuo Mo here was summoned and he stood solemnly next to the Ghost Lord.
"Take Grandmaster to the material storehouses. Do whatever he tells you," the ghost lord said.
"Yes!" the guard acknowledged.
Zuo Mo suddenly said, "I want to go see the Sea of Ten Thousand Boiling Pools, and pick some good death energy pools."
The Ghost Lord nodded. "Alright."
Turning his face, he said to the guard, "You will be in charge of this as well."
"Yes!" the guard hurriedly responded.
"This is the storehouse." The guards looked tiny as he stood in front of the mountains of materials. "What is in this storehouse are materials that are pretty good."
The manager of the storehouse stood respectfully by the side.
The guard mimicked the tone of the Ghost Lord as he ordered the manage, "Grandmaster is picking materials here. Do whatever he tells you!"
"Yes!" the manager hurriedly said, "This lowly one will do whatever Grandmaster says!"
Zuo Mo saw this and couldn"t help but grin.
There were tens of thousands of materials in the storehouse, piled up in mountains one after another.
Zuo Mo seemed to only stroll pa.s.sed these little mountains. Occasionally, one or two materials would float out of the little mountains and float behind Zuo Mo.
In about two hours, Zuo Mo had walked through the entire storehouse.
There were hundreds of kinds of materials floating behind him. He stopped and called the storehouse manager. "Come over here and identify these materials."
The storehouse manager was extremely familiar with the materials. He quickly identified all the materials that Zuo Mo had picked. Zuo Mo then made a list noting down the materials he wanted.
When Zuo Mo identified one, the storehouse manager would nod.
Yet when Zuo Mo came to the final material, the storehouse manager"s expression became conflicted.
Noticing the other"s expression, Zuo Mo asked, "Not enough?"
"This one does not dare to lie to Daren, there is not enough in stock. This is very valuable, and we only one one-tenth of the amount," the storehouse manager sobbed.
The guard"s face darkened. He went over to look. When he saw the words "crystal bone," he didn"t speak. When he saw the number behind it, he continued to be silent.
Zuo Mo was slightly puzzled. He beckoned with his hand and a bone flew in front of him. "If you forge this a bit, isn"t this crystal bone?"
The guard and the storehouse manage seemed to be struck by lightning as they were stunned where they stood.
Translator Ramblings: Ghost Lord is very generous.