This chapter has been brought to you by me, and WanderingGummiOfDoom.
Chapter Eight Hundred and Sixty Five – Ghost Fire Forging
When Zuo Mo walked out of the room, Qing Xiao"s eyes lit up. In a flash he appeared in front of Zuo Mo and asked concernedly in a low voice, "Big Brother, your wounds are healed?"
Zuo Mo smiled. "No, but the situation is slightly better."
"Great!" Qing Xiao was happy. "This place is slightly depressing, but if it can make Big Brother"s body better, it is a good place."
Zuo Mo patted Qing Xiao"s back. "It will be good soon."
After talking with Qing Xiao, Zuo Mo came to the death energy pool. He inspected the changes of the shen wood coffin. The five were in a slightly better state. However, Zuo Mo"s brow quickly furrowed. The death energy in the death energy pool was much fainter.
It seemed that he really did have to go to the Sea of Ten Thousand Boiling Pools and pick five high quality death energy pools.
He stood and walked towards the outside.
"Grandmaster!" The guard hurriedly bowed towards Zuo Mo.
"We are going to the Sea of Ten Thousand Boiling Pools."
"Yes!" The guard summoned the bone carriage.
On the carriage, Zuo Mo asked casually, "How has the forging of the crystal bones been? Have you finished preparing?"
The guard hesitated and then said, "It has not gone very well."
"Oh, what problems occurred?" Zuo Mo was slightly surprised.
"This lowly one is not quite clear," the guard shook his head.
Zuo Mo thought and said, "Then let"s first go to where they are forging the crystal bones." Zuo Mo needed large amounts of crystal bones. If there were not enough crystal bones, it would be difficult to proceeded with the following forging. Since he had agreed and had benefited so much from the Ghost Lord, Zuo Mo did not want to skimp.
"Yes!" A thread of respect came into the guard"s voice. He had followed the ghost lord for many years and had seen those so-called grandmasters. Regardless of their skill level, almost all of them had their noses in the sky and had proud expressions. Only this grandmaster had a good temper and was easygoing.
The bone carriage turned and flew into another direction.
The bone carriage moved quickly, the bone mountains flashed by. The smell of sulphur in the air increased. It was possible to see bright red lava slipping out through the valleys. Sparks flew and thick smoke rose into the air.
Bright red flows of lava could be seen everywhere. It was possible to see white bones that bobbed and moved in the lava in a terrifying picture.
Zuo Mo marveled inwardly. It had to be said that the Ten Thousand Tombs of the Netherworld was an unique place.
The guard saw Zuo Mo seemed to be very interested and introduced the area, "If we go forward, we will arrive at the Fire Cemetery. That is where we forge. The fire cemetery is abundant in earth fire and there are many that come here to forge. In the past, this place was spa.r.s.ely populated, then shen equipment came into style on the market. More and more people started to learn to forge shen equipment and more and more people came to the fire cemetery."
"Oh, how is the skill level of the Yin Tomb Guards in forging shen equipment?" Zuo Mo asked curiously.
"Not very good." The guard twisted his mouth. He clearly was not satisfied with the skill level of his group. "It is terrible. Lacking compared to the four nether lords. The Nether lords are worse than the xiuzhe realm. In the past, someone purchased a batch of Mo Cloud shen equipment. That level of skill is amazing. It is a pity that the Mo Cloud shen equipment does not match our shen power. The effects are not good. Otherwise, we will definitely will just buy directly from them."
Zuo Mo was very happy when he heard praise for Mo Cloud Sea from other people. His mind s.h.i.+fted. "Are you not able to communicate with Mo Cloud Sea? Why would they not sell shen equipment?"
"We had been planning to buy from them, but then something happened." The guard seemed to be wary of this question and did not discuss any further.
Zuo Mo was perceptive. It seemed as though the Nether Realm was not very calm either.
"Daren, the Fire Cemetery is up ahead," the guard pointed forward and said.
The bone carriage rounded between two hills and the scenery opened in front of them, an extremely large basin surrounded by mountains. Countless flows of lava flowed down from the mountain peaks as they gave off thick plumes of smoke.
Hundreds of streams of lava gathered at the base of the basin.
Thick pillars of fire occasionally erupted out of the center of the basin. Watching from far away, countless pillars rose and fell in a spectacular scene.
"This is the Fire Cemetery?" Even Zuo Mo couldn"t help but be stunned by such a great scene.
"Yes! Grandmaster, this is the Fire Cemetery! One of the best fire regions in the Nether World!" The guard"s voice was filled with pride.
The bone carriage flew swiftly downwards.
There were people waiting on the ground already and they moved over when the bone carriage landed. They bowed and called Grandmaster.
"This is the steward of the Fire Cemetery, Lu Zhuang," the guard introduced.
Zuo Mo greeted Lu Zhuang who was overwhelmed. Lu Zhuang was of a simple appearance and he was very embarra.s.sed. "Grandmaster, please forgive us. Everyone tried to forge the white bones, but the best is only at this level."
Lu Zhuang handed over a piece of bone. There were many ugly white marks on the transparent bone.
Zuo Mo frowned. This was caused by leaving too many impurities.
Zuo Mo identified the problem. He had based his predictions using the skill level of Golden Crow Camp. The forging skill level of these people were far below Golden Crow Camp. From this bone, it could be seen the so-called best were about the same skill level as the fringe apprentices of Golden Crow Camp.
He needed a great amount of crystal bone. He could forge them, but he did not want to waste his time on the simple preparation work. He had thought that work like this could be done by other people.
Forging like this that was simple and was needed in great amounts was best for less-skilled forgers to forge.
"Who forged this piece?" Zuo Mo asked.
Lu Zhuang hurriedly summoned the forger. It was a youth in his twenties. Lu Zhuang hurriedly said, "Ming Hong is the best forger here, he is the most skilled."
"Give him a piece of white bone, I"ll watch as he forges it," Zuo Mo said.
Ming Hong became alert. He had heard that a great grandmaster had come to the Ying Tomb Guards this time. He hadn"t expected the grandmaster to personally come to the Fire Cemetery and would personally teach him. He could not waste a chance like this.
Ming Hong became as alert as possible as he started to forge the white bone.
Zuo Mo"s mouth gaped at the following actions. Ming Hong was using the fire that erupted from the Fire Cemetery to forge!
Zuo Mo pointed at the focused Ming Hong and asked Lu Zhuang, "You all forge like this?"
"Yes!" Lu Zhuang had an expression of punishment. "Shouldn"t it be so?"
Zuo Mo was completely speechless. He had been mentally prepared before that the Yin Tomb Guards were not skilled, but he had not expected for their skill to be so low.
"Don"t you know that there are many impurities in these pillars of fire? If the flame itself is not pure, how can you forge?" Zuo Mo shouted in a rarely stern tone. "Don"t you have the xiuzhe"s scrolls? How can you not even know this basic knowledge?"
Lu Zhuang had a grimace. "Grandmaster, please do not be angry! It is not that this lowly one does not know that forging needs flames, because we cultivate nether shen power we cannot absorb earth fire."
Without knowing it, there were more and more mo gathered in the surroundings. They had heard that a grandmaster had arrived and had all ran over.
Zuo Mo stilled. He finally realized. The forging arts of the xiuzhe had gone through tens of thousands of years of development. What flames could be used, which ones were not good, that must have been learned through the contributions of countless people. For the mo, ten years ago, they didn"t need to know how to forge. They had refined their bodies as weapons, and only began forging as they entered the era of shen power. Shen equipment was something unfamiliar to everyone, but to them even forging was unfamiliar.
This fundamental knowledge needed to be acc.u.mulated through countless people. There were no shortcuts.
The faces were bitter and dispirited. They had studied for so many years, but they still did not understand.
The mysteries of the forging world were unreachable to them.
Zuo Mo sighed inside. He looked at these faces, and suddenly thought of himself back at Wu Kong Mountain.
"Nether shen power is not suited for absorbing earth fire. You have death energy within your shen power and that is even more unsuited for earth fire. However, other than earth fire, there are other types of fire. The reason that xiuzhe mostly use earth fire is because, for them, earth fire is easy to absorb and control."
Everyone listened carefully in fear of missing a word.
"But you are suited for yin type fires, like ghost fire," Zuo Mo continued.
"How can ghost fire be used to forge?" someone shouted from among the crowd.
They were familiar with ghost fire. The shen power that many people cultivated carried small amounts of ghost fire. This as the Ten Thousand Tombs of the Underworld, ghost fire and similar fires could be seen everywhere.
Zuo Mo smiled slightly. "For the xiuzhe, ghost fire is not a good fire to forge with. But for you, it is most fitting. Does anyone have ghost fire?"
A weak voice said, "Grandmaster, I do."
Zuo Mo followed the noise. It was Ming Hong who had just demonstrated for him. Zuo Mo said gently, "Let me see."
Ming Hong moved his hand, and a pale green ghost fire floated in his hand.
"Other powers are usually mixed in with ghost fire when used in attacks. However, in forging, you have to remember the most important quality about any flame is purity. The purer the flame, the more suited it is for forging." Zuo Mo"s voice was not loud, but it could be heard all over.
"This ghost fire"s quality is not bad, but it has not been refined enough. It is easy to refine fire. Channel your shen power." Zuo Mo then said to Ming Hong. "Try."
Ming Hong hesitated. Hiss, the ghost fire was absorbed into his body. As the ghost fire circulated around his body, Ming Hong"s face became a pale green.
About an hour later, the green tinge on Ming Hong"s face gradually faded. He summoned the flame. The ghost fire was slightly more green than previously.
"Alright, when you refine ghost fire it will be pure when it is colorless." Zuo Mo suddenly threw a white bone to Ming Hong. "Try forging this with the ghost fire."
Ming Hong looked helplessly at Zuo Mo.
Zuo Mo patiently taught, "Control the ghost fire to wrap around the white bone."
Following the words, Ming Hong used the ghost fire to surround the white bone. Soon, the white bone was covered in a terrifying layer of green and a layer of sweat appeared on Ming Hong"s forehead.
"Do not stop." Zuo Mo shouted in a low voice, "Focus your mind, pay attention to controlling the fire to permeate into the interior of the bone."
Ming Hong gritted his teeth and persisted. He forced himself to control the ghost fire. Moments later, he was soaked in sweat.
But he persisted without a sound.
The pale green bone started to change. It gradually became transparent.
Zuo Mo taught Ming Hong and everyone listening how to connect ghost fire and seal scripts, how to control the ghost fire more effectively.
"It"s good!"
Ming Hong sat down on his behind on the ground, unable to move, but had an expression of undisguised joy on his face. A transparent and faintly green bone was in Zuo Mo"s hand.
"The green color is because the ghost fire is not pure enough," Zuo Mo evaluated.
The people who had been watching this scene became excited. So forging was actually like this.
Zuo Mo saw this and waved his hand. "Those with ghost fire, start refining your ghost fire. Those that don"t, go find ghost fire."
Then he did not pay any more attention to the crowd. He said to the guard, "Let"s go, to the Sea of Ten Thousand Boiling Pools."
The guard bowed respectfully. "Yes!"
Translator Ramblings: I really appreciate how that Fang Xiang managed to keep the three races true to their traits for the entire story and actually put some more thought into the different cultures.