This chapter has been brought to you by me, and WanderingGummiOfDoom.
Chapter Six Hundred and Eighty One – Zuo Mo"s Transformation
Sitting on the rock, Zuo Mo"s was expressionless and his eyes were vacant. He stared off into the distance as A Gui sat silently by his side.
Ceng Lian"er did not know what had happened, but she had once shared those fragmented memories with Zuo Mo, but she could guess after watching Zuo Mo feed A Gui the Nether Decay Reincarnation Lotus.
She did not make a sound.
Zuo Mo had been like this for three days.
Over these three days, he did not move. It was as though he a wooden statue.
———
In his sea of consciousness.
"How can I rescue A Gui?" Zuo Mo looked expressionlessly at Pu Yao and Wei.
"I don"t know. The Undying Shen Punishment was the cruelest punishment in the ancient era. I have not heard of anyone ever breaking the shen punishment." Wei sighed. At the side, Pu Yao was silent as well.
Zuo Mo became silent again. However, this time, he did not remain silent for long. He raised his face and a light flickered in his eyes, like a candle in raging winds but refused to succ.u.mb.
He murmured hoa.r.s.ely to himself and the words echoed in his sea of consciousness.
"At its core, the Undying Shen Punishment is a kind of shen power."
"Since it is shen power, there definitely is a solution! If I cannot unlock it now, it is because I understand too little about it. My understanding of shen power is too weak. As long as I continue to grow stronger, become strong enough; as long as my understanding of shen power deepens, I can search for clues. I won"t give up; I will never give up; I will definitely find the solution."
"Even if no one has broken it before, I will."
The hoa.r.s.e voice was not fierce, not spirited, not angry. Zuo Mo"s tone was indifferent as though he was talking about something unimportant. But within the calm, each word was as stern and determined as it was being engraved into steel.
The flames on Pu Yao"s body suddenly exploded. The eerie flames reflected on his eerie face. His thin blade-like lips curved in an eerie smile. "Such a difficult matter really makes one"s blood boil. Oh, it is great to use this to pay rent."
Wei"s expression was solemn but his eyes were as bright as stars. "The truth of the gravestone armor is to protect! Wei cannot stand idly by and watch A Gui"s sacrifice!"
Zuo Mo looked at the duo. A warmth hard to voice flowed inside.
The hundred and thousands of words he felt turned into one word when they reached his mouth.
———
A dot of light appeared in Zuo Mo"s unfocused eyes. His statue-like body suddenly shook. At the side, Ceng Lian"er noticed immediately. The worry in her eyes decreased greatly and she unconsciously showed slight joy.
Having refocused, Zuo Mo noticed the worry and concern in Ceng Lian"er"s eyes. He said, "I"m fine, do not worry."
"That"s good." Ceng Lian"er sighed in relief.
The intelligent Ceng Lian"er perceptively detected the change in Zuo Mo.
Zuo Mo turned his face and looked at A Gui beside him. His eyes became even more determined.
A Gui, I will definitely rescue you!
No matter what!
Over the next few days Ceng Lian"er saw the rapid changes in Zuo Mo"s habits.
Cultivation! Furious cultivation!
Zuo Mo seemed to be possessed as he cultivated fanatically. He wasn"t willing to waste even a speck of time. Ceng Lian"er had never seen someone cultivate like this. Every time she wanted to urge him to rest, she swallowed her words when she met Zuo Mo"s steely gaze.
Every bit of time was so valuable in Zuo Mo"s eyes.
Every bit of waste time meant that A Gui had to endure more of that great torture. Zuo Mo"s heart hurt.
Pu Yao seemed to have become a completely different person. He brought out all the yao arts, spells and mo skills he collected. Wei also brought out all kinds of ancient sacrificial methods.
Most of the shen power inheritances had been lost over time and it was hard to see the connections. However, the three major systems originated from shen power. While each focused on different aspects, they were developed from the same source.
Pu Yao and Wei thought of a method -reconstruction!
Reconstruct shen power from the three powers!
This was a crude and stupid method but it was a very plausible method, especially since Zuo Mo now had a large part of that Great Peace Mo Stele text which was one of the key points.
Zuo Mo"s sun shen power cultivation was not low, but there were many details that were still unclear. This reconstruction process had clarified many of the details.
But Zuo Mo felt that this wasn"t enough.
There were too many parts missing to this ancient power that made it hard to understand. What he studied wasn"t limited to just sun shen power, but included even greenvine shen power. But the writing was from too long ago, and there was a great barrier between the people now and those ancient records.
Zuo Mo was not skilled in the ancient writing.
Fortunately, Wei was from an ancient tribe. Wei had been from final years of that era, as those ancient tribes declined, but he was still of great help to Zuo Mo.
As the three of them worked together, some of the basic patterns of shen power were clarified.
The division of cultivation levels for shen power was not as complex as the three powers and was much simpler.
Celestial, Earth, Morthal, they represented the three levels of shen power. In ancient times, all of the totem warriors were celestial level. They could move mountains, overturn seas, and destroy stars with their movements. For example, the Sun Crystal Seed inside Zuo Mo"s body was something only those heaven level totem warriors could seal.
But as they organized, Zuo Mo and the others also found some interesting things.
According to this division of power, in Wei"s era, those powerful totem warriors were earth level. The degradation of shen power was evident in that era.
The ancient era was undoubtedly the era that shen power was strongest. Wei"s era was at the end of the shen power era. It was the time that shen power was gradually being destroyed and the three powers started to replace shen power as the mainstream.
Why did shen power degrade?
Zuo Mo suddenly thought of that suffocating Sealed Extinction Battlefield. Was it that too many totem warriors had fallen in that great battle leading to the degradation of shen power?
And that mysterious s.h.i.+. Only now did Zuo Mo start to understand the great power of the other. He probably had been a totem warrior.
However, Zuo Mo did not plan on wasting time on uncovering history.
His time was so precious. Any drop of time had to be invested in becoming stronger!
Zuo Mo felt he had never had such a clear goal in life!
Every drop of sweat would not fall for nothing.
Zuo Mo could clearly feel the shen power in his body becoming stronger, especially after he had organized the knowledge of the two shen techniques. His improvement with shen power was clear, but it was clear he had just entered the preliminary stages of mortal level.
The long and distant path did not scare Zuo Mo, who now had a clear goal.
Zuo Mo"s rapid improvement of shen power slowed. This was to be expected. He had only cultivated shen power for a short amount of time and he had not acc.u.mulated much. After organizing what he knew, he had understood many details and many of the places he had been stuck at had opened. His shen power had increased due to this, but after this burst of improvement the growth of his shen power could only improve through a process of acc.u.mulation.
But Zuo Mo was not satisfied.
"Fighting?" Pu Yao"s eyes flashed with surprise. Zuo Mo never feared fighting before, but he was not one that liked fighting. It was rare for him to have a desire to fight.
"En." Zuo Mo nodded. His expression was calm. "Fighting can cause my progress to become faster!"
Wei"s brow creased slightly. "It is very dangerous."
As they sorted out shen power and understood more, they knew that shen power in mortal level was not of great advantage against the three powers in the later stages. Only when one stepped into earth level could they completely suppress the three powers in the later stages.
In other words, with Zuo Mo"s present shen power skill, his chances of victory against a yuanying was high, but if he encountered a fanxu it would be dangerous.
A Gui"s shen power was slightly stronger than Zuo Mo and Ceng Lian"er was the weakest of the three.
"There will always be danger." Zuo Mo"s expression was calm but his expression was determined. "But fighting will allow me to grow more quickly. Also, even though it is difficult for us to comprehend shen power, why don"t we search for comprehension in battle?"
"Search for comprehension in battle?"
Pu Yao and Wei stilled.
"The three powers are different from shen power, but they are all derived from shen power at the core. That means then there must be patterns to the way the power is used. Rather than taking stabs in the dark like we are doing now, it would be better to search through battle. Since it is power, it would be more evident during battle."
Zuo Mo said seriously.
Pu Yao and Wei had thoughtful expressions.
Moments later, Wei nodded. "Theoretically it is true, but too dangerous."
Pu Yao smiled strangely. "This method is interesting! Are you planning on using Xuan Kong Temple?"
Zuo Mo did not find it strange that Pu Yao could guess his thoughts. Spirit burned in his eyes. "Of those two old thieving baldies, one is dead, the other is injured. Xuan Kong Temple will not give up. I speculate that they will definitely send more people and they aren"t far from here. Bie Han said that Xuan Kong Temple only has two fanxu now. So the people that they have sent this time would be primarily yuanying. We might have a chance."
Pu Yao snickered darkly. "They definitely will not expect that you dare to look for a fight."
"En, there is also an additional benefit. We can help relieve the pressure on Gongsun s.h.i.+di and Bie Han."
"That is a good idea." Even Wei was persuaded by Zuo Mo.
Zuo Mo told his idea to Ceng Lian"er. His original intention was to urge Ceng Lian"er to leave. Escalating this war with more battle was a dangerous course of action. In his view, Ceng Lian"er did not have to accompany them in this.
Ceng Lian"er fluffed her hair. Her serene eyes did not avoid Zuo Mo"s gaze. "I stay with you both."
Zuo Mo was shocked. So he had talked so much for nothing.
"What you say is true, it will be dangerous. However, the world knows that I cultivate shen power. If I am alone, I will definitely be captured and forced to give up the shen power inheritance. Father"s power is not enough to protect me," Ceng Lian"er looked at Zuo Mo calmly and said.
Zuo Mo was stunned.
Ceng Lian"er was right. The fact that she cultivated shen power was no longer a secret. There were countless pairs of eyes watching her. If she left, she most likely would immediately fall into the hands of someone else.
Her only hope of survival was to stay with them to the end.
Only by staying with Zuo Mo could she reduce the number of people scheming for her shen power inheritance.
No matter how dangerous it was, she had no other choice.
There wasn"t any terror in Ceng Lian"er"s eyes. Her eyes were a deep unfathomable black that made it hard for people to guess her thoughts.
"If that"s the case, then let"s fight together!"
Zuo Mo looked at her and said seriously.
A thread of a smile blossomed at the corner of Ceng Lian"er"s mouth. It was like a beautiful flowering blossoming in the darkness.
Translator Ramblings: Both the cast list and the table of contents have been updated …
Zuo Mo"s goal has been updated once again.
V1. Find his past.
V2. Help A Gui by finding water cloud embryo,
V2.1. Help A Gui by finding Reverse Shadow Soul Silkgra.s.s.
V2.1.2 Help A Gui by defeating the Undying Shen power.
Such a long way to go.