This chapter has been brought to you by me, WanderingGummiOfDoom, and cactuar0.

Chapter One Hundred and Fifty Nine – Gains

The power of the Five Colored Pagoda had left a deep impression on Zuo Mo.

What was most precious was the feeling of connectedness as though it was his arm or finger. He had never felt the same with other talismans. It was hard to determine just how much he had imprinted on it, but it was now the most powerful talisman in Zuo Mo’s possession.

In Zuo Mo’s eyes, it wasn’t just a talisman. It could control the formations. Didn’t that mean that he had an extra set of hands?

He also had a feeling inside that if the Five Colored Pagoda really was ruined, he would also be affected. There were never such beneficial and fortuitous incidents in this world. If it was connected deeply to him as though it were his arms, then if his arms broke, how could he be unaffected?

No matter the cost, he needed to fix the Five Colored Pagoda.

Zuo Mo gritted his teeth. He took out all the materials from his ring and threw them inside the Pagoda.

The Five Colored Pagoda seemed extremely hungry. When the materials left his hands, they were sucked away.

One by one, the materials entered the Five Colored Pagoda and were deconstructed and converted into the five elemental essences.

Zuo Mo saw the materials flow like water into the Five Colored Pagoda and felt pain. These materials were all bought with large sums of jingshi. Now, they had all been fed to the Five Colored Pagoda. However, what comforted him slightly was this solution was extremely effective. The cracks on the body of the Five Colored Pagoda slowly disappeared with speed visible to the naked eye.

He could feel the five element world inside the Five Colored Pagoda being supplied by large amounts of five element essence and gradually stabilize.

But … …

The empty ring left Zuo Mo with a feeling of heartache.

Competing in the Sword Test Conference had completely cost him all his wealth. He had an impulse to spit blood.

What he wanted to spit blood at even more was the Five Colored Pagoda hadn’t fully recovered even as the last bit of material was absorbed. Compared to the pagoda’s original condition, it was still much dimmer in color. Heavens, how large of a quantity of materials would be needed to completely repair it?!

How much jingshi would that require… …

Zuo Mo didn’t just have any jingshi, and he had no materials left at all. It’s been a long time since he was so poor!

Just at this time, a ball of substance that appeared to be grey mud flew out of the Five Colored Pagoda into Zuo Mo’s palm.

Hm! Zuo Mo stilled. This was the first time he had seen the Five Colored Pagoda spit something out. Quickly, the Five Colored Pagoda passed on information that allowed him to understand what this grey mud was.

Everything belonged to the five elements, this was an extremely broad generalization. In this world, there were still a  few things that did not belong to the five elements.

The little ball of grey mud in Zuo Mo’s hands would be the remnants after the Five Colored Pagoda deconstructed the materials into the five elemental energies. These remains did not belong inside the five elements so it was not absorbed by the Five Colored Pagoda and was pushed out.

The corners of Zuo Mo’s eyes jerked!

Eat mine, drink mine, and now shitting on my hand!

The brat, he was lawless!

Burning in rage, he raised his hand to throw the grey mud at the Five Colored Pagoda. The Five Colored Pagoda seemed to know Zuo Mo was angry and skipped away to dodge.

But the hand Zuo Mo raised up suddenly stopped, the anger inside disappearing without a trace.

It did not belong inside the five elements!

Right, this stuff didn’t belong inside the five elements!

Five elements contain all. There were extremely small number of things that were not, and without an exception these items were all extremely rare.

These days, what did rarity mean?

One word –– expensive!

Zuo Mo suddenly became excited. That’s right, the rarer it was, the more expensive it was! The grey mud in his hands was not inside the five elements and definitely should be valuable. Thinking about it, he carefully scraped the mud off his hands into a jade bottle and then put the jade bottle inside a sandalwood box before putting it inside the ring.

Sometime in the future, he should inquire to how much jingshi the grey mud was worth.

The Five Colored Pagoda temporarily stabilized, Zuo Mo’s mood was better now that he found another use for the Five Colored Pagoda.

Looking at the Five Colored Pagoda, he was reminded of his consciousness and the stardust the stars in his consciousness had slowly scattered. However, when he inspected his consciousness, there had not been any change. That was normal. With the slow speed that the stars shed off star dust, it would take a long time for the star dust to spread into the entirety of his consciousness.

Zuo Mo speculated a large amount of stardust was needed to create evident change. Of course, it could also just be his dream. Maybe there would not be a change at all.

He quickly threw the problem of the consciousness to one side.

Formations. His abilities with formations had surprised people, and also increased his confidence. Whenever he thought about the peerless power of the [Moon Chime Sound Storm] of the [Skyring Moon Chime Formation], he still couldn’t help but become excited!

One against five, each person multiple times stronger than him. Even if it was only one move, and it was the Five Colored Pagoda controlling it, even if it was a fight inside the formation belt … …

Even so, that battle was something that he would never have been able to imagine before. Even now, he still felt it was like a dream.

If he had a deeper understanding of formations, if his control could be stronger, if he had been more careful in setting the formations … …

A fight like that could appear again, it could be copied.

Even more, he now had an introductory formation jade scroll from Kun Lun!

Suddenly, Zuo Mo was full of confidence about the future.

 

———

 

Xiao Guo absentmindedly practiced the sword. Shixiong was in seclusion. For some reason, when Shixiong was absent, her motivation to practice the sword was much less.

This was not right, Xiao Guo told herself.

But the sword in her hand was still so heavy, and her steps weak.

“You have to concentrate when practicing the sword!” A voice came from behind her.

Xiao Guo’s movements stopped. Turning, her apple face was full of joyful surprise. “Shixiong!”

Zuo Mo tapped Xiao Guo’s head, taking on the mannerism of a shixiong to lecture, “Not concentrating on practicing the sword, do you want to be disciplined? En, look at your sword, so weak, it only has the appearance … …”

Seeing Shixiong continue on, spit flying, Xiao Guo’s eyes couldn’t help but smile into two crescent moons.

After lecturing Xiao Guo, Zuo Mo laid down on the lounge chair lazily, without any awareness of being a role model. Silly Bird stared disdainfully at Zuo Mo and continued to preen her own feathers.

The feeling of the sun on his body was so good.

“Shixiong, you finished your seclusion?” Xiao Guo timidly asked.

“Oh, yes, it’s done.” Zuo Mo stretched lazily, closing his eyes and enjoying the warm sunshine.

He had gained greatly from this seclusion.

Kun Lun was really Kun Lun!

Each time it was mentioned, Zuo Mo was full of awe for this legendary sect. He had rejoiced countless times that he had chosen this jade scroll and how wise he was. Just an introductory formation jade scroll but it contained so many kinds of formations. The first time he read the jade scroll, he was completely stunned.

In his eyes, this jade scroll had the qualifications to be called the [The Complete Book Of Basic Formations]!

Zuo Mo could be considered to be a hobbyist in collecting jade scrolls but he had never thought that a jade scroll could contain such rich and comprehensive content. In comparison, the jade scrolls of the sect were so simple and rough it was embarrassing.

Inside the formation, there were more than two hundred types of basic formations, and there were all kinds of analyses.

These analyses that came from the Kun Lun formation experts had broadened Zuo Mo’s vision. All of his own ideas that he had been very proud of had been encompassed in the breadth of the jade scroll. Just a few phrases on each formation were sharp as a knife, pinpointing the essence of each profound and cryptic formation. Each formation was easily deconstructed and their relation to each other was revealed with clarity.

Zuo Mo was entranced.

This wasn’t learning, it was a peerless pleasure!

The moment he picked up the jade scroll, he could not stop himself from delving in.

Without sleep or rest, nor drink and food, he muttered to himself like he was sleep-talking, and laughed excitedly like he was insane.

When he finished reading the last analysis in the jade scroll, he was extremely depressed.

An introductory jade scroll could have such power!

What he gained was multiple times what he had imagined. He was like a child that had been swimming in a pond and suddenly saw the ocean.

“Is Shixiong going to seclusion again?” Xiao Guo asked timidly.

“Oh, no. There’s no jingshi to get in seclusion.” Zuo Mo lazily said. He suddenly thought of a question and asked, “Where are Eldest Shixiong and Luo Li Shixiong? What are they busy with?”

Hearing that Zuo Mo wasn’t going back into seclusion, Xiao Guo’s eyes turned to crescents. “Eldest Shixiong and Luo Li Shixiong are all in seclusion.”

Zuo Mo made a sound of acknowledgement. He wasn’t surprised.

 

———

 

Dong Fu.

The Sword Test Conference had finished. All the experts went back to their own homes. Dong Fu instantly became less lively. Of course, compared to the Dong Fu of the past, it was much more prosperous. This year’s Sword Test Conference had caused Dong Fu to stand out in the thirteen primary towns.

Not long in the future, it would be the time Tian Song Zi promised to open the secret realm. Even though they could not attend, but many still stayed, especially those who desperately needed certain hard to obtainmaterials. What secret realms were most famous for was producing all kinds of treasures. Larger material merchants also sent people to wait.

Zuo Mo rode Silly Bird, and headed straight to the Hundred Treasures Flying Pavilion.

There were many more people in the Hundred Treasures Flying Pavilion which surprised him. Coming for the second time, he was not as cautious as before.

Welcoming Zuo Mo was still the same storekeeper as last time.

When he saw Zuo Mo, he congratulated, “Congratulations, congratulations! Mister Zuo really is extraordinary. That last attack made my heart stop!” Then he pushed his voice lower and said, “Hee hee, many thanks to Mister Zuo!”

Zuo Mo stilled. “How so?”

“Hee hee, Mister Zuo had great skill to forge the Five Colored Pagoda into a soul tethered talisman! Our store also has benefited!”

Zuo Mo finally understood. However, what he realized was not the increase in the customers, but why the Five Colored Pagoda was so powerful now. So it had become his soul tethered talisman!

To a guy like him who had made “deep study” of talismans, how could he not know soul tethered talismans?

Soul tethered talisman … …

He was slightly excited but did not show it on his face. Just like usual, he grasped the main point. “Ha, that’s great. In the future, give me a bit of a discount!”

Hearing this, the storekeeper could only laugh along.

Zuo Mo was not concerned, asking, “Is Miss Su here?”

“Yes, please come with me!” The storekeeper hurriedly reached forward to usher him, clearly having already received orders.

Translator Ramblings: Seclusion means a power-up … … it’s almost a universal rule.