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Chapter One Hundred and Eighty Three – Black Wind Bandits

Zuo Mo’s hands were on his knees as he allowed his sweat to drip to the ground. His chest was heaving like bellows, his rough rushed breathing short and sharp. He didn’t have the energy to talk.

He still wanted to smile, wanted to laugh.

His brain numbed from pain, he gradually recovered his strength. The joy in his heart diluted the exhaustion of his body. What he had seen when he “looked”, he almost did not believe it.

The earth energy spread throughout his body, and in the end into his blood and flesh. When Pu Yao drew it out, the thin earth energy was like a rainstorm of needles that once again passed through his blood and flesh.

In other words, Zuo Mo might not have been able to keep the earth energy, but the flesh of his body was bathed twice by the earth energy. The stimulation caused by the earth energy as it was drawn out by Pu Yao was much stronger than when Zuo Mo absorbed the earth energy.

Even though Zuo Mo could not keep the earth energy, his physical body was being continuously tempered like a piece of metal. The attribute of the earth energy, nourishment, could quickly replenish the damage that Zuo Mo’s body received during this beating.

As long as he could keep bearing it … … after his body had gone through such a forging process multiple times, wouldn’t it be strong?

He didn’t know if the gravestone had told him to agree with Pu Yao because of this. In any case, he wanted Pu Yao to do it more. In his perspective, this was a method of cultivation, even though it really was a matter of luck. Even if he understood the trick to it, but without Pu Yao, it would be impossible. Zuo Mo didn’t have any way of drawing out the earth energy in his body.

Zuo Mo controlled the exhilaration in his heart, and pretended to be exhausted. Like a bag of sand, he smashed on to the ground like wet mud.

He definitely could not attract Pu Yao’s attention.

Zuo Mo understood Pu Yao very well. That renyao would be excited upon seeing his sorry state and would be very willing to do this again. However, if the other saw his joy, Pu Yao would definitely stop.

 

———

 

In the Endless Ocean, a large group of xiuzhe were flying, all kinds of colors crossing the sky.

“Head, those three would definitely run towards Little Mountain Jie, should we keep pursuing?” The one speaking was a tall and thin person. The almond-yellow Taoist robe hung on his body like a rag that could be blown away by the wind at any time. He was called Wei Rong, and ranked third in this crowd of people.

“Go! Why don’t we keep going?” The large man at the front stared with his bell-sized eyes. Wei Rong couldn’t help but shrink back. The big man at the front was called Zhang Hao. His personality was as explosive as fire, his eyes full of viciousness.

“Not just Little Mountain Jie, even if it’s the edge of the world, I won’t let them escape!” The big man’s eyes flashed with viciousness, “They dare to trick me, I’ll skin them!”

“Yes yes yes,” Wei Rong hurried to agree.

“Hee hee, those three really had the best luck,  finding a secret realm. Judging from their actions, they seemed to have gained a lot,” Another man with one eye and a lame leg laughed darkly. He was called Zuo Han. In this group, he was second in rank.

“Good luck? It’s our good luck!” Greed flashed through Zhang Hao’s eyes. He shouted, “Brothers, if we want to be rich, then let’s get motivated! A secret realm! Ha, after finishing this job, we can retire! What do you say?”

“Kill them!”

“Head, don’t worry, meat that’s reached our mouths, can we let them escape?”

“Kill kill kill!”

… …

Riches moved people’s hearts. To this crowd of bandits that lived through robbery, nothing could move them more than this. This crowd of people exuded killing intent, the exhaustion of their long flight lessening.

Zuo Han glanced at the Head in admiration. Head might look straightforward, but just a few of his words instantly stirred the desire for battle in everyone’s hearts. He was very skilled!

A secret realm!

Just these two words, if news spread, they could create countless conflicts in Sky Moon Jie. Zuo Han couldn’t help but admire the luck of the three people who had found a secret realm. They had accidentally stumbled upon the three and found some traces. However, they were just a bit too slow. When they rushed over, everything good inside the secret realm had been completely swept away.

In reality, even without those treasures, the value of the secret realm was extraordinary. However, to Zhang Hao and the others, it didn’t have any value. They were wandering bandits, moving like the wind. If they put down roots, their enemies would quickly come to kill them.

Everyone understood this, so they did not hesitate in pursuing in the direction the three had gone in.

This team of wandering bandits was about seventy people. Its size couldn’t be considered large, but they had great offensive power. They called themselves “Black Wind.” So everyone called them the “Black Wind Bandits.” Each member was at least zhuji. Five were in ningmai. The newest member had been a part of the group for three years. They were very good in their cooperation. Adding on that there were not many members, they were very experienced. It was hard to track their movement, many experts that wanted to kill them were not able to.

Head Zhang looked straightforward, but in reality, he was careful and cautious. They had lived very freely.

In these two years, the situation had become more unstable. Their lives had gotten even better. Those big sects were hurriedly consolidating their own power for their survival, and didn’t have the time to bother with them.

It wasn’t just the Black Wind Bandits. The present Sky Moon Jie was not as peaceful as in the past. Murders and fights were multiple times more frequent than three years ago. This messy situation seemed to point to an even more chaotic future. It was very rare to see xiuzhe that travelled alone.

The result was that the market rate to hire a sword xiu had exploded, and reached a terrifying level. Correspondingly, the price for all kinds of production xiuzhe had dropped. Many people were facing unemployment. A very strange situation appeared in the markets. The prices of all kinds of materials were sky high, but the formerly busy ling gardens were now barren.

Everyone was concerned.

Everyone was waiting, waiting for big sects like Wu Kong Sword Sect to finish their reorganization, and steady the situation.

The Black Wind Bandits had taken advantage of the chaos and grew larger by taking a few big jobs. Right now, all of them were very wealthy, but greed was not so easy to satisfy. As they changed their talismans, the overall power of the Black Wind Bandits had risen. This allowed them to gain enough power to steal from more powerful xiuzhe, even managing to target some of the minor powers.

But even the rich little powers could not compare to a secret realm.

“Head, they stopped on the little island coming up,” One of the subordinates pointed at the little island that could just be seen. He was the one most skilled in tracking of this group.

“Go see,” Head Zhang unhesitatingly ordered.

A group of people flew towards the island.

 

———

 

Chun Yu Cheng pointed at the infant worms in the beast pool, full of pride and anticipation as he said, “Shixiong, this is the first batch of worms.”

He didn’t like conflict and fighting. His main goal in life was to accomplish something in the field of animal husbandry. He had sunk into the beast pool in the last period of time. All of his attention was on pondering the abilities of the beast pool. Much of the content in the jade scroll was not complete and there were many parts he did not understand. However, he was not discouraged, but full of motivation to keep studying harder.

A person that came from grassroots would always be very careful with any opportunity they got.

The harder it was to understand, the more excited he was, because this meant that it was more profound.

Low level xiuzhe were willing to trade anything to get a profound skill or spell, including their life, because they had nothing.

Chun Yu Cheng forgot to eat and sleep as he studied. As expected, he did discover some things. This batch was only six infant worms, and it was the first successful batch that he had raised up until now. It was no wonder that he was so excited, and couldn’t wait to show off his results.

“What’s the mother?” Zuo Mo asked as he looked at the six infant worms.

The infant worms were about the thickness of his pinky, wrinkled, and grey white. They were not very attractive. Zuo Mo was slightly disappointed. These infant worms looked too normal, without any hint of quality. However, he also knew that this beast pond was profound and hard to understand. Chun Yu Cheng Shidi was just a zhuji, and it would definitely take time before he would produce good results.

He could not hurry this.

Chun Yu Cheng did not detect Zuo Mo’s disappointment at all. He said excitedly, “I used three kinds of ling butterflies for the mother. Dong Fu Poisonous Moth, Blue Pupil Butterfly and Rain Mark Butterfly!”

Zuo Mo’s face was puzzled, “What are these ling butterflies?”

Chun Yu Cheng didn’t dare to laugh at Zuo Mo and he hurried to explain, “Dong Fu Poisonous Moth is a normal kind of poisonous moth produced in Dong Fu. It is second-grade, and can release a certain amount of poisonous powder. It is an average ling butterfly. Blue Pupil Butterfly and Rain Mark Butterfly are third-grade ling butterflies. Blue Pupil Butterflies are born with a pair of blue pupils that can see through illusions of third-grade and under. The Rain Mark Butterfly is a water element butterfly, skilled in water element spells. The highest grade Rain Mark Butterfly I’ve ever seen could use three water spells. The one I used is of average quality, and can only cast one kind of water element spell.”

“Oh, it sounds very complicated!” Zuo Mo gaped, nodding his head.

“Yes, this is all too deep and broad!” Chun Yu Cheng sighed.

Zuo Mo hadn’t heard of any of the three ling butterflies before. The bunch of ling butterflies that Chun Yu Cheng had introduced to him before, he had completely forgotten all of them. He thought that his decision to throw the beast pool to Chun Yu Cheng Shidi was really too wise. If it was him, wouldn’t he be having a headache?

Thinking about it that way, Zuo Mo’s disappointment at the ugliness and average nature of the infant worms instantly disappeared.

He smiled at Chun Yu Cheng, saying, “Don’t rush. We can go slowly. Maybe we can produce a few fine ones. Then we’ll strike it rich!”

Chun Yu Cheng knew Shixiong was comforting him. The rate that fine ones appeared was very low. He had studied for so many years, but he had only ever produced two ling beasts that could be considered to touch the border of fine. It was these two semi-fine ling beasts that allowed him to qualify for the jade medal.

“Don’t worry, Shixiong, before, Yu Cheng could not say it,” Chun Yu Cheng said seriously, “But with the beast pool and such a profound method, Yu Cheng would definitely bring good news to Shixiong!”

Zuo Mo saw the mood was too stern and wanted to say a few words to loosen it up when he suddenly raised his head to look into the distant sky.

A long way off in the sky, a crowd of black dots was flying at high speed towards the Desolate Wood Reef.

Zuo Mo’s gaze focused!

After his consciousness had turned into leaf hands, it was abnormally sensitive. He could clearly feel the ferocity of the other’s approach.

The murderous intent was like a dark cloud, a suffocating presence sweeping towards him!

Translator Ramblings:

For those who commented why the three people didn’t just kill Zuo Mo and take the fire, they havemuch more to lose as you’ve read in this chapter. Production xiuzhe are now worse off, but if bandits are roaming about, Zuo Mo’s formation setting services should be in high demand if he is still at Wu Kong Mountains.

I don’t know if Zuo Mo is a dictionary-definition masochist since he endures the pain to gain something, not just because he enjoys the pain (Correct me if I am wrong here.) On the other hand, Pu Yao definitely enjoys tormenting others.

The Black Wind Bandits are called the 乌风 Bandits in Chinese. 乌 (wu) is the raven, crow or black. The literal definition is “black wind.” However, it can also be the “raven wind” so it is not a good omen.  Even more, 乌风 (wu feng) is also a disease in Chinese Traditional Medicine. When it occurs, the afflicted has itchy eyes, a headache or dizziness, and may be temporarily blind.