This chapter has been brought to you by me, WanderingGummiOfDoom, and warlord212.
Chapter Two Hundred and Fifty Seven – One Small Step[i]
He Xiang’s face was tight, but in reality, his mood was not as terrible as he displayed. The members of the Outer Hall were continuously gathering which allowed the leaders of the factions in Nan Sheng Village personally see the strength of the Outer Hall.
Everyone was in danger now.
Under this tense atmosphere, the secret alliance the faction leaders had brokered fell apart without any attack. They all chose to capitulate, and He Xiang quickly got the price he wanted.
Now, he only needed to catch the group of troublemakers before he would accomplish his goals. Looking at the xiuzhe that covered the sky above Nan Sheng Village, the cloud over He Xiang’s heart swept away. The number of xiuzhe in the Outer Hall had reached a terrifying three thousand people. Nan Sheng Village was small to begin with. Three thousand xiuzhe flying in the air was like a storm cloud. In his view, such a strong power could dominate all of Little Mountain Jie. If it wasn’t that Old Forefather had personally made the captivity plan, he would have already suggested to take all of Little Mountain Jie into Clear Sky Sect’s pocket.
However, there wasn’t much of a difference now, he thought contentedly. He had sent out large numbers of troops to search for the traces of those people. As soon as they found one trace, they could send out all their strength, and tear those damned people into a thousand pieces.
He believed that news would come very soon.
Just as he was thinking this, an elder landed in front of him, and said excitedly, “We found the group! Two or three hundred people, up north, about two thousand li from here. Our people have locked onto them.”
He Xiang was exhilarated, and said hatefully, “As long as we can find them, then they will definitely die. Get the scouts at the front to keep alert and don’t lose them. It’s our turn to attack!”
“Ha ha, let them see the power of our Outer Hall,” this elder also laughed.
“We’ll destroy them!” He Xiang was full of bravado. “We’ll celebrate you when you get back!” This elder was an ally he had been pursuing.
“Ha ha! Wait for my good news!” This elder laughed proudly before jumping back into the air.
The xiuzhe filling the sky started to quickly gather.
———
Nian Lu was just as discontent as Wei Ran.
His feet stepping on a lotus flower, he flew with the wind. His snowy-white robes now seemed grey and dusty. After that handsome and light-hearted face seemed somewhat slow-witted after eating wind for more than ten days. The platoon captain beside him also had an expression of dissatisfaction. “This group of bum beetles, they are so annoying! We have to even talk to them everyday, but it’s still those old faces, there’s nothing new. But they don’t have it easy either!”
The last words were full of emotion.
He turned and hollered at the xiuzhe beside him, “All of you, stay alert. Don’t blame my flying sword if you don’t listen.”
Beside him, other than his own subordinates, there were almost two hundred unfamiliar xiuzhe. These xiuzhe all had their heads hanging down without energy. These were the xiuzhe that they had captured when they took the time to especially sweep up two factions. The sweep had been done together by Lei Peng, Zong Ru, and himself. Nian Lu’s luck had been the worst and had lost in drawing straws, so that the most depressing job of baiting the enemy had fallen to him.
These captives seemed to have extremely well-prepared ling armor, but other than ling armor, all other talismans and flying swords had been taken away.
Just like this, Nian Lu lead a platoon and two hundred xiuzhe as he flew openly towards the north.
To make sure the other side didn’t lose track of them, they had to maintain a moderate speed. What was most depressing was that he could not attend the upcoming battle, he could only continue to travel away.
The greatest tragedy of life was this. Nian Lu said with sorrow and anger, “Slow down, slow down, don’t let them lose track.”
———
At the base of a mountain about four hundred li from Nan Sheng Village was an extremely well-hidden mountain cave.
“What are we waiting for? We’re just guarding this place that even the birds don’t shit, when can we go and do something!” Lei Peng rumbled.
Everyone ignored him. Zong Ru was sitting and meditating, Xie Shan had his eyes closed to rest. The other platoon captain wisely did not interrupt. With so many of the old-timers here, he did not have a turn to speak.
Ma Fan shook his head helplessly. But it was his idea. It was so troublesome. He drawled, “Soon, soon.”
Lei Peng snickered and said, “Little Nian Nian is probably being blown with a refreshing breeze right now.”
Light laughter came from the other people. Even Zong Ru showed a hint of mirth at the corner of his lips.
After killing those little groups last time, during that period of extremely short chaos, they had quietly sneaked in.
This trip had been seven days. Their luck was pretty good. They had found an extremely deep cave. With some camouflage added, it was a very good ambush point. This place was also very close to Nan Sheng Village, right under the enemy’s eyes. It was perfect for being “dark under the lamp.”
Xie Shan suddenly opened his eyes. The other people instantly had wary looks. Xie Shan said lightly, “They’ve come.”
All the xiuzhe instantly stopped talking. Xie Shan even extinguished the Small Light spell inside the cave. The cave instantly became pitch black. After a while, everyone felt streams of consciousness and strange ling power sweep across their bodies.
Fear rose in everyone’s hearts!
There were at least two thousand people from Nan Sheng Village that moved out this time! It could be seen that the Outer Hall had put a lot into destroying them.
No one dared to move. All signs of life on their bodies disappeared. All breathing and heartbeats stopped. Even the temperature of their bodies decreased. They were like a pile of rocks. Ma Fan had taught them all a spell to conceal themselves from scouts since he was very skilled in concealment.
To avoid attracting attention, they had not used any spell or formation to disguise the entrance of the cave. Formations were the best for disguise, but that was only for experts. If it wasn’t a formation expert, the disguise formation set up would be eye-catching instead.
They only used rocks and foliage to conceal and lessen the traces of themselves. They had also specially grabbed little animals like rabbits to put in the cave.
There were too many caves in this area. Ma Fan had correctly predicted the other would not inspect the caves one by one.
Wave after wave of surveillance continued for two hours. Even Xie Shan, with the highest cultivation, couldn’t help but be shocked by the Outer Hall’s strength. From the consciousness and ling power that swept across their bodies, there were more than ten ningmai third stratum xiuzhe. He was certain that more than seven-tenths of the entire Little Mountain Jie’s ningmai third stratum had sided with the Outer Hall.
One ningmai third stratum was not scary, but ten of them was definitely a great power. If he was the commander, he definitely would arrange for the ten people to be together. Powerful xiuzhe like this were terrifying when they were used together. Why had the xiuzhe who comprehended sword essence like him been arranged together? He hadn’t understood in the past, but after following Lil’ Miss for a time, and personally experiencing it, he now understood the benefits.
However, what he admired the most right now was Ma Fan’s cautiousness. Under Ma Fan’s persistence, they had dug into the cave to an extreme depth. Then used slabs of rock to seal the top of the pit. These granite stones were more than ten zhang thick, and had almost tired them to death at the time. The entire cave was now divided into two levels. Those little animals lived on the top level.
At the time, some people had muttered that Ma Fan was making a mountain out of a molehill. Looking at it now, these measures had saved their lives!
What he didn’t know was that Ma Fan was also feeling fear. If anything had gone astray with the measures, then they would have been sealed in. No one would have been able to escape.
Even when all the scans had disappeared, they still did not dare to move. Everyone was terrified by what had just occurred.
After ten whole hours, they finally recovered from the false death state.
“Woah, they are terrifying. At least two thousand people!” Lei Peng exclaimed, his face slightly pale.
“It’s three thousand,” Zong Ru suddenly spoke, “there is also thirteen third stratum.”
Everyone’s faces became slightly ugly. Xie Shan looked at Zong Ru with surprise. He was shocked at Zong Ru’s sensitivity.
“They really find us worthwhile!”
“Ha ha, laozi was so frightened right now, laozi’s body is still somewhat soft.”
… …
Everyone discussed loudly. They were slightly afraid and shocked, but they were more excited. The Outer Hall had found them important enough to send out this many people. In Little Mountain Jie, there was no faction other than theirs who managed to cause such a reaction. Most of these people were lawless fighters. Battle maniacs like Lei Peng were not rare. The more it was like the present, the more motivated they were.
Ma Fan was not as crazy as they were. He managed to calm his heartbeat, and wiped the cold sweat. He had been the core for so long, but it was the first time he had encountered such a risky situation like the one just now.
“When are we moving?” Lei Peng rubbed his hands excitedly, his eyes shining as he looked at Ma Fan.
Ma Fan forcibly repressed the impulse to kill the guy and rolled his eyes instead. “Do you want to die faster? They haven’t gone far away. If they turn back, none of us will escape.”
Lei Peng realized that his question seemed like it was trouble-making, especially when he saw the gazes looking at him like they were looking like an idiot. He rapidly gave a bright smile, “See, after being frightened by them, an’s mind doesn’t work properly.”
“Five days.” After calming down, Ma Fan’s head turned cold and rational. “We only need to wait five more days. Even if they want to turn back then, it wouldn’t be enough.”
“Everyone, get a good rest these five days. Otherwise, you’ll see the other people rampage while you falter,” Xie Shan said with a smile from the side.
Sound disappeared from the mountain cave. Everyone suppressed the excitement inside, and meditated. They were like a group of experienced hunters making their last preparations before closing the net.
———
Jiang Wei took the jade scroll his subordinate had handed over. He had sent out the xiuzhe that had been most skilled in concealment to follow behind Wei Ran’s group from far away, and successfully located this group’s main base.
When he scanned the jade scroll, his body froze.
In the mirage of the jade scroll, at the top of a mountain peak was a sun city made from blue-gold. The sunlight was like a keen sword cutting the sky and landing on this city. The faint golden light emitted from the little city gave people warmth like the sunlight.
Jiang Wei’s heart seemed to be suddenly gripped by an invisible hand. At that instant, it stopped beating.
After an unknown length of time, he slowly refocused. There was almost no xiuzhe in the empty city. All the blood in his body went to his head. With a glance, he could see how weak the city was! Even the troop that had sent the captives back had thrown the captives to the camp, and instantly left.
An uncontrollable greed and yearning filled every hair of his body!
[i]The chapter title is the start of a Chinese idiom “差之毫厘，谬以千里.” Translated, it can mean “one small step can make a great difference,” “a small error can lead to a serious result.”
Translator Ramblings: Bait to draw everyone out of the place first and then … …
I have to say that mind-to-mind communication is always the fastest and cheapest communication method in fantasy stories. Look at Pu Yao, a ball of light and then off Zuo Mo goes! Considering how “cheap” information storage in scrolls and other items seem to be in many fantasy stories where secret arts can be read and then copied without any limit, it’s a miracle that a lot of the secret arts remained a secret. I don’t think it is very hard. With mind-to-mind communication, one person can “buy” the manual and then “send” it to his relatives who can also use it. And then things spread. Or they can inscribe the information onto jade scrolls/strips and then sell them for really good prices. Actually, I think that won’t be a bad story, a protagonist that makes a living by making textbooks and selling information.
HI EVERYONE
thanks for the chapter
Thanks for the chapter!
Thanks for the new chapter!
And here I thought he’d try to take in the prisoners. If he thinks he has what it takes to take Golden Crow City, then he is sadly mistaken 😉
It depends on the series, but some will add restrictive spells to the disciples to prevent this sort of thing. Also, if you sell to your friends and family, then its very easy to trace it back to you. Not to mention the problem with breaking your word and its corruptive influence on your cultivation, which tends to manifest whenever the author finds it convenient but is otherwise ignored. That aside, if a sect catches an unauthorized person using their arts, they will kill that person, and likely that person’s family as well.
Assuming that you can overcome all that (which many MCs could, if they felt like it), then yeah, it doesn’t really make much sense. The only thing stopping them is sect loyalty but a lot of these fictional sects are the first villains in the MCs’ stories. Also, they tend to have a ton of talentless people that will never advance and have no real reason not to make a quick buck by selling the sect’s secrets. This wouldn’t affect the really precious arts, but it would make all the lower ranked ones very easy to obtain even for non-sect members.
Thanks for the chapter
People don’t sell the information on the secret techniques so that others won’t know they have them and what the weak points of their techniques are. Additionally people are greedy, if they make known that they have a secret technique they will either get killed for not giving it to others or because they gave it to others because there is always someone who has the technique as well and will be really angry once the technique goes around
Much thanks.
Abe they’ll need translator also for those skill books xD
Thank you for the chapter!
Thanks for the chapter!
Thanks for the chapter
the problem with that is the insanely high punishments they put on these. in that they will straight up cripple you or in some series destroy your soul if you do that. and as they track who takes out what they would find it much harder to get away with
thanks for the chapter!
Okay, I’m a bit confused. Where is everyone?
Zuo Mo is in the blue-gold city. Gongsun Cha must be there too, right?
Ma Fan, Xie Shan, Lei Peng and Zong Ru are preparing a surprise attack on Nan Sheng Village. That is quite obvious. Now that the Clear Sky main army has left, I guess they plan to hit the bigwigs who stayed behind.
But where the hell are Nian Lu and Wei Ran? Moving around to bait the Clear Sky xiuzhe?
And the enemy scouts, who are they following?
The overall strategical situation is really confusing me… sniff…
Gongsun Cha is somewhere between Nan Sheng Village and the city. Zuo Mo is in the city. Ma Fan and the others are close to the city.
Gongsun Cha is sending groups back to the city, so Jiang Wei and his group have seen them and tracked them back to the city where Zuo Mo is.
Ma Fan and the others are lying in wait close to Nan Sheng Village. Nian Lu is running around to bait the Outer Hall Elders to send their massive army after him.
Aah, so they are two groups of enemies who have detected two different targets. Jiang Wei and his group are already doing reconnaissance around Zuo Mo’s city, and another group is leading the Outer Hall massive army towards Nian Lu and his troop. Thanks! I get the situation now.
Do we specifically know that Gongsun Cha is between the city and village? You’d think he would head in another direction.
Naming names, Wei Ran is the person tasked by Gongusn Cha to bring prisoners back to the city and was followed. After bringing the prisoners back he went back to Gongsun Cha’s group.
Ma Fan’s group isn’t close to the city, it’s close to the village. You mistyped in the first paragraph but fixed it in the third.
Strategically, one would hope Nian Lu and Ma Fan are smart enough to being baiting from a different direction then Golden Crow City but it’s neither here nor there.
———————————–
Its ingeneous if you look at the duality in this chapter.
ZM’s team : “Nan Sheng Village is almost empty. Time to attack!”
Jiang Wei : “Golden Crow City is almost empty. Time to attack!”
Ooh, you’re right, Gongsun Cha doesn’t have to be between the city and the village.
Oh wow, the building tension in this chapter was flawless. Can’t wait for the next one! 😀
Likely, the spread of techniques through mind to mind transfer is primarily limited by several factors, tying into supply and demand, as well as a cultural concept akin to copyright.
If someone keeps on pumping out scrolls, then the demand goes down since it is easy to get those scrolls. And if the people he sells to do the same, that further hastens the devaluation. So the price is likely inflated until it is a huge treasure for the cultivation level a person is at.
Maybe there is even a stigma against wantonly spreading techniques. I mean… Zuo Mo’s sect had every reason to give scriptures to its inner disciples (since new sword techniques would make them stronger), but they still made them pay with contribution points. Even Zuo Mo’s medicine making master was VERY hands off, it seemed. Maybe the culture has a very strong ‘figure it out yourself’ or ‘earn it yourself’ mentality. So almost no one bothers to put things down in writing unless they are just making notes (like that untalented elder who owned Zuo Mo’s house before) or they are rewarding a disciple’s good work.
Well on the text scroll part. Almost all the novel’s this one included has it so that you find a scroll to read from and you can almost instantly gain a shit ton of knowledge into your brain directly or the people living in the world is super quick to read what is written.
However a major reason to why the skills/abilities/spells are never that wide spread is like in the earlier chapters of World of Cultivaton were for instance Zuo Mo talks about making money from making information sticks.
It’s simply the fact that to copy down the thing you have learned, you need to have learned the thing and mastered it to 100% which in turn is usually impossible not even the MC usually masters anything that far untill, if it actually happens, the end part of the story.
Another part is of course another usual thing that the for example the sect/school enforces a “will kill anyone who shares or copies their stuff”, and most sect members seems to follow it probably because it is the best for stories and also because there is alot of focus on being filial, in most cases the sectschool represents their families.
In my own opinion it’s kinda weird how for instance if I know math but I can only do 2 + 2 = 4 3 x 3 = 9 but I dont know the more advanced stuff then I simply cant copy down my more basic math knowledge untill I have completly mastered math. Which is frankly never gonna happen xD
Thank you!! I was about to write this same reason down.
Its more like all you know is 2+2 = 4 and maybe some more exaples. you don’t know what the operator + actually does. Like kids when they memorize the multiplication tables. They know part of what the operator * does. But to properly convey what the multiplication operator is you need to understand that’s its just the principle of a set of additions.
So similarity he could write down his understanding of how to cast the spell but it would be lacking in detail. Only when he learns it to say level 5 he will be able to explain how to cast up to level 2.. Because being able to cast lv 5 means he has that much of a deep understanding of how the spell works. Only at the peak (max spell level) will he finally grasp the core of the spell and be able to make the jade.
Also it’s a mentally taxing job to arrange your understanding and mentally engrave into a jade slip. So only when you are like super powerful do you have the ability to made textbooks.
For some of the things, like sword essence that was described as being unable to be described in words, I understand why they cannot be copied. However, a lot of the manuals for other works, not WOC, do not have this limitation. The character receives a great powerful cultivation technique that has no requirements and is perfect for him. He also has lots of knowledge
Hmm… if I ever get reincarnated into a cutivation world. Then i’ll invent Copyright mwahahahaha
I normally hate it when authors spend all this time away from the main character… But this author is so talented that I’m actually loving it!
thank you for the chapter! !
Thanks for the chapter.
Lol these guys are going to try to take the city just to discover it’s full to the brim with enough formations to bring down a Jindan xD
No remember, He can’t do that because “understanding” and “explaining” are VERY different things and if the person getting the message doesn’t understand then you just wasted a (precious) jade tablet (YOU MONSTER!!!!!).
I know but I thought of this as more of a general comment and on all kinds of information, not just ethereal conceptions of an object. For example, Zuo Mo knew he could sell copies of his master’s dan-making jade scrolls if he needed money. That only needed memorization, not actual understanding.
My guess is that you need a high level of comprehension of the art, your own level high and need to have great control of your own spirit. Writing it down will also save the time and trouble for both sides to meet.
Thanks for the chapter!
We’ll celebrate you when you get back!
celebrate you -> celebrate with you
Also. Seems like the guinea pigs for testing out the city’s defenses have been prepared
thanks for the chapter,
really looking forward to the various plans to play out
Awesome. It’s getting really good.
Thanks for the chapter!
Meatbun Delivery~
Thank you for the chapter ( ●w●)
I wonder if Zuo Mo made any land mines yet~
Also, a protagonist that sells information as a living.. i’m gonna hate the politics part for sure..
It doesn’t have to be political. In fact, the information doesn’t have to be dark secrets, the character can be a teacher, an educator type.
I cant imagine it.. or at least i cant imagine any good story with those kinda setting.. i can only imagine “assassination classroom” and 2 other(forgot the title) that has teacher as the main protagonist and is actually teaching students.. 1 is a former neet(and a genius) that teach using games and the other is an escaped conman that gets payed by the principal with a blank check book.. the students that got straighten out can write the nominals for the check payment(i think this one is called “hammer session”)
in this story i believe you need to be able to completly comprehend something to copy it onto a scroll. Its why higher tier spells for the farming 5 elements spells are so expensive because it generally takes a really strong person to comprehend it to said stage, plus the rarity of said experts in those spells.
That is for spells which need conceptual understanding but it doesn’t apply to pure knowledge like how to make dan.
Mass selling techniques question.
World mentally. If you remember when Ma Fan was first captured the scariest thing to him was that he would have to give his techniques away. So first off, the mentally is that you don’t share techniques because it’s an absolute advantage.
1) If you’re strong then there’s easier way to make money then selling off strong techniques
2) If you’re weak then chances are you don’t have any techniques worth selling off.
3) If you’re weak with a strong technique and publicly mass sell it off, everyone will be racing to get it from you first and then kill you off to keep it a secret.
4) If you’re weak with a strong technique and secretly mass sell if off, the people who bought it will be offended feel that you ripped them off and try to kill you.
All the above examples are dealing with selling off to make money. The other way to spread out a strong technique is to give it away for free. Three reasons I can think for this to happen.
1) You are an extremely benevolent person trying to help the entire race. This usually doesn’t happen in stories because the main character is too busy fending for himself to worry about others.
2) Helping others helps you. This actually happens in this story with the Golden Crow Fire. But this is really only possible because of the restrictions ZM places. In other stories, trust is too big an issue.
3) Spreading out an enemy’s technique to screw them. I’d actually like to see this happen.
Right after I posted I remember something. ZM has already tried twice to mass sell something valuable when he didn’t have the strength to back it up. Remember the disaster with the yin beads and when he was selling fire grade service. He faced life and death situations both times. This is why auction houses are so popular in these stories (nod to your auction house value question earlier). But there’s no way you can make a lot of money auctioning off the same technique over and over and over again.
True but I rather thought it was a function of his terrible luck as a main character to get the plot going. If you think back, there were those tutoring classes they were holding in Dong Fu and there seemed to be a pretty good structure there. So not everyone gets disrupted by powerful people that should not be offended and could kill them.
My memory is bad. Remind me again about the tutoring classes in Dong Fu?
Chapter two when Zuo Mo enters Dong Fu for the first time of the story. He’s on the street and he hears a lot of hawking of wares and stuff. The tutoring class is buried in that paragraph.
Are you talking about this statement? It doesn’t sound like they are selling anything highly valuable or secret. It sounds like this training center can make a living but not get rich.
“Do you want to get into Yi Zi Hui Sword Sect? This training center takes in students all year round, providing training on all kinds of beginner spells, with personal lessons by experienced sword xiu [17]of Yi Zi Hui Sword Sect. Guaranteed to pass the first time! Why are you hesitating? Come try! Those who register now will receive fifteen percent off!”
Yes, that was what I was referring to. Rich is sort of a side effect of selling knowledge and being good and getting lots of customers.
Thank you so much!! 😘😘😘
Thank you
Thanks for the chapter WYHCWE, WanderingGummiOfDoom, and warlord212!
Wow Wei Ran. Now I’m mad. They like to battle so much, and can’t be bothered with taking care of the important things??
What important things? Going back to support Gongsun Cha is important too.
🙁 I know…. But Zuo Mo is very important too! I just wish that people understood the importance of being, carefuller. Afterall, doesn’t Zuo Mo hold their lives in his hands.
Gotta agree, a protagonist that makes and sells scrolls and jade info grams would be amusing. And likely a good read on the economy of multi race multi power level multi world business. Plus the protagonist would need to constantly get stronger to get better stock and better items to sell and make, finally becoming a multi dimensional business magnate who owns half the known existence. Heh.
His greed will not be bigger than his regret later xD