This chapter has been brought to you by me, and WanderingGummiOfDoom.
Chapter Four Hundred and Ninety – Apparition
For the remote Cloud Sea Jie, an assassin ranked seventh on the Four Realm Heaven jindan ranking was a great personage among personages. The Four Realm Heaven was truly too enormous, so enormous that no one would pay any attention to the rankings at a usual time. When a truly famous expert suddenly appeared in Cloud Sea Jie, the shock that was produced could be imagined.
It was not outrageous to use truly famous to describe this person. Even though the great majority had never heard the name of the Masked Assassin before, that did not hinder them from understanding the significance of the seventh-ranking jindan assassin in all of Four Realm Heaven.
Even those yuanying xiuzhe, showed shocked expressions that had not appeared for decades when they heard this name.
Since the yuanying were like this, then nothing had to be said more for jindan xiuzhe.
Due to this, the news that the Turtle Island Master managed to stop the ambush of the Masked Assassin quickly spread through all of Cloud Sea Jie. Adding on that it was the first time the Masked Assassin had failed, this added a mysterious halo onto Zuo Mo’s body.
It was worth pondering why the Masked Assassin appeared at this time. Had he also come for the Sun Shen Temple ruins?
This caused everyone to increase their attention on the Sun Shen Temple. A ruin that could attract the seventh-ranking jindan assassin, how could it be simple?
Normal people just watched the spectacle and wanted the situation to become as large as possible. Those people that were preparing to enter and explore the ruins were extremely dispirited. The bigger the ruckus about the ruins, the more competitors they had. Thinking about the possibility of encountering the Masked Assassin, many people had thoughts of retreat.
The appearance of the Masked Assassin caused the situation to have a slight change. Even the yuanying xiuzhe that had thought they would have almost certain success couldn’t help but feel slightly unconfident. The Masked Assassin was a dangerous person that could kill a yuanying!
The other effect of this matter was related to Zuo Mo. On the expert ranking of Cloud Sea Jie, the ranking of Turtle Island Master rocketed up and charged into the top ten to rank at number five. Wei Sheng also entered the top ten. His astounding sword strike that had reversed day and night caused him to enter the top ten to rank at number nine.
There were no people or animals within a hundred li of Turtle Island.
No one dared to target Turtle Island anymore. Even the three yuanying ordered their subordinates to not provoke Turtle Island. If the battle with the Tian Family could be said to have caused Turtle Island to enter everyone’s eyes, then the fight this time caused Turtle Island to jump to becoming one of the most powerful factions in Cloud Sea Jie.
Turtle Island also became the only factions that had two people in the top ten expert ranking.
Right now, Turtle Island’s only worry was if the Masked Assassin would return. If the Masked Assassin did not return, there would not be problem, but if the Masked Assassin did not plan to let the matter go, could the Turtle Island Master escape the calamity?
Many people were curious, how did the Turtle Island Master provoke the Masked Assassin?
One was an unknown local faction, the other was a top expert that was famous in Four Realm Heaven. The two did not seem to have a connection at all.
Zuo Mo also could not understand. He almost wrung out his mind but still did not learn anything.
He wasn’t happy at all at the increase in his ranking. If it was possible, he would give up his rank if he could not be enemies with the Masked Assassin.
The other’s strength far surpassed theirs.
This was the first time Zuo Mo had such a deep understanding of the difference in power with the other. Even when he faced Clear Sky Old Forefather, he had never felt so helpless.
The assassin xiuzhe that walked in the shadows were the enemies that were the hardest to deal with and the most bothersome. They would always strike a fatal blow when you were at your most careless and numb. You had to pay attention at every second to guard against their ambush that could occur at any moment.
“There is no good solution, so you cannot leave the island during this time.” Gongsun Cha looked at Zuo Mo.
Facing such an enemy, Lil’ Miss also did not have a solution. His methods were not effective.
Zuo Mo grimaced. “We can only do this.”
The only thing he rejoiced about was that the Meridoinal Azure Aether Formation that he had spent so much effort to set up seemed worth the effort now. It became the barrier that Zuo Mo trusted the most. Even if it was the Masked Assassin, unless he had some special talisman, he could not sneak into Turtle Island.
The Meridional Azure Aether Formation was much more secure than Zuo Mo had imagined.
Hidden on Turtle Island, he was safe, but for Zuo Mo, this feeling was terrible and suffocating! Even if the other was the seventh-ranked jindan assassin!
Strongly motivated, Zuo Mo started to fanatically cultivate.
Zuo Mo was not the only one. Wei Sheng and the others started to madly cultivate as well. In these past few years, they had dominated in all their fights. Even though they had not been unstoppable, when had they been suppressed to the point it was so suffocating?
The heated cultivation atmosphere spread on Turtle Island.
———
At a place about five hundred li from Xu Ling City, the cloud sea started to violently stir. A golden light passed through the cloud sea and pointed at the sky!
The parts of the cloud sea near the pillar of light seemed to boil and stir restlessly.
The golden coloured light grew thicker, and the light even more blinding.
On Turtle Island, everyone was attracted by such a strange scene. An enormous golden pillar of light stood between the sky and the cloud sea as though it was holding up the sky.
Was it going to start?
Zuo Mo gazed at the light pillar and balled his hands.
———
Cloud Sea Jie exploded!
All of Cloud Sea Jie, in all the corners, people saw this scene. The pillar of light did not dim but grew brighter and thicker. In the span of a few short days, the area that the pillar of light covered reached a radius of one hundred and fifty li.
Everyone was deeply shocked by this colossal golden pillar of light.
Once they flew within a thousand li, they would increasing feel the enormity of this pillar of light. No matter how powerful the xiuzhe was, they would have a feeling that they were as insignificant as a flea when they flew close.
Countless people departed from all directions towards Xu Ling City like a flood.
The great majority of them had not intended to go into the ruins but to observe this spectacular marvel from the distance!
Yet this enormous golden pillar of light caused the hearts of many xiuzhe that had not planned to enter the ruins to move. All factions gathered their people to come to Xu Ling City.
The little Xu Ling City was filled with people.
The three yuanying became unusually low-key, and those arrogant and bold jindan put their tails between their legs.
There were too many people!
If they were careless and attracted the anger of the public, even the greatest power could not help them.
Many people tried to go closer to the light pillar but people quickly found that no matter how they tried, they could not get within twenty li of the light pillar. There was an invisible barrier that stopped them from going near.
Some daring people tried to attack it. But all the attacks seemed to dissipate like mud entering the ocean and did not create any disturbance.
———
“This is really a great party!” Li Shu gazed at the packed crowds, and the excitement on their faces as he sighed.
Lu Zhen was slightly worried and said with self-blame, “This subordinate did not accomplish the task, if the news had not been leaked … …”
“It would be the same if it had not leaked.” Li Shu comforted in a warm tone. “Look at this light pillar, it cannot be concealed. It is better like this, those that will go naturally will go, and those that won’t will not be moved.”
Lu Zhen hurriedly said, ”Daren is right.” He paused slightly and then said carefully, “Daren, should we ask for more people?”
Li Shu shook his head. “No need. The situation inside is complex, more people does not mean it is better. Do not worry, we have the elder. Even more, we have not prepared so many years for nothing.”
Seeing Li Shu’s confidence, Lu Zhen’s heart rested slightly. Upon further thought, he found it was true. With the great power of the sect, they had started t plan so many years ago, and definitely would have found many of the secrets. There were many elders skilled in divination within the sect yet they only send one elder and Li Shu Shixiong so they should be absolutely confidence.
For ruins like this, what was most important was not how powerful one was, but how much information one had.
“Let’s wait five more days.” Li Shu smiled slightly and with deep meaning.
———
Shu Long’s handsome face seemed slightly dark as he stared at the wall in front of him.
He had actually been unable to do anything last time when Daren had been ambushed, this caused him to feel unprecedented humiliation! In the past, he had focused more on urging others to cultivate and did not obsess over individual strength. In his view, Daren did not lack for experts at his side. No matter if it was Wei Sheng or Zong Ru, they were rare experts.
But last time, Daren had almost died, and he felt great self-recrimination!
In the end, it was just that he wasn’t strong enough!
Returning to the island, he burrowed into the cave and started to furiously cultivate. Even A Wen and the other xiuzhe were furiously cultivating, so much that they did not even go to look at the light pillar outside. They were only cultivating, continuously cultivating!
Yet what Shu Long had not expected was that his cultivation was interrupted.
“What is it?” he asked.
“We cannot dig any further,” a hardship guard stood out and said, “we do not know the reason. A few days ago, the granite suddenly became harder than usual and more difficult to dig. The deeper we dug, the harder it was to dig. Digging to here, we can’t advance at all.”
Shu Long walked in front of the stone wall.
They all lived inside the cave. The yin fiend presence inside the cave was extremely heavy and greatly beneficial for their cultivation. For all of Guard Camp, the previous cave had not been large enough so Shu Long had decided to dig deeper. He later found that the rock had been permeated by the yin friends and the process of digging was also a great help to their cultivation.
So digging holes became one of the daily cultivation tasks of Hardship Camp.
He hadn’t expected a problem to occur to their daily cultivation method.
Shu Long tapped the stone wall. He didn’t even leave behind a finger mark. He took out his mo weapon and struck hard!
Cling!
Sparks flew!
There wasn’t even a trace left on the stone wall.
Shu Long made a sound of surprise and reached out to touch the wall. It was unusually smooth.
He noticed at this moment the stone wall in front of him was unusually smooth and did not look as though it was naturally formed at all.
There was something strange!
Translator Ramblings: I mentioned Zuo Mo’s faults and mistakes a few days ago and there are some that really stand out and others that are acceptable. The main one near the beginning would probably be Zuo Mo’s rejection of the invitation to another sect. His emotions overruled his greed which is something to admire but at the same time, it seriously hampered his growth. Of course, we don’t know what might have happened and he might never have left Sky Moon Jie to become what he is now but the other sect might have offered more resources and definitely more support. On the other hand, Zuo Mo did get Wei Sheng out of Wu Kong Sword Sect so I guess it evens out?
The second flaw or what might be considered a weakness is that Zuo Mo doesn’t know how to play the political game. If he did, he might have been able to resolve the mess in Sky Water Jie which ended up with their entire group ending up in great danger. There are benefits out of this, since the author used it as plot development, but Zuo Mo definitely is a fan of strength above all. Zuo Mo’s alright when he is making business transactions but he’s not very good about looking at the whole picture and having a strategy because he isn’t thinking long-term. On the other hand, he has Pu Yao and Wei in the background who are very good at that.
Meatbun Delivery~
Thank you for the chapter ( ●w●)
turtle island: fear me! *hides it’s head*
yelling at the cloud jie “fear me”
looking at the assassin
“stay the hell away” hides head and tries to jump in cloud sea
Thanks for the chapter!
Thanks
Actually Zuo Mo is really good at grasping the bigger picture by instinct. Even Gonsun Cha has to admit that.
And I bet that those manmade structures are part of the ruins of the sun clan ^^ That coult turn into a point of invasion into turtle island later on but can be used as a way to get the treasures first
He doesn’t see the bigger picture on instinct: he senses when something isn’t going to be easy as it looks. It’s the difference between knowing there’s a problem, where the problem is, and having a plan to fix it; to only knowing that a problem is going to appear.
He doesn’t see the bigger picture on instinct; he grasps the rough outline of actions made by ruling powers and moves accordingly to get the most jingshi out of it. Anything that results in people perceiving him as a benevolent far sighted leader is purely coincidence as he was aiming to save/earn jingshi at the time.
Which makes things more interesting. People overthink.
I was half expecting the ruin to appear on or underneath Turtle Island 😉
I wonder if whatever Guard Camp found will be connected to the ruins.
I would disagree about turning that offer down being a bad thing. They were recruiting him as a promising sword xiu, so he would have run into the same problems there as he did at Wu Kong, and there’s no telling how much harsher they would have been in trying to force him onto the sword path. Besides, that sect probably got absorbed into Wu Kong later on, so that (at best) would have made things super awkward for him.
Thank you very much for this chapter!
Thank you for the chapter !
Thanks for the new chapter!
Thanks for the chapter.
Freedom or guidance. If ZM accept the offer, he may be restricted in term of freedom but received more resources. I think due to him having Pu with him, he is better to have lot of freedom to practice what he want.
Same issue happen in other Novel like Lord Xue Ying which the MC refuse to follow other guidance but instead follow his will and he succeeded.
I think it is better to be true to yourself. In ZM case he only want to make money and enjoy himself. If he followed other guidance without fully committed to it, he will not archive what he is right now.
(The thing in Sea jie is really extreme and I not like it, but they piss off ZM with jingshi illusion, so they need to be deleted)
Thanks for the chapter
– Lil’Miss rules the battalion with iron fist, Wei Sheng scares the enemy with MC moves, Pu-chan and Wei-kun handle the scheming and Zuo Mo gets the profits – perfectly balanced, is it not?
‘ “There is no good solution, so you cannot leave the island during this time.” Gongsun Cha looked at Zuo Mo.’
– Awww, transformation from Lil’Miss to Lil’Mum <3
Thanks wyhcwe and wanderinggummiofdoom.
TYPO: permeated by the yin *friends* and the process of
Should be: *fiends*
Troubles is coming as usual~
If you cant dig through the wall….dig around it! XD
I wonder what they will find ^^
Thanks for the translation!
back door~
if the front entrance is blocked by yuanying, why dont we make one for us
Thanks!
I think I’d agree that Zuo Mo is bad at politics but I’d need to clarify what I mean. If he himself is separated from the problem then he’s pretty good at propaganda and long term thinking. He’s also got a very strong survival instinct and ability to read the pond to tell when to move out of the way of large fish. He’s also a good businessman.
However, he’s got a huge hole in personal politics. He lacks a basic level of charisma to negotiate and attract people without force or wealth. Once people experience Zuo Mo over time they gain attraction and respect for him. However, he’s had to make slaves out of people or otherwise use force first in most instances. Thrown in his own habit of keeping his own details secret and underplaying his strengths.
So let’s take the initial offer to join another sect way early in the story. In part due to Pu Yao he was totally afraid of just talking to his sect’s masters. Yet that was a prime moment to allow some gossip to hit his Sect Masters ears. Would they have treated him so badly if they knew another sect coveted him before they even looked over and that he refused out of loyalty? It’s been so long I can’t even recall if they’ve ever found out. He’s missed opportunities to show his appeal and to explain that he is no sword genius and is instead an expert in hard work.
Basically he’s way too straight forward. Even his cunning is a straight forward cunning. Combine straightforwardness with quietness and you get a lot of Zuo Mo’s mistakes. Opportunities that slipped past.
In the words of Newton: every action has an equal and opposite reaction!
So, every action/step Zuo has taken comes with pros & cons. In WOC there are mainly three entities xiuzhe; Mo; and Yao, and Zuo does not belong to anyone of this entity. He is an anomaly alongwith AGui. He is walking on a path of an ancient, it would be appropriate to say that he is all alone on this journey as even Pu & Wei are helpless as they can’t guide him in cultivation.
So, it is suffice to say that Zuo would be in a great danger if his choices were different and also if either of the three entities found about his unique state.
It’s been a long time Zuo had nightmares. Halfway to the novel and no clue about his past.
The only reason his body changed to that of an ancient is because of the great day mo physiques banded flame. He wouldn’t have even got the physique, the jade metal head one, and the body cultivation that the grave stone enhanced if he left Wu Kong sword sect.
perspective on Zou Mo and politics on the large scale
he is a business man and he understand business politics and how local power structures interact but he misses how the over arching politics of the land work. That is to say dealing with powers on the scope of a jie he knows how to deal with but when entering a multi jie scope he does not yet understand how that works.
I do not think that he misses how the game is played at all with regard to his sect politics but he does not have talent in being a Xiuche to increase his ling power he is now eating massive amount of ling dan. So even if he knew how to play the game and play favors and stuff his lack of power in the sect along with the lack of power in the style of cultivation they were promoting would have eventually relegated him to being a second rate cultivator unless he found a way out./was sent away because he did not want to leave but them leaving him made it all work out.
Not thinking ahead is pretty typical of Zuo Mo, indeed.
Their financial crisis just recently is another evidence of that. But his luck constantly turns oversights into benefits.
You know the saying about the plans like: Want to amuse god? Tell him about your plans.
Or something like: Everyone has a plan until get get hit. Plans rarely survive the first fall of sword.
Even if he left his sect he would not get such position like island manager though. His masters did care more about original disciplines after all.
Thank you for the chapter!
Zuo Mo seems to me to be very instinctual able to tell when somthing is wrong but lacking foresight into the future including how to really handle up coming situations, thankfully a pair of old masters have been in his head helping him out ;). He has good senses and is great at thinking outside the box but when things are going well he is content to simply follow the status quo as well as neglect his existing skills (see the example of forging prior to the golden sand)
i think the masked assassin is the shixiong of Yi Zheng from great budha temple.
He is injured for a time and we do not know the origin of his injury, and a jindan killing a yuanying is still a risky job, even with months if not years of preparatiions.maybe his cultivation was injured at that time and he got that nine song dan while Yi Zheng was with Zu Mo
i know there is no evidence for this but still…it would be an interesting reunion.
Thanks for the chapter
‘started t plan so many years ago,’ =) ‘ started to ‘
Ge want jingshi !!!
Thanks for the Chapter 😀
thanks
Thanks for the chapter WYHCWE and WanderingGummiOfDoom! I wonder if there’s a backdoor to the ruins under their feet.
Much thanks.
An entrance?
Thank you for the chapter!
Thanks for the chapter! I’m telling you, turtle island is a huge turtle ( a reliable one), and now they hit the turtle shell!
I think your putting Zuo Mo too much in a void.
Just like he is greedy and arrogant so is everybody else so conflict will naturally arise.
If Zuo Mo played ball with the various faction powers he would have disappointed Pu Yao long ago and he understands that Pu Yao is much more knowledgeable then any sect.
One of his biggest strengths that might appear as a weakness is that he cares about his people and fights on behalf of them.
I agree that being loyal and caring isn’t a flaw. Pu Yao hasn’t really played politics much in the xiuzhe world, only in the yao politics. I’m not sure how Zuo Mo playing politics would disappoint Pu Yao.
While you might well be right about him getting more resources, would they actually have been more beneficial to him?
His talent apparently goes something like: Mo>Yao>Five Elements>Seal/Alchemy>Sword. Although he would likely be a better sword xiu and possibly a better alchemist, I would bet that he would be rather less powerful overall, since he’s only cultivated to where he is in yao and mo arts by having the freedom to ignore sword cultivation.
Well, that’s coming back to bite him slightly, so I dunno. OTOH, the chances of his cultivation deviating into ‘ancient style’ would be practically none. But then he wouldn’t have the divine light imprint, so…
I guess there’s no real way to know.
The real limiting factor for him at that point in time was that he did not have enough jingshi to do what he wanted. Yes, Fang Xiang used the Golden Crow Pill so he would get money but before that, he didn’t have enough money to pay Pu Yao for anything.
have they found another yao egg? Its would be nice if lil fire got a little sibling.
Who the hell is making the rankings on Cloud Sea Jie? And ranking of assassins? We never ever heard there WERE rankings at all.
Plus there was a time not long ago they were all supressed to hopelessness – when they faced that strange zombie and its puppets inside the Blood Mist… forgetting so soon?
Lol … … there are people that make those rankings and sell for money. I think there were some mentioned back for the Sword Test Conference.
Dear Friends, many thanks to the Author, Translator(s), (Editors), (Donors) for the awesome chapter! With lots of love, Jack
thanks for the chapter!
Thanks for the chapter!