Chapter Three Hundred and Twenty Six – Ten Thousand Year Old Ancient Battlefield
“Can we go back the way we came?” Gongsun Cha asked Zuo Mo in a small voice.
The ashen-pale Zuo Mo shook his head, and said in a low voice, “We got tricked. The other changed the imprint on the transportation formation. This isn’t one of the preset transportation formations, but a random transportation formation. You also saw the transportation formation under our feet. It is broken.”
Gongsun Cha was silent.
Zuo Mo raised his awareness. “Make sure everyone is careful. We managed to get out of Little Mountain Jie. We can definitely find a way out of this place.”
Hearing this, Gongsun Cha’s expression became better.
Xie Shan’s expression was stern. He was now a jindan and he was naturally different in all areas than everyone else. He silently savoured the “Ten Thousand Year old Battlefield” Zuo Mo had just said, and felt that it was possible as he felt the bone-piercing presence in the surroundings. However, since Boss recognized it, he felt slightly reassured.
Boss’ origins were still so deep and immeasurable.
After flying for a long time forward, the front lines suddenly shifted. On high alert, Zuo Mo unhesitatingly went forward.
When he flew to the front, he was dumbstruck where he stood.
It was an enormous and shocking wasteland. Countless mountain peaks that had collapsed, soil that was burnt black everywhere, and there were large craters more than ten li in radius everywhere. The scarred and charred land was shocking to see, this was a battlefield. Spread among those craters were bones that could not be counted. These bones were already weathered. When a harsh wind blew, the bones crumbled to powder. This scene that had only ever appeared in the legends and tall tales was endless. A vast and ancient presence blew in their faces.
Everyone was so shocked they could not speak, including Pu Yao.
“Ancient battlefield … … ancient battlefield … …” Xie Shan soullessly murmured to himself. The scene in front of him had given him an unparalleled blow. The marks left behind on the battlefield made him felt the terrifying power that could have destroyed the world at that time. He felt he was so small, like a speck of dust.
Zuo Mo was the first to recover. When he saw Xie Shan’s expression, he knew it was bad. Xie Shan had just entered jindan and his cultivation was not stable. The sudden stimulation was too strong, and his mind was still extremely vulnerable to damage. At this time, he couldn’t attend to anything else, shouting, “Remain alert!”
In these words, he used the Clear Sound Incantation.
Xie Shan shook and instantly regained his focus. He thought it had been very dangerous.
“Shu Long!” Zuo Mo shouted loudly.
Shu Long felt embarrassed by his performance just now. His face blotching red, he bowed respectfully. “Daren!”
“We’re going down!” Zuo Mo’s eyes narrowed, and a cold light flashed past.
“Daren!” Shu Long hurriedly urged, “The situation right now isn’t clear, going down so rashly … …”
“You don’t dare?” Zuo Mo interrupted him. His eyes were cold as knives.
Shu Long felt a burst of hot blood rushing to his head. His black armor rattled as he said unhesitatingly, “Shu Long obeys!”
He jumped up as he finished speaking. Mid air, Shu Long’s eyes glared angrily, the tendons tense and bulging without any of the caution and steadiness he usually held. His thunder-like bellow rang in the air, “Guard Camp, to the ground!”
The five slave transporting boats were close together to start with. Shu Long and Zuo Mo’s exchange had not been concealed. All of Guard Camp heard it clearly. Guard Camp, who had sworn to follow Zuo Mo, was being doubted on their bravery by Zuo Mo. The entire camp was blood rushed as their eyes turned red.
“Yes!” Guard Camp shouted together as they jumped down.
In the air, black shadows jumped down like large birds.
The simultaneous shout of Guard Camp was like a gust of wind that swept the darkness off everyone’s hearts. Morale rose greatly. Everyone of Vermillion Bird Camp that was staying on the slave transporting boats had shamed expressions. They had also clearly heard Zuo Mo’s question. They wanted to be able to charge at the very front at this moment.
Gongsun Cha felt the same inside. When he had arrived here, he had put himself in a box. He really was lacking compared to Shixiong. Shixiong really was a natural leader. With just a few words, he had restored morale.
Xie Shan felt even more shameful. He was a jindan, but his resolve was not as strong as Boss!
“We are going down,” Zuo Mo ordered with a cold face.
The five slave transporting boats quickly descended until they were not ten zhang from the ground.
“Shidi, you stay up here to command,” Zuo Mo said to Gongsun Cha before he turned his face. “Silly Bird, protect A Gui!” When he finished, he stepped off the slave transporting boat. Silly Bird rolled her eyes, but obediently stood guard next to A Gui.
Zuo Mo stepped onto the ground.
The ground was as hard as steel with traces of red within the black. Zuo Mo did not examine it closely, but shouted with a cold expression, “Advance!”
So what if it was a ten thousand year old ancient battlefield?
The troop rolled forward, Shu Long’s body shrouded in black energy and brimming with killing intent as he charged at the very front. At this time, people no longer felt any terror. Morale was high. They wanted to see if any monster would pop up from somewhere so they could have a good fight.
Zuo Mo’s face was cold as the troop advanced. He secretly paid attention to the surrounding environment.
Ten li long ditches were everywhere. Zuo Mo was suspicious that those were from sword energies. This place was filled with black fiendish energy. In a short while, the black energy on Shu Long and the other’s bodies had become a few fractions denser. Zuo Mo had decided to walk on the ground and not fly in the air after great thought. Due to the existence of the black fiendish energy, Guard Camp had become the primary fighting force. Guard Camp was not skilled in aerial combat so it was better to advance on the ground. Also, if they encountered something dangerous, Zuo Mo didn’t feel the air would be safer than the ground.
Zuo Mo glanced at the Golden Armor Guards beside him and suddenly found that the Golden Armor Guards were also absorbing black fiendish energy.
At this moment, all of his attention was put in front of him and could not be spared for other matters. What he saw most frequently were bones. When these bones were touched, they would crumble and become dust. There would usually be some damaged items beside the skeletons, but after ten thousand years, they were just like the bones, turning to dust upon a touch.
There was no life here, no living beings. On the way, there were only skeletons and scorched earth.
They had travelled for a full twenty hours. Zuo Mo raised his head to look at the blood colored sky. It hadn’t shown any change compared to before. Was there no day or night here? Based on their speed, they had already advanced more than one thousand li, but there was no change in the scenery they passed.
Zuo Mo suddenly raised his head. He noticed the black fiendish energy was much denser here than the location from twenty hours ago.
“Careful, we have been walking towards the center of the battlefield,” Pu Yao warned. Everything here was beyond his knowledge. His tone was extremely grave.
So that was why … …
Zuo Mo suddenly spoke, “Everyone, rest for a while.”
Hearing this, the fast travelling troops stopped. Everyone sat down to rest. Shu Long and the others were wrapped in black energy. They did not feel any exhaustion and their energy was abnormally good.
“Will the black fiendish energy pose any danger to them?” Zuo Mo asked Pu Yao.
Pu Yao said, “No. To them and the Golden Armor Guards, black fiendish energy is the best substance. I have never heard of a place with such thick black fiendish energy. This is the best place for Shu Long and the others to cultivate.”
“That’s good.” Zuo Mo’s heart relaxed. He suddenly thought of a question. “Pu, do you think there will be anything living here?”
“The possibility is very low,” Pu Yaos tone was very cautious, “the scale of this battlefield eclipses any conflict that I know of. I really cannot think of any conflict that has been on such a scale. The black fiendish energy created after such a great battle is unparalleled in its brutality. Normal beings definitely cannot survive.”
“What about xiuzhe like us? Or yaomo?” Zuo Mo said.
“That is possible.”
“That’s great!” Zuo Mo seemed to see a thread of hope.
“Great? I don’t think so!” Pu Yao said with a cold smile, “Living long term in a place with such thick black fiendish energy, one’s personality would naturally be affected. Becoming brutal and fast to kill. Other than that, you need to be careful of fiendish soul beasts.”
“Fiendish soul beasts? What is that?”
“At dense areas of fiendish energy, over time, they will create low level souls. Oh, their formation process is like that of Lil’ Fire, but they are born from fiendish energy, and are innately brutal and fond of killing. I’ve never seen fiendish soul beasts nurtured by black fiendish energy. Ha, this is interesting!”
After resting for a while, the troop departed again.
Twenty hours later, the surrounding environment still had not changed. If it wasn’t that the density of black fiendish energy in the air had clearly increased, Zuo Mo would have been suspicious that they had entered a high level illusory formation.
After this rest, Zuo Mo did not let the troop immediately depart but set up camp.
“We need to rest?” Gongsun Cha ran over to ask Zuo Mo.
“En, there is possibly danger ahead. I’m planning to get Shu Long and the others to cultivate before going forward,” Zuo Mo said.
“So that’s how it is!” Gongsun Cha made a deep sound. He said with slight worry, “The other people’s situations are not good. The ling power here is very thin. They can only use jingshi to replenish their ling power.”
Zuo Mo didn’t have better methods. He could only say, “Just use jingshi for now.”
He rejoiced now that they had taken enough jingshi along and didn’t have to worry in the short term. This was a habit they had formed from being in Little Mountain Jie. They had taken large amounts of jingshi from Little Mountain Jie and hadn’t spent much in Sky Water Jie. They had taken all of these jingshi with them.
“Pu, do you have any methods?” Zuo Mo was slightly troubled.
“I do know some methods of cultivating with black fiendish energy, but they have to start over their cultivation from the beginning.” Pu Yao spread his hands.
“We can only take a step and look a step,” Zuo Mo sighed. He started to search for jade scrolls on formations in his ring. He needed to take a good look at transportation formations. He probably had to rely on himself to make a transportation formation to leave this ghastly place. No formation could remain complete after ten thousand years, it was unlikely that they would find one. What he set up would be much more dependable.
He had many jade scrolls in his ring, and jade scrolls on formations were something he was usually very enthusiastic about collecting. He took out all the jade scrolls on formations that he possessed. Piled up in front of him was a little mountain.
If he could chew through this little mountain, they would be able to leave this ghastly place!
Zuo Mo continued to brainwash himself. Just as he was preparing to start, he saw Cheng Shidi who had been buried in the nursery on the slave transporting boats and never showed his face suddenly jump out of the slave transporting boats. He stumbled as he ran over, his expression panicked.
“Shixiong! Shixiong! Come quickly to see!”
Translator Ramblings: Zuo Mo and the others are very lucky they have the black processing meditation mats. For scale comparisons, a li is 500 meters so there are some pretty big ditches.
Zuo Mo would not let Pu Yao take Xie Shan easily. He has supported Xie Shan’s cultivation for a long time through jingshi and to make a profit, Pu Yao needs to offer him the value of a jindan and also what Zuo Mo has invested in Xie Shan. There also is the possibility what Pu Yao trades Zuo Mo has hidden shortcomings so Xie Shan with his proven loyalty is a safer bet. Xie Shan could also defeat other jindan or act like bait.