Chapter Eight Hundred and Sixty Four – Refining the Shen Bone
The storehouse manager stammered out, “This … … this … … can be forged into crystal bone?”
“Yes.” Zuo Mo saw the expressions of the two and knew that they definitely did not know of this. He asked, “What is this called?”
“White bone,” the storehouse manager hurriedly replied. His eyes were locked onto Zuo Mo.
“Alright, white bone,” Zuo Mo responded and then patiently explained, “this white bone is not very different from crystal bone. If one refines it, white bone can be refined into crystal bone.”
“How do you refine it?” When the storehouse manager said this, he recognized it was appropriate. He said uncertainty, “This lowly one had overstepped.”
Zuo Mo did not care. For him, concealing something like this was of no meaning. The Ghost Lord was good to him and Zuo Mo was willing to teach to pay him back.
“First use fire to refine the impurities, and then put it into the death energy pools for about three days, that should do it,” Zuo Mo said.
“So simple?” the storehouse manager unconsciously asked.
The guard’s eyes glared. “You dare to doubt Grandmaster!”
The storehouse manager’s head shrank back in fright.
Zuo Mo smiled, unconcerned. “Simple? Not so simple, just refining away the impurities is not easy. The more the impurities are forged away, the better the quality of the crystal bones.”
Then Zuo Mo said to the storehouse manager, “Alright, I’ve told you how to forge the crystal bone, go prepare these materials.”
“Yes yes yes!” The storehouse manager decided to believe it for now. He decided to immediately get people to test this out.
In the Ten Thousand Tombs of the Underworld, the white bones were one of the most worthless materials as they were everywhere. The great majority of what washed down Billion Bone Peak was white bone. The crystal bones were at least three levels above white bone, and their production was rare.
The difference in value between the two was in the thousands.
If Grandmaster was right, then this definitely was a path to getting rich! If the storehouses were filled with crystal bones, the Ghost Lord Daren would reward him!
The storehouse manager was filled with motivation.
The guard suppressed his shock and asked Zuo Mo respectfully, “Grandmaster, where do we go next? Should we go to the Sea of Ten Thousand Boiling Pools?”
Zuo Mo thought for a moment. “Let’s return first. It is not early and we will find another time to go to the Sea of Ten Thousand Boiling Pools.”
“Yes!” The guard hurriedly said.
All of Zuo Mo’s attention was focused on the bone in his ring.
Having returned to his residence, Zuo Mo caressed the dark gold bone in his hand. This bone was of a fine quality and heavy as though it was made from metal. Patterns were packed onto the surface of the one and it seemed to have some beauty.
If other people touched this bone, they would only feel coldness. Only when Zuo Mo touched it would a feeling of warmth come.
Zuo Mo was sure now that this was a leg bone that a totem warrior of the Sun Tribe had left.
The totem warriors of that era were some of the strongest existences. The bones that they left behind were also one of the top materials. In the time where totem warriors had been strongest, almost every totem warrior had been god-level. Their bodies were at the peak of what could be reached, their blood, bones, and sinew all reaching a shocking level.
Zuo Mo thought of Lan’s black jade bones that were refined to an almost perfect level.
The packed patterns on the bone was the sun shen glyph. It could be seen from how the other had refined the sun shen glyph onto the bone how powerful this Sun Tribe totem warrior had been!
Even if Zuo Mo recovered to his strongest state, he could not reach such a level.
That era was one that people yearned for!
Zuo Mo lamented. After tens of thousands of years, they finally returned to the era of shen power but there was still a great distance between them and the peak of the ancient era.
Shaking his head, Zuo Mo threw his stray thoughts to the back of his mind and put all of his attention on this dark gold bone. For other people, this might just be a top-tier material but him, it wasn’t just that.
A thread of sun shen fire wrapped around the dark gold femur.
Zuo Mo’s expression was serous.
The shen glyph on the surface of the dark gold femur gradually became brighter. The bone was like a heated metal that flashed with a scorching red light. Zuo Mo’s hands moved and the sun shen fire moved as well.
The sun shen glyph on the surface of the bone dimmed, but because the femur was bright, the shen glyph contrasted even more.
Zuo Mo’s right hand rose slightly.
Hiss!
The sun shen glyph that covered the bone was lifted like it was a net that covered the bone.
Zuo Mo’s eyes became bright. His presence became even stronger. The shen glyphs on the ground and walls released gentle light that hid Zuo Mo’s presence and stopped it from spreading outside.
The presence of a god-level would be too astounding. If it leaked, it would attract other people.
The sun shen fire climbed onto the shen glyph on the bone. Under Zuo Mo’s control, the shen glyph slowly was pulled away from the bone.
Soon, Zuo Mo’s forehead was covered in a fine layer of sweat. The bone covered in the fire trembled as though it was fighting to break free. It had experienced tens of thousands of years, and it had some intelligence. Yet it also had absorbed all kinds of power through these tens of thousands of years. The heterogenous power was not of benefit to Zuo Mo, and was damaging like a toxin.
Zuo Mo tried to use the sun shen fire to refine away these impurities but the sun shen glyph layer on top of the bone blocked the sun shen fire.
If he could not break through the sun shen glyph, he could not purify the bone.
Suddenly, Zuo Mo’s body shook. Several small drops of blood shook and gathered into a bigger drop that flowed down Zuo Mo’s body. Soon, Zuo Mo’s body was soaked in sweat that ran down in streams. Zuo Mo did not seem to feel it, his expression unusually focused.
The sun shen glyph that covered the bone was slowly being lifted.
Released of the restraints of the shen glyph, the bone was even brighter. It started to melt.
When the last bit of shen glyph was pulled away from the bone, the bone immediately turned into a puddle of gold liquid. The sun shen glyph strangely did not disappear, but floated in front of Zuo Mo like a spiderweb.
Zuo Mo’s sweat flowed down his back. He had no attention to spare for wiping his sweat. The sun shen fire refined the puddle of gold liquid.
Fortunately, his cultivation was steady. Zuo Mo rejoiced.
While his shen power was lacking, there were benefits to his stable cultivation. Or example, his control of the sun shen fire was much higher than those not in god-level. The sun shen fire was like a part of his body, and could be used like his arm. It was even more nimble than his hands.
The golden liquid grew smaller as he forged and refined the impurities were out.
Its presence quickly changed, from pressuring to gentle. Its presence started to weaken but the feeling of purity increased.
Zuo Mo did not stop.
The sun shen fire continued to burn.
This refinement continued for three whole days.
Only a drop of that ball of gold liquid was left. This droplet of golden liquid was clear and a faint gold without any impurity.
Zuo Mo finally had a satisfied expression. He opened his mouth and that clear golden drop of liquid flew into his mouth.
When the golden liquid entered his mouth, his body couldn’t help but shake.
An indescribable pleasure filled his body. All of his exhaustion disappeared. The countless golden burning flows in Zuo Mo’s body were like sharks that smelt blood and furiously flew towards that droplet of golden liquid from all over Zuo Mo’s body.
These tiny red burning flows were the after-effects from the battle with the chief elder of Tian Huan.
When Zuo Mo had broken the sun crystal seed without any regard for the consequences, he had obtained great power, but the destructive ability of the burning sun flows were too strong. Pu Yao and Wei shattered Zuo Mo’s sea of consciousness and the majority of the burning sun flows formed the sun shen tree. But Zuo Mo’s attempt to save the others used up almost all of the sun shen tree’s power.
The sun shen tree lost the ability to absorb and digest the burning sun flows. The remaining burning sun flows rampaged through Zuo Mo’s body and continued to destroy it.
They were the true culprit for Zuo Mo’s terrible condition. There were not much of the burning sun flows left in Zuo Mo’s body now as the majority had been used up, but because so much of his body had been used up, he had no ability to digest this.
That unknown Sun Tribe totem warrior had been extremely powerful before death. Zuo Mo refined this droplet of golden liquid from the femur. Pure essence and the unique sun presence it had was magnetically attractive to the burning sun flows.
The streams of burning sun flow gathered from all directions and continued to flow into the golden liquid.
The faint golden liquid quickly became covered in red threads. Soon, those red threads dissolved in the golden liquid. The faint gold liquid became a solid gold with a tinge of red.
Having relieved himself of the continuous damage caused by burning sun flows, Zuo Mo’s entire body felt light. Relieved of a burden and relaxed.
This red-tinged golden drop of liquid spun rapidly. A ball of flame rose from its surface and it was about to burrow into Zuo Mo’s flesh. Zuo Mo’s eyes lit up, and he opened his mouth to suck in. The sun shen glyph that floated in front of him entered his mouth.
The sun shen glyph that entered his body flew towards the burning golden liquid.
The flames on the surface of the golden liquid did not affect the shen glyph at all. The sun shen glyph wrapped around the golden liquid. The flames on the surface of the golden liquid dimmed. A red-tinged golden bead floated inside Zuo Mo’s body.
The golden bead was covered in complex patterns.
Only at this time did Zuo Mo completely relax. He had an expression of joy.
Just as he had thought!
Zuo Mo was full of respect towards that unknown Sun Tribe totem warrior. So powerful! While Zuo Mo didn’t have a large amount of burning sun flows left in his body, but the shen glyph from the femur bone was able to seal these burning sun flows. The power of this Sun totem warrior before death was terrifying!
Zuo Mo stood up. He felt as light as a feather!
Ten years!
Ten whole years!
A feeling of lightness that had been gone for a long time made him feel so joyous he wanted to howl into the sky.
Without the damage done by the burning sun flows and with the nourishment from the Nether Ghost Yin Heavy Wood, Zuo Mo could repair his body and recover his shen power in an even shorter amount of time.
There was nothing that could make him even more excited and happy.
If his power was recovered, he would be able to return to Mo Cloud Sea, he would be able to awaken everyone, he would be able to save Pu Yao and Wei!
He would succeed!
Zuo Mo balled his fists.
Translator Ramblings: The story’s ending in just over 50 chapters. Zuo Mo’s recovery has to be fast.