Chapter 13

Chapter Thirteen Success
Leaving the void state, Zuo Mo mused upon it for a long time. Had that been a moment of enlightenment? He thought with joy and some regret.
As expected, when he cast [Art of Flora] the following few times, the state of emptiness didn’t appear like they did the first time. But his finger movements clearly went up a step and became much more flowing. Especially the cooperation between the ling energy and the finger movements. It was as though he found the trick to it. When his fingers moved, the ling energy followed and changed, the two tightly connected.
The grandiose finger movements, the terrifying resulst, it made the female disciples that were still apprehensive docilely close their mouths.
Zuo hadn’t thought the effects would be this strong neither.
The dominance of [Art of Flora] surpassed his predictions. He couldn’t help but become alert inside. When he cast [Art of Flora] in the future, he needed to be careful.
The following matters were much easier. They only needed to plough the ling fields again before planning the ling grasses.
The method the female disciples used to plant ling grass broadened his vision. He saw a female disciple take out a bamboo container from her waist, pluck out the cork and a gold earthworm climbed out. She incanted the spell and the gold earthworm burrowed into the ling fields.
In a short while, the soil rolled and twisted. After twenty minutes when it stopped, the ling fields were completely overturned. What was most amazing was that not one bit of soil had splashed out of the ling fields.
Zuo Mo couldn’t help but be interested:
What’s this? It’s very convenient!

LI Ying Feng was both educated and kind. She said knowingly:
We call them Mud Turning Earthworms. It’s isn’t anything high-grade, just used to overturn the fields. But the results are pretty good. Afterwards, we’ll give some to shidi. It would be a helper in growing ling grains.

Zuo Mo was joyous:
Many thanks shijie!

In the newly turned ling fields, the female disciples spread out the ling grass seeds. Growing ling grasses didn’t have as many concerns as growing ling grains. They only had to spread it densely.
After finishing seeding, Zuo Mo saw a female disciple preparing to cast [Little Art of Cloud and Rain], and volunteered:
Does it need rain, I’ll do it.

Return the favour. It wasn’t good to take another person’s things for free.
Li Ying Feng was overjoyed:
I heard that shidi’s [Little Art of Cloud and Rain] reached the third level. Today, I get to have a look!

[Little Art of Cloud and Rain] was Zuo Mo’s most familiar spell. He almost didn’t need any preparation. Just started the spell and the cloud formed, appearing above the ling fields.
Silver threads gradually entered the ling fields, the air full of vitality. Everyone felt their minds become refreshed.
There were very big differences between the fourth level of [Little Art of Cloud and Rain] and the third level. Just when the rain stopped, a rainbow appeared above the ling fields.
Just as everyone was complimenting, one female disciple shouted as she pointed at the ling fields:
Heavens! Look, it’s sprouted!

At some time, a patch of thin and light green sprouts appeared in the ling fields.
Zuo Mo took out the plant essence bead and cast [Art of Floraa] again. It instantly dissolved into countless bunches of green thread and merged into the ling fields.
The light green spouts in the ling fields instantly became darker, their growth delightful.

Shidi is just as rumoured!
Li Ying Feng complimented sincerely. This unknown shidi seemed to have endless methods, and always could bring her unexpected surprises. And she found that no matter which technique that Zuo Mo used, there were major differences with what she had heard.
What was he concealing? LI Ying Feng thought of this question again.
[Art of Flora] combined with [Little Art of Cloud and Rain], the effect was outstanding, the effectiveness increasing. Li Ying Feng didn’t care what methods Zuo Mo used, she only hoped to produce ling grasses quickly.
To increase speed, for a continuous length of time, other than going to Cold Mist Valley to make rain once a day, Zuo Mo spend all his time at the Eastern Peak. This was the first time he received the luxurious treatment of using jingshi to recover ling energy.
The body was like a vessel. To contain more ling energy, it needed continually increasingly large containers. The simplest way to increase the size of the container was the change the body. Continuously using ling energy, the ling energy would continuously strength the channels and so more ling energy could be stored.
The purity and density of the ling energy inside the jingshi exceeded the ling energy drifting in the air. It was much easier to absorb and the effect it had on the channels were clearer.
The next few days, Zuo Mo continuously repeated [Art of Flora] and [Little Art of Cloud and Rain]. The amount of work that was required for more than four hundred mu of ling fields were finished by him alone.
The female disciples finally saw the craziness and absorbed nature of him at work.
Casing a spell, holding a jingshi in meditation, then standing to cast a spell until all ling energy was used, then meditation… …
Even as they looked on from the side, they felt exhausted. But Zuo Mo repeated the cycle and didn’t feel any dullness.
Of course Zuo Mo wouldn’t find it dull!
Such luxurious treatment, he had never thought of it even in his dreams. Such a good opportunity, if he didn’t use it, was he dumb?
He didn’t spare any of his ling energy. Each time, he would wring the ling energy out of his body completely! Then he would take the jingshi and suck fanatically.
In these few days, he had gained much. Even if there wasn’t those ten pieces of second-grade jingshi, he definitely would have agreed. His channels, which had never extracted ling energy in such a manner, were like dry ground meeting a surge of rain. In these short few days, the amount of ling energy in his body increased by almost ten percent, his channels becoming stronger as well.
Other than that, as he repeated [Art of Flora] over and over, his degree of proficiency increased linearly. There were signs he was nearing the second level.
Looking at the green ling fields, all the fields had been replanted with ling grasses. That also mean the job was finished. His heart was full of reluctance.

At what time would he meet such a good thing like this!

He sighed deeply in his heart.
Five days, he used up five pieces of second-grade jingshi. No wonder Zuo Mo was still wishing to continue.
But luckily, ten pieces of second-grade jingshi was enough to satisfy the yearning in his heart.
The stone in Li Ying Feng’s heart landed. Even though the price was high, she had managed to solve a troublesome problem. And she had met a strong shidi. She was very satisfied.
Work and relax, that was the right way.
Returning to the yard, Zuo Mo’s wallet was bulging and his mood relaxed.
But his studies each day, he never stopped. Even though the efficiency of meditation was far from being able to compare with using jingshi, but Zuo Mo still persisted. The ling energy in the jingshi might be pure and easy to absorb but it was slightly strong. It was slower to meditate and absorb ling energy but it was very gentle.
In the long run, it was easy to leave behind hidden dangers by relying too much of jingshi. Those sects with thick bases and foundations had many methods to solve the dangers, but to Zuo Mo, those were far away.
Of course, the most important thing was Zuo Mo didn’t have that many jingshi to squander.
Other than that, right now, he was focusing on [Art of Aged Gold] and [Art of Flora]. [Art of Aged Gold] was at the second level, and it wasn’t far before [Art of Flora] would also break. If both of these could reach the third level, and adding in the fourth level of [Little Art of Cloud and Rain], it was enough for him to qualify as a ling plant farmer.
Ha, by that time, the jingshi will roll in ……
In the next few days, his mood was great.
Each day, he light-heartedly ran over to Cold Mist Valley each day to make rain. The ling herbs in the medicine fields were growing well, the effect of the fourth level of [Little Art of Cloud and Rain] clear. The ling herbs seemed to have more vitality than before. Each time when he stated to make rain, the ling herbs in the fields would neatly follow and sway as though they were rejoicing. Zuo Mo’s mood became cheerful whenever he saw these ling herbs’
dancing.
To this job that was forced upon him, his unwillingness had decreased.
The medicine fields in Cold Mist Valley were third-grade ling fields. The intelligence in these ling herbs greatly surpassed normal plants.
The misfortunes of the past swept away. His life became bright once again.
Just as usual, he made a round of inspections before leaving. After making sure that nothing happened, he then left Cold Mist Valley.
Not long after he left Cold Mist Valley, he suddenly heard the sound of people talking in the front.

Old Black is pretty misfortunate. The ling grains are infected with this strange disease. He probably won’t get even one grain this year. Next year, he might not even get to plant the ling grains. He has a family of the old and young, his days will become hard.


Oh, it’s fate! I’m just worried if this strange disease will spread. If we get infected, that would be terrible!


So true! Heavens protect! I’m still depending on this year’s harvest to exchange for a sword scripture!


Me too!

……
Strange disease? Zuo Mo’s heart jumped.
Planting ling grains, what people were most afraid of were those unnameable strange diseases. Once it occurred, it basically was a loss for the entire year. These two years, Zuo Mo had personally seen several shixiong, due to bad luck, become unable to even pay the rent for the ling fields to the sect and were thrown out of the sect.
A while ago when he made rain for Old Black, his ling grains were growing well, so why did they suddenly become infected with a strange disease? Zuo Mo felt it a bit strange.
If one had to say who had it the hardest in the sect, it was probably Old Black. He had a family. His son supposedly had some innate talent and had been admitted into a small sword sect. The tribute he needed to give each year to the sect wasn’t a small amount. Adding on the different material and jingshi needed for cultivation, the spending was enormous.
Old Black had a cultivation of lianqi fifth level. He rented a full two hundred mu of ling fields. All his time was spend on growing ling grains. These ten years, his cultivation hadn’t increased one bit. But even so, the jingshi he earned was just barely enough.
This year, Old Black was especially hard-working. It was rumoured that his son was at the gate of lianqi seventh level. For his son to push through the big jump of the seventh level, he needed a lot of jingshi.
To give to the sect for the sect elders to give some extra attention, it was an unwritten rule.
Other than that, Old Black had put hopes on another method.
Places without ling veins, the amount of ling energy in the air was extremely low. If he relied on those ling energy to change into the ling energy inside his body, it was extremely slow.
Xiuzhe would have the wealth usually used two kinds of methods. One was using ling grains for a long period. There weren’t high levels of ling energy in the ling grains but the effect was gentle and easily absorbed. The other method was directly extracting ling energy from the jingshi. This was also the fasted method. Additionally, using jingshi was especially effective at making breakthroughs.
Old Black thought to use this method for his son to break though the barrier to the seventh level.
Zuo Mo decided to take a look. And if it really would spread, then his own fifty mu of ling fields would also be affected.
There were many people surrounding the ling fields at the base of the mountain. Zuo Mo found Old Black in the crowd with one glance. That black face was now so pale there wasn’t a hint of blood, the eyes empty and hopeless.
And the ling fields that Zuo Mo recently made rain for was enough to scare him.
The green ling grains were now almost completely withered. The leaves and primary stem full of a kind of black energy. Anyone who saw the situation would be certain that these ling grains would certainly die. Many shixiong were gathered at the edge of the ling field. They formed groups and discussed in low voices, all their voices full of worry.

Guo shixiong’s here! Guo shixiong’s here!

Someone cheered from the crowed. A light came into Old Black’s devastated eyes and he suddenly crawled up from the ground.
Guo Lu shixiong was the person who had the deepest knowledge of [Art of Aged Gold]. A number of years ago, he had reached the second level. The recent news was that he was going to soon enter the third level. Usually, when some strange illness appeared in the ling grains, everyone would recommend Guo Lu shixiong. And he didn’t disappoint. He saved the ling grains that everyone thought would die multiple times.
Guo Lu shixiong was barefoot and wearing shorts, his face full of wrinkles like an old farmer. When he saw the swaths of withered ling fields, his face couldn’t help but change before recovering.
The change was extremely subtle but Zuo Mo coincidentally caught it. When he had seen the withered ling fields, he had already had a bad feeling. When he saw the change in expression of Guo Lu shixiong, the ominous feeling inside became even stronger. As he improved on [Art of Aged Gold], he understood much more.
If it was normal pests, the withered leaves wouldn’t have been slightly black. This black was like dead ash, and made Zuo Mo’s heart beat frantically.
Old Black almost rushed in front of Guo Lu shixiong and shouted heart wrenchingly:
Shixiong, save me!

Seeing Old Black’s despairing expression, a flush came upon Guo Lu’s face and he gravely said:
As much as I’m capable!

He walked into the ling fields.
Everyone’s eyes gathered on his body, not a sound of discussion made. Everyone stared fixedly at Guo shixiong that stepped into the ling fields.
Guo Lu shixiong’s expression was grave. He walked in front of a withered ling grain and squatted down, attentively examining every part of the ling grain. He also ripped down the withered and slightly black leaves, putting it to the nose for a smell. His inspection was extremely fine. He almost walked around the entire ling field and took more than an hour.
The suspicious expression on his face became even heavier, as though he had encountered something impossible.
He shook his head, his expression still suspicious and his hand landed on a withered ling grain.
Zuo Mo, who also knew [Art of Aged Gold], suddenly became alert. He knew the most crucial time had come.