Chapter 270: Scholar’s Heart
Translator: Sparrow Translations Editor: Sparrow Translations
Although the five of them had their own flying magic treasures, Mo Wuji was the slowest.
Barely two hours later, the group of five arrived in an area full of weeds. In the midst of the weeds were broken walls everywhere, and also some remains of ancient buildings.
Mo Wuji had been here before, and back then he spent days to reach it, but now they only took less than two hours.
"This place is full of disgusting worms. When we return, let’s wipe these things out," As their flying ships passed over this patch of weeds, Mo Wuji spoke.
Feng Zhenqiu quickly replied, "No, definitely not. These worms must not be disturbed, as once they are provoked, even a True God Stage cultivator might not be able to escape."
Puzzled, Mo Wuji asked, "I don’t think so. Previously I passed through this area before, and killed quite a number of worms."
What cultivation was Mo Wuji at then, and what level was he at now? On top of that, there were four True God Stage cultivators present, so how could they fear the worms?
As Feng Zhenqiu stared at Mo Wuji, he shook his head. The ignorant really had no fear. "Alliance Head, this only means that you have good luck, otherwise you passed through an area of the young worms. Perhaps you didn’t stay for long, and did not anger any of the grown worms. Once the grown worms get angry, they can start flying, and they don’t stop until they die. Regardless who provoked them, they will continue to stick onto the person, until his flesh and blood has been sucked dry."
Upon hearing this, a cold shiver ran down Mo Wuji’s spine. This was simply too scary. Luckily he had left the area of weeds immediately after crossing it. Otherwise if he was surrounded by the worms… He dared not imagine the scenario any further.
"There was a True God Stage cultivator that passed through here once. He had crossed the area, but because he suddenly felt unhappy, he started torching the worms here, which eventually angered the worm king. In the end, the True God Stage expert was devoured alive by countless worms," Feng Zhenqiu was afraid that Mo Wuji did not understand the severity of the situation completely, so he took the initiative to quote an example.
Xing Huang also added on, "Dean Feng is right, the worms here are also called Tarsal Bone Worms. Whoever is marked by them will never escape. On top of that, these worms can tunnel through a person’s skin into their bone marrow, and even a True God Stage expert can't block that."
"Does this mean that no one can subdue these worms?" Mo Wuji asked in shock.
"Not exactly, these worms can be exterminated with fire…" Feng Zhenqiu explained.
However, Mo Wuji did not completely understand it, "Dean Feng, didn’t you just say that the True God Stage expert used fire, but still got eaten by the Tarsal Bone Worms?"
Nodding his head, Feng Zhenqiu replied, "That’s right, fire is indeed the weakness of these worms, but it depends on what type of fire you use. Not all types of fire can kill these worms. For example, Defender Xing also has a type of fire, but his fire is meant for smithing. This fire can still kill the worms here, however, as soon as a whole swarm of them engulfs you, his fire would still be insufficient."
Xing Huang added on, "Dean Feng is right, there are many types of fires out there. Mine is mainly for smithing, not for attacking enemies."
"Actually, if you really want to kill those Tarsal Bone Worms, there’s someone among us that can do it," Great Evolution Sect’s True God Stage Elder Feng Zhe turned to look at Heaven Demon Sect’s Fang Zhentian.
Feng Zhenqiu also agreed, "Indeed, if it’s Sect Head Fang, we might really be able to exterminate those worms."
However, Fang Zhentian just shook his head, "I can indeed kill some of these worms, or escape from them. But to kill all of these Tarsal Bone Worms, even I am incapable of it."
In his mind, Mo Wuji was extremely surprised. Four True God Stage experts all said that they could not do it, so how strong were these Tarsal Bone Worms?
"Actually what Dean Feng said was right, there is a type of fire that can burn these worms to death," As Fang Zhentian spoke, he pointed in the direction of the cock star, "Previously, the guy outside of the Lost Sky Ruins named Lu Mang did say that there was a green fire that burst into the sky a few days ago. I suspect that it could be the Scholar’s Heart…"
When they heard the words "Scholar’s Heart", the remaining people looked at Fang Zhentian in shock.
Other than Mo Wuji, all the True God Stage experts here knew of the Scholar’s Heart. On the surface, this fire looks like it’s gentle and beautiful, but in reality, it is wild and explosive. Once you disturbed this type of fire, your only end state would be a pile of ashes.
Continuing on, Fang Zhentian explained, "Alliance Head Mo might not know how scary the Scholar’s Heart is. This fire looks like a beautiful green robe, calm and tranquil. But once this fire rages up, the frightening scene that ensues would be far worse than what Lu Mang described. The sort of temperature would make you lose any fighting spirit, then you’ll disappear without a trace."
At this point, Fang Zhentian chuckled, "If you can refine this fire, and throw out the Scholar’s Heart with your hands, not only those worms, but also those people hiding behind the worms, he he…"
Deep inside, Mo Wuji thought to himself. Indeed there’s not a single True God Stage cultivator among them that’s a simple person. The first time that he came here, he could guess that these worms were bred and herded by someone. Who knew that the others were aware of this too, just that no one went to disturb those worms.
The five of them travelled with godspeed, and a few days later, they crossed a large desert.
Once they passed the desert, Feng Zhenqiu requested for them to stop.
What blocked their path ahead was a peakless mountain that wasn’t that tall. On top of the mountain was a wide lake.
Standing on a nearby hill, Mo Wuji could see that the water in the lake was very clear, even with some ripples of movement. The surroundings had a lingering sulfur smell too.
"Dean Feng, let’s go to take a look at the lake on that mountain top," Mo Wuji took the initiative to ask.
Granny Linglong only left them a rough flying message which did not include her location, so Mo Wuji could only find this place based on the reports of green fire a few days ago.
Solemnly, Feng Zhenqiu replied, "If we provoked the Tarsal Bone Worms, perhaps we might have a slim chance at survival. But if we go to banks of that green lake, then I believe that not a single one of us will return alive."
Mo Wuji stared at Feng Zhenqiu in confusion. In Feng Zhenqiu’s eyes, a surge of emotions appeared, then disappeared quickly, "I’ve been here before. This is a volcano, and after it erupted, it formed this green lake…"
Feng Zhenqiu took a deep breath, "If my guess is correct, that isn’t water in the lake, but fire, and the fire is the Scholar’s Heart that Sect Head Fang mentioned before…"
"What?" Mo Wuji stared at Feng Zhenqiu in disbelief, "Dean Feng, there’s still some small ripples on the surface of the green lake, and there’s no heat from it. So how could this be the Scholar’s Heart?"
This time, Feng Zhenqiu did not reply, instead Fang Zhentian spoke, "Dean Feng is right, that should be the Scholar’s Heart. The Scholar’s Heart appears gentle and calm, without anything frightening about it, possibly even making people yearn for it. However, this is also the scariest part of the Scholar’s Heart. Alliance Head Mo, look at the gentle lake surface with a few ripples, in reality that’s the green fire markings of the Scholar’s Heart. The Scholar’s Heart is so scary because all of its heat is hidden within, and you can’t feel anything outside. But once this fire has been agitated, the whole place can be burnt to ashes."
Xing Huang also sighed, "It seems like the green fire that shot to the sky a few days ago was the sign of the birth of this Scholar’s Heart. I’ve heard of people keeping this sort of flame, but that would be its unborn state. Once it is born, this type of fire is a peerless existence."
Alliance Head, regardless whether Linglong is here, we can’t stay in this place any longer," Feng Zhenqiu sighed to himself, and took the initiative to speak.
"Wait…" Mo Wuji suddenly walked a few steps forward, lowering his head to look at the ground.
It seemed like Mo Wuji had found something, so the others did not go to disturb him.
A full incense’s time later, he raised his head and said, "Guys, there’s some traces of array dao here. Defender Xing, help me refine a few location array flags, I’ll check this out."
Xing Huang instantly agreed, taking out a smithing furnace, and producing a ball of fire with his hands. A few ingredients were thrown into the furnace, and everyone could see Xing Huang’s magnificent hands go to work, hand technique after hand technique landing in the smithing furnace.
Mo Wuji, who was originally inspecting the array base, was also shocked at the sight of Xing Huang’s method of smithing. His face felt a little hot, because while he could create array flags too, compared to Xing Huang, the ones that he made could only be considered as something ordinary blacksmiths made.
On top of that, he did not learn smithing before, and always thought that refining array flags did not require a furnace. Now that he saw Xing Huang make them in a furnace, he knew that he had always been doing things the wrong way.
Xing Huang’s speed was exceptionally fast, and within an incense’s time, he had grabbed a batch of location array flags to pass to Mo Wuji.
After simply refining the array flags, Mo Wuji began to set up an array. Even for Tian Ji Sect’s sect protecting array, it took him two years to complete: one year of researching array dao, mainly studying how to set up the array, then another year to actually set it up.
Now that he had refined Xing Huang’s array flags, he realised how trashy his own were. If he had used Xing Huang’s array flag for Tian Ji Sect’s sect protection array, he wouldn’t have even used a year, and the array would be much better than the one he had made.
This thought flashed through his mind, then Mo Wuji did not think about it any further. No matter how good the array flags that Xing Huang could make were, he could not keep Xing Huang by his side all the time. He could only ask Xing Huang for a few more array flags before he left for Zhen Mo Continent.
Tens of array flags were slowly planted at different positions by Mo Wuji, and the rest of the group could distinctly feel the change in their surroundings, but they could not pinpoint where the change exactly was.
In terms of cultivation level, any one of them would beat Mo Wuji by miles. But in terms of array dao, other than Xing Huang who had a decent level, no one could really match up to Chu Xingzi’s legacy.