This chapter has been brought to you by me, WanderingGummiOfDoom, and Brian.

Chapter One Hundred and Seventy Four Macro Golden Crow Formation

Zuo Mo’s finger movements continuously changed. His consciousness was like a third eye, emotionlessly overseeing the rippling of the ling power at his fingers and the subsequent changes in the dan cauldron.

Pu Yao had once said all changes were changes in formations.

What he was doing now was identifying that “change.”

Starting with the fasting pill at the beginning, he had studied the change in formations inside the medicines. The changes in the dan were very complex. Even the simplest dan medicines would need several kinds of materials, and higher-grade dan would require dozens of ingredients. However, he hadn’t found any dan that needed more than one hundred types of ingredients.

This was not difficult to understand; the more materials there were, the more uncontrolled factors were present.

But those recipes were far above what Zuo Mo was studying right now.

What he was doing was still struggling with the most basic lingdan. To make them and to understand each of the “changes” in them were completely different concepts and completely different levels of difficulty. After going through the big sword essence formation and having studied the basics discussed in the Kun Lun introductory formations jade scroll, Zuo Mo could be considered half an expert in formations.

The “changes” in the lingdan might be complex, but Zuo Mo’s examinations were  clear. After careful study, he had learned many things. The Desolate Wood Reef was very isolated, much quieter than Wu Kong Mountain; it was perfect for doing these kinds of activities that needed lots of time, and he didn’t have to worry about anyone disturbing him.

He had found twelve different frequent “change” formations.

After this, the rate of dan completion when he made dan would be astoundingly high.

To say of nothing else, just his skill in dan-making was now enough to support him anywhere he went. The Golden Crow Pill that he had first become famous for was one of his primary investigative targets. The Golden Crow fire contained inside the Golden Crow Pill was its only value. However, due to the ingredients, he had no method of increasing the amount of Golden Crow fire contained inside the lingdan, which meant that the Golden Crow Pill was stuck as a low-grade lingdan.

Zuo Mo had wrung his mind out to think of ways to make jings.h.i.+.

It was unknown what effect the beast pools would have, when it would produce anything, and how much could be made from it. Zuo Mo naturally wouldn’t put all his hopes on the uncertainty of the beast pool. Dan-making was the other method he had to consider to make jings.h.i.+.

The Desolate Wood Reef was truly isolated. If it only produced ordinary things like ling grains, there certainly would not be people who would be willing to come. What kind of circ.u.mstances would cause other people to come a long way to the Desolate Wood Reef? Only when the Desolate Wood Reef had things that could only be found here and nowhere else.

Golden Crow Pill was not a bad choice.

However, the present Golden Crow Pill was just a second-grade lingdan, and its effects were too limited. Even if it did have some effect, but it was not enough to attract people to come a long way. Zuo Mo had thought for a long time how to increase the grade of the Golden Crow Pill.

He believed that if it was third-grade Golden Crow Pill, merchants would definitely be willing to come to the Desolate Wood Reef to buy it!

He had a general understanding of the few formations inside the Golden Crow Pill. But there was one formation that Zuo Mo had never seen before. It was constructed out of medicinal power, and had two uses. One use was that it could lock the essence of the sun, while the other use was that it could turn the trapped sun essence into Golden Crow fire.

Zuo Mo called this previously unseen formation [Golden Crow Formation]. The Golden Crow Formation was so complex and exquisite that it was able to broaden Zuo Mo’s vision on the scope of formations.

The formations found in dan-making were much more complex than the formations he could normally learn. The formations he used were large and broad, the ling power moving clearly through them. The formations in dan-making were shrunk into a small s.p.a.ce, complex like hair twisted into a knot and difficult to find their true design. Zuo Mo called the formations he usually used macro-formations and the formations in dan­-making could be called micro-formations.

Occasionally during this period of time,, other xiuzhe would arrive at the Desolate Wood Reef, wanting to pa.s.s through the jie river into Little Mountain Jie. Zuo Mo asked for one hundred pieces of third-grade jings.h.i.+ from each of them. For those that did not have the jings.h.i.+, they could  use other things to barter. Zuo Mo’s trademark zombie face, the name of Wu Kong Sword Sect, and the threat of the [Skyring Moon Chime Formation] was enough for each of these ningmai xiuzhe to willingly pay the one hundred pieces of third-grade jings.h.i.+ for their “resting fee.”

On average, there would be one person coming every two or three days. That meant, that every two or three days, Zuo Mo would earn one hundred pieces of third-grade jings.h.i.+ . His days were very good.

Other than concentrating on his own experiments, he had taught some of what he knew about ling farming to the other three s.h.i.+di who specialized in ling farming. He practiced all five elements, and his knowledge was much higher compared to the past.

Zuo Mo was an obsessive collector of jade scrolls. The number of jade scrolls that he possessed definitely was far more than what others would expect of a zhuji, and the collection was very diverse. Even though the grade on average was not high,there were some very good ones. Ling farming, beast raising, butchering, etc., he had all of them. The area that he had relatively little of were sword scriptures. However, on the island, except for Zuo Mo, who would spend time on sword scriptures, no one was interested in sword scriptures. He opened all the jade scrolls to the s.h.i.+di and built a records room.

The jade scrolls collected by Wu Kong Sword Sect were primarily sword scriptures, and what Zuo Mo collected was the exact opposite. In terms of variety, the sect’s records room could not compare to Zuo Mo, but in terms of quality, Zuo Mo could never compete with the sect.

When the s.h.i.+di went into the records room and saw the sheer number of jade scrolls, they were stunned and surprised! Their desire for jade scrolls was similar to Zuo Mo.

Reading jade scrolls required paying a fee. No one had any objections to this. How could  there be free meals in this world? Wu Kong Sword Sect’s records room had been free to use at the beginning, but after the expansion it had returned to its old practices.

Taking into account the s.h.i.+di didn’t have much jings.h.i.+; Zuo Mo was devious in his use of tabs and silently became their creditor. The fees for using the records room were much lower than the sect. They would go into debt but would be able to immediately learn new spells. How could the such an arrangement not make them happy?

The records room quickly became the most popular place on the Desolate Wood Reef.

What Zuo Mo had picked were production xiuzhe. They did not like conflict, were dependable, and hardworking. Now that there was a records room, everyone had even more motivation. The atmosphere of the Desolate Wood Reef was extremely good; everyone had comfortable days.

Wiping away the sweat on his forehead, his face covered in dust, Zuo Mo looked at the large formation that he had just completed. His heart slightly hesitant.

The formation in front of him was the [Golden Crow Formation]!

Zuo Mo had used jade pieces and jings.h.i.+ to create a Golden Crow Formation. This was the first time he used a macro-formation based off of a micro-formation that was used in dan-making. He had spent large amounts of time on the [Golden Crow Formation] but didn’t have any confidence. Theoretically, the micro-formations and the macro formations should not be any different.

It took Zuo Mo twenty days to set up the macro-version of the Golden Crow Formation. Ever since he had come up with the idea of using macro formations to construct micro formations, the idea had been like a recurring nightmare that could not be erased. He had enough jings.h.i.+ now, if he didn’t do it now, when could he ever do it?

But once he started setting up the formation, he found the difficulty was much higher than he had antic.i.p.ated.

The ling power pathways of macro formations were clear, but compared to their counterpart micro formation, they were crude and rough. It was hard to use the macro formations to do such detailed changes. Zuo Mo had ran into great trouble. His original plan had been to set up a Golden Crow Formation that was about five zhang wide, but what he produced was fifty zhang in diameter.

It was like an enormous nest. Hollow in the center, while in the surroundings countless materials floated in the air, forming a complete circle.

What caused his heart pain was that the cost of the macro Golden Crow Formation was far greater than his predictions. This one formation cost a thousand third-grade jings.h.i.+!

Once the formation was activated, he would lose one thousand jings.h.i.+. This experiment could really be called expensive. It was also why Zuo Mo was hesitant. One thousand third-grade jings.h.i.+!

Pu Yao appeared beside Zuo Mo. Looking at the materials floating in the air, he twisted his mouth, “It’s really ugly!”

Zuo Mo didn’t pay attention to that guy. He gritted his teeth and decided to activate the formation.

Stepping into the already formed formation, his expression was stern, and his ling power began flowing through all ten of his fingers. A faint light appeared on his fingertips, as his fingers danced.

Lights flashed, extinguis.h.i.+ng as quickly as they appeared.

A golden pillar of light came down from the sky and connected with one that came from between his hands.

As his fingers formed shapes, the golden pillar of light turned to ten beams that spread throughout  the formation.

The golden light was reflected and pa.s.sed around by the jade pieces in the formation. The jade pieces instantly became coated in gold light when the golden light touched them.

In the sky above the formation, it was possible to see the golden light slowly spread out in the formation like water. Everywhere it pa.s.sed, the floating jings.h.i.+ lit up becoming blindingly bright, like stars in golden colored lake. The entire process took an hour before the great formation started to give off a uniform golden glow.

The noise from the formation had alarmed many of the s.h.i.+di, but when the discovered  it was caused by Zuo Mo s.h.i.+xiong, other than expressing amazement found it extremely normal. If s.h.i.+xiong wasn’t working on formations, was it still the s.h.i.+xiong that was famed for his formations?

Zuo Mo’s hands did not dare to stop, the Art of Crimson Flame being pushed to the extreme.

At this time, the formation changed again.

Countless golden lights flew out of the jade pieces like fish, gathering in the empty s.p.a.ce in the middle of the formation.

In the center of the formation, about two zhang from the ground, a ball of golden light was taking form.

Once the ball of light formed, the speed the light gathered suddenly increased. The golden lights were as dense as rain as they ran to merge into the golden ball of light.

The golden ball of light continuously increased in size, starting from the size of a basket in the beginning and growing to the size of a dining table. Zuo Mo’s expression became even more nervous.

Why wasn’t there a change yet?

Zuo Mo stared at the ball of light, his hands continuously changing. He did not notice that the pillar of light from the sky that entered his hands was as thick as his arm.

Theoretically, a change should be happening now!

But the ball of light was still expanding. The change he had predicted had not occurred yet

–– Becoming fire!

The most important step of the formation of Golden Crow fire. If this step did not happen, the essence of the sun could not form the Golden Crow Fire!

Time slowly pa.s.sed. After eight hours, Zuo Mo felt extremely dizzy, his hands limper than ever. In the middle of the formation, the ball of light was now about the size of a house. Even the person who made it all, Zuo Mo, felt scared when he saw such an enormous ball of light.

All of this, it was the explosive essence of the sun!

If he was not careful … …

He could not imagine what would happen! The present situation was completely beyond out his predictions and control.

Just as he carefully acted as though he was on thin ice, he detected a change in the ball of light!

Translator Ramblings: WanderingGummiOfDoom has calculated the formation is about 8 football fields.

Zuo Mo wants to make money because it is the only way he can cultivate at this point. The ling veins are being used for farming and they are not very high level so he needs a source of ling power.