After a while, the red light started to flicker, and with a light sound, a burning flame rose out of the Fire Sickle Rock. The flame was extremely hot. Zuo Mo was slightly shocked. Right now, his Jade Metal Head was in third maturation, but he could just barely tolerate such a high temperature. If it was a normal xiuzhe, they probably would have to activate their ling armor to hold up.

Such a powerful fire!

A copper puppet was unable to avoid it and started to melt.

Zuo Mo stared at the burning Fire Sickle Rock. Suddenly, an unfamiliar voice passed into his mind.

“Cheep cheep cheep!”

Even though he could not understand, but Zuo Mo could feel the closeness and joy it passed on. He couldn’t help but grin.

The vitality coming from the Fire Sickle Rock inside the flame became even stronger. He could clearly feel something alive inside it. After burning for two whole hours, the Fire Sickle Rock suddenly split from the middle. A red shadow shot out rapidly.

The fire shadow suddenly stopped in front of Zuo Mo. He finally managed to see this fire yao. It was the size of a fist, shaped like a ball of fire as it continued to chirp. It happily flew nimbly around Zuo Mo.

“You’ll be called Lil’ Fire.” Zuo Mo made up a name on the spot. Lil’ Fire seemed to understand and was even happier, chirping continuously.

Lil’ Pagoda was curious and timidly came over.

Lil’ Fire was not shy, and quickly started to play with Lil’ Pagoda. The pagoda and fire flew quickly in the air as they chased after each other. Zuo Mo’s mood was very good. The scene in front of him made him feel very warm inside. Even if Lil’ Fire didn’t have any spells, he felt it was alright.

After a while, a grey figure flashed into the cave like lightning.

It was Silly Bird with Lil’ Black on top of her head. She elegantly reached out with her bird claws and gently landed on the ground. When Lil’ Pagoda saw Silly Bird, it was even more excited. It took the little brother it just met and ran in front of Silly Bird. Lil’ Fire circled around Silly Bird in curiosity. At this moment, Silly Bird was like a big sister. She used her long bird beak to nudge Lil’ Fire.

Lil’ Fire was like a rubber ball as it flipped through the air. It became even more excited and chirped.

Seeing the little ones interacting harmoniously, Zuo Mo was even happier. The only thing that caused discontent was Silly Bird. From the moment this one landed, she didn’t even look at him properly.

This brat! Zuo Mo gritted his teeth but couldn’t do anything. He didn’t know what had happened, but she was even faster than his flying sword. He couldn’t do anything to her.

“What are you playing around for? Go work!” Zuo Mo glared at Lil’ Pagoda.

Lil’ Pagoda, that was playing happily, instantly withered, dejectedly directing the puppets to start mining.

Little brat, dare to fight against ge! Zuo Mo left in satisfaction.

When Zuo Mo left, the four little ones gathered together again as they chatted.

Lil’ Black quickly climbed down from Silly Bird’s head, moving its short legs like a wisp of black smoke to quickly circle around the cave, its antennae waving. After a while, it stopped on a piece of rock in the cave. It waved its antennae at the other three, and then flipped its short legs, running off the rock.

Silly Bird made a small jump and spread her wings. With a fierce flap, a sharp howl suddenly sounded inside the cave. Like a flash of grey lightning, it struck the rock that Lil’ Black had pointed out.

The hard rock was like a piece of tofu as Silly Bird pierced through it like a sharp arrow.

A large hole appeared in the rock.

After a while, a grey shadow flew out of it. Silly Bird stopped in the air, shook off the shards of rock, and resumed her elegant composure.

Lil’ Fire chirped and turned into a thread of fire, burrowing into the deep cave that Silly Bird bored out.

After a while, countless threads of fire criss-crossed in the cave like a red spiderweb. After a while, Lil’ Fire wavered drunkenly as it flew out of the cave.

Rumble rumble!

Large pieces of rock continued to fall like it was raining. In a moment, the tunnel was filled with pieces of rock. Lil’ Pagoda happily turned in the air, and the copper puppets instantly leapt over.

After a short while, the ore was piled up in mountains.

The four little ones started to play again, the cheerful chirping of Lil’ Fire echoing in the tunnels.

———

“The third cadet hall.” Lei Peng smacked his lips. “Hee hee, Lil’ Miss is serious this time.”

Nian Lu took out a mirror, and combed his bangs that had been blown into disorder by the wind. He said, “It’s a pity there aren’t any female xiu. Without their furious shouts, I’m really not used to it. Such a waste of the beautiful scene that is I.”

Lei Peng ignored him and said, “With Lil’ Miss’ personality, since he decided to act, he definitely wouldn’t be hitting the cadet branches just to vent. Who do you think that we are going to attack next?”

There were many people that also had the same question as Lei Peng. Xie Shan was one of those.

Ma Fan held a stalk of grass in his mouth as he lazily laid on the ground. “If it was me, I’d hit the reinforcements.”

“The reinforcements?” Xie Shan had a thoughtful expression. As the two most offensively powerful people of Vermillion Bird Camp, their relationship had gradually deepened. Ma Fan had many ideas. After being the core for a while, his perspective when looking at a problem was very different than normal xiuzhe.

“En. We’ve attacked so many of their cadet halls, the Outer Hall certainly wouldn’t rest. They will definitely send people to attack us.” Ma Fan had a thoughtful expression and said, “We don’t have many people. If we end up surrounded by the enemy, our days will end. We need space, we need to continuously pull along the enemy so we have opportunities.”

Xie Shan’s eyes lit up, clapping his hands as he praised, “Right! This way, we will slowly consume the enemy.”

Ma Fan smiled and said, “We can think of it, how can Lil’ Miss not think of it? Don’t worry, I’m not sure about other places, but there definitely is no one in Little Mountain Jie that can defeat Lil’ Miss.”

“Ha ha,” Xie Shan said with a smile, “that’s true.”

“How long do you have until jindan?” Ma Fan suddenly asked.

“I don’t know, but I feel that I will breakthrough soon. As expected, combat is the best training,” Xie Shan said with a smile.

“After jindan? Where are you going?” Ma Fan said with slight gravity.

“You don’t need to feel me out,” Xie Shan smiled and said, “I’ll definitely still follow Boss. Actually, I’m slightly curious.”

“Curious about what?” Ma Fan asked.

“I’m curious how far Boss can really go.” Xie Shan looked into the distance.

“Just because of this? I don’t believe it.” Ma Fan shook his head.

“Of course that isn’t all of it. I’ve gradually come to understand just how much I’m worth. Boss is a pretty good boss, and I feel that Boss has a good future.” Xie Shan listed with his fingers, “Talented, hard-working, humble. Most importantly, young. Way too young! It’s the first time I’ve met such a powerful person. Boss’ origins are probably not as simple as we think. Adding on Lil’ Miss, and the band of brothers we have now, it’s nothing to just conquer a territory and live a good life.”

He laughed self-mockingly. “I’ve been the leader before, it isn’t easy being the leader. I feel that it is pretty good right now, I get all my benefits, I don’t have to worry about any problems, and can do anything that is needed. My progress in this past half-year is more than the progress of the last three years combined.”

Ma Fan didn’t speak, but his expression lessened.

“Don’t worry, I guarantee that the none of the brothers now will leave,” Xie Shan’s voice was filled with confidence.

Ma Fan chewed the grass stalk and made a sound of acknowledgement.

Suddenly, a sharp bugle call sounded.

“Let’s go, it’s time to work!”

———

He Xiang was extremely busy. He hadn’t had good sleep in these days. He hadn’t expected the mysterious troop that suddenly appeared behind him to be this slippery. He had sent a troop to kill them, but after two days, he received the unexpected news that a cadet hall was destroyed.

With anger, he sent out another troop.

The other’s movement was hard to predict. After a few days, another piece of news came through. A cadet hall located extremely far away had been massacred.

After that, every one to two days, he would receive the bad news that a certain cadet hall had been destroyed.

The news seemed to spread through Little Mountain Jie like it had wings. Their progress instantly became much harder. The factions that had thought of submitting to the Outer Hall started to hesitate.

The Outer Hall could not be stopped, but clearly, that mysterious troop also could not be stopped. The news that the cadet halls were attacked spread through all the cadet halls. Each hall had prepared, but they could not stop this mysterious force.

From this, it was possible to see the power of this force!

But the factions couldn’t bear to surrender the territory that they had won through hard work. If they lost these territories, and they were swallowed by the Outer Hall, they wouldn’t have any leverage to negotiate.

These factions instantly found it hard to advance or retreat.

As the advance of the Outer Hall met resistance, the pressure on He Xiang and the others’ bodies increased heavily.

“We need to find their base!” In the time of ten short days, He Xiang seemed like a completely different person. His entire face was shockingly thin. “It definitely isn’t the matter of a few days to train such a strong force. If we can find their base, then they will definitely be forced to go back. At that time, we can surround them.”

“But we’ve searched for so long, and there hasn’t been any news!” an elder said.

Just at this time, an elder suddenly stumbled in. “I found them! I found them!”

All the elders abruptly stood up.

“Where?”

“What place?”

“All of you, shut up!” He Xiang shouted sharply. Instantly, everyone obediently close their mouths. In this short period of time, He Xiang had successfully built up his authority. It truly wasn’t luck that the Old Forefather had picked him.

The elder that charged in was flushed and extremely excited. “Let me first show you something!”

He Xiang suppressed the irritation inside.

A black meditation mat was placed in front of everyone. The elders hurriedly came over and examined it. They all recognized good things, and instantly saw the trick. All of them inhaled sharply.

They weren’t dumb. This little meditation mat was a decisive influence on the situation of Little Mountain Jie.

“This is a talisman produced by a place called Golden Crow City. I probably don’t need to introduce the abilities. Golden Crow City is at the Sky Star Peak. After a group occupied it, they built a city.”

Everyone couldn’t help but inhale sharply again.

Built a city!

“I’m not sure who the true master is, but Elder He is definitely very familiar with their chief business manager.”

He Xiang’s expression changed. “Who is it?”

“Bao Yi!”

The elders’ faces instantly became strange. He Xiang’s face instantly became heavy.

“According to the xiuzhe, they once saw a troop leave Golden Crow City at night. Less than one thousand people,” the elder said, “so that’s why I suspect it is them. Now, all the xiuzhe in the jie are moving there. If we don’t defeat it soon, if this meditation mat continues to sell, our future days won’t be easy.”

Everyone’s expression instantly became heavy.

He Xiang stood up, his expression vicious. “Attack Golden Crow City!”

Translator Ramblings: Some of you have jumped way ahead in your guesses by about thirty chapters or so.

Zuo Mo gets a new pet and doesn’t know how smart his little compatriots are. But he probably doesn’t have the time to worry about how much jingshi he is losing. They are getting their revenge on Zuo Mo by denying him jingshi and materials.

I’m just going to add when Pu Yao said one hundred well-trained ningmai, he means well-trained to his standards. While Vermillion Bird Camp is pretty strong compared to everyone else, they have been training for less than a year, and Gongsun Cha has said before that from war chess, he knows it takes multiple years for an army to be trained and have preliminary combat experience. That might be for yaomo but it may also apply for xiuzhe.