A familiar voice came from behind him. Bu Si Dong stopped walking and when he saw the incomer, he showed happiness. He darted forward and threw a punch at the other’s shoulder excitedly. “Haha! A Zhe, you didn’t leave either! I thought you already left!”

“Leave? And go where?” A Zhe laughed helplessly. His figure was slender and scholarly. There was a star-shaped mark on his forehead. He had grown up with Bu Si Dong from childhood. Even though the two of them had later entered different sects, they had kept in contact.

“You are right!” Bu Si Dong’s voice was emotional. He quickly gave a sunny smile. “What are you doing now? Did you find work to do?”

“Constructing the city.” A Zhe pointed at the city which was now coming together, “Island Master wants to rebuild Xu Ling City. I’m responsible for a mid-sized defense formation.”

“Wow!” Bu Si Dong showed a shocked expression. “You’re this strong now? I had thought you were only able to forge second and third grade paper seals.”

A Zhe said exasperatedly, “I’ve lived this many years! Ah, if it wasn’t that Sect Leader had wanted to leave Cloud Sea Jie, I wouldn’t have left the sect.”

“The same with me.” Bu Si Dong sighed lightly. Both of them were in low moods. For them, their sects were like a second home. They were naturally reluctant to leave.

“Let’s not speak about this!” Bu Si Dong gathered his mind and said proudly, “Right, I’ve been selected for Black Turtle Camp! Isn’t it great?”

“You’re that strong?” This time, it was A Zhe’s turn to be shocked. “I heard that the selection was very strict. It’s over now that an amateur like you was able to get in. I feel slightly worried about my future.”

Bu Si Dong rolled his eyes. “I have to protect people like you in the future, I’m the one that should feel grief!”

“It is your honor, Little Bu!” A Zhe laughed as he patted Bu Si Dong’s shoulder. Then he said concernedly, “I heard the training there is very difficult. Do you have enough ling dan? I have some here ... ...”

“No need, no need!” Bu Si Dong shook his hand and then said emotionally and in a show-off manner, “In reality, I have never thought there would be a day that I cultivate with such luxury. We get two pieces of third-grade jingshi every day and one Primary Replenishing Dan. We have to finish using it. Every week, we will get a Cleansing Dan to rid ourselves of the impurities and purify the ling power.”

A Zhe’s mouth was wide open as he stammered, “That ... ... that is too luxurious!”

“Motherf***er, I finally know how those large sect disciples cultivate! With such a cultivation method, would they fail? Just absorbing ling power from the jingshi and the medicinal power from the Primary Replenishing Dan would take up half of the day. Then it is battle formation training. If we are the slightest bit incorrect, we can only wait to get punished!” Thinking about the pains of cultivation, Bu Si Dong smacked his lips emotionally.

“Don’t complain after benefiting!” A Zhe was full of admiration. “I heard long ago that the island is rolling in wealth. I hadn’t thought they would be this wealthy! You really gained greatly!”

“Haha, yes!” Bu Si Dong said with pride. “It is a pity I am not a sword xiu. Turtle Island is best at training sword xiu. You haven’t seen Teacher Wei’s sword essence, it is uncanny!”

“Oh, work well. In the future, if you make it, then you can protect me.” A Zhe’s expression was matter-of-fact.

Bu Si Dong thought of a matter and hurriedly said, “A Zhe, you can go try for Golden Crow Camp. That place is filled with xiuzhe skilled in forging, seals and dan-making. I heard those admitted get Golden Crow Fire!”

“Golden Crow Fire? Fourth-grade Golden Crow Fire?” A Zhe’s eyes were wide as though he had saw a ghost.

“Yes!” Bu Si Dong nodded forcefully. “I hear that they teach all kinds of forging methods. All of the ling dan that we use in cultivation are made by Golden Crow Camp. I went with Ma Fan Daren once and there were so many good things there that are just thrown on the floor. They can be seen everywhere, my heart hurt just looking at it!”

“Which direction is Golden Crow Camp?” A Zhe’s eyes became bloodshot as he asked.

Bu Si Dong pointed, “Oh, that place over there.”

Without another word, he turned and sprinted away.

“At least say farewell ... ...” Bu Si Dong stilled and then he muttered.

———

The people streamed in. Turtle Island was like an enormous magnet that attracted innumerable numbers of xiuzhe. The xiuzhe that were not willing to leave Cloud Sea Jie only had this one chance. Turtle Island quickly was unable to accommodate so many xiuzhe. Adding on that there were many restricted areas on the island that housed things like the Sun Shen Tree. There were too many eyes. If someone recognized it, then it would not be good.

Zuo Mo decided to rebuild Xu Ling City.

Originally, Lil’ Miss planned to use Turtle Island as bait to attract the mo military. But looking at the flow of people that was continuously coming in, they had to throw out this idea.

Fortunately Vermillion Bird Camp which had the cloud wings and the nimbus clouds were very mobile and were suited for guerilla combat.

The progress of Xu Ling City was very quick. There was a large amount of manpower. Everyone knew that time was tight and worked hard.

Presently, Zuo Mo was very wealthy. This was the benefit of being the first to stand up against the mo army.

Merchants like Liao Qi Chang who came to Zuo Mo in search of protection naturally were willing to also invest. The businesses that were leaving Cloud Sea Jie would donate the things they were unable to transport to Zuo Mo. It was a favor, one they might be able to use in the future.

When he encountered this kind of situation, Zuo Mo accepted them. What? Not easy to move? No matter, I will get people to move it!

Those with keen eyes gambled on Zuo Mo. Many merchant houses proactively supplied all kinds of aid in the rebuilding of Xu Ling City.

How many of the merchants, that could survive in the cruel market, have poor insight?

Under this kind of situation, Zuo Mo’s power quickly grew. A strange prosperity appeared around Turtle Island.

After finalizing their goal, the people under Zuo Mo’s command displayed furious battle intent and high morale.

This might be the biggest “business deal” that Zuo Mo ever engaged in. His previous business deals were child’s play compared to this business deal. When the fighting started, Zuo Mo perceptively realized that the enormous opportunity contained in the fighting.

Maybe ge was really born to do business?

As to what to do after achieving their goal, who knew. Zuo Mo was too lazy to think. This really was a great chance but it was not so simple to grasp it.

Fortunately, everything seemed to be progressing smoothly at present.

But Zuo Mo did not let it go to his head. He judged calmly.

He was clear that this inflation in power was like a pile of bubbles. If they could not defeat the mo army, these bubbles would instantly pop.

Looking at the quiet A Gui, Zuo Mo’s restless heart also calmed down.

“A Gui, I’m very sorry. We need to wait for the fighting to finish before we can search for a Water Cloud embryo,” he said apologetically.

A Gui sat silently and motionlessly.

The two stared at each other in silence.

“A Gui, who are you?” Gazing at A Gui, Zuo Mo said quietly. A while later, he lowered his head. His expression was slightly depressed. “Who am I?”

Suddenly a hand reached over and grasped Zuo Mo’s hand.

Zuo Mo stilled and raised his hand abruptly.

A Gui’s face was still as wooden as usual but there was a weak light in the deep reaches of the empty eyes.

A Gui had moved!

This was the first time A Gui moved of her accord after she was wounded.

For some unknown reason, Zuo Mo suddenly felt his heart warm up. This simple move made him feel extremely comfortable and his dejection flew away.

A Gui’s hand was very beautiful. Just like her feet, it did not have one flaw.

Other than being slightly cold.

Zuo Mo gripped A Gi’s hand back.

“Thank you, A Gui.”

———

“I object!”

“I also object!”

“Daren, you cannot enter into a dangerous situation, this is too dangerous!”

Zuo Mo looked at the excited group. He had predicted this reaction. Wei Sheng did not speak but it was clear from his expression that he did not agree with Zuo Mo’s thoughts. He was not the only one. Lil’ Miss, Shu Long, and the others were shaking their heads.

Everyone knew what Zuo Mo’s safety meant to their troops. If something happened to Zuo Mo, this group would likely fall apart instantly.

Any suggestion that could cause that situation would receive everyone’s opposition.

Gradually, people calmed from their excitement. Their eyes landed on Zuo Mo. Zuo Mo was smiling as usual and did not show an excited expression. Seeing everyone calm down, he slowly opened.

“I’ve thought deeply about this.”

No one spoke. Everyone was waiting for Zuo Mo to keep speaking. After interacting with Daren for so long, they also knew it was extremely difficult to change Daren’s mind after he made a decision.

“No one can replace Gongsun Shidi and Vermillion Bird Camp in fighting against the mo military. The battle style of Guard Camp is not suited to guerrilla combat. Shu Long’s personality is steady and is skilled in defense rather than offence. This time, Guard Camp’s mission is to attack the other’s base. I feel that no one is more suited than I am.”

Seeing someone open their mouth to speak, Zuo Mo waved his hand and continued.

“As for the danger, do not mention it in the future. We are fighting with our backs against the wall, there is no retreat. Unless we want to return to what we were before,” Zuo Mo looked around and said in a deep voice, “Are you willing?”

The audience was completely silent.

Before setting their goal, no one had realized this problem and felt it was nothing. But once they set their goal, it was like poking a hole in the umbrella. No one was willing to go back to their previous muddling days.

“When we made this decision,”

Zuo Mo’s gaze slowly swept across everyone. Everyone felt a strong pressure.

“we no longer had the right to fear the consequences!”

Zuo Mo’s tone was aloof but these words were like a sharp sword deeply cutting into stone, and engraving themselves into people’s hearts!

Translator Ramblings: Another chapter about how things are being set up. I think Fang Xiang likes ramping up the tension too much. Zuo Mo sounds so serious and mature, but then I remember this is also the person a few chapters ago that stripped people of their underwear.