Chapter 243 – Zi Mo’s Origins
“I have something to ask you.” Yang Kai said as he looked towards Zi Mo.
“Please do,” Zi Mo replied, while throwing out a flirtatious smile as she walked up to him slowly, her fragrant aroma floating around her. She sat down next to him like she had not the slightest grievance towards Yang Kai for punishing her before.
However, what surprised Yang Kai was that Leng Shan actually came over as well and sat down on his other side, but her performance was not as natural as Zi Mo’s as she seemed somewhat stiff.
When he looked towards her, she somehow managed to squeeze out a smile, though it looked like it pained her greatly to do so.
But since he did not notice any hostility from the two of them, he did not give their behaviour a second thought and only guessed that they had come to recognize their situation, thus not daring to act presumptuously any more.
“Well then, what does Master want to ask?” Zi Mo asked as she reached out, clung lightly to Yang Kai’s arm, and deliberately pushed her breasts onto him while gently breathing onto his face.
“Keh keh… what did you call me?” Yang Kai choked a bit in confusion.
“Master …” Zi Mo repeated in a sweet, waxy voice, as she further pressed her proud chest onto his arm, which gave rise to an amazingly elastic sensation.
Her actions and words did not just startle Yang Kai, even Leng Shan, who was sitting opposite to her, involuntarily shuddered as well, a tingling sensation running up her spine. In her heart she couldn’t help feeling some sincere admiration for how shameless Zi Mo could be!
[I’m simply not on her level,] Leng Shan thought to herself.
Zi Mo’s smile only grew bigger, “I do not know your name, and my life is now completely in your hands, so what difference is there now between me and some great family’s slave? If you tell me to go East, I dare not go West. If you order me to lie down, I dare not stand…” She suddenly put on a shy expression as she stared into Yang Kai’s eyes, and her voice became ever smaller, “If you want me to strip, I would willingly undress… what else can I call you but Master?”
“Stop trying to mess with me!” Yang Kai frowned, “I know you are not willing to call me master, and listening to you do so is also uncomfortable. I said before. Controlling you both is only for my own protection. As long as you don’t try to act against me I won’t embarrass you too much.”
Zi Mo was surprised for a moment and then sweetly said, “It was just a small joke. So how should I address you?”
“Yang Kai, and you two?”
The two women both quickly reported their names.
Yang Kai knew about Leng Shan’s Sect, so there was nothing he urgently wanted to ask her, but Zi Mo’s origins were a mystery.
“Tell me about your Sect and don’t bother trying to lie, when you do the fluctuations in your Soul are different so I can tell.” Yang Kai ordered.
“I dare not.” Zi Mo replied firmly to Yang Kai and pondered for a moment before continuing, “I am from the Tian Lang Dynasty’s Sen Luo Temple (Myriad Demon Temple). I do not know if you have heard of it.”
(Silavin: We chose to keep it in Chinese to highlight they are from the Tian Lang Dynasty.)
Yang Kai shook his head slightly. The information he knew was basically limited to within the boundaries of the Great Han Dynasty, and as for things about the outside world, he was basically ignorant. Leng Shan, on the other hand, could not help revealing a surprised expression.
“It looks like Sister Leng has heard of it.” Zi Mo giggled.
Leng Shan nodded, “Tian Lang Dynasty’s ruling Sect. Of course I would have heard of it.”
“Ruling Sect? As in an existence similar to our Eight Great Families?” Yang Kai was stunned. He never imagined Zi Mo’s background would be so renowned.
“Pretty much.” Zi Mo giggled again, her hand gently tracing a circle on Yang Kai’s arm, “In fact, I’m actually a princess of Tian Lang Dynasty, so you’d better not let me die. If you can take me back, maybe you could become a prince consort, enjoying infinite wealth and glory, never having to worry about worldly troubles again, hahaha…”
Yang Kai glared at her, obviously not believing the nonsense she was spouting. This woman was cunning, deceitful, and in general difficult to handle. He much preferred dealing with Leng Shan, who’s every thought and emotion were clearly displayed on her face. Compared to her, Zi Mo gave him too much mental pressure.
“Although my fellow disciples and I came from the Sen Luo Temple, we don’t actually represent our entire Sect, and if you thought so, then you definitely look down too much on our Tian Lang Dynasty’s superpower,” Zi Mo continued, “The few of us can only be regarded as disciples of a branch of the main Sect. Our focus is the cultivation of rare and unusual insects, which the two of you have already experienced.”
“You mean those Soul Controlling Insects?” Yang Kai smiled dismissively.
Hearing Yang Kai’s disdain, Zi Mo retorted, “My cultivation is simply too low, so the insects I can raise naturally aren’t your opponent. If I had top grade Soul Controlling Insects, then they wouldn’t be afraid of a little heat!”
“So your insects are afraid of heat!” Yang Kai quickly capitalized on her slip.
Zi Mo also realized that she had just said too much, but now that the jar was broken, there was no point in trying to cover things up, “Yes, their nemesis is heat, so anyone who cultivates Yang or Fire attribute secret arts are unable to be controlled by them.”
This also explained why a few days ago, when Leng Shan told Zi Mo that Yang Kai cultivated a True Yang Secret Art, Zi Mo immediately tried to kill him.
“Nevertheless, these insects are still worthy of praise, at the very least they’ve allowed you Tian Lang cultivators to run rampant in this place.” Yang Kai said. Thinking back to Wu Cheng Yi’s group of thirty plus people being pursued without a door to the Heavens, nor a path upon the Earth, his heart was still a bit distressed.
He himself had been lucky enough to discover the weakness of these Soul Controlling Insects. If he had been forced to fight Zi Mo while still ignorant of this, by virtue of those few Monster Beasts, he would have had no hope to resist.
“Naturally, these insects have many benefits, and by using them to control even a few Monstrous Beasts, we can then create a snowball effect, easily capturing more Monstrous Beasts, and if we meet any of your Great Han Dynasty cultivators, we don’t even need to lift a finger in order to take their lives. However, the risks are also great. An example would be encountering someone like you who can destroy our insects and cause a backlash that could damage our Souls.” Zi Mo looked at Yang Kai as a hint of melancholy spread across her face.
“So anyone who cultivates a Yang or Flame attribute Secret Art is a priority target for you to eliminate!” Yang Kai comprehended.
“Of course! Without these two kinds of people, our Soul Controlling Insect can have the greatest effect!” Zi Mo said proudly, “But in fact we don’t have to worry about such a situation occurring too much. Our Soul Controlling Insects are very small so, in general, even if you Great Han cultivators kill one of our controlled Monster Beasts, it’s unlikely you would discover its existence, so we only need to find an opportunity to recover it once the situation is over. I really don’t understand how you discovered so many of our secrets.” Zi Mo looked at Yang Kai curiously.
Yang Kai grinned, “You’re free to guess.”
Zi Mo bitterly stuck out her tongue, but didn’t push her luck any further.
In this isolated world, apart from the few Tian Lang Dynasty cultivators, it was unlikely that anyone else other than Yang Kai could figure out the mysteries behind the Soul Controlling Insect’s existence. Anyone else who encountered them would likely conclude that the Tian Lang cultivators had some method to enslave Monster Beasts, and would never learn that the Soul Controlling Insects were being used as an intermediary to accomplish this.
“Hmm… that’s right. When I saw you at the lake that day, there were four of you. How come you’re alone now?” Yang Kai directed a puzzled look towards Zi Mo.
However, as soon as he had asked this question, Zi Mo’s eyes flashed a trace of anger and humiliation, while on the other side Leng Shan started laughing quietly.
“You can’t say?” Yang Kai’s tone dropped and his expression became cold.
“No, I just don’t want to reveal it.” Zi Mo sighed deeply, “Sister Leng knows what happened, if you must know then ask her to explain.”
Yang Kai was startled for a moment before he looked towards Leng Shan curiously.
“It’s true, I can explain.” Leng Shan nodded.
“Then tell me.”
Leng Shan pondered for a moment and seemed to collect her thoughts before beginning, “Over this past half a year, Zi Mo and her fellow Tian Lang disciples had been extremely aggressive and presumptuous, which caused me and my Senior br… me and Jin Hao a great deal of grief. We spent most of our time hiding, but those damn Monster Beasts’ senses of smell were too keen, and they always quickly discovered us, so we would alternate between fleeing and hiding until about a month ago.”
“At that time, we met a large group of disciples, the remaining Great Han Dynasty cultivators. They had about thirty people in total.”
Yang Kai’s expression suddenly changed. Naturally he knew who of this group of cultivators.
“Although our Ghost King Valley’s reputation is not good, seeing as we are considered an Evil Sect, in the end we are still people of the Great Han Dynasty. So, Jin Hao and I also successfully joined that team. We finally thought that we had people to rely on… but…” Leng Shan couldn’t help but smile wryly, “But how could we know that only two days later, we would be completely surrounded by an ocean of Monster Beasts…”
Now that she reflected upon it, if she and Jin Hao hadn’t joined that group, they likely wouldn’t have fallen into the hands of the enemy so quickly. A gathering of around thirty people seemed more powerful on the surface, but its size made it an easier target and also prevented them from taking swift action like they could if she and Jin Hao were alone.
“And then?” Asked Yang Kai.
“After a hard fight and several deaths, the majority of us were captured.”
“Captured?” Yang Kai was stunned, “How could so many of you be caught? Weren’t you all True Element cultivators? Even if you lost the battle how come you didn’t escape?”
“We couldn’t escape.” Leng Shan sighed helplessly.
“It’s not like they were incompetent!” Zi Mo quickly interjected.
“Oh, then what’s the reason?”
“It’s simply because my Senior Brother Chi Xue is too strong!” Zi Mo said as she looked towards Yang Kai.
“How high is his cultivation?”
“True Element Boundary Seventh Stage, but that’s not the strength I’m referring to.” Zi Mo shook her head.
“So it’s about his Monster Beasts, then how many has he enslaved?” Yang Kai wrinkled his brow.
Zi Mo gently raised a single finger.
“A hundred?”
Zi Mo shook her head.
“It can’t be… a thousand, right?” Yang Kai asked as his face went pale.
Zi Mo sneered, “You’re misunderstanding. He only has one Monster Beast! But that Monster Beast cannot be compared to anything we have. It is a Sixth-Order Monster Beast!”
Yang Kai’s eyes flashed a trace of shock.
“That’s right, a Sixth-Order Monster Beast; although it’s not a very strong Sixth-Order Monster Beast, but against any True Element cultivator it’s more than enough. Any Great Han Dynasty cultivator that tried to escape died under the attacks of my Senior Brother Chi Xue and his Monster Beast.”
“There are Sixth-Order Monster Beasts in here?” Yang Kai’s thoughts spun. For the whole time he had been in this isolated space, the most powerful Monstrous Beasts he had encountered were only Fifth-Order, but if Zi Mo’s Senior Brother Chi Xue had taken control of a Sixth-Order beast with his Soul Controlling Insects, then he could likely do the same with his Beast Slave Seal. If he could gain control of a Sixth-Order Monster Beast, then he could also run wild in here.
“I’m afraid there’s only one!” Zi Mo eyes flashed a glimmer of envy, “And in order to rein it in, my Senior Brother had to sacrifice a lot. He gave up all his other Monster Beasts and removed their Soul Controlling Insects, then he let them consume one another to improve their strength. Doing this was very risky. If he had been even a little careless, all his Soul Controlling Insect would have died, but Senior Brother’s luck was good, and after nearly a hundred Soul Controlling Insects had devoured each other, the last remaining one evolved by a single-order, which allowed him to control a Sixth-Order Monster Beast.”
Although Zi Mo had explained it rather simply, Yang Kai could clearly hear from her tone how much Zi Mo admired this Senior Brother Chi Xue of hers.
Taking on a huge risk in order to force his Soul Controlling Insects to evolve, it was obvious that this person’s personality was vicious and decisive. He was definitely not someone simple!