Chapter 181 — A Familiar Face

Zuo Yan had always loved listening to the sound-tablets every day, and after coming to Barrenwood Reef he opened one whenever he had a spare moment. Nor was he alone in this—everyone else on the reef did the same. Apart from the flying-sword messages the sect elders sent them, it was their only means of contact with the outside world. Even someone of Zuo Jin's cultivation could not send a flying-sword message back to the sect across such an immense distance.

Bad news arrived at every hour of the day, as though the demons had all at once grown tyrannically powerful, leaving the cultivators utterly outmatched and retreating step by step. Every time he heard such news, Zuo Yan felt perplexed. By any reckoning, the cultivators had hunted demons in the Capital Heaven Blood Realm for so many years that the demons were no more than beasts grazing in the cultivators' own back garden—so why had the cultivators suddenly become so helpless?

He slipped into the lava lake. Within the fire formation, flames of unbearable heat wrapped around the bronze ring, burning quietly. After long tempering, the ring had turned a fiery red through and through, like fire-jade.

After a careful inspection of the fire formation, Zuo Huan's mood improved considerably. With a little more tempering, this bronze ring would surely be reborn anew, and he was very much looking forward to seeing what fearsome power the finished ring might possess.

He replaced the formation's crystals with fresh ones, then climbed back out.

The sunlight outside fell warm upon his skin, so pleasant he wanted to moan. Everything on Barrenwood Reef was now running smoothly; apart from the daily "torment of the earth-breath," there was nothing to trouble him.

Barrenwood Reef might be desolate, but compared with the sects forever riven by strife, it was truly a land of bliss.

Suddenly he raised his head. Several black dots had appeared at the horizon, drawing toward Barrenwood Reef at astonishing speed.

Cultivators!

Zuo Huan's heart gave a small jolt, but compared with his former unease he was now far calmer. The Heaven-Ring Moon-Cry Formation stood ready. Though his divine sense had not yet been fully transformed into leaf-hands, the leaf-hands were truly formidable—the half-transformed divine-sense leaf-hands that controlled the Heaven-Ring Moon-Cry Formation made it mightier than before.

So long as none of the arrivals were at the Golden Core stage, he had not the slightest fear.

Three cultivators had come.

Watching the breakneck speed of their flight, Zuo Huan tensed slightly—all three were far from weak.

But when the three drew near, he discovered to his astonishment that they were acquaintances: they were none other than the cultivators who had come to him before to refine the Ink Lotus Seeds.

As the three flew close to Barrenwood Reef and caught sight of Zuo Yan, surprise crossed their faces too, and they descended swiftly.

"To think we'd meet Brother Zuo here—truly fate!" The burly man in the red robe laughed heartily, his manner warm, the other two following close behind him.

Having come off the worse at their hands last time, Zuo Yun knew they were no good sort and was on his guard. But he had been born with a corpse-like face that betrayed nothing of his thoughts. And now, with no Kong Yan behind him to rely on, he had the island's great formation to fall back on, which filled him with confidence.

"Ha, yes, yes indeed." Zuo Yan cupped his hands in salute.

Had he behaved so offhandedly in the past, the three would likely have flown into a rage on the spot. But Zuo Yan's standing was now as different from before as cloud from mud. The renown of Kong Yan was at its zenith in the Heaven-Moon Realm, and no one dared lightly provoke that warlike sect—and Zuo Yan was a core disciple of Kong Yan.

The red-robed man now counted himself lucky that he had made amends afterward last time and kept relations from souring completely; otherwise this day's hurdle would have been hard indeed to clear. He did not slight Zuo Yan in the least for being at the Foundation Establishment stage. Setting Kong Yan aside entirely, Zuo Yan was, in his eyes, a thoroughly dangerous man.

Having carried the Heaven-Ring Moon-Cry Formation for so long, he naturally knew a thing or two about it. Seeing the great formation Zuo Yan had laid over Pine-Wave Pavilion, he could not describe his shock. When he flew near Barrenwood Reef and saw Zuo Yan, he understood at once: this island must have been arrayed with a great formation by Zuo Yan himself.

Yet this man was immensely seasoned in the ways of the world, able to bend or stand tall as occasion demanded, and exceedingly well-mannered. He laughed and said, "My three brothers wish to borrow your honored ground to rest a few days. A small token of our regard—Brother Zuo must not refuse."

The red-robed man handed over a small pouch of crystals. Zuo Yan weighed it briefly, and satisfaction flooded his heart.

Three hundred third-grade crystals—well-mannered indeed.

"Of course, of course. Pick whichever lodgings you like, and if you need anything at all, just tell me." Zuo Yan's warmth rose at once.

The red-robed man breathed an inward sigh of relief. So long as Zuo Yan was willing to accept their crystals, all would be well. What he had feared most was that Zuo Yan still bore a grudge over the Ink Lotus Seed affair, so before Zuo Yan could even speak, he had offered generously of his own accord.

Now it seemed he had done right.

"Forgive the intrusion!"

"By the way, I've laid out wards across this island, so please don't wander about freely," Zuo Yan warned them.

The red-robed man thought to himself, Just as I expected, and hastened to reply, "Many thanks for the reminder, Brother Zuo."

Zuo Yun wasted no words and turned to go.

Only once Zuo Yan had vanished from sight did the three fully relax.

The burly, fleshy-faced man snorted coldly. "The way he carried on just now, I wanted to smash him to a pulp with one punch!"

"Is it safe here?" the hawk-nosed man asked, looking at their leader.

"We rest one day, then leave this place for the Little Mountain Realm," the red-robed man said decisively.

"I swear..." the fleshy-faced man was still grumbling on.

The red-robed man shot him a glare and cut him off. "Enough chatter. Get into meditation—we don't have much time."

The fleshy-faced man obediently began to meditate.

Holding the three hundred third-grade crystals, Zuo Huan felt thoroughly pleased—this business of pure profit was indeed sweet. Yet as he recalled the three men's manner, they had seemed somewhat anxious, as though harried and in a hurry.

The jade slip for the Heaven-Ring Moon-Cry Formation had come from their hands, and with it a jade slip titled Fragments of the Golden Refinement. But the golden refinement method was even more obscure and out of the way, and being only fragments, Zuo Yan had never spent much effort on it.

One thing, however, was plain: these three were cultivators of rather substantial means.

Zuo Yi began to entertain thoughts of trade. He now had a good quantity of Golden Crow Fire on hand, and naturally he must sell it. But Barrenwood Reef was truly desolate; even the nearest city was a long flight away. And if word got out that a Foundation Establishment cultivator like him carried Golden Crow Fire, the moment he stepped off Barrenwood Reef he would be set upon from all sides.

The best and safest method was to draw others to his door of their own accord.

So long as he remained on Barrenwood Reef, Zuo Zhuo feared no cultivator at the Condensed Vein stage. He need not worry about sieges by great powers—no faction would willingly provoke a warlike sect like Kong Yan. What worried him most were the small bands of two or three cultivators, the chief practitioners of murder and pillage. After seizing a treasure, they would hide anywhere at all, lie low for a time, then swagger out again.