Qionghua left him with a kiss, filled with bitter and salty tears that stained the corners of his mouth. Nevertheless, what happened to Qionghua? Is Qionghua all right? Where is Qionghua?
A cry resounded from the bottom of his heart, which Ning Cheng could no longer hold back. As his mouth opened, a mouthful of blood came gushing out; at the same time, the chaotic aura inside him turned even more berserk, causing his body to tremble even more violently.
A trace of Mysterious Yellow Aura trickled out from his Zifu, like a fresh spring breeze coming from the sea, which immediately awakened Ning Cheng from spiralling into insanity.
Feeling the berserk aura wreak havoc within his body, Ning Cheng felt shocked. If it were not for the Mysterious Yellow Aura, he would have definitely succumbed to the devilish flames, or worse, implode on himself.
Ning Cheng’s bloodshot eyes slowly returned to normal; however, the murderous intent, instead of dissipating, slowly gathered and condensed within his body.
“Yue Clan…..” After a long time, Ning Cheng finally spat out two words. Then, arriving in front of his severed arm, Ning Cheng picked it up and connected it to the stump once again, while swallowing a few medicinal pills. He would definitely exact this revenge.
……
Ning Cheng had only left an hour ago when a man wearing golden robes landed where Ning Cheng and Yue Huangfu fought. After his Spiritual Consciousness swept around, the face of this man suddenly turned livid, before he roared in rage, “Who was it, who dares to kill my Yue Clan’s disciples?”
If an ordinary Yue Clan Disciple had died, he could have chosen to turn a blind eye; however, the one who died was Yue Clan’s Premier Genius, Yue Huangfu. The Yue Clan spent a great deal of effort and resources, almost going for broke, to cultivate Yue Huangfu. Moreover, the most important fact was that Yue Huangfu’s father was Yue Changtai.
Yue Changtai was not just the Yue Clan’s No, 2 Expert, he was also the Yue Clan’s first Talisman Grandmaster to have advanced to the rank of a high-level Talisman Emperor. Now that Yue Changtai left Striking Order Starry Skies, while his son perished outside of Lucky Heaven City, who among them could bear the consequences?
Regardless of if he could bear the consequences, the golden-robed man knew that he must find the murderer quickly. Yue Huangfu had gone out to support Yue Juan before leaving Lucky Heaven City; moreover, this place definitely looked like it experienced a grand battle.
To manage to kill Yue Huangfu in a head-on battle is not something even an apex Celestial Scryer Genius could accomplish. Only a cultivator in the Celestial Bridge Realm could manage such a feat. Moreover, the cultivator would have to be in the higher rankings of the Celestial Bridge Realm. Thinking of this, the golden-robed man quickly left the scene. He had to first go back to Lucky Heaven City and chalk out a course of action with the rest of the Yue Clan’s members. Even as someone with the highest cultivation within the remaining Yue Clan members residing within Lucky Heaven City, he could not take sole responsibility for this matter.
……
Archaic Mulberry Region, only a few tens of thousand miles away, was a region not far from Lucky Heaven City. Although it would take an average person at least a few years to walk this distance, a Celestial Novice or a higher-level cultivator could easily traverse this distance back and forth several times in just half a day.
This place was a gathering place for rogue cultivators; moreover, because this was not an established city, this place ended up becoming one of the more famous gathering spots for rogue cultivators over time. Which was why it was a ‘region’ instead of a ‘city’. This kind of place had no one who held absolute power; rather, all the forces within this region co-mingled with each other while keeping each other in check. However, since this region was relatively close to Striking Order Star Land’s Lucky Heaven City, the cultivators within this region still abided some standard yet invisible rules.
The Archaic Mulberry Region welcomed cultivators from all directions, resulting in a strange mix of dragons and snakes, who went about their business without any constraints. Moreover, due to the fluid movement of cultivators, this region had a meagre price for immortal caves.
After Ning Cheng killed Yue Huangfu, and because he nearly succumbed to the devilish flames, he did not return to Lucky Heaven City despite the severe injuries. Instead, he came to the Archaic Mulberry Region.
Entering a restaurant, Ning Cheng found a remote location and sat down. The appearance of the Five Elements Treasure Fall Copper Coin had completely disrupted Ning Cheng’s state of mind, to the point that he found it difficult to calm down.
“Friend, what wine would you like to drink?” A female cultivator with a slightly dark skin asked with a smile after she walked up to Ning Cheng. She was the bartender of this place.
“What wines do you have?” Ning Cheng asked in a downcast tone.
This bartender seemed used to guests like Ning Cheng and spoke up promptly, “Starlight Wine, Spiritual Void Wine, Mutual Dependence Wine, Ice and Fire Wine, Gloom Liquor…..”
“Just a pot of Starlight Wine.” Ning Cheng called out.
“Okay, 3000 green coins a jar.” The female bartender took out a jar and placed it in front of Ning Cheng. From the outside of the jar, one could see a faint flash of a star that seemed to emerge from the inside.
Ning Cheng knew that, in actuality, it was just an illusionary feeling. In a place like this, it was almost impossible to drink a wine from which one could actually sense the starlight. It was similar to the knockoff ‘None to Depend On’ wine. Although he had visited several such restaurants, he never could taste the real ‘None to Depend On’.
Ning Cheng took out 4000 green coins and put them in the hands of this bartender. This immediately put a gratified smile over the bartender’s face and was about to thank Ning Cheng when she heard Ning Cheng say, “If you want you can earn more tips; however, I want to ask you a few questions.”
“Respected guest, please ask.” The bartender’s tone immediately turned polite. Although a tip of 1000 green coins was not a large sum in these parts, it was also not a small sum either.
“Have you heard of Kun Zhuo Celestial River?” Ning Cheng asked after taking out a glass and pouring himself a glass of wine.
The bartender quickly replied, “I heard that Kun Zhuo Celestial River is one of the twelve Celestial River under the jurisdiction of Striking Order Starry Skies. Moreover, during the Time Wilderness Tryouts, a genius from Kun Zhuo Celestial River, named Yi Lian, took the 8th place and so will be leaving to the Grand Culmination Starry Skies with Heavenly Emperor Striking Order.”
Ning Cheng had no interest in knowing about Yi Lian. However, when he affirmed that this bartender knew about Kun Zhuo Celestial River, he asked another question, “Do you know how long it would take to reach Kun Zhuo Celestial River from Striking Order Star Land?”
The bartender replied after pondering over it for a short while, “If you take an Apex-ranked Celestial River Battleship, it will take you about a year or two; however, it only applies when you do not encounter any starry skies’ demonic beast hordes. If you encounter one, there would be no way to predict how long.”
Ning Cheng’s eyes flashed with a trace of loss. After a moment, he nodded to the bartender and said, “I understand, thank you.”
After the bartender left, Ning Cheng kept staring at the glass of Starlight Wine in front of him, which exuded a faint starlight aura. It seemed as if it contained a hint of the Starlight Dao-charm in general. Ning Cheng shook his head; he knew that it was just an illusion; he then lifted up the glass and took a sip.
After the Five Elements Treasure Fall Copper Coin appeared, Ning Cheng could not help but think about Shi Qionghua, which immediately caused him to feel even more worried about Ji Luofei.
Ji Luofei was in the Rootless Black City, and he knew that a ship would dock at the Rootless Black City every ten years. This ship most likely did not come from Kun Zhuo Celestial River; instead, it was more appropriate to say that it came from a minor planet on the outskirts of Kun Zhuo Celestial River. It took a decade for a ship from this planet to reach the Rootless Black City; as for how long it took an airship to reach the main areas of Kun Zhuo Celestial River from this planet, Ning Cheng simply had no idea. Based on his talks with Lan Ya, he speculated that it would not be any less than a decade.
Even if he used the Celestial River Battleship snatched from Yue Huangfu, without any deviation in the middle, without encountering any starry skies’ demonic beast horde, without any other unexpected difficulty cropping up, it would still take him at least twenty years to return to the Rootless Black City. If he ended up with an accident, he might not even manage to return to the Rootless Black City in a hundred years. What’s more, Ning Cheng also knew that he had no chance of using Yue Huangfu’s Celestial River Battleship right away.
Ning Cheng knew that real Celestial River Battleships generally recognised a master. Moreover, Yue Huangfu’s Celestial River Battleship definitely was a true Celestial River Battleship and not a knockoff like his.
However, this was not worried Ning Cheng the most. What bothered him was the most was that even if he managed to return to the Rootless Black City in the shortest possible estimate, Ji Luofei might have already left the Rootless Black City in search of him
Ning Cheng sighed, picked up the jar of wine with both hands and completely downed the Starlight Wine inside.
If he wanted to reach the Rootless Black City as soon as possible, Ning Cheng would have to stick to his original plan, which was to move away from the Rootless Black City, going to the distant Grand Culmination Starry Skies. On reaching the Grand Culmination Starry Skies, he could then seek further advancement in cultivation and then purchase a more powerful Starry Skies-level Battleship, or purchase a more powerful flight-type Dao Artefact. That was the only way to return to the Rootless Black City in the shortest time.
“Yue Clan…..” After Ning Cheng downed the entire pot of wine, he silently repeatedly those two words in his heart. Even if he had to head to the Grand Culmination Starry Skies, he would definitely uproot the Yue Clan from Lucky Heaven City; otherwise, his Dao Heart would always remain shaky. As for the rest of the Yue Clan, who had already moved to the Grand Culmination Starry Skies, he would never let it off.
For almost half-a-day, Ning Cheng sat in the restaurant and did not leave. In his mind, he kept replaying the scenes when he and Shi Qionghua still walked together; at the same time, his mind kept resonating with the two words ‘Yue Clan’.
Ning Cheng only possessed a Celestial Shatterer Cultivation. Even if Lucky Heaven City was just a temporary stop for the Yue Clan, could he obtain revenge? Any cultivator in the Celestial Bridge Realm or above could quickly kill him.
Even with his Spiritual Technique ‘Dusk’, Ning Cheng was just a single person. Moreover, using the Dusk Spiritual Technique placed a lot of strain on him. Every time he cast it, it would completely exhaust both his Sea of Consciousness and his reserves of Celestial Essence.
Maybe he could use some other way to eradicate the Yue Clan; like purchasing some temporary power boosting medicinal pills, which could rapidly increase his cultivation for a short while.
Ning Cheng clenched his fists. Even if taking those pills resulted in his cultivation level dropping later, he would definitely ensure to wipe out the remnants of the Yue Clan residing in Lucky Heaven City. Once he eradicated the Yue Clan remnants in Lucky Heaven City, he would then have to find a way to reach the Grand Culmination Starry Skies, waiting for the opportunity to move and eradicate the Yue Clan stationed in the Grand Culmination Starry Skies.
“Yue Clan’s Yue Huangfu died. I heard this matter has already reached the ears of the Heavenly Emperor Striking Order. Moreover, the Heavenly Emperor Striking Order even personally issued an arrest warrant for the murderer.” Some of the discussion passed through Ning Cheng’s ear, immediately awakening him from his contemplation.
Although the Yue Clan had moved away, they could still request Heavenly Emperor Striking Order to issue an arrest warrant. This showed that the Yue Clan definitely had a high influence around these parts. Thinking of this, Ning Cheng immediately focussed his attention on the discussion between the two cultivators.
“I heard that as long as one provided even a small clue, the Yue Clan would pay out a sky-high amount of celestial coins. Because of this, a lot of cultivators immediately went to examine the scene of battle.”
“Humph, since this person could kill Yue Huangfu, then this fellow is at least a cultivator in the Celestial Bridge Realm, maybe even higher. Those celestial coins are not something that people like us can earn.”
……
Seeing the discussion between the two fellows had started to grow more open-ended, Ning Cheng picked up his jug and walked over, “I hope the two friends here don’t mind inviting myself in. I was sitting there at the table next to you when I couldn’t help but overhear you two talk about the Yue Clan’s Yue Huangfu.”
Hearing Ning Cheng words concerning the Yue Clan, the two cultivators talking among themselves immediately stopped and looked at Ning Cheng with vigilance. Of the two of them, one had a Celestial Gatherer Cultivation while the other had a Celestial Shatterer Cultivation. Although they gossiped among themselves, once any of their bad-mouthing reached the ears of the Yue Clan, it would immediately turn for the worse for the two of them.
Seeing the two cultivators immediately turning tense, Ning Cheng quickly spoke up, “We all are friends within the starry skies, and it was just a casual question. I only heard that as long as one could provide Yue Clan with a small clue, one could earn many celestial coins. So I just wanted to try my luck with it.”
Hearing Ning Cheng’s words, the two cultivator’s vigilance finally loosened up a bit. At the same time, when they saw that Ning Cheng did not even have a Celestial Wheel, they simply could not help but turn speechless. A Celestial Novice Cultivator, wanting to make money out of this situation, it obviously looked like a pipe dream to the two of them.
