Warren showed a bitter laugh, “No wonder this friend has doubts. The truth is, most of the cultivators who come to the Ancient Desolace Abandoned Land come with an already formed team. As for those who do not form a team, they have either too high cultivations or too low cultivations. Since all of us are in the Undead or above realm, the low-levelled cultivators would not want to join us. As for Heaven Seated Seniors, we don’t dare to team up with them.”
“To be honest, although we’ve asked some friends before, we couldn’t find anyone willing to go with us. Therefore, although we just met this friend, we still wanted to ask if you wanted to join us. If this friend really does not want to come with us, then we can only go ahead with our group of four. In fact, as dull disclosure, we’re not the only group going to the Crow’s Nest to search for Daoist Crow’s Dao Confirming Insights. There are quite a few groups. However, we believe that we have much better leads compared to others.”
Ning Cheng could tell that these people really wanted to find another teammate; in any case, getting to see Daoist Crow’s Dao Confirming Intent was also a good thing. Besides, the Moon Spirit Swamp that he wanted to go was practically in the same direction as the Crow’s Nest. The deviation was not too large.
Thinking of this, Ning Cheng nodded, “Since these friends invited me with such warmth, I also want to see if I can obtain something.”
Hearing Ning Cheng agreeing to their proposition, Warren and Yu Wanxue, both of them collectively introduced the other two in their team once again. They also described the situation of the Crow’s Nest in detail. Ou Hongxin and Dou Di, perhaps because of lower cultivation, only gave a curt greeting to Ning Cheng after Warren introduced them before turning silent.
Ning Cheng brought out a weapon that was a middle-grade Dao Artefact, while the rest of them brought out Celestial River-class Battleships. Despite a middle-grade flight-type Dao Artefacts having a higher intrinsic value compared to basic-grade Celestial River-class Battleships, among the few people here, even Dou Di, who had the lowest cultivation, used a middle-grade Celestial River-class Battleship. From this, one could see that the cultivators who perennially explored the Ancient Desolace Abandoned Land, definitely obtained some decent heritage.
“Dao friend sure has a decent weapon.” Warren looked at Ning Cheng’s flight-type weapon and praised it.
Warren didn’t mean it as a compliment. Although flight-type weapons were the easiest to handle out of all flight-related weapons, a middle-grade Dao Artefact still commanded a higher price compared to even a middle-grade Celestial River-class Battleship. Mainly because Celestial River-class Battleships could be mass-produced. Middle-grade Dao Artefacts, however, could only be crafted by top-grade Artefact-crafting Masters using relatively precious raw materials.
However, battleships also had their advantages over flight-type weapons, as they had a variety of technological weapons on board that could be used for both attack and defence. While an excellent flight-type weapon possessed much more flexibility.
……
Yu Wanxue truly had not lied. As she took the lead, she quickly led them towards their destination. She even helped them avoid most Spacial Storms and Void Maelstroms, and although the group encountered some sporadic meteor streams, with everyone working together, they did not suffer any significant damage.
Ning Cheng secretly nodded to himself, these people definitely had good teamwork. If he had to go through this place alone, even with the introduction and the guidance from a map, it would still take him a long time to reach this place. These regions contained too many dangers, and if one was not careful enough, one might just end up swallowed by the space.
The group rarely spoke with each other along the way and carefully controlled their weapons. Ning Cheng had also seen quite a few other cultivator groups along the way, but only a few fights. Seeing this, Ning Cheng understood a few facts. The region itself contained many dangers, even on the supposedly safest path. Therefore, unless one had a deep hatred against someone, who would willingly get into a fight in this place?
The Crow’s Nest was relatively close to where Ning Cheng wanted to go, but very far from the periphery of the Ancient Desolace Abandoned Land. As Ning Cheng followed the other four deeper and deeper, the desolation that he felt in the Ancient Desolace Abandoned Land grew even more intense. As he spread out his Spiritual Consciousness, Ning Cheng would sometimes see a broken piece of land or an old dead tree floating within the space; however, no matter the location, it only gave off a feeling of indescribable sadness.
Ning Cheng understood that this phenomenon must have been because the land and vegetation in this place had borne the heavy emotions of this land’s masters before the collapse. Although the masters of these lands had fallen and turned to ashes, those lingering emotions still affected the withered grasses and the crushed stones in this place.
Only if one’s cultivation reached a certain extent, would one not be affected by these things. From this, one could also make out that the cultivators who fell in this place during ancient times, definitely had high cultivations.
At this moment, the Everlasting Blue Thunder City within Ning Cheng’s Sea of Consciousness suddenly started shaking violently. Sensing the violent trembling, Ning Cheng felt shocked within his heart and subconsciously stopped.
The Everlasting Blue Thunder City was something that he had acquired within the Law’s Way. As his cultivation kept improving, the refinement of the Everlasting Blue Thunder City also grew deeper and deeper in tandem. At this point, the projection of the Blue Thunder City that he could bring out no longer looked like an actual shadow. This ‘shadow’ even showed the walls of the city turning solid.
Even as the level of his refinement of the Everlasting Blue Thunder City grew deeper and deeper, it still wouldn’t show any movement without the stimulation from his Spiritual Consciousness. However, he had not even touched the Everlasting Blue Thunder City this time. Yet, the Everlasting Blue Thunder City actually shook this violently within his Sea of Consciousness, which definitely meant that it was not a small matter.
Ning Cheng’s Spiritual Consciousness immediately swept out. Ordinary cultivators would not be able to sweep out over a wide range in this place. However, Ning Cheng had the support of his starry sky Sea of Consciousness, which made his Spiritual Consciousness far more powerful compared to the average cultivator.
A moment later, Ning Cheng discovered a broken star field a thousand miles away from him, with a large black arrow embedded into one of the larger pieces of rock. Ning Cheng had never seen such a large arrow before; not only was it huge, but as soon as Ning Cheng’s Spiritual Consciousness encountered it, he felt a one of a kind deathly repression coming from it. It created an unspeakable sense of discomfort within his heart, which caused his Sea of Consciousness to tremble violently, inducing a feeling of nausea. Not waiting for Ning Cheng to get over it, he ended up spurting a mouthful of blood the next instant.
After spitting out a mouthful of blood, Ning Cheng’s Sea of Consciousness finally calmed down, and it no longer trembled and did not give the feeling of an imminent collapse.
When his Spiritual Consciousness came into contact with that black arrow, not only did it cause his Sea of Consciousness to tremble, even the Everlasting Blue Thunder City within his Sea of Consciousness shook with a much higher intensity. Ning Cheng took a deep breath and forcibly calmed the shaking Everlasting Blue Thunder City.
That black arrow also gave him a familiar feeling. With the reaction of the Everlasting Blue Thunder City, coupled with the results of his Spiritual Consciousness sweep just now, Ning Cheng quickly realised why he felt a sense of familiarity with this black arrow.
When he had entered the Thunder Domain in the Law’s Way and gained the acknowledgement of the Everlasting Blue Thunder City, he had seen a person destroying a planet with a single punch. Then he saw a purple spear, this one spear had actually managed to counteract that annihilating explosion.
At that time, Everlasting Blue Thunder City’s formidable Thunder Rays blew away and nullified the rest of destructive energies around it, showing its unique and supreme imposing aura.
But even so, a black arrow had suddenly shot into the Everlasting Blue Thunder City. Directly ripping open the surrounding void, it had forced the Everlasting Blue Thunder City into it. At the same time, it had also blasted the Everlasting Blue Thunder City’s spirit into a different Spatio-temporal location. From that, Ning Cheng understood the terrifying power contained within this black arrow.
At this point, Ning Cheng felt sure that the black arrow that he had seen just now through his Spiritual Consciousness was the same one as that time. Moreover, from the jade strips that he had purchased, that black arrow was called the Foreign Heaven’s Arrow. It stated that one should never use Spiritual Consciousness to look at the Foreign Heaven’s Arrow. On the off chance that such a thing happened, the arrow would not just destroy that person’s Sea of Consciousness, but even the body of the person would end up annihilated to dust. He had only arrived here and had not paid attention to such detail. Feeling the violent shaking of the Everlasting Blue Thunder City, he had unconsciously swept out towards the black arrow.
Fortunately, he had the support of the starry sky Sea of Consciousness; as such, the residual power had not reached the level where it could cause the collapse of the Sea of Consciousness.
“Brother Cheng, why did you stop…..” Warren asked, but when he saw Ning Cheng spit a mouthful of blood, he immediately changed his words, “Brother Cheng, we are not far from the Foreign Heaven’s Arrow. You mustn’t sweep out with your Spiritual Consciousness……. You didn’t sweep out with your Spiritual Consciousness, did you?”
But then he quickly realised that it should be an impossible matter. Even with his Spiritual Consciousness fully deployed, it couldn’t reach the location of the Foreign Heaven’s Arrow. Ning Cheng’s cultivation had not even reached his level, so how could his Spiritual Consciousness extend to the area of the Foreign Heaven’s Arrow? Moreover, even if his Spiritual Consciousness somehow managed to reach the location of the Foreign Heaven’s Arrow, spitting a mouthful of blood would be the least of one’s concerns.
Ning Cheng quickly waved his hand and replied, “No, I just had to spit out a mouthful of congealed blood because of my internal injuries. It’s much better now. Brother Warren doesn’t need to worry about me. Just keep moving forward.”
He would never admit that his Spiritual Consciousness could actually reach the Foreign Heaven’s Arrow, which would have invariantly exposed the might of his Sea of Consciousness. However, within his mind, Ning Cheng made a decision to return to this place in the future, once he obtained sufficient strength and take away the Foreign Heaven’s Arrow. The Everlasting Blue Thunder City was in itself a potent weapon, yet this black arrow had still managed to force it into the void. Just what was the extent of this black arrow’s power?
It was not that nobody wanted to take away the Foreign Heaven’s Arrow, it’s just that nobody had the ability or the strength to take it away. Although Ning Cheng had the starry sky Sea of Consciousness, even he couldn’t take it away. At the same time, his cultivation was also not up to the mark.
After another half a month of continuously flying forward, Yu Wanxue, who led the way, finally stopped. Seeing that, Warren and the others also stopped. Ning Cheng put away his flight-type weapon and understood that they should have arrived at the Crow’s Nest.
In the distance was a dark shadow of another broken star, supposedly the Crow Star, the place where Daoist Crow had gained enlightenment while in seclusion. However, at this moment, the Crow Star was in complete ruins, without any shred of vitality. Standing at the periphery, one could only feel a powerful one of a kind fire-attributed aura apart from the vicissitudes and desolation.
Ning Cheng could see a few cultivators rushing into the Crow Star from time to time through his Spiritual Consciousness. They presumably were like their group, who came here in the hopes of either obtaining Daoist Crow’s Dao Confirmation Insight, or for collecting raw materials for flight-type weapons, or the Scarlet Crow Flame.
“That’s Crow Star up ahead. No one’s Spiritual Consciousness can extend over a range of ten square miles within the Crow’s Star. Despite the damage to the Crow Star, Daoist Crow had laid out many unresolved restrictions and array formations. The only way to find Daoist Crow’s Dao Confirming Insight within the Crow Star is through the joint efforts put forth by all of us. But you don’t have to worry too much about it Brother Cheng. We are different from the others, we only have to explore a limited area. To keep in touch with each other, we’ll leave communication pearls with each other.” As Warren finished, he was the first one to take out a communication pearl.
Ning Cheng also took out a communication pearl, and Warren’s party of four left their Spiritual Consciousness Tags over it.
“Let’s go in. As long as it’s not Daoist Crow’s Dao Confirming Insight within the Crow’s Nest, whatever treasures one obtains within the Crow’s Nest would belong to the one who obtains it. If anyone of you found the location of Daoist Crow’s Dao Confirming Insight, you need to contact the rest of us immediately. In any case, the place containing Daoist Crow’s insights is not something that could be opened by a single person. No matter who finds it, they must inform the others in the group so that we could work together to open it.” Yu Wanxue came forward and spoke.
Ning Cheng nodded to indicate his understanding; moreover, he also understood that the Crow’s Nest, in fact, collectively referred to the Crow Star. However, there were also innumerable crows’ nests within the Crow Star. Most of them were built by the Flame Wind Crows after Daoist Crow left, and these crows’ nests would contain either Flame Wind Crow’s tail feathers or the Scarlet Crow Flame.
