Ning Cheng’s thoughts churned a little and quickly guessed what might have happened.
Chuan Xinlou truly had a vile character. He previously used Gua Sangan to deal with him, mostly because Chuan Xinlou didn’t consider him much of a threat. Later realising that Gua Sangan couldn’t deal with Ning Cheng.
Moreover, Chuan Xinlou had already obtained the Dao Fruit, which meant that as long as he went into secluded cultivation, he most likely would make some substantial progress in his cultivation. Therefore, Chuan Xinlou didn’t want to take up any unnecessary risks.
For Chuan Xinlou, Ning Cheng was one such risk. Once everyone got out of this place, he must have reasoned that Ning Cheng likely would go find trouble with Gua Sangan. But Gua Sangan obviously wasn’t Ning Cheng’s opponent, which meant that Gua Sangan would definitely come to seek refuge at his Levelled Heart Emperor Mountain.
If that happened, Chuan Xinlou, as the ‘elder brother’ of Gua Sangan in the eyes of the public, naturally wouldn’t sit back and let Ning Cheng murder Gua Sangan in his own territory. But didn’t feel confident enough to kill Ning Cheng, and would definitely involve even more risks at that point. How could Chuan Xinlou willingly take up so much risk after obtaining the Dao Fruit, especially when it was the key to reach Dao Confirmation? Therefore, if he needed a temporary peace, he decided not to offend Ning Cheng anymore. At least not until he consumed the Dao Fruit.
Since Chuan Xinlou didn’t want to offend him, the only choice was to eliminate Gua Sangan secretly.
But Chuan Xinlou didn’t expect Ning Cheng’s spiritual consciousness could easily see his minute movements during the nether winds’ assault.
Ning Cheng sighed in his heart as he thought all of it. Compared to these Heavenly Emperors, his way of thinking was almost like a blank piece of paper.
“If we can’t do something, none of us will survive.” Yi Jiufeng’s expressions had turned gloomy. That second wave of nether winds contained much more power than the previous waves, which meant that the next wave would be even stronger. Therefore, what she said was not wrong at all.
Xun Zhihe immediately moved towards Ning Cheng. The recent wave of nether winds had almost torn apart her robes, and her face now looked even more haggard. If she had to face it for the third time, maybe only Ning Cheng’s Everlasting Blue Thunder Fort could block it. Therefore, she decided to approach Ning Cheng in the hopes that Ning Cheng would take her in like Striking Order. It’s just that she was a starry sky heavenly emperor that had nothing to do with Ning Cheng. Moreover, Ning Cheng didn’t particularly speak to her, which made it quite awkward for her to ask for help.
Neither Zhangkang Tianji nor Qiao Jierui spoke, apparently agreeing with Yi Jiufeng’s words. However, even if they all decided to return, none could come up with a safe way. Therefore, even if they all knew about the dangers of continuing, they could not do anything else.
“Sect Master Ning, the Ancient Shadow Temple is within your Jiangzhou Star, do you have a good way to get out?” Yi Jiufeng could see that no one here could figure out a way to retreat, so she looked at Ning Cheng and asked.
Ning Cheng looked at the paper door in the distance, but before he could give a reply, another whimpering sound emerged. From the looks of it, the third wave of nether winds would sweep out in a few moments.
Everyone’s expressions turned hard to look at on hearing this sound, while the even weaker Xun Zhihe’s face drained of all colour. Although she had recently advanced to the late-stage of the Eternal Realm, she still had to face considerable difficulty with persisting until now. Otherwise, as a Heavenly Emperor, would she have willingly come to find asylum with Ning Cheng?
“There is no way out of this place, even if we find a way out, it would be too late for us to even reach the edge of this public square. It’s better to enter Hell’s Gate first…..”
As soon as Ning Cheng spoke those words, everyone immediately snapped their necks towards Ning Cheng. Did he just say enter Hell’s Gate? They all had a hunch that these waves of nether winds originated from somewhere behind the Hell’s Gate. If it truly were the place from where the nether winds originated, then wouldn’t entering it spell death?
After Ning Cheng made his decision, he didn’t wait for others at all. Instead, he immediately rushed towards the Hell’s Gate. It didn’t matter to him if the others came in or not, he would go in first.
Seeing Ning Cheng rushing into the Hell’s Gate, Striking Order hesitated only for a while, before quickly rushing in behind Ning Cheng. With Ning Cheng gone, staying here would only result in death, so better follow Ning Cheng. Xun Zhihe also promptly followed the two along with Mu Hao and the others.
Although the whimpering sounds of the nether winds grew louder behind them, Chuan Xinlou and the others could only keep rushing towards the Hell’s Gate. Just as Ning Cheng said, there really was no place to go except through the Hell’s Gate.
After everyone entered through the paper door, the paper door squeaked a bit before closing. Apart from the sounds of nether winds blowing and rattling the paper door behind then, no one’s spiritual consciousness could feel any part of the public square on the other side.
Instead, they appeared in a large chamber with a huge pond in the centre, but the pond water looked identical to that of ink, black and shiny. Even Ning Cheng’s suppressed spiritual consciousness couldn’t see the bottom of the pool. A stone tablet stood at the edge with three prominent black characters, Yellow Spring Pool, etched onto it.
Just behind this Yellow Spring Pond were two doors opposite to each other. One entrance had the character ‘Life (生)’ inscribed on top, which shone with blood-red light, while the other door had a black ‘Death (死)’ character.
Whether it was the word ‘life’ or the word ‘death’, both gave a very uncomfortable feeling. Except for the two doors and the pond, one couldn’t find anything else in here.
“There are only two doors here, Life or Death. Whether we go in or not, we have no way else to go.” Zhangkang Tianji said with a deep voice.
No one answered Zhangkang Tianji’s words. No matter which door one entered, it wasn’t a simple choice at all. However, the rustling sounds of the paper door also grew more apparent with each passing moment. It felt like that the paper door would definitely tear apart the next moment, letting the nether winds from outside to sweep in.
Zhangkang Tianji gave a snort, “If that’s the case, then I’ll go first.”
After that, Zhangkang Tianji rushed directly into the ‘Death’ door. As soon as Zhangkang Tianji went in, a wave of Yin Qi rolled up, and Zhangkang Tianji’s aura completely disappeared.
No one spoke, but no one felt that Zhangkang Tianji had chosen to die.
“I’m going in too.” Yi Jiufeng said and rushed into the other door. Staying in this tiny place put too much pressure on her. The outside only suppressed their cultivation, but as soon as everyone entered this place, they all felt a one-of-a-kind deathly aura. In fact, the longer one stayed in this chamber, the more oppressive this aura would grow.
Even if one were an Eternal cultivator, one would find it impossible to block the deathly suppression that wanted to overwhelm every sense.
Moreover, no one could say for sure if Zhangkang Tianji chose the wrong door. Although he entered the ‘Death’ door, who could be sure about survival when choosing either ‘Life’ or ‘Death’?
Besides, the cold aura coming from the ‘Life’ gate and the bloody ‘Life’ character made people even more uncomfortable.
However, not everyone had the same mind-set as Zhangkang Tianji. Yi Jiufeng picked the ‘Life’ gate. But just like him, she disappeared completely the moment she entered the door, without any hint of a lingering aura.
Chuan Xinlou gave Ning Cheng a cold look before rushing into the ‘Death’ door without any hesitation. Obviously, he and Zhangkang Tianji held the same views and felt that the ‘Death’ door was the safer of the two options.
With three of the four Heavenly Emperor rushing in, the others also started to rush in. Qiao Jierui also chose the ‘Death’ Gate, while Striking Order, Shen Mao and Mu Hai entered the ‘Life’ gate.
In just a few breaths, only Ning Cheng and Xun Zhihe remained in the room.
The rattling sounds of nether winds banging on the paper door grew even louder. Every time it slammed into the paper door, it made people feel a little more flustered.
Xun Zhihe looked at Ning Cheng and asked carefully, “Sect Master Ning, I didn’t come here in response to Gua Sangan’s invitation. I came here purely for the Ancient Shadow Temple. If I had known that I wouldn’t obtain anything here and would most likely fall in this place, I definitely would not have come to this place at all.”
Ning Cheng showed a smile, “Senior Apprentice Sister Xun overthinks. I never thought that Senior Apprentice Sister Xun came here to help Gua Sangan or the others.”
“Many thanks, Sect Master Ning for your generosity. If this Xun Zhihe manages to survive, I will definitely come to the Mysterious Yellow Sect in the future to give you my heartfelt thanks…..” Xun Zhihe couldn’t finish her sentence when the violent nether winds finally smashed open the door behind them and rushed in.
Ning Cheng felt slightly touched and immediately brought out the Everlasting Blue Thunder Fort to help Xun Zhihe a bit.
As the nether winds swept past them and finally died down, Xun Zhihe spoke up with an even more grateful tone, “Many thanks Sect Master Ning for your help once again. Does Sect Master Ning want to leave this place together?”
Ning Cheng shook his head, “Senior Apprentice Sister Xun can go ahead. I want to look around this place a bit more.”
After saying that, Ning Cheng added, “I think the ‘Death’ door might be a bit safer. Of course, it’s just my intuition.”
Ning Cheng knew that Xun Zhihe wanted to ask which door he would enter, as Xun Zhihe wasn’t sure about her choice.
When Xun Zhihe heard Ning Cheng’s words, she quickly thanked him once again. “Many thanks, Sect Master Ning. I’ll take my leave now.”
With that, Xun Zhihe quickly rushed and disappeared into the ‘Death’ door. She chose to listen to Ning Cheng’s words.
After everyone left, Ning Cheng didn’t enter any of the doors; instead, his gaze quickly locked onto the dark pool in front of him.
If he hadn’t felt a very familiar aura coming from this pool, he would have definitely entered one of the two doors. But because of that aura, he decided on not choosing one of the two doors. This familiar aura actually belonged to Grey Toottoot.
Grey Toottoot had accompanied him for many years, and later he put Grey Toottoot in Ruolan’s care. But Grey Toottoot had gotten lost during a trip outside with Ruolan looking for cultivation resources. Moreover, because Grey Toottoot went missing near Covered Snow City, Ning Cheng deliberately took a few days to search for it, but couldn’t find any clue. He never expected to find Grey Toottoot’s aura coming from the inside this dark Yellow Spring Pond.
With Grey Toottoot’s strength, it would be impossible to come here by itself. But since Grey Toottoot’s aura appeared here, then the only possible explanation he could think of was that someone must have brought it to this place. If someone actually brought Grey Toottoot here, it also meant that someone had managed to reach this place before him and everyone else.
If it weren’t for Grey Toottoot staying with him for many years and helping Ruolan find necessary cultivation resources, Ning Cheng would not have stayed back.
Therefore, although this place gave off a very dangerous aura and even if grew more dangerous, after knowing that Grey Toottoot had come here, he couldn’t leave Grey Toottoot behind once again.
Ning Cheng once again materialised the Everlasting Blue Thunder Fort and dived straight into the Yellow Spring Pond. Ning Cheng had a much stronger spiritual consciousness compared to the other Eternal cultivators who entered this place, but he still couldn’t use his spiritual consciousness to scan the bottom of the pond. Therefore, to find Grey Toottoot, jumping into the water was the only option available.
As soon as Ning Cheng entered the pond, the cold aura that pulled at one’s Essence Spirit immediately affected him. However, the Everlasting Blue Thunder Fort was Ning Cheng’s best weapon of choice right now; therefore, even if it had no weapon spirit, Ning Cheng could still use the Everlasting Blue Thunder Fort to split the surrounding dark pool water.
This pond didn’t appear deep from the outside, but the moment Ning Cheng entered, it felt like the pool had suddenly transformed into a bottomless hole.
Ning Cheng held on to the Nirvana Spear tightly and quickly rushed to the bottom. The closer to the bottom, the more coldness and pressure he felt. This was not purely the natural coldness one would experience at the bottom of a pond or a river, but a kind of yin-attributed chill that permeated into one’s Essence Spirit and Spiritual Soul.
