After Ning Cheng followed the Seven Star Sacred Shrine’s cultivators and got off the airship, he finally saw a few acquaintances. Both the Second Prince and the Ninth Prince from the Barbarian Dragon Clan were here, along with Shan Yaocen. Kong Ning didn’t come, so Ning Cheng assumed that she already went into secluded cultivation.
Although Man Jiuren didn’t look at Ning Cheng, Ning Cheng could still feel his obscure spiritual consciousness lock on to him.
“Senior Apprentice Sister Yan…..” Ning Cheng suddenly walked to Yan Xishuang’s side and called out.
Yan Xishuang’s gaze fell on Ning Cheng, and she quickly recalled who Ning Cheng was. She acknowledged the call and asked, “Dao Friend Nian Qiong, did you want to ask me about something?”
She had quite a deep impression of Ning Cheng. Among the rogue cultivators recruited this time, Ning Cheng’s cultivation was the lowest. However, his strength surpassed quite a few of the recruits and stood right in the middle.
Ning Cheng nodded and spoke up, “Yes, it’s related to entering the Grand Essence Mystic Realm. Senior Apprentice Sister already knows that I don’t have high cultivation. It makes me a bit worried…..”
Yan Xishuang showed a slight smile, “The Grand Essence Mystic Realm is quite huge, so you don’t have to worry much. As long as you don’t meet those ruthless people and remain careful, nothing would happen to you…..”
After hesitating a bit, she continued, “This time, only those under the Dao Sculpting Realm can enter the Grand Essence Mystic Realm. Besides, I feel like you can already take care of yourself. Just don’t offend those disciples from big sects, especially the twelve Grand Essence Sacred Children. Of course, I don’t think all twelve of those Grand Essence Sacred Children will go inside….”
It was Ning Cheng’s first time hearing about the twelve Grand Essence Sacred Children. But since he didn’t know about them, he didn’t want to ask about it.
Seeing Yan Xishuang about to leave after giving him the information, Ning Cheng quickly asked again. “Senior Apprentice Sister Yan, I heard that Barbarian Dragon Clan’s Ninth Prince also wants to enter the Grand Essence Mystic Realm. Hasn’t he already reached Dao Sculpting?”
Yan Xishuang spoke with a solemn voice, “Man Jiuren, well, he’s quite the proud character. Before stepping into the Extraterritorial Spirit Spring to initiate the spirit essence transformation process, how could he reach Dao Sculpting? After you enter the Grand Essence Mystic Realm, just concentrate on searching for divine grasses. If you encounter any danger, leave immediately. Don’t fall into the allure of treasures and end up losing your life. The Grand Essence Mystic Realm has a lot of treasures, so if you can’t get anything from one spot, move onto the next.”
After giving Ning Cheng that advice, she no longer paid Ning Cheng attention before turning around to leave.
Ning Cheng stood there silently contemplating over some issues. He had initially put Man Jiuren as a Dao Sculpting expert. Ning Cheng even considered Hong Lun, who died at his hand sometime back, as a Dao Sculpting expert. But now, it seemed that Ninth Prince and Hong Lun both had not reached Dao Sculpting. From the looks of it, he had once again overestimated his strength.
From this, Ning Cheng also understood a fact. That is, his Five-coloured Star Splitter Arrow could kill Ninth Price, but it might not kill a true Dao Sculpting cultivator. As long as a Dao Sculpting cultivator didn’t die, it would also mean that he would have no choice but to wait for death against such a person.
After knowing the difference between Dao Sculpting and him, Ning Cheng didn’t continue to gather information on the outside. Instead, he returned to the station and waited peacefully to enter the Grand Essence Mystic Realm.
……
Three days later, Ning Cheng finally understood why people chose this place. More than a dozen experts from different sects joined together and set up a massive teleportation array right in the middle of the wasteland during these few days. From the looks of it, they would enter the Grand Essence Mystic Realm through this teleportation array.
Ning Cheng’s understanding of the Dao of Array couldn’t match those old monsters who deployed the teleportation array. However, he could still see that this teleportation array’s components were quite old, almost ancient. Moreover, he couldn’t even find any indication of the refining techniques used to create those components. From this, he also understood that this teleportation array already existed here since ancient times. Only when the major sects and forces of the Grand Essence Domain wanted to enter the teleportation array leading to the Grand Essence Mystic Realm would they bring out those components. Once the competition got over, they would then take it apart to transfer it back to their respective sects. They most likely keep the parts with them until they had to open the Grand Essence Mystic Realm once again.
Standing within the crowd that was about to be teleported, Ning Cheng swept his gaze at the number of people entering the Grand Essence Mystic Realm. Just a cursory glance revealed more than 10,000 people.
A middle-aged female cultivator stood in front of the array and spoke up with a resonant voice. “Everyone who is about to enter the Grand Essence Mystic Realm. Please pay attention. Although the Grand Essence Mystic Realm only opens one every three millennia, it still covers a huge area. Even today, there are many places inside where no one has discovered. This time, the mystic realm would remain open for one year. A year later, only those who reach the teleportation array set up in the mystic realm will get teleported out. Okay. Everyone can now step onto the teleportation array….”
Ning Cheng felt a little confused. Why didn’t she mention what would happen if one didn’t come out of the mystic realm within a year?
He whispered to a cultivator from the Seven Star Sacred Shrine next to him. “This Dao Friend, can I ask what would happen if you don’t come out within a year? Or if you haven’t arrived at the teleportation array within a year?”
The Seven Star Sacred Shrine’s cultivator only glanced at Ning Cheng with disdain and gave a cold snort. He didn’t even bother to answer. From the looks of it, he looked down on Ning Cheng, the rogue cultivator who would enter the mystic realm on behalf of the sacred shrine.
Seeing such behaviour, Ning Cheng no longer asked any questions. In any case, Ning Cheng could always ask about it later.
Although the teleportation array looked massive, it couldn’t teleport everyone at the same time. As such, the one’s operating the array had to break down the crowd into groups of two to three hundred people. Fortunately, in just half an incense stick worth of time, it was the Seven Star Sacred Shrine’s turn.
Ning Cheng and the other cultivators had just stepped on the array when he felt a Spiritual Consciousness Imprint attaching itself to him. It was almost an impossible task for an Eternal cultivator to put a Spiritual Consciousness Imprint on him without being discovered. But before Ning Cheng could find the person who placed the Spiritual Consciousness Imprint on him, the teleportation array activated.
As soon as a wave of dizziness hit him, Ning Cheng understood that this array was an ultra-long distance teleportation array.
After an unknown amount of time, Ning Cheng’s feet finally landed on another huge teleportation array.
Following everyone out of the teleportation array, Ning Cheng found that he was still in a wasteland. However, the Spirit Qi here couldn’t compare to the place from he just came. The Spirit Qi here didn’t just feel full-bodied but also was much denser. No wonder this place could gestate so many precious divine grasses.
After reaching this place, everyone quickly dispersed. Most of them went alone, while a small number of cultivators formed teams.
Ning Cheng picked a direction and also quickly left alone. After an incense stick worth of time, Ning Cheng stopped. He had spotted a Drunken Dream Glaze, a low-level divine grass.
The Grand Essence Realm divided the divine grasses into three levels – low-grade, middle-grade and high-grade. The low-grade divine grasses were the most common ones, while the high-grade divine grasses were the rarest. In general, spirit pills requiring low-grade and middle-grade divine grasses help First Step Dao Confirming cultivators. Only a few spirit pills refined from high-grade divine grasses would affect Second Step Dao Confirming Holy Emperors.
However, Second Step Dao Confirming experts sought higher-level cultivation resources, like Dao Pills or Dao Fruits.
But even if they wanted, high-grade divine grasses were almost impossible to find. As such, the Grand Essence Realm also didn’t have many Dao Essence Pill Deities. As for Dao Essence Pill Sages, they were even rarer, almost non-existent.
Drunken Dream Glaze was a low-grade divine grass, but it had some effect on Ning Cheng. Drunken Dream Glaze was the main ingredient required to refine the Accumulating Dream Pill. This pill significantly helps to gain a deeper understanding of specific spirit techniques. Especially the None-to-depend-on and Sunset’s Twilight, both of which were sensory-type spirit techniques.
Ning Cheng, by now, had already become a Dao Sculpting Pill Deity. Even if he didn’t use it on himself, he could refine Accumulating Dream Pills and sell them off later.
After collecting all Drunken Dream Glazes he could find, Ning Cheng didn’t even look for the Spiritual Consciousness Imprint on him. Instead, he continued to move deeper into the wilderness.
An hour later, Ning Cheng stopped in a valley. He felt sure that the Spiritual Consciousness Imprint on his body came from Man Jiuren. Plus, Man Jiuren wouldn’t remain patient for long when it came to his Five-coloured Star Splitter Arrow. He had to concentrate on searching for divine grasses and wasn’t in the mood to play hide-and-seek with Man Jiuren. Therefore, he decided that this was where he would bury Man Jiuren.
Man Jiuren had already seen Ning Cheng’s ‘strength’. And after knowing that he had a Five-coloured Star Splitter Arrow, Man Jiuren would not come after him alone. He would most likely bring a helper with him.
With Man Jiuren’s means, the most appropriate way to deal with him was to find someone that would force Ning Cheng to use the Five-coloured Star Splitter Arrow. He would then take action after he used it up. It was because of this speculation that Ning Cheng refined a fake Five-coloured Star Splitter Arrow.
Ning Cheng began to arrange array formations in this valley. He purposefully didn’t place a killing array; instead, he focussed more on putting down trap formations.
After finishing the trap formations, Ning Cheng then took out a jade strip that contained a few maps. He didn’t get to study it for long when a light shadow fell in front of Ning Cheng.
“Are you Ning Cheng?” Standing not far from Ning Cheng was a thin-cropped man with a funny-looking face.
However, Ning Cheng didn’t think of this person as even a bit funny. He could feel that the strength of this thin male cultivator even exceeded that of Hong Lun. If it weren’t for the rapid increase in power and gaining more methods, Ning Cheng would have no choice but to use the Five-coloured Star Splitter Arrow right away.
But Ning Cheng knew that he shouldn’t use the Five-coloured Star Splitter Arrow right now. This thin man mostly came here on the orders of Man Jiuren, which also meant that Man Jiuren wasn’t too far away. Yet, Ning Cheng still couldn’t find any trace of Man Jiuren. However, he also felt sure that once he killed this thin man with the arrow, it would immediately lure out Man Jiuren like a fisherman catching fish.
From the looks of it, this thin man didn’t think it through and unknowingly pushed himself to death by agreeing to work for Man Jiuren.
“Who’s Ning Cheng?” Ning Cheng would never admit it even if he knew that the other party knew that he was Ning Cheng. Man Jiuren didn’t warrant such fear, but the people behind Man Jiuren were an entirely different matter.
The thin man gave a cold snort and said, “Whether you’re Ning Cheng or not, you should die for me….”
A pair of scissors that seemingly cut the space in front of it in half suddenly appeared and covered Ning Cheng. It even suppressed Ning Cheng’s breath. A powerful demonic essence-filled aura emerged from this person’s domain that made Ning Cheng feel like a leaf swaying back and forth in a thunderstorm.
There wasn’t any point in fighting against this person for too long. Ning Cheng didn’t even bring out a weapon and immediately used the recently-learned move, Spiritual Consciousness Chop.
It was Ning Cheng’s first time using this move against someone since learning about it from the spiritual consciousness cultivation method.
“Crack….” When Ning Cheng cast the Spiritual Consciousness Chop, the opponent’s domain immediately cracked. Even though the opponent’s strong domain suppressed everything around him, the cracking sound remained crisp and clear.
The Spiritual Consciousness Chop even cut into the thin man’s Sea of Consciousness in the same instant. The thin man’s complexion immediately changed, and he let out a surprised shout. The next moment, the dao charm around him started flashing erratically.
Ning Cheng also felt shocked to discover that although his Spiritual Consciousness Chop cut into the opponent’s Sea of Consciousness, an invisible force managed to block it.
Ning Cheng couldn’t allow this person even a moment of respite. Once this person regained his mental faculties, even if Ning Cheng used another Spiritual Consciousness Chop, it would only result in death. Knowing this, Ning Cheng punched out with a punch containing the Laws of Time without any hesitation.
Without the application of Sunset’s Dusk, it was just a pure punch. But the Law of Time Dao Charm contained within this fist caused the thin man to pause for an instant. During this very instant, the previous Spiritual Consciousness Chop tore into the thin man’s Sea of Consciousness without any hindrance.
Almost without any pause, Ning Cheng raised his hand and brought out a black-coloured arrow.
