The Sword Mountain Path was not a path, nor a mountain, but a castle complex similar to a small town. This place had a collection of various ancient castles that formed a village-like small city.
People said that this place really was once a mountain a long time ago, which produced a master specialising in the Dao of Sword. Legend states that this master used this place to gain enlightenment in the Dao of Sword. As a result, a lot of Sword Cultivators used to come here wanting to understand the Dao of Sword. But despite the best efforts, only a very few cultivators managed to understand anything about the Dao of Sword from this place.
Over an extended period, under the constant grindings from the Sword Aura of the cultivators who came here to understand the Dao of Sword, this mountain finally transformed into an ancient path. With time, the ‘ancient path’ also disappeared, leaving only the original caves of those cultivators who walked the path of swords. As time passed, some rogue cultivators started to gather here and erected castles after castles in this place, turning it into something similar to an ancient fortress.
At this time, outside the Sword Mountain Path, a girl in blue with a veil covering her face carried a comatose male cultivator over her back. Although she had wrapped the cultivator in a loose robe, it still could not conceal the severe injuries riddling this cultivator’s body. As long as one paid some attention to her, one could easily smell the thick stench of blood coming from this comatose cultivator on her back.
This girl in blue was Shi Qionghua. After Ning Cheng gave her the Boundary Breaking Talisman and spoke a few words, he slipped into a coma. Although she initially thought about handing Ning Cheng to the Sacred Master and let Sacred Master save him. She, regardless, still acted according to Ning Cheng’s instructions.
Thankfully, she immediately discarded the thought of handing him to Sacred Master. The Time Stones on her came from Ning Cheng, and since Ning Cheng could give her so many Time Stones, it meant that he also had a significant stock of it. Even someone like Sacred Master desired Time Stones. If she handed Ning Cheng over to the Sacred Master, the Sacred Master would have quickly found out about the Time Stones in Ning Cheng’s possession. At that moment, it would be doubtful if Ning Cheng could even remain alive.
In addition to this, there was another reason why she complied with such a request. That is, Ning Cheng mentioned that he would die if he stayed in this place. If any Starry Sky Emperors in the Eternal Realm wanted to kill Ning Cheng, even someone like Sacred Master would not be able to save Ning Cheng.
Moreover, Ning Cheng had once saved her life by risking his own death. He even sent her the invaluable Time Stones and an ancient copper coin. Even if she had nothing to do with Ning Cheng in her past life, she could never forget such gratitude.
Fortunately, Shi Qionghua managed to escape in time. She had just taken Ning Cheng away with the Boundary Breaking Talisman when the big four Starry Sky Emperors charged out looking for Ning Cheng’s aura.
Chuan Xinlou had guessed that Ning Cheng used some sort of an Escape Talisman to break through the starry sky boundary, but he did not disclose it. He believed that with his ability, he could definitely locate Ning Cheng’s final position. Any kind of Boundary Breaking Talisman would leave behind a trace, and this trace would not dissipate immediately. As long as he could find this trace, he felt confident that he could figure out where Ning Cheng escaped.
It’s just that he did not know that there was another Talisman Refining Cultivator within the starry sky called Fu Lie. Fu Lie’s talismans did not need any refining, and even after activating, it would not leave any trace behind. Maybe Fu Lie’s talisman really left a trail, but someone like Chuan Xinlou could never see through it. One had to know that even though Chuan Xinlou’s cultivation had reached the pinnacle within the Grand Culmination Starry Skies but compared to the real powerhouses, he still could not amount to much.
……
Shi Qionghua stood outside the Sword Mountain Path and observed it for a while, before finally choosing to enter this group of castles with Ning Cheng on her back. In fact, she did not notice that someone had already taken note of her arrival. Of the many cultivators coming in and out of the Sword Mountain Path, there were not many among them like Shi Qionghua.
Seeing that no one stopped them, Shi Qionghua felt relieved in her heart. She rarely came out alone, yet this time she went to a completely unknown star with the Boundary Breaking Talisman. This made her feel very uneasy.
Although this castle complex looked very primitive, it still contained everything that one would potentially need. Not only did it have some shops, it even had several rest stops.
Shi Qionghua came to a relatively good-looking rest stop before walking in and asking the shop assistant at the reception, “Do you have a large room? It would be better to have two cultivation chambers within, with high-level shielding restrictions.”
“Of course, our South Sword Rest Stop would not be a bad choice even in the Brilliant Celestial City. The best room we have cost one million green coins a month, and the one just below it for half a million green coins per month……” The shop assistant on seeing business knocking at his door quickly tried to explain things in detail. As for the cultivator with severe injuries over Shi Qionghua’s back, he did not care about it at all. It would have been strange if a cultivator without injuries came to this rest stop for lodging in such a manner.
In the Sword Mountain Path, although a lot of cultivators came and went, these cultivators would generally not choose to live in a place that looked too good. Even if they wanted to stay here, it would only be for a few days. However, Shi Qionghua asked for the largest room, it showed that she was a cultivator with wealth.
Shi Qionghua felt a slight surprise, she simply had no green coins on her. Although she was not a wealthy person per se, she only had purple coins on her to the value of a little above a hundred thousand coins. She did not expect to hear such a low price in this place, especially since even the worst rest stops within the Eternal Heaven Starry Sky City would charge a slightly higher fare even on a per-day basis.
Seeing Shi Qionghua standing there without any reaction, the shop assistant quickly spoke up, “Of course, if you want to live a little cheaper, it is not without…..”
Shi Qionghua immediately interrupted the shop assistant’s words, “No, I’ll take the room for 500,000 green coins a month. I’ll make a reservation for two months for now.”
After that, Shi Qionghua took out 10,000 purple coins and handed it to the shop assistant.
The shop assistant on seeing the purple coins felt very pleased, “Two friends, please come with me.”
Not many cultivators who came to the Sword Mountain Path paid in purple coins, as they would prefer to keep the purple coins aside for when they went to some of the bigger starry sky cities. Now that Shi Qionghua paid in purple coins, how could it not make him happy?
Fortunately, Shi Qionghua still had some purple coins. If she did not have purple coins, maybe she would have used Perpetual Moon Pills.
As the Sacred Lady of the Everlasting Sacred Shrine, Shi Qionghua often came out accompanied by the Sacred Master, and naturally stayed in good rest stops. However, compared to the other starry sky cities, the South Sword Rest Stop’s room did not have much to speak of except for its considerably ample space.
The starry sky Essence Qi was thin around these parts, and even the array formations were of a general grade, same with the restrictions. Which meant that one had to rely on oneself for privacy.
Shi Qionghua did not care much about it; although she did not have much understanding of restrictions, she could at least arrange a general Shielding Array Formation. As for the thin starry sky Essence Qi around these parts, she did not bother about it too. For her, the most important thing was not cultivation, but to help Ning Cheng recover.
Activating the restrictions within the room, Shi Qionghua immediately placed Ning Cheng on the wooden couch and then carefully untied Ning Cheng’s outer robes.
Previously, she had not removed Ning Cheng’s inner robes but only helped put a loose outer coat around Ning Cheng. Now that Shi Qionghua found a place to settle down temporarily, it finally allowed her to take a closer look at Ning Cheng’s injuries.
To tell the truth, even the word ‘severe’ could not describe Ning Cheng’s current injuries. Switched to an ordinary cultivator, even their Life Essence would have long since dissipated under such trauma, instead of falling into a coma.
Blood covered Ning Cheng body while pieces of broken bones stuck out from his skin. His body did not look like that of a cultivator with severe injuries but of a dying mutilated person without an intact epidermis.
Shi Qionghua had personally witnessed the collapse of the Immortal Jade Star, yet Ning Cheng managed to escape with such severe injuries. Unlike the others who died on the spot. This truly went beyond the realm of luck.
Cleaning away the scraps of cloths and other debris clinging to Ning Cheng’s body, she finally reached Ning Cheng’s shorts. Shi Qionghua hesitated for a moment but eventually decided not to remove Ning Cheng’s shorts. At this moment, Ning Cheng’s body did not look like that of a healthy person at all; rather it looked more like a lump of flesh, blood and broken bones put together in the shape of a person.
As for the Appearance Changing Mask over Ning Cheng’s face, Shi Qionghua did not take it off. In any case, only Ning Cheng could take off that mask once he woke up.
Working round the clock for almost an entire day, Shi Qionghua finally finished re-connecting all the broken bones within Ning Cheng’s body. As for whether or not they could grow back to their original condition, it would have to wait until Ning Cheng woke up.
As the day passed by, Ning Cheng still did not wake up from his coma. Looking at Ning Cheng in a coma, Shi Qionghua gave out a sigh. She understood that for Ning Cheng to wake up, he could only rely on himself, external factors would not be of much help in his situation. Previously, she felt an inexplicable attraction towards Ning Cheng, which she simply could not explain at all. Rather, Shi Qionghua attributed this to Ning Cheng saving her at the Changing Earth Mountain and almost losing his life. Despite this, she did not believe what Ning Cheng had said, that they used to be husband and wife in her previous life.
But on the other hand, if they were not husband and wife in her last life, how could Ning Cheng risk his life for her over an exchange of just a few words? Why would he hand over those precious Time Stones to someone like her?
Shi Qionghua sat next to Ning Cheng and continuously thought about the relationship between her and Ning Cheng before shifting her thoughts towards her Sacred Master. At this moment, as she sat alone in this remote place, would Sacred Master not think that she might have died?
……
Even after the South Sword Rest Stop’s shop assistant sent Shi Qionghua to her room, he still felt quite happy within his heart. However, although customers like Shi Qionghua paid generously without bargaining, they were still just customers to him.
“That female cultivator who just came in, it looks like she paid in purple coins.” A cultivator standing at the ground floor of the South Sword Rest Stop walked up to the shop assistant and asked casually.
The shop assistant had not lived in the Sword Mountain Path for a day or two. How could he not understand the intent of this cultivator? However, he did not pay any attention to this person’s intent. When it came to the cultivators who lived in the South Sword Rest Stop, no one would dare to barge in and do anything to them. However, once the girl with the scarf covering her face left the South Sword Rest Stop, whether she lived or someone killed her right outside the rest stop, it would not have anything to do with his South Sword Rest Stop.
“Yes, she did pay with purple coins.” The shop assistant replied as if nothing happened.
