After entering the Eternal Night Single File Gorge, Ning Cheng finally learned that what Song Chengbo had said about this place was not nonsense at all. If there were no way to use one’s spiritual consciousness and celestial essence here, this place would turn into his or her graveyard.
He’d been moving forward in Eternal Night Single File Gorge for a month now, yet he still could not see a way out of this place. Not only that, there were still blade lights and spacial storms occasionally scraping through the area. If it were a regular place, where one had access to their celestial essence and spiritual consciousness, one would not need to concentrate too much to avoid these blade lights and the storms.
But this was not an ordinary place. Ning Cheng’s starry sky spiritual consciousness finally managed to stretch out to a range of 30 feet after a month. However, because of severe restrictions this place put on the spiritual consciousness, Ning Cheng couldn’t help but feel even more afraid of Duan Gantai. Duan Gantai seemed to be more capable in this place compared to him, which showed that this person’s spiritual consciousness was no weaker than his own, maybe even more powerful.
Faced with spacial blades and storms within the Single File Gorge, ordinary cultivators in the Heaven Seated Realm, even if they could bring out their spiritual consciousness and use their celestial essence, they would still suffer a lot of injuries if they continued to walk in this place for a long time. However, Ning Cheng, who kept a close eye on Duan Gantai through the Connecting Spirit Silk, found no sign of injuries. Therefore, either Duan Gantai was a Body Forging Cultivator, or he had a way to protect himself from injuries.
The Single File Gorge went on like a bottomless pit. Although Ning Cheng could cultivate while walking, he did not dare to do so within this Single File Gorge. Not just because he had not yet passed through the Single File Gorge, but mainly because of time bomb like Duan Gantai hovering around him.
If he had not heard from Song Chengbo that one could indeed leave through the Eternal Night Single File Gorge, Ning Cheng would have thought that the Single File Gorge was a trap set up for him by Duan Gantai.
Six months later, Ning Cheng had still not come out of the Single File Gorge. Ning Cheng couldn’t help but give out a sigh at this; unfortunately, he had not wholly refined the Starry Sky Wheel. If he had fully refined the Starry Sky Wheel, he could then transform the Starry Sky Wheel into a specific shape and then control the Starry Sky Wheel to pass through this Single File Gorge.
The only thing Ning Cheng felt thankful was that his spiritual consciousness could now cover a range of nearly a hundred feet around him. This place held dangers all around and might not be a good thing for him, but at least it helped in tempering his spiritual consciousness.
Because Ning Cheng kept his spiritual consciousness in a continuous state of concentration, it could stretch out beyond a hundred feet if focussed in one direction. This allowed his spiritual consciousness to sense a spacial dislocation that had suddenly appeared not far from him. If he had continued to rush forward with the same speed, this spacial dislocation would have torn his body in half. Not to mention that he had a Celestial River Body, even if he had a Starry Sky Body, it would not have stopped this spacial dislocation.
In a hurry, Ning Cheng refused to think of anything else; forcibly distorting his body, he managed to avoid the spacial dislocation in an instant.
However, despite avoiding the spacial dislocation, Ning Cheng still felt scared and broke out in cold sweats. Fortunately, his spiritual consciousness could extend to a range of a hundred feet; otherwise, it would have been impossible to avoid it with its speed. Because of this experience, Ning Cheng subconsciously slowed down. If he had to face more spacial dislocations, then it would only make things more dangerous from this point on.
At the same time, he grew even more vigilant towards Duan Gantai. This person had obviously escaped that same spacial dislocation, yet he did not give him a single warning about it. Apparently, Duan Gantai wanted to see him torn into two halves by it.
Ning Cheng felt sure that if he could not have avoided the spacial dislocation, Duan Gantai would have immediately turned back to kill him.
However, whether Duan Gantai warned him in advance or not, Ning Cheng did not care about it. If he was in the front, he might also not have alerted Duan Gantai. What Ning Cheng did feel a bit concerned about was that Duan Gantai had not reduced his speed at all. How could he continue rushing forward with such quick speed?
If it were not Duan Gantai’s spiritual consciousness extending over a more considerable distance compared to the range of his spiritual consciousness, then the only other explanation was that Duan Gantai must have traversed the Single File Gorge in the past. If that were the case, it would make sense that he knew where the spacial dislocations would pop up in this place.
Sensing that Ning Cheng had slowed down, Duan Gantai gave out a sigh. This Ning Cheng was the first worthy rival in his life. He had once travelled through the Single File Gorge previously and had made a point to memorise the locations of all spacial dislocations within this path. Yet, even though Ning Cheng had followed him with such speed, Ning Cheng still managed to avoid the spacial dislocation. This also highlighted Ning Cheng’s strength.
Knowing that Ning Cheng had turned cautious, the other spacial dislocations would no longer pose any threat to Ning Cheng. Therefore, Duan Gantai also decided to decrease his speed.
Another two months later, Ning Cheng’s surroundings turned utterly empty, with only an occasional spacial wind blade blowing around. Ning Cheng’s spiritual consciousness also expanded, reflecting the surrounding void in his spiritual consciousness.
Out of the Single File Gorge, Ning Cheng truly felt happy in his heart. He must have come out of the Single File Gorge.
“Brother Ning, this younger brother really admires you. I had encountered several critical situations and almost died on the way here. Yet, Brother Ning was able to safely navigate through the Eternal Night Single File Gorge.” Duan Gantai’s voice came from somewhere up ahead, indicating that he had already come out of the spacial wind blade clusters.
Ning Cheng’s body returned to normal and quickly left the spacial storm and arrived not far from Duan Gantai. He gave out a laugh and said, “I just have some good luck on my side. The spacial dislocations along the way had nearly cost me my life several times. If not for Brother Duan’s help, I don’t think I could have made the trip to the Temple of Time.”
Duan Gantai could clearly hear Ning Cheng’s sarcasm, but he gave a chuckle and said, “Brother Ning, let’s go to the Mysterious Yellow Starland and prepare ourselves before heading to the Temple of Time, what do you say?”
Ning Cheng gave a casual reply, “Brother Duan seems to be familiar with this place, and since Brother Duan brought me here, then, of course, I would continue listening to Brother Duan.”
“Then this younger brother will take the lead,” Duan Gantai showed a smile and brought out a high-grade airship-type Dao Artefact before quickly flying away.
Ning Cheng did not take out the Starry Sky Wheel this time and instead brought out a middle-grade airship-type Dao Artefact and followed.
A month later, standing on the deck of the airship-type Dao Artefact, Ning Cheng could already see an area up ahead that resembled a starry sky. Although he was not sure if this region was still in the same positional plane as the Grand Culmination Starry Sky, Ning Cheng knew that he truly had left the void crack between the positional planes and interfaces.
Another month later, a huge starland appeared in front of Ning Cheng. Unlike the Eternal Night Domain, this starland was a real starry sky mainland. Moreover, this starland was by no means grey like the Eternal Night Domain but had layers of green surrounding it.
“Brother Ning, this is the Mysterious Yellow Starland, a completely independent starland and separate from the other starry sky starlands. Don’t worry, I’ll take you to get an identity card for the starland.”
From Duan Gantai’s words, Ning Cheng instantly understood that this person had come to the Mysterious Yellow Starland in the past.
……
This Mysterious Yellow Starland handled the procedures for the Identity Jade Cards in roughly the same manner as the other starlands. Just as Ning Cheng predicted, Duan Gantai did not need an Identity Jade Card, nor did he have to go through any of the other required paperwork. He could directly enter the Mysterious Yellow Starland with Ning Cheng.
“Brother Ning, I have been to the Mysterious Yellow Starland before, but you need to know that there are six most powerful forces in the Mysterious Yellow Starland, collectively referred to as ‘One Sect, Two Clans, and Three Unions.”
Ning Cheng quickly spoke up, “Brother Duan, please elaborate.”
Duan Gantai revealed a slightly smug expression, “The ‘One Sect’ refers to the Impermanence Dao Sect, the ‘Two Clans’ refer to the Tie Clan and Shui Clan of Moyi City[1]. The ‘Three Unions’ refer to the Interdependence Chamber of Commerce, the Mysterious Yellow Chamber of Commerce and the Scattered People Assembly. Moyi City is the same as the Eternal Night Domain’s Eternal Night City and has an extremely high status throughout the Mysterious Yellow Starland. Therefore, we’ll be heading to the Moyi Starry Sky City,”
At this point, Duan Gantai deliberately paused and asked, “Brother Ning, do you know what the speciality of the Mysterious Yellow Starland?”
Ning Cheng shook his head and spoke, “I don’t know. Brother Duan, please enlighten me.”
Duan Gantai smiled and spoke, “Even if I did not say anything about it, you would have come to know about it as long as you entered Moyi City. Throughout the Mysterious Yellow Starland, the most popular article is wine. A wine called ‘None to Depend On’.”
Ning Cheng felt surprised. He never imagined that the original ‘None To Depend On’ Wine came from the Mysterious Yellow Starland. But Ning Cheng quickly quelled the surprise, realising that this place most likely was in the same positional plane as the Grand Culmination Starry Skies. If he explored things here, he might be able to return to the Grand Culmination Starry Sky and see Luofei and Qionghua.
Duan Gantai did not pay attention to Ning Cheng’s expression and continued to speak in a complacent tone, “The None To Depend On Wine is the premier treasure of the Interdependence Chamber of Commerce. All the supply of None To Depend On Wine within this starry sky comes from the Interdependence Chamber of Commerce. However, they produce only very little of this wine every year, which means that it’s out of reach for most of the people. But Brother Ning, if you want it, I can buy some for you.”
“Is Brother Duan from the Mysterious Yellow Starland?” Ning Cheng casually asked. However, he was very concerned about the answer. If Duan Gantai truly came from the Mysterious Yellow Starland, then Ning Cheng would have to be even more careful, as it would mean that this was Duan Gantai’s home. At that point, it would truly be strange if he obtained any harvest by following Duan Gantai.
Duan Gantai gave a casual wave, “I’m not from the Mysterious Yellow Starland. I used to live in the Mysterious Yellow Starland for some time and had built up a relationship with Moyi City’s Shui Clan. For some reason, the elders of the Shui Clan promised me that if I could advance to the Heaven Seated Realm, I could then marry Shui Clan’s premier beauty Shui Wuchang, on the added condition that I would marry into Shui Clan.”
Ning Cheng’s mind had nothing but black lines at this moment. How was this surnamed Duan involved everywhere? No, how was it that people would readily accept him as their son-in-law?
Seeing Ning Cheng frown, Duan Gantai quickly spoke up, “Brother Ning, you don’t have to worry. Shui Clan is an upright family, completely different from Su Clan. There is no way that they would make any moves to trick you or me.”
Ning Cheng suddenly smiled and nodded; however, he felt truly disdainful in this heart. Wouldn’t they do this if they did not know what’s on you? He was now sure that Duan Gantai had many treasures. As for what treasures Duan Gantai had, if Duan Gantai himself did not reveal them, then no one would know about it.
While the two people conversed, Duan Gantai landed outside a huge city. This city had an array formation filled with shimmering lights covering it from all sides, which made it look like a city suspended in clouds, giving it a stunning appearance.
Above the city’s entrance, one could see three characters ‘Moyi City’. On the side, and embedded into the array formation, was an incomparably huge stone tablet with twelve words, “Always apart, abandoned heart; looking at the distant stars, none to depend on!”
“Oh, Senior Shui advanced to the Eternal Realm.” Duan Gantai spoke in amazement.
Ning Cheng then saw a huge banner erected on the other side of the entrance, which read, “Congratulations to Moyi City’s Senior Shui Guangxi for stepping into the Eternal Realm and achieving the supreme Grand Dao. Dao Friends from all sides of the Mysterious Yellow Starland are welcome to the Shui Clan’s hall to congratulate Eternal Starry Sky Emperor Shi Guangxi! Come partake in the grand ceremony!”
“Brother Ning, Senior Shui Gongxi has stepped into the Eternal Realm. I must go to attend the celebration to congratulate him. Does Brother Ning want to come with me? Regardless, I suggest that Brother Ning should come together with me, that way we could avoid many unintentional mistakes.” Duan Gantai spoke up again.
“Okay, then I will come with Brother Duan to explore this place.” Ning Cheng showed a smile and spoke up.
[1] ‘Moyi’ is actually ‘None to Depend On’. I left it as it to keep the city name short.
