Just as Duan Gantai felt eager to find Ning Cheng, Ning Cheng also wanted to find Duan Gantai quickly. It’s not that he wanted to return the black-coloured Perpetual Moon Time Key to Duan Gantai. Even if he no longer needed it, he wouldn’t act with so much selflessness. Since he already exchanged the Perpetual Moon Time Key for the None-to-depend-on Wine, he naturally wouldn’t return it to Duan Gantai. Even if he wanted to exchange it, Ning Cheng would make sure to ask Duan Gantai for at least a few Starry Sky Spiritual Veins.
The reason why he wanted to look for Duan Gantai was to see if Duan Gantai had any means to enter the Temple of Time.
But Ning Cheng didn’t expect to sense Duan Gantai’s location from the Connecting Spirit Silk as soon as he came out of the Temple of Time. Moreover, Duan Gantai moved in quite a hurry towards him.
Ning Cheng wasn’t too far from Striking Order Starland, so he simply decided to go to Striking Order Starland.
Walking into the Striking Order Starland’s Lucky Heavens City, Ning Cheng still felt a little emotional. He had come to the Lucky Heaven City twice and encountered Xu Binglan both times. However, he knew that he wouldn’t meet Xu Binglan this time. With that woman’s cunning mind, she must have already taken Xu Yingdei and moved far away.
Striking Order Heavenly Emperor didn’t return yet. Still, Lucky Heavens City remained relatively stable under the management of Striking Order’s assistants and helpers. But this was only for the Lucky Heavens City within Striking Order Starland. As for the rest of the Striking Order Starry Sky, it still had its problems.
Striking Celestial Rest Stop, a relatively large rest stop in Lucky Heavens City. Just after Ning Cheng walked inside, he saw an acquaintance. Aunt Xu, a high-influence assistant under Striking Order Heavenly Emperor.
Aunt Xu did not have high cultivation, only at the middle-level of Heaven Seated Realm. But Ning Cheng knew about her status very well. Within Lucky Heavens City and even within Striking Order Starry Sky, she was only second to Striking Order Heavenly Emperor in rank. That’s because Striking Order held an enormous trust in Aunt Xu, even more than Tang Yitang. To put it into more context, Tang Yitang was the only other Eternal expert within Striking Order Starry Sky apart from Striking Order.
It wasn’t unusual to see Aunt Xu in Lucky Heavens City. But Aunt Xu’s current behaviour struck Ning Cheng as somewhat strange. Striking Order Heavenly Emperor’s most trusted aide currently stood with her head bowed behind a middle-aged male cultivator. It looked as if she was reluctantly following the commands of the middle-aged male cultivator.
This middle-aged male cultivator was a bit taller than Aunt Xu but at the early-stage Life and Death Realm. Why would Aunt Xu, as the most trusted person under Striking Order Heavenly Emperor, behave in such a manner? She wouldn’t show such behaviour to even the most influential person within Lucky Heavens City.
“This rest stop will be under Chuan Ping’s care from now on. You don’t need to ask about it.” The middle-aged male cultivator said with a calm voice.
“Yes.” Aunt Xu responded with a respectful voice.
“Okay, you don’t have to keep it here. I’ll just go up there.” The middle-aged man waved his hand said to Aunt Xu casually.
“Yes, it’s just that Lord Heavenly Emperor hasn’t returned yet. Since it pertains to the affairs of Emperor Mountain, we need to wait……” Aunt Xu spoke up with a somewhat scared tone.
The middle-aged man snorted, “What if Striking Order doesn’t return, do you want to keep the Striking Order Starry Sky in a state of chaos? Levelled Heart Heavenly Emperor has already sent out orders before going into seclusion. We’ll be taking over the responsibility of Striking Order Starry Sky. You only need to do the things we tell you to do. As for Striking Order Emperor Mountain’s affairs, you don’t have to worry about….”
“Aunt Xu, long time so see.” Ning Cheng walked in at this moment, interrupting this middle-aged man. No matter what Striking Order had on his mind, Striking Order at least remained polite to him and had even helped him. Today, meeting someone who wanted to take over the throne of Striking Order Starry Sky, he couldn’t just stand by and watch. However, Ning Cheng also knew that he could only stop this particular instance. With no one actually in control of Striking Order Starland, it would always contain hidden dangers.
Aunt Xu felt shocked. She felt most worried about her acquaintances coming up to meet her. In case they ended up angering this Lord in front of her, not only would it be the end of her friends, but even she would have to suffer.
But when she looked up and saw Ning Cheng, her worries disappeared instantly, and the shocked look got replaced by surprise. “Senior, you….”
“Who are you?” The middle-aged man stared at Ning Cheng coldly and barked at Ning Cheng with a cold voice. He felt upset that Ning Cheng had interrupted him in mid-sentence.
Ning Cheng rarely showed up to gatherings and was a Life and Death cultivator who just emerged from a long session of secluded cultivation. Therefore, even people who came from Culmination Starland didn’t know much about Ning Cheng’s appearance.
But although he did not recognise Ning Cheng, since Aunt Xu addressed Ning Cheng as ‘senior’, he forced his anger down. Aunt Xu was a Heaven Seated cultivator, so for her to treat someone as ‘senior’, this person should at least be a Life and Death cultivator.
But Ning Cheng looked so young with a blurry celestial wheel. Therefore, even if in the Life and Death Realm, he would only be an ordinary Life and Death cultivator, not an Eternal-level expert.
“Haha, Brother Ning, it truly is a small world. As soon as I learned that Brother Ning was here, I came right away.” Another laughing voice arrived, ignoring the middle-aged man.
As this voice emerged, Duan Gantai’s ugly face appeared in the rest stop’s welcoming hall.
The middle-aged man’s face turned cold. With an early-stage Life and Death cultivation, he always garnered respect wherever he went. But this was the first time where he felt so neglected.
“This is the Striking Celestial Rest Stop, which is about to become my Yue Clan’s property. Unrelated people should get out. Aunt Xu, please show these two people out.” Although this middle-aged man felt unhappy, he did not tear away all pretences and even used the word ‘please’. All because Aunt Xu called Ning Cheng as ‘senior’ and also because he didn’t know about Ning Cheng’s origins.
“Who’s this bastard? Get the fuck out of my face….” Duan Gantai slapped without hesitation.
Don’t look at him and Ning Cheng’s sincere yet insincere behaviour. The only reason he had not made any move against Ning Cheng was that he didn’t have enough strength to devour Ning Cheng. If he had enough power to eat Ning Cheng, he would have killed Ning Cheng a long time ago. But now an early-state Life and Death cultivator dared talk about throwing him out, why would he stay calm?
The middle-aged man on hearing Duan Gantai telling him to fuck off immediately turned furious. But before he could even do anything, he felt as if a block of ice had suddenly formed around him. He instantly understood that a powerful domain had sealed all of his movements, leaving him with no room to resist.
The middle-aged man immediately turned scared. Even when he faced Yue Chengfei, the early-stage Eternal-level expert of Yue Clan, he never felt such a level of suppression. From this, he understood that this person was much stronger than the Clan Head of Yue Clan, Yue Chengfei.
When Yue Clan decided to return to Striking Order Starry Sky, he had investigated everyone. The Striking Order Starry Sky only contained two powerhouses, Striking Order and Tang Yitang, but both should have already fallen. As long as they did not touch the Mysterious Yellow Celestial River, they could take control of the entire starry sky without any issues.
The Mysterious Yellow Celestial River had the power to take over Striking Order Starry Sky. But from his investigations, the owner of Mysterious Yellow Celestial River didn’t have any intentions towards Striking Order Starry Sky.
“Slap….” Before the middle-aged man recovered, Duan Gantai’s slap landed on his face. The middle-aged man flew back like a broken kite. Duan Gantai’s slap not only knocked him away, but it also forced him to spill blood and teeth along the way.
After the middle-aged man landed on the street outside the rest stop, the rest stop’s entrance finally crumbled, a delayed reaction to Duan Gantai slapping the middle-aged man.
“Just a small fry and yet daring to throw out Brother Ning and me. Brother Ning, please come this way, I have something important to discuss with you.” After Duan Gantai slapped away the middle-aged man, he then reached out to Ning Cheng. He even treated the rest stop as if it was his family home.
Ning Cheng sneered in his heart. Duan Gantai currently seemed less afraid of him and even less polite. From this, he understood that this fellow had already reached the full-circle of Life and Death Realm. As such, this fellow stopped treating him as people on the same level.
However, he wasn’t in any mood to talk with Duan Gantai right now. He had just heard the middle-aged man mention Yue Clan. It had reminded him of Yue Clan snatching Qionghua’s 5-element Falling Treasure Copper Coin and forcing Qionghua to enter the cycle of reincarnation. If these two came here representing Yue Clan, they better not blame him for taking revenge.
“Brother Duan can leave first. I still have a few things to attend.” Ning Cheng said while walking out of the rest stop.
Duan Gantai smiled, “Brother Ning, please don’t hurry out if it’s nothing urgent….”
While talking, Duan Gantai tried to grab Ning Cheng’s shoulder. At the same time, he also pressed down with his domain. Even Aunt Xu, who stood next to Ning Cheng, ended up in within the area of effect of this domain. She felt as if someone had suddenly taken away her ability to breathe, and subconsciously took several steps back. Fortunately, she wasn’t the target of this domain; otherwise, she couldn’t have taken even a step back, becoming Duan Gantai’s lamb for slaughter.
But just this brush with death terrified Aunt Xu to her core. What was the origin of this person whom Ning Cheng called a Brother Duan? How was he so powerful?
Ning Cheng didn’t bother to look at Duan Gantai. But when Duan Gantai reached out his hand and pressed down with his domain, Ning Cheng also stretched back his hand and unleashed his Celestial River Domain.
In any case, it’s not that he didn’t have the confidence to kill Duan Gantai, he just didn’t want to deal with Duan Gantai right now. But since Duan Gantai dared to stop him from asking about Yue Clan, it would be strange if Ning Cheng didn’t retaliate.
“KaKaKaKa….” The Celestial River Domain was so powerful that Duan Gantai could hear his domain cracking apart.
Although Duan Gantai had confidence in his domain’s power, Ning Cheng’s domain crushed his in strength. Not only did Ning Cheng’s domain break Duan Gantai’s domain, it even partially affected him.
“Bang….” The moment Duan Gantai’s domain cracked open, his and Ning Cheng’s celestial essence palmprint collided.
The terrifying spacial suppression immediately sullied and deflated Duan Gantai’s mood. Although the two were only probing each other and hadn’t officially started to fight for real, Duan Gantai understood that he had lost. Even after advancing to the full-circle of Life and Death Realm, he still was not an opponent for Ning Cheng.
“Boom….” All the chairs between the two turned to nothingness when the domains collided. If they had not controlled the strength of their domains, even if they didn’t go at each other at full power, the street would have also turned to nothingness.
Duan Gantai stood there with a pale face, while his heart kept thundering. He knew that he hadn’t used his full power, but he knew that Ning Cheng had also not tried his best. Without advancing to the Eternal Realm, he understood that he could never hope to win against Ning Cheng. That was the conclusion he came up with after the exchange.
“Looks like Brother Ning’s cultivation took another step forward. This little brother admires you a lot. This little brother’s cultivation had improved a bit, so I wanted to try out my domain on Brother Ning. This little brother didn’t realise till now that this little brother was only a frog sitting at the bottom of a well watching the sky above. It looks like this little brother fails at life. Compared to Brother Ning, this little brother is just too far away, too far.”
Duan Gantai forcibly calmed himself and complimented Ning Cheng with polite words and cupped fists. He even exaggerated the differences in strength between him and Ning Cheng. Even his attitude had changed as if the person who showed such rudeness to Ning Cheng wasn’t him but someone else entirely.
