t
With Qiao Jierui wanting to kill Ning Cheng, Ning Cheng’s killing intent towards Qiao Jierui also grew stronger with each passing moment. Even more so now when Qiao Jierui dared to stop him when he was in a hurry to find Yan Ji.
Seeing Ning Cheng thrust out his long spear once again, Qiao Jierui knew that this fellow wanted to cast Sunset’s Twilight and felt slightly relieved. His eyes even showed a hint of sarcasm. The same spirit technique couldn’t do much harm to him the last time, yet this fellow wanted to use the same spirit technique once again. From the looks of it, this bastard didn’t have any other tricks up his sleeve.
Qiao Jierui felt relieved and thought that he felt anxious for no reason at all. But he still raised his hand and waved it, causing a wave of black-coloured haze to spread out. The Five-coloured Myriad Connecting Banner once again dispersed into five colours. As these five colours expanded rapidly, they once again formed a five-coloured space. Only this time, the five-coloured space did not restrain Ning Cheng. Rather, it only had enough space inside for two men to fight; at the same time, it prevented Ning Cheng from escaping.
The black haze Qiao Jierui that spread out quickly seeped into this five-coloured space and started dividing and condensing itself. One point, two points, three points, four points … in just a blink of an eye, the haze condensed into dense clusters of black spots.
As more and more block spots condensed from the black haze, it then automatically spread out around him and sealed off all the escape routes. Ning Cheng suddenly felt a burst of crisis for no reason at all.
The black spots, as if alive, buzzed and pounced on Ning Cheng. Ning Cheng managed to fend them off. But every contact with it would immediately produce a corrosive hissing-like sound.
At this moment, Ning Cheng not only felt a life and death crisis looming over, but even his scalp started to tingle with numbness. The many black spots, like a swarm of endless bugs, kept rushing towards him, utterly ignoring his domain. If these black spots wrapped him up, wouldn’t they even nibble away his bones without leaving any slag behind?
Ning Cheng decided to cast the Time Wheel. But just when he almost finished the hand motion, he felt a powerful battle intent coming from the Underworld Crow Ghost Rattan King.
Ning Cheng felt his heart move and with a wave brought out the Underworld Crow Ghost Rattan.
The moment Ning Cheng brought out the Underworld Crow Ghost Rattan King; it immediately spread out. Just the opposite of how the black haze spilt and condensed into black spots, the Underworld Crow Ghost Rattan King’s rattan vines kept growing more and more branches. As numerous branches emerged from the central rattan veins, even more branches quickly came out of those branches. In just a blink of the eye, branches spread throughout the sealed space.
The seemingly endless black spots formed by the black haze, just like moths flying into the fire, all gravitated towards the Underworld Crow Ghost Rattan King’s rattan veins. Some of the bigger black spots seemed to have spiritual wisdom. They wanted to avoid the Underworld Crow Ghost Rattan’s rattan veins as much as possible. But the Underworld Crow Ghost Rattan King’s branches quickly rushed up and swept away these black spots.
Ning Cheng breathed in a sigh of relief. He felt sure that this was a devil technique cultivated by Qiao Jierui. Looking at the situation, the newly-advanced Underworld Crow Ghost Rattan King was the bane of this devil technique, which put Qiao Jierui in a dangerous spot.
With Qiao Jierui still in shock, Ning Cheng used this opportunity to unleash Sunset’s Twilight at its full power. ‘Time’ came to a stop once again, forcing the surroundings to stagnate to a standstill.
Qiao Jierui suddenly shouted, but just when he broke free from Sunset’s Twilight, he saw an ancient trail at the end of the sunset. He unconsciously took a step and appeared on this old road.
The ancient trail looked long, with gusts of wind rolling in the sand. One could only vaguely see the old path beneath their feet.
Within the gaps of the billowing yellow sand, he saw the scene of him breaking up with his lover before starting on the path of cultivation. Across the yellow sands, his lover stared red-eyed at him, calling him out to not leave her again.
A kind of deep sorrow and sadness filled his body and mind. This kind of nostalgia made it hard for him to choose. At this moment, even heaven and earth looked sad; at this moment, even his heart turned grey. Should he decide to stay, or should he once again leave?
Before the ancient road, the west wind blows, the wild sand rages; in front of the skinny horse, a lover, a village…
The skinny horse beside him neighed as if telling him that he should go. Telling him that he should seek out the bigger world, telling him that this was just one stop in his life, telling him that he should strengthen his heart.
The yellow sand once again blew by and seemed to take away the distant silhouette of his lover. He wished to catch up to her, to stop her. But his heart was as hard as iron, and he resolutely turned around.
An ice-cold chill suddenly burst out from the deepest part of his heart. In just an instant, this ice-cold chill filled his body and mind. Everything in front of him suddenly disappeared without a trace.
A deathly aura started to creep into the depths of his spiritual soul. Sensing that, Qiao Jierui felt ice-cold all over. He didn’t even think about it and crazily started burning his life essence to twist his body forcibly.
Just the moment Qiao Jierui sobered up and burned his life essence to twist his body, Ning Cheng’s long spear struck Qiao Jierui’s left chest.
“Poof!” Blood mist immediately exploded, and Ning Cheng saw Qiao Jierui turn into a black light that disappeared into the distance without even a trace left behind.
Ning Cheng almost immediately fell onto the Underworld Crow Ghost Rattan King and spat out a mouthful of blood. Qiao Jierui was just too powerful. Not only was he powerful, but he even had a very firm heart. Despite using his Sunset’s Twilight and None-to-depend-on Spirit Technique, he couldn’t kill this person, and only managed to sever his arm.
Yet, using that combination of spirit techniques on Qiao Jierui had almost exhausted him to the limit. Fortunately, Qiao Jierui also suffered a severe injury and decided to escape immediately. If he had not escaped, Ning Cheng would have had to sacrifice a lot today.
Scarfing down a few medicinal pills, Ning Cheng took in a deep breath. He knew that the stronger the opponent he faced, the more his spirit techniques would consume, especially for spirit techniques like None-to-depend-on. Moreover, the stronger one’s heart, the harder it would be to put into practice.
If it were a general late-stage Eternal cultivator, the combination of Sunset’s Twilight and None-to-depend-on Spirit Techniques would have killed them on the spot. Moreover, he wouldn’t have suffered any backlash.
But Qiao Jierui wasn’t an ordinary cultivator. However, Ning Cheng also knew that as long as Qiao Jierui didn’t reach Dao Confirming Realm, Qiao Jierui was at most on par with the current him. Once he advanced to the Eternal Realm, Qiao Jierui wouldn’t have any other option but to look at him from a distance.
……
Qiao Jierui didn’t know about Ning Cheng’s exhaustion. Rather, even if he knew about, he didn’t dare to risk staying back and killing Ning Cheng. As things reached this point, he regretted stopping Ning Cheng.
He didn’t expect that Ning Cheng would make such terrifying progress in cultivation, reaching this level of power in just a few years. No wonder Chuan Xinlou didn’t try to force Ning Cheng. His current cultivation wasn’t any weaker compared to before Chuan Xinlou reached Dao Confirming Realm. Qiao Jierui sighed to himself and understood that his vision couldn’t compare to Chuan Xinlou.
If not for his firm heart, the bewilderment produced by that spirit technique would have already claimed Qiao Jierui’s life. If that had happened, the universe would no longer have a person named Qiao Jierui.
……
Ning Cheng had no intention of chasing Qiao Jierui. He wanted to hurry back, but before he could bring out the Starry Sky Wheel again, a burst of thunder erupted in the starry sky above him.
Ning Cheng had not surmounted tribulation once or twice in his lifetime, so he naturally knew what this phenomenon meant. It was a thunder tribulation.
Thunder Tribulation? Ning Cheng frowned as he looked up at the starry sky. He couldn’t understand why this thunder tribulation had descended. Was it for him? He still hadn’t reached anywhere close to the Eternal Realm. In fact, he was still a step away from the Eternal Realm. So, this thunder tribulation didn’t make any sense at all.
Ning Cheng didn’t feel any fear in facing thunder tribulation. Rather, he thought that trying to surmount this tribulation was only a waste of time at this moment.
But just then, the Underworld Crow Ghost Rattan King suddenly sent a message, which immediately moved Ning Cheng. Ning Cheng quickly understood that this thunder tribulation was for the Underworld Crow Ghost Rattan King.
Despite Ning Cheng’s anxiety, Ning Cheng had no choice but to wait till the Underworld Crow Ghost Rattan King surmounted the tribulation.
Nine traces of lightning arcs suddenly streaked down, forcing the Underworld Crow Ghost Rattan King to gather its scattered rattan veins quickly. In just a blink of an eye, it transformed into nine thick rattan veins that rose to face the nine streaks of lightning arcs.
A burst of pungent odour emerged, and Ning Cheng understood that this was the result of lightning arcs charring the surface of the Underworld Crow Ghost Rattan King’s rattan veins.
But despite knowing that the Underworld Crow Ghost Rattan King suffered a loss, Ning Cheng did not intend to interfere. For any creature, surmounting tribulations was a manifestation of progressing strength. If he tried to interfere, it could severely affect the Underworld Crow Ghost Rattan King.
Fortunately, the Underworld Crow Ghost Rattan King did not disappoint Ning Cheng. Even if the arcs scorched the rattan veins, it regenerated and banded together quickly to face the tribulation lightning’s onslaught.
The Underworld Crow Ghost Rattan King and Ning Cheng shared a connection. Therefore, Ning Cheng had a clear idea about the injuries suffered by the Underworld Crow Ghost Rattan King. But at the same time, he also felt the aura of the Underworld Crow Ghost Rattan King growing stronger with each passing moment.
Thunder tribulation arcs descended on it one after another, and even Ning Cheng had to admire the tenacity shown by the Underworld Crow Ghost Rattan King. These thunder tribulation arcs weren’t much for him. But for the Underworld Crow Ghost Rattan King, every lightning arc represented a fatal strike.
“Boom-Boom-Boom….” After the last few thunder tribulation arcs descended, a Spiritual Qi Cloud formed in the starry sky above it. Underworld Crow Ghost Rattan King’s rattan veins crazily stretched out and quickly absorbed the Spiritual Qi from the colourful clouds.
After another hour, the Underworld Crow Ghost Rattan King’s aura grew even more powerful. Suddenly, a clear voice appeared in Ning Cheng’s consciousness. “Master, I’ve succeeded in surmounting the tribulation. I can now completely break away from the True Spirit World, and can also transform into a single rattan…”
Master? Ning Cheng froze for a moment. But he quickly understood what was going on. It looks like this Underworld Crow Ghost Rattan King picked up a few things from that stupid bull.
“Turn back into a rattan. You’ve wasted a few hours while surmounting the tribulation, so hurry up and return.” Ning Cheng nodded.
As soon as Ning Cheng finished, the Underworld Crow Ghost Rattan King’s rattan vines that covered the starry sky disappeared instantly. A moment later, a black light landed on Ning Cheng’s wrist. Ning Cheng looked at his wrist and carefully looked at the faint black mark.
“Is this what remains of Qiao Jierui’s black mist?” After Ning Cheng brought out the Starry Sky Wheel, he couldn’t help but ask the Underworld Crow Ghost Rattan King.
Underworld Crow Ghost Rattan King’s voice emerged, “Replying to master, that was an Underworld Devil Corpse Mist Worm and a mighty one at that. The Underworld Devil Corpse Mist Worm will devour any living being that wanders into its path; even an essence spirit cannot survive it. But it suffered bad luck in meeting me. The last thing I’m afraid of are beings of the underworld. For me, they’re nothing but excellent tonics.”
Ning Cheng felt his heart move. The Underworld Crow Ghost Rattan King wasn’t afraid of any beings from the underworld. Then didn’t it mean that he would have a powerful assistant when he went to the Ancient Shadow Temple later?
Ning Cheng didn’t ask the Underworld Crow Ghost Rattan King about this matter. Rather, he decided to wait until he went to the Ancient Shadow Temple. Right now, he hasn’t even reached the Eternal Realm, so visiting the Ancient Shadow Temple was still too early.
“Master, you must remain careful about the Underworld Devil Corpse Mist Worms. That Underworld Devil Corpse Mist Worm hadn’t evolved yet, so it didn’t pose much danger. But if I hadn’t advanced at the right time, even I couldn’t have devoured those insects.” Underworld Crow Ghost Rattan King reminded Ning Cheng.
Ning Cheng gave a retort, “If I hadn’t bought the Wood Origin Crystal before, would you have advanced this quickly? Could you have gotten rid of those Underworld Devil Corpse Mist Worm before you advanced?”
The Underworld Crow Ghost Rattan King spoke up with some embarrassment, “Master, I couldn’t have devoured those Underworld Devil Corpse Mist Worms before I advanced.”
Ning Cheng couldn’t help but feel a little gloomy after experiencing such a narrow escape. He had purchased a Wood Origin Crystal by chance. If he had not given it the crystal and had it not successfully advanced, he most likely would have suffered severe injuries or even death. If not for that stroke of providence, in his and Qiao Jierui’s battle, Ning Cheng would have been the one who would have had to escape, not Qiao Jierui. As for the Five-coloured Star Splitter Arrow, that was his ultimate trump card. He wouldn’t take it out unless he didn’t have any other options.
