A month later, Ning Cheng breathed in a sigh of relief in a remote uninhabited planet within the Devil Domain Grand Starry Sky and slowly opened his eyes.
His face still looked a bit pale, and even after a month of healing, he still hadn’t fully recovered. His Sea of Consciousness, even now, ached with pain. After experiencing that fight, Ning Cheng also developed a slight fear towards using that arrow.
Fortunately, he didn’t use the Five-coloured Star Splitter Arrow in the Life and Death Realm. Otherwise, it might have turned him into a dried husk, and even his Starry Sky Body would have collapsed. Even after advancing to the Eternal Realm, using that arrow sill caused significant damage to his Sea of Consciousness.
The Five-coloured Star Splitter Arrow, truly an object that no ordinary cultivator could use. That broken planet served as a barrier to block the Five-coloured Star Splitter Arrow’s killing intent. Otherwise, even if the killing intent had weakened considerably over the countless years, he couldn’t have refined it. Even so, Ning Cheng now felt it a bit strange that he had managed to refine the Five-coloured Star Splitter Arrow quickly back then.
Regardless, Ning Cheng took out the Wood Origin Bead’s jade box and opened it while continuing to heal his injuries. Sensing the vibrant Wood Origin Aura coming from it, Ning Cheng felt happy. The risk he took finally paid off. Unfortunately, this Wood Origin Bead was just as Shui Wuchang said, only a broken bead. But fortunately, it was more than half a bead.
If it were the whole Wood Origin Bead, Ning Cheng wouldn’t hesitate to send this Origin Bead into the Mysterious Yellow Bead. That way, it would complete his Mysterious Yellow Bead. But with only half of a Wood Origin Bead, Ning Cheng hesitated for a long time. In the end, he decided not to send it in.
He worried that once he threw in the broken Wood Origin Bead, not only would it not have much effect, but it would dissipate entirely. If that were the case, then he would suffer a significant loss. Even if he found the other half of the Wood Origin Bead in the future, he wouldn’t be able to complete the Mysterious Yellow Bead. It was an outcome utterly unacceptable to Ning Cheng.
Ning Cheng carefully put away the Wood Origin Bead inside the box and put in more restrictions to seal it completely. He wanted to find out if he could still find the other half of the Wood Origin bead. Only when he could not find it would he risk fusing the broken Wood Origin Bead into his Mysterious Yellow Bead.
The red-haired man with a flat nose had a lot of things inside his ring, but Ning Cheng could only obtain a limited fraction of it. In addition to the Wood Origin Bead, he had also moved a bunch of Permanent Essence Pills and several other rings.
Ning Cheng carefully opened these rings one by one but found most of them empty. Most likely, the red-haired male cultivator had already sorted through the stuff inside these rings.
But to Ning Cheng’s surprise, he still found two rings full of things.
One of the rings contained nearly forty to fifty Star Veins, as well as hundreds of millions of Permanent Essence Pills, lots of starry sky spirit grasses and even raw materials for artefact crafting and array formations. Although the other ring too contained similar items, it couldn’t compare to this ring.
Combined with the Permanent Essence Pills taken from the red-haired man’s ring, Ning Cheng now had a sizable chunk of cultivation resources for himself. This time around, Ning Cheng had eighty Star Veins, 150 million Permanent Essence Pills, along with piles of starry sky spirit grasses and tons of artefact crafting raw materials. As for medicinal pills, Ning Cheng mostly ignored them. As a premier Pill Emperor, why would he care much about these medicinal pills?
Ning Cheng quickly understood from where these rings came. One was from Yi Cang, the owner of Ash Pagoda Chamber of Commerce, and the other one belonged to Zeng Tajiang, the Vice-President of Ash Pagoda Chamber of Commerce.
The red-haired man had snatched the rings from these two men, but before he could sort through them, he met Ning Cheng and the others.
Ning Cheng sighed. It took a lot of effort and involved a lot of risks, he even nearly lost his life, but fortunately, he also gained a lot. He had never obtained such a huge windfall before today.
He looked at the now-quiet Five-coloured Star Splitter Arrow on his wrist and the soon-to-be-promoted Twin Wings of the Heavenly Cloud. Sensing both of them, Ning Cheng finally felt that he now had some capital to stand within the starry skies.
Another half a month later, Ning Cheng brought out the Starry Sky Wheel and returned to Silent Bubble Starland. Although he still looked a bit pale, he had recovered 90% of his strength. As for the rest, it needed a bit more time.
……
As soon as Ning Cheng returned, he went to the City Master’s Mansion in Returning Capital City. After more than a month, the City Master’s Mansion, which had turned into dust, had risen once again. But Ning Cheng did not find Chuan Xinlou, Qiao Jierui and the others within. However, he sensed Shui Wuchang still here through his spiritual consciousness.
Sensing someone touching the restriction on the door, Shui Wuchang immediately started to panic and quickly stood up. Since knowing that the red-haired man had come here to kill her, she passed each day on the edge of her sanity.
But when she saw Ning Cheng standing at the door through the restriction, she immediately opened the restriction and almost broke down, “Senior Apprentice Brother Ning, it’s you……”
Her surprise wasn’t fake but came from the bottom of her heart. If that red-haired man had returned, she would have no choice but to wait for her death or commit suicide.
Ning Cheng entered Shui Wuchang’s room and helped Shui Wuchang re-activate the restriction before speaking. “Yes, it’s me. How come I don’t see Chuan Xinlou and the others?”
Shui Wuchang breathed in a sigh of relief and said, “Levelled Heart Heavenly Emperor and the others waited for you. But since they received no news about you for more than a month and a half, they decided to leave Returning Capital City together. If I guessed it right, they should have gone to Mysterious Yellow Starland.”
It was precisely the departure of the four Heavenly Emperors from Silent Bubble Starland that frightened Shui Wuchang so much. In this place, she had no protection without them. If it weren’t for the expectation that Ning Cheng might return, she would have already left this place secretly.
“Senior Apprentice Brother Ning, did you chase after that red-haired cultivator?” Shui Wuchang could see Ning Cheng’s slightly pale face. Moreover, since it took so long for Ning Cheng to return to Silent Bubble Starland, she even suspected that Ning Cheng suffered some severe injuries.
Ning Cheng also noticed Shui Wuchang’s worry and nodded, “Yes, I did chase after that fellow.”
After hesitating for a while, Ning Cheng still said, “Don’t worry too much, I already killed that bastard.”
The only reason he had said those words to her was that it was Shui Wuchang who gave him the news about the Wood Origin Bead after coming to this place. Regardless of his previous relationship with Shui Wuchang, it was all in the past. At least for now, he and Shui Wuchang were still friends. With Shui Wuchang risking her life to tell him that information, it would not sit right with him to withhold this information from Shui Wuchang.
Shui Wuchang wondered how Ning Cheng escaped from that red-haired man, but she suddenly felt shocked when she heard Ning Cheng say that he killed that red-haired man. Her mouth opened in surprise, and she even subconsciously covered it with her hands. She couldn’t believe what she just heard.
She understood that Ning Cheng was a mighty person. If Ning Cheng didn’t have the strength, then Chuan Xinlou and Qiao Jierui wouldn’t have feared him. Moreover, without enough power, Ning Cheng couldn’t have blown away the Third Island Master of Spirit Devil Island with a single punch.
But no matter how powerful Ning Cheng was, there had to be a bottom line. That red-haired man was a mighty individual, something she had confirmed personally. How could Ning Cheng kill that red-haired man? Didn’t this mean that Ning Cheng surpassed all her expectations of power? Moreover, Chuan Xinlou, who supposedly was the most powerful of the four Heavenly Emperor, might also not compare to this man standing in front of her.
Ning Cheng interrupted Shui Wuchang’s thoughts, “Fairy Wuchang….”
“Senior Apprentice Brother Ning, just call me Wuchang from now on.” Shui Wuchang finally recovered and looked at Ning Cheng before speaking with a severe tone.
“Okay, Wuchang. Although Levelled Heart Heavenly Emperor and others went to Mysterious Yellow Starland, I’m not too optimistic about them. I plan to head to the Mysterious Yellow Starland now. Since you helped me and I know your father, I will help you pay attention to any relating to him.” Ning Cheng, seeing Chuan Xinlou and others had already left, also decided to head there alone.
The reason he didn’t feel too optimistic about Chuan Xinlou and the others was that he had personally experienced that red-haired man’s strength. If a few more similarly powerful people appeared on the Mysterious Yellow Starland, then it would be a miracle if even one could escape. However, he had to go there; otherwise, he would never be able to repay that giant for saving his life.
“Senior Apprentice Brother Ning, I will come with you. I have some means of escape. I promise that I won’t drag you back.” Shui Wuchang said with a firm tone.
Ning Cheng originally wanted Shui Wuchang to stay, but now that Shui Wuchang insisted on going with him, he didn’t say no to it. After all, he had to go back to pick up Shen Mengyan anyway, and Shen Mengyan had similar cultivation to Shui Wuchang.
“Wuchang, I obtained that half of Wood Origin Bead thanks to you. So, I hope you can accept this ring as a reward. Also, I hope that you wouldn’t talk about the Wood Origin Bead with anyone else.” Ning Cheng took out a ring and handed it to Shui Wuchang.
Shui Wuchang naturally knew what Ning Cheng meant. She quickly took the ring and said, “Senior Apprentice Brother Ning, don’t worry. If Senior Apprentice Brother Ning hadn’t helped me back then, I’m afraid I would have died at that person’s hands. No matter what happens, I won’t tell anyone else about it.”
Shui Wuchang accepted Ning Cheng’s ring only to let him feel at ease. But when her spiritual consciousness swept through the ring, she almost screamed. Inside, she saw tens of millions of Permanent Essence Pills and a bunch of cultivation-related medicinal pills.
“I can’t accept so many things.” Shui Wuchang looked at the things inside with a longing gaze. She felt that she didn’t deserve this much of a reward, but she also didn’t want to part with it. She had only provided a piece of information. If she truly accepted so many things, she felt afraid that Ning Cheng would look at her differently.
She was about to return the ring to Ning Cheng, but when she saw Ning Cheng smile, she stopped. “Since I can give you these many things, then it shows that I can give it away. Not to mention about those things, even if I gave you several times more, as long as I can find the other half of the Wood Origin Bead, I would give it away willingly.”
Ning Cheng didn’t joke about this. If it weren’t for Shui Wuchang’s reminder, he might have missed the Wood Origin Bead.
……
After half a month, Ning Cheng returned to Stately River Star and told Ji Luofei, Ning Ruolan, Cang Caihe and the others about his trip to Mysterious Yellow Starland. With that, he then left Stately River Star with Shen Mengyan and Shui Wuchang.
Both Ning Ruolan and Ji Luofei knew that their strength wasn’t enough, plus Ning Cheng had brought back so many cultivation resources. Therefore, the only thing they needed to concentrate on was to work hard on their cultivations in seclusion.
……
With the Starry Sky Wheel’s speed, the Mysterious Yellow Starland appeared within the range of spiritual consciousness in less than half a month.
“How could it be like this?” Shui Wuchang murmured while standing on the deck of the Starry Sky Wheel, looking at a huge starland in front of her.
Not to mention Shui Wuchang, even Ning Cheng couldn’t believe it. He had been to the Mysterious Yellow Starland once before. Back then, Ning Cheng could still see layers of greenery while entering the Mysterious Yellow Starland. It had only been a few years since then. Yet, now he couldn’t even see a single patch of greenery within the Mysterious Yellow Starland. It even gave off a death-like grey aura.
It reminded Ning Cheng of Sacred Light Mountain in Mysterious Yellow Starland. When he first saw the Sacred Light Mountain, he felt the same death-like aura coming from it. However, the Sacred Light Mountain did not have any grass, nor did it give off such dense death-like grey aura that appeared in front of him.
The Starry Sky Wheel stopped outside the Mysterious Yellow Starland, and Ning Cheng stared at it for a long time before suddenly speaking, “I understand.”
“What?” Shen Mengyan and Shui Wuchang asked at the same time. Shen Mengyan had never come to Mysterious Yellow Starland before, but even she understood that something was amiss.
Ning Cheng took a deep breath and slowly said, “Someone wants to refine the Mysterious Yellow Starland, and it’s not a normal refinement either.”
