After speaking, the middle-aged female cultivator took out several jade strips before raising one of them. “This is my Traceless Immortal Pond’s Traceless Gate Map. The numerous disciples of my Traceless Immortal Pond had created this map by trading their lives. It marks the position of the many pockets within the Traceless Gate. Everyone knows that once you enter the Traceless Gate, all positional diagrams and directional plates would lose their effects. But as long as you can get near to the locations marked in the jade strip in my hand, you’d be able to use it as a positional diagram. That way, you wouldn’t lose your way inside the Traceless Gate. The selling price of this positional diagram is 100,000 Permanent Essence Pills.”
Before Ning Cheng could even lament the steep price, the middle-aged female cultivator held up another jade strip. “This is the Traceless Gate’s Escape Jade Strip. Of course, this jade strip cannot guarantee an escape. But as long as you’re near the pockets marked in this jade strip, you can use the instructions on the jade strip to walk out of the Traceless Gate. Each jade strip costs 200,000 Permanent Essence Pills.”
“Also, some pockets within Traceless Gate have an abundance of Starry Sky Spirit Qi, and some even contain high-grade treasures. The best example is Heavenly Emperor Qiao Jierui’s Five-coloured Myriad Connecting Banner. Even Starry Sky Radish Grasses have appeared within the Traceless Gate. I also have a jade strip here, which can let you know about the approximate distribution of these pockets within the Traceless Gate. But unlike the positional diagrams, each jade strip costs 200,000 Permanent Essence Pills……”
Ning Cheng only now realised that compared to the previous 10,000 Permanent Essence Pills, the real income probably came from these sales.
“Give me one or each.” The late-stage Eternal cultivator immediately spoke up. He raised his hand and paid 500,000 Permanent Essence Pills, apparently a rich lord.
Ning Cheng noticed that the young female cultivator among the group of five also wanted to buy those jade strips. However, she quickly put down the idea. Presumably, she feared revealing her wealth. From this, Ning Cheng could tell that this young female cultivator had a very cautious heart.
One could consider half a million Permanent Essence Pills as a fortune even for an Eternal cultivator. However, it naturally didn’t mean much to Ning Cheng. He also took out half a million Permanent Essence Pills without hesitation and purchased the three jade strips.
Seeing Ning Cheng buy those jade strips, everyone in the guest hall looked at Ning Cheng with some confusion. In their view, Ning Cheng should be the poorest among the group. This person had even raised a fuss about a measly 100 Permanent Essence Pills and even called it out. Yet, this cultivator, who they considered the poorest, did not hesitate to take out half a million Permanent Essence Pills to purchase those three jade strips.
Because Ning Cheng displayed such a level of wealth, everyone immediately felt a bit wary about Ning Cheng. But they then discovered that Ning Cheng didn’t seem to have high cultivation, mostly because of the messy celestial wheel behind Ning Cheng. It didn’t seem to contain even the remotest hints of laws. It looked even worse than the only Heaven Seated cultivator within the group. Only by cultivating a low-level cultivation method would it form this kind of celestial wheel that lacked any laws.
But despite how Ning Cheng’s cultivation looked to others, no one in this room underestimated Ning Cheng. How could a cultivator who cultivated using a messy cultivation method come up with so many Permanent Essence Pills? Just using a fraction of those Permanent Essence Pills, he could have purchased a decent cultivation method. Most likely, this cultivator deliberately hid his cultivation from the eyes of others.
The middle-aged female cultivator put away the Permanent Essence Pills and spoke up with satisfaction. “Please follow me to the Traceless Gate.”
Ning Cheng and everyone else stood up. But unlike before, and because of Ning Cheng’s generous display of wealth, the five people’s spiritual consciousness remained on him for a long time.
The middle-aged female cultivator did not bring out any flight-type weapon. Instead, she took the six people onto a long suspended chain. This chain only had a thickness of a thumb, but it remained suspended in the air, reaching into the white clouds above.
Those who came here were all top-grade cultivators. Therefore, not to mention this suspended chain, even without a chain, no one would have cared even if they had to walk on the void to reach their destination.
However, after a couple of people started walking on the chain, they all understood why there was a chain here. Stepping onto this chain, one would feel a strong gravitational pull that pulled one to the bottom. At the same time, the chain and the pulling force also suppressed one’s spirit consciousness.
Ning Cheng had a Starry Sky Sea of Consciousness, several times more powerful compared to an ordinary one. Therefore, he didn’t care much about this kind of Spiritual Consciousness Suppression. As long as Ning Cheng wanted, his spiritual consciousness could easily break past the surrounding spacial suppression at any time. He could even bring out a flight-type weapon or even use his celestial essence instead of spiritual consciousness to walk on the void to leave this area. Even if his spiritual consciousness couldn’t break free, or even stretch out, he could still activate the Twin Wings of the Heavenly Clouds to move away.
The others also felt the suppression of their spiritual consciousnesses, and their complexions suddenly changed. For a Heaven Seated cultivator, even if they couldn’t use their spiritual consciousness, they simply wouldn’t fall to their deaths. However, this situation went beyond everyone else’s expectations.
The group followed the middle-aged female cultivator with caution for nearly an incense stick worth of time before arriving at a huge stone platform less than ten feet in radius. The platform had a circular gate opposite to them that looked like the shiny surface of a soap bubble. One could see three characters ‘Traceless Gate’ floating just above this soap bubble-like gate.
The middle-aged female cultivator stopped and said, “That’s the Traceless Gate. Good luck to all of you.”
After speaking, the middle-aged female cultivator turned around and left, disappearing at the end of another chain in an instant. Stepping onto the platform, everyone found their spiritual consciousness and celestial essence restored completely. It also caused the alertness of the group to dim down suddenly.
“Friend, I’m willing to give you 100,000 Permanent Essence Pills, as long as you make a copy of those three jade strips.” The middle-aged woman had just left, when the other Eternal cultivator spoke to Ning Cheng with cupped fists.
But before Ning Cheng could answer, the late-stage Eternal cultivator, who bought the three jade strips just like Ning Cheng, immediately replied. “He can’t copy it for you. There is a restriction sealing these jade strips. Once anyone tries to copy it, the jade strip will immediately break. Moreover, even if it doesn’t break, the restrictions on the jade strip also prevent replication. Unless you’re a top-class Array Master, don’t even think of successfully replicating it.”
The late-stage Eternal cultivator spoke correctly. Ning Cheng had already noticed that these three jade strips indeed had quite a few restrictions. However, these restrictions didn’t mean anything to him. If he wanted to make a copy, he could do so without even triggering the restrictions. However, Ning Cheng had no intention of making any copies. It pertained to the business methods of Traceless Immortal Pond. Copying the jade strips would mean destroying the market and encouraging piracy. Moreover, Ning Cheng truly wouldn’t bother to copy these jade strips for some Permanent Essence Pills.
The others immediately felt disappointed on hearing the late-stage Eternal cultivator’s words. However, Ning Cheng suddenly asked out of lingering suspicion, “Didn’t you inquire about the Traceless Gate before coming here? Haven’t you heard nothing about the Traceless Immortal Pond selling jade strips? Or does the Traceless Immortal Pond truly doesn’t allow others to re-carve jade strips for sale?”
Ning Cheng couldn’t understand this point. Supposedly, nearly 100,000 cultivators have come out of the Traceless Gate. So, how come there wasn’t even one person among them who re-carved jade strips to sell?
Setting aside copying the jade strips, one could always imprint their impressions on a fresh jade strip. As long as you remember and recall your experience clearly, one could easily engrave it on a jade strip after coming out in the future.
“I’ve heard about the Traceless Immortal Pond having a sky-high value attached to their jade strips. But I’ve never heard of anyone selling such jade strips outside of this place. As for the Traceless Immortal Pond not allowing the re-imprinting of such jade strips, I don’t think they could implement such a thing? But still, I haven’t heard anything about it. Besides, they didn’t say that you aren’t allowed to re-imprint fresh jade strips from memory. If I’m not wrong, I think they already know or are confident enough that no one can re-imprint their jade strips. Either that or these jade strips never came out of this place.” The Heaven Seated cultivator concluded with a frown.
When the Heaven Seated cultivator finished speaking, her frown immediately deepened. She also started to feel something wrong with it. Previously, she didn’t care much about it, so she didn’t feel anything strange about it all. But now that she spoke specifically about it, it immediately felt weird. The others also felt it a little odd, but Ning Cheng felt something even sinister.
The jade strips didn’t flow out. It only had one reason. That is, none of the cultivators who purchased the jade strips could get out of the Traceless Gate or the Traceless Immortal Pond. Otherwise, even if one person who bought those jade strips walked out of the sect, the contents of the jade strip would leak out eventually. Even if one couldn’t copy it, one could still recreate a copy according to one’s memory.
Such expensive jade strips, yet no one did such a thing. It truly felt strange.
Moreover, according to reason, a person who purchased those jade strips would have a higher chance of survival. So, why couldn’t they come out?
The only explanation was that someone hunted down those cultivators who purchased the jade strips. Even if they somehow managed to come out, they would die regardless. Most likely, even those cultivators who did not buy the jade strips would die after coming out of the Traceless Gate just to keep their lips sealed.
If that were true, then the few people here wouldn’t have a happy ending in the future.
The late-stage Eternal cultivator’s expressions immediately changed after figuring out the matter. He stopped talking, turned around and entered the soap bubble-like Traceless Gate. It looks like he understood that the only way to survive was to become as strong as possible.
With the late-stage Eternal cultivator taking the lead, the others also stepped through the gate one after another. Everyone thought pretty much the same thing, and in just a short while, Ning Cheng was the only one left standing on the platform.
Ning Cheng’s spiritual consciousness had already noticed the monitoring arrays. But he still entered the Traceless Gate with a cold smile, no wonder the Traceless Immortal Pond had so much wealth. It was nothing more than a black shop. They already understood that anyone who could buy those jade strips with Permanent Essence Pills was a wealthy cultivator. The Traceless Immortal Pond would immediately mark these wealthy cultivators and hunt them down the moment they stepped out of the gate. In the end, the wealth of these cultivators would then change hands to become the wealth of the Traceless Immortal Pond.
Ning Cheng even suspected that the places marked on the jade strips were traps set up by the Traceless Immortal Pond. As long as someone went there, they would likely fall into the hands of Traceless Immortal Pond.
Whether or not Traceless Immortal Pond did such a thing, it didn’t matter to him. If they dared to have any ideas over his head, he wouldn’t mind shoveling this Traceless Immortal Pond to the ground.
