Immersed in this pleasant feeling, Ning Cheng didn’t even know how many steps he had taken. However, when he stopped, he appeared in front of a spring less than a foot away from him.
It looked like a hot spring with water vapour curling upwards from the surface. However, it contained an incredibly dense spirit aura that felt so pure and fresh that it even had a faint hint of a dao rhythm within it. It made perception much easier for people.
In the middle of the spring pool, there was a lotus-shaped meditation platform. However, this platform wasn’t in the pool; rather, it hovered slightly over the pool’s centre without touching the surface. Judging by the fluctuations and position, its primary function seemed to be condensing the vibrant spirit aura in this place.
Was this the premier spirit spring of the Extraterritorial Spirit Spring? Ning Cheng then looked at the spring in front of him with even more surprise. He could feel the seemingly endless spirit aura contained within it.
What an exceptional place. Ning Cheng couldn’t help but feel awe in his heart. However, he didn’t immediately rush onto the lotus platform to start cultivating. Instead, he swept out with his spiritual consciousness.
However, everything within the range of his spiritual consciousness appeared like a void devoid of everything. He didn’t find anything that could potentially obstruct him or even an end to this place. The only thing he could feel, apart from the void, was the spirit spring in front of him. Yet, he couldn’t even sense the slightest trace of this spirit spring’s source, of where it even originated.
Even though he didn’t feel the slightest aura of danger, Ning Cheng still decided to arrange protective formations around the spirit spring. Once Ning Cheng descended into deep cultivation, these defences would mean the difference between life and death for him.
A day later, Ning Cheng finally landed on the lotus flower-shaped platform suspended over the Extraterritorial Spirit Spring’s premier spirit spring. But, just when he landed, and before he even started cultivating, Ning Cheng had the illusion that his cultivation base had already begun to improve.
Ning Cheng took a deep breath, calmed himself down, and began to operate the Mysterious Yellow Formless after seating himself on the lotus flower-shaped platform.
The dense spirit aura from the spirit spring formed a spiral-shaped vortex above the spring pool. A moment later, this vortex completely enveloped Ning Cheng, obscuring him from sight.
Ning Cheng entered into a deep state of cultivation in just half an incense stick worth of time. At this moment, one couldn’t see any hint of movement within this space, except for the gentle ripples flowing on the surface of the spring pool. However, if someone was in this space, they would feel Ning Cheng’s cultivation rising rapidly.
……
Light travels like an arrow, while the sun and moon move like a shuttle[1].
More than a year had passed in the blink of an eye since the Grant Essence Great Meet. By this time, the Grand Essence Domain returned to its previous self. The Star Stepping Tower Master, who clashed with Barbarian Dragon Clan’s Dragon Emperor Man Huishan, didn’t appear in public after receiving ten bottles of mysterious pills. Yet, the Star Stepping Tower remained the number one inn in Heaven Essence Sacred City. At the same time, the Barbarian Dragon Clan also didn’t come up to look for trouble with the Star Stepping Tower.
Man Huishan, however, didn’t return to the Grand Essence Sea. Instead, he decided to stay in the Grand Essence Ruins.
It wasn’t until Man Huishan caught Lifeless Poison Hand, Ou Yandu, did he finally leave the Grand Essence Ruins. However, it also resulted in some strange rumours spreading out. People had eventually learned that the mission to capture Lifeless Poison Hand and Heartless Monk came from Grand Essence Sea’s Barbarian Dragon Clan. The Grand Essence Sea’s Barbarian Dragon Clan issued this mission because Lifeless Poisonhand and Heartless Monk had stolen a dao fruit tree from them.
Later, a rogue cultivator named Ning Cheng had purchased this dao fruit tree from them. Unfortunately, Lifeless Poisonhand and Heartless Monk assassinated Ning Cheng as he cultivated in seclusion in one of Grand Essence Ruins’ caves. Therefore, to retrieve this dao fruit tree, Holy Emperor Barbarian Dragon issued this mission personally to discover what happened to the dao fruit tree after Ning Cheng’s fall.
Rumours again emerged that Lifeless Poisonhand had died in the Grand Essence Sea after revealing that Ning Cheng had not died. But then, new whispers emerged. Heartless Monk and Lifeless Poisonhand had teamed up to assassinate Ning Cheng in his cave for a different reason. It wasn’t just for the dao fruit tree, but also a treasure much better than a dao fruit tree.
Unfortunately, the rogue cultivator named Ning Cheng had a cunning mind and managed to escape from the two men like a golden cicada shedding its skin.
When these rumours reached Man Huishan’s ears, he felt so angry and enraged that he almost wanted to massacre all the people in Grand Essence Ruins.
He wanted to capture Ning Cheng for the 5-coloured Star Splitting Arrow. However, only a handful of people knew about this matter, and all of them were under his control. Yet, now it has spread out into the whole world. From this, he guessed that this rumour didn’t originate from his Barbarian Dragon Clan but rather had come from Heartless Monk.
Heartless Monk wanted to distance himself from this matter when he realised that Barbarian Dragon Clan had captured Lifeless Poisonhand. He knew for sure that Lifeless Poisonhand wouldn’t get to live after revealing the truth. So the best way to get out of this situation was to pin everything on Ning Cheng naturally.
……
In the Grand Essence Ruins’ Quest Hall, a woman wearing green robes with her long hair pulled back into a starry sky female cultivator’s bun quietly walked in. She didn’t stop till she reached the mission booth for demonic beast inner cores. Upon arriving, she then took out a jade box and a silver quest card and handed them. “The task for Ice-cold Silver Rhinoceros’s inner core.”
“Okay, please wait a moment.” Immediately, the female cultivator at the task window spoke up with a soft voice and a smile on her face.
The green-robed female cultivator nodded and said nothing more. She stood there quietly; if anything, she appeared calm and unruffled. However, a few moments later, a conversation between a few rogue cultivators not far from her caught her attention.
“A treasure that caught the attention of the Dragon Emperor must be peerless, right? Why else would the Dragon Emperor go around looking for information about a rogue cultivator named Ning Cheng?”
“That might not be the case. Besides, the Dragon Emperor came here to inquire about a dao fruit tree. Ning Cheng is just a rogue cultivator, yet he dared to buy a dao fruit tree from Heartless Monk. It shows that he’s not an ordinary rogue cultivator.”
“What does it have anything to do with being a rogue cultivator? Even if Ning Cheng could scheme and escape unharmed under the joint sneak attack of Lifeless Poisonhand and Heartless Monk. It doesn’t mean he’s any different from other rogue cultivators.”
“Are you even listening to yourself? Would an ordinary cultivator have the capital to purchase something like a dao fruit tree? Purchase a spiritual consciousness cultivation method? Or even find so many chunks of Law Soil?”
……
The woman at the mission window eventually handed back the green-robed female cultivator’s silver quest card. “I’ve finished recording the task and transferred 3,200 points for it. Please check it.”
“Many thanks.” The green-robed female cultivator grabbed the silver quest card, and after hurriedly saying a word of thanks, turned around and left. It seemed that she didn’t care at all about verifying the points she had worked hard for over a month to earn.
“Several Senior Apprentice Brothers, can I have a moment of your time?” The green-robed female cultivator walked up to those gossipers and cupped her fists. “I couldn’t help but overhear you guys speaking about the Dragon Emperor capturing Lifeless Poisonhand. Did such a thing happen?”
The few cultivators, who were talking till now, immediately stopped at once. Besides, it was only a casual discussion, and usually, no one would bother to interrupt them. But now, someone interrupted them and even asked about verification. Since the matter involved the Dragon Emperor, this interruption immediately turned them cautious.
But then these people saw that the one who interrupted them was the green-robed female cultivator with a beautiful face covered with a warm smile. Combined with a cultivation level that didn’t seem to have reached the Eternal Realm, they couldn’t help but lower their guard.
A long-haired male cultivator among them nodded and said, “That’s right. The Dragon Emperor had indeed captured Lifeless Poisonhand. Have to say, the Dragon Emperor did a good thing for us rogue cultivators. You must have just returned from the Grand Essence Ruins; otherwise, you would have already known about this matter as it’s been quite a while since it happened.”
Although he answered the green-robed female cultivator’s words, he also intentionally slipped in a few boot-licking words for the Dragon Emperor. At the same time, his words also implied that they weren’t the only ones talking about it.
The green-robed female cultivator gave out a sigh, “Ah, I had planned to search for the whereabouts of Lifeless Poisonhand to earn some points.”
A thin male cultivator from the group laughed, “This junior apprentice sister, your cultivation level is a bit low to even think about attempting that task. I would sincerely suggest that you think of other ways to earn points. Why not team up with us to do a mission in the Grand Essence Ruins?”
“Haha…..” The other cultivators all burst out in laughter.
The green-robed female cultivator didn’t seem to care about the veiled insult and continued. “I heard that Ning Cheng is a rogue cultivator. But he doesn’t seem to be simple at all, as he managed to escape from the assassination attempt from Lifeless Poisonhand and Heartless Monk.”
“Simple enough to dare buy the Heartless Monk’s dao fruit tree? Simple enough to evade the Dragon Emperor’s full-strength search?”
The green-robed female cultivator felt slightly relieved in her heart but instead said, “If it were me, I would have fled deep into the Grand Essence Ruins.”
The skinny male cultivator spoke up without any concern, “That’s not necessarily true. If the Dragon Emperor targets you, you definitely won’t survive at the edge of the Grand Essence Ruins. But if you go to the depths of the Grand Essence Ruins, a rogue cultivator would only be walking to their death. I heard that a year ago, when the Grand Essence Great Meet’s finals were about to conclude, the Dragon Emperor had gone to the Heaven Essence Sacred City. I still wonder if it was because Ning Cheng had appeared in Heaven Essence Sacred City.”
The long-haired male cultivator shook his head, “I also heard about that incident. But why would the Dragon Emperor make a special trip for a rogue cultivator? I heard that he went to investigate a Pill Emperor by the name of Ji He. If I recall correctly, there were a few rumours that the Pill Emperor had something to do with the death of the Ninth Prince. By the way, now that I think about it, that Pill Emperor was also a rogue cultivator.”
“So that’s how it is; many thanks for the guidance provided by the senior apprentice brothers here. This younger sister will be leaving now.” The green-robed female cultivator thanked them before saying her goodbyes and leaving.
This green-robed female cultivator was none other than Yan Ji. Initially, after she heard about Ning Cheng’s death, she threw herself into frantically completing many tasks and missions in the Grand Essence Ruins. All to earn points and then exchange them for cultivation resources. It’s just that even if she had top-quality qualifications and exceptional talent, she couldn’t match the speed with which she consumed cultivation resources and farming points. Therefore, even after a year, her cultivation level hadn’t improved by much.
But now, Yan Ji heard that Ning Cheng had not fallen but had possibly gone to the Grand Essence Domain. So she immediately gave up her original intention. Instead, she started making preparations to enter the Grand Essence Domain and look for him.
She shouldn’t have any problems finding a sect to join and enter the Grand Essence Domain with her qualifications.
……
The ripples in the spirit spring under Ning Cheng finally calmed down. The vortex around Ning Cheng had also dissipated into thin air. Ning Cheng opened his eyes gradually while his heart beamed with joy.
After stepping into the Eternal Realm, his cultivation speed had plummeted to practically zero. But this time, when he entered the Extraterritorial Spirit Spring, he once again experienced a wild improvement in his cultivation level. Even if his need for spirit aura was like a bottomless pit, this place seemed to have enough spirit aura here to fill that bottomless pit. Even if he didn’t actively cultivate right now, every pore on his body kept absorbing the surrounding spirit aura.
Ning Cheng didn’t rush to initiate the spirit essence transformation process but first wanted to raise his cultivation level. Thus, he decided to cultivate the Eternal Realm’s full circle before starting the spirit essence transformation process. It shouldn’t be much of a problem considering the terrifying cultivation speed he could achieve in this place.
Ning Cheng didn’t feel any disappointment either. Rather, the cultivation speed here had even exceeded his wildest expectations. In just a year, he had advanced from middle-stage Eternal Realm to late-stage Eternal Realm. Moreover, this was still the case when he didn’t use the Empyrean Consciousness Transmutation Pill.
After looking at the spirit spring that had barely changed, Ning Cheng decided to use the Empyrean Consciousness Transmutation Pill. Since the strength progression had exceeded his imagination, Ning Cheng decided that it was a prime moment to improve his spiritual consciousness together with his cultivation.
But when he swallowed an Empyrean Consciousness Transmutation Pill and started cultivating again, he discovered a surprising effect. His Sea of Consciousness had begun to expand along with his cultivation level proportionally. Previously, when his cultivation level increased, his Sea of Consciousness would also grow, but not like this, not in direct proportion. Yet, when he cultivated using the Empyrean Consciousness Transmutation Pill, his cultivation and spiritual consciousness improved by almost the same level.
[1] The English equivalent for this phrase would be “Time flies, days and months go by”, but I’d rather keep it close to the raw.
