“Why should I tell you? We’re just using each other. What’s there to chat.” The woman’s tone was flat, and she refused without half a moment of hesitation. Ning Cheng’s words and actions weren’t polite, and she actually felt a bit disgusted with it in her heart.
Ning Cheng sneered, “We may be using each other on the surface, but since when was it mutual. You’re just using your strength to order me around. As for me, what have I used you for? To put it bluntly, if my strength was higher than yours, I would have kicked you away a long time ago.”
If this woman hadn’t said anything, Ning Cheng also wouldn’t have cared about it. Sticking out one’s middle finger wouldn’t necessarily mean that the person came from Earth. Besides, he had even heard some familiar words in the Star Stepping Tower before. Did it indicate that the Star Stepping Tower Master was also from Earth? This was obviously unrealistic. The universe was vast, and there was no telling how many similar things were out there.
The woman’s face started to heat up out of embarrassment as she also didn’t like to use such tactics. She just wanted to take back what belonged to her. However, she had to go to the 9-Revolutions Sacred Dao Pond, as they didn’t keep their word and took away the thing important to her.
“I don’t want to mention that person’s name, but I can tell you mine. My name is Ruo Xi, and this time, it is indeed you that helped me. I wanted to discuss how many spirit crystals I need to pay for your invitation. In any case, I don’t like owing others, so I naturally wouldn’t turn a blind eye to it.” The female cultivator called Ruo Xi spoke up after feeling embarrassed by Ning Cheng’s words.
Ning Cheng had enough experience with women to notice at a glance that this female cultivator rarely did such things, which was why she currently felt embarrassed. Feeling his mood alleviating a bit, Ning Cheng only nodded and said, “Forget it, since I’m a man, I’ll just take a bit of loss. Just give me one or two hundred thousand high-grade spirit crystals.”
Just as she wanted to take out 200,000 spirit crystals to give to Ning Cheng, it suddenly occurred to her that she had been spending like there was no tomorrow while traversing the void. In other words, she didn’t have any concept of saving. Therefore, after taking out 50,000 spirit crystals for the room, she truly didn’t have many spirit crystals left with her. It was just that she had never bothered with the concept of spirit crystals, so she used them like water. It wouldn’t have been a problem if it was in the past, as she had plenty of it back then. As such, it wasn’t until she was about to take out the spirit crystals to give to Ning Cheng that she remembered that she didn’t have many spirit crystals left on her.
“I’ll give you the spirit crystals later; I need to rest now. Call me when it’s time to leave for the ceremony.” Ruo Xi finished speaking and hurriedly walked into the other room. At the same time, she also activated the restrictions.
Ning Cheng’s mouth remained open as he mumbled to himself, “I knew this would happen.” This woman wasn’t willing to pay up the spirit crystals, but he also couldn’t force her either. After all, in terms of cultivation, this woman called Ruo Xi was far stronger than him.
Returning to his room, Ning Cheng immediately activated all the re-arranged restrictions.
Ruo Xi’s spiritual consciousness landed outside Ning Cheng’s room. However, she was slightly stunned when she discovered that her spiritual consciousness couldn’t penetrate Ning Cheng’s restrictions. This Eternal cultivator seemed like he had just finished the spirit essence transformation process. How could he have such a deep understanding of formations and restrictions?
The night passed without anything special, but Ruo Xi decided to leave the suit the following day. Ning Cheng naturally didn’t bother to ask where she wanted to go; instead, he seized the time to quench his Sea of Consciousness.
Half a day passed before she returned and triggered the restrictions on Ning Cheng’s door. Ning Cheng helplessly opened the restrictions and looked at Ruo Xi at the door and said, “Don’t you have anything else to do? It’s not the day after tomorrow yet, okay? Just now, I almost succeeded in my Dao enlightenment. If you keep interrupting me like this, perhaps my path to enlightenment will come to a halt. I know you’re strong, and I can’t hope to even put up a fight against you, but aren’t you afraid of the heavenly retribution for doing such things?”
Ruo Xi, who had just opened her mouth to speak, got blasted by Ning Cheng’s words filled with fire. She wasn’t the kind of cultivator who liked to cut off other people’s paths or even disturb others. However, she had seen something that she needed urgently. It was why she decided to swallow her pride and come to Ning Cheng.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it.” Despite knowing that Ning Cheng was only babbling nonsense, Ruo Xi could only forcefully hold herself back. In Half-Cliff Sacred City, she truly didn’t know anyone other than Ning Cheng.
Ning Cheng sighed, “Alright, I know that you didn’t mean it, so get on with it.”
“I wanted to ask you for some spirit crystals…..” Ruo Xi somewhat awkwardly stated the purpose of her visit.
Ning Cheng stood up and looked at Ruo Xi in amazement, “No way, I’m already taking you to the 9-Revolutions Sacred Dao Pond without compensation. I even gave you a room to stay in for free. Now you want to borrow spirit crystals from me? To put it nicely, sure it’s a loan, but to put it badly, I’m afraid there’s no return, is there?”
“I do have an urgent need, I promise…..”
Ning Cheng interrupted the other party once again, “I don’t even know you, so why should I lend you even a single spirit crystal? After we arrive at the 9-Revolutions Sacred Dao Pond the day after tomorrow, you are going your way, and I will be going mine. We won’t have anything to do with each other after that.”
Ruo Xi hesitated for some time, then suddenly pulled off the veil on her face and said, “Now you know me. I’m not from the Grand Essence Realm but from the Grand Beginning Sacred Dao Sect. You most likely do not know about the Opening Heaven Child Talisman, but I have one….”
Ruo Xi felt so much anxiety that it even messed up her tone and voice.
A breathtakingly beautiful face appeared in front of Ning Cheng. Sure, Lan Bing was also very beautiful, but Lan Bing’s beauty only gave Ning Cheng an icy chill in his heart. This woman, on the other hand, truly and purely was a natural beauty. Moreover, her stunningly beautiful face also carried a hint of a sacred dao charm. This kind of beauty was so out-of-the-world that one couldn’t help but just gaze at it fondly till the end of time.
Ning Cheng took in a deep breath and forcibly calmed himself. He suddenly, for some reason, thought back to Elder Sister Lan Shu. She also cultivated a cultivation method that helped her grow more beautiful the more she delved into it. It even gave her a hint of a similar sacred aura.
Elder Sister Lan Shu said she would pass on this cultivation method to Luofei, but he never found her afterwards. Even after returning to Graceful Star Mainland after his cultivation reached a sufficient level, he never discovered any traces of Lan Shu.
Seeing Ning Cheng looking at her in a daze, Ruo Xi didn’t continue, nor did she think anything of it. She just put the veil away and said, “Now that you have seen me, we are considered to have met. Please believe me; I will definitely return the favour to you.”
Because of Ruo Xi’s stunning looks, Ning Cheng had almost forgotten about the last few words she had spoken. Now that he returned to his senses, Ning Cheng immediately recalled her words and hurriedly asked. “Fellow Daoist Ruo Xi, you just said that you have an Opening Heaven Child Talisman.”
Ruo Xi shook her head, “The reason why I ended up in this place was that I had grabbed an Opening Heaven Child Talisman. However, I couldn’t obtain the Opening Heaven Talisman.”
Ning Cheng then suddenly thought of Cang Wei, who had the Opening Heaven Talisman. That didn’t seem right. Could it be that Cang Wei’s Opening Heaven Talisman was the same one that this woman had tried to grab? How many years had Cang Wei been at the bottom of the blood river?
He decided against mentioning Cang Wei’s name in front of Ruo Xi. In case these two were rivals, this woman might just finish him off. Maybe Cang Wei had crossed through a Law of Time World in the void after snatching the Opening Heaven Talisman.
“Since you have the child talisman of the Opening Heaven Talisman, why come looking for me?” Ning Cheng asked, puzzled.
Ruo Xi took a deep breath and said, “I missed out on an essential thing back then because I didn’t understand it. Later, after I learned the importance of that thing, I used my clan’s precious treasures to exchange the thing back again. Unexpectedly, after receiving my treasures, that person also learned of this item’s preciousness and changed his mind. Moreover, because he couldn’t return what I had given him in exchange, I ended up chasing after him. It was during that chase that I encountered numerous people trying to snatch the Opening Heaven Talisman and the nine child talismans.”
“The Opening Heaven Talisman is an incredibly precious item, and I naturally couldn’t resist the temptation. Hundreds of cultivators tried to grab it then, and I was lucky enough to snatch one of the child talismans. However, because the people wanting to snatch the Opening Heaven Talismans were all powerhouses, the powerful fluctuations somehow activate the Opening Heaven Talisman and its child talismans….”
Ning Cheng somewhat understood the situation and asked in amazement. “Are you saying that those who grabbed the Opening Heaven Talisman and the Opening Heaven Child Talismans all went through positional planes because the talismans somehow got activated?”
Ruo Xi replied after a moment of silence. “I’m not sure as to whether or not they all passed through positional planes, but there were definitely quite a few that got caught up in the Opening Heaven Talisman’s activation. The only reason I appeared in this part of the universe’s positional plane was because the child talisman I grabbed had also activated.”
“Right, so what happened to that thing you mentioned?” Ning Cheng couldn’t help but feel a bit curious. What was something so precious that a powerful expert like Ruo Xi would miss so much?
“I got it back but lost it again. That person also crossed through to this realm because he snatched the Opening Heaven Talisman. I managed to snatch it back from him, only for it to fall into the hands of the 9-Revolutions Sacred Dao Pond.”
Hearing Ruo Xi’s words, Ning Cheng shook his head somewhat speechlessly. This woman’s emotional intelligence was even lower than that of a child. How else would something that she snatched back end up in the hands of 9-Revolutions Sacred Dao Pond? With her strength, the 9-Revolutions Sacred Dao Pond couldn’t have robbed it from her using force, at least not publicly. But if it wasn’t stolen using force, Ruo Xi most likely got tricked into giving it up.
“Then, what are you borrowing spirit crystals for?” Ning Cheng asked a whole bunch of questions, intending to not give her a single spirit crystal. How was looking at a face the same as knowing each other? Suppose the other party borrowed his spirit crystals and used the Opening Heaven Child Talisman to walk away. Who would he ask for it?
Ruo Xi looked at Ning Cheng with expectation and spoke up. “My Opening Heaven Child Talisman has already been stimulated once, and it can’t be stimulated again. I need two materials to activate the Opening Heaven Child Talisman, and today I saw one of them in a merchant house in Half-Cliff Sacred city.”ṣ
Ning Cheng, who didn’t care about Ruo Xi and looked indifferent, almost grabbed Ruo Xi’s hand when he heard those words. Luckily, he quickly calmed down and asked in a slightly excited manner. “Senior Apprentice Sister Ruo Xi, are you saying that the Opening Heaven Child Talisman can still be reactivated through external objects? Even after it has been activated previously?”
He still had an Opening Heaven Child Talisman on him. It’s just that he had utterly drained it after using it two times. If he could empower it once again, wouldn’t that mean that he could reuse it again?
Ruo Xi nodded, “Yes. Using the Extreme Heaven Rain Trace and Dark Void Milk would allow one to re-invigorate the child talisman that’s already been used. What I saw in Half-Cliff Sacred City today was the Dark Void Milk. However, there is not much of it, and I’m afraid someone would eventually buy it. That’s why I wanted to come to you for spirit crystals.”
Ning Cheng had changed the address to Senior Apprentice Sister, which made her feel less disgusted with Ning Cheng. Therefore, she took the initiative to speak up without even waiting for Ning Cheng to ask.
When Ning Cheng heard Ruo Xi’s words, he knew she did not have much social experience. Although this woman was knowledgeable, it looked like she lived an isolated life, away from the hustle and bustle of a city. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have spoken about these two things even before anyone asked for it.
“Senior Apprentice Sister Ruo Xi, as you said before, we’re in a cooperative relationship. Your matter is my matter. Let’s go, I’ll go with you. Don’t overthink it, though; I’m only going with you because I’m much better at bargaining, and I’m afraid that others will rip you off.” Ning Cheng almost patted his chest and promised.
“Okay, let’s go now.” It was evident that Ruo Xi was much more anxious than Ning Cheng.
