Starting from the 64th floor, till the 68th floor, the attacks and the pressure grew more powerful; however, these did not pose many problems for Ning Cheng as his strength had already improved a lot compared to average Celestial Gatherer Cultivators.
When Ning Cheng pushed open the entrance to the 69th floor, he found that this layer did not contain any attacks. However, when he stepped in, he felt as if he had stepped into a quagmire; the whole space around him felt like it had almost solidified, giving an extremely viscous feeling.
The Treasured Thunder Spear in his hands shot out several spear shadows, which finally managed to smash apart the bindings of this viscous space, and Ning Cheng finally landed on the ground. However, after a short while, the surrounding area once again started to grow viscous; it felt as if it wanted to squeeze him into this space.
A wooden attributed aura started to fill up around Ning Cheng, and Ning Cheng immediately decided to give up on the idea of using the Treasured Thunder Spear to open a path. For an expert, it was indeed possible to use weapons to tear through the viscous space in front of them to reach the 70th floor. However, Ning Cheng did not want to do this. He had a feeling that he could pass through the 69th floor in a much simpler manner.
Ning Cheng sat down and let the dense space keep squeezing him. From an outsider’s perspective, it felt like Ning Cheng was about to melt into this viscous space. Just at this moment, Ning Cheng’s Celestial River Domain penetrated into the viscous space created from this wood attributed aura, helping him resist the squeezing force generated by the viscous area around him.
“Lush grass on the plains; in one year, withers and thrives once each……[2]”
Ning Cheng felt like he sat amidst an endless savannah, surrounded by dense grass, which blocked all his ways to retreat and advance, even leaving him unable to breathe. It felt like a tree had suddenly manifested within his heart. As the tree grew steadily, the tree would eventually end up filling up his heart, to the point that it would not leave even half-a-point of space within it for anything else to survive.
At this moment, a thought suddenly materialised within his heart, and he subconsciously brought out his Celestial River Flame. The illusion of endless grasses instantly crumbled to ashes and he found the floor in front of him completely empty, without any weeds blocking his way.
“Wildfire does not burn it completely; when spring winds blow, it lives again…….[3]”
After the fire cleanses the fields, new weeds would grow once again. The ashes of the old paved the way for the new grasses. However, this would eventually take time. Understanding the line ‘in one year, withers and thrives once each’ Ning Cheng felt like he could quickly rush out of the 69th floor and enter the 70th floor at any time.
This thought had just manifested in Ning Cheng’s heart when Ning Cheng immediately crushed it. This was not his heart’s thoughts. If he wanted to destroy it, then he would decimate it cleanly, cutting off the roots of the grass. If he did not want to destroy it, then it could become his friend.
At this moment, a small greyish-black stump within his storage ring started radiating a similar wooden attributed aura.
Was it the Underworld Crow Ghost Rattan?
Ning Cheng raised his hand and immediately grabbed this section of Underworld Crow Ghost Rattan. This was what he had obtained when Jia Shisan had chased after him along with Xiao Bisheng and Mu Ziming. The Underworld Crow Ghost Rattan King had trapped them inside the Blue Hole for decades; only when his flame finally managed to evolve, was he able to break free and almost destroy the Underworld Crow Ghost Rattan. It also allowed him to obtain that Essence of Wood and this greyish-black stump of Underworld Crow Ghost Rattan.
Ning Cheng had just grabbed this Underworld Crow Ghost Rattan in his hands when this Underworld Crow Ghost Rattan suddenly started to tremble. At the same time, this stump of Underworld Crow Ghost Rattan immediately started to absorb the seemingly endless wooden attributed aura within the floor.
The section of the Underworld Crow Ghost Rattan in Ning Cheng’s hand started growing rapidly and quickly began to spread out, stretching out one branch after another.
No, was this Underworld Ghost Rattan King trying to recover its lost vitality?
As Ning Cheng thought about how this Underworld Ghost Rattan King had trapped him for decades, how could he willingly let this Underworld Crow Ghost Rattan King recover its vitality? The next moment, he immediately directed his Celestial River Flame towards it, intending to completely burn away this Underworld Crow Ghost Rattan.
He could never allow this scourge to grow again. This thing had a terrifying tenacity, which Ning Cheng had experienced with his own eyes.
[1]
Invisible and Ethereal (
) here most likely refers to the Formless Creation (
) of Mysterious Yellow Formless Creation (
[2]
This line is from the poem,
Farewells on Grassland
, by the Tang dynasty poet Bai Juyi.
[3]
Continuing lines for the poem, Farewells on Grassland
Chapter 0577 – Playing With Fire
Translated By – DemonKiller
Checked and Edited By – Livewidsmile
Proofread By – DemonKiller
Please do not host our works anywhere else without our permission.
The moment the Celestial River Flame came out, Ning Cheng felt the Underworld Crow Ghost Rattan in his hands tremble, after which a pleading message suddenly appeared within his mind.
“You want to recognise me as your master?” Ning Cheng subconsciously called out. From the looks of it, this Underworld Crow Ghost Rattan felt immensely scared of his fire; therefore, the moment it sensed the Celestial River Flame appear, it immediately wanted to recognise him as its master.
After Ning Cheng said this, the Underworld Crow Ghost Rattan in his hand trembled even more violently; at the same time, a faintly discernible Spirit Soul Aura floated out of it.
Ning Cheng raised his hand following which, this Spirit Soul Aura floated down on to it carrying a Spiritual Consciousness mark that went into his Sea of Consciousness. The next moment, everything of this Underworld Crow Ghost Rattan suddenly appeared within Ning Cheng’s mind. With this, Ning Cheng could crush this Underworld Crow Ghost Rattan in his hand into ashes with just a single thought.
“Sure enough, it has consciousness.” Ning Cheng smiled, feeling a bit better.
This Underworld Crow Ghost Rattan had kept him locked up for decades; as such, it would be impossible for Ning Cheng to say that he held no hatred against it. The Celestial Scryer Tower’s wooden spiritual source not only helped this Underworld Crow Ghost Rattan to revive but also invariantly forced it to recognise him as its master. With this rattan vine entirely under his control, Ning Cheng definitely felt much better.
After the Underworld Crow Ghost Rattan King started to recover, Ning Cheng found the wooden attributed aura within this Celestial Scryer Tower’s floor beginning to decrease. Moreover, he also realised that the reason why this Underworld Crow Ghost Rattan King could revive was all because of this wooden attributed aura.
With the almost-viscous wooden attributed aura around him absorbed by the Underworld Crow Ghost Rattan King, Ning Cheng’s surroundings immediately opened up, He could no longer feel the wooden attributed aura within this area around him. It felt as if this area had turned barren compared to a few moments ago when it felt full of vitality and freshness, which also brought in a strange sense of comfort; all due to the abundant wooden attributed aura that permeated throughout the floor.
As this Underworld Crow Ghost Rattan King crazily absorbed the tower’s wooden-attributed spiritual source aura, the Underworld Crow Ghost Rattan King immediately burst into a frenzied growth. The main vine grew to the thickness of a water bottle and a few feet in length. At the same time, one could also see two delicate vines emerging from the main vine. From the memories of this Underworld Crow Ghost Rattan K
ing, Ning Cheng knew that as long as there was enough wooden-attributed spiritual source, the Underworld Crow Ghost Rattan would grow more and more branches of such delicate vines.
The Underworld Crow Ghost Rattan could not only help him against enemies, but it could also help in fixing void collapses, and coagulate Essence of Wood.
This definitely was a lucky find. Ning Cheng felt pleased as he looked at the Underworld Crow Ghost Rattan still absorbing the wooden spiritual source in a frenzied craze. He knew that as long as he could help this Underworld Crow Ghost Rattan find enough wooden-attributed spiritual source, he could have another formidable ace-card for the future.
This Celestial Scryer Tower’s floor had incomparably vibrant wooden-attribute aura permeating throughout the level. Seeing that, Ning Cheng simply chose to sit down, waiting for the Underworld Crow Ghost Rattan to finish absorbing its fill of the wooden attributed spiritual source.
……
Ziche Jun rushed towards Culmination Public Square in full anxiety; however, Culmination Public Square already looked overcrowded, even from a distance.
On the Nine-by-Nine Celestial Scryer Tower’s ranking display, the words ‘Jiangzhou’s Wanderer’ felt incomparably dazzling. All because this Jiangzhou’s Wanderer now ranked third, even managing to drive down the original genius female cultivator Ao Heshan who had taken the 69th floor in the past. Right now, this fellow was second only to Xiao Yu, who had entered the 71st floor, and Zhu Guang, who climbed to the 70th floor.
Finished
, Ziche Jun thought as he looked at the ranking with anxiety. No one else knew about Wanderer’s identity; however, he knew about it. Moreover, Ning Cheng came with him from Striking Order Starry Skies, and he had even witnessed this fellow’s strength with his own eyes. Even Lou Pingchuan could not last more than two moves against this fellow’s spear before dying like cattle up for slaughter.
Sadly, he had not thought that Ning Cheng would actually end up reaching the 69th floor or even taking third place. If he knew that Ning Cheng had such skill, he would have definitely warned Ning Cheng against climbing this high. This fellow was a rogue cultivator without any background. Did he not know that climbing so many floors with such a history would be akin to courting death?
Even if you wanted to climb this high, you must find a right backer first.
“Jiangzhou’s Wanderer. This fellow actually climbed to the 69th floor, next to Gathering Buddha Starry Skies’ Zhu Guang. Maybe he can even take the first place. Who the hell is this fellow? It feels like he had popped out of nowhere.”
“Whoever he is, wait for our Sect Master to invite him for a trip..”
As Ziche Jun heard the conversation of the two cultivators next to him, it made him tremble even more. Although he did not know about those cultivators who wanted to invite Ning Cheng for a trip, he did recognise the robes worn by those cultivators, which belonged to the Abandoned Spirit Sect. Abandoned Spirit Sect’s cultivators practised possessing bodies as one would breathe. Many cultivators with excellent qualifications, after entering the Abandoned Spirit Sect, would end up as possessed bodies for their powerhouses.
Unfortunately, even if he felt more anxious about it, he could not do anything about the situation.
……
Ning Cheng finally stood up after spending six days on the 69th floor after the growth of Underworld Crow Ghost Rattan started to slow down significantly. From this, he also understood that this floor’s wooden attributed aura now did not have much effect on the Underworld Crow Ghost Rattan. To let his Underworld Crow Ghost Rattan King regain its king-like demeanour once again, Ning Cheng would have to look for a more potent wooden spiritual source.
Raising his hand, he then put away the Underworld Ghost Rattan into his Miniature World. At the same time, Ning Cheng casually strolled up towards the entrance of the 70th floor.
After pushing open the entrance of the Celestial Scryer Tower’s 70th floor, flames that seemed to cover the sky immediately rushed towards him, and Ning Cheng felt as if he had fallen into a blazing fire pit.
Ordinary cultivators would have no choice but to retreat in the face of such powerful flames; however, the only path to retreat was through the entrance, which would immediately send them out. Otherwise, in front of such a fire, they would instantly turn into ashes. Although cultivators rarely fell within the Celestial Scryer Tower, that did not mean that no cultivator died in this place.
Ning Cheng, however, did not choose to retreat. He could bring out the Everlasting Blue Thunder City to block these flames, or he could use his Treasured Thunder Spear to metamorphose into the Profound Ice Spear Network.
However, Ning Cheng felt that these methods would not bring any advantages; instead, he brought out his Celestial River Flame. The purple coloured Celestial River Flame transformed into an elliptical flaming shield around his body and allowed the Celestial Scryer Tower’s flames to bombard his Celestial River Flame. This caused his Celestial River Flame to give out sizzling-like sounds.
Even within the flame shield, Ning Cheng could still feel the incomparable heat. The moment he stepped out, his robed disappeared once again, and even his skin started to give out a burnt smell.
Feeling that, Ning Cheng felt horrified within his heart, especially after understanding that his Celestial River Flame could not compete against the Celestial Scryer Tower’s flame. In Ning Cheng’s view, he had already upgraded his Celestial River Flame to its peak, yet it could still not block the fire in this place. This also highlighted the terrifying strength of this floor’s flames.
At the same time, it also illustrated a problem, his Celestial River Flame had not yet evolved to its peak state.
Fortunately, he owned this Celestial River Flame; as such, even if the flames outside burned the shield and steadily thinned it out, Ning Cheng could still stimulate his own fire to strengthen it continuously.
Should he rush straight in, quickly passing through his floor, or should he stay here and see if his Celestial River Flame could undergo another evolution?
Ning Cheng quickly made a choice, his Celestial River Flame would find it impossible to evolve within this terrifying flame. However, he could try to improve his Maximal Flame Spirit Technique. The Maximal Flame Spiritual Technique not only used the Celestial River Flame as its base, but it also incorporated all the surrounding fire attributed particles, to cause a false spacial collapse. Surrounded with such terrifying flames, what would happen if he used the Maximal Flame Spirit Technique?
After Cang Wei taught him the Maximal Flame Spirit Technique, he could only use the spirit technique to absorb the surrounding fire attributed particles, causing a false spacial collapse. So by that logic, he should be able to create a real spacial collapse in this place.
Just as he thought about it, Ning Cheng immediately cast the Maximal Flame Spirit Technique, causing the flames surrounding him to erupt in a crazed manner, forming a terrifying maelstrom. This whirlpool quickly sucked away the horrifying flames inundating the 70th floor and started to condense it into a ball in front of Ning Cheng’s location. At this moment, it felt like the space in front of him had burned into nothingness under this fireball. Even the Celestial River Flame’s eggshell-like shield had disappeared without a trace.
As an impending sense of death washed over, Ning Cheng immediately felt his heart and mind tremble. Ning Cheng finally felt truly scared for the first time. He had a feeling that his Maximal Flame Spirit Technique had gone out of control. Using the Maximal Flame Spirit Technique in this place ended up creating an unstoppable power. Something that he could not block at all; at the same time, he also felt that he had lost every shred of control over this Maximal Flame Spirit Technique. As this whirlpool of flames started to condense, Ning Cheng felt that even if his attainments in body refining grew twice as strong, he would still turn into ashes if he got struck by this monstrosity.
“Bang-Bang-Bang……” When the horrifying and highly condensed flame vortex swept through, Nin
g Cheng did not think about anything else and immediately entered the Mysterious Yellow Bead.
Although he had created this mess, he could no longer control it.
“Boom-Boom…..” The moment that Ning Cheng disappeared, space immediately collapsed where he stood; however, the terrifying flames even burned away the collapse. This was not a false void collapse created by the Maximal Flame Spirit Technique but an actual void collapse.
Fortunately, Ning Cheng had entered the Mysterious Yellow Bead in the nick of time; otherwise, in this place, even if Ning Cheng’s attainments in body refined grew several folds even more powerful, the abyssal flames in this place would have burned him into ashes.
What happened?
The cultivators, who stood on the public square, stared at the Celestial Scryer Tower in shock. This Celestial Scryer Tower stood tall in Culmination Public Square for countless years without even showing the slightest change. However, at this moment, all the cultivators standing in the public square saw a faint eruption of flames coming from the Celestial Scryer Tower.
“Look. It is coming from the 70th floor. The Celestial Scryer Tower’s 70th floor is filled with all kinds of flaming spiritual sources. This Wanderer had also entered the 70th floor. But how did he create such a phenomenon?” A cultivator standing on the public square spoke out in a rather loud voice.
“This terrible flame can even be seen on the outside, it would truly be strange if anything could remain alive inside that Celestial Scryer Tower’s floor after this…….”
Although many people in the public square felt jealous of this Jiangzhou’s Wanderer, a lot more people felt sorry for him. Such an expert, if not burned to ashes by the Celestial Scryer Tower’s flames, would definitely attain great heights in the future.
The Gate Of Good Fortune c1-905 Page 466