After setting up the array formations, Ning Cheng did not immediately start cultivating. He first began to organise the things at hand. He had obtained two rings from Eternal Starry Sky Emperors, one during the siege at Shui Clan and the other from Interdependence Chamber of Commerce’s Zhu Zhengfeng.
The storage ring he had picked up from the Eternal-level cultivator during the siege in Shui Clan contained quite a lot of things. In addition to the sizable collection of artefact-crafting raw materials and alchemy-related spiritual grasses, it also included two top-tier starry sky-class battleships. Cultivators at this level of cultivation did not usually carry purple coins. Instead, most of them had a large amount of Perpetual Moon Pills and Permanent Essence Pills. Just from this storage ring alone, Ning Cheng obtained millions of Perpetual Moon Pills along with a little more than a million Permanent Essence Pills.
Although considered as an ordinary level of wealth among Eternal-level cultivators, it was still a huge harvest for Ning Cheng.
However, the harvest from this storage ring could not match up to even a tenth of the things from the storage ring of the Interdependence Chamber of Commerce’s Zhu Zhengfeng. Zhu Zhengfeng’s storage ring not only contained ten times more artefact-crafting raw materials, but even the average grade was a lot higher.
However, these were not what Ning Cheng valued the most. Ning Cheng found nearly ten million Permanent Essence Pills and approximately a billion Perpetual Moon Pills in Zhu Zhengfeng’s storage ring, the most essential resource to him right now. Although Ning Cheng gave away two pots of None-to-depend-on Wine to Bao Xi, the storage ring still contained more than a dozen jars.
Whether or not Zhu Zhengfeng’s storage ring contained the real Mutual Dependence Wine, Ning Cheng did not know, nor did he care. Even if all the Mutual Dependence Wine in Zhu Zhengfeng’s storage ring were fake, he still had a barrel of the real stuff.
However, what surprised Ning Cheng, even more, was that he found a fist-sized Polar Star Nucleus. Polar Star Nucleus, also known as the Star Flame Nucleus, was the core of a fire-attributed planet. However, not every fire-attributed planet had a Polar Star Nucleus. Moreover, to obtain the Polar Star Nucleus, one must destroy the fire-attributed planet. This treasure could help a Grade 3 Nirvana Flame to evolve into a Grade 4 Starry Sky Flame. Unfortunately, his Celestial River Flame has still not achieved nirvana. Its level was too low to use this material.
Putting away the Polar Star Nucleus, Ning Cheng no longer had any qualms. Entering the Mysterious Yellow Bead, he immediately went into secluded cultivation.
……
Covered Snow City.
This was a city in Kun Zhuo Celestial River’s Second Revenant Star.
Second Revenant Star was Kun Zhuo Celestial River’s primary star. Initially, when Ning Cheng wanted to search for his sister Ruolan, he first came to the Second Revenant Star. However, the city Ning Cheng went to was the premier city of the Second Revenant Star, the Descendant City. He had even stayed in the city for a few months.
Compared to the Descendant City, Covered Snow City was not a major city within the Second Revenant Star. It was just a remote city, located at the edge of the Second Revenant Star. Because the city was under snow perennially, it ended up getting the name Covered Snow City.
In Covered Snow City, there was a famous grand bridge, called the East Gate Grand Bridge. The East Gate Grand Bridge spanned across a river that ran through the Covered Snow City, dividing the city into two parts.
The eastern part had scarce starry sky Essence Qi and was the home to ordinary and rogue cultivators. As for the west part of the Covered Snow City, it had a relatively vibrant starry sky Essence Qi and was full of sects and other forces, along with residences of the more wealthy cultivators.
Despite the scarcity of starry sky Essence Qi in the eastern part, every inch of land within the Covered Snow City was worth its weight in gold.
A few miles away from the East Gate Grand Bridge, one would find a relatively small restaurant called ‘Cheng Ruolan’.
Although Cheng Ruolan Restaurant was a restaurant, only three people ran it. The owner of the restaurant, Helian Mingzhe, his granddaughter Helian Dai and a helper, Ning Ruolan.
Cheng Ruolan Restaurant might have looked small, but many rogue cultivator liked to come here to drink. Mainly because this restaurant provided good quality wine at low prices. A hundred blue coins could get one a pot of some quality wine.
Obviously, Ning Cheng’s sister, Ning Ruolan, was the one who came up with this name. Moreover, the reason Ning Ruolan chose such a name was so that Ning Cheng could find it easily.
According to her original idea, she wanted to establish this restaurant in Descendant City. However, the price within Descendant City was not something she could manage. Rather, she could not afford it at all.
Therefore, she decided to look for establishing a shop somewhere near Descendant City; however, the prices still posed a prohibitive barrier. As she kept looking, she finally reached Covered Snow City. Fortunately, although Covered Snow City was in a remote location, it was still in the Second Revenant Star.
When Ning Ruolan came to Descendant City, she was not alone. She had come with Rui Baishan, Luo Ziyan, Que Hongshui, Taishu Pinghao, Meng Jingxiu, Xian Caixue and others. However, Ning Ruolan insisted on staying in Second Revenant Star to keep searching for her brother Ning Cheng. She believed that her big brother could find her in Second Revenant Star.
In the beginning, others were willing to wait with Ning Ruolan. However, Rui Baishan suddenly went missing, and the rest started to feel that staying in this place would not have any future. When Ning Ruolan decided to remain behind long-term in Covered Snow City, everyone started to separate and go his or her separate ways.
In the end, Ning Ruolan was the only one left in Covered Snow City. She later met with Helian Dai and decided to work at Helian Dai’s small restaurant. Moreover, since Ning Ruolan had experience in operating a business, she quickly helped double the profits of this restaurant. This won the trust of Helian Dai and her grandfather Helian Mingzhe.
Finally, the no-name restaurant officially named themselves as Cheng Ruolan Restaurant on Ning Ruolan’s suggestion, mainly catering to the less affluent rogue cultivators.
However, today, the Cheng Ruolan Restaurant, which usually opened on time, remained shuttered.
Inside the restaurant, a man with a sickly-looking face sat with a melancholic look over his face.
“These people are too shameless. Our restaurant has been running here for over a hundred years. Now that a mystic realm has opened up in the eastern part of the Covered Snow City, everyone wants to come here and move us away. We are not moving. What can they do about out Cheng Ruolan Restaurant?” A green-robed woman sat on the side and spoke with a face filled with anger.
The sickly-faced man knew the reason behind his granddaughter’s anger. He gave out a sigh before turning his gaze towards the yellow-robed woman sitting in the left, “Ruolan, what do you think?”
This beautiful woman, in a yellow robe and sitting on the left, was none other than Ning Ruolan who come from Graceful Star Mainland to search for her brother Ning Cheng. She had stayed in Covered Snow City for many years, on the hope that her big brother could find her. She understood that searching for her elder brother Ning Cheng within the vast universe would be impossible with her current cultivation of Celestial Novice Realm.
This place was not Earth, but the endless starry sky universe.
Ning Ruolan hesitated for a moment before speaking up, “Grandpa Helian, Junior Apprentice Sister Dai, we have to leave. If we stay here, I’m afraid the three of us wouldn’t even know how we died.”
The sickly-looking man nodded and said to the green-robed female cultivator, “Little Dai, Ruolan is right. We have to leave. You and Ruolan both have Celestial Novice Cultivation, and I am at the Celestial Gatherer Realm. However, I am still injured. Anyone in the Celestial Gatherer Realm could easily wipe us out, let alone peo
ple with strong family background. We will not only lose our restaurant by staying here but also our lives.”
“But, but….” Helian Dai wanted to refute. Even her expressions showed that she did not want to leave, but she could not find any logical reasoning or words to deny it. She knew Big Sister Ruolan and her grandpa were right. They had to leave.
Ning Ruolan also knew that Helian Dai did not want to leave. She gave out a sigh, “This time, the Ancient Shadow Temple’s Mystic Realm suddenly appeared and that too not far from the Covered Snow City. Many people would definitely come here to explore it, which means the locations outside the Covered Snow City would turn into precious commodities. Although we will have to leave the restaurant, we can still set ourselves outside the Covered Snow City if we still hope of doing any business in the future.”
Helian Mingzhe also nodded, “Let’s do as Ruolan said. When the Ancient Shadow Temple finally opens, it will definitely attract many cultivators to Covered Snow City. Maybe our business could improve outside.”
Although the three of them knew that those were just words of self-consolation, they had no choice but to hope for it. Instead of waiting for someone to snatch the Cheng Ruolan Restaurant through force, it would be better to let go of it early.
“Boom…..” Just when Helian Mingzhe’s words ended, the entrance to the restaurant burst open.
A scarlet-robed woman stood at the entrance with three male cultivators standing behind her. The scarlet-robed woman’s gaze swept over Ning Ruolan’s trio before she spoke up in a cold tone. “I already sent you my words yesterday, but you still haven’t rolled away. Do you want me to personally kick you out or have you gone deaf?”
Seeing Helian Dai suddenly stand up, Ning Ruolan quickly rushed ahead and said, “This Senior Apprentice Sister, please calm down. We have already planned to move away and were just discussing where to go.”
Ruolan knew that she could not let Helian Dai speak at this moment. In case Helian Dai’s words angered the people in front of them, none of them would see the light of the next day. She already had a good understanding of the forces represented by the people standing in front of her.
“Fuck off….” The scarlet-robed woman did not even bother to look at Ning Ruolan and slapped her palm horizontally.
Ning Ruolan only had a Celestial Novice Cultivation, while this scarlet-robed female cultivator had a full-circle Celestial Gatherer Cultivation. How could she avoid it? The force from the scarlet-robed woman’s palm slap caused Ning Ruolan to fly back and crash into the wall stacked with bottles and jars of wine behind her, breaking them all to pieces.
Seeing Ning Ruolan starting to grow angry as she stood up, Helian Mingzhe quickly stood up and planted himself in front of Ning Ruolan. He then spoke up, “Little Dai quickly help up your Big Sister Ruolan. We’re leaving.”
Even if Helian Mingzhe had turned stupid, he knew that staying here would mean death for the three of them. Moreover, before Helian Mingzhe finished speaking, Helian Dai had already rushed up and helped Ning Ruolan up. Then following Helian Mingzhe’s lead, the three of them quickly moved out from the side door, without even bothering to take their things from the restaurant.
Chapter 0698 – Rediscovering The Returning-to-one Dao
Translated By – DemonKiller
Checked and Edited By – Livewidsmile
Proofread By – DemonKiller
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As the three people came out of the back of the restaurant, Helian Dai looked at the surrounding mess and spoke up with some fear, “Grandpa, Big Sister Ruolan, are we really that lucky?”
Ning Ruolan and Helian Mingzhe also felt surprised at the scene around them. As Helian Dai said, it looked like luck really played a part for the three of them. The East Gate Grand Bridge was an area initially filled with a variety of shops and rest stops; but now, all those establishments were in ruins. No one had even bothered to move the dozens of bodies scattered across the wreckage. These corpses all belonged to the various owners of the shops and merchant houses near to them. However, these shop owners just like their shops, have already turned into corpses.
Ning Ruolan murmured to herself that this was a world of the strong. The strong always devoured the weak, as evidenced by the scene in front of them.
Initially, the east part of the city had a relatively stable balance of powers. Although fights would erupt occasionally, it would not affect the overall situation. However, once those powerful forces from the other side of the river poured into this area, this balance of power quickly crumbled. Maybe in a while, a new balance of power might appear in this area, but it would have nothing to do with them.
“Let’s go.” Helian Mingzhe gave a sigh and spoke up.
None of the three said anything anymore. Covered Snow City, a real starry sky city of the Second Revenant Star, meant that people at least adhered to some laws. Yet someone dared to break this adherence of rules and openly occupied this area by killing the rest of the cultivators, who else could do this besides the Ji Clan?
….
Because of the scouring of the Mysterious Yellow Origin Aura and aura from the Origins, Ning Cheng’s cultivation improved like a bird soaring into the skies. Celestial essence aura from the two spiritual veins and several Permanent Essence Pills mixed with the Origin Aura as it wrapped around Ning Cheng, completely obscuring him from view.
The power of the Mysterious Yellow Formless had a multiplicative effect in the Mysterious Yellow Bead, causing Ning Cheng’s cultivation to climb rapidly. Even he could not judge the time he spent in cultivation.
Only after an unknown amount of time later did he start to feel a sense of stability. It felt as if he was just a moment away from breaking out of the Heaven Seated Realm and advancing to the Life and Death Realm.
The Life and Death Realm was the second sub-realm within the Destiny’s Three Realms. However, only by gaining enlightenment in life and death, could a cultivator split Yin and Yang and touch upon the Life and Death Realm.
If an ordinary starry sky cultivator wanted to advance to the Life and Death Realm, he or she would have to rely on the Life and Death Intent Field Pill. This pill could let cultivators experience the cycle between life and death, give birth to Yin and Yang and let them experience the joys and sorrows of two reincarnations.
This also meant that any cultivator who could refine the Life and Death Intent Field Pill would most likely be a Pill Emperor in the Life and Death or above realms. Ning Cheng had no access to such medicinal pills, but within the depths of his heart, a strange feeling started to grow stronger. That is, as long as he continued to derive and cultivate in such a state, he would definitely advance to the Life and Death Realm.
At this moment, Ning Cheng had subconsciously immersed himself in gaining enlightenment of the Life and Death Realm, while trying to improve his cultivation’s foundation.
If someone came to this place before, he would have sensed it. However, even if someone took away the Mysterious Yellow Bead right now, he would not be able to wake himself up.
A one-of-a-kind obsession filled his mind. If not for the Mysterious Yellow Origin Aura, maybe this obsession would have already transformed him into a devil.
At this moment, a tall tower, which gave him some familiarity, suddenly appeared in front of him. A moment later, he recalled why it felt familiar. This tower was the same starry sky tower he had seen on the Culmination Public Square. It was just that the starry sky tower on the Culmination Public Square only went up to the 49th floor, but this tower in front of him seemed to contain more than 49 levels.
Ning Cheng felt a call in his heart. He increasingly felt that as long as he conquered this tower, he could then breakthrough from the Heaven Seated Realm and touch upon the Life and Death Realm.
As a wave of Mysterious Yellow Aura washed over him, Ning Cheng’s consciousness suddenly turned clear and stopped himself from walking into the tower. Was he not i
n secluded cultivation? How did he get here? Was this an illusion?
No, this was not an illusion. Ning Cheng immediately threw the thought of illusion aside. The tower in front of him looked much brighter compared to the past, which further consolidated his will and determination to advance to the Life and Death Realm.
Ning Cheng did not hesitate anymore and stepped into the tower.
A pale golden ladder appeared in front of Ning Cheng. As soon as Ning Cheng stepped onto this ladder, an intense twisting pressure descended onto him.
This definitely was not an illusion, Ning Cheng immediately understood. If this were an illusion, he would not have felt this intense twisting pressure so clearly.
Ning Cheng stirred up his celestial essence and released his Celestial River Domain as he climbed up the ladder step-by-step. He kept reminding himself that this was all for advancing to the Life and Death Realm and that he must not turn anxious.
1st floor, 2nd floor… 10th floor… 15th floor…
The more floors Ning Cheng climbed up, the higher the pressure he experienced, but Ning Cheng’s heart grew equally delighted. Every time he crossed a floor, his spirit techniques seemed to solidify a little.
27th floor, 28th floor… 36th floor, 37th floor…
At this moment, Ning Cheng forgot that he came to this tower in pursuit of the Life and Death Realm. He also forgot that as long as he crossed this tower, he could advance to the Life and Death Realm.
At this moment, he only focussed on climbing through the floors within this tower, gaining continuous insights, which allowed his spirit techniques to grow more and more powerful.
……
At the same time, within the Grand Culmination Starry Skies’ Culmination Public Square.
The Gate Of Good Fortune c1-905 Page 559