However, this paper door showed no signs of breaking apart despite the crackling noises from the nether winds. Moreover, everyone could see four characters etched onto the frame, Hell’s Gate, just above the paper door.
But before the crowd could make sense of those words, a violent gale of nether winds suddenly swept in from the outside of the dark public square. At this moment, even the small trace of spiritual consciousness that Ning Cheng had access to could not stretch out under the effects of these violent nether winds.
The raging nether winds then quickly made its way to the place where everyone stood before sweeping past them. The crowd had no way to escape or dodge and had to bring out weapons to protect themselves.
With just a thought, Ning Cheng immediately materialised his Everlasting Blue Thunder City, Chuan Xinlou and others quickly followed and brought out their own respective weapons. At this moment, no one had the same cultivation he or she had come in with, all because this place suppressed everyone’s spiritual consciousness too much. This caused a delay in bringing out weapons for many in the crowd.
Several screams erupted, and Ning Cheng saw the winds carrying away four or five people from amongst the crowd. Even if in the Eternal Realm, these people couldn’t defend against these terrifying nether winds. As to the ultimate destination of those four or five people carried away, no one could guess it at all.
The violent nether winds drowning the public square suddenly converged towards a spot and instantly shredded apart the two Eternal experts who couldn’t move away in time, turning into a pile of bones.
These nether winds had appeared suddenly and swept past them a bit too quickly. In just a few dozen breaths, the winds covering the dark public square disappeared without a trace. However, the number of people standing on the public square had also decreased to less than half.
Tang Yitang who followed Striking Order, Yang Yu who followed Chuan Xinlou and that handsome-looking man named Shi Jinyu who followed Yi Jiufeng along with Jinming Qianbo, Fu Yingkui, Shi Haiyan, Heavenly Emperor Wu Hong and a few more had also gone missing.
Over the dark public square, apart from the four starry sky emperors of four grand starry skies, only Ning Cheng, Striking Order, Shen Mao, Mu Hai, Xin Zhihe, and Gua Sangan remained. One could also see a heap of white bones in the middle of the public square, but no one knew the owners of those bones.
Apart from Ning Cheng, who was the only cultivator in the Life and Death Realm here, Striking Order and Gua Sangan had the lowest cultivations, only at the middle-level of the Eternal Realm. Although they managed to escape disaster, they both looked pale and in tatters.
Even Starry Sky Emperor Xin Zhihe from Water Immortal Starry Sky had a haggard look over her face despite having late-stage Eternal cultivation.
“It looks like we need to get out of this place first and discuss things in detail. Things are too bad here.” Zhangkang Tianji spoke with a sigh.
“Want to get out? There is no way out of this place at all.” Yi Jiufeng spoke with an ugly expression. She now regretted jumping into this place.
Standing on this public square, with limited access to one’s spiritual consciousness, one would find it impossible to fly out of this place.
But after obtaining those treasures in that pentagonal hall, and then seeing the public square open up right in front of everyone, would anyone of them choose to stay behind? Moreover, with the caution instilled into everyone here, how could they all choose to jump down together?
Yi Jiufeng’s voice had just ended when everyone heard another whimpering sound emerging at the edges of the public square. Everyone knew that another wave of nether winds was about to sweep over again.
Striking Order Heavenly Emperor hurriedly came over to Ning Cheng and spoke with some fear, “Brother Ning, I’m afraid I wouldn’t be able to block the second wave ….”
Ning Cheng understood Striking Order’s intention and gave a simple nod before speaking, “Brother Striking Order does not have to worry; my thunder fort still can provide us some protection, just stay behind me.”
Gua Sangan immediately rushed to Chuan Xinlou’s side on seeing this development. This was not the time to care about one’s face. In case those winds swept through them once again, it would either blow him to god-knows-where or shred him to bare bones.
Xun Zhihe shot an envious look at Ning Cheng. In this place, the best weapon to block the nether winds without much effort seemed to be Ning Cheng’s Everlasting Blue Thunder Fort. With Chuan Xinlou’s Burning Sky Eroding Sun Pagoda coming a close second. However, she had no friendship with Ning Cheng and thus could only resist by her own strength.
The whimpering yet violent nether winds struck once again, and this time, it even had substance to it. This was the first time Ning Cheng had seen wind having a form to it; moreover, it was still as fluid as the wind.
“Whoosh-whoosh” sounds rolled up. Even though Ning Cheng managed to materialise the Everlasting Blue Thunder Fort in time, and even if the Everlasting Blue Thunder Fort was the most effective weapon against these nether winds, he still felt uncomfortable. It felt like his soul wanted to get out of the body; moreover, this feeling kept growing stronger with each passing moment.
Ning Cheng secretly felt frightened. No wonder the previous wave of nether winds swept away those Eternal experts. It’s not because they couldn’t block the winds, but once caught up in it, it would immediately destabilise one’s essence spirit[1]. With one’s essence spirit destabilised, coupled with the suppression of one’s spiritual consciousness and cultivation, it would be strange if one could actually react in time.
Fortunately, the moment those nether winds came close to the Everlasting Blue Thunder Fort, the lightning arcs immediately bombarded it, forcing the nether winds to move past Ning Cheng.
Ning Cheng had just breathed in a sigh of relief when he heard Gua Sangan’s scream, “Chuan Xin……”
Gua Sangan could only call out two characters when his voice abruptly cut off, apparently swept away by the nether winds. However, Ning Cheng had the most powerful spiritual consciousness here, combined with the relative closeness to each other, he could clearly see Chuan Xinlou pushing out Gua Sangan. After a little more than a dozen breaths, the winds finally calmed down and disappeared along with one more person.
Gua Sangan had disappeared, and Ning Cheng saw him taken away by the nether winds. However, Ning Cheng stayed calm. He knew the reason why that wave of nether winds had managed to take away Gua Sangan. Not only did Chuan Xinlou not save his follower from death, but Ning Cheng also realised the sinister nature hiding underneath Chuan Xinlou’s face.
To the rest of the world, Gua Sangan was like a little brother to Chuan Xinlou. Even the Dao Fruit that Chuan Xinlou obtained came to him due to Gua Sangan’s proposal. It made sense that Chuan Xinlou would have done something to save Gua Sangan. But the fact was that Chuan Xinlou not only failed to save Gua Sangan, he actually pushed him away at the most opportunistic moment.
[1]
Decided to change ‘Life Essence’ to ‘Essence Spirit’, as one of our readers pointed out that are some terms in the future chapters that could also be translated as ‘Life Essence’ in a more literal sense. Therefore, I wanted to keep the terms separate and unique to avoid confusion.
Chapter 0742 – Yellow Spring Pond
Translated By – DemonKiller
Checked and Edited By – Livewidsmile
Proofread By – DemonKiller
Please do not host our works anywhere else without our permission.
Ning Cheng’s thoughts churned a little and quickly guessed what might have happened.
Chuan Xinlou truly had a vile character. He previously used Gua Sangan to deal with him, mostly because Chuan Xinlou didn’t consider him much of a threat. Later realising that Gua Sangan couldn’t deal with Ning Cheng.
Moreover, Chuan Xinlou had already obtained the Dao Fruit, which meant that as long as he went into secluded cultivation, he most likely wou
ld make some substantial progress in his cultivation. Therefore, Chuan Xinlou didn’t want to take up any unnecessary risks.
For Chuan Xinlou, Ning Cheng was one such risk. Once everyone got out of this place, he must have reasoned that Ning Cheng likely would go find trouble with Gua Sangan. But Gua Sangan obviously wasn’t Ning Cheng’s opponent, which meant that Gua Sangan would definitely come to seek refuge at his Levelled Heart Emperor Mountain.
If that happened, Chuan Xinlou, as the ‘elder brother’ of Gua Sangan in the eyes of the public, naturally wouldn’t sit back and let Ning Cheng murder Gua Sangan in his own territory. But didn’t feel confident enough to kill Ning Cheng, and would definitely involve even more risks at that point. How could Chuan Xinlou willingly take up so much risk after obtaining the Dao Fruit, especially when it was the key to reach Dao Confirmation? Therefore, if he needed a temporary peace, he decided not to offend Ning Cheng anymore. At least not until he consumed the Dao Fruit.
Since Chuan Xinlou didn’t want to offend him, the only choice was to eliminate Gua Sangan secretly.
But Chuan Xinlou didn’t expect Ning Cheng’s spiritual consciousness could easily see his minute movements during the nether winds’ assault.
Ning Cheng sighed in his heart as he thought all of it. Compared to these Heavenly Emperors, his way of thinking was almost like a blank piece of paper.
“If we can’t do something, none of us will survive.” Yi Jiufeng’s expressions had turned gloomy. That second wave of nether winds contained much more power than the previous waves, which meant that the next wave would be even stronger. Therefore, what she said was not wrong at all.
Xun Zhihe immediately moved towards Ning Cheng. The recent wave of nether winds had almost torn apart her robes, and her face now looked even more haggard. If she had to face it for the third time, maybe only Ning Cheng’s Everlasting Blue Thunder Fort could block it. Therefore, she decided to approach Ning Cheng in the hopes that Ning Cheng would take her in like Striking Order. It’s just that she was a starry sky heavenly emperor that had nothing to do with Ning Cheng. Moreover, Ning Cheng didn’t particularly speak to her, which made it quite awkward for her to ask for help.
Neither Zhangkang Tianji nor Qiao Jierui spoke, apparently agreeing with Yi Jiufeng’s words. However, even if they all decided to return, none could come up with a safe way. Therefore, even if they all knew about the dangers of continuing, they could not do anything else.
“Sect Master Ning, the Ancient Shadow Temple is within your Jiangzhou Star, do you have a good way to get out?” Yi Jiufeng could see that no one here could figure out a way to retreat, so she looked at Ning Cheng and asked.
Ning Cheng looked at the paper door in the distance, but before he could give a reply, another whimpering sound emerged. From the looks of it, the third wave of nether winds would sweep out in a few moments.
Everyone’s expressions turned hard to look at on hearing this sound, while the even weaker Xun Zhihe’s face drained of all colour. Although she had recently advanced to the late-stage of the Eternal Realm, she still had to face considerable difficulty with persisting until now. Otherwise, as a Heavenly Emperor, would she have willingly come to find asylum with Ning Cheng?
“There is no way out of this place, even if we find a way out, it would be too late for us to even reach the edge of this public square. It’s better to enter Hell’s Gate first…..”
As soon as Ning Cheng spoke those words, everyone immediately snapped their necks towards Ning Cheng.
Did he just say enter Hell’s Gate?
They all had a hunch that these waves of nether winds originated from somewhere behind the Hell’s Gate. If it truly were the place from where the nether winds originated, then wouldn’t entering it spell death?
After Ning Cheng made his decision, he didn’t wait for others at all. Instead, he immediately rushed towards the Hell’s Gate. It didn’t matter to him if the others came in or not, he would go in first.
Seeing Ning Cheng rushing into the Hell’s Gate, Striking Order hesitated only for a while, before quickly rushing in behind Ning Cheng. With Ning Cheng gone, staying here would only result in death, so better follow Ning Cheng. Xun Zhihe also promptly followed the two along with Mu Hao and the others.
Although the whimpering sounds of the nether winds grew louder behind them, Chuan Xinlou and the others could only keep rushing towards the Hell’s Gate. Just as Ning Cheng said, there really was no place to go except through the Hell’s Gate.
After everyone entered through the paper door, the paper door squeaked a bit before closing. Apart from the sounds of nether winds blowing and rattling the paper door behind then, no one’s spiritual consciousness could feel any part of the public square on the other side.
Instead, they appeared in a large chamber with a huge pond in the centre, but the pond water looked identical to that of ink, black and shiny. Even Ning Cheng’s suppressed spiritual consciousness couldn’t see the bottom of the pool. A stone tablet stood at the edge with three prominent black characters, Yellow Spring Pool, etched onto it.
Just behind this Yellow Spring Pond were two doors opposite to each other. One entrance had the character ‘Life (
)’ inscribed on top, which shone with blood-red light, while the other door had a black ‘Death (
)’ character.
Whether it was the word ‘life’ or the word ‘death’, both gave a very uncomfortable feeling. Except for the two doors and the pond, one couldn’t find anything else in here.
“There are only two doors here, Life or Death. Whether we go in or not, we have no way else to go.” Zhangkang Tianji said with a deep voice.
No one answered Zhangkang Tianji’s words. No matter which door one entered, it wasn’t a simple choice at all. However, the rustling sounds of the paper door also grew more apparent with each passing moment. It felt like that the paper door would definitely tear apart the next moment, letting the nether winds from outside to sweep in.
Zhangkang Tianji gave a snort, “If that’s the case, then I’ll go first.”
After that, Zhangkang Tianji rushed directly into the ‘Death’ door. As soon as Zhangkang Tianji went in, a wave of Yin Qi rolled up, and Zhangkang Tianji’s aura completely disappeared.
No one spoke, but no one felt that Zhangkang Tianji had chosen to die.
“I’m going in too.” Yi Jiufeng said and rushed into the other door. Staying in this tiny place put too much pressure on her. The outside only suppressed their cultivation, but as soon as everyone entered this place, they all felt a one-of-a-kind deathly aura. In fact, the longer one stayed in this chamber, the more oppressive this aura would grow.
Even if one were an Eternal cultivator, one would find it impossible to block the deathly suppression that wanted to overwhelm every sense.
Moreover, no one could say for sure if Zhangkang Tianji chose the wrong door. Although he entered the ‘Death’ door, who could be sure about survival when choosing either ‘Life’ or ‘Death’?
Besides, the cold aura coming from the ‘Life’ gate and the bloody ‘Life’ character made people even more uncomfortable.
However, not everyone had the same mind-set as Zhangkang Tianji. Yi Jiufeng picked the ‘Life’ gate. But just like him, she disappeared completely the moment she entered the door, without any hint of a lingering aura.
Chuan Xinlou gave Ning Cheng a cold look before rushing into the ‘Death’ door without any hesitation. Obviously, he and Zhangkang Tianji held the same views and felt that the ‘Death’ door was the safer of the two options.
With three of the four Heavenly Emperor rushing in, the others also started to rush in. Qiao Jierui also chose the ‘Death’ Gate, while Striking Order, Shen Mao and Mu Hai entered the ‘Life’ gate.
In just a few breaths, only Ning Cheng and Xun Zhihe remained in the room.
The rattling sounds of nether winds banging on the paper door grew even louder. Every time it slammed into the paper door, it made people feel a li
ttle more flustered.
Xun Zhihe looked at Ning Cheng and asked carefully, “Sect Master Ning, I didn’t come here in response to Gua Sangan’s invitation. I came here purely for the Ancient Shadow Temple. If I had known that I wouldn’t obtain anything here and would most likely fall in this place, I definitely would not have come to this place at all.”
Ning Cheng showed a smile, “Senior Apprentice Sister Xun overthinks. I never thought that Senior Apprentice Sister Xun came here to help Gua Sangan or the others.”
“Many thanks, Sect Master Ning for your generosity. If this Xun Zhihe manages to survive, I will definitely come to the Mysterious Yellow Sect in the future to give you my heartfelt thanks…..” Xun Zhihe couldn’t finish her sentence when the violent nether winds finally smashed open the door behind them and rushed in.
Ning Cheng felt slightly touched and immediately brought out the Everlasting Blue Thunder Fort to help Xun Zhihe a bit.
As the nether winds swept past them and finally died down, Xun Zhihe spoke up with an even more grateful tone, “Many thanks Sect Master Ning for your help once again. Does Sect Master Ning want to leave this place together?”
Ning Cheng shook his head, “Senior Apprentice Sister Xun can go ahead. I want to look around this place a bit more.”
After saying that, Ning Cheng added, “I think the ‘Death’ door might be a bit safer. Of course, it’s just my intuition.”
Ning Cheng knew that Xun Zhihe wanted to ask which door he would enter, as Xun Zhihe wasn’t sure about her choice.
When Xun Zhihe heard Ning Cheng’s words, she quickly thanked him once again. “Many thanks, Sect Master Ning. I’ll take my leave now.”
With that, Xun Zhihe quickly rushed and disappeared into the ‘Death’ door. She chose to listen to Ning Cheng’s words.
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