Chapter 1016: Falling Into The Void
As the high-crowned man’s gaze moved from the bridge to Ning Cheng, Ning Cheng saw a hint of fear in his eyes.
Scared of him? Ning Cheng felt puzzled in his heart, but he immediately understood a few things. This was the netherworld, with powerful laws that suppressed all living beings. Those with low strength would end up like Ba Meng, tossed around and abused by the laws without being able to put up any resistance.
And now he looked very relaxed; at least on the surface, he looked very relaxed. While the bridge looked very windy, floating above his head. This combined effect must have caused the other party to feel afraid of him.
Ning Cheng calmed down even more, and all traces of panic disappeared from his eyes. At the same time, he also looked at the high-crowned man in front of him more closely. He couldn’t tell his age; all he could tell was that he wore a tall, green crown and a pale face.
However, Ning Cheng quickly discovered something peculiar. This man’s high crown gave off bursts of dao rhythms. Sensing these dao rhythms, Ning Cheng quickly understood that this fellow’s high crown and his Bridge of Yellow Springs had a similar function. That is, to offset the pressure of the netherworld’s laws.
No wonder he looks calm wearing the green crown. His green crown should be an extraordinary treasure.
“Is that the Fourth Bridge of Yellow Springs of the Seven Bridges Spirit Technique?” The high-crowned man finally spoke.
Ning Cheng smiled and nodded indifferently, “Yes, it’s indeed the Bridge of Yellow Springs.”
“Condensing the bridge to such an extent really makes me feel quite jealous. My name is Qu Shen; what do I call this dao friend?” The high-crowned man even cupped his fists towards Ning Cheng.
Ning Cheng deliberately showed a wary look in his eyes but didn’t answer Qu Shen’s words. Since this fellow feels jealous, then let him be jealous. Ning Cheng didn’t want to reveal his name anyway; after all, the notoriety attached to his name wasn’t small. If this fellow learned his name, it wouldn’t bode well for him. Moreover, it also means that more people would know about his Seven Bridges Spirit Technique, something everyone wanted but couldn’t obtain.
Seeing some wariness in Ning Cheng’s eyes, Qu Shen didn’t think much of it. He simply shrugged and continued, “Did this dao friend also come here to look for the Six-Yin Fruits?”
“That’s right, I’m indeed here for the Six-Yin Fruits.” Ning Cheng didn’t deny it. This fellow had seen him collect the three Six-Yin Fruits, so there wasn’t any point in denying it.
“You have good strength. Would you be interested in joining forces and heading to the netherworld’s depths for a grand opportunity?” Qu Shen stared at Ning Cheng and spoke with a smile.
Qu Shen’s strength was higher than his. Moreover, Ning Cheng didn’t need another glance to tell him that this fellow coveted his Seven Bridges. So how could Ning Cheng team up with Qu Shen to enter the depths of the netherworld? Therefore, Ning Cheng simply refused. “I’m sorry, I’ve already found what I wanted and am just looking for a way to leave. Unfortunately, I haven’t found a way out yet, forcing me to wander around this place for over a decade.”
“You’ve been here for more than a decade?” Qu Shen felt shocked. Staying in the netherworld for over a decade was more than just ‘amazing’. The law pressure here was simply too strong, but more importantly, the longer you stayed, the more dangerous this place would be for you.
Ning Cheng gave a solemn nod. Looking at his gloomy and sweaty face, no one would believe that he had been here for less than two months.
Qu Sheng frowned and carefully scrutinised Ning Cheng from top to bottom several times. “Do you only have the fourth bridge?”
Ning Cheng’s face sank, and the meandering yellow river wrapping the Bridge of Yellow Springs started to rampage again. Bursts of dao rhythms flashed on the grand river. Since the other party held some fear of him, he had to make a show of it.
“Dao Friend Qu seems very interested in my Bridge of Yellow Springs.” Ning Cheng’s voice carried a hint of icy coldness.
Sensing the Bridge of Yellow Spring’s dao rhythm erupt, Qu Shen hurriedly took a few steps back and stared at Ning Cheng with wariness. “Dao friend, please don’t misunderstand. I meant that if you have the rest of the bridges, you can enter the depths of the netherworld and condense the full Seven Bridges Spirit Technique. After all, the best place to coalesce the complete Seven Bridges Spirit Technique is the netherworld. Moreover, in the depths of the netherworld, you will even find the most powerful Bridge of Reincarnation. To condense the seventh Bridge of Reincarnation, I heard that one must go to that place in the netherworld.”
Ning Cheng replied calmly, “No need; I have already condensed it.”
Although calm on the surface, Ning Cheng immediately started planning to go to the depths of the netherworld to condense the seventh Bridge of Reincarnation in the future. He also didn’t think that Qu Shen’s words were lies; after all, there wasn’t any need for Qu Shen to lie to him in this regard.
However, he would not go there now, certainly not with Qu Shen. With his cultivation level, once he entered the depths of the netherworld, it would be nothing more than asking for death. More importantly, he must leave Qu Shen as soon as possible; this person was too dangerous.
On hearing Ning Cheng say that he had finished condensing the seven bridges long ago, Qu Shen felt even more scornful. He would have already taken action in any other place, but here he couldn’t act by himself, especially against someone who controlled the Bridge of Yellow Springs. Unfortunately, even if he doubted Ning Cheng’s words, he didn’t dare to give it a shot. Although shattered, the netherworld’s laws were still too powerful, making it almost impossible to escape. Besides, once the other party suppressed him, he most likely wouldn’t be able to escape from this fellow’s Bridge of Yellow Springs.
“It’s quite simple to leave the netherworld. As long as you can find a place where the influence of the netherworld’s laws is weak, give up all physical resistance and then fight against the worldly laws with your laws and dao rhythms, the worldly laws of the netherworld would teleport you out directly. Of course, where you will come out is not certain.” Qu Shen took the initiative to speak about the way to leave the netherworld to ease the wary atmosphere between Ning Cheng and him.
Ning Cheng looked at Qu Shen with some doubts. He wasn’t sure if Qu Shen was serious or playing with him. “Dao Friend Qu, I heard from my friend that once the netherworld’s laws come crashing down on you, it would likely crush you into slag and destroy your soul. So why does Dao Friend Qu say that one could leave the netherworld through this method?”
Qu Shen laughed, “Your friend’s cultivation level shouldn’t be too high, right? I’m sure that your friend wouldn’t be able to stand up at all in the netherworld. If someone used this method with this kind of cultivation, it would certainly result in death. But since you and I can come and go at will in the netherworld, we naturally can take advantage of this method. As long as we resist the laws’ power here with the power of our own laws, the worldly laws here would immediately sweep us out.”
He was now even more suspicious of Ning Cheng. If Ning Cheng was an expert, how could he have friends with such poor cultivation? Moreover, his knowledge of the netherworld was quite shallow compared to how much time he supposedly spent here.
“Many thanks, Dao Friend Qu. We will meet again if fate wills it.” Ning Cheng finished speaking and turned around to leave. He didn’t know that his words had caused Qu Sheng to become even more suspicious of him.
Seeing Ning Cheng leave, Qu Shen’s expressions started to rapidly change. It was as if he was trying to make up his mind on whether to take action or not. He wasn’t afraid of Ning Cheng walking around this place without any problems; rather, he was more afraid of the fourth Bridge of Yellow Springs above Ning Cheng’s head. After all, he knew that the Seven Bridges Spirit Technique was exceptionally powerful when used in the netherworld.
But also, because he knew how powerful and terrifying, the Seven Bridges Spirit Technique was, he wanted the Seven Bridges Spirit Technique on Ning Cheng’s body even more. If he could have the Seven Bridges Spirit Technique, he could condense all the seven bridges in the netherworld. Then, once he came out in the future, he, Qu Shen, would……
If this cultivator with the Bridge of Yellow Springs wasn’t very powerful, wouldn’t he have hit the jackpot?
Thinking of this, Qu Shen steeled his heart. He suddenly stepped across towards Ning Cheng and immediately opened both his hands. Two blindingly thick lightning arcs immediately materialised and shot towards Ning Cheng.
As the lighting arcs blasted towards Ning Cheng, they also created a ripple of laws around it. It completely locked down Ning Cheng’s surroundings. At the same time, Qu Shen flipped his wrist, revealing a talisman attached to it. If Ning Cheng turned out to be someone he could fight against, he would immediately use the talisman to escape. The talisman on his wrist was a treasure in itself, but no matter how precious, it wasn’t as precious as the Seven Bridges Spirit Technique.
Ning Cheng wanted to retreat quickly, but he also had to guard against that ‘green hat’ Qu Shen. He knew the difference between his and Qu Shen’s strengths was a world apart. But he also knew that although Qu Shen feared him a bit, it was only because of the Bridge of Yellow Springs above his head.
Therefore, when Qu Shen took action, Ning Cheng knew that things had gone bad, but not to the point that he felt frightened. But his heart still sank because this fellow wanted his Seven Bridges Spirit Technique. Fortunately, even though this fellow was a thunder-attributed cultivator, these two lightning arcs weren’t powerful enough to kill him.
According to Qu Shen’s thoughts, once he cast the two probing lightning arcs, Ning Cheng would use the Bridge of Yellow Springs above his head to block his lightning arcs and counterattack him.
That way, he could test Ning Cheng’s strength, and if Ning Cheng’s strength were far above him, he would immediately flee. However, he would immediately fight if Ning Cheng’s strength wasn’t far above him.
But what surprised Qu Shen was that Ning Cheng didn’t even try to put up any resistance against his lightning arcs. Instead, Ning Cheng put away the fourth Bridge of Yellow Springs, gave up all forms of resistance, and let the lightning arcs strike his body.
“Kacha, Kacha…..” As the two lightning bolts blasted onto Ning Cheng’s body, it brought forth bursts of bone-breaking sounds.
If someone else saw this, they might have thought Ning Cheng had turned to dust under the lightning bolts. But only Ning Cheng knew that these two lightning bolts didn’t do much damage to him. Rather, most of the damage came from the netherworld’s law suppression. Those lightning bolts wouldn’t have even scratched him if not for the worldly laws’ suppression.
“He was just a paper tiger?” Qu Shen instantly understood, and his face instantly turned white with anger. He no longer hesitated and rushed towards Ning Cheng.
At this moment, only regret filled his heart. He shouldn’t have tried probing Ning Cheng’s strength; instead, he should have directly grabbed him and searched his soul. Maybe even refine his soul.
Unfortunately for him, after Ning Cheng collected the Bridge of Yellow Springs, the powerful law pressure crushed all of Ning Cheng’s bones. In the next instant, a unique dao rhythm belonging to the Laws of s.p.a.ce surrounded Ning Cheng’s body.
Just as Qu Shen said, the terrifying law power of the netherworld tried to crush Ning Cheng’s bones as much as possible. But after encountering the dao rhythm of Ning Cheng’s laws, it immediately swept Ning Cheng into the void. The probing attack had just hit Ning Cheng’s body when he disappeared from the netherworld.
“Ah, I f.u.c.king hate it…….” Qu Shen stared into the void where Ning Cheng disappeared and clenched his fists. How could he not hate what had happened?
If he had to say something, he would say it to the void that swept away Ning Cheng. “There was once a peerless opportunity in front of him, and I didn’t cherish it. If this opportunity comes once again…..”
However, he knew that the opportunity would never come again. What he hated wasn’t only not cherishing the opportunity but that he had personally told Ning Cheng how to leave the netherworld.
Even if he knew that Ning Cheng would be 100% crushed by the pressure of the Grand Essence Netherworld’s laws after entering the void, he still felt endless regret and disappointment in his heart.
……
“Boom!” A shadow struck a void airship, knocking the airship’s restrictions and shaking it violently.
“What happened?” A blue-robed girl standing on the bow of the airship asked in shock.
A middle-aged man beside her, whose spiritual consciousness had long since swept out, followed up with a reply. “It’s a cultivator. This cultivator is severely injured and should have lost consciousness, crashing into our airship. However, this person’s body is quite strong. Despite hitting the restrictions on our airship, he didn’t turn into shreds.”
“This fellow really deserves it. He scared me.” The blue-robed girl patted her chest and showed a scared expression.
A yellow-robed girl sitting at the bow of the airship didn’t move but sighed and said, “Since fate brought us together, let’s save his life. Zuo Zhong, go and bring that man here so I can take a look.”
“Yes, Little Miss.” The middle-aged man hurriedly took a step out of the airship and caught up with the figure floating unconsciously in the void in just a short time. He carefully grabbed the figure and quickly returned to the bow of the void airship.