Chapter 0305: Three Years of Life
Ning Cheng just took a look at the already blackened bones floating around in the jet black lake, and realized just how difficult was it to collect the Underworld Soul Flower. But even if it was something difficult to acquire, he had to get his hands on it. If he did not possess his Twin Wings of the Heavenly Clouds then it would have been a completely different matter. But now that he did indeed possess the Twin Wings of the Heavenly Clouds, if he did not try it out, then wouldn’t he keep regretting it in the future?
Thinking of these points, Ning Cheng did not explain anything to Yin Kongchan, as he stood there at the sh.o.r.e of the Profound Soul Dark Lake to observe the topography.
Yin Kongchan and Xu Yingdei have been together with Ning Cheng for a while now; as such, they were able to gleam a bit of Ning Cheng’s temperament. They were aware that once Ning Cheng decided on something, then trying to persuade Ning Cheng just based on their relationship with him was completely out of the question. Moreover, Ning Cheng also possessed the Twin Wings of the Heavenly Clouds, as such with regarding to collecting the Underworld Soul Flower under these conditions; he would not give up unless he did not at least try it once.
Sure enough, after Ning Cheng observed the surrounding for a few breaths of time, he immediately shot into the sky, as he directly rushed towards the heart of the dark lake. Yin Kongchan and Xu Yingdei who were still at the edges of the lake were nervously staring at Ning Cheng, once Ning Cheng fell into the Profound Soul Lake then even if they did manage to obtain the Geocentric 9 Yin Essence, they would not be able to come out.
Just at Ning Cheng rushed over the dark lake; he immediately felt a terrifying suction. This suction was not even half a point weaker than what he experienced at the Blood River Mountains. At that time, he was not able to block the suction force emerging from the whirlpools of the Blood River Mountains and as a result ended up being sucked into the bottom of the Blood River. However, his cultivation had soared by a huge margin since then, as such after a brief period of time, even though Ning Cheng was pulled down, he still was able to come to a stop and hover half a feet above the jet black waters of the dark lake.
Although he did not have a deep understanding of this dark lake, but Ning Cheng was completely aware that once he fell into the dark lake, the only thing that he would be moving towards would be death.
At this moment, Ning Cheng’s heart was starting to be filled with fear, while at the same time; he was struggling to stimulate the Twin Wings of the Heavenly Clouds. Finally, he was able to incite the Twin Wings of the Heavenly Clouds to a frequency that was several times faster than before, allowing Ning Cheng to finally get out of the lake.
Yin Kongchan and Xu Yingdei who were looking at him from the side-lines also gave out a relieved sigh. A moment ago, Ning Cheng had almost fallen into the dark lake.
“Boom, boom, boom…..” Ning Cheng had not rushed out very far, when the entire dark lake erupted with a roar, as countless torrents of the pitch black water rushed towards Ning Cheng. At this moment, Ning Cheng was only ten feet away from the island at the heart of the lake.
The seemingly endless black water was swarmed with densely packed Yin Spirits. The density of Yin Spirits in here was even higher than the Yin Spirit Groove that the Ning Cheng trio had encountered just recently.
Ning Cheng once again grabbed a handful of talismans and threw them out. If was on ground, then even if he had to face so many Yin Spirits, he still had several ways to deal with them. But in this sort of place, he did not dare to even bring out his Cosmic True Devil Axe. The suction force from the dark lake was too powerful, once he brought out his True Devil Axe then perhaps the next moment, he would immediately plummet into the dark lake. Although both his true essence and spiritual consciousness was a lot stronger than others were, it would still not be enough in this kind of place.
The explosions from talismans immediately filled and ripped through the dark waters of this dark lake, as countless Yin Spirits were blown into nothingness because of the talismans, however even more Yin Spirits rushed out from the dark lake to take their places. This Yin Spirits even formed a pitch black mist, which moved to confine Ning Cheng from all four directions.
Not to mention about Ning Cheng being dragged down into the dark lake once again. Even if Ning Cheng were not dragged into the dark lake, once he was covered by this black fog formed by these spirits, then the only destination for him would be death.
Ning Cheng gave a sigh, as he frantically wielded the Twin Wings of the Heavenly Clouds, while he constantly threw out talismans. Moreover, from the inside of his ring, he even took out the talisman that he had received from the skeleton at the bottom of the Blood River. He was aware that he had done a wrong thing in the past, that is, he should not have waited for the Yin Spirits to come out before blasting them apart with the talismans. He should have constantly thrown out a few talismans on his way before the Yin Spirits came out, that way, even if the Yin Spirits came out, he would have been able to block those Yin Spirits with those talismans, while he kept moving forward noiselessly under the cover of the explosions.
Xu Yingdei, who still kept an eye on Ning Cheng, suddenly took out a pill and swallowed it. Before Yin Kongchan could even react, she had already rushed towards the edges of the dark lake. At the same time, a snow white ribbon appeared in her hands that was akin to a strip of white silk, as it shot out.
This white silk strip, in just a short time, transformed into a huge long white silk bridge in just a twinkling of an eye. This white silk bridge looked as if it appeared out of thin air over the black waters, and in just the time it took for a breath, it extended towards Ning Cheng’s feet. The black waters had an extremely powerful suction, but this snow white silk unexpectedly did not sink even a tiny bit.
It was already a critical moment for Ning Cheng, so once he saw the snow white silk beneath his feet, he immediately stepped onto it. Ning Cheng did not have the luxury to think of how Xu Yingdei possessed such a powerful true essence and spiritual consciousness, as he borrowed its power to bring out his True Devil Axe and swept out with it.
An Axe Line swept out while a vortex formed from his axe intent spread around him, which blew open the black mist that was slowly gathering around him under the influence of the Yin Spirits. The next moment, Ning Cheng appeared on the island at the lake’s heart.
The refreshing fragrance from the Underworld Soul Flower hit him. Ning Cheng took a whiff of it and could feel himself relaxing while feeling happy in his heart. However, Ning Cheng was aware that since the Yin Spirits were currently in a disordered state, he had to seize this opportunity. He no longer hesitated or thought of any other things, as he directly went ahead and dug up the only Underworld Soul Flower on the island, before he put it into his ring and once again crazily stimulated his Twin Wings of the Heavenly Clouds as he once again rushed towards the sh.o.r.e.
At this moment, Xu Yingdei’s snow white silk had already been retracted and disappeared, but Ning Cheng had the experience from before, so he did not wait for the Yin Spirits to come up, before he started throwing out talismans. Once he was surrounded by these Yin Spirits, along with the suction from the dark lake, even if he used up all of his talismans at that time, it would be difficult to break through. If it were not for Xu Yingdei’s snow white silk, then the only option for him would have been to crush that talisman to escape.
Since at this time, Ning Cheng had started throwing out talismans in advance, those Yin Spirits weren’t able to catch sight of Ning Cheng, allowing Ning Cheng to utilize the explosions from the talismans as a cover to narrowly escape to the sh.o.r.e.
“Xu Yingdei, this time I really have to thank …” Ning Cheng had just landed and was about to thank Xu Yingdei, when he suddenly found himself at a loss of words.
Just a few moments ago, Xu Yingdei’s hair was pure black in color, but at this moment her long hair had turned snow white, although there was no change in her beautiful appearance, but this kind of change indicated that her vitality had fallen to the lowest point, even her skin did not have that ruddiness and shine from before, even her originally calm water-like eyes had a hint of greyish death aura.
“What happened?” Ning Cheng asked in shock.
Yin Kongchan walked up, she also took a careful look at Xu Yingdei before she spoke to Ning Cheng, “In order to stimulate the white silk strip, she swallowed the Burning Life Pill. The Burning Life Pill, once swallowed, would over stimulate the entire body’s potential, which leads to one possessing extreme power for a short amount of time, but because of this it only left Xu Yingdei with just 10 more years to live. However, this Xu Yingdei, in order to preserve her appearance, after she swallowed the Burning Life Pill, she once again burned off her remaining life span, leaving her with a life expectancy of only three years.”
Ning Cheng on listening to the words of Yin Kongchan only felt deep grat.i.tude towards Xu Yingdei, while at the same time also felt his heart turn cold within this feeling of grat.i.tude. He simply did not have any feelings towards Xu Yingdei, even friendship was something not on the table between them, so for Xu Yingdei to do such a thing for him meant that she indeed had an unshakable feeling of love towards him.
In the event that Ning Cheng’s heart was a little cruel, he could simply take this thing in a completely non-serious manner, however Ning Cheng knew that he would not be able to do such a thing. Knowing that Xu Yingdei used a Burning Life Pill to save him, it inadvertently caused a mark to be carved out on his heart, a mark he simply would not be able to erase.
“Why?” For the first time, Ning Cheng felt completely out of his mind about why the other person had done such a thing, as even a thought about such a thing was something too crazy.
Xu Yingdei simply gave a smile; her smile was like a cold wind swaying the pear blossoms, poignant and endearing, making Ning Cheng unable to meet her eyes.
“You saved me once, so I also had to save you once. You don’t have to think about it, nor does it have anything to do with love. Even if I am not able to advance to the Soul Sculpting Realm in these three years, I do not have anything to regret.” Xu Yingdei spoke in a completely relaxed tone, as if what she spoke was something ordinary.
Xu Yingdei’s expression was not the same as when they had mutually saved each other once before, rather it was repayment of her feelings from before. Although Ning Cheng was not able to see it, but Yin Kongchan was actually able to see it. It ended up causing her heart to tremble; she knew that Xu Yingdei was the first to step up in that situation. She and Ning Cheng had spent some time with each other already; as such, she had some understandings towards what kind of person Ning Cheng was.
Ning Cheng was completely different from other ordinary cultivators, although Ning Cheng had a very fierce mouth, and seemed as if he did not care about the things he incited while also was unruly with his behaviour. However, Ning Cheng’s heart was just like a blank sheet of paper when compared to those unscrupulous cultivators who pursued the path of cultivation.
If she could see it, then Xu Yingdei definitely was able to see it, as a result choose Ning Cheng. Whether or not Xu Yingdei really loved Ning Cheng, she was clearer than anyone else, especially when it came to the cultivation methods of the Severing Emotions Dao Sect. When it came to love, it had to be something absolutely genuine and sincere towards a man, it cannot be even half a bit false, to the point that they could even offer up their life if needed.
Only in this manner, can the other person really like them, letting them fall in love with each other. But once the time came for severing their emotions, it had to be done in the most ruthless and the most heartless manner. Even if both of them underwent innumerable life and death situations with each other, even if both of them delved deeper into each other for emotional sustenance, but once the emotions were completely severed, all of these would simply turn into ethereal illusions.
Yin Kongchan suddenly felt a cold shiver go through her. She lowered her head, as she somewhat regretted agreeing to Xu Yingdei’s decision of joining the hunt for the Geocentric 9 Yin Essence.
The three people turned completely silent, Ning Cheng simply did not know what to think and it was only after a long while did he speak up, “You swallowed the Burning Life Pill, is there no way to recover from it?”
Xu Yingdei gave a deep look at Ning Cheng, but did not answer Ning Cheng’s question, as she slowly turned and left.
Yin Kongchan watched Xu Yingdei leave, before she quietly spoke up, “There are only two ways through which she could recover, the first is to find a Rank 9 Spiritual Fruit called Frost Sprout, while the second is for her to advance to the Soul Sculpting Realm within these three years. Xu Yingdei is already at the great circle of the Soul Essence Realm; as such it is not impossible for her to advance to the Soul Sculpting Realm within these three years.”
Yin Kongchan meant that they obviously had to look for the Frost Sprout; however, this kind of thing was not something that could be found easily. In other words, Xu Yingdei advancing to the Soul Sculpting Realm in three years was the only way.
“Frost Sprout?” Ning Cheng repeated a few words.
Yin Kongchan nodded, “Yes, this Frost Sprout is a spiritual growth fruit, and its grade is also not lower than the Underworld Soul Flower that you just obtained. According to the legends, it is something that can only be found and also germinated in the centre of a huge frost. Xu Yingdei currently is now equivalent to being struck with frost; as such, the Frost Sprout can help restore her. Only, an object like Frost Sprout is extremely rare, and is a treasure that you can only wish for and not chance upon.”
“Thank you, I understand.” Ning Cheng spoke, then walking a few steps, arrived in front of Xu Yingdei and spoke, “You just follow behind me, if Little Xun is able to feel any spiritual qi fluctuations, then just tell me.”
“Um.” Xu Yingdei just like a well-behaved child followed behind Ning Cheng.
With a slight shake of her head, Yin Kongchan took up the rear position, as they started walking. The three people originally were looking for the Geocentric 9 Yin Essence, but now the three of them were thinking of different things. Although they were walking in the same direction, they simply had no topic to discuss.