“Who knows, let’s go inside. Whether or not Uncle-Master would return with us, she would at least not lose her temper on us.” Jing Yiyi spoke with a sigh.
“Senior Apprentice Sister Yiyi, do you know why Uncle-master Mi Chen hates our shrine so much? Even coming to the distant Culmination Starland to establish the Changing Earth Nunnery?” Qionghua asked with curiosity.
Jing Yiyi quickly pulled Qionghua aside and whispered in Qionghua’s ear, “Junior Apprentice Sister, I’m telling you this only because you asked. Do not ask about it again in the future. Uncle-master Mi Yun[1] shared the same ident.i.ty as you in the past, serving as the Everlasting Sacred Shrine’s Sacred Lady. I heard that she had turned her back on the shrine after she became pregnant, because of which the Sacred Shrine killed her Dao Companion…..”
“Ah…” Qionghua felt surprised on hearing this piece of information. The news about the pregnancy of the Sacred Lady of the Everlasting Sacred Shrine would prove too detrimental to it.
After the shock pa.s.sed, Qionghua asked with some doubt, “But why is Sacred Master asking us to invite…..”
Jing Yiyi did not answer Qionghua’s words directly, but pointed to the verdant lands in front of them and said, “You can see that this place really is quite beautiful; however, only an Eternal-level powerhouse like our Uncle-master Mi Yun can enjoy such a beautiful sanctuary.”
Qionghua understood what her Senior Apprentice Sister meant; the reason Sacred Master wanted to invite Uncle-master Mi Yun to return was all because Uncle-master Mi Yun was now a powerhouse in the Eternal Realm. In the face of such a powerhouse, it would be a huge joke to talk about trying to punish them.
“Senior Apprentice Sister Yiyi, wait…..” Qionghua suddenly stopped Jing Yiyi.
Jing Yiyi looked at Qionghua with doubt, “What’s the matter?”
“Senior Apprentice Sister, do you not notice the faint stench of blood?” Qionghua pointed to the depths of the Changing Earth Mountains and whispered.
Jing Yiyi’s countenance immediately changed, “This place really has a b.l.o.o.d.y stench, Junior Apprentice Sister we are leaving. Uncle-master Mi Yun loves cleanliness, and definitely would not live in a place with such a stench…..”
“Senior Apprentice Sister, we did not encounter anything suspicious when we came in. But now that we are inside, it looks like someone put up an extra layer of Entrapment Formation on the outside.” Qionghua spoke with some anxiety.
“Get the communications pearl….” Jing Yiyi sputtered.
“We can’t send out any messages. Something must have happened here, and no one is coming out. We need to quickly find a way out and then try to send a message.” After repeatedly trying to send out messages, Qionghua finally put away the communications pearl and spoke.
……
Ning Cheng immediately felt something wrong the moment he arrived outside the Changing Earth Mountains. There was an Entrapment Formation covering it.
Moreover, this Entrapment Formation was of a unique variety. It did not stop or had any effect on the people coming in, to the point that one would be hard pressed to find it from the outside. However, once anyone or anything tries to come out, this Entrapment Formation would immediately activate, even blocking any messages from transmitting out.
This Entrapment Formation was not of a very high-grade and was at best a Grade 5 Celestial River Array. Since Ning Cheng had studied array formations for a long time and had even refine quite a few array discs, it had allowed him to surpa.s.s the limits of Grade 3 Celestial Array Masters and reach a level infinitely close to becoming a Grade 4 Imperial Array Master. Although he has not arranged any Grade 4 Celestial Arrays yet, Ning Cheng thought that, with enough time and raw materials, he could definitely arrange a Grade 4 Celestial Array. It was just an issue of time.
Ning Cheng did not understand why Changing Earth Mountains would have such an Entrapment Formation around it; even if it wanted to arrange an array formation around it, it would prove more logical to set up a Mountain Protecting Grand Array instead of such an array formation.
That is not right, something definitely did not feel right about such an arrangement. Just as Ning Cheng thought about the Mountain Protecting Grand Array, he immediately felt wary. With such a beautiful looking place, someone would have definitely occupied it. Since someone definitely lived here, the next step would be to set up a Mountain Protecting Grand Array around these mountains. However, when he came here, he could not see even the barest hint of a Mountain Protecting Grand Array.
Even if was the Planet Protecting Grand Array of the Grand Culmination Starland, he could still find some clues regarding it. As such, he had no valid reason for not being able to see any hidden Mountain Protecting Grand Array around this place.
Ning Cheng did not immediately enter the array formation, and instead, looked around. In just a dozen breaths, Ning Cheng finally found a few clues. This place indeed had a Mountain Protecting Grand Array. However, this Mountain Protecting Grand Array had already disintegrated, to the point that someone even deliberately concealed all of its traces. If not for his attainments in array formation reaching infinitely close to the Imperial grade, he definitely would not have found these clues.
Whether or not was Qionghua inside, Ning Cheng had already planned to go inside and see. He arranged two simple Tearing Array Formations right at the base of the Entrapment Formation and just outside of the Changing Earth Mountains. These Tearing Array Formations did not have enough strength to break open the Entrapment Array Formation, but it could allow him to rush out of the Entrapment Formation in the shortest possible time.
After finalising the path of retreat, Ning Cheng then carefully entered the Entrapment Array Formation. After entering the Entrapment Formation, Ning Cheng finally realised that this definitely was an exceptional place to live.
No, something is wrong. Ning Cheng immediately detected the faint stench of blood. Ning Cheng had experienced too much slaughter already; as such, he was much more familiar with such a b.l.o.o.d.y smell. Just from this stench, he realised that something terrible must have happened here.
Ning Cheng did not immediately rush in, and instead, spread out his Spiritual Consciousness. In just a few moments, his Spiritual Consciousness swept by a huge stone monolith with the words ‘Changing Earth Nunnery’. Although he sensed a few restrictions behind those words, even his starry skies’ Spiritual Consciousness could not penetrate through it, causing him to see things in a blur.
Before seeing those three words, Ning Cheng still tried to weigh his options on whether or go inside or not. After all, his cultivation had only reached the Celestial Gatherer Realm. Since someone could arrange a Grade 4 Celestial River Array Formation right outside, then his or her cultivation definitely was not just at the Celestial Gatherer Realm.
However, after looking at those three words, Ning Cheng immediately threw aside those considerations. His figure flashed, and he quickly rushed inside. At the same time, Ning Cheng also cursed at that old Daoist Priestess in his heart. Sending two disciples in the Celestial Scryer Realm to this place, did she really want to send them to their deaths?
Ning Cheng had just crossed the monolith with the words ‘Changing Earth Nunnery’ when he saw a corpse lying on the ground. This was a female cultivator wearing Daoist robes, with a fair complexioned face and delicate looks. However, the robes covering her lower body had been torn open with blood oozing out from her ripped out intestines.
Ning Cheng gave out a sigh within his heart. This truly was a cruel way to kill someone. However, when he thought that Qionghua had also entered this place, Ning Cheng immediately felt even more panic. Without even shooting another glance at the body, he immediately activated the Twin Wings of the Heavenly Clouds and speeded up.
Along the way, Ning Cheng saw more bodies of dead female cultivators, all of them in the same situation, and all of them wore the same robes.
At this moment, in addition to worrying about Qionghua, Ning Cheng’s countenance also gradually turned livid. If this were his planet, even if the perpetrator fled to the ends of the earth, he would definitely capture that beast and burn its soul in his Celestial River Flame for seven periods of seven years.
Ning Cheng’s Spiritual Consciousness stretched out without abandon; if it had form, one would see Ning Cheng’s Spiritual Consciousness moving forward like a slash from a blade. At this moment, he longer tried to restrain his strength. He wanted to find Qionghua as quickly as possible.
With his speed, even if Qionghua and Yiyi arrived earlier, he could still catch up to them.
“Aah.” A scream echoed, which Ning Cheng detected through his Spiritual Consciousness; the next moment, he saw Jing Yiyi lying near a cavern within the mountain at the rear side of the Changing Earth Nunnery.
Qionghua had come with Jing Yiyi, but Ning Cheng only saw Jing Yiyi here, without any sign of Qionghua. Ning Cheng immediately pushed his Twin Wings of the Heavenly Clouds to its limits and rushed straight towards this mountain’s cavern.
This mountain cavern felt moist and filled with heavy miasmic stench. The gauze covering Jing Yiyi’s face had long since disappeared, revealing her incredible beauty. At the same time, the robes covering her body had also turned into shreds. At this moment, she tightly clung onto a thick rattan vine beside her, while staring at the cavern in front of her in horror, completely forgetting about the state of her robes.
At this moment, she also seemed to have forgotten that she was still a Celestial Gatherer Cultivator, as she clung onto the rattan vine without even trying to get up.
“Where is Qionghua?” Just as Ning Cheng rushed over, and without caring that a man and a woman’s body were different, wrapped one of his arms just below Jing Yiyi’s chest and pulled her up.
Jing Yiyi shook her head and finally sobered up from whatever horror she just witnessed. When she saw Ning Cheng, her eyes immediately flashed with fear and asked, “How are you here? Why are you here? Did you kill everyone here……”
“Less nonsense, speak, where is Qionghua?” At this moment, where would Ning Cheng find the time to explain things to Jing Yiyi, and immediately shook Jing Yiyi to bring her to senses.
Jing Yiyi seemed to have turned even more scared experiencing Ning Cheng’s madness and quickly replied, “Qionghua got sucked into that cavern. I need to hurry……”
Before Jing Yiyi finished her sentence, she found that Ning Cheng had already tossed her aside and immediately started rushing to the cave.
Jing Yiyi immediately understood that she most likely had misunderstood Ning Cheng just now, realising that the things she experienced and saw within this Changing Earth Mountain had nothing to do with Ning Cheng. What’s more, in her eyes, this cultivator only had one or two vague celestial wheels that faded in and out of existence; as such, this fellow definitely did not have the power to accomplish such horrifying things.
Now that she saw Ning Cheng rushing into the cavern after hearing that Qionghua had been sucked in, she did not have to think much and understood that he most likely had chased her and Qionghua to this place.
Bursts of sobbing sounds resounded, causing Jing Yiyi to shudder uncontrollably. At this moment, it felt like an invisible hand wanted to take her away, causing her to tremble subconsciously. Even if she only had a Celestial Gatherer Cultivation, she could not help but look around.
At this moment, she did not dare to rush into the cavern and did not dare to leave this place. Those dead female cultivators outside had made her both angry and scared. She felt frightened that if she tried to leave, something disastrous would befall her. But even staying at this place also made her feel similarly scared.
……
Ning Cheng had just reached near the cavern when he felt a powerful suction, which he could not resist at all. Instead of resisting, he actually decided to rush into the cavern while riding this suction force.
The moment he got sucked inside, Ning Cheng’s Treasured Thunder Spear immediately lit up. In just a few moments, a shadow of a female cultivator wearing a blue robe appeared within his line of sight.
That is Qionghua, without a doubt. At this moment, Qionghua kneeled on the ground, holding onto a huge protruding stone. The robes on her body were also not much better compared to Jing Yiyi.
Qionghua is all right, Ning Cheng had just thought of it and relaxed slightly when a faintly discernible yet a large grey-coloured hand grabbed Qionghua from the ground. This large hand reminded Ning Cheng of the time when he carried Luofei through the Falling Thunder Desert. He had also encountered a similarly large hand, which had almost taken away Luofei.
This time, he once again encountered a similar large hand, which wanted to take away Qionghua. Seeing that, Ning Cheng, who had barely managed to suppress his anger, finally exploded out. Although he had no idea about why this large hand had such a slow speed, Ning Cheng did not overthink about it. The Treasured Thunder Spear in his hand turned into a spear line that one could not trace at all, as it pierced through the surrounding s.p.a.ce.
“Boom….” Violent Celestial Essence burst out and immediately rushed towards Ning Cheng’s chest, sending Ning Cheng flying back while spurting blood. At this moment, Ning Cheng could avoid severe injuries if he decided to retreat a bit further. However, since Qionghua lay right in front of him, he could not withdraw. Stimulating the Twin Wings of the Heavenly Clouds while not retreating, made his injuries even worse.
Qionghua also had gotten herself mixed up within the violent Celestial Essence explosion. However, Ning Cheng had already forced his way to the front and covered Qionghua with his body.
Sensing the familiar scent and touch, Ning Cheng instantly realised that he was not mistaken. This young girl in his arms definitely was his Shi Qionghua.
“Leave, go out and tell others…….” A hoa.r.s.e voice came from the depths of the cavern, making Ning Cheng feel even more puzzled. This voice definitely was of a woman.
[1] The Author mixed Mi Yun (Seeking Clouds) and Mi Chen (Seeking Earth) a lot, I can’t figure out if it is a typo or if it is done intentionally. So for the time being, I will be leaving it as it is in the raws.