Fortunately, for Ning Cheng, Heavenly Emperor Striking Order only glanced at his side before retracting his gaze. Apparently, this Heavenly Emperor had not managed to recognise him.
Another few powerful cultivators with radiant celestial wheels walked into the Eternal Heaven Artefact-crafting Pool, causing Ning Cheng to asked Cen Yan a few questions in a whisper, “Junior Apprentice Sister Yan, the two parties are only Celestial Scryer Cultivator competing against each other, why are there so many powerhouses coming in here? Something doesn’t add up, does it now?”
Cen Yan also felt that something had gone wrong, and gave a reply but without any confidence, “I’m not sure. I just know that our master and Jinming Qianbo share an unreasonably deep hatred. I thought that master accepted you as a personal disciple just to compete against Jinming Qianbo’s disciples. However, only Jinming Qianbo is here while our Master has not yet returned.”
“Haha, you sure have some courage. At least you dared to come. Congratulations!” A sudden voice emerged with a mocking tone from somewhere behind Ning Cheng.
Ning Cheng turned back and saw a red-faced and thick-lipped male cultivator and a slender yet pet.i.te looking female cultivator walk towards them. Apparently, the male cultivator had spoken just now.
Junior Apprentice Sister Yan’s expression turned ugly to look at and immediately sent a message to Ning Cheng, “These two are Jinming Qianbo’s disciples, one is named Sikou Bing, and the other has the name, Xiang Sha. They were the ones who had tried to threaten me and said that if we did not show up for the compet.i.tion, then we should immediately throw in the towel. If we had admitted defeat, we would also have to give up the Baichi Artefact-crafting Store and also kneel down and worship Jinming Qianbo in the master’s name.”
“Then why did you agree. In the Eternal Heaven Starry Sky City, who would dare to s.n.a.t.c.h the Artefact-crafting Store?” Ning Cheng asked with a frown.
Cen Yan gave a sigh, “Senior Apprentice Brother, when our master defeated Jinming Qianbo, he purposefully ridiculed Jinming Qianbo. He said to Jinming Qianbo that he was nothing more than garbage, not even worth a look. He even pointedly called out to Jinming Qianbo and told him to go back and re-learn the basics for a hundred years, before coming back to challenge his personal disciple in a hundred years, even mentioning that his disciples would always accept this fellow’s challenge.”
“Jinming Qianbo did not say anything at that time; instead, he just turned around and walked away. At the same time, he also left behind a sentence, ‘A hundred years later, I will come again. If your disciples dare not to take up the challenge, then get out of the Eternal Heaven Starry Sky City. I, Jinming Qianbo, would uproot your legacy down to its roots.”
Ning Cheng felt upset on hearing this and even cursed at this master under his breath, “This fellow should be called Zhongli the Idiot and not Zhongli Baichi[1].”
Hearing Ning Cheng curse at their master as an idiot, Cen Yan did not feel wrong; rather, she continued with a helpless tone, “So this time, when Jinming Qianbo’s disciples showed up, I dared not reject it. Not accepting the challenge and even apologising would have been a trivial matter, but we would also have to leave Baichi Artefact-crafting Store. Master Jinming should have realised that a hundred years had already pa.s.sed and should have come here for the compet.i.tion. But why has our master not returned yet? Ugh!”
Ning Cheng asked in an incredulous tone, “This Jinming Qianbo should not be so cra.s.s that he would force all the disciples into a challenge with him, would he? Please tell me that this really does not involves a fight for reputation? Or is it for that Baichi Artefact-crafting Store? Did you not say that our master had won a precious treasure that time, and now that our master is not here, even if Jinming Qianbo’s disciples win, how could he say that he is better compared to Master Baichi? What’s more, how could Jinming Qianbo take back that thing without our master present here?”
Cen Yan shook her head and spoke, “I don’t understand it either. If it does not work, at most we would only lose a little. As for giving him the Baichi Artefact-crafting Store, it is still up for debate.”
The two of them walked into the Eternal Heaven Artefact-crafting Pool while talking.
When Ning Cheng came in, he finally realised why this place was called the Eternal Heaven Artefact-crafting Pool. That was because there really was a pool in here. Moreover, one could see more than a dozen Artefact-crafting pits in the middle of this pool and next to each of bit was a crystal-shaped Shielding Array Formation. Inside this crystal-shaped array formation, one could see a considerably sized group of flames; rather, it was more accurate to call it a mixture of different kinds of fires.
“It looks like there are already readily available flames in here. Are we going to use these flames for crafting artefacts?” Ning Cheng asked. At the same time, he kept thinking that if he did not have to use his flame and instead used the fires here, he might be able to craft high-grade Dao Artefacts with its help. As long as he could craft high-grade Dao Artefacts, even if he lost in the end, it would not be too ugly.
“The flames here are very difficult to control, and you definitely would not have the same control as you would have with your own flames. Compet.i.tions involving crafting-artefacts usually have a time component involved. So it’s up to you whether you want to use your own flame or the flames in this place.” Cen Yan immediately explained.
More and more cultivators started entering the Eternal Heaven Artefact-crafting Pool. Just above the Eternal Heaven Artefact-crafting Pool were a row of high seats, supposedly where the judges sit. There were also many seats around the pool; apparently, for the spectators.
Ning Cheng felt surprised to find that Heavenly Emperor Striking Order could only sit amongst the audience. From the looks of it, among the cultivators present in the audience, many had similar cultivation to the Heavenly Emperor Striking Order.
Moreover, even that Su Dai had come over along with a middle-aged man. One could only see vague celestial wheel traces behind this middle-aged man, showing that this person was at least a Life and Death Powerhouse. Ning Cheng guessed that this middle-aged person should be Su Dai’s father and the a.s.sociation Head who wanted to see him.
At this moment, a middle-aged Confucian-looking man came in, followed by numerous powerhouses; moreover, each of those powerhouse’s Celestial Wheels gave out a horrifying aura.
The cultivators, who came to the Eternal Heaven Artefact-crafting Pool previously, immediately stood up, as did Heavenly Emperor Striking Order.
Cen Yan whispered in Ning Cheng’s ears, “That’s Levelled Heart Emperor Mountain’s Heavenly Emperor Chuan Xinlou, the premier powerhouse of Grand Culmination Starry Skies. Also behind him, the old man wearing a scarlet robe along with the red face is Jinming Qianbo. As for the senior next to Jinming Qianbo, he is Sect Master Chiyun Bayan[2] of the Culmination Starland’s Celestial Weapon Spirit Sect……”
Although Cen Yan had whispered in Ning Cheng’s ear while referencing Jinming Qianbo as an old man, the moment she said that, Jinming Qianbo shot a cold glare in their direction. Cen Yan got caught up in his gaze and felt as if dozens of ice blades had pierced into her eyes. Her face immediately turned pale and could not say anything else.
Perhaps because Cen Yan refereed to Chiyun Bayan as a ‘senior’, Chiyun Bayan raised his hand immediately dissolved Jinming Qianbo’s pressure. Chiyun Bayan laughed and spoke, “Brother Qianbo, you can’t do something like that if someone calls your name. Putting such pressure over a Celestial Scryer Cultivator, it only shows pettiness.”
Jinming Qianbo showed a smile and spoke, “How could I stoop so low as to mess with some junior. This time, it looks like that Zhongli Baichi does not dare to come out. Fortunately, these two apprentices came here to compete with my disciples. Let us conclude today’s case already, that way, I would finally get rid of the burden over my mind. The compet.i.tion a hundred years ago was witnessed by Brother Levelled Heart and Brother Bayan and a few others. Therefore, today, I would have to ask the several brother and sisters here to bear witness to the compet.i.tion between my disciple and that Zhongli Baichi’s disciple.”
With that, Jinming Qianbo turned to the audience and spoke with cupped fists, “Many thanks to all the Heavenly Emperors and the various Dao Friends present here to come to witness the compet.i.tion. No matter whether I, Jinming Qianbo, lose or not, I give my word to craft a weapon for free for all of the Dao Friends here.”
“Brother Jinming, if Zhongli Baichi had come here, would you have shown such generosity?” A sharp voice asked.
Jinming Qianbo chuckled and spoke, “That year, when that idiot Zhongli drove me out of the Eternal Heaven Starry Sky City, it was like he was trying to drive away a dog. However, he said that I could come here to challenge him a hundred years later, and now I am here. Since he does not dare to come out, I can only drive out his disciples like a dog as he did to me. As for the idiot’s Artefact-crafting Store, it will be replaced by my Jinming Artefact-crafting Store in the future.”
He knew that idiot Zhongli would have managed to form many connections within the Eternal Heaven Starry Sky City during these past hundred years. However, many of the cultivators here came without an invitation. He also knew that these fellows held no interest in the compet.i.tion between the disciples of two Artefact-crafting Masters. What these people were interested in was the precious treasure that Zhongli Baichi had won that year. How could that treasure, that he and Zhongli Baichi competed for in that year, be anything simple?
However, if they wanted to get their hands of this treasure, then it would be nearly impossible.
“I heard that you lost a very precious treasure to Zhongli Baichi. I just came here to see that treasure and broaden my horizons. I think most of us came here for the same reason as me.” A cultivator sitting in the audience gave a snort and spoke as if he did not care about Jinming Qianbo.
“That’s right…..” Many of the cultivators immediately echoed the sentiments of this person. If a wealthy cultivator like Jinming Qianbo still could not forget about the treasure even after a hundred years, it would have truly been strange if the people here thought it to be simple. Just as Jinming Qianbo speculated, many of these spectators truly came her not to witness the Artefact-crafting Compet.i.tion but to see the treasure. Everyone knew that Jinming Qianbo had not come here just purely for revenge. If Jinming Qianbo truly desired revenge, he would have never come looking for Zhongli Baichi’s disciples.
Not to mention these cultivators, even Ning Cheng wanted to know what Zhongli Baichi had won that year.
Jinming Qianbo quietly spoke, “That idiot Zhongli is not here, so even if my disciple wins, there is no way to show this treasure to everyone. To not waste everyone’s time here, let’s start the match now.”
“Wait-wait, I also want to take part in this compet.i.tion, and of course I’m going to let my disciple partic.i.p.ate too.” A man with a pointed face walked in and behind this man with a sharp face was a young man with a tiger’s back.
As the man with the pointed face finished his words, he then turned towards Chuan Xinlou and cupped his fists before continuing, “I hope Heavenly Emperor Levelled Heart could forgive this Le Wu’s abrupt appearance and rudeness.”
“Le Wu, you are from the Grand Demon Domain Starry Skies, why would you want to compete here? Besides, we are only settling a past grudge.” Jinming Qianbo’s tone turned cold.
This man with a pointed face knew that he would have to tell the truth today; otherwise, he would not get any chance at all. He immediately turned to the audience with cupped fists and spoke, “To all the Dao Friends here, it’s true that I, Le Wu, am from the Demon Domain, but with the four grand starry skies teaming up, my Grand Demon Domain and Grand Culmination Starry Skies are also friends. My intent to partic.i.p.ate in the compet.i.tion is the same as that of Jinming. If I won, I just want Zhongli Baichi’s Artefact-crafting Store. I do not want anything else.”
No one was a fool here; therefore, once Le Wu spoke about this, everyone’s attention immediately turned towards Zhongli Baichi’s Artefact-crafting Store. No one thought that Le Wu came all the way here for just an Artefact-crafting Store. However, to say that this Artefact-crafting Store was the treasure from that year was also a bit too outrageous.
No one among the crowd had not heard of Le Wu; more accurately, no cultivator in the Heaven Seated and above realm did dare to claim that they had not heard of Le Wu. This person was the premier Artefact-crafting Master of the Grand Demon Domain Starry Skies. One could even say that his position as an Artefact-crafting Master within the Grand Demon Domain Starry Skies was no worse than that enjoyed by Zhongli Baichi.
Chuan Xinlou suddenly spoke up, “Le Wu, since you want Zhongli Baichi’s Artefact-crafting Store, can you tell us why? As long as you can provide a satisfactory reason, I will agree to let you partic.i.p.ate in today’s compet.i.tion.”
Jinming Qianbo’s expression immediately changed. He knew that his Artefact-crafting ability far exceeded Chuan Xinlou’s expertise; however, when it came to cultivation, the chasm between him and Chuan Xinlou was like an uncrossable gap. Therefore, even though he wanted to stop things from proceeding any further, once Chuan Xinlou spoke, he could only shut up.
Le Wu looked at Jinming Qianbo and said, “That’s because the treasure that Jinming Qianbo and Zhongli Baichi fought over that year was the Baichi Artefact-crafting Store.”