Ning Cheng had been to the Eternal Night Domain’s Su Clan, and now he was standing in front of the entrance to the Shui Clan. At this moment, he only had a single thought in his heart. That is, the difference between Eternal Night Domain’s Su Clan and Shui Clan was akin to the difference between a thatched cottage and a golden palace. Moyi City’s Shui Clan, the imposing aura oozing from these words merged with the defensive formations around the Shui Clan, which not only made it look elegant but also very majestic.
“Brother Ning, I’m planning on sending 100,000 Permanent Essence Pills. What are you going to offer? You need to know that you can’t just offer a casual gift or send in too little; otherwise, you might not even gain entry to the main hall.” Duan Gantai stood in front of Shui Clan’s entrance and asked in a low voice.
Ning Cheng shot a disbelieving look at Duan Gantai, “Brother Duan, aren’t you giving too much away? A hundred thousand Perpetual Moon Pills?”
Duan Gantai spoke up with a straight face, “This can’t even be considered much. Apart from sending the hundred thousand Perpetual Moon Pills, I plan to also send the half Starry Sky Essence Qi Vein that I obtained. Who among the guests visiting the Shui Clan doesn’t have a high status? If I send anything less, even I might not get to enter the main hall. What’s more, the Shui Clan and I have some connections, so I to do my best.”
Ning Cheng sneered in his heart, Duan Gantai, you might be Shui Clan’s son-in-law, but I, Ning Cheng, am not. Although he felt disdain, he still spoke with a calm expression, “Brother Duan, I’m just a poor man. You also know that I do not have many good things to send. I can only send a million Perpetual Moon Pills.”
Ning Cheng might not have much of other things, but he had a lot of Perpetual Moon Pills. However, he can’t just arbitrarily bring out a flood of it either. Ning Cheng felt that it was more than enough to take out a million Perpetual Moon Pills. He and the Shui Clan didn’t have any relationship and had only come here to ‘partic.i.p.ate’ in the Eternal Starry Sky Emperor’s ascendance ceremony. As for going to the main hall, he did not care about it at all.
“Brother Ning, if you only sent a million Perpetual Moon Pills, you might not even be able to step through the Shui Clan’s entrance.[1]” Duan Gantai felt somewhat speechless. It was one thing for this surnamed Ning to have a cunning mind, but this person was even stingy.
“Never mind then, it’s better if I did not go inside. I’ll wait for you outside.” Ning Cheng said without batting an eye. He did not believe that Duan Gantai would make a losing sale. Duan Gantai most likely had a purpose for sending so many things as congratulatory gifts. As for Ning Cheng, he had nothing to do with it. He anyways lacked cultivation resources; therefore, how could he possibly ‘gift’ it to others?
Duan Gantai showed a frown, “Brother Ning, it’s not that this younger brother is forcing you to send a gift. But it’s because of the Connecting Spirit Silk between us. If it were an open area, it would not have mattered. But there are all kinds of array formations all over this place, not to mention many powerful cultivators. Moreover, the Shielding Array Formations in this place would also have some effect on the Connecting Spirit Silk.”
“What’s more, if an expert notices our Connecting Spirit Silk, they might decide to break it. Breaking the Connecting Spirit Silk is just a trivial matter, but in that scenario, the two of us would be in a lot of danger. Therefore, when in Moyi City, it’s better to remain close to each other, at least let’s not get too far apart.”
After a moment of hesitation, Duan Gantai spoke up, “Brother Ning, I have an idea, but it might wrong you a little. You can pretend to my steward. That way you can follow me inside without the need to give any gifts.”
Ning Cheng understood what Duan Gantai wanted to say. What steward, to put it bluntly, Duan Gantai wanted him to act as his servant. However, Ning Cheng didn’t care about it at all and gave a casual reply, “Whether a butler or a steward, I don’t care.”
He anyway did not have enough cultivation resources for himself; therefore, he can’t take out a hundred thousand Permanent Essence Pills and the other half of the Starry Sky Essence Qi Vein. Besides, he truly could not take out the hundred thousand Permanent Essence Pills as he did not have it.
While Ning Cheng and Duan Gantai ‘negotiated’ with each other, two slim figures walked past them. Of these two female cultivators, the female cultivator on the left wore a blue robe and did not have a celestial wheel. When Ning Cheng’s Spiritual Consciousness subconsciously brushed past her, he felt an intense shock pa.s.s through his heart. He simply could not gauge the cultivation of this female cultivator.
Even the female cultivator on the right did not have any celestial wheel. However, when Ning Cheng’s gaze fell on the female cultivator on the right, also wearing a blue robe, he felt stunned. He felt an intense familiarity with this female cultivator’s figure.
Just when Ning Cheng was about to stretch out his spiritual consciousness to take a closer look at this female cultivator in blue robes, an extremely overbearing spiritual consciousness swept down. It immediately caused his chest to tighten up, forcing Ning Cheng to quickly retract his spiritual consciousness and even subconsciously take a step back.
The overbearing spiritual consciousness, on realising that Ning Cheng had retreated, did not choose to target him. Ning Cheng, at this moment, felt secretly horrified. He confirmed from the sweep of that blue-robed female cultivator’s overbearing spiritual consciousness that she had terrifyingly high cultivation. Moreover, Ning Cheng also affirmed that this female cultivator cultivated a genuine spiritual consciousness cultivation method, which was far stronger than his made-up spiritual consciousness cultivation method.
Duan Gantai quickly understood that Ning Cheng had suffered a loss with just a glance. He smiled and spoke up, “Brother Ning, this place currently has mighty experts from every corner. Please don’t casually sweep out with your spiritual consciousness. Even if you see a beautiful female cultivator, don’t sweep around; otherwise, hehe….”
By this time, Duan Gantai had already walked up to the huge entrance to the Shui Clan. After what Ning Cheng experienced a moment ago, he decided to indulge this person for now.
“b.u.t.terfly Mountain’s Duan Gantai sends a gift of one hundred thousand Permanent Essence Pills…. And half a Starry Sky Essence Qi Vein…… Congratulations….” Duan Gantai’s gift immediately shocked the cultivator receiving the offerings at the entrance. This sort of gift was just too generous. If everyone could give ‘gifts’ like Duan Gantai, then the Shui Clan would have sent out many more invitations.
Ning Cheng also lamented the ‘generosity’ of Duan Gantai. He had already guessed that Duan Gantai was much wealthier compared to him, but even so, Duan Gantai truly was a little too generous. Even Ning Cheng couldn’t help but doubt if the person in front of him was the Duan Gantai he knew.
Not only did the items shock the cultivator accepting the congratulatory gifts, but even the cultivators behind them, along with those who had just gone inside, all of them turned around to look at Duan Gantai.
“Haha, virtuous nephew, it hasn’t even been a decade…. Huh….” A laughing voice greeted them, but it had not finished its words when it exclaimed in surprise. The voice then continued with a pleasantly surprised tone, “Nephew Duan, you really stepped into the Heaven Seated Realm. Good, good…. I truly did not misjudge you. It looks like my Shui Clan will enjoy double the happiness today.”
Ning Cheng, by this moment, could clearly see the new entrant. This was a white-faced middle-aged cultivator, who possessed quite the handsome looks. As for his cultivation, it looked somewhere around the early stage of Heaven Seated Realm.
Duan Gantai quickly gave a ceremonial bow, “Duan Gantai greets Uncle Qiao. Meeting after a decade, I can see that Uncle Qiao’s cultivation has also improved by another level.”
“Haha, Gantai, you don’t have to speak with such politeness with me. We’re family now. If one talked about cultivation, who here could compare to nephew Gantai.” The middle-aged man pulled on Duan Gantai’s hand and spoke with what seemed like a genuinely happy expression.
Ning Cheng on seeing this middle-aged man pull on Duan Gantai’s hand so enthusiastically felt a strange chill pa.s.s through his heart. Wasn’t this a trend common among people with same-s.e.x preferences?
Duan Gantai did not forget Ning Cheng and quickly pointed at him and said, “Uncle, this person is your little nephew’s steward. Steward Ning, this is my elder uncle Shui Caiqiao, Junior Apprentice Sister Shui Wuchang’s father.”
Ning Cheng knew that Shui Wuchang was Shui Clan’s little princess, and now he got to see that she was also Shui Caiqiao’s daughter. Regardless of if Shui Caiqiao had taken a fancy to Duan Gantai, Ning Cheng still couldn’t understand why he wanted to marry his daughter to Duan Gantai?
“Ning Cheng greets Senior Shui.” Ning Cheng couldn’t help but feel a little sick with all this. He was a Heaven Seated Cultivator, and Shui Caiqiao was also a Heaven Seated Cultivator, with not a particularly high cultivation. Yet, he still had to call him ‘Senior’, which was a bit sickening for him.
Shui Caiqiao, on seeing the celestial wheels behind Ning Cheng, estimated that Ning Cheng was somewhere around half-step to Heaven Seated Realm. However, since Ning Cheng was Duan Gantai’s servant, he did not care about him at all and only gave a random nod before once again enthusiastically starting a chat with Duan Gantai, “Gantai, you go to the guest hall first. After attending the Clan Head’s advancement ceremony, we both can then go see Wuchang.”
“Ok, this Gantai will obey.” Duan Gantai’s performance was more respectful than a grandson.
Ning Cheng felt secretly speechless at this while thinking back to the killing intent that Duan Gantai had unleashed when talking about the Su Clan. He couldn’t help but admit that this Duan Gantai truly was an excellent actor.
Under the guidance of the welcoming cultivators from Shui Clan, Ning Cheng and Duan Gantai entered the Shui Clan’s guest hall. At this moment, the guest hall already contained many cultivators. Although these cultivators did not intentionally release their imposing aura, Ning Cheng still felt it the moment he walked into the room.
However, since he was now a Heaven Seated Expert, this combined imposing aura had no effect over him.
Knowing that anyone who entered this hall was most likely an overlord of a region, Ning Cheng did not carelessly use his spiritual consciousness. Instead, he just swept around the room with his eyes. However, when he saw the two female cultivators from before once again, his eyes suddenly stopped.
No wonder he felt quite a familiarity from the back of that female cultivator. That female cultivator, wearing a light blue robe, turned out to be Tian Muwan. But wasn’t Tian Muwan on Earth?
Then Ning Cheng’s gaze moved to the other blue-robed female cultivator standing next to Tian Muwan. Tian Muwan currently had a Celestial Shatterer Cultivation, which meant that it most likely had something to do with this female cultivator.
As for Tian Muwan, she kept her head down, and no one knew what she was thinking. Therefore, although Ning Cheng saw her, she didn’t see Ning Cheng.
[1] In some Asian cultures, people implicitly give/bring gifts to others for meetings and social gatherings according to their individual standings in society. Such a custom prevailed during the kingdom’s era and has been pa.s.sed down through the generation.