Chapter 0816: Seven Bridges Spirit Technique
The black-robed man cried secretly. If he could go back a few years, he would not be as afraid as Ning Cheng as he was now.
“Your Grey Toottoot is no longer with me. Someone took it away.” The black-robed man spoke up with anxiety. When Ning Cheng had brought out the Time Wheel and used a powerful domain to suppress him, he quickly understood that he wasn’t Ning Cheng’s opponent. Moreover, with Ning Cheng consciously powering the domain, he couldn’t even move anymore.
Hearing that someone had taken away Grey Toottoot, Ning Cheng’s killing intent almost exploded. With his domain filling up with murderous intent, even the suppressed black-robed skeletal man suffered some severe injuries.
The black-robed man’s cultivation had already fallen significantly. Therefore, with Ning Cheng’s powerful killing intent suppressing him, he could barely even breathe now.
“Don’t do it. If you kill me, you will never find your companion beast.” The black-robed man knew that this was the only lifeline available to him.
Ning Cheng took in a deep breath before forcibly suppressing his killing intent. He then asked with a cold voice, “Who took Grey Toottoot? What is this place? Is it the underworld?”
Ning Cheng didn’t think that this black-robed man had lied to him. But he had also personally sealed the Ancient Shadow Temple before coming out the last time. Who else could come to this place?
Feeling that Ning Cheng had restrained his killing intent, the black-robed man secretly breathed in a sigh of relief. But he still spoke up with a worried tone, “I can tell you whatever you want, but you will have to promise to spare me this once.”
Ning Cheng sneered, “You don’t have the qualifications to bargain with me. If you don’t want me to destroy you right now, you better speak up. Your life and death depend on my mood, after all.”
When the black-robed man heard Ning Cheng’s words, his voice also became stern, “Then kill me now. I’d rather die than tell you about it.”
“Since you’re so eager to look for death, then let me fulfil it. I can always search your soul later before destroying your spirit soul.” Ning Cheng finished in a cold voice. Even the Celestial Rainbow Purgatory Spear in his hand brought up a substantial spear intent.
The black-robed man almost felt his soul leave his body when he heard Ning Cheng talk about soul searching and destroying his spirit soul. He quickly spoke up, “If you at least let me enter the reincarnation cycle, I can speak.”
Ning Cheng knew that he couldn’t search the soul of a cultivator at the level of the black-robed man. But since the black-robed man said that he would talk as long as Ning Cheng allowed it to enter the reincarnation cycle, Ning Cheng gave it some thought. He then spoke up after some time, “Okay, I’ll agree to it. I will not destroy your spirit soul and allow you to enter the reincarnation cycle.”
The black-robed man now fully understood Ning Cheng’s fierceness and determination. Unfortunately, his cultivation couldn’t compete with Ning Cheng right now. Therefore, he had to give in, “This is not the real underworld. Someone had built this place to cultivate a spirit technique. That person built the first bridge with the hopes of simulating the underworld in this place. That person spent a lot of energy, but could barely even complete the First Bridge of Coping, let alone begin with the second bridge.”
“Second bridge, you mean there are other bridges? What kind of spirit technique is this?” Ning Cheng felt a little curious. This place looked quite big, which meant that it would have used up a lot of energy to set it up. But apparently, someone had used it to simulate the underworld for the sake of cultivating a spirit technique.
The black-robed man replied, “The person who built this place is called Zhong Wuchang, and the spirit technique he wanted to cultivate is called Seven Bridges. The seven bridges consist of the First Bridge of Coping, Second Bridge of Looking Homewards, Third Bridge of Forgetting River, Fourth Bridge of Yellow River, Fifth Bridge of Afterlife, Sixth Bridge of Other Sh.o.r.e, and Seventh Bridge of Reincarnation. It is a peerless spirit technique. I have stayed here for thousands of years to cultivate. Yet, I couldn’t even understand the First Bridge of Coping, let alone the complete Seven Bridges Spirit Technique.”
Ning Cheng felt a little shocked. He had already experienced the dangers of the first bridge of this spirit technique. Once someone successfully cultivated the entire spirit technique, just what level of power would it unleash? How many living creatures did Zhong Wuchang kill to build the First Bridge of Coping? If he had to face the complete Seven Bridges Spirit Technique, could he survive for even a moment?
The black-robed man didn’t know about Ning Cheng’s thoughts and continued, “Zhong Wuchang built the First Bridge of Coping here. But after countless years of cultivation, he understood that he couldn’t cultivate the true Seven Bridges Spirit Technique in this place. So he decided to leave everything behind and left this place. Many years later, a solidified Yin Spirit managed to gain spiritual wisdom after obtaining these things and ended up becoming a ghost cultivator.”
“The Ancient Shadow Temple originally was a place to absorb yin spirits. Moreover, the fall of countless cultivators in this place also produced many yin spirits, which the Ancient Shadow Temple sucked away. However, they all ended up as food for the growth of that ghost cultivator. Moreover, that ghost cultivator had seen Zhong Wuchang cultivating the Seven Bridges Spirit Technique, and also started cultivating the Seven Bridges Spirit Technique in this place. Although that ghost cultivator only managed to sc.r.a.pe the surface of it, it still managed to cultivate something similar.”
“Then, how did you appear here? Where did that ghost cultivator go?” Learning that someone had taken away Grey Toottoot, Ning Cheng couldn’t help but feel somewhat disappointed, which came out in his tone.
The black-robed man quickly replied, “I accidentally found the Ancient Shadow Temple while roaming and ended up in this place. However, that ghost cultivator captured me and ordered me to help him collect the yin spirits who had not crossed the Bridge of Coping. The Yin Qi within this place is just too overbearing. Therefore, after staying in this place for a long time, my cultivation not only didn’t improve; it even started to fall. Because of this, I could only modify my cultivation method to start using yin spirits for cultivation. Fortunately, the yin spirits that came here were of a low-grade, something the ghost cultivator didn’t need at that point. Moreover, I also knew that as long as I could get my hands on some high-grade yin spirits, my cultivation would gradually rise.”
When the black-robed man spoke of this, he seemed to remember the time when the ghost cultivator controlled his actions. “In the end, I’m only here to help that ghost cultivator grab various yin spirits, stuck in an endless, thankless loop. I could only cultivate for a while in between collections. Fortunately, I have good qualifications, so my cultivation improved ever so slowly. Later, that ghost cultivator felt that the level of yin spirits here was too low. So he ordered me to attract cultivators with high cultivations to enter this place. For that, he even forced me to take out those five treasures……”
Ning Cheng understood something after hearing all this, and immediately asked, “You mean you put those five treasures in the five-sided hall?”
The black-robed man nodded, “Yes, that ghost cultivator forced me to put them up. Only that ghost cultivator knew the method to control the array formations within the five-sided hall and the regional gates. But although I put those things up, I couldn’t get them back even if I wanted to. However, those few things indeed attracted a lot of top-grade cultivators for that ghost. Once the ghost cultivator swallowed the essence spirits of those people, he would order me to put those things up once again.”
“It went on till one day I found a Soul Subduing Card on one of the yin spirits. When that ghost cultivator started to absorb those yin spirits for cultivation, I suddenly took my shot. I managed to suppress the ghost cultivator with the Soul Subduing Card. But my cultivation couldn’t compare with the ghost cultivator. Therefore, despite managing to suppress him, the two of us remained in a stalemate. Moreover, the control of all the array formations within the Ancient Shadow Temple remained with the ghost cultivator.”
“Then, how did Grey Toottoot get to this place?” Ning Cheng asked again.
The black-robed man replied, “It was because of a Heavenly Cloud Zoysia that had manifested some spiritual wisdom. Grey Toottoot found the Heavenly Cloud Zoysia, but that Heavenly Cloud Zoysia escaped into the Ancient Shadow Temple. Grey Toottoot chased after it. Because it’s not easy to find a beast like Grey Toottoot, I brought it into this place. Speaking of that, that ghost cultivator also helped. If it wasn’t for him opening the array formations, I couldn’t have brought Grey Toottoot inside even if I wanted.”
“After knowing that Grey Toottoot had a trace of All-devourer’s blood, I’ve been trying to force that trace of blood out of it by all means I knew. However, I never succeeded even once.”
Ning Cheng’s heart filled up with even more killing desire. No wonder that ghost soldier had kept a tight grip on Grey Toottoot while over the Bridge of Coping. It wanted to force out Grey Toottoot’s blood.
“Then a few years ago, your group entered the Ancient Shadow Temple. You even came to the Yellow Spring Pool. But because the ghost cultivator didn’t want to cooperate with me, he deliberately let those who entered the Life and Death doors to break the barriers around this place. I wanted to prevent those people from escaping, but it proved quite expensive for me. Plus, since you took away my most important treasure, the Measureless Gourd, I had no choice but to chase after you.”
With that, the black-robed man’s eye filled up with regret.
“As a result of your actions, the ghost cultivator broke free, isn’t it?” Ning Cheng asked in a cold voice. He finally understood why Chuan Xinlou and the others could get out after being trapped in this place. From the looks of it, someone had been aiding them from the shadows. It also meant that people like Striking Order might have already fallen.
The black-robed man sighed, “Yes, that ghost cultivator took the opportunity to break away from the Soul Subduing Card. We battled it out, but he severely injured me and then s.n.a.t.c.hed away Grey Toottoot. He had a Breaking Boundary Talisman on him, which meant that I couldn’t chase after him.”
Ning Cheng estimated that this black-robed man hadn’t lied as this fellow’s strength had truly fallen by a lot.
“You know about the Seven Bridges Spirit Technique, you also know about Zhong Wuchang, did that ghost cultivator tell you about all of it?” Ning Cheng stared at the black-robed man.
“Yes, these were all things he had told me in the past.” The black-robed man could feel the strong killing desire building up in Ning Cheng. He knew that Ning Cheng wouldn’t spare him today; therefore, he didn’t even bother to ask for mercy. He could only hope that Ning Cheng would keep his promise and allow him to enter the reincarnation cycle.
“What’s the name of that ghost cultivator?”
“His name is Ling Zhi.”
“Zhong Wuchang built a mystic realm right outside the Ancient Shadow Temple. Was it for cultivators to explore it as a trial and then use the opportunity to extract their soul?”
“Yes, but later he felt that the cultivators who came in for the trials were too low-levelled, which was why he sealed the Ancient Shadow Temple and left.”
After hearing those words, the acc.u.mulating spear intent in the Celestial Rainbow Purgatory Spear that had already locked on to the black-robed man, burst out abruptly. An instant later, the black-robed man exploded into pieces. Ning Cheng kept his promise and allowed the black-robed man to enter the reincarnation cycle by sparing a wisp of his soul.
Even though he had never seen or met that Zhong Wuchang, Ning Cheng understood that he was a truly ruthless person. For the sake of cultivating a spirit technique, he created a mystic realm to lure people inside to their death. At the same time, he also made the h.e.l.l’s Gate, the Yellow Spring Pool, the Life and Death gates, the Bridge of Coping….
One could only imagine how many people had fallen here based on the thick Yin Qi. Otherwise, even with high attainments in array formation, Zhong Wuchang couldn’t have arranged something like those violent gloomy winds. A phenomenon that could easily tear apart Eternal cultivators.
No wonder the Covered Snow City had snow covering it all year round. A place with such high concentrations of Yin Qi, it would have been quite strange if this place didn’t have even a bit of snow.
After killing the black-robed cultivator, Ning Cheng began to destroy everything in the Ancient Shadow Temple. Ning Cheng couldn’t arrange such high-level array formations, but he had no problems or qualms in crushing them. The most potent aspect of the Time Wheel was ‘nihilation’. With Ning Cheng’s Time Wheels blasting out one after another, the fake First Bridge of Coping, the Yellow Spring Pool, the Life and Death gates, the pitch-black public square, and even the five-sided great hall quickly reduced to dust.
After Ning Cheng razed all the array formations and the other areas to dust, the Yin Qi trapped in this place started to dissipate. As long as no one touched it for a few more years, the Yin Qi in this place would dissipate naturally.
After doing this, Ning Cheng sealed the entrance to the real Ancient Shadow Temple. As for the trial grounds outside the Ancient Shadow Temple, Ning Cheng didn’t do anything to it.
After leaving the Ancient Shadow temple again, Ning Cheng finally felt some relief. Although he couldn’t find Grey Toottoot inside, he had at least removed the lingering threat of the Ancient Shadow Temple.
That Zhong Wuchang truly was a lunatic. For the sake of cultivating a spirit technique, he built such a ridiculous place in this location.
As for the Seven Bridges Spirit Technique, it truly sounded frightening. Unfortunately, he had no idea about it. Just when this last thought crossed his mind, Ning Cheng suddenly stopped.
Seven Bridges Spirit Technique? He had obtained a wordless book from the Formless Sect’s stone stele, which also contained seven pages. During the past few years, he had managed to refine the book a little during his cultivation sessions in the Mysterious Yellow Sect. However, he only came to know the name of the book, the Seven Bridges Realm Book. However, he couldn’t refine it any further. Was there a connection between these two Seven Bridges?