Chapter 0102 – Immortal Mansion
Ning Cheng’s first thought was to immediately sit down and start cultivating but then remembered that his life was currently in danger. This place was already so bone piercingly cold, that it even required the old woman with her unfathomable cultivation to use her fiery shield, even if he somehow returned back to the boat, he knew that returning to the surface by himself would be really difficult.
The fiery shield that was covering him was already starting to fade, it was obviously because the old woman who was controlling it had already gone off, and thus the shield could not sustain itself for long.
Ning Cheng looked back at the boat in which he came in, and mentally calculated the distance between them. He concluded that before the fiery shield completely disappeared, he should be able to return to the boat if he exhausted his entire energy. It was evident that the old woman had also taken him into consideration, and did not try to intentionally harm him.
But Ning Cheng was still cursing her in her heart, this old woman was completely focused on her own treasure, and simply neglected his safety, she was the type of person who would dismantle the bridge after crossing it.
Just when Ning Cheng decided to move towards the boat by controlling the magic shield, he suddenly felt a strong calling. Ning Cheng immediately noticed that in front of the large water coloured door which was already closed, there appeared a small thing at the centre of it. This thing was dark purple in colour, and was only the size of a soybean.
Ning Cheng confirmed that he had definitely not seen this thing before, thus concluded that this thing had definitely appeared after this water coloured door at the bottom of this Cold River opened, otherwise that old woman who had rushed inside a few moments ago would have also definitely noticed this thing.
Go back to the boat, or take away that thing that was only of the size of a soybean? With the residual power of the shield that covered him, he could only make one of the two choices. He knew that if he got to the water coloured gate, the shield that covered him would definitely not be able to help him return back to the boat.
Ning Cheng hesitated for a moment, before finally deciding to take away that thing. That strong calling that he felt a moment ago definitely came from that soybean sized thing, and as Ning Cheng felt that since this place definitely was not simple, so this thing would also not be ordinary.
After he obtained this thing, once the fiery shield protecting him lost its function, he would then try to find a way to enter the Mysterious Yellow Bead.
Cultivation was to rely on chance and fortuitous encounters, if a chance was provided to you, and if you did not take advantage of it, then your mind and heart would definitely be haunted by the thoughts of it. Moreover, Ning Cheng knew that once the old woman came out, she would definitely not even give him soup to drink.
Once he made the decision, Ning Cheng no longer hesitated, and immediately went towards the dark purple thing to grab it. Only when Ning Cheng moved towards it, it was only then he understood why the old woman said that the ship was very fast.
Walking at the bottom of this river was extremely difficult, Ning Cheng almost had to circulate the entire True Essence in his body towards the shield just to move forward, and even moving 1-2 meters, it took Ning Cheng several breaths of time. Moreover, in front of the big water coloured door, was an Array Formation that obstructed the flow of water, or else he would have found it even more difficult to walk.
Seeing the shield starting to break apart, Ning Cheng did not think of anything else, and immediately moved his hands to catch that dark purple thing.
Instantly an intense heat entered through Ning Cheng’s palm, and started to spread throughout his body.
“Kacha” The fiery shield finally broke apart, Ning Cheng found that it was simply too late to try and enter the Mysterious Yellow Bead, but this time he surprisingly found that he did not need to enter the Mysterious Yellow Bead. Because of the terrible heat spreading out from his palm, the freezing cold all around him dispersed.
But Ning Cheng could feel that, if he could not control this scorching heat coming out of the thing that he had just caught, he entire body might just turn to ash.
But then unexpectedly a kind of pleasant feeling was transmitted from the soybean sized thing in Ning Cheng’s hand, which made Ning Cheng feel that although it was extremely powerful, but it did not have any intention to hurt him, which also made Ning Cheng slightly calmer.
The next moment Ning Cheng received even more information, this insignificant thing in his hands, unexpectedly turned out to have an innate intelligence, moreover it also took the initiative to recognize him as its master.
Ning Cheng did not hesitate even for a moment and imprinted his own brand on it, and it suddenly disappeared from his hands, and did not even wait for Ning Cheng to refine it. Or rather Ning Cheng currently could not afford to refine it.
Ning Cheng soon discovered where this thing had gone into hiding, it was right next to the Mysterious Yellow Bead, and was resting in the middle of his Zifu.
It turned out it was because of the Mysterious Yellow Bead, that it had recognised him as its master. Although it was not because of his own Spiritual Qi, he understood that it was because the Qi from the Mysterious Yellow Bead was different from his.
Ning Cheng learned from the flood of information just now, that this thing that was just the size of a soybean had a very famous name, called the ‘Star River’, as of its origin, or how to use it, he did not know at the moment. This thing called the Star River just stayed motionless next to the Mysterious Yellow Bead, as if waiting for Ning Cheng to refine it.
Something is not right, it was at this moment, that Ning Cheng discovered that the shield had long since disappeared, and moreover he had still not returned to the boat, but he could now easily endure the freezing cold of the surrounding water. Not only could he easily tolerate it, he could clearly feel that the bone piercing cold around him was gradually weakening, which also meant that the temperature at the bottom of the river was also beginning to rise.
Ning Cheng did not know what was going on, but he was sure that what was happening all around him definitely had some kind of relation with the Star River. This Star River at the bottom of this Cold River, was not freezing cold like its surroundings, but instead had such a high temperature which was somewhat strange. Now that he had already taken this Star River, the temperature at the bottom of this river immediately began to rise. It was at this time that Ning Cheng came to realize, that the original heat in the river was actually fully absorbed by this Star River that he obtained. Because the heat of the river was completely absorbed by the Star River, the river had in turn become bone piercingly cold. And because the thermal energy was constantly being absorbed by this Star River, the river also could not freeze up, it was similar to super cooled water that he used to hear back on Earth.
Something this terrifying was unexpectedly staying in his Zifu, fortunately it had identified him as its master, otherwise how could his body contain all the heat it had absorbed till now? At this time Ning Cheng clearly understood that his thing could absorb pure thermal energy.
He decided to first get out into the air, since this Star River had already recognised him as its master, he had to refine it completely, and absolutely cannot let even a shred of mistake to crop up.
At this point of time, the bone piercing cold at the bottom of the river had already vanished, Ning Cheng was not willing to waste even the slightest time, and immediately sat down on in front of the huge door and began cultivating.
The Spiritual Qi here was so rich, if he did not cultivate here then he really was a fool. As Ning Cheng sat down there to cultivate, he realized that he had underestimated the density of the Spiritual Qi here. He had never tried cultivating so fast, just by sitting there and cultivating there, he had already advanced from the Early Stage of True Condensation 1st Level to the Peak Stage of True Condensation 1st Level, and that too in just a few hours. He did not even have to wait for even half a moment before he once again advanced to the Early Stage of True Condensation 2nd Level, moreover his cultivation level was still rising unceasingly.
Two days later, Ning Cheng had already advanced to the Peak Stage of the True Condensation 2nd Level. Ning Cheng’s heart was filled with joy, he wanted to rush to True Condensation 3rd Level. Unfortunately, just when he was attempting to breakthrough to the True Condensation 3rd Level, he found that the extremely dense Spiritual Qi around him disappeared without a trace.
“Did I completely absorb it?” Ning Cheng thought to himself with a little disappointment in his heart, if he could still have such a dense and rich Spiritual Qi, then how could others even match up to his cultivation speed? This Spiritual Qi was because it had leaked out when the door in front of him only opened for a bit, if he actually entered through the door, then the speed of his cultivation would definitely be even more formidable, Ning Cheng just couldn’t imagine it. Unfortunately, the door was closed, and the things inside would definitely be taken by the white haired old woman.
But feeling his own True Essence much more vigorous than before, the disappointment in Ning Cheng’s heart was replaced by happiness.
Calculating the time that he had spent here, including his cultivation, it had nearly been three days, since the old woman had entered the door in front of him, and has still not come out. It looked like the old woman had lied to him when she said that she would bring him back to the Mo Ze City in 2-3 days’ time. Ning Cheng did not have any other way, and helplessly started refining the Star River in his Zifu.
Since the Star River had already recognized him as its master, so when Ning Cheng began to refine it, it unexpectedly turned out to be extremely easy, and in just half a day, Ning Cheng had completely refined the Star River.
It wasn’t until this time did Ning Cheng came to know just what exactly was this Star River thing, in the end it was a seed for a special type of fire. Only after absorbing a ma.s.sive quant.i.ty of flames, or by absorbing a ma.s.sive quant.i.ty of thermal energy, this fire seed would finally break out of its sh.e.l.l, and become a true flame. Moreover, the reason why this Star River had actively recognised Ning Cheng as its master was because of the Mysterious Yellow Bead.
After refining the Star River, since he could no longer absorb the rich and dense Qi from before, Ning Cheng then tried pushing on the door that was in front of him, but the door stood motionless, and was still extremely firm.
Ning Cheng looked around the door in front of him, and suddenly saw four letters etched onto it in an extremely small writing, ‘Soft Flame Immortal Mansion’.
This place unexpectedly turned out to be an Immortal Mansion? Ning Cheng was completely shocked in his heart, he believed that no one would think that under the Thunder Fall Scorching River would there be an Immortal Mansion. Moreover, although he had never heard of any legends pertaining to Immortals in the Yi Xing Mainland, but he had definitely heard about legends concerning Immortals back on his homeland, Earth. Of course it was only in ancient Chinese literatures, but now he was actually seeing an Immortal Mansion with his own eyes. Ning Cheng was not sure if these Immortals were the same as the Immortals in his imagination, but he knew that the inside of this door would definitely not be ordinary.
Ning Cheng now fully understood why that old woman wanted to enter the door, she wanted to refine this Immortal Mansion. My goodness, if she actually went ahead and refined the Immortal Mansion for herself, just how many treasures would she be able to obtain?
Just as Ning Cheng just thought of this, he could sense an extremely dangerous feeling in his subconscious, Ning Cheng did not think of anything else and rapidly retreated. Then he saw that the closed door of the Immortal Mansion suddenly open, and just like how the old woman entered, the same way she flew out like a cannonball. Originally there was a Confinement Array Formation placed on the front of the door which had restricted the flow of the water, but now that he had quickly retreated out of the range of the Array Formation, Ning Cheng found himself being pulled in the direction the strong water currents and immediately began to circulate his True Essence as he retreated back.
As the old woman was thrown out, it was apparent that she could not successfully refine it. The old woman’s cultivation was not powerful enough to successfully refine it, Ning Cheng imagined, as he moved towards the surface of the river. Fortunately, the temperature of the water at this time was no longer the same bone piercingly cold, otherwise he would have died without a doubt.
“Boom…….”
A huge sound could be heard, as a huge water current moved towards Ning Cheng. Ning Cheng immediately got caught up in this water current, and was immediately thrown out the river.
As he flew over the river, at the same time, he saw a dark shadow hurtle into a void at the bottom of the river, before it disappeared in a flash.
Because Ning Cheng was jolted by such a powerful impact because of the water column, he immediately spewed out a few mouthfuls of blood, as he once again crashed into the river. He immediately rushed towards the sh.o.r.e before thinking anything else.
Lying on the sh.o.r.e, Ning Cheng finally was able to catch his breath. Only after a long time, did he see the figure of the old woman a bit far away from him, coming out of the river.
At this time the corners of the mouth of the white haired old woman were overflowing with blood, and even her clothes were torn up, and this time Ning Cheng could clearly see the exposed skin which was pure white.
This was the first time that Ning Cheng had seen the old woman without her Concealment Restriction that she had placed on herself, and just as she came out she once again placed the Concealment Restriction on herself, and resumed her old appearance.
But this time her eyes contained a trace of true loss and fatigue.
Seeing this white haired old woman arrive in front of him on her own, Ning Cheng got up with difficulty, and coughed a few times before he said, “Senior, just what was that thing that had vanished into the void below the river? I almost died by that thing as I was reaching up, it was really frightful.”
The old woman sighed, “Even if you knew about it, it would not be any use to you, moreover I cannot refine it. Alas, I also brought trouble for you, let me send you back to Mo Ze City.”
Saying that, the white haired old woman did not seem willing to speak anymore, and controlling her Flying Type Artefact with her fastest speed arrived at Mo Ze City along with Ning Cheng, putting Ning Cheng down she said, “This time I owe you a favour, I need to go into closed door cultivation at the moment, we shall meet again in the future.”
After the old woman and Ning Cheng exchanged a casual greeting, she once again controlled her Flight Type Magical Artefact, and immediately vanished without a trace.
Ning Cheng looked in the direction in which the white haired old woman departed, and sighed in his heart, this time his luck was not bad, and had even obtained a mysterious fire seed. Although this white haired old woman looked tired and lost, Ning Cheng did not believe that she did not obtain at least some treasures from the Immortal Mansion. Perhaps she was greedier than he thought, as even if she obtained a lot of things from there, she was still not satisfied.