Chapter 0808: Retreating to the Forefather’s Library
Shen Mengyan fell at the edge of a forest full of withered trees and cautiously swept the surrounding area with her spiritual consciousness. Searching around for a short while, she felt sure that there was no one else around.
Shen Mengyan’s attainments in the Dao of Arrays was only average at best. However, she understood that the few array flags Ning Cheng had asked her to throw out were all array flags for a teleportation array. Realising this fact, she sighed internally and started to admire her daughter Yu Qing’s choice. It hadn’t been long since he entered Moyi City, yet Ning Cheng had already set up a way out. It proved that Ning Cheng not only was a powerful individual but also someone with an extraordinary vision and mind.
If only Qing’er were still here. Shen Mengyan looked down at Ning Cheng, whose hair had already turned greyish-white. Even his face now looked much older compared to her. Taking it all in, she gave out another soft sigh.
She guessed that this place was still within Mysterious Yellow Starland. But even if she escaped the range of that Ninth Prince’s spiritual consciousness, she had to continue moving.
Talking out the jade strip Ning Cheng had given her, Shen Mengyan’s hand trembled slightly. The jade strip had the words ‘Thousand Mound Forest’ inscribed on it, and also marked the direction and coordinates of where she should go.
Wasn’t Thousand Mound Forest the place where she told Ning Cheng she wanted to go? Since Ning Cheng wanted her to enter the Thousand Mound Forest, it must have been for her sake.
Shen Mengyan felt truly grateful towards Ning Cheng in her heart. But instead of stopping, she continued to rush into the Thousand Mound Forest, which no longer had any greenery, while holding Ning Cheng.
A few days later, Shen Mengyan finally stopped. She had reached the position marked on the jade strip. She didn’t know what to do next, and Ning Cheng still had not woken up.
“Thump” A terrifying sound blew over, and Shen Mengyan spat out a mouthful of blood. Under this sound, she felt as if her internal organs had turned upside down, even her Sea of Consciousness shook violently.
What was this sound? Why was it so terrifying?
Shen Mengyan quickly stepped back. If she had to face this sound once again, then even if that Ninth Prince stopped hunting her, she would perish here first.
“Aunt Yan. Thank you very much.” Ning Cheng opened his eyes. The explosive sound had also forced him awake.
Shen Mengyan, in a panic, saw Ning Cheng waking up and immediately felt ecstatic. “You finally woke up. Since we’re all family, you don’t need to thank me.”
Shen Mengyan spoke those words subconsciously. After learning about the relationship between Ning Cheng and Yu Qing, she started to see Ning Cheng as someone from her own family and not an outsider.
Ning Cheng sighed. Even if he and Yu Qing didn’t have anything between them, he didn’t dispute Shen Mengyan’s words. Instead, he took out a few medicinal pills and swallowed them.
After swallowing a few medicinal pills, Ning Cheng finally regained some energy and vitality, and even his body started to recover at an accelerated rate.
Another ‘thump’ erupted, and Shen Mengyan’s heart burst with pain. Fortunately, she had moved farther away from her initial location; therefore, she didn’t spew out blood.
“Ning Cheng, we need to leave this place quickly. That sound is just too horrifying.” Shen Mengyan brought out a defensive-type weapon. At the same time, she also conveyed the words to Ning Cheng. This sound seemed to contain a unique dao charm, which she could not suppress using her celestial essence.
Ning Cheng took in a deep breath and said, “Aunt Yan, we can’t leave. Although the sound feels terrifying, we can still keep our lives. However, once we leave Forefather’s Altar, we will no doubt die. With Man Jiuren’s character, it would be a weird thing if he let us escape after I destroyed his subst.i.tute.”
Ning Cheng still had retained some consciousness before he fell. Therefore, he understood that because of Man Jiuren’s Essence Spirit Subst.i.tute, his Five-coloured Star Splitter Arrow couldn’t truly kill him. If they left the Altar of Forefather’s Library at this time, it would only result in their deaths.
After saying this, Ning Cheng swallowed a few more medicinal pills again before barely bringing out the Everlasting Blue Thunder Fort. “Aunt Yan, we won’t retreat, but go in. Only by going in, can we have a way out.”
Another ‘thump’ sounded out, hitting Ning Cheng’s Everlasting Blue Thunder Fort. But Shen Mengyan realised that the sound didn’t affect her anymore. Realising this, Shen Mengyan didn’t step back. Instead, holding Ning Cheng, she rushed towards the direction of the Altar of Forefather’s Library pointed out by Ning Cheng. She had already seen Ning Cheng’s strength; therefore, she believed that Ning Cheng would choose the right way.
Soon after Shen Mengyan and Ning Cheng entered the area of the Altar of Forefather’s Library, a shadow appeared in Shen Mengyan’s previous location. However, the figure only looked in the direction of the Altar of Forefather’s Library. It didn’t follow her but chose to leave instead.
Two hours later, Shen Mengyan stopped outside a collapsed canyon. The canyon in front of her looked utterly ruined, with scenes of destruction and ruins everywhere.
“Aunt Yan, stop here. I’ll loosen the restrictions of the Everlasting Blue Thunder Fort. You should let a bit of your spirit sense seep into my Everlasting Blue Thunder Fort and help me control the Blue Thunder Fort for some time. I need to heal.” Ning Cheng didn’t wait for Shen Mengyan to answer before transferring partial control of the Everlasting Blue Thunder Fort to her.
Shen Mengyan immediately felt the vastness of the Everlasting Blue Thunder Fort and the endless lightning arcs coursing within the blue thunder fort. Fortunately, Everlasting Blue Thunder Fort was Ning Cheng’s weapon, and she only had to help Ning Cheng support it a bit, so the pressure on her wasn’t that great.
After Ning Cheng transferred partial control of Everlasting Blue Thunder Fort to Shen Mengyan, he immediately turned silent. He almost fully sealed his six senses to heal his injuries.
When Shen Mengyan saw this, she quickly brought out an abode-type artefact and placed Ning Cheng inside. She then sat next to Ning Cheng while controlling the Everlasting Blue Thunder Fort, while waiting for Ning Cheng to finish healing his injuries.
Time pa.s.sed by slowly. However, as days trickled by, Shen Mengyan started to feel the pressure. She couldn’t support powering the blue thunder fort for long. But seeing Ning Cheng showing no signs of waking up, she had no choice but to hold on.
After another two days pa.s.sed by, Shen Mengyan started to feel her spiritual consciousness beginning to slip. It became even more challenging to control the blue thunder fort. With every ‘thump’ sound, she could acutely feel the Everlasting Blue Thunder Fort shrinking a bit. Seeing this, Shen Mengyan grew even more worried. She took out some Permanent Essence Pills and started absorbing the pure Starry Sky Essence Spirit Qi[1] from the Permanent Essence Pills to sustain her efforts. At the same time, she also began to pray for Ning Cheng to wake up quickly.
The Starry Sky Essence Spirit Qi from the Permanent Essence Pills quickly plunged Sheng Mengyan into a state of cultivation. Moreover, once she fell into this kind of a cultivation state, she felt another powerful aura. This kind of aura immediately forced out all the remaining pill poison and impurities from her body. It not only let her body undergo a rebirth-like nirvana, but it also purified her Sea of Consciousness and meridians.
Moreover, it also improved her absorption speed of Perpetual Moon Pills, even her perceptions of spirit techniques and dao laws grew deeper. Shen Mengyan subconsciously moved closer to Ning Cheng. The closer she moved towards Ning Cheng, the stronger the effect she experienced.
Shen Mengyan, who unconsciously got immersed in cultivation, vaguely perceived that the aura that affected her cultivation was a kind of origin aura. Therefore, she didn’t force herself to wake up; this kind of opportunity was something she had never experienced in her life.
What Shen Mengyan absorbed was indeed an origin, the Mysterious Yellow Origin that Ning Cheng used during his healing process and cultivation. Typically, whenever Ning Cheng cultivated, he made sure that no one remained around him. But this time, Shen Mengyan stayed by his side, which was a pure accident and something he couldn’t control.
The Mysterious Yellow Origin operated according to Ning Cheng’s Mysterious Yellow Formless, and it remained active at every instant. It didn’t matter if Ning Cheng consciously circulated it or not. Now that Shen Mengyan had unconsciously come closer and leaned over Ning Cheng while inhaling the Mysterious Yellow Origin. Because of this, her body naturally underwent a metamorphosis as the Mysterious Yellow Origin didn’t tolerate even the slightest bit of impurities during its circulation. Moreover, Shen Mengyan’s cultivation method was also far worse compared to Ning Cheng’s method. Therefore, even if her cultivation reached the Heaven Seated Realm, her body still contained high levels of impurities. But because she unconsciously absorbed and circulated the Mysterious Yellow Origin Aura, it immediately pushed out all the lingering impurities and toxins within her body.
After Shen Mengyan fell into an unconscious cultivation state, the Everlasting Blue Thunder Fort also started to stabilise gradually. Shen Mengyan’s unconscious cultivation state not only allowed her to continue using the Everlasting Blue Thunder City to protect her and Ning Cheng but also allowed her to continue cultivating.
Another month pa.s.sed by quickly, and Shen Mengyan suddenly woke up from her cultivation state. She had reached a cultivation barrier that stopped her from continuing. Therefore, she couldn’t continue cultivating even if she wanted to and woke up immediately. But when she looked at her body, Shen Mengyan couldn’t help but feel shocked.
Her body had a layer of dirt and filth covering it, which even gave out a peculiar disgusting smell. Seeing this situation, Shen Mengyan almost screamed.
After reaching the Heaven Seated Realm, one could say that the impurities in her body should have grown less, leaving almost nothing. Therefore, she never expected that so much filth would still seep out of her today.
She couldn’t help but feel extremely ashamed as she found herself right next to Ning Cheng. But when her spiritual consciousness fell on Ning Cheng, she felt relieved. Ning Cheng had not woken up. From the looks of it, Ning Cheng had forced himself into the deepest level of seclusion to heal himself.
Shen Mengyan heaved a sigh of relief and quickly stood up and took off all her clothes. After cleaning her clothes, she promptly washed off all the filth covering her body and put on a set of new underwear.
But just as Shen Mengyan put on her underwear, and before she had the time to put on her outer robe, she felt a ‘thud’. The next instant, the Everlasting Blue Thunder Fort outside blew open. At the same time, a spiritual consciousness swept over and fell on her.
Shen Mengyan screamed. She hadn’t put on her clothes fully yet, and such a thing had happened.
Since the Everlasting Blue Thunder Fort blew up, it also forcibly woke up Ning Cheng. Although Shen Mengyan currently controlled the Everlasting Blue Thunder Fort, the weapon had a connection to his mind. If someone blasted open his defensive weapon, how could he not wake up?
“Boom……” The next moment, Shen Mengyan’s abode-type artefact also blew up, and the terrifying Shen Mengyan quickly hid behind Ning Cheng. The instinctive avoidance made her forget that people could still use their spiritual consciousness.
A blazing gaze fell on her and Ning Cheng, coming from the masked man staring at Shen Mengyan, who only had underwear on her.
“Quite the adulterous couple, huh. Sorry for disturbing your happy time.” The masked man spoke with a cold tone. His body overflowed with so much murderous aura that it even affected the s.p.a.ce around him.
“Beast, it’s none of your business how we heal our wounds. Animals like you killed so many people; you’ll surely die a miserable death….” Shen Mengyan recovered and shot back at him in hatred. She had a clear conscience, so she naturally didn’t have any psychological shadows that affected her.
She quickly took out a robe and was about to put it on her body when another ‘thump’ arrived. Blood appeared at the corner of her mouth, and the clothes in her hand fell on the ground.
Ning Cheng sneered internally, only a late-stage Eternal cultivator, yet daring to disturb him while healing? Even if he hadn’t fully recovered, he could still take out a late-stage Eternal cultivator without much effort.
Ning Cheng had just brought out the Celestial Rainbow Purgatory Spear when his expressions suddenly changed. The next moment, he put away the Celestial Rainbow Purgatory Spear, grabbed Shen Mengyan and quickly jumped into the destroyed canyon entrance.
The masked man had a trace of blood on his lips. He looked at the direction of Ning Cheng’s disappearance but did not pursue. After a few breaths, two daoist shadows fell on either side of him.
One was the eyeless Yi Mingyuan, and the other was a man dressed in green.
Yi Mingyuan also looked in the direction of Ning Cheng’s disappearance and said hoa.r.s.ely, “This person is quite powerful. He managed to escape here even under Ninth Prince’s power.”
The man in green only looked in the direction where Ning Cheng disappeared but did not speak. He didn’t know what method Ning Cheng used to injure the Ninth Prince this severely. But since Ning Cheng could kill Hong Lun, then it was quite reasonable for the Ninth Prince to suffer some serious injuries.
[1] Starry Sky Essence Spirit Qi, Starry Sky Essence Qi, Starry Sky Spirit Qi, and Starry Sky Spiritual Qi are the same. The author regularly mixes up the characters for these words; but rather than choosing one of them, I decided to keep it according to the raws.