Chapter 0915: The Cracking Swamp
Seeing Shui Yueke return soon after, Yan Ji promptly came forward to greet her once again. After cupping her fists and bowing, she finally spoke up, “Yan Ji greets Senior Apprentice Sister Shui.”
Shui Yueke nodded and finally spoke up, “Did you want something from me?”
Yan Ji quickly replied, “Yes. I heard that when the Extraterritorial Spirit Spring’s ten stone doors were up for grabs, there was a rogue cultivator called Ji He. I heard he was quite powerful. I wonder if Senior Apprentice Sister Shui has a crystal ball of Ji He’s fights? I would like to observe it.”
When Shui Yueke heard that Yan Ji wanted a crystal ball of Ji He’s battles, she frowned slightly. But after a moment of hesitation, she took out a crystal ball and handed it to Yan Ji with the words, “Make a copy of it yourself. It contains footage of several of Ji He’s battles.”
Yan Ji felt overjoyed and thanked her repeatedly. Then, she took out a blank crystal ball and copied Shui Yueke’s crystal ball recordings before handing the original back to her.
Shui Yueke collected the crystal ball Yan Ji handed back and said, “That Ji He has a powerful spiritual consciousness. It wouldn’t make much sense for you to observe his battles from a crystal ball.”
“Many thanks for your guidance, Senior Apprentice Sister. I will keep that in mind.” Yan Ji could only thank her again. She naturally didn’t want the crystal ball to learn from the fight. Rather, Yan Ji wanted to see if this Ji He in the crystal ball was Ning Cheng in disguise or not. Although she remained unconscious for most of the journey when she travelled with Ning Cheng, that journey had still imprinted itself in her mind and heart. She believed that she should vaguely recognise him even under disguise as long as it was Ning Cheng. Not by her eyes but by her heart.
As for the Land of Broken Laws in the void outside the Grand Essence Ruins, Yan Ji knew that it wasn’t a place she could go to right now. Her current strength simply wasn’t enough to even reach the Land of Broken Laws, let alone look for Ning Cheng inside it.
……
Ning Cheng eventually decided to put away the top-grade starship. He couldn’t figure out if it were because of a flaw in the star ship’s design or because of the Land of Broken Laws. But every time Ning Cheng took control of the starship, it would burn away heaps of Permanent Essence Pills like a river washing away mud. He had quite a large reserve of Permanent Essence Pills, but driving the starship had almost consumed it all.
Although he still had a reserve pile of Permanent Essence Pills, Ning Cheng understood that he couldn’t use it all up. He had to save some for unexpected and urgent uses. It’s just that Man Huishan was akin to a maggot in his torso. No matter how far away he went, this fellow could always find the slightest trace that led to him. There were quite a few times when Ning Cheng saw Man Huishan’s figure approaching him.
If this place weren’t the Land of Broken Laws, coupled with the fact that he had an innate instinct for danger, Man Huishan would have already killed him several times over by now.
If Ning Cheng felt a bit heartbroken due to the consumption of Permanent Essence Pills, then Man Huishan, who kept tracking down Ning Cheng, almost went crazy with rage. He had never thought that he, a Dao Essence powerhouse, would have to chase after a tiny Eternal cultivator for over two years.
Fortunately, even though this was the Land of Broken Laws, Ning Cheng’s starship produced a hint of s.p.a.cial disturbance every time it moved. It was the only reason why he could even follow Ning Cheng’s trail till now.
Moreover, being on the run for two years under such conditions, Ning Cheng had long since gained experience and started growing less worried. As long as he sensed a crisis from afar and saw Man Huishan’s figure, he would immediately accelerate the starship and move away without panicking. It would take a long time before Man Huishan could manage to catch up with him.
Another swamp appeared in front of Ning Cheng. It wasn’t the first time Ning Cheng had seen such a swamp in the Land of Broken Laws. Usually, he would choose to accelerate his starship and cross over.
But this time, the swamp that Ning Cheng saw seemed slightly different from the others. It was because he felt a faint s.p.a.cial fluctuation coming from it. The s.p.a.ce within the Land of Broken Laws contained no laws at all, at least not in the places Ning Cheng had been to till now. As such, he had not felt a single law fluctuation or vibration at all.
Just as Ning Cheng was about to investigate it, a harsh killing intent suddenly surged up in his heart once again. Ning Cheng felt somewhat helpless at this. He immediately moved to start accelerating the starship. He knew that it was Man Huishan catching up with once again. But from the previous experiences, Ning Cheng understood that it would still take Man Huishan half an incense stick worth of time to catch up to him. Half an incense stick was more than enough for Ning Cheng to take out the starship and escape without leaving a trace.
Ning Cheng was just about to activate the starry sky battleship when a ‘boom’ sound abruptly erupted somewhere near him.
In the two years since he entered the Land of Broken Laws, the Land of Broken Laws produced no sound at all. Apart from the sounds created by Ning Cheng and Man Huishan’s pursuit, this place was eerily quiet. Ning Cheng didn’t even see any starry sky demonic beasts till now, so he felt confused by this explosion. No, rather than being confused, Ning Cheng felt more surprised.
But before Ning Cheng could react, the initially calm swamp in front of him suddenly shook violently. A moment later, cracks started forming over the swamp’s surface and around it at a swift and incomparable speed.
Ning Cheng, who stood next to the swamp, suddenly lost his balance and fell into the swamp. In just a moment, he started sinking into the swamp.
Ning Cheng felt anxious and quickly tried to bring out his starship. But he soon felt disappointed, as his spiritual consciousness, which initially could stretch out a few feet around him, couldn’t even come out of his body right now.
Since his spiritual consciousness couldn’t come out, it also meant that he also couldn’t take out the items in his ring. Moreover, as a powerful suppressive force of the swamp came crashing down, Ning Cheng found himself unable to struggle.
In just a dozen breaths, Ning Cheng’s legs had fully sunk into the swamp, and his body still kept descending. At this moment, Man Huishan had already appeared in his line of sight. When Man Huishan saw Ning Cheng stuck in the swamp, he immediately felt delighted in his heart.
Even if this was the Land of Broken Laws, his spiritual consciousness could still stretch out a considerable distance. The primary reason Ning Cheng had managed to escape from him till now wasn’t because of Ning Cheng’s strength, but because of that broken starry sky battleship. Now that Ning Cheng ended up caught in a swamp, it would be the same as not getting away.
Despite facing a rapidly cracking swamp, Man Huishan advanced instead of retreating. Just because Ning Cheng got stuck in the swamp and couldn’t escape didn’t mean that he couldn’t walk away either.
“Boom…..” Another explosion came from the swamp that was already splitting apart. It forced the speed of it cracking apart to grow even faster.
Man Huishan immediately threw caution to the wind and charged towards Ning Cheng. But with how fast the swamp started splitting apart, the swamp quickly swept up Man Huishan in it.
Ning Cheng kept a nervous eye on Man Huishan’s every action. He worried that Man Huishan could still use his spiritual consciousness while in the swamp. His Sea of Consciousness had evolved into the Starry Sky Sea of Consciousness, which made him stronger than a Dao Sculpting cultivator. But what kind of existence was Man Huishan? As a second-step Dao Confirming cultivator, how could Ning Cheng compare to him?
As the mud from the swamp rolled over, it directly submerged Man Huishan.
Ning Cheng breathed in a sigh of relief when he saw the swamp’s mud submerging the rushing Man Huishan. As long as Man Huishan couldn’t use his spiritual consciousness, he would have a slight chance to live.
Unfortunately, he didn’t even have the room to struggle in this place, let alone try to rescue himself. Once this swamp completely submerged him, he would most likely become the first Eternal Starry Sky Emperor to drown in a swamp.
But before Ning Cheng could even catch his breath, Man Huishan, who the swamp mud had submerged, once again rushed out of the swamp. The next moment, Man Huishan brought out a small boat.
Although the Land of Broken Laws had gravity, it didn’t have any buoyancy. As such, the boat started to gradually sink into the swamp, only at a slower pace.
When Man Huishan brought out the small boat, it immediately caused Ning Cheng to feel a chill in his heart. It meant that Ning Cheng couldn’t use his spiritual consciousness in this place, but Man Huishan could still use his spiritual consciousness.
Even if Man Huishan couldn’t form an essence handprint, as long as he could use his spiritual consciousness, Man Huishan would eventually catch him.
Thinking of this, Ning Cheng sighed. He couldn’t even enter the Mysterious Yellow Bead right now. And if Man Huishan came over, he would rather sink into the swamp and suffocate to death than be caught by this fellow.
Man Huishan wiped the mud off his face and slowly approached Ning Cheng riding the small boat under him. By relying on what little bit of spiritual consciousness he could access, Man Huishan could at least prevent the small boat from immediately sinking into the swamp. His eyes, on the other hand, had already filled up with killing intent. A puny Eternal ant had put him, a Dao Essence powerhouse, into such a wretched position. When had he ever been covered in mud since he successfully stepped into the Dao Confirming Realm?
A shadow suddenly appeared in the sky above, and Ning Cheng, still sinking into the swamp, subconsciously raised his head.
It was an incomparably huge footprint that came crashing down. Ning Cheng looked at this huge footprint above his head and felt a little helpless in his heart. Even without any Man Huishan, he wouldn’t be able to avoid this footprint.
Quickly, however, Ning Cheng felt surprised as he noticed that this footprint wasn’t coming crashing down on him but rather moving forward. Although it looked like the foot would land on the swamp, it had already moved away from his head.
Looking at Man Huishan, who currently was right under the foot, Ning Cheng’s heart suddenly felt much more comfortable. No matter what, it would feel good to see that b.a.s.t.a.r.d getting stepped on by that foot.
Since Ning Cheng was now not in range of the footprint, he finally got the opportunity to look up at the owner of that huge foot. Although not as terrifyingly big as Pan Qian, it was a giant. It still towered over ten meters in height. But what struck him the most was the foot itself, which was severely disproportionate in size compared to the rest of its body.
The giant also held something resembling a wooden stick in his hand. But Ning Cheng couldn’t identify the material used to craft it.
While Ning Cheng couldn’t put up any defence in the face of this descending footprint, Man Huishan still had enough strength to put up some kind of resistance. As a Dao Essence powerhouse, how could he let a mere foot trample over him?
Just as the huge footprint came down on him, a blue sword suddenly appeared in Man Huishan’s hand.
When Ning Cheng saw this sword, his heart sank even deeper, hitting rock bottom. If Man Huishan hadn’t used the boat just now and instead thrown the blue sword directly at him, he would have already died.
It’s just that Ning Cheng didn’t know if Man Huishan didn’t think about it till now, or he had some other reasons for not using the blue sword till now.
Man Huishan naturally had other reasons for not using the blue sword till now. He understood that Ning Cheng couldn’t escape from him; thus, he didn’t want to kill Ning Cheng right away.
With Ning Cheng trapped in the swamp and unable to do anything, he would only supply Ning Cheng with external force if he used his sword to kill Ning Cheng. He feared that Ning Cheng would take advantage of this external force to suicide. He wanted to search Ning Cheng’s soul, so how could he allow Ning Cheng to commit suicide?
The only thing that he hadn’t expected was the swamp cracking apart and a large footprint coming down on him just when he was about to catch Ning Cheng. Of course, he also understood that Ning Cheng wouldn’t have fallen into it without the sudden change in the swamp.
“Poof….” The blue sword managed to cut through the giant’s foot, and the giant immediately howled with a tearing cry. Its entire body fell to its knees, yet it still resembled a giant peak.
But before the giant could even kneel on the swamp, a huge palm print slapped towards Man Huishan. The slap sent Man Huishan flying, along with his small boat. Ning Cheng could even hear the sounds of multiple bones breaking in Man Huishan’s body.
Ning Cheng felt secretly pleased with this outcome. However, he also knew that even if that slap shattered all of Man Huishan’s bones, it wouldn’t do anything to him. But since Man Huishan kept chasing after him for these past two years and got slapped out of this place, it immediately washed out some of the bad taste in Ning Cheng’s mouth.
Man Huishan’s sword had left a gaping wound in the giant’s feet. Therefore, immediately after slapping Man Huishan away, the giant pulled out a handful of some black-coloured stuff from somewhere behind one of his arms and stuffed it into its mouth.
To Ning Cheng’s amazement, the giant once again stood up from the swamp after swallowing a handful of that black stuff. At the same time, the giant’s cut foot had also fully regenerated. But what made Ning Cheng feel even more puzzled was that while he kept sinking deeper into the swamp, the giant simply stood over the swamp without any indication of sinking.