Leaving the auction hall, Ning Cheng’s Spiritual Consciousness swept out. To his disappointment, that round-faced teenager had also long since disappeared. However, as long as the round-faced teenager was in Eternal Heaven Starry Sky City, Ning Cheng believed that he could ask Ziche Jun to help find him.
With the jade card now in his hands, Ning Cheng finished most of his objectives. Moreover, with the Sky Treasure Silk, Ning Cheng could now upgrade his Twin Wings of the Heavenly Clouds to the next level. The only regret Ning Cheng had was that his Celestial River Flame could not undergo an evolution.
“Blood River Mountain’s fortune telling, Blood River Mountain’s fortune……” Ning Cheng had not yet walked to the Celestial Immortal Street when he heard someone shouting about ‘fortune’. He looked around and saw the round-faced teenager.
This teenager carried a sign with the words ‘Blood River Mountain’ while shouting something about fortune up and down the street.
Hearing and seeing the words ‘Blood River Mountain’ immediately convinced Ning Cheng that this round-faced teenager had some relations to Brother Cang Wei. Most likely, since this kid could not find him, he resorted to directly calling out the words ‘Blood River Mountain’s fortune telling’. The bottom of the Blood River Mountain was where Cang Wei had remained trapped for many years. However, what made Ning Cheng wonder was how did Cang Wei know that he would show up in this place?
Ning Cheng went up and put a hand on the shoulder of this round-faced teenager.
“Senior, you want to hear about fortune telling.” The round-faced teenager immediately showed a flattering smile.
“Less nonsense. Did Brother Cang Wei send you here?” Ning Cheng gave a snort.
The round-faced teenager immediately exclaimed in surprise, “You must be Uncle-master Ning. My master said that no one apart from Uncle-master Ning would recognise me. Uncle-master Ning, why did you change your appearance to something I couldn’t recognise?”
Ning Cheng slapped the head of this round-faced teenager and spoke, “Do you think you and I know each other? Don’t whine and come with me.”
This b.a.s.t.a.r.d cost him tens of thousands of Perpetual Moon Pills, making Ning Cheng feel slightly upset. From the looks of it, this kid did not look very old, yet had the courage that covered the heavens. Even if he left out the part about the Perpetual Moon Pills, what relationship did this fellow have with him? In Ning Cheng’s eyes, this fellow was just a hairless man who used his mouth to cheat others.
“Yes. Uncle-master.” The round-faced teenager quickly put away the sign, and with head hanging down followed Ning Cheng into the Baichi Artefact-crafting Store.
After Ning Cheng entered the store, he did not see Cen Yan anywhere.
Ning Cheng took the round-faced boy to the second floor and activated the restrictions before asking, “Where is Brother Cang Wei? How does he know that I am here? Also, why would he let you find me?”
The round-faced teenager quickly took out a crystal ball and handed it to Ning Cheng with the words, “This is what my master told me to give you. After you open the restrictions covering it, you will find my master’s Spiritual Consciousness Projection inside. Master told me to follow Uncle-master’s instructions…….”
Letting such a trouble-making fellow follow him? How much trouble would he have to face in the future?
“What is your name?” Ning Cheng took the crystal ball and asked.
The round-faced teenager quickly replied, “My name is Jian Jiao[1], but master always called me Jian Jiao[2], but my surname is Jian as in sword aura…..”
Ning Cheng interrupted Jian Jiao before he could finish, “Your master is right, you should be called Jian Jiao (Little Pepper).”
“Oh…..” Jian Jiao’s head dropped low once again as if it did not make any difference in staying with this Uncle-master compared to staying with his master.
“You can go down to the reception. Your master and I have to talk now. I’ll come down later.” Ning Cheng gestured the round-faced boy to go down first.
“Yes.” The round-faced boy had a sincere expression over his face; however, Ning Cheng absolutely did not believe that he was an honest fellow. If he were an honest fellow, he would not have made such a huge mess at the auction hall. If not for the people from the auction house not in the mood to kill people and ruin the atmosphere, then even if this fellow had ten lives, he would have definitely died.
Ning Cheng waited for the round-faced teenager to go downstairs before taking out the crystal ball and opening the restrictions covering it.
Cang Wei’s projection then suddenly materialised, “Brother Ning, I had guessed that you would come to the Grand Culmination Starry Skies in a few hundred years. But I never thought to see you in the Grand Culmination Starry Skies in less than a hundred years. Haha, I really did not misread you.”
Ning Cheng realised that this truly was a sliver of Cang Wei’s Spiritual Consciousness, and quickly stood up in surprise before exclaiming, “Brother Cang, where are you? I’ll come to find you once I deal with things on my side.”
Cang Wei laughed, “Don’t bother for now. I am no longer in this starry sky. I have already taken a step forward. I believe that you would be able to fight on the same level as me very soon. From now on, we are fellow apprentices, and I will address you as Junior Apprentice Brother Ning.”
“Of course, where is Senior Apprentice Brother though?” Ning Cheng asked with a puzzling expression.
“We can talk about this later. I let Jian Jiao (Little Pepper) come to find you because he had nowhere to go after I left. Moreover, I am greatly indebted to that little fellow’s mother. I hope that you can take care of him for a few years. Just wait till he reaches the Celestial Bridge Realm before letting him go.”
Ning Cheng nodded, “Senior Apprentice Brother can rest a.s.sured. I will take care of Little Pepper. I am a bit surprised though, how did you realise that I would come to the Eternal Heaven Starry Sky City.”
The expression over Cang Wei’s projection turned dignified, “Junior Apprentice Brother, this is what I wanted to remind you about. The reason that I know that you are in the Eternal Heaven Starry Sky City, or at least on the way to the Eternal Heaven Starry Sky City, is because of the sudden emergence of the Immortal Jade Star. The Immortal Jade Star contains an Origin, which only surfaces when it senses the aura of Good Fortune Treasures. This is a kind of Heavenly Dao induction that no one can explain.”
“I know that you have the Mysterious Yellow Bead, and the Mysterious Yellow Bead requires five types of Origins to form a world inside. Moreover, the Mysterious Yellow Bead recognised you as its master. Since an Origin appeared on the Immortal Jade Star, it would certainly have some connection to your Mysterious Yellow Bead. That’s why I guessed that you would be either in the Eternal Heaven Starry Sky City or on your way to the Eternal Heaven Starry Sky City.”
“Senior Apprentice Brother Cang, I have also thought about this matter for a long time. Did the whereabouts of the Origin Bead on the Immortal Jade Star come to light because this Good Fortune Treasure recognised me as its master?” Ning Cheng had thought about it many times in the past, but he could never find an answer. Now that Cang Wei spoke about it, he immediately asked.
Cang Wei’s tone turned serious, “This is what I’m trying to tell you. Origins will always appear because of the appearance of a Good Fortune Treasure. However, this Origin might not necessarily end up in your hands. If not careful, this Origin would end up in the hands of others. If someone else took away the Origin, it would be only a secondary matter, what I’m more concerned is about the scheming minds of those old ghosts.”
“Alas, it’s tough for me to recover my strength in this backwater place; otherwise, I could have easily refined the Immortal Jade Star for you. Even if those so-called Eternal-level cultivators sealed off the Immortal Jade Star, they would not be able to hinder me at all.”
“Although I am just a Celestial Scryer Cultivator, if I obtained a treasure, I could simply put it into the Mysterious Yellow Bead. At that moment, even Eternal-level Powerhouses would not be able to discover it, or would they?” Ning Cheng asked with a puzzled look.
Cang Wei showed a sneer, “Do you know why the Immortal Jade Star was sealed off by the joint cooperation of several starry sky powerhouses with an array formation? Not only did they seal it off, but do you know why only cultivators in the Celestial Scryer Realm are allowed inside?”
Ning Cheng had heard Cen Yan speak about this issue. At that time, Cen Yan had said that it was to prevent expending too much energy in fighting amongst themselves, which would invariantly cause the Immortal Jade Star to collapse, resulting in the treasures inside disappearing forever. Now that Cang Wei asked this question again, and combined with what he said earlier, Ning Cheng immediately felt something amiss and quickly sobered up, “Senior Apprentice Brother, you mean……”
Cang Wei, on seeing Ning Cheng understand what he implied, nodded and continued, “That’s right. Since people know that an Origin has appeared here, that would mean that someone with a Good Fortune Treasure would eventually show up at this place. Can you guarantee that others do not know about this? Although this plane is just an ordinary one, it still contains some knowledgeable people. Once such people realise this fact, they would immediately integrate the Immortal Jade Star into their scheme.”
“Once someone obtained the Origin, they would immediately lock that fellow inside. These so-called Grand Starry Skies really have no inclination for the Origin inside, what they truly are searching for is the person who owns the Good Fortune Treasure. Not to mention that you are still only a Celestial Scryer Cultivator, even if you advanced all the way to this so-called Eternal Realm, how many opportunities to escape would you have under siege against many powerhouses?”
Ning Cheng broke into a cold sweat and quickly spoke up, “Many thanks for Senior Apprentice Brother’s reminder; otherwise, I would have turned into a p.a.w.n without realising it.”
“Do you still want to head to the Immortal Jade Star?” Cang Wei looked at Ning Cheng and asked.
Ning Cheng showed a smile, “Naturally, I’m going. Since something I need is inside, if I did not fight for it, it would only prove that I am incompetent. A Good Fortune Treasure would not recognise an incompetent fellow as its master.”
Cang Wei spoke with appreciation, “You’re right, a coward doesn’t deserve to own a Good Fortune Treasure. But do not worry, once you manage to integrate all the five elemental Origins, people would find it impossible to take away your Good Fortune Treasure. Because at that time, you would be in full control of your own inner world, unlike now, where you can only cling to your inner world. However, I also need to tell you that when it comes to the Immortal Jade Star, I will not be able to help you. If I helped you, it would only bring you more harm. It would attract the attention of many other powerful beings to you. So, you will have to depend on yourself inside.”
“Also remember my words, only after you come out of this plane’s starry sky, would you be able to see true eternality.”
“Senior Apprentice Brother, what does that mean?” Ning Cheng quickly asked.
Cang Wei turned quiet for a while before continuing, “This is what I wanted to tell you before leaving. You asked me before about where I wanted to go, right? Before that, you need to know that this starry sky’s so-called Eternal Realm is just an extremely arrogant name for a realm. The Primal Chaos universe contains countless planes with innumerable starry skies. However, these planes and starry skies cannot produce anything that is truly ‘Eternal’, even if someone took their cultivation to the very peak.”
“Senior Apprentice Brother, I heard that those in the Eternal Realm enjoy an endless life span…….”
Before Ning Cheng could finish his words, Cang Wei immediately interrupted him, “Eternal Realm? Having an endless life span? Even at my peak, no one could dare to claim that one had an infinite life span. These so-called Eternal-level Cultivators, if I was at my peak, I could easily reach out and pinch them to death. And even if I did not regain my cultivation, back in my peak, life within these starry skies was nothing more than tiny creatures waddling around.”
Ning Cheng knew that Cang Wei had heaven-defying cultivation, but he did not expect it to be so frightening. Thinking of this, Ning Cheng immediately concentrated on listening to his words. According to Senior Apprentice Brother Cang Wei, the cultivation system within these starry skies was still in its beginning stages.
Cang Wei’s voice turned slightly distant, “After countless years of pursuit and exploration, I finally found that in this universe, after bringing one’s cultivation to the extreme peak, there is definitely a new realm. Only by stepping into this new realm could one last for eternity, one could reach true immortality.”
“My cultivation is still limited, but I am not willing to fall like this. I looked everywhere for opportunities and finally learned that this universe contained a type of talisman. This talisman allowed me to reach a place that gave me a better chance of approach that peak and reach eternality.”
“Although I found this talisman, what about the other people like me? The ones also looking for true eternality. In the end, I managed to obtain that talisman, but I almost lost my life because of it. Yet, Junior Apprentice Brother, you were the one who saved my life after I had lost all hope. Junior Apprentice Brother, do you know why I did not kill you back then, let alone take away your Mysterious Yellow Bead? If I plotted against the one who saved my life, if I took away your Mysterious Yellow Bead, it would have gone completely against my Dao.”
“Moreover, I did not read you wrong. You are a brother worth making. If replaced with any other irrelevant cultivator, I would have definitely separated him or her from the Mysterious Yellow Bead.”
Ning Cheng took in a breath of cold air. It looks like back at the bottom of the Blood River Mountain, he had almost charged into the gates of h.e.l.l before turning back. Strength was all that mattered; moreover, only those truly strong could survive till the end.
[1] Jian Jiao = Sword Pepper
[2] Jian Jiao = Little Pepper