Despite sensing Duan Gantai’s approach, Ning Cheng first arranged accommodations for Shen Mengyan and others and then explained the situation to Cang Caihe before leaving Jiangzhou Star once again.
Jiangzhou Star had Cang Caihe, a powerhouse in the late-stage Eternal Realm, along with several Heaven Seated cultivators. As such, nothing unexpected should happen with such a line-up.
Just as Ning Cheng sensed Duan Gantai’s position, Duan Gantai also sensed Ning Cheng’s location. This made Duan Gantai quite happy. He had made a fortune by himself, and now he had news about Ning Cheng. What was better than this?
Even if he could not find any news about Ning Cheng, he had still decided to visit Jiangzhou Star to search for Ning Cheng’s traces. Unexpectedly, Ning Cheng appeared before he reached Jiangzhou Star. Moreover, he understood that since Ning Cheng unsealed the Connecting Spirit Silk, Ning Cheng also wanted to find him. Therefore, knowing that Ning Cheng wanted to see him, Duan Gantai also couldn’t wait to come to Jiangzhou Star.
Just as Ning Cheng finished arranging accommodations for Shen Mengyan and others and came out, Duan Gantai appeared on the starry sky public square. The public square right outside Jiangzhou Star’s Star Protecting Grand Array.
“Brother Duan, long time no see. Nice to see you after such a long time.” Ning Cheng greeted Duan Gantai on the public square from a distance. However, he felt slightly surprised. Although Ning Cheng sensed Duan Gantai’s location, he couldn’t have made it to this place this quickly, even if he flew towards Jiangzhou Star at full speed.
But what made Ning Cheng even more shocked was that Duan Gantai’s cultivation looked no weaker than him, at the middle-level of Life and Death Realm. He cultivated with the help of the Mysterious Yellow Bead, and the Mysterious Yellow Origin, along with the support of Starry Sky Spiritual Veins and many Permanent Essence Pills. Only with all that did he manage to advance to the middle-level of Life and Death Realm so quickly. So how come Duan Gantai managed to keep up with him?
Just as Ning Cheng felt shocked, Duan Gantai also felt shocked. He could not clearly see Ning Cheng’s cultivation, but he could vaguely feel that Ning Cheng’s cultivation was the same as his. It even felt slightly stronger. He had initially thought that he would quickly leave Ning Cheng behind in the dust with his cultivation speed. But facts proved otherwise. Ning Cheng’s cultivation not only reached his level, it even showed signs of overtaking.
The only reason he managed to reach the middle-level of Life and Death Realm this quickly was because of a recent heaven-sent opportunity. He had obtained a part of a strange treasure belonging to the Guardian Temple, one of the three temples of Striking Order Starry Sky. It was this that allowed him to advance to the middle-level of Life and Death Realm. But what did Ning Cheng rely on? How did he cultivate so fast?
Unfortunately, he didn’t have the real None-to-depend-on wine. Otherwise, he could have opened the deeper parts of the Guardian Temple and obtained better things. Opening the inner hall of the Guardian Temple required a spirit technique, the None-to-depend-on Spirit Technique. He had memorised the detailed introduction to the None-to-depend-on Spirit Technique inscribed on the entrance to the inner hall. However, without the None-to-depend-on Wine, he still couldn’t understand even the surface of this spirit technique.
However, Duan Gantai believed that with his intelligence and apt.i.tude, if he had a pot of None-to-depend-on Wine, he could understand the None-to-depend-on Spirit Technique.
“Haha. Brother Ning, there seems to be something wrong with my Connecting Spirit Silk. Fortunately, it rectified itself.” Duan Gantai smiled and greeted Ning Cheng with the same warm enthusiasm.
Ning Cheng could feel the celestial essence fluctuations from Duan Gantai’s body. So, he just laughed, “Brother Duan sure enjoys a lot of luck, and yet, here I am, only encountering bad luck. I entered the Ancient Shadow Temple but almost lost my life. By the way, since Brother Duan has shown up in Striking Order Starry Sky recently, did you find the Guardian Temple?”
Duan Gantai felt even more shocked. However, he quickly laughed it off. “How could that be possible. The Guardian Temple is one of the three great temples of Striking Order Starry Sky, ranked even above the Temple of Time. Besides, even if I did find it, I can’t enter it by myself. Brother Ning, we are old friends and have not seen each other for a long time. Why not find a nice quiet place to have a drink first?”
Ning Cheng didn’t doubt Duan Gantai’s words. He anyway wanted to ask Duan Gantai about the Boundary Breaking Talisman. But he didn’t expect Duan Gantai would propose to have a drink first.
He was just about to agree, but when the words appeared at the tip of his tongue, Ning Cheng’s heart suddenly jolted. Duan Gantai reached here in quite a hurry. So, it was reasonable to say that the first thing he would put forward was to enter the Temple of Time together. Why would he suddenly propose to sit down and have a drink? Besides, how did Duan Gantai come here so quickly?
Swallowing what he was about to say, Ning Cheng sighed and said. “Oh, Brother Duan, I wish I had the time to have a drink with you and then head to the Temple of Time. Unfortunately, ….”
Duan Gantai suddenly felt a shadow creep up within his heart. He had asked Ning Cheng for a drink to naturally draw out the None-to-depend-on Wine. He already had prepared an excuse to ask Ning Cheng to give him some wine. And that excuse was that he liked the None-to-depend-on Wine a little too much.
He had already obtained information that Ning Cheng had taken out the None-to-depend-on Wine during a feast with Chuan Xinlou and the others. From this, he guessed that Ning Cheng most likely had killed Mutual Dependence Chamber of Commerce’s Zhu Zhengfeng and taken away his things. If he wanted None-to-depend-on Wine, he could only find it on Ning Cheng.
Making the connection that Ning Cheng could kill Zhu Zhengfeng, Duan Gantai initially felt both shock and admiration in his heart towards Ning Cheng. If Zhu Zhengfeng could die this easily, he would have already murdered Zhu Zhengfeng a long time ago. Unexpectedly, before he could even attempt it, Ning Cheng had already finished it.
“What a pity? Is Brother Ning facing any difficulty? If Brother Ning doesn’t mind, you can talk to this brother of yours. If this brother of yours can help, he will never refuse.” Duan Gantai patted his chest and said impatiently.
Ning Cheng hesitated for a moment before nodding, “Okay then, can I ask how Brother Duan reached here this quickly?”
Duan Gantai chuckled and made a very embarra.s.sed and simple gesture. “I know that I don’t have a quick speed. And I was afraid that I wouldn’t be able to meet with Brother Ning in time. So, I simply set up a temporary teleportation array outside Jiangzhou Star where Brother Ning lives. Fortunately, my attainments in array formations improved quite a bit….”
Hearing this, Ning Cheng suddenly realised that with Duan Gantai’s shrewdness and cunning, he should have thought about it a long time ago.
Duan Gantai continued with an honest voice, “But even so, I don’t think my array formations can match up to Brother Ning. Since Brother Ning can already arrange a Star Protecting Grand Array, I feel somewhat embarra.s.sed about myself.”
Even he couldn’t have done it in one go. From this, he understood that Duan Gantai had most likely set up multiple Transmission Arrays to quickly reach this place. Moreover, from his words, Ning Cheng also realised that Duan Gantai wasn’t sure if he had personally arranged this Star Protecting Grand Array. Thinking of this, Ning Cheng gave a simple reply. “Truth be told, I had help in arranging this Star Protecting Grand Array. I couldn’t have arranged it by myself. Brother Duan thinks too highly of me.”
Duan Gantai couldn’t tell if Ning Cheng spoke correctly or not. But he still spoke with the same positivity, “Brother Ning, in any case, you managed to take over a celestial river and built a sect in such a short amount of time. Something that I wanted to do too. Compared to Brother Ning, it feels like I am just fooling around.”
Ning Cheng shrugged and didn’t want to continue such hypocrisy with Duan Gantai. Instead, he said, “I want to visit a place, but I lack a Braking Boundary Talisman. I heard that Brother Duan has a Breaking Boundary Talisman. I don’t know if Brother Duan can give me that Breaking Boundary Talisman….”
Duan Gantai, on hearing that Ning Cheng wanted a Breaking Boundary Talisman, immediately felt his heart tightening. It wasn’t easy for him to get this Breaking Boundary Talisman, but now that Ning Cheng asked for it, should he give it to him or not? If Duan Gantai didn’t take it out, Ning Cheng might also not give him any None-to-depend-on Wine, and he should stop asking Ning Cheng for anything.
“I really do have a Breaking Boundary Talisman. But I obtained it from Yu Clan’s Corner. It’s just that I promised it to a friend already. He said that he would help me get a dozen pots of None-to-depend-on Wine for it. If not for that, I would have already given the talisman to Brother Ning.” Duan Gantai hesitated for a while before speaking up with some embarra.s.sment.
Truth be told, for this Breaking Boundary Talisman, Ning Cheng would have even given up a portion of the shares from the Temple of Time. He had even contemplated giving one of the Time Keys to Duan Gantai. Yet unexpectedly, Duan Gantai didn’t even speak about the Temple of Time and spoke about None-to-depend-on Wine. For Ning Cheng, None-to-depend-on Wine was just a thing to drink. Even at its best, it could only help people get a slightly more in-depth understanding of the None-to-depend-on Spirit Technique.
But Duan Gantai shouldn’t know about the None-to-depend-on Spirit Technique. So, for what purpose did he want jars of None-to-depend-on Wine? Moreover, a dozen jars? Besides, how could a dozen jars of None-to-depend-on Wine be as valuable as a Breaking Boundary Talisman? At least not unless he took out the real top-quality None-to-depend-on Wine obtained from the secret Mo Clan’s wine cellar.
As these thoughts flashed through Ning Cheng’s mind, he smiled and spoke, “That’s a real pity. I only have three jugs of None-to-depend-on Wine; otherwise, I would have given it to Brother Duan for free.”
Duan Gantai internally cursed at Ning Cheng for such shamelessness. Three jars of None-to-depend-on Wine for a Breaking Boundary Talisman, wasn’t this just too much? But then when he thought of the things within the Guardian Temple, he immediately suppressed the discomfort. Not to mention three pots of None-to-depend-on Wine, he only needed a single jar of None-to-depend-on Wine. If he comprehended the None-to-depend-on Spirit Technique and entered the inner hall of Guarding Temple, he wouldn’t mind pinching his nose and finish the exchange.
“Three pots of None-to-depend-on is much better than nothing. Many thanks, Brother Ning, for giving it to me for free.” Duan Gantai repeatedly thanked him.
Ning Cheng also replied in kind, “Okay, okay, it’s only a small matter.”
Duan Gantai, on seeing Ning Cheng not taking out the None-to-depend-on Wine, understood that Ning Cheng had a face no thinner than his own. He could not force Ning Cheng with just words. Therefore, he begrudgingly took out a jade box and opened it in front of Ning Cheng. “Ning Cheng, as long as you can give those three pots of None-to-depend-on Wine, I wouldn’t care about this friend anymore. It’s his own fault that Brother Ning and I met earlier. Brother Ning, please accept this Breaking Boundary Talisman.”
Although he said those words, in fact, he did not hand over the box to Ning Cheng. Just like Ning Cheng didn’t trust him, he didn’t believe Ning Cheng either.
Ning Cheng’s spiritual consciousness scanned the jade box, making sure that it was the real Breaking Boundary talisman. Confirming that it indeed was the real one, he simply took out three pots of None-to-depend-on Wine and left it suspended in front of him. What he took out was the None-to-depend-on Wine from Zhu Zhengfeng’s ring. As for the real top-quality None-to-depend-on Wine, he didn’t even think about giving it to Duan Gantai.
With both quickly receiving what they wanted, they both felt quite happy. Moreover, Duan Gantai felt that Ning Cheng’s None-to-depend-on Wine was of a higher quality than the real None-to-depend-on Wine he had once drunk before. This made him feel somewhat strange.
“Brother Ning, I had come here looking for you to head to the Temple of Time. Unfortunately, I must give this None-to-depend-on Wine to someone else. I can only meet Brother Ning again after I finish this task.” Duan Gantai put away the three pots of None-to-depend-on Wine and spoke with some sadness.
Ning Cheng felt even more suspicious in his heart. What the h.e.l.l did Duan Gantai want to do with those pots of wine? What was more important than entering the Temple of Time? Despite the doubts in his mind, Ning Cheng did not ask. Besides, even if he asked, he wouldn’t get a proper answer anyway.
Duan Gantai and Ning Cheng exchanged a few more ‘polite’ words before Duan Gantai quickly flew away on a flight-type weapon. In just an incense stick’s worth of time, Ning Cheng could no longer sense Duan Gantai’s position through the Connecting Spirit Silk. Sensing that, Ning Cheng understood that this fellow had once again sealed the connection of Connecting Spirit Silk, which meant that Duan Gantai was up to something.
Ning Cheng felt slightly helpless and could only seal his Connecting Spirit Silk. Duan Gantai, that cunning b.a.s.t.a.r.d, would not allow someone to follow him.
Besides, now that he obtained the Breaking Boundary Talisman, and confirming that Duan Gantai couldn’t enter the Temple of Time, should he head to Graceful Star Mainland? But just as he thought about Graceful Star Mainland’s law suppression, Ning Cheng immediately felt a headache welling up inside of him.