Chapter 0654: Prodigal Son-in-law
The leading female cultivator took Ning Cheng to a seat and indicated him to sit down before immediately retreating. A moment later, another person showed up to serve some Spiritual Tea.
Ning Cheng’s Celestial Wheels looked vague, and even his imposing aura didn’t feel mighty. From the people’s perspective, he was at most a cultivator in the Undead Realm. Looking at such an ordinary cultivator, people would only glance at him before looking away. No one would care about Ning Cheng as if he was a bottle of soy sauce.
Ning Cheng also did not go looking for someone to talk with; in any case, the people who came here to attend Su Baijiao’s wedding definitely would have some status around these areas. With his status, he most likely was not in a position to be taken seriously by these people.
Quietly sipping the Spiritual Tea on one side, he listened in on the cultivators conversing around him. Through these conversations among the cultivators, Ning Cheng learned a few more things about the Eternal Night Domain.
Although the Eternal Night Domain had the void surrounding it on all sides, one could still be blessed with good luck in the form of not just the Perpetual Moon Pill’s Pill Mountain, or even Pill Ponds, but also in the form of Permanent Essence Pill Ponds.
Ning Cheng had never seen Permanent Essence Pills before, but he definitely knew that Permanent Essence Pills were a much higher grade of cultivation resource compared to the Perpetual Moon Pills. Moreover, it was not something that people could artificially refine, and could only form by the condensation of starry sky Essence Qi under stringent conditions and after countless years of scouring under unique environments. It contained no impurities and had no side effects, only pure Essence Qi for cultivation.
“This friend, I just heard people say that Senior Ji Gen had managed to find a Permanent Essence Pill’s Pill Mountain. How is it that a lot of people already know about it, yet no one covets it?” Ning Cheng whispered a question to a Heaven’s Mandate Cultivator from the side.
The cultivator glanced at Ning Cheng and spoke up in disdain, “Covet? After Senior Ji Gen obtained that Permanent Essence Pill’s Pill Mountain, he not only advanced to the Eternal Realm but also surpassed the Eternal Realm. With this kind of power, who would dare to covet it? Moreover, since Senior Ji Gen had such cultivation, then he naturally would leave through the seams within the Eternal Night Domain.”
Ning Cheng didn’t care about the tone of the other party and still asked with a polite voice, “You said that Senior Ji Gin went beyond the Eternal Realm after obtaining the Permanent Essence Pill’s Pill Mountain? Aren’t Permanent Essence Pills only pills for cultivation? I’ve heard that one could only go beyond the Eternal Realm after confirming their Dao.”
“What do you know? With a Permanent Essence Pill’s Pill Mountain, one would naturally succeed in confirming his or her Dao…..” The cultivator felt very dissatisfied with Ning Cheng’s refutation of what he meant.
Although Ning Cheng did not care about it, a small-eyed cultivator sitting a little farther away from Ning Cheng suddenly spoke up, “If you don’t know about it then don’t speak nonsense. This friend definitely is right. Permanent Essence Pills are only cultivation pills and definitely cannot help in confirming one’s Dao. The only reason Senior Ji Gin managed to confirm his Dao was due to him finding an opportunity to confirm his Dao on the Permanent Essence Pill’s Pill Mountain and not because of the Permanent Essence Pills themselves.”
“I wish I could have obtained such an opportunity….” The cultivator next to this fellow spoke up with a sigh.
Ning Cheng didn’t interrupt. He did not think that void around the Eternal Night Domain would contain so many Pill Mountains. From the looks of it, the area around this domain was a good place for condensing Pill Mountains. If he could not find any opportunities of earning Permanent Essence Pills in the Eternal Night Domain, then maybe he could go out and explore the area. However, before heading out, he must thoroughly investigate the void around the Eternal Night Domain.
With his Starry Sky Wheel, Ning Cheng felt confident enough to travel to someplace that no one else had ever explored before.
At this moment, a pretty-looking female cultivator walked into the main hall. Walking up to the main stage, she bowed to everyone before speaking, “To thank all the guests coming to our Su Clan, Little Miss and her fiancé will be coming here to greet the distinguish guests personally.”
The cultivators in the main hall quickly stood up and applauded. Ning Cheng also followed suit by standing up and applauding.
Ning Cheng’s Spiritual Consciousness was so powerful that he could still hear a whisper from the corner behind him, “That Duan Gantai sure is lucky to get into the Su Clan….”
“Don’t talk nonsense. Prepare your gifts. It’s impolite to talk about the future groom in this place.” Someone immediately interrupted that fellow’s following words.
Hearing this, Ning Cheng came to understand that Duan Gantai might actually be a prodigal son-in-law who married into the in-law’s family. Moreover, he also understood why the ones attending the wedding did not present their gifts before. Looks like they had to offer their gifts here in person. When he pondered over it for a moment, he quickly realised what was going on. To all the people who came here to give their gifts, this ceremony was a form of comparison. Although not explicit, it caused people to look down upon others who brought lesser gifts.
Looks like this Su Clan definitely was not subtle about it. In China, the matter of presenting wedding gifts was very subtle. Even the ordinary act of giving and receiving gifts on other regular occasions was done in subtlety. However, when it came to the Eternal Night Domain, the entire process of giving gifts was a direct indication of one’s sincerity. As he thought of all this, Ning Cheng decided not to take out the bottle of medicinal pills that he had prepared beforehand.
A few moments later, two young kids lead a man and a woman into the main hall and onto the main stage. The woman had a red cloud cape covering her and wore a Phoenix Crown over her head. Her appearance looked similar to that of a Chinese bride in ancient times. Golden tassels hung down the front of the Phoenix Crown, which completely covered her face.
Yet, Ning Cheng still recognised her. This female cultivator was the same woman he had met in the past, the one who gave him the two jade strips.
However, when Ning Cheng saw Su Baijiao’s fiancé, he couldn’t help but feel a burst of chill within his heart. This groom-to-be was just too ugly. His nostrils almost curled up towards the sky, while his thick lips protruded as if afraid that people wouldn’t recognise them. This fellow even had huge eyes, round and without any edges at all.
Ning Cheng felt pity and almost laughed on thinking of Su Baijiao’s charming appearance paired with such a fellow and wondered how any woman would willingly bear it. He simply couldn’t figure out what advantage did this Duan Gantai had that made Su Clan’s Su Baijiao marry him. In any case, he was not one to pry into such matters.
As for why Duan Gantai did not undergo cosmetic augmentations to his looks, Ning Cheng did not feel surprised about it. Cultivators were inherently different from ordinary people. Cultivators cultivated by going against the laws of the heavens. And the so-called appearance came from a combination of one’s heart and one’s soul. As such, one’s appearance after birth may change after stepping onto the path of cultivation. However, this change would never be too big. Although one could still cosmetically change their appearance through surgery and other procedures, as long as one continued to cultivate, one’s original appearance would gradually emerge before finally reverting to what it was once in the past.
As for female cultivators and those who had a feminine body, the modification of appearance was a slightly more subtle process compared to the male cultivators and those with dominant male characteristics. Quite a few cultivation methods out there even made female cultivators grow more beautiful through cultivation. Because of this reason, most of the female cultivators within the starry skies had a pretty appearance. Moreover, these levels of beauty could even be passed on to future generations, unlike the artificial beauty created through other means. Even if someone looked extremely beautiful due to artificial factors but after the birth of the next generation, everything would become apparent.
Ning Cheng observed Su Baijiao and Duan Gantai through his Spiritual Consciousness. And just when Su Baijiao’s Spiritual Consciousness landed on Ning Cheng, Ning Cheng quickly recalled his Spiritual Consciousness and held up his cupped fists towards Su Baijiao. He understood that Su Baijiao had recognised him.
Sure enough, Su Baijiao gave a slight nod to Ning Cheng, which looked like an unexpected accident. However, a moment later, Ning Cheng immediately felt a trace of fierce killing intent sweeping over him.
It was from Duan Gantai. Looks like this fellow truly has acute sensitivity. He and Si Baijiao had only exchanged a slight nod as greetings, yet this fellow still managed to notice it. No wonder the Su Clan wanted to bring in Duan Gantai. Looks like this fellow was not simple. However, Ning Cheng didn’t care about it. Duan Gantai was only at the full-circle of the Heaven’s Mandate Realm. It was not enough to make him feel fear.
“This Meng Yangze felt fortunate to see Fairy Baijiao three years ago, who already felt like a celestial being. Yet in today’s celebration. Fairy Baijiao looks even more amazing. Please accept this Meng Yangze’s small gift as congratulations to Fairy Baijiao for her wedding…..”
A handsome man dressed in white robes stood up, causing Duan Gantai to shift the focus of his killing intent from Ning Cheng to this fellow immediately. To be exact, it was after this white-robed man praised Su Baijiao’s beauty that Duan Gantai shifted his killing intent on to this man called Meng Yangze.
Ning Cheng felt a little speechless about this. Looks like this Duan Gantai was a little too sensitive. Meng Yangze had only praised Su Baijiao’s beauty as a courtesy, yet this fellow actually bared killing intent at him. If someone said an extra word about Su Baijiao or said something excessive, then wouldn’t it mean that this fellow would immediately erupt in anger? How was he going to live with Su Baijiao in the future?
Meng Yangze was the first one to bring out a gift. Seeing that, a female cultivator standing behind Su Baijiao immediately came forward with a white jade tray. Ning Cheng’s Spiritual Consciousness swept out and saw Meng Yangze putting a storage ring onto the jade tray, along with a list of gifts. The list read, ‘One middle-grade defensive-type Dao Artefact, Jade Hairpin; 100,000 high-grade Immortal Crystals; 5000 Perpetual Moon Pills.’
The storage ring had no restrictions, allowing Ning Cheng’s Spiritual Consciousness to seep into the storage ring and immediately see the high-grade Immortal Crystals. When he looked at it, it looked similar to the Starry Sky Crystals in his storage ring. The only thing different was that these crystals were much purer compared to his Starry Sky Crystals. From this, Ning Cheng also understood that the Starry Sky Crystals in his storage ring were only of low quality while realising that high-grade Immortal Crystals was just another name for the Starry Sky Crystal. Most likely, this different nomenclature originated from a different positional plane.
The female cultivator took Meng Yangze’s gift and immediately declared, “Eternal Night Domain’s Refining Heart Mountain’s Disciple Meng Yangze sends one middle-grade Dao Artefact Jade Hairpin, one hundred thousand high-grade Immortal Crystals and five thousand Perpetual Moon Pills.”
Even in Ning Cheng’s opinion, this ‘gift’ was not a casual one. But to everyone’s surprise, Duan Gantai snorted and said, “Today is my big wedding day with Baijiao. What do you mean by sending us medicinal pills[1]?”
Ning Cheng, just like the rest of the cultivators, felt surprised. Perpetual Moon Pills were only cultivation resources. Strictly speaking, it was not a medicinal pill at all. Besides, even if it were medicinal pills, Duan Gantai, as the son-in-law marrying into the wife’s family, didn’t have to make a big deal out of it right away; moreover, he didn’t even show the slightest hint of subtlety when asking about it.
This fellow had only presented his gift with good intentions, yet this fellow, instead of accepting the gift out of kindness, actually treated it as donkey’s liver and lungs.
Meng Yangze’s expression suddenly turned ugly. He had thought long and hard about sending Perpetual Moon Pills as a part of the wedding gift. One had to know that these pills still played a significant role in cultivation for someone like him; as such, people similar to him would not easily take them out to present it as a gift. Yet, this fellow not only did not appreciate it, he even tried to find faults. This was too much.
At this moment, Su Baijiao suddenly spoke up, “Lord Husband, Senior Apprentice Brother Meng sent those Perpetual Moon Pills out of kindness. Moreover, Perpetual Moon Pills are not medicinal pills, and definitely not something unlucky.”
Duan Gantai only gave a cold snort but did not continue to find faults. Just like that, this matter finally ended.
Su Baijiao did not seem to care about Duan Gantai’s cold snort. Instead, she nodded to the female cultivator who received the gift. The female cultivator saw it and continued with a loud voice, “As a courtesy of receiving such a generous gift from Meng Yangze, please proceed to take a seat in the inner residence.”
Meng Yangze’s expressions immediately turned a little relaxed. He stood up, held up his cupped fists towards the rest of the people in the hall, and followed the same female cultivator, who had led him here, out of the main hall.
Ning Cheng realised that these gifts originally served as a sort of entry requirement so that one could go into the inner residence and continue to be a guest. Otherwise, one could only sit here for a while before leaving. To be more direct, only those who could provide satisfactory gifts could go to the inner courtyard and continue with the ceremony.
[1] In certain cultures around the world, giving medicinal pills/medicines as part of a wedding gift is taken as an insult. It points to the notion that there might be something wrong with one or both of the soon-to-be-couples’ ability to consummate the marriage.