Chapter 0690: Trail
This was already the ninth day of Ning Cheng’s search. Not to mention finding any trails of Tian Muwan and the blue-robed female cultivator, he could not obtain even the slightest clue in regards to them.
Ning Cheng knew that it wouldn’t make sense to continue searching for them like this unless his spiritual consciousness could cover the entire Mysterious Yellow Starland. Otherwise, even if he looked for them for another ninety days, he would not find them. I can’t go on like this without at least a clue. Ning Cheng thought as he decided to stop for now and think of another starting point.
If Tian Muwan and the blue-robed female cultivator wanted to hide, then there were only two possibilities. One was to leave the Mysterious Yellow Starland. However, Ning Cheng thought it to be unlikely. After helping that blue-robed female cultivator back then, he had purposefully come out of the Mysterious Yellow Starland to wait for them but found no indication of the two of them leaving.
Since they didn’t leave the Mysterious Yellow Starland when they had the chance, then they wouldn’t escape any time later. With the blue-robed female cultivator’s cultivation and experience, she knew that people would intercept and block her if she left the Mysterious Yellow Starland any time after that incident.
Even if the blue-robed female cultivator and Tian Muwan wanted to leave the Mysterious Yellow Starland, they could only do so after the blue-robed female cultivator restored her cultivation. However, with the blue-robed female cultivator’s Zifu damaged, the only way to restore her cultivation would be by obtaining and using the Sifting Ferry Grass. Previously, despite the blue-robed female cultivator possessing formidable strength, people still schemed against her when she wanted to exchange for the Sifting Ferry Grass. Now that the injuries of the blue-robed female cultivator have worsened, her cultivation would have declined even more. Therefore, she absolutely would not be able to openly search for the Sifting Ferry Grass.
Since she cannot go to the public for the Sifting Ferry Grass, then the only other way was to look for the Sifting Ferry Grass by herself.
After Ning Cheng thought it through to the last detail, he concluded that the blue-robed female cultivator would look for the Sifting Ferry Grass on her own. If he wanted to find the blue-robed female cultivator, the only way was to search for information about the places where one could obtain the Sifting Ferry Grass in the Mysterious Yellow Starland.
As Ning Cheng thought till here, he finally felt some relief. He should have started the search by asking around for the origin of the Sifting Ferry Grass. Thankfully, it wasn’t too late for it. Even if the blue-robed female cultivator managed to find information about potential sources of Sifting Ferry Grass, she wouldn’t be able to collect it immediately. If it were so easy to find spiritual grasses like the Sifting Ferry Grass, the blue-robed female cultivator would not have come to Shui Clan to strike a deal with them.
He would need to head to the nearest makeshift market to make enquiries. Just when Ning Cheng thought about bringing out his Starry Sky Wheel, he suddenly thought of another thing and felt his heart suddenly skip a beat. Asking around might be the worst idea.
If he could think of ways the blue-robed female cultivator could obtain the Sifting Ferry Grass, then why can’t those old fogies besieging the blue-robed female cultivator not guess it?
……
When Ning Cheng found the Thousand Mound Makeshift Market, it was already a day later. He had gone around and discretely asked many of the stores and people to learn that a strand of Sifting Ferry Grass had appeared in the Thousand Mound Makeshift Market. Moreover, he also got to know that the Thousand Mound Makeshift Market’s Sifting Ferry Grass came from the Thousand Mount Forest.
Thousand Mound Rest Stop, the largest rest stop in the Thousand Mound Makeshift Market. After Ning Cheng reached the Thousand Mound Makeshift Market, the first thing he did was to search for the Thousand Mound Rest Stop.
Not waiting for the shop assistant to come over, Ning Cheng took the initiative to approach him before taking out a thousand purple coins and handing it over with the words, “I heard people say that the Thousand Mound Forest has a lot of top-grade starry sky spiritual grasses. I wanted to see if I could try my luck here, can you help me understand if it is actually true?”
The shop assistant on seeing Ning Cheng show such generosity forgot about the weird way of speech and put away the purple coins before speaking, “Friend, what you heard is indeed the truth, without any nonsense. Within the entire Mysterious Yellow Starland, most of the precious starry sky spiritual grasses come from the Thousand Mound Forest.”
Ning Cheng did not feel like talking in circles and directly asked, “I heard people say that a strand of Sifting Ferry Grass had appeared here. Is that really true?”
“Of course.” The shop assistance replied without hesitation. “Not just the Sifting Ferry Grass, but people have even dug up a lot of other things and sold a majority of it in the Thousand Mound Makeshift Market.”
Speaking till here, the shop assistant seemed to have remembered something else and added, “By the way, a few days ago, someone had also come to ask about the Sifting Ferry Grass.”
“Oh, who inquired about the Sifting Ferry Grass?” Ning Cheng felt his heart move and quickly asked.
“Two middle-aged women, but they were only casually asking about it….” As the shop assistant said that, he immediately felt that something had gone wrong and quickly swallowed whatever else he was about to speak.
Ning Cheng did not hesitate to take out another ten thousand purple coins on seeing this and handed it over, “What else?”
The shop assistant looked around a few times to make sure that no one paid attention to their conversation and spoke, “Three days ago, someone came to inquire about the same and asked if anyone had come to inquire about the Sifting Ferry Grass….”
The shop assistant had not yet finished his words when he found that Ning Cheng had already left long ago. He quickly put away the purple coins and went about greeting the guests as if nothing happened.
He was not a fool. Three separate groups of people had come here to inquire about the Sifting Ferry Grass, which indicated a problem. He truly didn’t want to get involved with such a thing.
Ning Cheng felt anxious. He immediately went around and bought a few jade strips containing the map of the Thousand Mound Forest before rushing in without considering anything else.
He had initially come here to inquire about the Sifting Ferry Grass and not the blue-robed female cultivator and did not feel entirely sure about it. But he now felt confident that the person who came here three days ago to ask about the people looking for the Sifting Ferry Grass, had intentions of chasing down Tian Muwan and the blue-robed female cultivator. No matter what happened between him and Tian Muwan in the past, he did not want to see Tian Muwan injured and left alone in this strange world.
……
Deep in the Thousand Mound Forest, Tian Muwan hid in a mountain cave holding on to the blue-robed female cultivator. The blue-robed female cultivator’s aura grew more unstable with each passing moment; at the same time, Tian Muwan’s aura also showed signs of instability and injuries.
The blue-robed female cultivator gave out a sigh, “Heh, I didn’t expect that I would find myself in such a helpless situation in such a small place. No wonder father kept saying that I have a shallow cultivation foundation.”
“Big Sister, let’s get out of here first. As for the matter with the Sifting Ferry Grass, we can think of it slowly. Even if we find the location of the Sifting Ferry Grass, we won’t be able to take it.” Tian Muwan spoke up with some concern. After experiencing all the things that happened to her till now, she no longer was the same urban woman who did not understand anything.
She also knew that places with high-grade starry sky grasses would usually be in territories of top-grade starry sky demonic beasts. Therefore, even if the Thousand Mound Forest did indeed contain Sifting Ferry Grass, it would be deep within the forest. With their current strength, even if they found the Sifting Ferry Grass, could they collect it?
The blue-robed female cultivator seemed to have understood what Tian Muwan thought. She looked at Tian Muwan and smiled, “Muwan, you don’t have to worry, I still have a few cards that I haven’t used. It doesn’t matter how powerful those starry sky demonic beasts are, we just need to find the Sifting Ferry Grass. But for now, we can’t get out at all.”
“Why?” Tian Muwan asked in confusion.
The blue-robed female cultivator shook her head and spoke, “You haven’t lived in a True Cultivation World for long; therefore, you still are yet to understand the scheming minds of these people. I’m sure those bastards who want my stuff know that I’ve come to the Thousand Mound Forest by now.”
When Tian Muwan heard the words of the blue-robed female cultivator, she instantly understood a few things. Since they found that only the Thousand Mound Forest contained the Sifting Ferry Grass in the Mysterious Yellow Starland, then others can also certainly guess that they were in the Thousand Mound Forest.
“I have no choice but to come here. If I can find the Sifting Ferry Grass, those people chasing us in the Thousand Mound Forest would only face death….”
The blue-robed female cultivator suddenly stopped talking, and her expressions immediately turned ugly to look at.
A sneering voice sounded out, “You’re right, but unfortunately, you have not found the Sifting Ferry Grass.”
The next moment, four Daoist shadows descended, two in front and two behind Tian Muwan and the blue-robed female cultivator.
Tian Muwan’s expressions also turned ugly. Of the four men, she had seen two of them before at the siege in Shui Clan. Looking back at her big sister’s expressions and words, she understood that these four were all powerhouses in the Eternal Realm, which for her was still an unreachable level. If it wasn’t for big sister, any one of them could have crushed her, a cultivator who hadn’t even reached the Celestial Shatterer Realm, with a single finger.
The blue-robed female cultivator’s expression calmed down by this time. She casually looked at the few cultivators in the Eternal Realm surrounding her and said, “If I fall here today, my father will definitely be able to find you all by tomorrow. I can tell you that whether I get to live or not, you definitely would not stay alive for long.”
“Haha….” A tall man laughed, “I, Zhu Zhengfeng, don’t care about others threatening me. Tomorrow’s things, let’s leave that for tomorrow. But since someone pulled out my Interdependence Chamber of Commerce’s Starry Sky Vein, I can let you go if you give us your storage ring first.”
The blue-robed female cultivator shook her head, “I only have one storage ring, but there are four of you. Who should I give it to?”
“You want to provoke the four of us, you still too tender…. aah….” Zhu Zhengfeng had just spoken up with a sneer when it turned into a scream.
The next moment, his body turned into a weak shadow as he let out a tearing cry, “Ying Daoqi, I will kill you….”
When it reached the last word, his body disappeared without a trace.
Almost at the same time as Zhu Zhengfeng screamed, another old man gave out a scream. However, he did not enjoy the same luck as Zhu Zhengfeng. He had just screamed out when a flaming fireball instantly wrapped around him.
Of the four cultivators in the Eternal Realm, in just a blink of an eye, only two remained. Of the two, one wore a blue coloured Confucian-type scholarly robe, and the other was a sturdy-looking man.
The blue-robed Confucian scholar held up his cupped fists towards the blue-robed female cultivator and spoke, “As you can see, your provocation succeeded. Of the initial four, only two remain. By the way, let me introduce myself, my name is Ying Daoqi, and the Mysterious Yellow Starland’s Scattered People Assembly is what I created. This is Tie Shen, of Moyi City’s Tie Clan. You should know by now that Tie Shen is one of the two powerhouses of the Tie Clan. I think you should know now what to do?”
While talking, Ying Daoqi’s blue robe fluttered without any wind as his majestic imposing aura oozed out, which then transformed into a whirlwind that pressed down on the blue-robed female cultivator.
Although this imposing aura did not specifically target Tian Muwan, Tian Muwan still could not help but spew out an arrow of blood before collapsing to the ground.
Although the blue-robed female cultivator bled from the corner of her mouth, she still showed a smile and said, “Alright, I’ll give it to you.”
With that, her hand fell on her storage ring. Despite the severe injuries of the blue-robed female cultivator, which had almost wholly suppressed her cultivation. Ying Daoqi and Tie Shen still focussed all their attention on the blue-robed female cultivator’s actions. After all, this blue-robed female cultivator had easily killed two Eternal powerhouses despite her injuries.
“Take it….” The blue-robed female cultivator’s hand slightly jerked, and the violent imposing aura around her disappeared instantly. In the same moment, a weak light escaped from the hands of the blue-robed female cultivator.
Not good. Ying Daoqi and Tie Shen’s face changed, and they immediately stepped back. However, at this time, the weak-looking light seemed to have infected the space around them, turning it completely purple. A terrifying heat quickly enveloped everything inside this space, trapping Ying Daoqi and Tie Shen in the centre.