Chapter 0693: Time perishable, man changeable
He could not hear any sound around him; no, it was dead silent. Although he faced many dangerous situations in the forest, no matter the danger, he never encountered an area in the woods that had no sound at all. Ning Cheng felt his hair stand up. He furrowed his brows and thought the situation might have gone entirely out of control.
Even with his spiritual consciousness and cultivation suppressed, he was still a starry sky cultivator in the Heaven Seated Realm. As such, even in such a situation, he could destroy a small planet without much difficulty. Therefore, how could he feel like this?
“Thump” A loud sound suddenly erupted within this dead-silent place. It felt like an iron cone had stuck Ning Cheng’s chest, which almost burst his heart and almost forcing him to vomit a mouthful of blood.
What a strange place, Ning Cheng finally understood why those three old fogeys didn’t try to catch up to him. It looks like those three knew about the dangers of this place and didn’t dare to follow in.
Just when Ning Cheng tucked Tian Muwan and the blue-robed female cultivator more securely and wanted to step back, he found that he could not recall the direction he had come inside.
Ning Cheng quickly took out Bao Xi’s Positional Jade Strip and found a few small characters flashing over the Positional Jade Strip, ‘Altar of Forefather’s Library’.
It also contained a few other flashing characters that indicated his current position, which kept blinking quite close to the Altar of Forefather’s Library, implying that he had reached quite close to the altar.
Although he had planned to come to the altar, he never expected that he would stumble upon it accidentally.
Ning Cheng put away the jade strip and wanted to immediately retreat. Even if he wanted to explore this place, he had to first find a safe spot for the two wounded people in his arms.
At this time, the blue-robed female cultivator in his arms suddenly started to struggle.
Did she finally wake up? Just when Ning Cheng wanted to speak “Thump…..” another similar sound erupted.
Ning Cheng once again felt the same oppressive pressure over his heart. As for the blue-robed female cultivator in his arms, it looked like she could not bear it. She involuntarily opened her mouth and shot out an arrow of blood before fainting once again.
Such power, Ning Cheng no longer dared to stay in this place and quickly started backing away.
It seemed like he had inadvertently woken up something from its slumber, and the explosive sounds kept growing more intense with each passing moment “Thump-Thump…..” Another horror-inducing sound resounded throughout the area. Ning Cheng quickly realised that he couldn’t get out. It looked like one can only step inside this place but not step outside. He kept rushing backwards for a long time. Yet, whenever he checked the Positional Jade Strip, he still found himself near to the altar.
Sensing the blue-robed female cultivator in his arms, showing signs of waking up, Ning Cheng quickly spread out his spiritual consciousness. Even if this place strongly suppressed his spiritual consciousness, Ning Cheng managed to find a canyon. Although the canyon looked like the mouth of an endless abyss, Ning Cheng did not think twice and rushed straight inside.
He felt concerned that the blue-robed female cultivator would wake up again and get hurt by that thumping sound again.
The moment he entered the canyon, Ning Cheng threw out several array flags and arranged a few Isolation Array Formations.
“Thump…..” The sound emerged once again, but Ning Cheng’s array formation managed to block most of it. When the residual noise passed through Ning Cheng’s ears, it did not contain the offensive force from before.
The blue-robed female cultivator struggled for a bit before speaking up with a weak voice, “Ning Xiaocheng, please put me down.”
“I’m called Ning Cheng. Wait a little longer.” Ning Cheng continued to rush inside. A few minutes later, he stopped in a more spacious area. Only at this time did he put down the blue-robed female cultivator.
After throwing out a few more array flags, Ning Cheng arranged them into a Clear Light Array and several Defensive Arrays before returning.
The blue-robed female cultivator looked at Ning Cheng in surprise. It looked as if she had seen the most amazing thing in her life till now.
Previously, because Ning Cheng was on the run, he did not care about anything else. But when he saw the blue-robed female cultivator right now. He suddenly felt embarrassed. The remaining scraps of clothes on the blue-robed female cultivator and Tian Muwan could not completely cover their bodies, revealing large patches of their snow-white chests and waists.
“How did your proficiency in array formations improve so much? Back then, the array formations you arranged in Shui Clan….” The blue-robed female cultivator did not continue. She didn’t have to understand why. Previously, although Ning Cheng had arranged a few array formations in Shui Clan, he definitely had not revealed his full capabilities.
She knew full well about Ning Cheng’s age, which should be the same as Tian Muwan. For any cultivator, it was still an age that they couldn’t be considered any younger. Yet such a young cultivator not only had robust cultivation but also reached such a high level of proficiency in array formations. Was he a monster?
She wasn’t a rogue cultivator who knew nothing about the world of cultivation. She also had a few accomplishments in the Dao of Arrays and the Dao of Artefacts, but they could only be considered as average. She knew that if one wanted to achieve some success in these fields, then one must spend a lot of time researching. Especially when it came to the Dao of Arrays, it needed a huge chunk of time. Although a cultivator enjoyed a significantly longer life span compared to mortals, no matter how long a lifespan, if they spent time studying these things, it would mean even lesser time for cultivation.
Therefore, in the world of cultivation, although one would find strong cultivators, rarely would these cultivators have a high understanding in regards to the Dao of Array, Dao of Alchemy or the Dao of Artefacts. Such things rarely happened, unless the cultivator in question was a genius among geniuses.
Could this Ning Cheng be one of those few rare geniuses? If so, Muwan definitely had a good pair of eyes.
She subconsciously looked back at Muwan. However, when she saw that Tian Muwan’s torn clothes couldn’t cover her body, even exposing the red beans at the front of her chest, she immediately screamed and covered her own chest on instinct, “Ning Cheng, you rogue, turn your head away immediately…..”
Ning Cheng, who was just about to speak, quickly turned around his head. The scream from that blue-robed female cultivator had an almost similar effect as those thumping sounds from before.
“Wait…. If you have any clothes….. Can you lend us two sets?” By the time the blue-robed female cultivator said those words, her tone had also softened. Apparently, she understood that it wasn’t Ning Cheng’s fault. In any case, Ning Cheng had carried her around in his arms for several days.
Ning Cheng threw out a ring to the blue-robed female cultivator and said, “Apart from clothes, it also has a few medicinal pills inside. While you use them, I’ll set up a few more array formations.”
One hour later, when Ning Cheng returned, the blue-robed female cultivator and Tian Muwan had changed clothes. Tian Muwan had also woken up. However, when she saw Ning Cheng come in, she immediately lowered her head.
The blue-robed female cultivator took out a white key and handed it to back to Ning Cheng, “Thank you for saving us twice. Let me return this key to you.”
Ning Cheng’s spiritual consciousness swept out and brushed past it, immediately realising it this key was the real white Perpetual Moon Time Key. He showed no politeness in putting it away; after all, it was something he obtained by himself.
“Xiaocheng, thank you….” Tian Muwan bit her lips and spoke up with a weak voice. She didn’t understand how Ning Cheng had saved them, but she realised that Ning Cheng possessed a strength much higher and secrets even more profound than what she had imagined.
“No need to stand on ceremony. It’s just a small matter.” Ning Cheng smiled, just like an everlasting sun.
Such familiar words, such familiar smile…..
Tian Muwan glanced at Ning Cheng’s familiar sunshine-like smile, as her thoughts drifted off into the distance….
As the mudslide came crashing down, she couldn’t help but feel terrified while crouching and hiding behind a not-very-large tree, entirely at a loss of what to do. It was at that time that a boy with a sunshine-like smile rushed over and quickly carried her away from that place on his back. As he fled with her on his back, she saw the not-so-large tree, the one she tried to hide behind just a moment before, drown under the mudslide.
If it weren’t for him, that mudslide would have easily covered her up and buried her under the debris.
He then carefully put her down in a relatively safe spot and spoke up, “Your friends are ahead…”
“Thank you. My name is Tian Muwan.”
“I’m called Ning Xiaocheng.”
“Xiaocheng, thank you…..”
“No need to stand on ceremony. It’s just a small matter.”
……
Time flew by, many years later, she once again heard those same words. Even after many years, he still remained the same, and she also did not change. However, something had gone missing in the middle.
What exactly was missing? When did it go missing?
Was it because she put the pearl hair clip, which Ning Cheng had given her, into the hands of another man, who intentionally threw it into the sewer?
“Even if you lost it, you can just but me a better one when you have the time. Let’s go.” Tian Muwan’s face turned pale with every moment. Perhaps that something had gone missing when she said those words to another man in front of Ning Cheng. No, it was more accurate to say that she had lost it instead of missing.
If there were no Zeng Jiyun, would they have reached this point? Tian Muwan shook her head. She knew that even without Zeng Jiyun, she and he would have still ended up like this eventually.
In her current view, then only reason she and Ning Cheng had remained together, seemed to be to take care of Ning Cheng’s reputation and honour everywhere. In fact, she always seemed to have held an inner sense of superiority over Ning Cheng. It was just that she had never realised it back then.
If not for that, how could she have taken out a bank card and tried handing it to Ning Cheng after Ning Cheng had disappeared from her life and had come back again? Why would she have thought that she and Ning Cheng were no longer people of the same world? Why did Tian Muwan ‘permit’ Ning Cheng to call her by her full name instead of Muwan? Why did she care about the fact that Ning Cheng had not come back to explain things to her after she found that Ning Cheng had not died?
In fact, did she even give Ning Cheng a chance to explain? Didn’t she already know about Ning Cheng’s pride and yet still put on such a domineering front back then? Why did she feel insulted when the first words Ning Cheng asked her after returning were about his sister Ruolan? If she had really loved him then after she saw Ning Cheng again, she would have never cared about all these things, and instead would have felt happy that Ning Cheng was still alive.
But she didn’t.
Back then, she was only a Qi Gathering 3rd Level True Cultivator and thought that she and Ning Cheng were no longer people of the same world. Yet, the fact was that Ning Cheng’s cultivation had probably far surpassed her.
Although she found the lost pearl hair clip, it no longer felt like the original pearl hair clip, it no longer had its original pure white colour.
“Muwan, are you okay?” The blue-robed female cultivator on seeing Tian Muwan staring at Ning Cheng in a daze lightly shook her out of worry.
When Tian Muwan returned to her senses, she bit her lips again and spoke up with a somewhat weak but hoarse voice, “Big Sister, I’m alright.”
The blue-robed female cultivator nodded but did not continue asking Tian Muwan about the things between her and Ning Cheng. She knew that it was not appropriate for her to ask about those things at this time.
She turned her head and looked at Ning Cheng before asking, “Ning Cheng, as far as I know, Earth and this place are not in the same positional plane. Not to mention you, even I can’t come to this place directly from Earth. How did you come here?”
Ning Cheng only showed a slight smile, “It’s my personal secret, why bother me about it? Did I ask how you two got here?”
Although Ning Cheng’s words sounded rude, it made sense. Asking someone about their private matters and secrets, in a way, went beyond just rude behaviour.
The blue-robed female cultivator chuckled and spoke, “Alright, I won’t ask you about your private matters. I can at least tell you that this plane does not have complete laws; as such, even if you have the same cultivation level, you would have a hard time matching up to your counterparts from other positional planes. If you can help this big sister find the Sifting Ferry Grass, big sister can take you out of here to the real cultivation positional planes, what do you say?”