Chapter 0576: Underworld Crow Ghost Rattan
Spiritual Consciousness attacks had no trace and remained ethereal, for what reason did he think of them as incorporeal? Why not think of them as a ‘good’ raw material? Just as he thought of this, picture after picture from Returning to One Leather Scroll flashed through Ning Cheng’s mind. That miserly Master Baichi had said that all things shared a common origin in Returning to One; in other words, everything had some relations to Returning to One.
He could not condense his own Spiritual Consciousness attack because he had always thought of Spiritual Consciousness as ethereal, something without form. Because of this thinking, he could not condense an incorporeal ‘object’ into something corporeal and tangible.
All things had common origins; one could condense Celestial Essence into a fireball, blade shadows or even transform them into various spirit techniques. Why did he not consider Spiritual Consciousness as something tangible like Celestial Essence?
Ning Cheng had just formed this thought when his Mysterious Yellow Formless once again rotated and created a new flow. This was an original cultivation method. No, this felt more like a Spirit Technique or maybe even a new skill. It was just like the time when he thought of condensing a celestial wheel, and the Mysterious Yellow Formless had suddenly conjured a celestial wheel. At this moment, just as that thought passed through his heart, a small round shield formed within his Sea of Consciousness.
“Bang……” Ning Cheng did not have the time to feel happy about it when a Spiritual Consciousness thorn pierced into his Sea of Consciousness, slammed into the small incorporeal shield, and caused ripples to form over it. Just when the Spiritual Consciousness thorn broke, the incorporeal shield also dissolved.
Ning Cheng suddenly opened his eyes and found himself trembling in excitement. After being tortured by these Spiritual Consciousness attacks for over seven days, he finally managed to condense a small shield with his Spiritual Consciousness. This Spiritual Consciousness shield had managed to block a Spiritual Consciousness thorn.
Although his Spiritual Consciousness shield and the attacking Spiritual Consciousness thorn had mutually cancelled each other at the same time, it definitely was a start.
Celestial Scryer Tower, I really love you. Ning Cheng almost kissed the Celestial Scryer Tower’s stone door after reaching towards it. He did not know how many times he wanted to condense a Spiritual Consciousness attack that Ning Cheng could call his own; however, no matter what he tried, it never worked. This time, when he decided to enter the Nine-by-Nine Celestial Scryer Tower on an impulse, and suffered through the torment induced by Spiritual Consciousness attacks, he finally managed to succeed.
Mysterious Yellow Formless Invisible and Ethereal[1], born from the heart. As long as one thought of it, it would immediately materialise it. Was this really a Primal Chaos Cultivation Method? Ning Cheng, feeling incomparably happy, felt almost invincible. It looks like he would have to wait till he comes out and then look for a suitable starry skies’ Body Refining Cultivation Method, and then return to the Incorporeal Formless incantation.
With the first success, Ning Cheng once again condensed the ethereal Spiritual Consciousness shield with just a thought. Ning Cheng then started to condense one Spiritual Consciousness shield after another. In the beginning, these Spiritual Consciousness shields would mutually cancel out against the attacking Spiritual Consciousness thorns. However, as time passed, Ning Cheng managed to condense more and more Spiritual Consciousness shields more efficiently and in a much more relaxed manner. After a while, his Spiritual Consciousness shield could not only block the attacking Spiritual Consciousness thorns but also face off against the Spiritual Consciousness blades without breaking.
As another day passed by, Ning Cheng could not only condense invisible Spiritual Consciousness shields, even it was Spiritual Consciousness thorns and Spiritual Consciousness blades, he could now manifest them with just a thought.
Sadly, Ning Cheng could not verify the strength of his Spiritual Consciousness blades at this time. In this place, he could only use his Spiritual Consciousness blades to clash with the other Spiritual Consciousness attacks of the Celestial Scryer Tower.
Seeing that, Ning Cheng finally stood up. He realised that it was now pointless to remain on this floor, now that he already reached his purpose.
……
“That Wanderer entered the 65th floor. I did not expect him to stay on the 64th floor for nine days, before stepping on to the 65th floor. Quite strong ah…..”
“How long do you think he would stay on the 65th floor?”
“I think it might be around eight or nine days at least, right?”
“Want to place a bet. I think he will enter the 66th floor within three days or be sent out.”
……
Although more and more people poured into the public square, because Ning Cheng stayed on the 64th floor for too long, the public square had turned slightly dull. However, now that Ning Cheng stepped on to the 65th floor, the public square once again turned lively. Some tried to place bets, some talked among themselves, and some stewed in envy, while some even began to worship him in admiration……
At this moment, even some of the Masters of the starry sky academies and sects felt alarmed. Although they did not come in person, they did send people here to inquire about this newly emerging genius.
“Little Miss, you really have a good eye. You were the one to first notice this Wanderer from Jiangzhou. Now that this fellow reached the 65th floor, it’s just too horrifying.” The green-robed girl, who had initially spoken about Ning Cheng, once again spoke up after noticing that Ning Cheng had entered the 65th floor. Since that moment, when they saw Ning Cheng pass through the 50th floor, the two of them had decided to stay behind with the other cultivators and had not left the public square.
The female cultivator, standing next to the green-robed female cultivator with glowing eyes, showed a hint of red over her face. Looks like she had read this person correctly. Although no one could say if she had found this Jiangzhou’s Wanderer first, she definitely was the first person among the two to notice him. What was fate? Was this not fate? A cultivator, who could step on to the 65th floor, would definitely have a spine.
The green-robed girl seemed to have read this Little Miss’s mind and quickly spoke from the side, “Little Miss, I think this Wanderer fulfils most of the conditions of a son-in-law. I think we should inform Master about this matter, do you want to request him to come with you to meet Master?”
“Well, that’s right, I do have a preference for someone like him. I’ll send a message to father right now, I feel like I have a connection with him…..” This Little Miss, wearing a light blue robe, behaved as if without modesty and took out the communications pearl while talking.
……
As Ning Cheng finally entered the 65th floor of the Celestial Scryer Tower, he found the Spiritual Consciousness attacks here had grown significantly powerful compared to the 64th floor.
Moreover, attacks with a higher frequency on this floor targeted the Sea of Consciousness in waves. Ning Cheng took in a deep breath. He felt sure that if he had not understood Spiritual Consciousness attacks and Spiritual Consciousness defence mechanisms, he might not have held on against these powerful Spiritual Consciousness attacks, which worked in tandem with the corporeal blade lights and demonic beasts on this floor.
However, Ning Cheng now understood a few things about Spiritual Consciousness defence mechanisms and Spiritual Consciousness attacks. Therefore, with just a thought, he could condense Spiritual Consciousness shields and Spiritual Consciousness blades one after another. As such, these dense attacks did not hurt him much.
Ning Cheng did not stop at the 65th floor for long and quickly reached the entrance of the 66th floor. At the same time, he finally felt amazed at the vast universe, which indeed had many powerhouses like the clouds in the sky.
If not for the Mysterious Yellow Formless Cultivation Method, he could not have coalesced Spiritual Consciousness shields and Spiritual Consciousness blades this easily. It also meant that he would have to come to a stop here and could not have continued going up.
However, that Xiao Yu had actually managed to climb to the 71st floor; not to mention Xiao Yu, even that fellow named Zhu Guan had reached the 70th floor. On top of that, the third-ranked Ao Heshan had reached the 69th floor, while the fourth-ranked Qidao Xuan had managed to climb to the 68th floor.
Ning Cheng had no idea if these fellows cultivated any form of Spiritual Consciousness Cultivation Method. However, whether these fellows practised some form of Spiritual Consciousness Cultivation Method or not, he had to be careful when he met them in the future.
As Ning Cheng thought of this, he pushed open the entrance to the 66th floor and stepped through. On reaching the 66th floor, apart from Spiritual Consciousness attacks increasing in power and frequency, this floor also contained a few Grade 4 starry skies’ demonic beasts.
Ning Cheng brought out his Treasured Thunder Spear and swept everything away. Even if those Grade 4 starry skies’ demonic beasts tried to confront him, under the Maximal Flame Spirit Technique, they all turned to ashes. As for the Dusk Spiritual Technique, Ning Cheng had not thought about using it since entering the Celestial Scryer Tower.
In just half a day, Ning Cheng rushed across the 66th floor and entered the 67th floor. As long as the level did not provide any help or supplement his own understanding of cultivation, Ning Cheng would immediately decide not to waste his time on that floor. If he chose to stay on a level, then it must provide some help to his cultivation or at least to his perception.
Starting from the 64th floor, till the 68th floor, the attacks and the pressure grew more powerful; however, these did not pose many problems for Ning Cheng as his strength had already improved a lot compared to average Celestial Gatherer Cultivators.
When Ning Cheng pushed open the entrance to the 69th floor, he found that this layer did not contain any attacks. However, when he stepped in, he felt as if he had stepped into a quagmire; the whole space around him felt like it had almost solidified, giving an extremely viscous feeling.
The Treasured Thunder Spear in his hands shot out several spear shadows, which finally managed to smash apart the bindings of this viscous space, and Ning Cheng finally landed on the ground. However, after a short while, the surrounding area once again started to grow viscous; it felt as if it wanted to squeeze him into this space.
A wooden attributed aura started to fill up around Ning Cheng, and Ning Cheng immediately decided to give up on the idea of using the Treasured Thunder Spear to open a path. For an expert, it was indeed possible to use weapons to tear through the viscous space in front of them to reach the 70th floor. However, Ning Cheng did not want to do this. He had a feeling that he could pass through the 69th floor in a much simpler manner.
Ning Cheng sat down and let the dense space keep squeezing him. From an outsider’s perspective, it felt like Ning Cheng was about to melt into this viscous space. Just at this moment, Ning Cheng’s Celestial River Domain penetrated into the viscous space created from this wood attributed aura, helping him resist the squeezing force generated by the viscous area around him.
“Lush grass on the plains; in one year, withers and thrives once each……[2]”
Ning Cheng felt like he sat amidst an endless savannah, surrounded by dense grass, which blocked all his ways to retreat and advance, even leaving him unable to breathe. It felt like a tree had suddenly manifested within his heart. As the tree grew steadily, the tree would eventually end up filling up his heart, to the point that it would not leave even half-a-point of space within it for anything else to survive.
At this moment, a thought suddenly materialised within his heart, and he subconsciously brought out his Celestial River Flame. The illusion of endless grasses instantly crumbled to ashes and he found the floor in front of him completely empty, without any weeds blocking his way.
“Wildfire does not burn it completely; when spring winds blow, it lives again…….[3]”
After the fire cleanses the fields, new weeds would grow once again. The ashes of the old paved the way for the new grasses. However, this would eventually take time. Understanding the line ‘in one year, withers and thrives once each’ Ning Cheng felt like he could quickly rush out of the 69th floor and enter the 70th floor at any time.
This thought had just manifested in Ning Cheng’s heart when Ning Cheng immediately crushed it. This was not his heart’s thoughts. If he wanted to destroy it, then he would decimate it cleanly, cutting off the roots of the grass. If he did not want to destroy it, then it could become his friend.
At this moment, a small greyish-black stump within his storage ring started radiating a similar wooden attributed aura.
Was it the Underworld Crow Ghost Rattan? Ning Cheng raised his hand and immediately grabbed this section of Underworld Crow Ghost Rattan. This was what he had obtained when Jia Shisan had chased after him along with Xiao Bisheng and Mu Ziming. The Underworld Crow Ghost Rattan King had trapped them inside the Blue Hole for decades; only when his flame finally managed to evolve, was he able to break free and almost destroy the Underworld Crow Ghost Rattan. It also allowed him to obtain that Essence of Wood and this greyish-black stump of Underworld Crow Ghost Rattan.
Ning Cheng had just grabbed this Underworld Crow Ghost Rattan in his hands when this Underworld Crow Ghost Rattan suddenly started to tremble. At the same time, this stump of Underworld Crow Ghost Rattan immediately started to absorb the seemingly endless wooden attributed aura within the floor.
The section of the Underworld Crow Ghost Rattan in Ning Cheng’s hand started growing rapidly and quickly began to spread out, stretching out one branch after another.
No, was this Underworld Ghost Rattan King trying to recover its lost vitality? As Ning Cheng thought about how this Underworld Ghost Rattan King had trapped him for decades, how could he willingly let this Underworld Crow Ghost Rattan King recover its vitality? The next moment, he immediately directed his Celestial River Flame towards it, intending to completely burn away this Underworld Crow Ghost Rattan.
He could never allow this scourge to grow again. This thing had a terrifying tenacity, which Ning Cheng had experienced with his own eyes.
[1] Invisible and Ethereal (无形无相) here most likely refers to the Formless Creation (有形无相) of Mysterious Yellow Formless Creation (玄黄有形无相), the six-character incantation Ning Cheng obtained from the Mysterious Yellow Bead in Chapter 26. It looks like a typo but will keep it as it is for now as there is no other explanation.
[2] This line is from the poem, Farewells on Grassland, by the Tang dynasty poet Bai Juyi.
[3] Continuing lines for the poem, Farewells on Grassland