Ning Cheng gave an honest nod, “Yes, I saved you. You were in an unconscious body-forging state, which loosened your Essence Spirit. If I had left you as it is, you would have eventually fallen.”

Ning Cheng didn’t particularly want to give himself credit. Still, he also did not want this woman to misunderstand his actions. Moreover, he also did not want to start an unnecessary fight with her. Besides, it wouldn’t be the first time such a thing happened to him. In the past, when he saved Nalan Ruxue, that woman not only did not know how to act grateful, she even let her master kill him.

“Thank you. My name is Yan Xishuang.” The woman stood up after she finished speaking and the robes covering her slid off her body.

Ning Cheng had prepared himself for a potential mess but did not expect that this female cultivator named Yan Xishuang wouldn’t even care about it. Not only that, even though he hadn’t moved away or even turned around, she still unabashedly stood up without any care.

Yan Xishuang didn’t pay attention to Ning Cheng’s surprised reaction. In fact, despite in Ning Cheng’s presence, she used dust removal techniques on herself several times before finally taking out a set of robes.

Even if it didn’t matter to her, Ning Cheng couldn’t just casually watch a woman dress in front of him. He didn’t harbour such open thoughts, so he quickly turned around with an awkward smile and spoke up, “I’ll take my leave first.”

However, Ning Cheng still held some doubts in his mind. He could clearly see that this female cultivator’s body didn’t have anything on it. Yet, this female cultivator still took out things. The only possibility was that this female cultivator, just like him, had an artefact that in her Sea of Consciousness with storage space.

“Wait a minute; I don’t even know your name yet.” The female cultivator took things neither slow nor fast. But by the time she said those words, she had already begun putting on the lower half of her robes.

“I’m called Ning Cheng, don’t need to mind me.” Ning Cheng finished and quickened his pace. He didn’t particularly like women with Nalan Ruxue-like nature of exploding without understanding the situation, and he didn’t like exchanging too many words with such seemingly unbothered women.

By this time, Yan Xishuang had already put on her robes and spoke up with a soft voice, “You’ve already seen me naked, so why not continue taking in the sights? Or did you think I would get mad if you didn’t look away while I put on my robes? Or is it that you think I’m a casual woman?”

Ning Cheng looked at Yan Xishuang in surprise. At this time, she wore a light blue robe, which gave her an even more refined look and pressing cleverness. In just a short while, her thin yellow hair turned dense and black, and her eyelashes became clear. However, this woman’s observational power shocked him the most instead of the transformation. She had accurately guessed the thoughts in his heart from his attitude.

He could also ‘see’ what Yan Xishuang thought from her eyes. It only contained two characters, hypocrisy.

Ning Cheng showed an awkward smile again. He found that he indeed was a bit hypocritical with his actions.

Fortunately, Yan Xishuang didn’t press on this, but just looked at Ning Cheng and asked with a calm voice, “Did you take that Nirvana Bluestone?”

Nirvana Bluestone? Ning Cheng quickly understood what Yan Xishuang meant. Most likely, the bluestone he took away should be the Nirvana Bluestone she mentioned. The name itself made it feel mighty.

“Yes, I did take it.” Ning Cheng admitted to it directly. He rescued Yan Xishuang, but they hadn’t come too far away from the location of the volcanic island. Just a quick sweep with one’s spiritual consciousness would reveal the still crumbling volcanic island beneath the waters.

Yan Xishuang did not feel too surprised about it. Instead, she took out two chairs and sat down on one of them before motioning Ning Cheng to take the other one.

Ning Cheng also sat down calmly. After Yan Xishuang’s Essence Spirit gradually stabilised, Ning Cheng began to sense her actual cultivation. He found that she was at the late stage of the Eternal Realm. But even if she was at the late-stage Eternal Realm, Ning Cheng did not fear her.

Ning Cheng did not know anything about this Nirvana Bluestone, but he certainly knew that it wasn’t something ordinary. Since it was not an everyday object and had fallen into his hands, he wouldn’t hand it over so casually. Besides, Ning Cheng saved Yan Xishuang’s life, which should have made it up for it. He didn’t want to owe others anything and thus had taken it with a clear conscience.

Besides, even if he didn’t take it back then, he could have just waited until Yan Xishuang’s death to take it away.

Yan Xishuang’s eyes showed a slight bit of struggle, and she hesitated for a while before saying, “I went to that place for the Nirvana Bluestone. In fact, if I hadn’t refined the bluestone for many years, you would have found it impossible to seal the bluestone and take it away.”

Ning Cheng only knew that the flame emitted by this Nirvana Blue Stone was mighty. However, he truly didn’t know that she had refined this bluestone for many years. This showed that Yan Xishuang was not only using it to refine her body but also refining the bluestone.

Seeing Ning Cheng silent, Yan Xishuang spoke up again. “I can give you a high-rank Starry Sky Spiritual Vein, and ten million Permanent Essence Pills in exchange for your bluestone. What do you think?”

After Yan Xishuang said those words, Ning Cheng only had one thought in his mind ‘this woman really was rich’. With those things in hand, he could most likely advance to the middle-stage of Life and Death Realm. Therefore, Ning Cheng definitely felt his heart twitch at this offer.

However, he quickly understood something. This woman offered quite a price for the Nirvana Bluestone. This indicated that this Nirvana Bluestone had a much higher value than what he initially thought.

“Sorry, I have a flame, and I require this stone to help it evolve. Besides, I’ve also taken a liking to it, so I can’t exchange it with you.” Ning Cheng said apologetically. From Yan Xishuang’s words, he understood that Yan Xishuang definitely had a part to play in why he obtained the bluestone this easily.

Seeing Ning Cheng’s unwillingness to exchange, Yan Xishuang spoke up with a somewhat helpless tone, “Can you lend me this stone for a while? I promise to return it to you.”

Ning Cheng showed a smile. Did this woman really think of him as someone naive? They didn’t even know each other; in fact, the only thing connecting them was he saving her life. Yet, this woman didn’t even think of repaying her benefactor but instead, wanted to borrow stuff from him.

This time, Ning Cheng refused without hesitation. He didn’t even bother to leave behind any polite words, and directly said no.

“In that case, let’s forget it.” Yan Xishuang stood up.

Yan Xishuang only took a few steps when she stopped again, “I know of an important place containing either untold wealth or countless treasures. I am willing to take you there. But because I found this place first, I need 70% of the things inside.”

Ning Cheng showed a slight smile, “I don’t want to take advantage of you. You can go there by yourself and take away 100% of it. Goodbye.”

Having said that, Ning Cheng’s body flickered, and he rushed out of the island in an instant before disappearing without a trace.

Although this woman did thank him for saving her life, she even wanted to exchange for the things he obtained. If she had brought up something of at least equivalent value, he could have thought of completing the exchange. But since she could not, it showed that this woman most likely did not have anything of value equivalent to it. Moreover, she even asked him to team up to explore a treasure ground. It definitely was not because he saved her, but more likely, because she needed his help.

Wanting to enlist help from her life-saving benefactor and only offering 30% things in return. It would be a strange thing if Ning Cheng even showed any interest. Besides, he still needed to find a place; that is, the location marked in the Starry Sky Positional Diagram Ball he received from Lie Junfeng.

A location in the depths of the Devouring Bone Sea marked with the name ‘One Piece’.

Since it contained a ‘piece’ character, then maybe it contained something good. Ning Cheng anyway didn’t have the time to go on random treasure hunts, so how could he join hands with others for only 30%?

Seeing Ning Cheng disappearing so quickly, Yan Xishuang sighed and murmured to herself, “Without the Nirvana Bluestone, I don’t think I can go in…..”

……

Although people considered Devouring Bone Sea as ‘big’, it was only in respect to ordinary cultivators. For people like Ning Cheng, the Devouring Bone Sea didn’t contain any significant dangers. In fact, his passage through the Devouring Bone Sea didn’t pose any threat to him at all.

Under the guidance of the Starry Sky Positional Diagram Ball, Ning Cheng didn’t have to take any detours and powered through. On the way to the location marked ‘One Piece’ in the positional diagram ball, Ning Cheng encountered several patches of fog.

Ordinary cultivators would have had to choose a different direction to either avoid it or bypass these patches. But Ning Cheng naturally didn’t need to do either. Moreover, the location marked on the map already hinted it as a treasure trove. Which meant that people wouldn’t find it easily. If one could locate it so quickly, people would have already uncovered it much before him.

But even with a middle-grade Starry Sky Body and the Starry Sky Positional Diagram, Ning Cheng’s speed considerably dropped after continuously breaking through the patches of sea fogs in his path.

Two days later, Ning Cheng stopped. According to the identification markers on the positional diagram, he had arrived at the periphery of the area marked with the words ‘One Piece’.

To Ning Cheng’s surprise, the area marked for ‘One Piece’ was a large patch of sea different from the surrounding sea.

In fact, it did not look anything like the sea surrounding it and looked more like a dark grey patch within the sea. This dark grey patch of water was in stark contrast to the deep blue seawater surrounding its periphery. Moreover, the place where this dark grey seawater met the deep blue seawater, one could see a clear distinction as if cut by a knife.

This wasn’t what surprised Ning Cheng the most. What surprised him the most was that the dark grey sea’s surface was almost a foot lower than the deep blue sea’s surface just outside. Winds and waves crashed around on the outside, but the surface of this dark grey water remained calm. In fact, not a drop of seawater from outside could even reach the dark grey sea’s surface.

Moreover, this dark greywater not only prevented spiritual consciousness from sweeping in, but it also gave him a sense of danger.

Was this One Piece? What’s good in here?

Ning Cheng hesitated for a bit before taking out a ship he had made and threw it onto the dark grey sea. He wanted to carefully go in and explore. But just in case, he decided to explore the surface first with the boat.

However, after the boat landed on the dark grey sea, it quickly started to sink. Ning Cheng couldn’t believe what he saw. The ship, supposed to float on the water, sunk like a rock. Moreover, it dropped smoothly and steadily, without overturning or creating any ripples, going against common sense.

At this moment, Ning Cheng suddenly thought of a sentence from the Journey to the West, “On these loose sands, eight hundred wide; weak waters flow, three thousand deep. On its surface, not a goose feather floats; while rush petals quickly sank deep[1].”

Thinking of this, Ning Cheng searched around and took out a feather before dropping it onto the dark grey waters. Facts proved the truth of this sentence, as even the feather sank without a pause.

“Did you follow me?” A slightly dissatisfied voice rang out. But Ning Cheng already knew that it was Yan Xishuang without even looking back.

In fact, Yan Xishuang hadn’t even spoken when Ning Cheng’s spiritual consciousness discovered her.

“Fairy Yan, isn’t it me who should say those words?” Ning Cheng turned around and said with a calm voice.

Yan Xishuang paused slightly, and her face turned a little red. That’s right. Ning Cheng had come here first. So Ning Cheng should have been the one to say those words. Besides, how could Ning Cheng have followed her without her noticing?

“Aah, sorry.” Yan Xishuang quickly understood what was going on. “Wait, do you also know about the 3000 Weak Water Stream[2] in the Devouring Bone Sea?”

“Is it really called the 3000 Weak Water Stream?” Ning Cheng asked in disbelief, before asking another question, “Is it by any chance called by another name, say Quicksand River[3]?”

“Quicksand River?” Yan Xishuang frowned, she had never heard of this name.

[1] The original verse is ‘八百里流沙界，三千弱水深，鹅毛飘不起，芦花定沉底。’. But because I couldn’t accurately translate it, I went with David Kherdian’s adaptation of this verse.

[2] This is a literal translation of ‘三千弱水深’ part of the verse mentioned before. I decided to use this form as it refers to an actual ‘object’.

[3] This is the literal translation of ‘八百里流沙界’ part of the verse mentioned before. I decided to use this form as it refers to an actual ‘object’

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