Ning Cheng suppressed the surprise in his heart but didn’t directly agree with Duan Gantai’s proposal to exchange the Perpetual Moon Time Key. Instead, he said, “Brother Duan, then give me the jade talisman along with my None-to-depend-on Wine for it.”

Duan Gantai replied with a dried voice, “Brother Ning, you must be joking.”

How could he put the Transfer Jade Talisman and the three Perpetual Moon Time Keys for the Time of Time in Ning Cheng’s hands? Why would he willingly lead the wolf into his house?

Knowing that he couldn’t return Ning Cheng’s None-to-depend-on Wine, Duan Gantai grit his teeth. “Brother Ning, I’ll give two Starry Sky Essence Qi Spiritual Vein to you for the None-to-depend-on Wine Brother Ning gave me.”

Ning Cheng’s tone turned cold, “Although Starry Sky Essence Qi Spiritual Veins are good items, one could find many in the starry skies. But I only had a few jars of None-to-depend-on Wine, which I gave to you. Brother Duan, did you truly think that you could exchange a rare item with cheap goods?”

“Then how much does Brother Ning want?” Duan Gantai said while gritting his teeth.

“If you can give me 20 Starry Sky Spiritual Veins, I can consider doing the exchange….” Ning Cheng understood that he had pounced on a big opportunity. Wasn’t doing business asking and collecting payment? On Earth, a wealthy person could easily spend tens of thousands of dollars on good quality wine. So why would such a person worry if a bottle cost a bit more or less?

He had also experienced the reverse of this situation many times in the past. Among the thousands of clothes on the market, he would always bargain on the price and ultimately buy it at one-tenth of its original price.

Since Duan Gantai proposed two Starry Sky Essence Qi Spiritual Veins, so Ning Cheng decided to multiply it by ten times. In any case, although a big deal, everyone would propose a counter-offer.

Duan Gantai took in a deep breath. He didn’t expect Ning Cheng to demand such a significant price. Although he still had a hundred or so Starry Sky Essence Qi Spiritual Veins on him, it was something he had put aside for cultivation in the Eternal Realm. How could he take out twenty just because Ning Cheng said so?

“Brother Ning, I don’t have that much. I can only give you up to three Starry Sky Essence Qi Spirit Veins, nothing more. If Brother Ning wants to ask me to exchange something that I don’t have, I wouldn’t have any other choice but to stop the exchange.” Duan Gantai spoke with a very decisive tone.

When it came to bargaining, Duan Gantai’s street smarts wasn’t much worse compared to Ning Cheng. If Duan Gantai had held strong on two Starry Sky Essence Qi Spirit Vein, Ning Cheng might have thought of dropping the asking price a bit. But this fellow didn’t bite but added one. Even if turned into a fool, Ning Cheng understood that Duan Gantai had at least ten Starry Sky Essence Qi Spirit Vein. Otherwise, with Duan Gantai’s character, he would never revise the offer to three.

Ning Cheng stood up again, “Since you’re not willing to exchange, then let’s forget it. Besides, I’m not planning to trade anyway. I don’t believe I can’t find Striking Order Heavenly Emperor on my own. In any case, since Striking Order is my friend, I will have to help him out anyway.”

While taking, Ning Cheng touched his hand and sealed the Connecting Spirit Vein in front of Duan Gantai.

Duan Gantai felt anxious. He never thought that Ning Cheng wouldn’t leave any room for manoeuvre. At this point, he had to stand up and say, “Brother Ning, to tell you the truth, I only have ten Starry Sky Essence Qi Spirit Veins in total. Giving you three is already me taking a loss. Does Brother Ning want to take away everything from me?”

“Twenty Starry Sky Essence Qi Spiritual Veins, no negotiations. Also, you will give me the jade talisman to enter Time Wilderness.” Ning Cheng spoke with a firm tone. Regardless of if those words had some truth to it, he would never believe Duan Gantai.

Duan Gantai hesitated for a half-an-incense stick of time before he bit down and said, “Okay, twenty is twenty. I can give you ten Starry Sky Essence Qi Veins right away. However, if you want the Transfer Jade Talisman too, then you can’t have the rest of the spirit veins.”

Ning Cheng’s heart sank. He wasn’t surprised by Duan Gantai’s agreement to his condition. Rather, he understood that this fellow had fooled him. Most likely, Duan Gantai had more than fifty spirit veins. Based on his understanding of Duan Gantai, if he had less than fifty Starry Sky Spirit Veins, he would never agree to give away twenty.

Where did Duan Gantai get so many Starry Sky Essence Qi Spirit Veins? Did he find a mystic realm capable of storing many spiritual veins?

Seeing Ning Cheng not speaking, Duan Gantai spoke up once again, “Brother Ning, what do you choose. Spiritual Veins or the jade talisman? If Brother Ning insists on both, then let’s forget about it.”

When the deal reached this point, Duan Gantai also lost all patience.

Ning Cheng took in a deep breath. He wanted the jade talisman. In any case, the jade platform in the Temple of Time contained much more Spirit Qi compared to twenty spirit veins. However, after thinking about it, he still felt that he should choose the spirit veins. As for the jade talisman, he could use the other two keys to exchange with Duan Gantai in the future. As long as he advanced to the Eternal Realm, he would have a better chance of finding Striking Order Heavenly Emperor from the Ancient Shadow Temple.

Thinking of this, Ning Cheng took out the black Perpetual Moon Time Key and said, “In that case, let’s exchange 20 Starry Sky Essence Qi Spirit Veins for this.”

Duan Gantai felt secretly disappointed on hearing those words. He wanted Ning Cheng to choose the Time Wilderness’ Transfer Jade Talisman. In any case, he had two of those jade talismans. Even if he gave one to Ning Cheng, he wouldn’t have lost anything.

The two quickly exchanged things, Ning Cheng received 20 Starry Sky Essence Qi Spirit Veins. At the same time, Duan Gantai got his original black Perpetual Moon Time Key.

Only Duan Gantai knew that he had made a profit. He used the Perpetual Moon Time Key as a mortgage for the None-to-depend-on Wine. Then, using the None-to-depend-on Wine, he obtained near-infinite cultivation resources and also comprehended the None-to-depend-on Spirit Technique. As for the ‘loss’ of 20 Starry Sky Essence Qi Spirit Veins to Ning Cheng, it wasn’t even one-tenth of the resources he obtained from the Guardian Shrine.

Seeing Duan Gantai about to leave, Ning Cheng suddenly said. “Brother Duan, how about I give you another Perpetual Moon Time Key in exchange for 20 more Starry Sky Spirit Veins?”

Duan Gantai smiled before walking to the door of the room before speaking up. “Since I can talk to Brother Ning, then I naturally have no issues with my intelligence. I believe that Brother Ning also doesn’t have any problems with your intelligence. If Brother Ning can take out the two keys to exchange them with me, I might consider it.”

For Duan Gantai, it didn’t make any difference if he had one key to the Temple of Time or two. As long as he didn’t have all the three keys to the Temple of Time, he would have to cooperate with Ning Cheng. Similarly, if Ning Cheng didn’t have the three keys to the Temple of Time, he would also need to work with him.

It looks like this bastard has a lot of Starry Sky Essence Qi Spirit Veins. Ning Cheng felt an urge to take out the two keys of the Temple of Time and exchange it for Duan Gantai’s 40 Starry Sky Essence Qi Spirit Veins. At the same time, he could even use the opportunity to swap Duan Gantai’s jade talisman. If he could do that, he would make a lot of profit.

However, Ning Cheng didn’t lose his rationality. With Duan Gantai’s scheming personality, if he made any move to give up both keys to the Temple of Time, it would immediately raise Duan Gantai’s suspicion. If that happened, Duan Gantai wouldn’t trade no matter what happened.

Watching Duan Gantai leave, Ning Cheng didn’t feel too happy about it. Duan Gantai had already reached the full-circle of Life and Death Realm. So, for him to show interest in the auction indicated that he wanted the Starry Sky Radish Grass. This fellow most likely had a much larger stash of wealth, which meant that he couldn’t compete with this fellow right off the bat during the auction.

After a while, Ning Cheng said to himself, “Even if you don’t want my two keys, I will give it to you.”

……

Thousand Cry Star was the primary star of Night Essence Celestial River. But the title of the biggest star in the celestial river still belonged to Orchid Restraining Star.

Moreover, Orchid Restraining Star wasn’t only the largest in Night Essence Celestial River. It was also the biggest star in the entire Nine Jewels Starry Sky. Even if one looked throughout the whole Culmination Grand Starry Sky, one wouldn’t find more than three stars larger than the Orchid Restraining Star.

However, despite Orchid Restraining Star’s size, it did not have many resident cultivators. Even compared to the rest of the stars within Night Essence Celestial River, it only had a small portion of native cultivators. It wasn’t because of Orchid Restraining Star’s high gravity but because of the extremely sparse Starry Sky Spirit Qi.

Moreover, Orchid Restraining Star also had another more important reason for its fame. The Thorn Tooth Lake. The Thorn Tooth Lake was more of a swamp than a lake. But it was also a little different from regular swamps one would find in other places. Moreover, one would find many areas inside that contained patches of pure water. For this reason, Thorn Tooth Lake had another name, the Thorn Tooth Marsh.

Thorn Tooth Lake occupied nearly two-thirds of Orchid Restraining Star. But unlike the star containing the Devouring Bone Sea, one wouldn’t have any problems in living within Orchid Restraining Star. The only drawback, if any, was that this star had high gravity and scarce Starry Sky Spirit Qi.

Thorn Tooth Lake looked ordinary on the surface. But if one entered the Thorn Tooth Lake, one would find many places inside covered with natural array formations. Some sites also contained dense fog, which even Heaven Seated cultivator’s spiritual consciousness couldn’t fully penetrate.

……

At the same time, despite the scarce Spirit Qi, most of Orchid Restraining Star’s Starry Sky Spirit Qi gathered within Thorn Tooth Lake.

Therefore, Thorn Tooth Lake eventually became a fairly popular place within Night Essence Celestial River for ordinary cultivators to train and hone their skills. Besides, one would also find a lot of heavenly woods and earthly treasures, and even some high-value demonic beasts inside the lake. With luck, one could even find one or two Spirit Springs within Thorn Tooth Lake, allowing people to stay here in secluded cultivation.

At this time, in a small mound deep in the Thorn Tooth Lake, a black-robed woman lay curled up with an unstable aura. From the looks of it, she seemed to have suffered a severe injury, even the physical wound on her body hadn’t closed up.

Outside the mound, she had placed a very low-grade Concealment Array Disc, which concealed her body’s aura. Otherwise, people would have found her a long time ago.

Despite hiding within Thorn Tooth Lake, six out of ten cultivators roaming this lake knew the identity of this woman. That’s because she was Yan Ji, a person wanted by several trade unions within Night Essence Celestial River.

Yan Ji naturally knew why many people outside wanted to find her. That’s because she killed a woman named Shangguan Man’er. She didn’t realise the identity of Shangguan Man’er until after she killed her. The most beloved daughter of Night Essence Celestial River King, Shangguan Xiang. Moreover, not only did Shangguan Xiang love her very deeply, but he also pampered her like a spoiled princess. Since she killed Shangguan Xiang’s daughter, it would be strange if he let her off.

Yan Ji wasn’t someone new to Nine Jewels Starry Sky. She naturally knew about Shangguan Xiang’s power and influence. Shangguan Xiang was a late-stage Life and Death expert and rumoured to be the strongest Celestial River King within Nine Jewels Starry Sky. Moreover, Shangguan Xiang was also the younger brother of Shangguan Fei, Nine Jewels Starry Sky’s Eternal Starry Sky Emperor.

After uncovering that information, Yan Ji understood that this person wouldn’t rest until she died. Therefore, she immediately fled to the depths of Thorn Tooth Lake. Even so, Yan Ji knew that it would only buy her some time. Since she offended a close relative of a Starry Sky Emperor, who would even dare to stand up for her?

Yan Ji guessed it correctly. If Shangguan Xiang weren’t currently in Night Essence Celestial River, he would have personally come to Thorn Tooth Lake to look for Yan Ji. He wouldn’t just issue a wanted poster in Night Essence Celestial River.

Taking out a starry sky spirit grass and scarfing it down, Yan Ji forcibly began to heal her wounds. Since entering the starry skies, she had worked ten times, no a hundred times, harder than anyone else. As such, Yan Ji didn’t feel willing enough to die in such a manner. But even if she had to do it all over again, she would have still killed that perverted Shangguan Man’er.

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