Chapter 0852: Seeing the seven bridges again

A few days later, the airship stopped on a public square once again.

After getting off the airship, Ning Cheng immediately noticed the layout around this public square and quickly understood why the public square of Boundary Essence Spirit Sea City had that layout. It simulated the design of this place.

Moreover, there was more than one public square here. As Ning Cheng looked around, he saw dozens of big and small public squares. Every public square had a teleportation array in the middle, with some merchant houses scattered across the edge of these public squares.

“Senior Apprentice Brother Ning, the teleportation array to the Grand Essence Ruins is over there…..” Nalan Ruxue quickly walked to Ning Cheng’s side and pointed to a large public square not too far from them.

Even without Nalan Ruxue pointing it out, Ning Cheng’s gaze had already locked-in on the teleportation array at its centre. Gazing past it, on the opposite edge of this public square, he also saw a huge screen with the words “Grand Essence Ruins, 80,000 high-grade spirit crystals”.

But despite such a high price, numerous people still willingly paid the spirit crystals before being transferred away. Moreover, Ning Cheng had also noticed that many people coming off the other teleportation arrays also chose to go to the Grand Essence Ruins. From this, one could say that this teleportation formation was the most lively of all. No wonder people referred to this place as the teleportation point. It was akin to a spirit crystal collector.

Ning Cheng and Nalan Ruxue walked over to the Grand Essence Ruins’ teleportation array, lined up with the others, paid the required 160,000 high-grade spirit crystals. After that, they waited for their turn to use the teleportation array.

This teleportation formation could teleport 20 people at once. But even then, it took nearly two hours for their turn. Ning Cheng and Nalan Ruxue followed more than a dozen other people and stepped onto the teleportation formation.

A few moments later, the teleportation array finally activated. Ning Cheng, with his proficiency in the Dao of Array, used this time to study the teleportation array. Therefore, the moment it started, he understood that it was a long-distance teleportation array. But even when going through this long-distance teleportation, Ning Cheng didn’t feel even slightly dizzy. From this, he also understood that Array Formation Master who built this teleportation array had truly high attainments.

In less than half an incense stick worth of time, Ning Cheng and Nalan Ruxue appeared over another teleportation array within a great hall. The two then followed everyone out of the hall and felt shocked by the prosperity in front of them.

How was this the periphery of a ruin? It was akin to a super-prosperous starry sky city.

A huge public square, densely packed merchant houses, makeshift markets, countless people…..

But no matter how lovely and bustling this area was, no matter how many people flowed through this place. It couldn’t block the majestic dao charm flowing out of the characters ‘Grand Essence Ruins’ Quest Hall’. The Quest Hall towered over everything else and sat in the middle of the largest public square, with numerous cultivators going in and out of it.

“Strange, no one seems to push for renting caves here.” Ning Cheng looked at the crowd of cultivators and muttered with some confusion.

In such crowded areas, renting caves was naturally the best business. It stood to reason that someone would take the initiative to push rental caves at the exit of the teleportation array.

“Is it this friend’s first time coming to the Grand Essence Ruins? Do you need to rent a cave in Grand Essence Ruins? You should know, those are in short supply around these parts. If you want to rent a cave, then look in that place, but I’ll tell you beforehand that you’ll find it almost impossible to rent a good one. Only if you have a high-grade quest card, can you rent a higher grade cave….” A cultivator standing not far from Ning Cheng smiled and spoke up. At the same time, he pointed to a place on the opposite side of the public square.

“Many thanks.” Ning Cheng cupped his fists and thanked the man. As for what the Quest Card was, Ning Cheng didn’t know nor did he specifically ask about it. He believed that as long as he entered the Quest Hall, he could always inquire about it there.

“Senior Apprentice Brother Ning, are we going to rent a cave?” Nalan Ruxue asked.

Ning Cheng looked at the opposite side and said, “Let’s check it out later. First, let’s go to the Quest Hall and ask about some information.”

……

Walking into the Quest Hall, everything looked eye-catching. He even found some rest stops and restaurants in one part of the Quest Hall.

The Quest Hall also had nearly a hundred screens erected in the middle and divided into particular groups. Spiritual Grass-type tasks, Spirit Technique-type tasks, Weapon-type tasks, Material-type, teaming….

Moreover, every kind of task had different grades to it. For example, the Spiritual Grass-type tasks had four primary divisions: top-grade tasks, high-grade tasks, middle-grade tasks, and low-grade tasks. Similar divisions also existed for other jobs.

Ning Cheng glanced at the low-level tasks first and found that they only provided a few task points. While the top-grade tasks, even the lowest-ranked one, provided as many as one million task points. He also saw a few tasks without any points written next to it. From this, he gauged that these tasks were of ridiculously high difficulty. And that the task points for these tasks, most likely, were based on the needs of people completing it.

“Senior Apprentice Brother Ning, we might as well take up a few quests, and then hang up a task to find Senior Apprentice Sister Yan Ji.” Nalan Ruxue spoke up.

Ning Cheng understood what Nalan Ruxue meant by hanging up a task. One required a certain number of points to post even an errand. If you didn’t have any points, how could you post any jobs?

“Wait-wait. Let’s keep looking at the tasks…..” While Ning Cheng spoke, he was just about to sweep out with his spiritual consciousness, when he felt a few mighty spiritual consciousnesses passing by him. He quickly took back his spiritual consciousness and turned vigilant. These spiritual consciousness were several times stronger than the guy he killed with the Five-coloured Star Splitter Arrow a few months ago.

This place was the Grand Essence Ruins, where even second-step Dao Confirming powerhouses frequented. As such, Ning Cheng had no choice but to stay careful whenever sweeping out with his spiritual consciousness. After spending some more time in the Quest Hall, Ning Cheng and Nalan Ruxue started to have a better understanding of their Quest Hall and the Quest Cards.

To receive tasks from the Quest Hall, you must first apply for a Grand Essence Ruins’ Quest Card. Moreover, these Grand Essence Ruins’ Quest Cards were of five different grades: purple, gold, silver, white, and black.

The primary purpose of a Quest Card was to record points and also conduct task-related transactions. One could even exchange task points with other Quest Card holders. The black card was the lowest tier Quest Card, and anyone who could pay 1,000 spirit crystals can apply for it. Once the Quest Hall’s transaction points reach 100,000 points, you can then apply for a white card.

These transaction points weren’t the points on the Quest Card, but the transaction points accumulated between you and the Quest Hall. Even if you collected 100,000 points, you can’t just apply for a white card without conducting any transaction with the Quest Hall. Only after spending the 100,000 points, would you be eligible to exchange for a white card.

Of course, these transactions must be transactions with the Quest Hall. If it were a transaction between cultivators, even if it were a transaction of one million points, they wouldn’t count it.

To exchange a white card for a silver card, it would require transactions equating to one million points, and from a silver card to a gold card, it needed 10 million points. As for the purple card, you can apply for it after your transactions exceed the 100 million-point threshold.

Moreover, the colour of your Quest Card indicated your position in the Grand Essence Ruins. It meant the higher the grade of your Quest Card, the more precious things you can purchase from the Quest House. The Grand Essence Ruins’ Quest House was right next to the Quest Hall. The Quest House also had five colour divisions, black, white, silver, gold, and purple. If you only had a black card, then you could only enter the first floor. The higher the floor, the higher the grade of things you would find inside.

Ning Cheng and Nalan Ruxue had just arrived at the Grand Essence Ruins, which meant that they could only apply for a black card each. The black card was only half the size of a palm, and it mainly recorded the task points and transactions points.

“Okay, let’s go pick up a quest. The one to find the ice-type spirit technique, Raging Ice Sea, in the Grand Essence Ruin’s Opening Ice Mound. Let’s head to there; maybe we might get lucky and find this spirit technique.” Ning Cheng’s choice of going to Opposing Ice Mound wasn’t on a whim, but because of Nalan Ruxue who had just entered the Heaven Seated Realm, one of Destiny’s three realms[1]. She didn’t seem to have any suitable spirit technique on hand. Besides, Nalan Ruxue had a mutated ice-attributed spiritual root, so he might as well help her.

For Ning Cheng, this task was just a ride. Apart from looking for Yan Ji in Grand Essence Ruins, he also wanted to further his cultivation. Moreover, this place was also an excellent place to search for opportunities to step into the Dao Confirming Realm.

Nalan Ruxue felt taken aback. She immediately thought that Ning Cheng might have picked it up to help her. She just couldn’t believe it and spoke up, “Senior Apprentice Brother Ning, but that’s a high-grade quest….”

This task provided a lot of points on completion, and the spirit technique was also a very compatible one for her. But the risk involved in a high-grade task was also relatively high.

“I know it’s a high-grade quest. Let’s go and see if we truly can complete it and even if we couldn’t complete it, it wouldn’t matter much.” Ning Cheng nodded and spoke.

Too many people had already accepted this task, which meant it wouldn’t affect the task if they didn’t complete it. One could even pick up the task after completing it. In truth, most cultivators didn’t even pick up any quests at first; rather, they first completed the task and then came here to pick it up. People only picked easy to complete tasks that have high points, or prepaid tasks, before starting those tasks.

“This Dao Friend, I think you might as well pick the Grand Essence’s Seven Bridges than the Opposing Ice Mound’s task. The Raging Ice Sea Spirit Technique is just 10,000 points, which is quite low for even a high-grade quest. But if you go to Grand Essence’s Seven Bridges, completing one task would give you 100,000 points, and for every other task you pick up and complete, you could double your points…..”

“Grand Essence’s Seven Bridges?” Ning Cheng felt surprised.

The cultivator responded, “That’s right, it’s an ancient quest. Regardless, many people go there. Although it’s a top-grade quest, it’s much safer than the Opposing Ice Mound’s quest. Moreover, I heard that in the ruins of Grand Essence’s Seven Bridges, you might even get to cultivate other spirit techniques.”

Ning Cheng’s spiritual consciousness once again fell onto the high-grade task screen and quickly located the Grand Essence Seven Bridges’ quest. The task issued a reward of 100,000 points for finding one of the specified spirit techniques. If you collected two spirit techniques, then you can get 200,000 points, and if it’s three spirit techniques, then 400,000 points. If you found all seven spirit techniques, then it would give you 6.4 million points. An award higher than that of unearthing the complete Grand Essence Spirit Thunder Spirit Technique.

“Many thanks, Dao Friend, for your reminder.” Ning Cheng quickly thanked him, while his heart pounded wildly. Unexpectedly, he encountered the Grand Essence Seven Bridges here. Moreover, Ning Cheng felt almost 90% sure that this Grand Essence Seven Bridges Spirit Technique was the wordless book’s Seven Bridges Spirit Technique. The same technique that he had no way of cultivating right now.

Ning Cheng didn’t have much of an idea about the Seven Bridges Spirit Technique as it had no words. But now, he might just find the origin of this spirit technique in the Grand Essence Ruins. Maybe he could even learn the Seven Bridges Spirit Technique in the Grand Essence Ruins.

Ning Cheng currently had Sunset’s Twilight, Maximal Flame, Time Wheel, None-to-depend-on, Traceless Spear and other spirit techniques in his arsenal. But if he met a real powerhouse, the only trump card that could help him in that situation was the Five-coloured Star Splitter Arrow.

The primary reason for the lack of power in his spirit techniques was because he had just started understanding the various laws. It meant that these spirit techniques still lacked a foundation to deal with the real powerhouses.

Moreover, the Seven Bridges Spirit Techniques was a progressive series. What if he learned the complete spirit technique? Maybe at that time, he wouldn’t need to use the Five-coloured Star Splitter Arrow every time.

“Junior Apprentice Sister Ruxue, let’s go to Opposing Ice Mound first, and then to Grand Essence Seven Bridges.” Ning Cheng didn’t pick up the tasks before leading Nalan Ruxue out to prepare for entry into the Grand Essence Ruins.

[1] The Heaven Seated Realm, the Life and Death Realm and the Eternal Realm are the subdivisions of the Destiny/Fate Realm. Just like how Celestial Bridge Realm, the Undead Realm and the Heaven’s Mandate Realm are the subdivision of the Celestial River Realm and Celestial Novice, Celestial Shatterer and Celestial Gatherer are the subdivisions of the Celestial Scryer Realm.

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