Chapter 0951: Ning Cheng’s Killing Intent

“I have my own place in Heaven Essence Sacred City. Do you want to stay with me or in an inn?” After entering Heaven Essence Sacred City, Jian Sanshan asked Ning Cheng in a polite tone.

He felt pretty satisfied with working with Ning Cheng. The truth was, with his reputation, if he wanted to find someone to collaborate in the preliminary round, too many pill deities would willingly throw themselves at him. Almost every pill deity in the region wished for a chance to strike up a friendship with him. Therefore, one could consider his choice to work with Ning Cheng as actually helping Ning Cheng. Besides, he had a good reason for choosing Ning Cheng as his partner. It had nothing to do with Ning Cheng’s No Furnace; instead, he wished to purchase a few Empyrean Consciousness Transmutation Pills from Ning Cheng.

He didn’t expect Ning Cheng to be so generous as to promise to give him the Empyrean Consciousness Transmutation Pill’s recipe. This type of favour was indeed a huge deal for him, something that he couldn’t refuse even if he wanted to.

Ning Cheng smiled, “I’d better stay at an inn. If you need something, Brother Jian, just send me a message.”

The Alchemy Discourse was still five months away, and Ning Cheng also had a pile of spirit grasses on him. It’s just that he never got the time to refine them into pills. During these five months, he could study more about alchemy and also how to awaken Yan Ji.

Although he believed that Jian Sanshan hadn’t lied to him, Ning Cheng still wanted to confirm it for himself.

Jian Sanshan didn’t care about the reasons for it and immediately agreed. After exchanging communication pearls with Ning Cheng, he told Ning Cheng where he lived before parting.

After Jian Sanshan left, Ning Cheng didn’t choose the number one inn in Heaven Essence Sacred City, the Star Stepping Tower. Instead, he chose a relatively small inn called the Dao Seeking Inn.

The Star Stepping Tower Master, surnamed Nie, was still too frightening. Plus, Ning Cheng had too many secrets, so he didn’t want to live under her nose.

Although Heaven Essence Sacred City still bustled with activity, it wasn’t so bad that he couldn’t even find a room like last time. Especially since there were only a few months till the Alchemy Discourse.

“This Senior. May I ask if there is anything I can help you with?” As soon as Ning Cheng entered the Dao Seeking Inn, a smart-looking Heaven Seated concierge greeted him with a respectful attitude.

“I want the best room. Also, I need you to help me with a few things.” Ning Cheng said with a casual tone.

When Ning Cheng spoke about wanting the best room, several spiritual consciousnesses instantly swept over. But after noticing Ning Cheng’s cultivation level, several of them immediately retracted.

Ning Cheng didn’t care at all. If he was still an Eternal cultivator, those words would have immediately resulted in expulsion from this place. Or, at the very least, it would have resulted in a few chided remarks and an inflated price. But now that he was a Dao Sculpting Holy Emperor, even if these fellows knew that he wasn’t rich, no one would dare say anything to him. Besides, those Dao Raising and above Holy Emperors wouldn’t create a scene for just a few spirit crystals.

Fortunately, the Dao Seeking Inn didn’t have too many guests, so Ning Cheng managed to get the ‘best’ suite he wanted. The suite contained five private chambers and a large meeting hall, and the spirit aura in the room was also quite plentiful.

Ning Cheng took out a storage ring and handed it to the fellow who brought him up, “There are five million spirit crystals in the ring. Go and help me purchase all the jade strips about healing within the entire Heaven Essence Sacred City. You can take half a million out of it as payment for your services.”

The fellow looked quite dazed when he heard the first half of Ning Cheng’s sentence. But when he listened to the part about ‘half a million spirit crystals’, he didn’t even say a word of nonsense. He quickly grabbed the storage ring with both hands and respectfully replied, “Yes, Senior. This junior will definitely help Senior get it done.”

After the fellow left, Ning Cheng began to rearrange the suite’s array formations and restrictions.

The concierge returned quickly. In just three days, he had collected all the publicly available jade strips Ning Cheng needed.

Seeing off the fellow, Ning Cheng then immediately put up the ‘Do Not Disturb’ sign. At the same time, he also started preparing to study the jade strips while refining pills.

……

Ning Cheng finally opened the ring of the early-stage Dao Raising Holy Emperor that he had killed in the Black and White Mountains. Apart from the tens of millions of spirit crystals, it also contained many alchemy and artificing materials. As for the pills and artefacts inside, Ning Cheng only gave them a passing glance.

However, what really delighted Ning Cheng wasn’t this Dao Raising Holy Emperor’s ring, but No Furnace. Once Ning Cheng fully refined the furnace, the delight then turned into euphoria. His Traceless Furnace wasn’t comparable to this furnace at all. Not to mention No Furnace. Even the Primal Chaos’s First Furnace, the Heaven and Earth’s Second Furnace, or even the Can-Only-Be-Called-Third Furnace were all far better than his Traceless Furnace.

As for the snow-white flame called Nameless, it was, even more, a surprise among surprises. Of course, Ning Cheng didn’t know what Jian Sanshan obtained in No Furnace. But at least Jian Sanshan wasn’t too interested in these four furnaces and the Nameless Flame, which meant that he at least got something of equivalent value from inside it. What’s more, Ning Cheng had also found a bunch of alchemy jade strips inside No Furnace. These jade strips not only included alchemy insights but also quite a few precious pill recipes.

After refining the furnaces and the flame, Ning Cheng immediately studied both sets of jade strips to see if he could learn more about Yan Ji’s situation.

Once Ning Cheng concentrated on one thing, he progressed very fast. Therefore, in just after three months, Ning Cheng was able to refine Dao Raising Spirit Pills.

But because he had to refine the pills and research Yan Ji’s injuries simultaneously, the consumption of spirit grasses was also quite astonishing. In just over three months, he had consumed half of his stash.

Unfortunately, despite advancing to the level of Dao Raising Pill Deity and even studying tens of thousands of healing jade strips, he still couldn’t find a way to heal Yan Ji.

Fortunately, the three months didn’t go in vain. At the very least, Ning Cheng confirmed that Jian Sanshan hadn’t lied to him. Yan Ji required the 5-Elements Heaven Fruit to wake up. However, while the 5-Elements Heaven Fruit could wake up Yan Ji, it couldn’t restore Yan Ji’s foundation and roots.

Despite spending five million spirit crystals to purchase these jade strips, he hadn’t found a solution for it.

On this day, Ning Cheng was refining a furnace of Silent Distress Pills, a Dao Transformation-level Spirit Pill used for healing flesh wounds, with a current success rate of 40% per batch. Going by this speed, he could become a Dao Transformation Pill Deity in less than a month.

Ning Cheng had just put away the Silent Distress Pills and hadn’t even cleaned the pill furnace when the communication pearl given to him by Jian Sanshan lit up.

A message then appeared in the communication pearl. “Brother Ning, the Alchemy Discourse is about a month away, and many alchemists have gathered in Heaven Essence Sacred City. Because of this, the Hundred Herb Tower is hosting a spirit herb exchange on its second floor for the next few days. If you’re interested, you can come with me and take a look.”

Ning Cheng knew about Heaven Essence Sacred City’s Hundred Herb Tower. It was the largest place in Heaven Essence Sacred City to trade spirit herbs[1]. This place didn’t belong to any sect or clan. Rather, it was left behind by the Hundred Herb Holy Emperor. It had three floors in total, and each floor covered a vast area.

The ground floor was where people traded ordinary spirit grasses and pills. You could even set up a stall there and even host temporary auctions. However, there was one rule: you couldn’t set up a permanent shop in that place.

The first floor was another trading hall, but for high-grade spirit grasses and dao fruits, you could hawk or auction stuff just like the floor below. Again no permanent shops allowed.

However, the second floor was a place to discuss alchemy and the only area within the tower that needed an admission fee. More specifically, the admission fee was for hosting alchemy discussions. As such, it was usually occupied by alchemists debating the intricacies of alchemy and other budding alchemists.

Not finding a solution to the problems Ning Cheng wanted to solve, he had already planned to go there and take a look. However, now that Jian Sanshan had sent him a message about it, he naturally didn’t hesitate and picked up his things before heading towards the Hundred Herbs Tower.

The Hundred Herb Tower wasn’t too far away from where Ning Cheng lived, and it took Ning Cheng less than half an incense stick worth of time to arrive there.

The outside of the Hundred Herb Tower looked a little mottled, indicating that it was pretty old. However, the doors were several feet high and wide, with people entering and leaving from time to time.

But when Ning Cheng entered the ground floor of the Hundred Herb Tower, his only impression was one of chaos. A cacophony of noises and bargaining voices filled the place, giving Ning Cheng a feeling that he had stepped into a vegetable market.

Ning Cheng shook his head. This Hundred Herb Tower didn’t have any rules, which made it convenient for many rogue cultivators. But at the same time, it also made the place look unruly. As such, many cultivators who obtained precious spirit grasses wouldn’t willingly come to this place. And even if they did decide to come here, they would certainly not stay on the ground floor.

Without wasting too much time on the ground floor, Ning Cheng went straight to the first floor of the Hundred Herb Tower.

The first floor looked much cleaner than the ground floor, and the noises had also disappeared. Even if one wanted to bargain, people did it in a corner and in whispers.

After all, those who came to the first floor were quite influential and would often include quite a few pill deities. If any low-levelled cultivators made any noise here, someone would immediately throw them out.

“Brother Ning, this way.” Jian Sanshan saw Ning Cheng the moment he walked in. In any case, Ning Cheng carrying Yan Ji on his back made him a little too obvious.

Ning Cheng waved his hand and was about to go over when he suddenly heard someone not too far from him speak up in disdain. “I can easily get you an Empyrean Consciousness Transmutation Pill. Although the Refining Heart Pill is precious, it can’t be more precious than the Empyrean Consciousness Transmutation Pill, right? Besides, what’s so strange about my family wanting a Refining Heart Pill? If you want the pill, as long as you can produce what I want, I can guarantee to get you what you want…..”

Empyrean Consciousness Transmutation Pill? Ning Cheng’s gaze immediately swept over and saw the cultivator who had spoken those words. It was a young long-haired man with a slightly pale face, slender eyes, thin lips, and a Dao Sculpting cultivation. Sensing a relatively stable dao rhythm, Ning Cheng understood that he should have reached the Dao Sculpting Realm quite some time ago.

Without waiting for the person he was dealing with to speak, Ning Cheng walked over and asked. “Did you just say that you could get the Empyrean Consciousness Transmutation Pill?”

The long-haired Dao Sculpting cultivator swept a glance at Ning Cheng, but his gaze quickly moved over to Yan Ji on Ning Cheng’s back. Even though Yan Ji was still unconscious, Yan Ji’s stunning appearance had surprised him. For a moment, he even forgot about Ning Cheng’s words.

Ning Cheng’s face turned a bit gloomy, and he spoke up once again, but this time with a somewhat unpleasant tone. “Are you able to get an Empyrean Consciousness Transmutation Pill or not?”

Only then did the long-haired Dao Sculpting cultivator move his gaze away from Yan Ji and look coldly at Ning Cheng. “That’s right, I can get the Empyrean Consciousness Transmutation Pill. Even the Empyrean Consciousness Transmutation Pill that the Great Spirit Pill Sect bid for last time was also obtained by me. But even if you want it, it’s useless as I won’t sell it to you. But if you hand over the woman on your back, perhaps I can reconsider it.”

“Hehe, Bei Bai, even if people gave you their cultivation furnace, you wouldn’t be able to get the Empyrean Consciousness Transmutation Pill, right? You can’t always be so lucky to meet two ants with Empyrean Consciousness Transmutation Pills.” A sneering voice emerged, clearly poking holes in this long-haired Dao Sculpting Holy Emperor’s words.

Ning Cheng’s expressions twisted when he heard this, and killing intent instantly coalesced around him. The icy cold killing intent caused the people standing around Ning Cheng to subconsciously move away from him. However, everyone felt secretly horrified; Ning Cheng’s coalesced killing intent was a little too terrifying.

“Did you snatch your Empyrean Consciousness Transmutation Pill from a man and a woman?” Ning Cheng took a step forward, and his killing intent completely enveloped the Dao Sculpting cultivator Bei Bai.

[1] Spirit herbs is a shortened term I use for ‘spirit grasses and dao fruits’ to avoid repeating those words over and over in a chapter.

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