However, Ning Cheng was also painfully aware of his own strength. Although formidable within the same cultivation realm, his cultivation remained at the bottom of this starry sky city.
At the same time, Ning Cheng also knew that staying in this starry sky city was the best option; as long as he did not offend anyone, it would be 10,000 times safer than staying anywhere outside.
Entering the main street, which looked no different from an ordinary public square in size, Ning Cheng quickly mixed in with the many cultivators. At the same time, he kept a careful lookout for the familiar young girl with a veil covering her face, while looking for a merchant house dealing in weapons. He wanted to see if he could find a more suitable spear.
As his understanding of Sunset’s Twilight deepened, his Treasured Thunder Spear could no longer fully satisfy the requirements of his Spirit Technique, while his Nirvana Spear was still only an unprocessed material.
Elder Brother Cang Wei had mentioned that this unfinished material was not something simple, despite not being able to identify it. In the vast starry skies’ universe, there had to be at least one Artefact-crafting Master who could actually recognise it. Maybe he could find one in Grand Culmination Starry Skies. In any case, did the people not refer to this starry sky as the most formidable starry sky apart from being the central node of this plane? He just did not know if Elder Brother Cang Wei had also come here or not.
As Ning Cheng looked around, a loud noise emerged from somewhere. As he looked up, he then saw a large plaque, Transcending dao artefacts.
This was a merchant house specialising in weapons; moreover, Ning Cheng was also looking for a specialised weapons’ merchant house. Therefore, the moment he saw that sign, he did not hesitate to walk inside the building.
The moment he walked in, he saw two cultivators clamouring on the first floor of this merchant house. One was a red-faced cultivator with a completely fused Celestial Wheel behind him, most likely an expert in the Heaven’s Mandate Realm. While the other cultivator quarrelling with this fellow had a slightly bronze complexion, also with a fused Celestial Wheel behind him. However, he appeared somewhat less powerful compared to the red-faced cultivator, indicating that the later had most likely not stepped into the Heaven’s Mandate Realm or had just advanced to that realm.
Many cultivators within the merchant house had surrounded the two and looked at the scene in enjoyment. At the same time, the clamour between the two cultivators kept increasing in intensity; it looked like the two of them would break into a fight at any moment.
However, at this moment, a man standing not far from the two quarrelling cultivators stepped out and came forward, “Two friends, if you want to quarrel, please go outside and argue; don’t do it inside our merchant house. Our merchant house tastefully sides with the phrase ‘amiability makes you rich’, and would like to keep it that way.”
The red-faced cultivator seemed to have realised that he should not quarrel in this place and cupped his fists before speaking, “Dear friends, let me explain this matter to you all; you can ponder over it yourself and be the judge on what is reasonable and what is not.”
Sure enough, when the surrounding cultivators heard this fellow’s words, they all quieted down and showed interest in hearing this fellow’s words. The person, who most likely represented the merchant house, on seeing the red-faced cultivator calm down and speak with cordiality, also stopped talking and took a step back.
Following that, the red-faced cultivator started talking, “I had initially considered Brother Wan Xin a friend of mine, so I asked to borrow his middle-grade dao artefact, the Devil Cloud Net. However, I had not considered the dangers that I would face, which ended up causing some damage to the Devil Cloud Net. I initially offered to pay him in celestial coins, but he refused. The two of us then came here so that I could buy a similar middle-grade dao artefact for him as compensation. However, contrary to everything, he actually wants me to pay for a high-grade dao artefact…”
As the surrounding cultivators heard the explanation, they immediately felt that the bronze-faced cultivator was the one who acted unreasonably. Since someone damaged a middle-grade dao artefact, then it was more than reasonable to compensate for it with another middle-grade dao artefact of similar value.
Moreover, the price of a high-grade dao artefact differed by a huge margin compared to a middle-grade dao artefact. It would be at least several times the latter and could even go up to a hundred times. The price of the two grades of artefacts was not even on the same level.
The bronze-faced cultivator called Wan Xin raised his hand and interrupted this red-faced cultivator’s words, “It is true that I let him borrow a middle-grade dao artefact, my Devil Cloud Net; moreover, he also mentioned that he intended to use it to earn money through some mission. I did not expect that not only would he fail the mission, he could not even obtain any compensation for it; moreover, he also ended up severely damaging my Devil Cloud Net during that mission. The Devil Cloud Net was something that I had painstakingly crafted after going through a lot of hardships to obtain the materials…”
The surrounding cultivators immediately burst into talks. People could not help but think about this fellow’s words, which indicated that this cultivator called Wan Xin could actually design middle-grade dao artefacts. One had to know that anyone capable of creating middle-grade dao artefacts would definitely be someone quite remarkable.
“Please do not misunderstand, I cannot refine middle-grade dao artefacts on my own, even it were a low-grade dao artefact, I would not be able to craft them. I just happened to meet a top-tier Artefact-crafting Master by chance. It was under his guidance that I barely managed to finish designing this weapon successfully. Presently, I would not be able to craft this type of weapon even if I had all the materials.”
Wan Xin explained and continued, “He damaged my Devil Cloud Net, so I intended to add some more Celestial Coins and buy a high-grade dao artefact. What’s wrong with this?”
Just when Ning Cheng thought that Wan Xin might have taken to greed, an abrupt voice resounded, “This incident definitely shows Wan Xin to be on the side of reason, what else is there to argue about?”
Chapter 0567 – Immortal Jade Star
Translated By – DemonKiller
Checked and Edited By – Livewidsmile
Proofread By – DemonKiller
Please do not host our works anywhere else without our permission.
The one speaking was an obese-looking male cultivator; moreover, in Ning Cheng’s opinion, this person was at least a cultivator in the Heaven’s Mandate Realm.
As the obese-looking man saw everyone looking at him, he turned towards this red-faced man and spoke with a disdain-filled tone, “Do you even know what kind of a weapon is
the
best for a starry skies’ cultivator? I guess you do not know, or rather, even if you do know about it, you probably will not tell the truth. Since I am here, let me impart you with something. For a starry skies’ cultivator, the best weapon is not something others crafted for them, nor is it something they purchased from someone or somewhere, but a weapon that they had refined by themselves.”
Ning Cheng felt surprised as he stood on the side and listened to those words. He was well aware of his low cultivation; at the same time, he was also not a true Artefact-crafting Master. As such, Ning Cheng could not understand the more profound meaning and implications of those words.
The obese-looking cultivator looked as if he felt very concerned that others might not have heard his words clearly. Therefore, he raised his voice to another level and continued, “A self-refined weapon will have both a heart and soul connection with you, which would result in increasing its power output by at least three times. Moreover, with a true heart and soul connection, when fighting against an opponent, it could even provide a decisive opportunity, only available to you.”
Having said all that, he then stared at the red-haired man again before continuing, “H
owever, this Wan Xin has also not quite refined the weapon by himself; at the same time, it looks like this Devil Cloud Net is only an auxiliary weapon. If it were a true attack-type weapon, you would have to shell out a much higher compensation. Therefore, even if he proposed to add some celestial coins on top of a high-grade Dao Artefact as compensation for his damaged middle-grade dao artefact, it would not be excessive at all.” Seeing the red-faced cultivator’s countenance turning slightly blue from anger, the obese-looking cultivator showed a smile before continuing, “It’s just that there are not many Artefact-crafting Masters; moreover, crafting an artefact involves not only time but is also a very intricate process. There is also a need for talent apart from needing a considerable amount of resources. Not everybody can employ such means, nor is it easy to ask someone to help them in designing artefacts, or even buy it directly, for the matter. Just imagine that you had a top-quality artefact-crafting material but not a high enough cultivation. Would you willingly take out your own materials for others to refine? Because of this, a self-refined weapon is especially precious to its owner.”
The surrounding people stood quietly at the side as they heard the obese-looking cultivator’s words. As the same time, Ning Cheng felt the words of this obese-looking cultivator resonate within him and allowed him to change his mind. All because of a seemingly trivial fight.
Initially, Elder Brother Cang Wei had asked him to look for a top-tier Artefact-crafting Master for designing artefacts after entering the starry skies. However, because Cang Wei’s heaven-piercing cultivation, the average Artefact-crafting Master most likely would never dare ignore his requests. However, the same could not apply to Ning Cheng; his cultivation has still not reached that level. Cang Wei could readily seek out any Artefact-crafting Master to help in designing an artefact; however, Ning Cheng would have to find a way to create his own artefacts. Seeing the obese-looking cultivator walk out of the merchant house, Ning Cheng quickly followed him out. Not waiting for Ning Cheng to speak, the obese-looking cultivator looked back at Ning Cheng and asked, “Little fellow, what do you want from me?”
Ning Cheng quickly cupped his fists and spoke, “After this junior heard senior’s words a moment ago, this junior managed to experience some enlightenment. Therefore, this junior wants to learn the art of artefact designing. However, this junior has low cultivation and even shallower insight in this field. Hearing senior’s opinion on artefact-crafting, this junior wanted to ask senior to impart one or two more points of wisdom.”
The obese-looking cultivator, on hearing Ning Cheng’s words, carefully scrutinised Ning Cheng for a long time and suddenly bursting into a fit of laughter and asked, “You heard my words, and now you want to learn Artefact-crafting?”
“Yes.” Ning Cheng understood what the other person thoughts. He most likely treated his words as just words without any backing.
Wanting to learn artefact designing after hearing a few words, was he an idiot?
“Good, good, you do look promising. It really must have been hard for you to cultivate all the way to the Celestial Novice Realm. In Eternal Heaven Starry Skies’ City, the most formidable Artefact-crafting Master is Zhongli Baichi[1]. You can go find Zhongli Baichi. Haha, there really are people like that……” The obese-looking cultivator laughed while walking away.
Was it Zhongli Baichi or Zhongli Baichi[2]? While Ning Cheng felt confused, the obese-looking cultivator had long since disappeared.
Ning Cheng had no choice but to return to the merchant house. Although this merchant house mainly dealt with weapon sales, the people here should know something about the best Artefact-crafting Master in the city.
“Friend, do you want to craft artefacts?” One of the shop assistants had overheard Ning Cheng’s question, so the first question he asked was if Ning Cheng was looking for an Artefact-crafting Master to help refine an artefact. He felt that business was on its way and thought that he could steer Ning Cheng into buying some weapons.
Ning Cheng quickly spoke, “No, I’m just inquiring about the most formidable Artefact-crafting Master in our Eternal Heaven Starry Sky City.”
The fellow gave a short laugh and spoke, “Everyone in Grand Culmination Starry Skies knows that the most formidable Artefact-crafting Master is Zhongli Baichi.”
This fellow is real!
Ning Cheng felt surprised that the obese-looking fellow had not lied to him.
“Does this not mean that this senior only takes in very few disciples?” Ning Cheng carefully asked.
“Haha.” The shop assistant could not help but laugh at this question, “Contrary to that, this senior has the most disciples. Moreover, people who wish to apprentice under him are welcomed with open doors; as long as you can complete the
apprenticeship ritual
, anyone can become an apprentice under him. However, the apprenticeship ritual is not an easy one and involves a grade 9 starry skies artefact-crafting material as a tribute.”
A grade 9 artefact-crafting material could help one to become an apprentice to the most formidable Artefact-crafting Master in this place!
Ning Cheng really could not believe it.
“Since Senior Zhongli has so many disciples, would it not mean that Eternal Heaven Starry Sky City also has many powerful Artefact-crafting Masters?” Ning Cheng subconsciously asked.
The merchant shop’s shop assistant had nothing to do, so when he heard Ning Cheng’s words, he actively held back from laughing and spoke up, “He does have many disciples; however, his most accomplished disciple, an artefact-crafting genius, studied under him for over 70 years. This artefact-crafting genius could already create low-grade dao artefacts at the age of 30 before deciding to follow Zhongli Baichi to learn the art of artefact designing. Seventy years later, this artefact-crafting genius finally decided to part ways with the master…..”
“What level has this disciple reached currently?” Ning Cheng asked eagerly.
The shop assistant gave out a chuckle and answered, “This artefact-crafting genius can still only refine low-grade dao artefacts. As for the other disciples, they are also the same. No matter how long they studied under him, whatever grade of weapon they could design before the tutelage is still the same grade of weapon they can design after the tutelage.”
“Ah….” Ning Cheng looked at this shop assistant in surprise, “Doesn’t this make Zhongli Baichi a swindler?”
This time, the shop assistant’s countenance turned dignified, as he replied, “No, he specialises in crafting artefacts for experts in Heaven Seated and above realms. Moreover, no one can criticise that the weapons he crafted are not good even if they wanted to; in fact, they are exceptional beyond any other masters.”
“Where does Senior Zhongli live?”
“In Eternal Heaven Starry Sky City’s most bustling Celestial Immortal Street…..”
……
Ning Cheng rushed out of the merchant house, to meet this Zhongli Baichi. Since this fellow was such a formidable Artefact-crafting Master, why did not a single disciple under him succeed? Grade nine artefact-crafting materials, anyways should not matter to someone like him. However, from the looks of it, this Zhongli Baichi did not teach his disciples after completing the apprenticeship ceremony.
Ning Cheng had just come out of the merchant house when his communications pearl lit up; indicating a message from Ziche Jun. Ziche Jun asked him to meet up at Celestial Immortal Street’s Speed Celestial Rest Stop.
Even if Ning Cheng did not want to enter Celestial Immortal Street, since Ziche Jun asked to meet him there, he had no choice but to go. That fellow was just too mysterious and knew a few of his secrets.
This Celestial Immortal Street was not only spacious; it also flaunted its luxury. It was no doubt an extremely luxury-laden street. Starry Sky Crystals paved the entire road, which exuded dense starry skies’ Essence Qi. Moreover, because of the continuous supply of starry skies’ Essence Qi through a Celestial Essence Spirit Vein, it would probably never turn
dull and lifeless.
When Ning Cheng arrived at this street, the first building that he saw was not the Speed Celestial Rest Stop, but Zhongli Baichi’s Artefact-crafting Store that he initially wanted to visit. This Artefact-crafting Store looked a bit too ostentatious, even the doorway looked grand. At the same time, a few cultivators also flitted through them from time to time.
“Brother Ning…..” Ziche Jun’s voice rang out. Ning Cheng shook his head silently; no matter how much he changed his appearance, which even Heaven Seated Powerhouses would find it difficult to see through, he still could not hide from this Ziche Jun.
“Brother Ziche.” Ning Cheng’s gaze swept towards a small, inconspicuous corner not far away from him, with the words ‘Speed Celestial Rest Stop’ hanging on top.
“Brother Ning, come in, come in.” Ziche Jun enthusiastically brought Ning Cheng to a smaller sitting area and activated the restrictions.
Ning Cheng cupped his fists in front of him and spoke, “Brother Ziche sure has some exceptional skills. No matter how I change my appearance, I still cannot hide from you. If anyone had an enemy like Brother Ziche, I’d imagine they would face some real troubles sleeping.”
Ziche Jun gave a slight smile and spoke, “Brother Ning, you also are quite the fellow. Although this is our first time meeting formally, I just want to make friends with you and have absolutely no intentions of becoming an enemy. When Brother Ning was in the Dao Discussion Hall, you could still fight on equal grounds with someone like Lou Pingchuan. That proves that Brother Ning definitely is not someone ordinary.”
Ning Cheng spoke up with a wry smile, “So you already know that I killed Lou Pingchuan. From the looks of it, when I killed Lou Pingchuan, you should have concealed yourself somewhere near, right?”
Ziche Jun showed a smile but did not answer; apparently, it was not news to him.
The Gate Of Good Fortune c1-905 Page 458
