Zhongli Baichi also did not speak at all and just kept looking at Ning Cheng’s disappearing back, with a frown and a pondering look over his face.
“Junior Apprentice Sister Yan, many thanks and goodbye.” After Ning Cheng walked to the entrance of the artefact-crafting store and spoke a few kind words.
Junior Apprentice Sister Yan just was about to speak up when she suddenly felt a little shaken before replying immediately, “Senior Apprentice Brother Wanderer, please wait for a moment.”
With that, Junior Apprentice Sister Yan returned to the store and came out a moment later with a thick book in her hand and handed it to Ning Cheng, “Senior Apprentice Brother, this book contains the foundational basics for crafting artefacts. Master asked me to bring this to you.”
Did people still use books in this part of the world? Why not jade strops?
Ning Cheng received the book and thanked her before asking a question, “Junior Apprentice Sister Yan, does each apprenticed disciple get such a book?”
Junior Apprentice Sister Yan only showed a slight smile but did not answer Ning Cheng’s question. With a parting goodbye, she then activated the restrictions on the entrance.
Ning Cheng’s Spiritual Consciousness swept towards the book in his hand but felt surprised to find that his Spiritual Consciousness could not penetrate into this book. Since the street contained too many cultivators, Ning Cheng did not continue observing it and put it into his storage ring before quickly leaving the Artefact-crafting Store.
……
Celestial Rainbow Rest Stop, it was just an unremarkable small rest stop within Eternal Heaven Starry Skies City. There were thousands of such rest stops within Eternal Heaven Starry Skies City, and simply could not be counted.
Ning Cheng decided to stay at this rest stop for its relatively remote location and low price. Since Ning Cheng chose to learn the art of crafting artefacts, he also understood that he could not accomplish it in just a day or two. Moreover, in a place like Eternal Heaven Starry Skies, celestial coins had only a few general uses.
After rearranging his room with layers upon layers of array formations, Ning Cheng finally took out Zhongli Baichi’s book.
Turning the first page, Ning Cheng found it filled with an introduction to a variety of materials, in an extremely detailed manner. Not only did the text describe their shapes, their aura, their defining characteristics, and other descriptive features, it also described in detail about its uses and various functions.
This book was a treasure
, Ning Cheng thought while feeling pleasantly surprised. Even if this book only contained text about the variety of materials, he would have gladly used a piece of starry sky artefact-crafting material in exchange.
However, Ning Cheng soon felt something wrong. He could not turn the second page, nor could his Spiritual Consciousness penetrate the second page. Not to mention anything about his Spiritual Consciousness seeping inside the pages, he could only look at the words with his eyes and could not use his Spiritual Consciousness to sweep across the words.
Was this book only observable through the eyes and not with Spiritual Consciousness?
Ning Cheng though; however, his eidetic memory started to show its superiority at this time and quickly took in and memorised all the text on the first page. Sure enough, only after learning all the contents on the first page was he able to turn to the second page.
One day quickly passed by, and Ning Cheng kept turning a page every few seconds. At this moment, he had no idea of how many pages had he already turned and how many starry sky materials had he memorised. However, from an outsiders perspective, he only seemed to have flipped through a few pages of the thick book.
One month, two months passed by, but Ning Cheng still kept reading the book. At this moment, his obstinate temperament started to kick in, and he decided to not rest until he finished reading the book.
As the third month almost ended, Ning Cheng finally turned over the last page. At this moment, he finally realised that even a starry skies’ grade nine material would not be enough in exchange for this book, perhaps even a hundred of such materials might also not be enough.
Why was Zhongli Baichi so good? Moreover, why did he give such a treasure to him?
Ning Cheng thought about those questions for a long time but could not come up with an answer. He then decided to put away those questions for now and took out the leather scroll.
He had just opened the leather scroll when a variety of images once again filled Ning Cheng’s mind while also simultaneously emerging in front of Ning Cheng’s eyes. Previously, he had only watched Zhongli Baichi’s artefact-crafting technique; however, at this moment, the images in front of him unexpectedly broke down Zhongli Baichi’s artefact-crafting technique to its fundamental levels, making things incredibly clear to him.
With Ning Cheng finding himself immersed within these images, the artefact-crafting technique revealed by the leather scroll gradually turned blurry, replaced by the emergence of a new path that suddenly appeared within Ning Cheng’s mind. The images from the leather scroll then overlapped and combined with these new artefact-crafting ideas, causing Ning Cheng to unconsciously bring out materials and begin the artefact-crafting process.
The Celestial River Flame also came out automatically, and the pile of materials within the flame started to transform before quickly forming into a low-grade True Artefact.
It then started to evolve naturally, transforming from a low-grade True Artefact to a best quality True Artefact. When the True Artefact in Ning Cheng’s hand finally reached the level of a best quality True Artefact, he then threw it aside and then took out higher quality materials. Melting these materials, he then started to transform them and even started to inscribe array formations.
The materials in Ning Cheng’s storage ring started to deplete at a relatively steady rate, while more and more finished dao artefacts began to pile up in front of him. Although they were all low-grade dao artefacts, the quality kept increasing with each new one.
“Ding-Tink….” Ning Cheng threw another low-grade spear type artefact to the ground before he pulled at his hair and muttered, “Why can’t I craft a middle-grade dao artefact?”
“Because you still do not have a clear path for yourself. If not for Returning to One, you would have never reached the level where you could refine low-grade dao artefacts.” An abrupt voice entered Ning Cheng’s ears.
“Who?” Ning Cheng suddenly looked up and saw Zhongli Baichi sitting right in front of him. He immediately stood up in shock, “Senior Zhongli, how did you get in?”
Zhongli Baichi showed a smile, his pair of one big and one small eye flashed with a twinkle, “Little fellow if I wanted to make a move against you, even a hundred of you would not be enough for me to warm up.”
Ning Cheng sat down in decadence, although he did not like what Zhongli Baichi spoke, it was, however, a fact that the other party could quickly kill him.
“Since Senior came to visit this junior, can I ask about what senior want from me?” Ning Cheng asked with some helplessness.
“You have a good flame, showing you had some fortunate encounters. However, I have not seen anyone with qualifications as good as you have. Unfortunately, you did not meet any good teachers to guide you. Waste, a total waste. You see, you just worshipped me as a teacher, and now you can already refine low-grade dao artefacts.” Zhongli Baichi spoke while shaking his head at every word.
Ning Cheng felt speechless in his heart.
What did crafting low-grade artefacts had any relationship with this Zhongli Baichi?
Only because he saw Zhongli Baichi crafting an artefact that he understood a few things about his leather scroll, which allowed him to quickly progress after returning. Well, he could not ultimately say that the two had no relationship. In any case, only after watching Zhongli Baichi craft an artefact did he come to understand a few things about the leather scroll; therefore, there was at least a small relationship.
“Where did you obtain that Returning to One?” Zhongli Baichi pointed to the leather scroll next to Ning Cheng and asked.
Ning Cheng picked up the leather scroll and looked at Zhongli Baichi in confusion, “Is this leather scroll called ‘Returning to One’?”
Zhongli Baichi raised his hand, and the leather scroll in Ning Cheng’s hand flew into his hands, “Yes, this is called ‘Returning to One’; more specifically, Myriad Things Returning to One.”
“Does this leather scroll contain artefact-crafting secrets?” Ning Cheng quickly asked.
Zhongli Baichi shook his head and said, “No, this is just ‘Returning to One’, regardless of the Dao or Artefacts, Dao of Arrays, etc. one can comprehend anything with its help. Moreover, this is a top-notch learning-type spirit technique, and this learning-type spirit technique goes by the name, ‘Returning to one’.”
“Senior, please teach me.” Ning Cheng spoke with respect.
Zhongli Baichi shook his head once again, “If I could teach it, then it would not have been called Returning to One. Everyone would have a different comprehension of Returning to One, and so would you.”
[1]
The leather scroll Ning Cheng had first seen during the Tournament of the five 5-star Academies held in the Falling Star 5-star Academy back in the Hua Continent of Graceful Star Mainland. He then obtained it from killing Kang Cheng after he emerged from the Blue Hole after destroying the Underworld Crow Ghost Rattan King, which had trapped him and 2 others inside.
Chapter 0571 – Graduating From Apprenticeship
Translated By – DemonKiller
Checked and Edited By – Livewidsmile
Proofread By – DemonKiller
Please do not host our works anywhere else without our permission.
Zhongli Baichi looked at the leather scroll in his hand for a long time before giving out a sigh and returning the leather scroll to Ning Cheng with the words, “This kind of stuff is something that one can grasp only through intuition and not something that can be conveyed with words. I originally wanted to accept you as my personal disciple after seeing your performance. Unfortunately, I cannot teach this to you.”
Ning Cheng knew that Zhongli Baichi definitely was not an ordinary person, so he quickly bowed down on the ground and asked, “I don’t need Master to teach me Returning to One, Master can just teach me crafting artefacts.”
When the word ‘Master’ came up, Zhongli Baichi suddenly perked up, “That’s right, I came here to teach you crafting artefacts. How could I forget about it? Would you like to take me as your teacher?”
Ning Cheng quickly spoke up, “Of course, I am willing.”
This was no idle talk. The only reason Ning Cheng came to Zhongli Baichi’s store was to learn about the art of crafting artefacts.
“Well then sit down. Actually, I already wanted to take you as my personal disciple when I realised that you had a Celestial River Flame and a powerful Spiritual Consciousness. After that, you spent three months reading one-tenth of my book, which really satisfied me….”
Without waiting for Zhongli Baichi to continue, Ning Cheng quickly spoke up, “Master, I have already finished reading the book.”
“Did you now? Then why don’t you take it out and have another look at it.” Zhongli Baichi’s big eye suddenly focussed its gaze at Ning Cheng.
Ning Cheng quickly took out the Foundational basics of Artefact-crafting; however, when he opened the first page, he suddenly found himself speechless as the page now contained utterly different contents, text that he had never seen previously. Moreover, it not only included the names of materials but also ways on how to fuse the raw materials for crafting artefacts as well a few helpful array formation inscriptions.
Zhongli Baichi then leisurely spoke from the side: “This book contains methods of crafting a variety of weapons and artefacts. If you want to become a top-tier starry skies’ Artefact-crafting Master, then you must learn it step by step. However, if you want to be a one-of-a-kind expert in crafting artefacts, then do not waste your time learning from the book.”
Ning Cheng looked at Zhongli Baichi with confusion,
what did he mean by that?
“Artefact-crafting is a type of Dao, and this book in your hands is also an extremely formidable tool written by the experts of the past. However, it is not a natural object as it only contains records of other experts’ Dao. If you follow this book to learn, it would be equivalent of following other people’s Dao. However, to become a true Artefact-crafting Master, one must have their own Dao to serve as a basis for your Dao of Artefacts. Moreover, the reason you can’t refine middle-grade dao artefacts right now is due to not fully realising your own Dao yet.” Zhongli Baichi spoke with a calm tone.
Seeing Ning Cheng wanting to ask some questions, Zhongli Baichi raised his hand and stopped Ning Cheng, “You don’t have to ask me about it. Rather, just do not think about it, you will come to understand it later. Since you can see the multiple changes from the Origin Spirit Technique, Returning to One, then means you have some kind of an Origin within your body.”
Ning Cheng felt shocked in his heart. Although this Zhongli Baichi did not seem to harbour any malice towards him, the matter of him possessing the Mysterious Yellow Origin was a huge secret. How could this fellow realise it?
Zhongli Baichi seemed to have realised Ning Cheng’s thoughts and waved his hand before speaking, “You don’t have to worry about it. I do not care about what Origin you have, I accepted you as my personal disciple for a purpose, but it is not for what you think. As for my purpose, after you learn everything, you can come to help me out when the time comes. There are not many Origin Spirit Techniques, and Returning to One is one of the more remarkable ones. Since you obtained it, it is your own fortune…..”
Ning Cheng took the opportunity to pick up the leather scroll containing Returning to One and tried to hand it to Zhongli Baichi, “Master, since this is a great fortune, you can have it if you like.”
Zhongli Baichi only showed a faint smile, “Don’t play this trick with me. Although this thing is quite a valuable treasure, it has literally no use for someone like me. I already have my own Dao, so studying this Origin Spirit Technique would not be of any help. Moreover, the more Origins you can obtain, the better the results you would obtain from the Origin Spirit Technique. This time, I heard that an Origin has appeared on Immortal Jade Star, maybe you can go in and try your luck.”
“This disciple did indeed plan to go in and have a look….” Ning Cheng already wanted to look for ways to enter but did not mention anything about Origin. What he wanted the most was the Starry Sky Disc. It is just that he had not met Ziche Jun in the past and did not know how to get a spot.
Zhongli Baichi shook his head and spoke, “If you had not met me, then you could have managed to go in. However, at that time, even if you manage to come out from inside, you would only find yourself at a dead end.”
Ning Cheng looked at Zhongli Baichi in surprise and asked, “Why?”
“Why?” Zhongli Baichi gave a sneer and spoke, “That’s because the cultivation method you practice is a Primal Chaos Cultivation Method.”
Ning Cheng felt even more alarmed within his heart. He knew that what he cultivated was the Mysterious Yellow Formless. However, he had no idea about the grade of this cultivation method. At the same time, Elder Brother Cang Wei had mentioned that his Mysterious Yellow Bead was one of the Good Fortune Treasures. Which also meant that the Mysterious Yellow Origin was not something simple.
On seeing Ning Cheng show signs of panic, Zhongli Baichi’s tone softened and spoke, “In our vast and boundless starry sky universe, you will find many cultivation methods with innumerable inheritances. However, only a few cultivation methods have the classification of Primal Chaos Cultivation Methods, because these cultivation methods surpass the limits of the positional planes. This causes the cultivators who practice it to have no celestial wheels. And you, as it just happens to be, a
re a cultivator without any celestial wheel.”
Ning Cheng tried to calm himself down forcibly and asked, “Master, I’m not the only one without a celestial wheel, and it doesn’t seem to be a big deal in any other place. I even heard that there are a few cultivators in the Celestial Bridge Realm without celestial wheels, so why does it mean danger for me?”
Zhongli Baichi looked at Ning Cheng as if he was an idiot and spoke, “Do you even know why the starry sky cultivators in this positional plane have celestial wheels? A cultivator with a celestial wheel means that this plane’s universe acknowledges the individual; in other words, this plane’s universe is the one who bestows individuals with the power of celestial wheels. If one does not have any celestial wheels, then there are only two possible reasons for it.”
“The first reason is that the cultivation method practised by the cultivator is junk. In other words, that fellow’s cultivation method is simply not worthy of being recognised by the starry skies. Such a cultivator could only reach Heaven’s Mandate Realm at max and would find it impossible to coalesce a Heaven’s Seat. There are a lot of such cultivators, and it is because of that reason that no one has doubted you yet.”
“The second reason results from a cultivator practising a heaven-defying cultivation method that has surpassed the limits of a plane’s starry sky universe. Since the rules and laws governing the cultivation method of such a fellow have already surpassed the limits of the plane’s starry skies, how could the starry sky universe bestow such a cultivator with celestial wheels? You do not have a celestial wheel, and you also do not have poor qualifications; this shows that the cultivation method you practise is not junk; rather, the cultivation method you practice has surpassed the limits of this plane’s starry sky universe. Otherwise, you Spiritual Consciousness could not have managed to penetrate into my flames.”
As Ning Cheng heard the explanation, he could not help but break out into cold sweats. He had seen many cultivators with poor qualifications without celestial wheels. Ning Cheng had initially not cared about it, thinking that it must have been due to some problems with his own understanding. However, he never could have imagined that he would find himself in such a horrifying trap.
The Gate Of Good Fortune c1-905 Page 461
