Chapter 0568: The Four Grand Starry Skies

“Do you not know why the finale is on the Immortal Jade Star?” Seeing Ning Cheng silent, Ziche Jun spoke up.

Ning Cheng cupped his fists and spoke, “I hoped to ask Brother Ziche about it.”

“Because the Immortal Jade Star had suddenly materialised. Some people speculate that it came from another plane. However, a lot more people think that the Immortal Jade Star had a mighty natural grand array that covered and concealed it, but because of the wear and tear within the starry skies, the natural array finally wore down, causing it to suddenly emerge, almost like out of thin air.”

Ning Cheng interrupted Ziche Jun, “Then, isn’t it similar to the drifting starland we encountered along the way? From the looks of it, it’s only a starland.”

Ziche Jun smiled, “Brother Ning if it were not for your formidable strength, I would have really thought of you as a rookie. The starland we encountered along the way was only a broken planet. Even its governing laws were broken. Moreover, it also showed indications that someone had been there. How could it compare with an entire planet with complete laws that no has ever entered in countless years?”

Ning Cheng showed an embarrassed smile, he really did not know about many things.

“This time, the four grand starry skies decided to join forces to seal the Immortal Jade Star, for the Celestial Scryer Genius Finale……”

Ning Cheng once again interrupted Ziche Jun, “Brother Ziche, did you say ‘four grand starry skies’ for the finale? Is Grand Culmination Starry Skies not in control of this starry sky plane?”

Ziche Jun looked at Ning Cheng in surprise; only after a while did he give out a sigh and spoke, “It looks like Brother Ning Cheng is completely unaware of the starry skies universe.”

Ning Cheng spoke up with an embarrassed voice, “I know that there are four grand starry skies. As for anything else, I am not much clear about the details.”

Ziche Jun finally confirmed that Ning Cheng did indeed not know much about such matters and started to explain carefully, “Brother Ning, within this plane’s boundless universe, there are countless starry skies. Grand Culmination Starry Skies indeed is the centre of this universe. In the past, Grand Culmination Starry Skies used to be the most powerful and ruled over everything; however, it is not the case currently.”

“The four grand starry skies refer to two heavens and two domains. In addition to the Grand Culmination Starry Skies, there is the Grand Spirit Heaven Starry Skies, the Grand Demon Domain Starry Skies, and the Grand Devil Domain Starry Skies[1]. Each of these four grand starry skies controls many smaller starry skies. This time, the four grand starry skies ended up discovering the Immortal Jade Star simultaneously. Because of this, Grand Culmination Starry Skies could not exclusively monopolise it; as such, everyone decided on a form of genius selection to select a few people to enter the star on their behalf. Therefore, this time, in addition to the people from Grand Culmination Starry Skies, the other three grand starry skies would also bring in innumerable talented cultivators from their governing areas to enter the Immortal Jade Star.”

“Many thanks, Brother Ziche for the explanation. I know too little about the starry skies’ situation.” Ning Cheng felt a bit grateful towards Ziche Jun for providing the explanation. He really had no idea about any of it.

By now, Ziche Jun already understood that Ning Cheng was a completely blank canvas when it came to knowledge about the starry skies; at the same time, he also understood that Ning Cheng was not a total greenhorn when it came to the inner workings. He motioned Ning Cheng not to remain polite about it and continued, “Brother Ning does not seem very concerned about the Immortal Jade Star. Presumably, you do not know about the things contained within the Immortal Jade Star, do you?”

“Hope Brother Ziche could enlighten me.” Ning Cheng finally started to feel some interest. Since the four grand starry skies had jointly sealed the Immortal Jade Star, then it certainly was not a simple place.

Ziche Jun’s expression turned slightly severe, and continued in a whisper, “I cannot speak about the various treasures within the Immortal Jade Star. However, the planet seems untouched for countless years; as such, it definitely would also contain countless treasures. However, I recently obtained some information about three top-ranked treasures appearing within the Immortal Jade Star. The first one is an elemental Origin of the five elements; as for what Origin is it, I do not have information about it. The other treasure is a supreme starry skies’ Spirit Tree, called the Wind Thunder Apricot.”

“What does this Wind Thunder Apricot do?” Ning Cheng asked in doubt; he had never heard of such a tree.

Ziche Jun shook his head, “I do not know, but since it is ranked on the same level as an elemental Origin of the five elements, then presumably it is not a simple item.”

“What about the third treasure?” Ning Cheng asked with even more interest.

“The third treasure is what everyone wants. I heard that it is a naturally developing weapon, called the Starry Sky Disk…..” When Ziche Jun spoke until here, his tone also turned slightly more excited.

“What is this Starry Sky Disk?” At this time, Ning Cheng had already put aside the matter of finding Zhongli Baichi.

Ziche Jun’s tone even oozed with yearning as he spoke, “The Starry Sky Disk is a type of flying weapon; more accurately, it is a type of naturally developing flight-type weapon. Not to mention a best quality dao artefact, even a spirit artefact[2] might not turn out much better in comparison. Do you know about spirit artefacts? If we used a spirit artefact from Striking Order Starry Sky to Grand Culmination Starry Sky, it would have only taken a few months at most, not years that we had to spend on board those airships. Moreover, as a flight-type weapon, it would be more powerful compared to other spirit artefacts. Just think about it, even a top-ranked starry skies airship would not compare to this weapon.”

Ning Cheng felt his heart stir. What he lacked the most was a top-ranked flight-type weapon. If he managed to obtain this Starry Sky Disk……

Thinking of this, Ning Cheng felt his throat go dry. Could he obtain such a treasure? Let alone that, he was not even eligible to enter the Immortal Jade Star as of this moment.

Ning Cheng gulped down an empty mouthful of air before speaking, “These things are priceless treasures. Moreover, since everyone wants them, these treasures may not share a fate with me.”

“Not necessarily, I have already witnessed Brother Ning’s skill and speed with my own eyes. In any case, these items are still ownerless objects. Brother Ning only needs to enter the Immortal Jade Star, who can foresee the final results anyway?” Ziche Jun looked at Ning Cheng and spoke in seriousness.

Ning Cheng already knew that since Ziche Jun explained things in such details, he most likely had some form of request. Moreover, he also showed some excitement when they talked about this Starry Sky Disc, which Ziche Jun would have definitely picked up. There anyway was nothing else to do, especially since he desperately wanted a top-ranked flight-type weapon.

Thinking of this, Ning Cheng tried to calm himself down and spoke slowly, “Since Brother Ziche came looking for me; it mostly did not involve such detailed explanations, right?”

Ziche Jun showed a slight smile, “Brother Ning if I said that I just came here to tell you about this news then I would be lying to you. If Brother Ning wants to go to the Immortal Jade Star, then I do have a way to help Brother Ning obtain a spot. However, I would like to have three bamboo leaves from the Rootless Green Bamboo in return. If Brother Ning has some extra Essence Harmonising Celestial Fruits, then I would like to have one. No, forget about the last part.”

This Ziche Jun showed quite the sincerity, not only had this fellow helped him in collecting Essence Harmonising Celestial Essence Fruits, but this fellow had also concealed his identity from others. Now that Ziche Jun asked for these things, Ning Cheng did not overthink about it. The Rootless Green Bamboo that he obtained contained around a dozen leaves, even if it contained fewer, Ning Cheng would not feel stingy in parting with them for such a favour.

Not waiting for Ziche Jun to repeat his words a second time, Ning Cheng took out three leaves and quickly put them inside a jade box; he then took out three Essence Harmonising Celestial Fruits and handed them to Ziche Jun.

Seeing Ning Cheng not hesitate to pass on the jade box to him, Ziche Jun could not help but feel excited as he accepted it with trembling hands. He carefully opened the jade box handed to him by Ning Cheng and on seeing three leaves safely tucked inside quickly closed the jade box. At the same time, he added a few more restrictions to seal every inch of it.

“Many thanks, Brother Ning, thank you, thank you……” Ziche Jun spoke with a shaky voice. An excited and thrilled appearance replaced the calm and the carefree image from before he met Ning Cheng. Ziche Jun needed these bamboo leaves badly but never had a chance to obtain it, as Ziche Jun had nothing of equivalent value for Ning Cheng. Moreover, if Ning Cheng had done this just because he kept quiet about his identity, then what he received was way beyond what he gave to Ning Cheng.

Ning Cheng showed a faint smile, “Brother Ziche kept a secret for me; compared to that, these things do not matter much. Brother Ziche can keep these too if you wish.”

Ziche Jun took in a deep breath before finally calming down. He nodded to Ning Cheng and put away the three Essence Harmonising Celestial Fruits.

Seeing Ziche Jun put away everything, Ning Cheng finally asked, “Brother Ziche, although I obtained this bamboo, that fact is that I do not know anything about its uses. I hope Brother Ziche could enlighten me about it.”

Ziche Jun now knew about Ning Cheng’s ignorance and once again explained things in detail, “The starry skies contain many treasures that could help one in reforming one’s corporeal body. Although precious, anyone can find them with some effort. However, there only a few treasures exist that could help one in reforming one’s life essence; moreover, these are extremely hard to find. The Rootless Green Bamboo is one of such treasures.”

“For ordinary cultivators, if they do not have a complete life essence, he or she would find it difficult to advance to higher realms. Using the Rootless Green Bamboo, however, can help a cultivator with an incomplete life essence to reconstruct their life essence, and let their life essence reach completion. It’s not just that, even if one’s soul had scattered after death, as long as you can find the slightest trace of the deceased cultivator’s life essence, you could then reform them with the Rootless Green Bamboo.”

“So powerful?” Ning Cheng secretly wondered. Turns out, the Rootless Green Bamboo was a treasure that could reform one’s life essence.

Ziche Jun added, “Those are just some auxiliary uses, the Rootless Green Bamboo has even important uses, and that is to construct avatars. After a powerhouse obtains a Rootless Green Bamboo, they could then split a portion of their life essence and reshape it into an avatar with a complete Rootless Green Bamboo. The ‘complete’ here refers to the body of a relatively intact Rootless Green Bamboo, one with at least seven bamboo leaves.”

“Does this not mean that cultivators could create a lot of avatars by dividing their life essence into many pieces?” Ning Cheng himself had no interest in moulding an avatar, nor was he fond of the idea of creating an avatar. However, from what Ziche Jun said, this Rootless Green Bamboo could help one in moulding many avatars.

Ziche Jun immediately replied, “That is impossible. Within the same starry skies, the laws of the world would not allow such a thing to happen. Even if a cultivator attempted it, their life essence would turn to ashes under the thunder tribulation. Besides, to mould an avatar, you would require a complete Rootless Green Bamboo for the avatar-moulding process.”

“Many thanks, Brother Ziche; I benefited a lot from Brother Ziche’s words today.” Ning Cheng cupped his fists and spoke with sincerity.

Ziche Jun stood up, “Brother Ning, I have to go now. Once I obtain a spot, I will immediately inform you.”

“Wait-wait.” Ning Cheng immediately stopped Ziche Jun from leaving. He then reached out and drew a portrait of a female cultivator in the air.

“Who is this?” Ziche Jun asked in doubt as he looked at the portrait, which was of a young girl with a veil covering her face.

Ning Cheng then spoke to Ziche Jun in a solemn tone, “Brother Ziche, I saw this female cultivator not long ago. You can say that it was love at first sight. I always wanted to find her again, but unfortunately, I am not familiar with this place, nor do I have any acquaintance here. Therefore, I would like to ask Brother Ziche to help me keep an eye out for her; once you find anything about her, send me a message immediately.”

Ziche Jun laughed and patted Ning Cheng’s shoulder, “No problem. I will take my leave first. Brother Ning, please wait for my news.”

Watching Ziche Jun leave the rest stop, what Ning Cheng desired most was not about a quota for entry to the Immortal Jade Star, but news relating to Shi Qionghua.

[1] The two heavens are Culmination/Central Heaven and Spirit/God Heaven and the two domains are Demon Domain and Devil Domain. I decided to keep 中天 as Culmination, which is its exact equivalent in English and sounds a lot cooler; however, in a literal sense, the two characters break into ‘Centre/Middle’ for 中 and ‘Heaven/Sky’ for 天. Also, 神 here can be mean ‘God/Deity/Soul/Spirit’, but I chose to keep it as ‘Spirit’ to keep the narrative in line with other words like Spiritual Consciousness, Spiritual Sense, etc. which uses the same character 神.

[2] Levels of Artefacts – Ordinary Artefacts < Spiritual Artefacts < True Artefacts < Dao Artefacts < Spirit Artefacts