Chapter 0563: Checking the ships

It took a full day for Ning Cheng to sort out the things he obtained. After entering the starry skies, he rarely spent time on creating artefacts, even though he spent time studying array formations. This made him unable to identify many of the materials; however, regardless of whether Ning Cheng knew about these materials or not, he still carefully put them away.

He still did not have a spear that felt right for his hand. Therefore, Ning Cheng decided that after reaching Grand Culmination Starry Skies, he definitely would take the time to find someone who could help him design a spear, perhaps using the materials in his possession.

In addition to the bunch of artefact-crafting materials, Ning Cheng also obtained many of starry skies’ spirit grasses, allowing Ning Cheng to rediscover and pursue an old occupation once he reached Grand Culmination Starry Skies, which was to refine these starry skies’ spirit grasses into medicinal pills. He had previously purchased 20 Returning Celestial Jade Scale Pills, which were only Grade 4 Celestial River-class Medicinal Pills, yet still commanded a high price. In the future, if he ended up needing other medicinal pills, money most likely would end up becoming a source of problems.

If he disregarded the outrageous prices, he still might not have enough funds to purchase a few high-quality medicinal pills. It definitely would have proven troublesome if he had no talent for Alchemy; however, since already practised Alchemy, why not put it to good use?

Although he obtained many good things, Ning Cheng still thought that the Rootless Green Bamboo was the most precious of them all. Apart from the one-of-a-kind vitality contained within this object, Ning Cheng could not find any clues about its potential uses. Unfortunately, he also had never heard of the name ‘Rootless Green Bamboo’; and as such, had no idea about its role.

Ning Cheng did not continue searching for more materials as he felt it best to quit when ahead. After waiting for two more days in the dugout cave, he knew that people would have already cleaned out the things with some value from this drifting starland. Moreover, this drifting starland was also not too big, with millions of cultivators searching for items, a few days would prove more than enough to strip the land completely clean. Moreover, even if this land contained a few good things, it would not be easy to find.

Seeing the desolate landscape, many cultivators started to return to the merchant ships. Ning Cheng also removed his ‘starry skies’ Wanderer’ appearance and returned to the merchant ship mixed in with the other cultivators.

……

Once all the remaining cultivators returned to the void airships, the vessels immediately restarted their journey; this time, the ships directly cut through the void.

Among these void airships, the largest one naturally was Heavenly Emperor Striking Order’s ride, the Striking Order Insignia. However, Striking Order Heavenly Emperor rarely came out. Even though he noticed the drifting starland, he did not come out.

At this moment, in a luxurious cabin on the fourth floor of Striking Order Insignia, a beautiful woman wearing a purple robe sat with a frown over her face and in front of her stood two cultivators, a man and a woman. The celestial wheels behind these two cultivators clearly indicated that they were quite powerful Celestial River-realm Experts.

However, at this moment, this pair of cultivators behaved in an extremely respectful manner before this beautiful woman.

After a long time, the beautiful woman asked with a slightly harsh tone, “When did Lou Pingchuan fall?”

The male cultivator spoke with an extremely respectful tone, “On the first day, when all the cultivators entered the drifting starland, it was when Lou Pingchuan fell. Moreover, he did not even have the time to call for help; therefore, he should have died when he least expected of danger.”

The beautiful woman remained silent and did not share her views. Only after a while did she speak up with a frown over her face, “I will report this matter to the Heavenly Emperor. Is there anything else?”

The female cultivator, standing a step behind, took a step forward and spoke, “I found a Life and Death Senior’s cave on this drifting starland. Other than that, some cultivators also found a patch of soil containing some remnant aura of Breath Soil[1] by the side of some lake…..”

“What? Breath Soil?” The beautiful woman suddenly stood up. The shocked tone obviously indicated that the two words ‘Breath Soil’ had badly startled her.

The female cultivator quickly explained, “Aunt Xu, it was a patch of soil containing the aura of Breath Soil, not the Breath Soil itself. This piece of soil definitely must have contained some Breath Soil at some point, which was why it contained the aura of the Breath Soil.”

“Where is that clump of soil now?” The tone of this woman called Aunt Xu still showed her eagerness.

“I heard that Cheerful Wave Chamber of Commerce had obtained it. If they don’t hold an auction any time soon, they would definitely take it to Grand Culmination Starry Skies to sell.” The female cultivator answered very carefully.

Aunt Xu nodded and sat down, then said to the male cultivator, “You go to the Cheerful Wave Chamber of Commerce now and tell them about my interest in purchasing the soil containing the aura of the Breath Soil. I can come down to negotiate the price with them if needed.”

“Yes, Aunt Xu.” After this male cultivator replied, he then turned around and quickly left.

After the male cultivator left, Aunt Xu continued, “What other things did this drifting starland contain?”

“A Grade 7 starry skies’ Stone Stripped Spider showed up on the starland. This starry skies’ Stone Stripped Spider had killed tens of thousands of cultivators before Senior Tang Jiu finally forced it to flee into the void. In addition to this, we also discovered several Essence Harmonising Celestial Fruits……”

Aunt Xu interrupted the female cultivator, “It goes without saying that Essence Harmonising Celestial Fruits are unimportant things.”

“Yes.” The female cultivator replied with a respectful and prudent tone and continued, “Apart from that, there was also a dead Grade 7 starry skies’ Stone Stripped Spider that appeared; people also found a large number of starry skies’ spirit grasses apart from the dozen Essence Harmonising Celestial Fruit Trees.”

“A dead Grade 7 starry skies’ Stone Stripped Spider?” Aunt Xu frowned, looking as if she was thinking about something.

The female cultivators dared not hesitate and replied, “Yes, this starry skies’ Stone Stripped Spider seemed to have collected a lot of materials before its death. Some even saw many Thunder Firmament Crystals within that pile of materials.”

“Oh.” Aunt Xu nodded before turning silent again. Thunder Firmament Crystals were very valuable artefact-crafting materials, even top-ranked starry skies’ experts could use them.

The female cultivators on seeing Aunt Xu silent again added another sentence, “I heard that a cultivator not only managed to snatch away the body of this starry skies’ Stone Stripped Spider and the Thunder Firmament Crystals but also the pile of artefact-crafting materials that it had collected.”

“Oh, how could such a thing happen?” Aunt Xu’s countenance changed once more before she immediately spoke, “Go and invite that cultivator here, I want to chat with that fellow face to face.”

The female cultivator quickly spoke up, “The cultivator most likely changed his appearance; later, many people tried to find him, but no one managed to get a hold of him. It looks like no one saw him after he grabbed those things. I only heard that this fellow has a pair of Twin Wings of the Heavenly Clouds. Also, there is another thing……”

“What else?”

“Aunt Xu, I went to the place where Lou Pingchuan fell and looked around. I found a dugout pit; however, regardless of whatever was in that pit, I definitely felt a powerful aura of vitality surging within it. I have a few guesses of what it could be, but because I was not sure about it, I ended up bringing back some of the dirt….”

The female cultivator finished and took out a jade box before passing it to Aunt Xu.

Aunt Xu opened the jade box and touched the dirt with her hand before her Spiritual Consciousness swept through it. Immediately, she stood up again with a shocked look, “Rootless Green Bamboo?”

The female cultivator immediately gave a bow and spoke, “I also guessed about the Rootless Green Bamboo. Now that Aunt Xu said it, it looks like I did not read it wrong. It really was a Rootless Green Bamboo.”

Aunt Xu’s face kept changing and only spoke up after a long time, “I did not think that a small drifting starland would contain so many good things. Immediately head to the major merchant ships and rigorously investigate the whereabouts of the Rootless Green Bamboo. I’ll go see the Heavenly Emperor immediately.”

……

Ning Cheng put all the crucial things within the Five Elements Array Formation in the Mysterious Yellow Bead. Even his usual weapons and the Twin Wings of the Heavenly Clouds, he put them all in Five Elements Array Formation within the Mysterious Yellow Bead. He felt afraid to put those things inside his storage ring or take it around with him. In any case, there was nothing wrong with being a bit more careful.

After putting away all the things, Ning Cheng started getting ready to go into seclusion. He knew that the merchant ships would be abuzz with activity in the coming days; however, he did not want to hop in on the action.

Just at this moment, his Spiritual Consciousness swept out and saw Steward Lu coming over.

Ning Cheng’s heart tightened, since the moment Steward Lu brought him to this place a few years ago, he never visited even once. Why did he suddenly come here today?

No matter for what reason Steward Lu came here for, Ning Cheng also dared not be careless. He took away all the array formations around him and opened the door to the wine cellar, “Steward Lu…..”

“You don’t want to live here for a while, go back to the main hall.” Steward Lu got straight to the point, and for no reason, told Ning Cheng to head to the main hall.

Ning Cheng quickly spoke up, “Steward Lu, no one even comes to this place. I went to the drifting starland this time and obtained a few nice artefact-crafting materials……”

Not waiting for Ning Cheng to bring out the materials, Steward Lu immediately interrupted Ning Cheng’s words, “No matter what you say, you will have to move out.”

Thinking back to the large number of green coins he received from Ning Cheng, Steward Lu hesitated and spoke, “A few big-shots will soon come down to check all the people. It would be inappropriate for you to stay here.”

“Check? Why?” Ning Cheng asked with amazement.

Steward Lu gave out a sigh, “Tell you the truth, I heard that something remarkable had appeared in the drifting starland, but some cultivator snatched it away. That is all I know. Once all the people are checked, you can come live here again.”

Ning Cheng felt slightly scared; however, he still carefully took out two Cutting Moon Steel pieces and gave them to Steward Lu with a respectful look, “Many thanks Steward Lu. I still have a few materials on me and was just getting ready to head to the market area.”

……

When Ning Cheng returned to the main cabin, the main hall looked extremely lively. Almost everyone looked excited. From this, it looked like everyone obtained a decent harvest from this drifting starland. Although low-levelled materials meant nothing to the high-levelled starry skies’ cultivators, for some of the ordinary cultivators, these materials were akin to treasures.

Many of the cultivators had already flocked to the upper echelons of the merchant ships to sell their materials in exchange for the cultivation resources they needed.

“Senior….” Ning Cheng had just arrived in the main hall when a pleasant voice rang out right behind him.

Ning Cheng stopped and looked at a skinny-looking cultivator before asking, “Do you know me? Well that not the point, I don’t seem to have seen you before, have I?”

The skinny-looking cultivator quickly spoke up, “This junior is called Shen Xunyu, someone who started admiring senior since a long time ago.”

Ning Cheng was about to say something when he heard an announcement, “All the cultivators in the main hall are requested to sit in their places and await their checks. If you want to head upstairs to trade items, you will have to wait until after the inspection. Only after the inspection can you go up.”

“Senior, I have a good place still open. If Senior has no place to go, you can come to my area to take a respite.” Shen Xunyu immediately invited Ning Cheng after hearing the broadcast.

At this moment, Ning Cheng’s Spiritual Consciousness did not find the old man; however, in that position, someone seemed to have set up a small tent. Seeing that, he smiled and spoke, “Many thanks then, I’m called Cheng Nianqiong.”

Shen Xunyu on hearing Ning Cheng agree, felt surprised, and then immediately spoke up, “Senior and junior really has a fate connection. Even our names feel similar. I am called Xunyu and senior is called Nianqiong[2]……”

Ning Cheng did not have time to answer Shen Xunyu’s words when a formidable authoritative aura suddenly descended onto the hall, suppressing everyone inside. “All people should stay in their own spots; do not talk loudly, nor are you allowed to whisper.”

In Ning Cheng’s knowledge, only Tang Jiu’s attack gave off this level of an intimidating presence. This allowed Ning Cheng to understand that this person’s cultivation was at least on the same level as Tang Jiu.

[1] Don’t know what the author meant by ‘Breath Soil’, for now, will use the literal translation and will change it once I have some more clarity about its uses.

[2] Have no idea how these two names are similar, Xunyu translates to ‘Seeking rain’ while Nianqiong translates to ‘to study fine jade’, the only point of similarity is their first names ‘Shen’ and ‘Cheng’, which have slightly similar phonetics.