Chapter 0571: Graduating From Apprenticeship

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, are 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.

“Master, does that mean that Primal Chaos Cultivation Methods are the most powerful?” When Ning Cheng asked this question, he had already defaulted his Mysterious Yellow Formless to a Primal Chaos Cultivation Method.

Zhongli Baichi gave out a sigh and spoke, “I heard that above Primal Chaos comes ‘Good Fortune’, otherwise known as ‘Creation’[1]; however, I am not too clear about it. If it is true, then the most potent cultivation method should be the Good Fortune Cultivation Method or the ‘Creation’ Cultivation Method.”

Ning Cheng remained silent; he truly had no idea as to whether his Mysterious Yellow Formless was a Primal Chaos Cultivation Method or a Good Fortune Cultivation Method.

“Because you cultivate using a Primal Chaos Cultivation Method, I have no way to teach you other things; therefore, I decided to teach you about crafting artefacts.” On seeing Ning Cheng silent, Zhongli Baichi also did not continue to talk about the issues relating to cultivation methods.

Ning Cheng quickly spoke up, “Then I hope that Master could teach me that, this disciple will definitely study hard to learn the art of crafting artefacts.”

Zhongli Baichi stared at Ning Cheng for a while and spoke, “I have already taught it to you.”

“What?” Ning Cheng also stared back at Zhongli Baichi. Already taught? When did you teach me? That was a trick, right?

“To understand the Dao of Artefacts, the first hurdle is to understand your own Dao. Once you understand your own Dao, then you can go on to learn crafting artefacts. When you realise your Dao, you can then integrate your Dao into crafting artefacts and then finally step into the Dao of Artefacts. This is the last time that I’ll teach you, so don’t forget it.” Zhongli Baichi spoke with some dissatisfaction.

“That’s it?” After Ning Cheng heard those words, he felt as if ten thousand horses stampeded through his heart.

“That’s it.” Zhongli Baichi spoke with an affirmative tone,

Ning Cheng felt truly speechless; with such an Artefact-crafting Master, he might as well not have considered the apprenticeship. Teaching with just a sentence and then dropping the bombshell of graduating from the apprenticeship, this just made no sense at all. Helpless, Ning Cheng continued to ask random questions in desperation, “Within the starry skies, which is the most powerful Dao Artefact? Are the Flowing Sky Cannons of those starry sky-grade battleships from technological planets more powerful than Dao Artefacts?”

Zhongli Baichi spoke with disdain, “Those things from technological planets? Bah, utter rubbish, those things are only suitable for kids to play with. Only people without skills like to use those things.”

Ning Cheng did not find Zhongli Baichi’s words surprising. However, he had also experienced the large-scale lethality of Celestial River-class Battleships with his own eyes.

Thinking that Ning Cheng thought otherwise, Zhongli Baichi gave a snort and spoke, “Once your cultivation reaches a certain level, you will understand what I meant by those words. After Dao Artefacts, comes Spirit Artefacts. Moreover, treasures even higher than Spirit Artefacts exist. However, these treasures are things that cannot be refined artificially. These are all categorised as Destiny Treasures. Only if you are destined with those treasures will you have a chance to obtain them; if you have no destiny with them, then even if those treasures were right in front of your eyes, you would never be able to obtain them.”

“If that is the case, then Master, what is the most powerful treasure?” Ning Cheng originally wanted to ask about the Five Elements Treasure Fall Copper Coin’s origins; however, he quickly changed his words.

Zhongli Baichi shook his head and spoke, “There is no such thing as the most powerful treasure within the vast universe, only more powerful treasures. Within the cycle of heaven and earth, the myriad things show mutual dependence over each other, it is an undeniable truth. If you really can understand Returning to One, then Returning to One would end up as the most powerful treasure for you.”

As Ning Cheng mused over those words, he found that even if he could understand Returning to One, Returning to One might not end up as his most potent means; instead, that spot would belong to his Sunset’s Twilight.

Zhongli Baichi had no idea about Ning Cheng’s thoughts and continued, “In fact, one cannot rule out the fact that there are no truly formidable treasures. I heard that at the beginning of the universe, there were several Good Fortune Treasures…..”

Ning Cheng quickly asked, “Can I ask Master what these Good Fortune Treasures are? Are there many such treasures?”

Zhongli Baichi gave out a sigh, “I only heard that there was a Good Fortune Indestructible Axe that fell to our side of the universe. As for the others, I have no idea about them.”

“How can one obtain this axe?”

“You sure have a big appetite to the point of even desiring for the Good Fortune Indestructible Axe.” Zhongli Baichi gave a snort, “Good Fortune Treasures are not something that you can casually obtain. These treasures choose their own masters.”

Ning Cheng suddenly understood something; previously, Elder Brother Cang Wei had mentioned that once he gatherer all five origins, the Mysterious Yellow Bead could then form an entire world inside it. However, did he not also say that looking for the five Origins within the vast universe would be very difficult? In fact, Ning Cheng already had managed to obtain two types of Origins. From this, he understood that the Good Fortune Treasures did indeed had mysterious and inexorable inductance to them. In other words, once the Good Fortune Treasures recognised their master, the origins that it needed would also continue to appear in front of the master’s eyes. Otherwise, he most likely would have never found out about such things.

No wonder he obtained news about the appearance of origins from time to time. It turns out, this was the root of everything. Within the endless starry sky universe, some things could not just be explained with words.

[1] ‘Good Fortune’ and ‘Creation’ here are two separate words but refer to the same thing.