Chapter 0724: Celestial River Nirvana

“I want to hand over Named Descendant Celestial River to Brother Ning. Maybe in Brother Ning’s hands, there might be a big change for good in Named Descendant Celestial River.” Striking Order Heavenly Emperor’s next words almost drove Chuan Xinlou crazy.

With Ning Cheng’s cultivation speed, if he controlled a celestial river, wouldn’t his cultivation improve day after day at a terrifying rate? But just as he stated, he had already declared that Striking Order Heavenly Emperor could decide things for himself, which meant that he couldn’t fight back without breaking all pretences.

“Striking Order, you know that Ning Cheng might want to take it away from you completely, not just be a Celestial River King…..” Chuan Xinlou intentionally spoke a few words.

Striking Order made it very clear, “Naturally, I understand that a genius like Brother Ning wouldn’t want to be just a Celestial River King under my command. Even if Brother Ning might show willingness for it, I would never dare to ask him for it. Anyways, I heard that Brother Ning not only changed the name of Second Revenant Star to Jiangzhou Star but also established a Mysterious Yellow Sect on it. So I plan to return and congratulate him immediately.”

Heavenly Emperor Wu Hong, who came with Striking Order, didn’t know or at least pretended not to know about Chuan Xinlou’s thoughts. He simply cupped his fists and spoke up, “I also plan to head to Jiangzhou Star with Brother Striking Order and attend the founding ceremony of Brother Ning’s sect.”

Yi Jiufeng giggled, “That’s perfect. I also plan to meet this Brother Ning. Last time when Brother Ning came here, he left in quite a hurry. I didn’t get the chance to get to know him.”

Cang Caihe quickly stood up, “Brother Striking Order, let me come with you too.”

After hearing those words, he decided to go there immediately. If he didn’t go and this information got to Ning Cheng’s ears in the future, it might not be a good thing for him. Besides, he really was in awe of Ning Cheng and wanted to make it up to him.

Chuan Xinlou sighed, knowing that his current plans would not work anymore; he could only say, “In that case, let’s go to Jiangzhou Star together and congratulate Sect Master Ning on the great event.”

……

A few days later, Ning Cheng once again arrived at the planet from where he obtained the Fire Origin Bead.

As he walked through the scorching cave passage and saw the magma lake, he finally felt some relief. Although he had lost it one time, nothing happened to the magma lake. Before coming here, Ning Cheng felt worried about the man with bark-like skin coming back to take away the magma lake. But from what he saw now, Ning Cheng understood that he was not the only one who did not know that the magma lake in front of him was actually the Fire Origin Pool.

At this time, the Fire Origin Pool looked calm, like a pristine and untouched freshwater lake.

Ning Cheng brought out the Celestial River Flame, but the flame showed no response. Even the Fire Origin Pool also showed no reaction. However, Ning Cheng believed in Dou Di. Although Dou Di appeared a bit mysterious, she had no reason to lie to him.

Ning Cheng simply threw the Celestial River Flame into the Fire Origin Pool. If this were not enough, he would definitely find a way to remove this Fire Origin Pool, take it back, and then experiment with it slowly.

The Celestial River Flame fell into the Fire Origin Pool like a stone thrown into a calm lake. It only produced a few ripples before the surface calmed down once again.

Ning Cheng felt a little disappointed and started planning to call back the Celestial River Flame and move the Fire Origin Pool to Jiangzhou Star. But just when he started on it, the Fire Origin Pool suddenly turned violent. Horrific heatwaves rushed out wave after wave from the bottom of the lake. These heatwaves even formed visible columns of red air.

The whole lake gave out steady drumming-like sounds and looked just like a pot of boiling water.

Finally, a reaction. Was this the start of Celestial River Flame’s nirvana? Why was it causing this much movement? Ning Cheng stared at the now-violent Fire Origin Pool in shock. He had personally witnessed the Scarlet Crow Flame undergo nirvana, but it hadn’t created much of a reaction. The Celestial River Flame had only entered the Fire Origin Pool, yet it created such a great response.

But this was not the end of it. The Fire Origin Pool’s chaos steadily grew more substantial, and the red plumes of gases rushing out from it became thicker. In just a few moments, the red pillars of gas quickly turned blue. The flames erupting gave out crackling-like sounds as if it wanted to burn the space around it and devour the Fire Origin Lake.

If Ning Cheng were not a body-refining cultivator with a Starry Sky Body, he definitely would not be able to stand next to this pool. When Ning Cheng used his spiritual consciousness to communicate with the Celestial River Flame during this time, he only found an extremely faint connection.

There seemed to be a huge suction force within the Fire Origin Pool, which kept sucking in the flames that wanted to rush out.

Standing by the Fire Origin Pool, Ning Cheng could clearly feel the fire-elemental essence aura continually feeding into the pool from all sides.

The Fire Origin Pool kept tumbling in rage as it kept sucking in the fire-elemental essence aura from the surroundings. After a full seven days, the tumbling slowly subsided. But at this time, Ning Cheng felt a significant difference. There was no scorching aura remaining in the surroundings. It was as if everything around him had turned lifeless.

Looking at the Fire Origin Pool, Ning Cheng found that it had become extremely clear and calm. Apart from the liquid in the pool halving and turning transparent, it looked as if nothing else had transpired in these past few days. A moment later, a blue flame with an indigo flame core rushed out of the pool, coming to a stop in front of Ning Cheng.

A bright and overwhelming feeling of joy appeared in Ning Cheng’s consciousness, and he immediately knew that this feeling of pleasure came directly from his connection to the Celestial River Flame.

His Celestial River Flame actually gave birth to a flame spirit. But this flame spirit was still young, and could only transmit some broken information through thoughts. Ning Cheng felt ecstatic. He held out his hand and the blue flame with the indigo core gracefully fell onto his palm, before it started jumping around in joy. A faint golden light flashed through the flame, similar to the faint flashes of light within a starry sky.

“I finally understand why they called you ‘Celestial River’. You actually look like one.” Ning Cheng murmured to himself. He truly did not understand why the flame had the name ‘Celestial River’ before today. But looking at this flame in his hand, it looked just like a miniature version of a celestial river. Whether it was the aura, colours, or even form, it seemed no different from a celestial river in a starry sky.

A broken thought flowed in from the Celestial River Flame, “On growing up … easily burn celestial rivers and starry skies.”

Apparently, Ning Cheng’s thoughts of comparing it to a celestial river based on appearance and colour, made the Celestial River Flame’s spirit feel as if its owner looked down on it. Therefore, it actively tried to transmit a message to Ning Cheng.

“Good, good…..” Ning Cheng felt utterly overjoyed. Unfortunately, it was still only a Grade 1 Nirvana Flame. If it were a Grade 3 Nirvana Flame, he could have used the Polar Star Nucleus to evolve the flame into a starry sky flame.

But despite it being a Rank 1 Nirvana Flame, it was enough for Ning Cheng. This Rank 1 Nirvana Flame surpassed the Scarlet Crow Flame, which was already a Rank 3 Nirvana Flame, by more than a few levels in strength. For him, it was more than enough as long as it could help him in arranging the Star Protecting Grand Array.

Putting away the Celestial River Flame, Ning Cheng immediately felt relief welling up inside his heart. He then collected all the ‘freshwater’ from the pool after the Celestial River Flame underwent nirvana. In all honesty, calling it ‘freshwater’ was a bit too much; as it was more of a colourless liquid that resembled clear water, not actual freshwater.

Maybe one day, he might be able to use this thing again. Even if it had no use, it wouldn’t cost him anything to put it away.

Leaving the broken planet, Ning Cheng noticed that the original red planet had turned into nothing more than a grey ball with white specks, utterly devoid of vitality. Not long after Ning Cheng left, the now-grey planet silently turned to dust.

……

Ning Cheng returned to Jiangzhou Star and continued arranging the Star Protecting Grand Array. The Star Protecting Grand Array needed many materials, which fortunately, he had in plenty within his ring.

Ning Cheng refined one high-rank Dao Artefact after another and then used those high-rank Dao Artefacts to arrange the array base. As time went by, the Star Protecting Grand Array gradually started shrinking.

……

Under the management of Gongxiu Zhu and Bei Junyi, Jiangzhou Star came under the sect’s full control in just a few days.

As long as one stayed within the bounds of Jiangzhou Star, no matter the city, everyone had to act in adherence to the new rules and regulations. Open snatching; forced trading; strong oppressing the weak; non-payment of taxes along with other matters that cultivators generally deemed insignificant, they all became significant from now on. If guilty, the authorities would immediately kick him or her out of Jiangzhou Star, or have their cultivation destroyed, or even killed directly in case of more severe crimes.

In Jiangzhou Star, even if you were an ordinary person without any cultivation, no one would dare to bully you. Of course, people could still do things in secret, but they had to do so with extreme caution and avoid detection.

Moreover, it was now not an easy thing to settle down after entering the Jiangzhou Star. If one wanted to join Jiangzhou Star, one had to accept a series of investigations and background checks. For Ning Cheng, he didn’t care how many there were in Jiangzhou Star, what he cared about more was that Jiangzhou Star had to be safe. There was no room for unexpected factors as this was supposed to be his home from now on.

……

With Jiangzhou Star on the right track, Ning Cheng’s Star Protecting Grand Array also gradually started to close up. Three months later, rumbling sounds erupted outside Jiangzhou Star, and the new Star Protecting Grand Array finally closed.

This new Star Protecting Grand Array, whether the Primary Array or the Auxiliary Arrays, were all Grade 8 Starry Sky Arrays. All the materials used in arranging the array came from Ning Cheng alone. One could even say that the entire array formation was under Ning Cheng’s complete control. Anyone who entered Jiangzhou Star, even Chuan Xinlou, could only leave with his consent.

After Ning Cheng gave one of Jiangzhou Star’s Auxiliary Array Control Card to Bei Junyi, he then returned to Covered Snow City and continued to build the Mysterious Yellow Sect.

Covered Snow City originally covered an area of about a few ten thousand miles. But after Ning Cheng established the Mysterious Yellow Sect in Covered Snow City, the city’s range expanded by a dozen more times.

Ning Cheng decided to connect the different precipitous mountain peaks and the continuous mountain ranges together and to the Covered Snow City. He even collected some mountain peaks from other places and placed them at the periphery of the Mysterious Yellow Sect.

After seeing Levelled Heart Emperor Mountain and the bases of other significant forces, Ning Cheng had already started to develop a prototype of the Mysterious Yellow Sect in his heart.

As for Helian Mingzhe, he took the responsibility of the significant constructions around the Mysterious Yellow Sect, while Ning Cheng personally took charge of arranging the Mysterious Yellow Sect’s array formations.

As for the cultivators left in Covered Snow City, who had nowhere to go. They all thought that Ning Cheng would treat them as trash, but the facts spoke louder than words. Not only did the new Celestial Lord not treat them as trash, but he also enacted a series of rules and regulations in their favour. These new rules and regulations not just helped the weak; it also prevented the strong from preying on the weak.

These ironclad facts quickly won the support of all cultivators who stayed behind in Jiangzhou Star. These people didn’t even need Helian Mingzhe asking them for help, they actively participated in the construction of Mysterious Yellow Sect. Not only the ones in Covered Snow City but even cultivators from Jiangzhou Star’s other areas also got involved.

With everyone’s help, all the constructions around the Mysterious Yellow Sect finished in just one month. They were even faster than Ning Cheng’s deployment of the array formations.

……

As if pre-determined, the moment Mysterious Yellow Sect finished construction, several flight-type weapons appeared at the periphery of Jiangzhou Star.

“What a beautiful Star Protecting Grand Array, was it Ning Cheng who arranged all this?” Yi Jiufeng spoke while standing on her flight-type weapon and looking at the Star Protecting Grand Array outside Jiangzhou Star in shock. The last bit of disapproval lingering at the bottom of her heart completely disappeared without a trace.

Not only she, but even Chuan Xinlou and the other Eternal Starry Sky Emperors also stood in silence while looking at Ning Cheng’s efforts. If one wanted to set up a single Rank 8 Starry Sky Defensive Array, the capital required was not something an ordinary Starry Sky Emperor would be able to afford.