Nine Astra Skies
chapter-303

Ye Chen was surprised when his Astral Body had landed on the figure. This young man was a Heavenly Venerable Rank fighter! Only, why did he remain in the Sunken Jade Tower and never went outside? Was it because he had missed the window when the Sunken Jade Tower opened, so he could not go outside and had no choice but to remain here and continued training?

Fifty years was not long to mystical beasts and Celestial Beasts alike but for humans, it was ages. Without the help of physics, an ordinary human above Heavenly Venerable Rank cultivation base could live up to a hundred fifty to hundred sixty years. Those that take good care of themselves such as Master Apothecary Xuanyi who always took upper-grade physics could live up to two hundred years.

The young man in front of Ye Chen looked around twenty years old. The prime years for humans was between twenty to seventy years old. To have to spend the prime years of his life alone in the Sunken Jade Tower must be excruciating.

Ye Chen thought for a moment… Heavenly Venerable Rank. Even if the opponent was a dangerous individual, he can’t possibly be a large threat. He took Little Wingsy with him and hopped down.

The young man’s endlessly deep eyes landed on Ye Chen. He looked at Ye Chen’s left arm strangely.

Ye Chen landed on the boulder. He was about five to six meters away from this person. He looked at him and greeted, “Nice to meet you.”

The young man was slightly taken aback by Ye Chen’s greeting and he lightly nodded.

“The Sunken Jade Tower has already closed. It’ll be fifty years before it opens again. Why did you not leave?” Ye Chen inspected the young man. He did not look like a particularly dangerous individual. He said politely, “My name is Ye Chen.”

“Hi, my name is Little Wingsy,” Little Wingsy greeted. When he saw Ye Chen introducing himself, he followed suit. Little Wingsy was not scheming anything. His appearance was refined and clean. Nobody would look at Little Wingsy and thought that he was plotting anything ill.

“I’m Nan Gongze,” he replied softly, his voice was slightly awkward. He glanced at Ye Chen’s left arm. He had an urge to reach out to grab Ye Chen’s armguard but stopped himself from doing so.

For some reason, Nan Gongze’s eyes were like an infinitely deep pool, full of wisdom and mystique. He talked strangely and it looked like he was not very good at conversing.

“Are you trapped in here because you missed the opening window of the Sunken Jade Tower?” asked Ye Chen. He could not figure out what sort of person was Nan Gongze. To have attained Heavenly Venerable Rank at such a young age, he must be truly one of a kind. Ye Chen was not trying to gain anything from Nan Gongze. He only thought that if Nan Gongze had missed the opening of the Sunken Jade Tower, he could help him out.

“Hm.” Nan Gongze nodded. He looked at Little Wingsy then at Ye Chen again. Though his cultivation base was just Heavenly Venerable Rank, with just three strikes, he could take down Little Wingsy and Ye Chen. However, after such a long slumber, this was the first time he had been able to talk with someone in a long time. Having a conversation brought him back to the time when he had lived in the human world as well. He dug through the memories in his mind and searched for the language Ye Chen and Little Wingsy spoke.

“How about this? After I settle some business here, I’ll help you out of the Sunken Jade Tower,” Ye Chen proposed. Nan Gongze did not look like an evil person. An evil person would not carry such a dignified aura that Nan Gongze possessed. Could Nan Gongze be a member of the imperial family?

“What will it cost me?” Nan Gongze asked, pressing his eyelids together.

Ye Chen chuckled. “It’s no big deal. After leaving the Sunken Jade Tower, we can just go our separate ways. Who knows, we may never meet again.” Even though Ye Chen had been through countless cruel encounters, his character was still inherently kind. If Nan Gongze was a bad person, Ye Chen would not waste his breath on the likes of him. Since Nan Gongze did not appear to be a bad person, it would not hurt to help him so he did not need any payment or reward either.

Nan Gongze stared at Ye Chen, a spot of strange light flashed in his eyes. His gaze quickly turned gentler as he nodded lightly.

Each time Nan Gongze cast his deep gaze on him, Ye Chen felt as if his deepest secrets were seen through. It was a very strange feeling. Nan Gongze was just a Heavenly Venerable Rank fighter. In terms of cultivation base, Ye Chen was far above Nan Gongze. Could Nan Gongze have learned some sort of secret technique?

“You wait here for a bit. I need to make a trip to the third level.” Ye Chen suppressed the suspicions he had in his mind.

“Are you going to the third level underground to deliver the Soul Pearl?” Nan Gongze asked.

Ye Chen jumped. He looked at Nan Gongze and asked, “You know how to read minds?” It was scary if Nan Gongze could read minds. Ye Chen wondered how many secrets of his had been read by Nan Gongze already. He could not help but feel worried.

“Read minds? It probably doesn’t count as reading minds. It’s Heavenly Foretelling,” Nan Gongze answered. Heavenly Foretelling could foretell the events that would happen in the future but it could not be used to tell what Ye Chen was thinking.

“Heavenly Foretelling?” Ye Chen frowned slightly. There was something this fascinating?

Nan Gongze could not exactly put a finger on why he was telling Ye Chen so much. If it was in the past, he would not bother wasting so much breath on Ye Chen. Ever since his long slumber in the Sunken Jade Tower, he seemed to have a slight change in his behavior.

Ye Chen glanced at Nan Gongze. Could Nan Gongze be a member of the Oracle Sect? The Heavenly Foretelling technique was truly wondrous! Ye Chen had no idea that the Heavenly Foretelling technique Nan Gongze had used was on a completely different level from the technique used by the Oracle Sect.

“Show me the Soul Pearl,” Nan Gongze reached out with his right hand.

“Why?” Ye Chen looked at Nan Gongze. There was no greed or any ulterior motive in Nan Gongze’s eyes. If any other person said something like that, Ye Chen would naturally presume that the person had some hidden motive. However, Nan Gongze seemed to have some mysterious energy around him that was able to cause people around him to lower their guard.

“Just think of it as my payment for you helping me out of the Sunken Jade Tower. I’ll cast a permanent seal on the Soul Pearl so it will never be traced by heavenly punishment in the future,” Nan Gongze explained calmly. It seemed like casting a permanent seal on the Soul Pearl was an effortless task for him.

“Little Wingsy, take out the Soul Pearl,” Ye Chen said, looking at Little Wingsy.

Ye Chen wanted to ask Master Lion or Elder Tuntian just what was the deal with Nan Gongze. Master Lion was busy in the Heavenly Astra Seal at the moment so it would be best that he did not intrude. Elder Tuntian, on the other hand, remained silent in the Soul Pearl all this time, not even revealing himself.

“Hm.” Little Wingsy did not think too much about it and handed the Soul Pearl to Nan Gongze.

When the Soul Pearl reached Nan Gongze’s palms, it floated into the air by itself. Nan Gongze began conjuring a bunch of seals with his hands as blinding rays of seal flew up into the air and entered the Soul Pearl. The array technique was very mysterious.

After a moment, Nan Gongze finalized the seal. The Soul Pearl landed back into his palms. Nan Gongze passed the Soul Pearl back to Wingsy and said, “This seal will be able to conceal the Soul Pearl’s energy. It won’t be traced by the heavenly punishment anymore! Even if it was tracked, at worst, it could only attract the Seventh Grade heavenly punishment and will not be able to destroy this seal.”

“Really? Then, Master doesn’t have to be worried about the heavenly punishment anymore?” Little Wingsy was excited to hear that.

Ye Chen was doubtful. Was it that simple? He had witnessed the power of the Fifth Grade heavenly punishment first-hand. Now, they were talking about the Seventh Grade heavenly punishment which had Elder Tuntian scared out of his boots! Could a simple seal stop the Seventh Grade heavenly punishment? Ye Chen’s instincts told him that Nan Gongze was telling the truth since he knew about the Seventh Grade heavenly punishment and the likes.

If that was the case, then they would not have to bring Elder Tuntian to the third level of the Sunken Jade Tower. They had better go back to the entrance of the tower and test it!

“Then, let’s head out together,” Ye Chen said.

Nan Gongze nodded slightly.

The trio made of Ye Chen, Little Wingsy, and Nan Gongze headed for the way out.

After several hours, the group had appeared at the entrance of the Sunken Jade Tower. Ye Chen had brought Nan Gongze out of the Sunken Jade Tower.

“Since you guys want to test the seal, I’ll take my leave first.” Nan Gongze took a look at Ye Chen with his depthless eyes. “We’ll meet again in the future and I’ll reclaim what was mine!”

Reclaim what was mine? What? Ye Chen stood oblivious.

When he saw Ye Chen’s expression, Nan Gongze smiled faintly. He walked away, taking large steps. His steps seemed to shrink the ground and the distance between them. Within a moment he was several kilometers away. He had disappeared at the end of the passage.

So fast! Ye Chen was amazed. Even if he went full speed, he could barely match one-tenth of Nan Gongze’s speed.

Just who was Nan Gongze? Ye Chen frowned. Between the seal that he had cast and his extraordinary speed, Nan Gongze was an extremely peculiar fellow. Ye Chen wondered just what Nan Gongze meant with the parting sentence.

Ye Chen had countless questions in his mind.

“Big Brother Ye Chen, Brother Nan Gongze is amazing!” Little Wingsy was in awe. Nan Gongze’s footsteps were so fascinating. Even an outsider like Little Wingsy was in awe of it.

“Hm, yeah.” Ye Chen nodded.

At that moment, a bright flash came from within the Soul Peal. A projection of Elder Tuntian appeared above the Soul Pearl.

“Oh my god, that scared me. You two met a very scary individual. Such heavy demonic energy! That fellow could turn an old man like me into dust here with just his mind.” Elder Tuntian was still visibly recovering from the shock. “What heavy demonic energy? Is Elder Tuntian referring to Nan Gongye earlier?” Ye Chen asked curiously, “There wasn’t even a hint of demonic energy from Nan Gongye. He was even very charismatic and looked like a member of the imperial family.”

“Yeah, yeah!” Little Wingsy nodded in agreement.

“That’s the scary part. He had reached the peak of demonic energy. That one there is the real devil,” Elder Tuntian said.

“But his cultivation base was only Heavenly Venerable Rank,” Ye Chen said, raising one eyebrow.

“You think his cultivation base was only Heavenly Venerable Rank?” Elder Tuntian rolled his eyes at Ye Chen.

Between that mysterious sealing technique and those strange, amazing steps, Nan Gongye’s cultivation base was definitely beyond Heavenly Venerable Rank!