The Gate Of Good Fortune
chapter-535

“Bang” A dull sound erupted, and all the restrictions around Ning Cheng’s room turned into nothingness.

Ning Cheng felt pleasantly surprised as he looked at the completely disintegrated surroundings resulted from his Domain finally making some progress. The revelations from Lou Pingchuan and Suo Qiaoye’s battles allowed him to integrate his Celestial River Flame into his Domain. The Celestial River Flame hidden in his Domain remained invisible. As long as the party could not detect it, he could use his own Domain to initiate an immediate attack.

However, the fact was that this was not a Domain attack. Instead, it was the result of integrating the Celestial River Flame into the offence. Looking at it from a broader perspective, the Celestial River Flame provided the primary firepower instead of the Domain. In any case, Ning Cheng had at least taken the first step in evolving his Domain.

Coupled with the axe that Tang Yu gave to him, the Wishful Demon Axe, which he had also wholly refined, Ning Cheng could now transform the axe into several forms, allowing him to secretly attack the enemy and catch them unprepared. Ning Cheng also realised that his strength had also grown a lot stronger compared to a few days ago. As long as he could advance to the Celestial Shatterer Realm, he felt confident enough to kill Lou Pingchuan.

The restrictions over the entrance to his room violently shook. Ning Cheng, on seeing that, immediately opened the restrictions, to the angry and fuming face of the resting pen’s steward standing at the doorway. The steward on seeing Ning Cheng come out, immediately snapped, “How dare you try to practice your Spiritual Skills in our resting pen and even destroy the room’s array formations?”

“I’m really sorry; I’ll pay more attention the next time.” Ning Cheng knew it was entirely his fault. He picked the wrong place and time to go into seclusion.

“Compensate the house with 10 million Green Coins and immediately leave our resting pen. We no longer welcome you living in our place.” The steward’s tone turned colder.

Ning Cheng also felt helpless. If Ning Cheng had to compensate the other party with 10 million Green Coins, he could have thought about it; however, thrown out of the resting pen, what else could he do. Moreover, Ruan Mingshu also had not come to him yet; as such, he could only search for another place to stay for now.

“Senior Apprentice Brother Ning….” Ning Cheng had just walked out of the resting pen’s entrance when he heard Ruan Mingshu’s voice.

What Ning Cheng wanted to see the most was Ruan Mingshu. Quickly moving forward, he asked, “Junior Apprentice Sister Mingshu did the Time Wilderness open?”

“The Time Wilderness will open tomorrow. I specifically came here to meet you today, and tomorrow we can head to the Man Lun Public Square together. Did you have something you wanted to take care of before we left?” Ruan Mingshu felt it very strange when she saw Ning Cheng leaving the resting pen.

Since the Dao Discussion Convention, Ning Cheng ended up catching the attention of many people. Although Ning Cheng traded his Fire Origin Crystal with Tang Yu, some people thought that it might not be the only one on him. Many people believed that Ning Cheng had more than one Fire Origin Crystal in his possession or at the very least information about the location from where Ning Cheng obtained those Fire Origin Crystals. In Ruan Mingshu’s view, Ning Cheng should not leave the resting pen unless the Time Wilderness opened.

Ning Cheng spoke up with a wry smile, “I just got kicked out. I tried to study array formations inside the resting pen and accidentally destroyed the resting pen’s original array formations. I had to cough up 10 million Green Coins as compensation before they kicked me out. Now I was just about to go look around for a place to stay when you showed up.”

Ruan Mingshu gave a smile and spoke, “Go to my place. In the evening, we will discuss on how to cooperate in the Time Wilderness. Moreover, I also have a few other things to tell you.”

Ning Cheng knew that those ‘other’ things mostly involved the Perpetual Moon Pills; therefore, he did not choose to refuse Ruan Mingshu’s re-invitation.

The reason why he decided to work with Ruan Mingshu was for the Perpetual Moon Pills. Initially, he did not have much knowledge about Perpetual Moon Pills. However, now that he read the jade strip containing the fundamentals of the Dao of Pills that Tang Yu had provided, Ning Cheng felt even more eager to get his hands over those Perpetual Moon Pills. Moreover, he also came to know that although objects like Perpetual Moon Pills had vital importance attached to them in the Man Lun Starry Skies; it did not have much significance in the other starry skies.

In the vast universe, within some of the starry skies, the Perpetual Moon Pills had the same function as starry skies’ crystals and nothing more. If one wanted to enter the vast universe or enter other starry skies, then one had to work hard to improve his or her cultivation. If one had high cultivation, then he or she could then secure the right to enter a more resource-rich place to continue cultivating.

In the starry skies, only the strong had the right to enforce the truth. Although this fact might not have a 100% accuracy, it was at least 99% accurate.

……

Ruan Mingshu’s room only contained a bed. In fact, for people like Ning Cheng and Ruan Mingshu, with a Celestial Scryer Cultivation, even if they sat for a month discussing the Dao; they would not need to go to sleep.

“Did you read the map that I sent you on the jade strip?” Ruan Mingshu activated the restrictions over her room and immediately asked Ning Cheng about the contents of the jade strip that she had sent over previously.

Ning Cheng nodded, “I looked at it, and roughly understood the approximate position of our destination.”

“The communication pearls have a short range within the Time Wilderness and might not even be of much use inside. The map that I gave you might not be the best one out there, but it is better than the jade strips containing normal maps sold around the Lucky Heaven City. There is a Moon Creek marked on the map, which is actually a dry and dead river. If we can’t make contact after we enter, we will meet at Moon Creek.” Ruan Mingshu finished as she stared at Ning Cheng.

Ning Cheng had seen the location-marker of this Moon Creek. Now that Ruan Mingshu spoke about its purpose, he naturally would have no problem. “Ok, don’t leave before we meet at Moon Creek.”

Ruan Mingshu showed a slight smile, “Not leaving before meeting up huh, I like the idea.”

Ning Cheng then thought about the map that he obtained in the Ocean Gambling City’s auction, which he had bought due to its connection to the Time Wilderness. According to the cultivator that he spoke to at that time, one could find such maps anywhere in the Man Lun Star Land for around a hundred Green Coins. However, Ning Cheng ended up spending 110 million Celestial Coins over it.

Because of this substantial variance in price, Ning Cheng had not touched that map yet. Now that he heard Ruan Mingshu speaking about them, he wanted to purchase one of the normal maps and see how they compared to the one he obtained from the auction?

Seeing Ning Cheng silent, Ruan Mingshu spoke up, “Recently, someone has been trying to look for cultivators from the Orchid Borough Celestial River to strike up a conversation. He also came looking for me. From the looks of it, this fellow is looking for a map. If this person comes looking for you, and you do not know anything about it, just try to brush him off. If he still remains persistent, then try to subtly expose the fact that you and Tang Yu know each other.”

Ning Cheng had not thought about Tang Yu; however, now that Ruan Mingshu spoke about that name, he quickly asked, “Junior Apprentice Sister Mingshu, who is Tang Yu, does she have a prominent background?”

Ruan Mingshu shot a surprised look at Ning Cheng, “You don’t even know who Tang Yu is? Her father’s name is Tang Yitang, one of the Eternal-level Powerhouses of the Man Lun Starry Skies. Even Heavenly Emperor Man Lun has to remain polite with Tang Yitang. At the same time, in the Man Lun Starry Skies, because of her background, no one would dare mistreat her or even go against her words. Otherwise, that Lou Pingchuan would not have stopped at that time.”

“Moreover, Lou Pingchuan also has a significant background, as he comes from Shang Mou Celestial River’s Lou Clan, which is one of the strongest clans within the Shang Mou Celestial River. By the way, how did you manage to get into the Dao Discussion Hall? Moreover, even Ma Jian, who never saw eye to eye with anyone, how did you convince him to stand up and even help in defending you?”

“A friend that I just met took me in. She was very nice. As for Ma Jian’s intervention, I think she might have invited him to help me.” Ning Cheng spoke out with ambiguity. In fact, Ruan Mingshu had already met Shen Qinyu once; however, Ning Cheng believed that Ruan Mingshu certainly would not remember that matter.

Without waiting for Ruan Mingshu to continue with the line of questioning, Ning Cheng took the initiative to change the topic, “Junior Apprentice Mingshu, can you tell me more about the Time Wilderness? To be honest, I don’t have any information about this Time Wilderness at all.”

Ruan Mingshu gave an ‘en’ sound before continuing, “Senior Apprentice Brother Ning, even if you hadn’t mentioned it, I was about to tell you. However, I also do not know much about it. I only heard that the Time Wilderness is the fusion of small fragments of the Void’s Worldly Laws and a starry skies’ wilderness. These fragments were those of the Laws of Time. According to what I had heard, a heaven-defying powerhouse had combined these fragmented Laws of Time with a starry skies’ desolate land fragment to form this Time Wilderness.”

“So it’s something with a master?” Ning Cheng asked in amazement.

Ruan Mingshu shook her head and spoke, “It might have had a master in the past, but it no longer has one currently. I heard that the powerhouse that constructed this Time Wilderness had not only fused many fragmented Worldly Laws of Time into it but had also accumulated many treasures inside it. However, before this powerhouse could fully form his Time Law World, this powerhouse ended up falling in a fight with others.”

Ning Cheng remained silent; he had already witnessed the scenes of powerhouses falling in the past. In the beginning, when he had just obtained the Everlasting Blue Thunder City, among any of those powerhouses locked in combat, which one among them was not a tyrannical character in the entire universe? Yet, did these characters still not ended up falling and turning to ashes within the starry skies? Even Cang Wei, a powerhouse in himself, still needed his help to save him.

Although Ning Cheng’s eyes remained fixed over Ruan Mingshu’s face, his thoughts, however, had already wandered off quite far away. If someone considered as a powerhouse died, could one still regard him or her as a powerhouse? With that logic, then in this part of the universe, only those real Eternal-level cultivators were the real powerhouses, while everyone else was akin to floating clouds.

“What’s the matter with you, Senior Apprentice Brother Ning?” Ruan Mingshu spoke up after seeing Ning Cheng’s far-away look.

“Oh, nothing, go on.” Ning Cheng immediately returned to senses.

Ruan Mingshu knew that Ning Cheng must have a secret; however, she did not ask Ning Cheng about it and continued, “Later, the Time Wilderness ended up in the Man Lun Starry Skies. However, the Time Wilderness is not available at all times; only during specific times would it open.”

“Over the years, countless cultivators have entered the Time Wilderness; at the same time, countless cultivators have also fallen in the Time Wilderness. Because inside the Time Wilderness, the scariest thing is Time itself. Sometimes, if one accidentally fell into a Time Vortex, by the time you manage to break free, your longevity might end up completely exhausted, resulting in your lifespan running out.”

“So, the Heavenly Emperor Man Lun go in?” Ning Cheng suddenly asked.

Ruan Mingshu spoke up with affirmation, “That’s right. If one does not meet the conditions, then even someone like the Heavenly Emperor Man Lun cannot get in. I heard that the Time Wilderness opens once in ten years. Therefore, after entering, one cannot come out before the ten-year period is up. After ten years, the Time Wilderness would automatically send out the cultivators that managed to survive till that point on the inside.”

“Ten years?” Ning Cheng asked in surprise, for a mysterious realm to remain open for ten years, was it not too long?

“That’s right, it is ten years. Moreover, within the Time Wilderness, the most precious things are not the Perpetual Moon Pills, but the Time Stones. Time Stones are something indigenous to the Time Wilderness; you cannot find one outside. Additionally, these objects are beyond precious and even contain traces of the Laws of Time. Moreover, Time Stones have no definite size and can range in size from a dust particle to a dragon-eyed fruit. I heard that this time’s experience within the Man Lun Starry Skies’ Time Wilderness would be based on the amount of Time Stones harvested……”

Ning Cheng immediately interrupted Ruan Mingshu, “Junior Apprentice Sister Mingshu, from what you said about the preciousness of Time Stones, even if someone obtained it, why would they take them out?”

Ruan Mingshu stared at Ning Cheng for a while before elucidating word-for-word in complete seriousness, “Senior Apprentice Brother Ning, if you really obtained Time Stones in the Time Wilderness, then you must take them out; otherwise, you would end up suffering a fate even worse than death.”