“Brother Ning, what do we do now?” Xi Xi asked as she walked over.
“There are still six months left in the third round of the Five Realms Dan Competition, let’s wait here for a day and go to the Underground Abyss a day later.” Ning Cheng made up his mind after a little thought.
Nian Yan also did not know when Ao Beijiang would return, and it was indeed possible that Ao Beijiang might return in several years, or he might return tomorrow. He had to do what he could before Ao Beijiang returned.
“Good.” Xi Xi did not ask Ning Cheng why he had to wait here for a day, she believed that Ning Cheng had his own reasons.
Ning Cheng indeed had his own reasons, Nian Yan was the most genius woman he had seen so far in his cultivation, there seemed to be nothing she didn’t know. For such hand scrolls left in the bamboo house by a powerful person, Ning Cheng naturally did not want to miss them.
When he returned to the bamboo house, Ning Cheng saw that there were a few more items on the bamboo table from before, not knowing when they had been added. Ning Cheng walked closer and saw that they were two books and a talisman, plus a jade slip.
The first thing Ning Cheng did was to pick up the jade slip and sweep his divine sense into it, and a clear directional map appeared in his divine sense. Underneath the map, there was a message from Nian Yan, “Senior Brother Ning Cheng, this jade slip map is pointing here. I have arranged an extremely concealing formation in this bamboo forest, without this jade slip, ordinary people should not be able to find this place. However, Ao Beijiang is not an ordinary person, so I have also left a talisman, if Ao Beijiang can find this place, this talisman will allow you to leave the Taiyi Realm.
You are by no means alone in possessing the treasures of creation between universes, and it is not impossible to possess the treasures of creation and still fall in the end. I have left two books here, one is my alchemy and formation dao insights, and the other is my cultivation insights, I hope I can give you some help, Nian Yan.”
Ning Cheng picked up and opened the book of alchemy and formation dao insights, many ideas that he had never thought of appeared in the book, letting Ning Cheng know that the value of these two books definitely surpassed many top treasures.
……
Jiao Shu God Temple, said to be a temple, what Ning Cheng actually saw was an ancient tree.
Ning Cheng put away the Time Wheel and Xi Xi stood before this ancient tree, apart from the Du Xuan Ancient Clan’s Time Wheel, he really could not find one that could compare to this tree.
This tree stretched for tens of thousands of miles, and there were countless caves on the surface of the tree. Even Ning Cheng’s divine sense was unable to sweep into the deeper parts of these tree caves.
The Wheel of the Year was a transparent tree, and divine sense could not sweep into it. And this tree was withered, to be precise, this tree was already dead. Both the branches and the trunk revealed a burst of death and grey decay, without any semblance of green vitality.
“I heard that the site of this scorched tree was originally a temple, and the scorched tree was just a tree behind the temple. Later the tree grew bigger and bigger and eventually swallowed the temple up. But the tree did not grow any further, for its roots were defiled by the demons of the abyss, and eventually withered away. There are countless holes around this scorched tree, and all of these holes can be entered.” Xi Xi said with a sigh as she looked at the huge ancient tree in front of her.
Ning Cheng responded, “Are these tree holes the entrance to the Underground Abyss?”
Xixi gave a hmph, “Yes, at the beginning, we all went in through here to try out.”
After a pause, XiXi hesitantly said, “That YuanGui said that later the underground abyss demons erupted and the Taiyi Realm strongmen blocked off the deeper parts of the underground abyss. I don’t see anyone around here, and I don’t know if we’ll be blocked from going in.”
Although Ning Cheng’s divine sense could not penetrate deeper, he could see clearly that these tree holes were indeed intertwined and ponderous above, each of which was like a twisted ladder that extended into the deep underground. Further down, Ning Cheng’s divine sense could not penetrate in.
“Let’s go, let’s go in first. There are no prohibitions blocking the outside of this, so it should still be possible to enter.” After confirming that there wasn’t too much danger, Ning Cheng greeted Xi Xi and took the initiative to walk towards this giant tree. He had heard what Farhex had said, and no matter if there was a forbidden barrier here or not, Ning Cheng intended to go in and take a look.
Just as Ning Cheng had said, the two of them, he and Xixi, were not blocked in any way and easily entered one of the tree holes.
An eerie aura came from it, making Ning Cheng somewhat uncomfortable. He had been to the Underworld and had also felt the Yin Qi aura of the Underworld. However, the Yin Qi of the Underworld was completely different from the eerie Yin Qi here.
The steps of the tree cave were like endless, and from these irregular steps, Ning Cheng could tell that they were all slowly stepped out by people who came later. All around these steps were intricately intertwined thick tree roots, which were panged around the steps, just like the blood vessels inside the human body.
“So there were demons as soon as we entered here, now we have been walking for so long without any demons coming out, I wonder if it’s because the strong ones have sealed the bottom.” Xi Xi said as she transmitted a voice to Ning Cheng.
“Hm.” Ning Cheng casually replied, his voice was not very loud, but under this tree cave, it was as if it had been amplified a hundred times, and the echoes were few and far between.
Xixi hurriedly transmitted a voice, “This is still under the roots of the tree, once there is no echo, you have already reached the extent of the underground abyss. You can only go slowly here, once you go fast, you are likely to be torn apart by the subtle spatial cracks.”
“There are still spatial cracks under this tree root?” Ning Cheng asked with a surprised voice transmission, there were spatial cracks under a tree, what kind of tree was this?
Xi Xi gave a hmph, “Yes, although the magic crystals of the underground devils are precious, those spatial cracks are also very powerful, if you are not careful, you will fall down here and become the nutrients of the scorched tree. Many people who came here never went out again. It was also luck that I survived that time.”
Hearing about becoming the tree’s nutrients, Ning Cheng’s heart was slightly moved. However, it was true that he had not felt the tree’s vitality, and if he had felt the tree’s vitality, he would have wondered if those spatial cracks were generated by the tree.
After a few more hours, a spider web-like rippled space appeared in front of Ning Cheng and Xi Xi, and Ning Cheng stopped.
“Crossing this spatial ripple is the range of the Underground Abyss. This spatial ripple is similar to a teleportation formation, there is no damage, and when it comes back, it won’t shift. It looks like Fargo has tricked us, and this place is not sealed.” Xi Xi said as she pointed to the spider web-like spatial ripples in front of her.
There was one more thing she didn’t say, if it wasn’t sealed, why had they not seen anyone so far?
Ning Cheng nodded, “I see, so the Underground Abyss is another realm, it’s not the Taiyi Realm at all. It’s just adjacent to the Taiyi Realm, and this spider web should be a realm obstruction.”
To be honest, this was really the first time Ning Cheng had seen such a thin interface hindrance. Usually when he went from one realm to another, he was separated by endless emptiness in between. One bad move and he would be lost in the void.
Hearing Ning Cheng’s words, Xi Xi said, “Many people feel that the Underground Abyss is not a Tai Yi Realm, and I think so too, it’s just that I always feel that it’s a bit strange for two realms to be so separated.”
Ning Cheng smiled faintly, “This is normal, let’s go in and talk about it.”
Ning Cheng passed through this spatial ripple as if he had been Buddhaed by a light breeze, and did not feel any sensation of spatial teleportation or collapse.
No wonder XiXi felt that it was not quite like two interfaces, Ning Cheng’s divine sense swept back again, no matter how much his divine sense penetrated, it could not pass through that spatial ripple just now.
“This is already the extent of the Underground Abyss, when we used to come here, there were people everywhere. I didn’t expect that we hadn’t met a single person even after walking up to now.” Xi Xi said with a sigh.
Ning Cheng’s divine sense swept out, there was no half-bright light around, and underneath his feet was a black colour, hard somewhat like a boulder. Occasionally some bones emerged with a bit or two of fluorescence, giving a sense of the darkness of the place. The eerie aura was even stronger, and just as Xi Xi had said, within the scope of his divine sense, he did not see a single living person, nor did he see a single demonic creature.
“Can you remember the way?” Ning Cheng asked Xixi who was beside him.
Xixi gave a hmph, “I remember, I have come to this underground abyss many times, Brother Ning, you follow me.”
As XiXi finished speaking, she recognized a direction and quickly moved forward. After reaching this, XiXi seemed to look even more excited and her speed grew faster and faster.
Ning Cheng’s cultivation level was too much higher than Xixi’s, so even if Xixi was faster, it would have no effect on him.
After Xixi had walked for about half an hour or so, Ning Cheng’s Void Cold Light Gun suddenly appeared in his hand, while raising his hand, he blasted a gun at Xixi’s side.
A harsh cry came out, followed by a crystal stone that was white with a hint of grey falling on the ground.
“A demonic object?” Xi Xi stopped, and then said in shame, “Big brother Ning, my cultivation was greatly reduced, and I was anxious about sister Xi’er, so I didn’t even see the demonic creature sneak up on me ……”
Ning Cheng waved his hand to interrupt Xixi’s words, reached out and grabbed the white with grey crystal from the ground and asked, “Xixi, is this the magic crystal?”
Xixi nodded, “Mm, this is the magic crystal, this magic crystal contains various clear auras of heaven and earth rules, most suitable for cultivators to sense the dao rhythm.”
Ning Cheng frowned slightly, “But this magic crystal isn’t pure, I can feel that it contains a large amount of messy aura, it isn’t suitable for cultivation.”
Xi Xi shook her head, “I don’t know what’s going on, the magic crystals that appeared in the past were all very pure. The devil crystals were crystal clear and had no half impurities apart from the Heaven and Earth rule aura.”
“Is the body of a devil creature made up of various dao rhythms? No substance apart from the magic crystals?” Ning Cheng asked again, just now he saw a black shadow sneak attacking Xi Xi, and after he finished off the black shadow, only this one magic crystal was present.
XiXi affirmed, “No, the devils are definitely not composed of Dao rhymes, although their devil crystals contain the rules of Dao rhymes of heaven and earth. As for what they are made of I am not sure, I only know that some very powerful devils have substantial bodies.”
Just as Xi Xi said this, she felt a burst of fluctuation in front of her, and the space around her and Ning Cheng began to distort a little.
“Big Brother Ning, the reason why I could see Sister Xi’er last time was because of this spatial fluctuation of the underground abyss that swept me away.” Not only did Xi’er not see any panic, but she sped up her speech and spoke.