The Gate Of Good Fortune

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Song Chengbo finished and looked at Ning Cheng with a smile. An ordinary Heaven’s Mandate Cultivator would show some fear and restraint in front of a cultivator in the Heaven Seated Realm. As such, he felt help but feel somewhat curious about this Heaven’s Mandate Cultivator in front of him. Not only did this fellow traversed the void alone, he even dared to visit the Temple of Falling Stars with him, a Heaven Seated Cultivator.

Ning Cheng spoke up as if he did not consider such a thing to be an issue, “Many thanks, Brother Song, for inviting me. This Ning would like to visit the Temple of Falling Stars with Brother Song.”

To be honest, Song Chengbo, although powerful, was on the same level as Shang Mouliang. When still in the Undead Realm, Ning Cheng had managed to kill Shang Mouliang with the help of the various array formations that he had set up previously. Therefore, even if he could not go head to head with Song Chengbo, he at least would be able to preserve his life. What’s more, they haven’t even started fighting yet. Therefore, there was no way of telling who was strong and who was weak. Especially since his current strength had improved by a huge margin compared to when he was in the Undead Realm.

Although Heaven’s Mandate and the Heaven Seated Realm were separated by an insurmountable chasm, this chasm was only for ordinary Heaven’s Mandate Cultivators.

“Haha, that’s the spirit. Let’s go.” Song Chengbo laughed and gave Ning Cheng a thumbs-up before getting onto his flight-type weapon and driving away.

Ning Cheng didn’t bring out any weapon and instead, chose to stand on the back of Chasing Bull and let it follow Song Chengbo. Song Chengbo had travelled the void for so many years and naturally knew about the ‘taboos’ concerning the path of cultivation. As such, he did not invite Ning Cheng onto his flight-type weapon. In fact, even if he had invited Ning Cheng to come aboard, Ning Cheng would have refused it.

Not having any fear towards Song Chengbo was one thing, but embarking on Song Chengbo’s personal weapon, that was another thing altogether. He was not so arrogant to dare to enter a flight-type weapon of a Heaven Seated Cultivator without any prior preparation.

“You sure have a good bull. Is it a Wind Seeking Longevity Bull?” Song Chengbo’s voice came from the front. Apparently, he could see that Ning Cheng’s bull was not simple.

Ning Cheng showed a faint smile as he replied, “No. But it does have some decent speed.”

He did not mention that the bull under his feet was actually the Wind Seeking Heavenly Bull. But even if Song Chengbo realised it, he didn’t care. A demonic beast who has already recognised a master would have little use even if someone snatched it away.

Although Song Chengbo was fast, Chasing Bull was also not slow. One day later, Song Chengbo finally stopped. Ning Cheng already had memorised the Void Positional Diagram of the Temple of Falling Stars; as such, he immediately realised that he had arrived at the periphery of the Temple of Falling Stars.

To Ning Cheng’s surprise, he saw two huge pillars in front of him. Each one was very thick and stood in the void all by itself, without any apparent base. Even he could not gauze the extent of its length or to where it stretched out. At least Ning Cheng’s Spiritual Consciousness couldn’t sweep to the end or even the beginning of these two pillars.

“Brother Song, I’ve never been to the Temple of Falling Stars before, can you tell me about these two pillars here?” Ning Cheng asked in doubt with cupped fists.

Song Chengbo looked the two pillars ahead and said, “I heard that these two pillars were here since the time when the Primal Chaos opened. The void between the various positional planes and interfaces is always extremely chaotic, to the point that it would be a literal impossibility to survive in it for a long time. Therefore, although positional planes intersect here, these two pillars are what allow the cultivators to survive and establish something like the Eternal Night Domain.”

“As for how these two pillars came to be, I have no idea. Rather, I doubt that anyone living here even knows or understands where these two pills start or end. No one has successfully followed the pillars to its ends. The only thing I know is that the Temple of Falling Stars behind it is one of the places in this place through which one could travel to other positional planes, and that’s because of these two pillars.”

Ning Cheng stared at the two pillars in front of him that seemed to stretch out indefinitely and couldn’t help but feel insignificant in his heart. He also started to have some doubts about the two cultivators who fought over the Purple Yin Spirit Spring Bead. Did they perhaps want to leave the Eternal Night Domain and enter another positional plane through this place?

“Brother Song, does one enter the Temple of Falling Stars through the space between the two pillars?” Ning Cheng asked while pointing to the space between the two sturdy-looking pillars.

“That’s right. If you want to enter the Temple of Falling Stars, you will have to enter through the middle of the two pillars. However, the space behind the two pillars is extremely chaotic; therefore, if you want to go inside, you have to be really careful about your own life.” Song Chengbo nodded and spoke with a dignified tone.

“Then, shall we go in?” Ning Cheng asked.

Song Chengbo first put away his flight-type weapon and signalled Ning Cheng not to worry, “Don’t worry, let’s wait for a bit. I made an appointment with two friends who haven’t shown up yet.”

Hearing Song Chengbo mention about an appointment, Ning Cheng also put away Chasing Bull and stood aside. When he heard about the Temple of Falling Stars from Duan Gantai for the first time, he received no information about the dangers within the Temple of Falling Stars. Therefore, by following Song Chengbo, he at least did not have to take the lead.

Pondering over the fact that Song Chengbo was already a Heaven Seated Expert, Ning Cheng realised that he must have gone through the process of advancing to the Heaven Seated Realm. Therefore, Ning Cheng decided to ask about it while they waited, “Brother Song, I want to advance to the Heaven Seated Realm, but I’m still stuck at the full-circle of the Heaven’s Mandate Realm, without even gaining any sense of the barrier to the Heaven Seated Realm. Since Brother Song is already a Heaven Seated Powerhouses, this Ning Cheng wants to consult with Brother Song on how a Heaven’s Mandate Cultivator can touch upon the edge of Heaven Seated Realm?”

Song Chengbo looked up and down and Ning Cheng before smiling, “So you want to hear about my experience.....”

Ning Cheng, in a very smooth movement, took out a piece of ore and handed it to Song Chengbo, “Brother Song, this is an artefact-crafting raw material that I happened to come across some time ago. Brother Song can keep it if you like it.”

Song Chengbo initially didn’t care about it and also didn’t mind sharing his insights with others, but when his Spiritual Consciousness swept towards the ore, he couldn’t help but speak up in shock, “That’s a Thunder Firmament Crystal...... you actually obtained such a good thing?”

Thunder Firmament Crystal was a Starry Sky Grade 9 Artefact-crafting raw material, which Ning Cheng had obtained in bulk during his time in the Grand Culmination Starry Skies. Although it wasn’t something overly precious to Ning Cheng, it definitely was not the case for Song Chengbo.

After Song Chengbo finished his sentence, he did not wait for Ning Cheng to answer and quickly put away the Thunder Firmament Crystal. Ning Cheng looked like he had wandered through the void for many years; therefore, he did not feel overly surprised that this fellow managed to obtain some good things.

Although he acted on impulse, Song Chengbo still felt a little sorry about putting away Ning Cheng’s stuff without even asking. Therefore, he spoke up after pondering over it a little, “The truth is, it’s not very difficult to advance to the Heaven Seated Realm. As long as you have the Severing Filth Heavenly Pill or the Accordance Heavenly Pill, or if you managed to obtain a rare starry sky destined connection, you could advance to the Heaven Seated Realm.”

“However, among those cultivators in the Heaven Seated Realm, no two people have the same strength. Moreover, this difference in strength is something that cannot be solved by medicinal pills. I didn’t understand this point back then and used medicinal pills to advance to the Heaven Seated Realm. Now it’s just too late to regret...”

Ning Cheng quickly asked, “So we can’t use medicinal pills to advance to the Heaven Seated Realm?”

Song Chengbo showed a wry smile, “If one could advance to the Heaven Seated Realm without the help of medicinal pills, then even the word ‘genius’ would not be enough to describe them. They would be geniuses among geniuses. What I meant to say is that one cannot just take advantage of medicinal pills to advance when one hasn’t even gained any enlightenment. If you haven’t understood what it means to have your own Heaven’s Seat, you would not be able to touch the barrier to the Heaven Seated Realm under normal circumstances. Even if you successfully used medicinal pills to force your cultivation into the Heaven Seated Realm without enlightenment, it would be akin to pulling out seedlings before they matured. In short, that act would end up suppressing your future potential indefinitely.”

Ning Cheng, who seemed to have gained some insight, subconsciously spoke up, “So the right way would be to use the medicinal pills to advance when I have gained sufficient enlightenment into the Heaven Seated Realm?”

“That’s right. Since you can travel in the void with a Heaven’s Mandate Cultivation, then you certainly would have gained some insights by now. A Heaven’s Seat essentially means that you have started to gain a slightly deeper understanding of your own Dao or at the very least the direction of your Dao. If you don’t even have an idea about your own Dao, it would be extremely challenging to advance even through artificial means. Simply put, it would mean a dead end to your cultivation path.”

Although Song Chengbo hadn’t spoken in a very detailed manner, Ning Cheng still managed to understand the implications. Looks like the vague feeling from before was not entirely wrong. The reason why he had not yet touched the Heaven Seated Realm was not that his cultivation had not reached that point, but because he did not have enough understanding of his own Dao. He only had the barest hint of his own Dao, which was simply too weak. Therefore, now that Song Chengbo mentioned about this, he once again recalled the ‘Returning to One’ Leather Scroll in his storage ring.

Previously, when Zhongli Baichi had explained to him about it, he had managed to sense a vague direction of his Dao through it. Moreover, since he stayed in Heaven’s Mandate Realm for such a long time, it had unknowingly deepened his perception of the direction. However, it was still not enough.

Previously, he had believed that even if he fully realised the ‘Returning to One’ Spirit Technique, this ‘Returning to One’ still would not be able to compare with his Sunset’s Twilight. But now he suddenly felt that his original understanding was entirely wrong. Although ‘Returning to One’ could indeed be regarded as a Spirit Technique, but ‘Returning to One’ was not just a ‘Spirit Technique’.

His cultivation path was simply too complicated and spread out, similar to banging away clumsily with a hammer in all directions with no overall vision. If he could bring his cultivation together through the ‘Returning to One’ Leather Scroll and try to use it to form his own Dao, could it give him a more precise direction to the Heaven Seated Realm?

Maybe that’s what Song Chengbo meant when he mentioned about the direction of his Dao. The more enlightenment and insights Ning Cheng gained, the closer he would get to the Heaven Seated Realm. At this moment, even he felt that if he continued to experience new things for six months to a year in this place, he might just manage to touch upon the Heaven Seated Realm.

“Brother Song? Why is there a little Heaven’s Mandate Cultivator here?” A hoarse voice interrupted Ning Cheng’s thinking, forcing Ning Cheng to open his eyes and find two more people in front of him: a man and a woman.

The male cultivator had dark skin and ragged breath. From the looks of it, this fellow was the one who spoke that sentence a moment ago. As for the female cultivator, she had fair skin and looked quite beautiful. Although she might not have deliberately dressed in such a fashion, the bulging curves of her body revealed that her figure was no worse than Su Baijiao’s enchanting frame.

Both were Heaven Seated Cultivators, but the male cultivator looked a little older of the two.

“Oh, this is Ning Cheng, a friend I met not too long ago. He happens to be going to the Temple of Falling Stars, so I invited him to join us.” Song Chengbo laughed and explained to the two cultivators.

After that, he turned to Ning Cheng and said, “Dao Friend Ning Cheng, these two are my friends, Bian Shiyan and Qi Qiubing. I was waiting for these two. Since we’re all here, let’s go in together.”

Bian Shiyan’s expressions turned gloomy and spoke up in a hoarse voice, “Brother Song, I don’t have any opinions of going in together, but I will not agree to team up with a cultivator in the Heaven’s Mandate Realm. If it were anywhere else, it would have been fine. But in a place like the Temple of Falling Stars, even we could lose our life if we were not careful. Bringing in one more person means that you don’t have much confidence in us, and it would make things even more dangerous.”

Since Ning Cheng could roam around the Temple of Falling Stars with his Heaven’s Mandate Cultivation, it gave Song Chengbo a good impression of Ning Cheng. Also, Ning Cheng had even given him a Thunder Firmament Crystal; as such, he thought nothing of bringing Ning Cheng into the Temple of Falling Stars. However, Bian Shiyan’s words made him frown slightly.

Ning Cheng had already gained a lot after listening to Song Chengbo. Besides, he also knew that even if the three Heaven Seated Cultivators, including Song Chengbo, joined forces with him, once they encountered something they considered dangerous, then the three of them would not be able to help him in any way, even if they wanted.

Now that Song Chengbo and Bian Shiyan were about to break into a disagreement about his involvement, Ning Cheng immediately spoke up, “You can go in first. I can go alone later.”