"The Transcendent Ruins?"
All 3 of them suddenly hesitated when they heard that. It wasn't just the 3 either, even the 12 Immortal Kings were slightly fearful.
As for the Immortal Saints, they simply did not understand the reason why they were so hesitant. Did their seniors know something they didn't?
"Umm… the Transcendent Ruins?" they asked.
"Yes, that place," Ning said.
"Um… you probably shouldn't go there," the Empress said. "It's—"
"Off limits?" Ning smiled as he asked. "Not to me. You immortals might not be allowed to go there or are simply too scared to go there, but I'm not. You know why?"
The group hesitated. Even the Beast Emperor hesitated a little as he asked, "Why?"
Ning got closer to them and whispered something that only the 3 Emperors could hear.
"I'm stronger than Yanxu Qiuguan."
All 3 of the emperors took a deep breath and backed off immediately. "Don't speak his name," one of them shouted.
Ning chuckled when he saw that. "Why not? I'm not joking," he said. "I really am."
"Master, who is that?" Blue asked.
"I'll tell you later," Ning said.
"That dragon," the beast Emperor couldn't help but speak up about Blue. "Have you tamed him to be your beast?"
"Tamed? Uh… do you think you're tamed, Blue?" Ning asked.
"Of course, master. Especially when compared to you," Blue said. "Even these 3 emperors will look tamed when compared to you."
"There you go, that's your answer," Ning told the Beast emperor. The emperor did not know what else to say after hearing that. He couldn't even get angry as he was starting to believe that Ning was in fact stronger than him.
One would have to be that strong to speak Yanxu Qiuguan's name without worrying about the consequences. After all, the Immortal God had wished for himself to be slowly forgotten from everyone's minds, so speaking his name was a massive taboo for them.
And somehow, Ning wasn't only saying his name out loud, he was even daring to visit the Transcendent Ruins where the Immortal God had gone to stay.
That was a land that was off-limit for everyone that was in the Immortal realm. These emperors didn't even know what was happening in the Transcendent Ruins at the moment as they had cut off all communications coming from that place.
"Now, if you will excuse me, I have one final task to do before I leave," Ning said.
"Wait, we have—"
Before they could say anything else, Ning teleported away, vanishing from right in front of the 3 strongest, active cultivators in the world.
The 3 of them paled when they realized that they couldn't see where Ning was using their divine sense that spread for thousands and thousands of kilometers wide.
They gulped with fear and stayed silent in the air for a while before deciding to return back to their lands as they had nothing else to do anymore.
Ning appeared in the Transcendent Ruins. Unlike its name, this place was no ruin at all. It was in fact a bustling section of the planet that was left alone for the major part of history due to not having enough resources in this section.
However, it started growing resources again after some time, which was why it was called the Transcendent Ruins.
This place was at the moment a very stagnant land with very little growth. The changes in this place did not mirror the development in the rest of the world due to how little influence there was.
The Emperors had made it taboo for people to travel here, and those that did leave the place didn't want to return after realizing how good the outside world was.
The main reason for that is the existence of the now presumed dead Yanxu Qiuguan, the Immortal God of this world, the one who made the Chinese language the voice of the world.
Ning had indeed come to the Transcendent Ruins, but his purpose here wasn't to meet the Immortal god, he was here for another reason.
Towards the east of the Transcendent Ruins was a valley that was simply known as the Transcendent valley. He flew past the mountains to go to this valley and couldn't help but be surprised by just how much empty land there was here.
A normal cultivator could fly around the Transcendent Ruins for months and still not cover all of it.
In the valley was a city that seemed developed enough to be called one. Going a bit past that, there were roads on the mountains that went through a gorge to a small village past that.
Past the village was a massive forest full of nothing but a single type of plant.
Bamboo.
The Bamboo forest was the thing Ning had come for to the Transcendent Ruins. He had promised Varsil that he would get him a bamboo and this was where he was going to get it.
"Uhh… so which one is the bamboo I need to get?" Ning asked as he looked at the many bamboos that were in the forest. "Will I know just by looking at it?"
As it turned out, there was no way to know exactly where the bamboo he was looking for was, as it wasn't visible from the top at all.
The system gave him the exact location and Ning flew down to the forest to find it.
In the center of the bamboo forest, in a place with a small gap of its own was a lone bamboo with few leaves on it. As it turned out, its leaves were being constantly eaten away and the bamboo had no chance to grow at all, thus not being visible from the sky.
Ning walked towards the bamboo and wondered how exactly he was going to take it away. "Should I cut it in half or should I just take it out of the ground?" he wondered. "Maybe taking it all might make—"
Suddenly, Ning sensed something and stepped back a little in surprise.
"What's wrong, master?" Blue asked, still coiling around Ning's neck.
"Amazing," Ning said softly. "This bamboo plant has a cultivation base of its own."
