1031

Chapter 1031: Can’t Leave

He couldn’t let this Dao Essence Holy Emperor do anything else. Therefore, Ning Cheng raised his hand and ripped apart the sound restriction in the room, “Junior Apprentice Sister Kong Ning, It’s me. I’ve disguised myself.”

“Senior Apprentice Brother Ning?” When Kong Ning heard Ning Cheng’s voice, she immediately recognised Ning Cheng. Then, she understood that something must have happened to Ning Cheng, which was why he was impersonating a disciple of her River Luo Sacred Sect.

“That’s right, it’s me. I was ordered to investigate the situation and was about to rush back to the sect. I didn’t expect to meet you here; what a fortunate thing.” Ning Cheng didn’t remove his disguise as long as Kong Ning knew what he meant.

Yu Xing didn’t expect Ning Cheng to be a disciple of the River Luo Sacred Sect, especially since he knew that Ning Cheng had disguised himself. But now, with Kong Ning addressing this cultivator ‘Senior Apprentice Brother’, how could he still be suspicious of Ning Cheng being a disciple of the River Luo Sacred Sect?

“Junior Apprentice Sister Kong Ning, I have an urgent matter that needs me to return to the sect, but right now, the teleportation array to the Grand Essence Domain isn’t open, so I can’t leave.” Ning Cheng immediately spoke up. He believed that closing the teleportation array was related to City Lord Yu in front of him.

Kong Ning didn’t even ask Ning Cheng about this urgent matter and could only look at Yu Xing.

Yu Xing spoke up with an embarrassed looked, “That’s because when we established the teleportation array, Cheerful Treasure Chamber of Commerce had also lent us their strength. Now that the Cheerful Treasure Chamber of Commerce asked us to close the teleportation array for three months, I had to give in to that favour. Fortunately, we’re less than half a month away from that three-month limit; otherwise….”

Ning Cheng sneered in his heart. Kindness? Isn’t it an exchange of benefits?

“City Master Yu, although this matter might be very difficult for you, I have no choice. I must bring the findings back to the sect in the shortest time. I would like to ask for Patriarch Yu’s understanding of this inconvenience.”

After Ning Cheng politely said that, he also took out a jade box and handed it to Yu Xing with both hands, “City Lord Yu, consider this as a token of the sect’s appreciation for your troubles.”

After confirming that Ning Cheng was really from the River Luo Sacred Sect, Yu Xing was internally deliberating on what to do. Offending the River Luo Sacred Sect wasn’t a wise thing to do. Don’t look at the fact that the River Luo Sacred Sect was far away from here; once something happened, people would know about it very quickly.

But then his spiritual consciousness unconsciously landed on Ning Cheng’s jade box. An instant later, he hurriedly reached out to take it, “Then, many thanks, fellow daoist Ning.”

Ning Cheng’s jade box didn’t have a forbidden restriction, so he could clearly see a Loyal Heart Spirit Zoysia, a Dao Transformation Dao Fruit, resting inside it. What’s more, it was something that he needed the most. Even if he took a step back and put it up for auction instead of using it, it would still fetch him a lot of spirit crystals.

“Then, let me accompany Senior Apprentice Brother Ning.” Kong Ning immediately spoke up.

After saying this, she looked at Ning Cheng. Ning Cheng should also be aware of her reasons for coming here. If Ning Cheng knew about the situation of the Five-elements Star, she could also go back with him. Even if Ning Cheng didn’t know about it, she could at least fill in the gaps.

Ning Cheng, fortunately, understood Kong Ning’s meaning. Therefore, after Kong Ning finished speaking, he quickly said, “It would be best if Junior Apprentice Sister Kong Ning could also accompany me back.”

Yu Xing put away the jade box, smiled and said, “The two of you belong to the River Luo Sacred Sect and naturally are not within the scope of the ban on teleportation arrays. Please follow me.”

Ning Cheng felt overjoyed and quickly sent a message to Kong Ning, “How many spirit crystals does it take for a one-way trip?”

Kong Ning immediately replied, “Disciples of the top ten sects pay half price. It would cost three million spirit crystals for the two of us.”

Ning Cheng sighed in his heart; it was still so expensive. He took out a ring, handed it to Yu Xing, and said, “City Master Yu, please find the required spirit crystals for Junior Apprentice Sister and me for the teleportation.”

Yu Xing’s spiritual consciousness swept in and found that it contained six million spirit crystals, and he quickly said, “You are disciples of River Luo Sacred Sect, only half price.”

Ning Cheng pushed the ring back into Yu Xing’s hand and said, “This time, because of the urgency and also to reduce City Lord Yu’s trouble, we should pay the full price.”

With this, Yu Xing’s view of Ning Cheng changed greatly. Not many disciples came here from the big ten, but hardly any were as polite as Ning Cheng.

The three of them had just reached outside the teleportation tower when a red light fell and landed in Yu Xing’s hand.

It was a message sword. Yu Xing’s spiritual consciousness swept into the message sword, but his face didn’t show any change in expression. Instead, he put away the message sword, smiled and said to Ning Cheng and Kong Ning. “I have to take care of a few things; it will need half an hour at most. You guys can wait here for a while.”

Seeing Yu Xing walking away, Ning Cheng’s face turned ugly. He guessed that the message sword should have something to do with Deacon Xia. Since it had something to do with Deacon Xia, it had something to do with him.

Kong Ning also noticed Ning Cheng’s anxiousness and asked through a voice transmission, “What happened?”

Ning Cheng sent back another voice transmission and asked, “Are you going to investigate the Five-elements Primal Chaos Aura on the Five-elements Star?”

Kong Ning nodded, “Yes, I just finished shaping my dao and stabilising my cultivation. So I purposefully took a mission away from home to train myself. But because it was forbidden to go out of this place for three months, I didn’t care about it too much and stayed here for more than a month.”

Ning Cheng replied in a low voice, “No need to go over there. The Five-elements Star is a trap. A powerful essence spirit is lying in wait in the depths of the Five-elements Star, and it wants to recover its strength by using the spiritual roots, foundation, and dao rhythms of cultivators that enter the Five-elements Star. But because too many people entered the Five-elements Star this time, that essence spirit slipped up, causing many to grab the Five-elements Primal Chaos Aura and escape.”

“It really has the Five-elements Primal Chaos Aura?” Kong Ning almost shouted in shock. She came from a big sect, so she naturally knew how precious the Five-elements Primal Chaos Aura was.

Ning Cheng affirmed, “It’s true. If not for unexpected problems, I’m afraid none of the people who went to the Five-elements Star would have survived.”

Ning Cheng’s words were falsely exaggerated. After all, that essence spirit slipped up and made such a mess because Ning Cheng’s Sea of Consciousness was too strong and also because of the existence of the Dark Nether Spirit Devouring Scroll. Without the Starry Sky Sea of Consciousness, Ning Cheng couldn’t have survived even if he had fully mastered the Dark Nether Spirit Devouring Scroll.

Because of his involvement, it interrupted that essence spirit’s solidification and forced it to consume most of its strength to attack his Sea of Consciousness. It allowed others to grab the Five-elements Primal Chaos Aura and even escape. Otherwise, based on that essence spirit’s plan, no one who entered the Five-elements Star would have escaped.

In addition, there was another reason; Ning Cheng had set up a teleportation array before entering the Five-elements Star. He couldn’t have escaped without the teleportation array, even if Ning Cheng decided to abandon the Five-elements Primal Chaos Aura. Likewise, if the essence spirit hadn’t formed that large hand to catch Ning Cheng in anger, forcing it to consume another major chunk of energy, the rest of the cultivators who entered the Five-elements Star would still not have been able to leave.

So many impossible things had come together because of Ning Cheng. One could even say that the fellow on the Five-elements Star was too unlucky.

“Then, what’s the matter with you?” Kong Ning asked again. The Ning Cheng she knew rarely had such an anxious expression as now, so she couldn’t help but ask for clarification.

“Some rumours are flying around that I might have some Five-elements Primal Chaos Aura, and it ended up on the ears of a Dao Essence Holy Emperor from Cheerful Treasure Chamber of Commerce. It resulted in the Dao Essence Holy Emperor asking City Lord Yu to block the teleportation array and wait for him to arrive. If I hadn’t met you, I’m afraid I would have had to force a fight with that Dao Essence Holy Emperor.”

There was another sentence that Ning Cheng didn’t say. That is, the message sword made Ning Cheng’s sixth sense scream ‘run’.

Hearing Ning Cheng’s words, Kong Ning’s voice transmission faltered, “You are still so bold. If I wasn’t here, wouldn’t you have died?”

Ning Cheng laughed, “I wouldn’t have died, but I would have been forced to use my ace cards. In the end, I’m afraid I would have been forced to head into the Grand Essence Sea.”

Before meeting Kong Ning, Ning Cheng had already readied the bead that had formed after chopping off those foreign strands of spiritual consciousness. With that bead, even if Yu Xing was a late-stage Dao Essence cultivator, he wouldn’t be able to stop him from leaving, not to mention right now, when Yu Xing was only slightly stronger than Deacon Xia. As for the defensive formation around the Soul Sea Territorial City, it also wouldn’t be able to stop him. However, going that route would guarantee him not participating in the Five Grand Realms’ Alchemy Competition, as he would be forced to flee into the Grand Essence Sea.

However, he also didn’t want to let go of the bead, as it could save his life at a critical time. Using it casually like this, Ning Cheng naturally was unwilling to do so.

Ning Cheng took out two jade bottles and handed them to Kong Ning. “There are some cultivation pills here, along with a Strange Crossing Dao Pill. You may need it in the future when you want to reach the Dao Raising Realm.”

Kong Ning knew that Ning Cheng was a Dao Essence Pill Sage. But she still blushed and rejected Ning Cheng reluctantly, “I haven’t even returned the points I borrowed from you last time; how can I take your stuff again?”

Ning Cheng stuffed the bottle into Kong Ning’s hand, “I’m afraid I won’t be able to leave through the teleportation array. If I’m not wrong, the message sword Yu Xing received just now should be related to me; it most likely came from Deacon Xi of the Cheerful Treasure Chamber of Commerce. City Lord Yu will still take action even if I was an actual River Luo Sacred Sect disciple.”

“He wouldn’t dare; if he dared to make a move against my River Luo Sacred Sect, he’d be dead.” Kong Ning spoke with the confidence of a disciple of a large sect. The statement wasn’t nonsense; if someone knew that they were a disciple of the River Luo Sacred Sect and still dared to make a move, they would die a burial-less death.

Don’t look at Ning Cheng taking out Guo Haoge; after all, Ning Cheng had been on the side of reason at that time. Plus, he had also escaped too fast; otherwise, how could Ning Cheng still be alive right now?

Ning Cheng was about to speak when he heard someone say from the side, “Kong Ning, who dares to make a move against my River Luo Sacred Sect’s disciples?”

Only then did Kong Ning see three more people walking out from the teleportation tower. She quickly went forward and bowed, “Kong Ning greets teacher. How come the teacher came here?”

When Ning Cheng saw the three people come over, he understood that things had worsened. The female cultivator Kong Ning called ‘teacher’ was a Dao Essence powerhouse. Ning Cheng also knew the other two, and both were people he wasn’t on good terms with; one was Tong Mingzi, and the other was Shan Yaocen.

Damn it! Ning Cheng had enough confidence to walk away if facing one Dao Essence Holy Emperor. But he had no chance at facing several Dao Essence Holy Emperors.

Ning Cheng’s spiritual consciousness forcibly broke through the restrictions and swept out only to see Yu Xing coming this way, with Deacon Xia tagging right behind him.

“Dao Friend Kong Ning, I’ll take my leave first. By the way, you can help me get back my stuff when the time comes.” Ning Cheng turned around and left after he finished speaking. He couldn’t use the teleportation formation anymore, which meant he was only left with one way. That is, quickly leaving the Soul Sea Territorial City and entering the Grand Essence Sea.

Kong Ning understood what Ning Cheng was talking about. It was the thing he had given to Yu Xing. Now that the two Dao Essence Holy Emperors from River Luo Sacred Sect were here, it would be easy to get that item back from Yu Xing. Unfortunately, even if she was anxious, she couldn’t help Ning Cheng at all at this moment.

“Help me stall Yu Xing and that Deacon Xia by his side for some time.” When Ning Cheng’s back disappeared, Kong Ning received a voice transmission from Ning Cheng.

Chapter 1031: Can’t Leave

He couldn’t let this Dao Essence Holy Emperor do anything else. Therefore, Ning Cheng raised his hand and ripped apart the sound restriction in the room, “Junior Apprentice Sister Kong Ning, It’s me. I’ve disguised myself.”

“Senior Apprentice Brother Ning?” When Kong Ning heard Ning Cheng’s voice, she immediately recognised Ning Cheng. Then, she understood that something must have happened to Ning Cheng, which was why he was impersonating a disciple of her River Luo Sacred Sect.

“That’s right, it’s me. I was ordered to investigate the situation and was about to rush back to the sect. I didn’t expect to meet you here; what a fortunate thing.” Ning Cheng didn’t remove his disguise as long as Kong Ning knew what he meant.

Yu Xing didn’t expect Ning Cheng to be a disciple of the River Luo Sacred Sect, especially since he knew that Ning Cheng had disguised himself. But now, with Kong Ning addressing this cultivator ‘Senior Apprentice Brother’, how could he still be suspicious of Ning Cheng being a disciple of the River Luo Sacred Sect?

“Junior Apprentice Sister Kong Ning, I have an urgent matter that needs me to return to the sect, but right now, the teleportation array to the Grand Essence Domain isn’t open, so I can’t leave.” Ning Cheng immediately spoke up. He believed that closing the teleportation array was related to City Lord Yu in front of him.

Kong Ning didn’t even ask Ning Cheng about this urgent matter and could only look at Yu Xing.

Yu Xing spoke up with an embarrassed looked, “That’s because when we established the teleportation array, Cheerful Treasure Chamber of Commerce had also lent us their strength. Now that the Cheerful Treasure Chamber of Commerce asked us to close the teleportation array for three months, I had to give in to that favour. Fortunately, we’re less than half a month away from that three-month limit; otherwise….”

Ning Cheng sneered in his heart. Kindness? Isn’t it an exchange of benefits?

“City Master Yu, although this matter might be very difficult for you, I have no choice. I must bring the findings back to the sect in the shortest time. I would like to ask for Patriarch Yu’s understanding of this inconvenience.”

After Ning Cheng politely said that, he also took out a jade box and handed it to Yu Xing with both hands, “City Lord Yu, consider this as a token of the sect’s appreciation for your troubles.”

After confirming that Ning Cheng was really from the River Luo Sacred Sect, Yu Xing was internally deliberating on what to do. Offending the River Luo Sacred Sect wasn’t a wise thing to do. Don’t look at the fact that the River Luo Sacred Sect was far away from here; once something happened, people would know about it very quickly.

But then his spiritual consciousness unconsciously landed on Ning Cheng’s jade box. An instant later, he hurriedly reached out to take it, “Then, many thanks, fellow daoist Ning.”

Ning Cheng’s jade box didn’t have a forbidden restriction, so he could clearly see a Loyal Heart Spirit Zoysia, a Dao Transformation Dao Fruit, resting inside it. What’s more, it was something that he needed the most. Even if he took a step back and put it up for auction instead of using it, it would still fetch him a lot of spirit crystals.

“Then, let me accompany Senior Apprentice Brother Ning.” Kong Ning immediately spoke up.

After saying this, she looked at Ning Cheng. Ning Cheng should also be aware of her reasons for coming here. If Ning Cheng knew about the situation of the Five-elements Star, she could also go back with him. Even if Ning Cheng didn’t know about it, she could at least fill in the gaps.

Ning Cheng, fortunately, understood Kong Ning’s meaning. Therefore, after Kong Ning finished speaking, he quickly said, “It would be best if Junior Apprentice Sister Kong Ning could also accompany me back.”

Yu Xing put away the jade box, smiled and said, “The two of you belong to the River Luo Sacred Sect and naturally are not within the scope of the ban on teleportation arrays. Please follow me.”

Ning Cheng felt overjoyed and quickly sent a message to Kong Ning, “How many spirit crystals does it take for a one-way trip?”

Kong Ning immediately replied, “Disciples of the top ten sects pay half price. It would cost three million spirit crystals for the two of us.”

Ning Cheng sighed in his heart; it was still so expensive. He took out a ring, handed it to Yu Xing, and said, “City Master Yu, please find the required spirit crystals for Junior Apprentice Sister and me for the teleportation.”

Yu Xing’s spiritual consciousness swept in and found that it contained six million spirit crystals, and he quickly said, “You are disciples of River Luo Sacred Sect, only half price.”

Ning Cheng pushed the ring back into Yu Xing’s hand and said, “This time, because of the urgency and also to reduce City Lord Yu’s trouble, we should pay the full price.”

With this, Yu Xing’s view of Ning Cheng changed greatly. Not many disciples came here from the big ten, but hardly any were as polite as Ning Cheng.

The three of them had just reached outside the teleportation tower when a red light fell and landed in Yu Xing’s hand.

It was a message sword. Yu Xing’s spiritual consciousness swept into the message sword, but his face didn’t show any change in expression. Instead, he put away the message sword, smiled and said to Ning Cheng and Kong Ning. “I have to take care of a few things; it will need half an hour at most. You guys can wait here for a while.”

Seeing Yu Xing walking away, Ning Cheng’s face turned ugly. He guessed that the message sword should have something to do with Deacon Xia. Since it had something to do with Deacon Xia, it had something to do with him.

Kong Ning also noticed Ning Cheng’s anxiousness and asked through a voice transmission, “What happened?”

Ning Cheng sent back another voice transmission and asked, “Are you going to investigate the Five-elements Primal Chaos Aura on the Five-elements Star?”

Kong Ning nodded, “Yes, I just finished shaping my dao and stabilising my cultivation. So I purposefully took a mission away from home to train myself. But because it was forbidden to go out of this place for three months, I didn’t care about it too much and stayed here for more than a month.”

Ning Cheng replied in a low voice, “No need to go over there. The Five-elements Star is a trap. A powerful essence spirit is lying in wait in the depths of the Five-elements Star, and it wants to recover its strength by using the spiritual roots, foundation, and dao rhythms of cultivators that enter the Five-elements Star. But because too many people entered the Five-elements Star this time, that essence spirit slipped up, causing many to grab the Five-elements Primal Chaos Aura and escape.”

“It really has the Five-elements Primal Chaos Aura?” Kong Ning almost shouted in shock. She came from a big sect, so she naturally knew how precious the Five-elements Primal Chaos Aura was.

Ning Cheng affirmed, “It’s true. If not for unexpected problems, I’m afraid none of the people who went to the Five-elements Star would have survived.”

Ning Cheng’s words were falsely exaggerated. After all, that essence spirit slipped up and made such a mess because Ning Cheng’s Sea of Consciousness was too strong and also because of the existence of the Dark Nether Spirit Devouring Scroll. Without the Starry Sky Sea of Consciousness, Ning Cheng couldn’t have survived even if he had fully mastered the Dark Nether Spirit Devouring Scroll.

Because of his involvement, it interrupted that essence spirit’s solidification and forced it to consume most of its strength to attack his Sea of Consciousness. It allowed others to grab the Five-elements Primal Chaos Aura and even escape. Otherwise, based on that essence spirit’s plan, no one who entered the Five-elements Star would have escaped.

In addition, there was another reason; Ning Cheng had set up a teleportation array before entering the Five-elements Star. He couldn’t have escaped without the teleportation array, even if Ning Cheng decided to abandon the Five-elements Primal Chaos Aura. Likewise, if the essence spirit hadn’t formed that large hand to catch Ning Cheng in anger, forcing it to consume another major chunk of energy, the rest of the cultivators who entered the Five-elements Star would still not have been able to leave.

So many impossible things had come together because of Ning Cheng. One could even say that the fellow on the Five-elements Star was too unlucky.

“Then, what’s the matter with you?” Kong Ning asked again. The Ning Cheng she knew rarely had such an anxious expression as now, so she couldn’t help but ask for clarification.

“Some rumours are flying around that I might have some Five-elements Primal Chaos Aura, and it ended up on the ears of a Dao Essence Holy Emperor from Cheerful Treasure Chamber of Commerce. It resulted in the Dao Essence Holy Emperor asking City Lord Yu to block the teleportation array and wait for him to arrive. If I hadn’t met you, I’m afraid I would have had to force a fight with that Dao Essence Holy Emperor.”

There was another sentence that Ning Cheng didn’t say. That is, the message sword made Ning Cheng’s sixth sense scream ‘run’.

Hearing Ning Cheng’s words, Kong Ning’s voice transmission faltered, “You are still so bold. If I wasn’t here, wouldn’t you have died?”

Ning Cheng laughed, “I wouldn’t have died, but I would have been forced to use my ace cards. In the end, I’m afraid I would have been forced to head into the Grand Essence Sea.”

Before meeting Kong Ning, Ning Cheng had already readied the bead that had formed after chopping off those foreign strands of spiritual consciousness. With that bead, even if Yu Xing was a late-stage Dao Essence cultivator, he wouldn’t be able to stop him from leaving, not to mention right now, when Yu Xing was only slightly stronger than Deacon Xia. As for the defensive formation around the Soul Sea Territorial City, it also wouldn’t be able to stop him. However, going that route would guarantee him not participating in the Five Grand Realms’ Alchemy Competition, as he would be forced to flee into the Grand Essence Sea.

However, he also didn’t want to let go of the bead, as it could save his life at a critical time. Using it casually like this, Ning Cheng naturally was unwilling to do so.

Ning Cheng took out two jade bottles and handed them to Kong Ning. “There are some cultivation pills here, along with a Strange Crossing Dao Pill. You may need it in the future when you want to reach the Dao Raising Realm.”

Kong Ning knew that Ning Cheng was a Dao Essence Pill Sage. But she still blushed and rejected Ning Cheng reluctantly, “I haven’t even returned the points I borrowed from you last time; how can I take your stuff again?”

Ning Cheng stuffed the bottle into Kong Ning’s hand, “I’m afraid I won’t be able to leave through the teleportation array. If I’m not wrong, the message sword Yu Xing received just now should be related to me; it most likely came from Deacon Xi of the Cheerful Treasure Chamber of Commerce. City Lord Yu will still take action even if I was an actual River Luo Sacred Sect disciple.”

“He wouldn’t dare; if he dared to make a move against my River Luo Sacred Sect, he’d be dead.” Kong Ning spoke with the confidence of a disciple of a large sect. The statement wasn’t nonsense; if someone knew that they were a disciple of the River Luo Sacred Sect and still dared to make a move, they would die a burial-less death.

Don’t look at Ning Cheng taking out Guo Haoge; after all, Ning Cheng had been on the side of reason at that time. Plus, he had also escaped too fast; otherwise, how could Ning Cheng still be alive right now?

Ning Cheng was about to speak when he heard someone say from the side, “Kong Ning, who dares to make a move against my River Luo Sacred Sect’s disciples?”

Only then did Kong Ning see three more people walking out from the teleportation tower. She quickly went forward and bowed, “Kong Ning greets teacher. How come the teacher came here?”

When Ning Cheng saw the three people come over, he understood that things had worsened. The female cultivator Kong Ning called ‘teacher’ was a Dao Essence powerhouse. Ning Cheng also knew the other two, and both were people he wasn’t on good terms with; one was Tong Mingzi, and the other was Shan Yaocen.

Damn it! Ning Cheng had enough confidence to walk away if facing one Dao Essence Holy Emperor. But he had no chance at facing several Dao Essence Holy Emperors.

Ning Cheng’s spiritual consciousness forcibly broke through the restrictions and swept out only to see Yu Xing coming this way, with Deacon Xia tagging right behind him.

“Dao Friend Kong Ning, I’ll take my leave first. By the way, you can help me get back my stuff when the time comes.” Ning Cheng turned around and left after he finished speaking. He couldn’t use the teleportation formation anymore, which meant he was only left with one way. That is, quickly leaving the Soul Sea Territorial City and entering the Grand Essence Sea.

Kong Ning understood what Ning Cheng was talking about. It was the thing he had given to Yu Xing. Now that the two Dao Essence Holy Emperors from River Luo Sacred Sect were here, it would be easy to get that item back from Yu Xing. Unfortunately, even if she was anxious, she couldn’t help Ning Cheng at all at this moment.

“Help me stall Yu Xing and that Deacon Xia by his side for some time.” When Ning Cheng’s back disappeared, Kong Ning received a voice transmission from Ning Cheng.