Chapter 1035: Sea Dragon Sacred City
Jiang Mann’s suspicion quickly receded when he saw Ning Cheng doing nothing to them. Instead, Ning Cheng simply walked to the airship’s deck and gazed far away into the Grand Essence Sea.
He and Mu Yueping looked at each other and hurriedly closed their eyes, concentrating on refining this unintentionally obtained opportunity. Whether Ning Cheng had bad intentions or not, they couldn’t do anything about it.
……
Half a month pa.s.sed, and Ning Cheng followed Jiang Mann’s map, surprisingly only encountering a few scattered sea demons. These occasional sea demons were quite weak, and Ning Cheng cleared them off easily. Unfortunately, this airship wasn’t his, so he couldn’t increase its speed past its current maximum.
“Brother Ning, if you ever come looking for me, Jiang Mann, in the future, we will do our best to help you with anything.” Jiang Mann’s grateful voice arrived from somewhere behind him. Ning Cheng understood that Jiang Mann had fully refined and absorbed the fire-attributed Primal Chaos Aura.
He turned back, cupped his fists, and said, “Congratulations Brother Jiang, for making great progress in your cultivation. Since Brother Jiang has said so, we will be friends from now on.”
After saying that, Ning Cheng removed his disguise. “Since we’re now friends, I want to let Brother Jiang see my original face. The disguise earlier was just to escape the pursuit of others.”
Jiang Mann was now a person Ning Cheng trusted. Since Jiang Mann showed interest in becoming friends with him, Ning Cheng wouldn’t refuse. Over the years, he offended many powerful people and made many friends like Cang Wei, Shushi , Meng Jingxiu, Lan Shu, Fu Shengnan and many more. It also included lifelong friendships with Jing Wuming, Pan Qian, Lan Ya, Cang Caihe and others from the starry skies.
After coming to the Grand Essence Realm, he got to know Qi Shisanxing, Sheng Houtian, Liu Fanglin, Kong Ning, Ruo Xi, Ba Meng, Lan Ruo , Li Jianshan and others. Jiang Mann was also a person worth befriending.
“I told you that Big Brother Ning, with that elegant aura, can’t have a face full of beards. Hehe.” Mu Yueping’s soft laughter emerged, followed by herself. Apparently, she had also refined the gold-attributed Primal Chaos Aura.
Since Ning Cheng and Jiang Mann had befriended each other, Mu Yueping naturally changed her way of addressing Ning Cheng to ‘Big Brother Ning’.
The Five-element Primal Chaos Aura allowed the two to grow considerably stronger. Jiang Mann had reached the Dao Raising Realm’s peak, but it was just the tip of the iceberg. The fire-attributed Primal Chaos Aura had brought him other considerable benefits. As for Mu Yueping, although she didn’t reach the late-stage Dao Raising Realm, the refinement significantly enhanced her Dao Raising Realm’s dao rhythm.
After refining the Five-elements Primal Chaos Aura, they no longer needed to talk while hiding things.
Jiang Mann and Mu Yueping had been cultivating in the Grand Essence Domain since the start. In fact, although they were rogue cultivators, the inheritances they had obtained weren’t trivial at all. It was the main reason they could survive in the Grand Essence Sea and become Dao Raising Holy Emperors, displaying their exceptional strength. It definitely wasn’t something that could be achieved by cultivators who primarily relied on cultivating in seclusion.
Jiang Mann and Mu Yueping also learned that Ning Cheng was an alchemist, but they didn’t know that Ning Cheng was a Dao Essence Pill Sage. They didn’t ask about it because Ning Cheng’s cultivation and age restricted their viewpoint on what grade of alchemist Ning Cheng could be. In their opinion, it wouldn’t be too high.
Ning Cheng also learned much about the Grand Essence Sea from Jiang Mann and Mu Yueping.
The remaining half a month eventually pa.s.sed as they discussed the various opportunities and speculations.
“Brother Ning up ahead is the entrance to the Secret City. Since it’s your first time here, I will help you as a guarantor when the time comes.” Jiang Mann slowed down the airship and said.
“Okay.” After talking for over ten days, Ning Cheng had long since understood the workings of the Secret City. All first-timers needed a guarantor or someone to introduce them. Otherwise, they would have to pay 50,000 spirit crystals for an entry.
But more importantly, if you were a non-familiar person, no one would help or even protect you if you got caught up in something in the Secret City. But the Secret City wouldn’t trouble you if you had a guarantor. Instead, they would look for that guarantor for an explanation or compensation as required.
What’s more, looking at the surroundings, Ning Cheng felt sure that he wouldn’t have been able to find the entrance to the Secret City if Jiang Mann didn’t personally lead him here. After all, in front of him was just a vast expanse of the sea. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t sense any restrictions or special markings. Even Jiang Mann could only find this place because of a jade token in his hand that guided him to this location.
“Actually, the entrance to the Secret City often changes at random. So if you want to enter the Secret City, you must rely on this directional jade.” Jiang Mann finished speaking and levitated the jade token in his hand.
Once the jade token floated high enough, a teleportation platform suddenly appeared on the originally calm and waveless sea. Ning Cheng and the others walked onto the platform, and the jade token above Jiang Mann’s hand erupted with bright rays of light before falling back into Jiang Mann’s hand.
Ning Cheng and the others had already disappeared when the flash of light dispersed. And the patch of sea where they were just standing a moment ago returned to the same calm state.
“What a dense spirit aura.” Ning Cheng said with some surprise after he walked out of the teleportation formation. He didn’t expect a place famous for shady deals to have such a dense spirit aura.
However, all around him were black streets, and he could only see the area right before him with his eyes. Everything farther away was completely blocked by various shielding restrictions.
“Truth be told, many people have made the Secret City their home and cultivate all year round since the spirit aura here is naturally abundant.” Jiang Mann explained while winking at Ning Cheng.
Ning Cheng understood that even though no one had come looking for him right now, his arrival was already being watched. Jiang Mann had already mentioned that Ning Cheng first had to apply for the Secret City’s ident.i.ty card. In fact, his actions just now reminded him to not comment on anything before that.
Fortunately, with Jiang Mann as his guarantor, Ning Cheng didn’t have to wait long before receiving the Secret City’s ident.i.ty card.
Ning Cheng didn’t want to waste Jiang Mann’s time, so after he got the ident.i.ty card, he said, “Brother Jiang, you should head to the Secret City and conclude your business. With the ident.i.ty card, I can teleport to the Sea Dragon Sacred City by myself.”
Jiang Mann’s face turned serious as he said, “Initially, we were just trading. But now that we are friends and someone is after you, I should at least accompany you to the Sea Dragon Sacred City.”
Ning Cheng laughed, “As long as there is a way forward from here, I won’t be afraid of the guy chasing me. No matter how bold he is, he wouldn’t dare to chase me into the Grand Essence Domain.”
Ning Cheng wasn’t boasting. With his current fame, no one would dare to openly make a move on him, let alone a small early-stage Dao Essence cultivator from the edge of the Grand Essence Sea.
“Big Brother Ning, just listen to Brother Mann. After all, you haven’t reached Dao Raising yet, while Brother Mann is just a sliver away from full-circle Dao Raising Realm.” Even Mu Yueping started to persuade Ning Cheng from the side.
Ning Cheng felt a bit helpless. He couldn’t just say aloud that although he was a Dao Sculpting cultivator, he could easily take on the two simultaneously.
“Brother Jiang, Sister Mu, you have also seen my flight-type artefact. I will be much faster if I go alone. Besides, the person I offended is a Dao Essence powerhouse. If we three went together, it would be difficult to defend against such an existence even if we combined our strengths.”
Ning Cheng decided to say it bluntly. If his enemies did try to chase after him, then there definitely would be at least one Dao Essence expert among them. Therefore, even if they went together, it wouldn’t help. In other words, if you followed me, you won’t be able to help.
Jiang Mann and Mu Yueping immediately understood what Ning Cheng meant. The two hesitated and said nothing more about accompanying Ning Cheng. Ning Cheng was correct. Facing a Dao Essence Holy Emperor, the two combined would have no chance of surviving. On the contrary, Ning Cheng could at least escape if alone.
“Alright, we can at least send you to the teleportation array.” Jiang Mann was very straightforward. After understanding the reasoning, he immediately wanted to send Ning Cheng away.
Few people used the teleportation array from the Secret City to the Sea Dragon Sacred City, especially since the price was even more outrageous than the Soul Sea Territorial City. It usually took 50,000 spirit crystals to teleport from the Secret City to Sea Dragon Sacred City. But spending over 10 million spirit crystals wouldn’t be out of the question if one wanted to leave urgently.
“Brother Ning, you can go take the teleportation array. In a few years, we will also be visiting the Grand Essence Domain.” Jiang Mann and Mu Yueping brought Ning Cheng to the side of the teleportation array.
Ning Cheng took out a jade bottle and handed it to Jiang Mann. “Brother Jiang, Sister Mu, we’ll meet again later. Also, since I’m an alchemist, I will give these two pills to you.”
Jiang Mann didn’t care too much about the pills but still accepted the jade bottle from Ning Cheng as he watched him leave.
“Brother Mann, what kind of person do you think Brother Ning is?” Only after Ning Cheng left did Mu Yueping ask in a small voice.
Jiang Mann smiled and said, “Ning Cheng is quite open and honest, completely different from those unscrupulous people from before. But since he can obtain that thing, it also shows that he has great luck and good fortune. Becoming friends with him is my biggest gain from this trip to the Secret City.”
Jiang Mann casually opened the jade bottle as he spoke but immediately capped it the next moment looking slightly aghast.
“What happened?” Mu Yueping and Jiang Mann deeply understood each other and each other’s way of doing things. Therefore, this action immediately caught her eye.
“Two Violet Heaven Dao Pills.” Jiang Mann sent her a voice transmission.
“Ah….”
……
The teleportation array from the Secret City to the Sea Dragon Sacred City was an ultra-long-distance array. Even with Ning Cheng’s cultivation level and resilience, he still felt dizzy.
But as soon as Ning Cheng stepped out of the teleportation array, he felt the prosperity of the Sea Dragon Sacred City as he heard from Jiang Mann’s mouth.
Before coming here, the most prosperous sacred city Ning Cheng had seen was the Heaven Essence Sacred City. But after coming to Sea Dragon Sacred City and observing his surroundings, Ning Cheng felt sure that even the prestige of the Heaven Essence Sacred City couldn’t compare to that of the Sea Dragon Sacred City.
Moreover, this was even when the laws of the Grand Essence Realm were broken, and the ten major dragon clans of the Grand Essence Sea had withered away. From this, Ning Cheng could already imagine how prosperous the Sea Dragon Sacred City was many years ago when the ten great dragon clans managed it together.
“Kneel down.” An extremely sharp and overpowering voice sounded out on the street in the distance, and soon Ning Cheng saw the people around him get out of the way. In the middle of the s.p.a.cious old street, a woman riding a horned beast was whipping a tall man with messy hair.
From the looks of it, the woman riding the horned beast said the two words. It should be for that tall man with messy hair who must have offended her.
Ning Cheng didn’t care. This kind of thing happened almost everywhere, and besides, he wasn’t even qualified to care about such things. Moreover, the Sea Dragon Sacred City’s teleportation array leading to the Silver Dragon Clan wasn’t near the teleportation array leading to the Secret City, which meant that he had to quickly rush to the Silver Dragon Clan’s teleportation array as soon as possible.
However, when Ning Cheng was about to turn around, something clicked in his mind about this tall man with messy hair. He quickly recalled that this fellow was named Mo, an ascetic monk-type martial cultivator. From what he knew about Mo, he never caused trouble, and only if someone bullied him would he take action, and that too only when he could no longer stand it.
Ning Cheng’s gaze swept over Mo’s body, still with the same messy hair, barefoot, carrying a cloth sack, an iron rod on his back, and a gourd around his waist. Ning Cheng couldn’t help but think this fellow hadn’t changed a bit over the years.
Although he had never interacted with martial cultivators or spoken to Mo before, Ning Cheng had always had a good impression of him. This was mainly because of Pan Qian, as Ning Cheng felt that Mo and Pan Qian shared similar personalities. It’s just that he never expected a martial cultivator like Mo to come so far and even appear in the Sea Dragon Sacred City.