Chapter 0318: Abandoned Spiritual Mountain
Yin Kongchan and Xu Yingdei did not care about the prince’s words; they just looked at Ning Cheng and wanted to know what Ning Cheng meant. However, when the two of them turned around to see Ning Cheng, the man riding atop the one horned beast was able to get a clear look at the two women, causing him to turn breathless. He had never seen such a beautiful woman before in Ya Lun City, yet now he was seeing two in front of him.
He was different from other people, in places like the Ya Lun City, although the average person knew that Yin Kongchan and Xu Yingdei were women with exceptional beauty, but none of them dared to have any ideas on them. That was because the laws of the Ya Lun City were simply too harsh. Once their thoughts became public, then the only fate that awaited them was the fate of strangulation.
However he was the son of the City Master, as such for him to take a woman, he would not have to go through those nonsense laws like the ordinary citizens.
“Are they both your women?” The man atop the one horned beast asked with glitter in his eyes.
Ning Cheng on hearing his words immediately understood that this person had taken a fancy to the two women, Yin Kongchan and Xu Yingdei, he was just about to speak, when Yin Kongchan was the first to come to the front and speak, “Yes, we are both his women.”
Hearing Yin Kongchan’s answer, Ning Cheng knew that Yi Kongchan has also read a bit of the Ya Lun City’s laws. Ya Lun City’s laws were extremely strict against people trying to seize other people’s women. Although the other party was prince, but even he could not blatantly make a move on them in the open. Therefore, even if he had any ideas over them, he could only execute them in a secluded place, where the people would not come to know.
“Can you give the two of them to me; I will agree to any price that you want for them.” The face of the man atop the one horned beast changed a few times on hearing the answer, before he finally managed to spit out a few words.
Ning Cheng was well aware of the Ya Lun City’s laws, so he was also aware that transfer of one’s women was also considered lawful, but only if both the parties agreed to it. However, since he was already aware that the two women would never follow the prince, so he just gave a simple reply, “I do not have the habit of sharing my women.”
The man did not get angry, rather he only gave a nod and did not continue talking about that topic, Yin Kongchan and Xu Yingdei. He just spoke, “I heard from Ma Ang that it was you who pulled up all the Aquatic Essence Tendons from the White Robed Ghost Lake?”
Hearing those words, only then Ning Cheng was able to see Ma Ang trying to hide from him in the distance. In his heart, he already had a vague understanding as to why this person came here. It seems that he was not here for Yin Kongchan and Xu Yingdei, nor was he here to cause any trouble for him. Instead, it seems he valued him for his ability to gather the Aquatic Essence Tendons.
“Yes, I am a martial artist, and also practice the Splitting Tendons Grinding Bone Hand, so was able to easily harvest the Aquatic Essence Tendons. However, there is not much Aquatic Essence Tendons left in the White Robed Ghost Lake.” Ning Cheng replied.
The man waved his hand and spoke, “I’m not asking you to go to the White Robed Ghost Lake rather there is something else that I need your help with. If you agree to it, then I will definitely not treat you badly.”
Ning Cheng replied in a soft voice, “The three of us are already having trouble living in this place. Just a few moments ago, the officials from the Legal Tribunal Office were prepared to take us back and lock us up. So for other things, we can only wait until I’m a bit better off.”
“Gee, Elder Brother Ning, I’ve been a bit busy these days. I truly wanted to come and apologize for the fact that I was not able to find the time to bring you your earnings, sorry, I’m truly sorry…..” Ma Ang, who was at the back, hearing Ning Cheng talk about difficulties in his life, quickly came forward and with a face full of smiles handed Ning Cheng ten golden coloured banknotes.
Ning Cheng looked at it, and found that the currency handed to him was 10,000. Seeing this he also did not remain on ceremony and directly put them away. Just after he put away the golden coloured banknotes, he simply spoke out a simple sentence, “Thank you very much, Elder Brother Ma.”
He then turned towards the prince and spoke, “I don’t know for what the prince needs my services for.”
Ning Cheng was certainly aware that the reason why Ma Ang had given him the golden coloured banknotes was that he was the one who introduced him to the prince. In case he turned his back on the people he owed, there would be a possibility that he might end up dying. At the same time, he was also afraid that he would lodge a complaint against him. But the fact was, even if Ma Ang had not given him the promised gold coins, Ning Cheng simply would not have done this kind of thing.
“In a place, a few miles outside of the Ya Lun City, there is a mountain called Abandoned Spiritual Mountain. The place that I want to go is also the Abandoned Spiritual Mountain. Especially because there is something on the Abandoned Spiritual Mountain that has almost the same level of difficulty in obtaining as the Aquatic Essence Tendons. Therefore, I will need your help for that. If you can succeed, then on behalf of the City Master, I would grant you the seat of a n.o.ble, while also reward you with a million gold coins.” As the man spoke, he kept his eyes fixed on Ning Cheng.
“We are willing to go.” Contrary to Ning Cheng’s expectations, Yin Kongchan was the first to take the initiative to help Ning Cheng decide.
Ning Cheng and Yin Kongchan were not acquainted with each other for just a day, so he was aware that this woman would not make random decisions. Since she had spoken about it, then there definitely should be a solid reason behind it.
“Of course, I am glad to be of service to the prince. I just don’t know when to start, since I like to prepare a bit beforehand.” Ning Cheng also immediately responded.
The man atop the one horned beast took a deep look at Yin Kongchan and Xu Yingdei, before he slowly spoke, “The place where the Abandoned Spiritual Mountain is situated is not very difficult to find, you can go ahead and make your preparations, we will start from here in three days.”
……
“Yin Kongchan, why did you agree to go to the Abandoned Spiritual Mountain?” After returning to his residence, Ning Cheng immediately asked.
Yin Kongchan replied in a whisper, “I’ve been asking around, and found that there would always be someone who has tried to get out of this place. From that, I found that there is only one such place that might be of some help to us and that is the Abandoned Spiritual Mountain. On the Abandoned Spiritual Mountain, there is a door called the Awakening Spiritual Door. Although the characters ‘Abandon’ and ‘Awakening’ are h.o.m.ophones to each other; however they do not share a meaning with each other.”
“You mean you can get out of this place through the Awakening Spiritual Door?” Ning Cheng hurriedly asked.
Yin Kongchan gave an ‘en’ sound and spoke, “Yes, but the Awakening Spiritual Door is hard to find, and it often changes positions. In any case, if we want to get out of this place then it can only happen by going to the Abandoned Spiritual Mountain. Moreover, I also heard that the Awakening Spiritual Door is extremely difficult to open. In the past, someone did try to open the Awakening Spiritual Door. That person had brought the entire army to the door and even sacrificed all the soldiers as a blood sacrifice, but even then they did not manage to open the Awakening Spiritual Door.”
“How do you know this thing in such detail?” Ning Cheng looked at Yin Kongchan in doubt; arguably, these secrets were something that a commoner would not have access to, let alone Yin Kongchan, who had just arrived here?
Xu Yingdei suddenly spoke from one side, “One of the people in the makeshift market comes to our stall to buy embroidery every day, and every day she ends up talking to him for almost half a day. It was from him that she had gotten all these details. That person seems to be from a somewhat poor family however, he seemed to care a lot about Yin Kongchan. I guess he ended up falling for her.”
Yin Kongchan sighed, “Xu Yingdei, even if you’re in love with Ning Cheng, you can’t lower your intelligence to such an extent. How am I going to fall in love with someone in this place? Even if I cannot go out, I can still marry Ning Cheng. This place does not have a rule where a man can only marry one woman.”
Ning Cheng waved his hand and stopped the two of them from continuing, as he asked, “Yin Kongchan is there any other news that you want to share?”
Yin Kongchan also did not continue to pay attention to Xu Yingdei, turning to Ning Cheng, she spoke, “I suspect that the reason why the prince wants you to partic.i.p.ate is so that you could help him open the Awakening Spiritual Door and then get out of this Forsaken Land. The Awakening Spiritual Door is something that is extremely hard to find, and in a place where we cannot even bring out our spiritual consciousness, wanting to find the Awakening Spiritual Door in the Abandoned Spiritual Mountain would cost a lot of effort. Because of this, it is possible that the prince’s main motive will be searching for the Awakening Spiritual Door, so it made me even surer to go with them. Otherwise, if we were on our own, then we certainly would not be able to discover it in a short while.”
“I understand, take this money and go buy everything you can. I will continue cultivating.” Ning Cheng put the money he received on the table, and immediately went into his room.
As long as he could extend his spiritual consciousness a bit more, he would then be able to open his ring, then using his pills and spirit stones in tandem, he would then be able to directly release the restraints on his Sea of Consciousness and Core Lake.
With ten thousand gold coins among the two, Yin Kongchan and Xu Yingdei obviously did not need to continue maintaining their stall. The two people, each under tacit understanding, took five thousand each and went out to buy their own things.
Feeling the two of them leave the house, Ning Cheng finally calmed down, just when he was about to once again strike his sealed up Zifu, the door of his room once again opened.
“What is the matter with you?” Ning Cheng looked at Yin Kongchan with some suspicion. In general, Yin Kongchan rarely took the initiative to come into his room.
Yin Kongchan sat down opposite to Ning Cheng and hesitated for a good long while before she finally spoke, “Ning Cheng, you saved me several times already. I feel that this time, when we go to the Abandoned Spiritual Mountain, there is a likelihood that we might not even gain anything. So there is something that I wanted to talk to you about, whether you believe it or not, I still want to say it.”
Ning Cheng nodded and spoke, “You can speak.”
“If we can get out of this place this time, if we end up meeting each other again, then perhaps we may not be able to sit with each other under the clouds and chat about life. You are definitely a person worthy to make friends with, if I ever have the chance to search for a Dao Companion for myself, then I will definitely choose you without hesitation.”
Ning Cheng waved his hand and interrupted Yin Kongchan’s words and spoke, “I already have a fiancée, so it would be better to stop with the talks about Dao Companions. It does not matter to me if you talked about this matter in front of the prince, but just do not speak about it in front of me. I don’t like hypocritical people.”
Yin Kongchan replied, “I am telling you the truth, you need to be careful of Xu Yingdei. Although, she is in love with you, but it is not from her heart, rather it is because of her cultivation method from the Severing Emotions Dao Sect. I have a good understanding about her sect, and am well aware that they cannot just go ahead and sever superficial emotions.”
Seeing Ning Cheng silent, Yin Kongchan once again spoke up, “To know whether her love towards you is sincere or not is very simple, you just choose a time, and if she really enters Dual Cultivation with you, then you will immediately realize it. Women from the Severing Emotions Dao Sect, once they enter into true Dual Cultivation, they can then no longer severe their emotions. Moreover, the time ripe for severing their emotions is when it is the other party who is very much eager and even borderline desperate to engage in Dual Cultivation with them, either that or when your love for her truly reaches the peak. Because of this, they can never really do the things between a man and a woman, once they do such a thing then even if they wanted to, they would never be able to sever anything ever again.”
Yin Kongchan left after saying her piece; however, Ning Cheng did not notice it. All the while, there was only a single scene playing around in his head, and that was Xu Yingdei with her white hair, which made him palpitate and even forced a chill to run through his body. Xu Yingdei did not hesitate at that time to replace him under the knife, which made him feel that Xu Yingdei truly wanted to pay for his mistakes. When he was cultivating the Embracing Yang G.o.d Tactic, Yin Kongchan actually hesitated, however Xu Yingdei did not hesitate at all to express her desire to help him.
However, none of these was a factor for him to gain interest in Xu Yingdei, rather he was actually only grateful towards her in his heart, and wanted to find the Frost Sprout to give it to Xu Yingdei.
However, what actually tugged at his heartstrings was the scene he encountered in the makeshift market, when he saw Xu Yingdei covered in blood all over and sprawled over the ground, while she still held a few pieces of embroidered pictures in her hands.
That scene triggered the memory of when he had just arrived in this world and had to struggle just to breathe. He could see himself in Xu Yingdei’s situation in front of him. This Xu Yingdei made him feel a trace of truth, and it was completely different from the time when she held a knife for him, or even when Xu Yingdei willingly burnt her vitality for him.
At that moment, she looked so ordinary and so vulnerable, made out of real flesh and blood, combined with that kind of panic-stricken expression, it was not something that someone can fake at all.
Ning Cheng sighed; he no longer was in any mood for cultivation. Whether Xu Yingdei was really showing the truth or was faking it all along, after exiting this place, he would stay far away from all of this. He was simply not fond of such a genuine fake.