Ruan Mingshu didn’t think that when Ning Cheng would return, instead of a single person, he would come back with three other people. Shi Yulan seemed intent on following the Ning Cheng trio, while Ning Cheng also had no way to drive her away. What’s more, he knew that Jing Wuming still had a few questions in his heart; as such; Ning Cheng just pretended to not knowing anything about it.
“Junior Apprentice Sister Mingshu, these three are my friends, Jing Wuming, Lan Ya, and Shi Yulan. Because it is difficult to find a place to stay in the Revolving Jade City at this moment, I wanted to also ask you of another favour in helping me find two more rooms for them. If it is really not possible, then we’ll try to find another way.” Ning Cheng knew that the Ruan Clan needed his help, while his relationship with the Ruan Clan would also end after the try-outs.
At this time, he did not want to miss the opportunity to rope in the Ruan Clan for some side help. Previously, he didn’t want to live in this place and just wanted to find Lan Ya and Jing Wuming. Now that he reunited with them, Ning Cheng no longer wanted to spend any extra time to look for a different place.
Neither Lan Ya nor Jing Wuming had thought that Ning Cheng would end up living together with a female cultivator, and a truly beautiful female cultivator at that. In their view, since Ning Cheng and this female cultivator were sharing a double room among themselves, it indicated that their relationship definitely was not an ordinary one.
Ruan Mingshu remained surprised for only a moment before she immediately reverted to her old self, “No problem; however, our Resting Pen’s room will really be cramped with all of us in it. I can get another double room. Senior Apprentice Brother Ning can stay with me, while the three of them can stay in the double room next door.”
Ruan Mingshu spoke up, and without waiting for Ning Cheng to reply, she continued on, “Originally, I could stay in a double room with Lan Ya and Shi Yulan as a trio; however, I have a few matters that need detailed discussions with Senior Apprentice Brother Ning at night. Therefore, things can only be arranged in such a manner.”
Lan Ya naturally had no problems with such an arrangement. As for Shi Yulan and Lan Ya sharing a room amongst each other, it also posed no questions. Since Jing Wuming couldn’t figure out the relationship between Ning Cheng and Ruan Mingshu, he also did not ask about why Ning Cheng and Ruan Mingshu chose such a living arrangement. Not to mention living together in a double room with Shi Yulan, Jing Wuming also hoped that Shi Yulan could take the initiative to try to explain things to him.
……
“Senior Apprentice Brother Ning, please come in.” After sending the Jing Wuming trio to the next room, Ning Cheng had just walked over to the door of Ruan Mingshu’s room, when Ruan Mingshu took the initiative to open the restriction.
Ning Cheng took out two cards and handed them to Ruan Mingshu, “Many thanks to Junior Apprentice Sister Mingshu’s help. I haven’t used these cards. Therefore, I’m giving them back to you. Also, thank you for the help for the previous matter; otherwise, we would have no place to stay right now. As for that Array Disc, I will return it to you in two days.”
Ruan Mingshu received the cards and put them away in her lotus pouch before smiling and speaking up, “Since we have already decided to cooperate with each other, such help is only natural. As for the Array Disc, don’t worry about it.”
After saying that, Ruan Mingshu asked a seemingly unintentional question, “Right, that woman called Shi Yulan, the one who stood next to your side, she truly is quite beautiful.”
“Yes, she is beautiful. If there is nothing else, I’m going back for some rest.” Ning Cheng didn’t want to share much with Ruan Mingshu, especially the fact that he encountered that Miao Pu today.
Before meeting Miao Pu, Ning Cheng still harboured some confidence in killing Miao Pu. However, after seeing Miao Pu, Ning Cheng felt his faith falter a little.
Miao Pu’s cultivation did not appear at the Celestial Bridge Realm; instead, it looked more as if his cultivation had already reached the Undead Realm. Even using a Grade 4 Array Disc in tandem with Jing Wuming and Lan Ya would be enough to get rid of Miao Pu. If Ning Cheng who had personally arranged the Array Formation, it would have still proven useful. However, this was not his Array Formation. Moreover, it was also just an Array Disc, which made Ning Cheng’s chances of pulling through even lower.
“Ok, you go back and take rest. Although there are a few things that need discussion, I will come to find you later.” Ruan Mingshu spoke out in her usual soft voice. Just as she had mentioned before, she had a few things that she needed to talk with Ning Cheng.
Ning Cheng did not feel willing to talk much about the current matter. At the same time, the Ruan Clan and he were not even close to each other. Moreover, Ning Cheng also had a few deep secrets, which should remain secrets. Besides, if the Ruan Clan discovered even one of his secrets, he would not have made it out of the Thunder Enforcement City alive. They certainly would not wait until now.
Ning Cheng had just returned to his room and hadn’t even activated the Restrictions on the door when he heard Shi Yulan’s voice, “Senior Apprentice Brother Ning, can I come in?”
Shi Yulan was Jing Wuming’s former Dao Companion. For her to come to his room alone at this time made Ning Cheng frown slightly. However, he still replied, “Come in. However, I hope that the person you are looking for is Wuming and not me.”
Shi Yulan quickly entered Ning Cheng’s room and took the initiative to activate the Restrictions on the door.
“Take a seat. So, what did you come here to look for?” Ning Cheng pointed towards the chair in front of him and spoke.
Shi Yulan first gave Ning Cheng a respectful bow before speaking up, “Many thanks to Senior Apprentice Brother Ning for saving me twice.”
Ning Cheng showed a faint smile before replying, “I just saved you twice. It’s not much.”
Shi Yulan let out a sigh internally. How couldn’t she understand what Ning Cheng’s words implied? That is, Jing Wuming had saved her life countless times already, and she still hadn’t seen fit to even give that man a proper thanks.
Without continuing down the path of thanking Ning Cheng with words, she took the initiative to sit down before speaking, “My father’s name is Shi Kuangsheng, and my mother is called Yu Molan. My father was a Devil Cultivator; however, my mother came from a famous clan and was a soft and quiet woman. During a battle within a mystical place within the Le Continent, my father met my mother and fell in love with each other at first sight. However, my grandfather hated my father as he was a Devil Cultivator and took the initiative to betroth my mother to Tan Xun, of the Le Continent’s Tan Clan.”
Shi Yulan’s voice felt as if came from the distant horizon, so quiet that people couldn’t even hear it unless they concentrated on her voice.
“The Tan Clan is one of the great clans of the Le Continent; even the Le Continent’s most premier academy, the Kun Yun Academy, was founded and built by the ancestors of the Tan Clan. Every Academy Head came from the Tan Clan, and it had enormous sway within the Le Continent. After Tan Xun saw my mother, he couldn’t help himself. However, my mother already had my father in her heart and refused all of Tan Xun’s advances.”
However, the pressure from both the Tan Clan and the Kun Yun Academy was not something that my parents could go against. The Tan Clan wanted to force my mother to marry into their clan; however, my father managed to struggle enough to let my mother escape. However, my father was just a single person. A single person’s strength remained meaningless in the face of such a behemoth and ended up eventually killed at the hands of the Tan Clan. However, by the time my mother managed to escape, she was already three months pregnant with me.
Shi Yulan seemed to have recalled all the hardships she had to face with just her mother as tears started welling up in her eyes. Even her tone had begun to turn slightly shaky.
“Because the Tan Clan couldn’t catch my mother, they directed all their anger towards my father’s and my grandfather’s houses. They exterminated my grandfather’s family, without even sparing the children or even the new-borns. They then burned my father’s Life Essence with Yin Flames for 49 days, before he finally succ.u.mbed and died to the inhumane torment.”
“My mother was devastated after hearing the news of my father’s death and turned weaker and weaker each pa.s.sing day. Finally, when I was seven years old, my mother also left me. I grew up in hatred, and I vowed to completely destroy the Kun Yun Academy and ma.s.sacre that b.a.s.t.a.r.d called Tan Xun. However, my strength was still not up for undertaking such a task. Although I went down the path of a Devil Cultivator, I still had no realistic ability to eradicate the Kun Yun Academy. It was also at that time that I met Jing Hao.”
“Jing Hao himself did not know about his own history. Although to the world he was Tan Xun’s Disciple, he is actually the illegitimate son of Tan Xun. Moreover, he also had truly superior qualification; therefore, since Tan Xun was the Academy Head of the Kun Yun Academy, he naturally heavily favoured Jing Hao.”
Ning Cheng took the initiative to help Shi Yulan pour a cup of Spirit Tea, as he vaguely started to connect the dots. Shi Yulan led a truly miserable life. If replaced by him. His means of revenge might not turn out much worse than Shi Yulan’s way of doing things.
Sure enough, Shi Yulan continued with a mournful voice, “To destroy the Kun Yun Academy and eradicate the Tan Clan, after I met Jing Hao, I deliberately killed a few True Inheriting Disciples of the other great academies to rouse their anger and jealousy. Some of them were even the direct descendants of many important Academy Elders. This incident finally led to a public outcry. During the commotion, Jing Hao took me and fled to the Kun Yun Academy. To let the others know that I was in the Kun Academy, I deliberately leaked bits and pieces of my whereabouts that led to the Kun Yun Academy.”
Ning Cheng couldn’t help but give out a sigh in his heart. When Jing Wuming had narrated his side of the story, Ning Cheng had wondered as to who might have leaked the news. According to him, the fact that he took Shi Yulan into the Kun Yun Academy was a tightly guarded secret. No one else knew about it; however, as soon as they entered the Kun Yun Academy, it immediately became public. It turned out that Shi Yulan was the one who had leaked the information. It was just that this Shi Yulan used some ruthless and unscrupulous means of killing a few unrelated people to instigate hatred. If he had been the one in her shoes, he definitely would never use such a method.
Shi Yulan showed a strained smile, “I achieved my purpose. I borrowed Jing Hao’s hand to extinguish the Kun Yun Academy and even eradicate the Tan Clan while also taking out Tan Xun. I avenged myself; however, I also can’t help feel sorry for Jing Hao. He was completely innocent in all of this. He even took me to escape into the starry skies. Not only did he save me many times, he even provided me with all the resources for cultivation. Because of this, spending one more moment with him was akin to another moment of torment for me.”
“Every time he went in search of cultivation resources, I secluded myself to cultivate. However, the fact was, I did not dare to stay close to him. Sometimes I even thought that if one day Jing Hao ended up falling, I would also commit suicide. That way, this entire debacle would end. However, whenever he returned, the things I owed to him kept increasing. People are not trees and gra.s.ses, even someone wretched like me can feel tormented in my heart.”
Ning Cheng remained silent; he did not know how to comfort the two sides.
“I took the True Spirit World; at the same time, I didn’t want to venture out to search for resources. All to make Jing Hao understand that I was a selfish person and that he should leave me. However, that Jing Hao, he is just too stupid. He never even said a heavy word against me. Although it pained me to stay with Jing Hai, I also owe my life to him.”
“It remained the same till the day Shang Mou Celestial River King met me and said these words, “I had a disposition that could even charm the dead. If I remained by Jing Hao’s side, it would eventually bring harm to Jing Hao. He can take me away and give me the freedom that I desired, while also not hurting Jing Hao. I couldn’t stand the daily torment anyway, even if Shang Mou Celestial River King had not appeared, I would have still tried to find the chance to leave Jing Hao.””
“But you shouldn’t have taken Wuming’s True Spirit World. Do you know what the True Spirit World entails? It entails countless lives.” Ning Cheng still helped Jing Hao by putting in a word.
Shi Yulan spoke with an even miserable tone, “The True Spirit World does not belong to his Tan Clan; instead, it belongs to my Shi Clan. This was something my father had inherited. However, before he could even finish refining it, the Kun Yun Academy ended up killing my father. Unfortunately, I could not keep the True Spirit World with me. Currently, the True Spirit World is in the hands of that Shang Mou Celestial River King. The reason I took to the True Spirit World with me was not that it was something precious, but because it was the only thing my father had left behind.”
“If that is the case, then why did you appear in the auction in the slave market?” Ning Cheng suddenly had a vague subconscious thought that the death of Shi Yulan’s parents might have some relations to the True Spirit World.
“It was still because of the True Spirit World. I had initially thought that Shang Mou Celestial River King had truly taken a fancy to my looks. However, I was wrong. No, too confident in myself. Whether Shang Mou Celestial River King took a fancy to my looks or not, his real purpose, however, was definitely the True Spirit World.” Shi Yulan clenched her fists tightly. The kind of unwillingness and resentment emanating from her was something that even Ning Cheng could clearly feel.