Seeing Ning Cheng step out, Meng Ku also rushed out without hesitation. As soon as he came out, he immediately stimulated his True Essence to work with Ning Cheng and Ji Luofei to fend off the surrounding raging winds of the Bridge of Storms.
However, he immediately realised that he had thought too lightly about the situation outside the cave. His stimulated True Essence had just encountered the raging winds of the bridge when the wind tore it to nothingness. Meng Ku sighed powerlessly as he realised that his full strength did not have even half an impact over this horrifying storm. Sure enough, it was not something a human could resist. In his view, this storm should have already torn apart Ning Cheng and Ji Luofei.
Just as Meng Ku steeled his heart for death, he suddenly felt the raging winds that made up the bridge fade away considerably. Unless one actually died, no one would want to die. Meng Ku immediately seized this heaven-sent opportunity and brought out his defensive-type weapon. A moment later, he felt shocked to find that his weapon could now easily withstand the terrifying power of the Bridge of Storms.
“I can’t go upstream yet. So just protect yourself and keep following me.” Ning Cheng’s voice arrived, making Meng Ku understand that it was not just luck that he encountered a weakened Bridge of Storms. Most likely, the injured cultivator in the front had helped him block the most violent portion of the Bridge of Storms.
Soon horror replaced Meng Ku’s surprise. He could judge from the words and actions that the cultivator in front of him, walking down the path in this terrifying Bridge of Storms did not suffer any harm; not only did this fellow remained unharmed, but this fellow even helped him fend off the storm. What was this fellow’s cultivation?
“Many thanks, Senior…..” Meng Ku spoke up with respect while congratulating himself for his choice.
Ji Luofei also felt equally surprised to see the weakening storm around her. She finally realised that Ning Cheng was not just lucky to end up sucked into the cave, but it most likely happened due to deliberate actions. This also showed that Ning Cheng’s cultivation had grown far higher compared to hers.
Since Ning Cheng managed to improve his cultivation to such heights, it made her feel even happier.
Ning Cheng still kept Ji Luofei in his arms as he walked along the Bridge of Storms. Once the Wind Bridge he walked on ended, and just before the storms sucked him onto another bridge, Ning Cheng picked up Meng Ku and activated the Twin Wings of the Heavenly Clouds to its limit. The next moment, their figures flashed and escaped through the slight gap that appeared within the Bridge of Storms.
In less than half-an-incense stick worth of time, Ning Cheng finally managed to rush out from the entrance on the other side of the ruined Void Island. The violent suction force within had no effect on Ning Cheng; instead, it actually helped in increasing Ning Cheng’s speed.
After a few breaths, Ning Cheng finally stopped and put down Meng Ku.
When Meng Ku looked back, he found himself standing in the void on the outskirts of the Void Island, the location of the Bridge of Storms. Seeing that Ning Cheng had really brought him out, he quickly thanked Ning Cheng with heartfelt grat.i.tude, “Many thanks, Senior, for this life-saving grace.”
Ning Cheng showed a smile before speaking up, “It was your own wish to come out with me and your luck. You can go now.”
“Yes, this junior will be taking his leave now.” Meng Ku stepped back with excitement and rushed into the void. Trapped in that cave for countless years, one could only imagine the excitement in his heart when he finally found himself free and out of that troublesome place.
……
After Meng Ku left, Ning Cheng then called out Shi Qionghua.
“Is she Big Sister Qionghua?” Ji Luofei knew that this woman in front of her was Shi Qionghua as soon as she saw her.
Ning Cheng had already told Ji Luofei about everything related to Shi Qionghua. Hearing all those things, Ji Luofei felt quite emotional, she truly hadn’t expected Qionghua to have such a tragic past.
She stepped forward and grabbed Shi Qionghua’s hand before turning towards Ning Cheng and said, “Don’t think about the past anymore. In the vast starry skies, people with low levels of strength would die at any moment. It’s truly a stroke of fortune that we could all meet with each other again.”
Ning Cheng nodded, then pulling Shi Qionghua and Ji Luofei towards him, he spoke up, “Yes, we’re truly fortunate to be together again.”
Ning Cheng realised a brutal truth when he first came to the Rootless Black City. He realised that he could lose his life at any point in time. In this world, without strength, one had no control even over one’s own life. Later, when he entered the starry skies and started wandering, he understood this truth at an even deeper level.
As Luofei said, it was a lucky thing not to just remain alive for so long, but also to reunite at this place.
“Luofei, why did you enter the Bridge of Storms just because of a crystal ball?”
Hearing Ning Cheng’s question, Ji Luofei immediately took out a crystal ball and said, “It was because of this crystal ball that I decided to head into the Bridge of Storms to find you.”
Ning Cheng took the crystal ball and swept inside with his Spiritual Consciousness. A moment later, a picture appeared within his Sea of Consciousness. It showed a group of Explosive Golden Wasps chasing him into a maelstrom, followed by a female cultivator and another large group of Exploding Golden Wasps.
Ning Cheng finally understood why Ji Luofei believed this crystal ball, which was the real deal. Whether it was his figure or the Exploding Golden Wasps, it definitely was real. Moreover, it also contained the blurry shadow of Lan Ya in it.
The only difference from what Yi Zhuzhu said was that this place recording in the crystal ball was not the Bridge of Storms, but the entrance to a Void Collapse. So why did Luofei believe that this place was the Bridge of Storms?
Ning Cheng had no doubt about how the crystal ball came into being. In the void, many cultivators habitually placed Monitoring Array Discs in concealed locations when hunting for demonic beasts and to sometimes spy on individual starry sky wanderers.
When he was forced into the Void Collapse by the Exploding Golden Wasps, someone most likely had a Monitoring Array Disc concealed around that area.
However, there was a clear difference between the entrance to a Void Collapse and that of the Bridge of Storms, so why did Ji Luofei believe it?
“Can’t you see that the place I went in wasn’t the entrance to the Bridge of Storms?” Ning Cheng looked at Ji Luofei and asked with a puzzling expression.
Ji Luofei shook her head and spoke, “You’ve been gone for so many years without any news. That kind of anxiety almost made me lose my mind. At that time, I was sure that it was you, and it scared me out of my wits. Moreover, Yi Zhuzhu brought me this crystal ball and said that a friend of hers had accidentally recorded it at the Bridge of Storms. I knew that Zhuzhu would not lie to me, so I immediately took Zhuzhu to the Bridge of Storms. However, when I reached there, I felt that the entrance was not what was recorded on the crystal ball. But Zhuzhu said that the shape of the entrance to the Bridge of Storms would often change because of the storms.”
“I kept watch over the entrance for a while and sure enough the entrance to the Void Island, where the Bridge of Storms was located, changed shapes a few times. Both of us speculated that, that you might have decided to head to the Bridge of Storms using a jade strip chart you might have obtained in the past, which immediately cleared most all of the doubts. So, after leaving a communication pearl with Zhuzhu, I rushed inside.”
Ning Cheng’s expressions truly looked a little hard to look at, and it seems like Yi Zhuzhu cannot entirely escape suspicion. But Luofei always remained kind with Yi Zhuzhu, even treating Zhuzhu as her little sister, so why would she hurt Luofei?
Ji Luofei continued, “However, when I entered the Bridge of Storms, I knew that I thought naively. With my cultivation, it would have been impossible to save you in the Bridge of Storms. If it wasn’t for Sister Jingxiu’s 7-coloured Glaze, I couldn’t have resisted the Bridge of Storms. Later, with the help of the 7-coloured Glaze, I managed to enter that cave from before through a lucky coincidence.”
“After entering the cave, I understood the general situation around this area from the other people inside. Although I confirmed that the entrance to the Bridge of Storms would change occasionally, it had a pattern to it. It would never change into that entrance through which you entered at that time. That’s when I realised that Zhuzhu was wrong.”
Ning Cheng asked, “Luofei, do you think Zhuzhu lied to you?”
Ji Luofei looked at Ning Cheng with doubt before shaking her head and speaking after a short while, “I don’t think she did. Zhuzhu always treated me like her elder sister, and I treated her like my own little sister, so how could she lie to me? I think that when I got in, she must have been in a hurry to try to find a way to save me…….”
Reaching this point, Ji Luofei hesitated for a moment before continuing, “Strangely, when I went in, I never heard from her again. Moreover, the messages I sent out to her seemed to have disappeared without any trace.”
Ning Cheng showed a sneer, “Empathy for sisters? She brought a male cultivator into our cultivation chamber and even performed Dual Cultivation with that male cultivator. I saved her parents and returned to the Rootless Black City, and if you looked at her like what she looked like to her parents, I’m sure you would not have supported her even as your blood sister.”
Ji Luofei’s expression finally changed, and anger flashed through her eyes. She had put a lot of faith and trust in Yi Zhuzhu, an introverted girl who usually never talked to any male cultivators. Yet this very girl had actually brought in a male cultivator into the City Master Mansion’s main cultivation chamber. It had only been ten years, how could she change this much?
Ji Luofei never doubted Ning Cheng’s words, since Ning Cheng was the one who said it, then it was the truth for her.
Ning Cheng gave out a sigh and spoke, “Come on, let’s head back to Rootless Black City and say h.e.l.lo to Shu Xing before getting out of this place.”
…
“I don’t want to see her.” Ji Luofei shook her head as Ning Cheng stood at the entrance to the Rootless Black City again. She had always regarded Yi Zhuzhu as not just her sister but even as a daughter. If it were Zhuzhu trapped inside the Bridge of Storms, she would have done everything in her power to help Zhuzhu. However, Zhuzhu’s actions truly disappointed her too much.
Ning Cheng’s Spiritual Consciousness also could not find Yi Zhuzhu’s family of three anywhere inside the city. From this, he understood that the Yi Jin couple most likely did not dare to see him again before leaving the Rootless Black City with their daughter. Seeing this, Ning Cheng also lost all interest in entering the Rootless Black City again. Instead, he let his Spiritual Consciousness sweep towards Shu Xing within the City Master Mansion, which seemed to have received the support of a lot of people.
When it came to Rootless Black City, Ning Cheng did not feel any particular emotions. Rather, it would be more accurate to say that he now felt nothing for the Rootless Black City. When he left the Rootless Black City back then, and his wife Ji Luofei ended up trapped in the Bridge of Storms, no one here even offered to save Ji Luofei. It was one thing if they had tried to rescue her and failed, but it was a completely different thing when no one even thought of saving her.
“Let’s go.” Ning Cheng directly brought out the Starry Sky Wheel and brought Ji Luofei and Shi Qionghua into the void before leaving the range of the Rootless Black City in just a blink of an eye.