Chapter 0848: Nothing but a far
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Tao Xing’s airship was of a good grade; but in the end, it was still a pseudo-top-grade dao artefact.
Therefore, Ning Cheng stayed in his cabin from the moment he boarded the airship and didn’t come out. It seemed as if he didn’t care about where this airship went.
Nalan Ruxue had advanced to the Heaven Seated Realm, which meant that her strength had also improved significantly. However, facing Tao Xing’s trio of veteran Heaven Seated cultivators with a higher level of power, she still felt her heart race. But when she thought of Ning Cheng, she quickly calmed down. Ning Cheng already knew that Tao Xing trio’s cultivation had exceeded her the moment he met them. Moreover, they had also accepted Ning Cheng’s proposal, which meant that Ning Cheng should also have some idea of the danger.
Therefore, when Ning Cheng secluded himself in his cabin, she also decided to stay in her room and continue to stabilise her cultivation.
Since Ning Cheng and Nalan Ruxue didn’t come out to ask questions, Tao Xing and the others also didn’t take the initiative to explain things to either of them.
“That Ning Cheng is a little strange. Don’t look at his reply of not being in the Heaven Seated Realm. I’m sure that his cultivation doesn’t lose out to Brother Tao.” On the airship’s deck, You Cheng glanced in the direction of the cabins and spoke to Tao Xing and Li Siyan with a solemn tone.
Tao Xing showed a cold sneer, “Ning Cheng and Nalan Ruxue are friends. Therefore, his cultivation wouldn’t be much higher than Nalan Ruxue. Even if he lied, and is a Heaven Seated cultivator, the three of us don’t have to fear him. As long as Nalan Ruxue opens that array formation, so what if the three of us can’t beat him up one on one? As long as we work together, I don’t believe he would last long against us. Brother You, you don’t have to worry about it too much.”
You Cheng and Li Siyan nodded. Tao Xing was right. Even if Ning Cheng was a late-stage Heaven Seated cultivator, the three of them working together did not need to fear him. As for the possibility of Ning Cheng being a Life and Death cultivator, they never even thought about it. Was entering the Life and Death Realm so easy? Besides Ning Cheng didn’t even have any spirit crystals on him and had to exchange a pot of top-grade wine for it. Even if Ning Cheng had some spirit crystals, Ning Cheng didn’t look like someone who lived a long life, which meant that he couldn’t be a Life and Death cultivator.
Li Siyan gave out a sigh, “But I still think that we need to change to a different person.”
You Cheng replied with a calm voice, “It wouldn’t do us much good to change people at this point. We’ve been looking for someone with a water-attributed spiritual root for over two years. Nalan Ruxue’s evolved-but-pure ice spiritual root, on the other hand, is a much better option than a water-attributed spiritual root. Moreover, she’s still a virgin. If any of the big sects in the Grand Essence Domain met her, they would have already forced her into becoming their sect’s disciple.”
Tao Xing snorted, he was just about to say that only female cultivators who had no self-respect, would work willingly with their team. But thinking about Li Siyan, he abruptly swallowed the sentence.
……
The airship swiftly traversed the sea, but because it skirted around the edge, it didn’t encounter any powerful sea demons blocking its way.
However, half-a-month later, Nalan Ruxue couldn’t hold it anymore. She walked up to the deck and asked, “Senior Apprentice Sister Siyan, I feel that this is not the path for the Scarlet Branch Island. Moreover, Scarlet Branch Island isn’t this far away.”
Not waiting for Li Siyan to answer, Tao Xing walked over and said, “Junior Apprentice Sister Ruxue, I can tell you the truth now. We’re not going to Scarlet Branch Island, but to another island; or rather, a reef. It contains a lot of Wood Origin Crystals. The reason we told you about the Scarlet Branch Island is only that we were afraid of attracting too much attention. We didn’t want the news about the other island to spread out. Junior Apprentice Sister Ruxue, don’t worry. Once we obtain anything there, we’ll split it equally in four ways….. No, it’s five, one portion for each.”
Nalan Ruxue nodded, “I see. I’ll go and inform Senior Apprentice Brother Ning about it.”
She now finally understood. If Ning Cheng hadn’t suddenly appeared in Boundary Essence Spirit Sea City, she would have already ‘sold’ herself to them. She would have even had to help them count the money she fetched.
Nalan Ruxue stood outside Ning Cheng’s cabin for a while but didn’t bother Ning Cheng. Instead, she went back to her room.
A few days pa.s.sed by, and the airship’s hull shook before stopping on a huge reef island.
“Junior Apprentice Brother Ning, compared to you, the few of us are just too lazy.” Seeing Ning Cheng coming out, Tao Xing laughed.
Ning Cheng, however, didn’t answer Tao Xing’s words. His spiritual consciousness had already swept out and found this reef deficient in spiritual qi. It also didn’t have a single blade of gra.s.s. If this place contained even one Wood Origin Crystal, Ning Cheng would have a hard time believing it.
“Senior Apprentice Brother Tao, it seems that the essence qi here is very scarce. Why would Wood Origin Crystals form here?” Nalan Ruxue asked.
“Those Wood Origin Crystals are hidden quite deep. Otherwise, people would have already discovered them. When we first arrived here, we had the same thoughts as you. Just follow me, and I’ll take you to the place. You won’t regret it.” Tao Xing finished speaking, put away his airship, and walked into the depths of this reef first.
Ning Cheng’s spiritual consciousness scanned this reef a few times but found no abnormalities. He didn’t understand why Tao Xing would bring Nalan Ruxue to this place. Since he didn’t understand it yet, he could only follow Tao Xing’s trio for now.
After an incense stick worth of time, Tao Xing stopped at a crack in the reef.
One would find countless such crevices on any reef island. It was just a regular occurrence with nothing inconspicuous. When Ning Cheng’s spiritual consciousness scanned the reef island a few times, he also scanned this place but didn’t find any abnormality.
Tao Xing pointed to this crevice in the reef island and said, “It’s here. Let’s go inside.”
After speaking, Tao Xing took the lead and dived inside, followed by You Cheng and Li Siyan.
Ning Cheng turned his head and said to Nalan Ruxue, “Stay close to me.” After saying that, Ning Cheng also went inside.
After diving into the crevice on the reef, Ning Cheng’s spiritual consciousness suddenly opened up, and he saw all the things he could never have seen from the outside before.
A neat stone-paved road appeared in front of him that went into the depths and then further down. Even his spiritual consciousness couldn’t sweep to the end.
Ning Cheng took a deep breath and secretly sighed; this place had quite a powerful concealment formation. Even though his spiritual consciousness had a strong penetrating power, he couldn’t see the inside of the crevice despite sweeping through it. Moreover, after entering, this place had even restricted his spiritual consciousness to a limited range.
Nalan Ruxue also saw the surrounding area and followed Ning Cheng with a little nervousness.
After half an hour, Ning Cheng’s spiritual consciousness eventually opened up, and a huge defensive array appeared in front of him. But what surprised Ning Cheng was that there were other people here already.
Two middle-stage Eternal cultivators stood in front of the defensive array. At the same time, they also saw a fully naked female cultivator sprawled across the top of the defensive array. This female cultivator looked truly angry but had an ashen face. Moreover, blood kept flowing out of her orifices and into the defensive array.
“Huh, a few more ants came…..” One of the Eternal cultivators wearing a weird hat noticed Ning Cheng’s group of five.
Tao Xing, You Cheng and the others also noticed that someone had come here before them and their faces immediately turned pale. Judging by the level of suppression they felt from these two people, they understood that those two were Eternal cultivators.
“You…. How did you learn about this place?” Tao Xing asked with a dry voice.
The Eternal cultivator wearing a weird hat only glanced at Tao Xing with a cold gaze before turning his eye towards Nalan Ruxue behind Ning Cheng. Suddenly, he burst into laughter. Then, he spoke to the short cultivator beside him, “Brother Mu, it’s going to take a long time like this. The woman we found for the sacrificial array has poor spiritual roots. Even if we sacrifice her to the array, it would still take some time before we can open the defensive array. But it’s better now. From the looks of it, these ants took the initiative. They brought us such a beautiful woman to help us with the sacrificial array.”
When the short winter-melon faced Eternal cultivator saw Nalan Ruxue, his eyes immediately flashed red with l.u.s.t. It took a while before he calmed himself and licked his lips. “Okay, okay, this woman truly is beautiful. After finishing with the sacrificial array, we should do our best to keep her alive. No matter how beautiful a girl, I’ll lose interest if she dies.”
Nalan Ruxue’s face turned pale. She finally understood why Tao Xing and the others wanted to form a team with her. Those b.a.s.t.a.r.ds wanted to use her virgin blood for a sacrificial array and then use that sacrificial array to open the defensive array.
“Senior. We’ll give this woman to …..” Tao Xing spoke with a quivering voice. At this moment, he only had regret in his heart. He didn’t expect that other people would also discover this place.
“f.u.c.k off…..” The short winter-melon faced man slapped the air.
“Slap” With that slap, Tao Xing went flying to the edge of the reef. His bones suddenly softened strangely, and he crumpled to the ground like a pool of mercury. His gaze only contained horror, but he hadn’t died just yet.
“Cotton Bones Spirit Technique, you… you’re Senior Gu Hui….” You Cheng stammered. One could tell from the stammer in his voice, that he truly feared this person.
Ning Cheng secretly felt funny at this. Cotton Bones Spirit Technique, scary? What use was this spirit technique? That slap only turned the bones soft. It’s not like it turned that fellow into a eunuch, did it?
“Slap…..” With another slap, You Cheng also turned into a pool of boneless flesh and collapsed beside Tao Xing.
“Come here.” The short winter-melon faced cultivator then set his sights on Li Siyan.
Li Siyan, who followed You Cheng, felt even more scared than him. Therefore, seeing the short winter-melon faced man looking at her, she struggled a bit before walking over, “Senior Gu, I can serve you ….”
While speaking, she quickly stripped off her clothes. In the face of death, shame and self-esteem weren’t worth a single coin. Since she heard that this short winter-melon faced man liked women, she felt that it was the only lifeline available to her.
“A broken shoe dares to seek my favour, f.u.c.k off…..” This time, the short melon-faced cultivator didn’t act like before. Instead, he kicked Li Siyan, forcing her to shoot out a blood arrow as she arced towards the defensive array and died on the spot.
“It’s your turn.” The melon-faced man then cast his gaze on Ning Cheng.
Ning Cheng didn’t go over, but looked at Tao Xing on the ground, who still hadn’t died yet, and asked, “How did you learn about this place?”
How could Tao Xing even care to answer Ning Cheng’s words? He was no different from being dead anyway. Ning Cheng, not receiving a response, simply raised his hand and grasped at the void, and a moment later, Tao Xing’s ring fell into his hand. Soon he found a map within Tao Xing’s ring that pointed to this place. It even had somewhat detailed instructions on where they could harvest Wood Origin Crystals inside this place.
Seeing Ning Cheng not even bothering to look at him, and even started working on Tao Xing’s ring, the melon-faced cultivator’s expressions immediately changed. But before he could speak, Ning Cheng walked over, “Shorty, show me your map too.”
“Looking for death…..” The short melon-faced cultivator had just said three words when an overwhelming imposing manner suppressed him. The short melon-faced cultivator’s domain couldn’t even block it for a moment before it melted away and disappeared in just an instant.
The other Eternal cultivator wearing the strange hat wanted to help. But Ning Cheng’s domain also had suppressed him to the point that he couldn’t even move a finger.
In the next moment, a fist filled with boundless dao charm came crashing down.
“Bang…..” The killing intent within the punch struck that short melon-faced cultivator’s dantian, and he flew out immediately. With a ‘click’, he landed beside Tao Xing and You Cheng. Just like Tao Xing, when the short melon-faced cultivator fell beside him, he had also turned into a lump of paralysed flesh without bones. The punch had shattered the melon-faced cultivator’s bones, leaving behind only a lump of flesh and organs.
A ring fell into Ning Cheng’s hand, and the short melon-faced cultivator heard Ning Cheng’s words, “Cotton bones, nothing but a fart. I don’t know what this ‘cotton bones’ of yours is, but I can also ‘soften’ your bones with one punch.”