Chapter 0908: The rogue cultivator’s hidden strength
Under Guo Haoge’s crazy stimulation, the five azure-lotus tipped nails erupted with thousands of azure-coloured light rays. These azure-coloured light rays then instantly fused to form azure-coloured concentric rings.
“Bang-bang-bang…..” The azure-coloured concentric rings immediately collided with Ning Cheng’s domain. They erupted with loud explosions causing Ning Cheng’s domain that suppressed Guo Haoge to break down. The concentric rings even tore apart Ning Cheng’s spear patterns.
Feeling his body turn lighter, Guo Haoge felt relieved. He didn’t even hesitate for a moment and split up five azure-coloured concentric rings. They then formed back into five azure-lotus tipped nails that erupted with bursts of cyan-coloured killing intent. This time, the cyan-coloured killing intent contained an even more concentrated form of explosive power that directly broke through the rest of Ning Cheng’s domain.
For Guo Haoge, even if he had to burn his life essence, he made up his mind to take this opportunity to kill Ning Cheng.
His strongest spirit technique was tailored explicitly towards cultivators with more robust domains than him—a spirit technique named Azure Lotus Trailing Nails.
Suppose the opponent’s domain turned out to be stronger than him. In that case, his five azure-lotus tipped nails could combine into azure-coloured rings that would block the opponent’s domain. Thus, allowing him to come out of danger. Once he escaped his opponent’s domain, the azure-coloured rings would split once again into azure-coloured lights. The split azure-coloured lights would ignore s.p.a.ce and nail his opponent in the void in the shortest possible time.
His five azure-lotus tipped nails had the primary purpose of binding opponents. Coupled with the integrated s.p.a.cial spirit technique, these five azure lotus-tipped nails could instantly lock and nail his opponent.
This spirit technique had allowed him to kill several experts stronger than him. However, it also had a shortcoming. It not only consumed a lot of celestial essence and spiritual consciousness, but he also needed to burn his essence blood and combine it with a part of his life essence.
Fortunately, even if he knew that Guo Haoge wasn’t a worthy opponent, Ning Cheng never underestimated Guo Haoge. Guo Haoge’s five azure lotus-tipped nails not only broke through his domain’s suppression almost instantly. Guo Haoge even pushed for a frontal a.s.sault as soon as he could. Ning Cheng couldn’t help but become a bit more cautious at this. These sacred children weren’t undeserving of their fame.
A vacuum zone quickly formed in the area around him, seemingly under Guo Haoge’s complete control.
Ning Cheng was also a person who had come into contact with the Laws of s.p.a.ce and wasn’t a stranger to spirit techniques that used the Laws of s.p.a.ce. Compared to how Qiao Jierui used the 5-coloured Myriad Forest Banner to control s.p.a.ce, Guo Haoge’s control over the Laws of s.p.a.ce was much more practical. Moreover, Guo Haoge used a Law of s.p.a.ce-related spirit technique without using a spatially aligned weapon. It indicated that Guo Haoge also had a relatively deeper understanding of the Laws of s.p.a.ce.
If Ning Cheng hadn’t contacted the Laws of s.p.a.ce, Ning Cheng would have had a bit of trouble freeing himself. He would have had to take advantage of the time lag and pull out from the s.p.a.cial region controlled by the opponent and then counterattack.
But at this time, Ning Cheng didn’t even move from his initial spot. Instead, the middle-rank long spear spirit artefact drew out a weird, distorted pattern in the void. In the next moment, the s.p.a.ce controlled by Guo Haoge suddenly disappeared as if someone had suddenly pulled away the curtains covering the stage. Without the cover of this exclusive void zone, the trajectory of the five azure lotus-tipped nails appeared in Ning Cheng’s vision and mind.
The long spear once again shot out a few more shadows that each contained a different spear pattern. An instant later, the five azure lotus-tipped nails and the five different spear patterns clashed together and created several explosions.
Guo Haoge reacted quickly. Since Ning Cheng could break his Azure Lotus Trailing Nails, he understood that he absolutely couldn’t win against Ning Cheng.
“Stop…..” Guo Haoge’s voice, unfortunately, got drowned out by the light coming from Ning Cheng’s spear. Rather, it couldn’t come out at all. Except for Ning Cheng hearing Guo Haoge’s word ‘stop’, everyone else felt utterly shocked by Ning Cheng’s display of strength.
Ning Cheng didn’t have even a shred of killing desire on his face. Rather, he had poured all of his killing intent into the long spear spirit artefact, which had blocked the five azure lotus-tipped nails. When you wanted to kill me, would you have even bothered with it if the situations got reversed? Now that you realised that you couldn’t kill me, did you seriously think I would stop? If you want to dream about something, then at least dream about something practical.
“Sunset’s Dusk……” Ning Cheng finally took a step forward, and the long spear in his hand finally shot out. Guo Haoge, no doubt, was much more powerful compared to average Eternal cultivators. Ning Cheng also understood that he had to kill him in the shortest amount of time, which also meant that he had to use a spirit technique. He didn’t want Guo Haoge to admit defeat. If Guo Haoge said it, and he killed Guo Haoge then, he would have been the one to have broken the rules. Ning Cheng didn’t want to let others use this as an excuse to come after him.
Why would Guo Haoge think that Ning Cheng would kill him? He never imagined that Ning Cheng truly would have the courage to kill a Sacred Child from River Luo Sacred River. Ji He was just a rogue cultivator. Even if he understood the Laws of s.p.a.ce better than him, he wouldn’t dare to kill him, right?
As the sun started setting below the horizon, dusk gradually emerged. The beautiful scenery near the sunset gradually emerged in front of his eyes, and Guo Haoge suddenly felt an inexplicable bout of sadness appear within his heart. He thought that he had lost many things dear to him since the moment he had started cultivating. Life was just too short, over in just the blink of an eye.
Guo Haoge’s palm was just a little distance away from his glabella. But his palm stopped and stopped right on top of it. He wanted this dusk to end. But he also didn’t want it to continue. He still had a lot of things he wanted to do in his life.
Dusk suddenly stopped emerging. Rather, time itself stopped.
The ice-cold killing desire then slowly penetrated through Guo Haoge’s palm in this instant that felt like an eternity to him and reached his glabella. Guo Haoge suddenly sobered up. It was a spirit technique; he got caught up in the momentum of his opponent’s spirit technique. A spirit technique fused with the Laws of Time.
Ning Cheng’s move had already destroyed his ace card. Coming this close to death, Guo Haoge suddenly turned crazy. Momentum suddenly erupted from somewhere inside him, and Sunset Dusk disappeared.
“Poof……” Unfortunately, the long spear had already penetrated and tore through Guo Haoge’s glabella. Therefore, even if Guo Haoge soared with even more momentum, it was already too late.
The long spear shook, and Guo Haoge’s life disappeared without a trace. One of the Grand Essence’s 12 Sacred Children had died, both in body and spirit.
Ning Cheng raised his hand, took away Guo Haoge’s things, and breathed a sigh of relief internally. Guo Haoge truly was a lot stronger than ordinary Eternal cultivators. It was also why he cast Sunset’s Dusk to suck Guo Haoge into the momentum of the Laws of Time. He could have trapped Guo Haoge in it for a lot longer. But Guo Haoge would have eventually woken up.
Unfortunately, life and death, it was decided in just a moment. Therefore, even if Guo Haoge woke up in time, it would have already been too late. In that small insignificant moment, Ning Cheng could have killed Guo Haoge several dozen times.
Ji He killed Guo Haoge? What was this rhythm? How come Ji He erupted with such monstrous strength compared to the power he displayed during the Grand Essence Great Meet’s battle stage?
The several cultivators, who hadn’t started fighting yet, stared at Ning Cheng in disbelief. Ning Cheng killed Guo Haoge and even killed him quickly, but even more importantly, with ease. Moreover, Guo Haoge died without the chance to even use his ace card. Were there any muddle-headed cultivators here? No. Everyone instantly realised that Ning Cheng had concealed his strength.
Ji Pingzhong immediately broke out in cold sweats. He had a complete understanding of Guo Haoge’s strength. Although people ranked Guo Haoge as fifth among the twelve, there were three tiers to the strength of the Grand Essence’s 12 sacred children. The top three consisted of the first tier; these three people were far stronger than everyone else among the twelve.
Fourth to seventh ranks were the second tier, while seventh to twelfth was the last third tier. The truth was that the difference between the second tier and the third tier wasn’t too vast and were on the same general level of strength. Instead, the top three were the true powerhouses out of the twelve.
Ji He, who people initially thought of as a dead man walking, had killed Guo Haoge. But Guo Haoge was one of the Grand Essence’s 12 Sacred Children and River Luo Sacred Sect’s Sacred Son. It meant that he naturally had some personal life-saving measures. Yet, Ji He still managed to kill Guo Haoge. But what was even more shocking was that Guo Haoge couldn’t even use any of his life-saving measures.
I definitely can’t fight against Ji He. Ji Pingzhong suddenly sobered up in a moment and realised it.
Yin Ying initially focussed on the fight between Lu Yixian and Aiden. Aiden, in particular, gave her an unpredictable feeling. But after Ning Cheng killed Guo Haoge in such a short time, Yin Ying’s gaze immediately fell on Ning Cheng. She suddenly felt that it wasn’t just Aiden, but even this Ji He gave her the same feeling.
Yan Xishuang and Mu Shuifeng’s fight hadn’t concluded yet, but Ning Cheng could see that Yan Xishuang had the upper hand. Therefore, he decided not to intervene and instead look at Ji Pingzhong.
Ji Pingzhong saw Ning Cheng’s gaze sweep over to him and immediately felt cold sweat trickling down his back. However, he did not dare to speak.
Ning Cheng casually walked up to Ji Pingzhong and asked with a warm, even pleasant smile, “Which stone door are you planning on choosing?”
Ji Pingzhong secretly clenched his fists in anger and humiliation. Still, he managed to reign in his impulse and quietly walked to the tenth stone door. “I chose this stone door.”
Obtaining the most suitable place to initiate the spirit transformation process held importance, but keeping one’s life was even more critical. Besides, even if he entered the tenth door, he might just manage to finish the spirit essence transformation inside it. He was still young, which also meant that he didn’t want to spend his remaining small life in this place. Moreover, to be counted in the Grand Essence’s 12 Sacred Children, strength wasn’t the only criterion; instead, age also played a crucial part. Otherwise, even if one’s strength far exceeded that of others, they couldn’t get onto the list if they were too old.
Since Ji Pingzhong selected the tenth stone door, it indicated that he no longer wanted to compete for the other stone doors. Generally, no one would challenge someone who chose the tenth stone door. After all, what benefit would one get from such a challenge? Rather, only someone with a significant grudge against him would challenge him in such a situation. Besides, if the other party’s strength far exceeded him, they simply could choose to kill you, and you’d die a vain death without the chance to fight back.
Ning Cheng didn’t know this ‘rule’. Therefore, he sauntered off to the tenth door with a smile over his face. He glanced at the groove on the stone door and said, “I’ll also choose this tone door.”
Ji Pingzhong’s forehead bulged with blue veins. He had chosen the tenth stone door, which equated to him giving up and admitting defeat. Yet, Ning Cheng still chased after him. It meant that Ning Cheng truly wanted to kill him.
No one helped Ji Pingzhong at this time. Everyone had witnessed Ning Cheng’s display of strength. In this place, one could only rely on themselves; background meant nothing. Even if one wanted to flaunt their backgrounds, they would have to wait till they first got out of this place. Since Ning Cheng had already set his sights on killing Ji Pingzhong, who would willingly stand up to stop him?
“What do you want?” Ji Pingzhong fought back the humiliation he felt. After all, he was currently ranked fourth among the Grand Essence’s 12 Sacred Children. No matter where he went, people always respected his words. But at this time, a rogue cultivator had forced him into such a pathetic state.
If word got out that one of the Grand Essence’s 12 Sacred Children got forced into a fight by a rogue cultivator, not to mention him, even his sect would lose all face.
Although Ji Pingzhong felt anger and humiliation rise within him, he forced himself to calm down. He could lose both face and respect in this place, but he can’t afford to lose his life. He already knew that as long as he and Ning Cheng fought, there was a 90% chance that he would meet the same fate as Guo Haoge. But he also didn’t want to make that bet. Rather, Ji Pingzhong decided to kill this rogue cultivator that forced him into this situation sometime later. Not now, but maybe after he finished the spirit essence transformation.