Chapter 0918: Learning about the conspiracy
Ning Cheng quickly scanned the situation in Lan Bing’s room. Sure enough, Lan Bing hadn’t touched the disc on the table. Instead, she sat in the chair she had offered Ning Cheng and kept looking at the bracelet Ning Cheng had given her.
If his spiritual consciousness couldn’t stretch out by more than ten meters at this time, he couldn’t have connected with the monitoring formation. In that case, if he wanted to see through the monitoring formation, he would have had to set up a display formation and link both of them. A feat not possible given the circ.u.mstances.
After another moment, a beautiful woman walked inside.
When Lan Bing saw this beautiful woman walk in, she quickly put down the bracelet and stood up to give her a bow, “Bing’er greets Aunt Li.”
The beautiful woman smiled and nodded before sitting down and asked, “I heard that you invited a young man from outside to your room today?”
Lan Bing nodded and said, “Yes, I did invite someone over today. His name is Ning Cheng; he should be a dharma cultivator.”
Seeing the beautiful woman about to speak up, Lan Bing suddenly interrupted her, “Aunt Li, please wait for a moment. This bracelet was given to me by Ning Cheng, who came over today. I should first store this bracelet as a precious gift in the display hall.”
Interrupted by Lan Bing, the beautiful woman was slightly stunned and looked at her in surprise.
Ning Cheng looked a little puzzled as well. Looking at Lan Bing’s display of respect towards the beautiful woman, as well as the beautiful woman’s reaction, he understood that Lan Bing rarely did such impolite things.
But Lan Bing didn’t seem to care about this beautiful woman’s surprised expression and clapped her hands. The same middle-aged woman, who had brought Ning Cheng to the wooden house some time ago, entered the room.
Lan Bing placed the bracelet carefully in the middle-aged woman’s palm and said, “This is a gift from an honoured guest. Send it to the display hall and place it there carefully.”
“Yes, your majesty.” The middle-aged woman held the bracelet given by Ning Cheng and carefully walked out of the room as if afraid to drop it.
Only after this middle-aged woman left did Lan Bing then bow to the beautiful woman. “Bing’er acted out of line a moment ago; please punish me, Aunt Li.”
The beautiful woman finally smiled and nodded, “Sit down. What you did just now was the right thing. These dharma cultivators are all insidious. Whether that bracelet had something wrong with it or not, who knows. But it’s not wrong to be careful.”
Ning Cheng took a deep breath. Although this young girl didn’t look like it, she had a cunning mind. Fortunately, he had made the mistake of setting up two different types of surveillance.
“Hmm, Aunt Li, I suspect that Ning Cheng has our Hope Clan’s[1] sacred relics on him. But he showed me his ring, and I didn’t find anything in it.” Lan Bing spoke up with a cautious tone after sitting down.
The beautiful woman’s expressions also turned serious. “That’s why I’m here. Today, the sacred b.u.t.terfly statue of our Hope Clan had a significant Power of Hope fluctuation. Since you also have this feeling, it means that this matter might actually hold some weight to it. Dharma cultivators are so resourceful and insidious that sometimes even if we kill them and turn them into ashes, we may not always find what we need.”
Lan Bing gave a cold ‘hmph’ and said, “I know, Aunt Li. That’s why I gave up on threatening him and treated him very politely after I didn’t find any clue connecting to the sacred b.u.t.terfly.”
The beautiful woman said approvingly, “Yes. Since we know that the holy relic is most likely on him, we can just take our time and strike.”
“Aunt Li…..” Lan Bing hesitated for a moment. Then, she continued, “I want to marry him and find the item first.”
The beautiful woman looked at Lan Bing in amazement, “You want to feel the hidden sacred relic by reconciling yin and yang[2] with him? What about after that? Have you thought about your future?”
Lan Bing spoke in a much more resolute tone this time, “As long as we find the sacred relic, we can kill him then. We can even make his soul worship the sacred ancestor’s statue forever.”
Ning Cheng cursed at her in his heart when he heard of this; this young girl in blue was just too sinister. She wanted to find his concealed jade seal by having s.e.x with him. That already felt like taking things too far, but Lan Bing even planned to kill him after having s.e.x with him and finding the item. Plus, she also wanted to force his soul to worship that weird statue forever.
But what confused Ning Cheng was why she referred to the flying bird he couldn’t recognise as a b.u.t.terfly. Or was the bird’s name Sacred b.u.t.terfly?
It was reasonable to say that since he stored those things in the Mysterious Yellow Bead, Lan Bing shouldn’t be able to perceive it. Yet, Lan Bing still managed to sense the jade seal. Was it because he had refined a part of this thing and had even used it against his enemies?
The beautiful woman frowned a little and didn’t speak for some time. She then sighed and said, “After you find the sacred relic from him, you cannot kill him. If he has a good bloodline, you should use him to pa.s.s on the next generation of my Hope Clan.”
Lan Bing shook her head. “He must die. I can feel traces of fighting with the sacred relic on him. This person has not only refined our Hope Clan’s sacred relic but has even used it for combat. Such sins cannot be forgiven.”
The beautiful woman didn’t try to persuade her any further. Still, she simply said, “This man was able to escape from a Dao Confirming powerhouse and come here. It means that he must be a person of amazing talent. You should keep in mind that most of those who cultivate dharma are strong-willed and are hardly swayed by external objects.”
Lan Bing took a deep breath and said, “I believe that with my looks, that foreign dharma cultivator wouldn’t ignore me, even if he had a strong will.”
Ning Cheng sneered internally. Sure, this young girl wasn’t ugly to look at, but she was only slightly above average at best. How could Lan Bing use her looks to seduce him? Unless she had disguised herself. However, Ning Cheng couldn’t detect even a trace of disguise on her. But even in that case, it wouldn’t work on him.
“Are you sure that he’s not from those vicious groups of dharma cultivators coveting the Land of Broken Laws? What if he knows that the Bestowing Lawless Fruit[3] is about to ripen and has deliberately come here for it……?” The beautiful woman spoke up with some hesitation.
Lan Bing affirmed, “He’s not. I can see that he has only been in the Land of Broken Laws for a few years at most. Plus, I don’t feel any real killing intent from him. If he came from that group in the Land of Broken Laws, he definitely would have some killing intent leaking out. What’s more, each of those dharma cultivators is more selfish than the other and would never use such a trick to come after our Hope Clan. For they have no trust, no faith, and no friends among each other.”
Hearing this, the beautiful woman cautiously said to Lan Bing, “Bing’er, you shouldn’t allow such thoughts to cloud your judgment. Dharma cultivators trapped in the Land of Broken Laws and who cannot get out might be selfish. But in the vast world outside, not everyone who cultivates dharma is selfish. They have clans; they have friends; they also have dao partners. They even have their own faiths and beliefs, just different from ours. There are also strong people among them that they respect…….”
The beautiful woman seemed to have thought of something as she spoke, and her voice abruptly stopped.
“Bing’er will keep Aunt Li’s teachings in mind.” Immediately after hearing the beautiful woman’s words, Lan Bing respectfully accepted them with an open heart.
The beautiful woman’s face eased a little, and she said once again with a curt tone, “The Bestowing Lawless Fruit is a supreme sacred fruit. Perhaps there are dao fruits elsewhere more precious than the Bestowing Lawless Fruit. But they most likely don’t exist in the Grand Essence Realm. However, if word about this sacred fruit gets out. It could easily become the number one dao fruit coveted by the entire Grand Essence Realm. The Bestowing Lawless Fruit forms by absorbing the laws of heaven and earth and only matures once in 90,000 years. It’s the hope of my Hope Clan, so we absolutely cannot take this lightly.”
Ning Cheng couldn’t help but feel shocked when he heard those words. He had also never heard of such a dao fruit as the Bestowing Lawless Fruit. However, the beautiful woman’s introduction felt a little bit unbelievable to him. A dao fruit that siphoned the laws of heaven and earth? Taking 90,000 years to mature?
Was it the reason why the Land of Broken Laws contained no laws? Was it because this Bestowing Lawless Fruit had sucked up all the laws? Was it all just to ripen the Bestowing Lawless Fruit?
Ning Cheng suddenly felt some antic.i.p.ation in his heart. How awesome would it be if he used this kind of dao fruit to reach Dao Confirmation?
The beautiful woman continued, “My Hope Clan is gradually withering away. If this continued, it wouldn’t be long before it disappeared from the universe. If that happened, our sacred ancestor’s Power of Hope would never be restored and would also dissipate into the vast world. Once the sacred ancestor’s Power of Hope dissipated, our Hope Clan would never be able to rise again. Therefore, the sacred fruit is our only hope. If news about the sacred fruit leaked out, even just a rumour, the Land of Broken Laws would quickly turn into a stormy and b.l.o.o.d.y place. At that point, our Hope Clan would also cease to exist.”
“I heard that some from our lineage have strayed into the remaining interfaces. I think that even if the Land of Broken Laws got destroyed, our Hope Clan would remain in the universe.” Lan Bing replied.
The beautiful woman sighed, “Let’s not mention how many of those bloodlines still exist. Even if there are some left, how many of them would be able to break through the heavenly dao’s repressive confinement? Re-establishing the Hope Clan? I’m afraid it would be nothing more than an extravagant hope. The sacred statue hasn’t released any Power of Hope to the rest of the interfaces for a long time.”
After saying that, the beautiful woman suddenly asked, “What about that dharma cultivator who killed A’ye? Did you tell someone to bring A’ye’s soul to pray to the sacred ancestor?”
Lan Bing made an ‘en’ sound, “Yes, A’ye has the ancient giant bloodline. Letting it pray in front of the sacred statue would bring tens of times more Power of Hope than ordinary people’s prayers. Therefore, I plan to bind A’ye’s soul to the sacred statue for all eternity.”
The beautiful woman sighed, “Perhaps you’re right. I missed too many opportunities by being too hesitant. Well, enough about that, let me take you to see the Bestowing Lawless Tree. The sacred fruit is about to ripen.”
Ning Cheng couldn’t help but wince when he heard those words. Only then did he realise how poisonous this seemingly warm and harmless young girl ‘king’ was.
He had sensed the immense sadness from the words of the man who tried to save A’ye earlier. It also showed that A’ye, most likely, had made significant contributions to this Blue True Hope Tribe. Ning Cheng didn’t know where A’ye came from, but he understood that A’ye was loyal to the Blue True Hope Tribe. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have earned the love of so many people in the Blue True Hope Tribe.
But despite being such a loyal person, this young girl wanted to suppress his soul and bind him to the sacred statue to pray to it for all eternity. What’s more, even that beautiful woman also agreed to that young girl’s actions. It was just too outrageous.
Initially, Ning Cheng had only suspected that A’ye might have some connection to the giant Pan Qian. But now, he felt almost sure that A’ye and Pan Qian were of the same race, as they both had ancient bloodlines.
Lan Bing followed the beautiful woman out of the room. Seeing this, Ning Cheng also felt tempted to sneak out after them to uncover the Lawless Siphon Tree’s location and look at the fruit. However, he knew that it wasn’t realistic, and his strength wasn’t up to the mark even to consider doing such a thing.
Luckily, he now positively knew that Lan Bing wanted the jade seal on him, which meant that she wouldn’t move against him for the time being.
After collecting his thoughts, Ning Cheng continued cultivating his spiritual consciousness with the Empyrean Consciousness Trans.m.u.tation Pills. As long as his spiritual consciousness could cover a radius of about five miles around him, he would have the ability to protect himself.
……
Time pa.s.sed by, and for the next few days, apart from the occasional delivery of some fruits, no one else came to bother Ning Cheng. Ning Cheng also felt happy with the situation and concentrated most of his mind on cultivating his spiritual consciousness.
A few days later, Ning Cheng’s spiritual consciousness had just broken past the hundred-meter limit. At that moment, the middle-aged woman, who had brought Ning Cheng here earlier, came over again.
[1] For those confused, Blue True Hope Tribe is a subsidiary of the Hope Clan.
[2] For our younger audience, it means ‘making love’. For our older and mature audience, it also means ‘making love’.
[3] TL Note: Potential translations for 阿含无则果 – Lawless Siphon Fruit, Bestowing Lawless Fruit, Siphoning Lawless Fruit. 阿含 means ‘Bestowing/Siphoning/Sucking/Containing’ depending on the context, 无则 means ‘Lawless/Ruleless’, 果 means ‘Fruit’. Until it becomes clear the effects of the fruit, I will keep it as Bestowing Lawless Fruit. If anyone has a better, please feel free to share it in the comments.