Chapter 0923: Valley of Peace
Looking at Man Huishan steadily getting closer, Ning Cheng sighed. This b.a.s.t.a.r.d was just like a shadowy soul.
That last attack had grievously injured him. Otherwise, he could have burned his vitality to escape and then take out his starry sky battleship. But he had no chance to bring out the starship at this moment, especially not under such heavy injuries.
He also had two boundary-breaking talismans, but unfortunately, this was the Land of Broken Laws. Meaning the boundary-breaking talismans were of no use at all. He also couldn’t use the teleportation array he had set up to the Blue True Hope Tribe, as it was just a short-distance array. Moreover, it also required him to gather a trace of s.p.a.cial laws within the range of his spiritual consciousness before he could even activate it.
Besides, things like the braking-boundary talismans were for breaking through interfaces. With the amount of spiritual consciousness Ning Cheng had access to, the amount of s.p.a.cial laws he could coalesce would make it utterly unusable.
With Ning Cheng’s speed gradually slowing down, the pressure from Man Huishan’s killing desire towards him also kept growing.
Just when Ning Cheng planned to burn his life s.p.a.ce to forcibly get away from Man Huishan and then find a way to take control of the starry sky battleship, he saw two huge mountain peaks. In the middle of the mountain peaks hovered three large words, ‘Valley of Peace’. Just beyond the two mountain peaks, Ning Cheng then saw verdant trees and flowers.
This was the second place with greenery Ning Cheng had seen after entering the Land of Broken Laws. The first one was naturally the home of Blue True Hope Tribe.
When he thought of the Blue True Hope Tribe, Ning Cheng suddenly thought of another gathering place in the Land of Broken Laws that opposed the Blue True Hope Tribe. It should be the group of dharma cultivators that Blue True Hope Tribe mentioned.
Ning Cheng guessed that this Valley of Peace should be where dharma cultivators lived in the Land of Broken Laws.
Ning Cheng, who had no way to escape, immediately rushed in. He had a vague feeling that he could get to live in this place.
Fortunately, no one stepped up to stop Ning Cheng, and he entered the Valley of Peace with ease. As soon as he entered the valley, Ning Cheng immediately saw figures of several cultivators. He confirmed that this place was where dharma cultivators lived, as mentioned by the Hope Tribe.
However, Ning Cheng didn’t feel any relief by this; no cultivator would help him out for no reason. In other words, he was still not out of danger. His spiritual sense immediately connected with a long spear and almost took it out.
But at that moment, Man Huishan also rushed into the valley, and before Ning Cheng’s long spear could even put up a block, Man Huishan punched Ning Cheng.
As the powerful impact tore through his body, Ning Cheng’s movements stalled, and b.l.o.o.d.y mists shot out of his already damaged body. The next moment, he flew out and crashed into the foot of a mountain in the distance.
Man Huishan sneered, took a step forward and raised his hand to grab Ning Cheng.
A feeling of despair rose in Ning Cheng. The difference in strength was just too huge between him and Man Huishan. With the added injuries, he couldn’t even resist, even if he pushed himself to the limits.
“Boom……” A powerful explosion suddenly erupted not far from Ning Cheng, and a dark-faced middle-aged man blocked Man Huishan with a punch.
This dark-faced middle-aged man’s punch was far more potent than Man Huishan’s punch. Therefore, after his punch connected, it immediately created a horrifying essence qi explosion. The explosion didn’t even move the dark-faced man.
However, Man Huishan spurted a mouthful of blood and flew back, hitting the foot of the mountain on the other side.
But Man Huishan quickly climbed up and calmly stared at the dark-faced middle-aged man who had blown him away with a single punch. “There’s no feud between you and me, nor do we even know each other. Why did you attack me?”
He wasn’t afraid of this dark-faced middle-aged man. Besides, he suffered a loss only because of the severe injuries he received from the Power of Hope. Once he recovered, he could easily defeat this dark-faced middle-aged man. Even if he couldn’t, this dark-faced man couldn’t have blown him away with a single punch this easily.
However, the dark-faced man replied in a cold voice, “This is the Valley of Peace. Anyone who fights will only get a warning for the first time. There won’t be a second time. Just now, I was only warning you, if you dare make another move, I will kill you regardless of who you are.”
Hearing this, Ning Cheng’ heart filled up with joy, and he quickly took out a few pills and swallowed them. A moment later, he slowly managed to get up and cupped his fists towards this dark-faced man and said, “Many thanks for saving me, Senior.”
The dark-faced man only glanced at Ning Cheng and repeated, “If anyone dares to attack someone in this place, I will take action. It has nothing to do with saving you.”
Ning Cheng didn’t care. No matter what, this dark-faced middle-aged male cultivator had saved him once. From what he saw, Ning Cheng understood that this dark-faced man’s strength wasn’t any lower than that of Man Huishan. As for why Man Huishan got blown away with a single punch, it most likely was because this dark-skinned man had caught him unawares. There was also the fact that this was the Land of Broken Laws. Therefore, even if you weren’t strong outside this place, you could exert dominance here with your body’s strength.
“Senior, I’ve lost my way in the Land of Broken Las and want to stay in the Valley of Peace.” Ning Cheng, who finally managed to recover a bit of strength, slowly stood up and spoke out his mind. He didn’t want to go out again and be chased around by Man Huishan under his current conditions.
“Anyone can reside in the Valley of Peace, as long as you take out your ring or take out ten million spirit crystals.” The dark-faced middle-aged man said indifferently.
Ning Cheng felt a bit relieved at those words. Fortunately, he still had more than twenty million spirit crystals. But Ning Cheng also understood that living here wouldn’t be that simple. If he didn’t have so many spirit crystals, he would have had to hand over his ring. If he dared to fool around with a fake ring, this man might just kill him.
This place reminded him of a novel he had once read, which had a ‘Valley of the Wicked’ in it. A place where people with no way out decided to live, the Valley of the Wicked. Ning Cheng didn’t know if this place was all about people who had no way out or not, but he had no choice but to stay here now.
“Senior, these are my spirit crystals.” Ning Cheng didn’t hesitate to take out a storage bag and handed it to the dark-skinned middle-aged man.
The dark-skinned middle-aged man didn’t accept Ning Cheng’s storage bag. Instead, he turned towards a silver-haired woman walking in the distance. He said, “You, take this newcomer to complete the residence formalities.”
When Man Huishan saw that Ning Cheng wanted to take up residence here, his face sank. After a moment of hesitation, he also cupped his fists towards the dark-skinned middle-aged man before speaking, “This fellow daoist, I also want to stay here.”
The dark-skinned middle-aged man spoke up in the same indifferent voice, “Go and complete the formalities with them. It’s the same ten million spirit crystals.”
Ning Cheng looked at Man Huishan following them and felt a bit worried. Man Huishan didn’t dare to attack previously because of the dark-skinned middle-aged man. But if Man Huishan decided to attack him later, it would mean certain death.
“This big sister, I saw that those two peaks outside still had some greenery. Why is it that after coming inside, the rest of the place is still so barren while those two peaks have greenery?” Ning Cheng didn’t care about his blood-soaked appearance right now and cupped his fists while walking behind the silver-haired woman.
He was indeed a little puzzled. When he saw the greenery outside the Valley of Peace, he thought that there was at least a little bit of heaven and earth laws inside the Valley of Peace. At the very least, enough for some plants and vegetation to grow. But after coming in, he realised that he had made a big mistake in thinking that.
Laws inside this place were still non-existent, the same with spirit aura. The verdant greenery only covered half the mountain peaks, while everywhere else was either a dull yellowish-grey or black and white in colour.
Man Huishan swept a disdainful glance at Ning Cheng. In his heart, he secretly despised him for having a mouth that could speak so well.
Ning Cheng noticed Man Huishan’s disdainful gaze and said, “Man, today you punched your grandfather. Keep this Grandfather Ning in your mind. For one day, this Ning will return that punch with interest.”
“Just a tongue waggler.” Man Huishan snorted coldly. He didn’t even bother to put any thoughts into Ning Cheng’s words. Ning Cheng was nothing more than an ant that hadn’t even proven his Dao. If Ning Cheng wanted to punch him to death, he would have to wait till the next life.
He only decided to stay here to finish off Ning Cheng. After he recovered his cultivation, he would definitely look for an opportunity to do away with Ning Cheng. As soon as he killed Ning Cheng, he would immediately seal Ning Cheng’s Essence Spirit and then take Ning Cheng’s body and leave this Valley of Peace. He was a Dragon Emperor and a second-step Dao Confirming expert. As such, he naturally wouldn’t take a rogue cultivator like Ning Cheng seriously or even bother to argue using words as ‘your grandfather’.
“Those two mountain peaks were created by the valley master using a great spirit technique after setting up a law formation. It allowed the peaks to be surrounded by verdant greenery all year round. ‘Verdant’ here is taken as ‘hope’. The valley master created it to let us have hope that we can one day walk out of the Land of Broken Laws.” The silver-haired woman replied with a smile. Ning Cheng had addressed her as ‘big sister’, which created a favourable impression towards him.
A feeling of respect rose in Ning Cheng’s heart. This person had set up such a powerful law formation in a place practically devoid of laws. It showed that not only was this valley master a mighty expert but also had a broad mind. He used this verdant nature to encourage the many cultivators stranded in the valley to survive.
It also made Ning Cheng wonder if the group of cultivators who went to the Hope Tribe to steal the Bestowing Lawless Fruit came from here.
“Looks like the valley master is an amazing person.” Ning Cheng sighed.
The silver-haired woman’s face bloomed with a smile, “That’s only natural. The valley master was a Dao Fusion expert before he entered the Land of Broken Laws. After so many years of living here, the valley master’s cultivation naturally would have become more powerful.”
Ning Cheng felt secretly frightened when he heard this. A Dao Fusion expert had entered the Land of Broken Laws and could still use such extraordinary abilities. But, despite this Dao Fusion expert’s power, he still couldn’t walk out of this place. From this, Ning Cheng started to doubt if he could get out of this place with A’Li’s map.
However, Man Huishan’s heart sank after hearing the silver-haired woman’s words. Even if he recovered all his strength, he was still only at the Dao Essence Realm. But in the Land of Broken Laws, his power was suppressed to the point of near nothing. Yet, the valley master here was a Dao Fusion expert who stayed in the Land of Broken Laws for many years. After he killed Ning Cheng, could he really walk out of the Valley of Peace?
As soon as Ning Cheng took a look at Man Huishan’s face, he understood what Man Huishan thought. He immediately spoke up in a very casual manner, “Man Huishan, are you still thinking if you can secretly escape the Valley of Peace after finishing me off?”
Man Huishan grunted, and before she could answer, the silver-haired woman spoke up with an indifferent voice, “He wouldn’t dare. No one dares to kill anyone in the Valley of Peace?”
Man Huishan felt so angry that his face turned blue. However, he didn’t dare to act on his anger. Two ants dared to speak in such a manner in front of him, a Dragon Emperor. If it were any other place, he would have tortured them for a long time before finally killing them. However, in this place, he had no choice but to hold back.
Ning Cheng, however, shook his head and said, “Other people probably wouldn’t dare, but only because they don’t care. This man is called Man Huishan, Man as in ‘barbarian’. I heard he is a Dragon Emperor of the Grand Essence Sea’s Barbarian Dragon Clan. But despite having impressive cultivation, his person likes to employ underhanded means. Look at the injuries on my body; they were all caused by his sneak attack. Heh, despite being a Dao Essence Holy Emperor, he still tried to attack me, just an Eternal cultivator, in secret. That itself speaks volumes about his clan’s moral integrity.”
She didn’t fully understand what ‘moral integrity’ meant in this context. But the silver-haired woman couldn’t help but look at Man Huishan with contempt after hearing Ning Cheng’s words. “Dao Essence Holy Emperors are considered experts among experts. It’s nothing for a Holy Emperor to kill an Eternal cultivator. But for you to try and kill an Eternal cultivator using sneak attacks. It’s not just underhanded, but truly shameless.”
Man Huishan’s face grew increasingly green as anger bubbled within his heart. Sneaking up on an Eternal cultivator was something no one else knew. It wouldn’t have been an issue if it remained that way. Besides, would he even have needed to sneak attack if it wasn’t the Land of Broken Laws? Once this thing got out, it would immediately ruin him and his clan’s reputation.