Chapter 0330: Rumours
At this time, Ning Cheng was not in the Grand Peace City, he had already transformed into a pale looking person dressed in expensive robes while giving off an aura of a young n.o.ble. At the moment, he was only a hundred miles away from the Grand Peace City, in the West Lu Makeshift Market.
For a cultivator, a hundred-mile distance was something that was considered quite close.
The West Lu Makeshift Market, in a sense, only came into existence because of the Grand Peace City. The Grand Peace City was incomparably bustling, as such the land inside was also extremely expensive without exception. Many people wanted to do business in the Grand Peace City, however were always deterred by the lack of capital required. This situation resulted in the birth of West Lu Makeshift Market. The West Lu Makeshift Market had many merchant houses specializing in acquisition of spiritual gra.s.ses and other materials.
Here the transactions always happened at a very fast pace, moreover there was also no array formations or forbidden s.p.a.ce restriction deployed here. Initially only rogue cultivators would come to this place to trade a few materials that they managed to obtain, especially since they were unwilling to go to the Grand Peace City. As time went on, more and more shops sprung up, which then gave birth to the emergence of restaurants, rest stops and various other places, before it finally turned into a makeshift market without any walls.
This kind of open air makeshift markets were numerous in any continent, however the makeshift markets on the scale of West Lu Makeshift Market were quite rare.
In the West Lu Makeshift Market, the largest spiritual tea house was the West Lu’s Spiritual Tea House, where many cultivators gathered every day. It was not only popular because it offered the most complete range of spiritual teas and spirits, but also because one would be able to exchange all kinds of information. Anything related to mystical places, or information relating to obtaining treasures, or even just teaming up with others to go on adventures, many things could be accomplished here.
The rogue cultivators would always come here to gather information and then look for other people to team up before leaving together with them.
When Ning Cheng came in, the lobby of the West Lu’s Spiritual Tea House was already full of a wide range of cultivators. Ning Cheng squeezed into the crowded placed, before ordering a pot of good quality spiritual tea.
Seeing that he was surrounded by several True Condensation and Essence Building Cultivators revealing an envious expression in their eyes, Ning Cheng proudly waved his hand at the person waiting on him and spoke, “Meeting each other is just predestined, please help out these friends to a pot of spiritual tea, you can just put the tab on me.”
Hearing that Ning Cheng was treating them, especially when none of the cultivators present there even knew Ning Cheng, all of them cupped their fists towards him as a token of their thanks. Looking at the expensive clothes that Ning Cheng wore, it showed that this cultivator was definitely a Young n.o.ble, and a Young n.o.ble from a truly rich place at that to be able to afford such a treat. This kind of cultivator most likely admired the envy in others eyes directed at him, so it was only reasonable to a.s.sume that he would also like to be flattered with words.
The server once again brought out a few pots of spiritual tea as he served it to them. Under Ning Cheng’s deliberate indulgences, he soon became acquainted with several people.
“My child should really make friends with someone as generous as you. Many thanks for the spiritual tea my friend, these days it is truly hard to scrounge up money to spend. Next time, once I’ve got some in hand, I will definitely invite you for a cup of tea.” A horse faced cultivator on taking a sip of spiritual tea treated by Ning Cheng, spoke out with a forthright manner. To him, who was an early stage Essence Building Cultivator, such a pot of high grade spiritual tea was truly a good thing.
The rest of them also behaved like children in general, as they slurped on the spiritual tea treated by Ning Cheng, while they made vague promises and high flattery.
Ning Cheng also spoke out triumphantly, “This is simple nothing at all. I just like to make friends wherever I go. In the Red Star… In my academy, I can be considered as just above average, so this spiritual tea is truly nothing much to me.”
Although Ning Cheng changed his words in time, but the people around him were still able to hear it. Allowing them to make the conclusion that Ning Cheng was definitely from the Red Star Sword Faction. It was already very difficult for the rogue cultivators to join even a small academy, let alone the Red Star Sword Faction that was counted among the ten major academies of the Tian Continent.
For a while, all the surrounding cultivators flocked towards Ning Cheng to strike up a conversation, they seemed to understand that Ning Cheng was someone who liked to be praised. As a variety of praises came pouring in, it allowed Ning Cheng to feel as if the Yellow River had flooded over.
Some of the cultivators even took the initiative to offer spirit wine for Ning Cheng to drink. Ning Cheng welcomed all and refused none, with a few pots of inferior spirit wine down his belly, Ning Cheng’s talks became even more loud, “You don’t have to praise me like this, in fact, although I am somewhat decent in my academy, however compared to others from there the distance between us is still quite large, not just one or two levels…..”
To the people it looked like the wine was starting to take effect, as this moment, Ning Cheng even stood up and lifted a completely full jug of wine and gulped it down in one go, before speaking with rosy cheeks, “Do you know about the Severing Emotions Dao Sect? Their Academy is truly a heaven sent academy. Do you know who can curry favours from the Severing Emotions Dao Sect, he he… My Senior Apprentice brother, no, this thing can’t be said out casually……”
Ning Cheng seem to realize that it would not be a good thing to talk about such things, so he gave a loud burp reeking of wine and sat down once again.
Ning Cheng had just sat down, when several large pots of spirit wines were sent before Ning Cheng. Wasn’t one of them complaining about a tight budget, yet they still sent him two big pots of wine, moreover it was also the strongest spirit wine available there.
Seeming to feel the enthusiasm of others, Ning Cheng finally gulped down one of the pots of spirit wine, before he whispered, “I’ll tell you a top secret piece of news aah, you can’t go around casually talking about it ok.”
“We definitely won’t tell anybody.” A few heads crowded together and whispered.
Ning Cheng had come out from a major academy, however it looks like this second generation ancestor of theirs has not experienced a lot of risk, unlike them who had already experienced too much. Although none of them liked such revolting behaviour, however it looks like this second generation ancestor truly does know some things that rogue cultivators like them were not privy about.
“Let me tell you something, do you know who is the most sought after son-in-law for the Academies? It my Senior Apprentice Brother Keng, who’s Dao Companion is from the Severing Emotions Dao Sect. His Dao Companion not only gave him some Geocentric 9 Yin Essence, but had also given him a small branch of a Nine-Coloured Mirage Tree, could any one of you even dare to think of such a thing…”
Ning Cheng’s words had not yet finished, when he was interrupted by innumerable call-outs, if someone among them believed such kind of nonsense then it truly would’ve been a strange affair. Some of the people there had completely lost their interests, they had initially thought that Ning Cheng would spill out some kind of earth-shattering news, but it turned out that his words were not even somewhat reliable, rather it was complete nonsense in eight directions.
Whether it was the Geocentric 9 Yin Essence or a piece of branch from the Nine-Coloured Mirage Tree, any one of them was a supreme treasure in the entire Yi Xing Mainland, how can it be given to a disciple, let alone being pa.s.sed on to someone else by a disciple?
“You don’t believe me? What I said is the truth.” Ning Cheng on seeing that the others did not believe him immediately spoke with a red face, at the same time even his tone became loud and deep.
“It’s not that we don’t believe you, however who doesn’t know about the Severing Emotions Dao Sect. Especially that none of them would ever fall in love again after they severed their emotions. Since your Senior Apprentice Brother Keng is in love with one of them, then he would have to experience the severing of emotions in the future, right? As such, wouldn’t your Senior Apprentice Brother end up just returning those things back? Besides, even if the Severing Emotions Dao Sect had such good things, how could it be possible for them to give it to a disciple?” Someone immediately replied with disdain.
“It’s just that with how precious these things are, how could they be given to an ordinary disciple?” The man next to him also echoed.
Ning Cheng also objected in a very uncomfortable manner, “My Senior Apprentice Brother Keng’s Dao Companion is a Core Disciple, in the Severing Emotions Dao Sect, as long as Core Disciples perform some meritorious deeds, they can be awarded with one to three drops of Geocentric 9 Yin Essence, and a small piece of branch from the Nine-Coloured Mirage Tree. By the way, I also forgot to mention about the Spiritual Enhancement True Nectar, the Severing Emotions Dao Sect has a lot of it with them.”
A late stage Essence Building Cultivator gave a loud laugh as he spoke, “My friend, you come from a major academy, so it’s obvious that the treatment that you receive would be much better than us rogue cultivators. But why did I hear that the Nine-Coloured Mirage Tree and the Spiritual Enhancement True Nectar, is something that belongs to the Rainbow Fall Sword Sect’s Ning Cheng? Moreover, Ning Cheng is already being hunted down, but no one has any idea about where he has hidden himself away.”
“Haha…..” People all around started laughing.
Ning Cheng immediately stood up, “You simply are not aware of such kind of things, only disciples from major academies like us know about this. Although these things indeed belonged to Ning Cheng previously, however, they currently now belong to the Severing Emotions Dao Sect. Whether you find it unbelievable is not of my concern, it was something that Senior Apprentice Brother Keng had personally mentioned to me. Severing Emotions Dao Sect’s True Inheriting Disciple Xu Yingdei has already successfully used Ning Cheng to sever her emotions, as such it is obvious that Ning Cheng has already been destroyed as a result of her severing emotions; however that doesn’t mean that his things also ended up destroyed.”
Seeing some of the people with a dumbfounded expression on their face, Ning Cheng’s expression turned even more pleased, “You didn’t get the news, did you? Hehe, not to mention you, but even some of the other major academies also don’t know about it. However, because Senior Apprentice Brother Keng happens to have a Core Disciple of the Severing Emotions Dao Sect as his Dao Companion, so of course he would be aware of such a matter. Ning Cheng’s things have already been taken away by the Severing Emotions Dao Sect, and the Severing Emotions Dao Sect is awarding their disciples with it depending on the contributions made by each of their disciples.”
“That’s still absolutely impossible, you know how precious those things are, right?” Someone immediately countered again, only this time when he countered, no one immediately stood out to support him.
Ning Cheng looked at this cultivator who refuted his words with disdain and spoke, “Do you even know how much Geocentric 9 Yin Essence Ning Cheng had on him? He had a whopping 100 barrels of it. Do you know how much a barrel contains? Just ask me if you don’t know. Have you even seen a branch from a Nine-Coloured Mirage Tree? I guess that you never even seen it in your dreams.”
“If you don’t believe me, then you can go to the Heavenly Dao Public Square and ask around, you will come to know about it. Ning Cheng, inside the Exchange Hall of the Heavenly Dao Public Square, sold a barrel of Spiritual Enhancement True Nectar. If he did not do such a thing, then would any of you even dare to believe that a person would be able to come up with such a quant.i.ty of Spiritual Enhancement True Nectar? If you did not see it, then stop talking nonsense about it. If you still don’t believe it, then you can simply go and enquire if Xu Yingdei has really advanced to the Soul Sculpting Realm or not, you will come to realize it then. If that person has successfully severed her emotions using Ning Cheng, then she would have already advanced to the Soul Sculpting Realm.”
The onlookers finally became a bit restless, although most of the people still did not believe it; however, the way Ning Cheng spoke did show that there definitely must exist a crux. Moreover, the Severing Emotions Dao Sect’s Xu Yingdei had already proposed a marriage alliance with Rainbow Fall Sword Sect’s Ning Cheng; moreover, it was also an open secret.
“Then how do you know about it so well?” Someone still asked.
“Idiot, this person’s Senior Apprentice Brother Keng has a Dao Companion in the Severing Emotions Dao Sect, moreover a Core Disciple at that.” Not waiting for Ning Cheng to answer, someone immediately took the initiative to answer for him.
Ning Cheng once again grabbed at the pot of spirit wine in front of him and took a few mouthfuls before speaking, “I’ll tell you one more secret, my Senior Apprentice Brother Keng managed to obtain three drops of Geocentric 9 Yin Essence and a small piece of branch from the Nine-Coloured Mirage Tree, he them commissioned the Profound Light Chamber of Commerce to auction them off. If you don’t believe me, then you can see the outcome after one month. I am a dignified disciple of the top 10 major academies, what would I gain from misleading people? You people really make me uncomfortable; I will not pay for these kinds of friends……”
Ning Cheng muttered to himself, as he staggered out of the Spiritual Tea Building.
“This person really is spewing nonsense in all eight directions.” Once Ning Cheng finally went out, some of the people immediately retorted with scorn and disdain.
“Not all the words he spoke were total nonsense in eight direction, at least the part about the things related to Ning Cheng and Xu Yingdei might be true. All we have to do is just enquire if Xu Yingdei really has advanced to the Soul Sculpting Realm or not, in order to get to know the truth.”
“It’s all just stupid talks, what’s the use in us talking about it? Even if the people in the Severing Emotions Dao Sect were in possession of such things, it would have no relation to low level rogue cultivators like us.”
……
Ning Cheng felt very much relieved after he left, even if no one believed his words in the Spiritual Tea House, those words would definitely spread around.
What was the most difficult thing to deal with in the world, of course that would be rumours. Ning Cheng was from Earth, so how could he not be aware of the terrifying power of rumours. Even if a rumour dies, after some time, the rumour would once again come to life. He had already planted the seed, and was sure that it would germinate. For spreading rumours, of course, he could not do so by finding those with high cultivations, but in this spiritual tea house, there were a lot of Qi Gathering, True Condensation and Essence Building Cultivators, so using them to spread a few rumours was truly the best hand that he could play right now.