Chapter 0901: Advancing to the top 50
The 15th round had already begun, but the public square cultivators continued discussing the previous match. From the looks of it, Aiden had become the focus of everyone’s attention.
Ning Cheng glanced at Aiden; no wonder this fellow wasn’t afraid of Ji Pingzhong’s threat. From what he observed, Aiden’s strength could match up with Ji Pingzhong. Even if he didn’t watch Aiden’s fight closely, Ning Cheng could tell that Aiden didn’t use his full strength. In other words, this fellow also knew how to conceal his power.
As the 15th round came to an end quickly, Ning Cheng’s qualifications card lit up again. Ning Cheng didn’t hesitate and jumped directly onto the fighting platform.
Whether as Ning Cheng or Ji He, both were nameless people that only a few people knew. If Ji He hadn’t remained trapped in the Grand Essence Mystic Realm for over 60,000 years, even fewer people would have known him.
Therefore, after Ning Cheng stepped onto the stage, no one talked about him or even gave him a pa.s.sing glance. However, Cen Caixuan looked at Ning Cheng in disbelief. As Ji He’s fiancée, although she didn’t care much about Ji He, she still couldn’t disregard Ji He’s talent in alchemy. But in a place like the Grand Essence Great meet, strength was all that mattered, not one’s skill in alchemy. Ji He going up would be nothing more than a joke.
The green-robed woman standing next to Cen Caixuan also exclaimed in amazement, “Caixuan, this fellow didn’t even sell his entry card. He truly came to partic.i.p.ate in the Great Essence Great Meet. Is he crazy?”
Cen Caixuan couldn’t answer the green-robed woman’s words. She also thought that Ji He had gone crazy. Anyone who came to partic.i.p.ate in the Grand Essence Great Meet could quickly kill Ji He in seconds. Previously, she thought that the only reason Ji He took out a bunch of divine gra.s.ses and grabbed a spot for the great meet was to sell it later. In other words, she thought that Ji He would exchange that entry card with the Profound Moon Spirit Gate.
But now, it seemed that it was not the case at all. Ji He had stepped onto the battle stage, which meant that he wanted to partic.i.p.ate in the compet.i.tion.
Ning Cheng had just arrived on the battle stage when a man with dark spots on his face also landed in front of him.
When this fellow came up, Ning Cheng understood that this person had reached full circle Eternal Realm. His face’s dark spots also gave off a strange aura, presumably caused by this person’s cultivation method.
Seeing that Ning Cheng brought out a spear-type middle-rank spirit artefact, the man only glanced at it before speaking. “Throw in the towel by yourself, and I won’t hurt you. Otherwise, once I start, I’m afraid it might be too late for you to give up.”
As he spoke, his momentum surged up and tried to squash Ning Cheng’s domain.
Ning Cheng intentionally allowed the opponent’s domain to have the upper hand and didn’t stimulate his domain to counterattack. With Ning Cheng’s strength, even a slight stimulation of his domain would be more than enough to disperse his opponent’s domain.
“Quit talking nonsense.” Ning Cheng didn’t talk anymore, and the long spear in his hand shot out. The long spear only brought forth a few spear patterns. He didn’t empower it with any spirit techniques or even use the Laws of s.p.a.ce. He had a complete understanding of why he had come here. It wasn’t to tell people how strong he was but to enter the Extraterritorial Spirit Spring. Moreover, he wasn’t even aiming for the top position. As long as he could obtain the 10th rank, he would gain the qualifications to enter the Extraterritorial Spirit Spring.,
“Go to h.e.l.l then…..” The dark-spotted man yelled, and his domain completely suppressed Ning Cheng’s domain. Ning Cheng refused to admit defeat and even took the initiative to attack using the long spear. What was this if not seeking his own demise?
With a wave of his hand, a black cloud suddenly appeared between him and Ning Cheng. A rotten smell quickly dissipated out of it, and Ning Cheng realised that it wasn’t a dark cloud but a dark shroud that looked like a cloud.
It was Ning Cheng’s first time seeing someone use a shroud as a weapon. But the shroud cast by the dark-spotted man also had some differences compared to other shrouds. It gave off a rancid and disgusting odour that almost made Ning Cheng vomit. Not only that, the shroud even gave off invisible strands of dao charm that instantly integrated into the dark-spotted man’s domain. It caused his domain, which had already suppressed Ning Cheng, to become even stronger. Perhaps in a few minutes, if Ning Cheng didn’t do anything, his domain might just break apart.
Ning Cheng frowned at this. He knew that he had to drag things out a bit for a while to put up a show. But the smell from this dark-spotted man’s shroud just felt too unbearable to him.
After the dark-spotted man brought out his shroud, his domain continually fused with the dao charm aura from the shroud. It also, in turn, let the suppressing power of his domain grow even more potent. Ning Cheng naturally wouldn’t let his opponent crush him and also increased the strength of his domain. Therefore, even if the dark-spotted man’s domain strengthened considerably, Ning Cheng’s domain could still vaguely block it.
A moment later, the dark-spotted man merged into the fusion of his domain and the shroud’s dao charm aura. Dozens of skeletal palms then quickly rushed out of the shroud and sealed the s.p.a.ce around Ning Cheng. No matter which side Ning Cheng tried to flee to, he couldn’t escape these skeletal palms.
The dark-spotted man planned things out thoroughly, but unfortunately, the idea of suppressing Ning Cheng’s domain with his empowered domain wouldn’t pan out. When the skeletal palms finally caught up to Ning Cheng, he suddenly discovered that Ning Cheng’s domain had unknowingly strengthened. Even after fusing himself with his domain and shroud, he couldn’t do anything to it.
“Ka-Ka-Ka…..” A burst of teeth crunching-like noises emerged, and Ning Cheng’s long spear erupted with numerous spear patterns. Except for a small part that the shroud blocked, the rest of the spear patterns blasted towards the skeletal palms. In just a short time, these skeletal palms shattered like popcorns under heat.
The dark-spotted man couldn’t believe the result at all. He thought that he could easily pinch Ning Cheng to death with his skeletal palms and then turn him into a resentful spirit for his shroud. Unexpectedly, in the end, his skeletal palms had thoroughly shattered apart while nothing happened to his opponent.
Ning Cheng truly wanted to use his domain to suppress this fellow, and at the same time, use Sunset’s Twilight to kill this dark-spotted man. However, he resisted the urge. Therefore, once his long spear smashed these skeletal palms, his body seemed to have suffered an enormous backlash and flew out like an artillery cannon.
He currently was a rogue cultivator without any backing. Even if he wanted to kill this dark-spotted man, he couldn’t do it quickly or make it look too easy. Otherwise, even before he went to the Extraterritorial Spirit Spring, many people would start investigating him.
Seeing Ning Cheng fly backwards, the dark-spotted man heaved a sigh of relief. Most likely, Ning Cheng had burned his essence blood to strengthen himself and used those spear patterns to break free. Those spear patterns, most likely, were this fellow’s trump card. After figuring it out, the dark-spotted man didn’t hesitate at all and immediately rolled up the shroud and rushed over. If he didn’t kill Ning Cheng, he truly wouldn’t feel content about himself.
The stink of cold corpses, this time mixed with an endless stream of black skulls, rushed towards Ning Cheng.
Ning Cheng sighed; he truly was out of luck to meet such a disgusting cultivator. If he wasn’t on the battle stage, this dark-spotted man would have immediately jumped off his Bridge of Coping once he cast the first bridge. It could have brought in some significant nutrition to the Bridge of Coping.
At this time, Ning Cheng could only pretend to fight hard. He brought out two defensive shields and put them in between him and the dark-spotted man.
After an incense stick worth of time, the dark-spotted man finally felt something was wrong with the situation. Although his opponent looked miserable and seemingly could fall at any time, he still remained relatively safe and sound.
Was the other party pretending? Did this fellow deliberately want to fight him like this? The more he thought about it, the more he felt it to be true. Initially, the dark-spotted man planned to cast a spirit technique to end it once and for all, but his heart suddenly skipped a beat. After running things over in his head once again, he decided to give up on casting the spirit technique and immediately surrender.
It should be more than enough. Ning Cheng had just thought of it when he felt the dark-spotted man wanting to retreat. At this time, how could he let this dark-spotted man escape safe and sound? Taking out a few more shields, he used them to cut off all retreat paths for the dark-spotted man.
Feeling a powerful s.p.a.cial restraint emerge around him, the dark-spotted man’s heart suddenly sank. He now felt sure that Ning Cheng had put up an act all this time. This kind of powerful s.p.a.cial constraint wasn’t something an ordinary Eternal cultivator could cast.
He opened his mouth to admit defeat. But why would Ning Cheng let his opponent speak? As the s.p.a.cial constraints bound the dark-spotted man, the long spear’s spear patterns immediately pierced through the dark-spotted man’s body.
“Puff-Puff…..” The spear patterns brought forth b.l.o.o.d.y flowers, even the essence spirit of the dark-spotted man dissipated into nothingness.
Ning Cheng breathed in a sigh of relief, put away his things, and slowly walked off the battle stage. Ning Cheng didn’t collect the dark-spotted man’s items. Mainly because he didn’t like any of it. Moreover, he also didn’t know if this dark-spotted cultivator had anyone backing him.
He didn’t want others to use it as an excuse to come find him for trouble.
Ning Cheng and the dark-spotted cultivator weren’t well-known experts. Therefore, even though these two fought for so long, it did not cause much surprise with one of them falling. Many cultivators still kept discussing the battle between Aiden and Ye Luoping.
“Caixuan, Ji He actually won, this…..” The green-robed woman, who paid particular attention to Ning Cheng’s fight from afar, spoke up in surprise.
Cen Caixuan also looked at Ning Cheng in disbelief. After fighting that dark-spotted cultivator, Ning Cheng seemed quite miserable. Not only did his hair look dishevelled, but even his clothes had also taken a lot of damage. Even his breath felt a little unstable.
But no matter what, the truth was that Ning Cheng had indeed won against that cultivator.
“He seems to have changed a lot.” After a long time, Cen Caixuan finally spoke up. Whether Ning Cheng ridiculed Guo Haoge outside the Grand Essence Mystic Realm or Ning Cheng partic.i.p.ating in the Grand Essence Great Meet. Both were activities utterly different from the previous Ji He.
The green-robed woman next to Cen Caixuan sighed and said, “He should have obtained some opportunities in the mystic realm. Unfortunately, he doesn’t seem to have gained a good grasp of the situation. The person he killed just now was the core disciple of the Immortal Corpse Gate. Since this disciple died to him, it would be a strange thing if the Immortal Corpse Gate let it slide.”
The green-robed woman’s words dispelled the doubt that had just risen in Can Caixuan’s mind.
……
Ning Cheng naturally didn’t know that he had just killed a disciple of the Immortal Corpse Gate. But even if he knew, and even if Immortal Corpse Gate could compare to the ten major sects, he would have still killed anyone who came for his life. At this moment, he stood in the corner, watching other cultivators fight while waiting for his next match.
Most of the fights ended quickly. Except for a few cultivators, who fought for a little longer, the first fifty matches ended in just a short amount of time.
Guo Haoge and Ji Pingzhong had also competed on the stage. Their strength far exceeded that of the cultivators on the same level. However, from Ning Cheng’s point of view, they weren’t worth paying much attention to. He could tell that neither of these two could even fight against Aiden.
Among the cultivators that piqued Ning Cheng’s interest, besides his acquaintance Yan Xishuang, was Aiden. In addition, Lu Yixian and Yin Ying of the 12 Grand Essence Sacred Children also caught Ning Cheng’s eye.
Lu Yixian was a late-stage Eternal cultivator and ranked first among the 12 Grand Essence Sacred Children. While Yin Ying was ranked third among the 12 Grand Essence Sacred Children. From Ning Cheng point of view, Lu Yixian’s opponent wasn’t any weaker than the dark-spotted man he just killed. However, Lu Yixian killed his opponent within a few seconds. Ning Cheng couldn’t even see what type of weapon Lu Yixian used.