Duan Gantai simply ignored Su Baijiao’s call and immediately rushed towards Ning Cheng overflowing with killing power. Seeing that, all the bystanders quickly retreated.
Ning Cheng also felt shocked by this killing power and had to quickly retreat into the street. At the same time, the shock ‘forced’ him to regurgitate some blood, which he had to spit out. He didn’t wholly understand Duan Gantai’s scheme, but Duan Gantai’s formidable killing power allowed him to understand a few things.
When Duan Gantai’s formidable killing power crushed down, although it still wasn’t enough to let him actually vomit blood, Ning Cheng affirmed that ordinary Heaven’s Mandate Cultivators would find it impossible not to vomit blood under the crushing power of this fellow’s killing intent. He had forced out a mouthful of blood to prevent Duan Gantai from gauging his full strength.
Although Ning Cheng had deliberately forced out a mouthful of blood, he still couldn’t help but feel secretly horrified. Duan Gantai obviously hadn’t used his full strength. Even so, Duan Gantai’s attack was the most powerful of all the attacks he had faced from Heaven’s Mandate Cultivators.
If the two of them had to go all out, and if he could not use Sunset’s Twilight, it would be two completely things if he could kill Duan Gantai or not.
At this point, the vague thoughts from before suddenly became clear in Ning Cheng’s mind. Suppose both, Duan Gantai and he, managed to reach the Eternal Night Public Square. What would happen if Duan Gantai suddenly decided to attack him?
Take himself for example, with his current cultivation, killing moves from ordinary Heaven’s Mandate Cultivators would not pose much risk for him. Moreover, he could even kill an ordinary cultivator in Heaven’s Mandate Realm with just the power of his body.
Ning Cheng subconsciously shuddered on this thought. If it really was the case, then everything this fellow did till now was all an act to let his guard down. To relax his vigilance, he even used the location of the Temple of Fallen Stars.
If Duan Gantai really did as he suspected, then he would definitely end up dead. Although Duan Gantai might not be able to kill him even if he used his most powerful attack, but he could still delay him. As long as Duan Gantai slowed him by a breath or two, the Su Clan’s people might be able to stop him from escaping.
Whether he guessed it correctly or not, he could not let Duan Gantai take the lead. This was a matter of his own life.
Duan Gantai could see that Ning Cheng had gone into an unexpected shock under his murderous intent and had even spat out a mouthful of blood, which made him feel slightly relieved. Because he knew the full extent of his strength, he did not feel surprised that Ning Cheng had spat out a mouthful of blood. With his current power, suddenly erupting with a murderous intent to attack, it was quite ordinary for his opponents to vomit blood.
As Ning Cheng spat out a mouthful of blood, he behaved as if he had lost every ounce of respect. He immediately shouted in anger, “Duan Gantai, don’t think you’re now a hot-shot by joining the Su Clan. Why go around sneaking? This father will not fight you on the street. You might feel the need to compensate for something, but I don’t. Let’s go to the Eternal Night Duelling Tower, and I’ll show everyone that you’re nothing without relying upon Su Clan’s women.”
“Haha….” Duan Gantai’s laughed in anger. His face only showed shame and anger, without even a shred of a smile, “Surname Ning, you think you can rely on your white face to get out? Your grandpa is going to kill you in the duelling tower. I, Duan Gantai, want to see who among us shamelessly curries favour from women.”
At this moment, Su Baijiao had become a complete outsider to the conversation. Although she wanted to rush up and pull Duan Gantai away or even stop Ning Cheng, she did not have the courage. If she truly did that, the people on the street would immediately turn her into a laughing stock. And if she tried to come out after this incident, she simply would have nowhere to go with her face.
Since Duan Gantai and Ning Cheng ended up creating such a stir on the street, it definitely would reach the Su Clan.
Su Youqinghong of the Eternal Night City’s Su Clan received the news of Ning Cheng and Duan Gantai breaking out in a fight in just a dozen breaths.
At that time, Su Youqinghong was sitting with a middle-aged man with white hair. When he got the news, he immediately, “Uncle Cheng, looks like the two of them want to leave the Eternal Night Domain through the Eternal Night Public Square’s Duelling Tower. Do you want to let them out of the Eternal Night Domain?”
The man with white hair pondered over it for a moment before speaking, “Our Su Clan is not the only one who can use the Eternal Night’s Aura Locking Grand Array. Besides, we don’t need to make such a big fuss about detaining two Heaven’s Mandate Cultivators. Let them go there. Even if they transformed into moths, they can’t get out of the Eternal Night Public Square.”
Su Youqinghong nodded and took out a jade card and inscribed a few lines on it.
He understood the meaning of Clan Head’s words. Although the Eternal Night Public Square’s array formation usually remained in a locked state, it had absolutely no impact on the entry and exit of people under ordinary circ.u.mstances. However, if someone travelled too fast through the public square’s array formation, the array formation would immediately activate and trap them in less than two breaths. Even if the two of them collaborated to escape, only one of the two would manage to flee. The other person would end up sealed in the Eternal Night Public Square. As for the other person that managed to escape, the Su Clan would easily be able to track them with their abilities.
Moreover, Su Youqinghong believed that Duan Gantai, although powerful, couldn’t rush out of the Eternal Night Public Square’s array formation within two breaths. The distance one would have to cover through the Eternal Night Public Square, even if one made a sudden start, would still take more than two breaths to cover. It was even more impossible for someone like Ning Cheng.
……
Ning Cheng and Duan Gantai rushed angrily to the Eternal Night Public Square. When the two of them rushed out of the Eternal Night Domain into the public square, no one even bothered to block them. Seeing this, both of them felt delighted at the same time. At least they successfully completed the first step of the plan.
Unfortunately, Ning Cheng did not know that the Eternal Night Public Square’s array formation would automatically go into lockdown mode if even a single person tried to rush out. If he knew, he would have fully understood Duan Gantai’s idea.
The two of them went all the way to the Eternal Night Duelling Tower in the Eternal Night Public Square, followed by a large number of cultivators wanting to watch their fight in excitement.
During the moment, just before coming to the duelling tower, Ning Cheng brought out a spear and suddenly attacked Duan Gantai with his Traceless Spear. At the same time, he simultaneously stimulated the Twin Wings of the Heavenly Clouds. Ning Cheng fully utilised its teleport-like speed and rushed away. As for whether Duan Gantai lived or died, he didn’t bother to check. Ning Cheng already knew that Duan Gantai wouldn’t die in just a move. Therefore, when he shot out with Traceless, he didn’t even bother to retrieve his spear.
The only reason he took the initiative to strike Duan Gantai was due to the fear that Duan Gantai would start with him first. In any case, he already had a hunch that Duan Gantai had other ways to get away, even if the array formation activated to block him. ‘You can die, but not me’[1] was the only thought in Ning Cheng’s mind right now.
“Boom-Boom-Boom…..” Traceless’ speed could not be considered slow. It had almost pierced through the distance between them in just an instant after Ning Cheng brought out his spear. Even so, it still collided with Duan Gantai’s thick-backed knife aimed at his back, immediately resulting in violent explosions on impact.
If Duan Gantai was even a step behind Ning Cheng in initiating the surprise attack, he couldn’t have blocked Ning Cheng’s spear. Obviously, Duan Gantai and Ning Cheng had the same idea, and the two of them had started with each other at almost the same time.
Ning Cheng, by this time, had already reached the edge of the Eternal Night Public Square’s grand array. As his Spiritual Consciousness swept out, he couldn’t help but curse within his heart. This Duan Gantai really did not have a good heart. However, he also felt relieved and even thanked himself for taking the initiative. Otherwise, he would have to face the lock-in tactic of Duan Gantai by himself. In other words, he would not be able to escape from the Eternal Night Public Square, at least not on the first try.
“Shua….” Ning Cheng’s shadow had just reached the edge of the public square’s array formation when it disappeared without a trace.
“Bang…..” Just the next moment after Ning Cheng’s escape, Duan Gantai seemed to have crashed into an invisible wall before bouncing back onto the public square. A few powerful auras filled with killing power immediately rushed over to cover him up.
Duan Gantai made a dozen hand signs in succession while cursing at Ning Cheng. In just a breath of time, his body exploded into a haze of blood before it flashed and disappeared without a trace.
Duan Gantai had calculated everything, but he had never factored in Ning Cheng not acknowledging his grat.i.tude. Nor had he ever thought that Ning Cheng would actually attack him the same time he attacked him. He was not afraid of a fight from the start, but what shocked him the most was that Ning Cheng’s cultivation strength was no lower than his own cultivation strength. Reinforced by the fact that he couldn’t obtain any advantage at all when they had clashed a moment before.
Even if he were an idiot, Duan Gantai realised that Ning Cheng had intentionally spurted that mouthful of blood under suppression, all to let his guard down. This definitely was a cunning and a crafty fellow. He had ended up losing a million Perpetual Moon Pills and ten thousand Permanent Essence Pills, yet he still was forced to use his secret method. If he had known about it earlier, then he would have gone straight to using the forbidden technique; instead of ‘collaborating’ with that son-of-a-b.i.t.c.h with the surname Ning.
Since his debut, Duan Gantai had never suffered such a level of grievance and frustration. This cultivator by the name of Ning Cheng, he would definitely remember it for the rest of his life. In the future, one day, he would definitely pay back this princ.i.p.al with interest. He could only blame this loss on his carelessness. Previously, every time he made any move, he would always make careful a.s.sessments of the other party’s actual strength. But this time, he failed in the task, which he felt the most pride in, which made him even more determined not to let it happen again.
Why would Ning Cheng stay behind and think of Duan Gantai’s frustration? As soon as he came out of the Eternal Night Public Square, he brought out the Starry Sky Wheel and entered it. A fraction of a moment later, the Starry Sky Wheel turned into nothingness and disappeared without a trace.
Just at this very moment, two powerhouses from the Su Clan arrived at the spot from where Ning Cheng disappeared. They couldn’t help but watch in horror as the Starry Sky Wheel completely vanished from the range of their Spiritual Consciousness. They didn’t know what to do; try to catch it? It would be a huge joke.
Although they couldn’t catch Ning Cheng, they at least saw how Ning Cheng had disappeared. As for Duan Gantai, they didn’t even know how he vanished, let alone give chase.
[1] The phrase ‘死道友不死贫道’ is slightly tricky. It’s not exactly an idiom/phrase, but something used mostly in the context of internet by modern authors. To put it in better wordings, some people translate it as ‘Brother/friend, you can die, but I will not die’, which means that a person would not hesitate to harm even their own family members for the sake of his/her own interests. This phrase is particularly common in online novels and rarely if ever never used in historical text. In a more literal sense, it can be translated as ‘Friend, you die, I don’t die’.