In just two breaths, Ying Daoqi and Tie Shan’s robes disintegrated, their muscles started to melt, and their bones simultaneously started snapping one after another. The horrifying temperature of this purple space burned them from the outside and worked its way into their bodies. Even if the two were Eternal-level experts, they could not delay it for even a moment.
Ying Daoqi gave out mournful screams as he raised his hands and brought out an escape talisman. In just a moment, the escape talisman turned into clumps of white light that then covered up what was left of Ying Daoqi’s skeleton before disappearing.
Although Ying Daoqi managed to escape with a part of his skeleton, Tie Shan did not enjoy such good luck. A few moments after Ying Daoqi fled Tie Shan disintegrated into nothingness.
……
One would find many cultivators roaming around the outer periphery of the Thousand Mound Forest, but the number of cultivators took a sharp drop about 300,000 miles into the Thousand Mound Forest.
Ning Cheng, by now, had already crossed about a million miles and had entered the depths of the Thousand Mound Forest. However, he knew in his heart that even if Tian Muwan and the blue-robed female cultivator were in the Thousand Mound Forest, it would not be easy to find them.
After travelling about a million miles into the Thousand Mound Forest, he had seen and encountered too many natural array formations and top-grade demonic beasts. But even with the Starry Sky Sea of Consciousness, Ning Cheng knew that he had not covered much ground.
“Boom-Boom….” Sudden celestial essence explosions immediately attracted Ning Cheng’s attention, who was still searching around in the Thousand Mound Forest. It was already the third day since Ning Cheng ventured into the Thousand Mound Forest to look for those two women.
Judging by the celestial essence fluctuations, at least one of the involved parties must be an expert in or above the Life and Death Realm. Ning Cheng did not overthink and immediately changed directions with a wave from his Twin Wings of the Heavenly Clouds.
After an incense stick worth of time, Ning Cheng finally stopped. The ones fighting were a tall male cultivator and a demonic cultivator. The male cultivator had Eternal-level cultivation, but when Ning Cheng’s gaze swept by, he could see that the cultivator had some severe, almost fatal, injuries. In contrast, the demonic cultivator had a leopard head and a robust healthy-looking human-like body, giving off a tyrannical aura similar to a starry sky grade nine demonic beast.
From the messy ground around them, one could tell that they have been fighting for quite a while now.
“Bao Xi, you and I always minded our own business, why are you behaving so unreasonably and pestering me day and night?” The man spoke with a grudge.
The leopard-headed demonic cultivator smiled and spoke, “Zhu Zhengfeng, do you still remember what you said when I came to Moyi City and asked you for a pot of None-to-depend-on Wine? You called me a brute and told me to fuck off. This father anyways had planned to come after you in the future but since you came to me so kindly, how can I let you go without acting as a proper host?”
Zhu Zhengfeng? Ning Cheng immediately understood. He knew this fellow, the master of Interdependence Chamber of Commerce and the one responsible for snatching the Mutual Dependence Wine from the Mo Clan. Since this person appeared here, it meant he definitely wanted to chase down the blue-robed female cultivator.
“Who is it?” Sensing the slight fluctuation caused by the arrival of Ning Cheng, Bao Xi immediately turned alert.
Ning Cheng did not bother to answer and directly brought out a long spear-type Dao Artefact and shot out with the spear.
When Ning Cheng’s long spear burst out, Bao Xi and Zhu Zhengfeng, both felt the majestic imposing aura bearing down on them. At the same time, Zhu Zhengfeng felt a fierce murderous intent wrap around him. Despite such a strong killing intent, Zhu Zhengfeng still could not detect its point of origin.
Bao Xi immediately understood that this person wanted to help him kill Zhu Zhengfeng. No matter the other party’s intentions, Bao Xi absolutely would not miss such an excellent opportunity and unleashed a huge claw shadow directed at Zhu Zhengfeng at almost the same time.
Ying Daoqi’s sneak attack had already severely injured Zhu Zhengfeng back then while this damned Bao Xi relentlessly boxed him in and hunted him for a full day and night. Therefore, at this moment, when Ning Cheng attacked him, he could not even accurately detect the location from where Ning Cheng attacked. Moreover, before he could even do anything, Bao Xi’s giant claw immediately slapped down.
Just when Zhu Zhengfeng brought out a weapon to block Bao Xi’s giant claw, Ning Cheng’s spear shadows pierced through his domain. Only at this moment could Zhu Zhengfeng locate the origin of Ning Cheng’s spear shadows filled with killing intent. It was a single spear completely traceless and shadowless, which had already reached his heart.
“Poof….” Ning Cheng’s long spear-type Dao Artefact pierced through the already tattered robes and into Zhu Zhengfeng’s body. As the fierce spear force transformed from killing intent poured into his body, Zhu Zhengfeng screamed out mournfully. The meridians in his body quickly broke down inch by inch, while even his life essence gave bursts of pain.
Zhu Zhengfeng’s life essence was just about to escape when Bao Xi caught it in its hand. A demonic flame erupted, and Zhu Zhengfeng’s life essence gave out even higher-pitched screams.
Ning Cheng did not care about Zhu Zhengfeng’s life essence at all. Instead, he directly grabbed Zhu Zhengfeng’s storage ring.
Almost the same moment that Bao Xi killed Zhu Zhengfeng’s life essence, Ning Cheng took away Zhu Zhengfeng’s storage ring.
“Young man. You sure have guts to grab something from my hand.” Bao Xi loosened his hand, and Zhu Zhengfeng’s lifeless body silently fell to the ground.
Ning Cheng put on Zhu Zhengfeng’s storage ring smoothly onto one of his fingers and calmly spoke up, “Why do I seem to remember that this storage ring was on Zhu Zhengfeng’s hand? Oh, is Zhu Zhengfeng your avatar?”
Bao Xi laughed in anger, “Let’s see how strong you are….”
As his hand slammed down, a huge claw shadow descended.
When the claw shadow came out, Ning Cheng found that it was precisely the same as what he saw when the two had joined hands to kill Zhu Zhengfeng. However, it was only when the claw shadow appeared over his head did Ning Cheng realise that he could no longer see the blue dome of heaven.
This claw shadow seemed to represent the sky as it descended, causing the ground beneath his feet to shake. Ning Cheng’s domain also started to crack like a spider web.
Feeling the violent suppressive aura bearing down, Ning Cheng found it challenging to breathe. At this moment, the long spear-type Dao Artefact in his hands seemed to have gained a great deal of weight, making it extremely difficult to lift it up.
Ning Cheng felt surprised at this. He had once killed a cultivator who had just entered the Life and Death Realm. Moreover, with the rapid development of his cultivation over the past few months, Ning Cheng knew that he might not match up to the Eternal-level experts, but he felt that he at least would not be too far off.
However, he now understood that a considerable difference existed between him and Eternal-level powerhouses. If it was not for Zhu Zhengfeng’s previous injuries, and Bao Xi holding Zhu Zhengfeng down, he could not have successfully executed the sneak attack.
Ning Cheng, however, also knew that he could not retreat at this moment. He crazily stimulated his celestial essence and shot out the long spear-type Dao Artefact.
The next moment, his long spear turned into something akin to a giant pillar to greet the terrifying claw shadow that came crashing down.
“Boom….” As the claw shadow slammed onto Ning Cheng’s long spear, a powerful counter-attack blew over, causing Ning Cheng’s bones to rattle.
“Boom-Boom….” As the claw shadow kept pressing down, it felt as if the sky itself was pressing down on it. The long spear-type Dao Artefact, just like Ning Cheng, gave out cracking sounds under the suppression.
The ground under Ning Cheng’s feet began to crack apart and slowly extend out. At this moment, Ning Cheng’s legs shook even more. Finding that his strategy might not be the right one, he realised that he should not fight against Bai Xi recklessly when it came to celestial essence.
At this time, Ning Cheng did not hesitate to blow out dozens of Spiritual Consciousness Blades, targeting Bao Xi’s horrifying giant claw first.
Almost at the same time that Ning Cheng shot out dozens of Spiritual Consciousness Blades, Bao Xi’s giant claw that nearly covered the entire sky suddenly lifted up. Ning Cheng’s heart had just loosened up when the giant claw once again pressed down. This time, it gave off more than twice the imposing aura that it carried previously.
Damn it, Ning Cheng cursed internally. This demonic cultivator definitely knew how to play with people.
“Ca-Ca….” Sounds like knives trying to split cotton sounded in Ning Cheng’s ears, following which Ning Cheng’s face turned a bit hard to look at. From the looks of it, his Spiritual Consciousness Blades could not penetrate into Bao Xi’s Sea of Consciousness at all.
“Katcha!” Ning Cheng’s long spear-type Dao Artefact could not hold on and directly broke under the suppression. However, because of the Spiritual Consciousness Blades interfering with the claw shadow for a moment, Ning Cheng managed to move back a few hundred feet and fell outside the range of Bai Xi’s giant claw.
Bao Xi’s dark face flushed with a tinge of red. Although he had the absolute upper hand against Ning Cheng, he could not do anything to Ning Cheng.
“If I’m not wrong, your cultivation should not have reached the Life and Death Realm. A cultivator below the Life and Death Realm, yet so powerful, even cultivating a spiritual consciousness cultivation method, it’s definitely worth my time.” Bao Xi stepped out. However, a few hundred feet away from Bao Xi, everything suddenly seemed to have turned into nothingness.
Ning Cheng stretched out his hand and grabbed the Imperial Jade Seal, faced with celestial essence and spiritual consciousness as powerful as Bao Xi, Ning Cheng did not feel sure if he could achieve a victory using his Sunset’s Twilight. However, the Imperial Jade Seal contained the Power of Hope, and he had even refined a part of the seal. Therefore, he could use it against Bao Xi.
Despite the preparations, Ning Cheng did not take the initiative to attack. Instead, he calmly looked at Bao Xi and said, “Brother Bao, if I were you, I would not start a fight with me.”
Bao Xi laughed again, “If you have the means, then show it. I Bao Xi want to see it.”
Ning Cheng spoke up calmly, “Brother Bao, although I admit that I’m not your opponent, but it would be impossible for you to kill me. I can walk away from this place any time I want.”
Bao Xi felt surprised and showed a frown. If Ning Cheng did manage to escape, even if he won the battle, he would not get that storage ring.
Ning Cheng on seeing Bao Xi frown spoke up with a calm voice, “Brother Bao, are you still thinking about the storage ring? In my opinion, you should actually think about yourself.”
“Are you threatening me?” Bai Xi’s eyebrows pricked up and killing intent started to ooze out.
Ning Cheng did not feel any fear towards Bao Xi, “Whether I threatened you or not, I just wanted to say that you guessed it right. I am only in the Heaven Seated Realm. Just think about it. I have no fear towards you even in the Heaven Seated Realm, and you offended me today. In the future, once I advanced to the Eternal Realm, do you think that I would let you go? Even if you leave this place, you still have family here, right? You should know by now that I don’t have soft hands.”
Bao Xi’s heart skipped a beat. This was one of his deepest fears. What Ning Cheng said was not wrong at all. Today, if he made any rash decisions, and the person in front of him escaped, he would not obtain anything; at the same time, he would have also made a powerful enemy for himself in the future. If it were just an ordinary cultivator, Bao Xi would not feel any fear at all. However, he was already finding it difficult to contend with a person still in the Heaven Seated Realm. If he truly managed to advance to the Eternal Realm in the future, then….
Ning Cheng immediately noticed the slightly frightened look in Bao Xi’s eyes and calmly spoke up, “Brother Bao, although I’m not here to stay, I do have something to ask from you. Of course, if Brother Bao wants something and if I can help Brother Bao, then I will not refuse it.”
Bao Xi hesitated for a moment before taking a deep breath and saying, “I just need a pot of the original None-to-depend-on Wine. It should be in Zhu Zhengfeng’s storage ring.”
Ning Cheng showed a faint smile, “Just this little thing, Brother Bao should have spoken about it earlier. Not to mention a pot, it wouldn’t matter if you asked for two pots.”
