Chapter 0350: Those Who Have Too Much
“That’s right; it is indeed the True Polar Bamboo Sprout. When we, husband and wife, tried to enter that area at that time, we were able to identify it clearly. It is just that our strength is limited; as such, we were unable to rush into the innermost regions. Even if we were able to rush in, it seems that a Natural Fiery Wind Array protects the innermost region. If the two of you are interested, then we can team up to go together.” Chao Hei spoke out positively.
Yu Zheng did not hesitate before agreeing, “Then I certainly would want to make a trip to that place. I have long since arrived at the peak of Rank 4 Imperial Body in Body-Forging, but I am still not able to break past it. This kind of object is definitely crucial for me.”
“Then I will also accompany you all.” Gongye Yingxiu also did not hesitate for even half a bit.
Everyone always treasured this kind of objects. In the Sifting Orchid Star, who did not want to undergo Body Forging? If one was not a Body-Forging Cultivator in this place, then there was just no way to survive in this kind of environment.
“Good, I was originally worried about being short-handed, but now there is enough. We can depart immediately.” Chao Hei spoke enthusiastically with a clap of his hands.
He had never expected that he would be able to form a team. In the Sifting Orchid Star, if you were not accustomed to assessing other people, then it would not do any good to them in revealing the location of their residence. It was also because of this that Chao Hei chose to include Ning Cheng into their team with only the cultivation of Soul Essence Realm. Of course, if he had known earlier that Gongye Yingxiu would be here, even if he did meet Ning Cheng, he would have never take the initiative to invite Ning Cheng.
Gongye Yingxiu spoke up, “We four cultivators in the Soul Sculpting Realm should already be enough…..”
Ning Cheng on hearing this person’s words immediately became angry in his heart, Chao Hei had not even finished speaking, and yet this person actually took the initiative to oust him. Moreover, the True Polar Bamboo Sprout was also not discovered by this person, from this it could be seen that this Gongye Yingxiu was apparently not a magnanimous person.
Chao Hei gave a slight smile and spoke, “We are collectively more powerful with a lot of people. Moreover, I had already promised to bring along Brother Ning when we first met, as such all of us will be going together.”
Although this Chao Hei had not stated it clearly, everyone was clear of the meaning of his words. That was, he was not a person who would dismantle the bridge after crossing it. Previously, he had indeed wanted to borrow Ning Cheng’s strength, but now that he was able to obtain the same from his peers, if he genuinely went ahead and kicked him out, then it would indeed be taking things too far.
Not knowing what Gongye Yingxiu was thinking about, he gave a sudden slight smile and spoke, “Good, since we are stronger as a group, then it’s settled.”
Hearing Gongye Yingxiu agreeing to partner up with Ning Cheng, Chao Hei let out a sigh of relief. They all were well aware of Gongye Yingxiu’s abilities, as such if he genuinely joined their team, then their chances of success would improve a lot.
Saying that Gongye Yingxiu then immediately turned towards Ning Cheng and spoke, “This friend, in the Sifting Orchid Star, everyone in a team is generally on an equal footing. Since Brother Ning only possesses the cultivation of Soul Essence Realm, and yet can still manage an entry amongst a circle of cultivators in the Soul Sculpting Realm, then it must be because you have an amazing bodily cultivation. I hope that you would not let us down when the time comes.”
However, everyone could quickly make out the undercurrents of sarcasm in his words.
Ning Cheng just at this moment understood why other people were more familiar with Chao Hei and his cultivation in the Soul Sculpting Realm, it turned out that they all considered each other among their friend circle. Even if a place looked dangerous, as long as there were people, then there would also be rivers and lakes.
However, Ning Cheng did not care at all about Gongye Yingxiu’s harsh words, and lightly spoke up, “Gongye Yingxiu, you just keep an eye on yourself. I have never regarded you as my friend. Moreover, Brother Chao and I were the ones to form a team initially. You do not have to affix gold onto your face. Whether or not I possess an amazing cultivation, that’s none of your business?”
“You…..” Gongye Yingxiu on seeing Ning Cheng unexpectedly dare to ridicule him immediately wanted to pounce on him.
Chao Hei also never thought that even though Ning Cheng’s cultivation was not that high, yet he would possess such a temper. As such, he hastily came forward to calm down the fires, “We have only formed a temporary team with each other, yet it looks like the team is about to dissolve. This friend, everyone just wants to look out for everyone, there is no need to break out into a fight.”
Gongye Yingxiu gave a cold humph, while his eyes flashed with killing intent before it calmed down, but he did not continue to speak.
Yu Zheng and Chao Hei secretly let out a sigh, these two people were aware that this Gongye Yingxiu had already fostered a killing intent towards Ning Cheng. However, there was also no way around this matter. They could only think that Ning Cheng was not too much aware of his own cultivation. These kinds of people, regardless of any place, would eventually become stepping-stones for others.
Ning Cheng had already clearly perceived Gongye Yingxiu’s killing intent, but he did not care at all about it. Even if his current cultivation was inferior to the opposite party, but he could still easily show them as to who the grandson was and who the grandfather among them was. Gongye Yingxiu only had the cultivation of Soul Sculpting 7th Level; as such, Ning Cheng was also not even half-point afraid because of it, so why would he even try to behave like a grandson to others?
He had even killed an intermediate stage Soul Sculpting Cultivator, Yan De when he was only at the early stages of the Soul Essence Realm. Now that he was already a late stage Soul Essence Cultivator, why would he still need to be afraid of a Late-Stage Soul Sculpting Cultivator like Gongye Yingxiu?
“Such being the case, then let’s depart early.” Ban Miaolei spoke from the side. All the people immediately understood that she did not want this matter to escalate any further.
Although the few of them were Body-Forging Cultivators, their cultivations were not at the Crucible Transformation Realm; as such they could only choose to move quickly over the ground. In a place like the Sifting Orchid Star, ordinary cultivators still did not dare to bring out flight type Magical Weapons to fly.
……
A whole day later, the five people arrived outside of a burning hot stone forest. This stretch of the stone forest was rugged and had strange shapes; however, these weirdly shaped stones intermingled with each other in such a manner that people just would not be able to make out the internal situation. Waves after waves of heat were emanating from it to the point that it even affected one’s Spiritual Consciousness. There was also a high probability that there was a volcano slumbering underneath.
Ning Cheng had chosen not to speak all the way until here; he merely followed the rest of the people for the past one day, finding that his familiarity of the terrain was vastly different from the others.
By the looks of it, whether it was this Chao Hei couple or Yu Zheng and Gongye Yingxiu, they were much more familiar with the terrain than even Shi Qionghua was.
“Brother Chao, is this really the place? I have been here a few times before, so how come I haven’t found anything strange about this place?” Yu Zheng looked around the place and asked his doubts about this patch of the intermingling stone forest.
Chao Hei paused, while his expression also turned serious, and spoke out, “The place I discovered was tough to find. It was more than ten years ago when I ended up finding a fragment of a high-grade Defensive True Artefact around this place, causing me to think that this place might have contained an immortal cave of a cultivator from the past. Unfortunately, even after carefully looking around for a long time, the cave still eluded us. Later, every time I passed by this place, I would try to test out my luck and look around this place for a bit….”
“Where was it?” Gongye Yingxiu eagerly spoke. It was apparent that even for cultivator like him; the allure of a high-grade Defensive True Artefact would be something tremendous.
Chao Hei gave a helpless reply, “I had almost completely searched all around the place countless times, yet was not able to find anything. Then one month ago, under anger and exasperation, I threw down my blade. However, I had never thought this angry outburst with my blade would actually end up striking something. It was a heavily concealed Natural Concealment Array that I ended up discovering.”
“Miaolei and I had spent almost half a month, before we were barely able to enter into the Concealment Restriction, causing us to actually discover a huge Fiery Wind Lava Mist behind it. Unfortunately, this huge Fiery Wing Lava Mist was simply too terrifying. Barely able to take a step forward, I almost ended up losing my life. However, I was able to vaguely make out that there seemed to be several strains of True Polar Bamboo Sprouts; however, these True Polar Bamboo Sprouts were somewhat deep inside the Fiery Wing Array……”
After hearing Chao Hei’s words, not only Yu Zheng, but even Gongye Yingxiu’s eyes glowed with a fiery light. Ning Cheng also felt quite eager in his heart. Once he was able to obtain the True Polar Bamboo Sprout, he would not only be able to advance to the Soul Sculpting Realm, perhaps he might also be able to take a step further in regards to his Body-Forging.
Yu Zheng seemed to be a lot more composed than Gongye Yingxiu. But he still spoke up directly, “This place was found by Brother Chao Hei, as such with regards to how to obtain and split the True Polar Bamboo Sprouts, whatever Brother Chao proposes, we will definitely provide our cooperation for it.”
Gongye Yingxiu also chimed in from the side, “Yes, Brother Chao, moreover this place was not only found by you, but even your cultivation is the highest among us.”
Ning Cheng could perceive the disdain in Gongye Yingxiu’s eyes, but he still did not bother to spare even a glance in his direction.
Chao Hei also nodded and spoke, “Since that is the case, then I will also not be polite about it. Although I was the one who discovered this place, I can definitely say that it would not be easy to obtain the things inside. As such, I think that we should first discuss the plans for allocations beforehand. Although everybody here is friends, it is better to clear this out first.”
“Then let’s follow it according to the Cultivation Levels when the time comes, we can divide the spoils according to our cultivations.” Gongye Yingxiu immediately replied. His cultivation was only second to Chao Hei, as such going by the allocations according to the Cultivation Levels; he would not suffer even the least bit of a loss.
Ning Cheng also spoke up in a ridiculing manner from the side, “Gongye Yingxiu, doesn’t that mean that even if you did not step in, and only waited for us to get the things, wouldn’t you still be getting the second largest share?”
“When did I say that I would not be going in? You are just a trivial Soul Essence Cultivator; as such you absolutely don’t even have the qualifications to participate in this treasure hunt.” Gongye Yingxiu bluntly spoke out in his fury. Since he had come here, it was solely because of the attraction of the True Polar Bamboo Sprout. Why in the right mind would he even care about someone insignificant like Ning Cheng? He absolutely did not want to divide the True Polar Bamboo Sprout with Ning Cheng, if he did not already end up dead inside.
Ban Miaolei suddenly spoke up, “Brother Ning’s argument is also quite reasonable, from what it looks like, it would be better for us to distribute the spoils according to the contributions of each individual on this hunt.”
Seeing Ban Miaolei speak in such a manner, Gongye Yingxiu was also not able to come up with a good retort.
Ning Cheng clapped his hands together and spoke, “I also very much agree with the allocation plan suggested by Senior Apprentice Sister Ban, it simply depends on how much we can contribute to the output. With such a thing in place, we can also be able to use our full strength, not only in going in but even at the time when we encounter the True Polar Bamboo Sprout. At that moment, everyone can use his or her full strength to try to obtain it. Regardless of what we find inside, it would belong to whoever is able to obtain it first. But because Brother Chao was the one to discover this place and is also the one who lead us here, I suggest that regardless of however many strains we obtain, everyone should bring out one-tenth of the True Polar Bamboo Sprouts they obtained to give it to Brother Chao.”
Yu Zheng immediately spoke, “I agree with Brother Ning’s words, this kind of plan is definitely perfect. Brother Chao, what do you say about it?”
Chao Hei was also very satisfied with it and spoke, “I also agree to it.”
Saying that he then looked at Ning Cheng, although Ning Cheng brought up this idea, the fact was that if they genuinely went by this kind of plan, then Ning Cheng would be the one who would suffer the most significant loss. After all his cultivation was indeed the lowest among them.
Gongye Yingxiu once again spoke from the side, “But what if there are other things inside, besides the True Polar Bamboo Sprouts?”
Chao Hei immediately spoke up, “No matter what is inside, each person gets to keep whatever opportunities they are fortunate enough to obtain. As for the True Polar Bamboo Sprout, we will be referring to what Brother Ning Cheng proposed.”
The words of Chao Hei immediately set the foundation of the entire operation; as such, nobody chose to refute it. Ning Cheng also quite appreciated the words of Chao Hei, it looks this person was indeed very magnanimous.
Seeing everybody agree with his words, Chao Hei immediately chose to head into the scorching hot stone forest, while simultaneously spoke up, “Everyone just follows my lead.”
Chao Hei carefully made his way through the stone forest for over an hour, before he finally came to a stop before two incomparably gigantic stone columns. These two stone columns appeared as if they were embracing each other, while at the same time gave the feeling that they would break apart at any moment.
Ning Cheng was already a Tier 7 Array Formation Grand Master; as such, he was immediately able to feel the fluctuations coming from the Natural Array Formation.
“This is the place. Once we attack this location, it would immediately reveal the entrance to the Array Formation. After going in, we would immediately encounter the Fiery Wind Lava Mist.”
As Chao Hei spoke, Ning Cheng had already discovered the entrance. This was indeed a naturally concealed entrance; however, outside this gate were a few artificial traces that he was able to make out. Moreover, Ning Cheng felt that these man-made vestiges were somewhat familiar to him.
“Everybody attack.” As Ning Cheng was pondering over it, Chao Hei had immediately brought out his Magical Weapon while simultaneously rushing forward.
