Chapter 0423: Sect Surpassing Censure Duel
Rong Jin’s self-control finally could not endure it any longer, “Ning Cheng, did you think that the Heavenly Dao Public Square truly does not allow fights, did you think I can’t do anything to you? The Heavenly Dao Public Square still has the Sect Surpassing Censure. I, Yin Yang Dao Sect’s Rong Jin, today formally challenge you to a battle. The Sect Surpassing Censure will continue until one of us is dead. Did you really think that I would not be able to kill you just because I did not want to kill you?”
To challenge a person whose cultivation was not as good as himself, Rong Jin inadvertently admitted that Ning Cheng goaded him into it. As a Sect Master, it also showed that Ning Cheng had not been half-heartedly cultivating his arts; however, since he also came from an unreliable rogue cultivator background, he could also choose to not give any face to this Rong Jin.
When Rong Jin’s words came out, it immediately caused an uproar among the surrounding cultivators. A Sect Surpassing Censure Duel was indeed not a small matter. In a Sect Surpassing Censure, only Crucible Transformation Cultivators and above would have the qualifications to take part in the duel. Of course, if one was not a Crucible Transformation Cultivator, then you had to be a Sect Master or an Academy Head of a 7-Star or above faction, to be eligible for the duel. Ning Cheng was not a Crucible Transformation Cultivator. However, he just happened to be a Sect Master, as such he was more than qualified for this battle.
Since Rong Jin challenged him, and if Ning Cheng chose not to take up the challenge, then he would have no choice but to kneel down and beg for mercy from Rong Jin before agreeing to any conditions put forth by Rong Jin. In other words, one not only had to beg for mercy, if the opposite party asked them to crawl underneath their crotches, then they would have no choice but to do it.
Since the emergence of Sect Surpassing Censures, there has been very few Sect Master that came forward to take up the challenge. Moreover, even if one were a Crucible Transformation Cultivator, only a handful among them would choose to ask for such duels. Only when there existed a bitter life and death grudge between the parties, only then would someone propose a Sect Surpassing Battle.
Ning Cheng indeed was not a brain dead idiot to call Rong Jin to ‘fuck off’. He could see that the opposite party had decent self-control. His purpose was to anger Rong Jin to the point that he wanted to kill him, before leaving the Heavenly Dao Public Square with a grand flourish.
At that time, when Rong Jin came at his heels, he would then be able to massacre that person. However, he had actually not thought that Rong Jin would put forth such a challenge, especially since he had never heard of this Sect Surpassing Censure.
Seeing Ning Cheng looking at her, Tan Yun immediately understood that Ning Cheng did not know about the Sect Surpassing Censure. Because of her little sister Tan Yushan’s matter, Tan Yun had thoroughly investigated Ning Cheng’s origins. She knew that Ning Cheng came from the Le Continent. Moreover, his time in the Tian Continent was also not long. So for such a cultivator to not know about Sect Surpassing Censure was also normal.
Thinking until here, she took the initiative to answer, “Sect Surpassing Censure is a duelling challenge that can only happen between Crucible Transformation Cultivators or Sect Masters. Moreover, the fight would continue until one party is dead. If you do not agree to take up Elder Rong’s challenge, then you can admit defeat by your own initiative. However, admitting defeat would mean that you would have to beg for mercy from your opponent. Not only would you have to beg for mercy, but you would also have to acquiesce to any condition put forth by Elder Rong Jin.”
Ning Cheng immediately understood; his Spiritual Consciousness also swept towards the place inscribed with the three words ‘Sect Surpassing Censure’, at the west of the Heavenly Dao Public Square.
“Rong Jin, although there are some disparities between you cultivation and mine; however, since you are so keen to look for your death then please let me help you fulfil it. However, there are a few important matters that this Sect Master has to deal with, so let’s have the final fight for the Sect Surpassing Censure three months from now.” Ning Cheng agreed to Rong Jin’s challenge without any hesitation.
He anyway would have had to kill this Rong Jin in secret, but now that Rong Jin took the initiative to challenge him by his own volition, how could he not accept it. However, the fight would have to take place after three months, which was because he wanted to use the time to focus on the search for the Spiritual Vein during these three months. If Ning Cheng could find the Spiritual Vein, then perhaps Ning Cheng might be able to advance to the intermediate stages of Sea Opening Realm before the battle with Rong Jin. Even if he could not find it, it would not be much of a problem.
Rong Jin’s complexion also returned to normal, “It’s just a matter of mouthing off. Since an Early-stage Sea Opening Realm Cultivator dared to take up the post of the Sect Master of one of the ten major factions; it shows that the sect is just a trash dump and nothing else.”
Having said that, Rong Jin did not wait for Ning Cheng to reply before he turned away and left the Heavenly Dao Public Square.
Ning Cheng had ridiculed Rong Jin for not being a Sect Master, and contrasted it with his other qualifications, while Rong Jin also mocked Ning Cheng for possessing poor cultivation, just at the Sea Opening Realm.
Regardless of how Ning Cheng and Rong Jin ridiculed each other, the news of the Sect Surpassing Censure Duel between Rainbow Fall Sword Sect’s Sect Master Ning Cheng and Rong Jin taking place after three months at the Heavenly Dao Public Square had quickly spread out.
This kind of explosive news was quite difficult for others to not bear withholding it. Ning Cheng currently was a rising star among the youth and had even killed Tang Guangxi who was at the Crucible Transformation 3rd Level, causing his fame to shoot upwards in an explosive manner. However, Rong Jin’s reputation as being utterly ruthless was something long since established. Moreover, he was also one of the powerhouses of the Yin Yang Dao Sect, someone incomparable to Tang Guangxi on the same level. Even his cultivation surpassed Ning Cheng by several degrees.
What’s more, this life and death duel was not just between Ning Cheng and Rong Jin, but also involved the Yin Yang Dao Sect and the Rainbow Fall Sword Sect.
Many people were starting to look forward to the duel three months from now. After all, it has been many years since the last Sect Surpassing Censure Duel took place; nevertheless, its glory would once again reveal itself because of the hot-bloodedness of Sect Master Ning.
Ning Cheng then turned towards Tan Yun on the side and spoke, “Can you stay back for a minute? I have a few matters that I want to consult with you.”
Tan Yun also replied without any hurry, “Sect Master Ning can go right ahead, I’m also not in a hurry anyway.”
Ning Cheng then looked at Zhuang Jingyi and asked, “There should have been many cultivators who came from the Le Continent, right? Do you know where Yan Ji went?”
Ning Cheng’s Spiritual Consciousness had already thoroughly swept throughout the Heavenly Dao Public Square just now, but he was unable to locate Yan Ji. Not to say about Yan Ji, he could not find any of his other acquaintances mentioned by Zhang Qian.
Zhuang Jingyi quickly spoke up, “Reporting to Sect Master, there indeed were a lot of cultivators who came from the Le Continent; however, most of them have already joined the major factions, there are only a few left like me who are still trying to find opportunities at the Heavenly Dao Public Square. Senior Apprentice Sister Yan Ji should currently be in the Floating Snow Palace; three days ago, she left with the Heavenly Dao Public Square with the people from the Floating Snow Palace.”
Ning Cheng felt disappointed in his heart. He wanted to find Yan Ji and ask Yan Ji to join the Rainbow Fall Sword Sect and admit her to the Rainbow Fall Sword Peak together with the others. Unexpectedly, just a few days earlier, Yan Ji ended up joining the Floating Snow Palace. Although he and the Floating Snow Palace did not have a close connection, they also did not share many good feelings towards each other. Since Yan Ji became a disciple of the Floating Snow Palace, then Ning Cheng also dispelled the thought of looking for Yan Ji again for the time being.
What Ning Cheng did not know was that Yan Ji had already inquired about matters relating to him. She became aware that many of the major factions had forced him to run away, causing him to disappear. Moreover, Yan Ji also did not have any kind of representation to present herself to the Sect Master of the Rainbow Fall Sword Sect, so Yan Ji dispelled the thought of joining the Rainbow Fall Sword Sect. Under Yin Kongchan’s persuasion, she entered the Floating Snow Palace instead.
“In that case, you should return to the Rainbow Fall Sword Sect. If there are still any disciples from the Le Continent unwanted by the other factions, then you can lead them to join the Rainbow Fall Sword Sect, if they wish to join us.”
Ning Cheng spoke while handing Zhuang Jingyi a jade card, “After you arrive at the Rainbow Fall Sword Sect, bring out this jade card for admission.”
Rainbow Fall Sword Sect currently had very few disciples, so Ning Cheng took the chance to recruit some disciples on the off chance. Moreover, if the cultivators from the Le Continent could not find any faction to join, then they would have no choice but to turn into rogue cultivators in the Tian Continent. The fate of rogue cultivators in the Tian Continent was quite miserable. Moreover, even if Ning Cheng did help them, he could only admit them into the sect; however, in the future, they would have to depend on themselves for further development.
“Many thanks, Sect Master.” Zhuang Jingyi was pleasantly surprised as he received the jade card while thinking that if he were in this place, would he have gone all out to help people like him just like Sect Master Ning.
“Oh right, do you know about Gui Zong from the Gui Yuan City?” Ning Cheng asked again, especially since he did not see Gui Zong at the Heavenly Dao Public Square.
Zhuang Jingyi, a few moments ago, had heard Ning Cheng saying that he fought with the people from Gui Yuan City. It showed that there was definitely some contradiction between Ning Cheng and Gui Zhong. Now that Ning Cheng asked about him, he quickly gave a reply, “I heard that he went to the Heaven’s Way, after that there was no news about him.”
“Oh, ok. You can go back the sect now. The sect has to deal with a few things, but you don’t have to bother about it for the time being. Just focus on your cultivation.” Ning Cheng spoke up.
“Yes.” Zhuang Jingyi quickly gave a reply. He ended up becoming rogue cultivation after coming here from the Le Continent and had no friends here. Moreover, he also did not have a clear understanding of what happened to the Rainbow Fall Sword Sect a few days ago.
……
Starbucks Rest Stop, this was Ning Cheng’s second time coming here.
The first time was when he came here with Yin Kongchan and Xu Yingdei to decide the matter of cooperation between them. It was also because of that cooperation that he managed to obtain the Geocentric 9 Yin Essence and the Underworld Soul Flower. Even his Nirvana Spear was something that he gained because of this cooperation. Indeed, it was also because of this cooperation that he ended up almost dead at the hands of Xu Yingdei.
“What does Senior Apprentice Sister Tan want to ask me?” After Ning Cheng led Tan Yun to the Starbucks Rest Stop, he took the initiative to ask about it. The treatment he showed to Tan Yun was a lot different compared to his treatment of Rong Jin. Rong Jin was definitely an enemy of him. However, Tan Yun represented the Great Change Island. During the present times, the Great Change Island and his Rainbow Fall Sword Sect shared a vague partnership, which showed the potential to develop into a real alliance, if taken in the right direction.
The current Rainbow Fall Sword Sect was very weak; as such, although it was unlikely for him to fawn over or curry favours from the opponent, at least he could try to win over comrades who, at least, would not push him away.
Tan Yun calmly spoke up, “Sect Master Ning really is not afraid of getting into trouble. You just recently killed Tang Guangxi of the Red Star Sword Faction, yet now you are even engaging the Dao Sect’s Rong Jin.”
Obviously, Rong Jin was the one who challenged Ning Cheng, but Tan Yun preferred to word it as Ning Cheng who challenged Rong Jin. In fact, Ning Cheng knew that she did not speak out incorrectly. He indeed had initiated the challenge. Ning Cheng not only showed disdain towards Rong Jin but also had publicly called out to him to ‘fuck off’. Otherwise, with Rong Jin’s attainments in his mind arts, he would definitely not take the initiative to challenge him.
“Although I killed Tang Guangxi, it was also to help vent some of your anger. I’d rather think of us as friends rather than enemies.” Ning Cheng did not prefer Tan Yun’s gentle way of speaking around the bush.
Tan Yun also understood that Ning Cheng was a person who liked to go straight to the point, so she also stood up, gave her salute to Ning Cheng, and said, “If not for you, then I perhaps would have regarded those animals as my relatives today. I never got the opportunity to thank you, so allow me to take this opportunity to thank you.”
Ning Cheng quickly waved his hand and spoke, “Senior Apprentice Sister Tan should sit down, as I said, I regard the Rainbow Fall Sword Sect and the Great Change Island as friends. It is only a pity that my cultivation was too low; as such, I could not rescue your younger sister. I hope you don’t mind me asking as to how the Red Star Sword Faction’s Jiang Jun is doing now?”
Tan Yun secretly sighed. She knew that what Ning Cheng spoke was the truth. Although Ning Cheng is fierce, he would still be unable to kill someone at the Great Circle of Soul Essence Realm with just the cultivation of Profound Core 8th level.
“Jiang Jun is the Red Star Sword Faction’s True Inheriting Disciple. If I did not guess it wrong, then at this time, he should be around the Intermediate Stages of Soul Sculpting Realm, or even the Late Stages.” Tan Yun’s tone also calmed down a bit. There was a deep hatred between her and Jiang Jun, so although she spoke out in a calm tone, her words contained an intense and almost palpable hatred within them.
Ning Cheng could only give out a deep sigh at this time, although the Great Change Island is also one of the top ten factions, from the looks of it, their strength was even worse than the Red Star Sword Faction; moreover, by a lot. Since Jiang Jun has closed himself up for cultivating within his faction, so it was entirely reasonable for her to feel helpless.
“This time, besides coming here to thank you, I also wanted to see if we could collaborate on something.” As Tan Yun spoke, she raised her hand and shot out several Sound Isolating Restrictions.
“Please go ahead.” Ning Cheng nodded. He already sensed that Tan Yun was looking for him to initiate cooperation. However, as to what she wanted to cooperate on with him, Ning Cheng was not very clear about it.
“Sect Master Ning should already know about the plotting against your Rainbow Fall Sword Sect, which also includes the appearance of Spiritual Veins, which led to the luring out the four Grand Elder Taoists from the Rainbow Fall Sword Sect and their subsequent entrapment, right?” After Tan Yun finished with putting up the Sound Isolating Restrictions, she spoke out with carefully worded words and tone.
