Chapter 0456: Purchasing an Immortal Cave
Ji Luofei rarely expressed her opinion. Now that Ning Cheng asked her, she hesitated for a bit before speaking up, “The Rootless Black City has many guards, and there are also a few people tracking us. I’m afraid that they belong to the Silver Thunder Chamber of Commerce. I think we should first find a place to stay in the North City District, and then work on finding out the specific situation of this city. It would be the best if we could find a foothold outside the Rootless Black City; otherwise, we would have nowhere to escape in case things go wrong.”
“Ok, let’s go and see if there are any Immortal Caves for sale within the North City District.” Ning Cheng immediately agreed to Ji Luofei’s words. Ning Cheng had already detected that a few people had started to discretely follow them since the moment they entered. However, he was sure that the people following them were not from the Silver Thunder Chamber of Commerce but the Auspicious Star Chamber of Commerce.
……
The Rootless Black City Trade Union. This was the largest cultivator agglomeration within the Rootless Black City. As long as a cultivator wanted to stay in the Rootless Black City, they would have to come here.
This trade union also was the most massive public gathering place within the entire Rootless Black City; although not a public square, the area it occupied was not much smaller when compared to an ordinary public square. Such a large area, of course, would never come up in the centre of the city; instead, it was located on the edge of the Central City District.
The Ning Cheng trio head straight for the trade union before entering an extremely eye-catching hall. The first floor of the building contained multiple Array Formation Displays. Numerous messages scrolled slowly across these displays, about Immortal Cave leasing, selling, and transfers.
There was also a sign over the stairs to the side that led to the floor above; the sign for the second floor contained the words ‘Missions and Team Formations’.
All kinds of information flowed through this place. After Ning Cheng asked a few questions, he finally understood that there was only one way to leave the Rootless Black City. That Gary from before had not lied to them; to leave this Rootless Black City, one must rely on the local forces of the Rootless Black City.
Every 10 years, a Void Ship from a Starry Sky Mainland would arrive at the Rootless Black City; these ships would purchase a variety of ores and other materials from this place. The Rootless Black City’s surrounding Void was rich in Black Essence Stones, so every time these Void Ships arrived, they would leave fully loaded with it.
Because these Void Ships end up acquiring materials like the Black Essence Stone and few other things, it allowed the local forces within the Rootless Black City to forge inextricable links with them. If one wanted to leave the Rootless Black City on these ships and reach a real Starry Sky Mainland, then you would have no choice but to contact these forces. Paying them a considerable amount of Black Coins would give you a chance to acquire such an opportunity for walking away from this place. Otherwise, even if these Void Ships had many empty seats, they would not allow you to ride.
The last ship arrived and departed just over two years ago. This showed that even if the Ning Cheng trio wanted to leave this place, it would still take at least another eight years.
Ning Cheng knew that now was not the time to consider leaving. He had to find a place to live in any case; eight years were not eight days. In the Rootless Black City, there were many Immortal Caves, but too few buyers, especially since cultivators capable of shelling out the necessary Black Coins to buy an Immortal Cave were quite rare.
Ning Cheng quickly found the information he needed over an Array Formation Screen. It listed all the information about the Rootless Black City’s Immortal Caves, both for sale and for lease.
An Immortal Cave with a small courtyard needed a million Black Coins. A million Black Coins translated to 100 million Spirit Stones. For an ordinary cultivator, this sum alone would make it very difficult for them to purchase such a property. Moreover, this was just the starting price of an Immortal Cave in the North City District. When it came to Immortal Caves in the East City District and the South City District, it exceeded even several hundred million Spirit Stones; in other words, several million Black Coins. As for the Immortal Caves in the West City District, their prices were the cheapest. However, that area was quite chaotic, as most of the people who could afford the cost of relative safety would generally go to the North City District.
“We’ll buy an Immortal Cave in the North City District.” Ning Cheng selected an Immortal Cave costing 1.08 million Black Coins in the North City District. 1 Million Black Coins, for him, did not cost too much.
Ning Cheng did not change all of his Spirit Stones into Black Coins. He only exchanged 200 Million Spirit Coins for a total of 2 Million Black Coins. For Ning Cheng, Spirit Stones still had some uses for cultivation along with driving some of his Magical Artefacts. It also had applications in arranging Spiritual Gathering Arrays and other areas. Black Coins were just a unit of currency used in the Rootless Black City. Who knows if they still had any value after leaving the Rootless Black City?
For a newly arrived cultivator like Ning Cheng to spend 1 million Black Coins to buy an Immortal Cave, the people from the Trade Union did not feel too surprised about it. A few cultivators who had just arrived in this place could afford this kind of Immortal Caves. Some wealthy cultivators would even buy Immortal Caves in the South City District and the East City District. However, these cultivators would once again sell off their Immortal Caves after a while. However, re-selling did not mean they would get a reasonable price; more often than not, it would bring only a bad price.
The Rootless Black City did not allow private flights. Therefore, after Ning Cheng purchased the Immortal Cave, under the guidance of the seller, he rode a small airship. This Airship flew along a specific route within the Rootless Black City. An hour later, he then arrived at the location of his purchased Immortal Cave in the North City District.
Along the way, Ning Cheng felt the trenchant grades of the Rootless Black City. The middle of the city contained a variety of Rest Stops belonging to the various Merchant Houses. However, as they approached the North City District, the numbers significantly declined. Even if there were a few Merchant Houses, they all appeared simple, with not many people haunting them. Upon their arrival at the location of the Immortal Cave, it was impossible to see any Merchant Houses around.
The cultivator in-charge of selling the Immortal Cave, after delivering Ning Cheng to the location, helped Ning Cheng open the Array Formation of the Immortal Cave, before immediately leaving. The area of the Immortal Cave purchased by Ning Cheng was not very good; it was near to the edge of the Rootless Black City. In general, the closer was an Immortal Cave to the corner, the less secured would it be.
Ning Cheng and Ji Luofei had just arrived at the entrance of the Immortal Cave when a dozen or so Spiritual Consciousness swept towards them. A few of the Spiritual Consciousness’ lingered around Ning Cheng for a long time without withdrawing. Obviously, the owners realised that Ning Cheng’s cultivation was too low, only at the late stages of the Sea Opening Realm. It did not matter how many Spiritual Consciousnesses swept towards Ji Luofei, none of them dared to linger around her. After all, Ji Luofei was a genuine Crucible Transformation Cultivator.
However, Yi Zhuzhu trembled under the oppression of these many Spiritual Consciousnesses. Ning Cheng estimated that even if they just moved in today, and disappeared from this place tomorrow, no one would even bother to ask about them.
In this place, Ning Cheng finally felt another difference between the Central City District and the North City District. That is, in the North City District, there were only occasional patrolling guards, while in the Central City Area, patrol guards were almost everywhere.
If this were the case within the North City District, the situation within the West City District would be even more chaotic. Perhaps there might not be a single patrolling guard in that area.
Ning Cheng did not feel disheartened in the light of this, as he burst out with his powerful Spiritual Consciousness and killing intent. A few of the Spiritual Consciousness still circling around him instantly collapsed under his powerful burst. A cultivator in just the Sea Opening Realm who could erupt with such a mighty Imposing Manner immediately scared away the other cultivators from daring to sweep their Spiritual Consciousness in their direction. The several Crucible Transformation Cultivators, who were trying to inspect them with their Spiritual Consciousness, immediately understood that this newly arrived Sea Opening Cultivator was not a simple figure.
……
After Ning Cheng blew those unsavoury Spiritual Consciousnesses away, Yi Zhuzhu finally calmed down.
Ning Cheng did not seek out those people who tried to probe them; to live in this place, it would always involve a life and death struggle. Wishing for people in the world of cultivation to follow the rules of even the basic courtesy would just be a dream. In this place, there was only a single rule, ‘if you had the strength, then you would live; if you didn’t have the strength, then you would just die.’
The survival laws of the jungle; this place reflected it vividly.
The Ning Cheng trio entered the courtyard and found themselves somewhat satisfied with the arrangement. The yard had four rooms, while also containing a Spiritual Medicine Garden in the middle along with a Light Disbursing Array Formation.
The Rootless Black City did not contain any sunlight of its own; all the light came through an Array Formation. Even the sun hovering above the Rootless Black City was just a manifestation of an Array Formation; however, the materials needed to keep it in operation came from everyone living in the Rootless Black City.
Do not look at Ning Cheng managing to purchase an Immortal Cave in the North City District. Although the three of them could live in this place; however, they had to shell out a certain amount of Black Coins every day.
Except some cultivators living within the West City District, who could not provide the necessary Black Coins to survive, the number of Black Coins supplied by the other four City Districts was the same. It was not that those living in the Central City Area or the Eastern or Southern City Area had preferential treatment; instead, the public security was better in those areas. As such, the people living there would have to pay a higher amount of Black Coins.
Ning Cheng let Luofei and Yi Zhuzhu find a place to rest by themselves. He then removed the Array Formation outside the courtyard of the Immortal Cave. Some of the Spiritual Consciousness’ still peeping on Ning Cheng on seeing Ning Cheng remove all the Immortal Cave’s Restrictions felt a considerable surprise.
Surviving in this place, the Array Formations and Restrictions of the Immortal Caves were the most crucial things. If an Immortal Cave were without any Array Formations and Restrictions, then even if gifted to others, nobody would dare to live in it. Moreover, if one wanted to invite an Array Formation Grand Master to arrange new ones on their Immortal Caves, it would still require a sizable heap of Black Coins.
Only an idiot would willingly remove the Protective Array Formations on their own residence.
However, these people soon understood what was going on. This person was an Array Formation Grand Master himself. They realised it as soon as a new Array Formation quickly sprung up after a short pause around the Immortal Cave. Moreover, this Array Formation was definitely a Rank 6 Array Formation. Seeing Ning Cheng successfully deploy a Rank 6 Array Formation, they also realised that Ning Cheng was a high-level Array Formation Grand Master. This caused the peeping Spiritual Consciousness’ to disappear completely without a trace.
If one did not share a bitter hatred, no one would be stupid enough to come looking for trouble against a Tier 6 Array Formation Grandmaster. Knowing that Ning Cheng was a cultivator, who also possessed the abilities of a Tier 6 Array Formation Grand Master, they couldn’t help but despise him a little in their mind. Since this person was a Tier 6 Array Formation Grandmaster, then why was he living in this place?
Ning Cheng was not just a Tier 6 Array Formation Grandmaster; he was actually a Tier 8 Array Formation Grandmaster. With the materials in his possession, he could easily arrange one or two Rank 8 Array Formations. However, Ning Cheng did not choose to organise the Rank 8 Array Formations outside. Under the protection of the Rank 6 Array, he quietly laid out a concealed Rank 7 Entrapment and Killing Array Formation along with a Rank 7 Defensive Array.
Then after arranging all these, he decorated a Rank 8 Concealed Killing Formation around the three people’s residence. Then he finally connected all the Array Formations together to form a Chain-linked Killing Formation.
Under these methods displayed by Ning Cheng, even if a Plundering Life Realm Cultivator arrived here, they could forget about leaving this place alive, or at least unscathed.
After completing the arrangement of these Array Formations, Ning Cheng finally laid out a Spiritual Gathering Array.
“Luofei, you and Zhuzhu should cultivate. I am going to the Trade Union to find any news about Ruolan and the others.” Ning Cheng passed on the Control Array Flag to Luofei and Yi Zhuzhu. With the Array Formations in place here, even against an existence in the Plundering Life Realm, Luofei would still be able to hold her ground. What’s more, he was also not going too far.
“You go on; we can take care of things here.” Ji Luofei knew that Ning Cheng would remain in a worried state if he could not find any news regarding Ruolan.
