Chapter 0475: Black City’s Crisis
Ning Cheng, in one swift move like a rumble of thunder, took control of the Rootless Black City. He then passed on the Rootless Black City to Lan Wenbin and Shen Zimo for proper management. Since he obtained those crystals from Xu Kai, the most important thing for him was to use those crystals to improve his own cultivation.
As for the Void Golden Explosive Wasp King Egg, Ning Cheng decided to keep it sealed within a jade box. He anyway did not know any information about the development of Void Explosive Golden Wasps. Ning Cheng could not find anything about it even within Xu Liangzhi’s ring. Although he very much wanted the Void Golden Explosive Wasp to recognise him as its master, he was also very helpless in this regard.
Moreover, Ning Cheng was also cautious about the Void Golden Explosive Wasp King’s egg. After all, this Wasp King has yet to break out of its shell, nor has it recognised him as its master. If he were not careful, allowing the Wasp King’s Aura to leak out of the egg, the consequences would not be something good.
Initially, more than a hundred cultivators had gone to the Blue Essence Stone Mine; however, no one came back except for him. This caused Ning Cheng to give up on the thought of finding the Blue Essence Stone Mine once again temporarily. Even if he had to go, he had to wait until his cultivation improved.
Without the necessary cultivation resources, he had no way to advance. However, now that he had obtained some significant cultivation resources, he immediately chose to go into seclusion with Luofei first.
After Ning Cheng went into seclusion, the Rootless Black City also grew increasingly stable. Apart from cultivators competing for the weapons and other treasures, hardly anyone would choose to fight for the sake of creaking ruckus. Relatively speaking, this city became a lot simpler to manage when compared to even an ordinary town.
Moreover, there was also strict enforcement of regulations within the Rootless Black City; at the same time, the Cultivator Army backed and enforced all the rules. As such, extremely few cultivators chose to commit a crime. If there were any such characters, the patrolling guards from the Rootless Black City’s City Master Mansion would quickly take care of them.
As for the other factions, after a while, they all found that even if they had given up the part of the income they earned from the incoming new cultivators, their earnings had not decreased at all. On the contrary, they found doing business in such an environment even smoother.
……
Five years later, Ning Cheng used up eight of the nine crystals along with more than a billion Spirit Stones. As for the remaining crystal, Ning Cheng left it for Ji Luofei. He was afraid that Ji Luofei might encounter some problem during an advancement, thus wanted to keep a crystal for her.
As for all the Spiritual Grasses in his ring, Ning Cheng had turned all of them into pills. At the same time, he also managed to improve his Alchemy level to that of a Tier 8 Earth Pill Grandmaster, while his cultivation rose to the Crucible Transformation 7th Level.
Compared to Ning Cheng, Ji Luofei, who he felt the most worried about, had already improved her cultivation to Crucible Transformation 8th Level. As for Yi Zhuzhu, who chose to go into seclusion within the City Master’s Mansion, under the effects of the numerous pills and Spirit Stones provided by Ning Cheng, managed to become an early stage Soul Sculpting Cultivator within five years. This kind of qualifications was simply heaven-defying.
Initially, when Ning Cheng had rescued her, she was just a young child with only a layer of skin covering her; however, the current her was a slim girl almost as tall as Ji Luofei, along with a beautiful face. Although incomparable to Ji Luofei’s face, it displayed her unique introverted temperament.
It was just that she rarely left the City Master’s Mansion. Most of the time, apart from secluding herself, she would only leave the mansion accompanied by Ning Cheng or Ji Luofei while also using that chance to inquire from them about some of the cultivation problems she faced. The events from those years seemed to have caused great harm to her psyche. Moreover, as she grew older, the psyche damage started to show itself even more clearly. Apart from Ning Cheng and Ji Luofei, Yi Zhuzhu never talked to a third person.
After Ning Cheng advance to the Crucible Transformation 7th Level, he finally exited his seclusion. He calculated that there was still two years before the Void Ship from the nearest Starry Sky arrived. Two years later, he would surely leave this place with Ji Luofei and Yi Zhuzhu. He had heard that one had to ride the Void Ship for several years within the Void after leaving the Rootless Black City to reach the nearest stable place within the Starry Sky.
The reason for him coming out now was to spend some time in the Void to let his body get accustomed to it. If the Void Ship encountered any problems within the Void, then at least he would have some preparation to face it.
People without foresight would only face sorrows when in need. Since Ning Cheng had lived in the True Cultivation environment for many years, he had thoroughly understood this truth a long time ago.
……
Within the Spiritual Gathering Array of an Immortal Cave in the deepest part of the City Master’s Mansion, Ji Luofei finally stood up after breaking through to the Crucible Transformation 9th Level, which honestly made her happy. Ning Cheng had left the Rootless Black City half a year ago while she used this time to advance once again. Maybe by the time that Ning Cheng returned, she might end up reaching the Great Circle of the Crucible Transformation Realm.
“Big Sister Luofei, did you break through again?” Yi Zhuzhu’s delighted voice rang out. Apparently, she had been waiting outside for a while.
Ji Luofei finally walked out. Pulling Yi Zhuzhu’s hand, she softly spoke up “Did you wait here for me for a long time? Is there anything that you want to ask of me?”
“Um, I saw the fierce Spiritual Qi Fluctuations coming from Big Sister’s room, so I thought that Big Sister was about to make a breakthrough. So I just came over and thought… that maybe Big Sister wants to go out with me.” As Yi Zhuzhu finished speaking, she appeared somewhat embarrassed and coy.
Ji Luofei gave a smile, “I was just about to head out to buy something. In any case, we would be leaving the Rootless Black City in about a year. Therefore, we need to prepare a few things in advance. I heard that we would have to fly through the Void for a long time so we might end up spending a long time over the Void Ship.”
Yi Zhuzhu was just about to speak when she saw a red flying sword fall into Ji Luofei’s hands. Ji Luofei grabbed the sword and glanced at it. A surprised look immediately flashed over her face before she spoke up, “Zhuzhu, the Rootless Black City seems to have met with some sort of crisis, just follow me out.”
……
When Ji Luofei and Yi Zhuzhu came out and into the City Master Mansion’s Main Hall, Shen Zimo was already pacing back and forth anxiously within the Main Hall. Even the rest of the people waiting in the Main Hall showed anxiousness over their faces.
“Deacon Shen, the matter relating to the Monstrous Beasts Invasion from the Void, please explain it fully. You don’t have to show such anxiety for it.” After Ji Luofei arrived at the Main Hall, the atmosphere finally calmed down. Although Ning Cheng was the City Master of the Rootless Black City; however, in general, Ning Cheng did not oversee most of the things within the Rootless Black City. Instead, Shen Zimo and Lan Wenbin, as well as Gan Anran and Chao Jimeng and the others looked over most of the matters within the Rootless Black City.
However, Gan Anran and Chao Jimeng were not in here, only Shen Zimo remained in this place waiting for her anxiously. Shen Zimo usually stayed very calm; however, today he really felt anxious. From this, she gleaned that things this time were not necessarily a Monstrous Beast Invasion as mentioned on the Messenger Flying Sword.
“Senior Apprentice Sister Ji, a Void Battleship had suddenly appeared near to the Rootless Black City today. This Void Battleship ignored the Rootless Black City’s Forbidden Space Restrictions and forced itself into the Rootless Black City’s domain. As a result, the Rootless Black City’s Cultivator Army immediately moved to intercept them. However, I did not expect that this Battleship would possess such astonishing combat capabilities. In half an incense stick worth of time, it managed to kill over a hundred of our Rootless Black City’s Crucible Transformation Guards….”
“Ah…” As Shen Zimo spoke until here, even Ji Luofei could not help but feel shocked. Since Ning Cheng had enforced the Rootless Black City’s new regulations, never had there been more than ten deaths within the city. However, currently over a hundred cultivators died, while the casualties apparently were still increasing, this indeed was quite terrible.
After Shen Zimo spoke those words, he finally calmed down a lot. “Senior Apprentice Sister Ji, this not the worst. The worst thing is that while we used our Rootless Black City’s Array Formations to trap the Void Battleship, a dense cluster of Void Explosive Golden Wasps also arrived at its heels. From the looks of it, these Void Explosive Golden Wasps’ target is the Void Battleship. However, because the Void Battleship had rushed into the Rootless Black City, it resulted in those Void Explosive Golden Wasps to also start attacking the Array Formations of the Rootless Black City.”
As Ji Luofei heard the report, her heart started to sink to the bottom. She was too clear about the violent natures of the Void Explosive Golden Wasps. When she and Ning Cheng had initially ambushed Xu Liangzhi, it ended up with the Void Explosive Golden Wasps surrounding Xu Liangzhi and company. Even to this date, the cultivators surrounded by those Void Explosive Golden Wasps had not managed to return. They could also find no traces or news about the Void Ship, which they used for the trip.
Moreover, Ning Cheng also possessed a Void Explosive Golden Wasp’s Wasp King Egg. Such a thing in a besieged city, would it not cause even more trouble?
“What is the status of the Void Battleship?” Ji Luofei could not help but ask about it.
“The Void Battleship is currently contained within the Array Formation arranged by the Array Formation Alliance’s Association Head Wu Yingzhe and cannot break out for a while. However, those Void Explosive Golden Wasps are truly frightening. Once the Defensive Array surrounding the Rootless Black City is breached, the consequences would be unimaginable.” Shen Zimo’s eyes showed his endless worry.
In his opinion, if those Void Explosive Golden Wasps broke into the Rootless Black City, the Rootless Black City would end up becoming a hive for them, while the Rootless Black City’s original cultivators would disappear without even a trace left behind.
Ji Luofei very much wanted Ning Cheng to return at this moment; however, when she thought of Ning Cheng coming back only to face countless Void Explosive Golden Wasps, her heart could not stop trembling.
“I have already sent the message to Ning Cheng, and the City Master should have also received the message by now.” Shen Zimo did not have the same thoughts as Ji Luofei. The moment those seemingly countless Void Explosive Golden Wasps attacked the Rootless Black City, he immediately sent out a message to Ning Cheng.
Ji Luofei sighed and spoke, “In that case, let’s head to the Rootless Black City’s City Walls.”
Shen Zimo also nodded, then immediately gathered over a hundred guards before following behind Ji Luofei towards the Rootless Black City’s city walls.
This was not the first time for the Rootless Black City to suffer attacks from the Monstrous Beast from the Void. In fact, Shen Zimo had actually encountered such things several times during his stay in this city. However, no matter which Monstrous Beast attack he recalled, none of them was as terrible as the one they were facing right now.
……
Ji Luofei had just arrived at the Rootless Black City’s City Walls when she immediately realised how grave the situation was. She had heard Ning Cheng say that only a hundred Void Explosive Golden Wasps were more than enough to wipe off hundreds of cultivators.
However, the number of Void Explosive Golden Wasps that she saw here neared many times more; just the Void Explosive Golden Wasps outside the Rootless Black City numbered in tens of thousands. One could feel the murderous intent coming from them even when separated by the Array Formations. There were also the seemingly countless cultivators within the Rootless Black City that were using their own Array Formations to constantly counter-attack the incoming Void Explosive Golden Wasps.
The Array Formation Alliance’s Wu Yingzhe led a group of Array Formation Masters to gain a better understanding of the current situations of the Array Formations and continually helped them with maintaining the Array Formations protecting the Rootless Black City. Gan Anran, Chao Jimeng, Du Jianshu and the others led different teams of the cultivators from the Cultivator Army and stood out in the Void right outside and above the Rootless Black City, while continually working to intercept and block the countless Void Explosive Golden Wasps.
“Junior Apprentice Sister Luofei, this time it’s proving difficult to resist them. There are simply too many Void Explosive Golden Wasps; moreover, they are also desperately attacking the Rootless Black City. I truly have no idea if these Golden Wasps took the wrong medicine.” Gan Anran, on seeing Ji Luofei come over, quickly reported the situation.
“If it wasn’t for City Master Ning arranging the new Array Formations to protect the Rootless Black City, perhaps Rootless Black City might have no longer existed right now.” Wu Yingzhe spoke up with a solemn face. Although Ning Cheng might not currently be inside the Rootless Black City, the Rootless Black City remained protected under his City Guarding Array Formation. In short, everyone here had no choice but to rely on him for protection.
