By the time Heartless Monk and Lifeless Poisonhand smashed through Ning Cheng’s Strangulation Arrays, the patrolling guards had already locked onto them.
The Heartless Monk cursed out in anger before raising his hand and throwing out a talisman. The talisman instantly lit up with bright lights, and he disappeared.
Seeing the Heartless Monk escape, Lifeless Poisonhand could only yell out in anger. The next moment, red light covered his body, and he immediately flashed out of existence before the patrol guards could reach him. Compared to the Heartless Monk, he had paid a much greater price. Not only did he not obtain the spiritual consciousness cultivation method, he even had to burn his essence blood to activate his escape technique.
Half a day later, Heartless Monk landed in the depths of the Grand Essence Ruins. He looked back in the Grand Essence Public Square’s direction and took out a jade box filled with life force. Taking a look at it, he roared with rage.
At this moment, he no longer looked like a naive and honest monk from before. The hideous rage-filled look on his face had swallowed up everything. Even if he could retrieve the Dao Fruit Tree in a couple of days, he wouldn’t be able to resurrect the Dao Fruit Tree.
The only reason why he had stripped off the life force of the Dao Fruit Tree was that he wasn’t entirely confident in getting it back if someone strong had brought it. Of course, even if a powerhouse had purchased it, he had put a Spiritual Consciousness Imprint on the Dao Fruit Tree. As long as this powerhouse kept it alive, he could dig it out at any time. Even if someone found the imprint, he wouldn’t lose anything.
But now, an ant had brought his Dao Fruit Tree. Plus, this ant had even schemed against him. How many years has it been since he arrived at the Grand Essence Ruins? When had he ever suffered such a loss? If he, the Heartless Monk, didn’t swallow this ant alive, he would also be nothing more than a speck of dust in the Grand Essence Ruins.
……
Two unidentified cultivators failed to attack a cave in Grand Essence Ruins’ public square. The events of the failed attack and subsequent escape spread throughout the Grand Essence Ruins’ public square quickly.
The most prevalent version was that two unidentified cultivators had launched a sneak attack on a cave simultaneously. But unaware of each other, they ended up triggering the restrictions of the cave. As a result, the Grand Essence Ruins’ public square’s patrolling cultivators immediately rushed to the scene and severely injured the two attackers. Had those two not used top-grade escape talismans, they would have already fallen in front of the cave’s entrance.
As this version spread out like a wildfire, someone posted the real version.
Someone named Ning Cheng had offended Lifeless Poisonhand by standing out too much at the Dao Confirming Exchange Meeting. Moreover, this cultivator was even bold enough to purchase a Dao Fruit Tree from Heartless Monk. If someone provoked these two tough characters simultaneously, it was only natural for your cave to face attacks.
No one explicitly stated that Lifeless Poisonhand and Heartless Monk attacked the cave. But everyone had already guessed that it was these two men who launched the sneak attack.
Regardless of how much the Grand Essence Ruins’ public square publicised about their forces’ strength, people assumed that Ning Cheng had died. As for Lifeless Poisonhand and Heartless Monk, people believed that they at most lost a talisman. After a while, these two would eventually return to the Grand Essence Ruins’ public square.
This ‘fact’ that Lifeless Poisonhand and Heartless Monk killed Ning Cheng in his cave quickly spread out. But apart from Lifeless Poisonhand and Heartless Monk, everyone else thought that Ning Cheng had already fallen.
Shan Yaocen, who was still in the Grand Essence Ruins’ public square, sighed when she heard this news. She should have already guessed that a person like Ning Cheng wouldn’t live for long. It was just a waste of time and effort to scheme against him, only for him to end up dead.
Apart from Shan Yaocen, the only ones who knew Ning Cheng was Kong Ning and Peng Ruimei. However, they had already returned to their sect in the Grand Essence Domain. As such, they didn’t get the news in time. By the time they heard about it, they could only sigh in helplessness. They understood that they couldn’t change what had already happened.
Ning Cheng’s death was like a grain of dust falling on an endless lake. It wouldn’t even create half a ripple. However, Ning Cheng coming to the Quest Hall to hand over the Law Soil Task and receiving 1.5 million points for it quickly spread.
……
Within the Grand Essence Realm, apart from the Grand Essence Ruins, almost all the large sects concentrated within the Grand Essence Domain. The Grand Essence Sea was also a part of the Grand Essence Domain.
No one could dare ignore the Grand Essence Sea. Not because the Grand Essence Sea had four great sects, but more importantly, because the Grand Essence Sea contained a legendary Dao Perfection powerhouse.
The premier sea sect of the Grand Essence Sea, to be more precise, was a clan rather than a sect. This clan was the Grand Essence Barbarian Dragon Clan. Moreover, despite being the strongest clan within the Grand Essence Sea, it was also very shameless. It was the Grand Essence Barbarian Dragon Clan that had the legendary Dao Perfection powerhouse, Man Suotian[1].
However, Man Suotian never appeared before the public. Almost no one has seen his real body. Besides, the current ruler of the Grand Essence Barbarian Dragon Clan was Dragon Emperor Man Huishan. Although he lived in the sea, he still had a mountain character in his name.
Man Huishan wasn’t only the Dragon Emperor of the Grand Essence Barbarian Dragon Clan. He was also the second master of the entire Grand Essence Barbarian Dragon Clan, besides Man Suotian. According to the rumours, he had already reached Dao Essence Realm’s peak, just a hair’s breadth away from Dao Confirming’s Dao Fusion Realm.
A Dao Essence cultivator still couldn’t compare to a legendary Dao Perfection powerhouse. But then again, one would only find two or three Dao Perfection powerhouses throughout the entire Grand Essence Realm. Even if one took into account the hidden masters, it wouldn’t exceed the number of fingers on one hand at most.
Thus, the Imperial Palace of the Grand Essence Barbarian Dragon Clan was also one of the most luxurious places within the entire Grand Essence Domain. One would find the Grand Essence Dragon Emperor’s Imperial Palace in the deepest part of the Grand Essence Sea, where the spiritual qi was the strongest. Countless beautiful corals and crystals could only pave the pavement outside the imperial palace.
Plus, all kinds of sacred trees surrounded the imperial palace in layers. The azure blue waters on the seabed kept flowing outside the imperial court, but not a single drop of it fell through into the imperial palace.
If ordinary people came here, they would immediately think that they had entered a world of immortals. Unfortunately, the dragon clan’s imperial palace wasn’t a world of immortals or fairy tales but a blood-thirsty and ruthless place. Any cultivator or sea clan who offended the imperial palace for any reason at all, the dragon clan would immediately head out to catch them before shredding them live and throwing them into the sea.
Moreover, any cultivator who wanted to visit the imperial palace must first get permission. And after getting approval, the person would have to pass through layers of guards to reach just the imperial palace’s entrance.
At this moment, in the splendid and luxurious imperial palace, a middle-aged man wearing an imperial crown remained seated on a throne in the middle of the imperial court. Not far from him, on both sides stood more than a dozen male and female cultivators with different looks. And even further down, one could see several dozen men and women lined up on both sides.
The palace remained silent, while the middle-aged man wearing the imperial crown had a gloomy expression. A young man knelt in front of this middle-aged man for an unknown amount of time.
After another half-an-incense stick worth of time, the middle-aged man wearing the imperial crown spoke with a low tone. “Man Jiuren, you’re a half-step Dao Sculpting expert. Going to a low-level positional plane, you even got your body destroyed. Yet, you still have the face to come back? It’s me, Man Huishan’s, shame to have a useless scion like you.”
“Imperial Father, that kid had a terrible arrow. I suspect that it’s the Five-coloured Star Splitter Arrow….” The young man gave a respectful reply.
This man was none other than Man Jiuren, whose body Pan Qian had crushed. However, he hated Ning Cheng more than Pan Qian. If Ning Cheng hadn’t rescued Pan Qian, and if Ning Cheng hadn’t come to the Mysterious Yellow Starland to stir up trouble, he would have already succeeded.
He didn’t say anything about Pan Qian, not because of his hate for Ning Cheng, but because Man Jiuren didn’t want to leak Pan Qian’s news. Pan Qian had the purest ancient blood. If he revealed information about Pan Qian, most likely, he would no longer have anything to do with Pan Qian’s ancient blood.
Man Jiuren believed that now that his body had recovered, as long as he worked hard in cultivation, it wouldn’t take long before he could catch the giant by himself.
“Five-coloured Star Splitter Arrow?” Man Huishan, wearing an imperial crown, also repeated the words in surprise.
Man Jiuren spoke with confidence, “Imperial Father. I’m not mistaken about it. That arrow most likely is the Five-coloured Star Splitter Arrow. There was no bow and also no arrow. However, when activated, it created a multicoloured hue and gave off a feeling that it could destroy everything that stood in its path.”
“Ninth Brother, you’re not allowed to lie in front of our imperial father. If it truly was the Five-coloured Star Splitter Arrow, do you think your essence spirit could still survive, let alone return? Even if you belong to my dragon clan, you wouldn’t be able to return facing that.” A purple-faced man standing a little further down the imperial hierarchy couldn’t help but berate.
Man Jiuren quickly spoke up, “Second Brother, how could I dare lie in front of our imperial father? Fortunately, that fellow couldn’t fully activate the Five-coloured Star Splitter Arrow. At most, he could only activate less than one ten thousandths of its power. What he shot out wasn’t an arrow, but most likely, the arrow’s killing power. I’m afraid that even he doesn’t know about it. Otherwise, I would have no chance to speak here.”
The purple-faced man, addressed as ‘Second Brother’ by Man Jiuren, asked again, “What cultivation does this person have?”
Man Jiuren understood what his second brother meant. He hesitated for a while before finally speaking the truth, “He should be in the Eternal Realm, but not a late-stage Eternal cultivator….”
“A cultivator who didn’t even reach the late-stage Eternal Realm could activate the Five-coloured Star Splitter Arrow?” The purple-faced man frowned and said.
When Man Jiuren saw his imperial father’s expression sitting on the throne, his complexion turned a little ugly. He quickly explained, “This person’s strength couldn’t compare to me initially. But when he started burning his essence blood and life essence, he didn’t seem any weaker than me….”
He wanted to find a few people to prove it, but none of his attendants had returned.
“What’s his name?” Man Huishan sitting on the imperial throne stopped the purple-faced man from continuing and instead asked himself.
“He’s called Ning Cheng….”
As soon as Man Jiuren’s spoke those words, a surprised exclamation rang out within the Dragon Palace. Then, an older man in a brown robe stood up and bowed towards the middle-aged man sitting on the throne before speaking, “Dragon Emperor, I might know this person named Ning Cheng. Not too long ago, a person by this name appeared in the Grand Essence Ruins’ public square. He even handed over five chunks of Law Soil bigger than a fist….”
“Wait-wait, you said he obtained five chunks of Law Soil larger than a fist?” Dragon Emperor Man Huishan immediately interrupted the brown-robed older man.
The brown-robed man spoke up in a respectful voice, “It’s true. Not only did this person hand over five chunks of Law Soil, but even the colour of these Law Soil chunks were quite beautiful. The Grand Essence Quest Hall had even taken out one of those chunks of Law Soil for auction and sold it for an extremely high price. But setting aside the issue of price, I don’t know if this Ning Cheng is the same Ning Cheng mentioned by the Ninth Prince.”
After speaking, the brown-robed old man raised his hand and projected Ning Cheng’s appearance in the air.
When Man Jiuren saw Ning Cheng’s face, he immediately pointed and said, “It’s him; that’s the guy.”
“Where is this person?” Man Huishan suppressed his excited tone and asked in a deep voice. His Imperial Palace lacked Law Soil. As long as he obtained enough Law Soil, he felt confident in cultivating a suitable Dao Fruit and pave the foundation for him reaching Dao Confirming’s Dao Fusion Realm.
The brown-robed old man bowed again and said, “After this person exchanged 1.5 million points, he forgot about when to advance and retreat. He offended Lifeless Poisonhand and Heartless Monk in the Dao Confirming Exchange Meet of the Quest Hall’s merchant house. Later, I heard that he went into secluded cultivation in a cave but ended up catching the eye of several people. In the end, those two people snuck into his cave and killed him.”
“Bring Lifeless Poisonhand and Heartless Monk here immediately.” Man Huishan gave a cold snort and spoke up without hesitation. It seemed that the Lifeless Poisonhand and Heartless Monk, who were quite famous in the Grand Essence Ruins, were nothing more than ants in front of him.
[1] The character for Man ‘蛮’ also translates to ‘barbarian’, which is why I decided to translate the name of the clan as ‘Barbarian Dragon Clan’ instead of ‘Man Dragon Clan’
