Whether he dared or not, Ning Cheng had already killed Man Jiuren. At this time, Ning Cheng sat in a cave within a desert, trying to heal. He had already set up several defensive and concealment array discs at the cave entrance. At the same time, Chasing Bull stood right next to the door to sound the alarm if anything unexpected happened.
Chasing Bull was currently a grade seven starry sky demonic beast; as such, in this place, he could only help in sounding the alarm. Any cultivator that could enter this mystic realm was at least in the Eternal Realm. Some of the disciples from those big sects had even reached half-step Dao Sculpting Realm. If Chasing Bull had to face those cultivators, he wouldn’t be able to hold on for even a single exchange.
Previously, every time Ning Cheng used the Five-coloured Star Splitter Arrow, Ning Cheng had to rest and heal for more than a month. But this time, Ning Cheng only took half a month to recover fully.
But even then, Ning Cheng walked out of the cave without much joy in his heart.
Those strands of spiritual consciousness Ning Cheng had devoured back then had already started fusing with his Sea of Consciousness. Suppose Ning Cheng didn’t find a way to remove it. In that case, he could simply forget about cultivating his spiritual consciousness any further. Even advancing to the next level might become impossible. No matter how much he tried to separate it, he couldn’t separate those strands of devoured spiritual consciousness. Perhaps only one path existed, which was to refine those strands of spiritual consciousness into his own.
Ning Cheng didn’t want to do this, nor did he dare to do it.
Ning Cheng understood that worrying about the devoured strands of spiritual consciousness mixing into his Sea of Consciousness wouldn’t be of much help at this point. However, he also understood that Man Jiuren dying at his hands would not remain concealed for long. But even if it couldn’t stay hidden anymore, Ning Cheng would have killed Man Jiuren without hesitation.
Killing Man Jiuren might put him in a bad situation. But if Ning Cheng didn’t kill Man Jiuren, it would become an even worse situation. Thinking about all these things, it would truly be a strange matter if Ning Cheng felt happy.
Fortunately, there was still a year left before this place closed. Ning Cheng decided to put aside these troublesome things for now and concentrated on collecting divine grasses.
The Grand Essence Mystic Realm covered a truly huge area. Despite more than 10,000 people entering the mystic realm, Ning Cheng still hadn’t met another person even after wandering for several days.
But during these few days, he collected more than a dozen low-level and middle-level divine grasses, like the Black Mist Heaven Grass, Desolate Spirit Bud, Zen Spiritual Flower. As for high-grade divine grasses, Ning Cheng didn’t see even a single one.
As for finding enough divine grasses to join the Grand Essence Great Meet, Ning Cheng had already abandoned the idea for now. Over ten thousand people entered the mystic realm to gather divine grasses and search for various heaven and earth treasures. Therefore, entering the top ten would be a truly challenging task to accomplish. It would be akin to trying to grasp the entire sky in one’s grasp.
This matter wasn’t something that relied on the strength of one’s cultivation but entirely on one’s luck. Ning Cheng knew that he always enjoyed a ‘little luck’ on his side when it came to such things because of his Good Fortune treasure. But this ‘little luck’ wasn’t the same as having the blessing of luck. Both were two entirely two different concepts. In any case, to search for divine grasses in this place, he had to depend wholly on this ‘little luck’.
On this day, Ning Cheng had just found a Buddhist Shrine Gold Sifting Fruit when he felt a violent spacial fluctuation surge over. His spiritual consciousness quickly swept out, but something blocked it.
Although the Grand Essence Mystic Realm didn’t directly suppress one’s spiritual consciousness, it did limit its range. Therefore, even with Ning Cheng’s Starry Sky Sea of Consciousness, his spiritual consciousness could only extend to a range of about one to two thousand miles around him.
However, Ning Cheng also understood that this kind of spacial fluctuation could only originate from a cultivator battle. Something Ning Cheng didn’t want to get involved with right now. However, the slight aura of high-grade divine grasses that rode with the spacial fluctuation immediately changed Ning Cheng’s mind.
Despite searching everywhere till now, Ning Cheng had not found a single high-grade divine grass. One had to know that some of the high-grade divine grasses carried much higher value than an ordinary dao fruit. Therefore, sensing the faint aura of high-level divine grasses, Ning Cheng immediately decided to have a look at it. What if he saw a large patch of high-level divine grasses? At that time, those things would go to whoever grabbed it first. Nobody would remain polite about it anyway.
After taking out an appearance-changing mask and changing his appearance into a fierce-looking male cultivator, Ning Cheng quickly moved towards the source of those fluctuations.
In just about ten breaths, Ning Cheng stopped. Dozens of cultivators appeared within his line of sight. From the looks of it, they were just like Ning Cheng, cultivators rushing over after sensing the spacial fluctuations.
A certain distance away from Ning Cheng was a huge partially-concealed defensive array formation’s entrance. However, the defensive array formation’s entrance had quite a few cracks on it. Most likely, it originated from the cultivators attacking it. From the looks of it, the spacial fluctuations he sensed wasn’t because of a fight but because of someone attacking the defensive array here.
By the time Ning Cheng reached this place, the aura of high-grade divine grasses overflowing from behind the entrance had grown more intense. From this, Ning Cheng also understood that there were a lot of high-level divine grasses within this concealed array formation. Ning Cheng felt quite happy at this; moreover, the obscured defensive formation had not yet broken apart. He had arrived just in time.
“Everyone, keep attacking it together. Although this defensive array formation is strong, it can only last for half-an-incense stick worth of time under continuous attacks.” A male cultivator with a square face took out a weapon before walking towards the defensive array formation and speaking up.
Ning Cheng’s gaze swept over this square-faced male cultivator, and he felt slightly startled. This man was at the late-stage Eternal Realm. However, the powerful aura coming from this square-faced male cultivator felt no worse than the thin man he killed previously. Ning Cheng knew very well that the thin man was nothing more than cannon fodder brought by the Ninth Prince. But he was still a true half-step Dao Sculpting expert.
Yet, as a late-stage Eternal cultivator, this person’s aura didn’t lose out to a half-step Dao Sculpting expert. From this, Ning Cheng also understood that this person most likely came from a powerful sect.
“Brother Huo, wait. There’re more and more people coming here. After breaking the array formation, how will we distribute the contents?” A man wearing a snow-white robe stood up and spoke.
When Ning Cheng saw the white-robed man, his pupils shrank once again. Why were there so many experts here? This white-robed man’s cultivation didn’t lose out to the square-faced cultivator, meaning that he was also a top-level expert. But what surprised Ning Cheng even more was that this white-robed man was also at the late-stage Eternal Realm.
High strength with low cultivation meant great potential.
The square-faced male cultivator nodded when hearing those words and said, “Baiyi[1] is right. There are 34 people here. If they all flock inside, it will become chaotic to separate things…..”
After the square-faced man surnamed Huo finished speaking, his gaze swept through the other cultivators. Ning Cheng understood what he meant. It’s not that it would become chaotic to separate things, but that with more people, everyone would obtain less.
At this moment, a pointed-faced man stood up and smiled before giving the white-robed man and the square-faced cultivator a courtesy bow. He then said, “There are many people here. But Elder Brother Huo and Elder Brother Qu are both experts counted among the Grand Essence’s 12 Sacred Children. We naturally would listen to any instructions from the two Sacred Children.”
Ning Cheng quickly understood something. No wonder these two had such powerful auras. Those two were two of the twelve Grand Essence Sacred Children. From the looks of it, the Grand Essence’s 12 Sacred Children weren’t ordinary and undeserving of fame. Just looking at these two fellows also allowed Ning Cheng to imagine the strength of the other ten.
The cultivator surnamed Huo nodded and said, “Since everyone can get together here, let’s consider it as our destiny. Many people also know me Huo Erqi and Qu Baiyi. I won’t talk any nonsense. After we break this concealed array formation and have a look at the divine grasses inside, we’ll then split it between the two of us.”
This distribution plan was truly a shameless plan from the get-go, and Ning Cheng felt sure that someone would stand against it. However, Ning Cheng felt disappointed. Not only did no one object to it, but everyone even agreed to it. Ning Cheng couldn’t help but sigh to himself that the prestige of these twelve Grand Essence Sacred Children seemed too great.
Qu Baiyi suddenly frowned and focussed his gaze on Ning Cheng before speaking with a flat tone. “This friend, just now everyone said that they agreed. But you didn’t say anything. Do you disagree with Brother Huo’s proposal?”
Ning Cheng spoke with an indifferent voice, “You are two of the twelve Grand Essence Sacred Children. Presumably, you both also enjoy quite the fame. Who among us doesn’t know about the difficulty in finding high-level divine grasses? If you open it and randomly decide to assign us some low-level divine grasses, do we still have to agree to it?”
Huo Erqi’s face sank on hearing Ning Cheng’s words, and he spoke up in a cold voice, “What do you propose then?”
Others might feel afraid of the Grand Essence’s 12 Sacred Children, but Ning Cheng had no fear at all. He had already changed his appearance. Plus, these two weren’t even Dao Sculpting cultivators. Therefore, no matter what, these two would find it impossible to recognise him.
But since Huo Erqi asked him, he simply gave a casual reply. “Everyone can attack the concealed formation together. Once opened, fight for the divine grasses with your strength.”
On the surface, Ning Cheng didn’t seem to have any competitive strength against Huo Erqi or Qu Baiyi. But Ning Cheng intentionally spoke from the standpoint of the rest of the cultivators. As such, no one would stand up and talk nonsense.
Sure enough, no one spoke up in objection. At the same time, Huo Erqi and Qu Baiyi also understood what was going on. Although their expressions turned a bit ugly, Qu Baiyi could only speak in agreement, “In that case, let’s follow what this friend said. Let’s break the concealed formation together, and then we’re all on our own.”
While speaking those words, he had already written down Ning Cheng’s name in his heart. Based on his previous proposal, no one here would have dared oppose them at all. Besides, who in their right minds would dare stand against the Grand Essence’s 12 Sacred Children? Unfortunately, at this time, someone truly came forward and stood against them.
With thirty to forty Eternal cultivators attacking the concealed array formation together, no matter how strong the array’s defensive capabilities, it couldn’t last for long.
In just half-an-incense stick worth of time, the concealed array formation’s entrance broke down with a loud bang. Greenery suddenly appeared in the gazes of everyone, and an even more decadent aura of divine grasses poured out.
But before everyone could rush inside, two angry roars erupted. Then, two huge black holes suddenly appeared out of thin air. Smelling a burst of a fishy odour, Ning Cheng felt the space surrounding him starting to compress. Even his protective domain started to shatter inch-by-inch while a power seemed to have locked onto his body. At the exact moment, a wave of black poisonous mist swept over towards everyone.
Ning Cheng understood that things had become a little trickier. Stimulating his spiritual consciousness to wrap around him, strands of Laws of Space started to spread out. His body regained its freedom in just an instant, and Ning Cheng quickly activated the Twin Wings of the Heaven Clouds. A moment later, he appeared hundreds of feet away from his initial position.
Behind Ning Cheng, horrifying screams erupted intertwined with the clash of weapons. One could even hear the space shaking.
A group of sorry figures, unlike Ning Cheng, quickly retreated to the periphery.
After a dozen breaths, the chaos finally ended, and Ning Cheng eventually saw what those two black holes were. They were two centipedes about a hundred meters in length that blocked the concealed defensive array formation entrance. Moreover, a powerful demonic aura oozed out of them in waves that suppressed everyone. Even if Ning Cheng stood relatively farther away from them, he could still feel their power.
Besides, those two hideous-looking centipedes had a human face, with an entirely red body and many thick but razor-sharp feet. Each centipede looked like a long and flexible double-edge serrated knife. One could also see a blood-stained rag hanging just below the corner of one of the centipede’s mouth.
“Human-faced Poison Centipedes…..” A female cultivator cried out in shock.
Only then did Ning Cheng discover that out of the original thirty-something people, only twenty-five remained. In just a few breaths, those two centipedes had swallowed seven or eight Eternal experts. From this, Ning Cheng also understood that this Human-faced Poison Centipede was a pretty powerful creature.
Everyone understood the terrifying power of a Human-faced Poison Centipede, but no one wanted to escape. Primarily because just behind these two poison centipedes, everyone could see a large patch of land containing many divine grasses. Facing the temptation of so many divine grasses, only an idiot would choose to leave. What’s more, there were no idiots here. Plus, with an area this rich in divine grasses, how could it remain a secret for long?
[1] The name Baiyi ‘白义’ literally translates to ‘White/Snowy Justice/Righteousness’.
