“Ji He, I have to return to the Profound Moon Spirit Gate. If you want, you can also come to the Profound Moon Spirit Gate with me, then….”
Ning Cheng interrupted Qi Shisanxing, “I’m going to Heaven Essence Sacred City. You should go back first. After a month, if you have the time, you can come to the Heaven Essence Sacred City to see my matches. If you don’t find the time, I will come to the Profound Moon Spirit Gate to find you.”
Ning Cheng understood Qi Shisanxing’s intent and even felt quite happy with the offer. But it would also reveal a few things to others if he accepted it right away. Even if Guo Haoge looked down and cursed at the previous Ji He, Ji He would have swallowed the anger. But now, ‘Ji He’ not only cursed back at Guo Haoge, he even took it to the point where Guo Haoge almost vomited blood out of anger.
Ordinary people might think that Ji He’s personality changed after being trapped in the Grand Essence Mystic Realm for so many years. But if someone decided to look into it a bit more, they would eventually realise a few discrepancies.
Eventually, it would lead to people doubting his identity as Ji He. Moreover, if ‘Ji He’ tolerated Guo Haoge’s ‘insult’ and ‘disdain’, it might even affect his dao heart, which would limit his future progress.
But Ning Cheng wasn’t Ji He. Even if Ji He could stand all of the abuse and insult, Ning Cheng wasn’t one to endure such things. Besides, since he took advantage of the dead Ji He to escape disaster, he could at least help alleviate Ji He’s image in others’ eyes.
Qi Shisanxing asked him to come to the Profound Moon Spirit Gate because he didn’t want any accidents.
But Qi Shisanxing had been missing for such a long time, which meant that he would have many things to take care of after returning. On the other hand, Ning Cheng had one month left for the Grand Essence Great Meet. Taking advantage of this month, he could stay in the Heaven Essence Sacred City to rest and take care of some other things.
“Okay. I’ll rush to the Heaven Essence Sacred City to meet you as soon as possible.” Qi Shisanxing saw that Ning Cheng had already made up his mind and had no choice but to agree.
Heaven Essence Sacred City was the largest sacred city in the Grand Essence Domain. No one would dare to do anything there, even when it came to sneaky stuff. Therefore, as long as Ning Cheng reached Heaven Essence Sacred City, he wouldn’t face any danger. Thinking of this, Qi Shisanxing also felt relieved.
……
After parting ways from Qi Shisanxing, Ning Cheng found that the cultivator who owned the flame hive was no longer present. Most likely, he had already left. Ning Cheng wasn’t in a hurry to find him as he assumed that there wouldn’t be many people who needed the Gold Flame Hive. In any case, this item had relatively limited uses. Since this person also reached the top ten in the Divine Grass Rankings, this person would most likely also come to the Heaven Essence Sacred City. As such, Ning Cheng only needed to enter Heaven Essence Sacred City to search for this person. However, Ning Cheng did worry about this person deciding to exchange the Gold Flame Hive for other things before he found him.
Reaching this point, Ning Cheng didn’t stay in this place for long and brought out a flight-type weapon and flew towards the Heaven Essence Sacred City. He decided to rush to the Heaven Essence Sacred City alone to test if Man Huishan would come after him. If Man Huishan truly came after him, Ning Cheng would immediately activate the Breaking Boundary Talisman and escape this place. Facing a Dao Essence expert, Ning Cheng knew that he wasn’t qualified to resist at all.
Ning Cheng started to feel relieved after some time. Not only did Man Huishan not chase after him, but even Guo Haoge also didn’t come looking for him.
A few days later, Ning Cheng finally arrived at Heaven Essence Sacred City without any incidents.
Ning Cheng had never seen such a lively place after entering the Grand Essence Realm. Even the Grand Essence Ruins’ public square wasn’t as densely packed as the Heaven Essence Sacred City. Even before entering through the city gate, he could see several dense clusters of cultivators all around the perimeter of the sacred city, coming in and out.
Looking from his vantage point, the Heaven Essence Sacred City looked like a city suspended in clouds. He also couldn’t find any traces of defensive arrays at the edge of the sacred city.
However, Ning Cheng had a vague feeling that these floating clouds and hazy edges weren’t what appeared on the surface. Everything here gave him the feeling of being a part of the most advanced array formations. He couldn’t see any traces due to his accomplishments in the Dao of Arrays not reaching the required level.
Landing dozens of miles away from Heaven Essence Sacred City, Ning Cheng put away the flight-type weapon. He found no evidence of Forbidden Space Restrictions around this place, and only the Heaven Essence Sacred City had one. Yet, Ning Cheng did not see a single person flying. As a middle-stage Eternal cultivator, Ning Cheng naturally didn’t want to make any trouble. Therefore, he quietly put away the flight-type weapon. Then, like the rest of the cultivators on the white jade road, he walked into the Heaven Essence Sacred City.
The closer Ning Cheng came to the city gates, the more he felt the rich atmosphere circulating throughout the area. Ning Cheng sighed in his heart at such a luxury. Suppose he could live in this kind of environment for a long time. In that case, Ning Cheng could improve the cultivation efficiency by several folds. However, he also understood that living in this city wouldn’t be a simple matter.
After an incense stick worth of time, Ning Cheng finally stood at Heaven Essence Sacred City’s gate. Above the entrance, he also saw four prominent characters, ‘Heaven Essence Sacred City’.
Ning Cheng paid 100 high-rank spirit crystals as the entrance fee before entering, which was the most expensive entrance fee he had ever seen.
Before Ning Cheng arrived here, he harboured a worry that he couldn’t find a place to live. After all, he had experienced too many things like this. Whenever a big event happened, restaurants and inns were the first things to become a scarce commodity.
But after entering Heaven Essence Sacred City and moving around for a while, Ning Cheng understood that his worries had a solid base. At this moment, within Heaven Essence Sacred City, not to mention large inns, even the smaller rest stops and restaurants overflowed with people.
The sacred city covered a wide area, and every street looked like a public square stretched out to the extremes. However, no matter how wide the road, one couldn’t sleep or meditate on it.
Fortunately, with Ning Cheng’s cultivation, even if he wandered the streets for a few months, it would be of no consequence. But since the Grand Essence Great Meet was about a month away, and he was one of the participants, he had to find a place, at least for some proper rest. He couldn’t wander the streets here for a month.
“Elder Brother Ji He, why are you here? You’re not….” A surprised voice sounded out, and a female cultivator quickly appeared in front of Ning Cheng. However, this female cultivator looked surprised, and the words lasted only for a moment. After that, she seemed to have noticed something and stopped herself. She even lowered her head.
This female cultivator wore a grey robe, had a fair complexion and slightly thick eyebrows. However, her eyebrows looked frayed a little. Moreover, she gave off a tired vibe. At most, one could say that she was an eye-catching woman but far less beautiful when compared to Cen Caixuan. As for her cultivation, it wasn’t high either, only at the early-stage Eternal Realm.
But these were all secondary issues. The main thing was that Ning Cheng did not know this female cultivator. Thinking that someone must have noticed this exchange, Ning Cheng suddenly turned anxious. If someone saw Ji He meeting an acquaintance but didn’t recognise them, it would not look good for him.
Ning Cheng showed a quick smile and said, “It’s been a long time. Let’s find a place to sit down and drink some tea.”
Seeing Ning Cheng’s polite attitude made her feel as if they were no longer close. The female cultivator’s eyes flashed with sadness, but she still spoke with her head down, “Okay, let’s go to the Orchid Pond Restaurant in the front. It has some good spiritual tea.”
“Okay.” Ning Cheng followed the female cultivator and quickly headed into a restaurant on the side. Only then did he give out a sigh of relief. Since she was Ji He’s acquaintance, he had to handle this situation with care.
After the two entered the restaurant, they found it packed to the brim. Not to mention private booths, they couldn’t find a single empty table in the hall.
“Elder Brother Ji He, let’s sit there.” The female cultivator pointed to an empty seat in the corner of the hall.
Ning Cheng shook his head slightly, took the female cultivator, and found the restaurant’s waiter. Grabbing a storage bag, he put it directly in the waiter’s hand and said, “My friend and I are in a hurry. We need a booth….”
The waiter’s spiritual consciousness swept into Ning Cheng’s storage bag and the bag quickly disappeared with a twist of his hand. The waiter showed a warm smile and said, “Two honoured guests, please come with me.”
He then brought Ning Cheng and the female cultivator into one of the more elegant-looking booths. Seeing the booth, Ning Cheng secretly sighed to himself. “This booth is not much better than a ditch, and it’s always crowded in here. It seems like I’ll have to go to a different inn to find a room. But I guess it would do for now.”
After the waiter left, Ning Cheng activated the restrictions. But before he could speak, he heard the female cultivator’s cold voice, “You’re not Ji He. Who are you? Why do you pretend to be Ji He?”
Ning Cheng felt surprised. Since the moment he assumed Ji He’s identity, he did not face any problems till now. Maybe this female cultivator was Ji He’s partner, and he accidentally showed his feet? At this moment, Ning Cheng even thought of silencing this woman.
But this thought disappeared in a flash. He took advantage of Ji He’s identity to escape. If he killed anyone with a close connection to Ji He to protect himself, he would become even worse than beasts in his own eyes. What’s more, could he even kill someone in Heaven Essence Sacred City? Did he not want to live?
Ning Cheng decided to tell her about Qi Shisanxing and Ji He and how he pretended to be Ji He to escape.
After listening to Ning Cheng’s story, the female cultivator sighed faintly and spoke with a trace of sadness in her eyes. “Something truly did happen to Elder Brother Ji He.”
After speaking, she stood up, turned her back to Ning Cheng and said, “Don’t worry. I won’t tell anyone about it.”
Ning Cheng truly worried that this female cultivator would say something just like this. Hearing those words, he had to speak up, “This Junior Apprentice Sister, I see that you have something heavy bothering you. Although I never met Ji He, he was friends with Shisanxing, a good friend of mine. Since I have no choice but to use Ji He’s identity for now, can you tell me about your problems if you don’t mind? Maybe I can help you with it.”
The female cultivator heard Ning Cheng’s words and hesitated for a long time. Not knowing what went on in her head, her eyes suddenly lit up, and she started talking, “Then, I’ll talk about it.”
After saying that, she sat down once again.
……
After an hour, Ning Cheng finally understood the issues. Xin Xiu was the name of this female cultivator and was Ji He’s Junior Apprentice Sister. Ji He also has a Junior Apprentice Brother named Wu Qihong. As for these three’s teacher, he was called Di Shuibo, a Tier 6 Pill King.
Among the three, Ji He’s talent in alchemy surpassed the other two. Sometime in the past, their teacher Di Shuibo found a secret divine grass garden. He entered the divine grass garden with his three disciples, but he never expected someone else to discover the location. In the fight for divine grasses, Di Shuibo and the other looting cultivators died together.
But before he died, Di Shuibo gave his ring and all the divine grasses to Ji He. He asked Ji He to continue teaching and guiding his Junior Apprentice Sister and Junior Apprentice Brother. Moreover, he also instructed Ji He to divide the divine grasses in the ring equally and urged them to become a Pill Emperor or even a Pill Deity, if possible.
However, he never expected that Ji He wouldn’t listen to his words at all. Instead, Ji He left his Junior Apprentice Brother and Junior Apprentice Sister alone with a portion of the divine grasses in the ring. Only years later did Xin Xiu hear about Ji He. But by that time, Ji He had already become a Tier 8 Pill Emperor for the Grand Essence Domain’s Pill Union.
After Ji He left, Wu Qihong and Xin Xiu slowly came together, and at one point, they started to depend on each other. However, Wu Qihong ended up with a severe injury, which forced Xin Xiu to look for a way to help Wu Qihong. Looking all around for information about anything that could help them, she also inquired about Ji He. It was then that she learned that Ji He had not only become a Pill Emperor for the Pill Union but had fallen in the Grand Essence Mystic Realm.
Ji He had swallowed a significant portion of the divine grasses and left his master’s sect. He even abandoned the two of them. Yet, when she incidentally saw Ji He at this time, Xin Xiu instinctively hoped in her heart that Ji He could help Wu Qihong. But recalling what she had learned earlier caused her to hesitate in the beginning.
Ning Cheng was a little dumbfounded when he heard this story. Sure enough, everyone had a dark side deep within their heart. If he hadn’t met Xin Xiu, how could he have thought that Ji He would have such a selfish heart? Moreover, he also detected a hint of love and hate in Xin Xiu’s words as she spoke about her Eldest Senior Brother Ji He. After all, Ji He took the divine grasses and abandoned them in the time of need, leaving them to fend for themselves.
Seeing Ning Cheng sitting there with a slightly stunned look, Xin Xiu spoke up with a quiet voice. “The truth is, neither Junior Apprentice Brother Qihong nor I blamed Eldest Brother Ji He….”
Ning Cheng stood up and said, “Junior Apprentice Sister Xin Xiu, I’m also an Alchemy Master. If you don’t mind, just address me as Senior Apprentice Brother Ji. Let’s go. I will come with you to see if I can help heal the injuries of your Junior Apprentice Brother Qihong.”
