t
“Take out the sacred relic or die.” Lan Bing suddenly appeared at the valley entrance, stopping right before Ning Cheng, her tone icy cold. It no longer has the same softness as when she spoke about marrying Ning Cheng.
It didn’t take long after Lan Bing stopped Ning Cheng when the rest of her tribe followed her out. Seeing Lan Bing stopping Ning Cheng, the Hope tribesmen who followed her surrounded and encircled Ning Cheng in the middle.
Feeling a burst of Power of Hope trying to bind him, Ning Cheng felt very uncomfortable. However, he still looked at Lan Bing and said in a calm tone, “I don’t understand what you’re talking about. If you want to make a move, be my guest.”
Ning Cheng had already prepared beforehand. As soon as the other party moved her hand and started chanting, he would immediately burn his essence blood and activate the Twin Wings of the Heavenly Clouds.
However, he had a feeling that Lan Bing’s abilities could only extend so far. His life had to be in his own hands; he absolutely couldn’t let himself fall into the same situation as before. Bound by an endless amount of Power of Hope, with no chance of escape, and only waiting for death. In any case, Ning Cheng already knew that Lan Bing wouldn’t spare him if given an opportunity.
In fact, Ning Cheng didn’t suspect wrongly. Lan Bing truly did not have the strength to continue mobilising her Power of Hope against Ning Cheng. It was the only reason why she allowed Ning Cheng to walk all the way to the mouth of the valley.
At this moment, even the beautiful woman and Qiao Yi, who wanted to plead for mercy for Ning Cheng, didn’t dare to say anything. They both knew that the matter of Hope Clan’s sacred relics went beyond their or any tribesmen’s lives. As such, as members of the Blue True Hope Tribe, none here would or could interfere in such matters.
“Take him down and send him to be sacrificed under the sacred statue.” Lan Bing didn’t even ask another question and immediately gave the order.
Qiao Yi opened his mouth, but in the end, no words came out. A sad look and a heavy sigh emerged from the beautiful woman, but like Qiao Yi, she didn’t say anything.
Upon hearing their king’s orders, dozens of people from the Hope Tribe surrounding Ning Cheng quickly rushed up.
Ning Cheng didn’t hesitate to burn his essence blood and instantly activated the Twin Wings of the Heavenly Cloud. Before these people could fully encircle him, Ning Cheng rushed out and disappeared.
Lan Bing looked at Ning Cheng, who had disappeared into the distance in disbelief. Only after a long while did she mutter to herself, “The sacred statue’s absorption of the Bestowing Lawless Fruit has already ended, and laws have long since disappeared. How could he still use his spiritual consciousness here? How was he able to bring out and activate an artefact to escape?”
Unfortunately, no one could answer her. On the other hand, the beautiful woman’s eyes showed a little relief. She did not want the person who saved her from dying in front of her. Particularly when she couldn’t step in to help.
Ning Cheng didn’t move too far away before stopping at the foot of a broken and balding mountain peak. His spiritual consciousness could already stretch out to a thousand meters in the Hope Tribe’s lair. Plus, he had cultivated the Dark Nether Spirit Devouring Scripture. Therefore, at this moment, after escaping from the Hope Tribe’s lair, his spiritual consciousness could expand by five to six thousand meters.
It made Ning Cheng a lot more relaxed. With this improved spiritual consciousness range, coupled with the Hope-powered Jade Seal, even if he clashed with Man Huishan head-on, he would still have a chance of surviving, right? As for the other cultivators surviving in the Land of Broken Laws, there shouldn’t be any problems in dealing with them if the need arose.
Not far away from the side of this broken and balding mountain peak was a swampy area. The same swampy land where Ning Cheng had fallen into in the first place. However, he didn’t move out and instead dug out a simple cave in the middle of this mountain peak.
He wasn’t afraid of Lan Bing chasing after him. Plus, even if Lan Bing did come looking for him, he still had a few ways to escape. In any case, since this woman wanted to kill him, Ning Cheng would definitely extract some interest before he left.
As the day went on, and with the help of top-grade heaving pills, Ning Cheng’s injuries had long since recovered. Therefore, Ning Cheng used the opportunity to set up another teleportation array.
After another day passed, Ning Cheng felt almost time to put his plan into action. After going over the plan one more time in his head, he then activated the teleportation formation.
A few moments later, Ning Cheng landed at the place where he arranged the first teleportation formation. The two giant trees weren’t too far from his position, while the area wrapped in the white mist was still in front of him.
A strong wave of law fluctuations came from it, and Ning Cheng started to feel a growing sense of excitement in his heart. The Bestowing Lawless Fruits were most likely inside this white mist. He quickly approached the white mist and, after confirming that nothing was wrong, dashed into it.
The white mist posed no obstruction to him, nor did it attack him; thus, Ning Cheng managed to enter the white mist without any effort. Even Ning Cheng himself couldn’t believe it; it just felt too easy.
Four fruits seemingly formed out of formless ripples appeared in front of him, suspended in the air. One couldn’t feel even the slightest fluctuation of laws from these fruits. Yet, they continually absorbed the laws of heaven and earth.
Moreover, there wasn’t any fruit tree in sight, nor did he see any soil or even any aura. Except for the few ripple-formed fruits suspended in the air, Ning Cheng didn’t see anything at all. What’s more, Ning Cheng’s spiritual consciousness couldn’t even sense these fruits, let alone scan their composition. Even when looking at these ‘fruits’ with one’s gaze, they appeared more like faint grey blobs floating in the air. If their colour was any lighter, they wouldn’t even be visible and simply blend into the white mist.
Were those the Bestowing Lawless Fruits? Ning Cheng went forward and carefully grabbed one of the suspended fruits. It felt a little illusory in his hand. Ning Cheng immediately took out a jade box and carefully put the fruit, the size of a goose egg, in it. Once done, he then reached out to pick up a second fruit.
However, at that moment, a sigh sounded out in Ning Cheng’s ears. Ning Cheng felt so shocked that he didn’t bother grabbing the second fruit before exiting the white mist and was about to teleport away.
However, he quickly stopped the teleportation sequence after noticing a familiar face. It was the beautiful woman who stood not too far away from him. The beautiful woman held a white token in her hand that buzzed with a slight law fluctuation.
Ning Cheng’s face blushed with embarrassment, and he said somewhat dryly, “What a coincidence?”
The beautiful woman shook her head, “It’s not a coincidence. I already knew that you would return and purposely waited for you. Since you already obtained one Bestowing Lawless Fruit, you should leave.”
After saying that, the beautiful woman put away the white token.
Even if Ning Cheng was an idiot, he understood that the other party had done him a favour. Although he couldn’t figure out why this beautiful woman had helped him, he still took out the jade box awkwardly and handed it to the beautiful woman. “Sorry, I just felt a little uncomfortable in my heart after Lan Bing slashed me countless times. So, I just wanted to come over and look at it and help myself to one of them. Since you already saw me, let me return the stuff to you.”
Having been caught stealing something, even if Ning Cheng had thick skin, he would never do something like pocketing it. Let alone walking away as if nothing happened. Moreover, by this time, Ning Cheng had vaguely guessed the reason why no one had discovered him till now. Even why he managed to quickly enter the white mist. It most likely had something to do with this beautiful woman.
When the beautiful woman saw Ning Cheng take out the jade box and return the Bestowing Lawless Fruit to her with an embarrassed face, a small smile appeared on her face. However, she shook her head, “No need. You can take it away. Treat it as a gift from me to you. Besides, I still have a share of these fruits for me. Since you saved my life, it’s only right that I return the favour. However, you can only take away one.”
Ning Cheng only then realised why he could pick a Bestowing Lawless Fruit unhindered.
Seeing that the beautiful woman wasn’t faking it, he hesitated for a moment before putting away the Bestowing Lawless Fruit.
“Can I ask this big sister for her name?” Ning Cheng understood what this beautiful woman meant. If he hadn’t come to help back then, the beautiful woman couldn’t have held on long enough till Lan Bing stood up and mobilised her Power of Hope to attack the enemy. In fact, he wasn’t trying to help the beautiful woman, but rather acting on the promise to return Qiao Yi’s favour.
The beautiful woman smiled, “Just call me A’Li, and I’m not a big sister.”
After saying that, she took out a jade strip and handed it to Ning Cheng. “The jade contains a map. I’m not sure if it can help you leave the Land of Broken Laws, but the route marked on the map is the only one with the possibility of leaving the Land of Broken Laws.”
“Thank you, Sister Li, you’re the one who should be the king of the Blue True Hope Tribe.” Ning Cheng gladly accepted the jade strip. It was the most valuable thing to him, even more valuable than the Bestowing Lawless Fruit in his hand. Talking to this beautiful woman called A’Li felt much more comfortable than facing Lan Bing.
However, Ning Cheng also noticed a little sadness on A’Li’s face. Unknown to him, she initially was the ruler of the Blue True Hope Tribe. But because of her failures, indecisiveness, and repeated deceit, she failed to uplift the Blue True Hope Tribe. In fact, the tribe had actually withered under her rule.
She felt Bing’er was the better suitable candidate than her as the ruler and passed on the title of ‘king’. Besides, she felt that only under Bing’er’s leadership could the Blue True Hope Tribe leave the Land of Broken Laws and establish their own place in the universe.
“You should quickly leave. Bing’er will be here any minute. I had already informed her about the ripened fruits.” A’Li sighed as she returned to her senses.
After hearing Qiao Yi’s words, she learned that Ning Cheng had come here to help Qiao Yi return the favour. From Ning Cheng’s actions, she understood that Ning Cheng was a person who knew how to repay people’s kindness.
Ning Cheng had also saved her from certain death. In fact, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that without Ning Cheng’s help, not only her but the entire Blue True Hope Tribe would have perished a few days ago. She didn’t have the authority to stop Lan Bing from moving against Ning Cheng, but at the very least, she could help Ning Cheng where she could. Although she knew that she didn’t have the authority to give away a Bestowing Lawless Fruit, it was the least she could do for the saviour of her Blue True Hope Tribe. In any case, it was still a huge deal for the Blue True Hope Tribe. Even if she was Bing’er’s aunt and the previous ruler of the tribe, she would most likely be sent to the dungeon because of this matter. It could even result in her execution.
“Then, many thanks, Sister Lu. Ning Cheng thanked her once again before taking out the teleportation array flag. This Ning Cheng will take his leave.”
“If you end up in a fight against Bing’er in the future, please let her go once. For my sake.” A’Li followed up with another sentence just before Ning Cheng was about to leave.
She had previously thought that even if Ning Cheng snuck into this place, he must have used a stealthy method. Unexpectedly, Ning Cheng had teleported into this area. If Ning Cheng could carve an array here without moving his hands and feet and then teleport in, it showed that he wasn’t a simple cultivator. It was likely that he would become an influential person in the future. As such, the words she spoke just now wasn’t just a casual remark. Besides, based on Lan Bing’s personality, who could guarantee that such a thing wouldn’t happen.
Ning Cheng nodded, “As long as she doesn’t try to provoke me, for your sake, I won’t move on her. But only once.”
After saying this, Ning Cheng seemed to have remembered something else and took out a different jade box before handing it to A’Li. “It’s just a small token of my appreciation. Count it as a gift.”
After saying these words, Ning Cheng activated the formation flag and instantly vanished from his position.
A’Li opened the jade box and saw a jade seal with the same shape as the sacred butterfly.
……
Ning Cheng knew that he and A’Li wouldn’t have the chance to meet again, but he also didn’t like to owe people favours. A’Li thought that he had saved her life, but only Ning Cheng knew that it was just an indirect result of helping Qiao Yi. Therefore, after acknowledging A’Li’s favour, he returned the jade seal to A’Li in return for the other party’s kindness of helping him.
Plus, he now had a map of the Land of Broken Laws with a potential exit route. With his spiritual consciousness’s range slowly increasing, he was no longer the same ant that was when he had just escaped into the Land of Broken Laws. Even without the Hope-powered Jade Seal, he didn’t need to be afraid of anyone.
