As soon as Ning Cheng’s words came out, the face of the handsome man standing next to Ruan Mingshu changed slightly, before he immediately looked at Ruan Mingshu with confusion.
Ruan Mingshu also felt startled, as if she had never thought that Ning Cheng would suddenly ask such a question. As such, she could not search for a suitable answer for Ning Cheng in such a short time.
Ning Cheng also was not in a hurry, as he still waited patiently with a smile. Although he did not feel grossed out with Ruan Mingshu, he also wanted to make things clear with Ruan Mingshu. Cooperation was cooperation; do not use beauty and gentleness to pretend otherwise. You acted so gently within the Revolving Jade City that you made it look like the two of them were a couple. Yet, did you not escape without even bothering about lil’ ole’ me?
If you want to cooperate with me then just talk about cooperation. Do not try to use trickery to deceive me. I might be simple, but I am not a fool.
“I’ll head to the Lucky Heaven City first. If Junior Apprentice Sister Mingshu needs anything, just send me a message.” Seeing Ruan Mingshu open her mouth to reply, Ning Cheng immediately interrupted from the front. He only came here to remind Ruan Mingshu not to treat him as a fool. As for how Ruan Mingshu wanted to answer him, he did not care.
“Wait, Senior Apprentice Brother Ning. I do have something to talk with you. If you want, we can still stay together in a room.” Ruan Mingshu called out to Ning Cheng.
Ning Cheng shot a slightly surprised look at Ruan Mingshu. He had initially thought that Ruan Mingshu would step down and did not expect that Ruan Mingshu would actually dare to say such words.
The formerly somewhat stiff expression on the handsome-looking male cultivator’s face suddenly disappeared, replaced by a relaxed smile, as he spoke up, “Mingshu, I will take my leave now.”
Looking at the handsome male cultivator walk out of the resting pen, Ruan Mingshu then trained her eyes over Ning Cheng, “Senior Apprentice Brother Ning if you feel satisfied; please follow me to my room.”
Ning Cheng felt somewhat weird in his heart; however, he did not care. He casually followed Ruan Mingshu to her room and found that Ruan Mingshu had not booked a double room as before but a single room.
“Senior Apprentice Brother Ning, I know that you must be blaming me for not informing you when I left. However, the fact is that if I had delayed thing for even a brief period, I could not have made my escape. The ferocity of the starry skies’ Spirit Devouring Rat Tide is something that almost everyone knows. Besides, even if I had the means to take you away, I could not have made it to the second floor. Moreover, I also had a feeling that you definitely would not come with me.” Ruan Mingshu spoke in a calm tone as if she felt no anger towards Ning Cheng’s previous words.
Not waiting for Ning Cheng to answer, she continued, “You are someone very kind to the people close to you. Although I do not know you very well, I still have been around you for a short while. I know that you would not leave without your friends nor would you simply leave on your own. Not to mention the fact that even if you felt willing enough to leave with me, I could not escape with you.”
Ning Cheng had not come here to hear Ruan Mingshu’s explanation. However, listening to Ruan Mingshu explain things in an apparently sincere and gentle manner forced Ning Cheng to say nothing.
“That man who left is called Zhao Yanxiang.....” Ruan Mingshu spoke once again.
Ning Cheng felt surprised, “It was him. Should have known. Manor Master Ruan also requested me to help keep an eye on someone. Looks like it’s that fellow.”
Ruan Mingshu smiled, “My father thinks that I like him, which led him to say that to you. However, the fact is that no matter how much he likes me, I do not share the same sentiments with that man. Moreover, during our time in the Time Wilderness, Senior Apprentice Brother Yanxiang will also be joining us.”
“I don’t care about who else is coming with us. I anyway just got here; you just need to tell me when to enter the Time Wilderness and how to get in?” Ning Cheng did not have any intentions of meddling or asking about such messy relationships.
Ruan Mingshu took out a jade strip and handed it to Ning Cheng, “This jade strip contains a part of the map of the Time Wilderness. For some reason, the Orchid Borough Celestial River King had suddenly disappeared when our Orchid Borough Celestial River Battleship suffered that attack from the starry skies’ Spirit Devouring Rat Tide. Therefore, only for the participants from our Orchid Borough Celestial River, as long as they can produce their participating jade cards, they could then enter at any time after the Time Wilderness opens.”
Ning Cheng, on hearing the disappearance of the Orchid Borough Celestial River King, felt slightly shocked. Most likely, the departure of the Orchid Borough Celestial River King had some relations to Imperial Concubine Xuan Yu. Maybe he might have even gone after Imperial Concubine Xuan Yu. What should he do now? In case Orchid Borough Celestial River King managed to meet up with Imperial Concubine Xuan Yu, then regardless of whether Xuan Yu survived or not, Jing Wuming would definitely die. Unfortunately, apart from feeling anxious, Ning Cheng could not do anything with his current cultivation.
“The Man Lun Starry Skies have 12 Celestial Rivers under it and is one of the smaller starry skies’ compared to other starry skies. However, there would be more than 300,000 cultivators entering the Time Wilderness this time. At the same time, I suspect that quite a few people know about the Perpetual Moon Lakes. As such, our chances are not desirable, to begin with.” After Ruan Mingshu gave a brief explanation, she paused to let Ning Cheng ask any question.
Ning Cheng immediately realised that the Perpetual Moon Lake was not just Ruan Clan’s secret; instead, an open secret. Then what did this cooperation mean?
“12 Celestial Rivers should mean 120,000 participants. How are there 300,000 participants? Moreover, with my cultivation, even if the three of us teamed up, even our bones might turn to slag before we could even reach the Perpetual Moon Lake.” Ning Cheng’s tone revealed some disappointment.
Ruan Mingshu did not care about Ning Cheng’s tone and calmly spoke up, “The Orchid Borough Celestial River is one of the weakest celestial rivers under the jurisdiction of the Man Lun Starry Skies, which is the reason it only has 10,000 entry quotas. However, the other celestial rivers have far more participants than our Orchid Borough Celestial River. Moreover, some people might know about the Perpetual Moon Lake; however, not many of them would truly have any information about the location of the Perpetual Moon Lake. Therefore, although our chances might seem small at first, we still have a better chance compared to others.”
“Okay, I understand. When the Time Wilderness opens, just send me a message.” Ning Cheng spoke as he stood up.
Ruan Mingshu did not move and spoke out casually, “Are you not going to stay here?”
“You only have one room here. It’s better for me to find a room for myself than to let you rent another room.”
“It’s just a room; you can sleep here if you want.”
Ruan Mingshu’s words made Ning Cheng feel surprised. Although Ruan Mingshu had tried to use some methods over him; however, he still thought that this woman was still relatively conservative. What did she mean by that?
Ning Cheng found Ruan Mingshu’s expression completely serious, without any shred of mockery or sarcasm in it. He frowned and spoke, “If I sleep here, what about you?”
Ruan Mingshu looked at the bed and spoke with a slight smile, “This is a big bed.”
Seeing the expression over Ruan Mingshu’s face, Ning Cheng had to say it, “Thank you for the offer. However, I still prefer to stay alone in a room. If you have something you need, just send me a message.”
Whether Ruan Mingshu truly meant it or not, Ning Cheng had no intentions to act like a hypocrite with her.
Seeing the departing back of Ning Cheng, Ruan Mingshu gave out a sigh and did not continue speaking. She instead took out a pot of wine and poured herself a cup.
Ruan Mingshu did not have to sit for long when the handsome-looking male cultivator, who had left earlier and the one Ruan Mingshu had introduced as Zhao Yanxiang to Ning Cheng, appeared outside her room. Ruan Mingshu slightly frowned before putting down the wine cup. She walked over to the door, opened the restrictions, and stared at Zhao Yanxiang standing her door, without even inviting him inside.
“Who is he?” Zhao Yanxiang also did not enter the room and just asked three words.
“He will enter the Time Wilderness with us and is someone my Ruan Clan has chosen to cooperate with.” Ruan Mingshu did not conceal the matter.
Zhao Yanxiang gave out a relaxed sigh, “Junior Apprentice Sister Mingshu, you are just too kind. Why would you place such importance over this person? He clearly wants to drive a wedge between us. You could have just said no, why bother with such useless talks.”
Ruan Mingshu spoke up in a dull tone, “I did not speak any lies. I had intended to keep him in my room.”
“Mingshu, you....” Zhao Yanxiang’s face changed once again.
Ruan Mingshu did not bother to explain anything. Zhao Yanxiang clenched his fist and spoke, “Why? Do you like him? Then what about me? Besides, even if you like him, with your personality, would you actually live with him together?”
Ruan Mingshu looked at Zhao Yanxiang and spoke, “Senior Apprentice Brother Yanxiang, if you like to put it that way then I like you more. However, Senior Apprentice Brother Ning is a good man, and I owe him.”
“You owe him, so you would let him stay with you? What logic is this? Also, what do you owe him?” Zhao Yanxiang finally could not control his emotions.
“I don’t owe him yet; however, I’ll owe him soon. Maybe, you’ll also owe him.” Ruan Mingshu spoke while shaking her head. She had her own principles of conduct. Ning Cheng originally had nothing to do with her; however, during the time together, she knew that Ning Cheng was not the sort who harboured evil thoughts. Her family had tasked her with reaping someone else’s life. If it required gentleness and agreeing to the demands, so what of it?
Back inside her room, Ruan Mingshu took out the pot of wine again. This time she did not pour out a cup but drank a few mouthfuls from the jug directly while murmuring, “Maybe I’m not suitable for anything in the starry skies.”
Her father and even her close confidants thought that it was appropriate to let a stranger die; however, she felt guilt-ridden and apologetic within her heart. This kind of guilt, if not compensated, would drastically affect her cultivation.
......
No matter what Ruan Mingshu meant, Ning Cheng did not continue to wander around the Lucky Heaven City. Lucky Heaven City contained almost-countless starry skies’ cultivators. With his cultivation, in case someone decided to pick on him, it would not bode well for him.
In his own residence, Ning Cheng, apart from communicating with the Wasp King Graceful Star, constantly fumbled around with his Spiritual Consciousness. He wanted to build a complete set of combat methods with his Spiritual Consciousness.
Moreover, whether it came to practical or even theoretical knowledge, Ning Cheng sorely lacked in both areas. Every time he found himself stuck in a critical area, he would have no way to explain it, let alone resolve it.
Moreover, the Wasp King Graceful Star grew up very fast. The medicinal herbs and pills that Ning Cheng had previously refined had already vanished. This fellow had even started eating through the starry skies’ crystals.
Time passed by quickly. During the almost half-a-month since Ning Cheng reached the Lucky Heaven City, he did not receive any message from Ruan Mingshu.
On this day, Ning Cheng was still inside the resting pen’s room, tempering his Spiritual Consciousness, when he suddenly heard screams and spacial fluctuations coming from outside.
Ning Cheng had not entered the starry skies a day or two ago; as such, he was somewhat familiar with how the cities operated within the starry skies. As such, he knew that one could not openly fight, nor could one go around causing trouble. However, those screams and spacial fluctuations definitely indicated a large-scale fight. If it were not for those strong Celestial Essence fluctuations, he could not have sensed anything from inside his room.
Ning Cheng immediately opened the restriction, wanting to come out and see what had caused this, when the resting pen’s server quickly came up to stop him, “Friend, cultivators from two celestial rivers erupted in hostilities. The matter has already gone out of hand. Please do not go out at this time, lest you end up sucked into trouble.”
“Who would dare to cause trouble in the Lucky Heaven City?” Ning Cheng asked. Was Lucky Heaven City not the premier city of the Man Lun Star Land? How could one dare to cause trouble in this city? Yet, there were tens of thousands of cultivators fighting a large-scale battle in the spacious street outside. Not only had many cultivators fallen, with body parts strewn across, but even many buildings had also turned to rubble.
The server grinned and spoke, “You’ll find out soon enough.”
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