Chapter 0073 – Advancing to True Condensation In A Small Town
Ning Cheng with his fastest speed put away everything, even the airship Type Artefact that Xun Shun came in was directly put in his Storage Bag, after collecting all the things he quickly left.
Originally Ning Cheng and Tai Shu Shi were supposed to meet up with each other in three days, as he was worried that this Xun Shun would definitely call for reinforcements. If the reinforcements that he called for were too strong, he had even planned to temporarily escape to the Daan Forest. Now that Xun Shun had already been killed by him, and even the SOS signal that he had sent out was blocked, it gave a bit of relief to Ning Cheng. Since he and Tai Shu Shi and the others have not been separated for a long time, so he thought that he should be able to catch up with them.
However, after two hours, Ning Cheng stopped, he felt that something was wrong. He was obviously chasing the traces Tai Shu Shi left behind, but after coming here, he could not even find a single trace.
Ning Cheng tried to find the traces of Tai Shu Shi all around, but even after looking carefully he could not even find half a clue as to his whereabouts.
After quite a while of searching, Ning Cheng finally left that place, he decided to wait for them near the edges of the Thunder Fall Desert. He had already given the map to Tai Shu Shi, and he also knew that to go to the Hua Continent, Tai Shu Shi would have to go through the Thunder Fall Desert, and so would definitely pass through one of the entrances marked on the map.
……
From the Yuan Continent to the Hua Continent, whether by flying or by walking, one must go through the Thunder Fall Desert.
On the outskirts of the Thunder Fall Desert, there were actually three small towns, Thunder Fall Town, Moon Sand Town and Firefly Town.
Of these three towns, the liveliest and the largest was the Thunder Fall Town. Every year there were countess cultivators arriving here from the Thunder Fall Desert. Besides the handful of people who come to the Thunder Fall Desert to look for treasures, most of the people here come to this town to pass through the Thunder Fall Desert to go to the Hua Continent.
But it was quite a well-known fact, that the number of people who can successfully cross the Thunder Fall Desert and enter the Hua Continent were truly very few. As many people would end up dying in the Thunder Fall Desert, as a result since a long time, this Thunder Fall Desert was also called by another name, the Bone Desert. Because once you went inside the desert, you could see the dense quantities of bones of the dead cultivators scattered around. The number of cultivators who died here were simply too many.
Even then, the number of people entering the Thunder Fall Desert never decreased, and arrived wave after wave.
Ning Cheng had the simple map that he had obtained from Kou Hong, so he did not enter the Thunder Fall Town, but rather entered the Moon Sand Town. This Moon Sand town, compared to the other two towns on the edges of the Thunder Fall Desert, had fewer resources and was far from the bustling atmosphere in the Thunder Fall Town.
Ning Cheng who was rushing with all his might, in one month arrived outside the Moon Sand Town. In this entire month, he never took out the things that he had obtained from the black robed Xun Shun from his Storage Bag to check them out. The main reason for that was of course to arrive at Moon Sand Town as early as possible, once he arrived at the Moon Sand Town, he could then wait patiently for Tai Shu Shi, if there was any problem, then he could easily run into the Thunder Fall Desert at the first sign of trouble.
Mixing himself with some wary adventurers that had also just arrived, Ning Cheng finally stepped into the Moon Sand Town just as the sun started to set.
Compared to the liveliness of Thunder Fall Town, Moon Sand Town looked somewhat desolate. Ning Cheng was certain that with his speed, he would definitely have arrived here earlier than Tai Shu Shi. All he had to do now was to wait for Tai Shu Shi in Moon Sad Town, and while waiting for him he could even refine the two Artefacts that he had obtained from before, while simultaneously preparing to advance to the True Condensation Realm.
Whether it was those old copper coins, or that piece of airship Type Artefact both of them were really good items, and it made Ning Cheng to very much look forward to refining them, relatively speaking, he actually did not care much of the red Flying Sword.
There were very few pedestrians on the streets of Moon Sand Town and even the communication between them was very sparse.
Ning Cheng found a small unassuming place to rest, such type of unassuming dwellings was common for cultivators in this town, moreover such kinds of rest stops were very common in the Moon Sand Town. These cultivators would generally go out for several months for a trip and once they came back they would choose to seclude themselves, only when their resources for their cultivation were exhausted, would they once again leave Moon Sand Town. This went on again and again, until the day that they die.
The resources for cultivation in the Thunder Fall Desert were very few, and not everyone could undertake the task to go out searching for them. Although they knew of this, many cultivators would still choose this life, also because they did not have any other choice.
Ning Cheng was looking with some interest at his rest stop, it was called the Moon River, in this Moon Sand Town, this type of building like Moon River was something very common and would not attract any attention. Moreover, in this building, there were only a few scattered cultivators who looked very deadbeat.
Ning Cheng did not care much about it, after he entered his room, he immediately put up closed sign on the door, while he arranged several Array Formations inside the room, there were Concealment Array Formations, Defensive Array Formations…….
Once all the Array Formations were completed, Ning Cheng first took out the old copper coins. These old copper coins had pulled away his Spear during his battle, which immediately surprised Ning Cheng. If he did not have the 7 Pleiades Ice Needle and the inner armour, then perhaps he would have been killed by Xun Shun.
This was mainly because his opponent lacked experience, but these old copper coins gave him a huge headache.
Refining these old copper coins was very difficult, and Ning Cheng almost took up 10 days just for that, it was only when he successfully refined the Restriction on one of the coins, did he come to understand why Xun Shun had to expunge so much strength and Qi to try and control this Artefact. That Xun Shun was only a cultivator at the True Condensation 2nd Level and coupled with his limited Spiritual Sense, it ended up extremely difficult for him to control it.
These old copper coins were called the Five Elements Treasure Fall Copper Coins.
It was no wonder that his Spear was taken away by these copper coins, it turned out that this Artefact had a special magic imbued in it which can pull away other Artefacts, this Artefact really went against the heavens. Unfortunately, these old copper coins had a fatal flaw, it was that it could only snatch the Artefact that were constructed using the five elements. The 7 Pleiades Ice Needle was refined from the stingers of Shadow Bees, and as such did not fall in the category of the five elements, as such these copper coins could not snatch them.
In any case, this was really a treasure, moreover it was a great treasure that he could use. As for the Restrictions on the rest of them, Ning Cheng did not continue to refine it, he planned to re-refine it later when he had the free time.
Compared to the Five Elements Treasure Fall Copper Coins, the airship Type Artefact that he had acquired from Xun Shun was much easier to refine, Ning Cheng had only spent half a day to refine it, he not only refined this airship Type Artefact, but at the same time he also acquired the knowledge on how to operate the airship on his own.
As for the red Flying Sword, after just refining it for a bit, he threw it into his Storage Bag, he did not like Flying Swords much.
Then Ning Cheng finally took out the Storage Bag that he had taken from the black robed Xun Shun. Back in the Yi Shui Courtyard, this Xun Shun was extremely generous, so Ning Cheng was rather looking forward to the contents in his Storage Bag.
Ning Cheng did not have to spend much time in lifting the Restrictions on the Storage Bag, but when he swept the Storage Bag with his Spiritual Sense, he immediately became disappointed.
Going by the way that Xun Shun spent his Spirit Stones, Ning Cheng thought that he would at least have 30-40 thousand Spirit Stones in his Storage Bag, but in fact, his Storage Bag only had about 10,000 Low Grade Spirit Stones. If this man had bought Liu Han Yu and Lian’e, then he would then only have about 2,000 Spirit Stones left with him.
But in this Storage Bag there were actually several jade bottles filled with pills, and even more Jade Pieces. Ning Cheng took out one of the Jade Pieces, and swept through it with his Spiritual Sense, it was exactly how he had guessed. These Jade Pieces recorded information on how to use the cultivation of women as their own. Thus from this it could be seen, that Xun Shun’s master was also not a good person.
Sweeping through the rest of the Jade Pieces, Ning Cheng found that they were all of the same type. So Ning Cheng felt disgusted with them and immediately burned them with his Fireball Technique, since he was from Earth, he could not come to accept such methods that existed in this world.
After obtaining the 10,000 Spirit Stones and coupled with his own 12 Thousand Spirit Stones that he had on him, Ning Cheng decided to finally attack the True Condensation Realm. Once he advances to the True Condensation Realm, he would then go out to look for Tai Shu Shi in the Moon Sand Town.
After the Spirit Stones were changed into powder by the usage of Ning Cheng, most of the dissipating aura from the Spirit Stones was blocked by the Array Formations that he had set up previously, although there was a part of the aura that the Array Formations could not block off. However, for the cultivators staying in this rest stop, this circulation of the Spiritual Qi, was not something that they would feel strange about.
One month later, Ning Cheng finally exited his room and went out to purchase some food before returning back to his room again. At this time, he was already at the peak of the Qi Gathering 9th Level, and was ready to finally advance to the True Condensation Realm.
Taking out the True Condensation Pill, Ning Cheng could feel that the entire Qi in his body immediately turned restless, Ning Cheng knew that he was finally truly ready to start the process to advance to the True Condensation Realm. Not feeling hurried in his heart, he started to slowly operate his Cultivation Method and started to transform the Qi in his body into True Essence.
With his complete Cultivation Method, and his cultivation level of peak stage Qi Gathering 9th Level, the Qi in his body in just a short while started to show signs of transforming into True Essence. Now with the help of the True Condensation Pill, which helped in starting the transformation of his Qi, he did not face much difficulty.
During the time Ning Cheng spent in close door cultivation, the piles of Spirit Stones stacked next to him were growing smaller and smaller. He did not know how long he had been sitting like that, but Ning Cheng felt that the Meridians through which his Qi, which was transforming crazily into True Essence, flowed was continuously sending out intermittent Ka Ka Ka sounds. At this moment, all the Meridians in his body expanded to double their sizes almost instantly.
Hu, Ning Cheng took a long breath, and suddenly stood up.
“Is this really True Condensation Realm?” Ning Cheng had just advanced to the True Condensation Realm, when he felt that his body now was several times much more powerful than when he was in Qi Gathering 9th Level, he could not help but exclaim out in amazement.
Before when he had not yet advanced to the True Condensation Realm, he always thought that the True Condensation Realm was just so so. After all, even when he was at the Qi Gathering 9th Level he could kill cultivators in the Middle Stages of True Condensation Realm, albeit with a little bit of difficulty, but now that he had finally advanced to the True Condensation Realm, he found that the True Condensation Realm and the Qi Gathering Realm really had too many differences.
The reason why he was able to kill cultivators in the True Condensation Realm till now, was simply because he had never met a real cultivator of the True Condensation Realm. If he had met with a real cultivator of the True Condensation Realm, how could he who was only in the Qi Gathering Realm match up to them? The formidable True Essence that they possess was basically not something a Qi Gathering Realm cultivator would be able to match up to.
Calculating the time, he had been staying in Moon Sand Town for nearly 2 months, since did not find any news of Tai Shu Shi during this time. Ning Cheng decided to not wait any longer, he would have to enter the Thunder Fall Desert alone and make his way to the Hua Continent.
Ning Cheng cleaned himself up, and got out of his room in the rest stop, he was prepared to leave behind some traces of him on the outside of Moon Sand Town. After Tai Shu Shi arrived at the Moon Sand Town, he would know that he had been here.
Ning Cheng had just got out of the small town, when he saw a bunch of people near the entrance of the small town, these people looked like they were having a heated discussion with each other.
Because Ning Cheng had a bit of curious nature so he squeezed his way in, there he found that there was a huge sign board outside the town with a notice posted on it.
There was huge portrait on the notice board, surprisingly it was his portrait, it also showed him to be carrying a long Spear on his back. The content of the notice was very clear, if anyone had any news regarding the person in the portrait then they had to report it immediately. Just the remuneration of reporting his sighting had a reward of 10,000 Spirit Stones and if it led to him being caught then they could receive a reward of 100,000 Spirit Stones, regardless of if he was dead or alive.
Looking at his own arrest warrant, Ning Cheng sneered in his heart. He had been in this Moon Sand Town for a long time, so if they wanted to catch him, then they could only dream about it.
“Hey, isn’t that him, the person on the arrest warrant.” At this point someone immediately found out Ning Cheng and exclaimed immediately.
Because of this cry, the surrounding people discovered that the person on the wanted poster was unexpectedly standing amongst them.
Some cultivators even took out their Artefacts, but they did not dare to rush out and capture Ning Cheng. The imposing aura that they felt from Ning Cheng made them feel that they really were not a match for Ning Cheng, if they forcefully came forward then the only thing that awaited them was death. Spirit Stones were good, but one needed to have a life to enjoy them.
Ning Cheng took out a Flying Sword, and after stepping on it, he did not fly away immediately, instead he said in a clear and resonant voice, “Go and tell that guy who issued the arrest warrant, that it was me who killed Xun Shun, I will be back after a few years. But I will definitely come back to kill him.”
With that, Ning Cheng under the watchful eyes of the public, with just a sword flash disappeared from their eyes without a trace, while no one dared to pursue him.