Chapter 0903: Intuitive Danger

“But…..” Xincai’s[1] tone was a little hesitant. Even with her intuition telling her otherwise, she didn’t think that Ji He was a fake. She had interacted with Ji He several times, which made her relatively familiar with Ji He. But more importantly, she still remembered the aura of Ji He’s cultivation method. It hadn’t changed even after all these years.

Contrary to his previous thought, deciding the top twenty-five didn’t take too much time, and Ning Cheng’s entry card again lit up. The lines on the entry card almost made Ning Cheng laugh out loud in near-surprise. Looks like Lady Luck decided to favour me this time.

The entry card contained the following line, “Ji He, 95, no opponent. Enters the top thirteen.”

“Ji He, no opponent. Enters the top thirteen.” This line also appeared on display in Heaven Essence Sacred City’s public square. Some of the cultivators who didn’t know anything about Ji He started feeling jealous and amazed at Ji He’s sheer dumb luck. This person didn’t even meet a powerful opponent in the first or the second round. Now he didn’t even have an opponent to fight against in the third round.

Seeing Ji He entering the top thirteen, the green-robed female cultivator, Xincai, standing next to Cen Caixuan, finally aired her doubts. “Caixuan, Ji He’s cultivation method hasn’t changed, aren’t you overthinking it? After all, it’s not impossible to find some opportunities in the Grand Essence Mystic Realm. Although Ji He’s strength has improved greatly compared to the past, he barely won his previous matches. If anything, his previous matches indicate that he just barely reaches ordinary Eternal cultivators in strength.”

Seeing Ji He entering the top thirteen, she still wanted to get Ji He back to her clan.

Cen Caixuan opened his mouth but couldn’t think of a counter. She also felt that Ji He’s aura didn’t change much. But she also wanted to believe that Ji He was a fake. She didn’t look at the discrepancy in Ji He’s character, nor did she take notice of Ji He’s increase in strength. Rather, she felt that Ji He was a fake because of the look in Ji He’s eyes. It held no obsession towards her in it.

Ji He was a sophisticated person when it came to speech and had a relatively rigid personality. However, Ji He had a very obsessive desire in his eyes whenever he looked at her. Sometimes she could even feel Ji He’s excitement whenever she showed him a slight smile. But the Ji He that came out from the mystic realm no longer gave her this feel.

Even when Guo Haoge took her hand, Ji He showed no fluctuation in his emotions. Maybe what Xincai said had some truth to it. But did Ji He’s character truly change?

“Caixuan, people will always change. Guo Haoge is a bit too disgusting if you ask me. He doesn’t think much of us. Maybe Ji He…..” Xincai suddenly felt angry at Guo Haoge. If not for Guo Haoge, Ji He would still be a person belonging to her Cen Clan.

Cen Caixuan shook his head. “Xincai, don’t say such things about Guo Haoge. He’s not what you think.”

Xincai understood that Cen Caixuan was just too infatuated with Guo Haoge. Even though she knew that Guo Haoge wasn’t interested in Cen Caixuan, she could only watch from the side.

……

The battles for the rest of the top thirteen turned fiercer and longer. Ning Cheng also understood that if he hadn’t received a free pa.s.s from these fights, he would have had to use some of his original strength to break into the top thirteen.

Kekei Luoxi from the Grand Essence’s twelve sacred children ran into Yin Ying, another one among the twelve. Unfortunately, Yin Ying turned out to be twice as powerful as Kekei Luoxi.

Yin Ying’s weapon of choice felt similar to Ning Cheng’s Seven Bridges Realm Book. Unfortunately, no one’s spiritual consciousness could penetrate the battle stage area. As such, Ning Cheng could only see that Yin Ying had just turned three pages of the book when a golden light emerged and covered Kekei Luoxi.

Kekei Luoxi seemed to have understood that he wasn’t an opponent for Yin Ying and immediately accepted defeat when that golden light covered him.

Despite how easily Yin Ying forced Kekei Luoxi to admit defeat, it didn’t cause much discussion among the people. It seemed that everyone had already expected it.

Ning Cheng looked forward to the fights involving Yin Ying, Lu Yixian and Aiden; maybe that way, he could glimpse into the methods of these so-called premier geniuses. But Yin Ying’s quick defeat of Kekei Luoxi, where Ning Cheng could only peek at her weapon, made Ning Cheng feel a little disappointed.

Next up was Aiden, who matched against a disciple from Flaming Feather Spirit Mountain, another of the top ten sects. Ning Cheng only knew Flaming Feather Spirit Mountain’s Peng Shan and Peng Ruimei, but those two siblings hadn’t shown up here.

But regardless, Aiden’s black smoke had already caught Ning Cheng’s interest. Since Aiden was about to go up on stage, Ning Cheng’s eyes immediately focussed on every move Aiden made.

But just when Ning Cheng thought about a.n.a.lysing Aiden’s black smoke, he suddenly felt extremely uncomfortable. It felt as if danger would descend on him at any moment. Ning Cheng immediately looked around but only found people focussing all their attention on the fight on the battle stage. He couldn’t sense any danger directed towards him. However, he did detect Cen Caixuan’s spiritual consciousness, which occasionally swept towards him from the opposite side.

Ning Cheng no longer had the heart to concentrate on the fights. Over the years as a cultivator, Ning Cheng had grown overly sensitive and attuned to his intuition of danger. Therefore, he didn’t think that this intuition of danger wasn’t an unreasonable one at all.

He looked over at the several experts sitting on the central platform, hesitated for a bit before finally deciding to walk over towards them.

Although the compet.i.tion was only among cultivators in the Eternal Realm, the compet.i.tion and the fights still attracted Dao Confirming experts from all over the Grand Essence Domain. As such, when Ning Cheng came over, several experts from the central platform immediately noticed it.

Ning Cheng had a vague feeling that the red-faced man who had come out to speak previously had much higher strength than what he sensed from Man Huishan. Despite looking like an old man, he made a strong impression on Ning Cheng. Besides, this person sat near the edge of the central platform and was the closest to him. Therefore, he went directly to this old man and gave him a respectful bow.

The red-raced old man nodded to Ning Cheng and spoke up. “Ji He, you seem to enjoy the favour of luck, getting a chance to experience spirit essence transformation in the Extraterritorial Spirit Spring. Remember not to waste this opportunity; after all, the Extraterritorial Spirit Spring isn’t open to ordinary people.”

Although he seemed like someone with a special status, the old man with a red face didn’t ignore Ning Cheng because Ning Cheng’s ident.i.ty wasn’t comparable to his.

Listening to the old man, Ning Cheng felt a bit confused. He had only entered the top thirteen, wasn’t the Extraterritorial Spirit Spring only for the top ten?

However, he knew that it wasn’t the time to ask about this matter; rather, he had to take care of the dangerous unease he felt just now.

Since the old man took the initiative to talk to him, Ning Cheng quickly spoke up. “Many thanks for the senior’s encouragement; it’s just that this junior is a bit worried about something.”

“Oh, what are you worried about?” The old man continued with a chuckle.

Ning Cheng had only stated a probing sentence. Now that the old man asked about it, he immediately jumped on it and replied, “Someone just pa.s.sed me a message that I will die. But since I’m still partic.i.p.ating in the Grand Essence Great Meet, I don’t know if I should run away immediately.”

Ning Cheng didn’t care if his instincts were correct or not at this point; he had to find some kind of shelter first. Besides, he held enormous confidence in his intuition for danger. If the few experts on the main stage couldn’t help him, even if the Extraterritorial Spirit Spring were a hundred times better, he would give up on it immediately.

“Oh, who has the nerve to make trouble at the Grand Essence Great Meet?” This time, it wasn’t the ordinary-looking old man who spoke up but a middle-aged female cultivator sitting not far from the old man.

Hearing the cold tone in her voice, Ning Cheng felt a bit more restless. However, he quickly calmed himself and replied. “Replying to this senior, someone had sent a sound transmission to me stating that if I stayed in this place even a moment longer, someone would come for my life right here.”

No one had sent Ning Cheng the sound transmission; rather, Ning Cheng had made it up to make it more believable. If no one turned up to threaten him later, he could just say that the person might have felt afraid to show up because he, Ning Cheng, had mentioned it to the experts sitting here in advance. If anyone did show up, it would only bolster what Ning Cheng said earlier. Either way, he felt confident that this strategy would work, as long as these experts cared about reputation.

Ning Cheng believed that the people from the Sect Alliance would care about maintaining face with so many people here. Daring to threaten a partic.i.p.ant and then really showing up at the Grand Essence Great Meet would mean that that person didn’t put anyone here in their eyes. It would be equivalent to brazenly slapping the Sect Alliance’s face in public. It’s something that not even the sect masters of the top ten sects would dare do in this place.

Because Ning Cheng didn’t conceal his voice, many of the surrounding cultivators also heard the conversation and suddenly started paying more attention to it.

In any case, Ning Cheng was still one of the top 13 people in the Grand Essence Great Meet; as such, it was only typical for people to notice and keep track of Ning Cheng. Therefore, when the surrounding cultivators heard Ning Cheng say that someone wanted to come here and kill him, they immediately felt speechless. Some even began to discuss the consequences among themselves in whispers.

Could one believe such a claim? Killing a person in the top 13 of the Grand Essence Great Meet and on the main public square to boot. Even if this person was a rogue cultivator, it should be impossible, right? If such a thing did happen, then the Grand Essence Great Meet would be nothing more than a joke. Even if someone truly wanted to kill you, no one would send you a sound transmission first to state their intent, would they?

The red-faced old man gave Ning Cheng a meaningful look before showing a kind smile. “You can rest a.s.sured that at least until you come out of the Extraterritorial Spirit Spring, no one would ever dare to harm you.”

“Ji He thanks the several seniors here for it and allowing me to join the Grand Essence Great Meet, which is the best thing Ji He has done in this life.” Ning Cheng heard those words and immediately thanked them. He had reached his goal. Whether his hunch came true or not, it wouldn’t be the end of the line for him in this place.

He had already taken into consideration that the old man might have seen through his lie as no one would have sent him such a message. Fortunately, the old man didn’t seem to overthink it, making Ning Cheng feel a great deal of grat.i.tude towards this old man in his heart.

……

Star Stepping Tower’s ground floor lobby; Xin Xiu and Wu Qihong had decided to check out. With Wu Qihong’s Sea of Consciousness steadily recovering and Ning Cheng’s mention of not returning, Xin Xiu no longer felt the need to live in such an expensive place. They decided to check out early and leave Heaven Essence Sacred City.

Since they were checking out early, they would only receive half of the spirit stones paid for the rent. However, Xin Xiu and Wu Qihong didn’t care about it; these spirit crystals originally belonged to Ning Cheng anyway. Even receiving a part of it was already pretty good.

“Senior Apprentice Sister Xiu, do you know where Elder Brother Ji went?” Wu Qihong looked at Xin Xiu returning with the rest of the rent and asked with some doubt.

Xin Xiu sighed and was just about to speak when she heard a surprised exclamation followed by a Daoist shadow solidifying right in front of Wu Qihong. It was a slim black-robed woman with a black veil covering her face.

Xin Xiu knew this woman and quickly gave her a respectful bow, “Junior Xin Xiu greets Senior Nei. Many thanks for the Senior’s help last time.”

Wu Qihong had heard from Xin Xiu that the Star Stepping Tower’s master was a woman and that she was a mighty expert. Therefore, hearing and seeing Xin Xiu’s words and actions, he quickly reacted and gave her a respectful bow.

The black-robed woman nodded, looked at Wu Qihong, and asked a question after a moment. “Your Sea of Consciousness had shattered; how is it healed now?”

[1] Xincai is the name of the green-robed girl next to Cen Caixuan.