Chapter 0503: Imminent Peril

“Two friends, if you’ve just arrived at the Revolving Jade City, then please come to the auction and take a look. This auction definitely has a large number of good things, Thunder Flame Demon Glass, Fallen Sun Spirit Sand, Amethyst Heaven Mysterious Crystal, Heaven Seizing Treasure Grass… Things that you’ve never thought of, things you’ve never even seen……” A crisp female voice interrupted the conversation between Ning Cheng and Jing Wuming.

It was a low-level cultivator selling a bunch of brochures. Ning Cheng did not feel much interested in visiting this auction and was anxious to ask Jing Wuming about what had happened.

“Sorry, we’re not going to the auction…. Wait….” After Ning Cheng finished, he suddenly stopped the woman selling the brochure and asked, “How much is it?”

“100 Blue Coins.” The female cultivator quickly replied.

Ning Cheng took out a hundred Blue Coins and put them in the hands of this female cultivator, took one of the brochures before pulling away with a somewhat confused Jing Wuming and quickly leaving the place.

……

“What’s the matter? Did you have a fight with someone else? Does the Revolving Jade City permit such open fights?” After entering a random resting pen, Ning Cheng did not wait for Jing Wuming to explain before shooting out question after question.

Jing Wuming sighed and spoke, “Something happened with Lan Ya. If I can’t save Lan Ya quickly, she will turn into a slave.”

“What the hell is going on? Lan Ya is not a person who likes to cause trouble. How could she end up in such a situation?” Ning Cheng personally knew that Lan Ya did not like to cause trouble. If Lan Ya liked causing problems, why would she advise him against visiting casinos or the arenas?

“Lan Ya only told me that this matter might have something to do with the Scarlet Robed Young Noble’s father, Miao Pu, who’s been manipulating things from behind the curtain. You might not know who that Scarlet Robed Young Noble’s father is; he is a Celestial Lord…..” Jing Wuming thought that Ning Cheng had no idea about who the Scarlet Robed Young Noble was and tried to explain it to Ning Cheng.

Ning Cheng impatiently waved his hands and spoke, “I know who that Scarlet Robed Young Noble is. I was the one who killed him.”

“Ah…” Jing Wuming looked at Ning Cheng in horror, and it was only after a long while did he finally spoke up, “Lan Ya took the blame for you.”

Ning Cheng spoke up in a low tone, “If this matter really is related to the Scarlet Robed Young Noble, then she truly is helping me take the blame. However, that Scarlet Robed Young Noble is supposed to be someone from the Kun Zhuo Celestial River. How come his clan’s reach extends to the Orchid Borough Celestial River?”

Although Ning Cheng was fully aware that Lan Ya had not helped him take the blame, she and the Scarlet Robed Young Noble’s father shared a mutual hatred for each other. She had hunted the Scarlet Robed Young Noble through the void before the Scarlet-robed Young Noble finally perished. As such, his father certainly would not let go of Lan Ya.

“Lan Ya also learned about this later. She had a ring which belonged to the Scarlet-robed Young Noble, which contained a hidden Spiritual Consciousness Tag inside…..”

When Jing Wuming spoke those words, Ning Cheng came to understand as to what might have transpired. No wonder the Scarlet-robed Young Noble’s ring did not face destruction. That person turned out to be a sly bastard, hiding a Spiritual Consciousness Tag in a seemingly useless ring. Ning Cheng had ended up giving that ring to Lan Ya; however, he had never expected it to end up bringing harm to Lan Ya.

If it were now, as long as the ring contained even the slightest trace of a Spiritual Consciousness Tag, he would have felt it immediately. It was just that his cultivation was too low at that time nor was his Spiritual Consciousness up to the level it was currently.

“That’s right; I forgot to ask you, how did you come here? Lan Ya and I had come to see you and thought that something bad might have happened to you.” Jing Wuming once again remembered something and asked again.

Ning Cheng patted Jing Wuming’s shoulder and said, “I came to participate in the Celestial Scryer Genius Try-outs. I will explain things to you in detail later. As for my current cultivation, it is the result of accidentally obtaining a few opportunities, which allowed me to quickly break into the Celestial Novice Realm.”

Seeing Jing Wuming with an open mouth and a surprised look, Ning Cheng did not continue explaining his own matters and asked, “Don’t worry about me and talk about Lan Ya now. Even if the Scarlet-robed Young Noble’s father came here, he would not dare to do anything in this place. This is the territory of a Celestial River King, who would dare to do anything here?”

“Yes, yes.” Jing Wuming reacted. “Lan Ya and I arrived here ten days ago. We both passed the selection round on the Lesser Thunder Star and paid our way here over a Celestial River Battleship. We had almost the same amount of Blue Coins with us; therefore, after a brief discussion, Lan Ya and I decided to head to the arena to earn some Blue Coins.”

Ning Cheng on hearing those words felt speechless. Lan Ya had cautioned him from entering the arena, yet she decided to go to the stadium.

“The two of us had just walked to the entrance of the arena when two Celestial Shatterer Cultivators stopped us. One of the Celestial Shatterer Cultivators tried to molest Lan Ya and mentioned something about Lan Ya accompanying him to spend the night. Although his tone was disgusting, you could hear it even if you did not want to…..”

When Jing Wuming said that, Ning Cheng finally understood something. Lan Ya had beautiful eyes; however, her looks were only ordinary, even her skin was slightly dark. Such female cultivators did not look truly outstanding within the starry skies. As such, if someone thought of voluntarily flirting with Lan Ya, Ning Cheng would never believe it. The only reason for doing such a thing was that someone wanted to deal with Lan Ya.

Sure enough, Jing Wuming continued, “Lan Ya turned instantly furious. She slapped the man immediately. However, none of us expected that the cultivator harassing Lan Ya would end up so severely injured by such a slap. The other person immediately started shouting like crazy, that someone was daring enough to publically strike others inside the Revolving Jade City…..”

Lan Ya severely injuring a Celestial Shatterer Cultivator with just a slap, even a dog would not believe it if it heard such a statement. However, this place was the Revolving Jade City, as long as someone dared to lay their hands on another human, resulting in an injury, the only outcome for that person was ending up turned into a slave; unless the person in question had strong backing.

“Lan Ya ended up immediately restrained. At this point, a male cultivator with a pointed chin walked to the front of Lan Ya, spoke that he would buy Lan Ya, and then slowly torture her. After the man with the pointed chin left, Lan Ya told me that that man was the Scarlet-robed Young Noble’s father, Miao Pu, a Celestial Lord. He should have followed the tag within the ring and reached this place.”

Jing Wuming gave out a sigh, “I immediately went to the arena to raise some Blue Coins to save Lan Ya where I once again encountered the Celestial Shatterer Cultivator seriously injured by Lan Ya. However, I found that he did not have the strength of a Celestial Shatterer Cultivator, but a Celestial Gatherer Cultivator. Not only was he not injured, but there was also no sign of any injuries. However, he immediately challenged me. Although I got injured while fighting him, he also had a hard time against me.”

“Do you know where Lan Ya is to be sold?” Ning Cheng anxiously asked. Jing Wuming’s injuries did not look too severe for now; the main thing was to get Lan Ya to safety as soon as possible.

“There is slave auction tonight at the Revolving Jade City’s Slave Auction Market. Also, I have received news that Lan Ya would definitely be on sale in that Slave Auction market. If no one buys her today, she will still be put on the pedestal tomorrow for auction.” Jing Wuming spoke with a decadence-laden voice.

“You mean that Lan Ya has already turned into a slave?” Ning Cheng asked in shock.

Jing Wuming shook his head and spoke, “Not completely, although Lan Ya has become a slave, there has to be an owner to take charge of her Spiritual Soul. Since no one bought her yet, it means that she still has no owner. At this time, Lan Ya should still be relatively safe and sound; however, after tonight I cannot guarantee much.”

Ning Cheng stood up an anxiousness, “Wuming, you wait for me here, I will try to arrange for some money and return quickly.”

“How are you going to raise money?” Jing Wuming also stood up and asked; however, Ning Cheng had already stepped out of the resting pen and did not answer his question.

……

Bright Gist Resting Pen, Ruan Mingshu stood at the reception counter and spoke to the server, “There will be a man named Ning Cheng who will come looking for me at night. Just send him up to my room directly.”

“I understand.” The server replied with the utmost respect. During his period here, he had come to an understanding that the people staying in the Bright Gist Resting Pen generally were not simple people.

Ruan Mingshu had just started climbing the stairs when Ning Cheng hurriedly barged straight to the Bright Gist Resting Pen’s counter and asked, “Is a female cultivator by the name Ruan Mingshu in….”

“Senior Apprentice Brother Ning, what are you doing here?” Ning Cheng’s words had not yet ended when Ruan Mingshu’s voice arrived in Ning Cheng’s ears. In fact, even she felt startled by such an unexpected visit. Properly speaking, Ning Cheng should be looking for a different Resting Pen in the Revolving Jade City. After finding a Resting Pen, he would have then come to see her later. However, she and Ning Cheng had only separated for a short while yet Ning Cheng returned to her doors this quickly, something definitely did not feel right.

“Junior Apprentice Sister Mingshu, since you still here, then it is for the best. I wanted to find you….”

Ning Cheng had again not managed to finish her words when Ruan Mingshu showed a smile before waving her hand and speaking, “Senior Apprentice Brother Ning, let’s go upstairs and talk.”

After the two people entered Ruan Mingshu’s room and without even waiting for Ruan Mingshu to activate the restrictions, Ning Cheng anxiously spoke out, “Junior Apprentice Sister Mingshu, I want to ask you for some help.”

Ruan Mingshu unhurriedly activated the restriction over the door before asking in a soft voice, “Senior Apprentice Brother Ning, please take a seat. If I can help you, I definitely will help you.”

“I want to borrow some money from you.” Ning Cheng did not hesitate and spoke out. Once Lan Ya turned into a real slave, it would all be too late.

A Celestial Gatherer Slave was an excellent ‘material’ and could cost up to 1 billion Green Coins. The reason why Ning Cheng came looking for Ruan Mingshu to ask for money was to provide against unforeseen contingencies.

“Oh, how much do you want to borrow?” Ruan Mingshu asked in a soft voice, without even a shred of impatience.

“However much you have right now, is how much I want to borrow. You can rest assured that no matter what, I will definitely return you the money in the shortest possible time.” Ning Cheng spoke up quickly.

Ruan Mingshu also did not ask Ning Cheng why he wanted to borrow so much money. She just took out a lotus-like cloth bag from inside her ring, opened the cloth bag, before taking out two cards from inside it and handing it to Ning Cheng, “This is all the money I have right now.”

A faint fragrant aroma rose, making Ning Cheng feel a little embarrassed as he received the cards. These two cards came from this lotus -like cloth bag, which obviously meant that it was Ruan Mingshu’s private money.

“Thank you, I will definitely return it back to you in full. I’ll be taking my leave now.” Receiving the cards in embarrassment, Ning Cheng put them away and started to leave.

Seeing Ning Cheng quickly standing up and leaving, Ruan Mingshu asked, “Do you need any other help?”

Initially, Ning Cheng did not care much. However, after hearing Ruan Mingshu’s words, his heart immediately jolted. The Ruan Clan was not a small force and is most likely even stronger than a Celestial Lord’s power, maybe they could really help him.

“I have to deal with someone formidable. If you have an Image Card similar in strength to one belonging to a Celestial River King, please lend it to me. It would be for the best.” The Image Card given to him by the Bright South Celestial River King allowed Ning Cheng to taste a slight bit of sweetness associated with having power; if he could obtain another Image Card of a Celestial River King, he would then have a way to get rid of that Celestial Lord permanently.

Ruan Mingshu showed the same soft smile as she spoke, “I do not have an Image Card of a Celestial River King; however, I have a Celestial River Class Array Disc.”