Chapter 1060: Escalation
Chapter?C.1060: Escalation
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Myriad Realms Chamber of Commerce, the sign had quite the reputation.
“My friend paid 10 million crystals here as collateral. But she can’t gather the required 50 million crystals. As such, she only asked to take back the collateral deposited and not go to the Grand Change Realm. But not only did this person not return the crystals, but he also kicked out my friend without warning. I just returned the kick.” Ning Cheng replied calmly.
This Dao Transformation Holy Emperor immediately frowned and quickly spoke in a deep voice, “Is there any proof?”
The Myriad Realms Chamber of Commerce was not soft on squeezing divine crystals from rogue cultivators. Normally, no vouchers would be issued either. This Dao Transformation Holy Emperor asked to confirm if Ning Cheng and Xixi had proof that they had paid ten million divine crystals. If they didn’t have proof, they wouldn’t get a single piece even if they had paid 100 million.
Ning Cheng casually made a copy of Xixi’s crystal ball and threw it towards this Dao Transformation Holy Emperor, “You can check for yourself.”
This Dao Transformation Holy Emperor grabbed the crystal ball and swept his spiritual consciousness into it, immediately seeing the image of Xixi handing over the divine crystals. He couldn’t help but feel annoyed at the person who received the divine crystals and even let the other party record their actions. The Myriad Realms Chamber of Commerce mostly dealt in big deals, so the people it employed considered rogue cultivators paying 10 million crystals as free money. Truthfully, even if Xixi gathered 50 million divine crystals as a rogue cultivator, she wouldn’t receive anything, not even if she paid 100 million. Those 100 million crystals would disappear into someone else’s pocket unless she had a certain background.
“There is a good chance that what’s in this crystal ball is fake; it must be verified. Moreover, the quality of this crystal ball is not good either. I just swept it with my spiritual consciousness, and it cracked immediately.” As he spoke, this Dao Transformation Holy Emperor threw the crystal ball to Ning Cheng. Ning Cheng didn’t even come close to grabbing it when the crystal ball cracked and disintegrated into powder.
Ning Cheng didn’t care and turned to Xixi and said, “In that case, let’s come back to get it later.”
He wasn’t afraid of this Dao Transformation Holy Emperor; rather, he had to show some moral superiority first. With the strength of this Dao Transformation Holy Emperor, Ning Cheng knew for certain that the other party wouldn’t let him walk away easily.
Sure enough, the Dao Transformation Holy Emperor sneered when Ning Cheng just finished speaking, “Did you think you could just leave after beating someone in my shop?”
“It was your shop that started it. If it weren’t for the people from the Myriad Realms Chamber of Commerce acting against my friend Xixi first, I wouldn’t have come here anyway. Or is it that only you have the right to beat people up while others suffer in silence? Even after taking a step back and not insisting on taking back our divine crystals, do you still want to come after us?” Ning Cheng clasped his fist and said while digging a hole for him. Since this matter had become a big deal, he needed to stand on reason before taking any action. Fortunately, the other party looked down on him and Xixi, making it easier to dig out a pit.
Everyone could see Ning Cheng’s intention to concede in his tone, but this Dao Transformation Holy Emperor sneered, “Whether your words just now were an act or the truth, if you beat someone up in my Myriad Realms Chamber of Commerce, you simply can’t leave. Have over your ring, cripple your cultivation, and get out.”
“Oh, so you think it is justified for your Myriad Realms Chamber of Commerce to beat people up?” Ning Cheng asked in anger.
Truthfully, he hoped the other party would say something like, “It’s justified for my Myriad Realms Chamber of Commerce to beat you up. What can you do about it?” But this Dao Transformation Holy Emperor had a good head over his shoulders. Despite suspecting that Ning Cheng might not have any background, he refused to play along and instead retorted, “Whether or not my Myriad Realms Chamber of Commerce beat someone up, I didn’t see it. But I did see you severely injuring members of my Myriad Realms Chamber of Commerce.”
“Go.” Ning Cheng realised he couldn’t dig the pit any deeper, so he turned around and decided to leave.
In any case, this Dao Transformation Holy Emperor wouldn’t let Ning Cheng leave. As predicted, the Dao Transformation Holy Emperor punched Ning Cheng.
Ning Cheng already expected such an outcome. Therefore, with a snap of his hand, the Void Cold Light Spear appeared in his hand and thrust it forward.
An ice-cold spear trace instantly distorted the void, causing the space in that area to become unstable, flickering in and out of existence.
“Boom!” A loud explosion rang out.
The Void Cold Light Spear’s spear traces suddenly solidified and struck the opponent’s fist, releasing intense dao rhythm shockwaves. It also caused the highly compressed spirit essence to burst within the distorted void.
“Crash….” With just one attack, the building crumbled into dust and gravel. Plus, with Ning Cheng’s intentional guidance, the clash’s powerful killing intent and spatial fluctuations rapidly spread outwards.
In just an instant, almost everyone in the Five Grand Realms’ Void Market knew that someone had started a huge fight within the Five Grand Realms’ Void Market and did so with impunity.
As for the Dao Transformation Holy Emperor, seeing his building turned into ruins and the terrifying dao rhythm and spirit essence fluctuations from the explosion, he felt shocked and angry in his heart.
He had never imagined that Ning Cheng would be so bold as to use a dao rhythm-filled killing intent with impunity in the Five Grand Realms’ Void Market. But what shocked him even more was that Ning Cheng was only a Dao Raising Holy Emperor, yet the attack wasn’t even one bit inferior to his. True, he didn’t use his full strength, but who could say that his opponent had used his full strength?
Ning Cheng also felt equally surprised by the outcome. The Void Cold Light Spear packed quite the power in it. That previous strike was just a small test, yet it still exerted such a formidable might. At this moment, Ning Cheng felt he wouldn’t need to use the Five-coloured Star Splitting Arrow to kill this Dao Transformation Holy Emperor. All he needed was this Void Cold Light Spear; he wouldn’t even need to use the Seven Bridges Divine Ability.
With a slight shake of the Void Cold Light Spear, spear traces appeared one after another.
“Have you grown tired of living? Daring to act like this in the Five Grand Realms’ Void Market?” The Dao Transformation Holy Emperor’s face turned blue with anger. If he had known that Ning Cheng would act with such impunity, he wouldn’t have moved against Ning Cheng, at least not in his building. As long as Ning Cheng was in the Five Grand Realms’ Void Market, he could have used ten thousand other ways to finish Ning Cheng off. There was no need to take direct action.
“It’s too early to say who’s tired of living. Eat another one from this father.” Ning Cheng once again thrust the spear forward. But unlike the previous strike, this one was different.
If the previous strike was merely a spatial divine ability coupled with a spear trace filled with killing intent, then this one contained Ning Cheng’s temporal divine ability.
Ever since he came out of the Blooming Rings, Ning Cheng’s perception of the Laws of Time had grown even deeper. Originally, he could already slow down the flow of time to a crawl when using Sunset’s Twilight. But after comprehending the temporal dao rhythm within the Blooming Rings, Ning Cheng’s control over the Laws of Time allowed him to completely freeze time. It showed true mastery over the laws of the world. Even if it was just for an instant, he could claim his opponent’s life in that instant.
The Void Cold Light Spear transformed into a cold, dark shadow. But as this seemingly ordinary shadow pierced through, it stopped the flow of time within its path.
Within the range of this spear’s dao rhythm, it was as if the entire space had frozen.
The Dao Transformation Holy Emperor faced nothing but a motionless world, yet he could feel the terrifying killing intent permeating heaven and earth.
At this moment, he could no longer hold back the fear in his heart, and his spirit essence and spiritual consciousness went berserk.
When the shadow of death reached his forehead, he slightly turned his head to the side, creating a tiny gap.
“Poof!” Blood splattered out as the Void Cold Light Spear grazed past this Dao Transformation Holy Emperor’s forehead, opening up a bloody gash.
Luckily for this Dao Transformation Holy Emperor, he frantically burned his spirit essence in time to break free from the frozen temporal world, allowing him to avoid the fate of having his forehead shattered before Ning Cheng could fully execute the strike.
As the world around him returned to normal, this Dao Transformation Holy Emperor withdrew a hundred meters away, staring blankly at Ning Cheng, even forgetting to heal his wounds.
A Dao Raising Holy Emperor, using the Laws of Time to affect him and almost finishing him off; just how powerful was this Dao Raising Holy Emperor?
Ning Cheng secretly felt regretful. If his spirit essence had been slightly stronger, or if he was at the middle-stage Dao Raising Realm, he would have finished off his opponent with this strike.
However, Ning Cheng didn’t intend to let it go like that. He stepped forward, and the Void Cold Light Spear again transformed into an endless spear pattern. Feeling the pervasive killing intent, this Dao Transformation Holy Emperor hurriedly raised his hand to take out his artefact while a chill ran through his heart.
“Stop.” A terrifying pressure suddenly blasted down, causing a powerful backlash that made Ning Cheng feel as if his internal organs were being torn apart. He quickly put away the Void Cold Light Spear and frantically retreated.
After this terrifying pressure descended, a grey-robed figure appeared opposite Ning Cheng. Even though he didn’t take any further action against Ning Cheng, his aura alone suppressed Ning Cheng to the point that he couldn’t breathe properly. The aura almost forced him to kneel on the ground.
A Dao Essence powerhouse. Just when Ning Cheng was about to seek help, the pressure around him suddenly lightened. Ning Cheng turned around to see Kong Lianbo, Sichen Qiutian and Lu Dongze coming together and immediately felt relief.
“Myriad Realms Chamber of Commerce’s Zhong Shiguang greets Union Master Kong, Union Master Lu and Union Master Sichen.” This Holy Emperor, who had used his aura to suppress Ning Cheng, hurriedly clasped his fists in greeting.
Just as he finished his greeting, several more figures with powerful auras arrived. Seeing all these figures coming over, Zhong Shiguang could only continue to greet each one individually.
Only then did Ning Cheng realise that apart from Kong Lianbo, several other experts had also come over. From this, he knew that even the tiniest thing that happened within the Five Grand Realms’ Void Market wouldn’t escape notice from these people.
Ning Cheng also looked at the fellow who suppressed him with his aura. A Dao Essence Holy Emperor, wearing a grey-coloured cultivator’s robe but with a sinister expression.
Lu Dongze and Sichen Qiutian didn’t speak. Although this place was called the Five Grand Realms’ Void Market, strictly speaking, it was Kong Lianbo’s territory.
Kong Lianbo asked in a calm tone, “Fellow Daoist Zhong, you are a Dao Essence powerhouse of the Myriad Realms Chamber of Commerce. Why would you move against Ning Cheng, a Pill Sage with only a Dao Raising cultivation?”
Hearing Kong Lianbo call him a pill sage, Ning Cheng knew that Kong Lianbo was putting pressure on the other party.
Ning Cheng? A Dao Raising Pill Sage? Zhong Shiguang froze. To be honest, he had no idea what had happened until now. All he knew was that Ning Cheng had attacked his Myriad Realms Chamber of Commerce’s Dao Transformation Holy Emperor, which he naturally wouldn’t let go.
Fortunately, Zhong Shiguang didn’t need Kong Lianbo to explain and quickly understood the situation. Wasn’t Ning Cheng the same alchemist who had won the alchemy debate against Lu Dongze? How did his Myriad Realms Chamber of Commerce end up in conflict with Ning Cheng?
“Chi Meng, what the hell is going on here?” Zhong Shiguang stared at the Dao Transformation Holy Emperor injured by Ning Cheng, and his face turned gloomy.
Even if his Myriad Realms Chamber of Commerce had enough strength, it couldn’t go up against the grand realms’ pill union masters. Moreover, he had heard that Ning Cheng behaved extremely gracefully after winning against Lu Dongze, winning the friendship of many pill union experts and pill sages. But now his Myriad Realms Chamber of Commerce picked a fight with Ning Cheng. Did they no longer want to do business in the Five Grand Realms’ Void Market?