Door of Luck and Fortune

"Don't..." Ji Luofei was panic-stricken, as she had seen her aunt lift a hand and turn two Gathering Qi Level 6 cultivators into dry bones. If her aunt struck down, wouldn't Ning Cheng also turn into dry bones?

Ji Yahe originally had no intention of killing Ning Cheng, as she felt there was something more between Luofei and Ning Cheng. Now that Luofei was stopping her, she simply lowered her hand and looked at Ji Luofei with some dissatisfaction, saying, "Luo Fei, this boy has bullied you so much, and yet you still plead for him?"

Ji Luofei said anxiously, "No, it's not like that. Ning Cheng is different now, he hasn't bullied me..."

Ning Cheng silently sighed at Ji Luofei's honesty. Couldn't you just say that Yong Changyan was lying? Would Yong Changyan dare to argue with Ji Yahe? By saying this, Ji Luofei was implying that he, Ning Cheng, had bullied her before, wasn't she?

"So you were indeed bullied before," Ji Yahe said. Although she didn't plan to kill Ning Cheng, she already felt a strong aversion toward him.

Ji Luofei, flustered, said, "Aunt, please help Ning Cheng. If he can't get away, his fate will be sealed staying here alone. Even if I leave this place, I won't be at peace."

The man with a rigid face suddenly spoke up, "Yahe, let this Ning Cheng test his spiritual roots. If his spiritual roots are good, taking him with you wouldn't be a big deal."

"Go test your spiritual roots," Ji Yahe said to Ning Cheng in a cold voice.

Ning Cheng knew his spiritual roots were poor, and at this point, it wasn't something he or Ji Luofei could decide. He could only walk up to the spirit root testing device and stretch his hand inside, channeling a bit of his true Qi into it.

Three faint yellow light strands extended to three feet and then stopped, with no particularly thick light column in the middle of the crystal pillar.

No main spiritual root, only three auxiliary ones, and they were only slightly better than muddy yellow.

Ning Cheng didn't care, knowing his spiritual roots were extremely poor. However, he remembered Ji Luofei saying his roots were of three mixed auxiliary types and muddy yellow. Now, while still being of three mixed auxiliary types, they were not muddy yellow, but yellow. He wondered if the previous test had been wrong, or if Ji Luofei had remembered incorrectly.

Ji Luofei herself was astonished at the results of Ning Cheng's spiritual roots test. She certainly knew what Ning Cheng's spiritual roots were—three muddy yellow auxiliary types. But how had muddy yellow turned yellow? She had never heard of spiritual roots changing. Although she had read in some legendary tales about supreme spiritual items that could change spiritual roots, those were extremely rare items and merely legends—not even assured to exist on the Yixing Continent.

"Luo Fei, it's not that I don't want to help you. With his spiritual roots, even if I take him with me, he would be forced off the ship by the stewards, and it could even cause trouble for me. Even I can't travel alone through Ping Zhou and Yuanzhou to reach the Falling Star Academy in Huazhou," Ji Yahe sighed, looking at Ji Luofei, who was still somewhat stunned.

Her words were not an exaggeration. She was just a Building Foundation Realm cultivator, and traveling alone through two provinces to reach Huazhou would carry a high risk of perishing.

Ji Luofei snapped back to attention and, setting aside the matter of Ning Cheng's spiritual roots, said anxiously, "Aunt, if Ning Cheng can't leave, then I can't leave either. Why don't you take Ning Cheng first, and I'll stay here..."

"Nonsense." Ji Yahe frowned and scolded, then turned back with a cold look at the deans of the Cang Qin Academy and the King of Cang Qin Country, speaking calmly, "If Ning Cheng suffers the slightest harm in Cang Qin Country, I will return to annihilate Cang Qin Country."

Although Ji Yahe's threat to annihilate Cang Qin Country might seem extravagant, the King of Cang Qin Country nonetheless stood up and bowed respectfully, saying, "Please rest assured, senior. Ning Cheng has always been a subject of our Cang Qin Country, and no one will harm him without cause. Should anyone dare to harm him without reason, I will not ignore it."

Ning Cheng's heart sank again; he had seen too much of such word games. Ji Yahe had played one before, and now the King of Cang Qin Country was playing another. Saying no one would harm him without reason meant that if they found a justifiable reason, anyone could harm him. Moreover, the man had only said he would not 'ignore' it—what did 'not ignoring' it mean?

However, Ji Yahe appeared satisfied and nodded, then turned back to Ji Luofei and said, "Luo Fei, there's nothing to worry about now. No one will harm Ning Cheng."

Ji Luofei's worry for Ning Cheng was obviously not appeased by Ji Yahe's threat. Hearing Ji Yahe talk like that, she became even more anxious, saying, "Aunt, they will definitely make things difficult for Ning Cheng. Please help him ..."

Ji Yahe frowned even more upon hearing Ji Luofei's words. In fact, she could sense that her niece seemed to harbor feelings for Ning Cheng that went beyond the ordinary. Ning Cheng, with his meager three mixed auxiliary spiritual roots of yellow color, had no future to speak of. For Luo Fei to be with Ning Cheng would ruin her. Yahe hadn't tested Luo Fei's aptitude but was sure it couldn't be too bad since Luo Fei had reached Gathering Qi Level 3 before even turning twenty.

At this moment, Yahe would rather leave and have the people of Cang Qin Country kill Ning Cheng immediately after her departure.

What Ji Yahe could think of, the cunning and sly Wen Qilue could naturally deduce as well. But it was none of his business, and he preferred not to get involved with unnecessary words.

Ji Yahe saw that Ji Luofei was about to speak, raised her hand and gently stroked her, immediately causing Ji Luofei to fall into a deep sleep.

As she held Ji Luofei in her arms, Ji Yahe then coldly said to Ning Cheng, "Whatever relationship you had with Luo Fei, that's all in the past now. From today onwards, you are not allowed to think of her, she has nothing to do with you anymore."

Having said that, she turned to Wen Qilue and another male cultivator and said, "The two fellow senior brothers, I shall leave first and wait for you on the boat."

With that, Ji Yahe took out a cyan lotus magical artifact and vanished on the spot with Ji Luofei.

Wen Qilue already didn't want to continue wasting time selecting students. This selection had been a great harvest for him as he found a genius disciple. Therefore, as soon as Ji Yahe left, he said, "The selection of disciples for Cang Qin Academy shall end here. The nine selected students, you have an hour to take care of your own matters. After sorting everything out, immediately gather back here. As for when you can return from the Yixing Academy, even I cannot be sure."

The selected students were all extremely excited and quickly left the arena. They needed to prepare before leaving Cang Qin Country for Huazhou. Huazhou, the land of legend adjacent to the middle-level continents, was brimming with spiritual energy, and it was where the most natural treasures were found. And what's more, wasn't the place they were going to a five-star academy in Huazhou?

This perfunctory selection congress thus ended abruptly. It was called a selection, but it was more like the Yixing Academy had simply come to take a few pre-selected students from Cang Qin Academy. Although the tens of thousands of students from Cang Qin Academy felt helpless, they could only disperse.

Ning Cheng knew that the only one he could rely upon now was himself. Fortunately, it was dismissal time, and Ning Cheng, mingling within the throng of students, hurriedly made his way out of the academy; he had to leave this place as quickly as possible. The Cang Qin King's assurances were as reliable as farts; he absolutely would not trust them.

"Ning Cheng, where is that ugly girl, Ji, who was protecting you? Why do I see you rushing out like a dog that's lost its home?" Just as Ning Cheng stepped out of Cang Qin Academy's gates, a jeering voice rang out.

"Gu Fei, what do you want to do? Have you forgotten what Auntie Luo Fei said? The two teachers from Yixing Academy haven't left yet." The voice that spoke this time belonged to a woman, and Ning Cheng saw that the one who spoke up for him was Sister Zhuang. At the same time, he also recognized the one mocking him as Gu Fei. Thinking of the grievances between Gu Fei and Ji Luofei, as well as Gu Yiming, Ning Cheng knew that a peaceful resolution would be difficult. He had already seen Gu Yiming approaching with a dark, gloomy face, staring at him.

Gu Fei was not tall, barely reaching Ning Cheng's chin, but his face bore an extremely arrogant and fierce expression, showing that he wouldn't rest until Ning Cheng was dead.

"Sister Zhuang, this might be a personal dispute between Gu Fei and Ning Cheng. They might want to settle it on the dueling platform. For people like us to intervene might not be appropriate, right?" Gu Yiming had already walked over. Since being eliminated, he had been watching Ning Cheng all the time.

Upon hearing his brother's words, Gu Fei raised his eyebrows and said, "That's right. That ugly Ji might be ugly, but she had the audacity to cheat me of my qi gathering stones. I once gave her a qi gathering stone to get her into my bed, but she backed out. Now that Ugly Ji is not here, I can only find this surnamed Ning."

"Oh my, Gu Fei, you wanted that ugly Ji even though she's so unattractive?" A mocking female voice said. Ning Cheng recognized this woman as the one who had come to hassle him before with Lu Pengyun, only to be driven away by Sister Zhuang.

"I was counting on it being all the same once the lights are off…" Before Gu Fei could finish his sentence, a sharp sound rang out as his face was met with a slap from Ning Cheng. After hitting him, Ning Cheng quickly stepped back several paces.

Several of Gu Fei's teeth flew out of the corner of his mouth along with a mouthful of blood.

At this moment, almost everyone froze in shock. Ning Cheng, a man who was waiting for death, dared to strike Gu Fei? And to directly slap him in the face?

Gu Yiming's face became extremely somber but he did not step forward. He knew that Ning Cheng had only succeeded in a sneak attack. If they really fought, his brother Gu Fei could kill Ning Cheng in seconds.

Gu Fei quickly recovered, his face filled with murderous intent as he charged at Ning Cheng. "You dare to ambush me? I'll kill you, you bastard."

Ning Cheng looked at Gu Fei disdainfully and said, "You dare to kill me? Come on then. Just now, even our king of Cang Qin decreed that anyone who kills me without good reason will not be spared lightly. Are you saying that you don't even regard the king's words? If everyone in Cang Qin Country is like you, then what are we to talk of respecting hierarchy or defending against foreign enemies?"

Gu Fei was effectively stopped in his tracks; Ning Cheng's words had enlightened him. Ning Cheng was someone he must kill. Ning Cheng was right, the king had promised in front of many people that Ning Cheng should not be killed without good reason. But what if he himself had a good reason?

(The second update is here, and it's been a week since the book was published. Although the word count is not much and many friends are waiting, this new book still longs for your favorites and recommendation votes for support. Adding to favorites is simply including the book in your bookshelf, so you can find it directly from there later on.)

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