Chapter 0293: The Incomparably Precious Mirage Tree
Rainbow Fall Sword Sect’s Headmaster Rui Baishan gave a nod, before he turned to the rest of the people and spoke, “If Ning Cheng really has such powerful strength, then not letting him participate would be a huge error……”
“Headmaster, although our Rainbow Fall Sword Sect did not have a good result in the preliminary round of the Profound Core Realm, but there are still two among them who are ranked within the top hundred in the preliminary round. In accordance to the rules of the tournament, although Ning Cheng can be allowed in, but he would have to replace one of the two people qualified to participate in the finals of the tournament.” A Crucible Transformation Elder immediately spoke up.
“But then, it would be tantamount to taking away one of the hard earned spots by that disciple in the future, which would also be unfair to them. Moreover, this Ning Cheng himself does not seem to be very willing to participate in this tournament, if he was willing to participate in it, then he would have signed up for it long back.” Deputy Headmaster Tantei Fei spoke up.
Sitting beside Tantei Fei was a middle aged woman, who gave a snort before speaking up, “Ning Cheng has already brought so many problems to our Rainbow Fall Sword Sect, as such letting him represent our Rainbow Fall Sword Sect in the Tournament for the Profound Core Realm, if it was not regarded as him being awarded extra grace, then what was it?”
Elder Bei had not spoken until now, but when he heard this woman’s words, he immediately felt unhappy with it and retorted back, “Ning Cheng has also helped our Rainbow Fall Sword Sect plenty enough, where is the trouble you said that he brought? Besides, in our Rainbow Fall Sword Sect, disciple participation is voluntary. However, I also agree with the words spoken by Senior Apprentice Brother Tantei a moment ago, even if Ning Cheng was willing to participate, it would be unfair to the other two disciples who entered the finals with great difficulty.”
Rui Baishan raised his hand, causing the female cultivator to immediately stop what she was about to say, before he spoke, “Deputy Headmaster Tantei’s words and Elder Bei’s words does have some truth in them, although my Rainbow Fall Sword Sect might not be able to get into the top ten academies this time, but as a Sword Sect, that emphasizes on cultivating the righteous Sword Qi, we cannot force disciples into doing things that they are unwilling to take up…….”
“Headmaster, all the Elders present here, Disciple Xian Caixue is willing to step down from the finals, and give my spot to Senior Apprentice Brother Ning Cheng.” At this moment, a Profound Core Female Cultivator amongst them took the initiative to step down, as she came forward and spoke with a bow.
The male cultivator, who was standing by her side, seeing the female cultivator come forward, also rushed up and spoke, “Disciple Liang Shi is also willing to trade places with Senior Apprentice Brother Ning Cheng……”
Rui Baishan nodded and spoke, “Xian Caixue is ranked 81st, and Liang Shi at 92nd. But since it was Xian Caixue who took the initiative to stand out first, then the spot of Xian Caixue would be given to Ning Cheng. If Ning Cheng can break into the top ten within the Profound Core Realm, it would truly bring a huge blessing towards our Rainbow Fall Sword Sect. Since Xian Caixue has given up her spot, the academy will also certainly provide her with appropriate compensation. After Ning Cheng comes back, we will once again discuss this matter with Ning Cheng, if Ning Cheng still does not wish to participate. Then it will also not be enforced from our end.”
“Many thanks, Headmaster. Many thanks elders.” Xian Caixue hastily thanked them with another deep bow. It was not that she hated giving up her spot to others, but rather she was well aware of her own strength, and was aware that it would be extremely difficult for her to even enter the top 50, let alone the top 10. Just going through the preliminaries required her to completely use up her full strength.
……
“The matter that I want to speak about is something private. Is it possible that we could speak alone?” Xu Yingdei looked at Ning Cheng and spoke, without caring about what Yin Kongchan thought.
However, Yin Kongchan also replied immediately, “I also have a few things that are quite private to discuss with you, however for that you will have to spend some time alone with me.”
Ning Cheng simply sneered and spoke, “There is nothing private to discuss about me, even if you want to immediately have sex with me you will have to speak up about it right now. If you do not want to speak about it, then just go out and do whatever you want. Just don’t send some elder to annoy my Rainbow Fall Sword Sect later.”
Xu Yingdei on sensing the resoluteness behind Ning Cheng’s tone knew that there was no room for manoeuvre, as she decided to finally speak up, “If that is the case, then I will state it out directly. Me wanting to become Dao Companions with you is not to deceive you, rather it is because I truly want to become Dao Companions with you. You can rest assured, that even if I succeeded in severing my emotions towards you, there would never be a second man in my life.”
Ning Cheng’s expression did not even fluctuate a tiny bit because of Xu Yingdei’s words, as he spoke out in a calm voice, “Bring out the reason in doing so.”
“You may think of it as love at first sight, when I was trapped in the Ice House, I saw how you carried yourself and dealt with that Life Essence in the ancient immortal cave. Seeing that, it left quite a deep impression on my heart, you can even say that I fell in love with you at that moment. Moreover, in my entire life until now, only you were able to succeed in making such a deep impression on me, as such it meets all the requirements of falling in love with you. Moreover, my Severing Emotions Dao Sect also does not wish to look for random people to fall in love with. Of course, I do have another reason for doing such a thing……”
Ning Cheng once again sneered and spoke, “No matter how many times you say it, it all boils down to what you want, just because you want it, doesn’t it? What are the advantages for me? Moreover, is it that important for me to be in love with you? Xu Yingdei, you truly are an ethereal beauty, but if you think that you can make me do such things just because of your peerless beauty, then please forgive me for not going along with you.”
Xu Yingdei’s face also did not show even half a change in her expression, as she still spoke in a calm voice, “If I am not able to sever my emotions, then I will spend the rest of my life with you.”
Ning Cheng simply shook his head as he replied, “Such a thing happening is quite rare, isn’t it?”
Finished speaking to her, Ning Cheng then turned towards Yin Kongchan and spoke, “It’s your turn now.”
“Wait.” Xu Yingdei once again spoke up, “I have another reason, which is I guess that you possess a Nine-Coloured Mirage Tree. A Nine-Coloured Mirage Tree is something very important to me, because of which I just want to ask you to give me just a small branch of it.”
Ning Cheng’s complexion immediately sank, although he did not ask Xu Yingdei, but in his mind he was wondering how Xu Yingdei knew that he had a Nine-Coloured Mirage Tree in his possession. Or was this the real purpose of Xu Yingdei, what good impressions, wasn’t this any different from swindling others in the name of love.
Xu Yingdei seemed to know what kind of thoughts were going on in Ning Cheng’s mind, as such took the initiative to speak up, “The Mirage Ship Island had appeared once again, and it was from there that I was able to obtain the news, that a Nine- Coloured Mirage Tree was poached from the Mirage Ship Island. A Nine-Coloured Mirage Tree is countless times more precious than a Nine-Coloured Mirage Stone. No amount of true essence could be used to dig it out. Rather, the stronger the true essence one has, the more solid the Mirage Tree would become. Theoretically, even if it were a Crucible Transformation Cultivator, even they would not be able to poach a Nine-Coloured Mirage Tree from the Mirage Ship Island. Although, I don’t know if my guess is right or not, but I reckon that the poached Nine-Coloured Mirage Tree is very likely to be on you.”
Ning Cheng on hearing till here had a complete change in his expressions, the Nine-Coloured Mirage Tree that he had thrown into his miniature word, had completely withered up long ago. He had initially thought that it was simply not worth anything at all, but from the tone of Xu Yingdei’s words, didn’t it imply that the Nine-Coloured Mirage Tree was incomparably precious? Doesn’t that mean…
“You have a Nine-Coloured Mirage Tree?” Yin Kongchan stood up in shock, she finally understood why Xu Yingdei was showing this much affection towards Ning Cheng. Even if she weren’t able to completely sever her emotions, once she really became Dao Companions with Ning Cheng, coupled with the fact that Ning Cheng possessed the Nine-Coloured Mirage Tree, she would definitely not miss anything. It seems that the Severing Emotions Dao Sect has truly calculated through many things.
By comparison, the Floating Snow Palace simply looked like it did nothing at all, the reason she had come looking for Ning Cheng to marry him, was entirely out of her personal behaviour and machinations, and however it was definitely not because she truly liked Ning Cheng.
“If this matter was known to anybody else, then I would not have been the one to come here today. Ning Cheng you should know that the matter regarding the Nine-Coloured Mirage Tree, there are less than 20 people who are aware of this including my Severing Emotions Dao Sect. If you had appeared in the Heavenly Dao Public Square, a month later from now when the Great Meet of the Academies ended, there would have been more than a million people wanting to send you to your death.” Xu Yingdei replied in a calm and tranquil manner.
Ning Cheng remained silent, he did not admit that he did have a Nine-Coloured Mirage Tree with him; rather he simply would not be able to admit to it. However, he was aware that he was in big trouble because of this matter, whether he really admitted to it or not. If the Nine-Coloured Mirage Tree was really as precious as Xu Yingdei had made it out to be, stating that it was countless times even more precious than the Mirage Stones from it, then him trying to sell of the Spiritual Enhancement True Nectar in order to reduce the amount of trouble coming his way, was something akin to a complete joke.
However, he was also aware that Xu Yingdei had at least spoken one true sentence, which is a Nine-Coloured Mirage Tree would not be able to be poached easily no matter how much true essence was used. He had used the Power of Hope to dig out the Mirage Tree, however didn’t the tree still wither up in the end? Moreover, from the expression on the face of Yin Kongchan, Ning Cheng could also make out that a Nine-Coloured Mirage Tree was definitely not something simple.
Yin Kongchan and he finally were able to realize it now, as both of them had the same identical set of expressions on their faces, as both of them were equally surprised regarding the Nine-Coloured Mirage Tree, especially because one of them truly knew that the Nine-Coloured Mirage Tree was something truly amazing.
However, Yin Kongchan’s face once again returned to its previous tranquillity, before she sighed and spoke, “There is only one Nine-Coloured Mirage Tree in this world; moreover it is something that would only appear in the inner reaches of the Mirage Island. Ning Cheng, if you really do have the Nine-Coloured Mirage Tree on you, then the trouble coming your way would not be small at all. No one would be willing to let go of the Mirage Tree, even if you have a huge amount of wealth, in front of the Mirage Tree, it is all illusory.”
Ning Cheng on hearing those words, instead showed a faint smile, “I will admit that I was able to visit the Mirage Ship Island, and have also seen the Nine-Coloured Mirage Tree, however I have definitely seen more than one tree. Not only were there more than one, there were in fact many, as such how can you say that they are so valuable? Did the two of your groups think that you can jerk me around?”
Xu Yingdei on hearing Ning Cheng’s words, immediately realized that the information that the Severing Emotions Dao Sect had obtained did not have any mistake in it. Since Ning Cheng had admitted that he had gone to the Mirage Ship Island, then it was highly possible that he truly possessed the Nine-Coloured Mirage Tree. She looked at Ning Cheng with her pair of clear water like eyes, before she spoke, “You are wrong in this regard, there is indeed only one Nine-Coloured Mirage Tree in the world. The other Nine-Coloured Mirage Trees that you saw were all illusory, only one among them is real. Don’t you know what a ‘Mirage’ is? It is something ethereal and unreal, an existence that be seen with the naked eye but doesn’t actually exists. Even if you have seen it, it might just be fake in the end, which is what a mirage actually is.”
Ning Cheng sneered, “Even if I did dig out a Nine-Coloured Mirage Tree, it wouldn’t necessarily mean that I do possess that kind of good luck? How can you be so sure that I dug out the real Mirage Tree?”
“Because, it truly doesn’t matter which Nine-Coloured Mirage Tree you dug out, as long as you were able to dig it out, then it is the real one. While the remaining Mirage Trees would degrade into Eight-Coloured Mirage Trees in one year. Moreover the next time the Mirage Island appears, the highest grade of Mirage Stones that would be available on that island would be the Eight-Coloured ones. Next year, it would be only Seven-Coloured Mirage Stones, and so on, until the Mirage Island ceased to appear in this part of the world.” Xu Yingdei eyes were clear, just like an open and distinct black and white landscape painting, which made people to not show even a shred of doubt towards her words.
“Moreover, even if you obtained many Nine-Coloured Mirage Stones from the Mirage Ship Island, all of them would also eventually turn into nine stones, not one less or one more…..” Xu Yingdei spoke as she stared at Ning Cheng, as if expecting a flower would start blooming on his face.
Ning Cheng was completely surprised on hearing her words and quickly pulled out a pile of jade boxes, before he started opening each of the jade boxes one by one. Since these two women already knew that he was in possession of the Mirage Tree then it proved that there were other people who also knew about it, as such what good would it do to him to hide the Mirage Stones? Compared to the danger brought by the Mirage Tree, the Mirage Stones were simply nothing.
Ning Cheng, altogether had obtained 18 Nine-Coloured Mirage Stones, and had given one to Liang Kexin; as such, he should currently have 17 Nine-Coloured Mirage Stones in his possession. However, now that he had opened up the 17 jade boxes one by one, Ning Cheng discovered that out of the 17 jade boxes, only eight of them contained the Nine-Coloured Mirage Stone, while the rest of the boxes were empty. Seeing this he couldn’t help but suddenly freeze up.