Chapter 0404: The Disappearance of Taishu Shi
“Luofei, take control of the airship in my stead. I just saw an acquaintance of mine; I need to go take a look.” Ning Cheng on seeing Lian’e immediately stood up and spoke.
Luofei quickly stood up and spoke, “I will come with you.”
Ning Cheng did not mind it. He sent a direct sound transmission to Yang Honghou, letting Yang Honghou come out and stand guard over the suspended airship. Then he grabbed onto Luofei and started descending.
“Lian’e, I really did not expect to find you here….” Ning Cheng brought Luofei to walk towards Lian’e’s worn-out thatched hut as he spoke out in a happy voice.
Lian’e had a somewhat vacant look on her face as she glanced at Ning Cheng. Her cultivation was too low. In the past, before they separated, she was at the Qi Gathering 5th Level and even now, she was at the Qi Gathering 5th Level. Also, she and Ning Cheng were also not familiar with each other. As such, it was not much of a surprise that she was not able to recognise Ning Cheng. Her gaze then was attracted to Ji Luofei behind him, causing a trace of astonishment to flash through her eyes.
Lian’e’s hair no longer was pitch black in colour like in the past, this time, not only had her hair completely dried out and withered, even her face was marred with several scars. Her skin was also no longer bright and smooth like before; nor were her eyes sparkly like before. As Ning Cheng observed all this, he secretly gave out a sigh in his heart. He could see that Lian’e experienced many years of misery; otherwise, with a Qi Gathering 5th Level Cultivation in this part of the world, it was just impossible for her to be in such a state.
“I am Ning Cheng, a friend of Shi. Initially, Shi and I came to the Pleasure Courtyard to look for you before taking you away from the Pleasure Courtyard along with another girl called Hanyu. Afterwards, we ended up separated and were not able to meet again.” Ning Cheng quickly spoke up.
“You are Big Brother Ning…..” Lian’e finally was able to recall Ning Cheng. Even her expression had turned to a pleasantly surprised one with a hint of excitement.
Ning Cheng quickly spoke up, “That’s right, I am Ning Cheng. How are Shi and Hanyu?”
Lian’e on hearing Ning Cheng ask about Shi and Hanyu caused her face to immediately stiffen up. The next moment, tears started to well up in her eyes as she spoke, “They…”
Ning Cheng’s heart sank. He realised that Taishu Shi and Liu Hanyu had most likely met with trouble. He was not able to ask a follow-up question when a ten-year-old young boy ran towards them with a rabbit in his hand, “Mother, I caught a rabbit. Mother, why are you crying, who are they?”
Ning Cheng looked at the little boy with a few doubts in his heart. When did Lian’e have a child?
“Pinghao, quickly greet Uncle Ning. He is your father’s best friend.” Lian’e hurried pulled the young boy to a proper respectful position.
“Are you really Uncle Ning? I often heard mother say a lot about you. That you sent a person, trying to bully mother, flying with just one kick…..” The young boy exclaimed aloud. His voice containing both astonishment and delight.
Ning Cheng on seeing that this little boy did not have any Spiritual Qi Fluctuations knew that he had never cultivated before. This young boy had a head full of messy hair, and a face just like a cat. In other words, ordinary.
“Elder Brother, he is called Taishu Pinghao….”
Hearing Lian’e speaking out the young boy’s name, Ning Cheng immediately understood that this young boy must be Taishu Shi’s son.
“Bang” The wooden door to her thatched hut was shoved open as a strong looking middle-aged man came in, “Ling Nu, there is an honoured person that came to the Gong Mansion today, you better clean up. You need to put up a dance performance.”
Lian’e quickly gave a bow and spoke, “Steward Li, My Elder Brother came visiting. I would not be able to go….”
“You’re courting death…..” This middle-aged man did not expect Lian’e to actually dare to talk back to him; it was something that had never happened before.
As he spoke, the middle-aged man had already reached out to grab Lian’e’s chest.
Ning Cheng’s eyes flashed with a trace of anger, he didn’t quite understand the relationship between this man and Lian’e. However, regardless of what kind of relationship was it, one cannot grab a woman’s chest, that too in public.
Seeing that the hand of that man was about to reach Lian’e’s chest, Ning Cheng immediately pulled back Lian’e.
The middle-aged man’s hand swiped past empty air, immediately causing him to shoot an angry glare at Ning Cheng before he spat out the words, “No matter who you are, daring to step into Gong Mansion’s affairs, and….”
The words of the middle-aged man abruptly came to a halt as he saw Ji Luofei’s appearance. He had seen many women, especially since countless women filled the Gong Mansion. Even he had several dozen concubines for himself; as such, when he came in a moment ago, although this Steward Li perceived a woman standing behind Ning Cheng, he did not care about her. However, at this time, when he laid his eyes on Ji Luofei, he couldn’t help but be shocked.
In this kind of place, he unexpectedly was able to see such a beautiful woman.
The anger from before vanished in just a twinkling of an eye. He even forgot about Lian’e. He cupped his fists towards Ning Cheng and spoke, “Our Gong Mansion wants this woman, name whatever price you want…..”
Ning Cheng sneered, initially, he could not figure out what was the relationship between this steward and Lian’e, as such he had not begun. Now this fellow actually dared to have ideas on Luofei, no matter what kind of relationship he had with her, Ning Cheng would never let it pass. He lifted his hand and shot out two fireballs. These two fireballs precisely landed on the two arms of this man.
“Chi Chi….” Immediately, sizzling sounds of flesh burning along with a pungent burning smell started to emerge; a moment later, the steward began yelling about crazily. He could only helplessly watch the two fireballs slowly consume his arms. After if burnt away his palms, it still kept burning upwards as it moved up his sleeves.
“Ah….” As those pitiful anguished screams sounded out, the steward flung himself to the ground and started flailing around crazily. However, it was still not enough to put out those flames. Not only did they not extinguish, but they did not also spread as expected. Instead, it was slowly taking its time to move up and consuming his arms along the way. Apart from going through the excruciating pain, he just did not have any alternative. Strangely enough, this kind of pain was just short of being enough to claim his life.
“Senior mercy, mercy senior…..” Finding that this flame was inextinguishable, no matter what he did, this Steward Li struggled to get up and kneel on the ground before he crazily started to beg for mercy.
Ning Cheng looked at Lian’e and asked, “Who is this person?”
Lian’e was still in shock, but she spoke out in a hate-filled voice, “He is the Gong Mansion’s Junior Steward. Unfortunately, I cannot leave this place because of Pinghao and can only be at the mercy of their bullying…..”
Ning Cheng then came to understand, he then turned to Steward Li who was still whimpering and screaming before speaking, “You can go back and tell those people from the Gong Mansion. Tell them that I’ll be with them in a minute to collect some debts. Fuck off now.”
Knowing that Ning Cheng would not help him in extinguishing the flames, Steward Li immediately rushed out of the thatched hut. While the sad and shrill squeals from him were also gradually fading away.
Taishu Pinghao on seeing Ning Cheng, rather than turning afraid like other people, set fire to Steward Li, looked at Ning Cheng with an even brighter look in his eyes.
Ning Cheng then pulled Ji Luofei closer as he made the introductions to Lian’e, “This is my wife, Ji Luofei.”
After he introduced Luofei to her, he then turned towards Luofei and spoke, “Luofei, this is my friend Taishu Shi’s wife, Lian’e.”
Lian’e ashamedly bowed her head and spoke, “Lian’e greets Elder Sister Luofei.”
Ning Cheng took out two pills and handed it to Ji Luofei and spoke, “Luofei, you take Lian’e inside and let her consume the two pills. Then change your clothes before coming out.”
Ning Cheng had already noticed at a glance that Lian’e’s scars were all self-inflicted. Looks like after Taishu Shi disappeared, she brought Taishu Shi’s son to live in this place alone and had undoubtedly been suffering in silence all this time.
“Do you know where your father went?” After Lian’e went inside, Ning Cheng asked Taishu Pinghao in a very gentle voice.
Taishu Pinghao shook his head and spoke, “I don’t know, but mother said that father would definitely come back to look for us.”
Ning Cheng then gently enquired about the other issues, finally coming to a vague conclusion that this place belonged to the most influential clan in this region, the Gong Clan. Moreover, there was also a clansman from the Gong Clan in the Yuan Continent’s Blue Flame 4-Star Academy; as such, its status was also somewhat special. For Lian’e to raise Taishu Pinghao was already very difficult in this place, so to let him cultivate was just next to impossible.
“Elder Brother….” Lian’e came out once again, with her appearance restored to what it was in the past. Although her complexion was still somewhat pale, at least her Essence Qi did not suffer any damage. As long as she was able to obtain some cultivation resources, she would definitely be able to progress like usual.
“En, Lian’e, what happened to you when we ended up separating in the past?” Ning Cheng asked.
Time flowed on at a moderate pace. Although Lian’e was almost on the verge of crying, she was still able to speak out whatever had transpired, “In the past, after Elder Brother blocked Xun Shun, Shi ended up leading me along with Hanyu, but ended up encountering a beast head-first along the way. Because we ended up encountering that beast, we had no choice but to deviate from the path. By the time we realised it, it had already been several days past the appointed date to meet up with Elder Brother.”
“Realising that Shi immediately led us towards the edges of the Thunder Fall Desert. Shi was careful, we had just arrived at the desert edge when we saw an arrest warrant issued for the arrest of Elder Brother. He was afraid that Elder Brother would not be able to cope with the others who issued the arrest warrant for him, so he decided to turn into an adventurer that wandered along the edge of the desert. However, there was no news about Elder Brother for several months. With Shi finally managing to reach True Condensation Realm, we were prepared to enter the Thunder Fall Desert. However, at that time, I ended up pregnant…”
Lian’e lowered her head; Ning Cheng was also helpless in this regard. For two people who loved each other to end up pregnant, this kind of thing was something that he could not do anything.
“Afterwards under the persuasion of Hanyu, we decided to not wait till Pinghao was born before leaving. However, as soon as we showed up, we ended up in the targets of a man. I heard that he was Xun Shun’s master, even if Shi reached the True Condensation Realm, the difference between him and Xun Shun’s master was simply too huge. To allow me and Hanyu to escape, he led away Xun Shun’s master……” Lian’e finally broke down sobbing.
Ning Cheng’s heart also sank. That Xun Shun was not a simple opponent to deal with. He had to expend a considerable effort to kill him, so it was only logical that Xun Shun’s master would be stronger that Xun Shun himself. For Taishu Shi to lead away Xun Shun’s master, it was evidently more unfortunate for him than fortunate.
“After we ended up separating, half-way through, we encountered another group of hunters, before Hanyu and I were finally separated. After I gave birth to Pinghao, I managed to bring Pinghao here along with me to live. In my heart, I always had hope that there would definitely be a day when Shi would come looking for us, but unexpectedly it was Elder Brother who came here first. I had originally thought that Elder Brother had already gone to the Hua Continent…..”
After Lian’e spoke out to her heart’s content, she took a deep breath, while feeling slightly relieved in her heart. In any case, now that Big Brother Ning came, with his friendship with Shi, he would definitely be able to take away Pinghao from this miserable place.
……
“Young Noble…. help…. Aah…..” Steward Li, with the two clumps of fire sticking to his arms, cried out in a shrill voice as he crashed into the middle of an incredibly luxurious mansion.
There were several people in the room holding wine cups, who suddenly stood up in shock. None of them could believe what they were seeing. Steward Li was bawling around with his arms still burning.
“What’s going on?” The one who asked the question was a handsome looking man who held a drink in his hand. Looking at Steward Li’s arm, he could make out that the fire sticking to his arm, like a maggot, was a manifestation of True Essence through some kind of Magical Technique.
“I went to Ling Nu to arrange for a dance, but she was committing adultery with another man. I was not able to say anything when I saw that there was another woman, a woman so beautiful that it would definitely cause the downfall of nations. I wanted to bring her here to present to Young Master, but that man immediately attacked me…..” The steward managed to speak out as he howled in tears.
“Well.” The handsome looking man lifted his hand, causing two clumps of water spheres to manifest and move towards Steward Li’s arms.
Those two clumps of water spheres from him were not harmful in themselves, but when these two water spheres hit the two clusters of flames, it was akin to pouring oil onto the Steward Li’s arms, causing the steward to burst into flames. The fire instantly turned berserk. In just a blink of an eye, it filled up the interiors of the magnificent looking mansion.
“Retreat…..” Someone exclaimed. The next moment, all the people inside the mansion immediately rushed out en masse.