Chapter 0464: Where to set up the ambush
“That’s not right…..” Xu Liangzhi spoke those words to himself.
“Big Brother Zhi, I think what you said is correct, but why do you feel that it is not right?” A woman by his side spoke up. At first glance, she looked quite ordinary; however, when viewed closely, only the words ‘extreme perfection’ could describe this woman’s figure. As this woman stood there, it only served to enhance her exquisite curves. This woman could ignite the fire of lust in anyone before eyes could even make it to her face.
Just as she finished her words, she seemed to have thought of something once again, which revealed a trace of different colour on her face.
This woman had the name Hong Luyan; she was not only Xu Liangzhi’s favourite woman but also Xu Liangzhi’s most reliable think tank.
Xu Liangzhi spoke up in a dignified voice, “Do you really want to understand? That Ning Cheng started from killing Cecile, then moved to destroy the Silver Thunder Chamber of Commerce’s Rest Stop on the Receiving Heaven’s Stone, before moving onto completely exterminating the Silver Thunder Chamber of Commerce. Which of these matters did not involve careful planning and scheming? After he killed off Cecile, why did the Auspicious Star Chamber of Commerce not go out looking for him? If he had not exterminated the Silver Thunder Rest Stop, then perhaps the Auspicious Star Chamber of Commerce would most likely be the first to go looking for him. However, he balanced out the situation, wanting to let the Auspicious Star Chamber of Commerce feel more than just despair.”
“Now that he eliminated the entire Silver Thunder Chamber of Commerce, it equated to Auspicious Star Chamber of Commerce suffering the same fate, if they had involved themselves. Seeing that the people from the Auspicious Star Chamber of Commerce would not dare to come out and preach, the only outcome left for them was to swallow the fly and keep quiet. However, I also estimate that some people think that this person possesses a wild nature to actually dare to extinguish the Silver Thunder Chamber of Commerce in the Rootless Black City, which in their opinion is nothing more than courting death.”
“But, was he really courting death? The major forces of the Rootless Black City will always remain intertwined with each other in some way or the other while at each other’s throats. Unless my father exits his seclusion, only at that time will everyone actually start behaving obediently. Otherwise, everyone will just focus on self-shovelling the snow in front of them, which in turn would mean that this kind of an incident would definitely not turn into something major.”
“So I don’t think this person is reckless at all. If he were reckless, the first thing that he should have done after coming to this place would be to look for me, Xu Liangzhi, instead of waiting for the Silver Thunder Chamber of Commerce coming to his doorstep. The hate between him and I is the deepest; however, he never came to find me, nor did he even kill Shen Zimo. Just from this point alone, who would dare to say that he acted in naively and recklessness?”
Seeing all the people looking at him with blank faces, Xu Liangzhi coldly spoke up, “This person would never wait for an opportunity to just present itself. I underestimated him before. If I’m not mistaken, he should have already left the Rootless Black City; maybe he is hiding in some place waiting for me to come out.”
“Then we should go and tear down his Immortal Cave.” Another cultivator spoke out.
Hong Luyan silently looked at the cultivator who suggested that idea before speaking, “If this person really left his Immortal Cave, then the moment we went to his Immortal Cave, he would immediately realise that his plan for an ambush has failed. How can we then find a chance to thwart him?”
“Luyan, since you already guessed that Ning Cheng might have planned it all out, where do you think he would set up the ambush?” Xu Liangzhi felt very satisfied with this woman.
Hong Luyan showed a flirtatious smile. “Big Brother Zhi gave him a jade strip. Let him go to that place and wait. If he really wants to lay an ambush, it would definitely be along this path.”
Xu Liangzhi nodded, “That’s right. There is a 60% chance that he would be on this path. However, there are also two other small possibilities. One of which involves the fellow from the Silver Thunder Chamber of Commerce, who escaped; he might have gone to visit Ning Cheng. That fellow knows the path that we must take to reach the Blue Essence Stone Mine. Giving it a somewhat higher chance that we might encounter him on that path. Of course, there is also the possibility of him not leaving the Rootless Black City at all.”
……
With the help of Ji Luofei, Ning Cheng quickly laid down a few Array Formations. In just one day, he arranged an Entrapment Formation. Next, he wanted to organise a few Killing Formations within this Entrapment Formation.
Ning Cheng meant to use the Entrapment Formation to trap the rest of the cultivators while the use the Killing Formations in tandem to kill Xu Liangzhi. As long as the Entrapment Formation could hinder the rest of the cultivators for just a few moments, Ning Cheng felt confident enough to get rid of Xu Liangzhi. As to whether killing Xu Liangzhi would cause Xu Kai to erupt in anger, Ning Cheng simply chose not to consider it within the scope of his calculations.
“Dear, would that Junior City Master come knocking on our Immortal Cave? Yan Fu said that his father is about to advance to the next realm, so with the real strength of the City Master’s Mansion, if he wants to attack our Immortal Cave, then he wouldn’t even need an excuse.” Ji Luofei spoke up while she helped Ning Cheng put down the Array Flags.
Ning Cheng smiled, “If he made any move on our Immortal Cave, I would immediately know about it; moreover, I already calculated that he would not dare to make a move on our Immortal Cave…..”
“What’s the matter?” Seeing Ning Cheng suddenly stop in mid-sentence, Ji Luofei asked in confusion.
Ji Luofei suddenly felt her heart thump in anxiety before she spoke up, “We have to be careful of that Xu Liangzhi. From Yan Fu’s words, this person is extremely cunning and full of deceit.”
“It’s not good. We can’t arrange the Array Formation ambush in this place.” Ning Cheng started collecting the recently arranged Array Formation without hesitation; he already found himself delayed by a full day.
Ji Luofei also immediately started collecting the Array Flags along with Ning Cheng while she simultaneously asked another question “Is there a problem with this location?”
“That’s right. No matter whether Yan Fu chose to collaborate with Xu Liangzhi, I cannot put all my hopes onto Xu Liangzhi for following through. I definitely cannot arrange an Array Formation ambush in this place, despite knowing that he must pass through this location. Moreover, I have never met this person named Xu Liangzhi. Other than the news about him being a lustful sex maniac, we do not know anything reliable about him. Yet, this person is no doubt very familiar with all the things that I did recently; it proves that I already lost the initiative. If the other person already predicted that I would appear on this path, death would be the only thing that greets us.”
Ning Cheng, under the reminder from Ji Luofei, turned even soberer. He suddenly felt that Shen Zimo had invariably affected his thought process. Although Shen Zimo said nothing, Ning Cheng had already ended up arranging things based on the jade strip given to him by Shen Zimo.
Since this Xu Liangzhi is not a simple character, who could be sure that the other party did not realise that he had already left his Immortal Cave, and even set up an ambush along the path towards the Blue Essence Stone Mine?
In just a short period, Ning Cheng collected all the Array Formations he set up and tidied up the place.
“Where are we going now?” Ji Luofei asked.
Ning Cheng gave out a sigh, “I already missed the best place to lay down an ambush; if only I could have thought of it earlier, I would have arranged the ambush in the Void, just outside the city. No matter if this Xu Liangzhi had an even more cautious personality, he would never think that I would remain close to or inside the Rootless Black City and even arrange an ambush not far from the city in the Void. Unfortunately, it is too late for that now. I am sure that Xu Liangzhi has already left the Rootless Black City by now. However, I still have two more places that I can use to set up the ambush. I don’t believe it that I can’t take out this fellow.”
“Where?”
“According to the directions in the jade strip given to us by Yan Fu, there are a total of seven Void Islands in between the Rootless Black City and the location of the Blue Essence Stone Mine. According to my previous thoughts, one of my options was to lay down an ambush on one of the seven Void Islands. If I were to replace Xu Liangzhi, I would have thought that my opponent would also do the same thing. However, I’m not going to do this at all. Instead, we have an option of setting up the ambush just after the seventh Void Island or somewhere close to the Blue Essence Stone Mine.”
Ning Cheng showed a sneer at this point; for others, it might prove difficult to arrange a Trap and Kill Array Formation within the Void; however, for him, decorating a Trap and Kill Array Formation in the Void did not pose much difficulty. During the time inside the Blue Hole, he, to find a way to survive, specifically immersed himself for a few dozen years in the study of arranging Array Formation that could stand on their own within the Void.
The only thing that worried Ning Cheng was that once his Array Formation trapped the Void Ship, he would have to quickly rush into the Void Ship and take down Xu Liangzhi in the shortest possible time. That was because, if he tried to drag it out, he might end up losing the initiative altogether.
……
In the Void just outside of the Rootless Black City, the Junior City Master Xu Liangzhi from the City Master’s Mansion sat at the most prominent position in the Void Ship. In front of him stood a late stage Crucible Transformation Cultivator, whom he had sent out to scout.
“Junior City Master, from the Rootless Black City to the location mentioned in the jade strip that we sent to Ning Cheng, we did not find any Entrapment Formations or any form of ambush.” The late-stage Crucible Transformation Cultivator respectfully relayed all of the findings of his scouting to Xu Liangzhi.
Xu Liangzhi frowned; only after a good while did he speak up, “Don’t worry about that path. For the moment, arrange for a few people to scout out the path in the Void leading to the Blue Essence Stone Mine. Thoroughly check the seven Void Islands in our path to see if there are any concealed Array Formations. This time, send a few Array Formation Masters ahead to help in the scouting. If you find something, do not under any circumstances alert the other party. Immediately return and report to me directly. If you do end alerting the opposite party, then be sure to keep an eye on him and do not, under any circumstances, let him leave.”
For Ning Cheng to blatantly extinguish the Silver Thunder Chamber of Commerce, it showed that he definitely was a vindictive cultivator who would seek out revenge for the slightest grievance. Of this, Xu Liangzhi felt quite sure about; as such, such a person would not choose to escape for no reason at all. In other words, in his heart, Ning Cheng only showed a tiny chance to willingly run away from the Rootless Black City with his tails tucked between his legs. However, he also believed that Ning Cheng had definitely left the Rootless Black City.
The Void Ship had a speed that remained just slightly faster compared to Ning Cheng’s Twin Wings of the Heavenly Clouds. This was because of the lower rank of Ning Cheng’s Twin Wings of the Heavenly Cloud. At the same time, Ning Cheng also was not very much used to using the Twin Wings of the Heavenly Clouds within the Void, making his journey forward less than smooth compared to using a Void Ship.
If Ning Cheng managed to upgrade his Twin Wings of the Heavenly Clouds and obtained more familiarity with the usage of the Twin Wings of the Heavenly Clouds, an average Void Ship definitely would not be able to keep up with his Twin Wings of the Heavenly Clouds. However, even if the current Twin Wings of the Heavenly Clouds had slower speeds compared to Void Ships, Void Ships were inferior in flexibility and manoeuvrability compared to the Twin Wings of the Heavenly Clouds.
However, because of Ning Cheng’s change of thoughts, Xu Liangzhi ended up spending more than a month to travel from the first to the seventh Void Islands. Naturally, they did not obtain a single bit of harvest.
“Big Brother Zhi, I guess that Ning Cheng should have already left; maybe he felt wary of Lord City Master.” After leaving the seventh Void Island, the enchanting woman beside Xu Liangzhi spoke up.
Xu Liangzhi also nodded, “I didn’t think that I would end up thinking this highly of him. Since he escaped, he would end up dead eventually. Without returning to the Rootless Black City, he would never be able to enter the other worlds within the universe of the Starry Sky. After my father comes out of his seclusion, hehe, even if his strength grows by ten times, he will end up dead.”
After stating out those words, Xu Liangzhi finally let out a sigh of relief within his heart. In fact, he felt quite wary and felt somewhat fearful towards Ning Cheng, who had managed to completely obliterate the entire Silver Thunder Chamber of Commerce all by himself.
After the Void Ship left the seventh Void Island, they found themselves quite close to the location of the Blue Essence Stone Mine. In just three more days, a dark and colossal mountain range appeared in front of the Void Ship, suspended in the Void. This mountain range gave off a faint blue lustre from time to time.
“Stop. We cannot move forward from this position. The Blue Essence Stone Mine is right in front of us.” With a shout, the Void Ship stopped at a distance from this suspended mountain range.