Chapter 0251: Reach if fated, return if not
In addition to these ships, there were many flight type magical weapons flying near to the surface of the ocean, shuttling back and forth.
Ning Cheng quickly put away the True Brahma Buddha Fire Wheel, and brought out a low grade flight type Spiritual Artefact. Mixing himself with the other numerous flying type of magical weapons, he slowly flew towards the Mirage Gazing Island.
Before seeing the Mirage Gazing Island, the largest island that Ning Cheng had ever seen was the Pu Bu Island. Looking at it at this moment, he was beyond sure that the Mirage Gazing Island was several times larger than the Pu Bu Island; moreover, even with his powerful Spiritual Consciousness he still was not able to sweep until the edge of the island.
Ning Cheng had just gotten close to the Mirage Gazing Island, when a fairly powerful Spiritual Consciousness swept over him. But this Spiritual Consciousness did not linger on him for a long time, and disappeared after sweeping over him once. From this, Ning Cheng guessed that this Spiritual Consciousness should also have swept over the surrounding cultivators as a cursory glance rather than to inspect the people.
The periphery of the Mirage Gazing Island was lined with an Array Formation created with the help of several top quality refining materials, and although Ning Cheng was already a Tier 6 Array Formation Master, when he looked at this Array Formation, he instantly realised that the degree of toughness of this kind of huge defensive array would definitely not be lower than a Level 8 Defensive Array if not higher.
Compared to the Mirage Gazing Island’s Defensive Array Formation, the Pu Bu Island’s Defensive Array Formation was only equivalent to a simple fence.
Ning Cheng was at present was dressed up differently from the past, although he looked like a thin man and resembled a bit like at the time when he entered the Law’s Way, but his projected age at this moment was slightly younger than it was then.
After going through the Defensive Array Formation that stretched for several tens of miles, Ning Cheng finally arrived in front of a gate that led to a huge ancient city. There were three characters carved above the gate, ‘Mirage Gazing City’.
Two Profound Congealing Cultivators were standing guard at the gate. Ning Cheng found it odd that when entered the city through the gate, these two Profound Congealing Cultivators did not even sweep at him with their Spiritual Consciousness, let alone asking Ning Cheng about the entry fees to enter the city.
The city was incomparably lively, with countless shops, pleasure pavilions, restaurants…
The cultivators traversing the streets were simply too many, causing it to be incomparably crowded, the streets were also similar to that of a spider web, and could be seen branching out in all directions. One simply would not be able to find where these streets ended. One would also not be able to make out as to where such a high density of cultivators were coming from or even where they were going towards in such a hurry.
Ning Cheng found a relatively large commercial store and went in. This commercial store not only sold Magical Weapons and Pills, but also sold various jade strips containing cultivation methods.
Ning Cheng was also able to easily find the jade strip titled ‘10 Uses of Mirage Stones’ that he had wanted to purchase on the ship. Now that he was on the Mirage Island, he did not have to worry about the previous things. Buying the ‘10 Uses of Mirage Stones’ without hesitation and without sparing any extra effort, he also bought a few pieces containing a detailed introduction of the Mirage Ship Island.
“Do you have a map of the Mirage Gazing Map, and also the nautical chart of the Mirage Gazing Island’s periphery?” Just before leaving, Ning Cheng suddenly remembered that he did not know where the Transmission Array was located.
“Of course we do have them.” The helper readily took out a Jade Strip and gave it to Ning Cheng, “This contains the nautical chart of the Mirage Gazing Island’s periphery and the map of the Mirage Gazing Island. Costs 10 Spirit Stones.”
Seeing how speedily the helper moved, he could not help but think as to how many such jade strips he would have sold to attain this much efficiency.
Watching Ning Cheng walk out into the Mirage Gazing City, the helper spoke out in disdain with a low voice, “It seems that this one also wants to go seek out the Mirage Ship Island, and had even bought all the things necessary, does he really not know that ‘One could only find it if fated, and return if not’.”
“This Senior Apprentice Brother, are you also going out to seek for the Mirage Ship Island? If so, then come above our ship. Our ship has first rate credibility, and is about to leave the Mirage Gazing City…” Ning Cheng had just left the commercial store, when a handsome looking man in servant robes chased after Ning Cheng, giving out constant commentary about how much better was his ship compared to others. According to his words, as long as they were on their ship, then there was a hundred percent guarantee that they would locate the Mirage Ship Island.
Ning Cheng finally was able to get rid of this servant with great difficulty, as his first priority at this moment was to reach the place that housed the Transmission Array that would take him to the Tian Continent. Even though he had arrived at the Mirage Gazing Island for less than a day, he did not dare to be negligent and careless. Only by reaching the Tian Continent, could be safe.
For a Soul Essence Cultivator, even if he knew that he arrived at the Tian Continent, they would have to think long and hard to catch him.
……
“One million Spirit Stones.” An old man spoke out a sentence with a casual tone without even lifting his head.
“So expensive?” Ning Cheng was stunned, one million Spirit Stones, how many people on the Mirage Gazing Island would be able to come up with such a sum? Although the Mirage Gazing Island had such a dense population of cultivators, and even more cultivators out in the ocean, how many of them would be able to shell out this much?
“If you want to have a seat then take a seat, if you don’t want then go away.” As the old man heard Ning Cheng’s words, he immediately retorted with a scolding tone. Even his expression showed impatience and annoyance.
Ning Cheng helplessly took out a storage bag as he handed it over and spoke, “I’ll take a seat, here are the Spirit Stones.”
Fortunately, there were still quite a bit of Spirit Stones that he saved up, otherwise even after reaching the Mirage Gazing Island; he still would not be able to leave.
The old man caught the storage bag. Scanning it with his Spiritual Consciousness, he found that it really did contain a million Spirit Stones, causing his expression to instantly soothe out as he threw out a jade plate and spoke, “This is the Transfer Jade Token, go in and stand in the line.”
Ning Cheng went in and found that there were already seven-eight people waiting, and could not help but feel secretly flabbergasted. Just how many spirit stones could one earn just by operating this Transfer Array for a day aah? These cultivators must have come to the Mirage Gazing Island to search for more opportunities.
“Big brother, are you also going back to the Tian Continent aah, I also am going back.” A charming sound emerged from Ning Cheng’s side, which was followed by a wave of fragrance.
Ning Cheng turned his back only to see a young man wearing a long loose flowery robe, not only did this man had a sharp yet fragrant aroma coming from him, even his speech was not much different when compared to a woman’s. If not for his Adam’s apple and hair, Ning Cheng would have definitely mistaken him to be a woman.
In the Yi Xing Mainland, the way male cultivators and female cultivators kept their hair was significantly different. Usually the female cultivators put their hair in a bun.
As the other people caught sight of this man speaking to another man from the side, while at the same time stretching out his hands in such a graceful gesture that could only grace a girl, Ning Cheng couldn’t help but feel a burst of cold loathing coming from them, he immediately coughed and spoke, “It aah…. It really is a coincidence aah……”
This young man wearing the flowery robes seeing Ning Cheng answer him, felt a little joyful as he approached a bit closer. Ning Cheng was even surer that if this person called out to the other cultivators in the same manner, it would only result in him being beaten up; he could guess that those people would not have met these kind of people too often.
At this time, Ning Cheng heard the cultivator in charge of the transfer speak up, “Time for the next batch, the next ten people come up.”
After Ning Cheng entered, two more cultivators came in, adding the total to exactly ten people. Ning Cheng hurriedly entered the Transmission Array. If he had to speak a few more words to this kind of effeminate man, then his entire body might just erupt with goose bumps.
A burst of white flashed. The ten people, Ning Cheng and the others, instantly disappeared from the Transmission Array as if they never entered in the first place.
…
It had only been just a little less than an hour since Ning Cheng was teleported, when an extremely ordinary looking middle aged cultivator entered this place.
The old man in charge of receiving the spirit stones still had his head down, with a listless look, but when the middle aged cultivator came in, he immediately looked up.
“Steward Peng, this is a copy of an Arrest Warrant, this arrest warrant is for a cultivator that the Vice-City Master Mi personally mentioned to be caught the moment he arrives. It would be better if you memorized this image. He may have changed his appearance, but you can use that mirror type magical weapon to catch a glimpse of his real self. If it’s just an ordinary appearance changing, then it can be easily uncovered with a glimpse into the mirror. If you are able to find this person, then you can enjoy a reward of 10 million high grade spirit stones, plus a Mirage Stone from, at the very least, a five coloured Mirage Tree………”
When the middle aged man spoke about the reward being that of spirit stones, the old man simply did not care about it, but when he heard the part about the Mirage Stone, he immediately stood up, and even spoke up in a trembling tone, “It is really a Mirage Stone? From a five color Mirage Tree?”
The middle aged man gave a sneer and spoke, “Steward Peng, Vice City Master Mi’s one word is worth nine sacred tripods (words of enormous weight), why would he deceive you for a trivial Mirage Stone?”
The old man broke into a hideous smile, “Do not worry, even if this cultivator transforms into a small grasshopper, I will even dig three feet into earth to find him.”
The middle aged cultivator gave a nod and spoke, “When this person appears, you do not need to catch him, you just have to contain him, and report back to me with his trail. He has nowhere else but to come here, and even with his fastest speed would still take more than a month to reach. However, you should not be careless because of this, as he might even end up coming here ahead of time.”
The old man once again gave that hideous smile and spoke, “From now on I will monitor each and every cultivator going to the Tian Continent, with this in the hand of I, Peng Bapi, nobody would be able to leave.”
“Haha, good, Vice City Master Mi really has not misread Steward Peng. I will leave first.” The middle aged cultivator gave out a laugh, took out a mirror and placed it in front of the old man, then cupping his fists; he turned around and quickly vanished into the crowd.
……
Ning Cheng came out of the Transmission Array, and found himself atop a huge plaza. He finally arrived at the Tian Continent; it really was not easy aah. However, at that moment his eyes fell on a giant sign on the huge plaza, and was immediately dumbfounded.
The sign read, ‘From Yun Wu City to Mirage Gazing Island, for just fifty thousand spirit stones, you’re not wrong, so long as fifty thousand spirit stones……’
No wonder there were so many cultivators on the Mirage Gazing Island, fifty thousand spirit stones were something a cultivator would generally be able to scrape up. But once they arrived at the Mirage Gazing Island, they would require a million spirit stones in order to return to Yun Wu City, it was really a vicious way to rip people off and was no better than eating them alive.
It was no wonder that even though Mu Xunlin wanted return to the Tian Continent, he simply did not have the required spirit stones.
“Big brother, where do you want to go? I planned to stay in the Yun Wu City for a few days and then would head over to the Luo Ling City to play. I can see that big brother and I are friends destined to meet by fate, we can even tie the knot to become partners.” A voice accompanied with a fragrant aroma sounded from Ning Cheng’s side.
Ning Cheng immediately knew that it was that effeminate man. What did he mean by destined friends? Partners? Just because I answered this fellow.