Ning Cheng hadn't expected that asking a simple question would provoke such a nasty attitude; he could only prepare to continue down to the fifth level to inquire further. The sixth level was much larger than the seventh level, and people could occasionally be seen entering and exiting the practice rooms, unlike the seventh level, where one could hardly ever spot anyone coming in or out.
"Wait a moment," someone called out to him at the staircase entrance,
"Are you talking to me?" Ning Cheng turned around and saw a young man a few years older than him, who seemed to have just come out of a practice room. This young man's skin was much darker than Ning Cheng's, and he had a smile on his lips, clearly not harboring any ill will.
Ning Cheng knew that any of these students who were training had a status much higher than his as a janitor. To avoid unnecessary trouble, he never intended to ask these people questions or to engage in much conversation with them. In Cang Qin Country, the students who could enter this academy all came from extraordinary backgrounds, and Ning Cheng could afford to provoke none of them.
"I overheard what you said just now. You must be the one who cleans the practice rooms, right?" the young man said directly.
Ning Cheng quickly responded, "Yes, it's my first day here, and I don't know where to eat, so I came to ask."
"You not only don't know where to eat, it seems you also don't know the rules here. Remember this, you cannot use these main stairs as a janitor. If you're seen by some of the students or enforcers, you won't get away without a severe punishment, if not worse."
Upon hearing the young man's words, Ning Cheng was shocked; he had just come down from the seventh level using these very stairs. Moreover, Ji Luofei hadn't told him that the main stairs were off-limits. If this rule really existed, and the young man hadn't tipped him off, he might indeed have been in enormous trouble.
"Thank you for the warning, my friend, otherwise I would have been in danger," Ning Cheng said gratefully.
The young man laughed and said, "It's nothing. I also used to clean the practice rooms. After seven years, I managed to reach the second level of Qi Gathering, and then the academy recognized me and made me an official disciple. I'm at the fourth level of Qi Gathering now. You should work hard, and maybe you could be like me one day. Remember, whenever you enter or exit the practice tower, you can only go through the side door."
Having said that, the young man pointed to an extremely concealed side door, "That's the side door over there. Every floor has one. Once you go in, you can reach the back of the practice tower directly. There is a place to eat in the back of the practice tower, and you have to pay for your own meals. You must never go to Old Mu for money, or you'll definitely be in for it. Good luck."
After speaking, the young man didn't even mention his own name, and he went down the stairs without further concern for Ning Cheng.
Ning Cheng knew that the other party had no intention of getting to know him. However, since the young man had given him such guidance, it was as if he had saved Ning Cheng's life, and for this Ning Cheng was extremely grateful.
Hearing the sound of footsteps approaching the main staircase again, Ning Cheng quickly went to the corner where the small door was, opened it, and slipped inside.
It was exceedingly dark behind the small door, with only a narrow staircase passageway, which looked like the emergency exit in a skyscraper on Earth.
Down the passageway he went, and only upon stepping out did Ning Cheng realize he was behind the practice tower. It was still within the academy grounds, but people seldom came this way, with just a slender, winding path. Tall trees lined both sides of the path, and though in the shadows between the trees, you could still see many students of the academy coming and going. Some students specifically entered this narrow path, hurrying along it.
Ning Cheng followed the path as well, and after about a quarter of an hour, he saw a narrow door with a stone house beside it. Inside the stone house was a middle-aged man who didn't seem to pay any mind to the students entering and exiting through the small door; it looked like he was just a gatekeeper.
As Ning Cheng stepped out of this small door, he was immediately astonished by the bustling scene before him; it was like a marketplace with everything one could need, noisy and crowded.
All sorts of shops, food stalls, and street vendors were there. The quality was much lower, though, far worse than the main streets of Cang Le City. With such a bustling place, and so many people around, Ning Cheng even doubted if Ji Luofei knew about this place at all, as he had no prior memory of it.
A huge signboard stood in the most conspicuous place, with arrows pointing towards various destinations.
The first one wasn't a shopping mall or a shop selling artifacts and Dan Medicine; instead, it was "斗锅". Ning Cheng had never heard this name before and was greatly curious. He decided to follow the arrow pointing towards "斗锅", and after about ten minutes, a huge circular building came into view.
Ning Cheng stopped, seeing two people blocking the entrance to the circular building, clearly set to charge an entrance fee. He still had some Silver Coins on him, which were meant for his daily expenses, and he didn't want to waste them on this unknown "斗锅".
Just as Ning Cheng was about to turn around and leave, a few people walked out of a door next to the circular building, and their conversation caught his attention.
"Watching that barbarian fight was utterly lackluster. I'm annoyed at how much Silver Coins I've lost today without seeing anything exciting, on top of losing money."
"The last time Ji and Gu Fei fought, now that was thrilling. I didn't expect Gu Fei would be no match for Ji."
"Ji Luofei may be ugly, but at least she knows the importance of cultivation," someone said. "She defeated Gu Fei and got her hands on a Qi Gathering Stone. A Qi Gathering Stone, just think about how envious that makes me. But it seems she was also seriously injured. Once Gu Fei's brother, Gu Yiming, comes back, I bet she'll have to cough up what she swallowed. Even if Gu Yiming doesn't come back, there's no way Gu Fei will let this go."
"Ugly? Not necessarily," another chimed in. "She's just disfigured. Otherwise, who in the academy could you find with a better figure than hers? Even Jian Sujie doesn't compare..."
"Shut your mouth! Do you have a death wish mentioning Sister Jian?"
...
The voices of the group faded into the distance as Ning Cheng's hands clenched into fists, veins popping out. He did not go to the fighting pit, but he could already imagine the brutal bloodshed there, akin to underground boxing. He had not realized that the Qi Gathering Stone Ji Luofei had was obtained through hard-fought battles in such a place, leaving her with severe consequences.
That was Gu Yiming, Gu Fei's brother, and according to the conversation, even Gu Fei himself was not willing to let Ji Luofei off the hook.
Ning Cheng had lost his desire to stroll around. He sold some dry food in a hurry and returned to the seventh floor of the cultivation tower. He needed to speed up his cultivation, to advance to the fourth level of Qi Gathering as soon as possible. Here, power was synonymous with dignity.
Few students practiced on the seventh floor of the cultivation tower. After Ning Cheng cleaned a few practice rooms, he shut himself in a small stone hut and began his cultivation.
For students cultivating in the practice rooms, once they closed the rooms, the spiritual energy inside would increase exponentially. Ning Cheng did not enjoy this privilege. His small stone hut remained as it was before being sealed.
When Ning Cheng began gathering Qi, his mind once again revealed a new circulation path for true Qi. With the Stealth Technique as a precedent, Ning Cheng did not hesitate for a moment and abandoned the Ning family's thin cultivation manual. Instead, he cultivated according to the method that had appeared in his mind.
The external spiritual energy was thin, but this did not affect Ning Cheng in the slightest. As he started cultivating, the spiritual source within his dantian provided an even more pure and dense supply of energy than the surrounding spiritual energy, cleansing and opening up the meridians throughout his body.
With his previous experience, Ning Cheng was not alarmed. He discovered that using the cultivation method that appeared in his consciousness was far more effective than the Ning family's manual. Whether it was the speed of the true Qi flowing through his meridians or anything else, it was all tens of times smoother.
When Ning Cheng came to his senses again, he had reached the second level of Qi Gathering, and his body was once again covered in a significant amount of filth.
Feeling a stronger flow of true Qi than he had at the first level of Qi Gathering, Ning Cheng knew without a doubt that he had advanced to the second level. Calculating the time, he realized he had been cultivating non-stop for two days and nights.
Aside from feeling hungry, he only felt the sensation of his true Qi pulsing like a drumbeat. Ning Cheng dared not continue cultivating, realizing that he had already made a mistake by not cleaning the practice rooms for two days.
Fortunately, he knew there were not many people who practiced on the seventh floor and that Elder Mu would not really care about it. Ning Cheng did not immediately go out to clean the practice rooms; instead, he continued to cultivate a new technique, the Dust Removal Technique. From then on, after each cultivation session, he should use the Dust Removal Technique to cleanse his body instead of going downstairs to look for water.
It was not until the early hours of the third day that Ning Cheng used the Dust Removal Technique to clean himself up and then went to clean the practice rooms.
Just as he had thought, there weren't many who came to the seventh floor to practice. Even after three days of neglect, there were still a few clean practice rooms available.
...
In the following days, Ning Cheng stayed hidden on the seventh floor, cultivating. He also took the opportunity to clean the practice rooms to practice various techniques. The only pity was that when he practiced techniques in the practice rooms, there was no spiritual energy to support him.
Time flew by, and before he knew it, ten days had passed. During this time, Ji Luofei did not come up to find Ning Cheng once. Ning Cheng rarely went out, focusing all his energy on cultivation.
However, as he advanced to the third level of Qi Gathering, he started to panic. After reaching the third level, he could no longer sense the support of that mysterious spiritual source within his body. Ning Cheng was well aware that without the support of the mysterious spiritual source inside him, he could cultivate for a lifetime and still not advance from the third level to the fourth level of Qi Gathering.
In the days that followed, Ning Cheng continued to cultivate repeatedly, but he could no longer support his cultivation with that dense spiritual energy from within. His cultivation stagnated, but he managed to successfully practice several simple techniques. Right when he reached the third level of Qi Gathering, guided by modifications in his techniques, he even advanced the Fireball Technique to the Fire Blade Technique.
Even so, Ning Cheng remained extremely anxious. Without the support of the mysterious spiritual source, he could stay at the third level of Qi Gathering for the rest of his life.
Ning Cheng decided to go out and look for Ji Luofei, as there was no progress in his cultivation, and he did not want to stay in the stone hut any longer. He had just packed up and before he could open the door, he heard a "boom," and the door to his small stone hut was kicked open.