"Are you all right?" Ning Cheng had just asked when Ji Luofei staggered a bit. Ning Cheng hurriedly stepped forward to support her. Ji Luofei's body was soft and fragrant, yet it carried a faint scent of blood.
Without waiting for Ning Cheng to continue asking, Ji Luofei pushed him away and said, "I'm fine, I need to rest for a while, I'll come out later and talk to you."
After speaking, Ji Luofei entered the room next door on her own.
Ning Cheng looked at his palm, realizing there was a faint trace of blood on it.
In an instant, Ning Cheng understood that Ji Luofei was injured. His hand had been on her back a moment ago, indicating her wound must be there.
Glancing at Ji Luofei's room, Ning Cheng hesitated but did not go in. Ji Luofei, who was at the third level of Gathering Qi, had a much higher cultivation level than him, which showed that the Cang Qin Two-Star Academy was not such a safe place after all.
...
Ji Luofei had been attracted by the aroma of the food. She had also changed into a new set of clothes. Ning Cheng saw that after resting a bit, her complexion was no longer as pale as before.
"Did you make this?" Ji Luofei asked in surprise as she looked at the four dishes and one soup on the small wooden table. In her memory, when had Ning Cheng ever cooked, let alone prepared such visually appealing dishes?
Ning Cheng smiled, "Of course I made it, come and eat."
Apparently, Ji Luofei was not a talkative person. Although surprised that Ning Cheng could cook, she did not inquire further. Whether it was the tastiness of Ning Cheng's cooking or her own hunger, she ate several bowls in succession, still seeming to crave more.
After the meal, Ning Cheng quickly got up to clean the dishes.
"Wait," Ji Luofei stopped him, "I'll clean up later, you haven't done these things..."
Ji Luofei didn't finish her sentence when she realized she had misspoken. How could Ning Cheng have prepared such delicious food if he had never done these things before?
She quickly corrected herself, saying, "You sit down first, I have something to talk to you about."
Once Ning Cheng sat down, Ji Luofei voluntarily took out two ancient, extremely thin scrolls and handed them to Ning Cheng, saying, "These were left by your grandfather, he told me to give them to you later. Now that you've successfully gathered Qi, I should be able to give them to you."
Ning Cheng silently took the two thin scrolls, fully aware of what they implied. It was because his late grandfather, despite doting on Ning Cheng, knew exactly what Ning Cheng was like. The scrolls must be the Ning family's ancestral techniques, hence left with Ji Luofei for safekeeping. And the reason Ji Luofei was giving him the scrolls was certainly not just because he had gathered Qi, but because he was completely different from the Ning Cheng of the past.
Seeing Ning Cheng put away the scrolls, Ji Luofei breathed a sigh of relief, seemingly glad to have accomplished something. She then handed Ning Cheng a wooden box, saying, "Inside is a Gathering Qi Stone, take it for your cultivation."
Ning Cheng, no longer a rookie, understood the value of a Gathering Qi Stone. A single stone was equivalent to a hundred Gold Coins and even that was just the listed price—in reality, a hundred Gold Coins could never buy a single Gathering Qi Stone. Even the Ning family didn't have many, and now with Ji Luofei offering one to him, he immediately refused, "Luo Fei, I have already gathered Qi, and you are currently at the third level. This is when you need a Gathering Qi Stone, there's no need to give it to me."
Ji Luofei forcefully pushed the wooden box into Ning Cheng's hands, "Just take it if I'm giving it to you. As you know, I'm at the third level of Gathering Qi. With my talents, I will likely leave the Cang Qin Two-Star Academy soon, and from then on, you'll have to rely on yourself here..."
After listening to Ji Luofei, Ning Cheng no longer refused the wooden box. He took it with a sigh and said, "Luo Fei, I was quite immature before and may have upset you, please forgive me. You know my talents are not good, and in the future, you will leave Cang Qin Country, and we may never see each other again. Fortunately, although we got engaged when we were young, we are not yet married. After you reach the fourth level of Gathering Qi, we will be people from two different worlds. Let's forget the marriage contract from before; you have suffered enough at the Ning family..."
If the Ning residence hadn't turned to ashes, Ning Cheng would have even returned the engagement to Ji Luofei.
Ji Luofei looked at Ning Cheng in a daze; she had not expected him to say such a thing. But she was well aware that what Ning Cheng said was the truth—once she left Cang Qin Country, there would be no chance of meeting him again.
"My life was saved by Grandpa Ning; without him, there would have been no Ji Luofei. You might be right, once I leave Cang Qin Country, we may never see each other again. Moreover, now that I am disfigured, our marriage also seems quite unrealistic, but I also understand the principle of fidelity. The marriage contract was made by Grandpa Ning and my grandfather, and without their agreement, I wouldn't dissolve it. Just take care of yourself in the future when I'm gone, as I really won't be able to stay by your side forever."
After Ji Luofei finished speaking, she stood up, picked up a few bowls and dishes, and walked into the low kitchen. She was well aware that what Ning Cheng had said was true; once she left Cang Qin Country, she and Ning Cheng would probably never meet again. With her ability, trying to stay and take care of Ning Cheng would only hasten his death. Now that Ning Cheng had reached the first level of Qi Gathering, it provided Ji Luofei with some comfort, regardless of the reason for his advancement.
Extremely intelligent, how could Ning Cheng not understand Ji Luofei's intentions? He knew Ji Luofei planned to leave Cang Qin Country and might never see her again in the future. His initiative to dissolve the marriage contract was only to ensure Ji Luofei would have no concerns in her future life. Since Ji Luofei had saved his life, helping her in this way was the least he could do. Now that Ji Luofei disagreed, he did not wish to say more.
Ning Cheng returned to his room and immediately took out the Qi Gathering Stone. He had memories of Qi Gathering Stones, yet he had never seen one before. Now that Ji Luofei had brought back a Qi Gathering Stone, Ning Cheng's first impulse was to find out what kind of stone it was that made it so valuable. A hundred Gold Coins for a Qi Gathering Stone, and it was still not guaranteed you could buy one — the price was indeed high.
The moment Ning Cheng took out the Qi Gathering Stone, Ji Luofei sensed it. She glanced at Ning Cheng's room, a slight curve forming at the corners of her mouth. Although Ning Cheng no longer carried the attitude of a prodigal, he still acted somewhat childishly. He said he didn't need the Qi Gathering Stone, and yet he pulled it out to look at it immediately.
Ji Luofei sensed the Qi Gathering Stone from Ning Cheng, but of course, Ning Cheng was unaware. When he saw that it was just an ordinary, dark yellow stone, he felt somewhat disappointed. The stone seemed to contain a fair amount of spiritual energy, but to Ning Cheng, this energy seemed incomparable to what he sensed during his cultivation.
Putting away the Qi Gathering Stone, Ning Cheng took out the two book scrolls. One scroll contained the history of the Ning family, while the other detailed the cultivation methods of the Ning family.
Having read the first scroll, Ning Cheng had a much clearer and more detailed understanding of the world he inhabited. The Cang Qin Country was just a tiny principality in Ping Zhou, and Ping Zhou was just a corner of the Yixing Continent.
On the Yixing Continent, there were nine major continents, with Ping Zhou possessing the sparsest spiritual energy. The countries that resided there were mostly mortal realms, classifying it as a lower level continent.
The powers on the Yixing Continent were complicated and varied. Since the Ning family had only ever produced one Building Foundation Realm cultivator, they did not know much about the entire Yixing Continent. From this thin volume, Ning Cheng could only glean that the major powers in the lower level continents of Yixing were true countries, principalities, academies, families, and some sects from the lower continents.
Academies and true countries were the strongest forces known to the Ning family. Beneath each true country were many principalities. Principalities also varied in strength and were divided into three levels—with three stars being the highest. A one-star principality was basically a mortal realm, with at most some ordinary martial practitioners.
Cang Qin Country was just a one-star principality. If not for having a two-star academy, Cang Qin Country would be no different than a mortal realm.
However, academies were different. In lower-level continents, the highest-ranking academies were five-star academies. Within a lower-level continent, a three-star academy was equivalent to a three-star principality. If a true country contained a five-star academy, then that academy would have sway over the true country.
There was a note at the end of this Ning family volume, suggesting that there were legendary nine-star academies on the Yixing Continent. Since the Ning family had not produced any great masters, they had no way of confirming whether this was true.
Closing this scroll, Ning Cheng slowly exhaled. He did not yet know how vast the Yixing Continent was, but from this scroll, he had inferred that the Yixing Continent was immensely large. Even Cang Qin Country was likely but a speck of dust in the Yixing Continent.
The Ning family had produced a Building Foundation Realm cultivator, yet the family still could not step out from the lower-level continents of Yixing. This showed how naive his previous plan of returning to Earth after reaching the Building Foundation Realm was.
The reason the Ning family had been able to gain a foothold in Cang Qin Country was that, generation after generation, they had served the monarch of Cang Qin. Even so, when the Ning family was annihilated in the capital, the monarch of Cang Qin did not say a single word in their defense.
Even though Ning Cheng had come from Earth, he felt extremely disgusted. The monarch of Cang Qin was inherently cold-hearted and truly not worth serving.
The second scroll, as Ning Cheng suspected, contained the cultivation methods of the Ning family. The opening sentence declared it to be a top-tier mortal-level cultivation method. Upon reading this, Ning Cheng felt somewhat disappointed, as even a top-tier technique was still just a mortal-level one. The scroll was very detailed regarding the nine levels of Qi Gathering and included some annotations.
Ning Cheng looked at the front part and found it mostly matched what he remembered about the first level technique. He tried following the subsequent approach to Qi circulation, and suddenly, a current of warmth, like warm water, surged up from his dantian. Ning Cheng was startled and about to stop his cultivation when suddenly, a new meridian circulation route for Qi appeared in his mind.
This new circulation route for his Qi was clearly different from the one described in the Ning family's cultivation mantra, and Ning Cheng felt that if he followed this new method that had appeared in his mind, the effect might be even better.
(The first update for today is here, please support me with your collections!)