Chapter 51: 048: Loose Cultivator, Loose Cultivator, Leading a life of wandering as a loner_1 Chapter 51: 048: Loose Cultivator, Loose Cultivator, Leading a life of wandering as a loner_1 ‘A tense and tumultuous night passed.’
The horizon started to lighten, the fish-belly white gradually turning to a faint red, like a blush appearing on the face of someone who has had a bit too much to drink.
As the sunlight filtered through the mountain crevices, Chen Dengming felt an inexplicable sense of relief.
This particular night felt incredibly long, indeed, it was the most grueling one he had experienced since he arrived in the Cultivation World.
Gurgling noises came from his stomach, indicating hunger.
The Blood Centipede Gu and Golden Silkworm Gu, which had kept him company for the night, seemed hungry as well, emitting a low buzzing sound.
Chen Dengming took out the demonic beast dried meat he had bought and fed the two Gu.
Looking at these two deadly weapons, which seemed to share a blood connection with him and now followed him around, moving and bouncing with him, he couldn’t help but feel a sense of self-mockery.
...
He once thought that with his means and Gu Refining Skill, even if he couldn’t turn the world upside down with a flick of his wrist, he would at least be able to establish a strong foothold after a few opportunistic moves, eventually rising gradually.
But, before Chen Chief’s name had even started to become familiar to people, and before he had collected his share from Gu Market for the second time, he was once again forced to leave the gathering place and wander aimlessly.
“Loose Cultivator, Loose Cultivator….
Isn’t this the life of a Loose Cultivator?
Living with no settled home and wandering around.”
Chen Dengming laughed, he was rather reconciled with his state.
At least he still had considerable savings, and he was also close to breaking through to the fourth layer of Qi Cultivation.
He made some Spirit Rice and ate it after it was cooked.
Then he took out a travel bag hidden in a mountain crevice, put on a human skin mask and a straw hat, walked cautiously out of the mountain crevice, all while preparing to take a look at the situation of the gathering place from a distance, before going to find Jiang Qiang.
The Array Plate made by Jiang Qiang would be very useful to him, and in the current environment, the areas set up with Formation by him would be safer.
When he reached a river, he saw two corpses.
They were covered in a strange spiderweb-like sticky substance, corroded beyond recognition.
It was a gruesome sight.
He didn’t dare to get too close, fearing that it was a trap set by a demonic beast.
He continued to walk along the path.
He then saw half a woman’s body, floating on the river.
The body was naked, missing the other half, likely the victim from last night.
Chen Dengming frowned, this sort of cruelty causing a slight discomfort in his heart, prompting him to hasten his pace and leave.
…
Thereafter, Chen Dengming encountered many more people along the way.
There were ordinary people grouped together as well as cultivators.
Almost all of them kept a cautious distance from strangers they met.
A woman with a child in her arms was crying miserably in front of a corpse.
Similarly, some cultivators were quietly cremating their comrades’ bodies.
One could see that many ordinary people’s faces were filled with confusion and helplessness, occasionally looking back at the gathering place, with some even retracing their steps, not daring to stay outside the gathering place.
Some had calmed down after the impulsive events of the previous night.
They felt safer inside the gathering place, after all, there were no demonic beast attacks there.
Even if cultivators from multiple factions were battling, they couldn’t possibly be fighting every day.
After last night’s battle, it should be much safer now.
However, those who made this decision were mostly ordinary people.
Many cultivators, after leaving the gathering place, planned to watch the situation for a short while.
They had a certain ability to protect themselves, and they also received the message that the Luo Family and the Zhu Family were likely to go to war.
Last night’s battle in the gathering place might have just been the appetizer.
Once the two cultivation families waged war, every loose cultivator in the gathering place would face danger, and those who didn’t move quickly would end up being cannon fodder.
“Fellow Daoist, did you also come out to seek refuge?
Why don’t you join us?
Last night there were demonic beasts wandering outside, if we band together, we would be much safer.”
As Chen Dengming stood at the foot of a hill not far from the gathering place, observing the situation there, a middle-aged cultivator approached him, stopping ten feet away and smiling at him under his watchful gaze.
Chen Dengming glanced at the three cultivators standing not far away, who seemed to be this middle-aged cultivator’s fellows.
Among them, one face was surprisingly familiar.
After thinking for a moment, he remembered that the familiar face was a cultivator of the Business League.
He had seen him before with Boss Hu, but he didn’t expect to run into him now.
“No, thanks!
I prefer to be on my own!”
Chen Dengming politely declined.
The middle-aged cultivator paused slightly, but he didn’t say anything else, merely nodded with a smile and turned to leave.
Seeing this in the distance, the three people quietly discussed and looked at Chen Dengming with derision in their eyes.
They clearly viewed him as a naive self-important fool.
Chen Dengming didn’t want to cause trouble.
After surveying the gathering place, he left quickly.
On the surface, the gathering place appeared tranquil after a grand battle the previous night.
But how many people died last night, which power benefited, and the reason for the war, he didn’t know yet.
…
Sometimes, isn’t ignorance a bliss?
At least, there was a man who was well-informed but very agonized at this moment.
He knew too much and was involved in too many things, so he was deeply mired that it was tough for him to break free.
At this moment, he was in a dark room.
His heart was even darker than the room, filled with irritation and struggle.
A cold detached voice sounded from behind him.
“Xu Ning, you have no way back.
The Luo Family will soon be in complete disarray.
From then on, our Zhu Family will control the resources of this land.
If you serve our Zhu Family honestly, you will have food to eat.”
Xu Ning raised his head from the darkness.
He looked far more haggard and wretched than when he was in high spirits, with bloodshot eyes and deep dark circles.
It seemed like he hadn’t slept well for several days.
He spoke hoarsely, “I’m just a Qi Cultivation sixth rank cultivator.
Your Zhu Family has plenty of cultivators as powerful as I am, why do you value me so much?”
“Hehehe——”
The man laughed lightly behind him, “Don’t belittle yourself.
Among our Zhu Family, there are many of your rank, but they are also not very common.
Each one is considered precious.
Precious people should do precious work.
Porcelain won’t collide with pottery pots.
Your value is to do less glamorous tasks for us in the gathering place of the Loose Cultivators like now…”
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Xu Ning closed his eyes in fatigue and said, “The Luo Family won’t let me go, I can only hope you’re right.”
“Of course we’re right, otherwise we wouldn’t dare to wage war so brazenly.
Xu Ning, put aside your tricks.
You tried to be devious about the kid with the Gu Refining Skill I once asked you for, attempting to lead him to the Brocade Mill and extracting his Gu Refining Skill on the way.
I can only say, you’re too naive.
Since you were wary of Luo Bing and didn’t dare to kill him, did you expect to force him to reveal the Gu Refining Skill just by frightening him?
Do you think it’s possible to have a foot in both the Zhu Family and the Luo Family?”
Xu Ning furrowed his brow, “I’ve already helped you afterwards, handed him over to you.
It was the people you sent who failed to catch him.”
“Ah——”
A sigh came from behind.
Gradually footsteps sounded moving away, and then said,
“Yes, so you’re still alive now, because you’ve made your choice.
Too bad our people were so useless that they couldn’t even catch a Qi Cultivation third rank kid.
Anyway, there is another thing you need to do together with Lin Hu.
Qian Yuan, from Hutong Street, has escaped.
Catch him and kill him, hang his body at the entrance of the gathering place; this is our Zhu Family’s declaration to all Loose Cultivators!”
So ruthless, incredibly ruthless!
Xu Ning clenched his fists, but he knew he had nowhere else to go; he had to do this.
Once he, a former Luo Family member, killed Qian Yuan, also a Luo Family member, it would be a clear sign of his allegiance to the Zhu Family.
At the same time, Qian Yuan’s death would be the greatest provocation to the bottom line of the Luo Family.
If the Luo family was not tolerant, then the two Cultivation Families would go to war.
If the Luo family was tolerant, then all the resources around the gathering place would firmly belong to the Zhu Family.
Xu Ning fell limp on the floor, drenched in cold sweat.
He had always just sold some women and made some small trades with the Zhu family, never daring to become deeply involved.
He never realized that he’d now reached a point of no return because of his reckless ways.
Because he was covetous of his power and the wealth he didn’t come by easily, he ultimately couldn’t extricate himself from this whirlpool…
What about Chen Dengming?
Chen Dengming hasn’t escaped, right?
That group of cultivators from the Iron Forest Hall said that they’d injured him, but he managed to escape somehow.
A third rank Qi Cultivator who has been injured, in the chaotic wilderness, if he doesn’t die at the hands of a malicious cultivator, he will most likely die at the mouth of a demonic beast.
With this thought, Xu Ning felt the pain and disappointment in his heart become much more bearable.
If he couldn’t escape, then Chen Dengming dying didn’t count as escaping either…
…
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