Chapter 0721: Jiangzhou Star
This was not a space spirit technique, but a simulated space spirit technique that Ning Cheng derived from the Maximal Flame Spirit Technique. However, it was more than enough to deal with Ji Yangyao.
After the explosion created from the collapsed space swallowed Ji Yangyao, Ning Cheng did not give him even a chance to resist and directly impaled his life essence with his Nirvana Spear.
By the time the explosion from the collapsed space subsided, Ji Yangyao had already disappeared, leaving behind only a huge gully in front of everyone.
In just a short exchange, Named Descendant Celestial River King Ji Yangyao, Second Revenant Star’s Celestial Lord Ji Yaozhe, and Ji Clan’s Heaven Seated expert Ji Baisen all died. The remaining cultivators from Ji Clan hiding in the back quickly understood that it was all over for their Ji Clan. A Celestial Bridge cultivator carefully picked up the unconscious Ji Hongliu and followed the other Ji Clan cultivators to sneak out of the crowd.
Ning Cheng watched those people retreat but didn’t do anything. If Ji Yangyao hadn’t moved to kill him, he would have only taken the Second Revenant Star. But since Ji Yangyao wanted to kill him first, blaming him for retaliation was not possible. Moreover, now that he found Ruolan okay, he no longer felt any interest in wiping off the rest of Ji Clan. In any case, with the atrocities committed by Ji Clan in Named Descendant Celestial River and Second Revenant Star, even if he didn’t take any further action, someone would definitely make them pay.
The outside of the Ancient Shadow Temple had a large crowd, but no one dared to speak loudly; rather, all of them chose to remain silent. This new cultivator had completely frightened them to the core. He not only killed Named Descendant Celestial River King Ji Yangyao, he even drove away Orchid Borough Celestial River King Lilian Yanlang with just a few words. They could also tell that this person hadn’t gone all out.
From this, they all understood that regardless of if Striking Ordering Heavenly Emperor helped Ji Clan or not, the leadership of Named Descendant Celestial River would definitely change.
Ning Cheng flew into the air and spoke to the surrounding cultivators with cupped fists, “Everyone, starting today, Second Revenant Star will be renamed as Jiangzhou Star. Jiangzhou Star will remain independent from any local powers and will also be independent of the starry sky……”
He decided against taking over Named Descendant Celestial River. In any case, a planet was more than enough for him. He had no energy to manage an entire celestial river. Moreover, if he took over a celestial river, it would force him to become a celestial river king, which Ning Cheng truly did not want and would be out of his character.
Besides, he mainly did it to give Striking Order Heavenly Emperor and Chuan Xinlou some face. In this regard, Ning Cheng acted in a relatively decent manner. He knew that when it came to cultivation within a grand starry sky, any celestial river would have to remain under the management of a starry sky, and each starry sky had to be under the control of one of the four grand starry skies. No matter the size, this was something that unavoidable.
Now that he renamed Second Revenant Star and taken it out from under the jurisdiction of Striking Order Starry Sky, it was equivalent of taking it out from the governance of the Grand Culmination Starry Sky. Taking over a single planet would still be within reasonable limits, if he had decided to take over a celestial river, it would have definitely made Striking Order feel uncomfortable. Although he was not afraid of Striking Order Heavenly Emperor, he did not feel like fighting against him for it.
For Ning Cheng, he didn’t want to manage, nor did he have the power to govern many planets. He just wanted a place where he could decide and do things for himself. A place where he could peacefully develop himself without looking at someone else’s face.
He couldn’t do such a thing in the past because of a lack of strength, but now that he had the power to do so, he naturally would do it. Moreover, on any planet, major forces would always clash against each other. Even if it adhered to some rules and regulations, it only applied to minor characters. For those from major forces or factions, those rules and regulations were tantamount to ornaments.
But on his turf, he would never allow such a thing to happen. As long as one was in the Jiangzhou Star, every starry sky cultivator would have to adhere to the law. A primary reason why he wanted to get rid of other’s control over this place.
Moreover, Second Revenant Star was the first star of Named Descendant Celestial River, which meant that neither its topography nor the starry sky Essence Qi flowing in it could compare to ordinary planets and stars.
Ning Cheng’s words immediately caused whispers within the crowd. As starry sky cultivators, they all clearly understood what Ning Cheng’s words meant. Not subject to any local control, that in itself was equivalent to stealing a planet from a grand starry sky. Would Striking Order Heavenly Emperor tolerate it? Would the Culmination Grand Starry Sky not care about it?
Even if this person could kill Named Descendant Celestial River King, what he said was too outrageous, right? Wasn’t it akin to looking for death?
Regardless of whether Ning Cheng wanted to seek death, after hearing Ning Cheng’s words, all the cultivators felt completely awed by Ning Cheng. A person who didn’t care about Striking Order Heavenly Emperor and even the Grand Culmination Starry Sky, would someone like him care about the ordinary cultivators? One could even say that whoever provoked this person would definitely perish at this person’s hands.
Ning Cheng knew that he only stayed at the Second Revenant Star for just a short time. Therefore, only by displaying his might could he suppress those thoughts.
After the discussions of cultivators died down a bit, Ning Cheng continued, “Some friends here might have come here from other places, and some might have been from the Jiangzhou Star. Since Jiangzhou Star will be directly under my control from today, I am announcing a few things.”
Silence reigned all around, all of them wondering what Ning Cheng would announce.
Ning Cheng raised his voice and said, “First, Jiangzhou Star will be closed for two years. It’s not that I want to stop you all from visiting Jiangzhou Star, but I want to use these two years to rectify a few things in Jiangzhou Star……”
As soon as the crowd heard those words, the nearby cultivators suddenly made a huge noise. Even if they felt afraid of Ning Cheng’s power, no one could help it. Wasn’t closing the Jiangzhou Star the same as closing the Ancient Shadow Temple?
Many cultivators here came explicitly for the Ancient Shadow Temple. Now this new Celestial Lord came along and not only removed the powerful Ji Clan but also wanted to take everything here for himself. Sure enough, as long as sufficient benefits existed, everyone’s hearts would turn black.
But despite the noise, no one dared to stand up and refute Ning Cheng.
Ning Cheng didn’t continue to talk; he waited for the noise to die down for a bit before explaining. He didn’t intend on blocking the Ancient Shadow Temple. However, for rectifying Jiangzhou Star, Ning Cheng naturally cannot let other cultivators come to the Ancient Shadow Temple. Otherwise, with all kinds of scheming people here, how would he go about to rectify things?
If these cultivators did not leave Jiangzhou Star through verbal persuasion, Ning Cheng started to consider whether he should come down on them hard. Besides, after years of wandering the starry skies, Ning Cheng understood that without roots, he would also be the same as the faces he saw in front of him. It would always remain true no matter how high his cultivation soared.
Having high cultivation might keep me safe and sound, but what about the people around me?
If he had his own planet if he had his own territory, would Qionghua and Luofei need to go to the Everlasting Sacred Shrine? Would they have turned their faces to look at Everlasting Sacred Shrine’s Seeking Intelligence?
Just as Ning Cheng tried to figure out what methods to use, a sharp cry erupted from the entrance of the Ancient Shadow Temple.
Almost instantly, a Daoist shadow rushed out from inside, followed by a few more shadows. A moment later, their bodies began to crack apart, and in just a few breaths, the cultivators who came out started to rot and die.
Some of the cultivators who were preparing to enter the Ancient Shadow Temple immediately stopped. What was going on?
Ning Cheng frowned; he quickly understood what was going on. Those fallen cultivators gave off an aura, an aura exactly like the aura from the mist around the door to the real Ancient Shadow Temple. From the looks of it, someone seemed to have triggered something, causing the fog to start spreading outwards. That mist he saw in front of the gate of the Ancient Shadow Temple really could tear people apart. Since he was a body-forging cultivator with a Starry Sky Body, he could ignore the poison mist, but not the other cultivators.
Cultivators kept rushing out, but almost all of them kept falling the moment they rushed out.
Some of the cultivators rushing out and muttered “Poison mist, poison mist…..” before falling.
“Get out of the way. There is poisonous mist in Ancient Shadow Temple. Someone must have activated the poisonous mist. I will arrange an array formation to lock down the Ancient Shadow Temple.” Ning Cheng immediately shouted.
This poisonous mist came at the right moment. Otherwise, he might have really taken the hard-line here.
Ning Cheng’s words immediately aroused the approval of many cultivators, “Yes, lock the entrance. Hurry up.”
When Ning Cheng started arranging the array formation, there were not many cultivators rushing out. Two hours later, by the time Ning Cheng’s Locking Grand Array finally started to close up, no one else came seemed to come out. Most likely, the cultivators who did not manage to come out had already fallen inside the Ancient Shadow Temple.
After an hour later, Ning Cheng completely sealed the grand array. With the area locked down, the entrance to the Ancient Shadow Temple disappeared, and it became a typical mountain range again.
Some of the cultivators who didn’t die after coming out started to describe the horrors of what happened inside the mystic realm. A poisonous mist that could tear apart a person’s body seemed to have suddenly popped out of thin air before it quickly swept through the area in just a short time. Many cultivators with lower cultivation couldn’t even respond before the poisonous mist tore them apart.
With the Ancient Shadow Temple’s poisonous mist incident, Ning Cheng didn’t need to speak up for the second time. Most of the cultivators here came to Jiangzhou Star because of the Ancient Shadow Temple. Now that people couldn’t go into the Ancient Shadow Temple, it saved him from doing many unnecessary things.
“Friends, as long as you are not cultivators from Jiangzhou Star, please leave immediately. Two years later, may not even be two years, Jiangzhou Star will open once again. As for friends who already lived in Jiangzhou Star, please be prepared to re-register for identity jade cards. Three days later, all foreign cultivators who do not leave Jiangzhou Star, and were not originally from Jiangzhou Star, will be punished according to the new rules and regulations……”
No one doubted Ning Cheng’s words. Ning Cheng even killed Named Descendant Celestial River King in front of them. For these ordinary cultivators, it would be strange if he actually went back on his words now.
Some cultivators who just came out from the Ancient Shadow Temple could not understand what was going on and immediately started asking around. Because of the closure of the Ancient Shadow Temple and hearing about the recent changes to the leadership of Jiangzhou Star, these cultivators immediately started to leave this place, unwilling to stay here, without the need of Ning Cheng to remind them once again. All of them brought out flight-type weapons and quickly left.
As to what happened before in the Ancient Shadow Temple, news quickly spread out to the others. Cultivators, who initially crowded around Jiangzhou Star wanting to rush inside, immediately turned tail and started to crowd out.
Someone killed a Celestial Lord and a Celestial River King; this was a big deal. Striking Order Heavenly King would definitely come here to settle accounts eventually. At that point, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that the planet might turn to ashes. Only the stupid would continue to stay on Jiangzhou Star. Even many of the cultivators who formerly lived in Jiangzhou Star started evacuating after learning the news.
“Gong Xiuzhu, Bei Junyi greets senior…” Two seemingly embarrassed-looking cultivators in Heaven’s Mandate Realm came in front of Ning Cheng and bowed.
Ning Cheng looked at the two of them in doubt. He had too many things to do right now. What did these two cultivators in Heaven’s Mandate Realm want with him?
Ning Ruolan and Helian Dai immediately came to Ning Cheng’s side and said, “Brother, these two elder brothers helped us in the Ancient Shadow Temple. If it were not for them, others would have taken away out Perpetual Moon Pills.”
Hearing Ning Ruolan talked about Perpetual Moon Pills, Helian Dai’s face immediately turned red and said, “I’m sorry, Big Brother Ning Cheng. I didn’t know that you were such a powerful expert, and yet I sent you those dark Perpetual Moon Pills…..”