The Gate Of Good Fortune

“Why did you come back so soon?” Jing Wuming on seeing Ning Cheng returning so quickly after leaving knew that it must have been an inconvenient matter.

“Why wouldn’t I return once I raised enough money? Let’s go out of the city now.” Ning Cheng spoke while gesturing to Jing Wuming.

Jing Wuming hurriedly pulled Ning Cheng and asked, “Since you gathered enough money, let’s go to the slave market aah, why are you going out of the city?”

“Didn’t you say that the slave market starts its operations at night? It’s not dark yet.” Ning Cheng replied.

“What about going out of the city?”

“Come with me, and you’ll find out.”

……

Three hours later, Ning Cheng and Jing Wuming hurriedly made their way back to the Revolving Jade City. Jing Wuming finally realised why Ning Cheng decided first to go out of the city, it turned out Ning Cheng unexpectedly had a very high level of attainments in regards to Array Formations. In just a short period, he managed to arrange seven to eight near Rank 9 Array Formations; these Array Formations included both Entrapment Formations and even Killing Formations.

If still in the Plundering Life Realm, Ning Cheng would have required at least half a month to set up these many Array Formations. Now that his cultivation had soared to the Celestial Novice Realm, it allowed him to cut short the time required to set up these Array Formations. Unfortunately, his Array Formation attainments still lagged behind his cultivation.

In fact, Ning Cheng did not intend to rely solely on these Array Formations to kill that Celestial Lord. For him, he needed those Array Formations to conceal the Grade 4 Celestial River Entrapment and Killing Formation Disc, which was the ace killer. Through a variety of low-level Array Formations, that would help hide the Celestial River Array Disc, Ning Cheng wanted to use them to lead the Celestial Lord step-by-step into the range of the Celestial River Array Disc. Because of this, he needed to arrange the other Array Formations in advance.

A Grade 4 Celestial River Array Disc was an expensive item; as such, Ning Cheng dared not tell Ruan Mingshu that he left her Celestial River Array Disc in the wild.

……

The Orchid Borough Celestial River was not a prominent Celestial River in the Man Lun Starry Sky and belonged to the category of a minor Celestial River. Even the strength of the Orchid Borough Celestial River King, compared to the entire Man Lun Starry Sky, did not amount to much. Because of this, this entity paid massive importance to the Celestial Scryer Realm’s Genius Selections.

The reason for all this was not to just choose a few true geniuses, but also to obtain the reward from the Man Lun Starry Skies. For a Celestial River King, receiving compensation from the Man Lun Starry Sky Emperor could immediately help him in catapulting his cultivation to new heights.

Although the Orchid Borough Celestial River did not fare well, overall, the slave market of the Revolving Jade City always remained prosperous. There were all kinds of slaves sold here. Moreover, during the period of the Orchid Borough Celestial River’s Celestial Scryer Genius Selections, a lot more people passed through this section of the market to purchase slaves.

Ning Cheng and Jing Wuming just returned from outside the city and had immediately rushed towards the slave market. Even though they were fast, the two of them were almost late. When they reached the venue, all sorts of cultivators had already packed the area to the limit. Everyone was talking about either the quality of slaves or what kind of slaves they wanted to pick.

“Everyone….” A voice imbued with a powerful Celestial Essence sounded out in the Slave Auction Hall.

All the cultivators in the hall immediately quietened down after hearing that voice. At the same time, the entire room suddenly lit up brightly, illuminating every corner inside.

In the middle of the hall was a white jade platform towering over the people, with a middle-aged cultivator standing over it. This middle-aged man also had four to five vague Celestial Wheels behind him highlighting the man’s strength.

“A warm welcome to all the friends coming to the Revolving Jade City to attend our slave auction. Everyone is already aware that the Revolving Jade City’s slaves are heavily renowned even throughout the Man Lun Starry Skies. Well, without further ado, I believe that everyone already knows about the rules of our market. If you cannot afford the price and still bid for the goods, then sorry for you as the next slave on the platform here would be you. I don’t have anything else to say apart from this, let the slave auction start now…..”

Finished saying that, the middle-aged man immediately retreated from the white jade platform, giving way to a woman wearing robes that left little to one’s imagination

“Seniors, the first slave tonight is a Celestial Shatterer Cultivator, with a reserve price of 100 million Blue Coins. Fellow seniors, please place your bids…..”

After the woman finished her words, they brought out a dispirited cultivator with long hair to the open area over the white jade platform.

Ning Cheng felt slightly relieved in his heart; a Celestial Shatterer Slave had a reserve price of 100 million Blue Coins. As such, Lan Ya should not have a genuinely high price attached to her. However, he felt slightly vexed that the Celestial Lord might end up increasing the price sky high.

In his heart, he truly detested such places that auctioned slaves. These places only catered to shameless people that wanted to feed their vanity of feeling great. If he could, Ning Cheng would have immediately razed this place to the ground and abolish slavery altogether. Sadly, it was not possible. He was just a Celestial Novice Cultivator; compared to the entirety of starry skies, he was still a bottom existence.

Although Ning Cheng despised this entire procedure of selling slaves, the others did not share the same opinion. Even for an ordinary Celestial Shatterer Slave, with people trying to outbid each other, the price quickly surpassed more than 200 million Blue Coins.

No matter what Ning Cheng’s personal views of this auction were, he still felt that the grade of this auction was terrible. The cultivators had to rely on themselves to call out their own bids; as such, if one wanted to place bids, then one had no choice but to shout out.

“Xiaocheng, how much Celestial Coins did you bring? I have a few hundred million Blue Coins with me; however, I’m afraid that Celestial Lord will deliberately increase the price.” Jing Wuming whispered to Ning Cheng.

Ning Cheng gently patted Jing Wuming on the shoulder and spoke, “Don’t worry, I believe that the Celestial Coins with us should be enough.”

Whether or not it was enough, Ning Cheng knew that the few hundred million Blue Coins in Jing Wuming’s possession would not cut it.

Finally, someone bought that Celestial Shatterer Cultivator at a price of 400 million Blue Coins.

After delivering the dispirited cultivator to its new owner, the woman wearing revealing clothes once again appeared with a bright smile, “Just now the Celestial Shatterer Slave was bought by a powerhouse for 400 million Blue Coins. Congratulations to senior for the purchase. Now we are going to auction a slave in the Celestial Novice Realm. This slave is a Grade 2 Celestial Array Master, with a base price of 500 million Blue Coins……”

This bid was a lot more intense than the last one, causing the price of this Grade 2 Celestial Array Master to rise sharply. In just a few moments, it quickly rose to 1 billion Blue Coins, before someone finally managed to buy him at a price of 2 billion Blue Coins.

Ning Cheng, only at this moment, came to realise that a slave with a speciality had a price at least twice that of a slave without a specialisation.

“Our third auction is a woman. Also, let me tell you beforehand, she definitely is a beautiful woman. Moreover, she just happens to have arrived at our doorsteps today. I am sure that as long as one was a man, they would definitely have some interest in this woman. I’m sure that once you strip this woman, she would turn out 10,000 times even better compared to stripping me…..” This woman’s voice carried a mysterious charm; at the same time, she did not have any sense of shame or honour as she spoke.

Some of the cultivators, who liked to hoot, immediately called out.

The scantily clad woman raised her hand, and the hoots in the halls immediately died down.

The next moment, a woman with long hair and a light blue robe stepped on to the platform.

The woman’s eyes were a little wooden; however, it could not hide her peerless grace. Her messy long hair casually separated from the shoulders, before falling over her chest and her back. At the same time, her pure white skin created a stark contrast over anyone who laid his or her eyes on her.

With a slender body and a perfect figure, just like what that shameless woman described, no man could avoid not feeling attracted to her.

Ning Cheng did not act out on it; he just felt that this woman looked very beautiful. However, what Ning Cheng did not like about her was her thin lips, which reminded him of another woman, Zeng Jiyun. She had a similarly beautiful figure and the same slightly thinner lips. However, compared to Zeng Jiyun, this woman’s lips instead accentuated her beauty.

“That’s right; she has a Celestial Gatherer Cultivation. I believe, however, that her cultivation is secondary. Since everyone can see for himself or herself, I do not need to elaborate on things. The base price for this woman is 5 billion Blue Coins; however, each increase needs to be no less than 100 million Blue Coins…..”

The words of this shameless woman had not yet ended, when the people immediately burst into a bidding war with each other, turning the hall into a noisy crowd. During all the noise, Ning Cheng heard the price quickly reach the level of 10 billion Blue Coins.

“Wuming, what’s the matter with you?” Ning Cheng had no interest in this woman. However, just when he was preparing to have a short discussion with Jing Wuming, he found Jing Wuming pale and even shivering, with his sights dead set over the woman in light blue robes over the stage.

“She is Shi Yulan.” Jing Wuming’s voice felt as if it came from the underground, utterly devoid of energy or life.

“So she is Shi Yulan? No wonder….” Ning Cheng spoke before thinking of something, “Wuming, didn’t you say that a Celestial River King had taken away Shi Yulan? How come she ended up in this place?”

When Ning Cheng said ‘no wonder’, it pointed to the fact that Jing Wuming still could not bear to give up on this woman; arguably, Wuming loved this woman to death. However, Jing Wuming cannot suffer blame for his actions. This woman simply was too attractive for her own good. No man could bear letting go of her hand. What’s more, there was once a time where she and Jing Wuming were genuinely in love with each other.

A faint bloody smell entered Ning Cheng’s nose, which allowed Ning Cheng to notice that Jing Wuming had clenched his fists to the point that blood came oozing out. From this, Ning Cheng could make out how deeply unsettled did Wuming feel in his heart, it was just too discomforting.

“Wuming, this woman took the initiative to walk away with someone else, which is tantamount to betraying you. This kind of woman is not worth your attention, nor do you need to care about her.” Ning Cheng put his hand over Jing Wuming’s shoulder and tried to reassure him once again.

“No….” Jing Wuming called out in a hoarse voice, even the corners of his mouth showed signs of blood, “She did not betray me. Those things are unimportant. The important thing is that I am seeing her turning into a slave in front of me, but I cannot save her. I hate it…..”

“20 billion Blue Coins….” The speed with which the price soared caused Jing Wuming to feel despair. Even if he sold himself, he definitely could not fetch 20 billion Blue Coins.

Ning Cheng forcibly held down Jing Wuming, whose body still trembled with despair and spoke out, “Wuming, if you want to save her, then I have the Celestial Coins.”

At this moment, Ning Cheng suddenly came to a particular understanding about Jing Wuming. If the person he once loved appeared on this stage, could he remain indifferent? Ning Cheng could not help but ask himself this question. He found that Jing Wuming and he were not that different from each other. From the looks of it, the two of them managed to become friends only because he and Jing Wuming had similar thoughts.

“Brother…..” Jing Wuming stood up with excitement.

“Hey, sit down. If you stand up, there are others at the back…..” Shouted a man sitting behind Jing Wuming. Apparently, Jing Wuming standing up had blocked his view of the beautiful woman.

Jing Wuming on hearing those words immediately returned to his senses as he grabbed his hair with his hands and spoke, “Xiaocheng, forget it. That money is for saving Lan Ya. We can’t save Lan Ya if we save her.”

“Whether you bid or not bid, the others will buy her. At that time, you no longer would have the chance to get her back. As for Lan Ya, don’t worry, I have a way.” From Ruan Mingshu, Ning Cheng had borrowed about 2 billion Green Coins; therefore, Ning Cheng now had approximately 5 billion Green Coins on him. He believed that using a few hundreds of millions of Green Coins would not create much of an impact.

“24 billion Blue Coins going for the second time, is there a higher bid?” The shameless female cultivator over the stage called out in a very bewitching voice.