Chapter 539: Chapter 539: The Ning Clan of Hai Ning The Qiu and Han Dao Couple left with a group of rogue cultivators.
After Ning Fan told the women the details of his breakthrough to the Void Inquiry Stage and sent out a message-transmitting flying sword toward the Dong Xu Island of the Endless Sea, he turned around and left Seven Apricot City.
He needed to head to the Ning Clan of Hai Ning at once to not miss Yun Ruowei. Before heading to the Central State, there were some questions that Ning Fan hoped he could find answers to.
His travelling speed was extremely fast. With just a few skips, he traversed one million li* (500m per li), crossing the country-locking grand formation and appearing at Wu Country’s territory.
Beside the Cui Tang River which was green like emerald in Hai Ning City of Wu Country, Ning Fan descended by the reeds.
There were a few fishing boats on the river. In the distance, some woodcutters walked down from the Ning Bi Hill. All of them were mortals and were humming and singing the folk songs of Wu Country.
Ning Fan’s eyes were filled with nostalgia. It had already been more than fifty years since he left Wu Country. When he heard the songs of his homeland, he felt slightly sentimental.
There was once a mortal young man who walked past the bank of the Cui Tang River while carrying a bamboo basket and climbed the Ning Bi Hill to harvest medicine plants time after time.
In Ning Bi Hill, that young man saved Mistress Qing of the Ning Family and offended Young Master Tian from that same family...
In Hai Ning City, that young man was once adopted by Ning Daniu and spent thirteen years of peaceful life with Ning Gu...
Now, his blood feud with Wu Country was water under the bridge and Hai Ning had already become a memory...
"Young man, are you a foreigner who came to Hai Ning for the first time? Are you lost?" An old woodcutter asked earnestly after seeing the perplexed look on Ning Fan’s face.
"Thank you but I know the way."
He cupped his fists at the woodcutter and walked toward Hai Ning.
Hai Ning City had one thousand years of history in Wu Country. The old ancestor of the city was Ning Honghong. She had kept many children who became orphans due to war and built the Ning Family.
The Ning Family’s name was considered quite good. Usually, cultivation countries rarely interacted with mortals. The Ning Family, however, followed the teachings of their ancestor and continued to adopt some mortal orphans every year. In the past, Ning Fan was one of those orphans that had been brought into the family.
For revenge, Ning Fan only killed Ning Tian without going after the others. The reason why he chose to let them off was solely because he was still grateful to the Ning Family.
Even though the Ning Family treated him badly in the past and his adoptive father was not good to him and Ning Gu, they were the ones who raised him into the man he is today. He could never forget or eliminate the debt of gratitude he owed to them for their care and effort.
Ning Fan spread out his Absolute Void Stage spirit sense which covered the area of four hundred thousand li* (500m per li).
Every tree and bush in Hai Ning was within his senses. However, no one could sense that Ning Fan was spying on them.
In the Ning Family’s temple, the three ancestors of the family were respectfully receiving a lady. When Ning Fan saw her, he smiled faintly.
That lady was the one and only Yun Ruowei. Luckily, Ning Fan was not late and still had a chance to meet her. Perhaps he could get some answers from her to the questions that had been bugging him.
He did not immediately go forward to approach her as she seemed to be asking the three ancestors about something important. Ning Fan knew how to behave in a delicate situation and decided not to interrupt them.
He then walked into the pine forest located outside of Hai Ning City. When he caught sight of a cottage house that had been abandoned for many years, he sighed with emotion.
The cottage house was the place where Ning Fan and Ning Gu used to live. However, after being left abandoned for more than fifty years, it no longer looked like a sword.
He took a step forward and appeared ethereally in Ning Bi Mountain. Stepping on the thick dead leaves, he walked past the hill path that he found familiar yet strange.
He once followed the path and went to the deepest part of the Ning Bi Mountain without any fear of the wolves in the mountain and plucked many precious spiritual herbs...
Deep in the mountain, the demon wolves sensed Ning Fan’s presence and prostrated themselves on the ground, trembling in fear.
Even the wolf king which possessed a cultivation base at the Early Harmonious Spirit Realm also prostrated itself before Ning Fan and stuck out its tongue like a puppy, behaving like a tamed and obedient pet. It did not dare to go against Ning Fan at all.
Mortals might not be able to sense Ning Fan’s cultivation base but these demon wolves could instinctively sense how terrifying he was.
Ning Fan squatted down. He patted the wolf king’s head and stroked its back full of silver fur. With a faint smile, he said, "Do you still remember me?"
"Ao Woo~" The wolf king replied, howling like a helpless puppy.
"You might not remember me but I remember you. In the past, I discovered those hedonistic sons of the rich families who wanted to peek at Mistress Qing while she was bathing and they pursued me. I led them to the deepest part of the mountain. It was you who ate them and saved me from a disaster... Here is a bottle of Third Revolution pills. After you consume them, you can condense your demon core in no time and become a Gold Core Realm demon wolf."
Ning Fan took out a bottle of pills and passed it to the wolf king. The wolf king wore a human-like grateful look and brushed itself against Ning Fan’s knees like a puppy while growling affectionately and in happiness.
"Woo~"
"However, you must promise me that you won’t kill mortals who come into the mountain to pluck medicinal herbs... It’s fine if they are cultivators. After all, if a cultivator comes into the deep parts of the mountain, they have probably already prepared themselves to fight against all of you. It’s up to Heaven whether they live or die..."
"Woo~" The Wolf King howled and promised Ning Fan not to harm any mortal anymore.
"Mm. I’ll be leaving now. Don’t tell me that you are a she-wolf? You’re very clingy..." Ning Fan patted the wolf king’s head with a faint smile and turned around to leave.
"Woo~" The wolf king cried out resentfully. Well, she really was a she-wolf.
Ning Fan arrived at the Tai Qing Pond of Ning Bi Hill. During that day, Mistress Qing planned to bathe in this pond. If it wasn’t for Ning Fan who yelled to warn her, she would have fallen into the hands of those scoundrels...
"It all started from here. If I didn’t save her with the intention of repaying her on that day, I wouldn’t have offended Ning Tian and stepped onto the path of devil cultivation... However, I don’t regret it. If I were to back away and abandon her in times of danger because I was afraid of a few young men, I won’t be Ning Fan for the rest of my life... The path that I’ve walked is my own path and I’ll never regret it..."
While approaching the Tai Qing Pond, Ning Fan muttered to himself.
However, before he reached the edge of the pond, he heard the sound of splashing water.
In the next instant, he saw a lady in green robes sitting beside the pond. She had already taken off her brocade shoes and her socks and placed them beside her. She lifted her skirt up slightly and plunged her feet into the cool pond of water.
She stared at the water with a wistful look. In her eyes, there was a hint of gratitude as well as helplessness.
"If it wasn’t for him that day, I would’ve been defiled by those evil scoundrels at this pond... However, I didn’t know he was in trouble and I couldn’t provide him any aid which caused him to be sold to bandit cultivators in Yue Country, forcing him into the path of devil cultivation... I owe him a favor but I can’t repay him at all forever..."
The lady was none other than Mistress Qing of the Ning Family – Ning Qingqing.
Ning Fan was slightly stunned. He did not expect that he would meet her here and even hear her pouring her heart out. He could not help but let out a sigh.
"Who’s there?! Who is spying on me?" Ning Qingqing heard someone sighing and suddenly sprang to her bare feet in alert. She hurriedly drew her flying sword and checked the surroundings vigilantly.
"It’s me, Ning Fan."