Xu Binglan reacted faster than Xu Yingdei did. Despite Striking Order Heavenly Emperor slapping her, she quickly came up and bowed to Ning Cheng, “This Binglan spoke inappropriately just now. I hope Big Brother Ning would find it in his heart to forgive me. This Binglan is willing to accept any punishment; even if Big Brother Ning asks for Binglan to die, this Binglan will not hesitate.”

By the time she finished speaking those words, her expression had changed to a look of regret and horror. Combined with her already beautiful and innocent-looking face, it truly made people feel pity for her.

After apologising to Ning Cheng, she didn’t stop there; she turned around and started crying silently in front of Striking Order Heavenly Emperor. “This Binglan brought shame to the Heavenly Emperor’s name and asks the Heavenly Emperor to punish her. Because Big Brother Ning was once Little Dei’s Dao Companion, I wanted to stop him from holding Little Dei responsible, so….”

Ning Cheng felt speechless. Looks like this woman truly had no shame at all. However, he also knew that he couldn’t deal with Xu Yingdei right away. He and Striking Order were currently in the testing phase of their ‘friendship’. At this time, if he did anything to Xu Yingdei, even if Striking Order remained silent today, it would be equivalent to slapping Striking Order’s face in public.

With Striking Order’s calculating character, if an ordinary woman had dared to treat him this way, Striking Order would have killed her long before giving her the chance to talk, rather than just slapping Xu Binglan and letting her apologise. From this, he could also tell that Striking Order Heavenly Emperor felt very concerned about Xu Binglan. Moreover, with the Mysterious Yellow Celestial River just established, not only did Striking Order need him as an ally, but he also required Striking Order as an ally.

When Striking Order heard Xu Binglan’s words, his eyes flashed in surprise. He already had a thing going on with Xu Binglan. But if Xu Binglan’s sister Xu Yingdei and Ning Cheng could rekindle that flame, wouldn’t they come even closer?

Seeing that Striking Order wanted to speak, Ning Cheng quickly guessed the intentions and immediately stopped him, “Brother Striking Order, let’s go in and talk.”

He and Striking Order thought of the same thing. But he didn’t want to voice those words in front of these two, lest they got some ideas. Besides, he would flat out reject Striking Order Heavenly Emperor’s offer. Regardless of what thoughts Striking Order had in his mind, now that he stopped Striking Order from raising the matter openly, it was much better than rejecting it outright.

As a Heavenly Emperor, playing around with women was quite a regular thing. Besides, why would he willingly refuse a chance to ‘deepen’ friendships by using such women? It’s just that Striking Order didn’t understand much about Ning Cheng’s personality.

However, Striking Order Heavenly Emperor controlled the Striking Order Starry Sky for many years. Therefore, as soon as Ning Cheng spoke those words, he immediately understood that Ning Cheng had thought nothing of Xu Yingdei. Because of this, Striking Order didn’t mention it again. Showing a smile, he spoke up, “Yes, yes, let’s go in and talk. Brother Ning, please….”

Having said that, Striking Order Heavenly Emperor led the way and personally escorted Ning Cheng inside.

“Little Dei, what’s going on?” Xu Binglan finally asked in a shocked voice, looking at Ning Cheng and Striking Order Heavenly Emperor’s backs.

“I don’t know either.” Xu Yingdei was also at a complete loss. She also couldn’t figure out what was going on. Even if Ning Cheng grew powerful, reaching a level where Striking Order Heavenly Emperor addressed him as a ‘brother’, shouldn’t be possible, right?

Xu Binglan’s expression turned heavy, pulling Xu Yingdei to a remote corner, she asked her again, “What is Ning Cheng’s origin? Don’t you know anything about it?”

Xu Yingdei hesitated for a while before speaking, “He is a bit mysterious and has always been strong. The Forsaken Land had sealed Yin Kongchan and my cultivation, we couldn’t even stretch out our spiritual consciousness, but he could. He always seemed to have some means to utilise whenever in danger, which I couldn’t grasp at all.”

After Xu Binglan heard Xu Yingdei’s words, she frowned, and only spoke up after a while, “This kid definitely has a huge secret on him. Otherwise, it wouldn’t be possible for Striking Order Heavenly Emperor to not only address him but also treat him as brothers. Strangely, with Striking Order Heavenly Emperor’s character, he didn’t use any hard tactics to look into him. Instead, he’s actually using such a method…..”

Xu Binglan looked she was talking to herself. Only after a long time did she raise her head. She stared at Xu Yingdei, and spoke with a quivering voice, “Striking Order definitely is not a kind-hearted man, nor is he a person influenced by feelings. For him to treat Ning Cheng this way, the only possibility is that…..”

Xu Yingdei also understood Xu Binglan’s implication, and spoke up in disbelief, “This, this shouldn’t be the case, right? How long has he been in the starry sky?”

“What’s not possible? I know Striking Order, that old sack, too well. If I couldn’t please him in bed, that son-of-a-bitch would have certainly killed me today. Ning Cheng has to be on the same level of power as him if not higher, it’s the only explanation to his attitude towards Ning Cheng. At the very least, Ning Cheng is as powerful as he is. For Ning Cheng to reach the level of strength no less than Striking Order, this Ning Cheng definitely is a monster……”

The more Xu Binglan spoke, the brighter the light grew in her eyes.

Xu Yingdei recalled the strength showcased by Ning Cheng in Graceful Star Mainland, and somewhat started to believe in her ancestor’s speculations and muttered, “It’s also possible that he was already powerful during his time in Graceful Star Mainland. He not only destroyed a major sect, and strengthened the Rainbow Fall Sword Sect, he also killed his way into our Severing Emotions Dao Sect, challenged the Heaven Alliance, and eventually reached the point that no one would even dare to get in his way…..”

“He killed his way into my Severing Emotions Dao Sect?” Xu Binglan looked at Xu Yingdei in amazement.

Xu Yingdei couldn’t keep it hidden anymore, and spoke about it, “Yes, he not only killed his way into the Severing Emotions Dao Sect, but he also successfully managed to get out…..”

The root cause of this incident was Xu Yingdei herself. Back then, she had truly fallen in love with Ning Cheng and had even wished to give up her little life to Ning Cheng. If she had not left the Forsaken Lands, she believed that she and Ning Cheng would have already become husband and wife. But unfortunately, fate itself didn’t want her together with Ning Cheng. When she was about to consummate with Ning Cheng, Yin Kongchan had suddenly interrupted them, and eventually, the three of them came out of the Forsaken Land. But because of the cultivation method she practised, she could not hesitate to perform emotion severing on Ning Cheng the moment they came out.

She didn’t say this before, but she really didn’t want to kill Ning Cheng after successfully completing the emotion severing, which was why she had left.

“You really are stupid. Why did you use Ning Cheng for emotion severing? You should have taken hold of him. If you had taken control of his heart, how could we be so miserable now? I have to take off my clothes to sleep with others, and use various means to please them, yet what does it bring us? People can still slap us around, force me to apologise.” Xu Binglan’s tone grew worse with each word she spoke.

Xu Yingdei weakly spoke up, “I was at the tipping point of emotion severing. If I hadn’t performed the emotion severing, it would have become tough for me to make any progress, even if I gave in to him later.”

“Bah, emotion severing, severing those damn emotions, you had a good man right in front of you, and you still felt afraid that you wouldn’t find a better cultivation method than that?” Xu Binglan cursed a few times under her breath and spoke with a gloomy voice.

Xu Yingdei mumbled in her heart ‘wasn’t this cultivation left behind by you?’ But how could she dare to talk back?

Xu Binglan remained angry for a long time before she suddenly said, “Little Dei, maybe you can go and rekindle things with him, maybe he will……”

Xu Yingdei didn’t wait for Xu Binglan to finish and immediately shook her head, “It’s impossible. I know a little about him, he eats soft food but refuses hard food[1]. It would be even more impossible with a woman who betrayed him. If I hadn’t protected him with my life a few times in that place, then even if I took off my clothes right in front of him, he wouldn’t show even the slightest of temptation or care.”

Xu Binglan grabbed Xu Yingdei’s hand and eagerly said, “It doesn’t matter, I will teach you some skills that will make his little man not want to stop. You saw how proud and arrogant Striking Order is, yet didn’t I put him under me? If not for that, he definitely would have killed me today.”

Xu Yingdei just shook her head and didn’t speak. Instead, she suddenly found a renewed hate for Yin Kongchan. If it weren’t for Yin Kongchan, she would have been Ning Cheng’s woman right now.

Seeing Xu Yingdei not speaking, Xu Binglan spoke with an almost feverish tone, “Maybe I should go take the lead first. I don’t believe that he would remain indifferent under my means…..”

“Ah….” Xu Yingdei looked at Xu Binglan in shock. She couldn’t believe what Xu Binglan just said. She was the founder of Severing Emotions Dao Sect; did she truly have no shame?

Seeing Xu Binglan about to say something, Xu Yingdei resolutely shook her head. If she let Xu Binglan continue, she might just come up with even more outrageous ideas. “I would rather die. I won’t do it.”

Seeing Xu Yingdei’s firm refusal, the frantic look in Xu Binglan’s eyes disappeared, and she gave a sigh, “In that case, we need to leave this place. If we continue to stay in Striking Order Starland, it truly will become a dead-end for us. Striking Order Heavenly Emperor is a ruthless person. The only reason he didn’t kill me right away is that he still has some affection towards me. In the future, he might actually decide to kill us to please that person surnamed Ning. Only when our cultivation reaches the Eternal Realm can we return and talk about revenge.”

Xu Yingdei looked in the direction Ning Cheng left and murmured after a long time, “Let’s leave.”

She understood what Xu Binglan wanted to say. If the two did not leave immediately, they would definitely face death in the future. For people like Striking Order Heavenly Emperor, killing people like the two of them was as easy as killing an ant.

……

Striking Order Heavenly Emperor had a simple accommodation compared to Levelled Heart Emperor Mountain. He poured a cup of spiritual tea for Ning Cheng and spoke apologetically, “Brother Ning, I have some ties to Xu Binglan. She’s probably worried that I would find her to settle accounts later, forcing her to leave immediately; I don’t think she will come back, alas……”

After finishing his words, Striking Order Heavenly Emperor gave another sigh before continuing, “Brother Ning, please give me some face. The next time you meet her, please spare her for my sake.”

Ning Cheng felt a little surprised in his heart, when did Striking Order Heavenly Emperor become so emotional? For an individual in an immoral relationship[2], was it really worth that much to plead with others for it? Striking Order Heavenly Emperor was a decisive person and usually took care not to talk about his private affairs. What’s more, didn’t Striking Order protect Xu Binglan once already, despite the two being in an improper relationship? Yet, he pleaded for her again, was that woman this important to him?

Moreover, Xu Binglan clearly had no choice but to leave, yet he didn’t even stop her.

“Looks like Brother Striking Order is a man who holds great love in his heart. Actually, I don’t have that big of a feud with her. But since Brother Striking Order said that, I will not pay attention to it.” Ning Cheng said with a slight smile. With such a request from Striking Order Heavenly Emperor, if he said no to it, then it would be equivalent to slapping his face. In fact, because of the pleadings from Striking Order, him impression about Striking Order actually improved by quite a bit.

“Many thanks, Brother Ning.” Striking Order deliberately cupped his fists towards Ning Cheng.

However, Ning Cheng suddenly realised something. Striking Order Heavenly Emperor had most likely tried to investigate him, learned something about his character, and then said those words on purpose.

Striking Order and Xu Binglan definitely had a thing going on with each other on the side. But if he had abandoned Xu Binglan for the sake of their friendship, it wouldn’t have made much of a favourable impression with Ning Cheng. On the contrary, it would have made him feel that Striking Order was not a person worthy of deep friendship, but just a person who only cared about his interests.

Striking Order struck Xu Binglan in front of him a few moments ago and now pleaded for Xu Binglan to him, all to make him look at Striking Order differently. People like these truly had a calculating mind.

After understanding this, Ning Cheng simply showed a smile and said, “These are just trivial matters, I came here for something else. One was to visit Brother Striking Order, and the other is to invite Brother Striking Order to the Ancient Shadow Temple.”

[1] The phrase ‘eats soft food, but refuses hard food’ is an idiom that means ‘amenable to coaxing but not coercion’.

[2] The phrase 露水夫妻 translates to ‘a couple in a short-lived, improper relationship’, which I guess is a refined way of saying ‘a physical/sexual relationship’.

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