Chapter 8: Gathering Qi in Three Layers

  Ning Cheng didn't expect that asking a question would result in such an attitude, so he could only prepare to continue down to the fifth floor to ask around. The sixth floor was much larger than the seventh floor, and occasionally people could be seen entering and exiting the training rooms, unlike the seventh floor where no one could be seen entering or exiting.

  "Wait a minute." Ning Cheng was stopped by someone at the staircase entrance,

  "Are you calling me?" Ning Cheng turned his head to see a boy a few years older than him, who seemed to have just come out of the training room. The boy's skin was much darker than Ning Cheng's, and he had a smile at the corner of his mouth, apparently without any malice.

  Ning City knew that any one of these cultivating students had a higher status than him, this handyman. To avoid unnecessary trouble, he didn't even think about asking such people questions, nor did he plan to chat with these students much. In the Cang Qin country, most students who could enter this college were not ordinary, and Ning City couldn't afford to offend any of them.

  "I just heard what you said, so you must be the one who cleans the training room, right?" The boy said directly.

  Ning Cheng hastily replied, "Yes, I'm here for the first time and don't know where to eat, so I came to ask."

  "You not only don't know where to eat, it seems you also don't know the rules here. Remember from now on, this staircase is off-limits for janitors, if you're caught by some students or law enforcement, you'll be skinned alive."

  Ning Cheng was shocked after hearing the boy's words. He had just come down from the seventh floor, and he had taken the main staircase. Moreover, Ji Luofei hadn't told him that the main staircase couldn't be used? If there really were such rules, this boy hadn't reminded him either; it seemed like his luck was running out.

  "Thanks for telling me, friend, or else I would have been in danger." Ning Cheng said gratefully.

  The boy smiled and said, "Nothing much, I used to sweep the cultivation room too. After doing it for seven years, I finally cultivated to the second layer of Qi gathering, then was discovered by the academy and became a formal disciple. Now I'm already at the fourth layer of Qi gathering. You work hard, maybe one day you'll be like me. Remember, from now on, when entering or exiting the cultivation tower, only use the side door."

  After finishing, the boy pointed to a very hidden small door. "That's the side door, each floor has one. After you go in, you can directly reach the back of the cultivation tower. At the back of the cultivation tower, there is a place to eat. The money for eating is earned by yourself, never go to find Old Mu, otherwise you will definitely die. Good luck."

  The boy finished speaking and didn't mention his own name, then went downstairs on his own.

  Ning Cheng knew that the other party had no intention of getting to know him. However, this boy's pointing out these things was equivalent to saving his life, and Ning Cheng was extremely grateful to this boy in his heart.

  Seeing the stairs of the building seemed to have footsteps coming again, Ning City hurriedly walked to the small door at that corner and opened it and flashed in.

  Behind the small door was an extremely dark place with only a narrow staircase passage that looked like an escape route from a high-rise building on Earth.

  All the way down the stairs, Ning City only discovered that he was already behind the Cultivation Tower. The back of the Cultivation Tower is also inside the college, but there are very few people coming here, and there is only a narrow winding path. On both sides of the path are towering trees, and in the gaps between the tree shadows, you can still see many students coming and going from the college. Some students even deliberately drilled into this small path and hurried forward along the path.

  Ning Cheng followed the small path and after about half a minute, he saw a narrow gate with a stone house beside it. Inside the stone house was a middle-aged man who didn't seem to care about the students entering and exiting through the small gate, looking like just a gatekeeper.

  As soon as Ning Cheng walked out of the small gate, he was immediately stunned by the prosperity in front of him. This was simply a market where everything could be found, and it was bustling with noise.

  There are all kinds of shops, snack stalls, and street vendors. They're just all very low-end, far inferior to the main streets in the center of Canglan City. This place is so prosperous, with so many people, that Ning Cheng even suspects that Ji Luo Fei doesn't know about this place at all, or at least he didn't have any memories of it before.

  A huge sign stands in the most conspicuous place, with arrows on the sign pointing to various venues.

  The first one was not a commercial building, nor was it a law enforcement or pharmacy, but a Douguo. Ning Cheng had never heard of the name Douguo before, and his curiosity grew stronger. He followed the direction of the arrow pointing to Douguo, and after more than ten minutes, a huge circular building appeared in front of him.

  Ning Cheng stopped in his tracks, seeing two people blocking the entrance of the circular building, apparently wanting to collect a fee. He still had some silver coins on him, which was his living expenses for later, and he didn't want to waste them on this unclear cauldron.

  Just as Ning Cheng was about to turn around and leave, several people walked out of a door beside the circular building, and their discussion caught his attention.

  "Watching those barbarians fight is really pointless. Today's silver coins were lost in vain, didn't see anything exciting and still lost money."

  "The last time Ugly Girl Ji and Gu Fei had a battle of wits, that was truly exciting. I didn't expect Gu Fei to not be Ugly Girl Ji's match."

  "Ji Luofei is ugly, but she knows the importance of cultivation. She defeated Gu Fei and got an Aggregation Stone. An Aggregation Stone, just thinking about it makes me jealous. However, she seems to be seriously injured as well. Once Gu Fei's brother Gu Yiming returns, she'll probably spit out what she swallowed. Even if Gu Yiming doesn't return, Gu Fei won't swallow this insult either."

  "An ugly girl doesn't necessarily mean that, she just disfigured herself. Otherwise, who in the academy has a better figure than hers? Even Jian Su'e is not as good as..."

  "Shut up, you want to die? Dare to speak ill of Teacher Jian's sister."

  ……

  A few people gradually went away, and Ning Cheng's fist in his hand had already clenched with a green vein. Although Ning Cheng did not go into the fighting pot, he could already imagine that inside should be a bloody and brutal fighting scene, equivalent to an underground black boxing match. He couldn't think that Ji Luofei's aggregation stone was obtained from this place with great difficulty, and left behind serious aftereffects.

  That's Gu Fei's brother Gu Yi Ming, and according to these people, Gu Fei himself didn't want to let Ji Luo Fei off.

  Ning Cheng didn't have the mood to continue strolling around, so he hastily sold some dry rations and returned to the seventh floor of the Cultivation Tower. He wanted to speed up his cultivation, and quickly reach the fourth layer of Qi Gathering. In this place, strength meant dignity.

  The seventh floor of the Cultivation Tower had fewer students coming to cultivate, so Ning City cleaned up several cultivation rooms and then locked himself in a small stone house to start cultivating.

  Students who cultivate in the practice room, once the practice room is closed, the spiritual energy inside will increase exponentially. Ning Cheng didn't have such treatment, his small stone house was originally like that, and after closing it remained the same.

  When Ning City began to gather momentum, a new true energy flow direction appeared in his mind again. With the help of the Hidden Truth Technique, Ning City did not hesitate this time and directly discarded the cultivation method on the Ning Family's thin volume, cultivating according to the method that appeared in his own mind.

  The external spiritual energy is thin, which has no effect on Ning City at all. As he began to cultivate, the elixir field provided a more pure and dense spiritual source than before, allowing Ning City to continuously cleanse and open up the meridians throughout his body.

  Ning Cheng, having had the previous experience, was not panicked this time. He discovered that using the cultivation method that appeared in his own consciousness was more effective than the Ning family's cultivation manual. Whether it was the speed of true energy flowing through the meridians or other aspects, they all improved by tens of times, if not more.

  When Ning Cheng woke up again, he was already at the second layer of gathering aura, and a large amount of impurities had seeped out of his body once more.

  Feeling the flow of true energy stronger than the first layer of Qi gathering, Ning City knew that he had unhesitatingly advanced to the second layer of Qi gathering. Calculating the time, he found that he had been cultivating for two days and two nights in a row.

  Apart from being hungry, there was only that kind of true energy fluctuation. Ning Cheng didn't dare to continue cultivating, and he had already made a mistake, not having gone to clean the cultivation room for two days.

  Fortunately, he also knew that few people practiced the seventh layer, and Mu Lao would not really come to manage him. Ning Cheng did not immediately go out to clean up the practice room, but instead continued to practice a new technique, the Dust Removal Technique. From then on, every time he finished practicing, he should use the Dust Removal Technique to remove the impurities from his body, rather than going downstairs to find water to wash with.

  On the third day at dawn, Ning Cheng finally used the Cleaning Technique to clean himself up, then went to sweep the cultivation room.

  The seventh floor's training room was indeed as he had thought, with not many people coming to train. Even if he hadn't come to clean for three days, there were still several empty and clean training rooms available.

  ……

  In the following days, Ning City hid in the seventh layer to cultivate and took advantage of cleaning up the cultivation room to practice various spells. The only regret was that when he practiced spells in the cultivation room, there was no spiritual energy support.

  Time passed quickly, and in the blink of an eye, ten days had passed. During this time, Ji Lu Fei did not come to find Ning Cheng even once. Ning Cheng also rarely went out, putting all his mind on cultivation.

  However, after Ning Cheng advanced to the third layer of Qi Congregation, he became somewhat flustered. After cultivating to the third layer of Qi Congregation, he could no longer feel that mysterious spiritual support within his body. Ning Cheng was very clear that without the support of that mysterious spiritual source in his body, even if he cultivated for a lifetime, he would not be able to advance from the third layer of Qi Congregation to the fourth layer.

  In the following days, Ning Cheng repeatedly cultivated, but he could no longer have the situation where his body provided a pure and thick spiritual energy support. His cultivation stagnated, but several simple spells had already been successfully cultivated. Just after advancing to the third layer of Qi gathering, under the guidance of the modified Gong Fa, he even transformed the fireball technique into the advanced fire knife technique.

  Even so, it still makes Ning City anxious and uneasy. Without the support of a mysterious spiritual source, he can only stay at the third layer of Qi gathering for his entire life.

  Ning Cheng decided to go out and look for Ji Luo Fei. His cultivation had not made any progress, and he did not want to continue staying in this stone house anymore. He had just tidied up a bit and had not yet opened the door when he heard a "boom" sound - his small stone house's door was directly kicked open by someone with their foot.