Winged Dragon Family
A group of people were walking in the street. Ye Ziyun and Nie Li were walking right behind the team.
"Since when have you known Chen Linjian?" Ye Ziyun asked. Looking at Nie Li, she seemed to be trying to see through him.
"I don't know him that well, we've only chatted once in the library." Nie Li shrugged.
"And he actually allowed you to join?" Ye Ziyun was surprised. Chen Linjian and her could be considered childhood acquaintances. They had known each other since they were young. Although the two of them couldn't be considered to be very close, their relationship wasn't that bad either. Chen Linjian's prideful character resulted in him rarely placing his peers into his eyes. Of course, Chen Linjian wasn't an annoying guy, otherwise, Ye Ziyun wouldn't have bothered with him.
Thinking about all the mysteries surrounding Nie Li, Ye Ziyun understood it all. Although she didn't know what method Nie Li had used to convince Chen Linjian, since Nie Li was very resourceful, nothing was difficult to him.
Seeing how lovely Nie Li and Ye Ziyun were chatting and laughing away, this almost drove Shen Yue mad with jealousy.
In his view, Ye Ziyun could only laugh with him!
Nie Li supposedly snatched his spot!
Nie Li had to die! Shen Yue's expression turned ruthless. After going into the wilds, Nie Li could give up on going back to Glory City! But this matter couldn't be known to others, especially Ye Ziyun. Shen Yue had already been mulling over on how to deal with Nie Li in his heart.
The group of people left Glory City, advancing forward on a rugged path in the St. Ancestral Mountains.
The trip to the Ancient Orchid City Ruins would take about five to six days of travelling. It was quite possible that they would be subjected to demon beast attacks while camping in the wild.
However, Nie Li had a natural and precise intuition for dangers, combined with his experiences from his previous life. Although he currently wasn't even at the Bronze rank yet, most ordinary demon beasts wouldn't be able to harm him. Not to mention that the route that they were taking was a rather safer route.
The strength among these 39 people was relatively decent. Six had reached the Silver rank and the rest were all mostly above the 3-star Bronze rank.
Even Ye Ziyun had reached 1-star Bronze rank. Therefore, within the group, only Nie Li's and Shen Yue's strength hadn't reached the Bronze rank yet. They were the weakest on the team.
However, the news of Ye Ziyun reaching the 1-star Bronze rank was not openly known to others, so most were still unaware of it yet.
After travelling for over 10 hours the group was walking through a rugged mountain road. The evening was nearing and the group arrived at a wide flat land. Chen Linjian glanced at the surroundings. With those tall trees, the place would be quite hidden. "Today, we'll be camping here!", he said.
Shen Yue walked towards Ye Ziyun's side and said "Ziyun, why don't we set out camp together? This way I can protect you."
"No need!" Ye Ziyun's snow white face showed traces of displeasure. She didn't want to camp together with Shen Yue. Since the last incident, her image of Shen Yue had fallen from bad to worse.
Ye Ziyun chose an area and camped together with several girls. Although Nie Li wished to camp together with Ye Ziyun, he didn't go invite her like a snub as Shen Yue had done. Therefore, Nie Li found a rather remote area and camped right below the tree's shade.
The night deepened and a burst of insect sounds could be heard from the forest.
Drifting into his thoughts, Nie Li recalled the past. He wondered how his family was doing. Although he longed to return and visit his parents and relatives, he still endured that feeling. The Holy Orchid Institute was a boarding school. Other than members of the Major Families and Noble Families, any other students who secretly returned home would be punished. Furthermore, if his family knew that he had run away from school, they would also punish him severely.
Only after the test in two months would the students have one month of time or so to go back home and reunite with their families.
Before the destruction of Glory City, even though Nie Li's family had been a little economically tight and in dire straits, they had still gotten by day to day.
Thinking of the destruction scenes of Glory City, Nie Li tightly clenched his fist. In just a few years of time, Glory City would be under the mad attacks of the demon beasts. He definitely had to become a super expert before that happened, at least reaching the Black Gold rank or even the Legend rank. Only then could he help Glory City avoid this crisis.
Therefore, time was very tight and he wanted to go according to his plan; improving his strength step by step.
The next thing he needed to do was to get that Spiritual Lamp! Because that Spiritual Lamp was essential for his future training!
Nie Li sat down under a tree's shade, and operated his soul realm. His soul realm seemed to have something hidden in it, which caused Nie Li to be extremely curious about it. In his previous life, he hadn't had this kind of feeling when he had been practising. Even now, with Nie Li's current cultivation, he was still unable to explore the depths of his soul realm.
His soul realm was originally misty, without an actual shape. With the strengthening of Nie Li's soul force, the soul realm shone a faint cyan light, slowly forming into a spherical shape.
With in-depth cultivation and the strengthening of his soul force, his soul realm's shape would start to have some changes as the Heavenly God technique slowly played its part.
The night was deadly silent.
Currently, in Glory City's Winged Dragon Family.
--- Xiao Ning'er's Room ---
At this moment, Xiao Ning'er was quietly staring out the window. In the noon, she had received a letter from Nie Li saying that he was going to leave for some time, and instructing her to rest well at home and also giving her a prescription. After being massaged twice by Nie Li and having practiced the Lightning Winged Dragon technique, her illness had gotten a lot better. Therefore, there wouldn't be any problem in this short period of time.
Later, Xiao Ning'er learnt that Nie Li had gone to explore with Chen Linjian's group and that Ye Ziyun had also gone along. Xiao Ning'er felt resentment. Why hadn't Nie Li brought her along?
"Miss, Master asked for your presence in the Main Hall!" A servant hurriedly ran in, speaking in an anxious tone.
Xiao Ning'er frowned, not knowing what had happened. She stood up and walked towards the Main Hall.
--- Winged Dragon Family's Main Hall ---
The house master of the Winged Dragon Family, Xiao Yunfeng, was currently sitting on the front seat in the main hall. The two columns on the sides sat a total of six middle aged men. They were the cousins of Xiao Yunfeng and the Elders of the Winged Dragon Family.
"Father, is there anything for which you need me?" Xiao Ning'er said, slightly bending herself towards Xiao Yunfeng and then sweeping her eyes past the six elders.
"We called you here because there's something I want to ask you." Xiao Yunfeng's face remained somewhat unhappy. Xiao Ning'er knew that this must've been because of the few uncles. Since he had become the house master of the Winged Dragon Family, the three uncles hadn't been on good terms with Xiao Yunfeng.
The elder Xiao Yi, sitting on the side faintly laughed, "Niece Ning'er, I heard that some time ago, you paid a large amount of money to acquire quite a lot of Purple Haze Grass. Now that the price of Purple Haze Grass has already skyrocketed by several hundredfolds, I fear that the price of those Purple Haze Grasses has already reached the hundreds of millions. With so many demon spirit coins, our Winged Dragon Family's comeback wouldn't be so long from now. Niece Ning'er has made such huge contribution to the family, she really is the lucky star of our Winged Dragon Family!"
Hearing Xiao Yi's words, Xiao Ning'er understood what was going on. Xiao Yi had heard from somewhere that she had bought a large amount of Purple Haze Grass, so he had come to pressure her father, wanting to take a portion of the Purple Haze Grass!
Regarding this matter, Xiao Yunfeng was naturally unhappy about it. No matter how much Purple Haze Grass Xiao Ning'er had bought, this matter was not related to the family. This was Xiao Ning'er's personal action! Therefore, how the Purple Haze Grass was being disposed of had nothing to do with the family!
But Xiao Yi hadn't given up. He was fixed on having Xiao Ning'er give them an explanation.
Xiao Ning'er stood proudly, had a firm expression and said, "Elder Xiao Yi, I spent my own money to buy those Purple Haze Grasses, this matter doesn't concern the family, does it? Or is it that the herbs and armours bought by Elder Xiao Yi also need to be submitted to the family?"
"You…" Xiao Yi had never thought that the usually gentle Xiao Ning'er would refute him so fiercely.
What Xiao Yi didn't know was that Xiao Ning'er's image in the family had always been submissive. But after being in contact with Nie Li, Xiao Ning'er's heart had undergone slight, subtle changes. Nie Li had allowed her to understand one thing: when one encountered unfairness, one had to stand up and fight!
Xiao Yunfeng felt rather pleased upon hearing Xiao Ning'er's words. He then looked towards Xiao Yi saying "Xiao Yi, what Ning'er said is correct, I believe that this is not an obligation of the family!"
Xiao Yi did not give up and continued "This matter cannot be compared to ordinary matters, those Purple Haze Grasses are worth hundreds of millions or even billions of demon spirit coin. It can greatly alleviate the family crisis and we wouldn't be controlled by the Sacred Family anymore." Xiao Yi looked at Xiao Ning'er, temptingly, "If Ning'er contributes the Purple Haze Grass to the family, then Niece Ning'er wouldn't need to marry Shen Fei anymore!"
The truth was, Xiao Yi wasn't thinking about that. He was conning Xiao Ning'er to surrender the Purple Haze Grass first before deciding anything else. As for marrying Shen Fei or not, that didn't depend on their decision, but on the Sacred Family's.
The remaining five elders also agreed with Xiao Yi's suggestion. If the Purple Haze Grass was placed in Xiao Ning'er's hands, then it wouldn't have anything to do with them. But if it was contributed to the family, then the whole family would also benefit from it. Even the two elders that usually stood on Xiao Yunfeng's side also had the same thoughts.
Seeing the situation, Xiao Yunfeng guiltily glanced at Xiao Ning'er and sighed.
Xiao Ning'er felt wronged in her heart. Why did she need to be sacrificed every time the family experienced difficulties? Where did the others go to? Luckily Nie Li had already taken the Purple Haze Grass away from her. Xiao Ning'er said boldly and confidently, "Those Purple Haze Grass were bought on behalf of a friend, and everything was given to him before the price of Purple Haze Grass sky-rocketed. He has already passed me the money for buying those Purple Haze Grass, therefore, the Purple Haze Grass is already none of my business!"
"What?" Xiao Yi's face immediately turned ugly again.
Xiao Yunfeng looked at Xiao Ning'er and asked, " Ning'er, is this true?"
"En." Xiao Ning'er nodded her head and calmly replied, "It's the truth. Said Purple Haze Grass is already no longer in my hands!"
Xiao Yi's expression went gloomy, saying "What's the name of your friend and what is his background?"
"I promised him that I would keep it a secret!" Xiao Ning'er solemnly said. She definitely would not reveal Nie Li's name to others. She had already decided that, no matter how much pressure she suffered, she had to secure Nie Li's secret.