Door of Luck and Fortune

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"The water is ready. Let me help you take a bath," Ji Luofei said as she came out again after Ning Cheng had sorted out some matters.

Although Ning Cheng had been in a relationship with Tian Muwan for two or three years, at most, it had only ever involved holding hands. Beyond that, he had never taken any further action. Now that Luo Fei was offering to help him bathe, Ning Cheng immediately felt awkward. He was sure that the previous Ning Cheng had never let Luo Fei bathe him, not because he shared his current thoughts, but because of Luo Fei's looks.

"I can do it myself..." Ning Cheng quickly said.

Sensing Luo Fei's puzzled gaze, Ning Cheng hurriedly got up from the couch, shakily supporting himself on the edge of the bed and said, "Look, I can already move around on my own."

Although he had been tortured for a while in prison, after returning and drinking some water, Ning Cheng was barely able to move.

Seeing that Ning Cheng could indeed stagger into the bath, Luo Fei became even more puzzled. In her memory, Ning Cheng would absolutely never refuse someone serving him. For Ning Cheng, it was either a beating for poor service or never uttering the words that he could manage on his own. Could it be that Ning Cheng, knowing his family was ruined and everyone dead, had come to understand many things better than before?

However, these doubts were quickly set aside by Luo Fei, who did not bother with Ning Cheng's bathing and busied herself making some rice porridge instead. Ning Cheng had practiced cultivation for many years but was unable to accumulate True Yuan. This was certainly because he was unwilling to endure hardships for cultivation, but also because of his extremely poor aptitude. Now that the Ning family was ruined and deceased, Luo Fei could still predict Ning Cheng's miserable fate, even if he didn't die in prison.

Though she was Ning Cheng's wife in name, they weren't actually married, and since she was already at the third level of Building Foundation Realm, once she advanced to the fourth level, she would be specifically trained by the academy. Even if she did not give up on Ning Cheng, the academy would not allow her to be with him. As a cultivator at the fourth level of Building Foundation Realm, continuing to be with Ning Cheng, given his current situation, would not be helping him, but rather hastening his death.

As for not being with Ning Cheng, Luo Fei had no objections. Ning Cheng had always been extremely cruel to her, either hitting or scolding her, never once looking at her properly. She had saved Ning Cheng and taken care of him thoroughly because she owed the Ning family.

In Luo Fei's view, Ning Cheng was unable to cultivate and so down on his luck that if she hadn't saved him, he would have only been waiting to die. She knew she would not continue to marry Ning Cheng, but also wouldn't marry someone else. The reason she had offered to help Ning Cheng bathe was because she was his fiancée and, moreover, she was currently the only one who could help him. Now that Ning Cheng could move on his own, she naturally would not insist on helping.

What she could do for Ning Cheng now was to help him establish a comfortable living environment before she advanced to the fourth level of Building Foundation Realm. With her cultivation aptitude, even if her appearance was ruined, she would ultimately leave Cang Qin Country. Ning Cheng would inevitably just be a passerby in her life.

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After Ning Cheng bathed, although he felt somewhat weak, he actually felt better than before. When he came out, Luo Fei had already prepared the rice porridge for him. After eating some porridge, Ning Cheng finally regained some color and strength.

"Here's this for you. I'm heading to the academy. Now that you can move around, you can take care of your own food," Luo Fei said as she took out a pouch of silver coins and handed it to Ning Cheng after seeing that he was indeed all right, except for being weak.

Ning Cheng did not accept the silver coins Luo Fei offered. He understood her intentions. Luo Fei had been cultivating at the Second Star Academy of Cang Qin and was one of its better disciples. But he remembered that he too was a student of this academy and immediately said, "If you're going to the academy, of course, I'll go too. "

Luo Fei suddenly stared at Ning Cheng in surprise. Ning Cheng had only ever gone to the academy under the compulsion of his grandfather. Now that the Ning family was practically gone, and he no longer had any restraints, why would he think of going to the academy? Besides, with his aptitude, even if he went to the academy, he probably wouldn't be able to learn much, right?

Seeing the expression on Luo Fei's face, Ning Cheng realized that he had spoken too hastily. He had only thought that if he had no strength in this place, he probably wouldn't live long. So when Luo Fei mentioned going to the academy, he immediately wanted to go too. But he forgot that he had never wanted to attend the academy before and that, with his lack of aptitude, there was little point in going.

"Uh... I was afraid of my grandfather's rebuke, and it just occurred to me that grandfather is no longer with us..." Ning Cheng said sentimentally, and thoughts of the heartless Tian Muwan naturally came to mind, lending genuine pathos to his expression.

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Ji Luofei's eyes reddened when she heard Ning Cheng speak of his grandfather. If it weren't for Ning Cheng's grandfather, there would be no Ji Luofei today. Now that Ning Cheng brought up his grandfather again, Ji Luofei was moved as well. She stuffed the silver coins into Ning Cheng's hand, "You need to rest and recover now. I'll try to come back to see you when I can. When you're feeling better, if you still want to go to the academy, I'll take you there."

After speaking, Ji Luofei turned and left the stone house, quickly disappearing from sight.

Ning Cheng looked at the silver coins in his hand, which were not many, and then at the low, pitch-black stone house and realized that Ji Luofei was not living well.

He would have to live in this place in the future, and he absolutely could not rely on Ji Luofei. Ning Cheng at this moment was not the naive and carefree Ning Cheng of before. He could feel the hardship of surviving here; this was a world where the strong preyed on the weak. Not to mention that without strength, it was difficult to survive or one could only live under the feet of others—even a family as powerful as the Ning family had been wiped out overnight.

He was well aware that once Ji Luofei advanced to the fourth level of Qi Gathering, she would leave him. It didn't matter that they were not married, even if they had been. A fourth-level Qi Gathering cultivator in Cang Qin Country was an important figure to cultivate, and they would definitely not allow a useless person like him to follow them.

Unless he also reached the fourth level of Qi Gathering. Although he had the Ning family's cultivation methods, he lacked the aptitude. He had been cultivating for many years and had not been able to gather Qi, let alone reach the fourth level of Qi Gathering.

Even if he couldn't cultivate, he had to find a way to survive. Ning Cheng silently made a resolution and sighed. It was a pity that he couldn't cultivate. If he could, perhaps one day he would reach the Building Foundation Realm, and then find a way to return to Earth.

Ning Cheng could not cultivate, but that didn't mean he was ignorant about the stages of cultivation. He knew there were nine major realms of cultivation, with eighty-one minor realms. But the highest realm he understood was the Building Foundation Realm. According to his memories, Cang Qin Country once had a master of the Building Foundation Realm.

The cultivation realms Ning Cheng understood were only the first three layers: Qi Gathering, True Condensation, and Building Foundation. At the Qi Gathering Realm, one gathers Qi in the meridians, and it is divided into nine levels depending on how much Qi is gathered. Ji Luofei was currently at the third level of Qi Gathering, and the divide between the third and fourth levels was significant. Despite many cultivators being at the third level in Cang Qin's Second Star Academy, the number at the fourth level dropped sharply.

When a cultivator's Qi reaches a certain level, they advance to the True Condensation Realm, where Qi begins to transform into True Yuan. The True Condensation Realm also has nine levels, and the thicker the True Yuan, the more profound the cultivation. Both the dean and the vice-dean of Cang Qin's Second Star Academy were at the True Condensation Realm, and their power in Cang Qin Country was immense.

As for the Building Foundation Realm, there were none left in Cang Qin Country now.

Ning Cheng, from Earth, had heard various legends about cultivation. Moreover, there were people on Earth who could cultivate inner Qi, so the fact that people on Yixing Continent could cultivate did not surprise him. Of course, this was because he had not yet learned that cultivation at higher levels would surpass his imagination.

Ning Cheng knew he had poor aptitude and could not cultivate. Added to this, his body was also in poor condition; even though he could remember some of the Ning family's cultivation methods, he had no thought of practicing them. To survive here, the first thing he needed to do was to heal his body.

After Ji Luofei returned to the academy, there was no more news from her. Ning Cheng had never left the stone house either; aside from resting inside, he spent time exercising in the front courtyard of the stone house to strengthen his body.

A few days later, although Ning Cheng still seemed somewhat frail, he had slowly recovered some vitality. At least, he no longer felt weak. Ning Cheng felt that he could go out and take a look around. At the very least, he needed to understand the environment of Cang Qin Country's capital – what could he do to survive here in the future?

(Updates around 12 p.m. and 7 p.m. are tomorrow's schedule, not today's. This chapter thanks you for many recommendations, rewards today, and the increase in speed of collections. After the new chapter is updated, I still need to ask for recommendations and collections for the new book, thank you!)

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