Chapter 8

With a "clang," a rusted iron gate was opened, the reverberation of the gate being blocked by the surrounding ancient buildings, lingering on and on.

After a dozen breaths, a young man with his head drooping was dragged out from behind the iron gate by two prison guards. This young man, who seemed to have stopped breathing, had arms that were so thin they were nothing but bones. From his tattered, bloodstained clothes, it was evident what kind of torture and suffering he had endured.

With a "thud," the emaciated man was thrown to the ground by the two prison guards, raising a cloud of dust, and then there was no more movement.

"Is this kid dead?" A short and fat prison guard asked, staring at the young man who lay motionless on the ground.

The other prison guard nodded, "He should be dead. Who would have thought he would be so reckless as to be disrespectful to Miss Jian. Now, not only has the Ning family been destroyed, but he has also found his own release, which is what he deserved."

"Old Hui, be careful with your words. Let's drag him out and deal with him first," the short and fat prison guard warned.

Hearing the short and fat prison guard's words, the one called Old Hui involuntarily shrank his head and was about to go and pull up the man who had no more breath, preparing to drag him away.

At this moment, a somewhat weak voice called out from the side, "Big brothers, I want to take my husband away."

Only then did the two talking prison guards notice a woman standing to the side, dressed in coarse linen. Although she was dressed in coarse linen, one could still vaguely see her extraordinary grace. The only regret was that her face was disfigured, partially hidden by her slightly messy hair, making people unwilling to look at her a second time.

Both prison guards recognized who this woman was; she was one of the two survivors of the Ning family.

The entire Ning family had been seized, and the only survivors were the old steward Ning Gao and this woman. Ning Gao, the steward of the Ning family, had escaped a disaster because he was away from Cang Qin on business when the Ning family was seized. This woman was the daughter-in-law of the Ning family, the wife of the emaciated man who had just been thrown out of the prison, named Ji Luofei. She had escaped the disaster because she stayed at the Cang Qin Second Star Academy.

Of course, this was also because Ji Luofei had little connection with the Ning family. She had married into the Ning family because the Ning and Ji families were old friends, and she and Ning Cheng had been betrothed since childhood. However, the Ji family had mysteriously declined, leaving only a disfigured Ji Luofei. Even so, Ning Cheng's grandfather, Ning Hongchang, still took Ji Luofei into the family, planning to marry them after Ning Cheng truly gathered his qi.

Unfortunately, Ning Cheng's talent was extremely poor, and he had been unable to gather his qi for many years. Not only that, but he often beat and scolded the disfigured Ji Luofei. Fortunately, as a homeless daughter-in-law, Ji Luofei always endured, never saying much. This time, after returning from the academy and learning that the Ning family had been destroyed, she came to the prison immediately. She had intended to ask if Ning Cheng could be released, but she never expected that Ning Cheng had already lost his breath and been thrown out of the prison by the guards.

Seeing the expressions of the two prison guards, Ji Luofei did not wait for them to speak but took out a dozen silver coins and handed them over, "Big brothers, my husband is gone, I..."

"Alright, alright, drag him away. It's too ugly to leave him here," the short and fat prison guard took the silver coins and waved his hand impatiently.

They were originally going to deal with Ning Cheng's body, but they did not expect someone to come and handle it, and even give them silver coins. This kind of good thing, they would not refuse.

Hearing this, Ji Luofei quickly picked up Ning Cheng and sped up, quickly disappearing from the prison gate.

"This Ji Luofei, if not for her disfigurement, would have been a beauty," the other prison guard tossed the silver coin in his hand and said in a critical tone, looking at Ji Luofei's back.

"Stop talking nonsense. Ji Luofei is at least from the Cang Qin Second Star Academy. Even if she is ugly, it's not our turn," the short and fat prison guard patted the shoulder of the talking prison guard and pulled him back into the iron gate. With another "clang," the iron gate closed again.

...

Ning Xiaocheng smelled an extremely pleasant fragrance. When he opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was a white neck. In the next moment, Ning Xiaocheng realized that he was being carried by a woman, and the fragrance was coming from her.

That's not right, he remembered that after being rejected by Tian Muwan, he was in a terrible mood and ended up walking the wrong way, ending up on an overpass. Then a yellow light from the sky hit him, and... that was it.

Could it be that he wasn't dead? What was going on?

Just as Ning Xiaocheng thought this, various pieces of information flooded his mind. He had been reborn.

What shocked Ning Xiaocheng was that the body he had been reborn into was originally named Ning Cheng.

He was shocked because his original name was also Ning Cheng. He had often had a nightmare where he saw himself in a very strange place, being tricked and thrown into prison, then tortured to death. Although it was just a dream, Ning Cheng still changed his name to Ning Xiaocheng.

He never expected that after all the twists and turns, he was still called Ning Cheng, and he had really been reborn in the environment of his dream.

Ning Xiaocheng wanted to raise his hand to wipe the cold sweat from his forehead, but the woman carrying him looked back and did not say much.

"Sorry, I don't have the strength to walk," Ning Xiaocheng said apologetically when the woman looked back at him. He did feel a bit uncomfortable being carried by a woman.

"The Ning family is gone, and you are lucky to be alive," the woman said calmly, as if even if Ning Xiaocheng had really died, she would still have this calm attitude.

Ning Xiaocheng fell silent. He had already sorted out some fragmented information. He should now be called Ning Cheng again, the only surviving member of the Ning family in Cang Qin. Ning Cheng was Ning Cheng, after all, he was originally called Ning Cheng.

The Ning family was a medium-sized noble family in Cang Qin, but it had few members. Ning Cheng's parents went to the Mango Sea to search for spiritual items when he was very young and never returned. Ning Cheng had always lived with his grandfather, Ning Hongchang, in the capital of Cang Qin, Cang Le City.

Although the Ning family was large, there were few people. Ning Cheng, of course, became the first person in the Ning family, and Ning Hongchang never managed Ning Cheng. All the bad things Ning Cheng did in Cang Le City were taken care of by Ning Hongchang. Cang Le City was full of nobles and aristocrats, and although Ning Hongchang was an elder of Cang Qin, he was still a bit inferior to those nobles and aristocrats.

Finally, one day, Ning Cheng got into trouble that even Ning Hongchang could not handle. He had offended the beloved daughter of the Jian family in Cang Qin, Jian Sujie. Not to mention that the Jian family was beyond the Ning family's reach, even Jian Sujie's fiancé, Qiu Yingguang, was beyond the Ning family's reach.

Thinking about this, Ning Cheng sighed. The result of his inability to handle the situation was that he was thrown into prison. Ning Hongchang had exhausted all his connections and wealth to save him, but he was not saved, and instead, the entire Ning family was destroyed. This news was learned from the prison guards, and it could be said that the Ning family was destroyed because of him.

After Ning Cheng sorted out these matters, he sighed again. In this world, there was no such thing as reason; whoever had the bigger fist was the reason.

At the same time, he also understood who the woman carrying him was. This disfigured woman was his fiancée, named Ji Luofei, somewhat similar to a child bride on Earth.

The Ji family was an immigrant household in Cang Qin. Because Ji Luofei's grandfather and Ning Cheng's grandfather had a good relationship, they helped Ning Cheng and Ji Luofei become betrothed. Later, the Ji family mysteriously declined, leaving only a disfigured Ji Luofei. However, Ning Cheng's grandfather, Ning Hongchang, still took Ji Luofei into the Ning family, planning to help them get married after Ning Cheng gathered his qi.

Ning Hongchang indulged Ning Cheng in other matters, but he was firm about marrying Ji Luofei. The original Ning Cheng was very dissatisfied with the disfigured Ji Luofei and often beat and scolded her. Fortunately, Ji Luofei endured everything and never contradicted Ning Cheng.

Moreover, Ji Luofei was different from Ning Cheng. She had talent and could cultivate. Not only that, but with the help of the Ning family, she entered the Cang Qin Second Star Academy and was already a cultivator at the third level of qi gathering. In Cang Qin, anyone who could cultivate was called a cultivator. Once a cultivator reached the fourth level of qi gathering, their status would rise sharply.

At this moment, Ji Luofei had already carried him into a very low and dark stone house. Although the stone house was low, its area was not small, and it had everything it needed. There was even a small courtyard with a deep well.

"How was the Ning family destroyed?" Ning Cheng suddenly asked again. Even if it involved himself, he had to get to the bottom of this matter. Although he guessed that the Jian and Qiu families were behind it, he had to ask clearly.

"You did it yourself, why ask me?" Ji Luofei answered simply and then put Ning Cheng down.

After saying that, she poured a cup of water and fed it to Ning Cheng, then said, "I'll go heat water for you to bathe. Forget some things; knowing them won't do you any good."

Ning Cheng watched Ji Luofei go to heat the water and did not continue to ask. He understood what Ji Luofei meant. The more he knew, the faster he would die. Even if he knew nothing, whether he could survive in this place was another matter.

He did not know if Ji Luofei had added something to the cup of water, but after drinking it, Ning Cheng felt a bit of strength return to his body.

Ning Cheng sat on the old wooden bed, thinking about his current situation and his sister, Ning Ruolan. At the same time, he really did not understand why Tian Muwan had treated him that way. According to his understanding of Tian Muwan, she was definitely not a superficial girl.

(For the first month of the new book, updates are limited to 200,000 words to avoid being kicked out of the ranking. I will try to update as much as possible, at least two chapters a day. Once the new book month is over, our updates will increase sharply. Thank you to the sponsors Zhenfo Pi Hong and StAdMax for their continued support. The strongest ending was updated yesterday, and the extra chapters will be added after the new book month is over. I remember I owe two chapters.

Starting tomorrow, the first chapter will