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Book 27, Twelve Palaces, Chapter 19 – Challenging the Daolord Cloudworld
Ji Ning tested out using the seven types of Dao water and Dao lightning in the privacy of his study, using them to form a Heptastar Duality Formation. Cultivators would often use lightning and water in joint formations. The treasures which Ning had purchased previously all had formations built into them, such as the Godwater Flagon of the Seven Flags which held a Seven Flags Formation.
After familiarizing himself with the formation, Ning calmed himself down and started to think back to the insights regarding the sword which he had gained in recent years. Slowly, his heart grew peaceful, calm, and empty.
A full day passed in the blink of an eye.
Ning opened his eyes, a hint of eagerness in them. "Time to try out the Daolord Cloudworld."
Ning left the study, then glanced at World God Pillsaint and Flamefairy Su Youji. The two were seated outside, drinking some wine, but when they saw Ning they immediately rose to their feet. Su Youji immediately said, "Master, are you going to the Daolord Cloudworld?"
"Yes." Ning nodded.
"Master." Pillsaint hurriedly said, "I've heard that quite a few of the acknowledged World-level cultivators of the Twelve Palaces went to the Daolord Cloudworld on the very first day. It seems the competition will be quite fierce… but I know that you will definitely succeed."
"You both know about it?" Ning was surprised. It seemed as though everyone knew about the Daolord Cloudworld trials.
"Although you didn't tell us about it, even an idiot would be able to figure it out. The Twelve Palaces don't exactly have that many acknowledged World-level cultivators! For so many of them to enter the Daolord Cloudworld on the exact same day is far too bizarre." World God Pillsaint looked towards Ning. "As I see it… you'll definitely succeed, Master. In fact, you might be number one. Those other fellows are nothing more than 'dirt chickens and clay dogs', of no worth whatsoever."
Pillsaint was such an adorable-looking figure that these words didn't seem offensive at all. Instead, he made them sound amusing.
"I hope you are right." Ning laughed. "Alright, time for me to go to the Daolord Cloudworld."
Su Youji and Pillsaint watched as Ning flew into the air towards the distant Daolord Cloudworld.
The Daolord Cloudworld was the tallest building in the entire Palace of the Sword, and its outer surface was that of four enormous layers of clouds.
"I'll do everything I can. Let's see how far I'll be able to make it." Ning craned his neck, staring upwards at the Daolord Cloudworld. Even though he had tried it out several times in recent years, those had all been merely for the sake of testing out some new sword-arts. He had never really gone all out.
Whoosh.
Ning took a single step forwards, moving deep into the layer of black mist and inside the Daolord Cloudworld.
"Swordlord Darknorth just went in."
"Now, all of our qualified Swordlords have entered."
"I wonder what's going on? All of the geniuses of the Twelve Palaces have gone inside recently." The black-armored Daolords patrolling off in the distance were all watching. News spread quite quickly within the Twelve Palaces.
The Daolord Cloudworld was split up into four levels. These levels were known as the Blackcloud World, the Azurecloud World, the Silvercloud World, and the Goldcloud World.
Cultivators of the Sword Palace would have to start from the Blackcloud World each time, because the main point of the Daolord Cloudworld was to help cultivators find suitable opponents.
The Azurecloud World. The white-robed Ji Ning was striding atop a long path formed from azure clouds, wielding a longsword in one hand. Right in front of him was a golem barring a path. The golem was shaped like a strange beast with four legs and was roughly as strong as a Daolord of the First Step.
Boom.
Sword-light swept against the golem's chest in a seemingly casual manner, but the golem was knocked flying backwards off its feet. This was Ning's 'Heavenbreaker stance' of the [Brightmoon] sword-art.
Swish.
Sword-light flashed again in a mysterious manner, causing many sword-shadows to appear in the air. There was no way to tell which attack was real and which attack was illusory. The edge of the sword sheared against the neck of a spider-shaped golem, and it couldn't help but crumple as it was sent flying backwards by Ning's sword-light.
Ning defeated opponent after opponent on the azure cloud path, but the more he defeated the stronger the new opponents became. In fact, even the total number of opponents began to increase as well. Ning, however, continued to merely use a single sword, and the only sword-art he used was his own [Brightmoon] sword-art.
"I've never finished going through the entire second level before." Ning's sword-arts had truly reached a profound level.
Each of the five stances of [Brightmoon] were actually stronger than the seventh stances of the [Heartsword] or the [Heartseal] sword-arts.
"It seems that at my current level of sword-arts, a single sword is enough to easily overcome this level." Ning was already able to see the distant end to this azure cloud path. He had distilled some of the essence of [Heartseal] and [Heartsword] sword-arts, then raised them to a higher level. When he used his own sword-arts, they carried an aura of cyclical reincarnation as well, making the five stances of [Brightmoon] naturally become illusory.
Slash!
A dazzling streak of sword-light split the air.
Ning's sword was like a comet that sped through the skies. It was the most beautiful thing in this world, and it seemed almost dreamlike. Ning's sword had reached an incredible level of speed! With a slash, it cut deep into the body of a golem. Generally speaking, most people would stay far away from golems and fight them from ad istance, but this was the final opponent which Ning had to deal with.
Swish! The sword-light stabbed through the golem's throat.
"Eh?" Ning was rather surprised. "It went through? I usually wasn't able to cut or pierce through the other golems."
Whoosh. The stabbed golem quickly retreated backwards, and a strange liquid began to flow out of its throat. The wound quickly disappeared, and the golem left the azure cloud path.
"I've finally reached the end of the path." Ning flew out of the azure cloud path. In front of him was a small island that was only a few square kilometers in size, and there was a suit of azure armor placed on the island.
Ning chuckled when he saw the suit of azure armor.
"Azure armor? It seems as though it is time for me to upgrade my outfit."
The first time one passed the Blackcloud World, a suit of black armor would be awarded. The first time a person overcame the Azurecloud World, a suit of azure cloud would be awarded. Ning had acquired his black armor long ago, which was a top-grade Dao armor. It wasn't even as useful as the aquaflect armor he had purchased during the treasure auction. The azure armor, however, was an Eternal-level treasure.
"C'mere." Ning stepped forward and accepted the azure armor, then sat down in the lotus position and began to slowly bind it while mentally preparing himself for the third level, the Silvercloud World.
The Silvercloud World…
World-level cultivators had absolutely no chance of making it to the end of this level! To make it past this level meant that you had reached the threshold of power of a Daolord of the Third Step. This was completely impossible. Even if Ning reached the third stage in the [Novessence Thunder] and [Novessence Water] and was thus able to slay a Daolord of the First Step, he would merely be equivalent to a fairly formidable Daolord of the Second Step. There was no way he'd be able to overcome the Silvercloud World.
Bertulu… Eastcult… none of them, not even the most talented of geniuses, could accomplish this task!
However, more than 90% of the geniuses acknowledged by the ancient pagodas were able to reach the threshold of Daolords of the Second Step. Ning, for example, was already equivalent to a Daolord of the First Step with his azureflower mist energy alone. Given that his sword-arts were even more profound than the Reincarnation stance and the Cosmic Heart stance, his skill in this area was actually somewhat higher than that of many actual Daolords of the Second Step! This was why he had been able to make it through the Azurecloud World with just as ingle sword.
"The azure armor is a low-grade Eternal treasure. It has no special properties other than its ability to absorb some degree of energy." Ning couldn't help but shake his head. At least his aquaflect armor was able to reflect damage. "Still, the more powerful my future opponents are, the less useful my current armor will be. As for my opponents on the Silvercloud World, they will all be at least at the threshold of the Daolord of the Second Step level."
Ning switched armors, but he still elected to make it look like a set of white clothes.
Ning then sat down in the lotus position again and began to breathe quietly as he started to work on replenishing the azurelower mist energy he had used up during the first two levels. At the same time, he also thought back to some of the mistakes he had made in his earlier battle. This was the first time in the hundred years he been trying out in the Cloudworld that he had made it all the way through the second level. He had gained quite a few insights from this.
He thought back to the previous battles he had fought as he pondered on his sword-arts.
"On the final day, I will test myself against the Silvercloud World." Ning came to a decision.
Ning was actually one of the slowest ones, as most of the World-level cultivators acknowledged by the ancient pagodas had already finished.
The imperial palace. The thirteen thrones levitating within the void of space.
"Ahaha, Heartforce Cultivators truly are impressive. Solewind's heartforce is becoming more and more frightening." Daolord Yinwind laughed merrily. "Our Saber Palace won't say a single begrudging word if he is ranked number one."
At present, aside from Heartlord Solewind of the Heartforce Palace being ranked as number one, the rest of the top four had been completely dominated by the Palace of the Saber!
"Hmph." The nearby Lord Woodflower just let out a cold snort.
The Sword Palace and the Saber Palace had always been somewhat at loggerheads, because the Dao of the Sword and the Dao of the Saber had always been the two most offensive, combative Daos in the Endless Territories. Generally speaking, more cultivators trained in the Dao of the Sword! Slightly fewer trained in the Dao of the Saber.
"Woodflower." Daolord Yinwind glanced sideways at Lord Woodflower, then let out an odd chuckle. "Five members of your Sword Palace have already finished their attempts, yes? The highest ranking member is merely ranked seventh. You have no chance at all."
"Hmph." Lord Woodflower had an ugly look on his face. He did not, however, try to argue. The Saber Palace's performance truly had been dominating, while the Sword Palace's performance truly had been lackluster.
These Palace Lords and Vice Palace Lords had all reached the end of the line. If they succeeded in their Daomerge, they would gain eternity. If they failed, they would die and their Dao would vanish. At their level, face mattered more than almost anything else.
"We'll see about that," Lord Woodflower said flatly.
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Book 27, Twelve Palaces, Chapter 20 – The Altar
Time passed quickly, and the final day of the three days the almighty Hegemon had allotted the challengers had arrived. Ji Ning and quite a few others had spent the previous day recuperating in the Azurecloud World, so as to be in peak condition when they challenged the Silvercloud World. Only a few people like Ning were able to fight for so long, after all; the majority relied on highly exhausting divine abilities that could allow them to unleash obliterating levels of power for brief moments.
On the third day, all of the remaining geniuses of the Twelve Palaces began to challenge the Silvercloud World.
"Greatjoy has come out."
"That's Greatjoy."
Every person seated on the thirteen thrones, the almighty Hegemon included, was staring at one particular scene. This was the image displaying Prince Greatjoy challenging the Silvercloud World.
"So fast."
"He's blowing through them like rotted wood."
"Hegemon, I feel upset each time I see Greatjoy. I really feel regretful that I wasn't able to recruit him into our Skymetal Palace." A handsome youth dressed in beautiful golden robes let out a sigh. "I could tell all those years ago that he had excellent potential, even though he was very weak starting off. In the end, the Spacetime Palace managed to lure him in… and then he somehow became one of your honorary disciples, Hegemon! Judging from how he is blasting through the Silvercloud World, he's clearly become much more powerful once again."
"Ahaha, Severtrip, jealousy won't get you anything. Greatjoy is now a member of our Spacetime Palace." A jade-eyed man with tousled hair let out a loud laugh.
"It is true that Greatjoy has improved quite rapidly." The almighty Hegemon stroked his pristine white beard.
The almighty Hegemon's accomplishments in the Dao of Spacetime allowed him to look down upon all others in the Endless Territories. In the Twelve Palaces, he was particularly close to the Spacetime Palace, and some of its dazzling geniuses would be given a chance to earn one of his legacies and become an honorary disciples! Prince Greatjoy was one of them.
The Hegemon and the twelve golden-armored lords continued to stare at the many scenes playing out in midair. Prince Greatjoy was moving farther and farther up the stairs to the altar, defeating one golem after another along the way.
Rumble…
Prince Greatjoy's body shone with golden light as he manifested six arms and began to sweep forward with even greater power.
His palm-arts, fist-arts, finger-arts… they were all unfathomably profound and ridiculously powerful. Sometimes he moved quickly, sometimes he moved slowly, but the region of spacetime surrounding him was in a perpetual state of flux. It was extremely difficult for the golems attacking him to unleash their true power, but every single strike of Prince Greatjoy's contained tremendous might.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
He devastated his way through the golems, his entire body have transformed into a golden color. He looked like a golden god of war, but a look of absolute, glacial calm was in his eyes.
"He's already reached six hundred!" Daolord Thousand Waves let out a startled cry. "Given how he's cruised his way to the six hundredth level, he might have a shot at giving Solewind a run for his money."
The Silvercloud World was actually one enormous altar that had nine hundred levels that served as the 'steps' to the top of the altar. The farther up you went, the more powerful your foes would be. The distance you were able to travel was a testament to your strength!
Right now, Heartlord Solewind was ranked number one. He had made it to the 692nd step.
Ranked in second place was Saberlord Redsnow of the Saber Palace. He had made it to the 680th step.
Ranked third and fourth were members of the Saber Palace who had made it past the 600th step as well.
600 steps… this represented a certain level of power. Most of the acknowledged cultivators had already completed their attempts, but only eight had made it past the 600th step!
"Given how easy it was for him to make it past the six hundredth level, he does indeed have a shot at matching Solewind." Lord Woodflower nodded slowly as he gave his appraisal.
"Hard to say. He makes it look easy, but he might've already unleashed his full power," the nearby Daolord Yinwind retorted coldly.
"Just keep watching." Lord Woodflower glanced sideways at him.
"Hmph." Daolord Yinwind stared hard at the scene playing out before him. Prince Greatjoy was still steadily advancing. Starting from the six hundredth level, the golems became much more powerful and and much more numerous. In fact, there could be as many as twenty or thirty of them attacking you at the same time. However, Prince Greatjoy's mastery over spacetime allowed him to tower over almost all World-level cultivators of the Twelve Palaces. He was able find unconceivable openings and positions, allowing him to never have to face more than three golems at one time.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
"Six hundred fifty."
"Six hundred sixty. Six hundred seventy."
Daolord Yinwind's face grew uglier and uglier to behold, because Prince Greatjoy had just caused a member of the Saber Palace to be eliminated from this competition.
"Six hundred eighty! He's still advancing."
"Six hundred ninety!"
Prince Greatjoy's face was starting to turn solemn, but a look of madness was in his eyes. His entire body radiated that blinding golden light, and each of his attacks contained utterly earth-shaking power. The golems were able to land an occasional attack against him, but were completely unable to harm him.
"He must have reached at least the eighth stage in the [Illusory Jade] secret art." The youth dressed in the beautiful golden robes, Daolord Severtrip, let out a sigh when he saw this. "This secret art isn't all that profound, but he still was able to reach the level of near-perfection in it. This is a secret art of our Dao of Metal… he really should've entered our Skymetal Palace."
"He beat him."
"He moved past Solewind."
The farther one advanced, the more difficult each level became. Prince Greatjoy's face was extremely solemn now. He was finding it extremely difficult to advance, with the golems doing everything they could to oppose him!
"Six hundred ninety-nine… seven hundred! He made it to level seven hundred."
"Previously, the only members of the Twelve Palaces who made it past level seven hundred at the World level were Bertulu and Eastcult. Now, Greatjoy has joined their ranks."
The ancient powers sighed in amazement as they saw this.
As for Prince Greatjoy, he gritted his teeth and fought like a madman. By nature, he wasn't the type of person to easily admit defeat, and he still stubbornly fought and clawed his way forwards. He had reached exceedingly great heights in both the Dao of Spacetime and the Dao of Metal, and had also received personal guidance from the almighty Hegemon himself. Now, faced with such tremendous pressure, he actually began to slowly grow stronger and stronger.
Rumble…
Alas, with each step he took the golems became increasingly terrifying as well, and even more of them were appearing.
Boom! Boom! BOOM!
One missed strike and he was almost instantly knocked flying. Moments later, ropes tightened around him.
Defeat!
He had been defeated at the 719th step!
The ancient powers seated within the thirteen thrones couldn't help but sigh in amazement. When they met and spoke with the most talented geniuses like Prince Greatjoy, they virtually treated those geniuses as equals, because once these geniuses made their breakthroughs they would quickly become comparable to Daolords of the Third Step. Once they engaged in a bit of training, they would quickly be able to compare to Daolords of the Fourth Step. It would be very easy for them to become major figures within the Endless Territories.
Right now, Prince Greatjoy was ranked number one after having made it to the 719th level.
Heartlord Solewind was ranked second after having made it to the 692nd level.
Ranked third was Saberlord Redsnow, level 680.
Number four was Saberlord Grief, level 668.
The Azurecloud World of the Daolord Cloudworld.
Ji Ning rose to his feet and walked directly towards the highest position on the island he was in. When he reached it, a spacetime vortex formed around him. Ning disappeared from the Azurecloud World.
Within the Silvercloud World.
This was a world shaped like an utterly enormous altar that had nine hundred steps to it.
"What an enormous altar." Ning craned his neck as he stared upwards, seeing the many golems roving about. He could also hear faint booms ringing out from far ahead. "There are other cultivators here right now as well? I wonder which member of the Sword Palace is here… or perhaps it is one of the other Swordlords?"
There were so many golems within the altar that ten cultivators could challenge this world at the same time.
"Time to go."
Ning held a pair of Eternal swords in his hands as he advanced forwards.
"GWAAAAR!" Instantly, a pitch-black golem shaped like a three-headed, four-legged beast let out a roar as it pounced towards Ning like a streak of light, moving roughly three times as fast as the speed of light! This single level was roughly as long as the entire Azurecloud World had been, but it was merely a million kilometers wide. A million kilometers might seem like a long distance, but major powers were able to traverse it with just a single step.
"Hmph." Ning looked at the golem.
Boom! Instantly, Ning's body radiated with lightning, water, and many other types of light. Some were dazzling, some were ruinous, some were subdued. The seven types of Dao lightning all had different auras, as did the same types of Dao water. Still, Ning was able to fully control all of them, and with but a thought Ning caused them to join together into a Heptastar Duality Formation. An enormous, dazzling, bizarre formation appeared in the air which completely covered the four-legged beast which was charging towards Ning.
Boom! Although the beast-golem let out a furious howl, it was still forced several steps backwards.
Ning was able to advance to the second level with ease. As he continued his advance, the golems became increasingly powerful. In fact, there were even a few golems that attacked from afar using magic treasures, and the effectiveness of Ning's Hepastar Duality Formation began to lessen. Ning had to unleash his sword-arts to fight as well.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Ning's sword-arts were quite mighty, allowing him to sweep through all obstacles.
Two hundred steps. Three hundred steps.
"Eh?" Ning's ears suddenly pricked up. "It seems everything went silent."
There had been another cultivator fighting on the other side of the altar. Moments ago, explosions had been ringing out unabated. Now, nothing could be heard at all.
"Woodflower, your Swordlord Wildfire has been defeated as well. He lost on the 597th step. He almost made it to the 600th!" Daolord Yinwind glanced sideways at Daolord Woodflower. "Right now, the only remaining member in your Sword Palace is that kid who just became a Swordlord a short while ago."
Daolord Woodflower ignored Daolord Yinwind's mockery. Instead, he stared at the scene of Ji Ning forging his way ahead.
Right now, Ji Ning was the only member of the Sword Palace who was still taking part in the challenge. All the others had already failed.
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Book 27, Twelve Palaces, Chapter 21 – Tenacity
Within the Sword Palace's Silvercloud World.
The rest of the altar was now completely silent. Still, Ning merely made a note of it as he then continued to fight all-out against the golems on each level of the altar.
Rumble…
Boom!
Explosions rang out unabated.
His Dao water and Dao lightning were combined into a formation of tremendous power, but at this point they were having a limited amount of impact on the increasingly powerful golems. Still, for someone at Ning's level, even a limited impact would make things much simpler.
Level four hundred!
Level five hundred!
Ning continued to advance. His most powerful technique was the [Brightmoon] sword-art, and it was guaranteed that in the long run it would always be his most powerful technique! Once he became a Daolord, he would have his own path and that path would always allow him to unleash the most power possible. By then, the other sword-arts would merely provide him with guidance and experience, helping him enhance his understanding of the Dao of the Sword. However, his greatest power would forever lie within the [Brightmoon] sword-art.
The same was true for other experts of the Dao of the Sword. Their strongest sword-arts would be the ones they created!
"Break!"
Heavenbreaker stance. Shadowless stance. Soleheart stance. Yin-Yang stance. Blood Drop stance.
The five stances of [Brightmoon]! And Ning had now infused them with the sword-intent of reincarnation, making his five stances into a continuous cycle that flowed with no weaknesses or flaws whatsoever, allowing him to unleash even more power in battle.
Of the five [Brightmoon] stances, Ning's strongest stances were the Yin-Yang stance and the Soleheart stance. These two were both defensive techniques. Ning had put a tremendous amount of effort into his Unicorn's Domain, making him somewhat stronger in the area of defense.
"Hey, Woodflower. That's the kid who just became a Swordlord in your palace, right? He actually made it to the 500th level." Daolord Severtrip suddenly called out in surprise.
"Mmhmm." Lord Woodflower nodded, revealing a smile as he watched Ning advance nonstop.
"It is pretty impressive for him to have even made it past five hundred. It seems this 'Darknorth' kid has some talent. A pity that he entered the Sword Palace a bit too late," Daolord Yinwind said, attempting to pour some cold water on their excitement.
Daolord Woodflower didn't argue. Even he could tell that although Ning's sword-arts were profound, they also had noticeable flaws compared to the skills of Prince Greatjoy or Saberlord Redsnow! Ji Ning's sword-arts were average amongst the Swordlords who had been acknowledged by the ancient pagodas. It must be understood that he had only been acknowledged a mere century ago. For him to be considered 'average' amongst the sixty-seven most talented World-level cultivators in the kingdom was already quite impressive.
The 500th level was a fairly 'average' level. Many geniuses were unable to make it much farther past this level.
Ning had three heads and six arms, and he wielded a Violetjewel in each of his six arms as he fought with all his might. Lightning and torrents of water exploded through the air unabated, doing their best to slow down and affect the impending golems.
Whooooosh.
A golem suddenly transformed into an enormous wave of water that came crashing down towards Ning. Ning hurriedly used his Dao lightning and Dao water to defend, but they were quickly submerged within the enormous wave, and it continued its crashing assault.
"Yin-Yang stance." Ning's six swords simultaneously struck out. This was a stance meant to deal with group attacks. Ning was often forced to use the Yin-Yang stance in the Silvercloud World, because the golems would often attack in groups.
Whoooosh. Yin and Yang spun as Ning's sword-light flew. The surrounding area seemed to have been transformed into a black hole which completely blocked all the waters of the wave.
"Kill!" After pushing through the wave, Ning continued to advance.
Five hundred fifty. Five hundred sixty. Five hundred seventy…
Ning was incredibly tenacious and durable. There was no way for him to use any divine abilities with his azureflower mist energy, but because of how steady he was he was able to stay at maximum power for a very long period of time. Other Daolord-equivalents, even ones like Prince Greatjoy, had to conserve their divine power and thus would often engage in normal combat while only occasionally exploding forth with their full power. Thus, they even brought spirit-pills, chaos jewels, and chaos nectar to replenish their depleting energy.
Ning, however, was simply too stable!
His sword-arts were similarly stable. The five stances of [Brightmoon] included all aspects of swordplay. Some swordsmen were skilled in one area and weaker in other areas; in short, they had their areas of specialties and their deficiencies. Ning, however, was skilled in every single area. He was slightly stronger in defense, but that was just in comparison. The Reincarnation sword-intent filling his sword-arts made it so that all five stances were merged together perfectly. This naturally made him even stabler.
Emperor Mirrorsnow was legendary for his tenacity. Even those who were stronger than him would find it difficult to defeat him.
"Advance!
"Over the course of countless years, numerous major powers have perished. None of those Daolords who had failed their Daomerge have been able to come back to life! An enormous price must be paid in order to bring back someone whose truesoul has already been extinguished. If I'm not strong enough, I won't be able to beseech the almighty Hegemon and experts on his level to help me. I won't be able to convince them that the price will be worth it.
"If I want to accomplish my goals, I have to seize every opportunity I can."
Ning would never give up. He knew that many members of even the Brightshore Imperials had perished over the course of years, with none being brought back to life. Clearly, even if the almighty Hegemon was capable of resurrecting the dead the price would be so terrifying that he wouldn't be willing to do it lightly.
"I've just started. I can't give up so soon." Ning's sword-arts were slowly, subtly improving during this process. He wasn't at a bottleneck, after all, and this sort of furious, high-pressure combat would naturally result in his sword-arts being perfected nonstop.
"Keep going. I can take at least another step forwards." Ning could feel that the pressure was growing greater and greater.
"Eh? Is he actually…"
"Is that kid from the Sword Palace actually…"
The ancient powers seated on the thirteen thrones all stared curiously at this scene. Ning was currently battling against six golems, and it was difficult for him to advance. Every single one of the six golems possessed tremendous levels of power, and by now Ning's Dao lightning and Dao water were of very little help to him.
"Six hundred. He actually made it to level six hundred."
"His sword-arts actually enabled him to make it to level six hundred?"
The ancient powers were all shocked. Daolord Thousand Waves cried out in surprise, "His sword-arts are clearly quite ordinary compared to the other acknowledged World-level geniuses, but he actually managed to make it to the six hundredth level! Ji Ning already ranks in the top ten."
As time passed, the total number who made it past level six hundred continued to grow.
On the very first day, only five had made it past that level.
By the time Prince Greatjoy made it past, more than eight had already reached this level.
And now, Ji Ning was the tenth.
It must be understood that this contest was a contest involving all the World-level geniuses of the Twelve Palaces. For Ning to be only the tenth to make it through this level meant that he was one of the elites within his group. In fact, his performance was better than that of any other member of the Sword Palace.
"Six hundred and two. Mm, that should be it." The white-bearded Hegemon nodded slowly. "Don't underestimate this Darknorth kid. His sword-arts might seem to be inferior to that of Greatjoy and the others, making him look ordinary, but they are extremely balanced. He's skilled in every single aspect, and from what I understand he has gained the legacy of Mirrorsnow. Look, you can see the sword-intent of Reincarnation permeating through his sword-arts. He's managed to link everything together perfectly, making him very strong… and with those seven types of Dao lightning and Dao water supporting him, it makes sense that he can make it past level six hundred.
"Still, he's at his limit. He's only persisting out of sheer tenacity and stubborness."
The almighty Hegemon watched the scenes being displayed. Ji Ning had made it to the 602nd level, but he was clearly at a complete disadvantage when facing the eight golems on this level. Still, he continued to stubbornly hang on.
"To make it to the 602nd level is not," the almighty Hegemon evaluated.
"Yes, not bad at all."
"In the future, this kid just might be a match for Greatjoy."
They all agreed with the Hegemon's appraisal. Even Daolord Woodflower nodded in agreement, but he couldn't help but sigh to himself. Alas, the seven Swordlords of the Sword Palace had all failed.
No one rebutted the almighty Hegemon, because they all knew how astute his vision and judgment was. He was able to completely see and understand how strong Ning was right now. If he said that this level was as far as Ning could go, that would definitely be the case.
The Silvercloud World. Level six hundred and two of the altar.
Tired.
Ning was so tired.
These eight golems launched combined attacks against him. Terrifying flowers of fire and water continuously rained down upon him, and some of the golems repeatedly charged into close combat against him. Every single one was just as strong as Ning, and when the six joined forces they were able to completely suppress Ning! Ning had indeed only been able to just barely hang on for this long thanks to his extremely balanced sword-arts.
He wouldn't admit defeat lightly. Once he gave up, he would have lost. Only by persevering would there be hope.
Ning strove to learn as much as he could from this very battle, pondering on his sword-arts flaws in real time as he continuously perfected them.
Rumble…
Attacks rained down from every direction, and Ning was like a little boat that was being rocked within a stormy sea that would capsize at any moment.
Ning had no idea that the almighty Hegemon and twelve golden-armored powers were watching him. Although they had a rather good opinion of him, they felt certain that this level was Ning's limit.
"Their attacks really are endless and omnipresent…" Although Ning's sword-arts were slowly improving, he still felt a sense of despair. Defeat would come at any moment.
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Book 27, Twelve Palaces, Chapter 22 – A Dao Belonging to Ji Ning
"Omnipresent?" Surrounded and exhausted by the endless attacks from these many golems, the light of inspiration suddenly flickered in Ji Ning's mind.
"Right. Their attacks are omnipresent. Some cast spells from afar, others close in on me and attack in melee using claws and palms. I only have six arms after using [Three Heads, Six Arms]; how can I possibly withstand so many attacks?" Ning was mumbling to himself as many different sword-arts went through his mind, with many insights regarding the Yin-Yang stance in particular coming to the forefront.
It was as though a thread was linking many small beads together, forming a true collective whole.
"Omnipresent…
"The true Yin-Yang stance shouldn't result in me defending in such an exhausting manner. So what if I have six arms? Even if I had ten or eighteen arms, so what? There's still a limit to what I can do!" Ning was beginning to awaken to the truth. "The true Yin-Yang stance should allow me to defend against all oncoming attacks, which means it needs to be omnipresent as well. It should envelope everything in its path, and any attacks that come forth should be blocked by it.
"That means… for the Yin-Yang stance to be truly powerful, it should be a domain! I need to transform this stance into a domain!"
Every single cultivator had a path that was most suited to them. Over the course of countless years, many major powers had chosen many different paths. At their level, there was no way they could imitate others any longer. If they did, it would actually have a negative influence on their own future insights. If you wished to draw a painting, it was best to start with a fresh, blank scroll of paper. The path of cultivation was best expressed through following one's own heart, through slowly understanding and upgrading one's insights to the point of fundamentally transforming them.
"Let my seven Dao lightnings and my seven Dao waters be my sword," Ning murmured softly.
Rumble…
The Dao water and Dao lightning that had been in the surrounding area constricting the foes suddenly began to rumble. Although they were elemental lightning and water by nature, true experts of the Dao of the Sword could use anything as a sword. Flower petals, water drops, a single water drop… they could all be used as a sword. Now, Ning was using Dao water and Dao lightning as his blade.
"Dao lightning and Dao water, form my Yin-Yang stance and create my Yin-Yang Sword Domain."
In recent years, Ning's greatest achievements lay in the field of defense. All of his insights into the Yin-Yang stance, including some which he had previously felt to be rather unimportant, all came together in this stance as he generated a domain of sword-intent. He infused it with all of his insights, causing the power of this stance to instantly transform.
Rumble…
Every single streak of Dao lightning transformed into a sword! The 'insides' of the swords were made of lightning, but on the outside they had already been shaped and condensed into the form of a sword! The powerful sword-intent controlling the lightning was naturally giving birth to swordforce.
Every single stream of Dao water had also transformed into the shape of a sword.
They began to circle around Ning like an enormous whirlpool, but if one looked closely one would see that some of the streaks were swirling clockwise while others were swirling counter-clockwise. The mighty sword-intent controlling this technique caused parts of it to flow forwards and parts of it to flow backwards, creating an incredibly powerful tearing force!
What made white stand out? Only when the rest of a piece of parchment was completely covered in black ink would a spot of blank whiteness in the center be dazzling to behold.
Ning's sword-intent was strong to begin with. Now that he had formed this technique with forward and reverse flows, the ripping, tearing power of his domain grew exponentially greater.
Yin-Yang Polarity!
The concept of Yin and Yang was reinforcing this technique as well! The Yang-attribute Dao lightning and the Yin-attribute Dao water mutually reinforced each other, resulting in both being strengthened. Every so often, compatible streaks of lightning or water would brush against each other, resulting in even more terrifying force.
Both forwards and backwards, both gentle and violent.
An enormous domain had formed around Ning, covering an area of ten thousand kilometers. This domain was formed of sword-shaped lightning and water, but what made it truly terrifying was the sword-intent which Ning's Yin-Yang stance had manifested.
The sword-intent of the Yin-Yang stance had already undergone a fundamental transformation. Lightning and water flowed together, sometimes calm and sometimes explosive as it blasted at any foes which dared trespass!
"From this day forth, my Yin-Yang stance shall be the Yin-Yang Sword Domain." Ning smiled. Finally, one of his five stances of [Brightmoon] had truly transformed. In this moment, Ning clearly understood that the Yin-Yang Sword Domain was a path he would absolutely have to take in the region of defense as he became a Samsara Daolord.
"Careful."
"Quick!"
These golems were sentient. Once Ning formed that enormous Yin-Yang Sword Domain, the golems who were fighting within the reach of that domain instantly sensed multiple layers of force appear in the area. Sometimes, the force simply followed their movements; other times, the force exploded against them with great violence. There was even the occasional sensation of being brutally ripped apart by layers of power!
The entire domain was filled with countless attacks that alternated between Yin and Yang. The attacks constantly changed and transformed, making it harder and harder for them to defend. The golems had to use roughly 90% of their power in defending against the Yin-Yang Sword Domain.
Boom! Ning charged forwards, sweeping out with his sword-light and sending a golem flying. The golems were so focused on defending against the domain that they were now extremely vulnerable to Ning. He was able to defeat them all with one strike.
Ning continued to advance.
603. 604. 605…
Ning slowly advanced, wielding six swords while keeping [Three Heads, Six Arms] active. His enormous Yin-Yang Sword Domain covered an area of ten thousand kilometers around him, but in truth its size was variable. He could easily expand it to make it a hundred million kilometers in size, but the ten thousand kilometer range was the range at which he could maintain peak levels of power. Beyond that range, the power of the domain would slowly begin to decay.
The Yin-Yang Sword Domain could also be used through flying swords and other magic treasures, or even Dao fire. Anything could be used to generate it. However, Ning had access to incredibly powerful Dao lightning and Dao water, which was why he used them to generate the domain.
A simple tree branch controlled by Ning's mighty sword-intent was now able to slay a Daolord of the First Step. The Dao lightning and Dao water were extraordinary elemental powers, and when they were used by the Yin-Yang Sword Domain they were able to produce truly enormous amounts of power.
The imperial palace. The almighty Hegemon and the twelve golden-armored powers were seated on their thirteen thrones, staring at this sight.
After Ning's Yin-Yang stance transformed into the Yin-Yang Sword Domain, Ning was able to easily advance through the upcoming stages. However, none of the golden-armored powers cared about the fact that the almighty Hegemon's evaluation had been wrong! Instead, they simply watched in astonishment as Ning unleashed his sword-intent domain because they knew what this portended.
"He… has finally taken that first step," the almighty Hegemon said softly.
"Swordlord Darknorth is guaranteed to become one of the most supreme members of our Twelve Palaces." Daolord Thousand Waves nodded.
"For someone like him to end up in the Sword Palace instead of mine… what a pity, what a pity!" Daolord Yinwind shook his head.
Daolord Woodflower glanced sideways at him, then began to laugh in a very contented manner.
"Although Swordlord Darknorth's sword-intent domain is defensive in nature, every part of it is infused with terrifyingly strong attacks. If any enemies enter his domain, they will suffer attacks nonstop. Even the most powerful of foes will eventually be whittled down, making it so that they will be greatly weakened before even drawing close to him. A domain like this is guaranteed to be a terrifying thing to face. If he can become a Daolord of the Fourth Step… this sword-intent domain is powerful enough to allow him to suppress Eternal Emperors." A golden-armored power whose eyes were like two black vortices of darkness let out a soft sigh.
"Agreed."
The almighty Hegemon nodded. "He'll be able to suppress ordinary Eternal Emperors! For Swordlord Darknorth to take this step forward means that he has already discovered an Supreme Dao of defense for himself!"
"It is guaranteed that he will be a monster of a Daolord." Everyone present nodded.
There were differences in personal Daos. Some Samsara Daolords walked a path of simple Daos and would be very weak. As Daolords of the First Step, they would merely have ordinary levels of power.
Emperor Mirrorsnow's Dao and his seventh stance, the Reincarnation stance, would have been enough for him to be acknowledged by the ancient pagodas. He used this path to become a Samsara Daolord, and his Dao was fairly formidable. As a Daolord of the First Step, he could match Daolords of the Second Step. However, a Dao like this just barely cleared the threshold of the ancient pagodas.
Prince Greatjoy, Heartlord Solewind, Ji Ning… their Daos were on a higher level! Ning had just created his Yin-Yang Sword Domain, but it was a level of power above the Reincarnation stance and much more profound.
"An Supreme Dao of defense." Daolord Thousand Waves let out a sigh. "The Sword Palace really hasn't had many individuals who have ever been able to come up with an Supreme Dao."
"Absolutely true." Lord Woodflower nodded. Every single major power would have an individual Dao that was best suited to them. Ning was able to develop his Yin-Yang Sword Domain, but others might come up with similarly strong sword-arts. So long as they were at the same general level, they would all be classified as an 'Ultimate'-class defensive Dao.
"If he follows this Dao to its conclusion, he definitely will be able to trample over Eternal Emperors once he becomes a Daolord of the Fourth Step." Daolord Thousand Waves laughed.
"He's still a bit lacking compared to Palace Lord Dawnstar," Daolord Yinwind said. "Lord Dawnstar, at the World level, developed three Supreme Daos and then merged them together perfectly! After he became a Daolord of the Fourth Step, he was able to slay an Eternal Emperor with just three strokes of his blade. Although Swordlord Darknorth is impressive, he will only be able to suppress Eternal Emperors. Killing them will be a matter of luck."
"True." Everyone present agreed.
"But Bertulu and Eastcult do have a chance of reaching Lord Dawnstar's level." The almighty Hegemon agreed with this assessment as well. "Still… given that Darknorth has come up with an Ultimate-class defensive Dao, he'll still be able to withstand them in an actual battle. He should be classified as someone on the same level as them."
Eastcult had come up with Supreme Daos for both offense and defense, and had been able to merge them perfectly. This was why he was a match for Bertulu.
"True. Him having taken this step means he is guaranteed to be a monster of a Daolord." Lord Woodflower was in a splendid mood.
Previously, these golden-armored figures had all referred to Ji Ning as 'this kid'. Now that Ning had taken this step, they all referred to him as 'Darknorth' or 'Swordlord Darknorth', because in their hearts they viewed Ning as someone who would be a true equal!
"However… Supreme Daos are also the most difficult Daos for gaining eternity." The almighty Hegemon let out a soft sigh.
"They are indeed hard, but to choose this path means he will definitely be an extraordinary figure," Daolord Thousand Waves said.
Daolord Allgod, Daolord Featherdress, Palace Lord Dawnstar… they had all chosen the path of an Ultimate-class Dao. As a result, becoming an Eternal Empero would be incredibly difficult. Still… while they were alive, they were amongst the most illustrious, distinguished figures of all the Endless Territories.
The almighty Hegemon and the others were sighing in amazement over Ning's prowess, but they had no idea that this was merely the evolution of the Yin-Yang stance, one of five stances in Ning's [Brightmoon] sword-art. Ning's plan was to reach the apex with his other four stances as well! He was going to find suitable Daos for his other four stances, then infuse all of their mysteries into his own sword-arts. This was Ning's true goal.
Right now, he had developed an Supreme Dao of defense, the Yin-Yang Sword Domain… but this was just the beginning!
"Six hundred sixty. Six hundred seventy. Six hundred eighty…" Daolord Woodflower watched as Ning continuously advanced up the steps of the altar, and the smile on his face continued to widen.
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Book 27, Twelve Palaces, Chapter 23 – The Dust Settles
As Daolord Yinwind watched Ji Ning advanced past level six hundred and eighty, he couldn't help but feel resigned. Even the best performing member of his Saber Palace, Saberlord Redsnow, had only made it to level 680. "For Heartlord Solewind to give such an impressive performance was expected, but Greatjoy's improvements were truly shocking. He was even better than Solewind! And now, this Darknorth fellow has appeared as well."
Ning continued to advance past multiple floors.
"Kill!"
Boom!
The attacks of the ancient golems were strong enough to sunder Heaven and Earth, and they came at Ning from all directions.
As Ning walked forwards, his Yin-Yang Sword Domain formed a region of wild, dark chaos around him. One could vaguely see the flickering of lightning and water within this region, and the region itself stretched out to be more than ten thousand kilometers wide. All enemies who sought to move close to Ning had to be able to first withstand the assaults of the Yin-Yang Sword Domain.
"Break!"
"Go."
Ning's swords were sometimes ephemeral and unpredictable, sometimes as heavy and weighty as a mountain. However, the speed at which he walked began to slow down. Clearly, the pressure was starting to increase.
"Six hundred ninety. Six hundred ninety-five. Six hundred ninety-six…" Daolord Woodflower had a look of delight on his face.
"He broke through level seven hundred!"
Ning continued to advance, albeit with great difficulty as he began to move slower and slower. Even though the Yin-Yang Sword Domain was helping him out, he was finding it harder and harder to deal with the increasingly powerful golems.
Boom!
Ning's sword-arts were finally breached on level 705. Although they came out in a perfect, flawless cycle, they still crumbled when faced with the overwhelming power that had been brought to bear upon them.
Outside the Daolord Cloudworld. A white-robed, rather bedraggled-looking Ning suddenly appeared, a look of worry in his eyes. "I wonder if I made it into the top four."
"However… I have to say that my performance was better than I expected. I actually ended up developing a defensive Dao." Ning felt both content and worried. His sword-arts had reached an extremely high level, but his opponents were the greatest World-level geniuses of the Twelve Palaces. He couldn't help but think back to that time when he had sparred against Bertulu. Only now did realize what a truly profound level Bertulu had reached!
This was because… Bertulu was at a level of insight that was most likely one level higher than the current Ji Ning's! Only when Ning himself improved did he truly understand how great the distance had been between the two of them. Back when he had been at the Astral Islands, Ning only had the vague sense that the man had a higher level of understanding than he did. As to how much higher, exactly? He couldn't say for sure. Bertulu hadn't even used his true form, after all; he had merely used his human form to spar against Ning.
"However… now, even if Bertulu was to attack me with all his power, I would not need to be afraid of him," Ning mused.
His Yin-Yang Sword Domain was an extremely defensive skill! Even if Ning faced opponents who were stronger than him, he would still be able to defend against them.
"Darknorth." Suddenly, a voice rang out within Ning's mind.
"Eh?" Ning turned to look towards the direction of Lord Woodflower's estate.
"Come here immediately," Lord Woodflower sent.
"Yes." Ning immediately transformed into a streak of light and flew towards the estate. Soon, he reached Lord Woodflower's estate, and Lord Woodflower himself was standing at the entrance, a smile on his face as he looked at Ning. "Come in, Darknorth."
"What is it, senior apprentice-brother?" Ning was a bit nervous. He didn't know if he had made it into the top four or not.
"Damned impressive. The almighty Hegemon and the others all saw you use that sword-intent domain of yours." Lord Woodflower was in such a delightful mood that he was positively beaming. For his Sword Palace to completely crush the Saber Palace in such a way was absolutely wonderful!
The two palaces had been at loggerheads and competing against each other since time immemorial.
"That was something I just came up with it. I call it the Yin-Yang Sword Domain." Ning laughed. "I was just lucky. I had already prepared seven types of Dao lightning and Dao water, and I was able to use them to create my Yin-Yang Sword Domain. If I had been using any other types of treasures, the power of my domain would've been much weaker."
"The Dao lightning and the Dao water aren't that impressive. It is your sword-intent which truly impresses." Lord Woodflower couldn't help but praise Ning.
Ning chuckled.
Even if he merely used a single, ordinary flying sword, his Yin-Yang Sword Domain would still cause it to naturally emanate an aura of swordforce. The power of the domain would still have twenty to thirty percent of the power of a domain formed through using Dao lightning and Dao water. At this level, even if he merely used his Immortal energy to manifest a sword and swordforce, he would still be able to create an extremely powerful domain with it.
"Without the Dao water and the Dao lightning, I probably wouldn't have been able to make it much farther past level six hundred and ninety," Ning said. He couldn't help but ask, "Senior apprentice-brother, do I have a shot at the top four?"
Only the top four would be granted the 'opportunity'.
"You do." Lord Woodflower nodded. "A very good shot, in fact. But of course, the three days haven't ended and there are still World-level cultivators challenging the Daolord Cloudworld. Nothing is certain until the final cultivator concludes his attempts."
"Oh." Ning nodded. "Then how is my ranking?"
"Right now, you are ranked second," Lord Woodflower said. "Prince Greatjoy is ranked first, and he made it to floor seven hundred and nineteen. Heartlord Solewind is ranked third, and he made it to floor six hundred and ninety-two. Fourth is Saberlord Redsnow, who stopped on floor six hundred and eighty."
"Redsnow?" Ning stared.
"Something wrong?" Lord Woodflower asked.
"Nothing, nothing." Ning immediately shook his head. "I just thought of an old friend, that's all."
Daoist Threelives' most powerful general had been Redsnow. Redsnow had eventually chosen to follow Ning as well, then had become apprenticed to Subhuti as well. He shared the exact same Daoist title as this Saberlord Redsnow. Still, it was quite common to encounter cultivators with the same or similar nicknames. There were countless people in every chaosworld who shared the same name, and for a few of the more powerful cultivators to also share the same Daoist title wasn't that surprising.
"Wasn't the Saber Palace bragging a lot about how well they would do?" Ning asked.
"Ahaha, their boasting skills were quite profound, yes." Lord Woodflower let out a laugh, but then he couldn't help but sigh as well. "To be honest, they were qualified to boast. The fourth, fifth, and sixth-ranked experts all belong to the Saber Palace. We all knew that Heartlord Solewind would be formidable, but you and Prince Greatjoy caught everyone offguard."
"Prince Greatjoy?" Ning listened attentively. He was quite curious about this man who had made it even farther within the Silvercloud World than he himself had.
"He's also been improving quite rapidly. He actually managed to come up with two Supreme Daos." Lord Woodflower let out a sigh. "If he can link his two Supreme Daos, he'll probably be on par with Eastcult and Bertulu."
Ning nodded. It was necessary to fuse Supreme Daos together in some manner.
For example, the five stances of Ning's [Brightmoon[ sword-art were all linked together thanks to his Reincarnation sword-intent. If you weren't able to perfectly join your sword-arts together, you would have flaws when you fought in battle.
True experts had to have powerful defenses. Only then would they be able to survive for a long time. But of course, their attacks had to be strong as well; only then would they be able to slay foes! If Ning's attacks had been just a bit stronger, he would've been able to advance quite a bit further up the altar within the Silvercloud World.
"Ah!" A look of shock suddenly appeared on Lord Woodflower's face.
"What's wrong?" Ning looked at Lord Woodflower.
"I'll tell you in a moment." Lord Woodflower didn't explain in detail. Clearly, his incarnation was watching something happen within the imperial palace.
Ning was incredibly curious as to what Lord Woodflower was watching, but he had no choice but to tamp down his curiosity. A long while later, Lord Woodflower suddenly began to laugh. "Ahaha. Pride really does cometh before a fall."
"Senior apprentice-brother?" Ning was puzzled.
"A World-level cultivator belonging to the Palace of Kindwater, a fellow named Waterlord Firesurge, actually made it all the way to level six hundred and eighty-seven," Lord Woodflower said.
"In other words, even farther than Saberlord Redsnow?" Ning stared.
"Right. The Saber Palace didn't get a single slot in the top four!" Lord Woodflower roared with laughter. "Oh, this is just wonderful! When I saw that ugly look on Yinwind's ugly face… oh, that was simply delightful. Hah! That fellow usually loves to strut about and put on airs in front of me."
Ning felt amazed as well. In the end, the most famous Saber Palace had actually been completely defeated. Then again… the geniuses of the Twelve Palaces couldn't be evaluated using common measures. Greatjoy, Darknorth, and Firesurge… these three had only displayed their true brilliance during this competition.
"He's a member of the Kindwater Palace. Why is his Daoist title 'Firesurge'?" Ning was puzzled.
"He's another person who started off as a mortal cultivator. I heard that he originally was primarily a cultivator in the Dao of Fire. However, due to some trouble he apparently ran into within the sect he was in as a mortal, he ended up choosing the Dao of Water instead. However, by then his Daoist title had already been chosen, and so he simply continued to use it," Lord Woodflower explained. The Twelve Palaces didn't have that many World-level cultivators, and so he obviously was familiar with the vast majority of them.
Ning nodded.
Some cultivators would change their Daoist titles once they reached a certain level of power. Ning was another example of a person who had chosen his Daoist title, 'Darknorth', a long time ago. He had never changed it.
"Let's wait for just another moment. There is one final World-level cultivator attempting the trials," Lord Woodflower said.
A short while later…
"Alright, all done. The results are in. Prince Greatjoy, yourself, Heartlord Solewind, and Waterlord Firesurge will be the ones to partake in this opportunity," Lord Woodflower said.
"And what opportunity is this, exactly?" Although Ning felt quite excited, he also felt quite curious as to what this was all about. All he knew was that this was an 'incredible' opportunity, one which no one seemed to know much about.
"Don't ask. When you meet the almighty Hegemon, you'll know," Lord Woodflower said.
"Meet the almighty Hegemon?" Ning was stunned.
"Right. The almighty Hegemon has already issued a summons to the four of you. Hurry over to the place where the Imperials reside," Lord Woodflower said.
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Book 27, Twelve Palaces, Chapter 24 – The First Meeting
The Twelve Palaces were tightly connected to the Brightshore Imperials, and so there were spacetime transfer arrays linking the palaces to the territory of the Imperials.
Rumble…
Spacetime twisted around Ji Ning. Once everything went still, he swept the area with his gaze. "So this is the imperial palace?"
Although all twelve of the palaces of the Brightshore Kingdom were extremely large and covered with many formations, the true center of the kingdom remained the imperial palace! Before Ning was an utterly, breathtakingly large palace that was as white as snow, with gold, black, and blue accents covering parts of it.
Just looking at the imperial palace, Ning sensed an aura of incredible presence and might. He felt as though he was looking up at the stars themselves.
"I heard that the Imperials generally live here in the imperial palace. I wonder how many defenses the almighty Hegemon had placed around his headquarters," Ning mused.
Ning emerged from the array and began to walk towards the palace gates of the enormous imperial palace.
There were no people before the palace at all, just two gray statues. One was of a humanoid wielding a spear, the second was of a dragon-like creature that was coiled around itself.
"Halt." The humanoid statue suddenly spoke out in a grating voice as it stared at Ning.
"Whaaaat?!" Ning was badly startled. "Its alive?!"
He could now be considered a powerful expert. After unleashing his Yin-Yang Sword Domain, he was a match for most Daolords of the Second Step, and thus he had extremely keen senses towards life and the aura of life. He would be able to easily detect the aura of a tiny mosquito from a million kilometers away! However, his senses were clearly telling him that this statue before him was nothing more than an ordinary statue, an inert hunk of rock. How, then, was it speaking?
"Have you come to see the Hegemon?" The gray humanoid statue was almost as tall as the palace gates, and it stared down at Ning.
"Yes." Ning nodded. Although his senses were still telling him that this statue was an inert hunk of rock, he couldn't help but feel an inexplicable hint of fear.
"Enter after all four have arrived," the gray humanoid statue said coldly.
Ning had no choice but to stand there and wait quietly. After enough time passed to brew a kettle of tea, the nearby spacetime transfer array once more lit up. Once the light subsided, a skinny bald youth dressed in loose red robes had appeared within it. The youth's face was covered with strange divine red tattoos that seemed to extrude an aura of special charm. Ning only had to glance at them to feel that they were exerting an effect upon him.
"I am Solewind." The bald, red-robed youth strolled forwards, then smiled. "Greetings, Swordlord Darknorth."
"Heartlord Solewind." Ning greeted the man. The Heartforce Palace had very few cultivators, and the only World-level cultivator acknowledged by the ancient pagodas was Heartlord Solewind. Ning had heard of this man long ago. This was no dabbler like Bertulu; this was a man who had truly poured all of his effort into being a Heartforce Cultivator, and his abilities were truly unfathomable.
"Swordlord Darknorth, you actually made it farther into the Silvercloud World's great altar than I did." Heartlord Solewind smiled in a gentle, warm fashion. "I heard that you were abducted by the almighty Hegemon to our Brightshore Kingdom roughly two thousand years ago. For you to reach such a level of power in such a short period of time… Solewind truly admires you."
Ning was instantly speechless. The man even knew about him having been abducted by the almighty Hegemon two thousand years ago? News had certainly spread quite fast!
"No need to feel surprised, Swordlord Darknorth. It was one of my elder brothers in the Heartforce Palace who informed me of this," Heartlord Solewind said with a laugh. "The Heartforce Palace has very few cultivators within it, and we all treat each other as we would our actual siblings. We hold nothing back from each other."
Ning suddenly remembered that the entire Heartforce Palace held less than ten Samsara Daolords! Most of those Samsara Daolords were out wandering the primordial chaos, leaving no more than two or three who actually resided within the palace itself. Compared to the other eleven palaces, the Heartforce Palace really did have pitifully few members. Ning could fully understand how this would result in them treating each other as they would actual siblings.
"Swordlord Darknorth, if you wish you can simply address me as Solewind." Heartlord Solewind smiled.
"Then you can address me as Darknorth, brother Solewind," Ning said. In his heart, he couldn't help but feel astonished. Why was it that a simple smile from Solewind caused Ning to have such a good impression of him? His voice alone was enough to make it impossible for others to hate him!
Rumble…
The spacetime transfer array once more lit up, and momens later a youth dressed in deep blue robes emerged. He had a cold, forbidding face, and he emanated an aura of baleful energy. As soon as he emerged he saw Ning and Solewind, and he immediately called out, "Greetings, Heartlord Solewind and Swordlord Darknorth."
"Are you Waterlord Firesurge? No need to stand on such ceremony. You can simply address us as Solewind and Darknorth," Heartlord Solewind said, and Ning nodded.
"I was lucky enough to be ranked number four, but I fear I'll need your help in the future." Although the blue-robed youth had a cold and forboding aura, his words were quite courteous and respectful. Both Solewind and Ning felt quite kindly disposed towards him.
No matter what, they were all members of the Twelve Palaces who had sworn lifeblood oaths not to attack each other. Given that they were ranked in the top four, all of them would clearly be extraordinary figures in the future. So long as they were able to survive, they would all become major powers who would shock the rest of the primordial chaos. It was natural for them to wish to befriend each other.
The three chatted idly for a time, slowly growing more familiar with each other's personalities and traits.
Finally, the last member arrived.
This was a man dressed in black imperial robes who wore a royal crown. His skin was as clear as jade, and his eyes were as deep as the abyss between the stars. Even the likes of Ji Ning, Firesurge, and Solewind couldn't help but mentally sigh in amazement. In terms of appearance and aura, at least, this 'Prince Greatjoy' was definitely number one amongst the four.
"So the three of you have already arrived? Please pardon me for having arrived late. Greatjoy feels quite ashamed at having made you wait." Prince Greatjoy was as courteous as the stories said he was… but of course the stories also said that deep down, he was actually quite a berserk fellow.
"We just arrived a short while ago."
"Brother Greatjoy, you ranked number one in this trial. I imagine that you are probably on par with Bertulu and Eastcult."
The four began to casually chat amongst themselves. Although they were all quite relaxed, none of them dared to underestimate any of the other three, as they were all quite close in power. They belonged to the same general level of strength, even though there were differences with regards to how far they had made it in the Silvercloud World. If they were to get into an actual fight, it was hard to say who would win. In addition, the trial of the Silvercloud World was a trial where many sources of outside help were banned, such as Dao-seals or golems. Given how extraordinary they all were, all of them had clearly experienced tremendous strokes of karmic luck in the past!
"The Hegemon has summoned the four of you. Go on inside." The giant humanoid statue stared down at the four tiny dots below it as it spoke in a cold voice.
"The two statues standing in front of the imperial palace are the two great guardians of the imperial palace," Heartlord Solewind sent mentally. "I heard that long ago, during the era when the almighty Hegemon was first establishing his reputation, he led these two great guardians into battle and slew countless major powers with them."
"Oh?" Ning, Greatjoy, and Firesurge both listened attentively.
The members of the Heartforce Palace shared a particularly close relationship with each other, and so Heartlord Solewind knew many more secrets than most members of the other palaces.
Although Ning was quite intrigued about the history of these two giant statues, he didn't pay them too much mind as he entered the imperial palace.
Once they stepped past the gates and saw the towering palace, the four of them could sense spacetime twisting around them as they were teleported away once more.
They had been brought to a region filled with empty space with a few chaos stars sprinkled throughout it.
Ning and the others all stared at their surroundings as they appeared in this place.
"What is this place?" All four of them were rather puzzled. This region was simply too silent, as still as a pool of water. The primordial chaos should generally be filled with many types of voidstorms and chaos waves, and it would generally be filled with boundless amounts of chaos energy! However, the empty region they were in was utterly enormous and completely devoid of primordial chaos.
Whoosh.
The void before them suddenly parted like a curtain of water as an incomparably massive behemoth suddenly appeared. This behemoth had two enormous eyes that were like blazing stars, but it gazed towards Ning and the other three in a very gentle manner. When it spoke, its voice was similarly gentle, but it echoed throughout every single inch of this region. "Greetings, my four young fellows."
Greatjoy, Solewind, Firesurge, and Ning were all shocked.
Ning couldn't help but think back to the scene of him and the other World-level cultivators being swallowed up by the head of an enormous behemoth, then being teleported to the Brightshore Kingdom.
"Greetings, Hegemon." Ning and the other three all bowed respectfully. There was no need to kneel or kowtow; the Hegemon generally treated the members of the Twelve Palaces quite well.
"You four young fellows have earned a rare opportunity for yourselves," the towering behemoth said. "You shall head out alongside a member of my Imperials known as Skyfire Brightshore, and then you shall enter the Archaeus region of an alternate universe. This region is one of the most legendary locations of this alternate universe, and it is filled with many dangers. It is also, however, filled with many opportunities. I've chosen the four of you because I hope that you will help my young clansman, Skyfire Brightshore, as much as you can and give him a better chance at surviving. But of course, I will reward you heavily for the services you have rendered to myself and Skyfire."
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Book 27, Twelve Palaces, Chapter 25 – Following Master
Ji Ning and the others were all intrigued. In truth, they had all suspected long ago that the reason why the almighty Hegemon had chosen the four of them from the Twelve Palaces was to have them assist Skyfire Brightshore. However, the reason why the Twelve Palaces had been on such good terms with the Brightshore Imperials for so long was precisely because they treated each other as equals. Ning and the others were all extraordinary figures, and they wouldn't be expected to risk their lives for the Imperials without being compensated at all.
"Once you return from the alternate universe, I'll speak with Skyfire Brightshore. The more assistance you provided to him, the greater our gratitude shall be," the towering behemoth said.
"Do not worry, Hegemon. We will definitely do everything we can."
"Since we are travelling together, we shall definitely do our best to support each other."
All of them spoke out in unison.
They all knew that since the Hegemon said he would 'reward them heavily', the rewards for this mission would definitely be extraordinary. The Hegemon was someone who had stood at the very top of the Endless Territories for countless years, after all. He had existed for even longer than the Brightshore Kingdom itself had existed.
A 'heavy reward' from someone like him was indeed more than enough to convince Ning and the others to do their absolute utmost in protecting Skyfire Brightshore in his journey to the alternate universe.
"Good." The towering behemoth nodded slightly.
Rumble…
Yet another spacetime vortex appeared next to Ning's group. Moments later, a strange beast bathed in blazing flames suddenly emerged.
"Skyfire." The towering behemoth nodded.
"Hegemon." The blazing beast immediately transformed into the shape of a fiery-haired youth who wore a suit of azure armor.
"It shall be the five of you who will travel to the alternate universe," the towering behemoth said.
The fiery-haired youth swept the four with his gaze, closely scrutinizing them. He then cracked a smile. "My name is Skyfire Brightshore, but you can just call me Skyfire. I heard from the Hegemon that none of the four chosen ones are weaker than I am. Once we go to the alternate universe, I'll have to trouble you to help me out."
Although Skyfire Brightshore was an incredibly talented member of the race of Brightshore Imperials, he was still just a new member who had been brought back just a short while ago. Ning and the others had all developed at least one Supreme Dao and were comparable to Daolords of the Second Step. Indeed, all of them were somewhat more powerful than Skyfire Brightshore. But of course, this was only true if they factored in their 'normal' combat power. There was no way to calculate the power of any trump cards or single-use items which they were keeping hidden up their sleeves.
"Hegemon, where is this 'Archaeus region' and what is this 'alternate universe'?" Prince Greatjoy asked. He was nothing more than an honorary disciple of the almighty Hegemon, and he wasn't truly qualified to address the Hegemon as 'Master'. According to the almighty Hegemon's rules, only his personal disciples were qualified to call him 'Master'.
"The alternate universe?" The towering behemoth smiled as it saw the looks of eagerness appear on the faces of Ning and the others. "By now, all of you should have sensed that the Endless Territories have certain prime essences within it. There is a prime essence of fire, a prime essence of water, a prime essence of the sword, a prime essence of space, a prime essence of time…"
Ning and the others nodded. Everyone could sense the prime essences. However, attuning to the prime essences was only able to help one advance to the level of full mastery as a World-level cultivator. As for the more profound mysteries, the prime essences kept them bottled up internally and emanated none of them at all. Supposedly, not even Eternal Emperors could enter the prime essences and train in those mysteries. Thus, Samsara Daolords had to find and develop a Dao which suited themselves, one slow step at a time.
"The vast region which is covered by the power of the prime essences is known as a 'universe'," the almighty Hegemon said. "An 'alternate universe' naturally refers to a place which has completely different prime essences."
"What?!" Ning and the others were all stunned. Different prime essences?
The Three Realms, the Badlands Territory, the Brightshore Kingdom… Ning had been able to sense the prime essence of the sword in all these places. The prime essence of the sword was unchanging, and the vast Endless Territories were nothing more than a part of an enormous universe! But now, it seemed as though he was going to head off into a completely different universe?
"Do not worry. The outermost layers of the prime essences of this alternate universe, such as the prime essence of water, the prime essence of time, the prime essence of the sword, etc., are all the same as ours. Only the inner layers differ," the almighty Hegemon said. "Thus, your power shall not be impacted whatsoever."
"Has anyone ever been to this place?" Waterlord Firesurge couldn't help but ask.
"None." The almighty Hegemon shook his head.
Ning and the others were instantly rendered speechless.
"Long ago, as I attuned myself to the nature of spacetime, I was able to dimly sense the traces of an alternate universe that was quite close to our own universe, and so I opened a transversal conduit between our two universe," the towering behemoth said. "However, the transversal conduit is rather weak, because it is constantly being disrupted by the differing laws of our two universes. Thus, only those below the Daolord level of power are able to enter it.
"Thus, once you head off into this alternate universe, you absolutely must not allow yourselves to break through to the Daolord level. If you do break through, you will never be able to return. You will have to forever stay within that alternate universe," the towering behemoth instructed.
Ning and the others nodded. So due to the different laws of the two universes, there was no way for Daolords to pass through this transversal conduit.
"However, World-level cultivators can pass through this conduit with no danger whatsoever," the towering behemoth said. "Just a few days ago, I sent one of my World-level servants through the dimension conduit to do some exploring, then brought him back safely. Over the course of countless years, I've also managed to capture quite a few World-level cultivators of the alternate universe and bring them to ours."
"Capture?" Ning and the others were secretly speechless. The almighty Hegemon was unable to go personally, but was still able to capture people?
"Thus, this transversal conduit is completely safe," the towering behemoth said. "Given how strong you are, I trust that you will not encounter much danger when you journey through the territories of the alternate universe. The true trial will begin once you reach their Archaeus region!"
Ning and the other four listened attentively. Not even Skyfire Brightshore knew much about this 'Archaeus region'.
"The Archaeus region is the most mysterious region in this alternate universe. It takes up an extremely vast region of space, so vast that I imagine there are very few cultivators who even know how large it truly is. Supposedly, there are many Daolords and even Eternal Emperors who seclude themselves throughout the Archaeus region." The towering behemoth laughed. "This Archaeus region is so vast that it is most likely as large as our entire Endless Territories."
"What?!" Ning and the others were all speechless.
They had originally thought that this Archaeus region would be some sort of secret world or location. Now, it seemed, it was a place that was almost as vast as their entire Endless Territories.
"That place is the core of that entire alternate universe, the place where the alternate universe sprang from. Countless cultivators in that universe dream of entering the Archaeus region, because everyone who manages to survive their journey through it will return completely transformed," the towering behemoth said. "However… if you barge into the Archaeus region, you will immediately be assaulted and annihilated by the full force of the entire Archaeus region itself. You'll be instantly reduced to dust and your truesoul vaporized."
Ning and the others were truly at a loss for words. If the entire region was the size of the Endless Territories… how terrifying would an attack launched with the full might of that region be?
"That place is the core of the entire alternate universe, after all." The towering behemoth continued, "Everyone who wishes to enter the place has to first bind an Archaeus medallion. After doing so, you'll be able to enter it safely and won't be expelled by the power of the region."
"Archaeus medallions are extremely rare. I sent my will into the alternate universe and spread it across an extremely wide area, then kidnapped the World-level cultivators who passed through the area. It took me countless years to accumulate just a few Archaeus medallions," the towering behemoth said. "Here are the five Archaeus medallions. Take them and bind them."
Swoosh. Swoosh. Swoosh. Swoosh. Swoosh.
Five streaks of light appeared out of nowhere and flew towards Ning and the other four.
The Archaeus medallions were dark-red disc-shaped medallions that were covered with ancient, complicated runes. Ning and the others didn't understand the runes, but could sense that they came from a long time ago, in a universe that was far, far away. They all bound the medallions.
"Hegemon." Ning spoke out. "Will we be permitted to bring our retainers and servants into the alternate universe? Are they allowed to enter the Archaeus region?"
The others all looked at the Hegemon, because they all had retainers and servants as well.
"Anyone below the Daolord level can make use of the transversal conduit," the almighty Hegemon said. "As for the Archaeus region… they will have to perpetually hide within your estate-world treasures, and they can't let any of their auras leak out at all. If they reveal themselves within the Archaeus region, they'll suffer an immediate attack from the power of the region. However, if they continuously hide without coming out they will be safe."
Ning and the others now understood. They would not be able to leave the estate-worlds or even sent out their aura or godsense. If that was the case, there was no real point to bringing them.
"But of course, if you were able to acquire more Archaeus medallions, you could gift them to your retainers and servants. They would then be qualified to enter the Archaeus region as well," the almighty Hegemon suddenly said. "Still, I urge you to be more low-key when you enter the Archaeus region, as it holds quite a few truly powerful Daolords."
"Here is a star map of the alternate universe. It includes all the markers you need to travel from the transversal conduit's exit to the Archaeus region, as well as some information regarding this universe. Remember, you are not to reveal this to others." As the almighty Hegemon spoke, he bestowed five sets of star maps upon them.
"Understood." Ning and the other four accepted the maps.
"Make your preparations. Three days from now, we shall meet again outside the imperial palace," the almighty Hegemon instructed.
Ning returned to the Sword Palace, then met with World God Pillsaint and Su Youji.
"A tremendous opportunity has been made available to me. I'll be heading to an extremely dangerous place. If you follow me, there's a slim chance that you'll gain some karmic fortune from it as well. But of course, when I die you will die as well," Ning said. "Shall you follow me or will you remain here in the Sword Palace?"
"I'll follow you, Master." Su Youji didn't hesitate at all.
"I'm not allowed to learn any of the techniques or secret arts of the Twelve Palaces. Of course I'll follow you, Master!" Pillsaint agreed.
Ning nodded slowly upon seeing this. He couldn't promise them anything. He hadn't even visited this alternate universe before, after all.
Three days later, Ji Ning, Solewind, Firesurge, Greatjoy, and Skyfire Brightjoy all gathered together before the gates of the imperial palace.
"Everyone." The gray humanoid statue suddenly walked towards Ning and the other four. "I shall escort the five of you to the transversal conduit."
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Book 27, Twelve Palaces, Chapter 26 – Entering the Alternate Universe
The grayish humanoid statue first made some slight alterations to the spacetime transfer array in front of the imperial palace, then activated it.
Ji Ning, Solewind, Firesurge, Greatjoy, and Skyfire could sense spacetime twisting around them. Soon, everything went silent.
"Eh?" Ning and the others stared at their new surroundings.
They were at the peak of a towering mountain that was levitating in empty space. At the very apex of the mountain peak sat a white-bearded old man dressed in snowy robes who had six curved horns on his head. Ning and the others had seen the almighty Hegemon's true form before, and they immediately recognized the old man's aura as that of the Hegemon's. They immediately bowed respectfully. "Hegemon."
"This place here is the transversal conduit." The white-bearded old man pointed at a place halfway up the mountain. At first glance it seemed quite ordinary, but a more careful examination revealed a series of faint, concentric spacetime ripples emanating an aura of incredible power. If the transversal conduit was to collapse with them inside, they would probably all perish.
"Once you enter the alternate universe, even items like 'truesoul towers' and 'heart lamps' will no longer be able to detect whether or not you are still alive, to say nothing of ordinary life tablets," the white-bearded elder said. "These are two completely separate universes, after all. But of course, if you have trained in some sort of cloning technique, you can leave a clone behind in this universe. If the other clones all perish, you can rebuild them with your backup clone. That's one way to tell if you are alive or not."
"Alright." Ning and the others all nodded.
Heart lamps and truesoul towers were attuned directly to one's truesoul. Even if one entered the most deadly of locations, they would still be able to sense the presence of your truesoul. Alas, if you entered an alternate universe they would be useless.
Life tablets were the most simple and common items used to determine if someone was alive or not. Many special locations were able to completely block the effect of life tablets. In fact, a sufficiently great distance would also be enough to make it impossible for a life tablet to function.
"No one will be able to assist you on this journey to this alternate universe. Everything will all be up to yourselves," the white-bearded elder said. "Go in. After you enter the conduit, make sure you remember to only go forwards and follow the flow."
"Understood," Ning and the other four acknowledged. They then all turned to walk towards those the seemingly ordinary, concentric spacetime ripples. As the five moved closer to the ripples, they quickly began to feel as though they had been dragged into a powerful spacetime whirlpool.
The journey through the transversal conduit started off quite calm and peaceful. Soon, however, Ning and the others could sense how space and time were twisting and distorting around them, as were many of the laws they had taken for granted. This was quite a miserable feeling; even their truesouls felt stifled and choked.
"Let's move faster," Prince Greatjoy growled.
"Forwards!" Ning urged.
They all suppressed the nauseous feelings they had as they hurriedly flew forwards. In front of them was a dark tunnel which had been formed by rings of spacetime vortices. The black tunnel seemingly had no exit, and the laws of both universes were in force throughout the tunnel. Thankfully, Ning and the others had not yet reached the Daolord level, and so the disturbance they created was fairly minor. If a true Daolord had dared to make use of this transversal conduit, it was very likely that the two differing laws of the two universes would've crushed him to death.
Whoosh. Ning and the others continued to fly forwards at high speed.
"Why is this tunnel so long?"
"How long is this transversal conduit? There seems to be no end to it!"
Ning and the others had been flying for more than two hours by now, but they were still stuck within that tunnel of darkness. They all felt quite nauseous, but at least they weren't at risk of losing their lives. They were all able to resist the uncomfortable feelings.
Heartlord Solewind sent mentally to the others, "The Hegemon told us to just keep pressing onwards after we enter the tunnel. Let's just keep flying like this. Sooner or later, we'll reach the exit."
"Right." Waterlord Firesurge nodded as well.
"A transversal conduit which links two universes. Today, I've finally seen such a thing with my own eyes." Prince Greatjoy laughed loudly.
The five of them chatted as they continued to fly forwards, but they soon ran out of topics to talk about and so just continued to fly in silence.
One day. Two days. Three days…
Ning had never imagined that this transversal conduit would be so long. If this was 'normal' flying, he wouldn't have minded, but this was a place where the laws of two universes were clashing against each other. Every second here felt like an entire miserable year. Why hadn't the almighty Hegemon warned them about this? Most likely, he wanted to use it to temper their hearts and wills.
In the blink of an eye, three full years went by.
"Wait, what's that?"
"Is that the exit?"
"I think that's the exit."
Ning and the others had been flying silently when suddenly, they all revealed looks of great joy. They saw some light sparkling up ahead, breaking up the monotonous darkness of the transversal conduit. It didn't seem as though there was anything past those sparkles of light. It seemed as though they had reached the end.
"Keep flying." They had no other options but to fly straight towards the light.
Whoosh. Whoosh. Whoosh. Whoosh. Whoosh. The five of them all flew out of the darkness.
"What is this place?" The five of them found themselves within a region of drifting primordial chaos. In front of them was an enormous chaos star that blazed like a giant ball of fire. Due to its close proximity the surrounding area was illuminated quite brightly by this chaos star.
Ning and the others turned to look behind them, only to see an enormous spatial vortex.
"I imagine there aren't many who would dare to enter this spatial vortex," Heartlord Solewind laughed.
Ning nodded.
He himself had arrived in the Badlands Territory by leaving the Three Realms through a spatial vortex. There were quite a few such vortices in the Endless Territories, but because most were naturally formed they often contained unknown dangers. Generally speaking, cultivators wouldn't dare to risk their lives within one of them.
But of course, there were always those like 'Old Man Yuan' or Godfiend Witherspike who would enter the vortices because they were being chased and had nowhere else to flee. They had no choice but to flee into the most dangerous of places.
"Even if they made it through and were lucky enough to survive… on the other side is the Hegemon himself." Prince Greatjoy sent a mental chuckle as well.
"Can you sense it, everyone?" Skyfire Brightshore's eyes were closed as he sent out his senses. "It is true. Many of the prime essences in this place are different from ours."
Ning was attuning himself to the local prime essences as well.
This place was similar to the Endless Territories in that both had a prime essence of the sword, a prince essence of fire, a prime essence of water, a prime essence of lightning, a prime essence of space, and many other types of prime essence. These prime essences were like giant stone pillars that were holding up the entire universe they were in, and the outermost ripples of these prime essences could be sensed and attuned to by cultivators. In this respect, things were exactly the same as they were in the Endless Territories!
Thus, cultivation was a similar process as well. However, 'inside' the prime essences things were very different.
"In the Endless Territories, the prime essence of the sword is more all-encompassing and massive. In this alternate universe, the prime essence of the sword seems to be more reserved but also more savage," Ning mused.
The five of them were all curiously attuning themselves to the local prime essences.
"According to our star maps, our current location is quite a long ways off from the Archaeus region. Let us head off, gentlemen," Waterlord Firesurge said.
"Yes, time to head off."
"Our journey is a long one. Our most important mission right now is to reach the Archaeus region safely."
"Let's go."
Although the five were all very confident, and although their chances of reaching the Archaeus region were quite high, they didn't dare to be reckless. The distance between their location and the Archaeus region truly was quite great, as the Archaeus region was the core of this entire alternate universe and was truly, indescribably vast.
According to their star maps, it would take Ning's group at least 1500 years to go from the transversal conduit to the Archaeus region. They would have go to through more than three thousand territories! World-level cultivators would almost never be willing to take on a journey of such distances, as it would be simply far too dangerous. Who knew when they would perish?
It took them two months to go to the nearest spacetime transfer array. The spacetime transfer arrays here were quite similar to the ones in the Endless Territories. Clearly, the two universes had very similar systems of cultivation.
Be it by flying, teleporting, or using spacetime transfer arrays, the group advanced through the alternate universe for more than a hundred years. Finally, they reached a specific chaos planet that was the core of a spacetime transfer array they had to pass through.
Deep within a gorge on this planet, there were a series of estates where other World-level cultivators resided.
Crackle. Pop.
A figure was seated in the lotus position by the banks of a lake, his entire body wreathed in flames that didn't cause any damage to the nearby mud or grass at all.
Swoosh.
A streak of light flew towards him from afar. It was a green-haired World God who was carrying a greataxe on his back and radiated an aura of great strength.
"Five World-level cultivators arrived," the green-haired World God growled.
"Oh? Five dared to trespass in our territory? Do they have extraordinary backgrounds?" The flaming figure asked.
"They should be outsiders. I've never seen them before," the green-haired World God said.
"Never seen them before? Mm. We should know all of the World-level cultivators in the ten or so territories around us. If we don't know them… they must have come from very far away." The flaming figure let out a hoarse chuckle. "Inform the other leaders. Begin our preparations for killing these outsiders. We discovered them, so I insist on getting a full share."
"Understood," the green-haired World God said respectfully.
"By now, we've killed more than three hundred World-level cultivators. Still… that's not enough. We aren't even close to our quota of a thousand," the flaming figure mused softly.
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Book 27, Twelve Palaces, Chapter 27 – Ambushed
Ji Ning's squad of five descended upon this chaos planet.
They were able to see the heart of the spacetime transfer array far off in the distance. Here in this alternate universe, cultivators also used chaos nectar and chaos jewels for bartering.
"Halt!"
An Elder God standing in front of a beautiful palace suddenly bellowed at them. Although the five before him were all World-level cultivators, and although he was merely an Elder God, he was a representative of a universe-wide organization which dominated this entire universe, the Church of Annihilation. Every single spacetime transfer array in this alternate universe was governed by the Church of Annihilation.
No major powers would dare to challenge the might and prestige of the Church of Annihilation! In this universe, the Church of Annihilation was an utterly exalted and supreme organization!
"We are going to the star of Cricket," Heartlord Solewind said with a smile. Here in the alternate universe, it was usually Solewind's responsibility to meet and speak with the locals.
"The spacetime transfer array is currently under maintenance. It'll be half a month before it can be activated," the Elder God said.
"Half a month?" Ning and the others looked at each other, feeling quite helpless. Spacetime transfer arrays did indeed require maintenance and repairs. If they were not given the proper maintenance, these ancient devices would slowly begin to break down. Ning's group had no choice but to leave for now. They travelled a few hundred kilometers away and landed within a beautiful mountain valley.
"Let's wait here for half a month," Heartlord solewind said.
"The Church of Annihilation truly is incredible. It was actually able to take complete control over this entire alternate universe. The Endless Territories is just one part of our own universe, but it's still divided up into many different organizations," Prince Greatjoy sent mentally. He couldn't help but sigh. "In the Endless Territories, more than 99% of the people belong to the Dao Alliance, but the Dao Alliance is dispersed into many different locations. Everyone operates independently, with some training and some fighting. As for the spacetime transfer arrays, the local schools and sects are allowed to run them."
Ning chuckled as well. The Dao Alliance was quite relaxed… but that was why Ning liked it. It granted freedom and governed on a principle of non-governance.
"Cultivators, by our very nature, wish for freedom," Solewind said. "The reason why the Brightshore Kingdom is so unified is because the almighty Hegemon is so strong as to completely overpower everyone else! The reason why the Aeonians are so unified is because if they aren't unified, they'll be wiped out as a race! The Dao Alliance is simply too strong, forcing them to be unified if they wish to survive. The reason why those other top-tier organizations are unified is also because they are few in number. They can't not be unified."
"And this alternate universe?" Firesurge asked.
Ning was curious as well. "For this universe to be completely unified is truly inconceivable."
"Absolutely."
The five of them were all extraordinary figures. In the future, if they worked hard in their cultivation, they would become truly monstrous Daolords. They were all very proud individuals, but they felt the utmost of admiration and awe towards this organization which had dominated and unified an entire universe.
The five of them continued to wait there quietly, drinking while chatting. But of course, when they discussed sensitive matters they sent mental messages to each other.
"Eh?" Their faces tightened at the exact same instant.
Boom!
The world around them changed as countless roaring waves came crashing out towards them in an apocalyptic scene. The waves swept straight towards the five of them, and at the edges of the endless waves there were a number of World-level cultivators who were riding the waves forward. They stared at Ning's group of five, their eyes filled with murderous intentions.
"We've just been waylaid." Ning's group knew what was happening.
"Elder brothers, let me handle these waves." Firesurge was dressed in deep blue robes and his face was grim and cold. He was quite humble when speaking to Ning and the other three, but he was filled with nothing besides icy contempt towards these attacking cultivators. He waved his hand. BOOM! A ring of seemingly ordinary black water began to spread out in every direction around him.
The ring of black water was able to easily defend against the roaring waves.
"What?"
"The 'Empyrean Divine Water Formation' we set up using 109 World-level cultivators was blocked with such ease?" The attackers were all horrified and shocked.
"Break!" Firesurge let out a cold snort, and the roaring waves of water suddenly were pushed backwards, causing the entire formation to collapse.
"It was only meant to bind and capture them anyhow. If we can't capture them, we will just kill them." A golden-winged World God issued mental orders to the others. Although he could tell that Firesurge wasn't an easy person to deal with, he was very confident in his groups abilities. Given their overwhelming advantage in numbers, he truly felt no concern whatsoever.
The awe-inspiring horde of World-level cultivators suddenly switched to a different formation, causing blurry light to spread out amongst their ranks. All of them were now reinforced by the formation they were using, and they charged towards Ning's group.
"They really are courting death." Prince Greatjoy let out a cold laugh as he slapped out with his left hand. His left palm instantly expanded to become thirty thousand meters in size, and it emanated an aura of dazzling golden light. This dazzling golden palm moved terrifyingly fast as spacetime twisted and distorted in front of it. It was clearly quite far away from the attackers, but it somehow appeared directly in front of them in an instant.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Every single World-level cultivator touched by the golden palm was reduced to dust.
"Is that a Daolord?!"
"That has to be a Daolord!"
"What the hell is going on? He clearly has the aura of a World God."
"He's actually a Daolord pretending to be a World God!" The attackers were instantly scared silly.
Skyfire Brightshore let out a laugh. "There are quite a few attackers. Let me handle them."
"GWAAAR!" Skyfire opened his mouth and let out a loud, furious roar as flames began to belch forth. The flames instantly covered the entire area and began blasting out in every direction. It must be understood that although Prince Greatjoy was very strong, each of his palm-strikes was only able to kill roughly ten or so World-level cultivators at once. This ring of fire, however, spread out in every direction. There was no way for anyone to run at all.
"Ahhhhh!" Some of the weaker Chaos Immortals were instantly burnt into dust. Even the World Gods with weaker bodies were burnt to ashes.
"Run away immediately!"
"These five World-level cultivators are way too strong."
"They are probably all transcendent World Gods!"
"Why is our luck such shit?"
Some of the strongest World Gods, along with ones who had access to decent protective divine abilities, were able to endure the roaring flames. Just over twenty of them were able to survive and quickly began to flee in every direction. Although some of them were incredibly strong, they no longer wished to continue this fight against Ning's group.
Ning nodded as he watched. The flames which Skyfire Brightshore had unleashed seemed to be slightly more powerful than his Chaos-level [Novessence Thunder] technique had been.
"Skyfire, let me give you a hand." Ning let out a chuckle.
Whoooosh.
Seven streaks of Dao lightning and seven streams of Dao water instantly spread out to cover an area of a million kilometers, catching all of the fleeing World Gods within their area of effect. The Dao lightning and the Dao water were simply too fast; there was no way for them to escape.
The lightning and water all transformed into enormous greatswords that danced through the skies. The entire region of a million kilometers became transformed into an enormous domain of chaotic might. The terrifyingly powerful sword-intent filling this domain tore at the bodies of every single World God, resulting in many of them ground to dust by the clashing and grinding power of the lightning sword-intent and water sword-intent.
It was like an enormous millstone had ground them to bits!
The Yin-Yang Sword Domain, at maximum power, was something which quickly cause even Daolords of the First Step to perish! Even if Ning expanded the zone to cover an area of a million kilometers, Daolords of the First Step would still suffer very heavy injuries, to say nothing of these World-level cultivators.
"Brother Darknorth, your domain truly is formidable. Let me finish the stragglers." Heartlord Solewind let out a laugh, then turned his gaze to the two World Gods who had made it very far away and were still struggling to flee.
"Why are they this powerful?!"
"Even our transcendent World Gods were wiped out?!"
"B-but…"
"Where the hell did these five come from?!"
The two World Gods who had managed to survive the Yin-Yang Sword Domain were terrified senseless by now. Of the two, one was a transcendent World God while the other was merely a supreme World God. The one thing they shared in common was that both had incredibly powerful protective divine abilities. There was no way for them to actually escape the domain itself, but their bodies were tough enough to let them survive for a moment longer.
"What is going-…."
"I…"
"Ahaha… death, sweet death! Once I die, I'll have no more worries."
Boom! Boom!
The two World Gods simultaneously fell to the ground, completely lifeless.
Heartlord Solewind's lips curved upwards slightly.
"Those two were both elite World Gods, but you were able to make them both commit suicide, Solewind. Admirable, admirable." Ning nodded.
"They were utterly terrified and driven to the brink of despair by your attacks, my friends. That's why it was so easy for me to deal with them." Heartlord Solewind smiled.
Ning and the other three, however, were still shocked by what had happened.
The ability to force a World God to commit suicide? Although the four of them were impressive, none of them were capable of such a thing. True Heartforce Cultivators really were terrifying.
The five of them quickly cleaned up the battlefield, getting rid of the corpses and dividing up the spoils.
"These World-level cultivators weren't bad. They were fairly strong." Prince Greatjoy frowned. "There were actually more than ten supreme World Gods and three or four transcendent World Gods! It doesn't really make sense for there to have been that many transcendent World Gods, does it?"
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Book 27, Twelve Palaces, Chapter 28 – The Reason
"The alternate universe is fairly similar to our own." Ji Ning also felt that something was off. "Logically speaking, less than one in a thousand World Gods would have reached a transcendent level of power. For this group of a hundred World-level cultivators to have so many supreme World Gods and three or four transcendent World Gods doesn't make sense. Where the hell did they come from?"
Ning and the other four had effortlessly dominated the group, not giving them any chance to fight back before perishing. Thus, Ning's group was only able to come to a general approximation regarding how strong they were.
"Let me take a look." Skyfire Brightshore immediately soared into the skies, then cast his gaze down upon the entire chaos planet as his eyes blazed with fire.
"Hm. Let me take a look on the other side of the chaos planet." The chaos planet was a sphere, and on the other side of the planet they ended up finding a large number of estates.
"They should be residing in that place." Solewind cast his gaze downwards. "And… I see quite a few restrictive formations. There's no way to use godsense to scan the place."
"We killed 126 World-level cultivators, but there are nearly 150 estates there." Ning frowned. "Are there still others?"
"Even if there are, they would've fled," Prince Greatjoy said.
This guess was correct.
A group of nineteen World-level cultivators were hiding within an empty part of the primordial chaos. All of them had ugly looks on their faces as they traded glances. In their eyes could be seen both terror and joy.
"Thank goodness we were responsible for keeping watch over the headquarters."
"That was terrifying."
"All those life tablets went poof in an instant. None of them survived!"
When they thought back to the sight of all those life tablets shattering at the same instant, they couldn't help but be seized by terror once more.
The World-level cultivators had all left behind life tablets so that the others would know if they were alive or not. Just now, when this group had been convening in their headquarters, they realized to their astonishment that a total of 126 life tablets had shattered apart in the same instant. Even the life tablets of the terrifyingly strong transcendent World Gods who they had dreaded were quickly shattered.
It had been a complete massacre!
Although they didn't personally witness the battle, the wholesale annihilation of the life tablets was enough for them to guess at what had happened. They had been so terrified that they immediately fled from their headquarters and used a spatial teleportation to escape.
"Some of them had extremely powerful protective divine abilities. Logically speaking, even if they were attacked by Daolords they would've merely been captured and drawn into magic treasures to be slowly ground down. But… all those life tablets shattered in almost the blink of an eye."
"What the hell did they run into?"
"Those five World-level cultivators… was a major power hiding amongst their ranks?"
The lucky survivors speculated wildly, but were unable to go beyond speculation. They would never dare to return to that place.
And so, just like that this formidable local organization disappeared, never to be heard of again.
This group of World-level cultivators truly had been quite powerful. Unfortunately, they had run into Ning's group of five. These five were the most freakishly talented of the freakishly talented. Anyone besides the five of them would've found it extremely difficult to deal with this group.
For fear that this matter might have unexpected repercussions, Ning's group decided to temporarily hide within a vacant region of primordial chaos as Prince Greatjoy stealthily investigated the matter. "Given my abilities, not even Daolords would be able to detect my actions unless they are even stronger than I am in the Dao of Spacetime." In terms of mastery over spacetime, Prince Greatjoy's level of expertise was superior to even that of many Daolords of the Second Step who specialized in the Dao of Spacetime.
As for those who weren't particularly skilled? Not even Daolords of the Fourth Step would be able to discover any traces of him.
This was why the Dao of Spacetime was such a terrifying Dao.
"Nothing seems to be happening whatsoever. It seems as though that was nothing more than an ordinary robbery attempt." Bandits were common in every universe, and there were many within the Brightshore Kingdom as well. Even in the Endless Territories, there were World-level cultivators who delighted in waylaying and robbing others. This was the fastest way of acquiring treasures, a way far faster and safer than adventuring in ruins left behind by Daolords. A sufficiently prepared ambush was far safer than adventuring in unexplored regions.
Time slowly flowed on. Ning's group continued to advance, behaving even more cautiously than before as they moved through one territory after another. Despite that, they still suffered yet another ambush.
Even though they were moving with extreme caution, they had suffered two consecutive ambushes in a row. As for the results were… there were no surprises whatsoever. Anyone who dared to ambush Ning's group was absolutely courting death.
Rumble…
Three World Gods were swept away by an enormous wave of water and smashed violently upon the ground.
The earth shuddered and split apart from the force of the collision. The three World Gods hurriedly rose to their feet, then stared in terror at the five World-level cultivators who were slowly descending upon them from the skies.
"They are terrifyingly strong."
"W-way too strong."
"How can World Gods be this strong?"
The eyes of the three World Gods were filled with terror. They would never forget what they had just seen. That terrifying finger-art… every single wave of the finger had caused World-level cultivators to perish. That terrifying wave… it had crushed more than half of them to death in an instant. As for the ones who wanted to flee, they were slain by crashing bolts of lightning. In the end, only the three of them had managed to survive, and only because their foes let them live.
Only now did they realize that it was possible for World-level cultivators to reach such a level of power.
"You can continue to live," Prince Greatjoy said coldly, "But you have to do as I say."
"Y-y-yes." The three World Gods hurriedly nodded.
"Swear a lifeblood oath that you will never divulge what happened today to anyone. In addition, swear that you will honestly answer any questions we ask you," Prince Greatjoy ordered grimly.
"Yes." The three World Gods didn't even think about fighting back or arguing as they all obediently swore the lifeblood oaths. All three of them were dressed in gray armored robes. Normally, these gray-robed cultivators were viewed as nightmares by other cultivators, but today they were filled with the utmost of reverence towards their captors. They put away their gray armored robes and lowered their heads, for fear of offending the five before them.
"Why did you attempt to waylay us?" Prince Greatjoy asked as Ning and the others watched.
"There were only five of you, and all of you were World-level cultivators. We thought you'd be easy to deal with." A skinny man with a long beard hurried to be the first to respond.
"No other reasons? You were going to kill us just because we were easy targets?" Prince Greatjoy was puzzled, and he swept his gaze across the other two.
"Right."
"That is the case."
The three all immediately nodded.
Ning and the others exchanged a glance. This was the third time they had been ambushed in the past month. It must be understood that it would take them roughly a thousand years to travel from the transversal conduit to the Archaeus region. It would make sense for them to be ambushed once every decade, but for them to be ambushed three times in one month made no sense. And yet… apparently this was nothing more than a normal attempt at highway robbery.
"We were ambushed three times in one month." Prince Greatjoy frowned. "Do you know why?"
"You don't know?" The skinny, bearded World God looked at him.
"Speak!" Prince Greatjoy's eyes lit up, as did the eyes of Ning and the others.
"Because of Nine Godstars," the prisoner said hurriedly. "Nine Godstars has already formally announced its criteria for accepting new disciples."
Ning and the others exchanged a glance. Nine Godstars was an extremely large organization.
"They only accept World-level cultivators as new members, and you have to have personally slain at least a thousand other World-level cultivators before you are qualified to join them," the bearded man said. "Once news of this spread, not only did this cause an enormous stir in the eighteen territories next to Nine Godstars, it also caused a stir in hundreds of nearby territories! Many extremely powerful World-level cultivators began to furiously hunt down and kill down other World-level cultivators. It has been an absolute massacre. Weaker cultivators like us have nowhere to hide, and so we have to join together in large numbers to stay safe."
"What? You have to kill a thousand World-level cultivators in order to become a member of the sect?" Skyfire Brightshore was shocked.
"That's a bit crazy." Heartlord Solewind frowned.
"This entrance requirement…" Ning shook his head.
To kill a thousand World-level cultivators was an extremely difficult. Even enslaved, oathbound World-level slaves were only willing to serve because it gave them a chance to stay alive! If a master insisted on slaying his slaves, the slave would probably go all-out in fighting back. If the slave was going to die no matter what, he would generally prefer to die fighting. When Daolord Windsource was about to die, his slaves would often curse and berate him as they no longer had anything to fear.
Even if you were an extremely powerful cultivator… after many battles, some unexpected variables might occur. You might've worked hard to kill several hundred cultivators, only to end up dead in ditch for some reason.
To actually kill a thousand would be very, very difficult.
"Nine Godstars is the number one sect within hundreds of territories, after all." Next to the bearded man was an extremely muscular World God dressed in scale armor. He said hurriedly, "Nine Godstars has nine major branches, and each branch is led by a major power who is at the Verge of the Daomerge. As for its most powerful expert, that person is ranked as one of the elite Paladins of the Church of Annihilation."
Ning's group knew all this. The Church of Annihilation was in control of this entire alternate universe and was an utterly enormous organization. The 'Paladins' of the Church of Annihilation held high positions and were extremely respected.
"Nine Godstars will only be accepting eighteen disciples this time," the scaled World God said hurriedly. "They'll stop once the final slot is taken! I hear that the top three will be given Archaeus medallions and be sent to the legendary Archaeus region."
"Archaeus medallions?" Ning and the others were all intrigued.
Archaeus medallions were extremely valuable. The almighty Hegemon had sent his will through the transversal conduit and used many schemes but had only been able to accumulate a few of those medallions over the course of countless years.
"That's why everyone in the surrounding territories has gone mad. Not only will they have a chance of becoming a disciple, they'll even have a chance of gaining a legendary Archaeus medallion. All of the transcendent World-level cultivators in the nearby territories have all hastened over here. There's nowhere for weaker World Gods like us to run." The bearded man shook his head. "That's why you'll encounter ambushes throughout these territories. Most likely, it'll only come to an end after Nine Godstars accepts its eighteenth and final disciple."
Finally, Ning's group had an answer as to why there was such a high concentration of powerful cultivators. It was because the weaker ones had all been killed!
The ones still alive were fairly strong, and some had actually hastened to this place from other territories.
"If they knew that all five of us each hold an Archaeus medallion… I can't even imagine how many World Gods would come to surround and attack us. There might even be Daolords coming for us." Skyfire Brightshore sent an amused mental message to the others.
"Haha, we definitely can't let them find out."
Now that they knew the reason behind this… they still felt some pressure, but they also felt much more relaxed.
"It seems as though we will often be attacked over the next century or so," Prince Greatjoy sent. "Everyone, let's not be too reckless. The mighty Nine Godstars sect is behind this matter. If we attract the attention of their experts, we will be doomed."
"Right." Ning and the others all nodded.
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Book 27, Twelve Palaces, Chapter 29 – Adventures
Ji Ning and the others were very careful. However, the Nine Godstars sect had sent out dozens of Daolords of the First Step to keep watch over the place, with the goal of preventing some truly dazzlingly talented World-level cultivators from being surrounded, trapped, and killed. These Daolords had all broken through via usage of Pseudo Samsara Pills.
These Daolords of the First Step were scattered across the local territories, keeping a secret look out for particularly dazzling and talented World-level cultivators. If they found one, they would be permitted to return to the sect in advance.
When roaming, they would actively emanate their Samsara Daolord auras, making it so that the World-level cultivators would not dare to act against them. There was a significant difference in power between them and Samsara Daolords, after all! Ji Ning, for example, would probably be merely a match for Daolords of the First Step if he was relying solely on his sword-arts. It was thanks to the azureflower mist energy strengthening his body and making it comparable to a Daolord's that he was able to rise above them in power.
Firesurge, Greatjoy, and the others had their own divine abilities and secret arts as well.
Generally speaking, it was very difficult to rely on mere divine abilities to defeat those at a completely different level. The [Fogstone Apocalypse] was a very good example of a divine ability that didn't qualify! Only some truly, devastatingly powerful divine abilities would do the trick, such as the [Five Seals Sword Dao] of Emperor Mirrorsnow. Alas, there was no way for Ning to use it.
Mighty divine abilities, secret arts, powerful innate gifts like Skyfire's, supportive techniques like Ning's azureflower mist energy… this was what was needed, along with ridiculously profound insights into the Dao, for a World-level cultivator to be able to slay a Daolord of the First Step! And of course, not even the likes of Bertulu would be able to slay a Daolord of the Second Step.
Thus, it was generally quite safe for Daolords of the First Step to be used to patrol most territories.
But of course, the Nine Godstars sect naturally would keep this type of mission a secret. Those World-level cultivators all believed that the only way to succeed was by killing a thousand of their peers, which was why they remained as berserk as ever.
"Damn."
Sixteen years after they entered the sphere of influence of the Nine Godstars sect.
Ning and the others were in an empty part of space. They exchanged glances with each other, their faces grim.
"Greatjoy, you were a bit rash this time." Heartlord Solewind had a rather ugly look on his face as he stared at the magic treasures and suits of armor floating in front of them.
"We had no other options! When we refused to follow that Daolord of the First Step, he tried to abduct us by force. You know that we cannot reveal our true identities." Prince Greatjoy had an ugly look on his face as well as he spoke mentally to the other four. "We lied to him and told him that we are members of other sects, but he completely ignored us. We had no choice but to kill him!"
"We killed a Daolord of the Nine Godstars sect. Even though he was merely a Daolord of the First Step… I'm sure that the Nine Godstars sect has already found out and is sending people to investigate." Firesurge was worried as well.
Ning and Skyfire both had solemn looks on their faces as well.
What were they to do?
The actual killing had been quite enjoyable. That Daolord of the First Step had been courting death, acting and speaking in such a dominating manner towards them. Any of the five were capable of slaughtering that Daolord! But in the end, it had been Prince Greatjoy who punched out with a fist and completely crushed him to death!
"We had no other options, but don't worry," Prince Greatjoy sent. "Although the Nine Godstars sect would immediately be notified of his death, it'll take them some time for their investigators to be sent out and to arrive at this place."
"And… they can forget about discovering anything." Prince Greatjoy's eyes were as cold as ice. "Give me one hour. I will completely scramble spacetime here and make it impossible for them to invert the flow of time, unless they bring someone who is ten times more skilled than myself in the Dao of Spacetime."
"Alright." Ning and the others felt stunned. Right. Greatjoy had reached a tremendously high level of skill in the Dao of Spacetime. If he was to scramble spacetime in the surrounding area, it would be difficult for even the Nine Godstars sect to find out what had happened here. At the very least, it would buy them some time.
Ugh. They had been doing their best to be low-key, but it was impossible for them to completely avoid showing at least part of their true power when they had to deal with so many ambushes. In addition, they had no idea that there were Daolords patrolling about in secret. In the end, one of them actually chased the five of them down. The five didn't dare to actually go visit the Nine Godstars sect, as once their identities were revealed they would quite possibly face annihilation.
Ning's group destroyed all the evidence at the scene and scrambled spacetime, then transformed into different appearances. They even summoned quite a few World-level retainers and servants from their estate-worlds, then continued to venture forth in a nine-cultivator squad.
Things happened just as they had predicted.
Roughly two years later, a Daolord of the Third Step from the Nine Godstars sect arrived in the place where they had slain the first Daolord. Given how powerful the Nine Godstars sect was, for them to calculate where their Daolord had died was an easy task! But of course, to actually divine the identity of the killer was virtually impossible. When World God Northrest had died, there had been no way for Vastheaven Palace to divine who had done it. They had to have more variables to work with in order to lower the difficulty of the Numerancy divination.
"Eh?"
"Spacetime has been scrambled here." When the Daolord of the Third Step sought to reverse the flow of time and see what had happened, all he saw was a field of completely distorted and chaotic spacetime. There was no way to investigate at all.
"Did that servant of mine offend a major power who was skilled in the Dao of Spacetime?" The Daolord murmured to himself, "Perhaps my servant offended him, resulting in my servant being killed… and yet, that major power did not wish to become an enemy of our Nine Godstars sect… and so he scrambled spacetime here?"
Daolords who walked the Dao of Spacetime were notoriously tough to deal with. When this Daolord of the Third Step realized that spacetime had been completely scrambled here, he couldn't help but feel sour about this matter.
In the end, the Nine Godstars sect was still the most dominating force in the hundreds of nearby territories. How could they possibly just let this matter come to an end?
However, if they wanted to get to the bottom of this matter they would have to invite a true master of the Dao of Spacetime to head out from their headquarters and investigate in person. The entire sect, however, only had two Daolords who were skilled in the Dao of Spacetime. One was a Daolord of the Second Step, while the other was a venerable figure who had reached the Verge of the Daomerge and was the third most respected figure of the entire sect.
The Daolord of the Second Step wasn't willing to take the risk, whereas there was no one capable of giving orders to the Verge-level Daolord. Thus, more than a hundred years passed before the latter finally decided to head out and take a look.
"What's this?!" When this mighty Daolord unscrambled spacetime, he was immediately shocked and stunned by what he discovered.
"Five World-level cultivators? One of them attacked and slew a Daolord of the First Step with a single blow?" This Daolord was stunned. "Where the hell did these freaks come from? Although I wasn't able to see how strong the other four were, this one is incredibly strong. And… judging from how he scrambled spacetime, he has to be an extremely skilled master of the Dao of Spacetime."
"Where the hell did they come from?"
Not even the entire Nine Godstars sect had a single disciple who was this freakishly talented!
There was no way for him to know, of course, that this man was an honorary disciple of an almighty Hegemon in a different universe and one of the most elite members of the Brightshore Kingdom. The Nine Godstars sect was nothing compared to the Brightshore Kingdom! It must be understood that the Brightshore Kingdom had entire squads of freakishly strong Daolords who were comparable to Eternal Emperors.
"We have to find and recruit this person into our Nine Godstars sect. I'll chase him down!"
He gave the order, and the entire Nine Godstars sect sprang into action. He truly would have loved to take on such a freakishly talented disciple. He himself walked the Dao of Spacetime, and it was incredibly rare for him to encounter someone of such talent who walked his Dao. Alas, by this point in time Ning's group of five had long ago escaped from the Nine Godstars sect's sphere of influence.
The Nine Godstars sect was extremely influential in their local cluster of several hundred territories, but beyond that their influence and power dropped rapidly.
Aside from their slaying of that Daolord of the First Step, Ning's group encountered another extremely dangerous situation during their journey. Ning's group accidentally ran into a nation of special lifeforms that was wandering the primordial chaos. That nation of special lifeforms was actually established atop the shell of an utterly enormous turtle, and the turtle-like creature was clearly in a state of hibernation, slumbering as it drifted through the void of space.
This part of the journey should've been a safe one. Who would've thought that they'd run into such an unusual nation? Ning's group ran into this nation by accident, and they were immediately attacked by one of those special lifeforms which sought to eat them alive. Ning's group was forced to fight back, which only attracted the attention of even more of those special lifeforms.
Fortunately, that giant slumbering turtle did not wake up. Ning and the others all had the feeling that the turtle's aura was utterly terrifying. Once it woke up, it would be incredibly easy for it to kill all five of them. No matter what they would've tried, they still probably wouldn't have been able to survive the slumbering turtle's attack.
In the end, Ning and the others joined forces and managed to just barely escape. From start to finish, they didn't dare to actually kill so much as a single one of those special lifeforms, for fear of stirring the hornet's nest and waking that giant turtle.
Aside from the Nine Godstars sect and the titanic turtle, the other problems they encountered were largely irrelevant.
"The Archaeus region. We've finally arrived."
Ning's group of five stood in the air, staring off into the distance. In front of them was a region filled with countless roiling clouds that flickered with violet light. This gigantic region covered by clouds was the Archaeus region! But of course, this was nothing more than the tip of the iceberg, a miniscule part of the massive, actual region. None of them even knew exactly how far off the Archaeus region stretched.
After journeying for 1605 years, Ning's group had finally reached the Archaeus region.
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Book 28, Archaeus Region, Chapter 1 – The World Within the Archaeus Region
The Archaeus region was the core of this entire alternate universe. According to legend, it was the place where this universe itself had originated from, and it was filled with both danger and opportunity. Every single World-level cultivator would be berserk for the chance to enter it, and even Daolords would vie for the chance.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Five streaks of light flew into the cloudy mists at the borders of the Archaeus region, delving deeper and deeper inside.
"Can you sense it?" Skyfire Brightshore sent a rather excited mental message.
"Yes." Firesurge nodded.
"What a unique sensation." Heartlord Solewind nodded as well.
"It truly is quite marvelous." Prince Greatjoy sighed in amazement.
Ning was amazed as well as he carefully attuned himself to these sensations. Ever since he had flown into the Archaeus region, he had been able to sense an invisible aura of power which completely covered the entire region. This power was the power of the Archaeus region itself. If the five of them didn't have access to an Archaeus medallion, they probably would've been instantaneously crushed into dust. They could sense that this mighty power originated from some place at the very heart of the vast Archaeus region.
"That direction, there." Skyfire Brightshore pointed towards the distance. "That's the place we need to go to."
"The heart of the Archaeus region." Ning and the others all nodded.
The star maps had included a detailed path from the transversal conduit to the Archaeus region. However, after they actually entered the Archaeus region they would have to depend on their own senses to advance towards the heart of the region! The center of the Archaeus region was a place which every cultivator dreamed of entering. Perhaps the journey would result in some adventures that would test them and allow them to grow more powerful and evolve, but the center… that was the place where the true transformation would occur.
"Gentlemen, same rules as always. I'll be the one to teleport us," Prince Greatjoy sent mentally.
"Alright."
"Sorry to trouble you, brother Greatjoy."
Ning and the others did not decline. It must be understood that the Archaeus region was most likely as large as the entire Endless Territories. To go from the border regions to its heart would probably take trillions of years if one wished to physically fly through it.
It must be remembered that Ning had long ago sworn a lifeblood oath to reach Vastheaven Palace within a single chaos cycle. Chaos cycles, however, were extremely long and were calculated in the trillions of years! Thus, Ning still had plenty of time.
Whoosh.
Whoosh.
Prince Greatjoy produced a flying vessel which Ning and the others then entered. Prince Greatjoy took personal control over the vessel, sending it hurtling through the Archaeus region at high speeds as he teleported again and again. Every single spatial teleportation allowed them to cover an extremely great distance. Given Prince Greatjoy's mastery over the Dao of Spacetime, roughly a hundred teleportations would be enough to allow them to traverse a single territory.
In the 'normal' universe, territories were located extremely far away from each other. The distance between two territories could be a hundred times greater than the size of each territory.
"Based on what my senses are telling me… the heart of the Archaeus region is quite far away from us. If we keep teleporting like this, it'll take us at least ten thousand years to reach it," Prince Greatjoy said. "That is assuming, of course, that we don't encounter any dangers. In reality, this place will be full of danger."
"Let's just keep advancing step by step," Solewind said.
"We'll fight fire with fire," Ning laughed.
Whoosh.
The second day after they entered the Archaeus region. They had just performed yet another spatial teleportation. When the shuttle came to a halt…
"Quick, look." Prince Greatjoy's face tightened.
"Eh?" Ning and the others looked over. Ning stared past a faint layer of mist and was able to see an utterly enormous continent floating in space. Although there was a barrier of mist between them, Ning was still able to see out to a distance of a billion kilometers. He instantly saw that this continent had a few figures residing within it. He was able to make out a few dozen figures in total.
"Cultivators?" Ning frowned.
"Dozens of them? Why are there so many?" Prince Greatjoy was surprised as well.
Based on what they knew, one had to have an Archaeus medallion in order to enter the Archaeus region. This was true even for weaker cultivators like Elder Gods, Ancestral Immortals, True Gods, or True Immortals. Anyone who didn't have a medallion would be crushed by the power of the Archaeus region.
There were very, very few Archaeus medallions. They had spent a thousand years travelling through many different territories, and as a result they had come to understand just how rare these items were! Logically speaking, it should've been almost impossible for them to encounter large numbers of cultivators bearing Archaeus medallions because of how rare those things were and how vast the Archaeus region was. They had only expected to encounter other cultivators after they actually entered the heart of the Archaeus region.
"Something doesn't make sense. They… they give me an odd feeling." Heartlord Solewind shook his head slowly. "It feels as though the invisible power of the Archaeus region is protecting them, rather than oppressing them."
"Right. That really does seem to be the case." The others quickly noticed this as well.
They had entered bearing Archaeus medallions, and so the Archaeus region did not harm them. However… those dozens of distant figures were actually being supported and protected by the power of the Archaeus region.
"They are moving very slowly," Ning sent mentally. "In fact, they are flying at ridiculously slow speeds. Most likely, even average Empyrean Gods and Celestial Immortals would fly much faster than them."
Whoosh.
The vessel slowly advanced towards the borders of that vast, levitating continent. Ning and the others all flew out of the vessel.
"Let me take a look." Heartlord Solewind stared hard at a nearby figure who was merely three hundred million kilometers away. He sent an invisible wave of heartforce out to completely cover that figure.
"He is very weak. He's an ordinary mortal who hasn't even undergone the Celestial Tribulation. Strictly speaking, he would be considered at the Wanxiang level," Heartlord Solewind said.
"A mortal?" Ning and the others were all surprised.
In the Three Realms, it was said that after surviving the Celestial Tribulation, one would be 'no longer subject to the rules of the Three Realms and the fetters of the Five Elements'. Prior to overcoming the tribulation, one would be constrained by the rules of that world. These people were referred to as 'mortals' by powerful cultivators!
"Are there actually mortals who live here in the Archaeus region?" Ning and the others were all puzzled.
"Let's take a look and see," Heartlord Solewind said. He took a single step forwards, causing the space around him to shimmer as he teleported three hundred million kilometers and moved close to that distant mortal lifeform.
"Let's take a look as well." The others all teleported forwards as well.
Daoist Rainskill was riding on a magic treasure as she engaged in careful exploration. She could be considered a beautiful woman who was quite famous. In just a hundred short years, she had reached the Core Formation stage.
"I'm now in the deeprest reaches of the Western Wastes." Daoist Rainskill was extremely cautious. "I hear that at the end of the Western Wastes lies the endless chaos storms. I've never seen the chaos storms before. I was lucky enough to be teleported deep into the Western Wastes… I can't waste this chance to check it out."
Suddenly…
A bald man dressed in fiery robes suddenly appeared in the air directly above the marsh in front of Daoist Rainskill. Moments later, several other figures appeared as well. There was a youth dressed in deep blue robes, a white-robed youth carrying a sword on his back, a black-robed man who wore a crown on his head, and a youth with long, crimson hair. All of them looked extraordinary.
"What? They can actually teleport straight into the Western Wastes?" Daoist Rainskill was badly startled. The Western Wastes was a chaotic place that was quite close to the endless chaos storms. Space was extremely unstable here. Only the 'Grand Cultivators' were able to teleport in places like this.
"Rainskill pays her respects to you all, seniors." Daoist Rainskill was extremely respectful.
"We wish to ask you some questions." Solewind smiled.
Without even realizing it, Daoist Rainskill began to relax. In her heart, she began to view this man as person who she completed trusted. "Ask away, senior."
"How large is this continent? How many living beings does it hold?" Solewind asked.
"This place is the Northspring Continent. It is unimaginably vast and holds countless living beings," Daoist Rainskill said. "The number of cultivators and monsters in this place is numerous beyond count, much less mortals and ordinary beasts."
Ning and the others exchanged looks, all rather surprised. There were actually countless living beings here?
"But this place here is the Western Wastes. Space is distorted here, making it impossible for mortals to survive in such a place. Only cultivators would dare to delve deep into this place," Daoist Rainskill said.
"What is the highest level of cultivation in this continent?" Solewind asked.
"First, you have the Qi Condensation stage. Then, you have the Foundation stage. Next comes the Core Formation stage… and the highest stage is the 'Tribulation' stage," Daoist Rainskill said.
"The highest stage is the 'Tribulation' stage?" Solewind followed up on this. "There are none stronger than the 'Tribulation' stage? What happens after the tribulation?"
"After the tribulation, you ascend, of course!" Daoist Rainskill said, "You ascend to the Immortal realm. There's no way back from there."
"Are there any continents aside from the Northspring Continent?" Solewind asked.
"There are. If you go through the ancient transfer arrays, you can reach some other continents," Daoist Rainskill said. "From our Northspring Continent, we can reach an incredibly distant continent known as the Blackfiend Continent as well as a place known as the Astral Ocean. I don't know about any other locations."
"Alright." Heartlord Solewind nodded slowly, then looked at the others. "Let's go."
Ning and the others nodded, quickly disappearing as they left this place.
"Eh?!" Daoist Rainskill felt her mind go blurry for a moment. "What the hell? I actually started to daydream in a place like this?" She had no recollection of her meeting with Ning's group at all.
"But… I feel very comfortable right now." Daoist Rainskill felt a very comfortable feeling permeate through her entire body.
"What?! I've reached the peak of the Core Formation stage? And why does it seem as though my body has been completely transformed?" Daoist Rainskill was now truly stunned. What she didn't know was that Heartlord Solewind had given her a glance as he left, bestowing a small parting gift upon her.
As for Ning's group, they now stood once more at the margins of this vast continent.
"I never would've thought that the Archaeus region can give birth to living creatures as well," Ning mused softly.
"Any environment can potentially give birth to living beings," Solewind sent back. "The almighty Hegemon captured quite a few cultivators from this universe but was only able to learn a few things about the Archaeus region. It makes sense that there is a great deal of information we were unaware of."
Ning and the others nodded.
Just now, they tested out the process of teleporting some people from the estate-worlds they held. They had all brought out people who had committed tremendous sins and were viledoers. Unexpectedly, all of them were able to survive here in the Archaeus region.
"Just now, that young lady spoke of 'ascending' to the Immortal realm after the tribulation." Prince Greatjoy's eyes narrowed. "As you all know, once you overcome the tribulation you'll escape the rules and confines of a world. That means you will no longer be protected by the Archaeus region itself. Without an Archaeus medallion, you'd be instantly crushed to death. Most likely, those ascendants all 'ascended' to certain estate-worlds which are probably under the control of major powers who live here in the Archaeus region. In other words… it is very likely that behind this continent is a Daolord."
"A Daolord?" Ning and the others nodded.
In the Three Realms or other chaosworlds, those who ascended and became Immortals or Gods would still be able to come and visit the mortal lands. However, here in the Archaeus region there was no coming back from ascension. Clearly, this was all due to the power of the Archaeus region, which ensured there was no way for them to return. If they wished to survive, they would only be able to do so by living in estate-world treasures.
Ning's group naturally wouldn't worry about them… but Daolords were definitely worthy of their attention and concern!
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Book 28, Archaeus Region, Chapter 2 – Spatial Tempests
"It's also possible that I'm just overthinking things," Solewind said with a laugh.
"Mm."
"There may be many things in the Archaeus region unknown to us." None of them dared claim they knew everything about this place.
Did the mortals of the Archaeus region go to a Daolord's estate-world after ascending, or did they go into some other special place? None of them were certain. Still, they had to remain vigilant. Given their current level of power, battles against Daolords were still quite risky for them.
"Let's go," Prince Greatjoy sent. Ji Ning and the others re-entered his flying vessel, then quietly and stealthily departed from this enormous continent and continued their journey via teleportation through the Archaeus region.
One year. Ten years. A hundred years…
The five of them continued to advance carefully. The Archaeus region truly was the core of this entire alternate universe, the place from which everything had first arisen. This place was filled with countless marvels and dangers as well as quite a few precious treasures. Ning's group, however, didn't dare to be too greedy. They did their best to avoid as many danger zones as they could, but they still encountered trouble on quite a few occasions.
Roughly 1308 years after they had entered the Archaeus region, they encountered an extremely powerful Daolord! They had come incredibly close to dying that time!
They had been teleporting through space using their flying vessel when all of a sudden, they discovered a green-robed Daolord had suddenly appeared a few billion kilometers up ahead of them. This Daolord was quite ugly, with white eyebrows hanging down all the way to his chest. He was leisurely strolling through the emptiness of space, but when he saw Ning's flying vessel appear a look of murder appeared in his eyes.
That glare alone gave all five of them a sensation of tremendous danger.
"Leave right away."
"Flee!"
"Quick!"
All five of them could sense death impending.
"Ahh!" Prince Greatjoy furiously sent his vessel into an immediate teleport. Swoosh! Right after his vessel disappeared, a sharp thread-like streak of light lashed through the empty space where the vessel had been.
"Hmph." The green-robed Daolord's gaze was cold as he relased his godsense to inspect the surrounding area of a trillion kilometers. "They ran quite quickly. I wonder which master they are apprenticed to." The green-robed Daolord let out a cold snort, then walked away and disappeared from the scene.
Although that interaction had been a very brief one, Ning's group remained terrified by the memory of it.
"That Daolord was definitely at the Verge of the Daomerge! Although Daolords are quite rare here in the Archaeus region, there's still more of them than World-level cultivators. Many World-level cultivators have entered then exited the Archaeus region, with almost none of them actually staying here for an extended period of time! Given how vast the Archaeus region is, we have a much higher chance of running into Daolords than into other World-level cultivators." Solewind shook his head. "Still, I never would've thought we would run into a Daolord just a thousand years after entering the Archaeus region. Worse, it was a shameless Daolord who immediately moved to attack us and steal our Archaeus medallions. Thank goodness brother Greatjoy was here."
"That old bastard was very powerful. If I had been just a bit slower, we wouldn't have been able to escape." Prince Greatjoy also felt fear at what had nearly happened.
"It was all thanks to you, brother Greatjoy." Ning was still petrified as well. If they had actually been forced to fight… even though Ning had those four guardian golems protecting him, there was no way he would've been able to defeat a Verge-level Daolord.
That near-brush with death had caused their souls and truesouls to all quiver with terror.
To be in a 'relaxed' state or to be in a 'tense' state where you straddled the line between life and death were two completely separate concepts.
You might spend multiple chaos cycles in a relaxed state without making any improvements, but just one or two life-and-death adventures might be enough to result in dramatic gains in strength! To live a peaceful life for countless years, or to straddle the line between life and death as you reached for greater glory and greater heights? Clearly, the majority of cultivators chose the latter.
More than 2800 years had passed since Ning's group had entered the Archaeus region.
Boom!
"Charge!"
"Let's charge through!"
Ning's group of five were all aboard their flying vessel, using all their power to resist.
They were surrounded by countless spatial tempests, and their flying vessel was being tossed about by the spatial storms like an ordinary vessel might be tossed about by giant waves. They were completely unable to fight back as the spatial tempests pressed them forwards nonstop.
Ning's group was still trying their best to resist, and Ning himself sent out an enormous streak of sword-light to tear a spatial tempest apart.
Firesurge sent out enormous waves of water to crash out against those spatial tempests.
Skyfire Brightshore had been growing noticeably more powerful ever since he had entered this alternate universe. He was now working alongside Firesurge, and the two were combining their skills in fire and water.
Greatjoy and Solewind were doing their best as well.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The flying vessel was still being buffeted and tossed about by the spatial tempests.
"Won't work. We can't charge through." Prince Greatjoy shook his head. "The difference in power between us and these spatial tempests is too great. These spatial tempests are simply too violent. Even my control over spacetime won't be enough to calm them."
"Ugh." Firesurge frowned.
"Let's just go with the flow, then." Solewind chuckled. "This isn't exactly the first time we ran into something like this."
Ning nodded as well, then laughed, "These spatial tempests won't always maintain such a high level of strength. If we just follow the flows, eventually we'll reach a spot where things calm down."
The Archaeus region was filled with many dangers, and they had encountered spatial tempests on quite a few occasions by now. Although Ning, Solewind, and the others all had certain trump cards they could use, these naturally occurring phenomena really weren't worth the cost.
They ended up following the flows of the spatial tempests for nine more months.
"The spatial tempests are actually growing stronger and stronger." Prince Greatjoy continued to helm the flying vessel through the storms, seeking a relatively easier 'path' for them to traverse.
"Everyone, look over there!" Prince Greatjoy suddenly called out.
"Land." Ning and the others turned to stare as well, only to see an utterly enormous continent hanging in the void just past the spatial tempests.
"There's actually land here? Hopefully this continent will have actual people living on it." Ning and the others revealed looks of delight.
A short while later, Ning and the others all descended upon the great continent. The edges of this continent were surrounded by strange whirlpools of power that continuously weakened the spatial storms that swept towards the continent. By the time they made it a few billion kilometers into the heart of the continent, things were completely calm.
"An ancient, major power has passed by this continent before." Ning's group advanced through a desolate desert. This place was still considered as being part of the 'border regions' of this continent. The environs were quite harsh and not suitable for life.
Heartlord Solewind raised his head and stared off into the distance. "I can dimly sense that this entire continent is covered by an enormous formation which is diverting the power of those spatial tempests. This formation must've been left behind by a major power."
"Yes, a major power has been here." Prince Greatjoy stared towards a place roughly a billion kilometers away. "This continent is filled with countless living beings. It is very likely that this continent holds a spacetime transfer array."
"Haha, it'll be much easier for us to leave if we can move through a spacetime transfer array." Ning laughed.
"Remember that time from five hundred years ago, when we were trapped in that sea of fire and unable to escape? In the end, we discovered that there was actually a continent located deep within the sea of fire." Skyfire Brightshore couldn't help but reminisce about this. "That continent was also filled with many living beings, and it also had a spacetime transfer array. It even had an estate left behind by a Daolord. Thankfully, that Daolord had left long ago, and so we were able to easily enter the spacetime transfer array and reach a different area. It actually shortened our journey considerably."
Ning and the others all nodded. By now, they had spent nearly three thousand years in the Archaeus region, and they had accumulated a great deal of experience.
The Archaeus region was filled with countless continents that were in turn filled with many living beings. Small continents were generally ten billion kilometers in size, while larger ones could be a trillion kilometers in size! There were often traces of ancient major powers having passed through these places, albeit very few of them would actually set up residence. There was no point in living alongside ordinary mortals, after all.
However, virtually every single continent with living beings on it had a spacetime transfer array!
Ning's group, however, didn't dare to randomly use those arrays without doing some careful investigations. They'd rather continuously teleport through the Archaeus region than accidentally run into a reclusive Daolord who was residing within one of those continents!
"I hope things work out this time," Ning sent mentally.
"Don't worry, Darknorth. Even if there are Daolords residing in this continent, Daolords often go into closed-door meditation sessions that last a million years or more. We'll move in and depart immediately. There's no way we'll be unlucky enough to run into one," Greatjoy chortled.
"Just be careful, everyone. Don't randomly send out your godsense to search this place," Solewind warned.
If you swept a region with godsense, you might be able to discover a Daolord… but that Daolord would also discover you!
Ning's group of five advanced through the continent, quickly reaching a place which was bustling with life and activity.
This place was a city known as Thousand Mountains, a place where the eight major sects of the region all recruited disciples from.
In the city of Thousand Mountains resided an old freak known as 'Old Demon Qixiu'. He truly was the number one expert of this region, superior to all others in the eight major sects. However, he was a very low-key figure who very few people knew about.
"Patriarch." As the Old Demon walked out of his room and through his estate, quite a few servants and retainers would call out to him with respect when they saw him.
"Ugh. This world places enormous restrictions on my power." The Old Demon's gaze drifted off into the distance as he stared at the mountain ranges outside the city of Thousand Mountains. "And yet, I really just can't bear to leave…"
"Eh?" The Old Demon's face suddenly turned pale. Five figures had suddenly appeared next to the lake nearby him. They were Ning, Solewind, and the others.
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Book 28, Archaeus Region, Chapter 3 – Transfer Array
Upon seeing the five, Old Demon Qixiu could sense that his very soul was beginning to shudder. He swallowed, hard, then bowed and said respectfully, "Greetings, five seniors."
Good heavens! He stood at the very peak of power in this world. By all rights, he should've been invincible, and yet… why was it that these five were unfathomably more powerful than him?
"I have a few questions for you," Heartlord Solewind said with a smile.
"Please ask, senior." The Old Demon was quite cautious, but even he himself didn't realize that deep within his heart, a seed of trust was beginning to blossom towards this bald, red-robed youth.
"What is the name of this continent?" Solewind asked.
"This continent is quite fast, stretching hundreds of billions of kilometers," the Old Demon said. "Because there are so many mortals living here, we refer to this continent as the Mortal Realm."
Solewind nodded slowly. "Has anyone ever left this 'Mortal Realm' and ventured off into other continents?"
"There's only one way to do that. You'd have to activate the ancient transfer array and head to the the Sacred Immortal Realm," the Old Demon said.
"Sacred Immortal Realm?" Solewind asked. Upon hearing this, Ji Ning, Greatjoy, Firesurge, and Skyfire all revealed smiles. They were going to be able to leave this place.
This entire continent was surrounded by spatial tempests, making it impossible for them to leave. Only by using a spatial transfer array to go to another continent would they be able toe scape.
"This entire continent holds just a single transfer array within it," the Old Demon said. "Supposedly, an incredibly long period of time ago there was a major power from the Sacred Immortal Realm who descended upon this continent who personally set up the array. There's no way for the cultivators of our Mortal Realm to come up with such a complicated array."
Ning and the others all laughed. Most likely, this spacetime transfer array leading to the Sacred Immortal Realm was something which had been personally established by an extremely powerful Daolord.
"Here in our Mortal Realm, the elemental energy of Heaven and Earth is very sparse. It is incredible if you can even reach the Nascent Soul stage. To reach the Apotheosis stage is even more difficult." The Old Demon continued, "Thus, countless Nascent Soul cultivators and Apotheosis cultivators shall gather from throughout the continent and travel through the array towards the Sacred Immortal Realm. According to the Apotheosis cultivators who came back from that place, the elemental energy there is far denser than it is here in our Mortal Realm, making it easier to cultivate and easier to overcome the tribulation."
'Nascent Soul', 'Apotheosis'… these were different terms for Ki Refiners. In the Three Realms, the mortal ranks were Zifu Disciple, Wanxiang Adept, Primal Daoists, and Void-level cultivator. This represented what the most perfect Ki Refining systems in the Three Realms could accomplish.
However, in the Endless Territories and in this alternate universe there were many different mortal races that used different Ki Refining techniques which had different terms and titles.
"Where is the transfer array?" Solewind asked.
"Here is a map." The Old Demon immediately took out his treasured map.
Solewind glanced at it while simultaneously flipping through the Old Demon's memories, wiping away all traces of this encounter.
"Time to leave," Solewind said. The five immediately vanished.
"What just happened?" Old Demon Qi Xiu stared at his surroundings. "Why do I have the feeling that something is off…" The Old Demon frowned but wasn't able to comprehend what had just happened.
Afterwards, Ning's group chatted with two other Apotheosis cultivators who were considered extremely powerful in this continent. Everything they said was roughly the same as what the Old Demon had said.
The five of them road atop a cloud, staring down at the lands below.
"It is true that the elemental energy in this continent is quite sparse." Ning nodded. "It is true that mortal cultivators would find it very hard to train here."
If there was no elemental energy at all, there would be no way to cultivate whatsoever. The elemental energy in this continent was only enough for someone to just barely reach the Primal Daoist stage. If you wished to reach the Void level and become an Earth Immortal, it would be extremely difficult. The 'Old Demon' which Ning's group had questioned would've been considered a Void-level Earth Immortal in the Three Realms.
"It is because of the formation which covers this entire place," Solewind said. "This formation covers everything, drawing power from the entire continent. That's why the elemental energy in this continent is so sparse! Still, the reason this continent is protected from the spatial tempests is because of this formation."
"The Sacred Immortal Realm should be a continent where the density of elemental energy is normal," Firesurge said. "However… as a result, the living creatures here refer to it as the 'Sacred Immortal Realm'."
"When there's a difference in density of elemental energy, it's only normal that there one realm is viewed as higher and one realm is viewed as lower."
Ning and the others chatted as they advanced through the clouds and moved towards the ancient transfer array. They stared at it from afar.
The ancient transfer array took up an extremely wide amount of space. The entire formation itself covered hundreds of millions of kilometers, and its core components were extremely complicated and exquisite.
"It really is a spacetime transfer array." Ning and the others were able to recognize it at one glance.
"Ahah. Quite lively here." Prince Greatjoy glanced downwards, then let out a surprised sigh.
"These so-called 'Nascent Soul' cultivators and Apotheosis cultivators really are frighteningly numerous." Solewind let out a laugh. This was the only spacetime transfer array within the entire continent. As a result, this place naturally attracted countless Nascent Soul cultivators and Apotheosis cultivators from throughout the continent, making it very bustling. In fact, an enormous city had been erected here.
This city was filled to the brim with Nascent Soul cultivators and Apotheosis cultivators. There had to be hundreds of millions of them.
Ning couldn't help feel secretly amazed. This continent was hundreds of billions of kilometers in size, making it much vaster than the entirety of the Three Realms. Although in quality of elemental energy it was inferior to the Three Realms, its vastness resulted in the existence of hundreds of millions of Nascent Soul cultivators and Apotheosis cultivators. Any one of them would be considered a local hegemon when scattered in any of the other places in this continent.
"Let's enter the city."
"Let's go take a look."
Ning and the others walked through the city, moving directly towards the transfer array.
"I've been trapped at the Nascent Soul level for far too long. The density of elemental energy in Heaven and Earth is simply too low. I failed both of my attempts at reaching Apotheosis. Once I enter the Sacred Immortal Realm, I'll be able to reach Apotheosis. I might even have a chance at overcoming my tribulation and reaching ascension!" The various cultivators in the city were chatting amongst themselves.
"I've become an early-stage Apotheosis cultivator, but I'm not able to improve any further. There just isn't enough elemental energy here. Perhaps I'll be able to become a Celestial Immortal once I go to the Sacred Immortal Realm."
"This array only activates once every hundred years. I have to wait sixty-one more years. This really does make me impatient."
"We've waited thousands of years, my brother. What's another few decades?"
The eyes of the countless cultivators in the city were filled with eagerness. They had already reached the end of the path they could traverse here within the 'Mortal Realm'. Only in the Sacred Immortal Realm would they have a chance to continue their path.
But none of them realized that those five seemingly-ordinary men who just walked past them were major powers who were truly capable of virtually anything! Even those 'Celestial Immortals' they dreamed of becoming would be wiped out in the billions by these five cultivators.
"Once every century?" Skyfire Brightshore frowned. "This spacetime transfer array only activates once every century?"
"Each activation uses up some energy. When this spacetime transfer array was created by that ancient power, only a few chaos jewels were left behind to guide it in gathering the surrounding natural energy into itself. It takes a century for it to accumulate enough energy to be activated," Heartlord Solewind said. "My guess is that the Sacred Immortal Realm is located extremely close to this continent, which is why the activation can be as frequent as once every century. If it was farther away, it would probably be once every thousand years."
Ning and the others nodded. This was different from the spacetime transfer arrays of the Endless Territories; if you were willing to pay enough chaos nectar, it could be activated for you whenever you wished! This array here in the alternate universe had been created by a major power, apparently out of an act of selflessness. Of course, it was also possible that this was done by the Church of Annihilation.
"Let's go. We'll first find a place to wait it out. Sixty-one years from now, we'll come back," Solewind said.
"We have no other choices." Skyfire felt quite resigned.
It was possible for them to pour energy into the formation and activate it by force, but… once they did so and the transfer array became active, any reclusive Daolord in either this continent or the Sacred Immortal Realm would immediately realize that something was wrong! For the array to suddenly fire off before the hundred year mark had to mean that something had happened. Thus, they had no choice but to wait patiently.
In this continent, there was a place known as 'Wintermount'.
Ning's group of five secluded themselves here within the mountains forests, occasionally sipping wine, fishing, and sparring. Life was quite relaxing as they waited for the spacetime transfer array to activate.
Whoosh.
A fishing pole flicked upwards, followed by a fat fish being yanked out of the surface of the water. It fell down onto the bank, still flopping furiously.
"Haha, we'll have fish soup tonight." Ning put the fishing pole on his back as he walked through the forests. For the past thirty-plus years, he had lived the life of an ordinary mortal.
Rumble. Rumble. Rumble. A series of sounds rang out from afar. Curious, Ning walked in that direction.
A young man dressed in simple clothes whose temples were graying was seated there, using a wooden drill to drill into a piece of wood. As the wooden drill ground away, those grinding, rumbling sounds could be heard.
"I've never met you before." Ning laughed. "You new?"
"I just moved here." The gray-templed youth raised his head to smile towards Ning.
"At such a young age, you've chosen to live by yourself in a desolate mountain wilderness, rather than in a city or a mountain village. How odd." Ning hefted his fishing pole.
"Sometimes, being by yourself is better," the young man said.
Ning couldn't help but laugh. How intriguing.
He could tell that this youth was less than thirty years of age, but his eyes were as calm and as deep as the sea. He clearly had an extraordinary heart that was far more formidable than that of many Nascent Soul cultivators or even Apotheosis cultivators. This gave Ning a completely different way of viewing him.
"My name is Darknorth. I live just a few kilometers away from here. What's your name?" Ning smiled.
"My name is Green Bamboo," the youth said, continuing to use his wooden drill.
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Book 28, Archaeus Region, Chapter 4 – Brightmoon Sword-Art, Blood Drop Sword-Intent
The young man continued to spin his wooden drill across that piece of wood, leaving behind one hole after another as bits of wooden detritus went flying abaout.
Ji Ning held his fish bucket in one hand and his fishing pole in the other. His gaze was focused on that spinning wooden drill, and he stared at it as though time itself had stood still for him.
"Eh?" The young man glanced at Ning in puzzlement. Was this simple tool of his really that interesting? Still, he didn't say anything.
"The faster you rush, the slower you go?" As Ning stared at that wooden drill, a look of reflection was in his gaze. "Perhaps I should try something else."
Sword-light began to shimmer within Ning's eyes.
Ever since he had left the Brightshore Kingdom four thousand years ago and entered this alternate universe, he had experienced countless dangers. Skyfire Brightshore's level of power had been increasing quite rapidly and noticeably, while Ning and the others were improving much more slowly! Ever since Ning had gained insight into his Yin-Yang Sword Domain, he had been meditating on his other four stances. Alas, he hadn't been able to make a fundamental breakthrough.
Rumble. Rumble. The wooden drill continued to bore holes into that piece of wood.
"He's nothing more than an ordinary mortal. If he wanted to use a knife to cut a hole in that piece of wood, he wouldn't be able to do it! But by using the wooden drill in such a fashion, he's able to easily drill straight through it…." Thousands on thousands of scenes suddenly flashed through Ning's mind.
In his past life on Earth, there were some ordinary mortals who used electric power drills to drill holes in walls. To ordinary mortals, concrete was incredible hard and tough… and yet, a power drill was able to easily pierce through it.
Ning thought back to the time he had spent wandering the Three Realms, where he had seen ordinary mortals battling in close combat, using their fists to punch out like Flood Dragons suddenly bursting forth from the waves… or perhaps cultivators who used the spear…
"I always thought… that the Blood Drop stance should be the fastest stance I have. If you want to be fast, you should take the shortest route and move as quickly as you can." Sword-arts were flickering through Ning's eyes. "Perhaps I was wrong."
Ning continuously mentally mapped out one sword-art after another.
When one reached Ning's level of sword-arts, what one truly needed was inspiration. A single inspiration could allow his many years of accumulated insights to suddenly burst forth and be transformed! During his past life on Earth, there had been a scientist who saw an apple fall to the ground. As a result, he was suddenly inspired and came up with the law of universal gravitation. And yet, ordinary people might see the same thing happen a billion times without coming up with this idea. The reason why this scientist could was because he had a deep background and numerous past insights. All he needed was that spark of inspiration.
Ning needed a spark as well.
The reason he had been able to come up with his Yin-Yang Sword Domain was similarly because he had a moment of epiphany, allowing him to understand where his future direction lay.
Within the estate-world which Ning carried on him at all times.
Su Youji, World God Pillsaint, Elder God Wilddog, and the others were all present here, as were the World God servants who had been captured in the Bluegrace Sect.
"Master?" Su Youji had been meditating by the seashore, but she suddenly saw the white-robed Ji Ning appear off in the distance. This was a divine power incarnation which Ning had created.
"Strike." Ning stabbed outwards with his sword. Boom! Sword-light flashed and a few cracks could be seen.
"Again!" Ning stabbed out once more. This time, his sword-light actually became a spinning, draconic votex. Roaaaar! The stabbing sound caused the space around him to tremble.
Slash!
Bang!
Boom!
Ning struck out repeatedly with his sword, using actual practice to verify the many ideas he had come up with.
In truth, there were many different paths to train in the sword, and every single path could theoretically lead to incredibly profound heights! In the past, although Ning had been able to see sword-arts which were similar to the ones he theorized about, he had never paid much attention to them. Those were sword-arts which belonged to others! Now, however, he had accumulated enough experience that he was able to naturally advance to this new level.
Only one's own sword-arts would allow one to have deeper levels of insights.
For one who trained in the sword, only those sword-arts you yourself created would allow you to reach the greatest heights of all.
"Why are Master's sword-art changing repeatedly? But these sword-arts are all so powerful." Su Youji watched in a spellbound fashion. She was truly stunned.
"Whoah."
"What terrifying sword-arts."
Everyone on this island, including Elder God Wilddog and World God Pillsaint, were all drawn to and intrigued by the sight of Ning training with the sword. They all came over to watch, and all of them were stunned by what they saw. These were all techniques which Ning had mentally visualized and theorized. Although he felt they were 'failures', every single one of these sword-arts was enough to allow a cultivator to become a truly, freakishly powerful Daolord. Most likely, if you used one of those sword-arts to become a Daolord you would instantly be a match for peak Daolords of the Second Step.
However… this wasn't what Ning wanted!
Ning completely ignored him, absorbed in his own sword-arts.
One sword stabbed out after another. Slowly, his sword-arts became to transform, becoming very silent. Only in the final instant would they roar forth with an explosion.
BOOM!
When the sword-light stabbed out, there was no sound. Only when it came to a halt did it release that odd explosion.
BOOM!
BOOM!
Those strange explosions were growing louder and louder. They started to sound like thunder, and anyone within tens of thousands of kilometers would probably be able to hear them.
Ning struck out once again. This stab was as silent as the others, but in that final instant, there was just an extremely odd and extremely soft sound. The sound was incredibly soft and subdued, but it filled the hearts of everyone present with terror.
Boom. Such a tiny sound. When Ning's sword stabbed forwards, a pitch-black hole suddenly appeared in the space in front of him.
Swish.
Ning stepped forwards, walking into that pitch-black hole.
Within that hole, there was a gleaming, rainbow-like tunnel. Ning could sense that this tunnel was leading him to many other places.
"A spatial passageway?" Ning advanced forwards through the spatial passageway.
"Come out." Ning stabbed out with his sword, and another hole suddenly appeared in the rainbow light next to him. Ning stepped into this new hole.
When Ning emerged, he realized that he was now in a desert.
"It seems as though I went around the estate-world quite a few times in the blink of an eye," Ning chuckled. "I didn't expect that I would be able to use the Dao of the Sword to break through the bonds of space and enter a different spatial dimension."
Space was divided up into many different dimensions. Prince Greatjoy had reached an extremely high level of skill in the Dao of Spacetime, which was why he could bring Ning and the others along with him when teleporting through spacetime. This sort of escaping ability was incredibly formidable! Ning himself was at most able to engage in spatial teleportation, which was nothing more than teleporting to a different place within the same spatial dimension. His sword, however, was able to shatter through the spatial laws of a small area around it, allowing one to pass through into a different spatial dimension.
In other words, through his Dao of the Sword Ning was now able to damage the Dao of Space and force his way into a different spatial dimension.
"According to the legends… any Dao, when trained to the ultimate apex, allows for mastery over all things," Ning murmured softly. "At this point in time, my Dao of the Sword has reached a level where I can enter a different spatial dimension."
"This stance… has finally been completed." Ning smiled.
This sword-stance allowed him to forcibly destroy the Dao of Space in a localized region. Being able to enter a different dimension? That was nothing more than a side effect. In the end, the power of this stance was what truly mattered!
"I really have to thank that 'Green Bamboo' kid." Ning revealed a smile. "I just changed my way of thinking slightly and was able to finally finish my path."
Swish! Ning stood there in the desert, sending out yet another stabbing strike. In the instant in which his stab came to a halt, the sword-light around Ning's sword twisted just slightly. This twisting represented the true, marvelous nature of the new Blood Drop stance! The reason why a wooden drill was able to drill through a wooden board was because it had to pass through the resistance of the wood.
Actually, it had to pass through the resistance of the air itself. Even in the emptiness of the space, there were forms of energy that would pose a degree of resistance, and even in true emptiness of the void, there would be the ripples of energy that came from the various prime essences of the universe, such as the prime essence of the sword, the prime essence of metal, the prime essence of wood, or the prime essence of space.
Every single place was filled with traces of the Dao. All of them served as barriers or forms of resistance that laid countless invisible strands around you. So long as any trace of the Dao existed in a place, Ning's sword would have to go through those layers of resistance. There was no way it could ever reach an infinitely fast speed! Thus, Ning's current stance was a stance of destruction, of piercing through anything which sought to bar his path!
His sword was like that wooden drill which forcibly drilled through that wooden board.
In fact, Ning's stance even had the effect of destroying the Dao itself! It was capable of destroying the Dao of Space, allowing him to enter a separate spatial dimension.
"When my sword strikes out, nothing can bar its path. After I am able to strengthen it so that nothing can stop it, not the Five Elements, Yin and Yang, or even spacetime… then that is when this stance of mine should be comparable to the strongest stance which Emperor Mirrorsnow left behind." Ning still remembered the image of his master, Emperor Mirrorsnow, displaying the most powerful stance of the [Heartseal] sword-art. That, too, was a strike that completely surpassed the limits of space and time.
Emperor Mirrorsnow had relied on that stance to gain eternity!
"The faster you rush, the slower you go. In the past, all I wanted to do was strike faster and faster… but that isn't real speed." Many thoughts flickered through Ning's mind. "Many cultivators and many mortals try to seize every moment of every day, but they still end up failing."
"Sometimes, if you slow down and catch your breath, then explode with full power, you might be more successful. The Dao can be found in life itself. It can be found in all things." Ning smiled.
In comprehending the Dao, one had to fully understand life in all its myriad forms, to understand the essence of all things. If you did so, then when the moment came you would be able to see through to the true nature of things.
This sword-stance Ning had created destroyed all other Daos that barred its path. It seemed slow, but in reality it was now faster than ever before.
"My Blood Drop stance is the fastest of all swords, a sword of destruction, a sword that annihilates all other Daos. It is a stance that seeks to raise the sword to the ultimate level." Ning nodded slowly. "Now, of the five stances of [Brightmoon, my Yin-Yang sword-intent and my Blood Drop sword-intent have taken form."
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Book 28, Archaeus Region, Chapter 5 – Ji Ning's Second Disciple
Within the mountainous forest. That gray-templed youth continued to work on his simple tools, while Ji Ning continued to stare at him while holding his fish bucket in one hand and his fishing rod in the other.
"How odd. He looks like a youth, but he speaks in such a grandiose manner. I'm just here working on some furniture for myself, and he's been staring at me for more than an hour," the young man muttered to himself. "Still… from the looks of him, he probably isn't an ordinary mortal. How could an ordinary mortal youth be fishing by himself in the deep mountains? His demeanor seems quite extraordinary as well."
Ning just continued to stare, and the young man didn't say anything about it.
Suddenly, Ning let out a laugh as the sword-light in his eyes completely faded away. In truth, no ordinary mortal would even be able to see the sword-light generated from the visualizations he had just performed.
"I just came here out of curiosity on my way home from fishing… who would've thought that I would've mastered yet another stance of [Brightmoon] as a result?" Ning laughed and shook his head, his gaze still focused on the young man. "Although he doesn't realize it… that drilling he did earlier helped inspire me to master this stance. I have to repay him for that."
Ning had already taken a liking to the man due to his extraordinary heart. Now that the young man had also helped him comprehend the Dao, Ning decided to bless him with some transformative luck.
"First, I'll take a look at his history and see what he experienced. Only then will I know what he truly needs." Ning's gaze rested on the young man's figure as he began to visualize all of the young man's past experiences.
Although he wanted to thank and reward this young mortal, he had to first know what the man wanted.
After seeing the man's history, Ning couldn't help but shake his head. This young man's true name was Yang Quding, and he came from an excellent family background. His mother had died when he was young, resulting in his father doting on him. Ever since he was young, he had been covered in brocade cloth and jade treasures. He was the son of a rich merchant, after all. He was born with great cleverness, and his father had once wanted to come up with a way for him to become an Immortal cultivator. Alas, Yang Quding didn't have a so-called 'spiritual root'. Ning, however, knew that the so-called 'spiritual root' was actually linked to one's affinity for the natural energy of Heaven and Earth.
The greater an affinity you had for that natural energy, the easier it would be for you to absorb it. Ever since Ning was young, for example, he always had a close affinity for water. But of course, after he trained in the [Ninehorn Lightning Serpent] his body gained a high affinity towards lightning. Alas, Yang Quding had absolutely terrible elemental affinity.
If you were only able to absorb 1% of how much others could absorb, it would naturally be far more difficult for you to engage in cultivation. Even worse, this continent possessed very sparse elemental energy to begin with, making cultivation difficult for all. For someone in a place like this to absorb elemental energy at such a ridiculously low rate… the chances of becoming a successful cultivator were incredibly poor.
For the sake of allowing his son to become an Immortal cultivator, Yang Quding's father had paid an enormous price. In the end, he had perished while escorting a shipment of valuables. This had been a tremendous blow to Yang Quding. After failing to become an Immortal cultivator, Yang Quding focused all of his efforts on continuing his father's legacy as a merchant. He was quite clever and capable, and in just a few short years he had become a huge tycoon. In fact, he even employed two Foundation cultivators as well as several weaker Qi Condensation cultivators. He eventually married a woman as well.
But then… one day, a young, evil man entered the city which Yang Quding was in. He took a fancy to Yang Quding's wife, and desired to kidnap her and make her his concubine. However, Yang Quding wasn't an easy person to deal with; he had Foundation cultivators by his side, and he was able to bring a stop to this!
The problem was that this evil man had an extraordinary background. When Yang Quding looked into this man's background, he immediately befriended a Core Formation elder of a major sect, giving him many precious treasures and eventually becoming that Core Formation elder's adopted son. But of course, this was only in name! What really mattered was that with this protector of a 'father', his opponent wouldn't dare to be too rash.
Alas, that evil man played some tricks in secret, forcing Yang Quding's wife's family to bow their heads before him. In the end, even Yang Quding's wife had chosen to follow the evil man and leave him.
His parents had died long ago. Yang Quding had no family of his own, and so his love for his wife was deep and intense. And yet… his wife had actually betrayed him and left to follow another man. When she left, she had said, "Quding, you are able to protect me, but can you protect my mother and father? Don't blame me."
He had suffered a severe mental blow, but he had no desire to take revenge. Instead, he had just sat there dully every day. Eventually, he dispersed his family's savings and entered this mountainous forest, giving himself the name 'Green Bamboo'.
"Now, let me take a look at his future." Ning's gaze was still affixed upon Yang Quding's figure. Yang Quding's future was a bit cloudy; as soon as he had met Ning, it was guaranteed that his destiny would change. Ning was strong enough to annihilate this entire continent with ease, after all!
If Ning chose not to interfere with his life…
Yang Quding would stay by himself within this mountain forest for more than sixty years. After sixty-plus years, he would encounter a Nascent Soul cultivator of the Nirvana Sect. The two would chat together, resulting in the Nascent Soul cultivator feeling tremendous admiration towards Yang Quding. The Nascent Soul cultivator would pay an enormous price to help him to become an Immortal cultivator. Alas, due to his great age and his poor spiritual root, he was still only able to become a Foundation cultivator.
However, he had reached an extremely high level of enlightenment. As a Foundation cultivator, he was capable of slaying Core Formation Daoists. He was also a good man with a virtuous reputation, and he was incredibly skilled in the 'Illusions of Nirvana', a skill which allowed him to trap foes in myriad illusions which would cause them to feel regret, then repent and change their ways. He even ended up slaying that vile man who had taken his wife from him. Although he was merely a Foundation cultivator, he was respectfully addressed as 'Daoist Green Bamboo' by others. In the end, due to his allotted time being used up, he passed away peacefully.
"His heart has already reached such a profound level that he is even more formidable than Nascent Soul cultivators and Apotheosis cultivators in this regard. After he becomes an Immortal cultivator… that 'Illusions of Nirvana' technique is a classic example of something which major powers who belong to the Buddhist paths would use." Ning nodded slowly. "Given his heart, he truly is well-suited to become an Immortal cultivator."
"Go!"
Two streaks of sword-light suddenly shot out from Ning's eyes, and they landed upon the body of the furniture-making man.
The sword-light quickly covered his entire body, rapidly transforming and overhauling it. The young man's body quickly began to completely transform, with his muscles and tendons reaching a level of perfection in strength. His physical strength alone was stronger than even Xiantian-level Fiendgods of the Three Realms.
With a body like this… it could be said that Yang Quding's spiritual result was unquestionably number one in this entire continent.
Whoosh. Ning waved a finger, tapping Yang Quding on the forehead. A surge of divine will surged outwards and was transmitted straight into his sea of consciousness.
Yang Quding was just an ordinary mortal, after all. Even though his body had been completely transformed, he still couldn't withstand the power of the memories which Ning wished to give him. Thus, Ning could only choose to leave a stream of his own divine will within Yang Quding's mind, much like how Emperor Mirrorsnow had left some of his own divine will behind. However, the reason why Emperor Mirrorsnow had done this was because he had left long ago and wished to be able to pass something onto his disciples. Ning had done this because his disciple was too weak and wouldn't be able to endure a 'normal' transmission.
"Right now, you are too weak. You are only able to endure me passing unto you sword-arts and techniques which are at the Empyrean God or Celestial Immortal level," Ning mused to himself. That stream of divine will contained complete cultivation systems, including both of Ning's proudest accomplishments, the 'Yin-Yang' sword-art and the 'Blood Drop' sword-art. These were Ning's most impressive techniques to date.
As the young man grew stronger, he would naturally gain more and more information from this legacy. When his soul became sufficiently powerful, he would finally be able to endure and receive it all.
"You are the first person I've truly transmitted my sword-arts unto." Ning laughed.
Ning's first disciple was Bluecliff Xiaoyu, but that was because of the rules of Mount Innerheart. Ning had to choose a person of great karmic virtue as his disciple! His Primaltwin stood guard over the Three Realms and would often provide Bluecliff Xiaoyu with some advice, but alas she simply wasn't that talented.
'Green Bamboo', also known as Yang Quding, was Ning's second disciple.
Ning only left behind a cultivation method and his sword-arts! As for divine abilities and what not, he didn't leave any of those. Emperor Mirrorsnow had left behind four Daolord-level golems, but Ning didn't leave a single protective measure behind at all. This was because these fairly weaker protective measures wouldn't really be that useful. Given Green Bamboo's talent, it wouldn't be hard for him to rise to prominence in this Mortal Realm. As for those excessively powerful protective measures? They might actually result in some unnecessary trouble.
Guiding and nurturing a mortal was completely different from guiding and nurturing a World-level cultivator.
Emperor Mirrorsnow required his potential disciples to be World-level cultivators who had passed multiple trials. Yang Quding, however, was still just an ordinary mortal.
"W-what did I just…" Yang Quding felt as though he had just awoken from a dream.
When he came to his senses, he saw a youth carrying a fishing bucket and a fishing rod walk far off into the distance. "Disciple, if fate wills it the two of us shall meet again, ahahah…"
And just like that, Ning vanished into thin air.
"Disciple?"
Yang Quding was stunned. Moments later, a large amount of information flooded into his mind.
There were detailed instructions on how to go from being an ordinary mortal to a Celestial Immortal or Empyrean God. There were also two inconceivably powerful sword-arts known as the [Yin-Yang] sword-arts and the [Blood Drop] sword-arts. Only part of the information was available to him for now. When his soul grew stronger, he'd naturally be able to gain even more of this legacy. Ning had set down restrictive spells on his memories, preventing him from teaching these things to any others.
"B-b-but…" Yang Quding was stunned. He wasn't someone who knew nothing of cultivation at all. He knew what the major impediments to Immortal cultivation were, but today he had just gained techniques which would actually lead him past tribulation and reach the legendary level of Celestial Immortals and Empyrean Gods? And this was just a portion of the true technique? And those infinitely powerful sword-arts!
Yang Quding instantly understood that from this day forth, his life would be changed.
If a major power was to scry his destiny, he would discover that this man's life had been completely changed. His future would actually become extremely fuzzy, and the farther one gazed the more difficult it would be to divine.
"Master." Yang Quding immediately knelt down and kowtowed towards the direction in which Ning left. He remembered that Ning had addressed himself as Darknorth.
"He's in an alternate universe, while I must return to the Endless Territories. I wonder if we'll ever meet again," Ning mused. He had been seized by the sudden impulse to teach a disciple. He… really was an absolutely irresponsible 'master'.
"Brother Darknorth."
"Darknorth." Prince Greatjoy, Heartlord Solewind, Waterlord Firesurge, and Skyfire Brightshore were seated next to each other, drinking some wine.
"I just caught a big fish." Ning grinned as he lifted up his fish bucket.
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Book 28, Archaeus Region, Chapter 6 – Sacred Immortal Realm
Ji Ning, Prince Greatjoy, Solewind, and the others lived a life of leisure here at Wintermount. Although they were ten billion kilometers away, their gazes were still often turned towards what was happening at the spacetime transfer array.
"This disciple of mine actually has some talent for the sword after all." Ning paid quite a bit of attention to his disciple. Although Yang Quding lived on Wintermount as well, nobody here was able to detect Ning's presence unless he wished it.
"Brother Darknorth, this kid's sword-arts seem quite similar to your own Yin-Yang Sword Domain." Prince Greatjoy sat nearby, watching as Yang Quding trained in swordplay ten kilometers away. "He trains by himself within the deep mountains, neither impatient nor hasty, and his heart is as calm as water. I have to say, his heart is quite impressive."
"He can be considered my disciple," Ning said with a laugh.
"Disciple?" Prince Greatjoy was shocked. "You accepted an ordinary mortal as a disciple?"
Although he had a good impression of Yang Quding, the man was still nothing more than an ordinary mortal. The five of them were amongst the most truly, freakishly talented figures of the entire Endless Territories. Even Skyfire Brightshore, who was currently still the weakest of the five, was a dazzling genius of the Brightshore Imperials. As for the other four, they all wielded their own Supreme Daos.
Any of them could break through into the Daolord level at any moment, and they would be extraordinary ones at that. Given Ning's status… if he wanted to choose a disciple, virtually all World-level cultivators would be crying and begging for a chance to be chosen. And yet, he instead chose an ordinary mortal as his disciple?
"Your disciple?" The nearby Solewind laughed. "We're just passing through this place. Why'd you accept a disciple? And is this how you treat your disciples? You just completely ignore them?"
"Even if I wanted to mentor him, I wouldn't be able to do so for long. Better to just let him grow naturally." Ning took a slow sip of wine.
"Brother Darknorth certainly takes it easy," Waterlord Firesurge said.
In the blink of an eye, more than sixty-one years went past. The spacetime transfer array was almost ready once more.
"Time to leave." Greatjoy rose to his feet.
"Time to head out, Darknorth. Stop staring at your disciple," Solewind teased.
Ning had just glanced off into the distance. His second disciple, 'Green Bamboo' Yang Quding, had long ago departed from Wintermount and was out adventuring through the world. He was already quite famous for millions of kilometers around, and was venerated as 'Sword Immortal Green Bamboo'.
"Time to go." Ning nodded.
Once he left, the two of them truly would have parted from each other. Once Ning returned to the Endless Territories, the two would be located within two separate universes. It truly was hard to say if they would ever meet again. It would all be up to fate.
Although the core of the spacetime transfer array was quite large, it was still completely packed with hundreds of millions of Nascent Soul cultivators and Apotheosis cultivators who had gathered here throughout this utterly massive continent.
"Fellow Doaists, the ancient transfer array shall only be activated once every hundred years." A middle-ranked Apotheosis cultivator was standing in midair and speaking in a sonorous voice. "Our Mortal Realm is unfathomably vast and filled with countless cultivators. Thus, I would like to invite all fellow Daoists interested in going to the Sacred Immortal Realm to first enter this estate-world! This estate-world is a very simple and crude one which is quite weak; any Apotheosis cultivator can easily tear it apart from within. All of us will enter this estate-world, and then the ancient transfer array will teleport it to the other side. This will be much easier."
"Agreed."
"Makes sense."
"This has been the standard method for many years."
Countless Nascent Soul cultivators and Apotheosis cultivators nodded in agreement. This was a custom that had been established many years ago. Otherwise, how was the array supposed to be able to accommodate hundreds of millions of cultivators? The estate-treasure before them was quite crude and simple. They were able to see through it to know what was going on outside, and were also able to tear through it at a moment's notice.
As for Ning's group of five, they were mixed into the enormous group of cultivators. No one paid them any heed.
"Fellow Daoists, let us go inside together." The tall middle-aged man in midair was the first to fly towards the entrance of the estate-world which was placed at the very center of the ancient transfer array.
This estate-world was shaped like an actual Immortal estate, and it had a normal 'gate'.
Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!
Countless streaks of light flew towards the entrance as well.
"Let's go." Ning's group of five followed the crowd into the estate as well.
"It really is weak." The five found a corner within the estate-world, and no other cultivators were able to notice their presence. Ning laughed as he sent mentally, "I feel like the slightest vibration would be enough to cause it to completely collapse."
"Let me stabilize it a bit. I actually am worried about it splintering," Solewind said.
Rumble…
A cultivator on the outside had just activated the spacetime transfer array. Because it had already stored up enough energy, it now was able to completely activate.
The hundreds of millions of Nascent Soul cultivators and Apotheosis cultivators gathered inside were all incredibly excited.
"The Sacred Immortal Realm!"
"We're finally going to arrive at the Sacred Immortal Realm."
"All the elders of my school are in the Sacred Immortal Realm. According to the legends, there are far more cultivators in the Sacred Immortal Realm than there are in our world." They were all incredibly excited by this. Ever since they had embarked upon the path of cultivation, they had dreamed of one day reaching the apex of power in the Mortal Realm and then heading to the Sacred Immortal Realm.
Those qualified to head into the Sacred Immortal Realm were all major figures of the Mortal Realm.
A short while later, the teleportation effect came to an end. The estate-world had been sent to the Sacred Immortal Realm.
Ji Ning's group had been relaxing in their little corner. Now, all of their faces tightened.
"Something's wrong." Prince Greatjoy sent mentally, "Everyone, let us hide ourselves for now and watch what happens."
"Right." Ning and the others all nodded.
This feeble estate-world had virtually no impact on them at all. They were able to see through it to the outside world and knew what was happening outside.
"We've arrived."
"We've arrived at the Sacred Immortal Realm." The hundreds of millions of Nascent Soul cultivators and Apotheosis cultivators were all incredibly excited.
Rumble…
The shoddily-made estate-treasure blew apart with a boom.
The countless Nascent Soul cultivators and Apotheosis cultivators all suddenly appeared in midair, covering the skies and blocking out the sun like a horde of locusts.
"Such dense elemental energy!"
"The elemental energy here is far denser than it is in our Mortal Realm."
"So this is the Sacred Immortal Realm?" The countless cultivators all stared excitedly… but suddenly, they saw a large number of stone pillars off in the distance. The stone pillars all had cultivators bound to them. Some were humanoid, some were monsters, and some were beasts. Although they looked different, all of them were covered with blood, wounds, and scars. Many of them had eyes filled with furious hatred.
Deathly silence.
The hundreds of millions of Nascent Soul cultivators and Apotheosis cultivators who had just arrived were all deathly silent.
Those cultivators bound to the stone pillars had clearly suffered countless types of torture. What was going on?
"Another batch has arrived." One of the many bound and tormented cultivators let out a low mutter.
"One batch after another. There's never an end."
"Who can send a message to the people of the Mortal Realm? Tell them not to come to this 'Sacred Immortal Realm'. Do not come!"
"I truly shouldn't have come here."
"I regret it so much."
"Don't come to the Sacred Immortal Realm." The countless bound cultivators all mumbled and moaned in broken, pained voices.
As for the hundreds of millions of Nascent Soul cultivators and Apotheosis cultivators who had just arrived, they all knew that something was wrong. Their hearts were as cold as ice.
"Ahahaha!" Suddenly, the vast land began to tremble as a deep laugh rang out from the depths of the earth. Slowly, one mountain-like figure after another began to emerge from underground. There was over a hundred of these figures, and each one was thirty thousand meters tall. An aura of darkness spread out to cover the skies as they stared at the countless cultivators with their blood-red eyes.
A hundred towering figures, and every single one of them possessed an aura that caused the cultivators to quiver in terror.
"Where are we?!" A golden-robed man amidst the crowd tamped down his horror enough to say, "This isn't the Sacred Immortal Rea-"
"This is the Sacred Immortal Realm." One of the towering forms spoke out in a thundering voice that shook Heaven and Earth. As he waved his hand, he caused an enormous cloth sack to appear.
Whoooooosh.
The cloth sack gave birth to an utterly, incredibly powerful sucking force. The hundreds of millions of Nascent Soul cultivators and Apotheosis cultivators tried to resist, but they were still forcibly sucked into the cloth sack. After all the cultivators were sucked away, the cloth sack shrank in size and flew back into the towering figure's hands.
"A few more toys." The towering figure looked at the cloth sack, then let out a low laugh. "Master shall be excited by this! I will go deliver him his toys. As for the rest of you, stay here and deal with the disobedient ones."
"Alright." The other towering figures all nodded.
Whoosh.
The bag-holding figure quickly flew off into the distance.
Ning's group of five was standing there in midair. Given Prince Greatjoy's mastery over spacetime, the towering figures were completely unable to see them.
Ning's group just watched silently as this all happened.
"A hundred Elder God-level golems." Ning narrowed his eyes as he sent mentally, "And they spoke of a 'master'. His master is most likely a Daolord."
"Agreed. This 'Sacred Immortal Realm' most likely has a Daolord standing behind it." Solewind had a solemn look on his face as well.
"This will be trouble. Let's be careful as we investigate this matter," Prince Greatjoy said somberly.
"Agreed."
"Let's go."
The five of them left the area silently.
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Book 28, Archaeus Region, Chapter 7 – The Enormous Prison
Ji Ning and the others didn't dare to cause the slightest disturbance, for fear of drawing the attention of the 'Daolord' they suspected of being behind this Sacred Immortal Realm. Right now, they had the advantage of stealth. Once they were discovered, things would become difficult. This Sacred Immortal Realm was someone else's territory, after all. There had to be many formations protecting it.
For example, that local branch of the Bluegrass Sect in the Brightshore Kingdom was only staffed with weak World-level cultivators, but they were still able to trap Ning thanks to the grand protective formation! A Daolord's lair was an incredibly dangerous place. There was no such thing as being too careful.
But of course, Ning's group was fairly confident. Generally speaking, they wouldn't be worried about weaker Daolords at all.
Swoosh.
Ning's group of five silently teleported through space to move to the margins of this great continent, the Sacred Immortal Realm. Given Prince Greatjoy's mastery over spacetime, a spatial teleportation caused no spatial ripples at all.
"Eh?" Ning's group stood next to some boulders at the rather ragged edges of this continent. When they looked at the chaotic space up in front of them, they saw countless streaks of golden runes flickering and flashing. An enormous, ethereal formation was covering this entire continent.
"What a powerful formation," Heartlord Solewind said softly. "This formation is so profound that even I find it difficult to fathom. There's no way an ordinary Daolord was capable of creating it. I wonder if this formation was purchased by this Daolord or if he created it himself."
"Hopefully, he bought it." Prince Greatjoy looked as solemn as the others had ever seen him.
Ning nodded as well.
Anyone capable of developing this formation was a Daolord of the Third Step, at the very least. In fact, it might even be a Verge-level Daolord of the Fourth Step! Given this Daolord also had the advantage of being on familiar terrain… they were going to be in serious trouble.
"Then how should we leave this place?" Waterlord Firesurge asked, "You all saw that spatial transfer array. It'll only allow us to return to the Mortal Realm! Once we activate it to go back to the Mortal Realm, that Daolord will definitely find out and might chase us all the way back. We'll have nowhere to run."
"Return to the Mortal Realm through the formation?" Prince Greatjoy shook his head. "Those golems would probably notice as soon as we did anything, which means their master would know as well. Given how powerful Daolords are, this one would probably be able to send his will to span the entire Sacred Immortal Realm in an instant! He would be able to disrupt the transference process. We probably won't have any chance of going back to the Mortal Realm."
Ning, Solewind, Skyfire, and Firesurge all had heavy looks on their faces.
A Daolord definitely was an opponent who could prove to be a huge threat to them.
"We're not going to be able to defeat this formation." Solewind raised his head to glance at the great formation covering the entire Sacred Immortal Realm. "Even if we go back to the Mortal Realm, it won't be of any use. Once we go back, we won't be able to escape."
"Let's keep looking," Ning advised. "Perhaps we might find something useful."
"No other options."
The five of them began to stealthily search the entire Sacred Immortal Realm.
The Sacred Immortal Realm was much smaller than the Mortal Realm, covering just a few tens of billions of kilometers! The entire continent was covered by this enormous formation, and in the very center of the continent there was a dim, faint green mist. Deep within that mist, there was a towering estate that could vaguely be seen. This was the only place in the entire continent which Ning's group did not dare to enter.
It was highly likely that this estate was the place where the Daolord lived!
"What a terrifying aura of resentment and hatred."
Ning's group was standing atop a barren, black land as they stared towards the enormous black edifice off in the distance.
Above that enormous black edifice was an aura of hatred which was so strong that it had actually become corporeal. Some of the hatred was tinged with red light, while others glowed with a black aura. However, the hatred located at the highest parts of the edifice were transformed into a deep green color, a deep green which was formed as a result of the condensed hatred of countless cultivators over the course of countless years. Every so often, furious faces could be seen appearing within the aura of hatred.
"Even if I destroyed a hundred chaosworld, the hatred and resentment wouldn't be as strong as it is here." Greatjoy frowned.
"I can sense that there are countless cultivators imprisoned within. This aura of hatred should be generated by them," Solewind said. "The reason why it is so dense is possibly because these cultivators are suffering unspeakable torments. We saw early on how many cultivators were lashed to those stone pillars."
"Let's go inside," Skyfire Brightshore urged.
"Let's go."
They needed more information. None of them dared to be arrogant in dealing with the Daolord that might be living in seclusion within this continent.
The enormous black edifice was a jail of utterly titanic proportions, and countless cultivators were imprisoned within it. It must be understood that the Mortal Realm's formation would activate once every century. It was only natural that many cultivators had been imprisoned here.
"This place…" Waterlord Firesurge's face paled as he continued to walk forwards. "This place is even more terrifying than the terrible Nightmare Lands which the legends of my homeland spoke of."
"And more terrifying than the Eighteen Hells of my own homeland." Ning was equally somber.
This enormous prison was filled with various implements of torture and punishment. This entire prison was in reality designed strictly for the torture of cultivators. It must be understood that the Eighteen Hells of the Three Realms were designed to punish great sinners, but this place had only one purpose… to torture and torment as much as possible. This made it a thousand times as frightening, causing even the faces of these five to turn pale.
"AHHH! All of you will die one day! You demons! You devils! All of you will DIE!"
"Nooooo…"
"Spare me! Spare me! Spare me!"
"No begging. Begging is pointless."
All sorts of voices could be heard. Some were filled with hatred, some rambled, some were frenzied, some were screaming.
The entire prison was being used to furiously torment all of the hundreds of millions of newly imprisoned Nascent Soul and Apotheosis cultivators. Some of the new abductees were still begging for mercy, but they soon realized that this was completely pointless.
Whoosh…
Ning's group of five continued their journey through the prison. Nobody was able to see them, not even the golems responsible for torturing the prisoners.
Most of these golems were at least at the Elder God level. Some were at the True God level, and a few were even at the Empyrean God level. There had to be millions of golems within this prison.
"Who would've thought that the 'Sacred Immortal Realm' so many dreamed of was actually a hell such as this?" Ning murmured softly.
"Indeed. However, there are very few Elder God-level golems. Most are weaker… perhaps the Daolord of this land is fairly weak as well," Solewind said.
"Hopefully." A murderous look was in Greatjoy's eyes.
If the Daolord was a weak one, the five of them would join forces to kill him! That would end all their worries at one go.
Whoosh.
Although there were restrictive formations scattered throughout the prison, they were meant for weaker cultivators and were completely ineffective against Ning's group. Ning's group was able to easily enter one of the jail cells.
This jail cell held over a hundred cultivators, all shackled in chains. One of them was a skinny old man who was seated silently in the lotus position, a terrifying look in his eyes.
"I can't accept this. I can't accept this!" The skinny old man growled mentally, "I have to ascend and escape. If I can escape, in the future I'll come back and kill these devils." To this very day, he had yet to realize that his tormentors were actually golems.
"Eh?" The skinny old man suddenly felt that something was off. Five figures had suddenly appeared before him.
"You-…" The old man was stunned. This was absolutely bizarre. These five figures were simply too clean and pristine, and none of them were wearing shackles. What's more… the doors to the prison hadn't even opened.
"I have some questions for you," the skinny, bald, red-robed youth said.
"Yes," the skinny old man said obediently. He felt a sense of absolute devotion to the man before him. If the man ordered him to commit suicide, he wouldn't hesitate in the slightest.
As for other manacled cultivators in the jail cell, they weren't able to see a thing.
As Ning's group infiltrated the enormous prison, a figure suddenly flew out of an ancient, towering estate which was surrounded by faint green mist that was located in the very core of the Sacred Immortal Realm. This figure was dressed in light green robes, had a stooped form, and just a few green scales on his forehead. His eyes looked quite cold and insidious, and his ancient face was covered in wrinkles.
"Master." An Elder God golem standing outside the estate, waiting respectfully.
"Mm." The stooped old man nodded. "The new batch of cultivators have arrived?"
"Yes, they just arrived. We've already sent them all into the prison," the Elder God golem said respectfully. Golems were a type of magic treasures, but when they gained sentience they would be just as intelligent as actually living beings. The difference was, they would be unswervingly loyal and would do whatever their master ordered them to do.
"Mm. Let's go take a look." The stooped figure nodded slowly. The Elder God golem followed behind him respectfully, and the two quickly flew into the skies. In the blink of an eye, they moved more than ten billion kilometers and arrived at the enormous prison, wreathed in an aura of baleful energy.
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Book 28, Archaeus Region, Chapter 8 – The Hope of the Cultivators
The enormous prison was divided into many different regions. Within a jail cell located in one particular corner of the prison, Ji Ning's group of five was staring at that skinny, elderly prisoner.
"I was captured and brought to this place six hundred years ago, after I travelled through the spacetime transfer array and arrived at the Sacred Immortal Realm." The skinny old man's eyes were filled with a reminiscent look as he said softly, "Ever since then, I've been imprisoned here. I've suffered countless torments. Some cultivators chose to self-detonate because they were unable to endure the misery. Ugh… I really wish I could go back to the Mortal Realm."
Ning's group all frowned. Solewind asked, "Do you know nothing about the rest of this Sacred Immortal Realm?"
The skinny old man shook his head. "I know very little. We've been trapped here this entire time."
"Do you know about the 'master' which these devils who torture you serve?" Solewind asked.
The skinny man trembled as a look of terror appeared in his eyes. "He… he's the master of the devils. He's terrifying. Absolutely terrifying. After I was imprisoned here, I saw him visit the prison on two separate occasions. He used a terrifying spell to personally torture us. Countless cultivators were simultaneously tortured at the same time. He was simply too powerful, too terrifying."
"Twice? He visited the prison twice in the past six hundred years?" Solewind's face tightened slightly.
"He comes quite frequently," Prince Greatjoy growled.
"We have to be careful. Who knows when this Daolord will appear again?" Ning said solemnly. He didn't dare to spread out his own godsense, as once he did that it would be very easy for their foe to detect them.
Prince Greatjoy suddenly frowned. "I ask you this. The ancient transfer array activates once every century, which means that an utter flood of cultivators has been sent over here over the course of many years. If the torment never comes to an end… why are so many of you still alive? If you know that life will be worse than death, and that you will be subject to perpetual agony with no way of fighting back, why are you still enduring?"
Ning and the others were intrigued. Right. When faced with overwhelming power, overwhelming despair, and the prospect of never-ending torture, why wouldn't they choose to die? Logically speaking, most would rather commit suicide than to continue like this.
"Because we are going to get revenge," the skinny old man growled, his eyes filled with fury and hate.
"You? How?" Prince Greatjoy was puzzled.
"If we can ascend, we can leave this place." The skinny old man ground his teeth. "After ascending, I will become a Celestial Immortal and will be able to continue to cultivate. In the future, after I grow stronger, I'll definitely come back and get my revenge."
Heartlord Solewind asked, "Ascend? If you ascend, you'll be able to escape the Sacred Immortal Realm?"
Ning and the others were all puzzled. Logically speaking, 'ascension' should represent ascending into an estate-world of a Daolord.
"Those who ascend can indeed escape," the skinny old man said immediately. "Long, long ago, before our Mortal Realm even had that ancient transfer array, it was somewhat easier for cultivators to train to the late Apotheosis stage. In the Mortal Realm, there were some who were occasionally able to reach that stage, and once they did the Celestial Tribulation would soon descend upon them. After the tribulation, they would ascend to a land of Immortals.
"Later, cultivation in the Mortal Realm became more difficult. However, the ancient transfer array then appeared, and some of our ancient predecessors chose to travel through it and go to the Sacred Immortal Realm. Some of them even came back and then told their descendants and juniors that the Sacred Immortal Realm was a holy place for cultivation with incredibly dense elemental energy. As a result, successive generations of cultivators have come to this place.
"Only after entering did we realize that it was all just a trick." The skinny old man gritted his teeth.
Ning and the other four were all extraordinary figures. They immediately understood what had happened.
Long ago, before the 'Mortal Realm' was discovered by that Daolord, cultivation was a much simpler path. When the enormous protective formation sprang up to protect the continent from the spatial storms around it, it naturally caused the elemental energy in the continent to grow sparse, making cultivation much more difficult. The ancient transfer array then appeared, followed by some cultivators who were soul-compelled to return from this 'Sacred Immortal Realm' and widely spread rumors of how wonderful it was.
It was only natural that more and more cultivators would be drawn to enter it.
"It was all a plot. In truth, in the Mortal Realm it is still possible for outstandingly talented geniuses to reach the late-stage Apotheosis level, then successfully overcome their tribulations and ascend." The skinny elder continued, "But it truly is very, very difficult. The Mortal Realm is unfathomably vast, but only a handful of people each century can achieve their goals and ascend. That is why we all entered this Sacred Immortal Realm."
The skinny elder shook his hea.d "Although we are imprisoned here, it is still true that elemental energy in this world is far denser than it was in ours. It isn't too hard to reach the late-stage of the Apotheosis level. However, once those devils notice us reaching that stage, they'll immediately strike and kill us! Thus, we have to accumulate as much power as possible. We need to build up so much power that as soon as we reach the late-stage of the Apotheosis level, the Celestial Tribulation will immediately descend. By then, those devils won't be able to do anything to us."
Ning and the others were quite curious.
"So as long as you cause a Celestial Tribulation, you'll be out of danger?"
"Once the Celestial Tribulation comes, they would never dare to interfere! All they would do is stand off to one side and watch. Even if that devil lord came himself, he would just watch from afar. Anyone who succeeds in the tribulation would immediately ascend to the legendary Immortal Lands," the skinny elder said.
As Ning and the others questioned him, they continued to discuss this matter amongst themselves.
Generally speaking, in places like the Three Realms the so-called 'Celestial Tribulation' might pose a threat to ordinary cultivators, but it definitely wouldn't be able threaten a World-level cultivator! A World-level cultivator would be capable of annihilating the entire Three Realms; how could a mere tribulation be able to do anything to him? By the same principle, it was impossible for a Celestial Tribulation to threaten a Daolord! Even if a Celestial Tribulation did descend, a Daolord could forcibly intervene and completely destroy the tribulation.
"I have a possible answer," Firesurge whispered. "Ever since we entered the Archaeus region, we've been hearing stories of 'ascension' from the continents that we visit. Do you think it's possible that there's a Daolord in every single continent? That they will all go so far as to spend time and effort setting up an estate-world to protect them?"
"What are you saying?" Solewind looked at him.
"I imagine you've all noticed this by now as well. After we entered the Archaeus region, we've been able to sense that its power permeates every inch of this region," Firesurge said. "The only reason we aren't crushed by it is because we bear Archaeus medallions."
Ning and the others nodded. It was true that the power of the Archaeus region was omnipresent here.
"Then… it is entirely possible that the 'Celestial Tribulation' sent down upon the countless living creatures of the many continents here were all sent down by the Archaeus region itself," Firesurge said.
"Right."
"Right, that has to be it."
Their eyes all instantly lit up as they came to understand this matter.
The Celestial Tribulation… it only came about as a result of the natural laws of Heaven and Earth.
In a chaosworld such as the Three Realms, the 'laws' in question were the laws of the chaoworld itself, and thus it was the chaosworld itself which sent down the Celestial Tribulations.
But here in the Archaeus region, those vast continents did not have any natural laws that belonged to the continents themselves. Logically speaking, there was no way for the continents themselves to send down Celestial Tribulations. Which meant… it had to be the entire Archaeus region which sent down the tribulations!
"Because the tribulations are sent by the Archaeus region itself, not even Daolords would dare to interfere. If they did, they would be punished by the power of the entire Archaeus region," Firesurge said. The reason why someone like Ning would be able to destroy the Celestial Tribulation of the Three Realms was because he wasn't afraid of any reprisal from the Three Realms. But a reprisal from the Archaeus region… even Eternal Emperors would fear such a thing.
The Archaeus region was the very core of this entire alternate universe! A strike from it would essentially represent a strike from the entire universe itself! Who would dare to withstand such a blow?
"It makes perfect sense." Skyfire Brightshore nodded.
"There is a high probability that you are correct. I'd say the chances are at least 80%. But there's another 20% probability as well… perhaps all this talk of 'ascension' is nothing more than a cruel lie meant to give these cultivators hope. Once they lose all hope, they probably won't be able to keep on living," Solewind said.
Whoosh. Ning and the other four silently emerged from that small jail cell. They continued to walk through the enormous prison, with no one able to detect them.
"GREETINGS, MASTER!"
Suddenly, every inch of the prison exploded with raucous chants. Every single one of the million-plus golems obediently knelt down, and the sound of their knees hitting the ground echoed throughout the prison.
"He's coming."
"The lord of the devils is coming."
"N-no…"
"He's come again."
When the prisoners trapped within those countless jail cells within the prison heard the noise, they instantly became filled with terror. Each time this 'lord of the devils' arrived, he would bring them nightmarish torment that was even worse than what the devils were able to dispense. Everyone's breathing became ragged and chaotic, and even the aura of hatred, resentment, and madness which permeated the place became much stronger than before.
Ning's face turned pale, as did that of the other four.
"Hmph." A cold snort rang out, followed by an awe-inspiringly powerful surge of heartforce that swept out and covered the entire prison. At the same time, some faint green mist began to seep towards every single cell.
But suddenly, the green mist came to an immediate halt.
Even that wave of heartforce trembled.
"Who are the five of you?!" A furious and stunned mental query rang out.
Ning's group of five was standing there in the hallways. They were able to easily ensure the golems were unable to detect them, but there was no way for them to avoid the heartforce scan of a Daolord.
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Book 28, Archaeus Region, Chapter 9 – Slaying a Daolord
Ji Ning and the other four felt a bit frantic. All this was happening too fast.
"Senior." Heartlord Solewind sent mentally, "We came on the command of our master to enter the Archaeus region and test ourselves here. Alas, we accidentally entered the Mortal Realm, then rode the spacetime transfer array in preparing to depart from this place. We never imagined that the Sacred Immortal Realm was a place which we could not exit, and so we began to search for a way which would allow us to leave this place. We have no intentions of being your enemy, senior. I'd like to ask you to permit us to leave the Sacred Immortal Realm."
"Oh? Five World-level cultivators and five Archaeus medallions… such wealth!" The stooped Daolord who stood at the entrance of the prison sent his voice out echoing with the ears of the five. "Letting you leave isn't completely out of the question. However, you have to agree to one of my conditions."
"Pray tell, senior," Solewind immediately said.
Without actually fighting them, no one would be able to tell how strong Ning's group was!
In the Archaeus region, there were some Daolords who would slay any World-level cultivators they saw and steal their Archaeus medallions. However, the majority of Daolords were unwilling to lower themselves and rob juniors, nor were they willing to offend the sect standing behind those World-level cultivators. Generally speaking, World-level cultivators within the Archaeus region all had significant backgrounds.
"I need you to swear a lifeblood oath that once you leave this place, you will never let anyone else learn a single thing about what you experienced in the Mortal Realm and the Sacred Immortal Realm. If you accept, I'll let you leave this place," the stooped Daolord said.
"A lifeblood oath?" Solewind immediately smiled. "That's simple."
"Careful!"
The nearby Prince Greatjoy's face tightened as light suddenly shot out of his eyes.
Moments later, the faces of Solewind, Ji Ning, Skyfire Brightshore, and Firesurge all changed. They, too, could sense a terrifying strong surge of power descend from the heavens towards the prison. For this surge of power to descend from the heavens was a clear size that it came from the grand formation which protected the entire Sacred Immortal Realm.
"Kill!" Firesurge had an ugly look on his face.
"Kill!" Prince Greatjoy bellowed out the same word.
The five of them attacked simultaneously!
The stooped Daolord was at the entrance to the enormous prison, and his eyes were unspeakably cold and grim. The skies above him suddenly lit up as the previously ethereal-looking formation was activated, causing an enormous black serpent to appear out of nowhere and descend from the heavens at tremendous speeds as it shot towards the prison.
Just now, the stooped Daolord had intentionally been wasting some time chatting with them to buy himself enough time to unleash the power of the formation.
"All those who discover the existence of the Sacred Immortal Realm must perish." A murderous look was in the stooped Daolord's eyes, and the enormous serpent moved so quickly that it appeared before him in a flash. However… immediately afterwards, the stooped Daolord's face turned pale. "WHAT?!"
His godsense was showing him what those five World-level cultivators were doing… and they were absolutely terrifying.
Of the five, Ji Ning and Heartlord Solewind were the fastest to attack.
"Heartworld, descend!" Solewind's red robes fluttered as he glared towards the stooped Daolord coldly, and he showed no mercy at all when he attacked.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
His heartworld projection instantly descended upon this area, causing the entire prison to boom violently. It was as though something incredibly heavy had smashed down upon it, and it was smashed apart as easily as a piece of tofu. This enormous prison was capable of holding countless cultivators prisoner, but for people on Ning's level it was incredibly fragile. Previously, they had been deep within the prison while the Daolord had been at the entrance, which meant they were separated by many different gates. It was simpler to just destroy the entire damn thing.
"What?!"
'B-but…"
Countless cultivators gawked in amazement at this scene. The jail cells they had been trapped in were all crushed into tiny pieces, but they themselves were left completely unscathed. This was a testament to how precise and masterful Heartlord Solewind was!
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
The million-plus golems were all knocked flat onto the ground under the crushing pressure of the heartworld projection. They weren't able to resist in the slightest.
"An Exalted Immortal!"
"A Grand Immortal!"
"The heavens have finally come to our aid!"
Countless cultivators stared at the red-robed Heartlord Solewind, who stood there like a veritable god. Heartlord Solewind seemed to have become the center of this entire world, and he stared at that distant, stooped Daolord as he sent the full weight of his heartworld projection crashing downwards.
"A Heartforce Cultivator?" The stooped figure was stunned.
"BREAK!"
Next to Heartlord Solewind was the white-robed Ji Ning, and his eyes were equally cold. Rumble. A terrifying mixture of electric light and watery light appeared around him. The seven types of Dao lightning and seven types of Dao water transformed into a series of divine swords. The many divine swords moved incredibly fast, quickly sweeping towards the distant stooped Daolord and forming a terrifying domain that was like a vortex of darkness which ground away at his form.
This was the Yin-Yang Sword Domain!
"A sword cultivator? How could he be as terrifying as this?!" The stooped Daolord was now completely flabbergasted, and he hurriedly controlled his black serpent and used it to protect himself.
The black serpent howled furiously as it struggled to 'survive'. The surrounding Yin-Yang Sword Domain was like a deadly fishing net that had been tightly wrapped around the serpent's form and furiously tearing away at it.
"Great Annihilation!" Prince Greatjoy had a similarly icy look on his face as he immediately unleashed his most powerful killer attack. His twin palms suddenly glittered with dazzling golden light as they instantly pierced through the skies, striking with invincible and deadly intent towards the stooped Daolord.
BOOM! When the enormous golden palms struck down upon the black serpent, the black serpent tried to endure the power… but with a rumble, it began to shake and then crack apart.
"Ahhhh!" The stooped Daolord let out a furious, terrified scream.
"Kill him!"
"Die."
Skyfire Brightshore and Waterlord Firesurge simultaneously struck out. The former struck out with a blazing red tail while the latter sent out two enormous entwined water dragons that shot out. The black serpent was already at the brink of collapse due to Ning's Yin-Yang Sword Intent and Prince Greatjoy's attack. Now, it completely broke apart… and the power of the Yin-Yang Sword Domain and the other attacks all simultaneously thundered down upon the Daolord's body. The Daolord did have other treasures he could use to defend himself, but he was completely unable to do so.
Boom!
He was completely, totally annihilated!
Utter silence.
The countless cultivators all just stared in a dazed fashion. That invincibly powerful and utterly terrifying 'lord of devils', a man so strong that he made their souls quiver when they looked at him… had been instantly killed?
It really had been just an instant.
The five of them had only struck out a single time each! Ning had only made use of his Yin-Yang Sword Domain; he wasn't even given enough time to launch a second attack before the Daolord had died!
"We… we…" The countless cultivators stared at Ning's group.
"Bind them." Heartlord Solewind swept the area with his gaze. His heartworld projection had the appearance of an endless range of blazing mountains. As for the million-plus golems that were being suppressed by it, the death of their master had resulted in them instantly becoming ownerless. Thus, Heartlord Solewind was able to bind them all right away.
"Although these golems are fairly low-level, there's certainly a great deal of them. Let's split them up into five portions," Heartlord Solewind sent.
The other four didn't really care that much and so just waved their hands to accept it.
"This Daolord was really quite weak. I felt as though he was merely an ordinary Daolord of the First Step." Prince Greatjoy shook his head. "If it wasn't for the formation itself being incredibly powerful, brother Darknorth's sword-intent domain alone probably would've wiped him out."
Ning and the others all nodded. This Daolord had been very weak.
When Ji Ning, Solewind, and Greatjoy had attacked, their attacks had been blocked by the black serpent. In the end, it had been the attacks of Skyfire Brightshore and Firesurge which had caused the black serpent to collapse! As for the Daolord himself? He wasn't able to resist them in the slightest.
"I wonder… is there perhaps a second Daolord here in the Sacred Immortal Realm?" Prince Greatjoy was worried. "This one was far too weak, while the formation itself was rather strong."
"It's quite rare for there to be a Daolord assigned to watch guard over a continent. Do you really think there would be a second one?" Solewind shook his head. "As for the power of the formation… perhaps this Daolord purchased it from somewhere else. Truly powerful Daolords generally wouldn't deign to do things like torture and torment mortal cultivators. Only the weaker Daolords would generally do such a thing. If there really was another Daolord here, he probably would've sent his godsense over to investigate long ago. If he did so, there's no way it would've been able to avoid interacting with my heartworld projection."
"Mm." Firesurge nodded in agreement. "These golems all belonged to the Daolord we just defeated. I think there probably was just one."
"It doesn't matter if there was one or two," Ning said. "Either way, we still need to go into the Daolord's estate in the very center of the continent! The formation remains active, after all, and the core of the formation is probably located within the Daolord's estate. Only if we go there will we be able to disrupt the formation and leave this place."
"Let's go to the Daolord's estate." Prince Greatjoy nodded. "If there are no other Daolords, things will be much simpler. If there is another Daolord, then we'll just have to give him a fight. There's no other options for us!"
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Book 28, Archaeus Region, Chapter 10 – Karmic Virtue
If they wished to leave the Sacred Immortal Realm, they had to first enter the Daolord's estate.
Swoosh.
Ji Ning and the rest of the five transformed into streaks of light that flew into the air. Space rippled around them as they then disappeared.
Only now did these countless cultivators who had just been freed from torture, from their doom of eternal torment, finally come back to their senses. They had been too stunned by the death of that 'lord of the devils'.
"Thank you, five Exalted Immortals, for sparing our lives!"
"Thank you, Grand Immortals, for saving us from an eternity of suffering!"
"Thank you, seniors!"
Countless cultivators fell to their knees in gratitude. Tears streamed down their faces as they cried out their praises. Aside from the hundreds of millions of cultivators who had just recently been taken prisoner, there were the countless cultivators who had been imprisoned here long ago. They had suffered endless torment, and only the hope of ascension and escape had kept them alive. However… whenever those million-plus golems noticed anyone breaking through to the late Apotheosis stage, they would immediately kill that person! Thus, every century there was just a very small number of cultivators who managed to overcome their tribulations and ascend. The rest all died miserable, tormented deaths.
Now, they finally had release.
They would all be able to survive. The boundless hatred and rage which had built up over the course of countless years began to transform into gratitude towards Ning and the rest of the five.
Ning's group of five void-blinked straight to the location of the spacetime transfer array.
"These golems." Heartlord Solewind waved his hand, easily binding the hundred-plus Elder God golems present here, then split them into five lots and gave each person a lot.
"What?"
"What's going…"
"Does this mean…"
The tens of millions of cultivators who were bound to the stone pillars all raised their heads towards the skies, staring at Ning's group of five. Those terrifying devils had been dealt with, as easily as that?
"From this day forth." Heartlord Solewind swept them with his gaze as he summon his heartworld projection, smashing apart all the chains on every single cultivator. "You are no longer prisoners. You and the countless cultivators who were imprisoned in that jail were all free now. I hope you will all train hard and build up this 'Sacred Immortal Realm' into a place which is truly worthy of that name."
"Freedom?" The tens of millions of cultivators were all stunned for a moment. Then, they began to tremble in excitement.
"Let's go." Ning's group of five quickly departed. As far as they were concerned, helping out these mortal cultivators was nothing more than a casual act in passing. They naturally weren't opposed to helping out.
The tens of millions of cultivators watched as those five airborne figures all disappeared. Only then did they come back to their senses and hurriedly kowtow, pressing their foreheads against the ground. "Thank you, Exalted Immortals!"
"Thank you for rescuing us, Exalted Immortals!"
"Finally, Immortals from the Heavens have come to deliver us!"
The cultivators cried out with hoarse sobs of excitement and gratitude.
The towering Daolord's estate emanated an aura of faint green energy, and the estate itself seemed ethereal as well, as though it didn't quite exist at all.
Ning's group of five stared at it from afar quite cautiously.
"Eh?" Suddenly, a surge of strange power swept through the air and descended upon the bodies of Ning and the others. Apparently, faint layers of golden light were continuously descending upon them.
"What's this?" Ning and the others exchanged glances.
"Karmic merit," Solewind said softly. "What an enormous amount of karmic merit. All the karmic merit I've ever gained since I started cultivation isn't as much as this."
"This really is a lot of karmic merit," Prince Greatjoy said. "I once battled against an evil cult and rescued more than three hundred chaosworlds from their grasp, but I still didn't get as much karmic merit as I am right now."
Ning was quite shocked as well.
At their level of power, the effect of karmic merit was negligible, just icing on the cake. They might have slightly better luck while adventuring, but that was it. Still… this amount of karmic merit was simply ridiculous in size and scope. If others knew that rescuing these cultivators would result in such a reward of karmic merit, it was likely that many Daolords would run around seeking opportunities to rescue people.
Once your karmic merit reached a certain level, your luck would become better and better. Although it wouldn't be of much use to you in the Daomerge, it would still be of assistance when adventuring. In truth, however, you could run around rescuing chaosworld after chaosworld and you generally wouldn't gain as much as one-thousandth as much karmic merit as right now.
"Earlier, we all saw how the aura of hatred above in the prison had reached utterly shocking proportions," Solewind said. "This place had a simply ridiculous amount of hatred. It makes sense that the reward for rescuing them is a similarly ridiculous amount of karmic merit. It goes without saying that the number of cultivators who were tortured to death by them over the years was simply unimaginable. Even though they died, their 'echoes' sent down karmic merit to us."
"Mm." Ning nodded.
The cultivators they had saved were mostly captured within the past few thousand years. The earlier cultivators had almost all been tortured to death. Compared to the number of cultivators they had saved, the number that had perished was far higher.
"The Daolord's estate…" Prince Greatjoy stared at the towering estate, hidden deep within the shadows of the faint green mist. "I feel as though it won't be an easy place to go through. Let us first try and see if we can destroy it."
"Mm. Worth a shot."
"If we can destroy it, we can then hopefully destroy the core of the formation which covers this entire Sacred Immortal Realm. That would be perfect." Ning and the others were all hoping for this outcome.
An estate which was being controlled by its master would possess incredibly strong defensive powers, but now the Daolord was dead. Ning's group did indeed stand a good chance of destroying it.
"I'll go first." Ning smiled as he walked through the air towards the distant Daolord's estate. As he moved forwards, his seven mighty streaks of Dao lightning and Dao water all flooded out as well, forming an enormous Yin-Yang Sword Domain. A dark and terrifyingly powerful domain appeared around him, completely annihilating all of the faint green mist as it furiously swept towards the estate-world.
"Break for me." Heartlord Solewind immediately summoned his heartworld projection, causing an entire world to come crashing down upon the estate.
"Shatter!" Prince Greatjoy flew over as well as he stretched out his giant golden palms. His palms were capable of unleashing the most savage attacks amongst the five. Although Ning's own Blood Drop sword-intent was also a Supreme Dao, its advantage lay in its penetrating power. Prince Greatjoy, however, specialized in overwhelming, brutalizing power.
BOOM! BOOM!
Two enormous, heaven-covering golden palms came crashing down like a pair of titanic golden clouds. The golden palms came crashing downwards repeatedly, striking heavily upon the Daolord's estate. The air pressure generated by the blows was so great that an enormous palm-size imprint appeared in the ground around the estate.
"GWRAAAR!" Skyfire Brightshore transformed into his true form of a flame-bathed beast. His hooves kicked at the ground as his fiery tail lashed out in an aura of absolutely power.
As for Waterlord Firesurge, he charged forwards and launched attacks from all around the estate as well.
The entrance to the Daolord's estate was open, and so Ning's Dao lightning and Dao thunder flooded straight through it, smashing through all obstacles in their path.
After causing absolute havoc for a brief period of time, it finally came to a halt.
"Eh? But the door to the estate is clearing open." The blazing beast once more transformed into a fiery-haired youth. "Brother Darknorth's lightning and water, as well as my lifeblood fire… and that heartworld projection of brother Solewind… it all flooded into the estate to cause damage. Why, then, is the formation covering this realm completely undisturbed?"
"Mm." Ning raised his head to stare into the skies as well. Golden runes could still be vaguely seen high up in the air. Clearly, the enormous formation hadn't been impacted at all.
"We probably haven't destroyed the core of the formation yet," Ning said. "Perhaps the core of the formation is located in some secret, hidden location inside the estate."
"Then what should we do now?" Solewind swept the area with his gaze.
"What can we do? Go inside!" Prince Greatjoy said coldly.
"Mm." A murderous look flashed through Firesurge's eyes as well.
Ning and the others all felt quite cautious about this Daolord's estate. An estate was essentially a foe's lair! If there really was another Daolord inside… fighting within the estate would be incredibly disadvantageous to Ning and the others.
But right now… there really was no way to tell whether or not there was a Daolord inside. If a Daolord truly decided to hide inside there and refused to come out, then Ning's group would still have to go inside the estate and wreck the formation's core in order to leave this Sacred Immortal Realm.
"Brother Darknorth, let us join forces to set up a defensive perimeter," Solewind said.
"Alright." Ning nodded.
Solewind's heartworld projection was an excellent detection and warning system, whereas Ning's Yin-Yang Sword Domain was a Supreme Dao of defense.
For now, the group of five was guarded by a chaotic domain of sword-intent as well as countless world-shadows.
Whoosh.
Ning's group went straight to the entrance of the Daolord's estate. Although they had hammered against the estate for quite some time, it remained completely undamaged.
They entered the estate through the main gate.
The estate was actually quite large inside, and its internal layout was quite complicated. There were quite a few dismembered and shattered golems located inside of it as well, all destroyed by the water, lightning, flames, and other attacks which the group had unleashed.
"What a large estate." It was built almost like a maze. Ning's group spent a full hour wandering inside of it, jointly defeating the various formations and restrictive spells as they extensively searched the place.
At the deepest reaches of the Daolord's estate, there was hovering passageway that was lined with fiery red stones.
Whooooosh. A blazing wind howled through the air above the hovering passageway.
There was a cave entrance located amongst the many boulders present in this place. Within this cave there was a black-robed Daolord who was seated in the lotus position. His aura was incredibly ancient, and he was unfathomably more powerful than the Daolord which Ning's group had just slain. Images of Ning and the others wandering through the estate could be seen reflected off his eyes. "So these five World-level cultivators really did enter my estate! For World-level cultivators to be comparable to Daolords of the Second Step, and for five of them to appear at once… they have to have a truly incredible school behind them. Their master might be an extremely important member of the Church of Annihilation. Although they killed one of my retainers, I'd really rather not fight them unless absolutely necessary."
"But… Master's orders were clear. I am to guard this place diligently, and I am to slay any outsiders who invade this place." The black-robed Daolord slowly shook his head.
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Book 28, Archaeus Region, Chapter 11 – Moksha
The black-robed Daolord sat within that fiery stone cave. Suddenly, he turned his gaze towards that levitating passageway. Deep within it, a bulky and muscular creature was crawling across the fiery stones. The creature was brandishing an enormous greataxe, chopping downwards with it time and time again. Just looking at this muscular creature, one would easily be able to tell what tremendous power this greataxe held within it. However, the greataxe was just barely able to split the blazing stones apart, and it took dozens of blows from the greataxe in order to 'harvest' a single piece.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The reverberations were quite weak by the time they made it to the black-robed Daolord.
"Moksha." The black-robed Daolord called out to the creature. "Come here."
"Yes, Master." A rumbling voice rang out from below.
Whoosh.
A streak of light flew out from the depths of that levitating passageway, then landed within the fiery stone cave. This was a strange, incredibly muscular thing whose unclad body radiated a metallic light. Clearly, this was not a normal living creature. The creature held a black greataxe in its hands that was almost as long as he was tall, and upon entering he immediately knelt down respectfully. "Master, what is your bidding?"
The black-robed Daolord nodded. "Five World-level children have entered the Sacred Immortal Realm. Although they were merely at the World level, all of them can be said to have reached a level of power comparable to that of Daolords of the Second Step. The five of them have already entered my estate, and they are continuously advancing in this direction! I order you to go and wipe them out. Remember… no matter what, do not let them damage my 'Prismatic Kiloleaf Flower'."
"Moska understands," the towering creature said respectfully.
"Then go," the black-robed Daolord ordered.
The muscular creature instantly departed through the passageway as he continuously flew upwards. Soon, he reached the entry point to the bottommost layer of the estate.
The black-robed Daolord nodded slightly. He really didn't care much about the death of that retainer, as the retainer had been someone who had only been able to break through thanks to a Pseudo Samsara Pill. His only real job was to assist the black-robed Daolord in torturing those mortal cultivators. Someone like the black-robed Daolord wouldn't want to lower himself or waste his energy on tormenting mortals. He would simply order his subordinates to do it for him.
"Five absolutely incredible World-level cultivators. They most likely stand a good chance of becoming absolutely incredible Daolords. A pity." The black-robed Daolord let out a soft sigh. "Why did you have to come here?"
Deep within the Daolord's estate.
Ji Ning and the rest of the five were still advancing forwards.
"There has to be a tremendous secret deep hidden within this path," Prince Greatjoy said. We've already encountered eight different restrictive seals on this path, and it took us tremendous amounts of effort to break through them. Why would they put this many seals here if this wasn't an important place?"
"We've broken quite a few seals in the estate, but no foes have emerged to face us. There probably really aren't any Daolords here," Solewind laughed. "I hope everything will continue to be this easy. That would be just wonderful."
"I hope that is the case as well."
They advanced through the passageway, delving deeper and deeper through the various layers of the estate. Suddenly, an enormous stone door appeared at the end of the path before them. This stone door was covered by strange carvings which emanated a dark, sinful aura. Just looking at it made the five of them uncomfortable. In truth, they had all noticed that it seemed as though the entire estate was filled with the aura of hatred and sin, with the aura being especially pronounced in certain areas.
Crackle, crackle, crackle. Solewind's heartworld projection and Ning's sword-intent domain both slammed into the stone door.
Golden runes immediately appeared on the surface of the stone door and began to flow across it. The runes were incredibly powerful, and they weren't damaged in the slightest by the attacks.
Heartlord Solewind carefully inexpected the formation which had just appeared atop the stone door. Of the five, Heartlord Solewind possessed the highest level of skill in the Dao of Formations. He spent quite a bit of time, head upraised, as he stared at the stone door.
"Do as I say," Heartlord Solewind instructed. "Brother Ji Ning, strike out with your sword using maximum force and destroy the runes over here."
His heartworld projection immediately caused a particular part of the runes to light up.
"Brothers Firesurge and Skyfire, the two of you shall attack these two places." Heartlord Solewind once more left behind sparkles of light atop the stone door, this time pointing out two areas with runes at the very top and very bottom of the stone door.
"Brother Greatjoy, all you need to do is to launch full-strength blows against this door," Solewind laughed. "Leave the rest to me."
To use raw, brute force to breach the formations would be incredibly difficult. If you were skilled in the art of formations, things would be much easier. Even if you weren't able to overcome the formation by yourself, if you could point out certain critical areas and then focus your efforts on those areas, it would be hundreds of times easier than simply trying to brute-force the entire thing.
"Everyone… attack!" Heartlord Solewind barked.
Swish!
Ning struck out with his sword.
The sword struck out without creating any sound, but in the instant that it stabbed against the divine runes, its might was fully unleashed along with a terrifyingly strong penetrative power. If Ning wished it, he would be able to tear space apart and enter a completely different spatial dimension. The runes were completely pierced through and ripped apart by Ning's strike, resulting in the formation covering the stone door to begin to tremble.
In truth, a small part of such a large formation being destroyed normally wouldn't have much of an impact. Only a critical part of the formation being destroyed would.
"Good." Heartlord Solewind revealed a look of delight.
Ning's sword was indeed quite terrifying. Previously, as they had been breaching one sealed barrier after another within the estate, they had encountered a particularly nettlesome barrier that not even Prince Greatjoy had been able to break. In the end, it was Ning who had stepped up and used his sword to stab through a critical part of the formation. All of them had been stunned by how terrifyingly strong Ning's sword was.
In terms of raw, overwhelming attack power, Prince Greatjoy was the strongest of the five.
In terms of viciousness… Ning's sword was the deadliest.
"Attack!" Skyfire Brightshore and Firesurge simultaneously attacked, the former using fire and the latter using water. These two were diametrically different types of energy, and they were equal in power. As a result, when they joined forces they resulted in an absolutely explosive amount of energy being unleashed. Skyfire had truly grown much stronger in recent years, perhaps because the twelve scrolls of the [Sutra of Eternity] was indeed an incredible technique. By now, Skyfire was just as strong as Firesurge, who had been the weakest member of the four elites of the Twelve Palaces.
"Break." Prince Greatjoy sent his enormous golden palms crashing downwards towards the two sides of the closed stone door.
Rumble…
The sealing barrier twisted, no longer able to endure the surging power that had been brought to bear against it. With a rumbling sound, the closed stone door began to swing open as the barrier naturally broke apart.
The two sides of the stone door were smashed open by the twin palms, revealing an empty pavilion behind them.
"So we have reached the end of this passageway?" Ning and the others were all stunned. They had encountered multiple barriers on the way over and had felt certain that there would be another passageway beyond the stone doors. Who would've thought that it would instead be a pavilion?
Ning and the other four advanced with caution, surrounded by the heartworld projection and the sword-intent domain. They walked through the stone door and into the pavilion.
The empty pavilion was roughly thirty thousand meters in size. An extremely muscular form was seated within the pavilion. The creature was completely crimson in color, and even its eyes were blazing with fire. It didn't look like an ordinary living creature at all.
"A golem?" Greatjoy frowned.
"What a powerful golem." Solewind's face tightened as well.
"The Daolord we killed was merely at the first step. Why is there such a powerful golem here?" Ning's heart sank. They could all tell that this was nothing more than a powerful golem, but it was different from those weaker golems that had existed in the Sacred Immortal Realm. Those golems were at the Elder God level of strength at most. This one… it was at the Daolord level.
Its aura was so weighty and dense that there was no way an ordinary Daolord could match it in might.
Whoooosh. There was another stone door on the other end of the palace. That tightly sealed stone door was covered with a layer of deep green energy that radiated hatred, with the hatred so dense that furiously roaring faces would constantly appear on its surface. Unfathomable amounts of dense elemental energy were being gathered from the surrounding areas, then channel into and through the stone door.
"The hatred and malice is all gathering here? What on earth is behind that stone door?" Ning realized that they were getting very close to uncovering some of the secrets behind the Sacred Immortal Realm.
The five of them exchanged a glance, their hearts sinking. They all knew that this would most likely be the most deadly battle yet in this alternate universe… and that it was possible they might die here.
"We have entered the Archaeus region on the orders of our master. I'd like to ask for you to give way and release the five of us from this Sacred Immortal Realm," Solewind said. "If there is anything you want from us, just tell us."
The massive golem, seated in the lotus position, slowly raised his head and stared at Ning's group with his fiery eyes. His lips parted in a savage smile as he rose to his feet, then stretched out his left hand. Instantly, an enormous black shield appeared within it. He then stretched out his right hand, causing an enormous greataxe to appear.
A shield in one hand, a greataxe in the other… and his aura completely exploded forth, sweeping through the entire palace and causing it to echo and thunder.
"I want…" The massive golem's voice boomed forth, "For you all to die!"
BOOM!
The golem transformed into a streak of light as it charged straight towards Ning's group.
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Book 28, Archaeus Region, Chapter 12 – In Danger of Dying
The entire pavilion was merely thirty thousand meters in size, and thus it was completely filled by the Yin-Yang Sword Domain. Torrents of electric light and watery light transformed into enormous swords that furiously hacked at everything near them. The towering golem was assaulted by endless attacks, but it simply roared with fury as it charged towards Ning's group. The Yin-Yang Sword Domain wasn't able to do anything to it at all.
Whooosh. Heartlord Solewind rose high up into the air, his red robes fluttering. He actually seemed to transform into a divine bird that was bathed in flames. More and more of these flaming birds began to appear in the area around him, as well as enormous amounts of blazing lava.
"Focus." Solewind instantly manifested a total of eighteen arms, and each arm represented a beak of a firebird as they all flew towards that golem.
"Kill!"
"Attack!"
Skyfire Brightshore and Waterlord Firesurge joined forces in a practiced manner. They had long ago grown accustomed to combination attacks, and thus they sent intertwined attacks of water and fire straight towards the golems.
As for Ning, he first used [Three Heads, Six Arms, then drew out his six divine swords. Prince Greatjoy actually manifested six arms as well, a rare sight to behold. The two of them had the most powerful attacks… and were the final ones to attack.
"GWAAAAR!" The massive golem roared furiously as it chopped horizontally with the massive black greataxe in its hand.
This chop seemed to sever the heavens from the earth itself. Ning and the others all instantly felt their hearts turn cold!
Heartlord Solewind had used his heartworld projection to manifest eighteen blazing firebirds, but they were all chopped into two pieces by this blow.
"Careful." Skyfire Brightshore was sent flying back by the chop as well, and he furiously cried out to warn the others.
Whoooosh.
Waterlord Firesurge's body was cleaved apart at the waist. Blood flew everywhere, and a look of shock and rage was in his eyes. And then, his entire body transformed into a flow of water that tried to flee.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
Prince Greatjoy's six enormous golden palms began to descend from the skies, striking against the edge of that greataxe and preventing it from continuing its attacks. Thanks to him, Skyfire and Firesurge were saved.
"Brother Darknorth!" Prince Greatjoy vomited out a mouthful of blood as he flew backwards, but he still managed to send an urgent mental call to Ning.
Six silent streaks of sword-light. As Prince Greatjoy tied down the greataxe, the six streaks of sword-light scraped past it and stabbed directly towards the fingers of the golem's right hand. Ning knew very well that this was a golem which was as tough and resilient as a magical treasure! To actually destroy this golem? Not even a Daolord of the Fourth Step would be able to do this, to say nothing of Ning.
Ning's Blood Drop stance had penetrating power, true… but it wouldn't be able to pierce through the golem's body by even an inch!
Thus, Ning had only one goal – to attack the finger-joints on the golem's right hand, then seize its greataxe! Ning had been able to tell quite quickly that this golem was at an extremely high level of skill in wielding a greataxe. If Ning was able to disarm it and take the greataxe, the golem would instantly lose the majority of its power! This was similar to how if Ning himself lost his six Eternal swords he would only be able unleash 10-20% of his true power!
Crunch. Clang!
The six streaks of sword-light simultaneously stabbed into different finger-joints on the golem's right hand. The terrifying penetrative power of the Blood Drop stance caused the fingers of the mighty golem's right hand to involuntarily unclench just slightly, causing its grip over the greataxe to grow weak.
Ning was delighted to see this. Just as he was about to move forwards and seize the greataxe…
"Darknorth, careful!" Solewind's voice rang out in Ning's mind.
"Eh?!" Ning's face turned pale, because an enormous shield was crashing towards his head with an absolutely unstoppable amount of power!
The golem smiled coldly as it sent its enormous shield spinning towards Ning. Its greatest proficiency lay in the art of using shields! It was created in order to serve as a guardian for its master in dangerous situations, so as to help buy its master some extra time. The only reason it was also quite skilled in wielding axes was because it had been assigned to work as a miner for countless years now. Still… comparatively speaking, its true expertise still lay in wielding shields.
Rumble…
When the shield came crashing down, it was as though the skies themselves were pressing down upon Ning. Even a chaos star would most likely be reduced to dust by a blow from this shield! As the shield moved closer and closer to Ning, layers of multicolored space generated by the terrifying pressure began to appear right in front of it.
There was no way for Ning to seize the greataxe. All he could do was to use his sword-arts to defend as best as he could.
BOOM!!!!
The shield slammed directly onto Ning's six swords. Although Ning was skilled in using his longswords to defend, that meant very little when there was such an enormous disparity in power. The shield crushed through Ning's six arms and slammed into Ning's body. Ning felt his head grow dim as he was sent flying backwards with a boom. He almost instantly slammed into the walls of the pavilion, and blood immediately spewed out of his mouth.
The faces of Prince Greatjoy, Heartlord Solewind, Skyfire Brightshore, and Waterlord Firesurge all turned pale when they saw this. They were all completely stunned.
The strike from that shield… it was far more powerful than the strikes from the greataxe had been!
"You actually made me lose my grip over my greataxe. What a formidable sword-art! I'll make your death a cleaner one." The golem charged forwards, each step causing the pavilion to tremble. He continued to wield the shield in one hand and the greataxe in the other as he pounced towards Ning. Clearly, the fact that Ning had caused him to temporarily lose his grip over his greataxe had rather irritated him.
Prince Greatjoy and the others felt their hearts turn cold when they saw this. Right now, they didn't really care about the greataxe any longer. It was that shield which had them worried.
"I, I…" Ning's mind was still woozy, and he was only slowly regaining full consciousness.
Just now, he had been knocked completely unconscious for a brief moment. Thankfully, he had a suit of Eternal armor protecting him, and had already completely mastered the [Golden Idol] technique. That was the only reason why he had been able to survive that terrifying strike! If he had a slightly inferior protective divine ability, such as one which only made his body comparable to the toughness of an ordinary Dao weapon, he probably would've died from that collision.
Thankfully, Ning's body was as tough as a top-grade Dao weapon. It wasn't that easy to destroy.
"Dodge, brother Darknorth!" Prince Greatjoy once more struck out with his six golden palms towards the golem, and the golem once more bashed out with his shield, causing that immense level of power to once more descend upon the cultivators.
BOOOOM!
The six golden palms collided head-on with the enormous shield!
In truth, Prince Greatjoy's palm-arts were actually quite similar in function and effect to the golem's shield. In fact, Prince Greatjoy's techniques actually evinced a much deeper understanding of the Dao! The problem was that the golem was simply too overwhelmingly powerful. Prince Greatjoy just barely qualified as having the physical power of a Daolord of the First Step, but this golem had the power of an apex Daolord of the Third Step! Even though its technique was rather weak, perhaps comparable to just that of a supreme World God, it would still be able to completely dominate Prince Greatjoy.
For a golem to be able to reach a level of mastery in using a shield which was comparable to that of a supreme World God was actually quite incredible. After all, golems were by nature far inferior to true cultivators in terms of being able to understand the Dao.
Bang!
Golden light radiated from every part of Prince Greatjoy's body, making him seem as though he was made out of gold. And yet, he couldn't help but spit out a mouthful of golden liquid as he was sent flying backwards. Still, his interception gave Ning the time he needed to fully regain consciousness.
"DIE!" The golem struck out with his greataxe once more, this time chopping towards Skyfire Brightshore and Waterlord Firesurge.
"Kill him." Ning had come back to his senses, and a cold look was in his eyes.
Whoooosh.
A slight ripple suddenly appeared with the pavilion. The ripple was very delicated, and even Ning's Yin-Yang Sword Domain found it difficult to detect it. However, once the ripple moved next to the golem, the golem revealed a look of shock.
Swish!
A vicious, insidious streak of sword-light suddenly appeared, avoiding both the greataxe and shield as it slashed at the golem's head.
Rumble…
The golem couldn't help but be knocked backwards. As it was knocked backwards, that viper-like streak of sword-light appeared once more. This time, it actually began to twist as it quickly bound the golem up in rings of sword-light, completely trussling it up.
"Get in here." A figure wreathed in black mist suddenly appeared, causing the golem to disappear with a wave of the hand. The figure glanced at Ning. "Per Master's orders, you are permitted to have me help you one time. Now that I have dealt with this golem, I have completed my promise."
"Mm." Ning was still slumped on the ground of the pavilion. He nodded.
This figure wreathed in black mist was one of the four golems which Emperor Mirrorsnow had prepared for his personal disciples… the golem known as 'the assassin'!
Whoosh.
The assassin instantly disappeared, returning to the world of the Mirrorsnow Painting.
Within that world.
The assassin, the golden-robed emperor, the fisherman, and the swordsman were all together, staring at the shield-bearing and axe-wielding golem.
"You really moved quite quickly," the golden-robed emperor laughed.
"This guy isn't too bad. He can be considered to be as physically strong as an apex Daolord of the Third Step," the assassin said coldly. "His shield-wielding techniques are weak, though, and his greataxe-wielding abilities are even weaker. Overall, he can just barely be considered as strong as a weak Daolord of the Third Step. I was the perfect counter for him in every respect. This was an easy win."
The four of them were all comparable to apex Daolords of the Third Step. In terms of speed and power, they had actually reached the threshold of Daolords of the Fourth Step, and they all had exceedingly profound sword-arts. Although Ning had 'defeated' them, that was because Emperor Mirrorsnow had ordered them to only use a certain level of sword-arts! But of course, their skills were slightly inferior to that of the sword-arts of a true Daolord of the Third Step. Thus, they averaged out to be as strong as an apex Daolord of the Third Step!
Strength? Speed? Comprehension? They surpassed this new golem in every way.
Within the pavilion.
Ning continued to sit there on the ground. Waterlord Firesurge slowly reformed his true body out of the currents of water, while Skyfire Brightshore turned to look towards Ning. Solewind let out a long, relaxed sigh. As for Prince Greatjoy? He began to roar with laughter.
"That was close," Solewind laughed.
"Brother Darknorth, I owe you my life." Prince Greatjoy looked towards Ning.
Ning let out a sigh of relief as well.
That golem had brought them far, far too much pressure! In the end, they were still just a five-man group of World-level cultivators. When faced with a golem that was comparable to a Daolord of the Third Step, they were completely flattened with each class. If too much time passed, they probably would've lost their lives.
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Book 28, Archaeus Region, Chapter 13 – The Black-Robed Daolord
"Thanks, Darknorth." Skyfire Brightshore and Waterlord Firesurge both looked towards Ji Ning gratefully. Just now, had Ning been just one moment too slow, the two of them would've perished. Of the five, the two of them were undoubtedly the weakest.
"Brother Darknorth, just now I saw a dark figure appear, capture the golem, then say something about only helping you once?" Prince Greatjoy frantically asked, "We've disposed of the golem, but it was probably just equivalent to a Daolord of the Third Step. There's no way its master was the Daolord we slew earlier… which means that it is highly likely that a second Daolord resides within the estate. If we can't even deal with his golem… we're probably going to be in grave danger once that Daolord attacks."
The others all understood this point as well. They had disposed of the golem and managed to stay alive, buying themselves some extra breathing time, but the danger was still there! Still… there was nothing that could be done! If there truly was an even more powerful Daolord here, there was nothing they could do except face him. This was the Daolord's estate, after all. They were on enemy grounds.
"Yes, he can only help me once." Ning nodded. "My master once said I can't rely on him to deal with every danger I encounter, which is why I'll only be assisted a single time."
Greatjoy, Solewind, and the others all nodded. They understood this principle.
Ning didn't reveal the fact that he had three more golems. It was best for him to be able to leave a few more trump cards up his sleeve.
"Skyfire, you are a member of the Imperials. Don't you have any trump cards of your own? If Darknorth had been just one second slower, you would've been finished." Greatjoy glanced at Skyfire. The five had completely severed this local region of spacetime from the rest of the estate, and Solewind's heartworld projection was keeping a close watch as well. There was no way any form of godsense or heartforce would be able to spy on them.
Skyfire laughed awkwardly. "So what if I'm a Brightshore Imperial? Shortly after I joined the kingdom, I was dragged off by the Hegemon and sent here to the Archaeus region. Since the entire point of this adventure is for me to learn and grow, he naturally refused to give me any protective treasures at all. Once you have too many trump cards, an excursion like this would no longer be an 'adventure', it would be 'tourism'. So… I really don't have any trump cards at all."
Ning and the others were truly surprised to hear this.
It was very hard for cultivators like them to acquire particularly powerful trump cards they could use. Ning himself had to become the personal disciple of Emperor Mirrorsnow before he learned that he would have four golems who could each assist him once. Most likely, the other disciples of Emperor Mirrorsnow wouldn't divulge this fact either.
The more powerful a golem was, the more valuable it would be. A golem that was comparable to a Verge-level Daolord would be an utterly priceless treasure. Even the Sword Palace itself had only been able to acquire a few such golems over the course of countless chaos cycles! Daolord Allgod was an incredible grandmaster of artificing, but even he was only able to create a single such golem in his lifetime, one which he would never even think about selling. After all, there was simply no way one could possibly find another such golem of tremendous power and unswerving loyalty!
Emperor Mirrorsnow similarly had just a single golem of such power. In the end, he had traded it for forty golems that were comparable to apex Daolords of the Third Step which he left behind to his personal disciples.
Thus… it truly was quite rare and difficult for one to acquire truly powerful golems! Weaker golems, those which were comparable to Daolords of the First Step or Second Step, were much more common. Every single one of the twelve Daolord Cloudworlds of the Twelve Palaces had an enormous number of these golems.
As Ning and the others saw it, the person in their group who was most likely to have a truly, ridiculously powerful trump card had to be Skyfire Brightshore! After all, his backer was the almighty Hegemon, someone who could truly be described as standing at the absolute apex of the Endless Territories! Even the most casual of trump cards bestowed by the almighty Hegemon would be terrifyingly powerful. Alas… Skyfire's response disappointed all four of them.
"Ugh. This is going to be tricky. That shieldbearer golem was roughly comparable to a Daolord of the Third Step. Those golems are very expensive. His master might very well be a Verge-level Daolord." Prince Greatjoy was rather worried.
Ning sent a divine power clone to descend upon the estate-world of the Mirrorsnow Painting.
"Gentlemen." Ning looked at the assassin, the fisherman, the golden-robed emperor, and the swordsman.
"Can you help me bind this golem?" Ning glanced at the captured shieldbearer golem. Although it was much weaker than the golems which Emperor Mirrorsnow had left behind, it still had the power of a Daolord of the Third Step and was capable of dominating Ning's group and even killing them in a short period of time.
Alas, Ning had 'cheated' by releasing an even more terrifying golem… the assassin.
"Even if we helped you tie it down, you wouldn't be able to bind it." The golden-robed emperor shook his head. "All we can do is keep it trapped here and make sure it can't fight back. In the end, it is still an extraordinary golem, while your Immortal energy remains at the World level. If you wish to forcibly send your energy into the golem's body and wipe out its master's seal… there's no way you can do it."
Ning nodded. He had simply hoped that the four golems might have some special tricks.
A mighty golem comparable to a Daolord of the Third Step was right in front of him, helpless and bound, but there was no way for him to bind it. It was a pity that his azureflower mist energy was unable to leave his body. Otherwise, he might've been able to use it to bind the golem instead.
"I have a question for you." Ning shifted his gaze to the golem.
"Hmph." The towering golem let out a cold snort. "Stop struggling, brat. The five of you are all going to die. You have no idea who you just pissed off."
"Oh? And who did we just piss off?" Ning smirked.
"Hmph." The towering golem swept the area with his gaze, his eyes blazing with fire. He let out a snicker. "There are some things which I cannot speak about… but although these golems of yours are a bit stronger than me, they aren't that much stronger. Even if all of them helped you out, you still would have no chance at all of surviving this encounter. You won't even be able to fight back."
Ning laughed coldly. "Oh, so you were talking about the Daolord behind you?"
"You'll know soon enough." The towering golem shut his mouth, saying nothing further. There were some secrets which even he didn't dare to divulge. He had received strict orders long ago regarding these matters, and as a golem he would never violate the orders he was given.
Ning couldn't help but begin to worry even more. Judging from the golem's behavior, the golem seemed to feel supremely confident in the outcome of this fight. Why? What gave it such confidence?
Were the five of them really going to die here?
Ning wasn't that afraid, as he had a clone in the outside world which would allow him to rebuild his body. Although he would've lost six Eternal weapons, four powerful golems, and the seven streaks of Dao water and Dao lightning in his body… he would still be alive. The price he paid for dying here would be a heavy one, but so long as he remained alive there would always be more possibilities in the future.
But Ning had no idea as to whether or not Greatjoy, Solewind, Skyfire Brightshore, and Firesurge had clones in the outside world. There were some secrets which you simply didn't ask or tell others.
Within the pavilion.
Although the five of them knew that the situation was dangerous, they had no way out. They had to face it.
"Break!" The five of them joined forces once more to slam open the stone doors on the other side of the pavilion.
Rumble… the stone doors began to slowly swing open.
"This…" Ning and the others all took deep breaths. The aura of hatred and resentment here had to be a thousand times greater than the aura had been in the air above the great prison. The hatred was so intense, it had liquefied into a deep green pool that was swirling in a vortex of more than a hundred 'streams' of hatred that circled an absolutely beautiful, enormous flower.
This flower had many black leaves. Ning counted exactly a thousand of those black leaves, and they were layered atop each other in a strange, evil, yet beautiful way.
Atop the leaves there were the soul-stirringly beautiful petals. The flower petals were multicolored and emanated an aura of intoxicating fragrance. They were truly dazzling in their beauty, and they emanated faint streams of rainbow light.
"Was all that hatred meant to nourish this flower?" Ning and the others felt their hearts tremble when they saw this sight.
The deep green streams of hatred all centered around this pool, condensing into an actual liquid form which then split off in a hundred streams which were used to nourish the flower in an extremely detail-oriented manner.
"A Prismatic Kiloleaf Flower?" Heartlord Solewind murmured these words softly.
"Aren't those flowers supposed to be impossible to cultivate? I thought they could only grow naturally in certain environments." Prince Greatjoy was shocked as well. Ning and the others all had heard of the awe-inspiringly famous 'Prismatic Kiloleaf Flowers', which were known throughout the Endless Territories. It was one of several precious ingredients that were needed to refine some truly powerful magic treasures, and it was incredibly precious. A single flower would be worth roughly a million cubes of chaos nectar.
However, based on what Ning and the others knew, these flowers could only grow in natural environments. But now, it seemed as though there was a major power who was capable of actually growing them.
"Yes. This is a Prismatic Kiloleaf Flower." A voice suddenly rang out.
Ning and the others simultaneously turned their heads to look. They saw a streak of dark light slowly manifest in the skies, revealing an ethereal figure which slowly began to materialize into a black-robed Daolord.
The black-robed Daolord landed, staring at the Prismatic Kiloleaf Flower with a distant look in his eyes. He then turned to sweep the five of them with his gaze. "The five of you are able to match Daolords of the Second Step, despite merely being at the World level. I imagine you all have incredible backgrounds! Not even my master himself would be willing to offend the major power who undoubtedly stands behind you."
Ning and the others all felt their hearts turned cold. The more casually this Daolord spoke, the more nervous they became. Only someone who possessed an absolutely overwhelming advantage in power would act so casually.
"If that's the case, then why don't you let us leave, senior? We can immediately swear oaths to never divulge any information regarding the Sacred Immortal realm to anyone," Solewind said.
"Haven't you noticed? Ever since you entered the Sacred Immortal Realm, all your connections to the outside world have been completely cut off." The black-robed Daolord looked curiously at them. "The reason we set up the formation which separated this realm from the rest of the universe was to prevent anyone from leaking information about it. And now that you've seen the Prismatic Kiloleaf Flower… don't you know who you've just offended?"
Ning and the others blinked. They really had no idea, because they weren't from this universe.
"Given how monstrously talented you are, the sect behind you has to be an incredibly powerful one. I imagine that your sect would've told you about the most powerful members of the Church of Annihilation." The black-robed Daolord was puzzled. "The only person in the entire universe who can grow these Prismatic Kiloleaf Flowers is my master, Emperor Trisilk? Don't you know anything?"
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Book 28, Archaeus Region, Chapter 14 – Two Options to Choose
Ji Ning and the others exchanged glances, their hearts quivering.
Emperor Trisilk?
They had naturally never heard of this 'Emperor Trisilk' before, but even a fool could understand that he had to be an Eternal Emperor! And supposedly, he was the master of this black-robed Daolord and was the only person in this entire alternate universe who could plant Prismatic Kiloleaf Flowers. Clearly, he was not just an Eternal Emperor, he was an incredible one.
The five of us just wanted to journey through the Archaeus region. How the hell did we manage to run afoul of an Eternal Emperor?
When the black-robed Daolord saw how the faces of Ning and the others all turned pale, he couldn't help but laugh. "It seems you now understand."
"So what if he is an Eternal Emperor? My master slays Eternal Emperors as easily as turning over his hand," Prince Greatjoy said coldly. "You had best let us go. Otherwise… given my master's abilities, he'll definitely be able to find out who killed us, even if it ends up being a bit troublesome for him! It won't just be you who will be doomed; Emperor Trisilk himself won't be able to withstand Master's wrath!"
"No need to threaten me." The black-robed Daolord smiled. "The five of you are at the World level, but talented enough to match Daolords of the Second Step. Not even my master himself has five such talented disciples under his tutelage. I find it highly likely that one of the sixteen Starkings of the Church of Annihilation stands behind the five of you. Am I right?"
Ning and the others were stunned.
They knew a bit about the Church of Annihilation. The most exalted member of the Church of Annihilation was, without a doubt, its legendary leader! Their leader was the person who unified this entire alternate universe, and he was unspeakably powerful to the point of being virtually omnipotent. Most likely, not even the almighty Hegemon would be a match for him.
Second to the leader were the sixteen Starkings.
Below the Starkings were the mighty Paladins.
The 'Nine Godstars sect' which Ning's group had originally encountered upon entering this alternate universe only had a single Paladin in their organization! Generally speaking, ordinary Verge-level Daolords were not qualified to be given the rank of 'Paladin'. Only breathtakingly powerful Daolords, along with Eternal Emperors, were qualified to be called 'Paladins'!
"As I said a while ago, not even my master would wish to offend the person who stands behind the five of you. Alas… it was your own fault for barging into the Sacred Immortal Realm. It no longer matters how powerful the person who stands behind you is." The black-robed Daolord laughed. "In order to prevent your school and master from tracking you down… as soon as you entered my estate, I sent my subordinates to destroy the spacetime transfer arrays linking the 'Mortal Realm' with this 'Sacred Immortal Realm'."
"Ah?!" Ning and the others were stunned.
"From this day forth, that 'Mortal Realm' will no longer be connected to this world of ours." The black-robed Daolord sighed. "Because of the five of you, I had to sacrifice a large continent. Alas, I had to ensure that there would be no way for your school to trace you to this place and attack me here. I decided to remove all traces of your passing right away."
If the spacetime transfer array between the Mortal Realm and the Sacred Immortal Realm was destroyed, then even if a major power managed to track Ning's group to the Mortal Realm, there would be no way for him to find out where the Sacred Immortal Realm was located.
"In the outside world, the only person who even knows this 'Sacred Immortal Realm' exists is my master." The black-robed Daolord smiled coldly. "As for myself, I've been permanently assigned to this place. Without Master's permission, even I shall never be permitted to leave. As for the formation which surrounds this realm, my master was the one who personally set it up. It ensures that this realm is completely separated from the rest of the world. Even if you have other clones outside, there will be no way you can sense where this realm is."
"Thus… no one knows that you are here, and no one will be able to find you. As for fighting back? Hmph. My master personally set up this formation, and I'm the only person who can fully unleash its power. Not even a Verge-level Daolord who stumbles into this place would be a match for me." The black-robed Daolord swept the five with his gaze. "However… I have decided to give you a way to survive."
"A way to survive?" Ning and the others stared at the black-robed Daolord. They had guessed long ago that the Daolord had ulterior motives, which was why he had spoken to them for so long. If he truly wanted to kill them, he would've done so long ago. Why would he first let them view the Prismatic Kiloleaf Flower and ensure they felt despair at knowing they had transgressed against Emperor Trisilk?
If they truly were geniuses who belonged to this universe, they probably would've felt despair upon hearing Emperor Trisilk's name.
Emperor Trisilk was a true demon who had committed towering sins, and it was his idea to use enormous amounts of hatred to nourish Prismatic Kiloleaf Flowers. Just imagine how skilled he was in sin and how steeped he was in hate, for him to be able to manipulate it so effectively? As a man who had committed many sins, he had offended many major powers over the course of his life… and yet, he was still alive. Although he was merely a Paladin of the Church of Annihilation, he truly was skilled in staying alive.
Most importantly of all… Emperor Trisilk's true specialty lay in torture. He could torture even Daolords to the brink of insanity, causing them to choose to commit suicide or to submit to him. All of his disciples were skilled in torture as well.
"Yes, a way to survive. If you are willing to swear lifeblood oaths to serve me forever and to obey my orders as my slaves, I'll spare you." The black-robed Daolord stared at Ning's group, his eyes gleaming. The five of them were all monstrously talented cultivators who could become Daolords whenever they chose. Once they became Daolords, their future potential would be limitless. It was entirely possible that all five of them would become more powerful than the black-robed Daolord himself. And, if he had them work for him as miners after they became Daolords, they would definitely be far more effective than the shieldbearer golem.
His master had given him strict orders, true… but that was to prevent any secrets from being released. If these five swore lifeblood oaths to become his slaves, then there was naturally no chance of anything going astray. Even better, with these extra subordinates helping him mine this place he would be able to finish his task much faster and thus no longer need to remain here.
"Become slaves?" The faces of all five tightened.
"Impossible," Solewind roared angrily.
"Nothing is impossible." The black-robed Daolord laughed. "In the face of death… everything becomes possible."
"Change your conditions," Solewind growled. "We would die before becoming your slaves. We can carry out tasks for you and swear to divulge no information about this place to the outside world, but there's absolutely no way we will become your slaves."
The smile disappeared from the black-robed Daolord's face, only to be replaced by an icy coldness. "You only have one choice – become slaves and live, or die!"
"Let us think it over." Solewind gritted his teeth.
The black-robed Daolord stared coldly at the five of them. "Make it fast." As he spoke, a savage-looking serpent began to appear in the air around him. The giant serpent coiled around the black-robed Daolord as it stared coldly at Ning's group with its emotionless reptilian eyes. Ning and the others couldn't help but shiver when they saw this. They knew that it could probably wipe them out in a single blow.
"What should we do?" Solewind, Ning, Greatjoy, Skyfire, and Firesurge traded glances.
"The power of this formation truly is incredible. He was telling the truth. Here in the Sacred Immortal Realm, not even Verge-level Daolords would be able to defeat him." Prince Greatjoy sent mentally, "What should we do? I have a few trump cards, but they would at most be able to deal with Daolords of the Third Step. They wouldn't even be enough to deal with that shieldbearer golem we just fought, much less this Daolord."
"Right." Firesurge had an ugly look on his face as well. As for Skyfire, he didn't say a word. He really didn't have any trump cards at all.
The black-robed Daolord sat there leisurely next to the Prismatic Kiloleaf Flower, the enormous black serpent continuing to coil around him. He said softly, "Tell me your choice. Do you choose life… or death?"
"LIFE!" A voice suddenly rang out.
The black-robed Daolord cracked a smile as he looked at the speaker.
As for Ning, him and three others also stared at the speaker in astonishment.
It was Heartlord Solewind.
Heartlord Solewind had just crushed an odd-looking jade pendant in his hands, causing an arcane surge of terrifying power to descend.
Whooosh.
It was formless. Colorless. Shapeless.
Ning and the others couldn't see it or sense it at all; all they could sense was that something utterly terrifying had just appeared as a wave of something washed over them. The black-robed Daolord's smile turned stiff, and a look of utter terror appeared in his eyes. He opened his mouth as though he was about to say something… but then, all traces of life fled from his body.
The only thing left was his seated corpse, and it no longer had any trace of life in it at all. As for the terrifying serpent that hd been created by the power of the formation? It completely dissipated into nothingness.
"He died?" Ning and the other three were boggled as they stared at Heartlord Solewind.
"Ugh. Just like that, I was forced to use up the life-saving Dao-seal the Heartforce Palace bestowed up on me." Heartlord Solewind sighed softly. "Dao-seals like that aren't available for sale anywhere. The power of each seal is incredibly great, equivalent to the Palace Lord himself striking with 30% of his maximum power. It could easily kill even a Verge-level Daolord."
Ning and the others were speechless.
Good heavens. A Dao-seal comparable to a 30% maximum power strike from the Palace Lord of the Palace of the Heart? The Heartforce Palace truly had very few Daolords, but it was one of the most terrifying palaces of the Twelve Palaces precisely because each of them truly were incredibly powerful. As for the Palace Lord, if he was to personally intervene even Eternal Emperors would turn pale with fright and scamper off.
A strike which contained 30% of his full power… such a blow would threaten even Eternal Emperors to a certain extent, much less ordinary Daolords.
"That Dao-seal is… a bit ridiculous." Prince Greatjoy was stunned.
"Are you sure you are the Imperial, not him?" Firesurge glanced at Skykfire Brightshore.
"That's just…" Skyfire Brightshore mumbled…
"Our Heartforce Palace is different from your palaces. We have very vew members, and so we truly treat every member as we would family. I naturally was given a few protective measures for this adventure." Heartlord Solewind smiled. "A pity. I only was given two Dao-seals of this level of power."
"You have another one?!" All four of the others were starting to grow jealous. It seemed as though the old saying, 'less is more', really was true. The Heartforce Palace had very few members, which was why it was incredibly kind to those few members it had.
Prince Greatjoy glanced sideways at the seated, lifeless corpse of the black-robed Daolord. The black-robed Daolord had a look of utter terror on his face, and his mouth was open. Clearly, death had descended upon him with incredible speed. He had died while still gripped by astonishment.
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Book 28, Archaeus Region, Chapter 15 – The Secret of the Sacred Immortal Realm
Heartlord Solewind stared at the black-robed Daolord's corpse, then said, "This Daolord was quite extraordinary. He was most likely the second and final Daolord here in the Sacred Immortal Realm. Now that he's dead, we'll probably be able to leave this place soon! It is possible that his master, Emperor Trisilk, might have some unique methods which would alert him of his disiciple's death. He might be heading towards this place right now. Once he arrives, we'll truly be doomed. We need to get out of here as soon as possible."
Ning and the others all nodded.
The Palace of the Heart might've given Solewind a powerful protective Dao-seal, but it wouldn't be enough to kill an Eternal Emperor; at most, it would just tie him down for a period of time. Even if the Palace Lord was personally present, it would be quite difficult for him to actually slay an Eternal Emperor.
"I'll collect the corpse for now. After we escape from the Sacred Immortal Realm, we can bind his storage treasures and split those things up," Solewind said.
"No!" Prince Greatjoy immediately argued, "Solewind, you used a life-saving Dao-seal to kill him. All the treasures will naturally belong to you. You used up a Dao-seal that represented 30% of a maximum-power strike from the Palace Lord of the Heartforce Palace! I imagine we could sell off all of this Daolord's items, and it still wouldn't be worth as much as that Dao-seal was. Even if you took everything, you are still coming out behind."
Solewind was speechless.
"Right, Solewind." Skyfire Brightshore said the same thing. "We're certainly not going to take advantage of you like this. We can split up the treasures we earned from killing that weak Daolord of the First Step, but that golem and this black-robed Daolord's treasures shall belong to Darknorth and yourself, respectively. You used up an extremely powerful Dao-seal, while brother Darknorth had to use up that favor from his helper."
"These two affairs aren't comparable. Brother Darknorth captured that golem, but there's no way we could possibly split it up. The Daolord's treasures, however, are useful for everyone," Solewind argued.
"Unnecessary."
"Stop quibbling."
"We're not taking it, and there's nothing you can do to convince us otherwise."
Ning and the others all laughed as they rejected Solewind's suggestions. They had known each other for thousands of years by now, and all of them were quite friendly with each other. Of the find, Solewind was the most logical and the most trustworthy.
Solewind shook his head, then said with resignation, "Fine, then. I'll be shameless and accept it all. Oh, right. This Prismatic Kiloleaf Flower is pretty much at full maturity as well. Let's harvest it. I'll take all of the black-robed Daolord's treasures, but we can split up the value of the flower later."
"Agreed."
"Harvest it first."
Waterlord Firesurge waved his hand. Instantly, a stream of water surged out and formed a giant hand that gently cupped the distant, beautiful flower, then plucked it all at once.
"Come, let us keep on exploring," Prince Greatjoy said. "We still have yet to find the core of this formation."
"We have to breach the formation. Only then will we be able to leave this Sacred Immortal Realm."
Ning and the other five quickly began to advance once more. There would be plenty of time for them to split up the treasures later. Right now, every extra second they spent in this Sacred Immortal Realm was another second of danger for them! Who knew when Emperor Trisilk would come back? Although logically speaking the Sacred Immortal Realm had that enormous formation which completely separated it from the outside world, which meant Emperor Trisilk shouldn't be aware of the black-robed Daolord's death, in the end it was the Eternal Emperor himself who had set up this formation. He might've put in certain mechanisms that would let him know about what was happening in the Sacred Immortal Realm.
He was an Eternal Emperor. Even if he was very far away, it probably wouldn't take him that long to hasten to the Sacred Immortal Realm. If the five of them were caught here, they really would be finished.
"Hurry up."
"Let's move."
There were no further barriers in front of them. The planting grounds for the flower had essentially been the most important place in the entire estate, after all. They pushed open the enormous stone door in front of them, only to see a circular hallway behind it. The hallway was filled with complicated formations made from divine runes, and Immortal energy flowed through the runes with incredible power. More than ten thousand strange types of stones were present as well.
Some of the stones were jewel-like, some were white and slick, some were dark and gloomy, while some emanated auras of incredible cold. All sorts of different, strange stones were scattered throughout this place.
"We're rich!" Prince Greatjoy's eyes bulged out.
"So many treasures?!" Solewind swept the room with his gaze.
"All combined, these stones have to be worth at least ten million cubes!" Ning was shocked by the implications of this.
Good heavens. Ten million cubes? This was an absolutely enormous sum of money, even for a Verge-level Daolord… but these stones were merely being used to power this formation.
"We'll split up these treasures into five portions. Each of us will get a portion," Solewind said.
"Ahaha, alright! We'll be shameless enough to accept that suggestion."
"Right, right."
Greatjoy and Ji Ning didn't decline either.
In truth, all of them felt rather puzzled and suspicious. From what the black-robed Daolord had said, this formation was personally set up by that Eternal Emperor, who had ordered the black-robed Daolord to protect this place! What secrets did this place hold, for the Eternal Emperor to order such a powerful Daolord to stay here permanently? Why did he pay such an enormous price and personally set up such a complicated formation here?
"No one is in command of the formation, and the formation's core is the weakest part of any formation. It'll be easy to break it apart. Don't move, everyone. Let me deal with it," Solewind said.
Although no one was in command of the formation, it still took someone at the Daolord level of power to break it.
Solewind carefully picked up one precious stone after another. After carefully picking up a total of twelve stones, the power of the formation began to fade. Solewind grinned. "Next… you can do whatever you like. This formation is no longer able to fight back against us."
"Right."
"Let's do this."
Ning and the others all worked in concert, each of them collecting roughly a fifth of the total number of treasures present. With the treasures all collected, the formation naturally broke apart.
"The formation is done for. We can leave now." Prince Greatjoy revealed a look of delight. "However… we still haven't discovered what secrets this place is holding, for an Eternal Emperor to set both formations and guards over this place."
"There are no other passageways from this estate," Solewind said. "The mysteries don't matter. Let's leave first."
"Agreed."
There really were no other passageways for them to take. They had gone as deep as they could into the estate, and they had already discovered the core of formation at the bottommost layer of the estate.
Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!
Ning and the others moved incredibly fast. In just a single breath's worth of time, they flew out of the estate. There were no longer any barriers here to slow them down.
"Eh?" Ning and the others raised their heads to stare at the skies. Their faces all turned pale. "Not good." All of them felt shocked.
The formation-barrier covering the entire Sacred Immortal Realm had already broken down, revealing the world beyond. Outside the Sacred Immortal Realm was an endless sea of blazing, roiling energy. There were also enormous blazing stones that was flying through the skies. In short, it was an absolutely apocalyptic hell of fire.
The barrier had completely blocked off the outside world, but it had also protected the Sacred Immortal Realm. Now that the formation had been cancelled out, the borders of the Sacred Immortal Realm actually began to collapse as the blazing flames of the inferno surrounding it descended.
"The Sacred Immortal Realm is about to break apart."
"Let us give those mortals a hand."
Ning and the others could immediately tell that there was no way they could save the Sacred Immortal Realm. They immediately began to teleport to the places where the cultivators were gathered.
Just a short while ago, the cultivators had been released from their nightmare and regained their freedom. They were planning out how to establish a home for themselves when all of a sudden, something terrifying had appeared in the skies. Endless, flowing streams of blazing energy began to sweep downwards towards them. All of them knew that they were going to die.
They could only watch as the fires of hell began to descend towards them. There was no way they could fight back at all.
"Get in here." Ning appeared out of nowhere, then waved his hand and caused more than ten million cultivators to be drawn into his estate-treasure.
"Come here." Heartlord Solewind appeared in another part of the world, rescuing the utterly terrified and despairing cultivators.
In just two breath's worth of time, all of the cultivators in the entire continent had been rescued by Ning's group of five.
Rumble…
The blazing streams of fire and the flaming boulders came crashing downwards. Each time they struck against the Sacred Immortal Realm, the entire continent would tremble and shake. The entire continent began to break and crumble apart into multiple pieces. It was completely disintegrating.
Ning and the others were all extraordinarily powerful. The power of the apocalyptic flames was enough to ruin this realm, but it wasn't enough to harm them.
They just stood there in the air, surrounded by the Yin-Yang Sword Domain which stretched off ten thousand kilometers. The blazing streams of energy and the flaming bouldesr were immediately destroyed once they moved close to the group.
"The continent is finished." After rescuing the mortal cultivators, Ning and the others just watched and sighed.
"Quick, over there!" Prince Greatjoy's face changed as he pointed towards part of the Daolord's estate. Now that the entire continent had broken apart, they were able to see something which had been hidden at the very bottom of the continent. There, they could see an enormous levitating mountain that was formed out of fiery rocks. The peak of the mountain was roughly a million kilometers in size, and there were strange spatial ripples covering it.
"An entire mountain of darkspace flamestone?" Ning and the others were completely stunned.
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Book 28, Archaeus Region, Chapter 16 – Emperor Trisilk
Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!
Ji Ning and the rest of the five all immediately teleported closer towards that fiery-red mountain.
The entire place was filled with blazing streams of energy, but they weren't nearly as dangerous to Ning and the others as the spatial tempests around the Mortal Realm had been. Despite the harsh environment, Ning and the others were actually able to engage in spatial teleportation here.
"Am I seeing this? Is this actually an entire mountain of darkspace flamestone?" Prince Greatjoy raised his head to stare at the towering mountain, unable to maintain his usual calm. A stunned look was on his face. "Am I asleep? Am I dreaming…?"
"An entire freaking mountain? Completely comprised of darkspace flamestone?" Solewind was dazed as well.
"By my calculations… every ten thousand kilograms of that mountain can be refined into one kilogram of pure darkspace flamestone." Ning mumbled to himself, "The entire mountain stretches out to cover more than a million kilometers. How much darkspace flamestone is that? How much is it worth? I can't… I can't even calculate…"
"Insane. Absolutely insane!" Firesurge and Skyfire were both stunned as well.
This was an incalculably valuable treasury, one which Eternal Emperors go berserk over!
Darkspace flamestone was an extremely valuable type of mineral which could be used in many different ways. It could be used to forge golems and magic treasures, and there were even certain secret arts and divine abilities that made use of it. Generally speaking, it could be discovered in certain unique environments, but it was generally discovered in meter-sized amounts or even less.
An entire mountain that was over a million kilometers in size? This was a veritable quarry of darkspace flamestone! In fact, Ning and the others suspected this of being the largest deposit of darkspace flamestone in this entire alternate universe!
But of course, the primordial chaos often gave birth to many types of unique treasures. In the Endless Territories, the Brightshore Kingdom had taken sole ownership over Hydragon Mountain. Although the quality of ore was inferior to the darkspace flamestone here, the total amount of ore it possessed was a million times greater, making Hydragon Mountain far more valuable than this one.
Still… no matter what, this was an enormous mountain with more than a million kilometers of darkspace flamestone. Most likely, only Hegemon-level figures would be qualified to own such a place without fearing that others would seek to seize it. Generally speaking, Eternal Emperors who discovered such a fortune would mine in secret. They simply weren't strong enough to openly claim sole ownership over such a fortune.
"No wonder. No wonder Emperor Trisilk sent his disciple to stand guard over this place," Solewind mumbled. "No wonder he was willing to attack us, even though he knew that we all had extraordinary backgrounds. They really can't risk letting the secret of this mountain get out."
Bang! Bang! Bang! A deep sound rang out. Skyfire Brightshore had picked up an axe-shaped treasure and was using it to hack away at the mountain in front of him. Alas, he was only able to leave a few white marks behind on the fiery ore.
"Can't hack it apart." Skyfire blinked a few times as he muttered softly to himself.
"Wake up, guys! Wake up!" When Ning heard Skyfire mumble those words, he shivered then began to call out to them.
The other four stared at Ning.
"Stop daydreaming. This is an entire mountain of darkspace flamestone. We can't even cut into it, much less mine it." Ning shook his head. "I'd imagine only Daolords of the Third Step would be strong enough to just barely excavate some of the ore, and only at a very slow speed at that. This entire mountain is a million kilometers in size, and there's no way for us to teleport it away. There's nothing we can do at all."
They all understood. There was literally nothing they could do.
Forget about them; not even Eternal Emperors or the almighty Hegemon would be able to do anything to such a vast mountain of precious minerals! Thus, Emperor Trisilk had elected to send a powerful Daolord and golems here to slowly mine away at the ore.
Every single piece of ore was a priceless treasure. A mountain of ore which was a million kilometers in size naturally was filled with certain arcane powers. In fact, it was being reinforced by some of the prime essences of this entire alternate universe. If you wished to move it by just a few kilometers… most likely, there were incredibly few figures in this entire alternate universe who would be capable of such a thing. To store it away into an estate-world? Completely impossible.
Think about Hydragon Mountain. The almighty Hegemon was incredibly skilled in the Dao of Spacetime, but even he was forced to resort to sending subordinates to slowly mine away at the ore.
"What should we do?" Skyfire Brightshore stared at Ning and the other three.
"We can only look, not touch." Ning shook his head.
"There really is nothing we can do." Solewind shook his head as well.
"All we can do is stare. And drool." Firesurge licked his lips.
"At least we had the chance to see such a mountain of ore," Prince Greatjoy said.
The five of them just stared at that mountain, their gazes blazing with lust. They were like five ordinary mortals who encountered an enormous mountain that was completely made out of gold. Although there was no way to move it, just staring at it was still a stunning experience.
"Let's go," Greatjoy said. "If we waste too much time and end up being caught by Emperor Trisilk, we'll be in trouble."
"Let's go."
"In the end, this isn't something which we are qualified to own."
Ning and the others were all men of talent. Although they were temporarily stunned by this sight for a time, they quickly came to the decision to leave.
Whoosh. Prince Greatjoy took control over their flying vessel, and they left this place at high speed.
If you wanted to take possession over such an inconceivably valuable place, you had to have the corresponding level of power! If you weren't strong enough, then you would have to do what Emperor Trisilk did; secretly mine away without anyone knowing about it.
The almighty Hegemon was a good example. The first to discover Hydragon Mountain wasn't actually him, it was a group of adventuring World-level cultivators. In the end, there had been a grand battle, resulting in the almighty Hegemon taking sole ownership over Hydragon Mountain.
The Church of Annihilation, in turn, had taken completely control over this entire alternate universe, becoming its paramount power.
In the end, power was what mattered the most!
Ning and the others advanced at maximum speed, relying on Prince Greatjoy's mastery over spacetime to flee as fast as they could.
However… this time, their guess was wrong. Right now, Emperor Trisilk was in no mood to search for them.
Deep within another part of the Archaeus region.
Rumble…
Space was in chaos here, and spacetime itself trembled.
This was an extremely inhospitable environment. Not even major powers would come here, but a translucent, virtually invisible drop of water was floating through this region of chaotic spacetime.
Within that drop of water, there was an estate.
"Shit, shit." A sinister-looking youth with nine malignant tumors on the top of his head was seated in the lotus position, grinding his teeth. "That old bastard Fubo really is like a ghost that just won't go away. It's been nearly nineteen chaos cycles, but he's still chasing after me. Is he never going to get tired of this? Shit, shit, shit! I really regret pissing him off. Who would've imagined that the silent old fellow would be this powerful? If I knew, I would never have pissed him off. If it wasn't for the fact that I, Trisilk, am skilled at staying alive, I would've died by his hands long ago."
He truly felt regret.
Emperor Trisilk was consumed with regret. He was a lawless figure who had committed countless sins. He was willing to do anything if it meant growing more powerful!
Emperor Fubo was an extremely low-key Eternal Emperor. He was known as a very good man who spent all his time training his disciples within his own territory. He was often taken advantage of by others in the Church of Annihilation, but he didn't really care too much. Emperor Trisilk had thought Emperor Fubo to be a complete pushover, and so when he heard that Emperor Fubo had bestowed an incredibly valuable treasure known as the Violetbolt of Icy Flames to his second disciple, Trisilk had decided to take it. He had slain Emperor Fubo's beloved second disciple, then stolen the Violetbolt of Icy Flames.
This was a treasure that was used to meditate on the Dao. When you kept it by your side, your heart and mind would become extremely calm, making it much easier and faster for you to comprehend the Dao.
One of the reasons why Emperor Fubo had been able to succeed in his Daomerge was because of this treasure! His second disciple was a Verge-level Daolord as well, and so he had chosen to give his disciple this treasure. Who would've thought that it would end up in that disciple being killed?
He had been enraged. For the first time in many years, Emperor Fubo had been truly enraged!
His second disciple was the disciple he loved the most. His eldest disciple had long ago perished while adventuring, which meant his second disciple had been by his side the longest. He treated this second disciple as he would a son. Emperor Fubo spared no expense to investigate the matter, in the end discovering that it had been Emperor Trisilk who had been the culprit! Emperor Trisilk had been too arrogant, feeling that Emperor Fubo would not pose any threat to him. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been discovered to be the culprit with such ease.
Once Emperor Fubo discovered who the murderer was, he left his home and began to chase after Emperor Trisilk.
This chase…
Stunned this entire alternate universe! Only now did they understand how terrifyingly strong Emperor Fubo was. He was close to being on par with the sixteen Starkings! If he was just a tiny bit stronger, he probably would've been bestowed with the formal title of 'Starking' by the Church of Annihilation.
With such a powerful figure pursuing him, Emperor Trisilk was forced to use up two of his most valuable life-saving treasures. He had even tossed the Violetbolt of Icy Flames over to Emperor Fubo and asked other major powers to intercede on his behalf, but it was all to no avail. The kindly, good-natured Emperor Fubo had been truly enraged. He had chased after Emperor Trisilk for nineteen entire chaos cycles, and he still continued the chase without relenting in the slightest.
"Ten chaos cycles, a hundred chaos cycles, or a thousand chaos cycles… so long as I, Fubo, am still alive, I swear I shall one day slay Trisilk." These were the words which Emperor Fubo had said long ago.
All Emperor Trisilk could do was hide as best he could.
The universe was a vast place. If an Eternal Emperor wished to hide, it would be very difficult for anyone to find him. However… by the same principle, for a major power like Emperor Fubo to unrelentingly search for and chase after you was an utter nightmare.
"What horrible luck. Even my mountain of darkspace flamestone was discovered?" Emperor Trisilk muttered angrily to himself. He could sense his disciple's death, but he didn't dare to go and investigate what had happened. "My disciple had the power of a peak Daolord of the Third Step. With my formation supporting him, not even Verge-level Daolords would be a match for him. I wonder who killed him? Maybe that old bastard Fubo knows about it as well."
Ning and the others, however, didn't know any of this. Terrified of being discovered, they quickly moved towards the core parts of the Archaeus region.
"Do you think Emperor Trisilk will be able to invert the flows of spacetime to find our tracks?"
"Don't worry. The Archaeus region is huge! It won't be that easy for him to find us." Ning and the others didn't dare to relax in the slightest… but they had no idea that Emperor Trisilk was in no position to worry about anything besides keeping himself alive.
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Book 28, Archaeus Region, Chapter 17 – A Group of Eight
After leaving the Sacred Immortal Realm, Ji Ning and the others spent three hundred years in flight. Only after they felt that had fled a sufficiently long distance did they begin to divide up their loot.
A flying vessel was lazily drifting through the void of the Archaeus region. Ning and the rest of the five were seated within the vessel, counting their earnings.
"That weak Daolord actually had quite a few treasures, including two Prismatic Kiloleaf Flowers. If we add those two to the one which we harvested, that means we have three! He also had an Archaeus medallion as well as these other treasures…" Heartlord Solewind had placed the many treasures he had found across the deck of the vessel.
"That's quite a lot."
"Ahaha! That weak Daolord certainly had quite a lot of treasures." Ning and the others were all pleasantly surprised by this. What they didn't realize was that the stooped, green-robed Daolord had been assigned all of the more taxing tasks, such as tormenting the cultivators and taking care of the flowers. The actual planting and nurturing of a Prismatic Kiloleaf Flower was an extremely exhausting job, and each time a flower grew to maturity he would head over and harvest it. Although the harvested flowers were temporarily left with him, once their group left the Sacred Immortal Realm he would've had to hand it over to the black-robed Daolord.
"How should we split these things up?" Skyfire Brightshore asked hurriedly.
"You are an honorable prince of the Brightshore Imperials. Why are you trying to haggle over treasures with commoners like us?" Firesurge teased him.
"How about this? Let's consider the three flowers as three 'portions' of treasures, an Archaeus medallion as one portion, and all of those other treasures as a fifth portion. Each of us will get one portion, and we can choose as we please," Heartlord Solewind said.
Ning and the others all nodded.
The stooped Daolord truly did have quite ac ollection of treasures, including a bit of darkspace flamestone. Although he didn't have that much of the flamestone, the amount he did have was still worth close to a million cubes of chaos nectar.
"I want the Archaeus medallion," Prince Greatjoy said.
"I want…" Ning spoke out at the same time, then paused, slightly stunned. He wanted the Archaeus medallion as well! Su Youji had been a master-class Chaos Immortal when she first acquired the legacy of Feixian the Exalted. Feixian the Exalted had been an extremely powerful Daolord, and his legacy was very well-suited for Su Youji. As a result, she now had the power of a supreme Chaos Immortal. This opportunity in the Archaeus region wasn't to be missed!
If she was given an Archaeus medallion, she would be able to journey alongside the five. She might grow a bit more stronger, in which case she could very well be able to break through to become a Samsara Daolord herself! A Samsara Daolord who knew the secrets arts of Feixian the Exalted would be a terrifyingly strong assistant, and Su Youji herself was actually an extremely talented individual as well.
She had relied on techniques she herself had come up with to reach the apex of the Ancestral Immortal level. She had needed only one further step to reach the World level, and after she joined Ning she had indeed broken through to that level during their adventures within the Allgod Estate! She had been improving at an incredibly fast rate. Although she was inferior to Ning, she was still quite dazzling. Ning naturally was willing to spend time and effort on helping build her up.
"Brother Darknorth, you want it as well?" Prince Greatjoy was startled.
"The two of you really are generous. We're valuing these medallions at around a million cubes each." Firesurge chuckled as he picked up a Prismatic Kiloleaf Flower. "I'll simply choose this pretty little flower."
"I have no retainers. I'll choose one of the flowers as well." Skyfire Brightshore also choose to acquire one of the flowers.
"Darknorth, if you also want an Archaeus medallion, the answer is simple. Give me your portion of the spoils and I'll give you one of my medallions." Solewind smiled. "After the black-robed Daolord died, I found two of the medallions on his corpse."
The black-robed Daolord himself had a medallion, and he had kept another one of them stored inside his storage treasure.
"Alright." Ning nodded. "Thank you."
"No need for thanks. I'm not giving it to you, I'm selling it to you for a million cubes," Solewind said. "Although I have quite a few retainers, there is only one worth me spending time on."
Ning, Solewind, and Greatjoy each had a few retainers. Firesurge actually did as well, but he didn't feel any of them had that much potential and so he wasn't willing to spend much effort on them. As for Skyfire Brightshore… he had originally been a lone wanderer before he was abducted to the Birghtshore Kingdom. Even in the kingdom, he was a lonely and solitary figure who had no retainers at all.
After splitting up the loot, Ning's group once more continued on their journey.
Within Ning's estate-world. Su Youji and World God Pillsaint, along with the other World-level retainers, were sparring against each other.
Whoosh. A pair of dazzlingly beautiful wings of fire suddenly appeared behind Su Youji. Light shone from her eyes, causing the muscular World God facing her to grow rather dazed. An indecisive look of struggle appeared on his face, and quite some time passed before he was able to come back to his senses.
"The Flamefairy's mastery over the arts of charm is growing more and more formidable. I, Qiyang, am full of admiration for you." The muscular World God hurriedly spoke out in praise.
"You were dazed long enough for her to kill you a hundred times over."
"The Flamefairy really is incredible."
The World-level retainers were the ones who Ning had captured during his invasion of their branch of the Bluegrace Sect. They all knew that Flamefairy Su Youji had gained the legacy of Feixian the Exalted, and ever since then she had only become more and more mesmerizing. The charm which she naturally extruded was now so dazzling that weaker World-level cultivators would be uncontrollably smitten by her. Even the stronger cultivators would be dazed for a while then they saw her.
It must be understood that in a life-and-death battle, a single instant of befuddlement which came at a critical moment could result in immediate death.
None of the other supreme World-level cultivators under Ning were a match for Su Youji at all. This was how formidable a powerful legacy could be! But of course, it was also partially due to the fact that Su Youji's Dao was quite a good match for the Dao of Feixian the Exalted, making it easy for Su Youji to train in her skills.
Because of her alluring charm, all of these World-level cultivators couldn't help but flock around her. In fact, some of them secretly fantasized about one day becoming Dao-companions with her. Alas, Su Youji was not interested in them at all.
"Youji." A voice suddenly rang out.
"Master." A look of pleased surprise appeared on Su Youji's face as she turned to look, only to see a white-robed Ning appear off in the distance. This was a divine power incarnation of Ning's.
"Master." The other World-level retainers all called out respectfully as well, looks of dread appearing on some of their faces. They had seen Ning attack before, and they knew that he was only a completely different level compared to them.
"Follow me," Ning instructed.
"Yes." The Flamefairy immediately moved towards Ning, following right behind him. Soon, the two moved into a copse of trees.
"A great opportunity has come," Ning said, looking at Su Youji. "If you can grasp it… it could propel you to become a Samsara Daolord."
"A Samsara Daolord?" Su Youjij was stunned. Although she had been improving rapidly in the arts of charm, illusion, and control, she wasn't even close to becoming a Daolord just yet.
"This opportunity is something which people like us can only hope for, not count on." Ning waved his hand, causing a dark-red circular disc to within it. "This is an Archaeus medallion. Bind it and carry it with you. If you don't keep it with you, you won't be able to leave this estate-world. If you tried, you would be crushed to death by the power of the Archaeus region."
"An Archaeus medallion?" Although Su Youji was puzzled, she felt absolute faith in Ji Ning. She obediently bound the Archaeus medallion, then took it into her possession.
She had no idea what an enormous opportunity this was.
In this alternate universe or in their own universe, even the most talented of geniuses, the ones who could become Samsara Daolords whenever they chose, all dreamed of being able to acquire one of these medallions.
"Alright. Now follow me out," Ning instructed.
Ning's group of five had just become a group of eight! Ji Ning, Greatjoy, and Solewind had each arranged for one retainer to join their group. They were Su Youji the Flamefairy, World Goddess Skywolf, and Chaos Immortal Swallowback.
World Goddess Skywolf was the retainer of Prince Greatjoy. Although her Daoist title was 'Skywolf', she was actually an icy, grim woman of incredible beauty who was surrounded by a strong aura of death.
Chaos Immortal Swallowback was the retainer of Solewind and looked like a young child.
World Goddess Skywolf and Chaos Immortal Swallowback had both reached extremely high levels of insight into the Dao. Both of them could become Daolords whenever they chose, and both were formal members of the Twelve Palaces! Although they hadn't been acknowledged by their respective pagodas, they were still extraordinary figures.
Su Youji was the weakest of the eight, but just like Ning she had only been training for a very brief period of time. She was also the personal disciple of Feixian the Exalted and had tremendous potential.
After the three 'newcomers' joined the squad of five, they all swore oaths not to divulge any information regarding their own universe.
The estate-world within the Mirrorsnow Painting.
Ning's divine power incarnation descended upon this world, then turned to stare at the muscular golem.
The golem stared at Ning with its blazing eyes as it growled, "You killed Master?"
The black-robed Daolord was its master. As soon as the Daolord had died, the golem had regained its freedom. It naturally understand what this meant.
"Yes." Ning nodded. "Now… are you willing to submit?"
The towering golem gritted its teeth, then knelt down and said respectfully, "Moksha pays his respects to you, Master. Please don't wipe out my mind."
The reason why he previously hadn't been willing to submit was because he felt certain that his master, the black-robed Daolord, would be able to defeat Ji Ning and the others. Now, his original master had perished… and this white-robed youth before him was unquestionably an incredible genius who could easily become a Daolord in the future. By then, the youth could use his Daolord-level energy to bind him by force. In fact, if Ning was irritated enough he could wipe the golem's mind clean.
Anything which possessed intelligence and sentience, be it a golem or a magic treasure, would not wish for its mind to be wiped clean.
"Alright." Ning revealed a smile. Just like that, he had gained an obedient golem that was the equal of a Daolord of the Third Step.
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Book 28, Archaeus Region, Chapter 18 – The Genesis Lands
Moksha acted very obediently, actively assisting Ji Ning in binding him. Ning couldn't help but secretly sigh to himself. He certainly changed his attitude quite quickly.
When he had been first captured, he had been boastful and held Ning in no regard at all, feeling certain that Ning's group was going to die soon. Now that he realized that his former master had died, he had immediately knelt down and begged, 'Please do not kill me.'
"Master." After being bound, Moksha immediately smiled ingratiatingly at Ning. "There is something I must tell you."
"Speak," Ning said.
"I was instructed by Emperor Trisilk to assist my master in mining ore," Moksha said smugly. "Darkspace flamestone is extremely difficult to mine, but I am extremely strong. Over the course of thirty chaos cycles, I managed to mine quite a bit of ore. For convenience's sake, I stored it all within an estate-treasure which I carried with me as I mined."
Ning's eyes lit up. "Do you still have the darkspace flamestone?" He had been mining for thirty chaos cycles. How much had he mined?!
"I do." Moksha nodded. "However, a good deal of it was taken away by my previous master. I only have on me the ore which I mined in the last nine chaos cycles. Take a look, Master." As Moksha spoke, he waved his hand and caused fist-sized chunks of fiery-red rocks to appear on the ground. Strange spatial ripples began to fill the surrounding area as well.
He waved his hand three times in total, causing the fiery-red rocks to pile up into a small mountain that was three thousand meters tall. By this point in time, space had begun to completely twist and distort, causing shimmering 'curtains' of folded space to appear in the surrounding area. Because the chunks of stone were all fist-sized, it wasn't too hard to store them away in that estate-treasure. If this had been a single massive slab of darkspace flamestone, most likely only an Eternal Emperor would've been able to store it away.
"You mined that much?" Ning's eyes nearly popped out.
Although golems that were as strong as Daolords of the Third Step were valuable, the amount of ore this particular golem was carrying was even more valuable.
"So much darkspace flamestone…" Ning swept it with his godsense, carefully calculating how much was present. "This has to be worth nearly ten million cubes of chaos nectar!"
"My former master had roughly twice as much as this," Moksha said. "Early on, I wasn't that skilled in using axes and so was rather slow in my mining. It took about twenty chaos cycles before I got better, and all of the ore I mined during that period of time I gave to my previous master. This pile here consists of the ore I mined during the past nine chaos cycles."
"I'm more than satisfied with this." Ning grinned.
This ore had to be worth nearly ten million cubes of chaos nectar. As for the twenty million cubes which the black-robed Daolord had, that all belonged to Solewind. In order to save them, Solewind had used up a powerful Dao-seal that was so valuable, it would be almost impossible to find on the open market. Ning naturally didn't feel any jealousy or envy whatsoever. For him to suddenly earn so much darkspace flamestone was already a stroke of tremendous fortune.
"What do you know about Emperor Trisilk?" Ning asked. The five of them still felt worried about this matter.
"Emperor Trisilk has an odd temper and is incredibly savage," Moksha said. "You must be careful, Master. Based on what I know of the Emperor, he's the type to avenge every single slight, no matter how petty. Once he locates the five of you… I guarantee he won't let you off easily."
"Oh?" A solemn look appeared on Ning's face as he nodded.
But of course, the two of them had no idea that Emperor Trisilk was currently in a far more miserable situation than they were.
"What about the Genesis Lands? What do you know about that place?" Ning asked.
"The Genesis Lands is where this entire universe sprang from. All combat is forbidden there," Moksha said. "When I served the Emperor, I once spent a very long period of time in the Genesis Lands."
Ning asked, "Who issued the order forbidding all combat in that location?"
"The order came from the Church of Annihilation," Moksha said. "Daolords generally do not dare to violate the commands of the Church. But of course, if someone really does go crazy, they can still choose to break this law. I once saw it happen with my own eyes. A Daolord, for the seek of evading an enemy, chose to hide within the Genesis Lands. However, his enemy was so enraged that he ignored the rules and chased the Daolord into the Genesis Lands, then killed him there! But of course… later on, the killer was wiped out by the Church of Annihilation!"
Ning nodded.
"Still… the Paladins of the Church of Annihilation aren't afraid to violate this law. They are members of the Church itself, after all. Even when they break this law, they will at most suffer some non-lethal punishments," Moksha said. "I once heard Master say that if the sixteen Starkings were to violate this law, no punishment would be given. Not even the ruler of the Church of Annihilation would choose to offend and act against his Starkings without a very good reason."
"Oh." Ning chuckled. This golem knew quite a bit!
Actually, the almighty Hegemon had given them some information regarding this alternate universe before sending them into it, but the amount of information was pitifully small. All Ning knew was that the Archaeus region was filled with danger, but once they reached the Genesis Lands in the center they would be fairly safe. Although the Genesis Lands held its own dangers, all violence was supposedly prohibited there. Supposedly, there was no need to worry about any World-level cultivators or Daolords you encountered within the Genesis Lands.
Upon hearing the golem speak at length, Ning couldn't help but sigh.
A 'prohibition' against violence?
In the end, there was a limit to how far that prohibition would stretch. Suicidally fearless cultivators would violate that prohibition, as would the Paladins and Starkings of the Church of Annihilation, thanks to the extremely high positions they held within the Church.
"Still… Paladins will be punished if they violate this prohibition. They won't attack us without a good reason." Ning nodded slowly. "As for Starkings… I imagine we aren't even qualified to attract the attention of a Starking, much less offend one."
"Our entire universe only holds sixteen Starkings, and almost none of them are in the Archaeus region," Moksha said. "I heard Emperor Trisilk once say that even he himself has only met three Starkings in his lifetime."
Moksha had been Emperor Trisilk's golem for quite some time, and thus knew many of the Emperor's secrets. He had even been in the Genesis Lands, and thus he was able to give Ning a good deal of information regarding that place.
Time slowly flowed on, and Ning's group of eight continued their careful advance. The rest of their journey was fairly uneventful, and they did not encounter any more Daolords! In truth, the odds of encountering a Daolord in the Archaeus region were incredibly low to begin with.
By now, they had spent over 8922 years in the Archaeus region, and they had encountered many dangerous situations and locales. Still, in the end they were able to safely reach the Genesis Lands. All eight of them survived this journey.
"The Genesis Lands."
A flying vessel was soaring through the emptiness of space.
Ning and the rest of the eight were aboard the vessel, and their heads were raised as they stared at an utterly enormous floating world which was in front of them. This was the Genesis Lands! This was the wellspring of this entire alternate universe, from which all things originally arose.
"That aura of power…" Ning and the others were all quite shaken.
An invisible field of power covered the entire Archaeus region. Without an Archaeus medallion, even the likes of Eternal Emperors would be instantly crushed to death! The Archaeus region was almost as large as their homeland, the 'Endless Territories'. It was incredibly vast, and that field of power stretched out to cover every inch of the region.
And yet… the incredibly vast world in front of them was the source of that field of power. One could imagine how much might it contained! Not even someone as powerful as the almighty Hegemon could compare to the might of the Genesis Lands of the Archaeus region.
"Come. Let us enter the Genesis Lands," Ning said.
"Brother Darknorth, you told us earlier that the elementary trial we need to pass in order to enter the Genesis Lands is a trial of resolve, correct?" Greatjoy asked.
"That is what my golem told me. I think he was telling the truth," Ning said.
Not just anyone was permitted to enter the Genesis Lands.
For weaker cultivators, entering the Genesis Lands was an almost impossible task. Any creature which sought to enter the Genesis Lands would first have to pass a trial of resolve. If they were able to endure it, they would be able to freely enter and wander the Genesis Lands. If they failed, they would be knocked unconscious and be teleported away. They would not be qualified to enter this sacred place.
"The trial isn't that tough. Daolords and major schools often send their elite disciples to this place. Almost all of the more talented ones are able to gain entry." Ning could tell that Su Youji, Chaos Immortal Swallowback, and World Goddess Skywolf all looked rather nervous. The three of them were just retainers, after all. Compared to the original five, they were still quite a bit weaker. As a result, they possessed less confidence in their own abilities as well.
"Alright." The Flamefairy nodded.
Whoosh.
The flying vessel advanced at high speeds, flying towards that utterly massive levitating world. Finally, it began to slow down as it drew closer.
A web of venerable, almost sacred power descended from on high, covering Ning and the other eight within its grasp. This web of power was grim and unfeeling, and it possessed no intelligence whatsoever. It was a type of power which the Genesis Lands itself naturally possessed. This place was the Genseis Lands. It was not a place for weak creatures to live in.
Rumble…
Ning could feel something furiously hammer at his soul. However, Ning's soul had been nurtured and strengthened by his azureflower mist energy, making it comparable to the soul of a Daolord of the First Step. He was able to resist the pressure with ease.
Ning turned to glance at the others.
Prince Greatjoy, Solewind, and Firesurge all seemed to be handling the trial with ease, and they all glanced back at him as well, smiles on their faces.
"Eh?" Ning and the others all noticed at the same time that Skyfire Brightshore had an ugly look on his face, and his body was trembling slightly. Although he was blessed with incredible natural gifts and had an extraordinary bloodline, he had experienced very few dangerous encounters in his early life. As a result, his soul and his willpower were all somewhat lacking when compared to that of Ning and the others.
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Book 28, Archaeus Region, Chapter 19 – Universe Treasure
Ji Ning and the other three began to grow nervous. The entire point of this journey was for them to accompany Skyfire Brightshore in an adventure within the Archaeus region. The journey wasn't going to come to a crashing halt because this Brightshore Imperial wasn't even able to enter the Genesis Lands, right? That would be an absolute joke.
"Hm." Ning turned to glance at the other three retainers. Chaos Immortal Swallowback, World Goddess Skywolf, and Flamefairy Su Youji all had fairly relaxed looks on their faces. It seemed as though Swallowback was the most relaxed; he even grinned at Ning and the others. Skywolf and Su Youji, the two women, had fairly unpleasant l ooks on their faces, and their bodies were shaking slightly. Still, it seemed as though they would be able to endure it.
A long period of time passed.
That exalted web of power continued to fill every inch of this world, but it no longer launched any attacks against them.
"Whew." Skyfire Brightshore let out a sigh of relief, and World Goddess Skywolf and Su Youji all looked slightly more relaxed as well.
"That was embarrassing. I was damn near flattened." Skyfire Brightshore shook his head and laughed. He was born at the World God level of power, and he had been a solitary figure for much of his early life. In fact, shortly after he was born he had been abducted by the almighty Hegemon. As a result, his soul and his willpower were both very weak compared to that of the other five. The only reason he had been able to survive this trial was because of his innate gifts.
Every single member of his race was blessed with extraordinary powers from birth. His soul was already as strong as that of a Daolord's, and so although he possessed much weaker willpower than Ning and the others, he was still able to endure the trial and overcome in.
"All eight of us will be granted entry. This is something to celebrate." Prince Greatjoy smiled.
"Not bad." Ning glanced at Su Youji and offered her a few words of praise.
"Master, I feel fortunate that I've spent these past few years meditating on the techniques of my master, Feixian the Exalted, within your estate-world. I've improved quite a bit with regards to my willpower and my mental strength. Otherwise, I wouldn't have been able to survive that," Su Youji sent mentally.
Ning nodded. Su Youji's path was a path of charm and control. This was naturally a path that required an extremely powerful mind.
The flying vessel flew deeper into the world of the Genesis Lands.
This was a world of truly incredible proportions. It was trillions of kilometers in size, and it seemed almost endless.
"How vast." Su Youji sighed in amazement as she stared at the world.
"This is the place which gave birth to this entire universe." Ning stared at their surroundings as well. He could sense that certain locations within this world were filled with auras of incredible power that only strengthened as they flew closer.
"Quick, look over there!" Prince Greatjoy pointed off into the distance.
"Eh?!" Ning and the others looked towards the direction in which he was pointing, only to see a powerful expert seated in the lotus position atop a golden carpet. This expert had a single horn on his head and was covered with dark-red scales, while the golden carpet was covered with many delicacies and wine. The man was drinking wine and devouring his food while casually glancing at his surroundings.
"Hey there, kiddos!" The horned expert suddenly noticed Ning's group, and he immediately called out to them while flying towards them.
Ning's group didn't try to avoid him, as they knew that all combat was forbidden within the Genesis Lands. Many of the disciples of the mightiest major powers of this alternate universe had all gathered here within this place! It might be rare for them to encounter their peers in the other parts of the Archaeus region, but that was because they were all gathered here within the Genesis Lands. There were quite a few Daolords in seclusion here as well!
As a result, the Genesis Lands held many Daolords as well as quite a few World-level cultivators. If it wasn't for the law against combat, the World-level cultivators would've been wiped out long ago.
"New arrivals?" The horned expert grinned merrily as he landed aboard their flying vessel.
"Greetings, senior." Ning and the others bowed respectfully.
"Able to enter the Genesis Lands despite merely being at the World level. Not bad at all!" The horned expert grinned as he praised them. "I was only able to come to this place after I became a Daolord. Come, come! Bring me your finest wine and your best food and let me have a taste. In exchange, I, Owlbath, shall impart unto you some of the rules and secrets regarding the Genesis Lands."
"Please be welcome, senior."
"Please have a taste, senior."
Ning and the others all hurriedly took out all sorts of fine food and wine.
"Not bad at all. Glug, glug. Hey, this wine is pretty good too. Can I have some more?" The horned expert didn't just eat and drink, he even stashed some of the food away for later without seeming to feel the slightest bit embarrassed.
The horned expert burped, then chortled merrily with half-lidded eyes. "Don't worry, I'm not going to eat all of your food for nothing. The Genesis Lands is an enormous place. If you just run around randomly, you may very well end up dying here."
Ning and the others listened silently, the very picture of innocent obedience.
"The Genesis Lands can be roughly divided into two parts; the 'outer reaches' and the 'inner reaches'. The true name of the 'inner region' is actually the Prime Reaches, and it holds the innermost core and prime essences of this entire universe. There are many deceased ancient powers located within the Prime Reaches, and it is the most important location in our entire universe." The horned expert said casually, "Every single cultivator would dream of being able to enter the Prime Reaches of the Genseis Lands. The Prime Reaches are located at the very center, and you'll be able to recognize it as soon as you see it." Glug, glug, glug. He raised his head and drank several more mouthfuls of wine.
Ning and the others all nodded. Actually, they knew all of this already! Moksha the golem had told Ning long ago about this.
"Every single World-level cultivator capable of entering the Genesis Lands is a genius," the horned expert said. "But perhaps just one in a hundred of them are capable of entering the inner reaches!"
Ning and the others were stunned. Just one in a hundred? This was their first time hearing this number. Generally speaking, the World-level cultivators who were able to enter this place were all capable of becoming Daolords whenever they chose! Who would've thought that entering the inner reaches would be this difficult?
"But the outer reaches aren't a bad place to be either. The outer reaches were formed when the universe itself was born, and it contains many mysterious places and many hidden fortunes," the horned expert said. "I myself stay out here in the outer reaches. Alas… while one in a hundred World-level cultivators are able to enter the inner reaches, things are much worse for us Daolords. Perhaps just one in ten thousand Daolords are able to enter the inner reaches!"
"The outer reaches are filled with treasures, but the inner reaches are absolutely incredible. Almost all of the Eternal Emperors will venture into the inner reaches in search of treasures." A mysterious look suddenly flashed through the horned expert's eyes. "Have you heard? Shortly after the master of the Church of Annihilation became an Eternal Emperor, he entered the inner reaches… and then, for some reason, he became terrifyingly strong, strong enough to unify our entire universe and force all the major powers in it to submit to him."
"Oh?" Ning and the others were growing increasingly curious.
Almost all the Eternal Emperors would enter the place? It was the Prime Reaches which gave the master of the Church of Annihilation his incredible power, allowing him to unify this universe?
"Everyone says that the Prime Reaches are filled with endless possibilities. Just three chaos cycles ago, a Daolord managed to acquire a Universe treasure within the Prime Reaches," the horned expert said in a mysterious manner.
"A Universe treasure?" Solewind and Skyfire were both shocked. As for Greatjoy and Ning, they revealed puzzled looks.
What exactly was a Universe treasure?
Upon seeing this, the horned expert grinned. "It seems as though some of you, my young friends, haven't heard this phrase before. Actually, even I only heard of these treasures after entering the Genesis Lands. Eternal treasures are powerful, but above them… there is a legendary rank of supremely powerful treasures which are known as Universe treasures. They are often also referred to as Supreme treasures. These are truly incredible treasures which even Eternal Emperors would go wild over. They are incredibly powerful, and they are incredibly mysterious."
"Alas." The horned expert shook his head. "Universe treasures are truly supreme treasures; there's no way you can bind them by force! You can only bind a Universe treasure if the treasure itself acknowledges you."
Ning, Greatjoy, and the others were all rather stunned.
At this moment, Heartlord Solewind sent mentally to them, "Darknorth, Greatjoy, Firesurge… Universe treasures are legendary things that are filled with inconceivable amounts of power. They truly are the most supreme eof treasures, and they are both incredibly rare and incredibly valuable. Even Eternal Emperors would drool over the chance to acquire such treasures! Treasures like them can only be hoped for, not actively sought out. Right… Darknorth, your Sword Palace actually holds a Universe treasure known as the 'Shardsword'."
"Shardsword?" Ning was stunned. He remembered now; the first time he entered the Sword Palace, when he entered the Armaments Gorge he had encountered a 'broken' shard of a sword that had no price tag and which he couldn't even move towards.
Ning still remembered how he had asked the overseers of the Armaments Groge, Swordfive and Swordsix, about that strange sword. Their response had been to tell them that it was clear the sword and Ning were not fated to be together, and that even the two previous Palace Lords of the Sword Palace had not been able to receive the acknowledgment of that sword. Ever since the Shardsword's original owner had died, the Shardsword had been silent and accepted no others.
"So that 'broken' sword was actually a Universe treasure. No wonder not even the two Palace Lords of the Sword Palace were able to receive its acknowledgment," Ning mused to himself.
"Senior, are there Universe treasures within the Prime Reaches?" Solewind couldn't help but ask.
"There are." But the horned expert then shook his head. "According to the history books, over the course of countless years there has been a total of eight Universe treasures who acknowledged the major powers who found them and were willing to follow them out of the Genesis Lands! Supposedly, even more Universe treasures are hidden within the Prime Reaches. To be honest, though… Universe treasures don't really matter that much. The thing which really drives all the cultivators crazy is the mystery behind the process by which the master of the Church of Annihilation gained such incredible power… but of course, those are the affairs of the most supreme cultivators of our universe. You World-level cultivators don't need to worry too much about those matters. You aren't strong enough to get involved just yet."
"Still. The Prime Reaches truly are a mysterious place. I've never been there before myself, and I imagine none of the eight of you will be able to enter either," the horned expert said.
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Book 28, Archaeus Region, Chapter 20 – Emperor Maniseal
"The eight of you will probably stay in the outer reaches as well," the horned cultivator said. "I'll tell you a bit about some of the taboos in the outer reaches. The danger in the outer reaches primarily comes from certain mysterious locations."
The horned expert began to introduce various things they had to look out for as well as describe some of the more famous danger zones. Generally speaking, the places with the most opportunities were also the places with the most danger!
His narration went on for two full hours.
"Now, let's speak of cultivators," the horned expert said. "In the outer reaches, there are many Daolords who reside in seclusion, as well as quite a few World-level cultivators like yourselves who are seeking great fortunes. There's no need for you to worry too much about these people, so long as you avoid offending the most powerful Daolords. Generally speaking, no one will dare to attack in this place."
Ning and the others all nodded.
"The ones you really need to look out for are the two Eternal Emperors who live in seclusion in the outer reaches," the horned expert said. "If you irritate them, you'll be in serious trouble. Even if they kill you, at most they will be given some light punishment by the Church of Annihilation."
"One of the two Eternal Emperors is named Emperor Northtree," the horned expert said. "The other is named Emperor Maniseal."
"Emperor Northtree isn't that worrisome. He probably won't attack for no reason. Emperor Maniseal, though… you really don't want to piss him off." A look of worry could be seen in the horned expert's eyes. "These days, Emperor Maniseal might start a massacre at the drop of a hat, and even if he did the Church of Annihilation wouldn't really do anything to him. I've heard that even the master of the church is trying to befriend him."
"Befriend him?" Ning and the others were puzzled.
"Emperor Maniseal used to be a very low-key Eternal Emperor, but that arrogant madman Emperor Trislk killed his beloved disciple. This truly enraged him… eheh." The horned expert shook his head and sighed.
Ning, Greatjoy, Solewind, Firesurge, and Skyfire felt their hearts clench.
Emperor Trisilk? They had been worrying about him attacking them for quite some time now.
"Enraged, Emperor Maniseal began to chase after and hunt down Empero rTrisilk." The horned expert sighed in true amazement. "The power he displayed was enough to shock everyone in this universe. He was far more powerful than most Eternal Emperors, while Emperor Trisilk had a terrible reputation and had offended many major powers but had been able to survive due to his top-notch survival skills. And yet… Emperor Maniseal has been chasing after him relentlessly, forcing him to flee nonstop. Emperor Trisilk no longer dares to show his face anywhere."
Ning and the others all secretly let out sighs of relief. Wonderful. Well done! The more difficult Emperor Trisilk's straits were, the safer they would be.
"Emperor Maniseal is most skilled in the Dao of Seals," the horned expert is. Right now, a Dao-seal clone of his currently lives within the outer reaches."
"A Dao-seal clone?" Ning and the others were puzzled.
"A clone created from a single Dao-seal," the horned expert said. "Supposedly, it has 80% of the power of his true body! And he has nine of these Dao-seal clones!"
'What?!" Ning and the others could hardly believe it. How could Dao-seal clones be this strong?
It must be understood that the likes of Daolord Badlands or Daolord Solesky had to spend enormous amounts of treasure and effort in order to create a powerful avatar, and they could only really have one at a time! This was true in both the Endless Territories and in this universe.
The Dao-seal clones which Emperor Maniseal had created were simply ridiculous.
"This is a special secret art which only he possesses and only he can use. Not even his disciples have been taught this technique," the horned expert said. "It is probably a secret art he came up with after he became an Eternal Empror. He's reached an unfathomably deep level of skill in his Dao of Seals, and has been publicly acknowledged as the number one master of this Dao in the Church of Annihilation! It is precisely due to his unfathomable mastery of this Dao that the master of the Church of Annihilation supposedly wants to befriend him."
"He's currently boiling with rage and the desire to kill right now, and the leaders of the Church of Annihilation are all trying to befriend him. Thus… even if he does kill a few World-level cultivators, no one will be willing to offend him over it." The horned expert pointed off into the distance. "Look. That place over there? The tallest peak on that levitating mountain? That's where one of his Dao-seal bodies currently resides."
Ning and the others all turned to stare. Roughly ten billion kilometers away from them, there was indeed a levitating ountain peak that emanated ripples of tremendous power. Ning and the others all felt reverence towards this man. He had reached such a level of skill in his craft that he was acknowledged as being the ultimate expert in this entire universe in the Dao of Seals. Most likely, the reason he had been such a low-key figure in the past was precisely because he was completely focused on analyzing Dao-seals.
Ning and the others felt gratitude towards him. His pursuit of Emperor Trisilk ensured that they would have nothing more to worry about.
Within a floating mountain. Inside an ordinary estate.
"Hmph."
Emperor Maniseal was dressed in deep blue Daoist robes and wore a crown on his head. His face was thin and long, while his eyes were quite narrow. He loked very unpleasant right now.
A youth was kneeling before him. "Master, I went to beg the White Emperor for assistance. The White Emperor said that if you were willing to hand over eight of your 'Lifeblood' Dao-seals, he would guarantee that he would be able to convince the master of the Church of Annihilation to bring our second apprentice-brother back to life."
"Eight Lifeblood Dao-seals? Hmph. These two… ugh." Emperor Maniseal might have been a good-tempered man, but he was quaking with rage right now.
The most highly ranked members in the Church of Annihilation were its master and the sixteen Starkings, but there were differences amongst the Starkings as well. Of the sixteen, there were three known as the Primal Starkings who were very special. Supposedly, they had existed ever since this universe had been created.
The White Emperor was one of the three Primal Starkings, and was the teacher of the leader of the Church of Annihilation! However, the leader of the Church of Annihilation had eventually become the most powerful figure in the entire universe, overtaking his master and unifying this entire universe.
"The leader of the Church of Annihilation asked for nine Lifeblood Dao-seals to revive my disciple. As for his master, he asked for just a bit less; 'just' eight!" Emperor Maniseal ground his teeth. "These two must have come to a private agreement to rob me blind."
Lifeblood Dao-seals represented the highest level of expertise which Emperor Maniseal had reached in the Dao of Seals. They possessed inconceivable amounts of power. If you were slain by a foe, you could rely on it to instantly come back to life!
A single Lifeblood Dao-seal represented an extra life!
Over the course of countless years, Emperor Maniseal had used up many treasures via many failed attempts to create these Dao-seals. After all that, he had still created just two of those Lifeblood Dao-seals. Even someone like him, the inventor of these Dao-seals, had a very high chance of failure when creating them. The creation process was simply far too difficult.
He had asked the master of the Church of Annihilation to reverse the flow of spacetime and revive his beloved disciple. He had loved his second disciple as he would a son. He was willing to pay any price!
Alas, the leader of the Church of Annihilation had rejected him outright. "Reverse the flows of spacetime and revive a Verge-level Daolord? Impossible. I've never even revived one of my retainers or disciples."
It had been a clear-cut refusal.
However, Emperor Maniseal had brought out a half-finished version of his Lifeblood Dao-seal. The leader of the Church had been stunned upon seeing it! Given his exalted status, he immediately recognized how valuable this seal was. He immediately changed his tone. "Given how strong I am, only some of the most ancient powers in other universes might pose a threat ot me. If you can give me nine of these Lifeblood Dao-seals, I'll be willing to bear the price necessary to reverse spacetime and save your disciple."
Nine?
Not only did the creation of these Lifeblood Dao-seals require an enormous amount of treasure, they also took at least three full chaos cycles of time! And… once you made a single mistake, all of the time and wealth you had spent would have gone to waste! Worst of all, creating these Dao-seals required tremendous focus and was extremely tiresome. To stay in such a state for three full chaos cycle, with the results generally being failure… this was just a staggeringly exhausting process.
It had been countless years since he had come up with this idea, but he had only been able to create two of these seals.
"My Lifeblood Dao-seals are equivalent to an extra life. Hmph. The leader of the Church truly is greedy." Emperor Maniseal ground his teeth. "Let's wait and see. Sooner or later, he'll seek me out."
Emperor Maniseal felt that his Dao-seals were too difficult to create.
As for the leader of the Church, the leader similarly felt that reversing spacetime to revive a Verge-level Daolord was far too difficult. As for simply killing Emperor Maniseal? That never even came up as a possibility, as the Lifeblood Dao-seal meant that Emperor Maniseal was ost likely the toughest person to kill in this universe.
The flying vessel continued to advance. As for Daolord Owlbat, he continued to eat, drink, and boast. Ning's group simply listened.
"Any art, when improved to the ultimate level, will possess inconceivable power. Emperor Maniseal has reached incredible heights in the Dao of Seals," Daolord Owlbath said. "I heard that of the sixteen Starkings, the White Emperor has reached such heights in the Dao of Metal that you can't even comprehend it."
Ning and the others were happy to hear him talk on and on, and the flying vessel continued to teleport forwards and advance towards the center of the Genesis Lands.
"See that?" Daolord Owlbath pointed off into the distance.
Ning and the others were stunned by what they saw. An incredibly terrifying abyss was in the earth in front of them, and above that abyss hovered a world that was roughly a billion kilometers in size. This world radiated a towering pillar of light that was filled with countless terrifying auras, many of which were comparable to the auras of Eternal Emperors.
Many chains were attached to that levitating world, and the chains themselves were rooted firmly into the land of the outer reaches.
"That right there is the inner reaches! The world which gave birth to the entire universe, and which holds all of its prime essences," Daolord Owlbath said. "There are eight primessence chains which connect it to the outer reaches. What you need to do is walk onto those chains and stride into the inner reaches."
"But of course… if you aren't careful and end up falling into that abyss? Even Daolords of the Fourth Step will be devoured and killed by the abyss, to say nothing of the likes of you!" Daolord Owlbath said.
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Book 28, Archaeus Region, Chapter 21 – The Chains
The flying vessel flew towards one of the primessence chains. There were twelve World-level cultivators seated there in the lotus position. Clearly, they also wished to attempt to pass the primessence chains.
Whoosh. The flying vessel landed.
"Eight more have joined the fray."
"Looks like we're making new friends." The other twelve World-level cultivators who were already present grinned as they got up and moved forward to welcome Ji Ning's group.
"Fuzhou greets you, fellow Daoists."
"Warpflame greets you, fellow Daoists."
The World-level cultivators all came over to greet htem, and Ning's group exchanged a few words of pleasantries with them.
It was quite common for people in the Genesis Lands to chat up unfamiliar faces, as all World-level cultivators who were able to make it into the Genesis Lands of this universe were extraordinary figures with limitless future prospects! In addition, all violence was forbidden here, making it so that they didn't have to worry about ambushes or sneak attacks. This encouraged people to befriend each other, as perhaps one of these new friends might one day become an unearthly Daolord or perhaps even an Eternal Emperor.
Ning and his group all introduced themselves, making just slight alterations to their true story.
"Fellow Daoists, why haven't you passed through these chains and entered the Prime Reaches?" Solewind laughed.
"You think we don't want to? It's that we aren't able to." A withered-looking World-level cultivator immediately shook his head. "The only way to enter the inner reaches from the outer reaches is by passing through one of those primessence chains. If you try to fly over, you'll be swallowed up and devoured by the abyss. However, the chains themselves are also quite dangerous. There are special trials for World-level cultivators, and even more difficult trials for Samsara Daolords. Both trials are extremely dangerous, and the closer you get to the inner reaches the more dangerous it shall become."
"Oh?" Ning and the other seven were quite curious.
"Ah, I forgot to tell you!" Daolord Owlbath was still seated next to them, drinking some wine. He let out a laugh and said, "When you step onto the primessence chains, there will be some wraiths that will begin to attack you. The farther along you go, the more powerful and numerous the wraiths shall be. Right… the primessence chains themselves are also capable of affecting your mind. If you aren't careful, you might go crazy. If that happens, you'll be dead for sure."
"Just so. This senior speaks the truth. Thus… fellow Daoists, once you attempt to traverse the primessence chains, you need to immediately retreat as soon as you feel as though you've reached your limit. If you retreat, you'll still alive. If you try to force your way through, you'll probably encounter a sudden danger that you can't handle which will knock you off the chains. The abyss will swallow you, and your truesoul will be wiped out. You'll definitely die!"
"Better to retreat than to try and force things."
The twelve all expressed similar sentiments, trying to dissuade the newcomers from rashness.
Daolord Owlbath nodded as well. "If you move slowly and carefully gauge your chances, you'll have a shot of staying alive. If you try to force things, you'll be doomed."
"Thank you, everyone."
"We understand." Ning and the others all nodded.
Ning's group exchanged a round of glances. It seemed they absolutely could not underestimate the deadliness of these primessence chains. Every World-level cultivator able to reach the Genesis Lands was a figure of extraordinary ability, but less than one in a hundred were able to enter the Prime Reaches. The difficulty of this trial spoke for itself. If you overestimated yourself, you would probably die.
"We'll give it a shot first. The three of you should wait for now," Solewind sent mentally. "Greatjoy, Darknorth, Firesurge, Skyfire… I recommend you let me be the first to give it at try. They said that these primessence chains can affect one's mind, and I feel quite confident in my abilities in this area. As for those so-called wraiths… I'll definitely move slowly and cautiously."
"Mm."
"Alright." Ning, Greatjoy, and the others all nodded.
Less than one in a hundred World-level cultivators were able to succeed, but Heartlord Solewind was a Heartforce Cultivator who had been acknowledged by the ancient pagodas of the Palace of the Heart. He definitely stood far above the vast majority of cultivators with regards to the power of his mind and heart. Even proud figures like Ning and Greatjoy knew that they were significantly inferior to Solewind in this respect.
The twelve World-level cultivators, Daolord Owlbath, and the other seven all watched as Heartlord Solewind advanced onto the primessence chains.
The primessence chains were a thousand kilometers long and fifteen meters wide. Although they were described as 'chains', they were really more like bridges! Still, people like Ning could stably traverse even a minisculy thin steel wire without swaying in the slightest, to say nothing of a bridge.
"Eh?"
As Solewind advanced through the enormous steel chains, he couldn't help but frown and say, "Everyone, these chains truly are rather bizarre. Make sure you don't let your mind and heart be swayed by it."
"GRAAAH!"
"GRAAAH!"
Two illusory figures suddenly swooped up from the infinitely deep abyss of darkness below the chains. The two moved incredibly fast, traversing a thousand kilometers in a single flicker as they charged towards Heartlord Solewind. One phantom was of a grim-faced man who wielded a warblade, while the other was of an ugly alien creature who wielded nine whips in its nine arms.
Solewind's gaze grew cold as he saw those two phantoms strike towards him. A series of magic treasures that looked like fiery lotuses began to bloom behind him, and as they bloomed they immediately began to transform into blazing firebirds. There was a total of 391 firebirds in the skies, and they all radiated with blazing auras that easily dissipated the attacks coming from those two phantoms.
Ning and the others frowned upon seeing this. Were these the 'wraiths'? Why did they seem like cultivators?
"Those are all cultivators who died long, long ago." Daolord Owlbath explained, "After they died their truesouls were destroyed, but their power was transformed into these strange wraiths. Because you are at the World level, World-level wraiths shall be sent to attack you. If a Daolord attempted to pass… things would be far more frightening."
Ning and the others nodded.
"Many of them failed while attempting to pass through the primessence chains, and some of them were truly dazzling figures of their time. Later on, these wraiths will group together and attack en masse." Daolord Owlbath sighed. "To go through the primessence chains and reach the Prime Reaches. Oh, that's gonna be tough, tough, tough."
Heartlord Solewind continuously advanced while controlling his magic treasures, using it to break apart all impediments.
Boom! Boom! Boom! The primessence chains themselves were trembling slightly, sending out multiple strange ripples of power. Ning was able to physically see those ripples emanating out, each expanding to become thirty meters in size. Heartlord Solewind had to rely on the power of the chains to fight back against the devouring power of the abyss, but by doing so he ended up being restricted by the power as well.
"Hmph."
Heartlord Solewind advanced with cool calmness, using his magic treasures to slaughter all of the attacking wraiths. As he continued to advance, more and more wraiths of increasingly greater power began to charge out of the abyss below the Prime Reaches.
As a Heartforce Cultivator, he was naturally quite skilled in controlling magic treasures from afar. These wraiths, as of right now, were not able to force him into close combat.
"Five hundred kilometers. He's made it pretty far, pretty fast." Daolord Owlbath stared in boggled amazement. "This young fellow is way too powerful, and he has an incredibly strong mind and heart."
"He isn't even swaying a bit?"
"He's completely ignoring the effects of the primessence chains?"
The twelve World-level cultivators who had already tried and failed in the past also stared in amazement. The mental influence of the primessence chains would grow increasingly strong, and at five hundred kilometers the influence was now incredibly strong. Generally speaking, even those who were able to endure the mental attacks would feel quite miserable. Heartlord Solewind, however, had an extremely calm look on his face. He looked as though he was simply strolling through the streets. He made it look easy.
Ning and the others all revealed smiles.
"Only one in a hundred can succeed? Hmph. Let them compete with us," Prince Greatjoy sent to Ning and the others in an extremely smug manner.
"Right."
"Brother Solewind is making it look easy."
Although Ning and the others weren't the arrogant type, they agreed with what Greatjoy said. In terms of all-around ability, the five of them truly did surpass the vast majority of the other World-level cultivators in the Genesis Lands. These were the most elite geniuses of the geniuses of the Brightshore Kingdom, after all!
Heartlord Solewind continued to advance. Six hundred kilometers. Seven hundred. Eight. Nine…
Daolord Owlbath and the others watched with slack jaws as this happened. Howevere, towards the end Heartlord Solewind was also forced into close combat, and a look of seriousness appeared on his face for the first time as his movements noticeably slowed down. Still, he gritted his teeth and continued to advance.
Whoosh. Over a thousand wraiths were attacking him now. Heartlord Solewind fought his way through them, then reached the end of this primessence chain and entered the Prime Reaches.
"Ahahah!"
"Excellent."
"Congratulations, brother Solewind."
"We'll join you in a bit, Solewind!"
Greatjoy, Ning, Skyfire, and Firesurge were in superb moods. For the first person from their side to challenge this trial and succeed naturally pleased them greatly.
"How is this possible?"
"He succeeded, just like that?"
Daolord Owlbath and the others couldn't even believe it. Passing through the primessence chains was supposed to be incredibly difficult, right? But just now, that bald red-robed kid seemed to have breezed right through it.
"Darknorth, Greatjoy, Skyfire, Firesurge." Solewind stood at the other end of the chains, staring at them from afar as he called out loudly, "The mental influence of the primessence chains is terrifingly strong, far more so than the attacks of the wraiths. You must be careful!"
"Understood!" Ning and the others grinned back at him in response.
"Which of the three of us shall be the next to give it a try?" Greatjoy turned his gaze towards Ning and Firesurge.
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