Chapter 43 – Years of Seclusion
Guided by Empyrean God Fuqu, Ji Ning was led before an ancient figure of the human race, Daofather Hasbear. Although Daofather Hasbear was as old as Suiren and also had very high status, he was even more low-key than Suiren. There were many stories in the Three Realms of the power of the Five Monarchs, but there were many Celestial Immortals who had never even heard of Daofather Hasbear.
“Daofather, Ji Ning has arrived,” Fuqu said respectfully.
“Ji Ning pays his respects to you, Daofather,” Ning said respectfully.
They were within an enormous, plainly adorned palace.
A muscular old man was seated on a prayer mat in the lotus position, dressed in simple animal furs. His beard and hair looked as hard and tough as iron, and he had the face of someone with an explosive temper. When he opened his eyes, however, a look of eternity could be seen within them. In fact, the ancient aura that emanated from him caused Ning to unconsciously calm down and feel peaceful.
As Daofather Hasbear looked towards Ning, a loving look slowly but naturally took form with his gaze.
“Good.” Daofather Hasbear smiled.
Mother Nuwa had created the human race. Hasbear was one of the first humans to be created, and he had watched as the human race had struggled, survived, and thrived. In his heart, he naturally felt very loving and protective towards every single dazzling human descendant he saw.
Although this was Ning’s first time meeting Daofather Hasbear, he couldn’t help but feel a natural veneration towards him.
“Fuxi has already spoken to me. This is a minor matter, and I’ve already made the arrangements.” Daofather Hasbear smiled as he looked at Ning. “It’s rare for our human race to produce someone so talented in heartforce. You were able to reach the fourth stage of heartforce despite having trained for less than a century; I want you to make sure you make something of yourself. Before the Endwar comes, I want you to make a breakthrough to the fifth stage. Let the myriad races of the Three Realms know that our human race is capable of giving birth to a heartforce expert of the fifth stage!”
“I shall do my utmost,” Ning couldn’t help but say.
“Good. That’s the attitude I like to see. Defeat isn’t frightening; what’s frightening is not even having the courage to try.” Daofather Hasbear smiled and nodded. “Seize every moment to train. If you can become a True God or Daofather before the Endwar comes, our side will be all the stronger for it.”
“Yes.” Ning didn’t speak any modest words at all. In his heart, he truly desired to become a True God and a Daofather.
The Three Realms had far, far too many Empyrean Gods and True Immortals.
It must be understood that the primordial chaos had given birth to ten great Elder Gods, eighty-one mighty True Gods, and 108,000 Empyrean Gods! 108,000! Although many died during the countless wars of the Primordial Era, as well as in the war which destroyed Pangu’s Chaosworld, many others eventually trained to reach the Empyrean God and True Immortal level. The Seamless Alliance itself also had many Empyrean Gods and True Immortals within their ranks.
Thus, there were currently many at this level of power in the Three Realms. The addition of Ning, by himself, had almost no affect on the overall balance of power as a whole.
In the face of a massive army, a single person’s power wasn’t even worth talking about.
Only when one became a True God or a Daofather would one have the ability to have an impact on the Endwar!
“Master.” A short, muscular man with a greataxe on his back walked into the palace.
“Luozou,” Daofather Hasbear said, “Give it to Ji Ning.”
The short, muscular man looked towards Ning, then produced a palm-sized city within his hands. He handed the miniature city towards Ning, then said, “Darknorth, I heard that you are skilled in commanding soldiers in a formation. Don’t let these Immortals down.”
“Don’t worry, Empyrean God Luozou,” Ning said.
During the Primordial Era, when the human race was still young and primitive, its cultivation methods were imperfect and flawed. They learned many of their techniques from Fiendgods, which was why many humans from the earliest days of the Primordial Era trained as Fiendgod Body Refiners. Later on, after Ki Refining techniques became better, more Celestial Immortals and True Immortals began to slowly appear.
“Go.” Daofather Hasbear looked towards Ning, a look of eagerness in his eyes.
Ning bowed respectfully, then departed.
The city had a total of 100,000 Celestial Immortals and 10 million Loose Immortals inside of it! Ning sent all of these Immortals into his own Starseizer world and made arrangements for them, then transmitted the basic components of the Rahu Formation to them. Most likely, the Celestial Immortals and Loose Immortals would only need half a yaer to master it, at which point they would be able to set up the formation.
Sword Immortal world. Five Treasured Peaks.
The five towering peaks pierced high into the clouds as always. Ning was floating atop a cloud, standing in front of the stone walls of the third mountain peak and reading the third chapter of the [Five Treasures] sword-art. During his previous fifty-one years of cultivation, Ning’s swordforce had reached and surpass the third level, and he had also long ago mastered the complete second chapter.
In truth, when he had gone to meet Daofather Hasbear, he had done so with a sense of pressure weighing down upon him.
“We have to win the Endwar. We can’t lose. If we lose, the entire Nuwa Alliance will be annihilated, as will the entire human race.” Ning didn’t even dare think about what would happen if they lost. Discarding those thoughts for now, he turned to carefully read through the third chapter of the [Five Treasures].
The [Five Treasures] sword-art was extraordinarily profound. This third chapter…it caused Ning to sigh in amazement. In fact, he couldn’t help but unconsciously begin to include some of the essence of the third chapter into his own [Brightmoon] sword-art.
……
Within a vast world of darkness.
The Godking, seated atop his towering throne, gently strummed the fingers of his left hand against the armrest. Tap. Tap. Tap. The tapping sounds echoed throughout the entire dark world.
“I didn’t expect that Ji Ning would end up making a play like this. He actually gave up alien Outsider techniques to Fuxi, who developed a formation just for him and gave him 100,000 Celestial Immortals and 10 million Loose Immortals.” The Godking pondered silently to himself. “What sort of techniques did he hand over? And what sort of a formation did Fuxi give him?”
Although their intelligence methods were formidable, there was no way it could be detailed to such a level. They weren’t even able to find out the details of the formation Fuxi had created.
“And it seems Ji Ning has finished developing his own sword-art.”
“Mmm…Swordfather Darklight evaluates it as being extraordinary. Third-stage swordforce? This kid, Ji Ning…through sparring with those puny little cultivators, he actually ended up reaching the third stage of swordforce. Sheesh…” The Godking shook his head. He himself didn’t know much regarding the Dao of the Sword. Swordfather Darklight, however, was a terrifyingly powerful member of the Seamless Alliance who, in the Seamless Chaosworld, had been their number one expert in the Dao of the Sword.
However, the Seamless Chaosworld and the Pangu Chaosworld were both destroyed, resulting in the birth of the Three Realms…and by then, everyone acknowledged that he was a bit inferior to Daofather Fuju!
“I knew that Ji Ning was formidable in heartforce, but he’s actually this impressive in swordforce as well? Still, he’s merely at the third stage; that’s nothing.” The Godking shook his head. “Not much of a threat.”
And then, the Godking cast Ji Ning to the back of his mind, turning his attention to other matters.
He was responsible for the entire Seamless Gate, and compared to his many other concerns, Ji Ning truly was a minor figure.
……
The stone stele. The prisonworld.
The prisonworld held two of Ning’s bodies. One was dealing with a True God, while the other was dealing with the female True Immortal.
“Eh?” Ji Ning opened his eyes, ceasing his meditations on his sword-art. He looked downwards.
The bottle, gourd, bracelet, and other magic treasures around him continued to unleash torrents of fire, water, and wind against the foe below. The enemy’s magic treasure was shuddering, and its defensive force was beginning to weaken.
“Fifty-six years. Finally, she’s unable to hold on any longer.” Ning felt a hint of eagerness in his heart. Perhaps this female True Immortal would be able to help him by providing him with extremely powerful techniques or magic treasures.
Ning willed it, and whoosh! Instantly, the fire, water, and wind all returned to their respective treasures. Everything returned to normal. Ning definitely didn’t want to accidentally roast the woman to death!
“Submit.” Ning looked at the female True Immortal.
The female True Immortal dispersed her own magic treasure as well. She gave Ning a cold look.
Ning could sense how resolute she was. He couldn’t help but sigh and say, “Why must you be like this? You are going to be imprisoned here for countless ages, no matter what; so what if you choose to serve me? All I need are some of your magic treasures and some of the techniques you hold in your memories. I won’t harm you or lower your own personal power at all. In the future, you’ll have a chance to escape this place.”
“Stop dreaming.” The female True Immortal continued to look at Ning coldly. “You lowly, crawling insect…forget about making me, Shui Jin, submit!”
“Empress Jin?” Ning was stunned.
When he had scoured True Immortal Winterpeak’s memories, he had learned of some of the more famous True Gods and True Immortals of the Pangaea chaos-kingdom. The woman before him was extremely emaciated, and her aura was unfamiliar to Ning. This was why, prior to this moment, Ning had no idea as to who she was. She was an extremely domineering True Immortal who was even more powerful than Winterpeak, and so she was referred to by others as ‘Empress Jin’.
“Empress Jin…” A reminiscent look appeared in the female True Immortal’s eyes. “That’s all in the past now. All in the past. Pangaea is gone. Everything is gone.”
“You want me, Shui Jin, to submit? Submit to someone as weak as you? Hahaha…ahahaha…” She began to laugh loudly, laugh wildly, laugh in a dreary, desolate way…
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Whoosh.
She suddenly vanished, her soul dispersing. The only thing left behind was the echoes of her desolate laughter, which reverberated in the empty world.
Ning couldn’t help but sigh upon seeing this. Upon learning that she was Empress Jin, Ning had realized right away that it was highly unlikely that she would submit. In truth, every single top-tier True Immortal possessed incredible pride and self-confidence. The only reason why there was even a chance for them to submit to Ning was because their souls had been tormented by their chaos cycles of imprisonment within this prisonworld. Some, however, would still rather die than submit!
But despite this, Ning didn’t waver in his decision.
He needed to acquire more power from this prisonworld. He wanted to survive this tribulation, to survive the Endwar. He wanted to rescue his wave, to ensure that his daughter Brightmoon would be able to live a long and happy life. He wanted to ensure that his master and his other loved ones would survive as well. Thus…Ning would only give these alien Outsiders a single chance to survive: Submit to him! If they refused to choose to submit, then…they could all go die!