Chapter 45: A Piece of News

"How much would it take, just say it, Lord Emperor." Ji Ning had a thick-skinned look. For a mere World-level cultivator to act shamelessly before an Eternal Emperor was nothing. For six Eternal divine weapons, what was a little shamelessness?

Emperor Firecloud was speechless: "Six lifebound divine weapons—not counting the hard work I put into forging them, do you even know the material cost? And you dare speak so boldly? Do you think you can afford it?"

"How much are the materials?" Ji Ning pressed.

"These were forged specially for you, different from ordinary lifebound divine weapons. Your Sword Dao encompasses all directions, so the lifebound weapons must be truly perfect, strong in every aspect. The material cost alone is three times that of a normal lifebound divine sword—a full thirty million cubes of Chaos liquid. For six, that's one hundred and eighty million cubes!" Emperor Firecloud suddenly smiled, looking at Ji Ning with amusement. "I said earlier I'd give you one for free, so you only need to give me one hundred and fifty million cubes. As for my hard work forging them, consider it a gift. Tsk, didn't you say you didn't want me to suffer a loss? Can you come up with that?"

Ji Ning was struck dumb, unable to speak.

One hundred and fifty million cubes?

That was too, too...

Even 'Dao Lord Tianyi' of the Heavenly Cang Palace, a fairly powerful Dao Lord on the verge of dao-heart integration, had spent about twenty million cubes' worth of treasures to hire Dao Lord Damo, which had nearly exhausted his wealth. Of course, treasures often used in battle were part of one's strength and couldn't be sold.

For most mighty cultivators, their most precious possessions were their personal treasures. To actually produce over a hundred million cubes of Chaos liquid at once was generally impossible.

"So?" Emperor Firecloud looked at Ji Ning mockingly. "Weren't you just boasting?"

Ji Ning thought anxiously.

What to do? He had many treasures, but far from one hundred and fifty million cubes. Emperor Firecloud, out of respect for Lord Dan, had already been generous enough to gift a youngling like him materials worth thirty million cubes. Originally, Firecloud had only planned to give one normal lifebound divine weapon, but Ji Ning's Sword Dao was so extraordinary that Firecloud couldn't go back on his word and generously gave a better one.

If he asked for all six? Ji Ning felt that would be too much, and Firecloud probably wouldn't agree. Such a fortune would make even Emperor Firecloud's heart ache.

"Eh?" Ji Ning suddenly had a flash of inspiration.

"Lord Emperor." Ji Ning quickly spoke.

Emperor Firecloud, who had been enjoying Ji Ning's embarrassment, grew curious when Ji Ning took the initiative: "What, do you have treasures to trade?"

Of course he had treasures to trade. The ancient armor of the deceased Sovereign was worth far more than that. That armor, painstakingly forged by Lord Dan, was extremely precious and simply not available for purchase. The two talismans granted by the deceased Sovereign, each forged with the Sovereign's dying effort, were also priceless. If used as payment, they would indeed be worth the price.

But unless Ji Ning was truly foolish, he wouldn't trade away those life-saving treasures.

"This junior has a piece of news to offer." Ji Ning said. "I believe this news should be worth one hundred and fifty million cubes."

"News? What news is worth that much?" Emperor Firecloud was curious.

"Lord Emperor." Ji Ning said. "When I entered the Ancient Domain, I accidentally reached a place where I discovered a massive mine of Spacefire Darkstone, spanning a million miles."

Emperor Firecloud had been calm, but at 'a million miles' he was stunned. He stood abruptly, staring at Ji Ning with wide eyes: "You said a million miles? A Spacefire Darkstone mine?"

"Yes." Ji Ning nodded quickly.

"Is it a rich vein?" Emperor Firecloud pressed.

Ten thousand jin of ore yielding one jin of Spacefire Darkstone—that was also a mine.

Ten billion jin of ore yielding one jin of Spacefire Darkstone—that was also a mine. But the difference was enormous.

"Lord Emperor, please look." Ji Ning flipped his hand, producing a piece of ore that the puppet 'Mosha' had mined.

"This ore?" Emperor Firecloud grew excited at the sight. As a true grandmaster of artifact forging, he could tell at a glance it was an extremely rich vein. "If it spans a million miles, this... I might not even qualify to claim this mine."

Such a massive mine—with his strength, he truly couldn't hold it alone.

Emperor Firecloud hadn't thought of monopolizing it anyway. After all, Ji Ning was Lord Dan's man, and the news would surely reach Lord Dan. And with such a big mine, if Lord Dan stepped in, no one would dare covet it.

"There's one more thing. The mine originally had an owner." Ji Ning said.

"An owner?" Emperor Firecloud was startled.

"It was Emperor Silkworm." Ji Ning said.

Emperor Firecloud laughed: "Haha, him? That unlucky fool?" Emperor Silkworm was the most unfortunate emperor in this universe, hunted by Emperor Fubo and too scared to show his face.

"Come, let's go see my master." Emperor Firecloud grabbed Ji Ning, took a step, and vanished through the void, disappearing from the cave.

...

This was indeed earth-shattering news.

Even Lord Dan was startled when he heard it. He immediately took Ji Ning and Emperor Firecloud and swiftly left the Trileaf Realm for the Ancient Domain.

"Whoosh~~~"

The Five-Colored Void Bridge extended endlessly.

Lord Dan, Ji Ning, and Emperor Firecloud all stood on the bridge. Since Ji Ning had fled from the Spirit Immortal Realm, he knew the location well. With a precise direction, finding it was easy.

"Boom~~~"

"We're here."

Withdrawing the Five-Colored Void Bridge, Lord Dan, clad in black gauze, stood in the void, with Emperor Firecloud and Ji Ning beside him.

The scorching air currents couldn't approach them. Lord Dan, Emperor Firecloud, and Ji Ning gazed into the distance at the massive mountain of fiery red rock at the center of the void.

"What a huge mine." Emperor Firecloud was awestruck. "Though I heard about it from Beiming, seeing it... a Spacefire Darkstone mine this big?"

"Too big to move; we can only mine it slowly." Lord Dan said softly. Such a mine—in this universe, only a handful dared to claim it without objection. Lord Dan was one of them. Of course, if someone else had discovered it first, Lord Dan couldn't interfere.

First discovery, first claim—that was the consensus among the top existences.

As for weaker emperors like Emperor Silkworm, even if they discovered it first, they could be forcibly taken from them. Just like the 'Nine-Headed Dragon Mountain' in the Endless Territories, which was seized by the great Sovereign of the Mangya Kingdom.

"That fool Silkworm must have wanted to monopolize the mine." Emperor Firecloud laughed. "Now he's being hunted by Fubo, pitifully."

"Silkworm is treacherous and selfish by nature. Of course he wanted to keep it for himself." Lord Dan nodded slightly. "But now no one can protect him. Fubo has gone completely mad. Even if the Lord of the Divine Court sheltered Silkworm, unless Silkworm hid in the Lord's lair forever, Fubo's madness would kill him."

Sensing that his disciple had been killed and the news exposed, Emperor Silkworm was even more terrified to show his face. He was now a frightened bird.

Fubo's madness was indeed terrifying.

Though his talisman arts had reached the pinnacle, he was slightly weaker than Lord Dan or the Lord of the Divine Court. Yet even Lord Dan didn't want to be enemies with Emperor Fubo, because none of them were sure they could kill him.

"Such a mine—the Trileaf Realm must exploit it well." Lord Dan nodded. "Its value is immeasurable. Firecloud, forge six lifebound divine weapons for Beiming. I'll provide the materials. For less than two hundred million cubes, acquiring this mine—such good fortune is rare."

"Mm." Emperor Firecloud nodded with a smile.

Ji Ning sighed inwardly.

In truth, Ji Ning, Feng Yi, and Qing Heng had no designs on this mine. Even ordinary Eternal Emperors dared not claim it alone. And since Emperor Silkworm already knew, it was bound to leak eventually.

So those who could claim the mine without fear of covetousness were few in this universe. Ji Ning, Qing Heng, and the others were from other universes and only at the World level. They had no chance to meet such beings. Even if they could, they dared not, fearing exposure of their identities. A weakling trying to negotiate would likely be subjected to forcible soul-searching.

With all these worries, after leaving the Spirit Immortal Realm, Ji Ning and the others dared not reveal anything.

This time, because Ji Ning had an extraordinary relationship with Lord Dan, who treated him well and even passed on the 'Dan Ye Seven Chapters' to him, considering him family, Ji Ning dared to speak. Without this connection, Ji Ning would have kept the news buried forever.

...