Chapter 28: Tradition

For Ji Ning, who had long since reached the ‘Dao Realm’ and whose highest achievement happened to be in the water element among the five elements, comprehending the Water Source Manual was naturally very easy. Although he had only just begun to grasp it, he had already thoroughly studied the Zi Mansion chapter of the Water Source Manual, and had even comprehended most of the Wanxiang chapter.

In other words, Ji Ning could cultivate all the way to the Wanxiang True Person stage in one go, provided he had enough liquid elemental essence.

Rumble~~~

The lake of elemental power in his Zi Mansion rotated slowly, very slowly, but the closer to the bottom, the faster the rotation. Especially at the deepest source of the entire Zi Mansion lake, the vortex there was extremely powerful. And as the amount of ‘elemental power lake water’ grew larger, the power of the vortex here also continuously strengthened.

The source became even deeper.

The elemental power born became even purer!

After cultivating for nearly an hour.

Boom~~ With a tremor of the entire Zi Mansion space, the source of the vast elemental power lake underwent another transformation, and the purity of the elemental power soared again.

Zi Mansion is complete.

In the vast Zi Mansion space, the mighty lake was still slowly expanding, but the quality of this ‘elemental power’ had reached the limit of the Zi Mansion level and could not be improved further. It could only continue to accumulate and expand in quantity.

...

In the quiet room, under the hazy light of a pearl, Ji Ning, who was sitting cross-legged on a jade bed, opened his eyes and glanced at the emerald green jade bottle placed on the ground in front of him. He nodded slightly: “I consumed about eighty catties of liquid elemental essence and raised my Qi Refining all the way to the Zi Mansion perfection level. But to break through from Zi Mansion perfection to the early Wanxiang stage and possess the most top-grade Dharma Idol... the amount of liquid elemental essence needed is astonishing.”

The Wanxiang stage is an extremely special stage.

Some Wanxiang True Persons have Dharma Idols that only manifest countless brilliant stars.

Others, like Mu Xiao True Person and Xu Li True Person, have Dharma Idols with brilliant stars and a bright moon, so the Dharma Idol technique they use is a moonlight giant hand!

But...

The legendary top-grade Dharma Idol manifests billions of stars, a bright moon, and a blazing sun simultaneously. Only with the top-grade Dharma Idol... is it possible, at ‘Wanxiang perfection’, to nurture the Dharma Idol scene of ‘the moon rabbit emerging from the bright moon, and the golden crow appearing in the blazing sun’.

The moon rabbit emerges, the golden crow appears.

Only then does it represent a complete foundation, which is the ‘foundation for becoming a Celestial Immortal’. Without reaching this step, it is simply impossible to become a Celestial Immortal.

So how does one obtain the top-grade Dharma Idol?

It relies on accumulating and expanding the ‘Zi Mansion lake’ at the Zi Mansion level. This Zi Mansion lake is the foundation of everything. The deeper and wider the Zi Mansion lake, the deeper the elemental power. The Dharma Idol formed will be all the more astonishing.

“With some inferior techniques, the Zi Mansion lake is shallow and not very wide. Once one reaches Zi Mansion perfection, the lake cannot expand further. There is no hope of becoming a Wanxiang True Person.” Ji Ning sighed. For example, his own Ji clan was like this. The techniques were too poor, causing the Zi Mansion lake foundation to be too weak, and they couldn’t even break through to possess a Dharma Idol!

The Star Dharma Idol is the worst Dharma Idol.

The Bright Moon Dharma Idol is slightly better.

The Sun and Moon Dharma Idol is the top-grade.

At the Wanxiang perfection stage, the appearance of the moon rabbit and golden crow represents a complete foundation.

“According to the experiences of Black-White College disciples recorded in the Water Source Manual,” Ji Ning thought, “once one reaches Zi Mansion perfection, if one then absorbs five hundred catties of liquid elemental essence to break through, one can obtain the Sun and Moon Dharma Idol. If one absorbs eight hundred catties of liquid elemental essence to break through to the Wanxiang level... only then, at Wanxiang perfection, will the golden crow and moon rabbit appear in the Dharma Idol.”

This is the benefit of sects. The experiences of predecessors let later generations know what to do.

Fortunately, it was an immortal-grade Qi Refining technique.

If it were an inferior technique... even with an endless supply of liquid elemental essence, one couldn’t refine it, so it would be useless.

...

After spending an hour cultivating to Zi Mansion perfection, Ji Ning took out the Little Five Elements Sword Record. For top-tier sects, when dealing with important inner disciples, cultivation was this simple. Once one’s realm was reached, the sect would naturally let them save time as much as possible, spending it on understanding the Dao, studying sword techniques, divine abilities, and so on.

“Sword techniques!” Ji Ning’s eyes shone with greed.

Ever since reaching the Dao Realm, his realm was too high, and the sword technique manuals in the Ji clan were useless to him.

For a true Sword Immortal... a profound and extensive sword technique could allow them to unleash extraordinary combat power. Even if one was only at the Dao Realm, by comprehending sword techniques, one could fully comprehend sword techniques beyond one’s own realm.

“The Little Five Elements Sword Record! One of the top five sword techniques of Black-White College, enough for even Immortals to comprehend.”

A sword technique manual, whose exchange cost was even close to that of a divine ability, showed its power.

Ji Ning gently opened the book.

He extended his finger to form a sword finger and began to try to practice. This quiet room was built by Black-White College specifically for formal disciples to train in seclusion. The formation was perfectly aligned with the grand formation of the entire Black-White College. Even if one practiced moves... as long as one wasn’t an Immortal, one couldn’t damage the quiet room at all.

Chi.

Hua.

Ji Ning practiced while reading, completely immersed in the sword technique.

It was like when he was a child learning the Thirty-Six Heavenly Stars and Seventy-Two Earthly Fiends Sword Style, completely absorbed. Back then, his father taught him, but this time, Ji Ning studied alone.

...

While Ji Ning was studying the sword technique, in a mansion on one of the peaks of Black-White College.

“Junior Brother Wenjian, Junior Brother Wenjian.” A voice sounded.

“Senior Brother Bu, please come in.”

An indifferent voice came from deep within the mansion. Immediately, a blue-robed, long-haired man outside the mansion drifted in. The Zi Mansion cultivators and ordinary mortals in the mansion all showed respect. Naturally, they couldn’t compare to the formal disciples of Black-White College.

“What brings Senior Brother Bu to my place?” A white-robed youth walked out, none other than Blood-Drinking Wenjian.

“Junior Brother Wenjian.” The blue-robed man smiled. “I heard that during this recruitment of disciples by our college, the cave you guarded was breached?”

Blood-Drinking Wenjian’s face darkened.

This was his shame!

That time, Ji Ning forced him to use his sword formation to block. For someone as proud as him, he naturally remembered it. That was why he hadn’t attended the initiation ceremony for Ji Ning and Mu Zishuo earlier.

“Yes.” Blood-Drinking Wenjian said coldly.

“Don’t be angry, Junior Brother Wenjian.” The blue-robed man laughed. “Perhaps you don’t know yet... because of his exceptional talent, this Ji Ning has been accepted as the chief disciple by Immortal Diancai of our college.”

Blood-Drinking Wenjian showed surprise: “Immortal Diancai?”

Immortal Diancai was a Sword Immortal!

And Blood-Drinking Wenjian walked the path of the sword. He had once longed to become Immortal Diancai’s disciple. But usually, when formal disciples first joined, they were taken as disciples by Primordial Daoists. It was rare for an Immortal to take a disciple directly. Over time, he had gotten used to it. Not being taken as a disciple by Immortal Diancai seemed normal to him. But now, that Ji Ning had become Immortal Diancai’s disciple!

“So what?” Blood-Drinking Wenjian’s eyes flashed with sharpness. “In the end, one’s strength depends on oneself.”

“Right.” The blue-robed man nodded. “Cultivation depends on the individual. But Junior Brother Wenjian, last time you lost to that Ji Ning, it was only because you could only use one flying sword. Your true strength couldn’t be brought into play at all.”

Blood-Drinking Wenjian said nothing. In terms of strength, he considered himself far stronger than that Ji Ning.

“And Junior Brother Wenjian, you know.” The blue-robed man smiled. “Our Black-White College has an unspoken rule: new formal disciples are always taught a lesson in the Dao Debate Hall.”

Blood-Drinking Wenjian nodded.

The battles in the Dao Debate Hall... were a very safe form of sparring. The formal disciples of Black-White College also greatly enjoyed this kind of combat!

“New disciples are all peerless geniuses, used to being arrogant. The battles in the Dao Debate Hall... can sober them up, make them understand that there is always a sky above the sky, and people beyond people.” The blue-robed man laughed. “I wonder if Junior Brother Wenjian is interested in sobering up that genius Ji Ning, making him understand that in Black-White College, he is just an ordinary member.”

Blood-Drinking Wenjian’s eyes lit up. After a moment’s hesitation, he said coldly: “I will only fight Ji Ning!”

“There are several other junior brothers who want to fight.” The blue-robed man laughed. “What we need to do now is to go and challenge Mu Zishuo and Ji Ning.”

...

Mu Zishuo was riding a green dragon puppet, flying through the air toward his residence.

“Black-White College, truly worthy of its name.” Thinking of the puppet manual he had obtained, Mu Zishuo’s heart burned with passion. Many of the methods he had imagined were detailed in the puppet manual with a large number of plans, making him deeply engrossed.

Hua.

Mu Zishuo descended from the sky on the green dragon puppet.

“Junior Brother Shuangmu.” A blue-clad girl was calling out from in front of the door below.

“This senior sister is?” Mu Zishuo recalled that among the formal disciples he had seen at the initiation ceremony, there was this woman. A cultivator’s memory was formidable; once seen, it was firmly remembered.

The blue-clad girl smiled: “My name is Dong Lin. You can call me Senior Sister Dong Lin.”

Mu Zishuo said happily: “I don’t even have a servant here. I’ve been remiss, senior sister. Please don’t take offense.”

Seeing this, the blue-clad girl felt a bit of goodwill toward Mu Zishuo and said: “Junior Brother Shuangmu, I came to invite you to the Dao Debate Hall...”

“The Dao Debate Hall!” Mu Zishuo’s eyes lit up.

He had read the Black-White booklet and knew that sparring in the Dao Debate Hall was a very safe form of combat. The battle had nothing to do with elemental power or magic treasures. It was purely a comparison of each person’s understanding of the ‘Dao’ and their skill in applying it. Hence it was called ‘Dao debate’. Usually, there were also stakes, such as Black-White pills or liquid elemental essence.

“Sparring with senior brothers and sisters is something I look forward to.” Mu Zishuo said expectantly.

“Then let’s go.” The blue-clad girl said.

“Good.” Mu Zishuo’s eyes were full of fighting spirit.

Geniuses all have pride.

They had never met worthy opponents before. Although they knew that the old disciples of Black-White College were certainly extraordinary, they still itched to try.

Swoosh! Swoosh!

The blue-clad girl and Mu Zishuo flew side by side through the air, heading toward the Dao Debate Hall.