Chapter 27: The Sixteenth Level of the Crimson Brightness Nine Heavens Diagram

About thirty years ago, some mysterious forces appeared in the entire Daxia world, suspected to be from other worlds.

One of these forces was called the 'Blood Cloud Tower'.

The Blood Cloud Tower was an assassin organization that did not meddle in any other disputes. Whoever offered treasures, it would help kill them! Whether it was a weak mortal or a powerful celestial immortal! In the entire Daxia world, except for the Daxia Emperor, everyone else could be killed. Since the Blood Cloud Tower appeared in the Daxia world, it sent tokens to some top-tier feudal lords, tribes, and sects. Through the token, one could contact the Blood Cloud Tower, arrive at the legendary 'Blood Cloud Tower World', hand over treasures, and sign a contract. The Blood Cloud Tower would then go and kill the target.

If the mission failed, the Blood Cloud Tower would continue to assassinate. Once the Blood Cloud Tower chose to abandon the mission, it would return all the treasures.

If the mission succeeded, naturally the debt was cleared.

...

Another force was called the 'Gate of No Return'.

This was a far more mysterious force than the Blood Cloud Tower. The Gate of No Return also revealed its traces in the Daxia world about thirty years ago. This Gate of No Return frantically 'stirred up trouble' throughout the Daxia world. For example, in Anchan Commandery, it bestowed secret techniques and treasures to the Blood God Cult, which had a grudge against the Anchan North Mountain Clan, greatly increasing the Blood God Cult's strength.

In the past, the Blood God Cult was weak, so the Blood God Cult leader endured his hatred for the Anchan North Mountain Clan. But once his strength increased, coupled with the temptations of the 'Gate of No Return', he immediately began a frenzied attack.

The Gate of No Return tempted various forces.

Bestowing treasures, bestowing secret techniques.

Killing powerful figures counted as meritorious service! The greater the merit, the more the Gate of No Return bestowed.

"What exactly does this Gate of No Return want?" Ji Ning looked at the intelligence records, stunned. "Frantically stirring up trouble throughout the Daxia world, making them kill, kill, kill. The more they kill, the more secret techniques and treasures they get?"

No one knew where the headquarters of the 'Gate of No Return' was.

Not even a single stronghold of the Gate of No Return had been discovered. Those forces that were tempted were all visited personally by envoys of the Gate of No Return.

The strength of the Gate of No Return was very formidable... Among those envoys of the Gate of No Return alone, the 'White-Robed Envoys' were all loose immortals and earth immortals, while the 'Gold-Robed Envoys' were all celestial immortals. The number of different celestial immortals already confirmed exceeded three hundred!

"Three hundred?" Ji Ning looked down at this number in the intelligence, his expression changing drastically.

Frightening.

Truly frightening!

He remembered that during the Immortal Fortune Convention, on the main hall of the Heavenly芒 Hall, forces from all over the Daxia Dynasty had gathered, totaling about a thousand celestial immortals. Of course, there were many more celestial immortals in the Daxia Dynasty who did not attend the Immortal Fortune Convention. For example, Tuoshan Celestial Immortal and Tonghe Celestial Immortal did not go. The Shaoyin Clan only sent Ancestor Xuanji.

It was estimated that the entire Daxia Dynasty still had several thousand, or even ten thousand, celestial immortals.

But...

This was the combined strength of many feudal lords, sects, and cults. It was not the strength of the Daxia imperial clan! The imperial clan's own strength was limited. Note that historically, feudal lords had rebelled. Even the Anchan North Mountain Clan was now lying low, watching the situation, and would not frantically serve as cannon fodder for the 'imperial clan'.

"Just one Gate of No Return has already revealed over three hundred celestial immortals. Across the entire Daxia Dynasty, probably only the imperial clan could have such strength. No other tribe or sect is this strong." Ji Ning was secretly alarmed. "No wonder the Xia Emperor dared not act recklessly. After all, these three hundred celestial immortals are only so-called 'Gold-Robed Envoys', merely envoys. This is not even the full strength of the Gate of No Return."

...

The Blood Cloud Tower: if you give treasures, they are willing to kill. Even if the Daxia imperial clan offered treasures, they could hire the Blood Cloud Tower to kill.

The Gate of No Return: stirring up trouble under heaven, causing chaos everywhere. But the Gate of No Return's own strongholds, lair, and true strength were all unknown.

...

Besides these two major forces, there were also secret forces, but the other secret forces were more low-key and less conspicuous. The first two forces were too arrogant, so naturally they were investigated more.

Whether it was the exposed Blood Cloud Tower and Gate of No Return, or the mysterious secret forces...

They had one thing in common.

They all appeared about thirty years ago!

"No wonder the Xia Emperor dared not act recklessly. Just the Blood Cloud Tower and the Gate of No Return are terrifyingly powerful. Not to mention the hidden ones." Ji Ning mused, having finished reading this book.

"Don't worry." The silver-haired man beside him laughed, "After all, the ruler of the entire Daxia world is His Majesty! If these forces stirring up trouble in the shadows, like the Gate of No Return, truly had the strength to deal with the imperial clan, they wouldn't be stirring up trouble like this, being so secretive and afraid to reveal themselves."

Ji Ning was startled, then nodded: "En, I understand."

That made sense too.

Even the Anchan North Mountain Clan had hidden an old monster, 'Ancestor Tonghe'. As the ruler of an entire major world, and even a member of the ancient imperial clan, the 'Daxia Emperor' had accumulated how much strength over the endless years? The Daxia imperial clan's management of the entire world was deeply rooted. Just the Yinglong Guard alone!

The Yinglong Guard had a branch in every commandery city, and each Yinglong Guard branch was almost comparable to a feudal lord.

The entire Yinglong Guard was already a terrifying force.

"His Majesty was able to end the era of the gods and demons; these petty troublemakers cannot shake him. The great calamity has not yet truly descended; these are just small waves." The silver-haired man smiled at Ji Ning, "I believe you now have a clear picture of the situation in the entire Daxia world."

"En." Ji Ning nodded, "Thank you, Senior Tianhu, oh, I should thank His Majesty the Emperor, for allowing me to see this intelligence. Without it, I wouldn't have known about the Blood Cloud Tower, let alone the Gate of No Return."

"If you have any matters, feel free to come to the Daxia capital to find me." The silver-haired man laughed, "I will do my best to help."

"Certainly."

Ji Ning nodded, then quickly added, "By the way, do you have any news about my senior apprentice-sister Yu Wei?"

"Since Yu Wei left the Daxia world with Patriarch Lu, she hasn't returned in over thirty years. She's probably still in cultivation." The silver-haired man said.

...

Ji Ning, along with Uncle Bai, left Anchan City and returned to Yan Mountain.

This time at the Heavenly Treasures Mountain, he also got the answer he wanted. The 'Viper Snake Formation' was a formation commonly used by Blood Cloud Tower assassins. So the twelve people who had pursued him back then should be Blood Cloud Tower assassins. As for who had hired the Blood Cloud Tower to kill him... Ji Ning's first thought was the 'Shaoyin Clan'. Apart from the Shaoyin Clan, Ji Ning couldn't think of anyone else.

...

After returning to Yan Mountain.

Uncle Bai continued to set up formations. Initially, only one peerless deadly formation had been set up; there were still two major deadly formations not yet set up. Ji Ning devoted himself to cultivating the Dao, sometimes studying swordsmanship, sometimes drawing his bow and shooting arrows to learn the 'Hou Yi Archery Art'.

...

Amidst Ji Ning's peaceful life, the entire Daxia world was far from peaceful.

In almost every commandery, and even in the four seas, under the 'Gate of No Return's' fueling of the flames, things became increasingly frenzied. Meanwhile, both the Daxia imperial clan and the many feudal lords were cautious. Because they could not see clearly their 'opponent', and could not even find out where their opponent's lair was.

And at the same time...

The Shaoyin Clan was also investigating Ji Ning.

"Even the Blood Cloud Tower demanded twenty top-grade immortal treasures. Although the Blood Cloud Tower is crazy, based on their past pricing, although relatively high, it still reflects the difficulty of the target. Ji Ning's strength must be higher than we initially estimated, otherwise he wouldn't have survived the Blood Cloud Tower's first wave of assassination."

"In just over thirty years, his strength has increased so much compared to the Immortal Fortune Convention. If we let him grow, in another thirty years, it might be difficult for our Shaoyin Clan to kill him."

"We must eliminate him as soon as possible, or he will surely become a major threat."

"Since the Blood Cloud Tower's price is high, we'll act ourselves. We must succeed in one go."

"En, we must make all preparations and treat Ji Ning as a top-tier celestial immortal."

Within the Shaoyin Clan, they all recognized the threat of Ji Ning.

In fact, ever since the Shaoyin Clan sent people to destroy the Ji Clan back then, the enmity between the two sides had been great. The assassination in the Daxia capital had made the enmity irreconcilable.

This time, the Blood Cloud Tower assassination—Ji Ning had no other 'major enemies' in the Daxia Dynasty besides the Shaoyin Clan. Ji Ning could completely guess...

"Eliminate."

"Must eliminate."

The Shaoyin Clan began to investigate, but they found that Yan Mountain was simply a dragon's pool and tiger's den. The terrifying formations there were even more frightening than the Shaoyin Clan's own tribal lair.

"It's impossible to assassinate Ji Ning in Yan Mountain."

"Ji Ning is now in Yan Mountain... we must wait."

"Wait."

...

Ji Ning's days in Yan Mountain were leisurely. No matter the turmoil outside, he silently cultivated.

From winter to spring and summer, and then to deep autumn.

Ji Ning had been at Wing Serpent Lake in Yan Mountain all along!

In fact, Ji Ning had always wanted to go to the East Forest Mountain Range. After all, he had suffered a loss there before, and the 'East Forest Mountain Range' was the only stronghold of a mysterious force that Ji Ning knew of. Moreover, judging from the methods used against him, they should not be able to harm him. Of course, Ji Ning wanted to go! With the 'Seventy-Two Transformations', he didn't need to worry about being exposed and could easily infiltrate it.

But...

Ji Ning had not gone all along because he was waiting for a breakthrough in the 'Crimson Brightness Nine Heavens Diagram'! It had been ten years since he reached the fifteenth level of the Crimson Brightness Nine Heavens Diagram. Over these years, besides cultivation, he had never stopped practicing the 'Crimson Brightness Nine Heavens Diagram' every day. Because his divine body was strong, his absorption of lunar power and solar power was also astonishing. But now, the breakthrough required a tremendous amount of divine power. Ji Ning felt that he was close to a breakthrough.

So he restrained himself from going to the 'East Forest Mountain Range', waiting until he broke through and his strength greatly increased before investigating, which would naturally be more assured!

"Qiuye, I'm going to the lake to be quiet. I'll be back in the evening. Make sure to prepare some good food." Ji Ning said with a smile.

"En." Qiuye quickly nodded.

Ji Ning stood by the shore, waved his hand, and a small boat appeared on the lake. Ji Ning took a step and was already on the small boat. Then the boat drifted, floating toward the distant parts of Wing Serpent Lake.

Qiuye watched from afar, watching for a long time until Ji Ning disappeared into the distant mist over the water, then she turned and went back.

...

The boat drifted. Ji Ning lay on the small boat, naturally absorbing the power of the Lunar Star and the Solar Star. Suddenly, Ji Ning sensed something and opened his eyes. He felt that his divine power had reached an extreme; it was time to break through. He immediately stood up, took a step, and left the small boat, standing directly on the lake surface.

"Boom~~~" "Boom~~~"

In the void beyond endless space, the two supreme stars, the 'Lunar Star' and the 'Solar Star', immediately descended their power, transmitted through the void, directly onto Ji Ning.