Chapter 28: Only One in Ten

The Taiyin and Taiyang divine patterns behind Ji Ning were growing more profound, and at this moment they blazed brightly. Even a golden crow wreathed in flames appeared circling around Ji Ning, while a moon rabbit radiating chilliness raised its head to gaze into the void, as if looking at the Taiyin star in the endless void.

From the distant Taiyin and Taiyang stars in the void, vast amounts of Taiyin True Water and Taiyang True Fire descended.

“Hoo hoo hoo~~~”

Water and fire intertwined like threads, quickly wrapping around Ji Ning completely, forming a giant egg. This ‘egg’ was made of Taiyin True Water and Taiyang True Fire, and the energy within it was transmitted into Ji Ning’s body in a mysterious way that even he could not fathom, wildly transforming his divine body. His divine body began another fundamental ‘metamorphosis’—a breakthrough in major realm, causing even the ‘Taiyin and Taiyang divine patterns’ to transform along with it.

…

On the calm waters of Yìshé Lake, a one-zhang-tall ‘egg’ floated. The eggshell was faintly mixed with two colors, and though it inspired an intangible fear, it did not harm the water’s surface in the slightest.

Gradually…

The eggshell grew thinner and more transparent, until one could faintly see a person inside. Finally, the ‘eggshell’ completely dissipated, revealing a naked youth standing on the lake’s surface. Immediately, a finely tailored beast-hide garment appeared on his body.

“Hah, I’ve finally reached the sixteenth level of the Crimsonbright Diagram of the Nine Heavens.” Ji Ning let out a breath. “This is comparable to an ordinary divine-mortal body refiner at the ‘late Void Return’ stage, right? Before I undergo the tribulation as a divine-mortal body refiner, I can only cultivate up to the seventeenth level at most. Now I’m close to the limit before my true self undergoes the tribulation.”

Once the Crimsonbright Diagram of the Nine Heavens reaches the eighteenth level, the heavenly tribulation will soon descend, so before the tribulation, one can at most reach the seventeenth level.

This breakthrough was a leap across a major realm.

An essential metamorphosis.

Previously, the reason the *Eight-Nine Arcane Art* could only be cultivated to the third cycle was that his divine body had reached its limit and could no longer withstand a stronger transformation. But now, Ji Ning’s divine body had undergone an essential leap, allowing him to cultivate all the way to the sixth cycle of the *Eight-Nine Arcane Art*! Unfortunately… cultivating to the sixth cycle would cost roughly a thousand times more than the third cycle!

The ninth cycle would cost roughly a thousand times more than the sixth cycle! The thought was chilling. Even Ji Ning’s senior apprentice-brother, ‘Silvermoon God’, had only cultivated to the sixth cycle. In the Three Realms, those who had cultivated the *Eight-Nine Arcane Art* to the ninth cycle were few and far between—even rarer than Dao Ancestors and True Gods.

“My divine-mortal body refinement has risen from being comparable to early Void Return to comparable to late Void Return—a leap of two minor levels.” Ji Ning understood. “I’m afraid my close combat strength now surpasses my qi-refining strength.”

Previously, in qi-refining, with the Plowshare Sword Formation, he was slightly stronger than in close combat. But now Ji Ning’s divine body was too powerful. Divine-mortal body refinement was inherently strong, and Ji Ning, comparable to an ordinary divine-mortal body refiner at late Void Return… with the divine ability *Star Picker Hand*, his explosive power in terms of strength and such was completely superior to a Celestial Immortal. Combined with the Thousandbull Sword and his sword arts, he could be considered at a decent level among Celestial Immortals—at least no longer at the level of being just slightly above the bottom.

…

After his breakthrough, Ji Ning still lay in the small boat, drifting on Yìshé Lake.

Just as one might want to show off achievements before parents and receive their praise, Ji Ning, after increasing his strength, drifted on Yìshé Lake as if beside his parents, letting them see his power. The faint sound of lapping waves seemed like his parents’ voices.

“Now that I’ve returned from Mount Fangcun with greatly increased strength, it’s time to investigate the matter of my parents’ reincarnation.” Ji Ning thought silently.

Reincarnation after death.

Ji Ning had long been concerned about this and wanted to look into it. He even wanted to investigate how his past-life parents were doing. But back then, Ji Ning was too weak and had no ability to investigate. Now he barely had the ability, but these were not peaceful times. In peacetime, everything was under the jurisdiction of the underworld, making investigation easy. But now the Six Paths of Reincarnation had long collapsed, making investigation far more difficult than before.

At dusk.

Ji Ning returned to Brightheart Island and ate some delicacies made by Qiuye together with Uncle Bai, Xiaoqing, and Qiuye. Then, Ji Ning quietly entered the underwater estate.

…

The underwater estate.

The yellow-furred bear looked at Ji Ning and smiled, “Congratulations. You’ve broken through to the sixteenth level of divine-mortal body refinement—a leap across a major realm. You now have two more chances to challenge the ‘War God Hall’. And you can go to the Treasure Hall to choose another treasure. But I must say, your patience is really good—you broke through and didn’t come in until evening.”

Ji Ning just smiled, then asked, “Last time, I cleared the eighth floor of the War God Hall. The top still has the ninth and tenth floors. Senior, what are my chances of clearing the ninth floor now?”

“The ninth floor? Well, if you and your second true self join forces, you barely have a one-in-ten chance.” The yellow-furred bear said.

“Only one in ten?” Ji Ning exclaimed.

He considered himself quite good among Celestial Immortals, and he had the *Eight-Nine Arcane Art* protecting his body.

“How much of a chance did you think? Clearing the ninth and tenth floors rewards Pure Yang treasures.” The yellow-furred bear said, “The seventh and eighth floors give Immortal-ranked treasures; the last two floors give Pure Yang treasures. Naturally, the difficulty spikes sharply. I estimate… to clear the ninth floor with absolute certainty, you need the strength of a top-tier Celestial Immortal. As for the tenth floor, you’d need strength close to a Pure Yang True Immortal.”

Ji Ning blinked.

The ninth floor? Top-tier Celestial Immortal?

The tenth floor? Nearly a True Immortal?

Ji Ning was self-aware. His *Three-Foot Sword* was still far from the Great Completion of the sword dao. In terms of sword arts alone, Ji Ning was decent among Celestial Immortals—far above the bottom—but still far from true top-tier. He estimated that ‘Patriarch Tonghe’ was probably at the level of a top-tier Celestial Immortal.

“Alright, I won’t challenge it for now. After all, before becoming a god, I only have two chances to challenge.” Ji Ning said, “Senior, let’s go to the Treasure Hall. Let me take a good look.”

“You really should choose carefully. Even if I gave you a Pure Yang treasure, you couldn’t use it. So what’s most important to you now are Immortal-ranked treasures. This will be your third time obtaining an Immortal-ranked treasure. I’ll let you choose from all the Immortal-ranked treasures left by the master—any of them.” The yellow-furred bear said as he and Ji Ning arrived at the Treasure Hall.

Above the Treasure Hall, treasures still floated, radiating powerful auras.

But to Ji Ning now, these auras no longer mattered. He could even forcibly seize a Pure Yang treasure.

“Here, this is the list of all Immortal-ranked treasures.” The yellow-furred bear handed Ji Ning a thick treasure book.

Ji Ning immediately lowered his head and began flipping through it.

He had already chosen Immortal-ranked treasures twice. The first time was the ‘Three-Talent Immortal-Suppressing Loop’, a top-grade Immortal-ranked treasure, which he had prepared for Uncle Bai and given to him long ago. The second time was the ‘Plowshare Sword Formation’, composed of nine supreme-grade Immortal-ranked flying swords—obviously much better. This third time, all Immortal-ranked treasures were in the catalog.

“This, this…”

“These are far better than the Plowshare Sword Formation.” Ji Ning stared in amazement.

The Plowshare Sword Formation was good, but compared to the top Immortal-ranked treasures collected by Lord San Shou, it was far inferior. After all, the Plowshare Sword Formation was merely a ‘standard-issue treasure’.

“These are the very best—probably the most supreme in the current Three Realms. The master left these Immortal-ranked treasures without breaking up the sets.” The yellow-furred bear said beside him.

Ji Ning’s eyes lit up.

For example, this one before him.

Five-Thunder Cosmic-Time Ship: A supreme-grade Immortal-ranked treasure, extremely fast—comparable to a Heavenly God or True Immortal! By merely pouring in elemental energy, one could unleash ‘Five-Thunder Cosmic-Time’ to attack enemies.

Five-Thunder Cosmic-Time was a technique no less formidable than ‘Nine Heavens Divine-Extinguishing Fire’. Hiding inside the ship, the enemy could do nothing while you freely unleashed waves of Five-Thunder Cosmic-Time to bombard them! Even a Celestial Immortal patriarch, subjected to such relentless bombardment, would mostly perish. After all, few could withstand bombardment like Ji Ning, who had cultivated the *Eight-Nine Arcane Art*. This single treasure was no less valuable than a Pure Yang treasure, because even Pure Yang treasures rarely could directly unleash ‘Five-Thunder Cosmic-Time’.

…

“This, this is simply…” Ji Ning’s eyes widened.

Heavenly-Earthly Net Formation: A terrifying formation composed of three thousand six hundred supreme-grade Immortal-ranked flying knives. Once the enemy was trapped inside, the three thousand six hundred flying knives would swarm and attack wildly. As the saying goes, two fists can’t beat four hands, and with the formation’s mysteries, the power was immense… A Celestial Immortal possessing such a treasure could swagger across the world. Even if offered an ordinary Pure Yang treasure in exchange, no one would be foolish enough to trade.

“Senior, these three thousand six hundred supreme-grade Immortal-ranked flying knives forming a formation count as one set?” Ji Ning found it hard to believe.

Although flying knives were generally less valuable than flying swords,

three thousand six hundred flying knives were equivalent to several hundred supreme-grade Immortal-ranked flying swords. The Plowshare Sword Formation had only nine!

“Of course. There are many fine treasures here. All the precious Immortal-ranked treasures the master obtained are here. Take your time looking.” The yellow-furred bear said.

…

“Ten-Thousand Epoch Extinction Needles!” Ji Ning flipped to the set composed of the most supreme-grade Immortal-ranked treasures.

It consisted of ten thousand flying needles stored in a ‘needle case’. The needle case itself was an extremely precious supreme-grade Immortal-ranked treasure, containing a Dao diagram within. When battle began, opening the needle case would unleash countless flying needles… With the power of the Dao diagram, it was truly chilling.

…

“Star-Cycle Sword Formation? Pretty powerful, but it would be better if there were more flying swords.”

The Star-Cycle Sword Formation contained the ancient ‘Star-Cycle Grand Formation’, specially refined into three hundred and sixty supreme-grade Immortal-ranked flying swords. When activated, each flying sword was like a star crashing into the enemy.

…

Ji Ning was completely enraptured by the top Immortal-ranked treasures in the treasure book. Lord San Shou had collected them specifically for his successors—not just one successor, but generation after generation—so naturally, there were many treasures.

…