Chapter 31: Soul Search

The woman sitting cross-legged was not flustered at all. Instead, she stood up with a smile. As she rose, her body, which had been as thin as a bag of bones, quickly began to fill out, and her skin became delicate. In the brief time it took her to stand, she transformed from a beggar-like woman back into a peerlessly enchanting figure.

“Qianrou greets the True Immortal,” the woman said with a smile. “It’s been a long time since I’ve seen an outsider. The warden hasn’t appeared for three chaos cycles either. Seeing someone again truly makes me happy. And what makes me happiest is that the Nine Domains Chaos Kingdom has already fallen. Haha, wonderful, wonderful.”

Ji Ning looked at the woman. She was not flustered at all?

“May Qianrou know the True Immortal’s name?” the woman asked.

“Beiming,” Ji Ning said, looking at her.

“Beiming?” the woman nodded lightly. “If the True Immortal can release me, I would submit to you and be willing to serve as your servant.”

“I cannot release you,” Ji Ning said.

The woman was momentarily stunned, then nodded. “Yes, it is too difficult to undo these shackles. Without the Nine Domains Monarch’s token, only a Chaos Immortal or a World God could do it. But True Immortal… I do not wish to die. I am willing to submit to you, but could the True Immortal refrain from placing a soul imprint?”

Ji Ning laughed instead. “You agree quite readily.”

“In the Nine Domains Chaos Kingdom, the Nine Domains Monarch would still consider the various factions and would not directly kill me. But now that the Nine Domains Chaos Kingdom has fallen, to you True Immortals… we are all prisoners of foreign races. There are generally only two paths: death or submission. I do not wish to die, so I can only submit,” the woman said with a smile.

Ji Ning nodded.

It was like in the mortal world, where humans and demons were irreconcilable—humans naturally killed beasts for meat, and beasts ate humans. But at higher levels of power and status, powerful cultivators and demons fought less fiercely.

As for the Three Realms,

one must never show mercy to chaos foreigners. Releasing one chaos foreigner could bring other chaos foreigners, and might even cause the Three Realms to fall! So they must be killed. Those not of our kind are sure to have different hearts.

“And the soul imprint?” the woman looked at Ji Ning. A soul imprint would affect the clarity of enlightenment and hinder the path of cultivation in the long run.

“A soul imprint is unnecessary,” Ji Ning shook his head. “However, I will perform a soul search on you. You must not resist.”

Since they had been imprisoned here all along, there was indeed no need for a soul imprint.

“Soul search?” the woman hesitated. That would expose everything about her to another.

“If you are unwilling, then you are of no use to me,” Ji Ning said.

The woman gritted her teeth. “Fine. Qianrou agrees to the True Immortal.”

Although the True Immortal before her seemed to be the weakest kind, if it came to a fight, even if the True Immortal was not her match, combat consumed divine power. Once her divine power was exhausted, she would be finished. And the True Immortal, as the warden, could continuously draw power from the outside.

“Good,” Ji Ning nodded.

He felt no pity for these chaos foreign lives.

For the sake of his own tribe, his wife and daughter, Ji Ning would not hesitate to kill countless chaos foreigners.

Ji Ning walked over.

Qianrou closed her eyes and sighed inwardly: “I used my Heavenly Charm technique, yet it had no effect on him at all.” She had consumed divine power to restore her appearance and then used the Heavenly Charm technique, which only enhanced her natural allure. This natural charm was more effective than vulgar seduction.

But Ji Ning’s heartforce had reached the fourth level, far beyond what her Celestial Immortal-level Heavenly Charm could affect. Ji Ning did not even realize she had used the technique; he only thought she was exceptionally beautiful. But his wife Yu Wei had been sent by him into the Endless Hell, and all beauties were like pink skeletons in his eyes.

“Whoosh.” Ji Ning placed his hand on Qianrou’s head and immediately performed the soul search technique.

…

That enormous, gleaming golden core had images of heaven, earth, mountains, and rivers浮现 on its surface, radiating a powerful aura.

“This first-class golden core is truly remarkable.”

“Though it is only at the Celestial Immortal level, it is no less than my Pure Yang golden core.” Ji Ning’s divine sense delved into her core, deeply impressed. Then he stopped thinking and began the soul search technique.

Her soul was fused with the golden core, as one with it.

The formless soul force turned into specks of starlight, penetrating into the golden core and into Qianrou’s soul. Qianrou could have easily blocked it with a single thought, as her strength was comparable to Ji Ning’s, and he could not forcibly search her soul. But she had no choice; she suppressed her instincts and did not dare resist, allowing Ji Ning to probe.

As he penetrated her soul, a vast amount of memories began to unfold before Ji Ning.

Qianrou’s experiences from birth onward…

The vast and powerful Nine Domains Chaos Kingdom…

All was revealed before Ji Ning.

“This is a cultivation method.” Ji Ning finally found the Qi Refining cultivation method in Qianrou’s memories.

“Hmm?”

This piece of memory was like a bubble. Ji Ning tried to penetrate it to explore, but the surface of the memory bubble was covered with dense secret patterns. No matter how he tried, he could not probe inside; he could only glean fragments from the surface.

“In our Three Realms, one usually makes a Heavenly Dao oath or a heart demon oath to ensure that important techniques are not leaked. Even if someone performs a soul search, the heart demon and Heavenly Dao would prevent it. But the Nine Domains Chaos Kingdom’s method of preventing technique leakage is even more stringent.” Ji Ning was helpless.

Such secret patterns on memories were extremely profound. A Celestial Immortal could not have done it herself; it must have been done by her sect’s elders.

Ji Ning had to give up and continue browsing other memories…

…

A full half day passed.

Only then did Ji Ning remove his hand from Qianrou’s hair. The memories of this immortal were too vast, and he wanted to understand the details of the Nine Domains Chaos Kingdom, including common knowledge, so he spent half a day recording everything.

“So that’s how it is.”

A smile appeared on Ji Ning’s face.

“An unexpected delight.”

Having fully browsed Qianrou’s memories, he now had a considerable understanding of the Nine Domains Chaos Kingdom.

Qianrou’s identity was special. Her grandfather was the Nine Domains Monarch! The Nine Domains Monarch had three sons, and Qianrou’s father was the Second Prince. The Second Prince once traveled the world, passed by a place, raped the saintess of a local sect, and then drifted away, forgetting it entirely. Generally, the stronger one is, the harder it is to have offspring. The Nine Domains Monarch had his three children before becoming a World-level cultivator.

The Second Prince never expected that his casual rape would result in a daughter. The saintess became pregnant, and she was reviled by everyone. Life was hard, and Qianrou grew up watching her mother suffer, be beaten and cursed, and eventually commit suicide.

This made Qianrou hate her never-seen father with a burning passion.

Then…

The Nine Domains Monarch once used a spell and sensed that there was still bloodline outside. He sought her out and brought his granddaughter back.

Qianrou rose to prominence overnight and easily destroyed the nightmare-like religion.

But she hated her father, the Second Prince, even more. She hid like a venomous snake, biding her time, until she found an opportunity and sent the unprepared Second Prince into the Myriad Sufferings Ocean. Although the Nine Domains Monarch quickly rescued the Second Prince, the half hour in the Myriad Sufferings Ocean drove the Second Prince mad.

This enraged the Nine Domains Monarch, but royal blood was scarce. Still, he imprisoned Qianrou in the World Prison.

“The Nine Domains Monarch is truly remarkable, having conquered twelve chaos worlds in succession.”

“He has even killed at least three World-level beings.”

Ji Ning sighed inwardly.

A chaos world, after being born, goes through a long period of aging and then perishes. But after perishing, after some time, it will again give birth to gods and demons, opening a new chaos world. So the Nine Domains Monarch had always ruled a vast territory.

“Able to kill beings at the level of Pangu and Nuwa, and cultivating both divine power and magic, the Nine Domains Monarch is truly formidable,” Ji Ning marveled.

In terms of power, the Nine Domains Chaos Kingdom far surpassed the Three Realms.

“But I never expected the ‘Five Treasures Sword Art’ to be such an extraordinary sword technique.” Ji Ning’s eyes lit up. “This sword art could not have been created by Patriarch Fuju; he must have obtained it somewhere.”

After reading Qianrou’s memories, Ji Ning learned…

Techniques that transcend the limits of the Heavenly Dao can only be created after reaching the World level. And even then, it is only possible, not guaranteed. Nuwa herself could not create one.

Even in the Nine Domains Chaos Kingdom, there were only three such techniques that transcended the limits of the Heavenly Dao.

The Nine Domains Chaos Kingdom had three World-level beings. The Nine Domains Monarch was the strongest, but the other two World-level beings had not been able to create techniques transcending the limits of the Heavenly Dao. Of the three transcendent techniques in the Nine Domains Chaos Kingdom, two were created by the Nine Domains Monarch.

The third was obtained by the Nine Domains Monarch during a campaign against a chaos world.

Such transcendent techniques… even Ancestral Gods and Ancestral Immortals had to render great merits to be granted them. Celestial Immortals and Heavenly Gods were not even qualified. Even True Gods and True Immortals had to be truly gifted, with great merits and high status, to be granted them.

Even those granted them had to make a Lifebound Oath never to pass them on.

In the Nine Domains Chaos Kingdom, only the Nine Domains Monarch could teach these three techniques. Ancestral Gods and Ancestral Immortals had to make Lifebound Oaths.

“That means, in this World Prison, I cannot obtain any transcendent technique either.” Ji Ning was shocked. “I never expected that Patriarch Fuju of our Three Realms had such a technique. It must be at the level of Nuwa, and could only be realized after cultivating to a very high level.”

He also recalled that Patriarch Fuju died in the chaos, and at his death, he arranged a legacy, as if he knew he was in danger.

“Patriarch Fuju probably obtained the Five Treasures Sword Art somewhere. He just did not want to reveal that place, so he claimed he created it himself,” Ji Ning thought to himself.