Chapter 30: Recovery

Standing alone deep in the canyon, Ji Ning's heartforce enveloped the entire Cold Star. Like ripples on a lake, his heartforce spread out in concentric circles, sweeping across the area it covered.

This was a minor technique of heartforce probing.

It was one of the many methods left behind by the World God Northrest. Although merely a minor technique, with this 'heartforce probing technique', no mighty figure in the Three Realms could track Ji Ning without him noticing.

When roaming the endless Chaos, many minor techniques—such as methods to conceal one's aura, heartforce probing, shapeshifting arts, heartforce soul-locking—though they couldn't enhance one's strength, greatly improved one's survival. Without these abilities, wandering the endless Chaos would easily lead to death.

These minor techniques seemed unremarkable, but they were actually top-tier methods passed down by the World God Northrest. Even among the Ancestral Gods and Ancestral Immortals of the Nine Chaos Kingdoms, few knew them.

"I thought that after this outburst of power, the Seamless Gate would be more cautious with me, maybe even track me. I even took a few detours to be careful... Now it seems they no longer see me as a threat," Ji Ning in black robes sighed inwardly. Before coming to this Cold Star, he had also visited the Crescent Moon Great World.

To prevent the Seamless Gate from tracking him, but unfortunately, they hadn't tracked him at all.

"True, since I'm not participating in the struggle for fortune, my threat to them is greatly reduced. To the mighty figures, without the All-Things Emissary, I'm still too weak!" Ji Ning in black robes shook his head, then vanished with a whoosh.

...

In the World Prison.

A white-robed youth sat cross-legged. Before him was a large cauldron faintly emitting light—the Five Elements Divine Cauldron. It was no longer the dirty thing it had been; its extraordinary nature was now evident.

"You're here." The white-robed youth looked up.

Ji Ning in black robes flew over from afar and landed. Instantly, a black electric serpent appeared, then quickly flew into the white-robed youth's body. Only when both the true body and the clone were Lightning Divine Bodies could they truly control the Nine-Angled Electric Serpent as they wished. The second avatar, though powerful, could not control it.

"Having consumed a massive amount of treasures—almost all the treasures I got from the World Prison were refined by the Five Elements Divine Cauldron, drained completely, to condense a vast amount of Five Elements Essence. Who would have thought... even the surface of the Violet-Glow Divine Sword couldn't be restored," Ji Ning in black robes said, looking to the side. There was a simple stone platform on which lay a blood-red divine sword covered in cracks.

The Violet-Glow Divine Sword, once it absorbed some Five Elements Essence and its surface was intact, could be used in battle, its power far surpassing Chaos Treasures.

If it absorbed enough Five Elements Essence and the entire sword was repaired, its power would drive Chaos Immortals and World Gods mad.

"It feels like only a fifth of the surface has been repaired," Ji Ning shook his head inwardly.

In the World Prison.

Over a thousand Celestial Immortals and Heavenly Gods—he had plundered them all!

He had also obtained many treasures from True Gods and True Immortals. Except for a few he kept, he refined all the rest.

"This isn't even forging 'Violet-Glow', just repairing it, and only the surface at that... and it requires such a vast amount of Five Elements Essence. With that much Five Elements Essence, if I used it to strengthen my Zhutian Star-Gold Pearls, perhaps a few of them could be elevated to the Chaos Treasure level," Ji Ning thought.

Five Elements Essence was mainly used to repair treasures. It could also be used to strengthen certain special treasures.

Some treasures had a good foundation and could withstand more Five Elements Essence, allowing them to be strengthened.

The Zhutian Star-Gold Pearls were not ordinary.

They were not innate spirit treasures naturally conceived after Pangu created the world. They were originally formed from the essence of massive stars in the endless Chaos that fell and condensed into crystal cores. These crystal cores floated about and, by chance, were drawn into the newly created Pangu World, becoming innate spirit treasures.

In fact, this kind of crystal core was a very precious refining material!

Smaller Chaos stars, after falling, could not condense their essence into crystal cores. Only sufficiently large Chaos stars could form 'crystal cores'. Each crystal core was a precious refining material, usually used to forge Chaos Treasures. Because they drifted into the newly opened Pangu World, they naturally became 'Zhutian Star-Gold Pearls', used for 'smashing' people.

A great waste!

The innate spirit treasures naturally conceived in the Pangu Chaos World had little potential, but the Zhutian Star-Gold Pearls had considerable potential. They could withstand a certain amount of Five Elements Essence and be elevated to the Chaos Treasure level. Unfortunately, raising all 3,600 Zhutian Star-Gold Pearls to Chaos Treasures was something Ji Ning could only dream of.

"Over three thousand Chaos Treasures?" Ji Ning shook his head inwardly. Even if he refined all the treasures in the World Prison, it might not be enough.

...

Beside the Five Elements Divine Cauldron, the white-robed youth sat cross-legged, with a bottle of Chaos Nectar before him.

Whoosh.

Drops of profound Chaos Nectar were drawn into the white-robed youth's body. Then a shadow flew out from him and landed beside him, condensing into another white-robed youth.

Time passed, and one white-robed youth after another was condensed. In essence, Ji Ning was still at the second level of the 'Tao Wu Eighteen Divine Powers'. He had only used the 'Only True Body' secret art to merge his seventeen clones into one. Now, by using the 'Tao Wu Eighteen Divine Powers' method to absorb Chaos Nectar and restore his clones, he was recovering the other seventeen clones.

"Ice-Fire Forging Golden Core Art."

The seventeen white-robed youths each had a ball of Nine-Yang Pulp and a ball of Iceheart Marrow floating before them.

Ji Ning in black robes watched the floating Nine-Yang Pulp and Iceheart Marrow and sighed, "There's still plenty of Nine-Yang Pulp, but not much Iceheart Marrow left. After this consumption, only about a hundred thousand catties of Iceheart Marrow remain."

This time, his true body was destroyed.

With Chaos Nectar, Iceheart Marrow, and Nine-Yang Pulp, he could fully recover his strength in just a month!

But if his true body was destroyed again, without enough Iceheart Marrow and with too little Chaos Nectar, recovery would take a long time. Just like the old 'Shaoyin Chou', if too many clones died, recovery required a long time.

...

A month later.

The seventeen white-robed youths, whose golden cores had been forged and elevated, once again used the 'Only True Body' secret art and merged into one.

"Strength restored."

White-robed Ji Ning's eyes held a hint of killing intent.

He could not forget the scene where the God King killed his senior apprentice-sister Yu Wei. That scene, perhaps, he would never forget for endless ages.

"God King, I'm still not strong enough now. Wait for me, I will return." Deep in Ji Ning's heart was boundless killing intent.

"Let's go."

Swoosh.

White-robed Ji Ning waved his hand, collecting Ji Ning in black robes, then flew up and headed into the distance.

Only that white-robed clone remained before the Five Elements Divine Cauldron. This clone was the foundation for Ji Ning to turn the tables. Even if his true body was destroyed, he could gradually cultivate back. So Ji Ning would never merge this clone using the 'Only True Body' secret art; if it died, he would truly die.

...

After flying for a while.

White-robed Ji Ning quickly descended. On the plain ahead stood many stone tablets, scattered randomly across the plain. Surrounded by these stone tablets was a magnificent碧玉 palace.

"Though this heavy blow was a disaster, having fought with Darklight Swordmaster, Shadowless Dao Ancestor, and Demonhand Dao Ancestor is a 'blessing' for me," Ji Ning thought. Although he had fought with True Gods and True Immortals in the World Prison, those imprisoned True Gods and True Immortals generally had not comprehended the 'Way of Heaven'.

If they had comprehended the Way of Heaven, they would have become Ancestral Immortals!

Because they hadn't comprehended the Way of Heaven, these True Gods and True Immortals were generally on par with ordinary Dao Ancestors in strength, occasionally reaching the level of 'top-tier Dao Ancestors' through divine abilities. But Darklight Swordmaster and Shadowless Dao Ancestor were experts among top-tier Dao Ancestors, and Demonhand Dao Ancestor was at the leader level!

Although the foundations of these Dao Ancestors in the Three Realms were weaker compared to those of the Nine Chaos Kingdoms, their insights into the Dao were far superior to those True Gods and True Immortals. Among the imprisoned Ancestral Gods and Ancestral Immortals of the Nine Chaos Kingdoms, only a few could match Demonhand Dao Ancestor in Dao insights.

Demonhand Dao Ancestor's palm techniques were the best in the Three Realms, surpassing even Buddha Tathagata.

Ji Ning, having fought her, naturally gained many insights.

"I need to carefully ponder and quietly meditate. Perhaps I can take this opportunity to reach the fifth level of the Sword Force." Ji Ning immediately stepped into the碧玉 divine hall, sat on the Chaos treasure 'Winterheart Grass' woven mat, quickly calmed his mind, and began to meditate quietly, recalling every moment of his battles with Darklight Swordmaster, Shadowless Dao Ancestor, and Demonhand Dao Ancestor.