Chapter 3 Mist Rock Star

Inside the Immortal Mansion, within the Kui Tian Tai Hao Tower.

Ji Ning sat cross-legged, like a lifeless stone, practicing the Desolate World God's Desolate technique, while using the Nine Elements Annihilation to deduce the Star Picking Hand.

The Desolate technique allowed the cultivator to reach an extremely still state, making the mind unusually sensitive, better able to discover the mysteries of the divine body and more effectively deduce the subtleties of certain techniques. The late 'Buddha Jue Ming' had maintained a state of desolation for years, deducing a divine technique no less than that of Buddha Tathagata.

What Ji Ning was now deducing was the seventh turn of the Star Picking Hand!

The first six turns had traces to follow, but lacking Star Metal, Ji Ning used the Nine Elements Annihilation to analyze the Star Picking Hand, even creating a new sixth turn. Naturally, he hoped to create an even more profound seventh turn!

A True God's body could cultivate the sixth turn.

I already have a Primal God's body; in theory, I could cultivate the seventh turn... But deducing this seventh turn is truly difficult. Ji Ning kept deducing, only barely finding a clue.

To cultivate the seventh turn,

first, one had to figure out a more profound method of divine power burst; second, one had to temper a pair of hands to rival 'Dao Divine Weapons' to match this divine power burst method.

Both the more profound method and making the hands rival 'Dao Divine Weapons' were extremely difficult.

Back then, Sanxiao Daoist, as a True God, could create the sixth turn. As a Primal God, with divine abilities like the Nine Elements Annihilation, I have every possibility of creating the seventh turn. Ji Ning immersed himself in deduction...

Dong.

Even his divine soul trembled slightly.

Ji Ning, who had been as still as a stone, gradually began to show signs of life. His aura rose, his skin slowly turned rosy, and finally he opened his eyes.

In the blink of an eye, a hundred and sixty years had passed inside, and eight years had passed outside. Ji Ning stood up. It's time to set out.

...

From Earthdragon Star, he was transported to the immensely distant Seven Waters Star.

"What a profit—a single teleportation earns hundreds of bottles of Chaos Nectar," Ji Ning mused as he stepped out of the spacetime teleportation array, watching cultivators exiting the array and flying off in all directions. "Though activating the array costs something, at least half is profit. This rate of earning Chaos Nectar is ruthless."

"One teleportation, and an Immortal or Devil must pay a bottle of Chaos Nectar. No wonder it's almost all Ancestral Gods and Ancestral Immortals," Ji Ning silently marveled.

True Gods and True Immortals simply couldn't afford it.

The cost was too high; they could only roam the nearby Chaos Worlds or follow Ancestral Gods and Ancestral Immortals as servants.

"This spacetime teleportation array would make any World God or Chaos Immortal envious, but unfortunately it's all controlled by the Da Mo Institute," Ji Ning reflected. Throughout the vast Da Mo territory... the strongest was the 'Da Mo Institute,' a force comparable to the Heavenly Cloud Palace! Within the Da Mo territory, the Da Mo Institute held supreme status.

"Where to go?" Ji Ning stood high above Seven Waters Star, gazing at the endless Chaos.

"Black Lotus God-Emperor founded the Black Lotus Chaos Nation, with five World-level experts as vassals, ruling over fifty-three Chaos Worlds," Ji Ning calculated silently. This was some relatively ancient intelligence gathered by the Three Realms. "The Black Lotus God-Emperor is a hegemon; his neighboring hostile forces are mainly Mistrock Star Lord and Eastwood Imperial Lord."

"Mistrock Star Lord has eight World-level vassals and rules ninety-six Chaos Worlds."

"Eastwood Imperial Lord has six World-level vassals and rules sixty-one Chaos Worlds."

"Should I join Mistrock Star Lord or Eastwood Imperial Lord?"

Ji Ning pondered.

He had never planned to foolishly charge at Heartsword God-General; first, he needed to confirm whether Heartsword God-General was indeed Source Elder. Second, even a World God wouldn't blindly storm a stronghold of a major power—that would be suicide.

"Mistrock Star Lord and Eastwood Imperial Lord are both hostile to Black Lotus God-Emperor... If I join one side, during future conflicts, I can find an opportunity to kill Heartsword God-General."

"Also, I can use the power's resources to better cultivate."

Heavenly Cloud Palace...

was too hard to find. What status did Northrest World God have? As a member of Heavenly Cloud Palace, he had never even heard of the Da Mo territory! This showed that the 'Heavenly Cloud territory' where Heavenly Cloud Palace was located was extremely far from the Da Mo territory, so far that even World Gods rarely traveled between them and had never heard of each other! At such a distance, if he were merely an Ancestral God, he would likely lose his life during the search.

It wouldn't be too late to search again after becoming a World God.

A Chaos Cycle is enough time; even a tenth of it would suffice for me to grow.

"Mistrock Star Lord, Eastwood Imperial Lord... The intelligence I obtained is all old news from long ago. Perhaps these forces have already undergone some changes. Hmm, I'll first go to the nearest Mistrock Star to have a look, and then decide after careful observation." Ji Ning immediately boarded the Flying Trench Divine Wood Boat and, with a whoosh, tore through the void and departed.

...

Over six months later.

The Flying Trench Divine Wood Boat hung in the void, gazing into the distance at a beautiful star.

"That is Mistrock Star," Ji Ning said, looking at the star. According to the intelligence, Mistrock Star was home to nine World-level cultivators and thousands of Ancestral Immortals and Ancestral Gods, ruling over ninety-six Chaos Worlds in the vicinity.

"Whoosh."

Ji Ning swiftly flew over.

Half of Mistrock Star was shrouded in a hazy light, clearly covered by a formation, while the other half had no formation covering it.

"There it is." Ji Ning spotted at a glance a cluster of islands in the sea of Mistrock Star, and immediately flew over quickly.

"Whoosh."

As Ji Ning flew toward those islands, a figure also flew up from one of the islands—a man in green armor, whose aura was at the True God level.

"Greetings, senior," the green-armored man said respectfully. "Senior must be visiting Mistrock Star for the first time. Would you like me to guide you?"

"Alright," Ji Ning nodded, then asked with a smile, "Are you specifically here to welcome Ancestral Gods and Ancestral Immortals? Are there many Ancestral Gods and Ancestral Immortals coming to Mistrock Star?"

"Mistrock Star rarely sees foreign Ancestral Gods and Ancestral Immortals," the green-armored man said with a smile. "I have been assigned to guide visitors... in the past thousand years, I have guided only a little over a hundred."

"Hmm." Ji Ning nodded.

Ji Ning was still aware of some common knowledge.

As the core star of a major power, a region is generally set aside as a trading ground. After all, cultivators need to purchase treasures, divine abilities, techniques, secret arts, puppets, and so on, and sometimes have special needs. Thus, a trading ground is necessary. Celestial Immortals, True Immortals, True Gods, and True Immortals, because they have few treasures, generally do not receive dedicated guidance.

The original Ancestral Gods and Ancestral Immortals of Mistrock Star were very familiar with the place and needed no guidance.

Only those like Ji Ning, visiting for the first time and at least at the Ancestral God or Ancestral Immortal level, would receive guidance. If a World God were to come, it would likely put the entire Mistrock Star on alert, and a World-level cultivator would probably come to receive them personally.

"Whoosh." "Whoosh."

The two landed on a wide Cloud Street.

The street, condensed from clouds and mist, floated on the sea surface, leading to various islands.

"Does senior need any servants?" the green-armored man said, pointing to a massive island in the distance. "That is the Servant Island. It holds a large number of servants, ranging from Celestial Immortals and True Immortals to Ancestral Gods and Ancestral Immortals—all available! As long as senior pays the appropriate price, you can buy them as your servants."

Ji Ning nodded.

Ancestral Gods and Ancestral Immortals being imprisoned and sold was usually the result of conflicts between hostile forces, where they were taken captive.

"Not needed for now," Ji Ning said.

The two walked along the Cloud Street, which was filled with many other immortals and demons, mostly Celestial Immortals, True Immortals, True Gods, and True Immortals. Ancestral Gods and Ancestral Immortals were still quite rare.

Thus, when those immortals and demons saw Ji Ning, they quickly moved aside. In the world of cultivators, the distinction between strong and weak was very clear.

"There is an island specializing in formations, that one over there. And another specializing in cultivation techniques, divine abilities, secret arts, swordsmanship, lightning methods..." The green-armored man enthusiastically pointed out the various islands.

"Swordsmanship?" Ji Ning's eyes lit up.

"Yes," the green-armored man quickly said. "That island is called the Sword Pavilion! The Sword Pavilion houses a vast collection of sword techniques, numbering in the tens of thousands, from weak to strong. Even our Mistrock Star Lord's famous 'Heavenly Chen Sword Manual,' renowned throughout the Domo Territory, can be purchased if senior pays the appropriate price."

"Heavenly Chen Sword Manual?" Ji Ning was surprised.

"This is a peerless sword technique of great renown in the Domo Territory. Once the technique is cultivated to perfection, one can even become a World God through the sword dao alone," the green-armored man said with admiration. "That is truly formidable."