Chapter Nine: The Great Mo Estate

"A cave heaven space?" Ji Ning was astonished. He had already refined the painting scroll but had not discovered any cave heaven space within it.

Seeing Ji Ning's expression, Heavenly Lord Tian Yi laughed: "You wouldn't know this. Snowbright Emperor left behind ten sets of painting scrolls to take on disciples. For an emperor who had succeeded in merging with the Dao and attained eternity, he naturally hoped his disciples would be strong enough to at least become a Daoist of Life and Death. So how could he accept a祖神 or祖仙 as a disciple? Their power is too low; some might have lived for more than a chaos cycle without hope of reaching the World level. Taking such a disciple would be wasting a legacy."

"Thus, only upon reaching the World level can you discover the true mystery of the Snowbright Scrolls and enter them to undergo the trials," said Heavenly Lord Tian Yi.

"Must reach the World level?" Ji Ning nodded slightly.

"And only the World level!" said Heavenly Lord Tian Yi. "If you are a Daoist of Life and Death, you cannot enter either. Because Daoists of Life and Death are too powerful and would easily pass the trials. But they have already found their own path and realized their own Dao. At that point, receiving the legacy is useless."

"It must be the World level, and only the World level. Only such disciples are worth training," said Heavenly Lord Tian Yi. "Snowbright Emperor walked the path of the sword. That suits you, which is why I agreed to let you go to that island."

"Oh..." Ji Ning nodded.

No wonder.

No wonder Lord Suifeng had let his disciple 'World God Dongming' study the Snowbright Scrolls. It was a kindness to Dongming. But after all, this was a trial left by an eternal emperor who had succeeded in merging with the Dao. One had to pass a set of four scrolls to become his disciple. Dongming hadn't even passed one scroll. If he had, Lord Suifeng would have regarded him differently and let him leave alive.

"I only have this one scroll, and there are only ten sets, scattered across many territories by Snowbright Emperor," Ji Ning said worriedly. "Brother, how can I gather them all?"

"Ten sets, forty paintings," said Heavenly Lord Tian Yi with a smile. "The first, second, third, and fourth paintings each have ten copies. So gathering them all is not impossible."

Ji Ning listened carefully.

"Though I should let you explore and train on your own and not interfere too much, it was my recklessness that put you in danger earlier," said Heavenly Lord Tian Yi. "So I'll give you some benefits as compensation. It's nothing much."

"Here."

Heavenly Lord Tian Yi took out a jade slip and handed it to Ji Ning.

Ji Ning accepted it.

"Memorize it," commanded Heavenly Lord Tian Yi.

"Yes." Ji Ning immediately infused his divine power into the jade slip and began to examine it.

A stream of information surged into his memory.

"I swear by my life..."

Ji Ning immediately discovered a lifeblood oath. He had to swear it to learn the contents. He examined the oath's terms. Simply put, he could never divulge the intelligence in the jade slip. If he obtained the same intelligence from outside sources, he could only tell others what he learned externally.

The oath was not too harsh, so Ji Ning swore it. Then a flood of information poured into his memory.

"Snowbright Emperor left ten sets of scrolls. Of the first scrolls without owners, six have been traced, located in the third-layer world of the Lost Tower City in the Void Blue Domain..."

"Of the second scrolls without owners, five have been traced, located in the Feiming Domain..."

"Of the third scrolls without owners, seven have been traced..."

"Of the fourth scrolls without owners, three have been traced..."

Ji Ning was dumbfounded.

There were only forty Snowbright Scrolls in total, and detailed traces of twenty-one were recorded here! They were distributed across many territories, with only two in the Great Mo Domain.

One was a third scroll, in the core area of the Suifeng Ruins, obtained by Lord Suifeng back then. The core area was extremely dangerous, where Lord Suifeng had died. It was filled with treasures and perils; any World God who ventured in would surely die.

One was a first scroll, in the inner region of the Myriad Gods Palace, obtained by Lord Myriad Gods. Though it was only in the inner region and not too dangerous, entering the entire Myriad Gods Palace was easy, but leaving was hard!

For these two scrolls, the traces even included detailed records of many dangers in the Suifeng Ruins and Myriad Gods Palace.

"Brother, this..." Ji Ning was astonished. Such important intelligence, spread across many territories—how did his brother have such detailed information? Ji Ning felt that the value of this intelligence was no less than an eternal divine weapon. Without it, he wouldn't even know where to look.

"Remember," said Heavenly Lord Tian Yi solemnly. "Do not speak of it to others."

"Yes." Ji Ning quickly agreed.

"When you have the strength, go search according to these traces," said Heavenly Lord Tian Yi. "But they are all quite difficult. The easiest ones were taken long ago."

"As for the Myriad Gods Palace, if you ever go there, be very careful," said Heavenly Lord Tian Yi gravely. "Lord Myriad Gods, when alive, was a very fearsome Daoist. Even I, your brother, am inferior to him."

Ji Ning was startled.

That powerful?

The Myriad Gods Palace... he had heard of it too. It was another ancient ruin in the Great Mo Domain, more dangerous than the Suifeng Ruins. But祖神 and祖仙 who ventured in had about a thirty percent chance of coming out alive.

"His power was terrifying, far surpassing Lord Suifeng. Even Daoists generally avoid the Myriad Gods Palace," said Heavenly Lord Tian Yi with a sigh. "Come, I have obtained the token. Let us go to the Great Mo Estate and meet Lord Great Mo."

"Brother, we're going to see Lord Great Mo?" Ji Ning was puzzled.

"I told you, I came to the Great Mo Domain to visit two places," said Heavenly Lord Tian Yi. "The first was the Suifeng Ruins. For the second, I need Lord Great Mo's help."

Ji Ning nodded slightly.

Lord Great Mo... the undisputed foremost cultivator of the entire Great Mo Domain, unfathomably profound.

...

Heavenly Lord Tian Yi took Ji Ning and easily left the Suifeng Ruins, heading to the Seven Water Star. Then, spending a hundred bottles of chaos nectar, they went directly to the Great Mo Eternal Realm.

"Whoosh."

The wind howled.

Heavenly Lord Tian Yi took Ji Ning, standing on a cloud, flying at high speed.

"Flying..." Ji Ning still hadn't reacted. "Brother, you can fly within the Great Mo Eternal Realm?"

"This eternal realm does have a law forbidding flight," said Heavenly Lord Tian Yi with a smile. "That law was set by the ancient mighty one who created this eternal realm. But since laws can be set, they can be resisted. I am only one step away from merging with the Dao. If that ancient mighty one were here in person, he could suppress me. But he left long ago, leaving only the law behind. It cannot suppress me."

Ji Ning nodded.

"I can fly, but weaker Daoists cannot," said Heavenly Lord Tian Yi, quite pleased.

"We're here." Heavenly Lord Tian Yi pointed ahead.

Ahead was a vast lake, millions of miles in circumference. To mortals, it would be an ocean, but to cultivators, it was merely an inland lake. On an island in the lake was a large estate with many buildings. Outside the estate stood a huge stone tablet.

The tablet was a thousand zhang tall, inscribed with two large characters—'Great Mo'!

The characters were majestic, radiating waves that shook heaven and earth.

"The Great Mo Estate," Ji Ning murmured.

The legendary Great Mo Estate! There was also a 'Great Mo Branch Estate' in Yibo City, but this was the foundation, where Lord Great Mo resided.

"Great Mo!" Heavenly Lord Tian Yi, with Ji Ning, rode the cloud directly to the island in the lake, his voice echoing across heaven and earth. "Old man, I've come to eat and drink at your expense!"

Many figures in the Great Mo Estate below looked up, watching the ragged-robed old man on the cloud and the white-robed youth beside him. All were astonished.

"Flying?"

"He can fly in the eternal realm?"

These proud World Gods and Chaos Immortals of the Great Mo Estate, accustomed to dominating the Great Mo Domain, were inwardly shaken. They knew well what flying in the eternal realm meant. Their gazes toward the sky became much friendlier.

"Haha, if Brother Tian Yi comes, even if he eats me out of house and home, I'd be delighted." Accompanied by hearty laughter, a green-robed man, together with a beautiful woman, walked out of a house side by side, stepping through the void into the sky.