The Spoils of the Secret Realm: A Son's Triumph

"Winged Serpent? You killed it?" Ji Yichuan stared at his son. Yuchi Snow beside him also looked incredulous. They both knew their son was not one to lie, but this matter was too… In the past, the elite experts of the five Ji Clan prefectures had clashed with the Winged Serpent great demon multiple times without being able to slay it.

Ji Ning quickly said, "Father, look." With a wave of his hand, a colossal corpse appeared on the sandy bank, its wounds still fresh. The massive bone wings, the ink-green blood—everything identified it unmistakably.

"The Winged Serpent?"

Ji Yichuan and Yuchi Snow both stared at the massive corpse before them, exchanging glances.

"It seems our son's strength is far from ordinary," Ji Yichuan said. "Not only did he kill the Winged Serpent, he even has a storage treasure capable of holding its corpse."

"Father, Mother," Ji Ning said, not concealing anything. "When I was roaming the Eastmarsh Swamp, I encountered that Tie Muzhan of the Ironwood Clan."

Ji Yichuan and Yuchi Snow were both startled.

Tie Muzhan? That was a dangerous opponent.

"He was probably going after the Skygreen Serpent King, intending to force it into servitude," Ji Ning said. As he spoke, a hint of emotion colored his voice. He recalled how he and the Skygreen Serpent King had clashed time and again without either being able to defeat the other, and they had developed a grudging mutual respect. Later, when he didn't find the Skygreen Serpent King's corpse among Tie Muzhan's storage treasures, nor saw it enslaved, he understood. At the critical moment, the Skygreen Serpent King must have awakened its innate ability—Void Shuttle.

Having comprehended Void Shuttle, the Skygreen Serpent King had leaped through the dragon's gate. It would surely leave the Yan Mountains, wander the world, and seek out heavenly treasures…

When would he see it again?

Ji Ning quickly shook off his reminiscence. "When Tie Muzhan was dealing with the Skygreen Serpent King, I took the chance to flee, plunging deep into the forest for over a thousand li. I rested by a pond, and by a stroke of luck, I comprehended the Dao that very night."

"The Dao?" Ji Yichuan and his wife exchanged another glance, holding their breath.

"I comprehended the Dao throughout the night, but in the end, Tie Muzhan caught up and disrupted me," Ji Ning shook his head. "However, in that instant I was able to guide Yin and Yang into a harmonious fusion, transforming them into Crimsonbright divine power. Water and fire descended from the heavens, nurturing my body into that of a primal Fiendgod. I had broken through to the Xiantian realm! My strength surged dramatically, and I killed both Tie Muzhan's spirit beast, the Huan Beast, and Tie Muzhan himself!"

Ji Yichuan's eyes widened. "You killed Tie Muzhan?"

Ji Ning flipped his hand, producing a black thorn whip. "This was Tie Muzhan's personal magic treasure."

Looking at the black thorn whip, Ji Yichuan nodded in admiration. "That's his Blackwood Thorn Whip. The Ironwood Clan probably still doesn't know that Tie Muzhan is dead. The fact that you could kill Tie Muzhan the moment you stepped into the Xiantian realm shows that your night of Dao comprehension brought you tremendous progress."

Ji Ning nodded. "That night of comprehension, I managed to understand a sliver of a True Meaning of the Dao."

"A True Meaning?" Yuchi Snow cried out in shock.

"A True Meaning, truly?" Ji Yichuan could hardly believe it either.

The higher one climbed in cultivation, the harder it was to advance.

Above Unity of Man and Heaven lie the True Meanings of the Dao! Even most Zifu Disciples had not reached this level. Ji Yichuan himself had only attained it through a fortuitous encounter, and the Ji Clan had kept this quiet—outsiders believed he had merely reached Unity of Man and Heaven.

"Your son is only eleven years old," Yuchi Snow's eyes lit up. "He has already reached the realm of the True Meaning, and he has cultivated the Crimsonbright Diagram of the Nine Heavens, the most difficult Fiendgod Body Refining technique in existence. With such talent, it would be easy to become the disciple of any great power."

"Easy, easy." Ji Yichuan turned to his son. "Can you demonstrate this True Meaning of the Dao in actual combat?"

Understanding was one thing; being able to apply it was another.

In that ancient aquatic palace, Ji Ning had nearly died before successfully manifesting the True Meaning of Dripping in combat.

"Father, watch." Ji Ning produced his Northsea sword and thrust it directly into the air. The sword tip seemed to transform into a single droplet of water, causing the surrounding air to ripple.

"The True Meaning of Dripping!" Ji Yichuan nodded vigorously. "Yes, it's the True Meaning of Dripping. You comprehended the Dao in a single night, and you can already manifest a True Meaning through your swordplay? That's… that's…" He didn't know what to say. At the very least, he had never seen such monstrous talent in the Yan Mountains.

Perhaps only in distant, great tribes could such figures appear.

"I only comprehended the True Meaning of Dripping in a secret realm," Ji Ning said. "I imagine by now Father and Mother know that I was trapped in a secret realm."

Ji Yichuan and his wife nodded.

"My sudden disappearance must have worried you…" Seeing his parents, Ji Ning quickly realized that his father must have been unable to sense the jade sword, which caused his urgent search. After all, the aquatic palace was in a separate space—how could his father sense the jade sword? At that time, his parents must have feared for his life. Enduring such worry for so long… Ji Ning could fully imagine their feelings, and felt a pang of guilt.

"Don't blame yourself," Ji Yichuan sighed. "When I roamed the outside world, I saw many ruins but never entered one. Although ruins contain opportunities, of a hundred who enter, maybe only one comes out alive. I'm glad you made it out safely." Yuchi Snow gently stroked her son's hair.

Over the past month, she had truly been worried.

"Still, your gains in that secret realm were not small. You even managed to kill the Winged Serpent," Ji Yichuan said. He didn't think his son could kill the Winged Serpent just by comprehending the True Meaning of Dripping—after all, he himself had long reached that level and could infuse the True Meaning into every sword move of the Dripping Sutra's nine stances, yet he still couldn't match the Winged Serpent.

"Mm, I obtained the Lesser Thousand Sword Formation," Ji Ning said, flipping his hand to produce several pieces of fur parchment, which he handed to his parents.

The Lesser Thousand Sword Formation was a secret, but he had no need to hide it from his parents.

"The Lesser Thousand Sword Formation?" Ji Yichuan and his wife studied it intently. As they read, their expressions shifted.

"This… this…" They were utterly stunned. Both were well-traveled—Yuchi Snow especially came from a distinguished background—and they quickly recognized the extraordinary nature of the Lesser Thousand Sword Formation.

Ji Yichuan couldn't help saying, "This Lesser Thousand Sword Formation surpasses any supreme technique of our Ji Clan. Snow, this formation rivalled your clan's Windwing Evasion technique."

Ji Ning sighed to himself.

What Fiendgod Body Refiners needed most were divine abilities! But every divine ability had been kept secret since the Primordial Fiendgod Era—even the black ox in that ancient aquatic palace didn't know any. The Yuchi Clan had only obtained a divine ability by saving the life of a Celestial Immortal. Such abilities were so precious they might surpass even the Lesser Thousand Sword Formation! Fortunately, his mother had given him a divine ability; otherwise, he didn't know when he would have learned one.

"This Lesser Thousand Sword Formation is a top-tier formation technique with extraordinary power, allowing one to fight above one's level," Yuchi Snow said. "However, it has extremely high demands on magic treasures and on the soul. These are its weaknesses."

"Mm, several hundred magic treasures—who could afford that?" Ji Yichuan nodded.

Ji Ning said, "Father, Mother, I obtained many ungraded magic treasures in that secret realm, a great number." He pulled out a storage armband and handed it to his father. At the same time, he withdrew all his own true ki from those treasures, making it easier for anyone else to refine them.

"A great number?" Ji Yichuan accepted it suspiciously. He quickly refined the storage armband and checked its contents. His expression shifted.

"What is it?" Yuchi Snow asked.

"The number of magic treasures must be in the thousands," Ji Yichuan said with a sigh.

"So many!" Yuchi Snow was also shocked. Ungraded magic treasures weren't particularly valuable individually, but with the word "thousands" in front, even the entire five prefectures of the Ji Clan would covet them.

Ji Ning said, "Those treasures are useless to me, so I'll leave them to you and Father to handle." He had kept several dozen storage treasures, over a thousand flying-sword treasures, and some miscellaneous treasures—such as the wing-type treasure suitable for executing the Windwing Evasion technique. He also kept a few scattered treasures, Dao talismans, and formation tools.

As for the other thousand-plus storage treasures, saber treasures, long whips, staffs, spears, axes, and other such treasures, he gave them all to his father.

Before Ji Yichuan and his wife had fully absorbed the shock of the Lesser Thousand Sword Formation and the vast number of treasures, Ji Ning added, "This time in the secret realm, I also obtained a treasure that will bring the greatest benefit to our Ji Clan."

"Oh?" Ji Yichuan and Yuchi Snow looked at him.

Ji Ning flipped his hand, producing a beast-skin scroll. On the scroll was painted a radiant Buddha, with a sun and a moon hanging high above, emanating boundless light.

"A visualization technique!" Ji Yichuan and Yuchi Snow said simultaneously.

"You recognize it, Father, Mother?" Ji Ning was surprised.

"Of course we do," Yuchi Snow said, looking at the Buddha scroll. "In the past, our Yuchi Clan also had a visualization scroll, but it was lost in a clan war. However, Ning'er, this visualization technique is a method to temper the soul. The soul is the foundation of a person. The benefits may not be immediately obvious, but they are enormous and subtle. Keep this for yourself, and practice it regularly."

Ji Ning quickly said, "In that secret realm, by a stroke of luck, the image was already engraved directly into my memories! It's even clearer than this scroll!"

Seeing this, Yuchi Snow was delighted. "My son's fortune is extraordinary. Legend has it that when our Yuchi Clan's ancestor met a Celestial Immortal, the Celestial Immortal simply pointed a finger and sent the visualization image directly into the ancestor's soul. It is clearer than a painting and can be visualized at any time. I didn't expect my son to encounter such fortune in a secret realm."

Ji Ning recalled the time before his reincarnation, when he met Lord Cui in the underworld. A single point from Lord Cui's finger had sent the Nuwa Diagram into his soul memory.

"Father, Mother, this visualization technique is called the 'Inner View of the Sun-Moon Buddha of Light'," Ji Ning added.

"Ji Ning."

Ji Yichuan's heart surged with emotion as he looked at his son. "The Inner View of the Sun-Moon Buddha of Light will have a far-reaching impact on the entire Ji Clan. I will bring it back immediately. As for the Lesser Thousand Sword Formation, there's no need to publicize it for now. It's too difficult to cultivate. No one in the Ji Clan besides you can unleash its power. When your strength grows and your status rises, you can decide whether to make it public. As for these ungraded treasures, I will handle them for you."

"Let Father decide," Ji Ning replied.