The Cost of Ambition

Ji Ning sat cross-legged by the pool, his aura surging like violent waves. He opened his mouth wide, inhaling the Primordial Liquid in the pond. The liquid, which had only been a shallow layer at the bottom, rapidly diminished.

Suddenly, Ning closed his mouth.

“Whoosh.”

A smile on his face, Ji Ning opened his eyes. He glanced at the green liquid in the pool. “It pushed me from the peak of Xiantian in Ki Refining directly through the Zifu breakthrough, then stabilized my early Zifu stage. It saved me a year or two of bitter work, and consumed about a third of the Primordial Liquid.”

In less than the time it took to brew a cup of tea, he had not only opened his Zifu but had also consolidated his early-stage foundation. Under normal circumstances, even with Ning’s astonishing cultivation speed, this would have taken a year or two.

“If I use the remaining two-thirds of the Primordial Liquid to train, I might be able to reach the mid Zifu stage,” Ning mused. He understood that his early Zifu stage was already stable. With the remaining Liquid, a breakthrough was entirely possible. However, if he forcefully advanced to the mid Zifu stage using the , his future path in Ki Refining would become extremely difficult.

After all, the was a low-grade technique. Using it to open the Zifu was fine—every cultivator’s Zifu was the same. But using it to break through to the mid-stage would severely compromise the purity of his Yuan power. Taking that step would make it impossible to go back. The difficulty of reaching the Wanxiang Adept level would increase tenfold or a hundredfold.

“I’ve already crossed a major realm and become a Zifu Disciple! Breaking through to the mid Zifu stage wouldn’t increase my strength by much.” Ning frowned in thought. A breakthrough in a major realm was a fundamental, qualitative leap. But a minor realm advancement had a very limited impact on overall power.

A Xiantian lifeform could sweep away all Houtian experts. A Zifu Disciple could sweep away all Xiantian experts!

Even an early-stage Zifu Disciple could crush a peak Xiantian expert. This was a difference in quality. Crossing such a gap was incredibly hard.

But when an early-stage Zifu Disciple fought a mid-stage one, life or death was uncertain. The increase in strength from a minor realm was limited.

“Using the remaining Primordial Liquid for a limited power boost while ruining my future path? Not worth it.” Ji Ning flipped his hand, producing a token. The token was inscribed with Fiendgod script characters for ‘Right Second’. It was the token to the aquatic palace. A look of eager anticipation shone in his eyes. “I’ve opened my Zifu. If I faced Beizi Shan now, I’m confident I could suppress him, maybe even kill him. But I’m not facing just one Beizi Shan this time. I’ll be fighting a large group of Snowdragon Mountain experts.”

“I hope this aquatic palace… can give me another boost in power.”

“A palace that produced Celestial Immortal Juhua… it should be extraordinary, right?” Ning was hopeful. A wisp of water-green Yuan power seeped into the token, quickly refining it.

A vast, ancient aura swept out, causing Ning to feel a surge of reverence.

“What a treasure,” Ning said, looking at the token. “I wonder who the first master of this aquatic palace really was.”

“Time to go.”

Ning rose to his feet. With a flip of his hand, he produced a jade bottle the size of his palm. It was an unranked magic treasure. Although it was palm-sized, it could store thousands of pounds of wine. Ning had several storage items like this. When he had performed the Fiendgod Blood-Refining oath in the palace, he had used a gourd to store a thousand jin of blood.

“Collect.” Ning looked at the pool of Primordial Liquid. His divine sense swept out. Hwoosh, hwoosh, hwoosh… A stream of liquid, like a beautiful ribbon, arced through the air and into the mouth of the jade bottle, not a single drop remaining.

“I wonder which Immortal left this stone chamber,” Ning mused as he took one last look. “It brought disaster to my Ji Clan, but it also let me open my Zifu early.”

Ning understood in his heart that he couldn’t blame the Immortal. He could only blame the Ji Clan for being too weak.

“Hua!”

After leaving the stone chamber, Ning was surrounded by his Water-Fire Lotus as he tore a path through the elemental ore vein, rapidly ascending. He knew it would take a while to travel from over a hundred li underground to the surface. Two magic treasures appeared in his hands: a small boat-shaped treasure and a black feathered wing treasure.

The boat had belonged to Beizi Shan. The black feathered wings had belonged to Ju San. Both were graded treasures.

“Now that I’m a Zifu Disciple, I can use all these graded treasures!” Ning understood that a major realm breakthrough brought two things: an elevation of the power itself, and the unlocking of better treasures. The combination of these two factors allowed a Zifu Disciple to absolutely crush a Xiantian expert.

……

BOOM!

A Water-Fire Lotus burst out from the surface of the earth. Within the lotus stood Ji Ning.

“Ji Ning.” In the distance were Ji Jiuhuo, Granny Shadow, and the others. The surrounding illusion formation had long since been withdrawn, revealing the desolate wilderness scenery. Only in certain places could the devastation of the previous battle be seen.

“Patriarch. Father.” Ning quickly walked over.

“You came out quite fast. We only just reached the surface a moment ago,” Ji Jiuhuo said, walking over with the other three. “Liuzhen just left to return home.”

Ning thought about it. The actual cultivation had taken him about the time it took to brew a cup of tea. The drilling out of the ground had taken the most time. The Patriarch and the others had probably taken a bit longer to drill out. It seemed they really had emerged almost simultaneously.

“Right, Ji Ning,” Ji Jiuhuo asked. “You killed Ju San earlier. What magic treasures did you obtain?”

“Quite a few,” Ning said.

Granny Shadow, being meticulous, explained, “We need to account for these treasures and see who they’re useful for. That’s the simplest way to put them to use.”

Ning nodded. “Ju San had a flying treasure, a storage treasure, a body-protecting armor, a great axe, and a feathered wing treasure! This feathered wing treasure is useful to me; the rest are useless.” From Beizi Shan, Ning had already obtained graded treasures like storage, flying, and body-protecting armor. Only the graded feathered wing was new.

“What do you need?” Ji Jiuhuo looked at Ning.

“Swords,” Ning said. “I only need graded flying swords. Everything else is useless. The more graded flying swords, the better.”

His fighting style involved close combat and the Lesser Thousand Sword Formation.

Now that he had opened his Zifu, the power of the sword formation would naturally increase. But if he still used ungraded swords, his strength would only improve by a notch or two. If he could replace them all with graded flying swords, Ning felt he might even be able to contend with a Wanxiang Adept.

“Graded flying swords? The more the better?” Ji Jiuhuo, Granny Shadow, Old Servant Ah Xing, and Ji Yichuan all spoke in low tones. “I have one flying sword here.” “His place has two.” “Over there…”

“We have a total of five temporarily unused flying swords,” Ji Jiuhuo said, looking at Ning. “Is that enough?”

Ning was a little disappointed.

Five?

Useless.

Each base formation of his Lesser Thousand Sword Formation required nine flying swords. Nine base formations formed a small sword formation! The smallest unit, the base formation, needed nine graded flying swords… For his sword formation to be truly reborn, he needed eighty-one graded flying swords as the core, which would then carry the other ungraded swords. The power would naturally skyrocket.

Of course, the best case would be to use all graded flying swords.

According to Ning’s estimate, if he had all graded flying swords, he would probably only be able to deploy two or three layers of the Lesser Thousand Sword Formation. But the power would be immeasurably greater than it was now. Quality was more important than quantity.

“How many do you need?” Ji Jiuhuo asked.

“I need seven graded flying swords. The more the better; even a few hundred would be great!” Ning laughed. Sword-type magic treasures were common. From Beizi Shan, he had already obtained two graded flying swords. With seven more, he could form a single base formation. With this base formation as the center, the power of the entire Lesser Thousand Sword Formation would probably increase by two or three times!

“A few hundred?” Ji Jiuhuo and Granny Shadow were both taken aback. But they also recalled the scene of Ning unleashing the Lesser Thousand Sword Formation, with over seven hundred flying swords swirling around him. It seemed Ning truly did need a massive number of flying swords. But a few hundred graded treasures? Even if the entire Ji Clan sold everything they owned, they couldn’t afford it.

“We’ll scrape some together for you. We’ll try our hardest to gather seven flying swords,” Ji Jiuhuo said, quickly changing the subject. “The Snowdragon Mountain will be gathering their fellow disciples. We’ll probably have to face them in a day or two. Before that, if you need to go back for any treasures or to arrange any affairs, do it quickly. We’ll gather here again later.”

“Let’s go.”

Hwoosh!

Ji Jiuhuo, Granny Shadow, and Old Servant Ah Xing mounted their giant gourd and quickly flew into the sky, leaving only Ji Ning and his father.

Ning understood that this felt a bit like making final arrangements.

“Father, are you returning to the Western Prefecture City?” Ning looked at his father.

“No. I’ll go to Winged Serpent Lake,” Ji Yichuan said with a nod. “I want to see Little White. He is like a blood brother to me. I have to see him.” He had been living at Winged Serpent Lake for the past five years, and Whitewater Hound was there.

“Uncle White?” Ning nodded gently.

The divine beast Whitewater Hound was extremely close to his father. They had even traveled together to the vast North Sea. They had probably spent more time together than Ning’s father spent with his mother. Truly, they were as close as blood brothers.

“Let’s go.” A small skiff appeared beneath Ning’s feet, and Ji Yichuan stepped aboard.

Hwoosh.

The skiff immediately soared into the sky, quickly traversing the vast spaces between the clouds.

The Yan Mountain region had a total of ten cities. The Snowdragon Mountain Sect occupied three of them. Just as the Ji Clan had renamed their occupied Grand Xia city ‘Ten Thousand Swords City’, when Beizi Shan first invaded Yan Mountain he had renamed the city he seized ‘Snowdragon City’, declaring to all that this was a branch of the Snowdragon Mountain.

Even after occupying the other two cities, the heart of the Yan Mountain branch remained in this Snowdragon City.

“Where is everyone? What about the others?”

High in the sky above Snowdragon City, three figures stood on a cloth mat. They gazed into the distance, watching as Beizi Shan and Mu Si flew over on a single leaf.

“What about the other three? Are they all dead?” The three figures asked urgently. These were the other three Zifu Disciples of the Snowdragon Mountain’s Yan Mountain branch, from the Ju and Dong clans. The Zifu Disciple from the Ju Clan, Ju Nianxiong, had felt his nephew’s life tablet shatter and rushed to Snowdragon City. The two elders of the Dong Clan were startled as well, knowing something terrible had happened.

Not only had Ju San died, but even the siblings of the He Clan had perished.

“Dead. All three junior apprentice-brothers and sisters are dead,” Beizi Shan said through gritted teeth. “That Ji Clan set up a massive formation and ambushed us, catching us off guard. The three of them were surrounded and killed one by one. Both He Fang and He Xing are dead. They probably took that Vassal Token as well.”

The three cities were respectively controlled by the Dong, He, and Ju Clans. One of the Vassal Tokens had been on the He siblings.

“This Ji Clan is asking for death!” Ju Nianxiong’s eyes were bloodshot.

Mu Si said coldly, “When we investigated the fluctuation in natural energy earlier, we discovered a colossal elemental ore vein in the Ji Clan’s territory. It’s a vein rich with large quantities of high-grade elemental stones. The entire vein spans over four thousand li in circumference and is more than three hundred li deep.”

“What?!”

Ju Nianxiong and the two elders of the Dong Clan were all stunned.

“The Ji Clan refused to hand it over, which led to the killing,” Beizi Shan said in a low voice.

One of the elderly Dong Clan men, a stooped old man, roared impatiently, “A colossal ore vein like this is exactly what the Sect needs! Turning it over to the Sect would be a tremendous merit. The Ji Clan dares to oppose our Snowdragon Mountain? Then we destroy the Ji Clan! Exterminate the entire clan!!!”

“Of course we must exterminate them!” Beizi Shan’s eyes flashed with cold light. “But my greatest fear right now is that the Ji Clan will sign a transfer contract with the Grand Xia Dynasty.”

“The Grand Xia Dynasty?”

The two Dong elders and Ju Nianxiong were startled. If a contract was truly signed, the Snowdragon Mountain wouldn’t dare to interfere. Offend the Grand Xia Dynasty? Were they asking for death?

“But the Ji Clan first has to report it, then wait for the Grand Xia’s celestial envoy to arrive. That will take at least three days. If we can stall from our side, we can delay it even further,” Beizi Shan said quickly. “So we’re racing against time. We must invite our other fellow disciples as fast as possible and get them to Yan Mountain so we can destroy the Ji Clan together.”

“Right.” Everyone nodded.

The Ji Clan had already killed three of their Zifu Disciples. Only five of them remained. If they were to attack now, even if they won, most of them would probably die. No matter how great the merit, one had to be alive to enjoy it.

“All four of you will go and invite fellow disciples from our Snowdragon Mountain branches in the other regions,” Beizi Shan commanded. “I will go to Yan Mountain City myself to meet with the garrison general and try to buy us some time.”

“Alright.” The four nodded.

“If we can invite a few dozen fellow disciples, a group of that size will be an overwhelming force. We can wipe out the Ji Clan easily,” Beizi Shan said. “With so many of us working together, there’s almost no danger, and we can all share the credit. Those fellow disciples will definitely come.”

“Right.”

“We’ll leave now.”

They quickly settled on their routes. The other four Zifu Disciples each flew off in a different direction to invite their fellow disciples. Beizi Shan, meanwhile, headed towards Yan Mountain City.

Winged Serpent Lake stretched out, vast and majestic.

A skiff descended swiftly from the sky, landing at the far end of Brightheart Island. This was his father’s residence, a very secluded place with no servants. A single massive snow-white hound was lying there.

The Whitewater Hound suddenly raised its head. The flying skiff in the high sky descended rapidly.

“Uncle White.” Ji Ning looked at the Whitewater Hound with great affection. He knew that Uncle White and his father had gone through life-and-death trials together and had saved his own and his mother’s lives. He also remembered that when he used to practice archery outside the Western Prefecture city every day, Uncle White had been there, protecting him.

He watched his father and Uncle White reunite. Although Uncle White could not yet speak, master and servant could communicate mentally, provided they were close enough.

Ji Ning quietly slipped away.

Soon.

Ning returned to his own residence, entering the quiet meditation room and sealing the door shut. He had already sensed the presence of the aquatic palace while flying over the Winged Serpent Lake region! As the black ox had said, once he refined the token, he would be able to sense it in this area and could enter it at any time.

“In this coming battle, although my strength has greatly increased, it’s still far from enough. I hope this ancient aquatic palace has something within that can give me another massive power boost.” Ning was filled with anticipation and longing.

“Enter.” Ning willed it.

Suddenly, a massive phantom of a bear’s head appeared in the quiet room. The enormous bear-head phantom opened its mouth wide and swallowed Ji Ning in a single gulp.

Ji Ning vanished from the quiet room.

(Book 5: Zifu Disciple ends. The next volume is Book 6: Breaking Free of the Cocoon. I’ll also take this chance to humbly ask for monthly votes. If you have any monthly votes, please support I Eat Tomatoes… To be continued. If you like this story, please come and cast your recommendation votes and monthly votes. Your support is my greatest motivation.)