The Second Cycle of the Starseizing Hand

“Master, does that Xiyue Commandery Princess have a crush on you? She’s so good to you, even bringing you to the Prince’s manor and letting you stay here!” As soon as they entered the immortal estate, Little Qing couldn’t hold back and started chattering away.

“Ning, this Commandery Princess is indeed extremely good to you. I feel that she is sincere,” the Whitewater Hound said as well.

Ji Ning just smiled, saying nothing more.

The great secret of his cousin-sister being called ‘Yuchi Xiyue’ was something he had never leaked to his servants or spirit-beasts, and he would not do so now. Although his spirit-beasts were absolutely loyal, sometimes… not wanting to reveal something didn’t mean it absolutely couldn’t be revealed. After all, hadn’t the Yuchi clan members had the Windwing Evasion technique pried from their minds via soul-scrying?

“We’ve already established a foothold in the Grand Xia imperial capital,” Ji Ning said. “For now, we’ll settle down in the Yan Prince’s manor and wait for the Immortal Fortunes Assembly.”

“Ning, you just spent five million catties of Primordial Liquid to acquire the Peacock Plumes at the Heavenly Treasures Mountain headquarters, overwhelming the other factions. Word will spread quickly. More and more people in the Grand Xia capital will learn of you, and soon some of the major tribes will likely invite you,” the Whitewater Hound said.

Ji Ning nodded. This was part of his original plan.

Earlier, he had been thinking of finding a faction to rely on, to gain some backing against the Shaoyin clan. He never expected to run into his cousin-sister.

“Getting to know more tribes that have a grudge against the Shaoyin clan can only be a good thing,” Ji Ning said. “Uncle White, Little Qing, I’m going to the quiet room to cultivate for a while. Don’t disturb me unless it’s important.”

With that, he headed directly to his quiet room.

And the aquatic palace… was hidden within that quiet room.

Whoosh.

As soon as Ji Ning entered the quiet room, there was a door within it. Pushing it open, he stepped directly into the vast main hall of the aquatic palace. The enormous straw mats were arrayed across the hall.

The yellow-furred bear was in the hall, smiling as he looked at Ji Ning. “This Yan Prince is indeed a good man. Just now, his Heartforce swept across the entire Prince’s manor, including this immortal estate. When he sensed that the estate had layer upon layer of restrictive spells, he did not deliberately try to infiltrate them with his Heartforce.”

Heartforce… it was a level higher than Divine Sense.

Cultivators were generally divided into two main stages.

Before the Heavenly Tribulation was one stage. During this stage, one endured bitter hardship, facing the Three Calamities and Nine Tribulations with endless danger. In this stage, the ‘soul’ was still fragmented. Even when one became a Primal Daoist and the soul entered the Primal, it merely received nourishment from the Primal; the soul remained fragmented. A fragmented soul could be split in two, and the separated fragment could be cultivated into a ‘second Primaltwin.’

After surviving the Heavenly Tribulation came the second stage. After undergoing the Tribulation, the soul and the Primal truly merged into one, indistinguishable from each other, with one in the other and the other in the one. At this point, a qualitative transformation occurred, and ‘Heartforce’ would appear.

A power even more formidable than ‘Divine Sense.’

A power that could vaguely touch upon the mysterious forces of fate.

“This is his territory after all. Some Celestial Immortals will thoroughly investigate anything within their domain, even trying their utmost to pry. But Yan Prince did not try to forcefully probe again after the first sweep,” the yellow-furred bear said, nodding in approval, clearly having a high opinion of the Yan Prince.

“What if the Yan Prince had insisted on probing with his Heartforce?” Ji Ning asked.

“I could have forcefully blocked him,” the yellow-furred bear said. “Or I could have let his Heartforce infiltrate, letting him think he had found something, all while feeding him completely false information.”

Ji Ning nodded.

He then sat down cross-legged. With a flip of his hand, five feathers appeared before him, radiating powerful ripples. The intensity of these ripples was not inferior to that of an ordinary Immortal-ranked treasure, causing the surrounding space to faintly congeal. However, they were still slightly inferior to the Thousandbull Swords.

“What a pity. A Peacock that had condensed its Five Elements tail feathers died at the Void stage. If it had survived the Heavenly Tribulation, it would have drawn the attention of the great powers of the Three Realms, who would have captured it to use as a mount,” the yellow-furred bear said with a sigh. “The more heaven-defying a divine beast, the harder it is to survive the Tribulation.”

“As a mount?” Ji Ning was speechless. What a pitiful divine beast, destined to be a mount.

Ji Ning then extended his hands and began to absorb the quintessence of the Five Elements contained within the five feathers.

Activating the technique of the Six Cycles of the Starseizing Hand, circular Starseizing runes appeared on both his palms. The runes glowed, spinning and generating a tremendous, heaven-devouring suction force. The five feathers, brimming with Five Elements quintessence, resisted mightily, unwilling to let their internal quintessence flow away.

But they were dead objects; how could they resist the Six Cycles of Starseizing Hand? Gradually, strands of quintessence flew out from the five feathers—golden, cyan, water-blue, fiery-red, and deep yellow. The five-colored quintessence continuously streamed out, flying into Ji Ning’s palms.

Time passed. The five-colored quintessence poured endlessly into Ji Ning’s hands. This continued for a long while before Ji Ning finally withdrew his hands and stopped absorbing.

“Enough.”

Having absorbed sufficient Five Elements quintessence, Ji Ning began to circulate the technique. Hum, hum, hum, hum… His two hands began to emit a brilliant, five-colored radiance, so intense that his hands no longer seemed like mortal flesh, but more like magic treasures. The powerful ripples they emitted far surpassed those of Earth-ranked treasures.

Gradually, the five-colored light spun and merged into his palms, turning into a chaotic gray. Following this, the circular runes on his palms gained many new, complex patterns, making the runes even more intricate and the ripples they emitted even more heart-stopping.

“The second cycle of the Six Cycles of Starseizing Hand is complete!” Ji Ning revealed a look of joy.

He clenched his fists.

Boom! Boom!

Both fists caused the air to explode, the very space within the Peacock’s Five Elements domain trembling and sending the airflow into chaos.

“This pair of hands of mine is now far more powerful than an Earth-ranked treasure; it can even match an Immortal-ranked treasure,” Ji Ning marveled. “The leap from the first cycle to the second cycle is indeed a major one. By mastering the second cycle, my Fiendgod Body Refining has truly begun to display its proper might.”

In truth, the true Starseizing Hand was about using one’s hands as a weapon.

In the inheritance, Ji Ning had seen image after image of ‘Daoist Threelives’ attacking directly with his hands. Daoist Threelives’ single right hand was more terrifying than any magic treasure. He had no need for treasures; his hands were the strongest treasures.

Ji Ning, however, wielded his sword.

“Ji Ning, now that you’ve mastered the second cycle, your Starseizing Hand has reached the highest level your current divine body can support,” the yellow-furred bear said, nodding in praise. “Focus on your cultivation. You’re only at the eleventh stage of the Crimsonbright Diagram of the Nine Heavens right now. If you can reach the twelfth stage before the Immortal Fortunes Assembly, your chances will be much greater.”

“Senior, if I use the Starseizing Hand during the Immortal Fortunes Assembly, will it be exposed? I heard that the Assembly might be watched by some formidable figures from the Three Realms,” Ji Ning said.

“Relax. As long as you don’t reveal the Starseizing runes, no matter how many times you use it, they won’t be able to tell,” the yellow-furred bear said with a laugh. “At most, they’ll think you have a powerful divine ability or secret art… or that your magic treasure, the ‘Northsea Swords,’ is exceptionally strong. They simply won’t be able to deduce the true power of this divine ability of yours.”

Ji Ning nodded.

“No great power can guess your divine ability just by looking at you once,” the yellow-furred bear said. “Unless it’s a technique-based one like the Windwing Evasion, or one like Heavenly Transformation that instantly makes your body grow incomparably huge—something that’s obvious at a single glance. Otherwise, most other divine abilities are extremely difficult to determine.”

“Hm?” The yellow-furred bear frowned. “Someone’s here.”

Ji Ning sensed it too.

A servant had arrived at the entrance of his immortal estate.

“I’ll go take a look,” Ji Ning said.

Swoosh.

Ji Ning quickly arrived at the entrance of the immortal estate. A servant was waiting there, saying respectfully, “A short old man claiming to be the ‘Five Loaths Immortal’ is at the Prince’s manor’s main gate, asking to see you, sir.”

“Five Loaths Immortal?” Ji Ning was startled, then quickly said, “Good, I understand.”

Outside the main gate of the Yan Prince’s manor.

A somewhat slovenly, short old man was waiting. Ji Ning appeared at the gate, his face showing surprise and delight. “Grandmaster!”

“Ji Ning.” Five Loaths Immortal also smiled.

“Come in, Grandmaster.” Ji Ning quickly led the way. “Come to my place.”

Five Loaths Immortal nodded.

…

Floating Cloud Immortal was waiting, waiting for the perfect chance to assassinate Ji Ning.

“Senior, Ji Ning has arrived at the manor’s gate.”

“He’s coming out?” Floating Cloud Immortal was filled with anticipation and excitement.

“No… he went back inside. He seemed to be welcoming a short, slovenly old man.”

“Keep watching.” Floating Cloud Immortal was starting to get anxious.

He had sworn a Heavenly Dao oath; he had to kill Ji Ning within three days, or else his soul would be scattered. If Ji Ning hid inside the Yan Prince’s manor for three days without coming out, Floating Cloud Immortal would be doomed.

…

Ji Ning led Five Loaths Immortal directly back to his immortal estate, where he prepared immortal wine and fruit.

“Grandmaster, how did you know I was at the Yan Prince’s manor?” Ji Ning asked with a smile.

“I came specifically looking for you,” Five Loaths Immortal said.

“Specifically looking for me?” Ji Ning was surprised.

Five Loaths Immortal nodded. “Right. Before your master, the Diancai Immortal, left to go wandering, he asked us to help you out. Our Black-White College can’t directly help you fight against the Shaoyin clan. All we can do… is bring you some of the secret manuals from the college’s archive. We’ve been wanting to give them to you, but we couldn’t find you. We only just got word that you had appeared at the Heavenly Treasures Mountain in the Grand Xia capital. By the time I got to the Heavenly Treasures Mountain and looked around, I learned you had entered the Yan Prince’s manor.”

“I’ve brought the Ki Refining technique you practice, the Water Element Source, as well as the third volume of the Crimsonbright Diagram of the Nine Heavens for your Fiendgod Body Refining,” Five Loaths Immortal said. “I’ve also brought all the divine abilities and secret arts from our college. Look through them, memorize them, then destroy each one after you’re done.”

As he spoke, thirty-six formation flags appeared around him, floating and emanating rings of light that surrounded them.

“Not even a Celestial Immortal can spy on us now,” Five Loaths Immortal said, looking at Ji Ning. “Hurry up and start reading.”

He handed over the Water Element Source first.

Ji Ning stood there, stunned.

Five Loaths Immortal had traveled all the way from Anchan Commandery just to deliver divine abilities and secret arts.

“Don’t just stand there gaping. You’re a disciple of our Black-White College; you were always meant to learn these things. The so-called ‘Black-White Pearls’ were just a way to temper you. After all, you can’t just have things dropped into your lap, right?” Five Loaths Immortal said with emotion. “Our Black-White College can only do this much for you.”