The Ninth-Stage Puppet

“A ninth-stage puppet?” Silvermoon rose to his feet, feathered fan in hand, surprise coloring his voice. “Junior apprentice-brother, are you confident you can handle it?”

“I’ve never fought one before, so I wouldn’t presume to say,” Ji Ning replied.

“Little junior apprentice-brother, you’re far too modest. Come, come—let your senior apprentice-brother witness your skill.” Silvermoon led Ji Ning down from the Divine Immortal Palace and onto the open training grounds.

Outside the field, a crowd of disciples from Mount Innerheart had already gathered. Even Littleqing and Uncle White had arrived, summoned by Ji Ning’s telepathic message that he intended to challenge a ninth-stage puppet. Both had paused their cultivation to come watch.

“Is Patriarch Ji Ning going to challenge an eighth-stage puppet again? He’s already beaten nine of those, hasn’t he?”

“Maybe he’s going for a ninth-stage one!”

“A ninth-stage puppet—that’s no easy feat!”

“Some of us have been on this mountain for tens of thousands of years and still haven’t beaten a ninth-stage puppet.”

The disciples murmured among themselves. A few even turned to Littleqing and Uncle White. “Skygreen Serpent, Whitewater Hound—which stage is Patriarch Ji Ning challenging?”

“Littleqing, dear, don’t keep us in suspense—tell us!”

In the thirty years since Ji Ning’s arrival, Littleqing and Uncle White had grown quite familiar with these disciples.

Uncle White simply smiled.

Littleqing, however, lifted her chin. “Just watch, and you’ll find out.”

Meanwhile, Ji Ning and Silvermoon were conversing off to the side. Their status was high enough that the ordinary disciples rarely dared to speak to them.

“Hua.” With a wave of Silvermoon’s hand, a puppet materialized out of thin air.

The puppet was pure white like jade, with nine rings encircling its right arm. Its aura was powerful and unmistakable.

“A ninth-stage puppet!”

“That’s a ninth-stage!”

“Patriarch Ji Ning is really challenging a ninth-stage!”

Gasps of excitement rippled through the crowd. Life on Mount Innerheart was tranquil, with everyone focused on pursuing the Dao, so any challenge against a ninth-stage puppet was a major event. That the challenger was Ji Ning—who had only been accepted as Patriarch Subhuti’s personal disciple thirty years ago—only made it more thrilling.

Inside the combat arena.

Ji Ning and the ninth-stage puppet faced each other from a distance.

“This is your first time challenging me,” the puppet said, its eyes glimmering with a faint light as it scrutinized Ji Ning. “Your Fiendgod body is at the perfected Primal stage.”

Ji Ning knew that this ninth-stage puppet was a creation of his master, Patriarch Subhuti. Comparable to a Pure Yang treasure, it had long since developed intelligence and a will of its own.

A Northsea sword appeared in each of Ji Ning’s hands. “Enough talk. Show me your best sword technique.”

“Hmph.” The puppet gave a cold laugh, producing a heavy greatsword. “I’ll play with you, then.” As it spoke, it took a single step forward, shaking the ground, and appeared before Ji Ning in an instant. The speed made Ji Ning’s brows twitch. With a slight shift of his feet, he sent both swords meeting the puppet’s attack.

Hua, hua, hua…

Phantom images of surging waves materialized in the air. Ji Ning’s swordsmanship had reached a level profound enough to draw upon the power of Heaven and Earth, manifesting these visions.

The phantom waves rolled forward, carrying Ji Ning’s sword-light within them.

Clang! Clang!

The puppet’s greatsword was ferocious and overbearing, each strike like a crashing wave against a cliff.

Ji Ning’s sword technique was more resilient and unbroken, an endless flowing stream.

For a time, the puppet’s powerful attacks could not break through Ji Ning’s continuous defense.

“Not bad. I’ll have to show some real skill to beat you.” The puppet’s other hand produced a second greatsword.

Hong… hong…

Both greatswords began to whirl like a massive windwheel. Above the puppet, a vast phantom of a sea vortex appeared! This vortex represented an immense gathering of Heaven-Earth power, making the puppet’s sword strikes even more violent, overbearing, and laced with a grinding, crushing force. It completely suppressed Ji Ning!

“Sword Roaming the Three Realms!” Under this pressure, Ji Ning immediately changed his technique. The perfected version of Sword Roaming the Three Realms—refined during his seclusion—was unleashed. Two dazzling beams of sword-light appeared, each carrying a black swimming dragon. The two black dragons wound around each other as they charged straight at the puppet.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Three exchanges of sword-light.

Then, everything came to a halt.

The ninth-stage puppet and Ji Ning stood back to back, frozen for a moment. The puppet did not move, while Ji Ning calmly sheathed his Northsea swords.

A vicious wound was carved into the puppet’s chest.

In those three exchanges, Ji Ning’s sword had been a hair faster. That single hair’s breadth had decided the outcome.

The puppet lowered its head to examine its chest. The wound vanished in the blink of an eye.

“You win.” The puppet turned to look at Ji Ning. “To defeat me on your first try… you may now enter the ninth floor of the Divine Immortal Palace.”

“Yuxin, this is my junior apprentice-brother. It’s only right that he beat you,” Silvermoon said, walking over.

“Your junior apprentice-brother? One of the Patriarch’s personal disciples?” The puppet stared at Ji Ning with renewed surprise.

“The more disciples who defeat you, the closer you are to freedom. You should be happy,” Silvermoon said with a laugh. “Now, it’s time for you to return to your place.” With a wave of his hand, he put the puppet away.

“Junior apprentice-brother, congratulations.” Silvermoon turned to Ji Ning with a smile. “Come, let’s enter the palace.”

“Mm.” Ji Ning nodded and followed Silvermoon through the palace doors.

The crowd of disciples stood frozen, watching the two of them disappear into the Divine Immortal Palace.

“He won!”

“He actually won! Patriarch Ji Ning defeated the ninth-stage puppet!”

“Such a domineering sword technique… such terrifying swordplay.”

“Truly a peerless Sword Immortal.”

Exclamations of awe filled the air.

“Only thirty years…”

“Patriarch Ji Ning has only been a disciple of our Patriarch for thirty years. Thirty years ago, he could barely beat a fourth-stage puppet. And now, in just thirty years, he’s defeated a ninth-stage. I’ve been on this mountain for nearly a million years.” A six-armed Fiendgod wreathed in flames lowered his head and sighed. “You humans really have ridiculously high comprehension.”

“I’m a human myself, and I’ve been here a thousand years without beating a ninth-stage puppet.”

“Even a Celestial Immortal might not be able to defeat a ninth-stage puppet. Thirty years… no wonder he was accepted as the Patriarch’s personal disciple.”

“The Patriarch’s personal disciples are truly extraordinary.”

“Littleqing, could you ask the Patriarch to give us a lecture sometime?”

“Brother White, your master’s sword technique is astonishing. I have some doubts about my own swordsmanship—could you ask him to give us some guidance?”

Voices buzzed from every direction.

Littleqing and Uncle White were both filled with joy.

To the ordinary disciples of Mount Innerheart, Ji Ning’s thirty-year triumph over the ninth-stage puppet was breathtaking and almost unbelievable. But for personal disciples like Silvermoon, it was within expectations.

Ji Ning and Silvermoon walked up the wooden stairs of the Divine Immortal Palace.

“To defeat a ninth-stage puppet in thirty years is truly remarkable,” Silvermoon said with a smile. “The ordinary disciples down there are still in shock and excitement.”

“It’s passable,” Ji Ning replied, finding little to be proud of. With Patriarch Subhuti personally guiding him, the guidance of the Starseizing Hall within the aquatic mansion, and the countless hours spent meditating on the Netherwater Jade bed within the Stargazing Meditation Array… thirty years was exactly the timeframe he had set for himself.

“I wonder about the other senior and junior apprentice-brothers and sisters. How long did it take them to defeat a ninth-stage puppet?” Ji Ning asked curiously.

“Among the Patriarch’s personal disciples, you’re about average,” Silvermoon laughed. “Leaving aside those who were already exceedingly powerful when they joined… of the twelve, including you, who were quite weak at the time of apprenticeship, the shortest was a little over a year, and the longest was over thirteen thousand years.”

Ji Ning was stunned. “A little over a year? And over thirteen thousand years?”

If they were accepted as the Patriarch’s personal disciple yet took over ten thousand years to beat a ninth-stage puppet, that seemed absurd. And a little over a year was almost too absurd.

“The Patriarch has nineteen personal disciples in total,” Silvermoon explained. “Seven were already immensely powerful when they joined, while the remaining twelve, including you, were quite weak. Among them, the Ninth Apprentice had an astonishing comprehension. When the Patriarch’s incarnation was wandering the primordial world, he encountered this Ninth Apprentice, who was then just an ordinary child who loved to paint. The Patriarch gave him a single piece of instruction, and the child—who had never cultivated before—comprehended an entire complete Dao overnight: the ‘Dao of Ink and Wash.’ The Patriarch brought him back to Mount Innerheart, and in just over a year, he had defeated a ninth-stage puppet.”

Ji Ning blinked.

An ordinary child who had never cultivated, just loved to paint? One night to comprehend a complete Dao? And defeated a ninth-stage puppet in a little over a year?

“Next are the Third and Sixth Apprentices,” Silvermoon continued. “Each took only a few years. When they joined, they had hardly cultivated either, but they were born from extraordinary origins. The Third Apprentice was a being of immense natural fortune—a Golden Crow born from the Sunstar itself. The Sixth Apprentice was also remarkable: a spiritual monkey born from a remnant of the divine stone that Mother Nuwa had used to patch the heavens.”

Ji Ning’s heart stirred.

A spiritual monkey born from a leftover stone of Nuwa’s sky-repair… That reminded him of the story recorded in a certain novel from his previous life on the small world of ‘Earth.’ He wondered how similar this spiritual monkey was to that legendary tale.

“After that, there were those who took several decades,” Silvermoon said. “In short, humans have very high comprehension. So do beings of extraordinary origin like the Third and Sixth Apprentices—their comprehension is also exceptionally high.”

“Among the Patriarch’s disciples, those who defeated a ninth-stage puppet within a hundred years were all humans or beings of extraordinary origin.”

“Take us monsters. The Patriarch has several monster disciples as well. Take me, for example—I trained for over three thousand years before defeating a ninth-stage puppet. And there are those who took even longer. Overall, monsters have far inferior comprehension to humans.”

Ji Ning nodded.

Monsters have poor comprehension, and Fiendgods even worse. But Heaven balances things out. A human at the Zifu stage has a lifespan of five hundred years; at Wanxiang, eight hundred years. Monsters are different. A Xiantian-level great demon can live for a thousand years, and a Wanxiang-level great demon can live for ten thousand. Fiendgods have it even more absurd—they are naturally immortal, completely free from the Three Calamities and Nine Tribulations. But their comprehension is pitifully low, and they might not advance a single step even after a billion years.

“The senior apprentice-brothers and sisters under the Patriarch are all extraordinary,” Ji Ning mused. “Some had astonishing origins, some had incredible encounters. I was only accepted because I inherited Daoist Threelives’ legacy.”

He understood that he was considered average among the Patriarch’s disciples.

His only distinction was that he was a disciple of both Patriarch Subhuti and Daoist Threelives.

His divine ability, the Starseizing Hand, was the very technique that had allowed Daoist Threelives to dominate the primordial world. Even Patriarch Subhuti could not offer a technique of that caliber.

“We’ve reached the ninth floor.”

Silvermoon stopped at the entrance to the ninth floor and smiled. “Once you’ve made your selection of techniques on this floor, you can proceed to the Three Realms Palace. As long as you master a single divine ability or secret art from the Three Realms Palace and cultivate it to perfection, you will be able to roam the Three Realms unchallenged and become a figure known throughout Heaven and Earth.”