The Shadowy Powers

Roughly thirty years ago, some mysterious powers had appeared within the Grand Xia world, suspected to have come from other worlds.

One of these powers was called the ‘Bloodcloud Hall’.

The Bloodcloud Hall was an organization of assassins. It did not involve itself in any other disputes. Whoever offered treasures, it would kill for them! Whether the target was a weak mortal or a powerful Celestial Immortal! Every being in the Grand Xia world except the Grand Xia Emperor himself could be killed. Ever since the Bloodcloud Hall appeared in the Grand Xia world, it had sent tokens to the most powerful feudal lords, tribes, and sects. Through these tokens one could contact the Bloodcloud Hall and reach the legendary ‘Bloodcloud World’, hand over treasures, sign a contract, and the Bloodcloud Hall would go kill the target.

If the mission failed, the Bloodcloud Hall would continue to assassinate. Once the Bloodcloud Hall chose to abandon the mission, it would refund all the treasures.

If the mission succeeded, the matter was settled.

…

There was also another power called the ‘Seamless Gate’.

This was a far more mysterious power than the Bloodcloud Hall. The Seamless Gate had also revealed traces of itself in the Grand Xia world about thirty years ago. The Seamless Gate frantically ‘sowed discord’ throughout the entire Grand Xia world. For example, in the Anchan Commandery, it bestowed secret arts and treasures upon the Bloodgod Cult, which had long held a grudge against the Anchan Northmont clan, causing the Bloodgod Cult’s power to swell dramatically.

In the past, the Bloodgod Cult had been weak. The Bloodgod Cult leader had suppressed his hatred for the Anchan Northmont clan. But with increased strength, and tempted by the ‘Seamless Gate’… he immediately began attacking wildly.

The Seamless Gate seduced every faction.

It bestowed treasures, it bestowed secret arts.

Killing powerful figures counted as deeds! The greater the deed, the more the Seamless Gate bestowed.

“What exactly is the Seamless Gate trying to do?” Ji Ning read the intelligence report and was stunned. “Frantic instigation throughout the entire Grand Xia world, getting them to kill and kill, and the more they kill the more secret arts and treasures they get?”

No one knew where the ‘Seamless Gate’ headquarters was.

In fact, not a single outpost of the Seamless Gate had been discovered. The factions that had been seduced were all approached personally by Seamless Gate emissaries.

The power of the Seamless Gate was immense… Just among those Seamless Gate emissaries, the ‘White-robed emissaries’ were all Loose Immortals and Earth Immortals, while the ‘Golden-robed emissaries’ were Celestial Immortals. The number of confirmed distinct Celestial Immortals alone already exceeded three hundred.

“Three hundred?” Ji Ning lowered his head to look at this number on the intelligence report, and his expression changed dramatically.

Terrifying.

Truly terrifying.

He remembered back during the Immortal Fortunes Assembly. In the main hall of the Heavenly Edict Hall, representatives from various factions of the Grand Xia Dynasty had gathered, and there were probably around a thousand Celestial Immortals in total. Of course, there were even more Celestial Immortals in the Grand Xia who had not attended the Immortal Fortunes Assembly. For instance, Tuo Mountain Celestial Immortal and Tonghe Celestial Immortal did not go. The Shaoyang clan had only sent Ancestor Xuanji.

It was estimated that the entire Grand Xia still had several thousand, perhaps even tens of thousands of Celestial Immortals.

But…

This was the combined strength of the many feudal lords, sects, and cults. It was not the power of the Grand Xia royal clan! The imperial clan itself had limited strength. Throughout history, feudal lords had rebelled against the throne. Even the Anchan Northmont clan was currently keeping a low profile and watching the situation; they would not frantically serve as cannon fodder for the ‘imperial clan’.

“Just a single Seamless Gate has already revealed over three hundred Celestial Immortals. Across the entire Grand Xia Dynasty, probably only the imperial clan could have such power. No other tribe or sect is this strong.” Ji Ning was secretly alarmed. “No wonder even the Xia Emperor dares not act rashly. After all, these three hundred Celestial Immortals are the so-called ‘Golden-robed emissaries’. And they are only emissaries; this is not the full force of the Seamless Gate.”

…

The Bloodcloud Hall would kill anyone if given treasures. Even the Grand Xia imperial clan could offer treasures and hire the Bloodcloud Hall to kill.

The Seamless Gate stirred up conflict everywhere, creating chaos. But the Seamless Gate’s own outposts, lairs, and true strength were completely unknown.

…

Besides these two major powers, there were also secret powers. The other secret powers were even more low-key and even more concealed. The first two were too blatant, so naturally they were more thoroughly investigated.

Whether it was the exposed Bloodcloud Hall, the Seamless Gate, or the mysterious secret powers…

They all shared one trait.

They had all appeared roughly thirty years ago.

“No wonder the Xia Emperor dares not act rashly. Even the Bloodcloud Hall and Seamless Gate are already terrifyingly powerful, not to mention the hidden ones.” Ji Ning mused. He had now finished reading the book.

“Don’t worry.” The silver-haired man beside him smiled. “After all, the ruler of the entire Grand Xia world is His Majesty. These powers that are secretly stirring up trouble, like the Seamless Gate… if they truly had the strength to oppose the imperial clan, they wouldn’t need to scheme so secretly and hide their tracks.”

Ji Ning paused, then nodded. “Yes, I understand.”

That made sense too.

Even the Anchan Northmont clan had a hidden old monster, ‘Ancestor Tonghe’. As the ruler of an entire major world, and even as the ‘Grand Xia Emperor’ of the ancient royal bloodline, how much power had he accumulated over endless years? The Grand Xia imperial clan’s control over the entire world was deeply rooted. Just the Yinglong Guard alone!

The Yinglong Guard had branches in every commandery city. Each Yinglong Guard branch could almost rival a feudal lord.

The entire Yinglong Guard was a truly terrifying force.

“His Majesty was able to end the Primordial Fiendgod Era; these petty troublemakers cannot shake him. The great tribulation has not truly arrived; these are merely small ripples.” The silver-haired man smiled at Ji Ning. “I imagine you now have a clear picture of the situation in the entire Grand Xia world.”

“Yes.” Ji Ning nodded. “Thank you, Senior Skyfox—no, thank you, His Imperial Majesty, for allowing me to see this intelligence. If not for it, I wouldn’t have known about the Bloodcloud Hall, and even less about the Seamless Gate.”

“If you have any matters, feel free to come find me in the Grand Xia capital.” The silver-haired man smiled. “I will do my best to help.”

“Certainly.”

Ji Ning nodded, then quickly asked, “By the way, do you have any news of my senior apprentice-sister Yu Wei?”

“Yu Wei left the Grand Xia world with Patriarch Lu over thirty years ago and hasn’t returned since. She’s probably still training.” The silver-haired man said.

…

Ji Ning left Anchan City with Uncle White and returned to the Yàn Mountains.

This time at Heavenly Treasures Mountain, he had also gotten the answer he wanted. The ‘Bashe Formation’ was a formation commonly used by Bloodcloud Hall assassins. Therefore, the twelve people who had ambushed him earlier had most likely been Bloodcloud Hall assassins. As for who had hired the Bloodcloud Hall to kill him… the first name that came to Ji Ning’s mind was ‘the Shaoyang clan’. He couldn’t think of anyone else.

After returning to the Yàn Mountains.

Uncle White continued setting up formations. In the past, only one killing formation had been deployed; there were still two more great killing formations to set up. Ji Ning immersed himself in cultivation and understanding the Dao, spending time studying sword techniques and sometimes drawing his bow to train in the ‘Houyi Archery’ technique.

…

While Ji Ning’s life was peaceful, the Grand Xia world was anything but.

In almost every commandery, and even in the four seas, the ‘Seamless Gate’ was adding fuel to the flames, making the chaos even more intense. Meanwhile, both the Grand Xia imperial clan and the many feudal lords were cautiously waiting. None of them could clearly see their ‘enemy’; they couldn’t even find their enemy’s lair.

At the same time…

The Shaoyang clan was also investigating Ji Ning.

“Even the Bloodcloud Hall demanded twenty top-grade Immortal-ranked treasures. Although the Bloodcloud Hall’s demands are insane, judging by their past pricing, this is relatively high, but it also reflects the difficulty of the target. Ji Ning’s strength is definitely higher than we estimated earlier; otherwise, he wouldn’t have survived the Bloodcloud Hall’s first assassination wave.”

“In just over thirty years, his strength has grown this much compared to the Immortal Fortunes Assembly. If we let him develop, perhaps in another thirty years, our Shaoyang clan will find it hard to kill him.”

“We must eliminate him early, or he will surely become a great threat.”

“Since the Bloodcloud Hall’s price is high, we will act on our own. We must succeed in one strike.”

“Yes. We must make all preparations and treat Ji Ning as a top-tier Celestial Immortal.”

The Shaoyang clan had recognized the threat Ji Ning posed.

In truth, ever since the Shaoyang clan had sent men to try and wipe out the Ji clan, the enmity between the two sides had already become deep. The assassination attempt in the Grand Xia capital had only made the hatred irreconcilable.

After this Bloodcloud Hall assassination attempt, Ji Ning had no other ‘great enemies’ in the Grand Xia Dynasty besides the Shaoyang clan. He could completely guess…

“Eliminate him.”

“He must be eliminated.”

The Shaoyang clan began investigating. But they discovered that the Yàn Mountains were a veritable dragon’s den and tiger’s lair. The terrifying formations there were even more frightening than the Shaoyang clan’s own tribal lair.

“We cannot assassinate Ji Ning in the Yàn Mountains.”

“Ji Ning is in the Yàn Mountains right now… we must wait.”

“Wait.”

Ji Ning’s days in the Yàn Mountains were leisurely. He ignored the chaos outside and silently cultivated.

From winter, to spring and summer, and then to deep autumn.

Ji Ning remained at Winged Serpent Lake in the Yàn Mountains the entire time.

In truth, he had long wanted to pay a visit to the East Forest Mountain Range. He had suffered a loss there before, and the ‘East Forest Mountain Range’ was the only known outpost of a mysterious power that he was aware of. Judging by the methods used against him, it should not be able to harm him now. With his ‘Seventy-Two Transformations’, he had no need to worry about exposure and could easily infiltrate it.

But…

He kept putting it off because he was waiting. Waiting to break through in the Crimsonbright Diagram of the Nine Heavens! He had reached the fifteenth stage of the Crimsonbright Diagram ten years ago. In the years since, besides cultivating other things, he had never stopped training the Crimsonbright Diagram every day. His divine body had grown strong, and his absorption of Taiyin power and Sunstar power was astonishing. However, the breakthrough required an enormous amount of divine power. Ji Ning could sense that he was getting close to breaking through.

So he held back from going to the ‘East Forest Mountain Range’. Once he broke through and his strength surged, he would have more confidence when he went to investigate.

“Autumn Leaf. I’m going to spend some quiet time on the lake. I’ll be back in the evening. Make sure you prepare something delicious.” Ji Ning said with a smile.

“Yes.” Autumn Leaf nodded immediately.

Ji Ning stood at the shore, waved his hand, and a small boat appeared on the water. He took a step and was already on the boat. The little boat drifted toward the center of Winged Serpent Lake.

Autumn Leaf watched from afar. Only after seeing Ji Ning disappear into the distant mist did she turn and head back.

…

The boat drifted. Ji Ning lay on the boat, naturally absorbing the power of the Taiyin Star and the Sunstar. Suddenly, Ji Ning felt something and opened his eyes. He could sense that his divine power had reached its limit. It was time to break through. He immediately rose, took a step, left the boat, and stood directly on the lake’s surface.

“Boom~~~”“Boom~~~”

In the endless void beyond space, the two supreme stars, the ‘Taiyin Star’ and the ‘Sunstar’, immediately sent down their power. It passed through the void and descended directly onto Ji Ning’s body.