The Sixteenth Level and the Treasure Vault of the Ancients

The Taiyin divine纹 and Sunstar divine纹 on Ji Ning’s back had grown increasingly profound and mysterious. They were now blazing with light. Around Ji Ning, a Golden Crow wreathed in flames flew in circles, while an icy Moon Rabbit lifted its head to gaze into the void, as if staring at the far-off Taiyin Star in the endless emptiness.

From the distant void, the Taiyin Star and the Sunstar descended vast streams of Taiyin True Water and Sunstar True Fire.

“Huuu… huuu… huuu…”

Water and fire intertwined, like threads of yarn, quickly wrapping Ji Ning up completely, forming a cocoon that resembled a huge egg. This ‘egg’ was formed from Taiyin True Water and Sunstar True Fire. The energy contained within poured into Ji Ning’s body in a profoundly mysterious manner that even he could not fully comprehend, frantically transforming his divine body. This was a fundamental ‘metamorphosis’ at a major level, and even the ‘Taiyin divine纹 and Sunstar divine紋’ would undergo a transformation alongside it.

…

Above the calm waters of Winged Serpent Lake, an egg one zhang in size floated on the surface. The egg’s shell had a faint, two-colored pattern to it. Looking at it instilled a sense of formless dread, yet it did not harm the water in the slightest.

Slowly…

The eggshell grew thinner and more translucent, until one could faintly see a person within it. Finally, the ‘egg’ dispersed completely, revealing a naked youth standing on the lake’s surface. In the next instant, a set of finely crafted beast-hide garments appeared on his body.

“Whew. I’ve finally reached the sixteenth level of the Crimsonbright Diagram of the Nine Heavens.” Ji Ning let out a sigh of relief. “I should now be comparable to an ordinary Fiendgod Body Refiner at the ‘late Void’ stage, right? Before transcending the tribulation for Fiendgod Body Refining, the most I can reach is the seventeenth level. I’m now approaching the final limit I can achieve before the tribulation.”

Once the Crimsonbright Diagram of the Nine Heavens reached the eighteenth level, the Heavenly Tribulation would soon descend. Thus, before the tribulation, the maximum he could achieve was the seventeenth level.

This breakthrough, however, was a major leap in realms.

A fundamental metamorphosis.

Previously, the Eight-Nine Arcane Art could only be trained to the third cycle because his divine body had reached its limits and could no longer withstand a stronger transformation. But now, with this fundamental qualitative leap in his divine body, he could completely master the Eight-Nine Arcane Art up to the sixth cycle! Unfortunately, mastering the sixth cycle would require roughly a thousand times the cost of the third cycle!

And the ninth cycle would require another thousand times the cost of the sixth cycle! The very thought of it was chilling. Even his senior apprentice-brother, ‘Silvermoon Heavenly God’, had only trained to the sixth cycle. In the entire Three Realms, the number of cultivators who had trained the Eight-Nine Arcane Art to the ninth cycle could be counted on one hand. They were far rarer than even Daofathers and True Gods.

“My Fiendgod Body Refining has gone from being comparable to the early Void stage to the late Void stage, crossing two minor levels.” Ji Ning understood. “I imagine that my close-combat power has now surpassed my Ki Refining power.”

Previously, in Ki Refining, relying on the Plowsword Formation, he was slightly stronger than in close combat. But now, Ji Ning’s divine body had become incredibly powerful. A Fiendgod Body Refiner was already formidable by nature, and Ji Ning was comparable to an ordinary Fiendgod Body Refiner at the late Void stage. With the divine ability ‘Starseizing Hand’, his explosive power and strength far surpassed that of a Celestial Immortal. Wielding the Thousandbull Sword and his sword arts, he could now be considered a decent combatant among Celestial Immortals. At the very least, he was no longer at the bottom of the pack, as he had been before.

After his breakthrough, Ji Ning still lay on the small boat, drifting on the waters of Winged Serpent Lake.

Just as a child who has accomplished something wants to show off before their parents and earn their praise, Ji Ning, after improving his power, drifted on Winged Serpent Lake, as if he were beside his parents, letting them see his strength. The faint sound of waves lapping against the boat was like his parents’ voices.

“Now that I’ve returned from Mount Innerheart with greatly increased power, it’s time to investigate the reincarnation of my parents,” Ji Ning thought silently.

Reincarnation after death.

He had been thinking about investigating this for a long time. He also wanted to look into the fate of his parents-in-law from his past life. But in those days, Ji Ning had been far too weak to investigate. Now, he barely had the ability. Unfortunately, this was not a time of peace. During peacetime, the Netherworld Kingdom was in charge and investigation was easy. But now that the Six Paths of Reincarnation had collapsed, investigating was far more difficult than before.

At dusk.

Ji Ning returned to Brightheart Island. He shared some of Autumn Leaf’s delicious home-cooked food with Uncle White, Qingqing, and Autumn Leaf, then quietly entered the aquatic palace.

…

Within the aquatic palace.

The yellow-furred bear looked at Ji Ning and laughed. “Congratulations. You’ve broken through to the sixteenth level of Fiendgod Body Refining. This is a major leap between realms. You now have two more chances to challenge the War God Hall. You can also go to the Treasure Hall to select another treasure. But I must say, your patience is remarkable. You waited until the evening to come in.”

Ji Ning just smiled. He asked, “Last time, I cleared the eighth level of the War God Hall. The top two levels remain, the ninth and the tenth. Senior, how confident am I of clearing the ninth level now?”

“The ninth level? Hmph. If you and your Primaltwin join forces, you have a bare ten percent chance of success,” said the yellow-furred bear.

“Only ten percent?” Ji Ning was startled.

He felt that he was already quite powerful among Celestial Immortals, and he also had the Eight-Nine Arcane Art protecting his body.

“How high did you think your chances were? The ninth and tenth levels, once cleared, grant Pure Yang treasures,” said the yellow-furred bear. “The seventh and eighth levels grant Immortal-ranked treasures. The final two grant Pure Yang treasures, so the difficulty naturally skyrockets. I estimate that you would need the strength of a top-tier Celestial Immortal to have an absolute guarantee of clearing the ninth level. As for the tenth level, you would need power comparable to a Pure Yang True Immortal to have a chance.”

Ji Ning blinked.

The ninth level required the strength of a top-tier Celestial Immortal?

The tenth level required power comparable to a Pure Yang True Immortal?

Ji Ning was self-aware. His ‘Three-Foot Sword’ was still far from being perfected in the Dao of the Sword. In terms of swordplay, he was decent among Celestial Immortals, far better than the bottom-dwellers. But he was still a long way from being truly top-tier. He guessed that ‘Patriarch Tonghe’ was probably at the level of a top-tier Celestial Immortal.

“Alright, I won’t challenge it for now. After all, before I become a True God, I only have two chances,” said Ji Ning. “Senior, let’s go to the Treasure Hall. Let me take a good look around.”

“You really do need to take a good look. You can’t use Pure Yang treasures anyway, so what’s most important to you right now are Immortal-ranked treasures. This will be your third time selecting an Immortal-ranked treasure. I’ll let you see all of the Immortal-ranked treasures that my master left behind. Pick whichever you want.” As the yellow-furred bear spoke, he and Ji Ning arrived at the Treasure Hall.

Above the Treasure Hall, treasures still floated, radiating powerful auras.

To Ji Ning, these auras no longer mattered. Even a Pure Yang treasure, he could forcibly seize.

“Here is the catalogue of all Immortal-ranked treasures.” The yellow-furred bear handed Ji Ning a thick treasure tome.

Ji Ning lowered his head and began to leaf through it.

He had already selected two Immortal-ranked treasures. The first was the ‘Triple Sealing Immortal Circlet’, a high-grade Immortal-ranked treasure prepared for Uncle White, which he had already given to him. The second was the set of nine supreme-grade Immortal-ranked flying swords that formed the ‘Plowsword Formation’, which was clearly a much better deal. This time, all Immortal-ranked treasures were available for selection.

“Wow.”

“These are far superior to the Plowsword Formation.” Ji Ning stared, dumbfounded.

The Plowsword Formation was excellent, but compared to the most supreme Immortal-ranked treasures collected by Daoist Threelives, it was far inferior. After all, the Plowsword Formation was merely a ‘mass-produced’ treasure.

“These are the absolute cream of the crop. Even in the current Three Realms, they would be considered top-tier. My master left these Immortal-ranked treasures behind intact, without dismantling these sets,” the yellow-furred bear said from the side.

Ji Ning’s eyes lit up.

Take this one, for example.

The Fivefold Thunderlight Ark: A supreme-grade Immortal-ranked treasure of incredible speed, comparable to a True God or True Immortal! Simply by pouring in Ki, one could activate the ‘Fivefold Thunderlight’ to attack enemies.

The Fivefold Thunderlight was a technique on par with the ‘Nine Heavens Divine-Poison Flame’. As long as one stayed within the ark, enemies could not harm one, while one could bombard them with countless blasts of Fivefold Thunderlight. Even a Celestial Immortal patriarch would most likely die from such a relentless barrage. After all, not many cultivators could train in the Eight-Nine Arcane Art and be immune to bombardment, like Ji Ning. This single treasure was on par with a Pure Yang treasure! Even most Pure Yang treasures could not directly unleash the Fivefold Thunderlight.

…

“This… this is simply…” Ji Ning’s eyes went wide.

The Celestial Earth Fiendweb Formation: A terrifying grand formation composed of three thousand six hundred supreme-grade Immortal-ranked flying knives! Once an enemy was trapped within, the three thousand six hundred supreme-grade Immortal-ranked flying knives would descend in a sky-covering, earth-shattering storm. As the saying goes, a pair of fists is no match for four hands. With these flying knives leveraging the profound mysteries of a formation, the power was so great that even a mere Celestial Immortal, possessing such a treasure, could be an arrogant and domineering figure. The value of such a set of supreme-grade Immortal-ranked treasures was so immense that no one would be foolish enough to trade it for an ordinary Pure Yang treasure.

“Senior, a set of three thousand six hundred supreme-grade Immortal-ranked flying knives forming a grand formation… that counts as a single set?” Ji Ning could hardly believe it.

Although flying knives were generally less valuable than flying swords, three thousand six hundred flying knives were worth several hundred supreme-grade Immortal-ranked flying swords. The Plowsword Formation only had nine!

“Of course. There are many good treasures here. All the precious Immortal-ranked treasures that my master acquired are here. Take your time looking.” The yellow-furred bear spoke.

…

“The Ten-Millennia Extinction Needles!” Ji Ning leafed to a set composed of the most supreme-grade Immortal-ranked treasures. It consisted of ten thousand needles, all stored within a single ‘Needle Casing’. This Needle Casing itself was an extremely rare supreme-grade Immortal-ranked treasure, containing a Dao-diagram within it. When a battle began, one would open the casing, and the countless needles would fly out, using the Dao-diagram’s power to create a chillingly deadly effect.

…

“The Starry Zhou Heavenly Sword Formation? That’s impressive, but if only there were more flying swords…”

The Starry Zhou Heavenly Sword Formation inherently contained the ancient ‘Starry Zhou Heavenly Grand Formation’. It was specially crafted from three hundred and sixty supreme-grade Immortal-ranked flying swords. Once activated, each flying sword would smash into an enemy with the force of an entire star.

…

Ji Ning was completely enraptured by the top-tier Immortal-ranked treasures in the tome. Daoist Threelives had collected them specifically for his successors—not just one successor, but for generation after generation. Naturally, the collection was vast.