The Price of Power

In the dead of night, Ji Ning shuttled through the void and arrived at the central imperial capital of the entire Grand Xia world.

Within the Heavenly Treasures Mountain in the Grand Xia royal capital, Ji Ning sat alone in a quiet residence, drinking wine under the bright moon.

“Hmm?” Ji Ning’s ears twitched slightly as he glanced toward the entrance.

A white-robed man with silver hair walked in.

“Senior Heavenly Fox,” Ji Ning said with a smile as he rose to his feet.

“Coming in such haste in the middle of the night, you must have something urgent,” the silver-haired man replied with a faint smile. “Ji Ning, just say what you need. His Majesty has already given his orders; I naturally won’t dare to be negligent in the slightest.”

Ji Ning nodded. “I wish to purchase some rare treasures.”

“Rare treasures? What kind?” the silver-haired man pressed.

“I need thirty thousand jin of Skygold Crystal, six thousand jin of Azure Spirit Jade Bamboo Shoots, nine thousand jin of Heavenly River Profound Yin Primal Water, three thousand jin of Fish-Dragon Spiritual Pulp, and twelve hundred jin of Chaos-Era Primordial Earth,” Ji Ning said in one breath.

The silver-haired man’s expression changed. “That much?”

“At least that much,” Ji Ning confirmed.

He had alternatives, of course, but the treasures he had just listed—ones imbued with the power of the Five Elements—were the cheapest options for cultivating the fourth cycle of the Six Cycles of the Starseizing Hand. Given how tight his finances were, he naturally had to pick the most cost-effective choices. For example, the feathers of a Heavenly God-level divine peacock, which contained the full essence of the Five Elements, would be more than sufficient—and would leave him with plenty to spare!

But the concentrated bloodline essence of a Heavenly God-level divine beast was far too precious, even more valuable than an ordinary Pure Yang top-grade magic treasure! Most importantly, it was far too rare. Since Pangu split heaven and earth, fewer than five divine peacocks that reached the Heavenly God level and possessed all Five Elements had ever existed. Only two had died. The Five Elements Peacock Feathers left behind by those two had long been acquired by supreme powers for far more valuable purposes. Where could one even buy them? And even if one could, who could afford them?

“You’re asking for far too much. These are all rare treasures of the Three Realms, representing the Five Elements. They have an extremely wide range of uses, whether in artifact forging or alchemy. I’ll have to ask His Majesty about this,” the silver-haired man said.

Ji Ning smiled and nodded.

The silver-haired man sat down, poured himself a drink, and laughed. “Let’s drink for now. His Majesty will give you his answer shortly.”

“Alright.” Ji Ning understood that this man was the Xia Emperor’s spirit-beast and could communicate with him telepathically.

“Ji Ning, what do you need all this for? Alchemy? Forging artifacts? Crafting puppets?” the silver-haired man asked curiously. “You’ve been cultivating for less than a hundred years. Whether it’s alchemy or artifact forging… both require an enormous amount of time to master. Throughout the Three Realms, the true masters of alchemy and artifact crafting are at the very least Celestial Immortals, because they have infinite time to slowly delve into these arts.”

Ji Ning chuckled at that. It was true. The amount of time the aquatic palace’s artifact spirit had spent just to forge the ‘Thousandbull Swords’ was simply terrifying. In a sense, the artifact spirit’s skill in artifact crafting was actually rather mediocre; otherwise, it wouldn’t have taken so long.

“I have my own uses for them,” Ji Ning said.

The Starseizing Hand was famous, but nobody knew exactly how it was cultivated. Buying Five Elements treasures wouldn’t give anything away.

“Hahaha…” The silver-haired man laughed and didn’t press further. Then his eyes lit up. “Ji Ning, His Majesty tells me he can gather enough Skygold Crystal and Heavenly River Profound Yin Primal Water, but the other three items… he can’t get you as much as you need.”

“Then let me change the other three treasures,” Ji Ning said, listing three alternatives.

…

“No.”

“Can’t get enough.”

“Ji Ning, all the items you’re asking for are Five Elements treasures of the same tier,” the silver-haired man said, shaking his head. “His Majesty also said he’s not skilled in artifact forging or alchemy, so he doesn’t have much stock. But he can find some friends and exchange treasures with them to help you gather what you need.”

Ji Ning quickly expressed his gratitude. “That would be very helpful. Thank you.”

“Ji Ning, you should know that the more valuable a treasure is, the less it’s sold outright. Most of it is traded through barter,” the silver-haired man said, looking at him. “To get all this, you’ll need to offer up enough treasures in exchange. Do you have that many?”

“What would I need to exchange to get them?” Ji Ning asked.

“A normal Pure Yang top-grade magic treasure would be enough for the exchange,” the silver-haired man said with a smile. “Or take twenty of those arrows you had last time, and that’d be sufficient.”

Ji Ning sighed inwardly.

The cost of Five Elements materials was this high. There was no helping it. The more advanced one’s cultivation of the Starseizing Hand, the higher the price. Fortunately, he was only training his hands. If he were training his entire body—like with the Eight-Nine Arcane Art—the cost would be even more absurd.

Right now, his Crimsonbright Diagram of the Nine Heavens had reached the sixteenth level. The Starseizing Hand could be cultivated to the fourth cycle, and the Eight-Nine Arcane Art could also be advanced to a higher sixth cycle. But the cost of training the Eight-Nine Arcane Art was a thousand times the original price… roughly ten Pure Yang top-grade magic treasures! That left Ji Ning utterly helpless.

A Pure Yang top-grade magic treasure was equivalent in power to a mid-grade先天 spirit-treasure. Many Pure Yang True Immortals and Heavenly Gods used treasures of this tier. Having to come up with ten of them would be a considerable burden even for a Pure Yang True Immortal. His senior apprentice-brother, the Heavenly God Silvermoon, had only trained the Eight-Nine Arcane Art to the sixth cycle.

“The Eight-Nine Arcane Art will have to wait for now. It’s too far off. Let me train the Starseizing Hand first,” Ji Ning resolved.

“Ji Ning, can you afford it?” the silver-haired man asked, looking at him with a faint smile.

“Please ask His Majesty to gather the Five Elements treasures for me,” Ji Ning said. “Once His Majesty is ready, I will naturally bring out enough treasures to complete the exchange.”

“Very well.”

The silver-haired man said, “His Majesty will personally help you gather these treasures. Once they are ready, I will notify you immediately.”

Ji Ning flipped his hand and produced a jade talisman. “This is my communication talisman. If you crush it, I will sense it and rush to the royal capital immediately.” This type of jade talisman was very easy to forge, and Ji Ning had prepared a bunch of them. He had left them for the Ji clan, Autumn Leaf, his master the Diancai Immortal, and others.

“Understood.” The silver-haired man rose to his feet. “Just wait for news, then.”

“How long will it take?” Ji Ning pressed.

The vague sense of crisis looming over him drove him to master the fourth cycle as quickly as possible. Once he succeeded, his hands would be comparable to Pure Yang top-grade ultimate treasures (mid-grade先天 spirit-treasures), even more powerful than ordinary Pure Yang top-grade magic treasures. His combat strength would leap an entire tier. Furthermore, with the Three Heads, Six Arms technique, his six palms would be equivalent to six Pure Yang ultimate treasures.

“It won’t take long. Just exchanging treasures… I think a month should be enough.” The silver-haired man deliberately padded the estimate. In reality, it could take as little as two to three days, or at most ten days.

“Good.” Ji Ning immediately rose to leave.

…

That night, Ji Ning went to the Yan Estate and temporarily stayed there, spending some time with his cousin.

Within an ancient tower.

Five figures sat cross-legged, each positioned in a different direction.

Ancestor Xuanji opened his eyes, glanced around, and furrowed his brows even deeper. Ever since he had hired the Bloodcloud Hall to assassinate Ji Ning and failed, the Shaoyin clan had come to see Ji Ning as a true threat! But no matter how hard they searched, they could never find an opening to strike against him.

“If things continue like this, Ji Ning will only grow stronger. If he doesn’t act, fine. But the moment he does… the Shaoyin clan will suffer terribly,” Ancestor Xuanji worried. “And according to the intelligence we’ve gathered, Ji Ning is someone who values friendship and loyalty. He will never forget the blood debt of his mother.”

“He was even assassinated by my Shaoyin clan in the Grand Xia imperial capital, yet he endured it.”

“He can endure a lot.”

“Enduring until now… I suspect Ji Ning himself feels he’s not yet strong enough. Once he feels he is strong enough… I fear my Shaoyin clan will be in real trouble.” Ancestor Xuanji’s heart was filled with anxiety.

At first, he had acted merely to vent his rage.

But now, he was worried for the clan’s survival. One had to understand that top-tier tribes and major powers rarely engaged in true, all-out life-and-death struggles! Because the top powers generally had Celestial Immortals sitting in command. Celestial Immortals were truly immortal; even if an enemy destroyed the clan, if that Celestial Immortal managed to escape… who knew if, millions or tens of millions of years later, that Celestial Immortal would suddenly launch a sneak attack? Then vanish, only to strike again later?

A long-lived Celestial Immortal, sworn to enmity… was simply too terrifying.

Thus

The more top-tier a major power was, the rarer true collisions became. They preferred compromise!

But once a true collision happened, they would go all out to annihilate the enemy completely, or at least eliminate all of their top-level combat power.

To the Shaoyin clan, Ji Ning was now a great calamity—a monstrous prodigy whose assassination even the Bloodcloud Hall had failed to accomplish.

“Hmm?” Suddenly, the five Celestial Immortals present all opened their eyes.

They each pulled out a bronze token.

“It’s the Seamless Gate.” The white-haired, withered old man’s voice was low.

“The Seamless Gate wants to see my Shaoyin clan?” The handsome young man frowned. “What do they want? We’ve rejected their attempts to recruit us before. We have no desire to be enemies of the Seamless Gate, and even less desire to betray the Xia Emperor.”

“The Xia Emperor’s elder brother is Daofather Yinglong. The Seamless Gate isn’t easy to deal with, and neither is the Xia Emperor.”

“Everyone, I’ll go.” Ancestor Xuanji stood up. “I’ll go see what the Seamless Gate wants.”

“Alright.”

“Xuanji, leave it to you.”

“Just play along for now. The Seamless Gate’s power is vast; it’s not something we can resist.”

“Indeed.”

Ancestor Xuanji left the ancient tower alone.

…

Night. The bright moon hung high in the sky, casting its silvery light down upon the world.

A lone young girl stood silently on a solitary mountain peak, gazing at the moon. Behind her stood a full nine Celestial Immortals clad in golden robes.

“Brother Xuanji, the Special Envoy is over there.” In the distance, two figures descended from the sky on a cloud. One of them was the tall, thin old man with narrow, long eyes—Ancestor Xuanji. The other was an old man in golden robes who appeared very humble and courteous.

“Hmm?”

Ancestor Xuanji’s pupils contracted as he looked into the distance. The young girl had a full nine Celestial Immortals following behind her?

“This Seamless Gate is far too powerful. Just one Special Envoy’s escort team has this many Celestial Immortals. I’m afraid this one team alone could annihilate a top-tier major tribe.” Ancestor Xuanji could not help but feel a chill run down his spine. Although he acted arrogantly and recklessly in front of others, in front of the Seamless Gate, his heart tightened.

Ancestor Xuanji landed on the mountain peak and immediately said, “Xuanji pays his respects to the Special Envoy.”