The Fourth Cycle

“Good. Once Ji Ning leaves the Grand Xia Imperial Capital, I will inform you immediately.” The young girl nodded.

Wu Xiao Celestial Immortal smiled, nodding as well. “Before we deal with Ji Ning, come, let the two of us have a chat.”

Grand Xia Imperial Capital.

The black-robed Ji Ning was sitting cross-legged across from the Whitewater Hound, while his true body had already entered the aquatic manor.

Inside the aquatic manor, in the quiet chamber.

Ji Ning’s true body was seated cross-legged atop the Netherwater Jade Bed, surrounded by a vast number of floating Five Elements treasures. These treasures weighed anywhere from a thousand catties to tens of thousands of catties, completely encircling Ji Ning.

Time passed.

The fluctuations emanating from some of the floating Five Elements treasures began to steadily weaken. What had once been truly spiritual objects quickly degenerated into waste. With the naked eye, one could see chunks of Heaven-Earth Gold Crystal turning into pale gray, worthless broken stones. A pool of extremely nimble liquid that had been floating in midair rapidly transformed into murky water.

Ji Ning’s two palms were emitting a five-colored light, their might vast and boundless, crazily devouring the essence of the Five Elements spiritual objects.

This continued for over six hours.

The things floating in the air had all turned into broken rocks, rock-like bamboo shoots, some very ordinary muddy water—some of which even seemed rather disgusting—and a large patch of messy soil.

“Whoosh.”

Ji Ning let out a breath. He lowered his head to look at his hands. These two hands were emitting a faint, profound light, their might causing one’s heart to tremble.

“I’ve done it.”

“The fourth cycle of the Starseizing Hand!”

Ji Ning’s eyes blazed with heat. However, he could also sense that his hands had reached a limit and could not be improved any further. If he wanted to make his hands even more powerful… he would have to allow them to undergo another qualitative transformation. That meant he would need to make a great leap in his own level, breaking through to the Empyrean God stage.

“With the fourth-cycle Starseizing Hand, my two hands are now comparable to Pure Yang perfection magic treasures. When I use Three Heads, Six Arms, it’s equivalent to having six Pure Yang perfection magic treasures…” Ji Ning could feel the power of his own hands.

This feeling of overwhelming power was truly comfortable.

Magic treasures were profoundly important to cultivators.

Why could a Wanxiang Adept completely suppress a Zifu Disciple who had reached perfection? Why did the power of a cultivator skyrocket so dramatically when making great leaps in level, such as from the Primal stage to the Void stage to the Celestial Immortal stage? Part of it was the transformation of their own elemental ki, but another part was the improvement in their magic treasures! Even if two cultivators were on equal footing in terms of the Dao, the gap in their actual battle prowess could still be immense.

A Wanxiang Adept could use Earth-ranked magic treasures. A Primal Daoist could use Heaven-ranked treasures. A Void-level Earth Immortal could use Immortal-ranked treasures. A Celestial Immortal could use Pure Yang treasures.

The leap in treasure tiers naturally led to an enormous difference in strength.

Take Ji Ning, for instance.

In terms of the level of his Dao, he was actually on par with Patriarch Goldclock.

But in terms of his divine body and the Starseizing Hand divine ability, Ji Ning’s foundation was actually stronger than Patriarch Goldclock’s.

So why had Ji Ning only been able to endure a beating when facing Patriarch Goldclock?

Why had he been slightly weaker than Patriarch Goldclock?

It was because Patriarch Goldclock possessed a supreme-grade Pure Yang divine clock!

Consider Patriarch Witheredwood and Patriarch Goldclock. In terms of their level of enlightenment, Patriarch Witheredwood was actually much higher than Patriarch Goldclock. Yet Patriarch Goldclock’s strength was on par with Patriarch Witheredwood’s. This was precisely because his magic treasure had made up for that gap in the Dao.

“In the Three Realms, there are some experts who rely entirely on their magic treasures to dominate.” Ji Ning had read some common-sense information on Mount Innerheart and knew that certain Celestial Immortals, by relying on powerful Innate spirit-treasures and their unique abilities, could even contend against True Immortals and Empyrean Gods!

“My two hands have now leaped from a barely-Pure Yang level to Pure Yang perfection! That is comparable to a top-grade Innate, middle-grade spirit-treasure. My close-combat power has probably taken a huge leap forward as well.” Ji Ning understood this well.

The difference between the fourth-cycle and the third-cycle Starseizing Hand was twofold.

One was an increase in instantaneous explosive power.

The other was that his hands themselves had improved to a level comparable to Pure Yang perfection magic treasures (top-grade Innate, middle-grade spirit-treasures), nearly on par with the Rahu Bow.

These two factors combined.

Ji Ning’s strength had risen by several minor levels! Patriarch Goldclock was now utterly beneath his consideration.

“In every single aspect, I am stronger than Patriarch Goldclock.” Ji Ning walked down from the Netherwater Jade Bed. With a wave of his hand, under the shroud of his sword-light, the countless pieces of trash that had been floating in the air were all reduced to ash.

…

Ji Ning’s true body left the quiet chamber and walked into the main hall of the aquatic manor.

“Ji Ning.” The yellow-furred bear was beaming with joy. “Mm. You’ve trained the Starseizing Hand to the fourth cycle. You can be considered quite formidable even within the Three Realms now.”

Ji Ning nodded.

Although the Starseizing Hand had six cycles in total, the prerequisite for the sixth cycle was becoming a True God, while the fifth required an Empyrean God. Becoming a True God… was far, far too difficult. True Gods were on the same level as Daofathers. As a result, for a very long time to come, Ji Ning’s greatest hope would probably be limited to the fifth cycle.

With the fifth cycle, his hands would be comparable to top-grade Innate spirit-treasures, enough to make many True Immortals and Empyrean Gods of the Three Realms green with envy.

In truth, even reaching the fourth cycle already made Ji Ning’s hands a type of treasure. If he were to be killed and his hands cut off, they could probably still be used as magic treasures!

“It is all thanks to the divine ability created by my master, Daofist Threelives, that I have reached my current level of strength,” Ji Ning said.

“The master left his legacy all the way to the present, and you are the only one who has reached such a level. Do not underestimate yourself.” The yellow-furred bear smiled. “Alright. Your strength has now been greatly enhanced. There is a ninety-nine percent chance you can pass the ninth level of the War God Hall. Do you wish to go?”

Ji Ning was delighted.

The yellow-furred bear was usually very conservative with his words. For him to dare say ‘ninety-nine percent’ meant that Ji Ning’s success was practically certain.

“Am I now comparable to a top-tier Celestial Immortal?” Ji Ning asked, pleasantly surprised.

“A Void-level Fiendgod is comparable to a Celestial Immortal, and your Starseizing Hand has reached the fourth cycle. You are one of the most elite of the Void-level Fiendgods.” The yellow-furred bear laughed. “Naturally, you are comparable to a top-tier Celestial Immortal. So, the War God Hall… will you challenge it, or not?”

“Challenge it. Of course I will.” Ji Ning nodded.

…

The ninth level of the War God Hall.

This was a void-like space. Ji Ning appeared within it out of nowhere.

“Here?” Ji Ning looked around.

“Rustle.” In the distance, a single drop of golden blood appeared, and in the blink of an eye, it transformed into a Fiendgod clad in golden armor. He was tall and stalwart, with blood-red hair, and he held a black spear in his hands. His eyes brimmed with a surging, terrifying killing intent. Just the intangible pressure of that killing intent startled Ji Ning.

Ji Ning stared in shock at the being before him.

“Are you Ji Ning?” The red-haired Fiendgod revealed a smile, a very warm, heartwarming smile that was like a father looking at his child.

“You are?” Ji Ning was stunned.

Although he had always felt that the War God Hall was special, the further he went, the more he sensed something strange. Yet he had never truly understood it. The opponent he faced on the ninth level… was vastly more powerful than any before him. That aura alone… Ji Ning felt it was even comparable to his senior apprentice-brother, Silvermoon.

“My name is Redsnow.” The red-haired Fiendgod said with a smile.

“Are you an Empyrean God?” Ji Ning asked.

The red-haired Fiendgod laughed. “You have sharp eyes. I am indeed an Empyrean God, but this is merely an extremely weak clone of mine, formed from a single drop of blood.”

Ji Ning understood the mysteries of clones.

The more divine power and blood one parted with, the more powerful the clone would be. For example, a clone formed from a single strand of hair would naturally be far weaker. Blood was quite important to Fiendgods. A clone formed from the blood of an Empyrean God… would probably be on the level of a Celestial Immortal. It was difficult to say exactly how strong it would be.

“Senior Redsnow, how did you know I was Ji Ning?” Ji Ning asked, pointing out this suspicious detail.

“The bear told me,” the red-haired Fiendgod said with a smile. “The Godking finally has a successor. I have been waiting for a very, very long time.”

Ji Ning’s heart trembled.

Waiting for a long time?

“Come, Ji Ning. The Godking chose you as his successor. Let me see exactly how formidable you are. See if you are truly worthy.” With a shake of his spear, the red-haired Fiendgod’s battle-intent surged.