The Siege of Silence

The Red-Haired, the Snow Scorpion, and the others all looked at the Yellow-Furred Bear. Only the bear could clearly sense the outside world and knew what was happening.

“Don’t rush.” The bear shook his head. “Right now, this Broken Horn World has sent out a powerful army. But oddly enough, this powerful army hasn’t made a direct move against Ji Ning. Not even the purple-cloaked soldier who was fighting him before has attacked with full fury. Ji Ning’s divine power must be very low by now; if they fought a bit more, he would be completely exhausted. Yet they’ve temporarily stopped. Strange.”

“Stopped?”

The seven mighty beings under Daoist Threelives were all puzzled.

“And there’s another strange thing. Ji Ning’s strength had clearly reached its limit, yet just now, the power of his Starseizing Hand actually increased again, shattering his opponent’s weapon. I can’t figure it out no matter how I think.” The Yellow-Furred Bear spoke.

“His strength increased in the Realm of Annihilation?” The seven pondered.

They were different from the Yellow-Furred Bear. The bear was, after all, originally a treasure-spirit; it was only after the primordial Pangu’s world shattered that he slowly cultivated and became a true living being. His knowledge wasn’t that broad. But these seven were once truly famous throughout the primordial Pangu world, their reputations earned through countless battles. Their vision naturally was far greater, and they knew far more.

“Could it be…” The seven all thought of several possibilities.

Ji Ning looked at the vast, surging tide of hundreds of thousands of horned warriors in the distance. He had a feeling that even the most ordinary of these horned warriors was far more powerful than the Bloodeye warriors he had fought. He estimated they were roughly at the level of a Loose Immortal who had survived a million years, which was at the lowest threshold of a Celestial Immortal. For Ji Ning, killing one would be relatively easy.

But no matter how ordinary their individual strength, an army of a million was still enough to make one’s heart tremble with fear!

“With so many warriors, if they have a way to combine their strength… even a True God or True Immortal would probably have to flee at the sight of them.” Ji Ning thought to himself. “And this is only a part of the power of the Broken Horn World within the ancient ruins. The ancient ruins… truly are the most terrifying forbidden land.”

Instead, Ji Ning grew calm.

Because control of the situation now rested entirely in the hands of his opponent. Their power was too overwhelming. In particular, the eight hundred purple-cloaked soldiers who had just appeared. If they were all as strong as the commander from before, that would be eight hundred combatants at the peak Celestial Immortal level. And there was also that old fellow with the golden cloak who, just by looking at him, made Ji Ning unable to even muster the will to resist.

“Even if I can’t resist, I have the confidence to kill myself.” Ji Ning thought to himself. “I absolutely will not let them do as they please.”

“Foreigner.”

That general stepped forward with a smile. But even smiling, his face, covered in dark cyan scales, still carried a sense of ferocity. “This is the void territory of my Broken Horn World. Why have you come to our land?”

“I was wandering through the endless void and stumbled in here by accident.” Ji Ning spoke, taking every moment to absorb the power of the Sunstar and the Taiyin Star to replenish his divine power. He had consumed far too much earlier. “I truly have no hostile intentions. I beg you to let me leave, and I will be forever grateful.”

“It’s not impossible to let you leave.” The general suddenly said.

“Oh?” Ji Ning looked at him. He understood that since they had gone to the trouble of activating that void formation spanning tens of millions of li, a formation that must be incredibly costly to maintain, and had sent out so many horned warriors, they absolutely wouldn’t let him go so easily.

“I have a condition. If you agree and fulfill it, I promise to let you leave.” The general said.

“What condition?” Ji Ning pressed.

“Simply allow me to examine your soul.” The general said. “Let me know your true intentions. As long as you are not an enemy of the Broken Horn World, I will immediately release you.”

“Examine my soul? A soul-search?” Ji Ning’s expression changed.

He immediately understood the other party’s plan.

He was a Fiendgod Body Refiner. His truesoul and divine body were completely fused together, extremely stable, far more so than many Celestial Immortals. Moreover, his Heartforce had reached the ‘Dominator’ level. Even an ordinary Celestial Immortal would be very difficult for a Pure Yang True Immortal to directly soul-search. For someone with such powerful Heartforce as his, it was nearly impossible. Even if a Daofather acted, Ji Ning would probably be able to react instantly and shatter his own soul to commit suicide!

Now, they wanted him to not resist and let them soul-search him?

“Impossible.” Ji Ning shook his head in refusal.

“Don’t refuse so quickly.” The golden-cloaked general smiled gently.

But Ji Ning understood.

They had sent out so many soldiers and activated such a vast formation; their goal must be significant. If he didn’t resist, they might use some method to control his soul, turning him into a slave. That would be a fate worse than death. Their promise was worth less than nothing. This was outside the Three Realms; there were no oaths sworn to the Heavenly Dao here.

“There’s nothing more to say.” Ji Ning sneered. “At worst, I die. You want to soul-search me? Dream on.”

“Alas.” The golden-cloaked general sighed.

Hua~

Without a sound, hundreds of streams of mental will simultaneously flew out from the general and the hundreds of purple-cloaked soldiers, surging towards Ji Ning!

“Boom~~”

An endless wave of fatigue instantly engulfed Ji Ning.

Sleep.

So incredibly sleepy. It felt like when he was a mortal in his past life, sick and exhausted, and he just wanted to close his eyes and fall asleep. He had never felt this way in this life since he started on the path of cultivation.

“I am the only master of my own self.”

Powerful Heartforce enveloped his entire body.

Led by his Heartforce, his soul stubbornly resisted the invasion. Though he was incredibly sleepy, he remained awake.

…

“Alas…”

“Failed.”

“This human’s Heartforce is quite strong. The awareness we three descended upon this generation was only a part of us, yet the combined attack of all three of us still couldn’t overcome him.”

“With such a strong Heartforce, it’s too difficult to overcome him.”

The three Mother Queens communicated with each other.

They didn’t really care about Ji Ning’s life or death. What they valued was the ‘Heartforce technique’. Even if it was the archery-based Heartforce technique from Houyi’s bow-art, it would still be useful to them. Even without using a bow, they could use it to gain insights by analogy, deepening their understanding of Heartforce.

As for Ji Ning? Once they soul-searched him, they would naturally kill him! They would never let him return. If Ji Ning returned to the Three Realms and the top existences there learned that the Broken Horn World had acquired a Heartforce technique, it might provoke a top-tier existence to personally take action.

They had barely survived the great calamity of that era and knew very well how strong the Three Realms were. The entire ‘Ancient Ruins’ side had been the losers in that war! A single Broken Horn World could probably be destroyed by a top-tier existence of the Three Realms with ease. Therefore, if they obtained the Heartforce technique, there was no way they would let Ji Ning return alive.

“There’s no other way.”

“We can only have our ‘First Generation’ children fight this human, over and over again. We can observe carefully with our will. His control over Heartforce is still very poor; we can clearly sense the fluctuations of his Heartforce. By fighting him personally, again and again, and observing a hundred, a thousand, or ten thousand times… over time, we should be able to discover some of the mysteries of Heartforce and deduce a Heartforce technique.”

“This is the only clumsy method left.”

The three Mother Queens made their decision.

True experts generally had such abilities. They could deduce many profound mysteries from external displays. For example, when other mighty beings personally observed a great divine ability like the ‘Garuda Wings’ many times, they could deduce a similar flying divine ability. It might be inferior to the original, but it could still reach a certain level.

The three Mother Queens were going to do exactly that.

…

“There’s no need to capture this foreigner. Let him keep his hope. You, the First Generation, can fight him one by one. When his power is almost exhausted, let him rest. After he has rested, continue the battle. Let this battle… last as long as it can. Even if it takes endless years, so be it.” The Mother Queens’ orders were passed down.

This confused the general and the many First Generation purple-cloaked soldiers.

They could easily capture him, so why weren’t they?

And they were supposed to fight him one-on-one?

But they dared not disobey the Mother Queens. They couldn’t. Their loyalty to the Mother Queens was ingrained in their blood. If the Mother Queens ordered them to commit suicide, they wouldn’t hesitate.

“Tong Tuo. You go.” The general ordered.

“Yes.” Immediately, a purple-cloaked soldier flew out, charging straight for Ji Ning.

Ji Ning’s divine power had only recovered to one-tenth. He had been carefully watching the vast army in the distance. Seeing this purple-cloaked soldier charging, he naturally met him in battle.

While Ji Ning was trapped in the Realm of Annihilation, surrounded by the army of the Broken Horn World, and was embarking on a long, drawn-out battle in the void, far away in the Three Realms, his Dao-companion, Yu Wei, was facing her most dangerous moment.

In that world of birdsong and fragrant flowers, a vortex of lightning and clouds now hung high in the sky.

“Boom!”

Another bolt of lightning descended from the vortex cloud in the sky.

“Aoooo~~” Yu Wei stood there, looking up at the sky. Surrounding her were white phoenixes and fiery red phoenixes, ninety-nine phoenixes in total, frantically resisting the lightning from above. With this latest strike, nearly all of the phoenixes were dispersed, leaving only a single white phoenix by her side.

The lightning in the sky finally ceased completely.

On the opposite mountain peak, the peerless Sword Immortal, Patriarch Lu, watching, nodded slightly: “The Seventh-Nine Tribulation. It’s more or less what I expected. For my disciple, a Ki Refiner, even a reincarnated Immortal, facing the Seventh-Nine Tribulation is a bit excessive. It seems my disciple has indeed been hiding something.”

“The Heartfiend Tribulation has begun.”

“For my disciple, this Heartfiend Tribulation is probably the most dangerous.” Patriarch Lu thought to himself.

In her past life, Yu Wei had been a true Asura, incredibly powerful, already matching the Immortal Northwalker of her era. In this life, under Patriarch Lu’s guidance, her realm was even higher. With the help of forbidden techniques, she had just barely weathered the Seventh-Nine Tribulation.

But the Heartfiend Tribulation was insidious and unpredictable.

“Her past life was tragic, and she transformed into an Asura.” Patriarch Lu pondered. “And she also harbors a great secret in her heart, one she won’t tell even me, nor anyone else. The deeper such secrets are hidden, the more terrifying the Heartfiend Tribulation becomes. In her past life, she failed her tribulation. I wonder how it will go in this life.”

Days passed.

Six days, seven days, eight days… fifteen days, sixteen days…

Yu Wei still sat there. The duration of her Heartfiend Tribulation was extraordinarily long…