The Hunter's Game Begins

The towering, vast Five Treasures Mountain.

Ji Ning was watching the sword stances on the cliff face of the first peak from afar, feeling the sword-intent that washed over him. Suddenly, the space and time around him twisted and blurred, and a robed elder coalesced into being.

“Master.” Ji Ning saw him and immediately called out respectfully.

“Study the Five Treasures Sword Art well. If you learn it, you will have an extra life-saving ace in the coming tribulation.” Puttingi smiled. “You were previously planning to go deal with the Seamless Gate, weren’t you?”

Ji Ning’s eyes lit up, and he nodded quickly. “Yes.”

“The Seamless Gate is spread throughout the Three Realms. Some major worlds have more experts, some have fewer.” Puttingi said. “Take the Crimsonbright Territories, which your master Crimsonbright rules… they are relatively weak. Look at your homeworld, the Grand Xia World. Before the war began, the Seamless Gate didn’t even have a single Empyrean God or True Immortal stationed there.”

Ji Ning nodded and quickly said, “Master, if I went to a major world filled with top-tier powers, dealing with Celestial Immortals and Loose Immortals wouldn’t hurt them much unless I killed a shocking number. But I’d be attacking nests and lairs one by one; it’s hard to kill a vast sea of Immortals that way. So my main target must be Empyrean Gods and True Immortals.”

Killing Empyrean Gods and True Immortals was the only way to make the enemy truly feel the pain.

“Of all the forces in the Three Realms, our side is strongest in the Human race.” Puttingi said. “The supreme powers among the humans are first and foremost the Human Three Sovereigns: Suiren, Fuxi, and Shennong. These three are on the same level as the leaders of the Daoist and Buddhist paths. Next are the ancient Human Five Emperors. These five Emperor Lords once unified humanity in succession, one after another. The final one, ‘Xia Yu,’ only truly consolidated imperial power after uniting the human race. From then on, the Imperial Clan of the human race became the Xiamang clan.”

Ji Ning nodded.

He knew this. Back in ancient times, Xia Yu had controlled the floods, wielded immense divine power, and spread kindness throughout the world. Even the Three Sovereigns acknowledged and supported him, which was why his rule was so unshakeable. Of course, Xia Yu himself was terrifyingly strong. To become an Emperor among the human race was no small feat. Even the Golden-Banded Staff of his senior apprentice-brother, Sun Wukong, was merely something Xia Yu had forged.

“Thus, when it comes to the many major worlds…”

“The many major worlds directly ruled by the ancient Imperial Xiamang clan are extremely powerful. The Seamless Gate has also stationed a massive number of troops and experts to keep each other in check. It’s absolute madness there. If you make a move, the Seamless Gate could immediately surround you with a vast army. You’d best not go there.” Puttingi said.

Ji Ning understood. The standoff between the ancient Imperial clan and the Seamless Gate was the most terrifying place in the Three Realms, with both sides converging a sea of power there.

“But the territories ruled by the other four Emperor Lords of the ancient Human Five Emperors are somewhat weaker. Still far stronger than the Crimsonbright Territories, of course.” Puttingi said. “Which of these four Emperor Lords’ territories are you planning to go to?”

“Any one of them will do.” Ji Ning quickly replied. As long as he could kill Seamless Gate members, any territory was fine.

“In one of Emperor Zhuanxu’s major worlds, the ‘Dongxuan Major World,’ the ‘Shaoyan Chou’ you want to kill has a total of eighteen clones throughout the Three Realms. Sixteen of them are in the Dongxuan Major World.” Puttingi said. Although Shaoyan Chou’s life-preserving methods were formidable, they were nothing before Puttingi.

Ji Ning’s eyes lit up, and he immediately asked, “How many Empyrean Gods and True Immortals does the Dongxuan Major World have?”

“Although the war hasn’t started yet in the Dongxuan Major World, the Seamless Gate has stationed a full nine Empyrean Gods and True Immortals there.” Puttingi said.

Ji Ning was awestruck.

Emperor Zhuanxu was one of the Human Five Emperors, a man who had once unified the human race. Naturally, many powerful human experts followed him. And his own strength was also extremely formidable. In fact, the ‘Zhuanshui clan’ of the Grand Xia World was a branch of the ‘Zhuanxu clan.’ Of course, in terms of background, the Zhuanshui clan was a rank below the Xiamang clan.

“Nine Empyrean Gods and True Immortals… good. It’s decided.” Ji Ning nodded.

“This is the Seamless Gate’s power distribution chart for the entire Zhuanshui Territories.” Puttingi took out a scroll and handed it to Ji Ning, then instructed, “Do not get bogged down in battle.”

“Your disciple understands.” Ji Ning nodded.

“Memorize it quickly, then destroy it.” Puttingi ordered.

Ji Ning immediately began to memorize the contents.

The scroll recorded in meticulous detail the power distribution of both sides across the thirty-nine major worlds of the entire Zhuanshui Territories, with special annotations for Shaoyan Chou’s sixteen clones.

“Whoosh.” Divine power surged in Ji Ning’s hands, and the scroll turned to ash.

“Mm.” Puttingi nodded, then vanished into thin air.

A flicker of killing intent flashed through Ji Ning’s eyes. “Finally.”

“Ninefang.”

Ji Ning moved, appearing beside the Ninefang Empyrean God, who was sitting in meditation in a wooden hut not far away.

“Prefectural Lord.” The Ninefang Empyrean God immediately woke and stood up.

“Return to the Starseizing Major World first.” Ji Ning instructed. “Do as we agreed.”

The Ninefang Empyrean God was startled, immediately understanding what Ji Ning was about to do.

“Yes.” The Ninefang Empyrean God replied respectfully, then was collected into the Starseizing Major World by Ji Ning. Now that Ji Ning had completely refined the ‘Aquatic Palace,’ he had also discovered that the Starseizing Major World was actually hidden in one of its regions. It was in this region that Lady Nuwa had once opened up a major world.

Ji Ning could directly take them into the Starseizing Major World, and could also directly teleport them out without needing the Aquatic Palace as an intermediary.

Of course, only by refining the Aquatic Palace could Ji Ning do this.

The Zhuanshui Territories, Dongxuan Major World.

The Dongxuan Major World was the garrison world of the ‘Dongxuan Army,’ the army that had once followed Emperor Zhuanxu in unifying the human race. All matters of the Dongxuan Major World were decided by the joint counsel of three Deputy Generals and a General. It was a very peaceful place under normal circumstances. But ever since the Seamless Gate had infiltrated it, a large number of small-scale conflicts had erupted, plunging the entire Dongxuan Major World into a state of tension and alarm.

Of course…

These were just small-scale skirmishes and fights, still far from a full-scale conquest of a major world, let alone a Territorial War. After all, going to war against Emperor Zhuanxu, one of the ancient Human Five Emperors, would definitely be one of the last things on the agenda for the three thousand major worlds. For now, the Seamless Gate’s objective was to pin down Emperor Zhuanxu’s forces, preventing them from easily going to the aid of other Daofathers.

“It really is different.” Ji Ning stood atop a snow-covered peak, gazing across the vast world.

He had already released his Heartforce, which had enveloped the entire major world.

Heartforce was intangible and ethereal… covering an entire major world required the fourth level to accomplish. The most important thing was that the envelopment of Heartforce left absolutely no trace. Unless the other party had reached the same level of Heartforce, they would have no way to detect it. When Ji Ning had previously broken through in the Grand Xia World, his Heartforce had unconsciously spread to cover the entire Grand Xia. At that time, Daofather Ink Bamboo and Daofather Crimsonbright hadn’t sensed it at all. Both were True Gods (True Fiendgods) by birth, innately powerful. But they were weak in Heartforce, neither having reached the fourth level.

Supreme powers like Old Man Source in the Three Realms were at the fourth level of Heartforce at most.

Only Houyi had reached the fifth level.

Of course, the ‘Godking’ of the Seamless Gate had Heartforce strong enough to discover Ji Ning. However, at that time, the Godking had been in the Fifth World. He could only send his ‘Heartforce sense’ across the endless void to descend upon the Grand Xia World, allowing him to transmit to Daofather Ink Bamboo and carefully observe the battle. Just a Heartforce sense could not discover Heartforce.

“The Dongxuan Major World is orderly and tightly guarded. The Celestial Immortals and Fiendgods are like an army.” Ji Ning sighed inwardly. “The Grand Xia was only pushed to the brink before their immortals formed legions. But the armies under Emperor Zhuanxu have been organized like this since ancient times. Their coordination is probably far superior.”

“Alright. First, I’ll destroy Shaoyan Chou’s sixteen clones.”

“This Shaoyan Chou is truly cautious. On the surface, he’s following Green Fox in the Crimsonbright Territories. But his other clones have come to the Zhuanshui Territories.” Ji Ning shook his body, performing the Arcane Art. He immediately grew taller and began radiating the aura of a Celestial Immortal.

Whoosh.

Ji Ning vanished into thin air.

Dongxuan Major World, Seamless Gate.

The Seamless Gate had three main lairs in this world. Each lair was guarded by three Empyrean Gods or True Immortals, along with a large number of Celestial Immortals and Loose Immortals. Moreover, the lairs were covered in layers of formations and restrictions. Even if the experts of the Dongxuan Major World attacked, they could hold their ground.

Aside from these three main lairs, there were also one hundred and eighty-two smaller outposts scattered throughout the entire major world. These small outposts could retreat at any moment and could launch occasional sneak attacks, completely destabilizing the entire Dongxuan Major World. To the Dongxuan Major World, these small outposts were like mosquitoes, biting from time to time. But if they actually tried to attack them?

With the Seamless Gate’s intelligence network, these small outposts would flee quickly. Most importantly, these small outposts were very weak. Even if they were destroyed, so what?

“Heh heh, just kill away. The Crimsonbright Territorial War killed so many, and now they want us to go fight?” An ugly old man was eating a large piece of meat, a cold light flickering in his eyes. “But I don’t care. Even if I lose that one clone, so what? All sixteen of my other clones are hiding here.”

“The Zhuanshui Territories… I figure the final battle will be a long, long time from now. By then, I’ll just slip over to another territory.”

When two sides went to war.

Celestial Immortals couldn’t escape. They had to have a ‘legal’ identity. The Crimsonbright Territories and the Zhuanshui Territories were extremely far apart, and Shaoyan Chou was very low-key in the ‘Grand Xia World,’ almost never appearing. Very few Celestial Immortals had ever seen him. His clones in the Dongxuan Major World were equally low-key, and very few Celestial Immortals had seen them either.

One had to have seen the Shaoyan Ancestor in person to be able to identify this as one of Shaoyan Chou’s clones. But obviously, ‘Shaoyan Chou’ wasn’t that unlucky.

He had been lying low for countless years. His false identity, ‘Bloodfiend Immortal,’ had finally spread and become widely accepted. No one suspected his connection to Shaoyan Chou. Now that he had defected to the Seamless Gate and was stationed here, he was also lying low.

Shaoyan Chou… his name was famous, but he only had two clones, one in the open and one in the shadows.

The Bloodfiend Immortal, on the other hand, was much less famous. He had one clone in the open and fifteen in the shadows, a total of sixteen clones all hiding here.

“This great calamity is said to be very dangerous. Maybe I’ll survive it again, huh?” Shaoyan Chou was guzzling wine and devouring meat, feeling very pleased with himself. “Hmph, so what if they’re strong? Living a long life is what matters. That Ji Ning? I can’t be bothered to deal with you. You’re so eager to show off; let’s see if you can survive this calamity.”

“In this small outpost, I don’t go on crazy killing sprees. There are plenty of outposts more arrogant than me. The Dongxuan Major World won’t bother with me. And I’m not the weakest outpost, so the Seamless Gate side will be satisfied too. Truly carefree and comfortable.” Thinking of other Immortals and Fiendgods fighting for their lives, especially the countless deaths and injuries in the Territorial War…

Shaoyan Chou grew even more smug.

He was too smart!

“Living a long life is the—!” Shaoyan Chou’s expression suddenly changed. “An enemy is attacking? No, they shouldn’t be attacking me.” Shaoyan Chou had no time to think about anything else. He immediately flew out.