Probing the World Prison

Ji Ning contemplated the value of the Thirty-Seven True Meanings of the Dao. The Eighteen Fiendgod Bodies of the Tao Wu was considered to be on par with the other six techniques. However, by using a single vial of Chaos Nectar to cultivate it to the second layer, he had undergone a qualitative transformation of his very being.

“There’s still some left.” With a wave of his hand, the black bottle flew into his grasp. He could clearly see every single drop of Chaos Nectar within. “A full bottle has ninety-nine drops. I’ve actually got twenty-two left. Judging by what the jailer Xifu said, previous guardians would generally use up nearly an entire bottle. It seems I’m still slightly inferior to them in terms of overall power.”

The stronger one’s power, the more Chaos Nectar was required to cultivate the second layer of the Eighteen Fiendgod Bodies of the Tao Wu.

This was because the first layer came at the cost of dividing one’s power into eighteen separate bodies.

The second layer, however, involved consuming Chaos Nectar to enable those eighteen bodies to ascend to the original true body’s level of power. Naturally, a cultivator with greater strength would require far more Chaos Nectar. For example, True Gods and Daofathers possessed bodies, Pure Yang Golden Cores, and divine souls that were vastly more powerful than Ji Ning’s. The amount of Chaos Nectar they would need was correspondingly far greater.

This was all recorded in detail within the technique manual.

Every previous guardian had been someone capable of fully penetrating the ‘Stone Stele’ to become a guardian. Ji Ning had struggled with great difficulty but had also succeeded in becoming a guardian. His power was very close to that of the previous guardians, none of whom, it seemed, had reached the level of a True God or Daofather.

“The World Prison?”

His other seventeen bodies were still seated, pondering the other six techniques.

One of them, however, rose and strode directly towards the spatial door.

…

Whoosh.

As soon as he passed through the spatial door, heaven and earth warped and changed.

He was in a vast world, standing atop a mountain peak tens of thousands of kilometers high. A white-robed youth materialized from the void.

“This is the World Prison?” Ji Ning looked around. The boundless world was dim and murky, devoid of sun, moon, or stars. Countless divine runes, writhing like dragons and serpents, covered the sky. The golden runes and the sky itself emitted a faint light, casting this land in an eternal twilight that had persisted for endless ages.

“Open.”

Standing atop the mountain peak, Ji Ning willed it.

Bang!

His heartforce instantly exploded outwards in all directions. In this place, where countless prisoners were held, he dared not release his divine sense for fear of a sudden attack. By comparison, a clash of heartforce was far safer.

In the span of a single breath, his heartforce had already covered an area at least three times the size of the Grand Xia World.

…

“Hm?”

An old man, filthy and leaning against a stone wall, had heavy shackles on his legs. The shackles emanated a profound, mysterious ripple. They were the very reason he had been imprisoned here for over ten Chaos Cycles.

“Heartforce?”

“So, a new guardian has arrived. Guardians are always such little fellows. This latest one’s heartforce isn’t weak.” The filthy old man raised his head, a green light flickering in his eyes. Instantly, a vast, surging wave of heartforce covered the surrounding thousand-kilometer region, wrapping itself around the heartforce that Ji Ning had sent probing here.

…

“This little fellow is really overestimating himself. The guardians sent by that old scoundrel Ninefang are getting more and more careless. Did he not warn this kid? Still... his heartforce is much stronger than the previous guardian’s.” A wild dog was lying on the ground, its hide tattered, revealing black bones. It barely cracked open an eye.

The area within a thousand kilometers around it abruptly darkened, and the very space seemed to tremble.

…

Back on the mountaintop, Ji Ning’s face instantly turned pale. He gritted his teeth. “Sever!”

Immediately, a portion of the heartforce he had released was forcibly abandoned by him, severed as cleanly as if he had used it up releasing an archery technique. The connection was completely cut.

“Truly terrifying.”

“This, this, this…”

Only after severing the connection did Ji Ning feel a lingering sense of fear.

“The area my heartforce covered was probably just an incredibly tiny part of the World Prison. The most terrifying were that old man and that wild dog.” His throat tightened. “That old man is likely at the Daofather level, and the wild dog at the Elder God level. The old man’s heartforce was only at the fourth stage, but his control over it was leagues beyond mine. He nearly pulled me into an illusion. Fortunately, we are both on the fourth stage, so I was able to forcefully sever the connection.”

“That wild dog… its divine ability was terrifying. It was as if it just gobbled up a part of my heartforce.”

Ji Ning immediately understood.

Those two were beyond his ability to deal with.

“In the area I covered, there were also eighteen True Gods, thirty-two Pure Yang True Immortals, seventy-one Empyrean Gods, and ninety-six Celestial Immortals.” Ji Ning calculated.

The auras of the True Gods were as powerful as ever.

The Pure Yang True Immortals also gave him a sense of threat.

“The Empyrean Gods and Celestial Immortals should be less of a threat.” Ji Ning pondered for a moment. “Alright, my first contact will be with a Celestial Immortal. The weakest Celestial Immortal… I’ll use him to probe for more secrets.”

The two jailers were just golems, completely ignorant of cultivation techniques.

The prisoners imprisoned here, however, understood them.

…

Whoosh.

Ji Ning sat within his Voidboat, which shot through the dim World Prison like a streak of light. He deliberately kept his distance from the thousand-kilometer zones around the prisoners, as every prisoner’s zone was covered by complex formation restrictions. These restrictions suppressed the prisoners, ensuring none of their abilities could extend beyond them.

In the World Prison, it was impossible to tear through the void or use spatial teleportation. One could only fly slowly.

The two jailers, for instance, would take over one hundred and twenty thousand years just to inspect every single prisoner in the entire prison. This showed just how vast the World Prison was. Of course, it also highlighted how slow those two golem constructs were. Their golem bodies could only operate by absorbing external energy over long periods, making their flight speed abysmally slow. For someone like Ji Ning, who possessed a Voidboat, his speed was many times greater.

After flying for half a day.

“We’re here.” Ji Ning put away his Voidboat and descended into a canyon.

“That Celestial Immortal is just ahead.”

Walking through the canyon, Ji Ning covered hundreds of kilometers with a single step, soon arriving at the edge of the formation restrictions.

The hazy formation restrictions resembled a gigantic, inverted bowl, and the prisoner could not leave them. However, these restrictions only targeted the prisoners. Both Ji Ning and the two golem jailers could come and go as they pleased.

“Whoosh.” Ji Ning took a step and entered the formation. The restrictions did not harm him in the slightest.

He once again released his heartforce, covering the entire nearby region.

…

A youth in tattered clothes sat cross-legged. Black shackles were locked around his feet, with chains extending to a distant point in the void. The ends of those chains seemed to sprout from the empty air itself. These shackles were terrifyingly powerful. Once they were on, there was no way to remove them.

Not even an Elder God could do it.

Though the black shackles seemed to be binding his legs, they were, in truth, bound to his very soul and truesoul.

Suddenly, the faint sound of footsteps came from the distance.

“Hm?” The youth in tattered clothes opened his eyes, dazed.

It had been too long.

He had been here for far, far too long. So long that the magic robe he wore had already started to fray. In truth, he could have preserved the robe by consuming a bit of his energy. But here in the World Prison, there was no energy to absorb. He could only rely on what he already had.

He had committed a great crime. His sect had been unable to save him. His master had given him a massive amount of pills before he was sent here, to help him survive in the World Prison for a little longer. “Liangqiu, your master cannot save you. You must ration these pills carefully. In the World Prison, you can only survive by relying on your own power. Once your energy is completely drained, once the pills are gone… you will die! Only by living long enough will you have a chance of being released. I will help you, I will find a way to get you out. You must hold on. Don’t commit suicide. Hold on.”

“Someone has finally come.”

“It’s been too long.” Hope shone in the youth’s eyes. “Could it be that I’m being set free?”

It was this desire to survive that had allowed him to endure for over three Chaos Cycles. He conserved every bit of his energy. Fortunately, his master had given him enough pills. He still had a good supply left, but he knew he could probably last only another single Chaos Cycle at most.

“Hm?” The youth looked at the white-robed youth approaching him. “His aura… a True Immortal? No… why does it feel so… weak?”

…

Ji Ning looked at the youth, who was little more than a skeleton. He was of the human race, but he was far too thin. In fact, every prisoner in the region he had scanned with his heartforce seemed to be incredibly thin, like a mortal who had almost starved to death. No, even a mortal who had starved to death would not look this horrifyingly emaciated.

That wild-dog-shaped Elder God had been so starved its skin had burst, revealing its black bones.

“You are the new guardian.” The youth looked at him. “I am merely a Celestial Immortal. For a guardian to come see me... am I to be released?”

“Released?” Ji Ning paused.

“Why don’t you have an order talisman? Without an order talisman, there is no way to unlock the Heavenly Lock.” The youth shook his head.

Ji Ning shook his own head. “I cannot release you.” These chains were unbreakable even by an Elder God. How could he possibly open them?

The youth was finally stunned.

He stared at Ji Ning in shock. “You… you… you’re not from the Ninefang Chaos Kingdom! Who the hell are you? How did you enter the World Prison? What has happened to the Ninefang Chaos Kingdom?”

“I am the guardian sent by your kingdom’s lord.” Ji Ning looked at him.

“Don’t deny it.” The youth shook his head. “If you were truly from the Ninefang Chaos Kingdom, sent personally by the kingdom lord, you would know that unlocking these chains requires the personal arrival of an Elder God or Ancestral Immortal sent by the kingdom lord. Even if you had an order talisman, you would not be able to unlock the Heavenly Lock! But just now, when I asked you about the talisman, you showed no surprise at all.”

Ji Ning was taken aback.

He had not slipped up in front of those two golems. But the moment he spoke with a real, intelligent Celestial Immortal, he had been found out.

Still, Ji Ning was not flustered.

When he first entered, he had been worried about his identity being exposed. But after talking to Xifu, he had learned that the ‘Stone Stele’ was a special treasure, similar to the aquatic palace, filled with countless formations and restrictions. Ji Ning was now its master. As for the two golem-like jailers, they were just laborers. Although their strength was not negligible, they could never leave the Stele.

And Ji Ning could leave the Stele and return to the outside world with a single thought.

He was not worried about any danger.

“How did you suspect me? Why did you test me?” Ji Ning asked.

The youth asked urgently, “Tell me, what has happened to the Ninefang Chaos Kingdom?”