The First Prisoner's Collapse

The young man stared at Ji Ning, his eyes filled with desperate hope.

"It has fallen," Ji Ning said.

Even if it hadn't, with the thirty-six stone steles scattered, and one piece stranded in the Three Realms for endless ages, finding the Ninefang Chaosworld was likely impossible.

"Fallen? How could it have... the princess, Master... no, no..." The young man finally broke. He had endured for over three Chaos Cycles, clinging to an obsession through the endless solitude. For three Chaos Cycles, even some True Gods had committed suicide due to the hopeless, crushing loneliness. Yet he, a mere Celestial Immortal, had held on until now.

"It was you! You destroyed the Ninefang Chaosworld! You destroyed everything, everything! No, no..." The young man went mad.

"Die! Die!"

In an instant, hundreds of streaks of light appeared on the young man's body, swirling around him before coalescing into a massive, emerald-green sword shadow that slashed directly at Ji Ning.

Ji Ning had been calm, confident in his control, and assured that his chosen target was merely a Celestial Immortal. But when he saw the attack unleashed, he was shocked. The immense emerald-green sword shadow contained a power that made his heart tremble. This was no Celestial Immortal-level attack; even a Pure Yang True Immortal would be hard-pressed to muster such strength.

"How is this possible? Starseizing Hand!"

Without a moment's hesitation, Ji Ning unleashed the Starseizing Hand divine ability.

BOOM!

A massive, thousand-zhang-wide hand, glowing with a hazy light, pressed forward. The enormous emerald-green sword shadow slashed down to meet it.

BOOM! They collided.

The residual shockwave swept across the surrounding earth, causing the ground to tremble and crack slightly.

Ji Ning was forced back several steps from the impact.

The young man remained where he stood, his eyes bloodshot, staring at Ji Ning like a madman.

"How is this possible? You're just a Celestial Immortal. How can you be this strong? Impossible!" Ji Ning was completely stunned. This defied everything he knew. Even his Starseizing Hand, which was considered top-tier among Empyrean Gods, had been at a disadvantage against that sword strike!

"Die! Die! Die! You have to die!" The young man was utterly deranged.

"I'll have to suppress him first if I want answers," Ji Ning thought. He unleashed his full power. "Starseizing Hand!"

It was the same Starseizing Hand, but this time, the full force of his fourth-stage Heartforce was layered upon it. He was completely unrestrained. The hand's power soared, rivaling a full-power shot from a divine archer of the Three Realms.

BOOM, BOOM, BOOM!

The colossal hand crushed forward, its power overwhelming. It was visibly far stronger than before. When the young man's massive emerald-green sword shadow slashed down to meet it, BOOM! The shadow directly collapsed. The enormous hand continued its crushing advance. The young man tried to dodge, but the hand clenched.

CRUSH.

It seized the young man, holding him firmly in its grasp.

"Heartforce, fourth stage?" The young man stared at Ji Ning, laughing maniacally, a bitter edge in his voice. "So what if you have fourth-stage Heartforce? You're still a ridiculously weak True Immortal."

"Tell me. How can a Celestial Immortal be this strong?" Ji Ning demanded.

"Hahaha... it's not that I'm strong. It's that you're weak," the young man said, glaring at Ji Ning. "I never imagined that with the Ninefang Chaosworld destroyed, this World Prison would fall into the hands of such a weakling."

"Tell me."

Ji Ning's massive hand tightened, and his voice was cold. "Why is a Celestial Immortal this strong? Why do you call me weak?"

"It's too late, too late. Even if you knew, it would be too late." The young man was delirious. "But I won't tell you! I won't! Hahaha..."

Ji Ning frowned. He could sense that the young man before him seemed to have lost his mind.

"Tell me, and not only will I spare your life, I can give you what you desire," Ji Ning said.

"I want to go back to the Ninefang Chaosworld! I want to leave this place! I want to see the princess! I want to see my master! Can you do that? Can you do even one of those things?" The young man stared at Ji Ning, wild-eyed. "You weakling! You can't do a single one. You can't."

Ji Ning was stunned.

He didn't even know where the Ninefang Chaosworld was. As for letting him out, he had no way to release the prisoner.

"I can't," Ji Ning admitted. "But I can make your life here more comfortable. Give you some enjoyment."

"Hahaha... enjoyment... hahaha... it's over, over, everything is over... Master... Princess... I waited for three Chaos Cycles, and this is what I get. Is this my fate? Hahaha..." The delirious young man laughed. "Master... Princess... Liangqiu is coming!"

BOOM!

The young man held in Ji Ning's giant hand exploded, his soul utterly scattered.

"Suicide?" Ji Ning shook his head.

A man who had endured endless solitude for three Chaos Cycles was not easily swayed by a few words.

Ji Ning stood to the side, examining the large pile of items.

These were the possessions left behind by the dead young prisoner.

"I hope I can find something about the Ninefang Chaosworld, and why this young man was so strong." Ji Ning began a meticulous search. The first things he noticed were the emerald-green flying swords. Upon inspection, there were three hundred and sixty of them, each radiating an intangible sword-aura.

"This, this..."

Upon sensing them, Ji Ning was shocked.

"Pure Yang supreme-grade flying swords? They're all Pure Yang supreme-grade, all three hundred and sixty of them!" Ji Ning clearly remembered that the young man had used these three hundred and sixty swords to condense that emerald-green sword light to fight him. "How can a Celestial Immortal control so many Pure Yang supreme-grade flying swords at once?"

Such powerful treasures were exceptionally difficult to control.

Even most Pure Yang True Immortals couldn't control this many simultaneously.

"Inside here..."

Ji Ning began to refine some storage treasures, quickly inspecting their contents.

Treasure after treasure was discovered by Ji Ning.

This dead 'Liangqiu' must have been a core figure in the Ninefang Chaosworld. Otherwise, a Celestial Immortal wouldn't have been imprisoned here; they would have been killed outright. The use of long-term imprisonment as punishment was clearly a choice made by the 'Ninefang Lord' out of reluctance to completely offend the sect behind Liangqiu.

Naturally, Liangqiu's treasures were abundant.

"There's another full set of three hundred and sixty?" Ji Ning was pleasantly surprised.

Aside from the set of three hundred and sixty emerald-green flying swords, there was another set of three hundred and sixty fiery-red flying swords.

All of them were Pure Yang supreme-grade!

These two sets combined were superior to any set of Pure Yang treasures left behind by Daoist Threelives. Of course, they were far inferior to the supreme innate treasure, the three thousand six hundred Stargold Beads. A single Stargold Bead was more valuable than a single Pure Yang supreme-grade flying sword, let alone all three thousand six hundred of them. That was the supreme innate treasure obtained by Daofather Three Purities.

"A Celestial Immortal, with such a wealth of treasures? He surpasses most True Immortals in my Three Realms."

"It's probably only someone like me, or Patriarch Lu, the top-tier Empyrean Gods and True Immortals, who could compare to him," Ji Ning mused.

Upon closer inspection, the treasures on this dead young man were all Pure Yang magic treasures. It seemed that for this young man, Pure Yang treasures were merely common items. Strangely, he didn't have a single Innate spirit-treasure. The Xia Emperor and his peers typically had several Innate spirit-treasures.

"Elixirs, spirit-plants... all destroyed?" Ji Ning looked at some floating dregs of medicine and shook his head. The young man had destroyed everything he could before dying. Ji Ning only obtained the Pure Yang treasures and other items that the young man couldn't destroy.

"He really wanted to give me nothing. But no matter how much he wanted to keep them from me, these flying swords are mine now."

"Two sets of flying swords, each three hundred and sixty swords." Ji Ning sighed inwardly.

He didn't know that one set was Liangqiu's primary combat set, and the other was a backup. Aside from his offensive treasures, his other items were ordinary. His escape treasure, for instance, was only at the Pure Yang level, far inferior to the Void Boat.

...

Ji Ning searched through all of Liangqiu's belongings but couldn't find a single cultivation manual or any records regarding the Ninefang Chaosworld.

"That makes sense."

"When a sect teaches techniques, they are recorded in the mind. No one carries the original manuals with them." Ji Ning nodded. Whether at the Black-White College or the Tristar Crescent Abode, after one learned a technique, the manual was either returned or destroyed.

No one carried them.

This was why it was nearly impossible to acquire techniques like the Eight-Nine Arcane Art, the complete Crimsonbright Diagram of the Nine Heavens, or Houyi's Archery Art through killing. Ji Ning himself never carried such manuals; they were all recorded in his mind.

"Right."

"Those Celestial Immortals, even the Empyrean Gods, were probably not of high status in the Ninefang Chaosworld. They wouldn't have brought complete manuals. And generally, sects use heart-oaths to prevent techniques from being leaked." Ji Ning thought. The more important a technique, the more the sect would guard against its spread. Even soul-scouring techniques would struggle to extract a complete manual.

"But those of high status are different."

"Those with status have ways to acquire manuals, even techniques from sects other than their own, which they can then teach." Ji Ning mused.

In the Three Realms, True God Daofathers could teach certain techniques if they wished.

In the Ninefang Chaosworld, Elder Gods and Daofathers were probably capable of the same.

"The area I scanned with my Heartforce contained one Elder God and one Daofather." Ji Ning nodded slowly. "The Elder God is probably stronger. And since that Elder God looks like a wild dog, he might be easier to convince."

What Ji Ning most wanted to understand now was how a mere Celestial Immortal could be so powerful.

...

Ji Ning then left Liangqiu's prison cell, boarded the Void Boat, and flew toward the wild-dog-shaped Elder God.

In truth, Pure Yang treasures were of little use to Ji Ning now. They were also useless to Daofathers and True Gods, who typically used Innate spirit-treasures or Chaos treasures. For Ji Ning, his strongest weapon was the Stargold Beads. But these two sets of Pure Yang flying swords could be used to set up a Greater Thousand Sword Formation, which could be given to his Primaltwin, giving it a powerful set of treasures.

The Void Boat flew carefully through the hazy sky, avoiding many of the imprisoned beings.

This dim world, with its dense divine runes in the high heavens and constant pressure, made flight much slower than in the Three Realms.

After flying for over three days, Ji Ning finally arrived at the location of the wild-dog Elder God.

"Senior." Ji Ning stood outside the formation, simultaneously sending a surge of divine power to condense a doppelganger. The divine-power doppelganger carried a wooden tray laden with two jugs of fine wine and plates of exquisite delicacies. The mouth-watering aroma of meat filled the air.

"Senior." Ji Ning's divine-power doppelganger called out, carrying the tray as it passed through the formation’s ban and walked toward the wild-dog Elder God.

(To be continued...)