The Godking's Bargain

The Void Boat drifted along the current of the surging river.

A white-robed youth sat on the boat. The ninety thousand Celestial Immortals and eight million Loose Immortals under his command had all been sent into the Starseizing Major World to maintain the 'Fiendgod Ji Ning' state, preventing the Seamless Gate Godking from drawing Ji Ning into his 'dream world'.

“Whoosh.”

A figure suddenly materialized on the Void Boat.

“Master.” Ji Ning rose to his feet.

“How did it go?” Bodhi gazed at his disciple, deeply worried. He remembered how Ji Ning had risked soul annihilation to launch that sneak attack, to provoke the Seamless Gate… Bodhi knew then how important Yu Wei was to Ji Ning. The Seamless Gate would surely use this to set a trap.

“What did the Seamless Gate Godking say to you just now?” Bodhi pressed. The Godking had used his powers, making the content of their conversation unknowable to anyone else. “Knowing that Godking’s cunning nature, he would never simply return Yu Wei to you. He must have proposed a condition. That condition is very likely a trap, a death trap!”

Bodhi was terribly worried.

“Yes.” Ji Ning nodded. “The Godking indeed proposed a condition. He wants me to trade three treasures for senior apprentice-sister Yu Wei.”

“Three treasures? Which three?” Bodhi asked immediately.

“Ten jin of Seven-Treasure Green-Yang Abyssal Essence, and ten jin of Blood-Flower Marrow.” Ji Ning said. “And a stalk of Ice-Heart Spirit Leaf.”

Killing intent flickered in Bodhi’s eyes. “Seven-Treasure Green-Yang Abyssal Essence and Blood-Flower Marrow aren’t a big deal. They are ingredients for refining Grand Unity Immortal Pills. We have plenty on our side. I can easily come up with a thousand jin. I can prepare those two treasures for you. But this ‘Ice-Heart Spirit Leaf’… there are no more Ice-Heart Spirit Leaves left in the Three Realms. The original twelve stalks were all used up long ago. They want you to enter the Moonfall Pool!”

The Grand Unity Immortal Pill was the most supreme of immortal pills. It allowed Daofathers to replenish their法力 reserves.

In the final decisive battle, when cultivators fought and exhausted their法力, Grand Unity Immortal Pills would be a massive strategic reserve for both sides. Ji Ning was, after all, merely a Celestial Immortal and Empyrean God. The materials requested for refining the pills, Seven-Treasure Green-Yang Abyssal Essence and Blood-Flower Marrow, were not an excessive amount.

“These three treasures would be of some small help to the Seamless Gate, but even if they get them, it won’t change much.” Bodhi sneered. “Their true goal… is to make you enter the Moonfall Pool! If you die in the Moonfall Pool, that would be the best possible outcome for them. Even if you don’t die there, you’ll be trapped there for an immeasurably long time. By the time the great calamity is over, even if you come out alive, it will be meaningless to this final war.”

“From ancient times until now, the only one who ever came out alive was the Buddha Jueming, and he was trapped there for hundreds of millions of years. A fine plan. A clever scheme indeed.” Bodhi looked at Ji Ning. “Just be careful. I know you want to save your senior apprentice-sister, but your own safety is more important. Don’t forget, you have a daughter.”

“Yes.” Ji Ning replied with reverence.

Bodhi sighed inwardly.

Some cultivators even killed their fathers, mothers, wives, and children to harden their Dao-hearts! One’s own cultivation was the first priority; everything else could be discarded. Among the immortals and devils of the Three Realms, there were many who pursued the Dao with single-minded devotion and considered everything else expendable. But this disciple of his, Ji Ning, placed such great importance on emotions.

“Houyi back then. Ji Ning now. Both valued emotions just the same. Could it be that only by valuing emotions can one achieve greater success in Heartforce?” Bodhi felt a bit more relaxed. “The Seamless Gate has miscalculated this time. They want to use the Moonfall Pool to trap or kill Ji Ning. But they don’t know that Ji Ning has fully eighteen true bodies. Even if he loses one in the Moonfall Pool, it won’t affect him at all.”

“Hmph. Today they use his emotions to scheme against my disciple. One day…” Killing intent surged within Bodhi’s heart.

…

After his master left, Ji Ning continued to sit cross-legged on the Void Boat. The Godking’s invisible power seeped over, beginning to guide him. Ji Ning remained awake, but part of his consciousness was drawn into the dream world.

In the vast, dark dream world.

The Godking sat high on his ten-thousand-zhang throne, gazing down at the figure of Ji Ning who had just appeared below.

“The moment I finished negotiating with you, your master came to see you. It seems he truly values you.” The Godking looked at Ji Ning with a cold sneer. “Have you changed your mind now? If you have, then we’ll just have to keep fighting. Of course, your senior apprentice-sister will then suffer eternally in the endless hells…”

Sending Ji Ning into the ‘Moonfall Pool’ was the best plan the Godking could devise.

The best outcome was death. If not death, then imprisonment.

But he was afraid that Bodhi would persuade Ji Ning, causing him to change his mind.

“Rest assured. I will go to the Moonfall Pool.” Ji Ning looked at the Godking. “Release senior apprentice-sister now.”

“Hahaha…” The Godking sighed in relief. “Don’t worry. I will release Yu Wei right now.”

Whoosh.

Ji Ning suddenly sensed a ripple. He turned his head to look. In the distance, on a grassland, a peerlessly beautiful girl in black clothes had appeared. The expression in her eyes was still somewhat dazed. The days in the endless hells had pushed her to the brink of collapse. The Godking had been controlling her, preventing her soul from scattering, but seeing his senior apprentice-sister like this still caused a pang of pain in Ji Ning’s heart.

“Your wife merely spent a hundred years in the Flame Hell.” The Godking said calmly. “According to my original plan, I was to let her suffer for a thousand years in each hell, one after another, going through all of them. Now, your wife has only tasted a single Flame Hell… tsk-tsk. You’ve forced us, the Seamless Gate, to compromise with you. I have to say, I somewhat admire you.”

Ji Ning, however, paid no attention to the Godking.

Flame Hell? He still remembered during the Realm War, when he was forced to make a choice, he had seen his senior apprentice-sister Yu Wei suffering as she was scorched in that Flame Hell. So… this past hundred years, senior apprentice-sister had been enduring endless torment.

…

Yu Wei gradually became lucid. For the past hundred years, she had been in the endless hells. Her mind had already begun to grow muddled. Her soul was far too weak. Now that she was finally no longer suffering the agony of the hells, she was slowly regaining clarity. She looked before her. There stood a white-robed youth, a youth whose eyes seemed to hold the glimmer of unshed tears…

“Junior apprentice-brother.” Yu Wei spoke for the first time in a hundred years.

“Senior apprentice-sister.” Ji Ning moved, instantly arriving beside his senior apprentice-sister. He took Yu Wei’s hand.

Their eyes met.

Ji Ning embraced Yu Wei. Feeling the warmth in his arms, he said, “Senior apprentice-sister… I’m sorry.” It was his own choice back then that had pushed his senior apprentice-sister into the endless hells.

“It is I who has wronged you.” Yu Wei smiled in Ji Ning’s embrace. “Back then, when I crushed the Divine Farmer’s medicine, I knew it was a harm I could never make amends for. I couldn’t even face you again. Death… perhaps it was the best outcome.”

“It’s not your fault. It’s not your fault.” Ji Ning said. “That Godking is a disciple of the Lord of the Heartlord. He is skilled in bewitching hearts. You suffered so much in your past life, your heart-demon was too powerful. The Godking took that chance to guide and bewitch you…”

Yu Wei nodded gently.

She was completely clear-headed now. Back when she crushed the Divine Farmer’s medicine, she had scattered her soul. The Godking was fast, seizing her truesoul. Through reincarnation, her truesoul became a weak, fragile soul. But this weak soul no longer bore any soul-seal. The Godking had not bewitched her again. After all, the Yu Wei in the endless hells was not worth the effort.

Without the soul-seal, after a hundred years of being scorched, she had become even more sober.

“Actually, I am very content. A mortal lives only for a hundred years. I have already lived very long, between my past life and this one. And I have a junior apprentice-brother, and a daughter, Brightmoon. That is enough.” Yu Wei tried to comfort him. “It is I who have wronged you, junior apprentice-brother.”

“Hahaha…”

From his ten-thousand-zhang throne, the Godking looked down and laughed heartily. “What a pair of celestial lovers. Even I am somewhat moved. Yu Wei… do you know that this Dao-companion of yours, relying on his own strength, has severely disrupted the Seamless Gate’s arrangements within the Three Realms? He forced me, the mighty Godking, to bow my head and negotiate with him! Haha… From today onward, Yu Wei, you no longer have to enter the hells. You can live in peace and happiness. Once your Dao-companion Ji Ning delivers those three treasures to me, you will regain your freedom. You can go to Ji Ning. You can go reunite with your daughter.”

In the distance.

The pair who had been embracing each other immediately separated. Yu Wei stared at Ji Ning, speaking urgently, “Junior apprentice-brother, three treasures? Don’t trust the Godking! The Godking is the best at bewitching people. He must have some sinister scheme!” Having been bewitched and now restored to clarity, Yu Wei understood the Godking’s terror even better.

“I know the Godking’s intentions.” Ji Ning looked at Yu Wei. “Rest assured. Trust me.”

“That’s right, Yu Wei. You have to trust your junior apprentice-brother. Your junior apprentice-brother is now a major figure in the Three Realms. Perhaps by the end of this great calamity, he might even break through to become a True God or Daofather, and face me in the final decisive battle. Three treasures… they pose no danger to your junior apprentice-brother.” The Godking spoke from above.

“Junior apprentice-brother.”

Yu Wei looked at Ji Ning, frantic with worry. “We still have Brightmoon. You have to protect Brightmoon. Don’t do this for me. It isn’t worth it.”

Ji Ning embraced her once more. “Alright. No more talking. I’ve already decided.” His voice was very soft, but it carried absolute resolve.

Holding his wife…

Ji Ning’s heart felt completely peaceful and warm.

This feeling… it had been too long.

If he lived life like a walking corpse, then living was worse than death.

If he could feel this warmth forever, then even death would be worth it.

Ji Ning opened his eyes on the Void Boat. The thought that, once he emerged from the Moonfall Pool, his family would be reunited… filled his heart with strength! His senior apprentice-sister was now being kept in some minor hidden world by the Godking, no longer suffering the torments of the hells. She could live in peace and happiness. This eased the weight on Ji Ning’s heart.

For the past hundred years, every single day, even as he continuously cultivated his sword arts and desperately sought opportunities to grow stronger within the World Prison, even after obtaining the Lightning-Serpent Teleportation… deep down, Ji Ning’s heart had been constantly aching, because he knew his senior apprentice-sister was suffering endlessly in the infinite hells.

The moment he obtained the Lightning-Serpent Teleportation, he was overjoyed.

Because…

He had seen the hope of saving her.

“Soon, senior apprentice-sister. We will soon be reunited. I will definitely return from the Moonfall Pool very quickly.” Ji Ning immediately boarded the Void Boat, leaving this major world behind.

In the endless void.

Just as the Void Boat appeared in the endless void, a powerful wave suddenly descended. Startled, Ji Ning was about to activate the Lightning-Serpent Teleportation to flee instantly, but a voice sounded in his sea of consciousness: “Friend Ji Ning, do not panic.”

(I have matters to attend to this evening, so this chapter is updated early.)

(Our monthly votes are truly very few… Tomato looks at everyone with big, watery eyes.)