The Thirty-Six Heavens Divine Fate-Mirrors

Each of the Stargold Beads had grown significantly more powerful, their auras undergoing a qualitative transformation. Ji Ning had just finished refining the second layer of the Ninefold Chaos Seal.

"Truly extraordinary. It complements the Five Treasures Sword Art perfectly, yet is even more profound." After refining the second layer, Ji Ning immediately sensed the difference. "If I had brought a Stargold Bead into the Moon Underwater Abyss with my two clones to study it carefully, it might have helped them in clearing the trials."

The Ninefold Chaos Seal was exceedingly difficult to fully record in one’s memory. Lord Laozi of the Three Purities had spent endless effort to memorize it, and he had only managed to refine the seventh layer. Even Mother Nuwa, who had not yet reached the World God level, had only refined the eighth layer. Such was the profundity of the Ninefold Chaos Seal… Ji Ning could not memorize it at all. He had to keep the Stargold Beads nearby to study them. The reason he hadn’t brought them into the Moon Underwater Abyss was his fear that he might fail and perish there, losing the beads in the process.

With three thousand six hundred Stargold Beads making up the full set, losing even one would render the set incomplete, making it impossible to manifest the Thirty-Six Heavens.

“Condense.”

Ji Ning, clad in his black robes, willed it.

The three thousand six hundred Stargold Beads, which had been floating in the air like a sea of stars, swiftly merged together, forming three hundred and sixty stars that resonated with the heavens. Then, in a second fusion, they became thirty-six radiant spheres.

The Thirty-Six Heavens floated around Ji Ning, faintly connecting to the elusive currents of Fate. A spark of insight flashed through his mind, and he immediately commanded, “Change!”

Whoosh.

The thirty-six glowing spheres transformed into a set of thirty-six ancient, bronze-rimmed mirrors. On the rims of some mirrors were patterns of the sun, moon, and stars; on others, images of fish, insects, birds, and beasts; on still others, depictions of flowers, grass, and trees… Each mirror was exquisitely profound.

“Oh?” Ji Ning observed the thirty-six floating bronze mirrors with great interest.

The Thirty-Six Heavens could undergo countless transformations. The reason they had now taken the form of mirrors was that, after refining the second layer of the Chaos Seal, they could faintly connect to the River of Fate. This form had arisen naturally, as it was the most suitable configuration for unleashing the power of the Thirty-Six Heavens after refining the second layer.

His divine power quickly permeated the mirrors.

“So this is it… They can actually glimpse Fate.” Ji Ning murmured to himself. “They can see past lives, the present life, and even future lives?”

Treasures that could connect with ‘Fate’ were rare in the Three Realms, but they did exist.

The foremost among them was the Book of Life and Death!

The Book of Life and Death was the most profound of these treasures. The past and present lives of countless living beings—even their reincarnations from hundreds or thousands of cycles ago—were naturally recorded within it. What’s more, by making a mark in the book, you could alter Fate itself. If a soul was destined to live only thirty years in its next life, you could change it to two hundred and thirty! It was an incredibly heaven-defying treasure.

The Heavenly Court, the Buddhist Sangha, the Daoist schools, and the Three Sovereigns all possessed similar treasures that could glimpse Fate. They had even created techniques to foretell destiny, such as the ‘Purple Star Astrology’.

And then there was the ‘Three-Life Stone’ on the banks of the River of Forgetfulness. Placed there casually, it could also reflect the three lives of any being.

“My Thirty-Six Heavens are now very similar to the Three-Life Stone.” Ji Ning nodded slowly. “Since they have taken the form of mirrors, I shall call them the Thirty-Six Heavens Divine Fate-Mirrors.”

In the Three Realms, there were only a handful of treasures capable of glimpsing Fate, and every single one had been forged by major powers. For a mere Empyrean God and True Immortal like Ji Ning to create such a treasure was unprecedented. Of course, he hadn’t done so deliberately. He lacked the ability to forge it on purpose. It was the Ninefold Chaos Seal that had unconsciously transformed the Stargold Beads into this form.

“They can reveal past, present, and future lives. In their suspended mirror formation, they excel at defense. They can even reflect a portion of an enemy’s attack back at them.” After sensing their properties, Ji Ning understood their unique capabilities. In the past, the Stargold Beads had been useful mainly because of their excellent material, which allowed them to be transformed into various weapons. Now, however, they possessed special powers born from the Chaos Seal.

After refining the second layer of the Ninefold Chaos Seal, Ji Ning continued to walk through the Three Realms as he always had. He observed the joys and sorrows, the partings and reunions, the grudges and loves of the mortal world.

Love… was the most elusive thing of all.

No matter how powerful a cultivator was, even one who had reached the fourth level of Heartforce like Ji Ning, or even the legendary Houyi who had reached the fifth level, none could ever transcend the word ‘love’.

The years flowed by, one after another. Ji Ning walked through countless regions… The roars of collapsing majestic palaces, the sounds of rivers running dry, and the sky-piercing aura of resentment and bitterness filled the air.

Cultivators from both sides were slaughtering each other. Mortals were slaughtering each other as well.

“Is this the calm before the great storm?” Ji Ning, floating high in the sky, looked down from above and shook his head. He could not stop it, nor could he intervene. There were simply too many such occurrences throughout the Three Realms.

“When it comes to manipulating the hearts of men, who can compare to the Seamless Gate?”

“Why must they plunge the entire Three Realms into chaos and instability?” Ji Ning felt powerless.

Even the greatest Daofathers could not prevent this. How could he?

Even if he intervened and stopped a conflict temporarily, the moment he left, the slaughter would resume. Ji Ning had walked the Three Realms for many years and had long since discovered that the Seamless Gate was behind every single provocation. Aside from their most common methods of sowing discord, they possessed their most powerful weapon: the ‘Heavenly Dao of the Heart’! In the primordial Seamless Chaosworld, there had been six Heavenly Daos: Earth, Fire, Water, Wind, Heart, and Chaos.

The Pangu Chaosworld, on the other hand, had possessed ten Heavenly Daos: Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, Earth, Yin, Yang, Destruction, Life, and Chaos.

After the ancient great cataclysm…

Under the guidance of Mother Nuwa, the foundation of the new world was laid upon the remnants of the Pangu Chaosworld. The Heavenly Realm, for example, was formed from the largest fragment of that world. Because the Pangu Chaosworld was the main foundation, and the Seamless Chaosworld was auxiliary, the Three Realms that were ultimately formed followed the Heavenly Daos of the Pangu Chaosworld.

As a result, the Heavenly Dao of Wind could no longer be fully comprehended. It was now incomplete, dividing into a number of Grand Daos.

Similarly, the Heavenly Dao of the Heart could no longer be cultivated within the Three Realms.

However, many of the major powers from the Seamless Chaosworld who had survived until now—such as the Godking and other ancient figures—had achieved extremely high levels of attainment in the Heavenly Dao of the Heart. They were masters of manipulating the human heart. A single look from them was enough to make ordinary cultivators willingly fall to their knees and serve as slaves.

The Seamless Gate deployed many of their Empyrean Gods, True Immortals, and Celestial Immortals who had insights into the Heavenly Dao of the Heart, using their numerous clones to sow chaos throughout the Three Realms. The Nuwa Alliance was completely unable to counter this.

Time continued its relentless march. A decade passed. A century. Two centuries. Three hundred years…

The situation throughout the Three Realms grew increasingly dire. The chaos among mortals was merely a trivial matter. Far more serious were the repeated Realm Wars between the Nuwa Alliance and the Seamless Gate. In the beginning, these wars occurred only sporadically, but as time went on, they became more and more frequent, more and more intense. Both sides were fighting with increasing madness.

And more and more Empyrean Gods and True Immortals were dying!

Six hundred years had passed since his two clones had entered the Moon Underwater Abyss.

“Northmyth.”

A voice called out from afar.

Ji Ning was sitting on a wooden boat, drifting along with the current of a great river.

Hearing the call, he looked up. A long-haired man clad in wide robes and loose sleeves was striding through the void in the distance. He had called out from afar, but in the blink of an eye, he had already arrived on Ji Ning’s wooden boat.

“Daoist Luoshui.” Ji Ning produced a jug of wine and two cups.

“You come to my territory without even letting me know.” The long-haired man laughed as he sat down. This was True Immortal Luoshui, the ruler of the Luoshui Major World. He was a disciple of Lord Freeland and had attained the Dao as a True Immortal in the ancient era.

“Too many friends have died. I have no heart for such pleasantries.” Ji Ning shook his head.

Upon hearing this, True Immortal Luoshui could not help but sigh deeply. “Yes, especially in the last two or three hundred years. More and more Empyrean Gods and True Immortals are dying. Friends I used to drink with just recently… are now dead.”

Ji Ning nodded.

In the six hundred years since his clones had entered the Moon Underwater Abyss, he knew that on the Nuwa Alliance’s side alone, more than thirteen hundred Empyrean Gods and True Immortals had perished. On the Seamless Gate’s side, over a thousand had also died. As for Celestial Immortals and Loose Immortals, their casualties were incalculable. While each individual war might not have incurred massive losses, the sheer number of Realm Wars made the total casualties horrifying.

“Damned Seamless Gate.” True Immortal Luoshui ground his teeth in anger. “Their methods are too despicable.”

“Mm.” Ji Ning’s expression also darkened.

The Seamless Gate’s methods had already sunk to the level of utter depravity.

They had begun to assassinate the loved ones and closest companions of the Empyrean Gods and True Immortals of the Nuwa Alliance! For instance, if a True Immortal had only one child, the Seamless Gate would send assassins after it! If an Empyrean God had only two disciples, the Seamless Gate would assassinate them as well!

“The Seamless Gate wants to drive our Empyrean Gods and True Immortals mad,” True Immortal Luoshui said furiously. “They want them to succumb to a Heart Demon and die directly! Even if they don’t succumb to a Heart Demon, if grief and rage drive them to act recklessly and seek revenge, they will end up losing their lives as well.”

Ji Ning nodded.

For an ordinary Empyrean God or True Immortal to act alone against the Seamless Gate was suicide. Not everyone possessed Ji Ning’s level of strength and skill. They had to rely on the mighty armies of Realm Wars, cooperating with large numbers of other Empyrean Gods and True Immortals, fighting with calm and cool heads, in order to increase their chances of victory. The more hot-headed and reckless they became, the easier it was for them to perish, body and soul.

The Seamless Gate had abandoned all principles in their pursuit of victory.

Fortunately, Ji Ning had placed his daughter in the ‘Tristar Crescent Major World’. Otherwise, she too might have been ambushed. The massive wave of assassinations three hundred years ago had driven the Nuwa Alliance into a frenzy, which was what had led to the continuous outbreak of Realm Wars!

“We should never have let them in back when the Lord of All Demons led the remnants of the Seamless Gate back to the Three Realms,” True Immortal Luoshui said through gritted teeth. “We should have fought them to the death then and never allowed them to enter. Now, they have taken root in the Three Realms, recovered their strength, and are biting the hand that fed them.”

“Who could have predicted this back then?” Ji Ning shook his head.

“Yes. We had no preparation back then. We even called the Seamless Gate our brothers. Some of us were even like blood brothers, sharing techniques and Dao insights. They learned many of our most powerful techniques,” True Immortal Luoshui said with a sigh. “We didn’t stop them from accepting disciples either. They now have a massive army of Empyrean Gods and True Immortals of their own.”

“It’s too late to talk about this now. Only war will decide everything,” Ji Ning said.

“Yes. The scale of the war is escalating. In as little as a hundred years, or at most a thousand, the final battle for the fate of the world will likely begin,” True Immortal Luoshui said.

Ji Ning nodded.

The final battle for the fate of the world…

That would be the point when both sides had reached their limits. All of their Empyrean Gods, True Immortals, and Celestial Immortals would be sent into the fray. It would be the one, true, decisive battle that would determine the fate of the world. And if the losing side realized things were going badly, they might trigger a final, apocalyptic war, with all of the major powers entering the fray! That would be the ‘Last War’ of all the great powers.

Given the current situation, it would indeed happen in as little as a hundred years, or at most a thousand.

“By the way, just yesterday, the Dongyan True Immortal of your Grand Xia world fell in battle.” True Immortal Luoshui said. “Did you get the news?”

“Dongyan True Immortal?” Ji Ning was stunned.