The Heaven-Gazing Taihao Tower

After the soul-search, Ji Ning took the True God’s magic treasures. Of course…he also left behind some medicinal pills. The earlier battle had forced the prisoner True God to consume a vast amount of divine power. Without sufficient pills to sustain him, his remaining lifespan would not be long. Though divine power could not be replenished, replenishing his ki energy could at least extend his life.

Most Ki Refiners could not also train in the Fiendgod path.

However, virtually every Fiendgod practitioner also cultivated the Ki Refining path—the difference lay only in the level of achievement. Patriarch Subhuti, Daoist Three Purities, Tathagata the Buddha… all of them were originally True Gods who later supplemented their cultivation to become Daofathers.

With the aid of medicinal pills, these prisoners could survive for a very, very long time. If they merely focused on staying alive, their energy consumption was quite low.

“It seems that from the memories of these prisoners, it will be difficult to find anything truly helpful to me,” Ji Ning mused to himself. “But that makes sense. I’ve already obtained the numerous techniques passed down by World God Northrest. To hope that prisoners from the Ninefang Chaosworld might surprise me… that’s too much to ask. Still, as long as there is even a glimmer of hope, I cannot give up.”

Different Chaosworlds gave birth to different civilizations, and might produce unique techniques.

Facing the great calamity… Ji Ning naturally seized every opportunity.

After all, even someone as weak as Shaoyan Chou had stumbled upon the ‘World Prison.’ These prisoners from the Ninefang Chaosworld were far stronger than Shaoyan Chou. Perhaps one of them, through sheer luck, possessed a rare treasure or knew of some miraculous technique.

…

“Whoosh.” Ji Ning landed on a tranquil, lake-centered island. With a wave of his hand, a palace of jade-green appeared, along with a host of sword-art stelae. Finally, a torrent of massive Stargold Beads descended like meteorites, crashing onto the island.

Ji Ning stepped into the jade-green palace, sat cross-legged on a cushion, and began to calmly replay every scene of the battle he had just fought.

Every battle had to be carefully examined, its lessons absorbed, so that he could grow stronger.

The True Gods and True Immortals imprisoned within the ‘World Prison’ were finite in number. Once he had fought through all of them, he would have no new opponents to seek out. So he had to cherish every single one.

…

Combining his insights from the Stargold Beads and the sword-art stelae, he meditated for more than ten days. Finding no further enlightenment, he put away his treasures, turned into a black bolt of lightning, and sped off toward yet another True God.

Battle, meditation, battle, meditation…

This became a rigid rhythm.

From every battle, Ji Ning extracted experience, refining and perfecting his sword-art.

But when he went up against the fifth True God prisoner, he suffered a harsh lesson.

“Die.”

The ugly, gaunt old man’s six arms swelled and elongated instantly. Six claws shot at Ji Ning from every angle, their movements bizarre and unpredictable. Blood covered Ji Ning’s body. He had managed to block the first strike through desperate effort, but his divine body had been torn open anyway. The ninth cycle of the Eight-Nine Arcane Art was nearly useless against this terrifying opponent.

“All-Heavens Illumination.”

In his panic, Ji Ning immediately activated a thought.

Suddenly, a host of ancient bronze mirrors appeared in midair, thirty-six of them suspended overhead, intercepting the claws and buying him the barest sliver of time.

“Swoosh.”

Ji Ning immediately executed the Lightning-Serpent Teleportation and, in a flash, had fled beyond the thousand-li sealing range.

“That Jueyu True God is terrifying. The intelligence I gathered from soul-searching the other True Gods and True Immortals wasn’t entirely reliable.” Standing outside the thousand-li seal, Ji Ning trembled with lingering fear. The old man’s claw technique was far too fearsome; a single exchange had left him severely wounded. Only his own mastery of sword-art had saved him from being shredded on the spot.

His choice of opponents was not blind; it was methodical.

Having already soul-searched many prisoners, he had a fairly good understanding of the many True Gods and True Immortals of the Ninefang Chaosworld.

He classified these True Gods and True Immortals into three tiers.

The first tier were comparable to ordinary Daofathers of the Three Realms.

The second tier were comparable to the top Daofathers of the Three Realms.

The strongest True Gods and True Immortals were those approaching the ‘leader’ level.

Because these prisoners were generally low in realm—most had not fully comprehended a Heavenly Dao—the majority were merely at the ordinary Daofather level. Some, by relying on powerful divine abilities like the ‘Starseizing Hand,’ could erupt with strength on par with a top Daofather. Others, like the Jueyu True God he had just met, were of a different caliber.

“In the memories of the other True Gods and True Immortals, Jueyu True God was described as very ordinary, with unremarkable divine abilities,” Ji Ning thought. “But I never expected his Nine Abyss Force to have reached the fifth level—his combat power is definitely at the top Daofather level.”

The Nine Abyss Force was not particularly strong in offense.

If it had been the aggressively offensive ‘Sword Force at the fifth level,’ Ji Ning’s body would have shattered in a single exchange.

Moreover, Jueyu True God indeed had mediocre luck and no powerful divine abilities. If he had a formidable divine ability to go with his ‘fifth-level Nine Abyss Force,’ he would have been close to the ‘leader’ level.

“I need to be more cautious,” Ji Ning reflected. “I have the intelligence from the soul-searches to guide me, but these prisoners have been locked away here for eons. It’s not surprising that some have made breakthroughs. From now on, in every fight, I’ll activate Three Heads, Six Arms right from the start… If I had used it just now, I wouldn’t have been this humiliated.”

When a crisis struck so suddenly that even the Lightning-Serpent Teleportation was impossible, there was naturally no time to execute Three Heads, Six Arms. Manifesting that ability required divine power to coalesce into four extra arms and two extra heads, which demanded a tiny fraction of time. In contrast, the ‘Starseizing Hand’ could be activated almost instantly, at the speed of thought.

“Hahaha… boy, with strength like that, you dare hope I’ll submit to you?” The gaunt old man let out a strange laugh. “If you hadn’t run so fast, and if those mirrors of yours weren’t so peculiar, your little life would have been finished just now. You can consider yourself lucky to have witnessed my claw technique.”

“Jueyu True God.” Ji Ning smiled instead. “Excellent. Another powerful opponent to hone myself against.”

“Opponent?” The gaunt old man sneered. “You’re using me as a whetstone? Hmph. Be careful you don’t lose your life.”

“I’ll be back.”

Ji Ning turned, transformed into a black bolt of lightning, and quickly flew away.

“Hmph.” The gaunt old man watched him leave with a cold smile. Only after Ji Ning had departed did he frown. “This warden’s ki energy is quite strong, but his divine power aura is clearly weaker than mine. And I failed to kill him in a single blow! His sword-art is damned fast—faster than my claws. A sword-art that surpasses the limits of the Heavenly Dao? Where the hell did he learn it?”

…

Ji Ning was actually delighted to encounter a powerful opponent. He could feel himself improving steadily, understanding more and more of the sword-art left by World God Northrest.

When he fought True Gods, some he could defeat.

With others, he could barely match them. Against those, he would spar briefly before leaving, returning for another bout later.

Some completely overpowered him.

A few, like ‘Jueyu True God,’ could nearly kill him.

As for the most monstrous True Gods—those nearly on par with Elder Gods, approaching the ‘leader’ tier of combat power—Ji Ning did not dare touch them. Without the Myriad Things Messengers, going to fight them would be suicide.

Of course, if he chose to fight at range, channeling Daofather-level ki energy through his Brightmoon Sword-Art, his strength would absolutely rival a top-tier Daofather. But Ji Ning’s ultimate goal was to temper his sword-art. So he was willing to use his weaker aspect and fight in close quarters.

…

Splash!

The True God’s body was split in two and sent flying, then reformed in the distance.

“I concede.” Another True God lowered his head to Ji Ning.

Ji Ning reached out and placed his palm on the True God’s head. The True God did not resist.

His memories were quickly rifled through by Ji Ning. Ji Ning discarded useless memories and searched intently for anything valuable. Though the previous soul-searches had yielded no surprises, Ji Ning never stopped. As long as there was even a single possibility, he would continue.

“Hmm?” Ji Ning suddenly paused as he flipped through what seemed to be an ordinary memory. Then his face lit up with joy.

“The Heaven-Gazing Taihao Tower?” Ji Ning murmured to himself.

“To think that a treasure as wondrous as the Heaven-Gazing Taihao Tower exists here. The foundation of the Ninefang Chaosworld is indeed far richer than that of our Three Realms.” Ji Ning’s heartbeat quickened.

The Heaven-Gazing Taihao Tower was a Chaos treasure—and exactly the kind of treasure Ji Ning needed most urgently. In truth, during his soul-searches, he had discovered many treasures he yearned for, but none of them were in the World Prison. This ‘Heaven-Gazing Taihao Tower,’ however… its owner was imprisoned right here in the World Prison!