Chapter 4: Brothers of the Heavenly Cang Palace

On that immortal mansion atop the chaotic star, Ji Ning stood before the railing, gazing into the starry void.

"Boom."

Suddenly, a surging and overwhelming aura shot up into the sky, powerful and vast, lofty and aloof, utterly different from the World-level. Even Ji Ning felt that only the blue flower mist power within him could compare to this aura.

"The aura of a Dao Lord." Ji Ning smiled. "Dan Bao has broken through first."

When breaking through from World to Dao Lord, the divine body is restructured, and the aura naturally cannot be restrained, bursting forth freely. However, Ji Ning had long set up restrictions around to block the transmission of this Dao Lord's aura fluctuations.

"Rumble~~~"

A dense vortex of chaos force began to form in the surrounding void, with the chaotic star at its center. Vast amounts of chaos force gathered and were directly absorbed by Dan Bao, the World God.

After a short while,

Another surging Dao Lord aura shot up into the sky—Fire Fairy Su Youji had also begun her breakthrough. Soon, even more chaos force was drawn to the external void.

...

A massive chaos vortex surrounded the chaotic star.

On the chaotic star, within an immortal mansion, Ji Ning silently stood guard. The surge of chaos force alone generally wouldn't attract any major powers, because breakthroughs by True Gods/True Immortals or Ancestral Gods/Ancestral Immortals all cause chaos force fluctuations. Thus, chaos force surges are the most common, and if the distance is great, such fluctuations are very faint.

The breakthrough process lasted over a day.

"Swoosh." A chubby figure shot into the sky and landed directly beside Ji Ning. It was Dan Bao, with rosy lips and white teeth. His aura was now more natural and far more vast; judging by aura alone, he was clearly much stronger than Ji Ning. He had now stepped into the Dao Lord level.

"Congratulations, Dao Lord Dan Bao." Ji Ning smiled.

"I must thank you, Master. Without you, I don't know when I would have become a Dao Lord. Or rather... I might not have been able to become a Dao Lord at all." Dan Bao sighed. He had greater talent in alchemy than in combat, but finding a true grandmaster alchemist was too difficult. On this trip to the other universe, with Ji Ning's help, he had fortuitously obtained the techniques bestowed by the Alchemy Venerable, and thus found a path.

The first six chapters bestowed by the Alchemy Venerable were a path to becoming an Eternal Emperor; even the Mangya Kingdom couldn't find an equivalent alchemy method.

With a master, Dan Bao knew how to proceed.

Without a master, unless one's talent was truly astonishing—like Ji Ning or Feng Yi, who could grope their way to the Dao Lord level on their own—it would be difficult. Of course, even they would not match those with many inheritances to draw upon, because with enough predecessors' experience, one could avoid mistakes and stand on the shoulders of giants to see further.

"Swoosh." Another figure shot into the sky, graceful and enchanting, with a fiery red robe. It was Su Youji, now even more charming and alluring, her seductive aura palpable.

Cultivating the path of charm and control, Su Youji's natural allure grew ever more astonishing. A single glance from her could drive ordinary World-level beings to madness, willing to live or die for her.

"Master." Su Youji looked at Ji Ning with a smile, then disappointedly found his gaze still calm. She said helplessly, "I thought you might be affected by me. It seems that passing through the source chain, your resistance to charm is extraordinary."

"If you used a secret art, I might be affected." Ji Ning smiled.

"I won't use secret arts on you, Master." Su Youji said.

Ji Ning wasn't entirely sure either.

Su Youji was now a Dao Lord. If a Dao Lord used a charm secret art, it might not control him, but it could influence him. After all, Su Youji was no ordinary Dao Lord; she had studied the inheritance of the 'Flying Immortal Saint Lord,' a very fearsome Dao Lord. Even if she influenced him, with a single thought, Ji Ning could unleash the fourfold divine thunder and divine water, easily annihilating Su Youji. The gap in strength was still too great!

The path of charm is not good at close combat; its strength lies in charming and influencing enemies.

"Once you become a Dao Lord, things are different from now on." Ji Ning said. "Life-and-death Dao Lords—one step, one life-and-death. You have only taken the first step now! The path of cultivation ahead requires even more caution and care. I don't have high expectations; at least you two should live to become Four-Step Dao Lords."

"Mm." Dan Bao nodded.

"If we fail at Daomerge, that's one thing. But if we die while breaking through to the second, third, or fourth step, that would be laughable." Su Youji was quite confident.

Life-and-death Dao Lords: every step forward is groping in the dark!

At the levels of Ancestral God/Ancestral Immortal and World, one can sense the universe's source. For example, the 'Source of the Dao of the Sword' emits a very detailed aura of the Dao, allowing cultivators to safely cultivate to World-level perfection.

After that, it's all groping in the dark.

One step, one groping; one wrong step, death.

The final Daomerge is a great trial. If the Dao has even a slight flaw, it cannot exist eternally, resulting in death and the end of the Dao. Even Su Youji, Dan Bao, and Ji Ning themselves had little confidence in Daomerge. They all thought to first strive to become Four-Step Dao Lords. If they couldn't even become Four-Step Dao Lords, that would be a joke.

As for Daomerge? They would figure it out slowly after becoming Four-Step Dao Lords.

...

With Su Youji and Dan Bao accompanying him, the journey went more smoothly, as the deterrence of Dao Lords was still strong. Nearly three hundred years passed easily.

Zhehu Star was where the spacetime teleportation array was located.

Whoosh.

The spacetime teleportation array lit up.

"It was just activated moments ago, and now it's activated again?" Some Ancestral Gods and Ancestral Immortals responsible for maintaining the array muttered among themselves.

Then three figures appeared in the array: Ji Ning, Dan Bao, and Su Youji.

As soon as they appeared, the faint aura of Dao Lords spread, immediately frightening those Ancestral Gods and Ancestral Immortals into silence.

Ji Ning, when using the spacetime teleportation array, wouldn't wait to save on 'travel expenses'; he would activate it alone!

"It's not far from the Heavenly Cang Palace now. We should arrive in about half a year." Ji Ning smiled.

"Congratulations, Master." Su Youji smiled. "You've been waiting for this day for a long time."

"Yes, I've waited a long time." Ji Ning nodded gently.

He cared about the Heavenly Cang Palace because... what he truly missed were his parents.

Swoosh!

A flying boat appeared out of nowhere. Ji Ning and the other two entered, and the boat immediately shot into the sky. They now needed to fly through space for over half a month, then pass through a natural spatial vortex to reach a more distant place. Traveling through the endless chaos was like this: the time spent on spacetime teleportation arrays was short, but the main time was spent in some troublesome areas.

"Rumble~~~"

Not far from Zhehu Star, in a stretch of void, there was a chaotic star where a battle was taking place, causing a great commotion.

"Hm?" Ji Ning suddenly had a faint premonition. At his level of cultivation, such premonitions were usually accurate.

"Stop." Ji Ning halted the flying boat and put it away.

"Master?" Dan Bao and Su Youji were puzzled. Why stop suddenly?

"Let's go take a look ahead." Ji Ning said. "There seems to be a battle on that chaotic star."

Dan Bao and Su Youji were also confused. Wasn't it just a battle? What was there to see? But they wouldn't go against Ji Ning's wishes, so they followed him flying over.

In the void, three World-level beings and some Ancestral Gods/Ancestral Immortals were watching from afar. Since this place was near Zhehu Star, where the spacetime teleportation array was located, it attracted some World-level beings to watch.

"Friends, what's happening on that star?" Ji Ning walked over and asked.

The watching World-level beings and Ancestral Gods/Ancestral Immortals turned their heads in confusion and saw a white-robed youth, and beside him, two others.

Dao Lords???

"Greetings, Dao Lords." The three World-level beings were startled and immediately bowed with extreme respect.

"Dao Lords." The Ancestral Gods and Ancestral Immortals also trembled in fear.

Ji Ning instructed, "Tell me about the battle on that star." He had sensed something, so there must be a connection.

One of the World-level elders quickly said, "Reporting to you, senior." He dared not be negligent toward the white-robed youth, because although Ji Ning appeared to be a World-level being, two Dao Lords stood behind him, indicating that the white-robed youth had an extraordinary status.

"On that star, there are six World-level beings divided into two sides." The elder said.

"I know they're divided into two sides." Ji Ning frowned. He could see with a glance that on the chaotic star a hundred billion li away, one World-level being was being besieged by five others, barely holding on.

"One side is the 'Qingfeng Sacred Hall.' Their five World-level beings are jointly pursuing an enemy. That enemy is a World-level being from the 'Heavenly Cang Palace,' a mortal enemy of the Qingfeng Sacred Hall." The elder quickly explained.

Ji Ning's expression changed.

Heavenly Cang Palace?

No wonder he had a premonition.

"Hmph." Ji Ning's expression changed. He moved his feet, and with a swoosh, he transformed into a sword light, directly tearing through space, using the Blood Drop Evasion technique to enter another dimensional space, charging at top speed toward that chaotic star. He was right there; if he let a brother of the Heavenly Cang Palace be bullied, that would be a joke!

"Senior, that... that is the Qingfeng Sacred Hall." The elder exclaimed, sensing Ji Ning's killing intent. The Qingfeng Sacred Hall was no weaker than the Heavenly Cang Palace; to ordinary World-level beings, it was definitely a behemoth.

"Master." Su Youji also turned into a streak of light. Hearing her call him master, the surrounding World-level beings and Ancestral Gods/Ancestral Immortals were stunned. How could a Dao Lord call a World-level being master?

"What does the Qingfeng Sacred Hall matter? Our master is from the Heavenly Cang Palace!" Dan Bao was also murderous, turning into a streak of light and chasing after them.

The elder, along with the other World-level beings and Ancestral Gods/Ancestral Immortals, were completely dumbfounded.

...