Chapter 8 Entering the Yinglong Guard

The next morning.

North Dark Peak.

"Brother Ji Ning, let me go with you too. I can serve you tea and attend to you," Yun Lu said, looking at Ji Ning expectantly.

"This is going out to train and temper myself, full of danger, not a pleasure trip! You stay put in the Black-White College." Ji Ning looked at the other servants—Meng Yan, Yun Lu, Yun Zhou, Wang Wei, Wei Fang, and Ming Yang—six in all. "After I leave the Black-White College, on this North Dark Peak, Meng Yan will be in charge of all matters big and small."

Yun Zhou and the others were startled.

Meng Yan?

Among them, Meng Yan was probably the weakest. The others were all improving, but Meng Yan, due to his damaged foundation, had to split his focus to also train in the divine body; at least for now, he was the weakest.

"Yes, Brother Ji Ning," Yun Lu and the others all replied.

"Stone, North Dark Peak is in your hands," Ji Ning said, looking at Meng Yan with a note of entrustment.

The tall, dark-skinned Meng Yan nodded heavily: "Brother Ji Ning, rest assured."

Ji Ning suddenly looked up. A streak of light flew over from afar; it was Mu Zishao standing on the Azure Dragon puppet.

"Brother Ji Ning!" Mu Zishao called from afar.

"Let's go, Uncle Bai." A boat appeared beside Ji Ning, and he stepped onto it. The Whitewater Hound also leaped into the boat. One man and one snow-white dog quickly rose into the air, joining Mu Zishao on the Azure Dragon puppet in the distance. Soon they disappeared among the distant mountain peaks.

…

Ji Ning, Mu Zishao, and the Whitewater Hound walked out of the main gate of the Black-White College.

"When we come back next time, we'll be much stronger." Mu Zishao turned to look at the main gate, his eyes filled with anticipation and longing. He said softly, "And we'll bring back techniques and spells that aren't in the college... I've had enough of not having enough Black-White pills and not being able to exchange for many puppet techniques."

The Black-White College had a vast collection of techniques, spells, and so on. Where did they come from? Naturally, they were discovered and brought back by generations of disciples over endless years.

Disciples who contributed new techniques and spells would be rewarded with corresponding Black-White pills and even primal liquid!

Ji Ning actually had two very powerful techniques he could contribute to the college: one was the divine ability "Windwing Evasion," and the other was the "Lesser Thousand Swords Formation." The entire college only had five divine abilities, showing how rare they were. But this divine ability had been passed down through the Yuchi clan for generations; even his mother had told him not to pass it on to outsiders. How could he lightly pass it on?

As for the Lesser Thousand Swords Formation, he could decide on his own. But he had already left it with the Ji clan; it was a pillar for the Ji clan's future rise. His father had devoted his whole life to the Ji clan, and Ji Ning had grown up in the Ji clan, feeling a strong sense of belonging to the tribe. Whether to contribute such a clan-protecting ultimate technique to the college was something Ji Ning still needed to consider carefully.

After all, techniques and spells were highly valued by sects, tribes, and religions alike. For the sake of a divine ability or a powerful secret art, it was possible to bring about the destruction of an entire clan.

"Let's go," Ji Ning said.

"Brother Ji Ning, where are we going?" Mu Zishao asked.

"First to the Treasure Hill of Heaven," Ji Ning said with a smile. "The Treasure Hill of Heaven is filled with countless treasures. If you want to prepare anything for going out to train and temper yourself, you can buy it there."

"Good, I do want to buy something," Mu Zishao nodded.

Immediately, Ji Ning, Mu Zishao, and the Whitewater Hound left the Black-White College.

…

An old woman with crane-white hair and a childlike face stood in a courtyard. On the water mirror before her appeared the scene of Ji Ning, Mu Zishao, and the Whitewater Hound leaving the main gate of the Black-White College.

"Zishao..." The eyes of the Qionghua Daoist held worry and hope.

…

The black-robed, black-haired Palace Immortal sat cross-legged on a jade bed. Suddenly his eyes opened, filled with anticipation.

Disciples went out to train and temper themselves.

Some disciples returned in two or three years, some in decades, some in hundreds of years. Of course, some never returned, dying outside.

…

The Treasure Hill of Heaven, backed by the support of the imperial clan of the Grand Xia Dynasty, was spread across every prefectural city in the endless land.

In the more than three years since entering the Black-White College, Ji Ning had gone out with Beishan Baiwei quite a few times, and naturally had visited the Treasure Hill of Heaven.

"Uncle Bai, this time going out to train and temper ourselves is full of danger. Do you need anything?" Ji Ning looked at the Whitewater Hound beside him, communicating mentally.

"You've already given me a minor teleportation talisman before," the Whitewater Hound replied mentally. "What I want most now is just one thing... the 'Fuxi Staff Formation.'"

"Fuxi Staff Formation?"

Ji Ning nodded. Although he couldn't compare to Uncle Bai in formations, he still studied them in his spare time. Naturally, he knew of the famous 'Fuxi Staff Formation.' Fuxi was a legendary great power. Ji Ning had also heard legends about Fuxi on Earth in his previous life.

Like Fuxi, Houyi, Kuafu—these were all just legends.

The Fuxi Staff Formation was said to have been created by 'Fuxi'. With those sixty-four staffs, Fuxi could deploy all kinds of formations. These sixty-four staffs... had countless uses. In the hands of an ordinary cultivator, they might be useless, but in the hands of a formation master, they could unleash astonishing power.

The higher one's achievement in formations, the more mysterious and powerful the great formation deployed with the Fuxi Staff Formation would be. Legend had it that Fuxi, relying on this 'Fuxi Staff Formation', could even set up a formation that could destroy heaven and earth. Moreover, the Fuxi Staff Formation was portable, allowing formations like the 'Eight Trigrams Blood Dragon Formation' to be deployed instantly.

Therefore, those skilled in formations generally acquired a set of the Fuxi Staff Formation.

"Alright, leave it to me." Ji Ning nodded.

"Young master Ji, young master Mu." At the main entrance of the Treasure Hill, a seductive Zifu female cultivator was already waiting to receive them.

Ji Ning, Mu Zishuo, and the Whitewater Marsh entered the Treasure Hill together.

…

The Treasure Hill had a vast array of treasures, and the prices were considered high. However, those valued by the Treasure Hill were usually given discounts. For instance, genius disciples of the Black-White College could get a 'thirty percent discount'. This was already close to the maximum discount. Because when the Treasure Hill acquired treasures from outside, it did so at sixty percent of the marked price!

Of course, it was said that for some immortals, the selling price was also sixty percent of the marked price, the same as the acquisition price, with no profit at all. Naturally, Ji Ning and the others had not yet enjoyed such preferential treatment.

"This set of sword formations, sell it."

"This magic treasure too."

"Sell this set of sword formations as well."

In the Treasure Hill, Ji Ning quickly sold off many treasures he had accumulated, such as the magic treasures from the cultivators he had killed at Snowdragon Mountain, as well as the sword formations gifted by Beishan Blacktiger and Senior Bloodshadow. Although these sword formations were good, they were not of the same origin; some were cold-attributed flying swords, others fire-attributed, and so on, which were not suitable for the Thousand Swords Formation.

Soon, half an hour later.

Ji Ning, Mu Zishuo, and the Whitewater Marsh left the Treasure Hill.

Ji Ning acquired a set of three hundred and sixty human-grade top-grade water-attributed flying swords, and another set of three hundred and sixty human-grade top-grade fire-attributed flying swords. In total, that was seven hundred and twenty human-grade top-grade flying swords. Although they were standard models from the Treasure Hill, the most common kind with nothing special, they were still human-grade top-grade. If exchanged entirely with liquid elemental essence, they would require nearly a thousand catties of liquid elemental essence.

The two sets of sword formations gifted by Beishan Blacktiger and the set given by Senior Bloodshadow were sold to the Treasure Hill for nearly nine hundred catties of liquid elemental essence.

The treasures from Xu Li the Daoist, combined, also exchanged for nearly a hundred catties of liquid elemental essence.

…

In short, Ji Ning ended up paying an extra two hundred catties of liquid elemental essence. In exchange, he got seven hundred and twenty human-grade top-grade flying swords and a set of the Fuxi Staff Formation.

He also spent some liquid elemental essence to purchase other items needed for his travels.

"Ah!" After leaving the Treasure Hill, Mu Zishuo sighed, "Entering the Treasure Hill makes you realize how poor you are. Now I only have ten catties of liquid elemental essence left. Senior apprentice-brother, you should be better off than me, right?"

"Over the past three years, I did win a few matches in the Debate Hall," Ji Ning shook his head, "But after a trip to the Treasure Hill, I'm almost broke too, with only about a hundred catties of liquid elemental essence left."

Mu Zishuo nodded, his eyes shining: "Staying in the academy all the time won't get us any treasures. Now that we're going out to explore, we'll have plenty of opportunities to obtain treasures. Remember how Senior Bloodshadow casually gave you, Senior Apprentice-Brother Ji Ning, a valuable set of human-grade sword formations? Clearly, it was nothing to him. Once we go out and explore, I believe we'll soon be able to do the same."

"Mm." Ji Ning's eyes also held anticipation.

In the academy, they often heard about some senior apprentice-brother discovering a predecessor's relic somewhere and obtaining treasures.

Or about some senior apprentice-sister, after wandering and fighting for over a decade, killing hundreds of other cultivators, obtaining countless treasures.

And so on...

In short, Ji Ning and Mu Zishuo, who had never gone out to explore and train, naturally felt an itch in their hearts.

"I just exchanged for some treasures, and my strength has increased compared to before. This time out, I'm going to sweep the battlefield," Mu Zishuo said with boundless pride.

"Hahaha." Ji Ning laughed.

His own Thousand Swords Formation had the Nine Yang Sword Formation obtained from the Water Mansion as its core. The other swords were three hundred and sixty water-attributed flying swords and three hundred and sixty fire-attributed flying swords... water and fire, mutually restraining and generating each other, were extremely suitable for control in the art of formations. Ji Ning believed that his Thousand Swords Formation would have incredibly terrifying power.

"My long-range attacks can now match my close combat," Ji Ning thought to himself.

Ji Ning was extremely powerful in close combat.

Because he had cultivated to the ninth level of the 'Redmoon Diagram', he could match an ordinary Fiendgod Body Refining cultivator at the early Wanxiang stage! Moreover, having comprehended the 'Dao Domain of the Blazing Fire Dao' and obtained a thousand black-and-white pellets, Ji Ning had also acquired the divine abilities 'Heavenly Transformation' and the second volume of the 'Redmoon Diagram'.

Thus, even without using the heaven-defying 'Star Picking Hand', relying solely on the two divine abilities 'Windwing Evasion' and 'Heavenly Transformation', Ji Ning's close combat power was still astonishing.

Now, with the Thousand Swords Formation in Qi Refining, he was equally strong.

Close combat and long-range attacks... both were formidable.

"Senior Apprentice-Brother Ji Ning, where are we going?" Mu Zishuo looked at Ji Ning beside him. "Where should we go to explore?"

"Previously, senior apprentice-brothers and sisters all first joined the Yinglong Guard," Ji Ning said. "Joining the Yinglong Guard has many benefits. We can also take on Yinglong Guard missions and go to specific places to explore and take risks. Moreover, when the Yinglong Guard handles cases... it can deter some petty villains and save us a lot of trouble."

"Mm." Mu Zishuo nodded. "I think so too."

After discussing, the two decided... to first join the Yinglong Guard!

…