Chapter 20: Visions

Within the Violet Mansion, the vast ocean of primal energy stretched endlessly. As Ji Ning willed it, the surface of the entire primal ocean began to descend, steadily lowering with a rushing sound.

Deep within the primal ocean.

Vast amounts of primal essence were frantically condensing, and enormous stars were being born one after another. No one knew how long this took.

“Rumble…” The primal ocean, whose surface had already dropped considerably, suddenly churned. Huge stars slowly rose, breaking through the water’s surface and continuing upward. Countless massive stars, densely packed, emerged from the water and flew toward the high sky, each faintly radiating light.

They rose, and rose.

At last, the countless stars hung high in the endless sky.

In that moment, the Violet Mansion space truly had a night sky, filled with countless brilliant stars, while beneath the night sky lay the endless ocean.

This was the first vision of breaking through to the Wanxiang stage—Stars Adorning the Sky.

“Rush…” The entire primal ocean continued to descend.

At the center of the ocean, endless primal essence condensed, striving to form an even more astonishingly massive star. After an unknown time, this star, many times larger than the others, began to slowly rise, breaking through the waves and continuing upward.

Unlike the ascent of the countless stars before, now only this one colossal star hung beneath the night sky. It emitted a gentle radiance, illuminating the entire night sky and the entire primal ocean.

At this moment, it was the most dazzling thing in the Violet Mansion space.

This was the second vision of breaking through to the Wanxiang stage—The Moon Rises from the Sea.

Finally, the enormous moon rose to the high sky, and the myriad stars hung high, clustering around it.

“Rush…” The primal ocean continued to descend.

If the primal ocean were too small, it might not even be possible to condense the myriad stars. If that failed… it meant one could not break through to the Wanxiang stage. Cultivators like Mu Xiao and Xu Li, who practiced only mediocre techniques, only manifested the second vision upon breakthrough.

But Ji Ning’s primal ocean was exceptionally vast and mighty. Even after descending for so long, it had not yet reached a third of its total volume.

At this moment—

Another equally enormous star was condensing in the depths of the ocean. Before it even emerged, it began to emit astonishing light, faintly causing the entire primal ocean to glow. Finally, it too began to rise. This massive star ascended steadily until it broke through the water’s surface.

The moment it flew out of the sea, the star’s blazing, yang-radiance spread instantly, enveloping the entire Violet Mansion space. In an instant, the space shifted from night to day.

This sun slowly rose, flying toward the depths of the high sky.

This was the third vision of breaking through to the Wanxiang stage—The Sun Rises in the East.

…

Stars Adorning the Sky, The Moon Rises from the Sea, and The Sun Rises in the East—the simultaneous appearance of these three visions represented the most perfect breakthrough to the Wanxiang stage.

…

When the sun flew to the deepest part of the high sky, surrounded by the myriad stars, it stood opposite the moon, one yin and one yang. Having risen to the highest point, the sun’s light was no longer as intense as before. The moon’s gentle radiance and the sun’s blazing light together illuminated the entire ocean below.

“Condense!” Ji Ning willed.

The entire primal ocean, which had only descended by a little over half, began to drop wildly.

From the wildly descending primal ocean, countless specks of light floated out, breaking through the water’s surface and flying toward the high sky. As the ocean continued to fall, more and more specks emerged. Countless, numberless—hundreds or thousands of times more numerous than the stars—all flew upward.

These specks of light flew toward the stars, the moon, and the sun, merging into them.

The moon, the sun, and the countless stars began to grow. After absorbing these specks, they underwent a transformation.

…

When the entire primal ocean had descended to less than a tenth of its original volume, everything finally stopped.

The moon, sun, and stars in the high sky had all more than doubled in size.

“It’s done.”

Ji Ning’s heart relaxed.

The stars in the high sky began to move slowly, at first with difficulty. But soon they became natural, revolving around the two core stars—the moon and the sun. The movement of the myriad stars was entirely spontaneous. These stars, the moon, and the sun naturally resonated with the countless real stars in the outside world, thus beginning this motion.

…

In a deep cave.

Mu Zishuo turned his head to glance at Ji Ning in the distance. Ji Ning was still sitting cross-legged, but he had stopped refining primal liquid. “Senior apprentice-brother should be about to break through.”

Just then.

Suddenly, a vast amount of natural primal energy surged toward Ji Ning, pouring in at an astonishing speed. After a moment, the fluctuations of primal energy ceased. Ji Ning opened his eyes and laughed heartily.

“Congratulations, senior apprentice-brother, on entering the Wanxiang stage.” Mu Zishuo said joyfully.

“I just tried it, and it’s exactly as you said, junior apprentice-brother. Once you break through to Wanxiang, the stars in your Violet Mansion resonate with the countless real stars outside. The speed of absorbing natural primal energy suddenly increases dozens of times.” Ji Ning smiled, but inwardly he sighed…

Producing primal liquid was far more difficult. To deliberately create it, one would need to set up a formation like the Fire Dragon Immortal and spend years converting natural primal energy into pure primal liquid.

Thus, primal liquid was naturally extremely precious.

Wanxiang cultivators and Primal Daoists generally preferred to spend time cultivating on their own, rarely relying heavily on primal liquid for rapid advancement.

“Senior apprentice-brother, having broken through to Wanxiang, you should need a suitable Earth-ranked magic treasure,” Mu Zishuo said with a smile. “The set of flying swords we just obtained from Bei Hezhou should suit you well. Let this set of flying swords be my congratulatory gift for your breakthrough.”

Ji Ning was startled. “No!”

Bei Hezhou’s set of flying swords?

It was indeed a set of nine Earth-ranked flying swords, clearly of excellent quality, likely Earth-ranked top-grade. His current core for the Thousand Swords Formation, the Nine Yang Sword Formation, was only Human-ranked top-grade. For a Wanxiang cultivator, it was far inferior to those nine excellent Earth-ranked flying swords. The price alone made this clear.

A Human-ranked top-grade flying sword was generally worth about one hundred taels of primal liquid, or about ten catties.

But Bei Hezhou’s set of Earth-ranked flying swords—each was estimated to be worth a hundred catties of primal liquid. Nine swords as a set likely cost around a thousand catties of primal liquid in total.

“Senior apprentice-brother, these flying swords are useless to me,” Mu Zishuo shook his head. “As a congratulatory gift… are you going to refuse?”

Ji Ning looked at Mu Zishuo, then laughed. “Alright, I’ll accept this set of flying swords.”

They were fellow disciples who had braved life and death together. Ji Ning would not stand on ceremony, but he kept this kindness in his heart.

…

Time passed, and half a month went by in the blink of an eye.

Amid drifting clouds, a dragon-headed warship sailed leisurely forward. Ahead, they could see space twisting in the distance, with faint cracks beyond which lay a gray void. Even though they had seen this sight many times, both Ji Ning and Mu Zishuo felt a chill in their hearts.

The dragon-headed warship naturally steered clear from afar.

If one were accidentally caught in such spatial distortion, Ji Ning knew that with their current strength, they would surely die.

“This set of flying swords is truly sharp and full of killing intent.” Ji Ning stood at the bow, his right hand extended. Around his hand, nine flying swords, each about the size of a finger, circled continuously, occasionally emitting sword light. Ji Ning was familiarizing himself with these nine Earth-ranked flying swords.

Since he didn’t know the name of this set, Ji Ning named it the “Beihe Sword Formation,” both in memory of Bei Hezhou and as a constant reminder to be wary of other cultivators.

“Senior apprentice-brother, look.” Mu Zishuo pointed into the distance.

Ji Ning looked carefully.

In the distance, a warship was faintly visible, flying toward them. Seeing its design, Ji Ning said directly, “It’s the Wanxiang-stage cultivator named ‘Wuxiang,’ one of the hundred joining the Yinglong Guard.”

“Wuxiang?” Mu Zishuo also looked. “It won’t be like when we met Bei Hezhou and the others, will it? Could there be some Wanxiang cultivators hiding inside that warship?”

“Let me see.”

With a thought, Ji Ning’s divine sense swept over the distant warship, completely enveloping it. Every movement inside was within his detection.

After checking, Ji Ning relaxed and said, “It’s fine. There are only two people on that warship, including Wuxiang.”

“Hmm?” Ji Ning’s expression suddenly changed.

…

On the other distant warship.

The white-robed cultivator Dongxu and the gray-robed cultivator Wuxiang were also looking at Ji Ning and the others’ dragon-headed warship.

“That dragon-headed warship belongs to the Black-White College disciple Mu Zishuo,” said the gray-robed Wuxiang.

“They’re moving slowly, flying so leisurely… they probably already have enough Wanxiang demon heads,” said Dongxu.

“After all, they’re from the Black-White College.” Wuxiang frowned and shook his head. “It’s a pity. When we first entered the Yushan Great Wasteland, we had some luck and killed a Wanxiang demon. But later, after failing to deal with that Azure Snake… our luck turned. We failed several times, and three days ago, that Azure Snake toyed with us, nearly getting us killed.”

Dongxu gritted his teeth. “The first time we let her escape. The second time, she found us and even toyed with us, putting us in danger. If we meet her again, we must kill her.”

…

“Azure Snake?” Ji Ning’s heart stirred.

Back when he first left his parents’ protection and roamed the ten-thousand-mile area around Xifu City, he had clashed with an Azure Snake several times.

He had later killed Tie Muzhan but never found the Azure Snake’s corpse. At the time, he suspected it had escaped by comprehending ‘spatial teleportation.’

“Azure Snakes are quite rare, and due to their talent, they generally grow very fast,” Ji Ning thought. “I wonder if the one they encountered is the same one from Yanshan.”

“Junior apprentice-brother, move closer,” Ji Ning said.

“Move closer?” Mu Zishuo looked at Ji Ning.

Ji Ning nodded.

Mu Zishuo asked no further questions and immediately maneuvered the dragon-headed warship closer.

Ji Ning watched from afar… He wanted to get some information about the Azure Snake from these two. Since they had over two months left in the Yushan Great Wasteland with nothing to do, he might as well investigate and see if that Azure Snake was the one he knew.

…