Chapter 19: The Perfection of the Primordial Spirit

"Master, you must have become famous at the treasure-gathering meeting!" Xiao Qing said beside him. "That's why Princess Xiyue wants to see you."

Ji Ning also smiled.

At the treasure-gathering meeting, he had bought the Peacock Plume for five million catties of liquid elemental essence, and even Shaoyan Xiushui had ultimately backed down. This news would surely spread quickly, and then some major tribes would come to meet and court him—this was within his expectations. But the treasure-gathering meeting was still ongoing, and Princess Xiyue had already invited him... the effect of 'fame' was too strong.

"I wonder who this Princess Xiyue is?" Ji Ning asked.

"Princess Xiyue is from the Yan Estate," Yu Qi explained.

"Prince Yan?" Ji Ning's eyes lit up.

Ji Ning had purchased intelligence on the major powers and figures within the Xia Dynasty's capital from the Heavenly Treasures Mountain, and 'Prince Yan' was one of those major figures.

Prince Yan was a Celestial Immortal who had just successfully passed the Heavenly Tribulation!

A Celestial Immortal—becoming one was far too difficult. Just looking at the Black-White College made this clear. The Black-White College had been passed down for countless eons, and within every ten thousand years, Earth Immortals or Sanxian were sure to appear. How many Earth Immortals and Sanxian had been born over the endless years? Yet there was only a single Celestial Immortal!

From this, one could see that the 'Heavenly Tribulation' was an incredibly fearsome threshold. Countless geniuses, such as the Northern Traveler Immortal and the Water Mansion's Immortal Juhua, had all failed.

Celestial Immortals were far too rare!

The entire Xia Dynasty might not produce a single Celestial Immortal in a million years!

But how many Sanxian and Earth Immortals had the Xia Dynasty produced in a million years? So there were truly many Sanxian and Earth Immortals. For instance, the Shaoyan clan had over a thousand Sanxian and Earth Immortals. Every few tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of years, a new batch would replace the old. Yet, generation after generation, the accumulated 'Celestial Immortal Ancestors' remained pitifully few.

Any Celestial Immortal Ancestor was the foundation of a tribe!

Even for the Xia Dynasty's imperial clan, the Xiamang clan, a Celestial Immortal Ancestor was still extremely precious. For a clan that ruled a major world like the Xia Dynasty, the number of Sanxian and Earth Immortals was staggering, so their status was naturally ordinary. But if any of these Earth Immortals could break through to become a Celestial Immortal, the Xia Dynasty would immediately enfeoff them as a prince, grant them a mansion, bestow immortal treasures, and so on.

In short, within the Xia Dynasty's imperial clan, achieving Celestial Immortality meant an immediate surge in status!

Such a thing was seen once in a million years...

Prince Yan was the newest Celestial Immortal!

"The Yan Estate..." Ji Ning nodded inwardly.

"Princess Xiyue is Prince Yan's only relative," Yu Qi said in a low voice. "Prince Yan dotes on Princess Xiyue immensely. He even lets her command the Golden Armored Imperial Guards bestowed by the Emperor. He also gave her two divine qilin beasts to pull her celestial carriage. Those two qilin have extremely noble bloodlines; though only at the Primordial Spirit level, each has the combat power of a top-tier Sanxian. And the Golden Armored Imperial Guards are elites of the Xia Dynasty's imperial guard; the weakest among them are Primordial Spirit Daoists!"

Ji Ning was secretly astonished.

Qilin? Golden Armored Imperial Guards?

"Princess Xiyue often stays inside the estate and rarely goes out, nor does she attend various gatherings," Yu Qi said quietly. "So she isn't very famous. But given Prince Yan's indulgence toward her, if she were truly arrogant, she would probably be even more famous than Shaoyan Nong."

"Then why does she want to see me?" Ji Ning asked.

"I don't know that," Yu Qi shook his head. "I heard that today she and our Heavenly Treasures Mountain's Fairy Qingliu were at the treasure-gathering meeting. She might have seen you, gotten curious, and wanted to meet you."

Ji Ning hesitated, then nodded: "Alright, lead the way."

Yu Qi smiled: "Follow me."

...

Inside Ji Ning's Zifu space was a water mansion.

Ordinary storage treasures couldn't hold people, but this cave mansion treasure could. Ji Ning's second true body had been staying inside the water mansion. Within the mansion's main hall, a black-robed Ji Ning sat cross-legged. Before him was a jade bottle containing a full one hundred twenty thousand catties of liquid elemental essence, just obtained from the recent transaction.

"Whoosh."

The black-robed Ji Ning opened his mouth and inhaled. The liquid elemental essence flowed continuously into his mouth, and his power began to rise rapidly. In just a moment, he broke through to the 'Primordial Spirit Perfection' stage.

"Good." After breaking through, he consolidated briefly, then stopped.

"Hmm." The black-robed Ji Ning glanced at the jade bottle. "There are still over thirty thousand catties left. My second true body has also reached Primordial Spirit Perfection."

In the year-plus since forming the second true body,

the progress of the second true body's 'divine soul' had been astonishing. Nourished by the primordial spirit, the second true body's divine soul advanced much faster than the main body's. The second divine soul's divine sense could cover a distance of sixteen hundred li, while the main body's divine sense had only just recovered to its state before the soul split, barely breaking through to a thousand li.

The divine soul was strong! The realm was high! The Dao-heart was also strong!

Upon reaching Primordial Spirit Perfection, the second true body almost instantly gained complete control over its elemental energy, wielding it like an extension of itself without any discomfort.

"Flying swords." The black-robed Ji Ning willed it.

Whoosh!

Instantly, four hundred and five flying swords appeared around him, each emanating powerful fluctuations. Among them, nine swords had particularly strong fluctuations. All four hundred and five flying swords were Heaven-grade. Three hundred and ninety-six had just been purchased from the Heavenly Treasures Mountain.

The other nine Heaven-grade flying swords were obtained from the Treasure Hall after the second true body had passed the fifth level of the water mansion's War God Hall in the past year-plus.

These nine flying swords were called the 'Bishui Divine Shark Swords,' forged from the bodies of nine divine sharks from the ancient era before the Three Thousand Major Worlds were born. Each sword was imbued with spirit. According to the water mansion's classification, all nine were 'Heaven-grade top-quality,' but by the Xia Dynasty's standards, they were definitely Heaven-grade supreme-quality, each worth perhaps two to three hundred thousand catties of liquid elemental essence. Since the nine came from the same source, they might be worth two million catties, enough to exchange for a 'Mortal-grade lower-quality' treasure.

Back then, Immortal Juhua had also obtained Heaven-grade supreme-quality treasures from the water mansion. With the treasures from the water mansion, he could have exchanged them for Immortal-grade treasures.

Unfortunately,

he could only exchange for some Immortal-grade lower-quality or middle-quality treasures.

To undergo the Heavenly Tribulation?

One needed Immortal-grade upper-quality, even supreme-quality treasures to have a better chance, preferably those most suitable for the tribulation. The 'water mansion's' Immortal-grade treasures were at least upper-quality, even supreme-quality. Unfortunately, Immortal Juhua hadn't had the chance to choose back then; only after becoming a Sanxian did he pass the seventh level of the War God Hall and select one.

"The Small Thousand Sword Formation." The black-robed Ji Ning willed it.

With the nine Bishui Divine Shark Swords as the core, he drew on the other flying swords. Infused with the pure elemental energy of Primordial Spirit Perfection and guided by his powerful divine soul, all the flying swords began to float. Ji Ning tried again and again, exerting every effort.

"No good."

"Lower it by one level, the fourth level of the Small Thousand Sword Formation!" The black-robed Ji Ning strained to try. But Heaven-grade treasures were a completely different concept from Earth-grade ones; controlling one Heaven-grade treasure was as difficult as controlling ten Earth-grade ones. Even with the formation's guidance, executing the fourth level of the Small Thousand Sword Formation was still difficult.

"The third level of the Small Thousand Sword Formation!"

Whoosh!

Instantly, over two hundred Heaven-grade treasures danced, emitting boundless powerful fluctuations. Then, a flying sword condensed before Ji Ning's chest. This fully condensed flying sword was wreathed in golden light. The sword, a weapon of sharpness, gave off golden light—a physical manifestation of its keen aura.

The golden-light-emitting flying sword's might made even Ji Ning tremble.

"So powerful."

Though it used only over two hundred Heaven-grade treasures, it was far stronger than the previous seven hundred-plus Earth-grade treasures, elevated by more than one level.

Ordinary Primordial Spirit Daoists could control a few dozen at most, but Ji Ning could control over two hundred, including such precious swords as the Bishui Divine Shark Swords. It could be said that Ji Ning's divine soul at the Earth Immortal level, his mastery of the Dao Domain, his skill in formations, and the unique nature of the Small Thousand Sword Formation allowed him to control over two hundred Heaven-grade treasures.

"With this sword formation, my second true body can rival a top-tier Sanxian!" Ji Ning was filled with heroic spirit.

...

In a quiet pavilion, all doors and windows were shut, and the servants had withdrawn.

Inside the pavilion was only Princess Xiyue, while outside the door were some servants, Golden Armored Imperial Guards, and others standing guard.

"Ji Ning." Princess Xiyue gripped a warm wine cup, unable to hide her nervous excitement.

"Finally, we're going to meet."

"Little brother, my only little brother."

Princess Xiyue's heart was filled with nervousness, anxiety, and excitement.

Suddenly, a voice came from outside: "Go and inform the princess that Ji Ning has been brought."

"Wait a moment, I'll inform her," a servant replied.

"He's here!" Princess Xiyue took a deep breath. This was the most nervous moment in her thirty-plus years, even more so than when she had first met her maternal grandfather.

...

Ji Ning and Yu Qi stood outside the courtyard gate, waiting.

The Heavenly Treasures Mountain was vast. It had taken quite a while to walk from Ji Ning's previous location to here. By the time they arrived, Ji Ning's second true body had already reached Primordial Spirit Perfection in the water mansion and had begun studying the Small Thousand Sword Formation.

"The princess requests that Ji Ning enter," said a female soldier in armor.

"Fellow Daoist Ji Ning, I'll take my leave now. If you need anything, you can find any Heavenly Treasures Mountain person to send word to me," Yu Qi said with a smile.

"Thank you for this, Fellow Daoist Yu Qi. If I have matters in the future, I will surely come to you again," Ji Ning said.

With that, Yu Qi left.

Ji Ning said to Xiao Qing and the Whitewater Marsh beside him, "Xiao Qing, Uncle White, wait here for me for a while."

"Mm." Uncle White and the others trusted that there should be no danger within the Heavenly Treasures Mountain.

Ji Ning then entered the courtyard alone. Under the gaze of the Golden Armored Imperial Guards in the yard, Ji Ning felt a certain pressure. Then, led by the female soldier, he arrived before a pavilion and pushed open its door: "The princess is inside."

The door opened.

Ji Ning saw a green-clad woman sitting there. She also turned to look at him.

Their eyes met.