Chapter 26: Cultivation in the Chaotic Space

"You two go patrol the World Prison." Ji Ning instructed.

"Yes."

The two jailers respectfully acknowledged, then whooshed away in the direction they came from. In the distance was a hazy spatial gate; as soon as they flew into it, they left Ji Ning's perception.

Only Ji Ning remained in this space.

Ji Ning sat cross-legged, with the edge of this chaotic space below him. Though formless, it supported him.

"Chaos liquid? Extracted from chaos? I've never even heard of it in the Three Realms." Ji Ning flipped his hand, and a black bottle appeared. "One bottle of chaos liquid is enough to cultivate the second level of the Taowu Eighteen Divine Fiends? But from what I hear, chaos liquid is incredibly precious; in the Nine Directions Chaos Country, generally only Ancestral Gods and Ancestral Immortals can enjoy it. Others of high status might occasionally be granted a little under special circumstances."

Ancestral Immortal was a classification of power in the Nine Directions Chaos Country; Ji Ning guessed it corresponded to 'Dao Ancestor'.

The language of the Nine Directions Chaos Country was very similar to the human language of the Three Realms—each character corresponded, and even the pronunciation was close. When he had received the seven techniques earlier, information had flooded into his mind, and the 'Great Dao's Voice' had echoed in his thoughts, allowing him to easily learn the language. It could be considered a 'dialect' of the human language of the Three Realms.

"Those who can serve as wardens are all of noble status in the Nine Directions Chaos Country. They are punished for an entire chaos cycle and only then receive one bottle."

Ji Ning now knew just how long a chaos cycle was.

The chatterbox West Bat had talked for three days and three nights, imparting a great deal of information, from which Ji Ning had inferred much.

A chaos cycle...

Refers to the vast span of time from the birth of a 'chaos world' through its gradual aging until its eventual natural destruction. This long period is one chaos cycle! Of course, some 'chaos worlds' might collapse prematurely due to external attacks even during their prime.

For example, the ancient Pangu Chaos World collided with the Wujian Chaos World, and after that great war, it collapsed. Together with the collapse of the Wujian Chaos World, they formed the newborn 'Three Realms'.

"Seventeenth World Prison?" Ji Ning glanced at the spatial gate in the distance.

He knew.

Beyond the spatial gate lay the vast Seventeenth World Prison. It was one of the thirty-six world prisons of the ancient 'Nine Directions Chaos Country' used to hold prisoners.

"Chaos liquid is extremely precious and rare; it's hard to say if it even exists in the Three Realms. Such a treasure must not be wasted." Ji Ning pondered. As for the jailer's claim that only one bottle could be used, Ji Ning didn't care. The Nine Directions Chaos Country might be in some remote corner of the chaos, and might even have perished long ago.

Moreover, he was an impostor.

Eighteen bottles—of course they all belonged to him!

"According to the jailer, past wardens who obtained a bottle of chaos liquid all chose to cultivate the second level of the Taowu Eighteen Divine Fiends." Ji Ning nodded. "Those wardens were core disciples of the Nine Directions Chaos Country; they must have known the value of chaos liquid. Their choice suggests this is not a waste."

"I'll do it."

"First, cultivate the Taowu Eighteen Divine Fiends."

Ji Ning knew too little about chaos liquid. The vast 'World Prison' was covered by an extremely complex grand formation that continuously extracted chaos liquid from the chaos. A chaos cycle was unimaginably long, yet it yielded only six bottles! Moreover, such an ancient and complex formation might not exist in the entire Three Realms, and it relied on the vastness of the World Prison for extraction. The World Prison itself was so large that perhaps only the 'Nüwa Great World' created by Goddess Nüwa in the Three Realms could compare. From many angles, it was clear how difficult it was to obtain chaos liquid.

In the Nine Directions Chaos Country, chaos liquid generally belonged to the Nine Directions Lord.

The Nine Directions Lord occasionally bestowed some.

...

Every bottle of chaos liquid used was one less, so it had to be used sparingly. Perhaps in the future, its miraculous effects would be discovered. However, the power of the second level of the Taowu Eighteen Divine Fiends was truly astonishing, and Ji Ning yearned for it. He immediately began cultivation.

The hazy chaotic space was only a few hundred zhang in length and width.

"Though this chaotic space is small, it is profoundly mysterious." Ji Ning observed his surroundings. "Earlier, outside, even when my divine power entered the stone tablet, I couldn't detect it. The stone tablet contains a chaotic space and even a world prison. It was only after I infused my divine runes that I was pulled in."

"And strangely..."

"It seems not to be under the jurisdiction of the Heavenly Dao."

With his current strength, Ji Ning could faintly sense the operation of the Heavenly Dao of the Three Realms.

To go beyond the jurisdiction of the Three Realms, one could reach the endless void. Although the 'Chaos Heavenly Dao' still existed there, it was in a different region from the Chaos Heavenly Dao of the Three Realms, even though the rules were the same. The Chaos Heavenly Dao existed even in the endless chaos, and within this stone tablet, the Chaos Heavenly Dao also existed.

But the operation of the Heavenly Dao of the Three Realms could not reach beyond the Three Realms, nor could it reach inside the stone tablet.

"The stone tablet is clearly in my water mansion, yet the Three Realms cannot govern it. It seems the great power who forged this stone tablet is also an existence beyond the Heavenly Dao." Ji Ning stopped pondering.

Whoosh.

A green jade bottle appeared in his hand, containing some Pure Yang Immortal Pills.

"The first level of the Taowu Eighteen Divine Fiends is the easiest; it only requires some Pure Yang Immortal Pills." Ji Ning pulled out the stopper of the green jade bottle, set it aside, and began to cultivate.

Golden threads began to condense on Ji Ning's body surface, intertwining to form golden runic symbols. As time passed, more and more golden runes appeared... In a moment, Ji Ning seemed to be wearing a golden cassock, and the mysterious aura of the golden runes spread out.

Hummm~~~

The numerous golden runes began to arrange and combine, then transformed into strings of golden runes that started to flow, enabling a more exquisite fusion.

Strange ripples emanated.

Boom.

As they flowed, the strings of golden runes finally merged into a single enormous divine rune, which completely enveloped Ji Ning and then, with a swoosh, penetrated his divine body.

Miracles began to appear...

"My true spirit..."

Ji Ning felt as if he were drunk, hazy, yet he could still sense his true spirit gradually splitting into one, two, three parts...

His soul also began to split. Feeling his own power wane, Ji Ning immediately consumed some Pure Yang Immortal Pills.

...

In a daze, he did not know how long passed.

Whoosh.

Suddenly, seventeen beams of golden light shot out from Ji Ning in the chaotic space, each transforming into a white-robed youth.

Eighteen white-robed youths sat cross-legged, their auras identical, their strength exactly the same.

"It worked. Each exists independently, with a complete true spirit and soul, and even the Pure Yang Golden Core for the qi refiner path." Ji Ning was overjoyed. The eighteen avatars shared memories and were essentially the same person, but even if one avatar died, it had no effect on the other seventeen.

Moreover, through the Taowu Eighteen Divine Fiends, he could cultivate the lost one back. But doing so would require an additional 'soul and Pure Yang Golden Core', which was costly.

This time, the cost for Ji Ning to cultivate the first level was minimal.

Because he was originally the true body; splitting into eighteen reduced his strength, which was how the eighteen avatars were formed.

"Completely identical."

"Even the divine runes are the same."

The eighteen Ji Nings simultaneously looked at their palms, where the Heart-Picking Divine Rune appeared.

In fact, when a Celestial Immortal normally split off an 'avatar', his strength only decreased slightly, and he still retained his divine abilities. However, such avatars had a fatal flaw—the soul was not independent. If too many avatars died, the soul would be damaged, leading to soul dissipation. But Ji Ning no longer had that danger.

Yet his strength had decreased...

"Cultivate the second level." Ji Ning did not hesitate and took out a bottle of chaos liquid.

...

The eighteen white-robed youths sat cross-legged, forming a large circle, with the chaos liquid in the center.

"Drip."

A drop of liquid flew out from the black bottle. It appeared transparent, but inside it seemed to contain countless worlds, with tiny bubbles that were born and destroyed, and the small worlds within those bubbles also born and destroyed.

An inconceivable vitality and power emanated from this drop.

In terms of sheer energy, perhaps a Grand Immortal Pill could compare.

But 'chaos liquid' seemed to contain everything—true spirit, soul, heartforce, dharma power, divine power, all forces seemed to be stored within it.

Chaos can open up worlds and give birth to all things.

Chaos liquid is the essence extracted from chaos, profoundly mysterious and extremely precious.

"Gurgle, gurgle~~~"

Drops of chaos liquid flew out, heading toward the eighteen white-robed youths. As soon as the chaos liquid entered Ji Ning's body, he felt an unprecedented coldness, even chilling his soul. Yet under this coldness... he felt comfortable, more awake than ever before. His entire body—bones, muscles, and soul—was extremely clear, as if washed clean.

Ji Ning naturally executed the 'Taowu Eighteen Divine Fiends' technique, guiding the chaos liquid.

His soul, Pure Yang Golden Core...

Immediately, like a seedling, they began to grow rapidly, and even the divine power within Ji Ning's body grew swiftly...

...

The auras of the eighteen seated white-robed youths rapidly strengthened.

In fact, this powerful technique

was easiest to enter, as it formed eighteen avatars at the cost of reducing the true body's strength.

The second level was a thousand or ten thousand times harder, precisely because it was difficult to find rare substances that could rapidly enhance the soul, heartforce, and so on.

The third level required not only rare substances but also enlightenment, making it even more difficult. However, once mastered, the eighteen avatars could merge back into one, greatly increasing strength. In fact, many in the Nine Directions Chaos Country had obtained this technique, but aside from the Nine Directions Lord, no one had cultivated the third level.

...

The chaotic space was silent.

The stopper of the chaos liquid bottle had long been removed, and a little chaos liquid remained at the bottom of the black bottle.

"It's done."

The eighteen white-robed youths opened their eyes simultaneously.

"From now on, I finally have the capital to contend with the Wujian Sect." Ji Ning finally felt that the terrible pressure from the Wujian Sect had eased slightly. He now truly had hope of rescuing his senior apprentice-sister.