Chapter 14 The Original Body

Ji Ning respectfully departed.

Watching Ji Ning's figure leave the hall, the top cultivators of the Nuwa camp within the hall exchanged glances, clearly filled with worry and doubt.

"What do you all think? Does Beiming really have a way?" the Thunder God Heavenly Lord couldn't help asking. "It's not that I look down on Beiming, but we all know the power of the Emissaries of All Things. Back then, the Lord of All Things led the 'Emissaries of All Things' and nearly destroyed both the Pangu and Wujian Chaos Worlds. Fortunately, Nuwa finally broke through and swept everything away. Although the Emissaries of All Things are now merely controlled by a True God, they absolutely possess the strength of a top-tier Daofather. Ji Ning... I can't think of any way he could break them."

"Mm."

"I can't think of any way he could do it either."

"Could it be that his sword force or heartforce has reached the fifth level?" Zhuanxu Emperor frowned.

"The fifth level is not so easy to break through. The higher you go in sword force and heartforce, the difficulty skyrockets, even harder than becoming a True God or Daofather," Xuan Yuan said softly, shaking his head. "He just came out of the Moonfall Abyss. I suspect he might have obtained some treasure there that allows a Celestial Immortal or True Immortal to display the strength of a top-tier Daofather."

"Is there such a treasure?" the Thunder God Heavenly Lord wondered.

"For example..." Xuan Yuan said softly, "an Emissary of All Things! If Ji Ning also had an Emissary of All Things, given his strength in passing the Moonfall Abyss, he should be able to defeat the opponent."

Everyone present was stunned.

"Haven't we long suspected that the Moonfall Abyss was created by some ancient great cultivator?" Xuan Yuan laughed. "That great cultivator had astonishing power, and it's not impossible that he left behind a puppet no less than the 'Emissary of All Things.' Of course, this is all just speculation. Another possibility is that Ji Ning got carried away and boasted."

"Ji Ning is a Celestial Immortal and True Immortal; he wouldn't be so unreliable," Shennongshi frowned and said calmly.

"The one who knows Ji Ning best is still his master," Fuxishi said, looking at Bodhi.

Everyone present looked at Bodhi, because throughout the discussion, Bodhi had remained silent.

Bodhi frowned and said slowly, "Xuan Yuan, be prepared for failure."

"Mm?" Xuan Yuan was startled.

Everyone's hearts sank.

Bodhi did not elaborate. He didn't want to discuss Ji Ning's matters publicly. But in his heart, he was indeed worried... He knew well the power of the word 'love.' From ancient times to the present, many great cultivators had gone mad because of love. Even Houyi, whose heartforce had reached the fifth level, could not escape the word 'love.'

As for the blow Ji Ning had suffered this time, Bodhi himself was unclear.

"Alright, I'll be prepared," Xuan Yuan nodded.

...

The return of over two hundred Celestial Immortals quickly spread throughout the Three Realms. The Celestial Immortals and True Immortals of the Three Realms learned that... the reason so many Celestial Immortals could return this time was because of Ji Ning.

Far away in the Heavenly Realm, on Spirit Mountain in the West.

Buddha Jueming's hall was simple and unadorned, with only two young novices guarding the gate. His only deed that truly spread across the Three Realms was his safe return from the Moonfall Abyss. After that, he cultivated to become a True God and Daofather, then remained in seclusion without any further news.

"Hm?"

Buddha Jueming, sitting cross-legged, slowly opened his eyes. "Moonfall Abyss? The Celestial Immortal Beiming passed the Moonfall Abyss?"

"Did this Beiming also obtain 'The God of the Desolate World' and 'Nine Yuan Annihilation'?" Buddha Jueming thought to himself. The technique 'The God of the Desolate World' was indeed the best divine-arts technique that Beixiu World God could offer for teaching. Ji Ning was now also cultivating the 'The God of the Desolate World' technique.

This technique emphasized 'desolation.'

In endless desolation, one explores the mysteries of the divine body and then breaks through.

Thus, cultivating this technique required stillness. Sometimes, a single cross-legged meditation could last ten thousand or even a million years. Buddha Jueming, having meditated for long periods, naturally understood the mysteries of this technique. In fact, he had used it to break through to the True God level back then.

"Nine Yuan Annihilation, another cultivator for this divine ability," Buddha Jueming thought to himself. "This divine ability has boundless power, but it requires eons of comprehension. This Beiming has cultivated for too short a time; otherwise, he could be of great help in this calamity."

The longer one cultivated, the more one realized the power of 'The God of the Desolate World' and 'Nine Yuan Annihilation.' These two techniques alone were enough to make one a top-tier expert among Ancestral Gods, even stepping into the World God level.

...

The news of Ji Ning's impending battle was kept secret. Even other great cultivators of the Nuwa camp, like Buddha Jueming, did not know.

Only the leaders of the Buddhist and Daoist sects, the Three Sovereigns, and about a dozen others knew. Although they worried about Ji Ning's failure, they still held some expectations, so they kept it secret and cautious.

Days passed one by one.

In the blink of an eye, a month had passed.

...

Inside the cave-heaven treasure.

Peaks rose one after another. On the summit of the highest peak, all seventeen clones of Ji Ning's original body and the seventeen clones of his second soul were gathered.

"The golden core has been refined."

"Now, begin the technique of the One and Only Original Body."

Seventeen white-robed youths sat cross-legged. Gradually, two of them began to emit a hazy white light from their entire bodies—divine body, golden core, and soul all radiating a hazy white light. Within the white light, mysterious divine runes were faintly visible. Ji Ning was merely following the pattern; this technique was created by some great cultivator in the Chaos, and the divine runes were far beyond his understanding. He only needed to execute it.

"Buzz buzz buzz~~~"

The two white-robed youths began to draw closer, and one of them flew directly into the other's body. The white light radiating from them instantly intensified.

Warm and comfortable, indescribably so.

Like a chick inside an eggshell.

Like a baby in its mother's womb.

That mass of white light enveloped the faint figure. At this moment, the enveloped figure could not think at all; clearly, the golden core, soul, and divine body within were beginning to merge. Only if they were completely from the same source could they merge. These clones of Ji Ning's original body had identical golden cores, divine bodies, and souls—not the slightest difference!

If there were even a slight difference, they could not merge.

As for Ji Ning's second soul, because it had been cultivated using the 'One-Qi Water Pearl' back then, the One-Qi Water Pearl was vastly different from Ji Ning's original body. Thus, the second soul and the original body could not merge! Of course, the eighteen clones of the second soul could merge with each other.

"Whoosh."

The hazy white light completely converged, retracting into that figure's body.

The white-robed figure appeared, and his consciousness returned. The moment his consciousness recovered, Ji Ning immediately sensed something extraordinary: "My divine power has undergone a subtle transformation, and the 'Pure Yang Dharma power' in my golden core has become purer. The golden core space has also expanded a bit. My soul has grown stronger... and even my heartforce has increased considerably."

Two completely identical souls merging into one naturally became stronger—this was an enhancement in every aspect.

Back then, when 'Lord of the Nine Directions' was still an Ancestral God, relying on the perfected divine ability 'Eighteen Divine Fiends of Taowu,' he surpassed other Ancestral Gods in every way and possessed extraordinary strength.

"Merge again."

Whoosh.

Another white-robed youth merged into that original body. The original body's strength continued to increase, with divine power, soul, heartforce, and dharma power all undergoing transformation.

One by one, the clones merged.

The 'One and Only Original Body' technique could only be performed using multiple clones that originated from the same source. The more clones merged, the stronger the strength. If Ji Ning could cultivate the even more exaggerated 'Thousand Bodies Sacred Scripture,' merging a thousand clones would result in an even more astonishing increase in strength. A Celestial Immortal could rival a True God.

A True God could rival an Ancestral God.

An Ancestral God could rival a World God! That was the heaven-defying nature of the 'Thousand Bodies Sacred Scripture' technique. Unfortunately, the cost of cultivating that technique was too great. Even for a weak Celestial Immortal to cultivate it, it required consuming a World Heart. For a stronger cultivator, the cost was unimaginable. For a World God, who would be willing to give a 'World Heart' to a Celestial Immortal to cultivate? Even if they did, a Celestial Immortal was too weak to be of much help to a World God. Unless the Celestial Immortal cultivated to the Ancestral God level, but advancing through each major realm was extremely difficult, eliminating countless cultivators.

"Whoosh."

Each time a clone of the original body merged, it was a transformation.

Finally, the seventeen white-robed youths merged completely into one, becoming the original body.

"What a peculiar feeling," Ji Ning said, looking around. His soul was far stronger than before, and even his comprehension of the 'Dao' was noticeably faster. Even when all thirty-six clones were comprehending simultaneously, it was far inferior to the speed of the original body after the qualitative change from merging.

"Is this the Daofather level?"

Ji Ning murmured to himself.

All seventeen clones had second-grade golden cores. Now, after merging, the original body's golden core could rival a first-grade golden core! A first-grade golden core True Immortal from the Nine Directions Chaos Country was indeed equivalent to a Daofather in the Three Realms, and even more abundant in dharma power.

"My dharma power is at the Daofather level."

"My divine body far surpasses a Celestial Immortal, reaching the half-step True God level."

"My soul... should be about thirty to forty percent of a normal Daofather's soul. To reach the true Daofather level, I need another hundred years of nurturing. Among my seventeen clones, two had long been at the second-grade golden core level, and their divine souls had been nurtured strongly. The other fifteen clones had just stepped into the second-grade golden core level, so their divine souls haven't had enough time to strengthen."

Ji Ning understood this.

But it was enough.

His original body's divine soul was already over a hundred times stronger than a Celestial Immortal or True Immortal. A Daofather could envelop the Three Realms with a thought, and with all his effort, he could barely do the same. As for Celestial Immortals and True Immortals, they could generally envelop a single major world. This shows the gap in divine souls!

...

"Compared to Sacredfire Daofather, my dharma power is equal, my sword art realm is higher, but his sword art incorporates the 'Fire Heavenly Dao.' However, I also have a Chaos treasure, the Beiming Sword," Ji Ning nodded to himself. "In terms of strength, my original body should be about the same as Sacredfire Daofather."

"If I use the Luohu Formation,"

"giving me a top-tier Daofather-level divine body, my strength will surpass Sacredfire Daofather."

"Dealing with the Emissaries of All Things will be easy!"

Ji Ning willed it and activated a technique to conceal his aura. The powerful aura rivaling a Daofather immediately became difficult to detect. This aura-concealing technique was not taught by Bodhi but was one of the many techniques Beixiu World God had left for Ji Ning. In the Chaos, if one's strength was fully known, death was not far off.

The cave-heaven treasure Ji Ning was in was obtained from a True God in the World Prison; even an Ancestral God or Ancestral Immortal could not spy on it.

"Whoosh."

Ji Ning turned to look beside him. The black-robed Ji Nings were also merging, quickly becoming a single black-robed Ji Ning, also possessing top-tier Daofather strength.

"Merging eighteen clones compared to seventeen clones gives only a small increase in strength. Better to keep one clone as a seed. Dealing with the Wujian Sect... I need to be more cautious," Ji Ning thought. With a thought, he instantly vanished from the cave-heaven treasure.

...

In the divine hall of the Zhaixing Major World.

"Greetings, Prefecture Lord."

Ninefang Celestial Immortal and Poison Scorpion Celestial Immortal saw Ji Ning suddenly appear and quickly bowed.

"Ninefang, immediately assemble the army," Ji Ning ordered.

"Yes," Ninefang Celestial Immortal immediately went to make arrangements.

"Has Red Snow come out of seclusion?" Ji Ning looked at Poison Scorpion Celestial Immortal.

Poison Scorpion shook his head and smiled, "Red Hair is still in seclusion. Who knows when he'll come out."

"No rush," Ji Ning nodded, then walked outside. Among the seven Celestial Immortals, Ninefang was the weakest and the latest to become a Celestial Immortal, so he was usually the most diligent, handling many trivial matters.

Soon, a vast army of Celestial Immortals and Earth Immortals gathered in the square before the divine hall.

Whoosh.

The white-robed youth walked out of the divine hall. The dense crowd of Celestial Immortals and Earth Immortals all fixed their eyes on Ji Ning, then respectfully said, "Prefecture Lord."

"Form the formation," Ji Ning commanded.

Immediately, countless Celestial Immortals and Earth Immortals flew up. Ji Ning flew high into the sky to the center of the immortals. The power of heaven and earth surged, even affecting the entire Zhaixing Major World. A fearsome demon god appeared, with a dark body, sleek silver fur on its flanks, six thick arms that coalesced, and finally a head that resembled Ji Ning's face.

The demon god Luohu was born.

"This divine body is far stronger than a True God's body," Ji Ning clenched all six fists. Boom! The very space trembled faintly.