Chapter 4 The Slanting Moon Great World

The Prisonrelease True God, being so adept at defense and escape, was a man who greatly cherished his life. He obediently bowed his head and submitted.

After Ji Ning searched his soul, he took three Chaos treasures and left.

"Being so powerful and so dazzling among True Gods and True Immortals, he indeed had some lucky encounters." After searching the soul, Ji Ning learned that the Prisonrelease True God had once received the legacy of a deceased World God and obtained four Chaos treasures. The Skygazer Taihao Tower was one of them. He had exchanged two other Chaos treasures for the pair of 'Mingfeng Fissure Staves.' It was these staves that enabled him, as a True God, to contend with Ancestral Gods and Ancestral Immortals.

The Prisonrelease True God had also learned formidable divine abilities from that legacy, but such legacies were bound by life-oaths, and even soul-searching could not uncover them.

Ji Ning had examined the memories of many True Gods and True Immortals; those who reached this stage all had their own fortunes.

"Whoosh."

Ji Ning landed on a mountain peak. With a flip of his hand, a small tower appeared.

The small tower was entirely silver-white, with a faint layer of golden light on its surface. The tower body was a perfect pyramid. As Ji Ning held the small tower in his palm, he could faintly sense that the spacetime around it was somewhat disturbed. Under normal circumstances, spacetime was very stable. Patriarch Bodhi could influence spacetime, and this small tower could do the same.

"Refine." Ji Ning immediately sent his divine power into it, rapidly refining the Chaos treasure. The moment refinement succeeded, the small tower's aura completely withdrew, becoming inconspicuous, and the golden light ceased.

Without refinement,

treasures each possessed their own might.

Once refined, everything followed the master's will; changing its surface appearance was effortless.

"Enter." With a thought from Ji Ning, only an ordinary pyramid hovered atop the mountain peak.

…

"Hmm?"

Ji Ning looked around. This was a space only about a hundred zhang in radius, perfectly pyramid-shaped. The space was very stable, but the flow of time was clearly different.

"How peculiar." Ji Ning looked up. At the apex of the pyramid-shaped space, within the tip, there were faint rings of light—oscillating spacetime. At the tips of the other three corners, there were also faint rings of light. Ji Ning's divine power permeated the entire Chaos treasure, and he could spy the countless divine patterns flowing within the body of the Skygazer Taihao Tower.

"Altering spacetime, and stable spacetime at that." Ji Ning murmured in awe, "Though Goddess Nuwa could do it back then, she relied on a great formation, and it was fixed and immovable. This is a Chaos treasure. In terms of methods, the mighty being who created this Skygazer Taihao Tower might be even stronger than Goddess Nuwa, who created the Six Paths of Reincarnation. Of course, Goddess Nuwa entered the endless Chaos long ago; perhaps her strength is now even greater."

"Ten times."

Ji Ning's memories were linked to his avatars outside, so he could clearly perceive the distinct difference in time flow between inside and outside.

"Speed up time flow." Ji Ning immediately began to experiment. His divine power rapidly depleted, and the time flow increased from the original ten times to twenty times, thirty times, with the consumption of divine power skyrocketing at an alarming rate.

"At twenty times time flow, my divine power replenishment matches consumption."

"At thirty times, it's a bit strenuous."

"Forty times... still manageable."

"Fifty times... somewhat difficult!"

Ji Ning stopped after raising the time flow to fifty times that of the outside world, a smile on his face. "Both my true body and second soul are inside the Skygazer Taihao Tower. The burden on the tower is too great. It's better for the true body to go out and fight, while the second soul cultivates peacefully inside the tower."

The white-robed Ji Ning immediately left the Skygazer Taihao Tower, leaving only the black-robed Ji Ning inside.

Maintaining the same fiftyfold time flow with only the second soul inside was much easier.

"Maintaining fiftyfold, my divine power consumption is relatively high, but much lighter than before."

"Sixtyfold, consumption is faster."

"Seventyfold..."

"A hundredfold, somewhat difficult."

"Two hundredfold, consumption too fast."

"Three hundredfold, consumption is astonishing."

To figure it out, Ji Ning frantically increased the time flow.

Four hundredfold! Five hundredfold! Six hundredfold... A thousandfold!

When he reached a thousandfold, his divine power was halved in a single breath, startling him into stopping.

"So the time flow increase of the Skygazer Taihao Tower has a limit." Ji Ning, through his control of the treasure, understood its limits and nodded inwardly. "From what I sense, a thousandfold is the limit. But at a thousandfold time flow, I can only sustain it for two breaths. I need to cultivate for long periods—at least a hundred years in the outside world. That would mean at least several thousand to tens of thousands of years inside the tower. If consumption is too fast, no amount of pills can sustain it."

After some estimation,

and with the calamity approaching, Ji Ning decided to risk maintaining a hundredfold time flow.

"At a hundredfold time flow, if I prepare more Grand Dao Pills, I should be able to sustain it for a considerable time. Now, it's time to return to the Three Realms." The white-robed Ji Ning collected the Skygazer Taihao Tower and immediately left the World Prison.

…

The second soul, inside the Skygazer Taihao Tower, needed to comprehend the Dao!

Ji Ning's goal was to comprehend a Heavenly Dao. Only by returning to the Three Realms could he comprehend the Dao; it was impossible in the endless Chaos. Once he comprehended a Heavenly Dao, he would have hope of becoming an 'Ancestral Immortal' or 'Ancestral God,' with strength absolutely surpassing the leader level. However, Ji Ning dared not be complacent. The Myriad Demon Monarch was an Ancestral God! He had escaped from Goddess Nuwa when she became a World God, and he was the one Ji Ning feared most. Moreover, since the ancient cataclysm, more than half a chaos cycle had passed. In such a long time, even a nobody could become a mighty being. The true strength of the two camps might not be clear until the final battle.

And what was the source of this calamity?

It was still shrouded in mist!

Though he already stood at the pinnacle of the Three Realms, Ji Ning still aspired to climb higher.

…

"Whoosh."

In the endless void.

Ji Ning appeared out of nowhere, gazing at the distant Sun Star radiating blazing flames and the cold Moon Star.

"The Three Realms." Ji Ning murmured to himself, then took out a talisman and infused it with divine power to notify his master.

"Disciple." Bodhi's voice echoed in the surrounding void.

"Master, I want to return to the Slanting Moon Great World." Ji Ning said.

"Alright."

A spatial vortex appeared in the void beside him. Ji Ning glanced at it; he could now faintly sense that besides spatial changes, there were subtle temporal changes. The Slanting Moon Great World existed in a different time dimension from the other great worlds of the Three Realms, making it inaccessible to other mighty beings.

Stepping into the spatial vortex, Ji Ning left the endless void.

…

Blue sky, white clouds.

Ji Ning appeared in midair.

"Hmm?" Ji Ning looked down in surprise. In the distance was a beautiful island.

"Master led me here?" Ji Ning was astonished. He had thought the spatial vortex would lead directly to Mount Fangcun.

"Eh, Uncle Bai, Xiaoqing... and my daughter Mingyue, they're also on this island?" Ji Ning was even more surprised. His second soul still had an avatar that always followed his daughter, but that avatar cultivated in silence and would not reveal itself unless his daughter was in danger.

Now Ji Ning sensed that his avatar was right here, meaning his daughter, Xiaoqing, and Uncle Bai were also here.

"My daughter Mingyue is already a Celestial Immortal. Why is she staying on this island?"

"Master always led me directly to Mount Fangcun before. Why did he lead me here this time?" Curious, Ji Ning descended. As he approached the island, he felt a faint palpitation. He looked carefully at the beautiful island but saw it as a terrifying monster.

"This formation... so hidden, yet what I sense is already so terrifying." Ji Ning felt wary.

He was already at the leader level, yet he sensed a threat from this island.

"Disciple, come in." Bodhi's voice sounded.

"Yes."

Ji Ning descended rapidly. Though the island was teeming with terrifying formations, they did not obstruct him. He easily landed on the sandy beach and saw cultivators flying in the sky above the island, as well as clusters of palaces emitting pressure.

"Isn't that Ancestor Xiaoyao's 'Xiaoyao Immortal Palace'? That's a top-grade innate cave treasure."

"And that's Ancestor Xuelong's 'Three Realms Roaming Dragon Boat'?"