Chapter 21: The Myriad Gods Estate

Three months later.

A white-robed youth and a short, stout man with faint flames flickering in his eyes walked side by side across the lake's surface, treading water as they left the Da Mo Institute.

"Brother Ji Ning, your timing isn't great," the stout man said as he walked with Ji Ning. "Many of our fellow disciples returned to the Da Mo Institute for the 'Treasure-Seeking Assembly.' Once it ended, they scattered to various places for adventures. If you had announced your intention to go to the Myriad Gods Estate right after the assembly, you could have recruited at least three or four World-level cultivators. But now, it's been over two hundred years since the assembly ended!"

"Most who wanted to leave have already gone," the stout man added with a chuckle.

The stout man was very amiable, but his face was truly ugly. Flames naturally flickered in his eyes, his skin was faintly red, and his face bore ferocious lines. Even when he smiled, he was still quite frightening.

"Isn't Brother Fulong still here?" Ji Ning said with a smile.

"I just finished refining the treasure I got at the assembly and was planning to go out on an adventure anyway. It's a coincidence," the stout man said.

...

The two walked across the land, their forms like phantoms, advancing steadily.

In the three months since Ji Ning had spread the news, only one Da Mo Institute disciple had agreed to go with him—this stout man, Fulong World God.

...

They took a spacetime teleportation array and left the Da Mo Eternal Realm.

Then they piloted a flying boat for several months until they finally reached their destination, the Myriad Gods Estate.

The Myriad Gods Chaosworld was an ocean world.

There were mainly two landmasses on the ocean.

One was where countless living beings dwelled; the other was the Myriad Gods Estate.

"Whoosh~~~" A cloud hung high in the sky. Ji Ning and the stout man stood on it, gazing down at the vast land. In the distance, they could faintly see the shadow of a towering, majestic estate. Even though it was just a shadow, it still made Ji Ning and Fulong World God feel suffocated, as if they were looking up at something immense.

"The Myriad Gods Estate!" The stout man's eyes blazed with flames as he stared. "Brother Ji Ning, we've been relaxed and carefree along the way, but we're about to enter the Myriad Gods Estate now. Let me be blunt: once we're inside, we must follow our earlier plan and not act on our own. If you mess around, I'll have no choice but to go our separate ways."

"In a place like this, acting recklessly is suicide. Please rest assured, Brother Fulong," Ji Ning said.

"Mm." The stout man nodded.

He believed Ji Ning wasn't that foolish, but he feared the worst. He had been able to enter the Da Mo Institute, so he was no ordinary cultivator. Though his cultivation time wasn't long, he had already reached the World-level perfection. If Ji Ning's stupidity cost him his life, it would be too late for regrets.

"The Myriad Gods Estate was built by the Myriad Gods Dao Lord," the stout man said. "He was an extremely powerful Dao Lord. Although he failed in his Dao-heart unification... from what I know, his strength was a hundred or even a thousand times greater than other Dao Lords on the verge of unification."

"That much stronger?" Ji Ning was astonished.

A hundred or a thousand times?

That was too outrageous!

Heavenly Unity Dao Lord had once admitted that he was far inferior to Myriad Gods Dao Lord.

But just how strong Myriad Gods Dao Lord was... Ji Ning wasn't entirely clear. What Fulong World God said now was hard for Ji Ning to believe. Such a gap meant that Myriad Gods Dao Lord could easily kill other Dao Lords who had reached the 'verge of unification.'

"No exaggeration. Though he failed in unification, he once pursued a successful unifier who had attained eternity—an Imperial Lord—for several chaos cycles. Where that Imperial Lord is now remains a mystery," the stout man said, looking at Ji Ning.

"Is he really that formidable?" Ji Ning was shaken. He had followed Heavenly Unity Dao Lord for too short a time, and his days at the Da Mo Institute were mainly spent in cultivation, so he knew too little about such hidden secrets. Fulong World God, as a Da Mo Institute disciple, often exchanged information with fellow disciples and thus knew some confidential details.

"It's true. The Institute Master once mentioned it to the Senior Brother," Fulong World God said with emotion. "And you should know that Dao Lords generally dare not venture into the Myriad Gods Estate."

The Myriad Gods Estate was a strange place.

Ancestral Gods and Ancestral Immortals who entered had about a thirty percent chance of coming out alive; World-level cultivators had about a fifty percent chance. But Dao Lords who dared to enter... fewer than ten percent survived. The mortality rate was so high that Dao Lords were unwilling to go.

"He was too powerful!" Fulong World God looked at Ji Ning and smiled. "Though he was cruel to Dao Lords, he was very merciful to World-level cultivators and Ancestral Gods/Immortals. The 'Ten Thousand Peaks' alone in the Myriad Gods Estate left behind ten thousand treasures. Come on, let's go in."

"Mm." Ji Ning smiled too.

Huff, huff.

The two of them dove downward simultaneously, suddenly encountering a twisted void, and then Ji Ning and the other vanished without a trace.

…

Ji Ning felt space shift, and then he appeared in midair, with the Boundless World God beside him.

“How beautiful.” Ji Ning looked ahead, seeing lush, towering mountains stretching endlessly, like coiled mountain dragons.

“The ‘Ten Thousand Mountains’ of the Myriad Gods Palace,” the Boundless World God murmured.

“Mm.”

Ji Ning gazed into the distance.

Countless mountains, and at their end, faint mist, and beyond that, a dazzling, majestic mansion. It was so vast that even from afar, Ji Ning could see it clearly.

“I feel it…” Ji Ning sensed the ‘Snowscape Diagram Scroll’ within his dantian’s golden core space cheering, resonating faintly.

“It’s ahead, somewhere in the ‘Mist Sea’ according to Tianyi’s intelligence,” Ji Ning said, looking at the endless mist beyond the mountains.

The outermost part of the Myriad Gods Palace was the Ten Thousand Mountains—exactly ten thousand peaks!

Further in was the Mist Sea!

At the core was the dazzling, majestic mansion, the Myriad Gods Palace.

“Brother Ji Ning,” said the Boundless World God, “Let’s first explore the Ten Thousand Mountains region together. After that, I’ll go alone into the Mist Sea. You shouldn’t go—it’s too dangerous for you.”

“Mm.” Ji Ning nodded.

He had come mainly for the ‘Snowscape Diagram Scroll,’ which was in the Mist Sea, so he had to enter. But the Boundless World God meant well, as past cultivators’ experiences showed that Ancestral Gods and Ancestral Immortals had a decent survival rate in the Ten Thousand Mountains, but once in the Mist Sea, nine out of ten died.

World-level cultivators, however, had a high survival rate in the Mist Sea.

“Let’s go,” said the Boundless World God.

Whoosh, whoosh.

The two flew through the air, heading straight for the nearest mountain. According to past cultivators’ experience, it was safer to walk on foot in the Ten Thousand Mountains.

Landing on the mountain, Ji Ning and the Boundless World God advanced through the forest, ripples of water spreading around them as they probed the surroundings.

They crossed one mountain after another…

Moving slowly and cautiously, over ten days passed. Occasionally they spotted Ancestral Gods or Ancestral Immortals in the distance, who fled in fear, but Ji Ning and the Boundless World God paid them no heed.

“Ji Ning, do you know that each of these Ten Thousand Mountains buries a World-level cultivator?” asked the Boundless World God.

“I know,” Ji Ning nodded. “Legend says that after failing his Daomerge, the Myriad Gods Dao Lord wandered the endless territories, hunting down heavily sinful cultivators. He killed over ten thousand World-level cultivators—at least one corpse under each mountain.”

“I suspect the Myriad Gods Dao Lord sought to accumulate merit by killing the sinful, hoping for a sliver of hope,” the Boundless World God mused. “Once the Daomerge fails, death is certain, but powerful cultivators still try every means to find a chance—all in vain.”

They walked and talked.

“Hm?”

“Hm?”

Ji Ning and the Boundless World God both stopped, looking up. Through the trees, they glimpsed a half-open gate covered in divine runes and restrictions.

“Treasure?” Ji Ning and the Boundless World God exchanged glances, curiosity piqued.

In the Ten Thousand Mountains, each mountain held the corpse of a heavily sinful cultivator and a buried treasure.

Ten thousand mountains meant ten thousand treasures, but they were well hidden. This mountain, however, had a gate with runes more profound than those of a Dao artifact—clearly a discovered treasure.

“Let’s take a look,” the Boundless World God transmitted. “A discovered treasure might still be inside.”

“Mm, let’s go.” Ji Ning also studied the gate carefully.