Chapter 26: Follower of the World Realm

Following the newly split passage out of the mountain belly, Ji Ning, Fire Fairy Su Youji, and the Boundless World God all looked back.

"Brother Ji Ning, congratulations, congratulations on obtaining that treasure," said the Boundless World God.

"The master is truly formidable," Su Youji also said with admiration.

"Brother Ji Ning, I don't quite understand... The Fire Fairy and I both tried, but we couldn't obtain the treasure. Yet you, Brother Ji Ning..." the Boundless World God couldn't help but say. He knew well that Ji Ning's greatest strength was the sword; if the trial here had been about the sword, Ji Ning's success would have been understandable. But the trial here was clearly about the path of fire.

Even the Fire Fairy, who was just a hair's breadth away from achieving the World Realm, couldn't pass the trial. How did Ji Ning manage it?

"The treasure trial left by the Ten Thousand Gods Dao Lord still has some mysteries," Ji Ning said only this, without adding more.

The Boundless World God and Su Youji understood that this probably involved some secrets of Ji Ning's, so they didn't press further. Cultivators might be bound by lifeblood oaths or have hidden cards they didn't want to reveal... so there were many things they were unwilling to say, and no one would force them.

"Inside this treasure vault, I obtained a treasure," Ji Ning said, flipping his hand to produce a palm-sized fiery red statue.

"This is?" The Boundless World God's gaze blurred as he looked, involuntarily sinking into it.

Fire Fairy Su Youji was even more dramatic, staring at the fiery red statue, completely captivated.

The Boundless World God, after all, was at the perfected World Realm and soon snapped out of it. He looked at Ji Ning with admiration: "Brother Ji Ning, such a precious treasure, and you let the Fire Fairy and me see it so easily... This statue actually contains a fire-attribute technique, quite profound. The statue itself has eight faces, representing eight mysteries. This is far more precious than a jade slip recording a technique. A jade slip only gives a detailed record; one still has to slowly comprehend on their own. But this fire statue carries eight layers of artistic conception, guiding the cultivator in their training."

"I have already reached the perfected World Realm. What I need to do now is find my own path and break through to the Dao Lord of Life and Death! These techniques are of no use to me, but they are of great use to the Fire Fairy," the Boundless World God said. "Such a statue is surely worth over a thousand cubes. Even letting someone look at it once would cost no less than a hundred cubes of chaos nectar. You are truly generous to this follower."

"It's useless to me, but Su Youji can use it, so naturally I give it to her. She follows me; if her strength increases, it counts as my strength increasing too," Ji Ning said with a smile.

"Haha..." The Boundless World God nodded.

Cultivators' attitudes toward followers vary. Some treat those of comparable strength as peers. But if the gap in strength is too great, followers are little better than slaves. When Dao Lord Sushui died, not only followers but even several disciples perished.

Within the Da Mo Temple, Ji Ning had also sparred with various opponents.

His sword arts were unmatched among those below the World Realm in the Da Mo Temple. From this alone, the Boundless World God inferred that Ji Ning's strength could definitely rival that of a World-level cultivator! He was far stronger than Su Youji. Being polite was one thing, but passing on such a precious inheritance so freely was quite rare.

"Hmm?" Ji Ning turned to look at Su Youji, and the Boundless World God's expression also changed as he looked at her.

At this moment, Su Youji had involuntarily closed her eyes, and even the surroundings began to faintly ripple with fire-element fluctuations.

"Enlightenment?" the Boundless World God whispered.

"Yes," Ji Ning nodded. This was the Dao Lord's relic site, the Ten Thousand Gods Temple, a dangerous place. Normally, no one would enter enlightenment here. Su Youji knew she had entered a state of enlightenment; if she were alone, she would probably stop the enlightenment and first leave the Dao Lord's relic to find a safe place to slowly comprehend.

But that would mean losing the opportunity for enlightenment. However, this time she was following Ji Ning and the Boundless World God, trusting they could protect her, so she let herself sink into the enlightenment.

"Withdraw," Ji Ning waved his hand. Whoosh, Su Youji was taken into an island within his cave world.

With a thought, Ji Ning isolated that island from the rest of the cave world. Having refined the cave-world treasure, he was the master of that cave world, and he would never let Su Youji's enlightenment be disturbed.

"It seems the Fire Fairy is likely to break through to the World Realm this time," the Boundless World God remarked with admiration.

"Yes," Ji Ning nodded. "Su Youji's talent has always been high, but she never received good guidance in the past. Although my elder brother, Dao Lord Tianyi, guided her a few times, it was only casual guidance... This statue is a truly systematic set of techniques."

"Indeed, this statue directly points to the perfected World Realm. Haha, Ji Ning, now you're going to have a World Realm follower," the Boundless World God laughed.

"The pressure is heavy," Ji Ning smiled.

"Then break through quickly. I see that your sword arts are no less than those of some World Realm sword immortals," the Boundless World God said.

“Mm.”

Ji Ning himself could sense that the ‘Luotian Style’ had hit a bottleneck, but a breakthrough wasn’t far off. The main issue was that the *Nameless Sword Art* was an extremely profound sword art. Once mastered, it would be far stronger than the ‘Sword World’ of ordinary sword cultivators! Ji Ning had already comprehended the ‘Black Mist Style,’ a technique whose power was quite close to that of the ‘Luotian Style.’

“Though it’s only a hair’s breadth away, that hair’s breadth has trapped countless Ancestral Gods and Ancestral Immortals,” Ji Ning remarked.

“Yes.” Fulong World God thought of himself and of the many cultivators stuck at the World-level perfection, and sighed, “A hair’s breadth, yet it’s like an impassable chasm.”

That final hair’s breadth… was the hardest to break through.

There were far too many cultivators at World-level perfection. For example, Wuyan Planet Lord, who had cultivated for a relatively short time, was at World-level perfection, as was Black Lotus God-Emperor! Yet how many had broken through to become Daolords of Life and Death?

“Let’s go, let’s look around elsewhere,” Ji Ning said.

…

Ji Ning and Fulong World God were powerful enough. After all, the Ten Thousand Mountains were merely the outer region of the ‘Ten Thousand Gods Estate.’ World-level cultivators were rare here; most were Ancestral Gods and Ancestral Immortals. So the two of them could charge through this place with impunity, and no one dared to provoke them.

In the blink of an eye, more than two years had passed.

Given Ji Ning and Fulong World God’s strength, the ‘outer region’ of the Ten Thousand Mountains truly posed no challenge to them. Fulong World God, in particular, was a World-level perfection expert who naturally should have entered the Mist Sea! But because he had to protect Fire Fairy Su Youji, he had not yet parted ways with Ji Ning to venture deeper into the more dangerous Mist Sea.

“Brother Fulong, I’ve put you to trouble, keeping you delayed in the outer region for so long,” Ji Ning said, sitting on a rock and handing over a bamboo tube of wine.

“Being able to witness the birth of a World-level cultivator—it’s only been two or three years, nothing much. Mmm, this is truly fine wine. Brother Ji Ning, you’re really generous. Just how much did you spend on immortal wine?” Fulong World God shivered all over as he drank.

“Ten cubes,” Ji Ning said.

“Impressive, impressive.” Fulong World God quickly added that he couldn’t bear to spend so much on wine.

Ji Ning had come out of the Sushui Ruins with many treasures, so he had spent ten cubes to buy a large amount of immortal wine. After all, he lived in the Damosi Courtyard and had to entertain his fellow disciples there—how could he not have good wine? These immortal wines were brewed from various rare heavenly materials gathered from different places. Drinking them not only restored one’s divine power but also refreshed the body and mind.

Suddenly—

“Rumble…”

Faint sounds came from the sky above.

Ji Ning and Fulong World God, who had been sitting, both looked up at the sky. In the sky, faint phantom images of chaotic vortices appeared.

“Even within the Ten Thousand Gods Estate, phantom images of chaotic vortices have appeared. It seems the outside world is already surging with chaotic force.” Fulong World God showed a delighted expression. His words were true; now, in the entire Ten Thousand Gods Chaosworld, the high sky was filled with enormous chaotic force vortices, and even the void outside this chaosworld was the same.

“Fire Fairy should be starting her breakthrough,” Fulong World God said. “Returning to chaos, the Dao-seed growing, all things renewed…”

Ji Ning was also looking forward to it.

He had long learned from the techniques passed down by Daolord Tianyi about the transformation in life level when breaking through to the World level. But thinking that Su Youji was undergoing such a transformation, he still eagerly anticipated the day of his own breakthrough. For someone like himself, with the Eighteen Dhyana Purgatory Gods, the Sole True Body divine ability, and the mysterious Azureflower Mark, he could match a World-level cultivator at the Ancestral God level.

This showed how great the change to the World level was! It was an entirely different level of life!

After a long time, Ji Ning and Fulong World God remained patient.

Whoosh.

A peerlessly enchanting figure bathed in flames appeared beside them. She knelt directly before Ji Ning and said gratefully, “Master’s great kindness, Youji will never forget.”

“At least she knows gratitude.” Fulong World God nodded as he watched from the side. He was afraid that some followers, upon reaching the World level and surpassing their master in realm, would start ignoring their master, and once the restraint of the lifeblood oath ended, they would immediately leave.

“You are a World-level cultivator now, quickly get up.” Ji Ning quickly helped Fire Fairy Su Youji up. Feeling the waves of fire-element energy around her and the aura of a Chaos Immortal she exuded, he couldn’t help but sigh with emotion.