Chapter 13: Three Realms

"Seven are dead." Although Ji Ning had seized the emerald green jade ball at the fastest speed, in the brief time the insect beasts had been slaughtering each other, seven had already fallen, leaving only fifty-one.

"Stop." After refining it, Ji Ning gained control over these insect beasts and immediately gave the order, "Block those puppets."

"Yes." "Yes." ...

The insect beasts obediently complied, beginning to surround the puppets from all directions, leaving the Wind-Sand Puppets no escape.

...

Inside the golden gourd.

A Luoyi had expended a great deal of divine power and was constantly being ground down. Through mental communication with the Wind-Sand Puppets outside, he understood everything that had happened: "Kill people and seize treasures; one day, you will be killed in turn."

A Luoyi's body was filled with blood and killing intent; he walked the path of slaughter. He had always been the victor, advancing step by step over countless corpses, yet still succeeding. This battle for the Eternal Divine Blood was the most important fight; if he won, he would ascend to become a member of the Eternal clan. But he lost.

"Hahaha, today Fu Kai and I have fallen to your hand, but on this path of cultivation, how many can truly achieve eternity? One day, you too will fall, you too will die, hahaha..." A Luoyi laughed wildly, and as he laughed, his divine power was exhausted, his divine body shattered, turning to ashes.

...

Ji Ning sensed A Luoyi's madness inside the gourd, but he remained calm.

Yes, the path of cultivation is difficult. How many in the endless territories become Samsara Daolords? And among Samsara Daolords, each step is a matter of life and death; how many truly take the final step, succeed in the Dao, and achieve eternity?

But Ji Ning would keep walking, because deep in his heart there was a faint hope—the hope that if he could reverse time and space, he might save his senior apprentice-sister. That was the only possibility to save her.

"Take it slow."

With the eighteen Wind-Sand Puppets now masterless, Ji Ning had absolute strength and quickly captured and refined them by force.

"Time to go." Ji Ning's divine sense covered the entire chaos world. The battle between him, Fu Kai, and A Luoyi had caused too much commotion. Although they had controlled their power tightly, it still terrified the ancestral gods and ancestral immortals stationed in this chaos world, who dared not come out.

Ji Ning took a step and passed through the world membrane, arriving in the outer chaos.

...

Outside the Three Realms, in the chaos.

Ji Ning, in black robes, stood in the chaotic void, gazing into the distance toward the Three Realms. Although his second true body had always guarded the Three Realms, due to his life-bound oath, he could not truly enter the Three Realms. Only after reaching the Skywood Palace and fulfilling the oath could he return to the Three Realms.

"Rumble~~~"

After comprehending the 'Sword World,' Ji Ning's gaze pierced through the chaos, faintly seeing the Three Realms.

The many secrets of the Three Realms were no longer hidden from Ji Ning: the structure of the entire Three Realms, even its core, and the river surging in the void—the River of Fate.

In truth, in the endless territories, all life has fate, and countless fates converge into the 'Ocean of Fate.' The Three Realms is but a single chaos world, so it is merely a river of fate. Countless tributaries like the Three Realms' river of fate converge to form the vast Ocean of Fate.

"River of Fate..." Ji Ning's gaze crossed the chaotic void, seeing the River of Fate, and also the countless true spirits sinking and floating within it, the fates of many mortals and immortals.

"Father! Mother!"

Ji Ning's heart trembled.

He saw them—the two true spirits tightly clinging together in the long river of fate. They were his father, Ji Yichuan, and his mother, Wei Chi Xue. Even in death, their true spirits had fallen into the River of Fate, yet they remained together.

"Father, Mother, wait for your child, wait a little longer. Your child has now reached the World level and will soon set out for the Skywood Palace. Once I arrive and fulfill my life-bound oath, I can enter the Three Realms and retrieve your true spirits from the River of Fate." Ji Ning's heart trembled.

It was clearly a simple task, but he knew that if he truly reached his hand into the region of the Three Realms, both his true body and second true body would suffer the backlash of the life-bound oath and die on the spot.

"Wait a little longer," he said softly.

Whoosh.

A figure walked out of the distant chaos—an old man in a Daoist robe with white hair and beard.

"Master," Ji Ning said.

Bodhi smiled as he looked at him. He had just visited Ji Ning's residence in the chaos but hadn't found him, so he knew his disciple must be here. His disciple often came here to watch the Three Realms, yet never set foot inside.

"You—" Bodhi's expression suddenly changed. He stared at Ji Ning, looking again and again.

"World level?" Bodhi's voice trembled as he asked.

"Mm," Ji Ning nodded. "I broke through."

Bodhi showed excitement: "Excellent. You ventured into the endless territories, and I was always worried. Now that you've reached the World level, things are much better."

"Mm," Ji Ning nodded.

"But there is always a higher mountain. Even as a World-level cultivator, you must not be careless. In those endless territories, you have no help; everything depends on yourself. We on the Three Realms side can't help much. Be careful," Bodhi advised. Though he didn't know what Ji Ning had experienced, the Three Realms had some understanding of the Damo territory and knew that conflicts and battles among cultivators were common there.

Ji Ning had emerged from that and aimed to go higher; he had surely walked through life-and-death situations time and again.

"Don't worry, Master. Your disciple is not someone anyone can deal with," Ji Ning laughed. "Your disciple even hopes to meet the Nuwa Goddess outside one day."

"Have you heard of the Nuwa Goddess in the outer territories?" Bodhi quickly asked. The generation of gods and demons born from chaos in their era deeply admired and worshipped the Nuwa Goddess, who had already reached the World level back in the Three Realms.

"No, not a single clue. Even in the Damo territory, there is no newly advanced World-level cultivator who resembles the Nuwa Goddess," Ji Ning said.

"Alas..." Bodhi shook his head.

"By the way, Master, please send a message to the Three Realms quickly. I wish to impart some techniques, divine abilities, and secret arts to the fellow Daoists of the Three Realms," Ji Ning said.

"Impart?" Bodhi was startled.

"Mm. I couldn't before, but now that I've reached the World level, I can impart them," Ji Ning said. Although he had killed some enemies and obtained treasures, normal cultivators rarely carried cultivation techniques with them; they kept them in their minds. Bei Xiu, the World God, had left behind a large number of techniques because he wanted to nurture a successor.

Ji Ning's current strength surpassed Bei Xiu's, but his cultivation time was too short. The techniques he could impart from his several adventures were few. Although he could buy some techniques in the Damo Eternal City, even if purchased, he couldn't send them back to the Three Realms; he would have to record them all slowly, which would take a long time.

By then, he would likely have already broken through to the World level. Bei Xiu had spent a great deal of time before his death leaving behind many techniques, but Ji Ning could now impart them directly.

"Good, good, good," Bodhi said excitedly. "This is wonderful. With these powerful techniques, perhaps the Three Realms can give birth to new World Gods and Chaos Immortals."

"Mm," Ji Ning nodded.

Ji Ning also felt that the Three Realms was no ordinary place.

The 'Ninefold Chaos Prohibition,' a technique of extreme value, had been discovered by the Sanqing Daoist just like that.

Nuwa and Houyi, each brilliant and exceptional, had all created their own techniques without any guidance.

"After imparting these techniques to my senior brothers and the others, I'll search carefully in the chaos to see if I can find the Ninefold Chaos Prohibition," Ji Ning thought to himself. His senior brothers were also highly talented, but they simply lacked techniques that directly led to the World level.

...

Thus, the Three Realms ushered in a true great explosion, exactly what Ji Ning had hoped to see. After all, how long could he protect them alone? If the Three Realms were filled with powerful experts, it would be truly safe.

...

In the chaos, a flying boat moved forward.

Inside the flying boat.

Ji Ning and Fire Fairy Su Youji sat, looking at the chaos outside.

"Master, did Fu Kai and A Luoyi ambush you?" Su Youji quickly asked.

"They did," Ji Ning nodded.

"What happened?" Su Youji asked eagerly. She didn't know whether Ji Ning had escaped alone or won the great battle.

"I'm here safe and sound, what do you think?" Ji Ning said. "They lost and died on the spot."

Su Youji hadn't been able to participate in the battle, but she had been worried. She knew Fu Kai and A Luoyi were formidable, especially A Luoyi, who surpassed the peak of World Gods and exuded fierce killing intent, clearly a skilled fighter. With some external means, she had been concerned. After all, her life was tied to Ji Ning's; if he died, she would be at the mercy of others.

"Where are we going now?" Su Youji asked.

"First, return to the Damo Academy, then leave," Ji Ning said, looking outside. He would first go back to the Damo Academy to deal with the Eternal Divine Blood.

...