Chapter 31: World Realm Perfection

Ji Ning was not impatient. He began challenging other opponents on the fourth level. Because he was cautious, he only challenged those who had never broken through to the fifth level. In his plan, once he reached the fifth level, he would then fight those prodigies one by one.

After all, in this Mangya Kingdom, one wrong step would lead to a chain of errors. The endless territories were filled with countless prodigies; being too arrogant would likely lead to death.

Every battle on the fourth level was against an extremely powerful opponent, at least surpassing the peak of the World realm. Each had their own specialties. After each battle, Ji Ning would carefully contemplate and absorb the experience.

...

On a star island floating at the height of the fourth level.

Inside a peculiar building with a square interior and round exterior was the best treasure Ji Ning had obtained from Alo Yi, one that could accelerate time. It was far superior to the old Kuihua Tower, easily maintaining a fiftyfold time acceleration. If he didn't mind the mana consumption, he could even maintain a two-hundredfold acceleration, though the mana consumption would be terrifying.

Ji Ning was currently maintaining a hundredfold time acceleration, recalling the previous battle, absorbing experience, and perfecting his sword arts. The previous battle was his sixth on the fourth level! He had won again!

"Hum~~~"

While contemplating his sword arts, Ji Ning constantly sensed the majestic Sword Source in the infinite distance.

The Sword Source was one of the sources of the endless chaos, the origin of the Dao of the Sword. This source constantly emitted some mysteries of the sword, allowing cultivators to comprehend them.

"After a hundred thousand years of cultivation, I have finally understood it all." Ji Ning suddenly smiled.

Boom~~~

The towering Dao Tree within his golden core chaos space, which had already reached over thirty-five thousand zhang, grew and rose a bit more, finally reaching thirty-six thousand zhang!

At that moment, power surged throughout the golden core chaos space, becoming even more stable.

"Bang." Ji Ning's divine body instantly scattered into countless divine crystals. Chaos power surged and began to condense into new divine crystals. Soon, thirty-six thousand divine crystals floated in the air, then gathered together to form a humanoid figure—Ji Ning.

"All the foundations of the Dao of the Sword have been fully comprehended. Today, I have finally achieved perfection." Ji Ning felt carefree and content.

Ji Ning's cultivation time seemed only a few thousand years, but counting time acceleration, he had indeed spent nearly a hundred thousand years comprehending the sword. When he first left the Ten Thousand Gods Mansion, his Dao Tree was over twenty thousand zhang. After actual combat and repeated sparring with sword experts from the three Snow Appraisal Diagram scrolls, his Dao Tree quickly broke through thirty thousand zhang.

He also fought for centuries in the Dark Sea.

Though he had been here less than half a year, under hundredfold time acceleration, decades had passed. And Ji Ning had been competing with various powerful World realm experts. Now he had finally comprehended all the foundations of the Dao of the Sword.

At the moment of comprehension, he finally understood why this realm was called World realm perfection.

"World realm perfection..."

"This is merely the outermost layer of the Sword Source." Ji Ning sighed.

The Sword Source...

It was the origin of all sword Daos in the endless chaos, vast and profound beyond measure. But many mysteries of the sword lay deep within the Sword Source, impossible to sense, let alone comprehend.

Only the outermost scattered mysteries of the sword could be sensed and comprehended. Over the years, Ji Ning had been comprehending these outermost insights.

Every sword cultivator, at the World realm, strives to comprehend these. Ji Ning had now fully comprehended all the outermost insights.

Thus, his Dao Tree reached thirty-six thousand zhang, and his divine crystals also numbered thirty-six thousand.

From then on...

The Sword Source in the endless chaos was useless to Ji Ning, for he had comprehended all that could be sensed. The innermost core could not be comprehended. Not just Ji Ning, but even Life-Dao Lords and Eternal Emperors could not delve into the core of the endless chaos's sources, which maintained the stability of the entire chaos and could not be sensed by cultivators.

In fact, this was true not only for the Dao of the Sword but for all Daos!

The Metal Source, Wood Source, Water Source, Fire Source, Earth Source, Lightning Source, Light Source, Slaughter Source, Blade Source, Sword Source of the endless chaos—all sources only allowed cultivators to sense the outermost insights; the inner core was impossible to comprehend.

Thus, no matter which path one cultivated, one could at most comfortably cultivate to World realm perfection.

Once perfected...

It meant that the comprehension of the Dao had reached its end, achieved perfection.

At this point, to advance further, one had to rely on oneself. If before one cultivated by sensing the source, now one had to find one's own path, create one's own Dao from nothing, and then step into the 'Life-Dao Lord' realm.

Because it was self-creation, it was naturally dangerous. The self-created path might be a wrong or evil path. One might step into the Life-Dao Lord realm through it, but before going far, the 'path' might collapse, leading to death.

Thus...

Life-Dao Lords: each step is a matter of life and death. Every time they advance, they create a deeper level of 'Dao'. If the created 'Dao' itself is wrong, then when they try to enhance their strength based on this Dao, their divine power and true spirit collapse—leading to death and destruction.

Each step is life and death. Those who finally reach the 'verge of Dao integration' are already extremely powerful figures at the Life-Dao Lord level, like Tianyi Dao Lord. Once they succeed in Dao integration, it means that the Dao they have realized can truly exist eternally. The path they have walked allows them to exist forever in this endless chaos, becoming eternal and indestructible.

Of course, those great powers on the verge of Dao integration might have wrong Daos, but that doesn't mean their power is weak. Some rebellious ones on the verge of Dao integration can still match Eternal Emperors.

"Before, I could cultivate rapidly, but after reaching World realm perfection, I must find my own path." Ji Ning understood that finding his own path and comprehending enough Dao to step into the Life-Dao Lord realm was extremely difficult.

...

On a star island on the fifth level.

"Brother Huang'an, among the twelve palaces, our Thunder Palace ranks among the top. Your talent in the Dao of Lightning is very high. Join our Thunder Palace, and I believe you will have a bright future." An old man in blue armor said with a smile.

Sitting across from him was a tall figure whose body was composed of strange metals, faintly surrounded by lightning.

World God Huang'an was also a special lifeform, born with an affinity for lightning. His Dao of Lightning was now formidable. If he could become a Life-Dao Lord in the future, he would be even more astonishing.

"The twelve palaces of the Mangya Kingdom—I can cultivate lightning in other palaces too." Huang'an's voice was slightly harsh. He said, "Senior Liuyan, please give me some time to think it over."

"No hurry, no hurry." The old man in blue armor nodded with a smile.

Those who could stay on the fifth level long-term had no trouble obtaining a set of inheritances. They could leave the star island early, but most were not in a hurry to leave. There were inheritances here, as well as powerful opponents, and they were also considering which palace to join.

The twelve palaces of the Mangya Kingdom were all powerful, but the best was the one that suited oneself.

One needed to think carefully about one's future path before deciding which palace to join.

"You have my token. Once you decide, crush it, and I will come to pick you up." The old man in blue armor stood up with a smile. "Then I won't disturb you."

World God Huang'an also stood to see him off. Although the other had come to invite him, he was after all a Life-Dao Lord, not one of those 'Black-Arm Dao Lords'. Those in black armor were the weakest among Life-Dao Lords.

Whoosh.

The old man in blue armor, 'Liuyan Dao Lord', flew out of the star island. He took out a large book and flipped through it. The twelve palaces had access to information about the many World realm cultivators here.

"Oh? This one, in less than half a year, has fought his way to the fourth level and has already defeated six opponents in a row without a single loss?" Liuyan Dao Lord was startled as he flipped through the book.

On the fourth level, defeating ten opponents would allow one to ascend to the fifth level.

Having defeated six opponents in a row without a single loss, with such momentum, he had great hope of breaking into the fifth level.

"Skilled in sword arts and lightning techniques? He can suppress and bind opponents with lightning alone? So powerful in the Dao of Lightning too? Isn't he perfect for our Thunder Palace? Hmm, let's go take a look." The old man in blue armor quickly identified a star island on the fourth level and immediately strolled through the void toward it.

That was precisely Ji Ning's star island.

...