Within the City of Ten Thousand Swords. Inside arge, secluded, pce.


    “What? A tribe even more powerful than the Northmont n of Stillwater?” Ji Ninefire, Ji Truekeep, and Granny Shadow werepletely petrified.


    “This is Immortal Duohe, while this is Immortal Witchsui; both are extremely powerful Loose Immortals.” After describing the dangerous situation, Ji Ning moved to introduce the two by his side.


    “Loose Immortals?”


    Ninfire and the others felt dazed. Legendary, exalted Loose Immortals were before them... and two of them at that.


    “They willmand thirty thousand monstrous Dao-soldiers to protect our City of Ten Thousand Swords,” Ning said. “They are all wearing Dao-armors, and so with these two Loose Immortals inmand of thirty thousand monstrous Dao-soldiers... even if tens of Loose Immortalse, they should be able to withstand them. They will protect our city for a thousand years. Unless a Celestial Immortal or someone with a Celestial Immortal’s power attacks us, our city should bepletely safe.”


    Ninefire, Truekeep, and Granny Shadow were cultivators, after all; despite still being stunned, they quickly regained their equilibrium.


    “You three can decide what arrangements need to be made for the tribe,” Ning said. “You know more about these things than me anyhow.”


    “Don’t worry.” Truekeep nodded. “With such a powerful army of Dao-soldiers stationed here, and with this being amandery city of the Grand Xia Empire that is under special protection from the Raindragon Guard as well... anyone who dares attack will be pursued throughout the entire Grand Xia Dynasty! No matter how powerful the Youngme n is, they wouldn’t possibly be willing to have one of their legendary Celestial Immortals be a wanted criminal.”


    Celestial Immortals were figures of legends. It wasn’t even known for certain whether or not the Northmont n of Stillwater had a Celestial Immortal. As for the ck-White College, in its countless years of existence, it had produced countless Loose Immortals, but only a single Celestial Immortal.


    “Little Qing, Uncle White, the two of you shall stay here for now. Here is a talisman.” Ning handed a talisman to the human-shaped Uncle White. “If you notice that the talisman has shattered, then teleport directly towards Serpentwing Lake and reunite with me. If the talisman remains whole, then you are absolutely not permitted toe.”


    “Right.” Little Qing and Uncle White both nodded. At a critical moment like this, they wouldn’t let him down.


    “Ning, son, be careful,” Uncle White instructed.


    Ning nodded and smiled.


    “I’ll leave now. After this departure, I probably won’t be able to return for a very long period of time.” Ning looked towards Ninefire, Truekeep, and Granny shadow. “It was I who brought this cmity upon the tribe. In the future, I’ll make up for it.”


    “Don’t say such things!” Ninefire scolded in a low voice. “Remember, you have to protect yourself. Only if you are alive shall our Ji n have a chance to flourish.” For a tribe to produce a genius like Ning waspletely a matter of luck.


    “I’m leaving now.” Ning immediately used a Lesser Teleportation Dao-seal. Whoosh. He disappeared from within the hall.


    ......


    In the air above Brightheart Ind of Serpentwing Lake. A ripple in the air could be seen, and then Ning emerged.


    “Autumn Leaf.” Uponnding, Ning immediately sent his voice out, calling towards Autumn Leaf. Soon, a light gray-robed Autumn Leaf emerged. She looked at Ning in surprise and delight. “Young master.”


    “You can no longer stay on Brightheart Ind. Hurry up and have everyone on the ind move away to the City of Ten Thousand Swords. As for you, you need to leave immediately,” Ning instructed.


    Autumn Leaf was stunned. “What, what happened?” Brightheart Ind had long ago be her home; she had poured her heart out in developing this ce.


    “Don’t ask. I don’t have time to exin in detail. When you arrive in the City of Ten Thousand Swords, you can ask Uncle White and the others, and they will let you know. Right now, you need to make the arrangements right away, then immediately leave. This is a Lesser Teleportation Dao-seal; you can use it to teleport up to ten thousand kilometers away. Teleport straight to the city.” Ning handed her a Dao-seal.


    Autumn Leaf immediately understood how grave the situation was.


    Actually, even if a Celestial Immortal of the Youngme n was to personally investigate, he would have to first go into the Witchriver Immortal Estate, find the ‘Witchriver Pce’ in which Youngme Nong had been killed, then utilize a temporal inversion technique. Even if, through the usage of such a technique, he discovered that Ning was the killer, he would probably need a bit of time before finding out about Ning’s background.


    This entire process would take time, and in truth, by the time that Celestial Immortal might have made his way to Swallow Mountain, much time would have passed. And even if he came, he wouldn’t recognize Autumn Leaf, nor know about the rtionship between her and Ning; thus, there was absolutely no need at all for Autumn Leaf to use the Lesser Teleportation Dao-seal. Ning, however, was uneasy. In order to prevent any unknown variables from arising, he thus instructed Autumn Leaf to use the Dao-seal.


    Swoosh.


    After making the arrangements, Autumn Leaf, per Ning’s request, was forced to use this Lesser Teleportation Dao-seal.


    “Whew.” Ning let out a sigh of relief. “Alright.” He pushed open the door to the private room he normally stayed in, entered, then shut the door. With but a thought, he caused the illusion of a giant grizzly head to appear within the room. The grizzly head swallowed Ning within its mouth, and Ning disappeared from Serpentwing Lake, entering the underwater estate in another world.


    ......


    The imperial capital of the Grand Xia Dynasty. This was the administrative heart of this entire major world. There were many Loose Immortals and Primal Daoists here, as well as various supreme tribes, schools, and sects as well! In fact, even some of the most powerful forces from other major worlds would arrange for spies and intelligence agents to be ced here. This was truly a ce where the fish swam with the dragons. Immortals were asmon as the clouds, and unfathomable in their power!


    The Youngme n’s estate in this ce took up a thousand kilometers. It was iparably luxurious.


    Within a quiet study inside their estate.


    A golden-robed man with a crown on his head was seated before a desk, reading various intelligence reports. He was the leader of the Youngme n, the current Godplume Duke!


    “The Kindwater n is bing increasingly excessive in their actions!” The golden-robed man frowned and muttered to himself.


    “n leader, n leader.” Suddenly, a panicked voice rang out. Upon hearing this voice, the golden-robed man’s face sunk. He hated it when his subordinates lost their bearings and grew panicked. However, this particr subordinate was his personal attendant, and one who should have known the rules.


    The door was pushed open, and a middle-aged man dressed in blue robes charged in, then knelt down and said in a sobbing voice, “n leader, young master Youngme Nong, he, he...”


    “Youngme Nong? What about him?” The golden-robed man frowned.


    “He died!” The blue-robed middle-aged servant spoke out in a terrified, frantic voice.


    “What?!” The golden-robed man rose to his feet, revealing a look of astonishment. “How did he die? How do you know he died? You can’t say such things unless you are absolutely certain.”


    “His life-tablet in the ancestral hall has shattered,” the blue-robed servant called out.


    The golden-robed man stood there in the study. After a few moments of silence, he said in a low voice, “Investigate. Send out my orders; within the time needed to boil a kettle of tea, Youngme Nong’s whereabouts needs to be discovered.”


    “Yes,” the blue-robed servant said hurriedly.


    “Youngme Nong actually died? He should have gone to the Witchriver Immortal Estate. How could he have died? Even if he wasn’t able to bind the Witchriver Immortal Estate, he had a Greater Teleportation Dao-seal on him... even within the Immortal estate, he would’ve been able to teleport out to the Grand Xia Dynasty’s world. And he had that Fiendgod with him, Xiangliu Fang.” The golden-robed man was pondering to himself.


    Youngme Nong was one of his juniors; they weren’t exactly on close terms with each other, and in fact, he didn’t really like Youngme Nong. But Youngme Nong had a Celestial Immortal supporting him!


    Although on the surface, the most powerful figure in a n was its titr n leader,pared to the Celestial Immortals who were the Patriarchs of the n, the n leader was far inferior. These Celestial Immortal Patriarchs who had lived countless years were the true foundation of a n. The birth of every Celestial Immortal would cause the entire n to celebrate, and the fall of every Celestial Immortal would be hidden for as long as possible.


    This was why no one was certain as to how many Celestial Immortals a n had. For example, the Northmont n of Stillwater; did it have any surviving Celestial Immortals or not? This was a mystery.


    How many Celestial Immortal Patriarchs did the Youngme n have? This, too, was a mystery.


    Even the Godplume Duke himself only knew of three Celestial Immortal Patriarchs within the n; as for Youngme Nong, he only knew of one! But even the Godplume Duke wasn’t certain as to exactly how many Celestial Immortals his n had.


    “n leader.” The blue-robed servant returned, saying hurriedly with respect, “Three days ago, Young master Youngme Nong used a teleportation array to go to Stillwater Commandery, then headed towards the Witchriver Immortal Estate. I’m not capable of locating the exact location of the estate.”


    “Right.” The golden-robed man nodded. “I need to go on a visit. For now, you are not to inform any outsiders of Youngme Nong’s death.”


    “Yes.”


    Soon, nine golden Flood Dragons, pulling an Immortal carriage behind them, soared out from within the Youngme n’s estate. They howled through the air, departing from the imperial capital of the Grand Xia Dynasty and entering the azure void of the skies.


    ......


    At the peak of a tall volcano which stretched through the clouds. The nine golden Flood Dragons, pulling the Immortal carriage, descended from the skies, then flew into the mouth of the volcano. Thest time this volcano had erupted was hundreds of thousands of years ago.


    They continued to fly down through the opening.


    Bubbling streams ofva could be seen in the depths below. In the center of theva flows, a towering, red-haired giant could be seen, reclining in theva. This red-haired gianty there as though lying within a personal bathtub. His head was supported by a ‘pillow’ of stone, and his feet pressed against another stone. His eyes were evenrger than the Immortal carriage.


    “Senior Bafire.” The golden-robed man stood in front of the Immortal carriage and called out.


    “Oh?” The red-haired giant opened his eyes and looked at the golden-robed man. After pondering a moment, he said slowly, “You are... Youngme Fujun, the current n leader and Godplume Duke?”


    “I am.” The golden-robed man was still quite humble.


    This was because he knew who the Fiendgod in front of him was. This Fiendgod was surnamed Bafire, and was an iparably powerful warrior who had belonged to an extremely mighty Fiendgod tribe, back in the Fiendgod Era. He was a Void-level Fiendgod! However, although he was ‘only’ a Void-level Fiendgod, his truebat power was absolutely on the level of Celestial Immortals. In the past, it had been one of the most brilliant, outstanding Patriarchs of the Youngme n who had subdued and tamed him. Unfortunately, that Patriarch had already fallen over the passage of countless years.


    “What is it?” The red-haired giant asked.


    “Are the three Patriarchs still within this major world?” The golden-robed man asked.


    The red-haired giant said slowly, “Patriarch Infatuation left this major world more than ten thousand years ago. Where he went, and when he shall return... is unknown. Patriarch Sunfish, just a few decades ago, went to meet with friends in the Deva realm; generally speaking, he will spend a century in the Deva realm when meeting with friends. Only Patriarch Arcanum remains here, in secluded meditation.”


    “Youngme Nong just died. This is a matter of grave import; I’d like to trouble you, senior Bafire, to make a report to Patriarch Arcanum,” the golden-robed man said hurriedly.


    “Youngme Nong? The next n leader of your n?” The red-haired giantughed. “Your next n leader actually died? What a joke. I’ll go help you make the report.”


    The red-haired giant closed his eyes. Momentster, he opened them again. “Patriarch Arcanum will arrive right away.”


    The location of the ce where Patriarch Arcanum was secluded was a mystery; only some of Patriarch Arcanum’s closest confidantes knew. Not even the Godplume Duke knew.


    Whoooosh.


    In the air above theva, spots of ster light suddenly appeared. The brilliant spots of ster light began to link together, seemingly forming a mysterious, arcane formation. Suddenly, a tall, skinny, narrow-eyed elder stepped out from within that swirl of countless stars. In this moment, it seemed as though the entire world was bowing towards him, as though he and he alone was the only master of the world.


    “Patriarch Arcanum.” The golden-robed man hurriedly bowed with respect.