by RWX
“Ji Ning, kid,” the old gardener suddenly called out.
“Senior,” Ning hurriedly said.
“Tell me, should I kill these people?” The old gardener smiled merrily at Ning. “If you say I should, then I’ll kill them. If you say I shouldn’t, I’ll release them. How’s that?”
Ning was stunned.
The fifty-five members of the Seamless Gate in midair were stunned as well.
“It is your prerogative to decide whether or not to kill them, senior,” Ning immediately said. He wouldn’t be so truly presumptuous as to instruct a Daofather in what should be done! If this Daofather was merely jesting with him but didn’t actually want to start a battle, and if Ning said the wrong thing…it would be terrible.
“It seems you still feel a bit suspicious.” The old gardener sighed. “If this old man felt the urge, I’d even kill Lu Dongbin, the precious little darling of the Daoist leader, to say nothing of these people!”
Ning was shocked.
In this instant…the faces of True Immortal Gaudy, Fairy Deadgrass, Celestial Immortal Blackheaven, Empyrean God Threesuns, Empyrean God Beastleave, and Immortal Venomfreak, all still hovering in midair, changed.
“Old Man Yuan?”
“Old Man Yuan?”
They all realized who this person was.
“Senior, are you Old Man Yuan?” True Immortal Gaudy spoke out. In the Three Realms, the only person who referred to himself as ‘this old man’ and who would dare to kill even Lu Dongbin was the low-key, mysterious Old Man Yuan.
“That I am.” The old gardener chortled merrily as he looked at them. “Now…are there any questions in your heart as to whether or not I would dare kill you?”
The forces of the Seamless Gate were stricken with terror. They were no longer able to remain calm, but in their hearts they were cursing. Exalted Old Man Yuan, if you want to kill us, just kill us. Why are you saying so much to us? It seemed as though the legends regarding this man were true; Old Man Yuan really was a crazy old man.
“Old Man Yuan?” Ning revealed a look of surprise as well.
In turn, Yu Wei had learned of some of the Daofathers of the Three Realms from Lu Dongbin.
Although Ning hadn’t gone out of his way to investigate all the True Gods and Daofathers of the Three Realms during his time at Mount Innerheart, the disciples of the Mount Innerheart League would often chit-chat about some of the most supreme True Gods and Daofathers when they were bored. This person, Old Man Yuan, was often mentioned.
Old Man Yuan was also one of the True Gods who had been born from the primordial chaos. However, his comprehension abilities were far superior to Daoist Threelives, and his status was far higher as well. He had long ago mastered a Heavenly Dao and become a Daofather of the Great Firmament! After doing so, his power had reached an utterly ridiculous level. He belonged to neither the Daoist Path, nor to the Buddhist Sangha. He had become a power unto himself, and he himself possessed power overwhelming. He was truly one of the most supreme Daofathers of the Three Realms, and he had two other Daofathers under his tutelage! In addition to that…he had three lifelong friends who were also three incredibly powerful Daofathers.
The four of them were referred to within the Three Realms as the ‘Four Ancestors of the River Source’ [1. The name ‘Yuan’ means source.]. The Four Ancestors of the River Source were extremely close friends; they always attacked and retreated in unison. All four of them were incredibly powerful Daofathers, and if one also factored in their various disciples and friends…they would be considered an incredibly powerful force of the Three Realms.
As for Old Man Yuan…he was the most powerful member of the Four Ancestors of the River Source. He was their leader!
How powerful was he, exactly?
No one knew for certain. Some said that Old Man Yuan was, logically speaking, weaker than the two leaders of the Buddhist Sangha and the Daoist Path. Others said that Old Man Yuan should be comparable to those two leaders. In short…this was a crazy, yet terrifyingly powerful old man.
“Damn…” True Immortal Gaudy and the others felt misery in their hearts.
The Three Realms were currently divided into two major alliances.
The likes of Patriarch Subhuti had long ago chosen an alliance…but the Four Ancestors of the River Source had remained neutral. In the end, nobody would be able to avoid getting drawn into the war between these two alliances, but for now, before battle had truly begun…both sides were actively courting the Four Ancestors of the River Source. They had to; the four were simply too powerful. These were not four ordinary Daofathers; all four of them had been born as True Gods of Primordial Chaos, and stood at the very top of power amongst Daofathers. Old Man Yuan, in particular, was one of the utmost supreme major powers of the Three Realms.
If Subhuti dared to kill these fifty-five, the major powers behind the Seamless Gate would probably strike back; they were enemies, after all.
But if Old Man Yuan was the one to kill them…the major powers behind the Seamless Gate definitely wouldn’t intervene. They had been working so hard to have the Four Ancestors of the River Source join them; how would they dare to offend this old man now?
“Now you should realize that I wasn’t joking with you, right?” The old gardener beamed merrily as he looked at Ning. “This old man is going to ask you again; should I kill them? If you say yes, then I’ll kill them.”
Ning no longer hesitated at all. He nodded. “You should.”
“Nice.” The old gardener nodded with satisfaction. “That’s more like it.”
“Senior!”
The paralyzed members of the Seamless Gate, still hanging up high in the sky, were filled with terror.
“Begone.” The old gardener casually tossed out his giant gardening shears, sending it flying upwards. This was clearly a pair of ordinary gardening shears; it would probably break apart if one tried to use it to cut an ordinary rock. And yet, it now went flying towards the midair bodies of the True Immortals and Empyrean Gods. Even the clones of such figures would have bodies that were incredibly tough.
Snick!
It was liking cutting through paper. The body of an Empyrean God was bisected…and then his auras vanished. He was deader than dead.
Snick! Snick! Snick!
True Immortal Gaudy, Fairy Deadgrass, and Immortal Venomfreak were utterly terrified. They repeatedly called out ‘senior!’, but snick, snick, snick…they were still cut to death by the gardening shears. In the blink of an eye, all fifty-five members of the Seamless Gate had been slain. Although the metal shears had moved quite slowly, no major powers had appeared to intervene.
Ning’s eyes lit up as he watched.
Wonderful!
Those bastards had actually attacked Ning’s home; it was wonderful to see them killed.
“Oho, although those little minions of the Seamless Gate only sent their clones and incarnations over, they brought a few nice things with them. Three top-grade Pure Yang treasures, and a Protocosmic spirit-treasure.” The old gardener waved his hand, and the items left behind by the deceased members of the Seamless Gate flew forward to levitate in the air before Ji Ning and Yu Wei. “They don’t suit this old man. You take them.”
Ning blinked.
Yu Wei was stunned as well.
Them?
What in the…
After apprenticing himself to Patriarch Subhuti, Ning had been forced to painstakingly adventure through the Crescent world. Thanks to tremendous luck and hard work, he had acquired a single Protocosmic spirit-treasure, the Rahu Bow…and the bowstring had been broken, at that! This Old Man Yuan was even more generous than his own master!
“What, aren’t you willing to accept them?” Old Man Yuan stared.
“I am, I am, I am!” Ning was so frightened, he repeated himself three times. “How would this junior dare to refuse the gift of a senior?” He immediately waved his hand, accepting the treasures.
“That’s more like it. If you are going to
do something, just do it; don’t hem and haw and dawdle about like a girl,” Old Man Yuan said with a laugh. “I’ve already spent several months living here at your Brightheart Island.”
Several months?
Ning was puzzled. This gardener had been here for far longer.
“I’ve just been possessing this old gardener,” Old Man Yuan said with a merry chuckle. “I spent months here before you came back to Brightheart Island, you brat. Mm…I’ve watched you train with the sword several times now. Your sword-arts aren’t bad, but your control over heartforce is even better.”
Watched him several times?
Aside from this time…Ning couldn’t recall a time when the old gardener had been nearby. Oh, right; given Old Man Yuan’s power, he would be easily able to watch Ning train with the sword, even from a tremendous distance.
“Buuuut…” Old Man Yuan said, puzzled, “Why is it that you seem to be so stupid?”
“Stupid?” Ning was puzzled. This was the first time that anyone had called him stupid!
“You completely focus your heartforce into your sword-fingers. Why haven’t you considered applying it to your legs or the rest of your body? That way, when you use your evasive divine abilities, your speed would increase dramatically, right? In the fact of those so-called ‘True Immortals’ and ‘Empyrean Gods’, your escaping speed would improve dramatically; you would no longer be forced to just stand there like an idiot and take them head on,” Old Man Yuan said.
Ning shook his head. “It isn’t that easy to apply heartforce. It took me eighteen years of painstaking training before I was able to apply it to my sword-fingers.”
“The reason it isn’t easy is because you don’t have a good teacher. Your teacher doesn’t know a damn thing about heartforce.” Old Man Yuan chortled. “What do you think of my power?”
“Your power is incredible, of course, senior!” Ning said hurriedly.
“Then hurry up and kowtow to me as your master!” Old Man Yuan puffed his chest up.
* * *
Book 17, Chapter 21 - Master?
Within the towering palace in the Fifth World.
The three leaders of the Seamless Gate, Myriad Demons Cave, and Bloodcloud Hall were all gathered here, along with True Immortal Gaudy, Empyrean God Beastleave, Empyrean God Threesuns, Fairy Deadgrass, Celestial Immortal Blackheaven, and Immortal Venomfreak. They had only sent their clones or incarnations to deal with Ji Ning, but they were still watching nervously.
This was because they had brought powerful treasures, such as Empyrean God constructs and Protocosmic spirit-treasures.
“We reached Swallow Mountain.”
“We’re fairly lucky; we actually encountered Ji Ning after a single Greater Teleport.”
“Hurry up and kill Ji Ning.”
They all stared intently at the mirror in the air. The mirror was displaying images from what was happening within Brightheart Island. Fairy Deadgrass was standing close to it, and every so often she would say a few things. Then, suddenly…
“What the hell?!”
Whoosh!
The azure-robed woman and the others all jumped to their feet. They stared intently at the old gardener holding the gardening shears who had just woken up and stood up.
“Who is that?!”
“Our clones and incarnations can’t even move. We can’t even use our elemental energy.”
“He’s terrifying…he must be a Daofather. Otherwise, there’s no way he could be this powerful.” True Immortal Gaudy, Empyrean God Beastleave, and the others all had ugly looks on their faces.
“How can there be a Daofather at Brightheart Island?!?” The azure-robed woman roared furiously.
A short while later, after the old gardener chatted with Ji Ning for a while, his identity was revealed.
“Old Man Yuan, of the Four Ancestors of the River Source?” The azure-robed woman’s face turned ashen. Everyone present was stunned.
“Ugh. I just lost my horsetail whisk.” True Immortal Gaudy had an ugly look on his face; that was a top-grade Pure Yang treasure. Although this wasn’t one of the treasures he liked the most and used the most, the loss of a top-grade Pure Yang treasure still caused him some heartache.
“Don’t say a thing. Blackheaven suffered the worst loss this time.”
They all looked towards Celestial Immortal Blackheaven.
Blackheaven had lost a Protocosmic spirit-treasure!
“Damn.” Blackheaven ground his teeth. “Ji Ning managed to escape again.” In truth, Blackheaven was angrier over having not killed Ji Ning than over his loss of a Protocosmic spirit-treasure.
“He’s acting now.” Immortal Venomfreak and the others watched as the mirror showed images of the giant gardening shears snicking through them. He said hatefully, “This Old Man Yuan really shows no mercy at all.”
“If Old Man Yuan wants to kill you, what can you do?” The fire-robed man shook his head and snickered, “Forget about clones and incarnations…even if he wanted to kill your true body, he’d do so without pause.”
Rumble…
After the mirror finished sending images of everyone being ‘snicked’ and killed by the giant gardening shears, the shears turned towards the sky and made one final ‘snick’. Instantly, no further images appeared in the mirror; they were no longer able to watch what was going on.
“Old Man Yuan won’t let us watch any more,” the azure-robed woman said. “Given his abilities…he must know that we were watching what was happening there. The reason why he let us watch him act was because he wanted to let our superiors, the major powers of the Seamless Gate, realize that he is going to protect Ji Ning.”
“Old Man Yuan isn’t even on our side. Does he really think he can just protect whoever he wants?” Blackheaven growled, “Right now, we’re trying to court him, but once the great storm truly erupts, no one will be able to escape it. He’ll have to make a choice. Ji Ning already has a Daofather as his master, and an enemy one at that; if Old Man Yuan chooses to join us, then in the future he’ll become an enemy to Ji Ning’s master. I refuse to believe he’ll still protect Ji Ning then! And if he doesn’t join our side…then we can completely ignore him when we move to kill Ji Ning.”
Everyone present nodded.
“However…the storm has yet to truly erupt.” The azure-robed woman shook her head. “Old Man Yuan is still standing to one side and watching. He hasn’t truly made a choice yet; it’s not appropriate for us to offend Old Man yuan.”
“You are over-thinking things.” Blackheaven let out a snicker. “Do you think that is something for you to concern yourself with?”
The azure-robed woman’s face sank. Blackheaven was acting far too impudently. Even with so many others present, he still dared to speak in such a manner.
Alas, Blackheaven wasn’t under her command, and she still wasn’t sure of his true power. In addition, the number of treasures he had was completely bizarre. When he had sent his clone to the Grand Xia, he had carried two mighty treasures with him; a top-grade Pure Yang treasure known as the ‘Yin-Yang Arcane Ki Bottle’, and a Protocosmic spirit-treasure known as the ‘Nineleaf Snowlotus’.
“That’s for the Godking and the other major powers to worry about,” Blackheaven said coldly. “I trust that the Godking will quickly send an order as to whether or not we are to kill Ji Ning, so stop worrying your little head over it.”
“Hmph.” The azure-robed woman’s face sank. She no longer said anything.
Blackheaven gave the azure-robed woman a glance, a hint of mockery in his eyes, then turned and left. He felt tremendous distaste for this Gatemaster of the Seamless Gate, Azurefox…because Violetgrass had died on her orders. As for any anger that the Gatemaster might feel towards him? He didn’t care about it at all.
……
The world of the Grand Xia.
Ning couldn’t be bothered to worry about the Seamless Gate right now; it was Old Man Yuan that he was faced with, and he felt a headache coming.
/> Take him as his master?
He could tell that since Old Man Yuan had come to personally inspect him, the old man had definitely decided that Ning was moldable talent! Today, he had first asked Ning whether or not he should kill the forces of the Seamless Gate, and then immediately killed them upon Ning giving the nod. This caused Ning to feel quite delighted; clearly, Old Man Yuan wanted Ning to feel positively towards him.
And now, the old man had gifted him with the many treasures the Seamless Gate’s forces had left behind; this, too, was to make Ji Ning feel grateful towards him.
Next, the old man had suggested that he work on applying heartforce to his legs or to his entire body; these words had indeed caused Ning to feel a desire to learn such a method.
Finally…he had asked Ning to accept him as his master.
“He’s really put effort into this.” Ning understood this. “It seems this Old Man Yuan really does want to take me as his disciple.”
“This is how the world is. Some people desperately want to become a Daofather’s disciple, yet never will. When I wanted to become Daofather Crimsonbright’s disciple, he didn’t find me worthy. Even Master Subhuti only accepted me as his disciple because he saw that I was the sole successor to the [Starseizing Hand] of his good friend, Daoist Threelives and a decent cultivator. Back then, although I was a genius, I clearly wasn’t that attractive in the eyes of the Daofathers. Now that my power has increased dramatically, and have reached the Empyrean God level of power as a Void-level cultivator…one of the supreme Daofathers of the Three Realms has come to seek me out on his own accord.
If your potential was truly astonishing, the Daofathers would seek you out on their own accord.
Ning now was qualified for a Daofather to do so.
He truly was an astonishing piece of unpolished jade!
But…
“What should I do? What exactly should I do?” Ning hesitated.
