King of Great Jin, Trial of Life-and-Death!

Three days passed by in a flash and a Gold Core Realm cultivator in tattered clothes arrived at the inn.

Although he dressed shabbily, he carried an air of indifference with him. All the cultivators from the inn followed his lead to the forbidden area of Quwo City, Liang Bao Palace.

When the thought of meeting Old Ancestor Jie Xiu flashed across their minds, even cultivators like Jing Zhuo who had the title of “Old Ancestor” felt slightly excited. The only person who remained as calm as a still pond was Ning Fan.

He was lost in his thoughts, figuring out how to deal with Jie Xiu…

Jie Xiu might only be an Early Nascent Soul Realm cultivator without any forged divine intent, but he was given more attention by Ning Fan compared to the Old Scholar, Song Yi.

This man had been spying on me for three days straight. And for the past three days, his spirit sense didn’t even waver. Besides, if I didn’t cultivate the Divine Art Chant which increases the sharpness of my sense earlier, there’s no way for me to discover his spirit sense.

His spirit sense was similar to a cold flame, just like sword sense…

For Ning Fan, he was unable to maintain his spirit sense constantly for three consecutive days.

His current state of mind wasn’t good enough to do that. When comparing Ning Fan and Jie Xiu’s mental states, it was as though the latter’s heart was already dead.

In order to reach that level of mentality, one had to give up all of their thoughts. Before being able to let go of all thoughts, one must go through all the hardships in life.

Liang Bao[1] Palace.

Its name certainly carried a unique meaning. It was said that the old ancestor of Han Yi Sect, Jie Zi Tui, dedicated himself in assisting Jin’s Ancestor to build the country but he was then neglected. In the end, he was even burned to death by Jin’s Ancestor himself.

The world was cold and merciless, just like Jin’s Ancestor. Currently, Great Jin was in despair, just like Han Yi[2]. (Han Yi Sect)

Giving up all thoughts… These words could be the main reason why Jie Xiu’s spirit sense was hard to detect. Ning Fan was still in the process of comprehending the true meaning behind it as he had yet to truly grasp it.

While he was still pondering about it, all of them passed by the noisy city and silence began to fill their surroundings. The temperature also began to drop with the weather getting colder and harsher as they went deeper into the restricted area.

Flashes of formation light came into sight and each of the Han Yi Sect’s disciples came and go separately. For every ten li deeper into the area, the cold wind grew a little stronger. At the deepest part, an iceberg emerged and looked strange.

The ice emanated dark blue light. The middle of the mountain was excavated in order to build the rooms of a palace, namely Liang Bao.

Other than a few elders of Han Yi Sect, no one else was allowed to enter the palace! Even the disciples who led the way to the palace didn’t dare enter!

“You may leave!” A raucous voice resounded from within the palace.

“Yes!”

Upon hearing that voice, a feeling of being observed could be felt by all the Gold Core Realm cultivators.

Suqiu, Jing Zhuo and the others who were entitled “old ancestors” jolted for a second and their cultivation realms were found out stealthily. Everyone experienced the same situation except for Ning Fan.

As for the Half-Step Nascent Soul Realm Jing Zhuo who was a fire-based cultivator, he was surprised by the cold flame spirit sense.

“ ‘Cold sense’… What a strange sense?! I have heard rumours that Han Yi Sect’s cultivators are permitted to cultivate Cold Sense after breaking through the Nascent Soul Realm. In the past, one of their old ancestors had invented the ‘Cold Consciousness’ while he was just at the Late Nascent Soul Realm.”

Cold Consciousness was one of the many types of Sea of Consciousness. That time, that cultivator was blessed with great luck to be able to develop something like the Cold Consciousness. With that, he could battle against Peak Nascent Soul Realm cultivators using only his Cold Sense!

On the other hand, Ning Fan wasn’t surprised at all as he had already witnessed Jie Xiu’s ability.

After gaining the invitation from an unknown person in the palace, everyone entered Liang Bao Palace.

Nothing was inside the palace.  Only a bald old man dressed in ragged garments could be seen standing. Judging from the sunken eyes on his face, he was estimated to be thousands of years old.

He seemed to be blind, but when his eye sockets turned towards the group of cultivators, anxiety pervaded their hearts except for Ning Fan. That was the fear when facing against superior senior!

Ning Fan held a greater understanding about the old man’s hollow eyes. At that moment, an illusion appeared in front of him. He felt that it wasn’t the old man staring at him but the whole ice palace!

That person was the master of Han Yi Sect, Jie Xiu!

His gaze fixed on Ning Fan after glancing at all of them. He didn’t manage to see through Ning Fan in the past three days. Today, although he borrowed the power of coldness from the Liang Bao Palace, he was still unable to gain an insight on him.

As such, I have no choice but to wait for him to come personally.

“Nice to meet you, Fellow Daoist Zhou Ming!” Jie Xiu greeted Ning Fan with cupped fists. However, what came after his greeting was more Cold Sense, trying to study Ning Fan.

“It’s my pleasure to meet you! I’ve join the army. Hopefully fellow Daoist can provide me some support!” Ning Fan replied with a gentle smile. Meanwhile, he unleashed all his Sword Sense and dark colour sense and crushed the Cold Sense!

It might appear to be an insignificant blow but in actuality Jie Xiu and Ning Fan had already engaged in an all out battle of senses!

The fact was that Jie Xiu’s Cold Sense was weaker than Ning Fan’s Sword Sense.

The others didn’t even realize what had happened other than seeing the flashes of dark colour.

Jie Xiu was inwardly astonished. However, he concealed that feeling by putting up an unperturbed expression as if nothing had happened. He then started to arrange the army.

As a matter of fact, he achieved Nascent Formation when he was nine hundred years old. The period of cultivating Cold Sense was already more than a thousand years. However, his Cold Sense was crushed instantaneously when facing against Ning Fan’s dark Sword Sense.

It’s beyond my expectations that this “Zhou Ming” would have Sword Sense. Furthermore, the sword qi within the Sword Sense was extremely terrifying…

“Dear fellow Daoists, I am truly grateful for your willingness to help eliminate the demon tide for Great Jin. As per tradition, all of you will have your cultivation methods evaluated on the Spirit Evaluation Stone. After that, everyone has to make the Great Oath of Heart’s Devil and swallow a Location Tracking Pill. Upon finishing all of the tasks, I’ll assign you all to the War Division or the Defense Division. At your respective departments, you may start to carry out duties and earn your battle points.”

With just a single touch in the air using his fingertip, the floor turned frozen whereupon a hole with a diameter of a zhang cracked open. A three zhang tall stone-liked ice rose from the ground, covered in cold mist.

It was the Spirit Evaluation Stone. It radiated a ray of light that could determine the actual cultivation base and cultivation methods of Gold Core Realm cultivators and above. This stone was in a totally different level from the stone used for determining Vein Opening Realm cultivators, let alone its quality.

The backgrounds of foreign cultivators were difficult to check. It was even harder to find out their true identities. Therefore, Jie Xiu never insisted on knowing their backgrounds and intentions.

It was because by evaluating one’s cultivation realm and cultivation base, he could find out more information including the elusive details that one was trying to hide.

Moreover, if one tries to go against Great Jin after making the Great Oath of Heart’s Devil, they would suffer from the awakening of the Heart’s Devil.

As for Location Tracking Pills, they were Three Revolutions Pills. After consuming it, the location of the cultivators could be tracked using a special disk formation[3]linked to the pills. As such, the foreign cultivators wouldn’t be able to hide their trails wherever they go in the country.

The reason a lot of cultivators rejected to join the army when they were given such offer at this country’s boundary wasn’t only because they feared the demon tide. Some of them might have been plotting schemes aimed towards Great Jin. As such, they would neither make the Great Oath of Heart’s Devil nor swallow the Location Tracking Pills.

Since Ning Fan and his friends agreed to join the army, they wouldn’t object the safety precautions taken by them.

When it was Ning Fan’s turn to be tested, each of the old monsters as well as Jie Xiu raised their necks and focused on the stone, looking forward to the result. A trace of nervousness filled Jie Xiu while awaiting for the answer to appear on the stone.

He appeared in person at the palace to find out more about Ning Fan as his earlier attempts had all failed. He was left with no choice but to rely on the Spirit Evaluation Stone to discover more about him.

Anxiety surfaced on Jing Zhuo and Suqiu’s expressions. In fact, Suqiu was particularly worried about Ning Fan. Her main concern wasn’t about the revelation of Ning Fan’s true cultivation base. Nothing would happen if he’s only revealed to be a Half-Step Gold Core Realm cultivator.

Her main worry was Ning Fan’s cultivation method. Ning Fan cultivated Dual Cultivation Devil Technique. If he was known to cultivate devil techniques, it would be more difficult for him to join the army. Besides, will Jie Xiu turn hostile against him after knowing about his shameless way of cultivation? Jie Xiu, the sect master of Han Yi Sect, was an old ancestor of the righteous path.

However, their concerns seemed to be unnecessary. Even if Ning Fan’s cultivation method was exposed, Jie Xiu would only turn a blind eye to it. He wouldn’t decline Ning Fan’s help. It would be impossible for him to play the role of “eliminating the devil to protect the righteous path” in the current circumstances.

Although the King of Great Jin had already deployed fourteen Nascent Soul Realm cultivators while the Rain Palace also sent seventeen cultivators of the same realm to deal with the demon tide, it has yet to be stopped. Thus, the king decided to recruit the foreign cultivators for help. Currently, Ning Fan could be regarded as one of the key players of the current war. So what if he was a devil cultivator? So what if he adopted a shameless cultivation method?

Ning Fan’s palm pressed on the stone and he slowly closed his eyelids.

Although revealing his cultivation method wasn’t a problem at all, it would still bring him troubles.

Inside the Yin Yang Devil Veins within his body, the incantation of Snow Treading Art was activated. Cold light began to emanate from the stone ceaselessly.

He then secretly fused the power of his sense into the art, and in turn, a trace of dark colour formed on the cold light. Now, the light glowed even more brightly, signifying the power of an Early Nascent Soul Realm.

“How did he…” Yin Suqiu’s lips widened a little, with confusion all over her thoughts. On the other hand, Jie Xiu breathed a sigh of relief.

“Ice Element Cultivation Method. Early Nascent Soul Realm. Fellow Daoist seemed to have achieved Nascent Formation not long ago as your cultivation realm is still unstable. However, I didn’t expect you to be an ice element cultivator. I apologize for overlooking that!”

Jie Xiu cupped his fist to greet Ning Fan once more. This time, he let some of his guard down.

As for the dark colour appearing in the cold light, Jie Xiu regarded it as the cause of Ning Fan’s Sword Sense.

Once the concern was lifted off from Jie Xiu’s heart, he let out a smile and supervised the groups of Gold Core Realm cultivators to swear the Great Oath of Heart’s Devil. Later, he distributed the Location Tracking Pills to each and every one of them. Upon seeing Ning Fan swallowing the pill without any hesitation, he became a little more relaxed.

Since the Great Oath was sworn and the pill was consumed, I can now know his next move. If he really tries to cause harm towards Great Jin, he will suffer a counterattack from the Heart’s Devil. Finally, I can stop worrying about him.

The last thing to do was distributing the Jades of Achievement to all of them. The Jade of Achievement was a jade plate used to record battle points.

With the jade plate in hand, everyone headed to their respective divisions.

Currently, the invasion of the demons had plunged the people of Great Jin into misery and suffering. The demons were based in a place called “Dragon Vision Pond”. They expanded their area of control to millions of li from their base. At the northwest of Great Jin, one third of the country’s territory had already been occupied by the demons.

A demon tide would be created when demons build strongholds on multiple places and transform the birds and animals into demons using their secret arts. Consequently, demons amounting to one hundred thousand were born within a short period of time, causing countless disasters in the country.

For that reason, the War Division was established to initiate attacks instead rather than just having a Defense Division to wait and resist the demons’ attacks. The War Division’s main objective was to destroy the demons’ strongholds and stop them from breeding more demons.

Note :

1. Measurements :

a. li(里) = 500 m

b. zhang(丈) = 3.13 m

c. chi(尺) = 30.7 cm

Footnotes

^ 1. Liang Bao(凉薄) means cold-blooded treatment.^ 2. Han Yi (寒衣),Han （寒） means cold or poor. Yi(衣) means shirt or a covering.^ 3. Disk formation is a device used to establish the grand formation. (Click here for picture)

The battle points awarded for the Defense Division depended on the cities they were assigned to guard. The cultivators were be categorized by their cultivation realms while the cities were classified into high rank, middle rank and low rank, depending on the level of threat they face.

The higher the rank, the higher the threat level would be. The high-rank cities were constantly attacked by large numbers of demons. In other words, the guards who were sent there were always in great danger.

An Early Gold Core Realm cultivator would earn one hundred battle points a month for guarding a low-rank cultivation city. The battle points received would increase the higher their cultivation realm (Actually, it will double for every small increase of a realm). Aside from that, if the threat level of the city increased, the battle points earned would double.

For example, Yin Suqiu who was at Peak Gold Core Realm could earn up to eight hundred battle points in a month for guarding a low-rank city. If she were to be sent to guard a high-rank city, the amount of battle points she earn would quadruple, amounting to three thousand and two hundred battle points in just a single month. For Ning Fan who was at Early Nascent Soul Realm, he would be rewarded six thousand and four hundred battle points a month if he were to guard a high-rank city. It would take him one and a half years to accumulate one hundred thousand battle points.

The battle points could be converted into immortal jade. But immortal jade couldn’t be used to exchange for battle points. One hundred thousand battle points was equivalent to one hundred thousand immortal jade. For Suqiu, she would be getting thirty-eight thousand and four hundred battle points in a year for defending a high-rank cultivation city. In other words, she would earn nearly forty-thousand immortal jade. Of course, she might lose her magical treasures, pills and even her very own life while defending a city. However, excluding half of the immortal jade to compensate the items lost in carrying out guard duty, she would still be able to enjoy an income of twenty-thousand immortal jade a year.

It was a considerable amount of immortal jade. The only limitation was that, no one knew when a Nascent Soul Realm demon would attack the city and eliminate all the cultivators there. As such, it was like trading one’s life for immortal jade.

For Ning Fan, danger wasn’t his main concern. It would at least need one and a half years to gather enough battle points if he was sent to guard the most dangerous city at the borders.

Currently, he was determined to form the Core and his objective was to break through Peak Spirit Severing Realm as soon as possible. One and a half years? No! I don’t want to waste any more time here.

The only way was to join the War Division.

The War Division’s mission was to exterminate demons. The battle points were rewarded based on the number of demons exterminated. A Vein Opening Realm demon was equivalent to one battle point. A Harmonious Spirit Realm demon was equal to one hundred battle points. The battle points awarded for a Gold Core Realm demon was twenty times of a Harmonious Spirit Realm demon (two thousand battle points) while killing a Nascent Soul Realm would earn one hundred thousand points!

I just need to eliminate a single Nascent Soul Realm demon to get enough points!

For a worst-case scenario, I could still eliminate one hundred Harmonious Spirit Realm demons with my Sword Sense. That would be ten thousand battle points. It wouldn’t take too long to accumulate one hundred thousand points. Perhaps, I could even lend Jing Zhuo and Suqiu a helping hand.

Jing Zhuo and Yin Suqiu actually had the strength comparable to an old ancestor. Originally, they intended to join the War Division but they changed their minds after listening to Ning Fan’s advice.

Ning Fan was ready to get himself involved in the war. However, he didn’t want the both of them to risk their lives. Spirit Severing Demon General… There’s a lot of danger in the War Division.

Aside from that, Ning Fan had a premonition that the demons were actually trying to stall for time. They seemed to be waiting for something. Once the ‘thing’ is completed, it would dangerous even for a Nascent Soul Realm cultivator to infiltrate rashly into the demons’ base.

Ning Fan was an exception as he possessed a number of trump cards which included two attacks with the strength at Spirit Severing Realm. He might not be able to win against all the cultivators below Spirit Severing Realm, but he was confident that he could escape from every one of them!

“Wang Yang, Early Gold Core Realm, assigned to Defense Division, guarding a low-rank city, Yi City…”

“Qin Wu, Late Gold Core Realm, assigned to War Division. Hmm. Your spirit is commendable…”

“Jing Zhuo, Half-Step Nascent Soul Realm. Unexpectedly, you wish to join the Defense Division, assigned to guard a middle-rank city, ‘Ju Shan Guan[1]’.

“Yin Suqiu, Peak Gold Core Realm, chose to join the Defense Division, wanting to guard the same city as Jing Zhuo. It’s such a waste for you not to join the War Division with your current cultivation realm.”

“Shao Ze…”

“Wen Zhu Zi…”

After all of them were assigned to their respective divisions, they returned to the inn for preparations as they would be heading to their assigned stations in a short while.

As a matter of fact, it was Ning Fan’s intention to have Jing Zhuo and Yin Suqiu guard a middle-rank cultivation city.

Jing Zhuo was glad that he didn’t need to risk his life. On the other hand, Yin Suqiu had a different perspective from him. Since Ning Fan prevented me to join War Division, then I’ll just follow his advice to join the Defense Division. But how could I just guard a middle-rank city?! The country is in need of my help…

She didn’t want to disregard his advice. As such, she discontentedly selected the most dangerous city among the middle-rank cities, ‘Ju Shan Guan’.

After all, she wasn’t willing to just wait for the demon tide to subside by itself without contributing anything.

When all the other cultivators had already left, Jie Xiu was yet to give Ning Fan the opportunity to select one of the divisions.

There were only the two of them left in the palace as silence fell upon the room.

A slight crease formed on his eyebrows as he took the initiative to speak.

“Fellow Daoist Jie, I wish to join the War Division. Hopefully you can give me some guidance…”

“Hehe, don’t worry. Let’s be patient and wait a little while longer…”

“Who are we waiting for?” Ning Fan raised his eyebrows and his eyes shone with alertness. It’s just an ordinary division selection. What exactly is he waiting for? Is it because he couldn’t make his own decision, or is he scheming something else?!

Humans are unpredictable. Therefore, one has to always stay alert. Since I possessed the demon general’s strikes, I am not afraid of any tricks that he is going to pull.

Both of them closed their eyes and waited patiently.

At that moment, Ning Fan’s mind became very sensitive like that of a fine string. If Jie Xiu displayed any abnormal behavior, he would immediately make him regret it.

After a few hours, Ning Fan’s eyes popped open widely while Jie Xiu slowly opened his eyes.

“ *cough* Fellow Daoist Zhou, thank you for your patience. He has already arrived..”

“Who?!”

All of a sudden, an intense feeling of danger could be felt all over his body.

A middle-aged man in dark dragon robe emerged in front of Jie Xiu.

He had a short moustache and a pair of eyes which were as sharp as an eagle’s. Might and power radiated from him even though he wasn’t enraged.

What shocked Ning Fan was that his spirit sense wasn’t aware of his appearance. The reason he opened his eyes was because of the danger he felt.

The aura he emanated was so imposing like that of a rainbow. Whenever someone meets his gaze, they would feel that his eyes were emitting a golden light. Suddenly, a flash of golden light went into his body, disrupting his mental state. He then felt pain from his mind. Subconsciously, he intended to step backwards to avoid the light. However, he gritted his teeth and stubbornly stayed on his original position.

I can’t back off! If I do so, it means I submit myself to him! Then the light will grow stronger, killing me from inside out!

“Crush!”

He used his Sword Sense to destroy the golden light within his body!

The rhythm of his breathing was disrupted. His eyes turned gloomy as he gave Jie Xiu and the black-robed man a cold stare.

“Are you the King of Great Jin?!”

“Indeed! I was patrolling in the south which was not far away from here. It was then that I heard that there was a fellow Daoist at Nascent Soul Realm wanting to join my army. So I intentionally came to meet him.. Those Gold Core Realm cultivators are only ants in my eyes. I thought you are the one whom I can have high expectations on in the south of Great Jin. Unexpectedly, it’s so disappointing as you are just a Harmonious Spirit Realm cultivator who pretended to be a Nascent Soul Realm cultivator and plundered Wei Country! I can see through your façade in my eyes! Hmmph, Jie Xiu! Your mistake will be noted as you have failed to distinguish a Harmonious Spirit Realm cultivator from a Nascent Soul Realm cultivator!”

The superiority of a king could be felt from just his words. Also, his Late Nascent Soul Realm strength caused the entire palace to tremble. Absolute fear was reflected from Jie Xiu’s expression.

King of Great Jin!

He was stupefied as he originally requested for the king’s arrival to find out about Ning Fan’s background by claiming that Ning Fan was a Nascent Soul Realm cultivator who intended to join the army. He needed the king to rope him in as he felt that Ning Fan’s mind wasn’t pure.

Because of that, the king specially travelled to Quwo City.

However, Jie Xiu had never thought that the fearsome Ning Fan was just a Harmonious Spirit Realm junior! Is it true that he plundered Wei Country? Is he truly capable of having Nascent Soul Realm spirit sense?! It couldn’t be. But the king wouldn’t be wrong about him as His Majesty possesses the ‘Golden Eye Technique’. There’s no way he could be wrong!

His thoughts were in disorder. Things had gone beyond his expectations.

After the king shot a few glances at Ning Fan, he broke the silence by coldly saying, “Although you are just at Harmonious Spirit Realm, your strength is truly uncommon. Your Body Refining Technique had already reached Silver Bone Realm. It’s evident that you are the one who robbed Wei Country. Do you really want to join the army in order to use the Ancient Teleportation Formation?!”

“Precisely!” Ning Fan answered with a resolute tone. For him, Late Nascent Soul Realm cultivator was indeed powerful but he had trump cards that are able to inflict heavy damage on him!

“I always keep my promise. For me, one word is as heavy as nine boulders. I’ve issued a decree which stated that only Gold Core Realm cultivators can enter the War Division. This promise is unrelated to my heart of Dao but it can’t be disregarded. I want to see whether you have the capability to make me break my promise! I’ll give you a chance to display all your power to attack me. I want to judge whether your techniques are enough to change my mind. I won’t need a cultivator who only possess Silver Bone Realm! Without anything worthy from you, I will treat you as one of the comrades of the demons and eliminate you as there is a strand of demon blood in your veins!”

The king’s eyes shone and silver light surrounded his body! Moreover, he pointed out the thin strand of Winged Demon’s blood which Ning Fan awakened!

He wasn’t just an ordinary Late Nascent Soul Realm old monster but also had the Second Realm of Silver Bone for his Body Refining Technique!

His intention was to test Ning Fan’s strength. If Ning Fan failed to impress him, he would undoubtedly end him. He would then use Ning Fan’s demon blood as the excuse for executing him.

“Show me your true abilities! Let me see whether you are good enough to help my country!”

“…”

Ning Fan didn’t reply.

The intention of not conceding defeat boiled within his heart.

He turned furious when he thought about the king’s Golden Eye Technique earlier. If he wasn’t able to withstand the golden light or moved a step backwards, he would have been killed by the golden light!

So what if he is a Late Nascent Soul Realm cultivator?! What can he do to me? He isn’t powerful enough to eliminate me!

Since he wanted to test me… Good! As you wish!

“Ice Smash!”

Ning Fan let out a roar and threw a punch at him. A single punch of that technique froze the heavens and earth!

However, before the ice had enough time to form, the king’s eyes radiated disappointment and he pulverized the ice with just a single finger.

Fragments of shattered ice sprinkled down from the sky.

“If this is only what you are capable of, I can’t keep you!”

“Ice Smash!” Ning Fan threw another punch, freezing the heavens and earth!

“This technique has no effect on me…”

“Really?! What about this?!”

At that moment, the Lightning Star between Ning Fan’s brows flashed, moving the lightning in the heavens and earth!

The king’s expression had a slight change for the first time.

“The Star of a Fiendgod?!”

Footnotes

^ Ju Shan Guan in Chinese characters are 巨散关. It is literally translated into Giant Scattered Passed. Guan (关) carries the meaning of a barrier that set up to guard the inflow and outflow traffic of a dangerous place.

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