Chapter 1621: Chapter 66: Another Conversation with the Martial Saint, the Remarkable Ji Xuan! (Part 2)
Hearing these words, Jiang Ning was stirred inwardly.
"I wonder how much senior knows about the Side-by-Side King, Ji Xuan, of the Great Xia Imperial Family?" Jiang Ning asked.
"Do you have a feud with him?" The old man, perceptive as he was, pinpointed Jiang Ning’s hidden thoughts with just a word.
Upon hearing this, Jiang Ning nodded calmly, "Though we’ve never met, we are already enemies."
Upon hearing this, the old man laughed heartily.
"I’m quite curious, with your previous strength, you dared to provoke such a remarkable figure."
"If the old Taoist from Qingxu Temple were here, he would definitely calculate it for a while. The entangled karma between you and him could be figured out seven or eight parts by the old Taoist from Qingxu Temple."
Upon hearing these words, Jiang Ning’s heart was alarmed.
The fact that Ji Xuan, the Side-by-Side King, could earn such commendation from this Martial Saint, who had suppressed the world for eight hundred years, speaks volumes.
At the same time, the old man revealed the terrifying nature of the temple master of Qingxu Temple.
The ability to calculate the entangled karma between him and Ji Xuan out of nowhere was nothing short of miraculous.
He never thought this old man would deceive him on this matter.
There was neither need nor reason to do so.
"It seems that the world’s heroes should not be underestimated!" he cautioned himself inwardly.
He pondered that in future actions, he needs to be exceedingly cautious.
For now, he cannot fully expose himself to the world’s heroes.
The old man took a sip of tea, noticed Jiang Ning’s slight concentration, and spoke again, "Is there any chance of reconciliation between you two?"
Jiang Ning thought for a moment, then shook his head: "Very difficult! Ji Xuan’s years of planning have been ruined by me."
"Does it involve the path of Dao?" the old man asked again.
"Yes!" Jiang Ning nodded.
"That does indeed sound troublesome! Struggles over the Dao path have always been brutal!" the old man said.
"Could senior perhaps tell me why Ji Xuan garnered such remarkable praise from you?" Jiang Ning asked.
"Ji Xuan, from a young age, had astonishing talent. From childhood, he received the full support and cultivation of the Ji Clan, and pursued Immortal Martial dual cultivation early on. But it was at the age of fifty he stepped into the ranks of the world’s strongest, and now, after more than a hundred and fifty years, no one knows how far he has progressed in the Martial Arts."
"As for the Immortal Dao, he has long cultivated the Yang God and is only one small creation away from merging the Primordial Spirit."
At this point, the old man glanced at Jiang Ning.
Jiang Ning’s heart skipped a beat.
Intuition told him that perhaps Lin Qingyi was Ji Xuan’s destined creation.
And he had been the one to seize that creation.
The old man glanced at Jiang Ning, then continued: "However, Ji Xuan’s path to growth has been too smooth, with the full support of the Ji Clan, sparing him much trial. He is said to be the second in the world, but in my eyes, there’s still some distance from those few."
Jiang Ning asked, "Senior, how far are they from the so-called strongest?"
"That’s a big difference." The old man shook his head: "In the path of Martial Arts, the First-grade is the peak of the mountain. Climbing to the highest peak, looking further ahead, there is no road; only vast heavens lie before."
"Therefore, the world’s Martial Artists, upon reaching this point, all find themselves trapped on the mountain’s peak."
"But the passing of time is not wasted for them either."
"With time, as their depth of accumulation grows, their Martial skills become more refined, and the path they’ve chosen for themselves goes further."
Hearing these words, Jiang Ning felt a bit puzzled.
"Senior, what do you mean by their own path?" he asked his doubt.
"Have you not found it?" The old man gave Jiang Ning a skeptical look, then said: "In the world of Martial Arts, the stages are entry, mastery, small success, great success, and perfection."
"But perfection is not the true limit."
"Everyone must, on the foundation of Martial Arts perfection, forge their own path, create a path that belongs solely to them."
"This is a path any strong one must walk."
"And the reason Ji Xuan is said to be remarkable is that the Imperial technique he majors in, the Imperial Extreme World Suppressing Skill, has long surpassed perfection, paving his own path, the path of the Emperor’s Domain. It’s a supreme cultivation technique, forming its own domain."
"This is why there’s still a huge gap between the strongest and figures like Ji Xuan."
Upon hearing these words, Jiang Ning immediately understood.
Surpassing perfection and forging one’s own path.
This is akin to the breakthrough beyond the limits in his own cultivation technique.
He also immediately understood why there was the divine skill of the Sixteen-Foot Golden Body in the Vajra Temple.
It must be because a strong one in the Vajra Temple once used the Vajra Immortal Body to forge their own path, and comprehended the Sixteen-Foot Golden Body divine skill.
"Senior, is it difficult to surpass perfection and forge one’s own path?" Jiang Ning asked.
"Very difficult!" the old man nodded: "The more profound the cultivation technique, the harder it is to take this step. The Imperial Extreme World Suppressing Skill, is the ultimate cultivation technique practiced by the ancestors of the Ji Clan. Derived from the lineage of the Ancient Human King, in terms of technique level, even the so-called supreme sect skills of the Vajra Temple and Qingxu Temple should be half a rank lower. A hundred years ago, Ji Xuan had already taken this step, his natural talent and comprehension, in my eyes, is within the top thirty."
The top thirty!
Jiang Ning mumbled inwardly, then took a sip of tea.
Again he looked up at the old man in front of him.
"Senior, what about me?"
"Top three!" the old man said.
"Top three?" Jiang Ning was somewhat surprised.
"Do you think I rated you too low? At your age, with no strong backing, yet you’ve already stepped into the First Grade Unity Realm?" the old man said.
"No..." Jiang Ning said, but the old man said, "Don’t mind it. Putting you in the top three is because I’ve seen the prodigies of the Nine Heavens."
"The Nine Heavens?" Upon hearing this term, Jiang Ning was even more surprised.
Regarding the Nine Heavens, he had already heard about it many times.
Previously, Xia Xuanyan’s self-boasting often mentioned the Nine Heavens.
This time, from the mouth of this Martial Saint who had suppressed the world for over eight hundred years, the Nine Heavens was mentioned once again.
But now, his understanding of the Nine Heavens was still limited to what he heard from them.
"No way!"
He secretly shook his head inwardly.
Earlier in Shangyang Grotto Heaven, he encountered a mysterious young girl.
A girl who claimed to be Zhou Yun.
That girl claimed to be from Cloud Sky.
As he knew, the Nine Heavens referred to as Biyou Heaven, Five Elements Heaven, Nine Heavens.
"Senior, is there anything special about the Nine Heavens?" Jiang Ning asked.
"In my over eight hundred years, I once stepped into an unprecedented realm, glimpsed a new world, and then wished to sweep away the remnants of the previous era, clashing with Immortal Dao powerhouses."
"At that time, I also confronted the so-called Immortals."
"But whether it was an Immortal or a deity, none were my match. I killed more than a handful of Immortals and deities and flattened several Grotto Heavens."
"However, from the Nine Heavens came powerhouses of the Immortal Dao, true powerhouses of the Immortal Dao."
The old man paused, his eyes tinged with nostalgia.
"They were descendants of Heavenly Venerates, descendants of a Dao Ancestor, younger than me, but slightly superior. A powerhouse whose words and actions reversed the heavens, as if possessing the power to recreate the world, also mastered certain powers of space and time, with an Immortal Tree in the air, the heavens and earth yielding."
"Later, I learned that they were existences that condensed the Flower of Dao, the second realm in the Immortal Dao."
"That battle was evenly matched, but I believed that if it continued, I would surely win, because his power was source-less, rootless, while my power came from within, not reliant on the external heavens and earth. But at the time, I felt there was no need to continue the battle."
"Because I had just stepped into the new world, given time, I would definitely grow stronger."
"And that Immortal Dao powerhouse, without suitable soil or external conditions, could barely maintain their realm, let alone advance."
Hearing these words, Jiang Ning immediately understood.
The old man in front of him spoke of an existence that had condensed the Flower of Dao.
It is the second realm of the Immortal Dao, the Heavenly Immortal.
"Later, did you have any skirmishes with them, senior?" Jiang Ning asked.
The old man shook his head: "At that time, we made an oral agreement. I planned that when my strength improved further, I would tear the agreement apart and flatten the Nine Heavens."
"Senior, you are indeed... straightforward!" Jiang Ning said.
The old man took a sip of tea.
"An agreement is meant to be torn. Later, when I believed my strength was sufficient, I sent a spirit body to the Nine Heavens for a trip, yet unwillingly found that individuals like that were not unique."
"And each of the Nine Heavens was equipped with Dao soldiers left behind by the Heavenly Venerates and Dao Ancestors."
"Once such Dao soldiers were unleashed, even I couldn’t resist! So it was let go!" The old man shook his head, then said, "But in hindsight, that might’ve been shown to me intentionally, perhaps out of fear of me."
"Otherwise, now my time is almost up, my strength has greatly declined, yet no one wants to clash with me."
"My flesh, that is considered the ultimate Treasure Medicine in their eyes."
