Omens Before the Storm

A few days later, Jie Ning made another trip to Blade Castle, hoping to spend the points he held directly; if he could convert them into strength, that would be even better.

However, after wandering around for a while, Jie Ning suddenly realized that he did not seem to have any particular needs.

He had not yet encountered any bottlenecks in his comprehension of Profound Mysteries, and his soul could be strengthened on its own.

In the end, Jie Ning simply bought some books, including those containing information about the current state of Hell, as well as some notes on the cultivation insights of various elements.

Jie Ning browsed through them roughly and gleaned one piece of information from the books: the current title of "invincible among Gods" belonged to the "Overgod's Envoys."

The Overgods of the present day no longer had an agreement to only grant one Sovereign Artifact to their own Overgod's Envoy, so most Overgod's Envoys now possessed a full set of three Sovereign Artifacts.

It was not even impossible for some to be gifted a Sovereign Artifact simply because an Overgod found them pleasing; the book even recorded such a "fateful encounter."

Of course, the protagonist of this "fateful encounter" was already an Overgod's Envoy himself.

This made Jie Ning's heart tighten slightly. In battles between God-level experts, excluding Paragons, Sovereign Artifacts were like weapons of mass destruction. If, during a fight one day, an opponent suddenly pulled one out...

Now, in the Supreme Planes, it could be said that apart from the Overgods, these Overgod's Envoys were invincible; at the very least, no one else could threaten them.

Leaving Blade Castle, Jie Ning toured the rest of Blade City. Having just read those books, he felt a lack of security, thinking he should plan in advance which direction to flee if he encountered trouble.

In the north of Blade City, there was an ordinary commercial district.

There were many shops here, the difference being that these shops were privately run.

One had to be more careful when spending here, and purchasing items required relying on one's own judgment; the probability of buying inferior goods was not zero.

Of course, Jie Ning did not need to worry about this. He wore the badge of the Blade Army, and the owners of these shops would not dare to use such tricks in front of him.

Jie Ning saw many peculiar shops and services here.

For instance, there were assassins who had openly opened a storefront, with a sign at the entrance detailing their scope of business, their core competitiveness being that they were relatively cheap;

There were also shops run by Earth-element God-level experts, specializing in construction projects like castles, manors, and other civil engineering works;

There were also shops specializing in the sale of "Curios." Curios were basically generated by Heaven and Earth, and many people had the habit of collecting them.

From time to time, people would walk into these shops out of curiosity.

Even Jie Ning's attention was drawn the moment he saw the shop.

He suddenly thought, in the original story, wasn't the Supreme God Token also mistaken for a Heaven and Earth Curio?

He walked into the shop with a sense of curiosity.

Only after stepping inside did Jie Ning realize he had been overthinking things.

The shop did indeed sell Curios; that was correct.

But in this time period, the number of Curios appearing in the world was beyond one's imagination, and the vast majority of them had no use at all. The Curios sold here basically belonged to this category.

For example, a stone block that automatically condensed Earth elements to slowly generate Black Jade. After sensing it, Jie Ning roughly estimated that if this Curio were on the Bana Continent, it would only produce one cubic centimeter of Black Jade in a thousand years.

There were others, like beads that could absorb Water-element attacks but had a durability limit of only the Saint Realm...

Perhaps these things would have some use in a Material Plane, but in Hell, they were truly no different from trash; many people could even hand-craft a "pirated" Heaven and Earth Curio that surpassed the original.

However, there were some Curios among them that, while not very useful, still caught Jie Ning's eye, such as the stone sphere in front of him.

In front of each Curio was a sign with a simple description.

"Gravity Bead: Can cast 'Gravity Space' once a day. The power is enough to bind an ordinary Low-God for about two breaths of time."

Not knowing if it would be helpful for his comprehension of the 'Gravity Space' Profound Mystery, Jie Ning bought it with interest. After all, it wasn't expensive, costing him only eight Ink Stones.

These were the Ink Stones Jie Ning had specifically gone to find Kala to exchange for a Middle-God spark earlier.

After spending some days wandering around, Jie Ning had a rough concept of the layout of Blade City's outer city and had formed a simple map in his mind before returning to his state of immersive cultivation.

Soon, another thirty-plus years passed. Jie Ning spent these years mostly in cultivation, occasionally meeting up with a few acquaintances.

The only surprise during this period was that Dinar had broken through to become a Middle-God some time ago.

One morning, Jie Ning's courtyard welcomed two guests.

"So, what business do you two have with me?" Jie Ning looked at Mosang and Korur before him.

The two of them looked at Jie Ning with a mysterious air; no one knew when these two had gotten together.

"Hehe, Jie Ning, we're here to tell you some good news," Korur smiled triumphantly. "Mosang and I came to find you the very moment we got the news."

"I haven't even told Dinar about this yet."

"What good news?" Jie Ning looked at Korur's strange expression and became slightly interested.

Mosang took over, his tone somewhat excited, "Jie Ning, this news is truly big news."

"What big news? Are you going to become a High-God, Mosang?" Jie Ning joked. "Should I call you Lord Mosang from now on?"

"That's not it," Mosang gave a sheepish smile first. "It's not news of that sort."

"It's about the Combat Projections," Mosang didn't play riddles. "Blade Castle just issued a notice: in a while, a large number of Combat Projections will be publicly sold at Blade Castle for a limited time."

"All members of the Blade Army can choose to spend points to view Combat Projections. It is said that many of these feature battles between powerful experts, and rumors even suggest there are projections of battles between Seven-star Demon experts collected by the Army Lord himself," Mosang said, sounding somewhat excited.

The group was certain that none of the projections would be of the Army Lord's own battles—after all, no one would be willing to expose their own methods—but the prospect of seeing other Seven-star Demon projections was enough to elicit gasps of amazement from them.

Jie Ning also became interested. Experts at that level had generally reached a certain height on the path of fusing profound mysteries, and their battles still held significant reference value for him at his current stage.

"What is the price?" Jie Ning asked the two of them.

"That hasn't been announced yet," Korur added, "but all the Blade Army members are going crazy right now."

"Everyone has started frantically heading to Blade Castle to accept missions. They're grinding for points, planning to watch the projections the moment they're released, terrified of missing this opportunity."

"Even some of the high-difficulty missions that were previously ignored are being snatched up by people forming teams."

Mosang looked at Jie Ning with glowing eyes. "Let's form a team and take on missions together."

"Otherwise, it would be terrible if we didn't have enough points when the projections are released."

Hearing this, Jie Ning felt a sense of unease. "Are there really that many missions accumulated in Blade Castle?"

"Even after everyone is fighting over them, there are still more?"

At this point, Mosang and Korur also sensed something strange, and the two looked at each other. "According to the information we received, the castle still has a massive number of missions requiring manpower."

Just then, a familiar voice came from outside the door. "Jie Ning, are you in?"

Jie Ning's expression shifted; the timing was perfect. He went out and welcomed the visitor inside. "Kala, come on in."

As soon as Kala entered the room and saw Mosang and the others, he raised an eyebrow. "No wonder I couldn't find anyone at your place; you're all here at Jie Ning's."

"Kala, are you here because of the projections too?" Jie Ning and Kala had grown much closer, so he asked directly.

"That's part of the reason." Kala nodded.

Then, Kala's expression turned serious. "There is other news, something more important than that."

"What news?" Mosang was slightly stunned; he had thought the projections were the biggest thing happening.

"Expansion. The Blade Army is going to undergo a massive expansion," Kala said with a solemn expression.

"A massive expansion? Where are they getting the people?" Mosang asked, puzzled. He remembered that the recruitment criteria for the Blade Army were not easy to meet.

"They're lowering the threshold." Kala's tone was also filled with uncertainty. "This expansion only looks at strength. As long as you are at the Middle-God level or above, anyone can join the Blade Army."

"The projections are just one of the chips being played to attract more experts."

Jie Ning was now certain that something was wrong. "Kala, is this information accurate?"

"I just came back from Brother Beile's side." Kala had gone to find Beile to confirm the news the moment he heard it.

"Basically, everyone with a bit of foresight knows about this by now."

"Brother Beile even hinted to me that there will be many new missions appearing in the castle related to the assessment of new recruits."

"Do you know what the expansion is for?" Jie Ning's gaze darkened. He hoped it wasn't one of those major events.

"I don't know either. It's said that the order was issued directly by the Army Lord after he returned from a trip a while ago." Kala knew that such situations usually meant something big was about to happen, and it was highly unlikely to be anything good.

Korur asked suspiciously, "Could it be that we're about to go to war with Black Dragon Fortress?"

He still remembered the ambush on the way to Blade City.

Kala shook his head hesitantly. "Probably not. The strength of Black Dragon Fortress is inherently weaker than our Blade Army."

"Besides, if we were going to move against Black Dragon Fortress, I should have heard some rumors about it."

Jie Ning's ominous premonition grew heavier.

"Alright, that's all for the news." Kala looked at the group. "No matter what happens, strength is what matters most."

"Come to think of it, besides the projections you know about, the castle will also be selling a large number of High-level Divine Artifacts. These all have the potential to directly enhance our strength."

"But these require a massive amount of points, which is why I came to invite you to do missions together."

"We know a bit about each other's foundations, so cooperating will be more secure."

Korur suddenly thought of something. "Will the existing Reserve Army be affected?"

Kala glanced at him. "There's no news on that front yet."

"However, based on past experience, if a real situation occurs, the Reserve Army will have to go to the battlefield all the same," Kala reminded him.

"You should go back and have Dinar register immediately." Kala knew that Dinar had already become a Middle-God. "No, Jie Ning, you need to take Dinar over there."

"He's been living with Korur for so long that I almost thought he was Korur's personal reserve."

Jie Ning nodded and then asked directly about the missions. "What kind of missions do you plan to take?" In such a time of great change, he figured he couldn't stay on the sidelines, and he needed to gather information about the surroundings.

Hearing this, Kala breathed a sigh of relief. It was clear that Jie Ning had agreed, and he was very satisfied with Jie Ning's strength.

He had witnessed Jie Ning's power; if the group were to encounter an accident, Jie Ning could hold off several people temporarily, which might just be enough to turn the tide of battle.

"Most of the new missions that will appear in the near future will focus on clearing out various bandit forces around Blade City," Kala explained. "Those are our targets."

Mosang felt it was strange. "Won't those bandits be accepted as the next batch of recruits?"

Otherwise, wouldn't they be potential soldiers?

Kala said with a meaningful look, "Bandits who dare to linger in the sphere of influence of Blade City basically all have informants in the city. Someone will pass the news to those guys. I estimate that the news has already reached their ears, and I suspect the smart ones are no longer bandits."

"If we move any slower, we might even see a former boss leading a team to wipe out the current gang just to farm points."

"I accept." Jie Ning was quite satisfied with this type of mission.

Kala looked at Korur and Mosang, "Are you two coming along?"

Korur and Mosang felt a bit awkward; it was clearly the two of them who had arrived first.

However, neither of them would refuse, "We're definitely in."

"Count Dinar in as well," Korur added.

"That's a small matter." Kala didn't mind; he only cared about safety.

Jie Ning asked, "Then when do we start?"

"Kachishan at the mission counter will accept a few missions directly in my name once they are posted," Kala gave them the inside scoop, "Don't worry, they will all be carefully selected."

Kala once again demonstrated his connections within Blade City to the three of them.

Over the years, they had long since witnessed Kala's miraculous network of contacts.

Mosang couldn't help but retort, "Kala, how do you manage to be loathed by both man and beast in the Blade Army, yet be like a fish in water within the city?"

"Pah, pah, pah, what do you mean loathed by man and beast?" Kala said indignantly, "It's just that those guys are jealous that I have such good friendships with several of the Hundred Guards, so they target me."

"And the ladies in the city are much more sensible than them."

Jie Ning couldn't help but reveal a faint smile. Kala had come to Hell while in the Saint Realm, yet he was living very well now; he certainly had his own unique set of skills.

"Envious, aren't you, you lot." Kala waved his hand triumphantly, "Alright, I'll come find you when there's news."

"Don't go running around during this time."

After Kala left, Jie Ning followed Korur to find Dinar and went to the castle to complete the formalities.

But the situation had indeed changed this time; besides being able to choose a room, Dinar was not given the opportunity to select a private Reserve Army.

From then on, Jie Ning was left with only Mondoka as a subordinate in the Reserve Army.

Seeking recommendation votes, seeking monthly tickets.

There is one more update coming a bit later; it will definitely be posted.

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