A year later, Ning Fan, who had finished healing, finally made contact with Tai Yuan Crossing and reported the details of the battle on that day.

At the same time, Ning Fan also received news from Tai Yuan Crossing that not only had the entire Eleventh Waterway he was on been recaptured, but also the Second, Fifth, and Seventh Waterways had been fully reclaimed.

The First, Fourth, Eighth, Tenth, and Twelfth Waterways were also nearing completion; in a few months or at most a year or two, all can be fully reclaimed.

Only the Third, Sixth, and Ninth Waterways, which connect the Western, Northern, and Southern Three Heavens, have encountered stalemates with the different race. The battle there has begun to show signs of heating up. It’s said that even some Vice Alliance Hierarchs have been dispatched to the front lines of the Third, Sixth, and Ninth paths...

Ning Fan volunteered, expressing his desire to leave the Eleventh Path and join the more intense battles on the Third, Sixth, and Ninth Paths, but unfortunately was turned down by Emperor Cang.

[Although the situation on the Third, Sixth, and Ninth paths is intense, the number of Immortal Emperors among the enemy’s forces is not many. As long as we spend a little more time, the conquest can always be completed. Dear brother, do not forget, recovering the waterways is just the first step in our plan. The reason for the chaos of the different race this time lies in the problem with the Immortal Emperor Seal at the riverbed. Once all the waterways are retaken, it will be time for my action. At that time, brother, I must risk going to the bottom of the river, to the heart of the different race’s territory, to accomplish the great deed of repairing the Immortal Emperor Seal. This matter is extremely dangerous, have you considered joining this action...]

Of course, he would participate! Ning Fan quickly gave a definitive answer to Emperor Cang, which made Emperor Cang and others overjoyed.

A person’s reputation casts a long shadow. Once it was confirmed that Ning Fan would be involved, everyone’s confidence rose significantly.

The only fault was that within Eastern Heaven, there were too many people Ning Fan cared about. Just for this reason alone, no matter how dangerous the action to repair the Immortal Emperor Seal might be, Ning Fan would not refuse it; he had already... no need to consider this matter further!

When thinking about heading out in another dozen years to repair the Immortal Emperor Seal, Ning Fan did not feel the urgency to rush to other waterways for minor skirmishes with the different race.

Increasing strength and enhancing the success rate of this action is of utmost importance...

A few days later, Ning Fan managed to deceive and cross the sea, once again transforming into a fish, diving into the depths of the Boundary River.

This time, he did not make a grand entrance into the water but conducted a quiet operation, even deceiving the local masters of the gate.

Due to Ning Fan’s previous transformation into a Mount Tai Fish to seize the Sea-Stabilizing Divine Needle, and his disregard for the magnetic force of the Boundary River to slay the Dragon-Horse Prince underwater, all different races were terrified by Ning Fan’s deeds.

They did not expect that as a master of Eastern Heaven, Ning Fan possessed such abilities, being able to come and go freely at the riverbed and even disguise himself as a different race, making it hard to distinguish... For a time, the major clans of the Eleventh Path were on high alert, fearing Ning Fan might disguise himself to infiltrate the riverbed and assassinate strong figures of various clans.

All aquatic clans were in a state of high alert, and when Ning Fan entered the water, he realized this.

Firstly, there were a lot more different races patrolling the riverbed for no reason.

Secondly, when Ning Fan disguised himself as a monstrous catfish seeking to integrate back into the catfish clan to steal Gloomy Wood, he was directly denied entry by the strong figures of the catfish clan, on the grounds that he was unfamiliar. During this special period, no new faces were allowed into the clan land.

Ning Fan then disguised himself as Ice-Eyed Fish, Sea Emperor Carp, Fire-Winged Carp... Yet all these clans, like the catfish clan, gave him no chance to blend in.

Clearly, this entry into the water differed from the previous one; the same tactics couldn’t be repeated.

Disguising as an external aquatic clan, integrating back with ancestral roots, deliberately committing crimes, using illusory arts to control enemies, and getting imprisoned into the underground mineral veins... This was the tactic Ning Fan used last time.

With Ghost Eye’s invisibility and the Relationship Severing Sword isolating Rebellion of Heaven’s prediction, Ning Fan directly went invisible to infiltrate the opposing clan lands, using illusory arts to control the clan leader and randomly using pretexts to open underground mineral veins, seizing the opportunity to delve in... This was the tactic Ning Fan employed this time.

It must be said, the Relationship Severing Sword was very handy, coordinating with Ghost Eye such that even the sensory formations of various clans could not detect Ning Fan’s intrusion.

Because this was a covert operation, Ning Fan no longer needed to specifically choose any fish-like clan to invade; as long as it was under the Immortal Emperor level of influence, he visited each one.

He did not steal from the Immortal Emperor level clans. He discovered that the Gloomy Wood mineral veins of Immortal Emperor level clans, for reasons unknown, were connected with the Immortal Emperor Seal pattern of the Eastern Boundary River! If Ning Fan touched the Gloomy Wood of Immortal Emperor powers, it would potentially destroy the Immortal Emperor Seal...

Ning Fan was determined to participate in the restoration of the Immortal Emperor Seal’s action, so how could he willingly go and damage the Immortal Emperor Seal? A dam of a thousand miles falls into disrepair at the ant hole. If his greed for the eight hundred million years Yin Chen Wood of the Immortal Emperor clan led to the ultimate failure in repairing the Immortal Emperor Seal, it would be an unforgivable offense...

After careful consideration, he gave up the idea of stealing from the Immortal Emperor clan’s Gloomy Wood, and focused solely on stealing from Immortal Venerable and Immortal King clans.

One day later, Ning Fan retraced his path, stealthily returning to the Monstrous Catfish Clan; three days later, Ning Fan quietly left the Monstrous Catfish Clan, taking with him over two hundred pounds of Eight Hundred Million Years Gloomy Wood, along with several hundred Wood Dragons formed from the condensed underground wood essence...

On the fourth day, Ning Fan visited the Ice-Eyed Clan, obtaining ninety-four pounds of Eight Hundred Million Years Gloomy Wood...

On the seventh day, Ning Fan visited the Sea Emperor Carp Clan...

On the eleventh day, Ning Fan visited...

Unlike last time, because the highest-grade Primordial Thunder Cauldron and Flame Thunder Fire were occupied by the Sixteen-Heart Pill, Ning Fan did not hurry to start alchemy but kept the items in his hands first.

In the blink of an eye, ten months passed, and throughout the Eleventh Water Territory, a total of over a hundred Immortal Venerable and Immortal King powers had all been robbed by Ning Fan!

Looking at the Eleventh Waterway, except for those Immortal Emperor clans, all the remaining Eight Hundred Million Years Gloomy Wood entered Ning Fan’s pocket...

Common people describe wealth, often saying "wealth rivaling nations." Ning Fan felt that he should not just say his wealth rivals nations, but rather it rivals Eastern Heaven, or even the Four Heavens!

After robbing the Eleventh Water Territory, he gained over twenty-four thousand pounds of Eight Hundred Million Years Gloomy Wood. If he used it all to refine Immeasurable Pills, maybe it would be enough for all Shattered Thought Elders above the Four Heavens to break through to the Eternal Immortal Venerable...

After all, for a common Shattered Thought Peak to break through to an Immortal Venerable, only a mere five hundred Immeasurable Pills would be enough. For Ning Fan, it was different; his Divine Spirit Wasted Body was too domineering, originally taking tens of thousands of Immeasurable Pills before all his cultivations broke through to the Immortal Venerable Realm.

And the cultivation at the Timeless Realm, with each layer increase, the effect of Immeasurable Pills reduces by half. This is somewhat similar to the first step in Void Fragmentation, greatly increasing the consumption of Immeasurable Pills. So, even though Ning Fan currently holds a large amount of Eight Hundred Million Years Gloomy Wood, he is not certain how much his cultivation can rise after consuming them.

Greed is human nature, and Ning Fan is not immune to it. Since these Eight Hundred Million Years Gloomy Wood are the enemy’s resources, Ning Fan doesn’t mind being a little greedier.

How can only robbing the Eleventh Water Territory be enough?

Just in time, during the ten months Ning Fan was stealing, the Twelfth Water Territory close to the Eleventh Path had already completed its full recovery. Ning Fan decided to take the plunge, directly heading to the Twelfth Waterway to start stealing the Twelfth Path’s Gloomy Wood...

The Twelfth Path’s Gloomy Wood reserves were not as much as the Eleventh Path’s, and in less than nine months, Ning Fan had stolen all the Immortal Venerable and Immortal King powers of the Twelfth Path without anyone noticing.

Coincidentally, during these nine months, the Tenth Water Territory was also fully recovered, as was the First Waterway.

Thus, Ning Fan unreservedly went to the Tenth Waterway for a major theft, and once he finished stealing the Tenth Path, except for the Third, Sixth, and Ninth Waterways, all other waterways had been fully recovered.

Logically speaking, after finishing with the Tenth Path, Ning Fan should conveniently go to the Ninth Path, but the situation in the Ninth Path was somewhat special: Ning Fan sensed the presence of Quasi-Saints using Boundless Rain Thought, not just one, but two!

Considering that the Ninth Waterway connects to the southern heavenly gate, its geographical location is especially important, having two different race Quasi-Saints stationing there is not surprising.

Because there were Quasi-Saints directly stationed there, Ning Fan did not act recklessly in the Ninth Path, discovering that the Ninth Path’s mineral veins, overtly and covertly, were sensed by countless restrictions from those two Quasi-Saints. If anyone privately opened the underground mineral veins, they would inevitably be questioned by those two Quasi-Saints nearby...

Thus, Ning Fan had no choice but to pass over the Ninth Path and cross over to the Eighth Waterway for a major theft.

After stealing from the Eighth Waterway, he went onto the Seventh Waterway, and upon reaching the Sixth Waterway, Ning Fan found that the number of Quasi-Saints there was actually six to seven. He was even more hesitant to act carelessly. The Sixth Waterway connects to Eastern Heaven, and on the waterway leading to Eastern Heaven, the number of Quasi-Saints far exceeds the waterway leading to the southern heavenly gate. It’s said that the Northern Heaven situation is the most treacherous, and now it seems this statement is indeed true...

Ning Fan bypassed the Sixth Path, stealing extensively from the Fifth and Fourth Paths, and then bypassed the Third Path where a Quasi-Saint stationed, moving onto the Second and First Paths.

By the time Ning Fan had stolen throughout the entire Eastern Boundary River and returned to Lingyun Pass, it had been a full eleven years since he first snuck into the Boundary River!

The total amount of Eight Hundred Million Years Gloomy Wood within the Xuan Yin Treasure reached a terrifying 220,000 pounds!

Such an amount of Eight Hundred Million Years Gloomy Wood is enough to mobilize all Quasi-Saints in the Four Heavens to come and rob Ning Fan!

Ning Fan knows the importance, he would absolutely never let outsiders know about this! He’s not a saintly figure, even less would distribute these Eight Hundred Million Years Gloomy Wood to Eastern Heaven cultivators. Because he knows, however righteous the Eastern Celestial Cultivators may be, they ultimately have their self-interests.

The ancients said, "Party comrades can share hardships, but not wealth."

It is said, great kindness can become great enmity.

With the great war imminent, if he were to distribute a large amount of Eight Hundred Million Years Yin Chen Wood to other Eastern Celestial Cultivators, the harvest would likely not be gratitude, but instead greed and schemes from countless people...

The originally unified Boundary River Alliance might even fall to infighting and disintegration due to the temptation of such a large quantity of Eight Hundred Million Years Yin Chen Wood...

Even if they were the Shenhao Twin Emperors or Old Monster Bai, in their cultivation processes, who wouldn’t need Immeasurable Pills? For such beings, a small amount of Immeasurable Pills might mean nothing, but a large quantity could pave their way to becoming a Quasi-Saint. Who knows what they would do if they found out about this...

"It has been eleven years, and those Incense Slaves seem to be nearly finished refining my Sixteen-Heart Pills. Thus, I can free up the Primitive Thunder Cauldron and Flame Thunder Fire to refine Immeasurable Pills..."

"There is one more thing that’s quite troublesome. Although I possess a large amount of Eight Hundred Million Years Yin Chen Wood, refining Immeasurable Pills requires more than just this; other medicinal materials are also needed..."

Thinking of this, Ning Fan suddenly felt a bit of a headache, a joyful trouble indeed.

Where could he get an equal quantity of other ingredients...

The Eastern Heaven certainly couldn’t scrape together that many medicinal materials, probably not even a fraction of it.

Indeed, it seems he has no choice but to rely on the Ancient Kingdom Trade Array...

Ning Fan got in touch with an elder from the Tongtian (Sky-reaching) Sect through the Ancient Kingdom Trade Array. Unfortunately, this time, the elder couldn’t meet his demands.

"Ah, it’s difficult, too difficult! The amount of medicinal materials you need is colossal, each exceeding several hundred thousand catties... There simply isn’t that much in our sect’s warehouse, not even a fraction. The previous stock was all sold out at once by a major sect of the Real Realms... Even if there were enough materials, the cost for such quantities wouldn’t be less than ten thousand gold... Honestly, my position within the sect isn’t very high, and my power is quite limited. Helping you on credit for a few hundred gold was already pushing my old face to the limit. For a transaction over ten thousand gold, I’m afraid I am powerless..."

The elder’s tone was very sincere; he genuinely didn’t have the capability to provide Ning Fan an IOU for ten thousand gold...

Hearing this, Ning Fan felt quite helpless as well. He sighed and didn’t force the elder to do something that clearly exceeded his abilities.

It’s really laughable, when you think about it.

Others refining Immeasurable Pills typically lack the hardest-to-find Eight Hundred Million Years Yin Chen Wood, and here he is, not lacking it but rather missing various cheap materials instead...

The elder was sighing, then suddenly seemed to think of something, and said joyfully, "Right, I have some news that might help you. Do you still remember the second use of our sect’s Trade Array?"

Ning Fan pondered briefly, then replied, "Of course I remember. On one hand, the Ancient Kingdom Trade Array allows direct purchasing from the Tongtian (Sky-reaching) Sect, and on the other hand, it also facilitates private trades with cultivators from the myriad worlds. However, I recall you mentioning that if cultivators engage in private trades, massive trade risks arise from bypassing the Ancient Kingdom’s balance of power. Approximately one-third of transactions fail due to time-space turbulence, resulting in total loss..."

Elder: "Yes, private trades indeed carry great risks, but it seems like it’s the only way to gather your alchemy materials. I assume that purchasing these medicinal materials is for refining Immeasurable Pills, right? And judging by the colossal amount you’re collecting each type, yet you don’t even gather the most precious Eight Hundred Million Years Yin Chen Wood... I suspect you have a vast amount of it on hand, correct?"

Ning Fan: "Correct."

Elder: "Pardon my boldness, but could I ask exactly how much Eight Hundred Million Years Yin Chen Wood you have? If it’s over a hundred thousand catties, I have a business opportunity that’s guaranteed to be profitable and can help resolve your urgent needs."

Ning Fan: "Oh? Please tell me more."

Elder: "Here’s the situation: in a certain high-level Dreamland Realm, a Senior Predecessor Shisheng posted a request through our sect for more than a hundred thousand catties of Eight Hundred Million Years Yin Chen Wood."

Upon hearing this, Ning Fan responded with a wry smile, "I have no intention of selling my Eight Hundred Million Years Yin Chen Wood." He planned to use it to enhance his own cultivation—why sell it for money? That’s foolish.

Elder: "Not at all. This is no ordinary purchase; this Senior Predecessor offers not to trade with Heavenly Dao Gold and Silver directly, but to barter. It seems she has a substantial amount of finished Immeasurable Pills that she wants to exchange for an equivalent value of Eight Hundred Million Years Yin Chen Wood."

Ning Fan’s eyes lit up, "Barter? If I exchange my Eight Hundred Million Years Yin Chen Wood directly for her finished Immeasurable Pills, it would not only save me the trouble of gathering other ingredients, but also save hundreds of years in refining time. This indeed is a good trade. I just wonder what ratio she offers."

Based on Ning Fan’s alchemy techniques, one catty of Eight Hundred Million Years Yin Chen Wood could produce about twenty Immeasurable Pills.

However, with repeating the process to accumulate experience, he’d likely increase his success rate—reaching thirty Immeasurable Pills per catty wouldn’t be hard at all.

Considering trade risk losses, and the costs of other ingredients and refining time, so long as the offered price reaches twenty pills per catty of wood, he would proceed with the transaction.

If the ratio were lower than that, he would have to reconsider...

Elder: "Worry not, since I’ve touted it as guaranteed profit, the ratio will surely please you. The other party is willing to offer forty Immeasurable Pills per catty of wood, plus an extra ten pills per each additional hundred thousand catties you provide..."

Ning Fan’s eyes gleamed!

So, if he proceeds with a two hundred twenty thousand catties trade, the trade ratio could reach fifty to one!

This ratio far exceeds his expectations!

Even if he ends up with thirty-three percent fewer Immeasurable Pills due to risk, the ratio would exceed thirty-three to one, making it very worthwhile!

The elder continued: "The Senior Predecessor collects Eight Hundred Million Years Yin Chen Wood for another purpose, willing to part with unneeded Immeasurable Pills for this unprofitable deal. If you’re interested in this transaction, I can provide you her communication method and assist in contacting her to activate the Ancient Kingdom’s Trade Array, awaiting your contact..."

"Much obliged."

...

Days later, through the Ancient Kingdom Trade Array, Ning Fan contacted the elder from Tongtian (Sky-reaching) Sect, learning that the Senior Predecessor had set aside time and was currently activating the Trade Array, awaiting Ning Fan’s contact.

Thus, Ning Fan switched to another Ancient Kingdom Trade Array for private trades, inputting the Senior Predecessor’s address into the array.

The infinite numbers of worlds in all heavens and myriad worlds are simply a notion. In truth, the world’s count is infinite, effectively boundless.

If Ning Fan didn’t know the address, completing the Trade Array set-up with the opposite party would be as challenging as finding a speck of dust in the entire Eastern Heaven realm.

Knowing the address made things much easier.

Ning Fan didn’t wish to expose his Dreamland Realm address, but the other party seemed unbothered, marking the address as "Little Mountain Realm," followed by a long string of coordinates.

The elder from Tongtian (Sky-reaching) Sect indicated that the Little Mountain Realm seems to be a high-level Dreamland Realm capable of nurturing Saints. Hence, Ning Fan’s own Dreamland Realm certainly isn’t a high-level Dreamland Realm, for it hasn’t yielded any Saints...

Ring, ring, ring!

These were the sounds of communication between both Ancient Kingdom Trade Arrays!

Before Ning Fan could speak, a gentle and melodious female voice with a soft, southern lilt came from the other end of the Ancient Kingdom Trade Array.

"Hello." She asked politely.

"A woman?" Ning Fan was taken aback.

He only knew he was dealing with a Senior Predecessor, unaware it was a woman, which surprised him...

"Is there anything wrong with that?" The woman across seemed mildly displeased but remained polite, without haste or annoyance, evidently not genuinely upset.

Realizing his rudeness, Ning Fan apologized, "I’m sorry."

There wasn’t much explanation, nor was there a need.

After all, it was merely a transaction’s destiny; after the deal, they’d part ways...