Book 14, Return to the Grand Xia, Chapter 17 – Squad Earthnine Makes Their Move
“Quick, let’s go.”
“Sect leader!”
The seven Law Protectors let out shrill cries of terror. Their combination-formation had been instantly shattered; this completely terrified them. They didn’t even think about fighting back. There was only one thing in their mind; fleeing! The magic treasures that had been knocked backwards were all re-controlled by the seven Law Protectors as they instantly began to execute their escaping techniques.
However…
The black-robed Ji Ning was using the [Heavenraker] technique, a sword technique that was extremely well-suited for engaging in group attacks! In addition, this technique involved nine Immortal-ranked flying swords, whereas there were only seven enemies!
Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish! Under Ning’s control, one tear in the sky appeared after another, ripping towards the seven Law Protectors.
Each of the Law Protectors had Immortal-ranked magic treasures of their own, but by the looks of it theirs were quite ordinary. One of them, a silver-haired, hawk-nosed elder, had a total of three flying swords, whereas a youthful-looking one was controlling a large amount of stardust. Each of these two Loose Immortals were being pursued by a pair of Heavenraker swords, while the others were each being pursued by one!
“Block.” The youthful-looking Loose Immortals was the most powerful of the seven. His dazzling, sparkling stardust was furiously attempting to block those two half-illusory Heavenraker swords.
Bang! Bang!
Those two tears in the sky forcefully tore through all his barriers, slicing apart his body and revealing a shattered Goldlotus Primal within it. Moments later…the Primal soul completely dissipated.
Die!
“Sect leader, save me!” A black-robed, sinister-looking female Loose Immortal called out frantically for aid, but she too was slashed and slain by one of the Heavenraker swords!
It must be understood that Ning had completed his overhauling of the ninth stance of the [Three-Foot Sword] more than five or six years ago. During the past few years, he had been working on the [Eight-Nine Arcane Art] and learning archery. This, too, was a way of meditating on the Dao! His improvements in wind and in the Grand Dao of Qiankun were especially significant, and thus Ning’s sword-arts had naturally become more exquisite as well!
In terms of sword-arts, Ning was at an extremely high level now. In addition, he had nine top-grade Immortal-ranked flying swords, whereas the seven Law Protectors mostly had low-grade Immortal-ranked treasures, with just a few middle-grade; in fact, some of them were still using Heaven-ranked treasures.
In addition, Ning was using the [Heavenraker] sword technique, a technique developed by a Daofather which was perfectly matched to his Heavenraker swords. Naturally, the power of his attack was increased many times over.
Each of the nine Heavenraker swords, even when used separately, were able to unleash an attack at the level of an ordinary Celestial Immortal.
Thus…
All seven of the Law Protectors perished!
Whoosh! The nine tears in the sky swept backwards, pulling in all of the now ownerless magic treasures in their wake as they flew back towards the black-robed Ning, who collected them.
“This…this is…too…” Immortal Fivecraze’s eyes were filled with wild joy, and he stared towards the black-robed Ning with a scorchingly excited gaze. “Ji Ning, those were the seven Law Protectors, the seven famous Law Protectors! You actually killed them in a single exchange. Everyone said that when the seven Law Protectors join forces, anyone below the Celestial Immortal level will find it difficult to fight against them, but you, you actually…you aren’t at senior Northwalker’s level, you are even more powerful than he was!”
The black-robed Ning said, “In terms of my insight into the sword, I’m actually not that much better than senior Northwalker was. The most important thing is that I have a set of nine top-grade Immortal-ranked flying swords, as well as a sword-art which was developed by a Daofather. Thus, even if an actual Celestial Immortal Patriarch came, my Primaltwin would be able to give him a fight!”
The Blood God Church’s forces had been divided into two groups. The seven Law Protectors had gone to go after the seemingly-helpless Immortal Fivecraze and Whitewater Hound, whereas the sect leader, the Scion of the Blood God, had went to deal with Ji Ning’s true body.
“Prepare to die.” The Scion stood atop his giant black warship. Long gray awls suddenly appeared behind his body, their tips glowing with bloody light. A total of nine of these gray awls appeared before all of them shot through the skies, forming a vague illusion of a bloody tidal wave as they moved forward!
The nine gray awls came howling forward, carrying the wave of blood with them.
Ning’s true body stood there, staring towards the distant attack.
“Hmph.” Ning waved his hand, and the Thousandbull Sword appeared within it. He filled the Thousandbull Sword with his late-stage Void-level elemental ki, and the power of this sword which was very nearly at the level of a Pure Yang treasure instantly reached a shocking height.
“This Thousandbull Sword truly is very close to the level of a Pure Yang treasure; a magic treasure like this, which was forged by a person, has extremely exacting requirements in terms of elemental ki. Only Celestial Immortals can use Pure Yang treasures, and this Thousandbull Sword is extremely close to that level; amongst Immortal-ranked treasures, it is a top-grade amongst top-grade items. In the past, I used early-stage Void-level elemental ki to activate its power, but I still wasn’t able to fully unleash it. Only after reaching the late-stage am I able to truly stir its power. However…it still isn’t time for me to truly unleash its full power!”
Ning’s subconscious continued to scream danger to him…but he still couldn’t tell where the danger was! This restless feeling caused Ning to continue to hide part of his power, so as to deal with anything unexpected.
“Arise.” Instantly, an enormous Lotusflower Swordland appeared around him. Because the earthfire and dire-ice in his body had yet to be raised to the skyfire or skywater level, the power of his Waterflame Lotus was still inferior to that of the Lotusflower Swordland.
An enormous lotus bloomed around him, filled with layers of petals. Now that he had a higher level of comprehension regarding the Dao, the power of his Lotusflower Swordland had increased as well.
Boom! Boom! Boom! One bloody awl after another came slamming forward, tearing through one layer of petals after another.
Ning gripped his Thousandbull Sword. Sword-light suddenly flashed in front of him, blocking each of the sharp awls. Explosive sounds rang out without end, and sword-ki billowed forth in a torrent.
By relying on his Lotusflower Swordland and his Thousandbull Sword, Ning was able to knock each of the awls flying backwards.
“Eh?” The Scion was controlling his magic treasures to attack from afar while also watching his seven Law Protectors. “This Ji Ning actually is quite formidable. Although I’ve only used a third of my power, he hasn’t used his [Three Heads, Six Arms] either. He was able to block while just using a single Immortal sword. It seems that if I don’t fight with full power, it will be hard for me to kill him. He’s so powerful, despite only having trained for a century…it seems people like him, the number one peerless genius and champion of the Conclave of Immortal Destiny, truly are quite special. Mm…after the seven Law Protectors kill Fivecraze, Diancai, and that spirit-beast, we’ll join forces…and kill Ji Ning!”
The Scion had thought things out ‘perfectly’. But he suddenly discovered, to his amazement…
That a black-robed Ning had suddenly appeared within the grand sealing formation.
“A Primaltwin? Ji Ning actually split up with his Primaltwin? Isn’t he afraid of them being divided and conquered? He’s quite suicidal to do this.” The Scion was merely startled; he didn’t actually panic. As he saw it, even if the seven Law Protectors weren’t able to suppress Ning’s Primaltwin when they joined forces, at least they should be on par with him.
“Those are…”
Nine terrifyingly powerful Immortal-ranked magic treasures, of such great might that they caused the heart to tremble. They howled through the air as nine sword-formations, blasting apart and disintegrating the Blood Dragon.
The seven Law Protectors fled in a panic, crying out miserably for rescue…but each of them were caught and killed.
The Scion was completely stunned!
Ning’s Primaltwin was vastly more powerful than he had expected. Even if he himself were to strike with full force, there was no way he would’ve been able to destroy the Blood Dragon with a single blow! It must be understood that when two sides were roughly on par with each other, one side would at most be put in a disadvantageous position. To completely blast apart the enemy…that was generally only possible when there was a fairly significant difference in power! This Ji Ning’s Primaltwin was even more powerful then himself, the sect leader!
“My seven Law Protectors are gone…just like that.” The Scion felt utter pain in his heart. “This Ji Ning is absolutely inhuman. He’s a monster! He’s trained for less than a century, but he’s even more powerful than the secret arts I acquired. I imagine that in the entirety of Stillwater Commandery, only that old bastard, ‘Hunchmont’, is at his level.”
“My seven Law Protectors died…I need to teach him a lesson!” A look of savagery appeared in the eyes of the Scion.
The disciples of the Blood God Church were all famous for their brutal savagery, and the Scion of the Blood God himself was known to be a madman. In addition, he had his precious ship with him; why would he leave so easily?
Swoosh!
The long awls suddenly flew backwards, and the giant black warship began to rapidly shrink. The Scion hid himself into the cabin of the warship, which then completely sealed itself off like a fortress.
“Ji Ning, you killed my seven Law Protectors, but I shall kill your master.” The Scion’s bellowing voice echoed in the skies, but he secretly mused to himself, “My losses today were enormous, but killing Diancai should count as having rendered major merits. I have to get some good treasures out of this.”
Ning hadn’t been paying too much attention to the Scion of the Blood God; he had been spending most of his time staying vigilant and prepared for the invisible threat that he continued to sense. He was ready to fight back at any moment.
Upon seeing the Scion suddenly hide into the shrunken black warship, which was now as tightly sealed as any castle, Ning just frowned and sent mentally, “Uncle White, activate your formation and block the Scion of the Blood God. Don’t let him go close to master.”
“Don’t worry, Ning, son.” The Whitewater Hound hadn’t even done anything yet; he was the true, final protector of Immortal Diancai!
“This Scion is at most comparable to a Celestial Immortal; killing him is fairly hard, but suppressing him is doable,” Ning mused to himself. “And that precious ship of his is merely a protective item…it doesn’t actually threaten me. So where is the true danger?”
Ning’s eyes continued to blaze with torch-fire as he stared at his surroundings, and his divine sense continuously scanned the area as well. But he couldn’t find anything!
But suddenly…
Rumble!
A white-robed man suddenly appeared out of nowhere. The white-robed man had a strange, bloody scar on his arm…and immediately after he appeared, eleven more white-robed figures appeared out of nowhere, each of them radiating auras of incredible power! The invisible pressure they gave off…it seemed as though each of them were comparable to the Scion of the Blood God! As for the first person who had appeared, the impression he gave Ning…was that he was far more powerful than the Scion!
“A Greater Teleportation Dao-seal!” Ning was shocked upon seeing them suddenly appear. “The surrounding area was spacelocked long ago, preventing any spatial teleportations. The only option is to use Greater Teleportation. There’s no way one of them could be a freakish monster who mastered even the Grand Dao of Qiankun…they had to have simply used a Dao-seal.”
“They were willing to use a Greater Teleportation Dao-seal, just to catch me off-guard? And those eleven who appeared afterwards…they should’ve been hiding in the Immortal estate of the leader.”
Ning was instantly able to draw these conclusions. In turn, these conclusions caused him to feel even more shocked!
Greater Teleportation Dao-seals were extremely valuable. For them to be willing to use one right away…how terrifying would these foes be?!
“Kill!” A white-robed youth in the group let out a fierce-looking grin, then a complicated pattern of light appeared around him, forming into a runic formation. The strange runes hovered into the air, emanating a dark light.
The other white-robed figures were all doing the same. The runic formation created by the leader involved runes that were even larger and even more complex-looking.
“Form!” Suddenly, an enormous black serpent appeared in the skies. The eyes of this giant serpent were golden, while its body seemed to be filled with a strange power that was able to shake the Heavens and the Earth, as though it had taken command of the surrounding world.
“A Primordial Godbeast…the Ba-Serpent?!” Ning was shocked.
The most supreme Godbeasts of the Three Realms were all born in the Primordial Era. They were all comparable to Fiendgods of Primal Chaos in power…and in fact, some of them actually were Fiendgods of Primal Chaos. For example, Primordial Godbeasts such as the ‘Raindragon’, the ‘Garuda’, and the Torch-Dragon were actually born from the universe out of chaos; thus, they could be classified as Fiendgods. However, because they also served as the original progenitor for many different types of Godbeasts, with countless Godbeasts having some degree of their blood and lineage, they could also be classified as Godbeasts as well, the most supreme and ancient of Godbeasts.
The Blood Dragon created by the seven Law Protectors through their formation could be considered the product of a very ordinary combination-formation.
But a formation that could form a Primordial Godbeast…such formations were all extremely formidable, and when they joined into a Godbeast, they would possess amazing, incredible powers.
Although all this took time to describe, it happened in a flash.
The twelve white-robed figures instantly appeared through a Greater Teleportation Dao-seal, then immediately joined into an enormous Ba-Serpent. The Ba-Serpent, capable of shaking the Heavens and the Earth, opened its enormous, bloody maw. The space around its mouth instantly became distorted, as though it was devouring the very world itself. An unearthly, powerful attractive power instantly locked onto Ning’s body. Although Ning was a Fiendgod Body Refiner and immediately worked to resist…he was completely unable to resist the devouring power. Not too long ago, there was a Celestial Immortal Patriarch who had similarly been unable to resist and who had been devoured by this Ba-Serpent, then perished.
Swoosh!
As the distant Immortal Fivecraze and Whitewater Hound watched…the enormous Ba-Serpent devoured Ji Ning with a single bite!