Chapter 17 Ji Ning Battles Tong Yu (Part 1)

A sailboat was flying through the vast sky.

Xu Li Zhenren, Dong Fanyu, and Wu Qi were on the sailboat. Suddenly Dong Fanyu pointed into the distance in surprise and said, "It's Junior Brother Lu." In the distance, a streak of light could be seen, but its speed was clearly far slower than theirs.

"Seems to be heading toward Yanshan as well?" Wu Qi also said in surprise.

"Nephew Lu?" Xu Li Zhenren showed a rare hint of a smile. The sailboat immediately sped toward that streak of light, and in a few breaths, it had already reached in front of it.

Standing on the streak of light was a middle-aged man.

Anxiousness filled the middle-aged man's eyes. Seeing the sailboat blocking his path, he was forced to slow down. But as soon as he saw Xu Li Zhenren standing on the sailboat, he quickly bowed respectfully and said, "Lu Huang pays respects to Uncle-Master Xu. I didn't expect to run into Uncle-Master Xu here."

Catching sight of Dong Fanyu beside Xu Li Zhenren, Lu Huang's eyes immediately turned red with rage. He bellowed, "Dong Fanyu, you old scoundrel!"

"Nephew Lu, what is the meaning of this?" Xu Li Zhenren asked.

"Junior Brother Lu, when I visited you before, we were talking happily. Why do you curse at me as soon as we meet? I brought your Lu clan a great opportunity for merit," Dong Fanyu said, puzzled.

Lu Huang was furious. Pointing at Dong Fanyu, he said urgently, "Uncle-Master Xu Li, this Dong Fanyu came to me earlier and told me about the yuan stone mine. So our Tongshui branch sent one Zifu cultivator from the Lu clan and one from the An clan. But just a short while ago, the life-tablets of the Zifu cultivators from our Lu clan and the neighboring An clan suddenly shattered. The one who died was my own sister! Dong Fanyu talked about a great opportunity for merit, saying the small Ji clan was nothing to worry about. But now? Both Zifu cultivators sent by our Tongshui branch are dead! I'm heading to Snowdragon City to find out what happened and demand an explanation!"

"What? Both dead?" Dong Fanyu was greatly shocked.

"What's going on?" Xu Li Zhenren frowned, and Wu Qi beside him also grew angry.

If the matter was troublesome, it was no longer a merit but a disaster.

Dong Fanyu said anxiously, "I didn't lie. It was indeed just a Ji clan, with no other opponents. Moreover, our Yanshan branch invited fellow disciples from all sides, so there should be many Zifu cultivators. How could this... how could this..."

"But the fact is that the two Zifu cultivators from our Tongshui branch are both dead!" Lu Huang shouted.

"I, Dong Fanyu, swear that if I deceived you, Junior Brother Lu, may my soul be destroyed and never enter reincarnation," Dong Fanyu said urgently.

Only then did Lu Huang's expression soften slightly upon hearing this oath.

A cultivator's oath was not to be made lightly.

"Hmph," Lu Huang snorted coldly.

"It seems Fanyu did not lie," Xu Li Zhenren said calmly. "Then something must have happened at Yanshan. Nephew Lu, come with me."

Xu Li Zhenren no longer had his previous casual demeanor; instead, he was now somewhat serious.

Whoosh!

The sailboat immediately tore through the air, speeding toward Yanshan.

...

Inside the Netherdragon Sealarray Formation on Oxhorn Mountain.

Ji Ning sat cross-legged.

Flying swords floated around him. He had carefully searched the storage treasures of the eight Zifu cultivators he had killed and obtained fifteen flying swords. What delighted Ji Ning most was the eagle-beaked cultivator, whose storage treasure contained a set of nine flying swords. These nine swords seemed to come from the same source, all radiating a cold chill.

Discovering this, Ji Ning was overjoyed: "Excellent, excellent, excellent. Coming from the same source, they will form a formation base with even greater power. That eagle-beaked cultivator was the hardest to kill among these eight, but it turns out he had many treasures."

Ji Ning did not know the name of the eagle-beaked cultivator. When he had first attempted a stealth assassination, he had targeted this man, but the eagle-beaked cultivator seemed to sense danger and suddenly protected himself with a large umbrella, forcing Ji Ning to abandon the target and switch to another. Later, during the frontal assault, Ji Ning had only managed to kill him with three sword beams.

"I had thirteen ranked flying swords before, and now I've gained fifteen more, for a total of twenty-eight. That means I can form three formation bases."

Ji Ning naturally wasted no time in refining these flying swords.

Without a doubt, the current Lesser Thousand Swords Formation would take the nine icy flying swords from the same source as its core.

"Phew." Ji Ning opened his eyes. "Done."

He had fully refined all fifteen newly acquired ranked flying swords.

"Let's try it out."

Ji Ning willed it.

Whoosh~~~

Over seven hundred flying swords appeared in the air, twenty-seven of which were ranked, forming three formation bases. The nine icy swords served as the core, drawing power from the entire Lesser Thousand Swords Formation.

"Huh?" Ji Ning's expression changed as a splitting headache struck him.

Controlling so many flying swords while arranging them into the ninth layer of the Lesser Thousand Swords Formation placed an extremely high demand on his soul. Ranked flying swords were especially difficult—controlling a single ranked sword was harder than controlling ten unranked ones!

"I can't set up the ninth layer?" Ji Ning's first attempt had failed; he couldn't fully activate it. "Just adding eighteen ranked flying swords makes it impossible for me to set up the ninth layer?"

"No."

Ji Ning continued to try.

The flying swords around him shifted positions, hovering and moving.

"Yin and yang transform, giving birth to endlessness!" Ji Ning suddenly recalled the barrier to breaking through to the seventh level of the Crimsonbright Diagram of the Nine Heavens. The book had mentioned 'yin and yang transform, giving birth to endlessness.' Now, while studying the formation, this insight suddenly struck him. If he took the time to ponder it carefully, he could break through to the seventh level of the Crimsonbright Diagram of the Nine Heavens in as little as a few moments or as long as a few days!

But Ji Ning chose not to ponder it, because even if his divine body improved, it wouldn't significantly increase his combat power.

With the Netherdragon Sealarray Formation, his yuan power was already stronger than that of a Zifu Disciple at the peak. Combined with his sword domain and the Lesser Thousand Swords Formation, he had such great power. Improving his divine body wouldn't help much in battle. Moreover, he couldn't afford to leisurely contemplate right now.

"Yin and yang transform, giving birth to endlessness." Ji Ning looked at the twenty-seven flying swords before him.

The nine icy swords were the core.

The flying swords of the other two formation bases revolved around these nine, slowly rotating, even crossing each other, their formations mutually activating, the two bases gradually merging into one.

"Yes."

"Yin and yang intertransform..." Ji Ning's eyes lit up. "One is the core, two are the support, three are the myriad things."

Whoosh~~~

Over seven hundred flying swords hovered around Ji Ning, and an immensely powerful aura began to coalesce. In front of Ji Ning, a sharp sword beam condensed, vivid in every detail, taking the form of a flying sword. It was simply a glowing flying sword.

"Ah!" Ji Ning felt a headache, a sharp, stabbing pain, but his face showed an excited smile. "Haha, it worked, it worked."

Even with the insight into the transformation of yin and yang and the endless cycle of birth, he could barely execute the now more powerful ninth layer of the Lesser Thousand Swords Formation. But it pushed Ji Ning to his current limit—his soul was clearly under immense strain.

"The eighth layer is better." Ji Ning immediately deactivated eighty-one ordinary flying swords, keeping them merely suspended.

"Sword beam."

Ji Ning condensed another sword beam.

This was the sword beam formed by the current eighth layer of the Lesser Thousand Swords Formation. It still looked like a flying sword, but it was less distinct than before.

"It feels a bit more powerful than the Lesser Thousand Swords Formation I used to kill Dong Ziyu and the others," Ji Ning said with joy. When he killed Dong Ziyu, his formation had nine flying swords; now it had twenty-seven. Back then, it was the ninth layer; now it was the eighth.

The current eighth layer was more powerful than the previous ninth layer.

The main reason for such a big improvement was the addition of the nine icy flying swords from the same source.

"Swoosh!" Ji Ning put away his flying swords and quickly headed toward the clan leader.

He arrived shortly.

"Ji Ning." Ji Jiuhuo and Ji Yichuan looked at the suddenly arriving Ji Ning.

"Clan leader, these are some magic treasures, talismans, and pills I obtained from killing those Zifu cultivators," Ji Ning said. "I kept a few things; the rest are of little use to me. I'll give them to the clan. Especially the spirit pills that replenish yuan power—they'll be very useful to us."

Ji Jiuhuo nodded and, without refusing, took the bracelet Ji Ning handed him.

"Then I'll go deal with Tong Yu," Ji Ning said.

"Be careful," Ji Yichuan reminded him from the side.

"Don't worry, Father." Ji Ning grinned, then turned and followed the black mist parted by Ji Jiuhuo, quickly heading toward Tong Yu's location.

...

Within the mist of the Netherdragon Sealarray Formation.

"Why hasn't he come yet?" Tong Yu stood like a demon god, his aura overwhelming, his cyan hair flowing loose, divine power surging faintly. Being inside the enemy's formation, he had to keep his divine power active to unleash his full strength at any moment.

"Senior Apprentice Brother Tong Yu, that Ji Ning is only sixteen. He must have used some tricks to kill the other senior and junior brothers. But you, Senior Apprentice Brother, have a divine body and divine abilities. Tricks are useless against you. He's probably scared."

"Definitely scared."

The other Zifu cultivators chimed in.

Tong Yu stood still, his gaze sweeping the darkness ahead. He couldn't help but wonder... was Ji Ning really afraid? Otherwise, knowing that Nong Zidao was studying how to break the formation, why hadn't Ji Ning come after killing Dong Ziyu and the others for so long?

He had no idea that Ji Ning was busy refining flying swords.

"Hmph, the longer he delays, the more confident Junior Brother Zidao becomes. Once the Netherdragon Sealarray Formation is broken, without this formation, you're all dead," Tong Yu said confidently.

Suddenly...

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh~~~ A drizzling rain descended from the sky, cold and fine, like silk and mist, spreading everywhere. It was blocked by their Six Harmonies Formation, unable to penetrate.

"Rain!"

"It's rain!" The other Zifu cultivators showed expressions of terror. Dong Ziyu and his group had told them that this rain signified death and danger.

"Rain!" Tong Yu's eyes flashed with golden light. He let out a furious roar, and his body began to emit a dazzling golden glow, growing larger and larger. Rumble~~~ He turned into a giant about two stories tall, with the other Zifu cultivators only reaching his knees. His breathing created hurricanes that caused the air to explode, and his footsteps made the entire earth tremble and shake.

Divine Ability — Heaven Earth Transformation!

The giant Tong Yu's eyes shot golden light as he roared, "Ji Ning, come out and fight!"

His voice was deep and resonant, echoing within his own throat.

...