Chapter 15: The Cage Battle

On the morning of the third day, Ji Ning and his parents arrived at Dragon Castle.

Dragon Castle was a hundred zhang wide and three hundred zhang long, divided into two parts: the Cage and the Beast Lair. The Cage was where life-and-death battles took place, while the Beast Lair was where large numbers of dire beasts were usually imprisoned. Because Dragon Castle held many dangerous dire beasts, it had originally been built in a remote area of the inner city.

…

Dragon Castle, inside the Cage.

After entering the Cage, Ji Ning looked around. This was an open space two to three hundred meters in diameter, surrounded by walls made entirely of black metal. Above, a dense net of black iron chains was linked together, making escape impossible.

"It's completely sealed," said Ji Yichuan, his voice faintly cold. "The side walls are made of Blackwater Iron. Although Blackwater Iron isn't considered precious, even an ordinary early-stage Xiantian expert would find it difficult to break through such thick Blackwater Iron walls. As for the thick chains above, they are also forged from Blackwater Iron. With your strength... if you use the 'Crimsonbright Diagram of the Nine Heavens' and go all out, you should be able to chop through the chains. But with so many chains forming a net... you would need about ten breaths of time to cut enough chains to escape."

Ji Ning nodded.

"Look," said Ji Yichuan, pointing to a viewing platform above the chain net.

"Your mother and I, along with your Uncle Bai, will watch you from up there," Ji Yichuan said coldly.

"Be careful," Yuchi Xue encouraged her son.

"Roar!" The snow-white dog also looked at Ji Ning, its eyes full of encouragement and expectation. This snow-white dog was his father Ji Yichuan's sworn brother, his own Uncle Bai. Ji Yichuan had tamed two great demons: one was the black serpent, Uncle Hei; the other was this snow-white dog, Uncle Bai.

When wild beasts gained intelligence, they would begin to absorb the natural energy of heaven and earth and become dire beasts!

When a dire beast underwent a difficult transformation and broke through to the Xiantian level, becoming a Xiantian lifeform, it was then called a great demon. Most great demons could take human form, like Uncle Hei. But among dire beasts, there were some special existences—divine beasts.

Divine beasts were dire beasts with ancient Fiendgod bloodlines. They were born with intelligence, possessed extremely powerful talents, and were far stronger than ordinary dire beasts... However, it was also much more difficult for them to transform into human form. The difficulty varied among different divine beasts.

Some needed to reach the 'Zifu level' to take human form, some needed the Wanxiang level, and some even higher...

Uncle Bai was a divine beast, a 'Whitewater Marsh' divine beast. He needed to reach the Zifu level to take human form and speak human language.

But Ji Ning had a deep bond with this Whitewater Marsh. Ever since his archery teacher 'Meng Yu' finished teaching him, Ji Ning would go with the Whitewater Marsh every morning to the forests outside West Prefecture City to practice archery... This was because Ji Yichuan was uneasy about his son leaving the city alone and had the Xiantian lifeform 'Whitewater Marsh' protect him.

A Xiantian divine beast was terrifyingly powerful! Ji Yichuan's transcendent status in the Ji clan's West Prefecture was partly due to this Whitewater Marsh.

"Just watch," Ji Ning said with a grin.

"Roar." The Whitewater Marsh let out a low roar, then followed Ji Yichuan and his wife out through a narrow passage, soon reaching the viewing platform above.

Ji Ning let out a soft breath to calm himself, then looked around.

"Why does this feel like a Roman arena?" Ji Ning muttered to himself. "There's a fighting ground and a viewing platform." He knew that those who came to the Cage specifically to fight dire beasts were usually key members of the clan being trained, so some elders and relatives would watch from the platform.

"Clank..." "Clank..."

"Clank..." The sound of chains clashing came from a passage in the distant wall. Ji Ning looked over. From the pitch-black passage... came a low, deep roar that made the entire Cage tremble, causing the huge chain net above to shake and rattle.

A massive head with silver fur gradually emerged from the passage in the distant wall.

"That is?" Ji Ning observed carefully.

"Ji Ning," Ji Yichuan said coldly from the viewing platform overlooking the Cage below. "You are training in the number one Fiendgod Body Refining technique, so I specially selected an extremely powerful dire beast for you—a Moonhowling Wolf with a Fiendgod bloodline."

Ji Ning stared wide-eyed at his father above, his face full of shock.

A Fiendgod bloodline?

That meant a divine beast, right? True, divine beasts were also a type of dire beast. There were many such divine beasts in the Houtian stage across the endless lands, like 'Earth Armor Dragons,' 'Mountain-Shaking Rhinos,' 'Moonhowling Wolves,' 'Redclaw Golden Crows,' 'Thundersea Owls,' 'Whitewater Marshes,' and so on. Usually, only one out of several hundred or thousand Houtian divine beasts would manage to break through to the Xiantian stage.

"Clank..." The sound of chains continued.

Ji Ning stopped being distracted and stared intently at the large passage in the distant wall. He knew that the chains were being unfastened over there. Once the chains were completely undone, the Moonhowling Wolf would be released.

"Clang!" The sound of chains hitting the ground.

"Awooo!" A joyful wolf howl rang out. Above, Ji Yichuan, his wife, and the Whitewater Marsh all watched the scene below intently.

Ji Ning held his breath.

A massive creature slowly emerged from the passage in the distant wall. It had beautiful silver fur all over, stood about two zhang tall, and walked out gracefully. It looked down at the tiny figure—the human youth. As a special existence among dire beasts, a 'divine beast,' its intelligence was no less than a human's.

It understood that entering this Cage meant only two outcomes—either it killed the human and continued to live, or it was killed by this human youth.

"First time, and they chose a divine beast," Ji Ning said. With a flick of his right hand, a sword appeared in it, its blade glinting coldly. "Then let's fight."

The Moonhowling Wolf's massive body weighed nearly ten thousand jin, but its four hooves moved lightly as it approached, its narrow eyes scrutinizing the human youth.

Ji Ning walked forward step by step, holding his longsword.

The distance between them closed rapidly.

"Boom!" The Moonhowling Wolf transformed from graceful to ferocious in an instant, turning into a blur as it pounced straight at Ji Ning. As it leaped, its soft paws unsheathed like knives, claws extending.

Whoosh!

At the critical moment, Ji Ning moved his feet, like a gust of wind, dodging the wolf's pounce. At the same time, his sword stabbed diagonally! The thrust was decisive and lightning fast. If it pierced the Moonhowling Wolf's body, he could use the wolf's own momentum to slice it open!

"Hm?" As he stabbed, Ji Ning's expression changed. The sword tip met tremendous resistance. The Moonhowling Wolf's fur was tough enough to block the tip, preventing it from penetrating.

At the same time, the Moonhowling Wolf's tail swept violently. Ji Ning, unable to dodge in time, quickly raised his sword to block.

Bang!

The Moonhowling Wolf's tail struck the sword like a heavy steel whip. The immense force sent Ji Ning flying, his body crashing into the distant Blackwater Iron wall with a loud boom. The thick wall shuddered violently.

"Roar!" The Moonhowling Wolf immediately pounced again, its claws aiming for Ji Ning.

Ji Ning quickly dodged and leaped.

Screech! Screech! Screech! Deep claw marks appeared on the Blackwater Iron wall. The Moonhowling Wolf landed and turned its head to look at the human youth in the distance. Its 'tail sweep' was a killing move. That tail had sent the youth crashing into the wall, yet he had instantly escaped far away. It understood that this human youth was truly strong, capable of fighting it.

"An ordinary Nine-Fang warrior would have had their internal organs shattered by that tail sweep and died," Ji Ning frowned, looking at the distant Moonhowling Wolf. "I have to rely on the power of Fiendgod Body Refining."

Over the years, he had also trained in Qi Refining and reached the Houtian perfection level.

But a sword strike from a Houtian perfection Qi Refiner couldn't even pierce the fur—how could he fight?

"Hmph!"

Ji Ning let out a low snort, and two visible streams of air shot from his nostrils, causing the air to tremble. At this moment, the terrifying power hidden deep within his seemingly frail body fully erupted. The Taiyin and Sun power within him also burst forth, and his skin faintly reddened.

Ji Ning lightly swung his sword. The airwaves from the blade cutting through the air carved a deep trench into the thick earthen floor.

The distant Moonhowling Wolf let out a low growl, staring fixedly at the youth.

…

"The boy has finally used the 'Crimsonbright Diagram of the Nine Heavens,'" Yuchi Xue said with a smile. "He was stubbornly refusing to use it before."

Ji Yichuan nodded. "The Moonhowling Wolf has a Fiendgod bloodline, its fur is incredibly tough. An ordinary Houtian perfection warrior cannot pierce it. I specifically chose the Moonhowling Wolf... to force Ji Ning to unleash all his strength and see how well he could perform in a real life-or-death battle."

"What do you think of Ning'er's performance now?" Yuchi Xue pressed.

"Average," Ji Yichuan said, staring below. "He's still calm."

…

Ji Ning circled the Moonhowling Wolf, holding his sword, taking wide steps.

The Moonhowling Wolf also kept its eyes on Ji Ning, not launching an attack rashly. Because once it attacked... it would also reveal a weakness, and life or death often hung on that single moment.

"Hmph." Without warning, Ji Ning turned into a blurry shadow, closing in on the Moonhowling Wolf.

The Moonhowling Wolf immediately roared and pounced, opening its mouth to reveal fangs, its claws reaching for Ji Ning.

Whoosh!

A flash of sword light!

As the sword shadow cut through the air, it changed direction nine times in rapid succession, its speed increasing to a terrifying level, as if it could split the void itself. Sssss— The sword shadow struck the Moonhowling Wolf's chest, carving a huge wound from which blood spurted.

"Clang." After delivering the strike, Ji Ning immediately turned the sword to block the wolf's claw, using the impact to leap back.

The Moonhowling Wolf bared its fangs and roared at Ji Ning. The huge wound on its chest contracted as the muscles tightened, slowing the bleeding, but blood still seeped out slowly. The wound was simply too large.

The Moonhowling Wolf truly felt death approaching!

"The 'Lightning and Flint' move from the 'Remnant Chapter of Thunderfire Sword' is indeed remarkable," Ji Ning murmured softly.