Chapter 2 Death

Ji Ning observed the distant crimson serpent and murmured, "All red, with bright silver scales on its belly and red vertical pupils... Eh, it actually has two claws?"

"Hua hua hua~~~" The crimson serpent slithered slowly, its massive head looking down at Ji Ning. Its innate pride made it dismiss this human youth entirely; in its experience, youths like this from the tribes were very fragile, and even in the Ji clan's lair, such a youth couldn't be much stronger.

Ji Ning gave a low snort!

The breath in his chest burst out through his nose, forming two visible streams of air. His body faintly flushed red, and a powerful aura naturally radiated from him. The distant crimson serpent was startled, sensing from that human youth a terrifying aura no less than its own.

"I'm not yet proficient in the 'Waterdrop Sutra' lately, so I'll use you to practice my sword." Ji Ning shot across dozens of meters in a flash, his sharp sword turning into a hazy sword light stabbing at the crimson serpent.

The two massive claws on the crimson serpent's chest and abdomen curved directly to grab at Ji Ning.

"Chi! Chi! Chi!" The sword light turned into mist, flickering hundreds of times, each strike hitting the crimson serpent. The serpent only dodged the three strikes aimed at its vitals, enduring the rest, which left only a few white spots on its scales. This made the serpent somewhat underestimate the human youth.

"Woo—"

A strange wailing sound arose, the sound of Ji Ning's sword cutting through the air. In an instant, it slashed across the crimson serpent's chest, leaving a huge wound nearly half a zhang long. Scales shattered, muscles rolled out of the gash, and dark red blood spurted out.

"Roar!" The crimson serpent was greatly alarmed—how had the youth suddenly become so powerful?

...

Ji Ning was no longer the novice who had first fought the Howling Moon Wolf. Long-term battles with demonic beasts had made him very experienced. At this moment, he was only using half his strength, but because his 'Windshadow Steps' and 'Waterdrop Sutra' were applied more skillfully, he was not at a disadvantage.

Sometimes Ji Ning used 'Drizzling Rain', suitable for group attacks, though it was useless against the crimson serpent.

Then he used 'Silk Rain into Thread', a move with strong killing intent, which left a huge wound on the serpent.

Then he used the sharp 'Dripping Water Wears Through Stone'.

Then he defended against the enraged serpent with 'Endless Flowing Water'.

The 'Waterdrop Sutra' had nine moves in total.

They were: Drizzling Rain, Rain Like a Curtain, Water Curtain Reaching the Sky, Endless Flowing Water, Watertight, Silk Rain into Thread, Running Water Never Stales, Flowing Water Has No Heart, and Dripping Water Wears Through Stone!

Some were offensive, some defensive.

Even the offensive moves contained defensive aspects. Their profundity amazed and fascinated Ji Ning, for he had not even reached 'minor mastery'. His father Ji Yichuan had long reached 'major mastery' but still studied the 'Waterdrop Sutra', because the more one pondered it, the more boundless its artistic conception became.

"The move 'Endless Flowing Water' should be so freely and effortlessly executed." Under the pressure of a divine-blood demonic beast, Ji Ning's swordsmanship occasionally gained insights.

But the crimson serpent grew angry!

It could clearly see that this human youth was using it to practice his sword. It had many wounds, but none were fatal. The youth only had minor injuries, which healed in the blink of an eye. The youth's terrifying power made its heart tremble, and it realized it would likely die at his hands.

But even in death, its innate pride made it unwilling to die being toyed with like this.

"Roar~~~" The crimson serpent suddenly raised its head and let out a sky-shaking roar—a roar of grief, indignation, and the utmost madness, filled with the will to die.

...

The roar shook the heavens.

Above the inner city of the Ji clan, among the clouds in the sky, the black winged serpent lurked in one patch of mist.

"Roar~~"

The roar, when it reached the high sky, was already very faint. But the winged serpent, as a great demon, had keen hearing, and this was the roar of its most familiar child.

"It's Crimson Light! My child!" The winged serpent confirmed immediately. It had been scanning the inner city from above, searching. From several li away, with its vision, it could clearly see every building. But because of the morning fog and the dense chains on the cage, it couldn't see what was inside.

But now—

Hearing the sound, it immediately confirmed that the sound came from that cage!

"There!" The winged serpent immediately dove down at high speed, the mist around it still swirling to conceal it as much as possible.

...

Inside the cage.

Ji Ning heard the grief-stricken, mad roar of the crimson serpent and understood its mindset. He immediately produced another sword in his left hand: "Since you seek death, then die!"

Bang!

Ji Ning turned into a gust of wind in an instant, closing in on the crimson serpent.

Sword light flashed!

From the 'Incomplete Thunderfire Sword'—Lightning and Flint! Blazing Thunder!

From the 'Waterdrop Sutra'—Flowing Water Has No Heart! Dripping Water Wears Through Stone!

"Bang!"

The raised giant serpent's red vertical pupils became dull. On its head was a deep hole, completely piercing through the skull. Then its massive body crashed onto the muddy ground of the cage, shaking the earth. Blood gushed out, forming a small stream of blood on the ground.

"Hmm." Ji Ning looked at the huge crimson serpent corpse, examining the wounds.

He studied the effects of his various killing moves.

"Blazing Thunder is indeed extremely powerful, blasting such a big hole in the serpent's chest and abdomen, nearly cutting it in two." Ji Ning nodded as he observed. "Flowing Water Has No Heart and Lightning and Flint are both about speed—fast! The speed of Flowing Water Has No Heart is more ethereal and unpredictable, while Lightning and Flint's speed is more violent."

"Dripping Water Wears Through Stone has good penetration, easily piercing the serpent's skull." Ji Ning nodded.

Above the cage, a massive creature shrouded in mist dove down. Compared to the winged serpent, its child Crimson Light was like a small loach! The winged serpent's crimson vertical pupils, through the iron chain net, saw below. When it saw the pitiful, blood-red serpent corpse lying on the muddy ground, an invisible rage instantly flooded its mind.

"My child!"

The winged serpent went completely mad. "Human, pay with your life for my child!"

Boom!

The violent air currents from its high-speed dive made Ji Ning in the cage look up.

"What!" Ji Ning saw, hundreds of meters above, a huge serpent head in the mist staring down at him, and faintly visible massive bone wings. It was diving down... The span of its bone wings was even larger than the entire cage.

The boundless killing intent in the serpent's crimson vertical pupils shocked Ji Ning and made him understand...

This monster diving down wanted to kill him!

"No good, flee!"

Ji Ning turned to escape!

But when he tried to flee, he found the narrow passage he had come through was closed. Normally, during a cage battle, it was closed to prevent escape before the fight. After victory, Ji Ning would order it opened... But he had just killed the crimson serpent and hadn't yet given the order.

Moreover, he had forbidden others from watching the cage battle. Usually, only his parents could watch.

After all, his true strength had always been kept secret. For example, he could use twin swords, and with ordinary sharp swords he could kill post-natal perfected divine beasts... These were all secrets. Outsiders thought Ji Ning relied on divine weapons to kill divine beasts.

"Swish! Swish!" Ji Ning immediately threw away the two swords in his hands and produced two new swords—the Northmoon swords!

"Break for me!"

Ji Ning exploded with all his strength, slashing at the thick, dense iron chains above, and urgently shouted, "Father!"

The sound spread quickly, but not as fast as the winged serpent's dive.

"Clang! Clang! Clang!!!" Ji Ning's Northmoon swords madly struck the iron chain net above. Ji Yichuan had once said, 'With your strength... if you use the 'Crimsonbright Diagram of the Nine Heavens' at full power, you should be able to break the chains. But with so many chains forming a net... you'd need about ten breaths to cut enough chains to escape.'

Now with the Northmoon swords, which were indeed very sharp, clang clang clang, one chain after another was severed. But the chains were too dense; cutting a space large enough for a person to pass through would take about one breath.

One breath?

At the speed the monster above was diving, it would arrive in less than a second!

"Too late." Ji Ning realized this as he cut the chains.

The massive scaled bone wings above instantly cut through the air and struck the iron chain net. The chains, which were tough and hard for Ji Ning to break, were incredibly fragile before this millennium-old demon. With a series of cracking sounds, countless chains snapped and flew wildly. The scaled wings then swept toward Ji Ning.

"Pay with your life for my child!" The diving winged serpent's crimson eyes stared at Ji Ning like a madman.

"Dodge."

Ji Ning held twin swords, dodging while executing the same move—Endless Flowing Water. Sword light flowed like water, meeting the sweeping scaled wings.

Layers of sword light blocked in succession, the twin swords combining to create an unending stream of light, like layers of silk缠绕ing and binding the opponent.

One force overcomes ten skills!

"Bang!" The massive bone wings directly crushed against the two Northmoon swords. The powerful impact made Ji Ning's wrists snap with a crack. Then the sharp edge of the bone wing slashed at Ji Ning as he desperately dodged, cutting through his Golden Dust Robe.

Pfft!

Blood splattered. A left hand holding a Northmoon sword flew off. Ji Ning himself slammed into the blackwater iron wall, creating a human-shaped dent. He spat out a mouthful of blood.

"Whoosh!" The winged serpent raised its wing again, ready to strike again.

"Now!"

With his broken arm, Ji Ning gritted his teeth and shot out like a giant grasshopper, instantly escaping the cage. His 'Windshadow Steps' were executed at extreme speed, like a wisp of smoke, as he fled outward.

"Die!" A gust of wind struck.

Ji Ning looked back and saw a huge black twisted phantom sweeping toward him—the winged serpent's massive tail. The tail's whip was even faster and fiercer than the bone wing's strike. Where it passed, the air exploded, and the tough rocks of Dragon Castle burst apart...

The massive black tail shadow enveloped Ji Ning. His speed couldn't evade this strike.

"It's over."