Chapter 5 Days Within the Moon-and-Mountains Painting

The other Pure Yang True Immortals also cast their gazes toward the world within the Moon-and-Mountains Painting, which made Xia Emperor helpless, thinking to himself: "Truly, these are times of turmoil in the Three Realms, when all great powers begin to lay their schemes. My master, Primordial Dao Ancestor, once guided Lü Dongbin, and Lü Dongbin and I shared deep friendship in his past life. He is fine, and the others are fine too—only Mahāsthāmaprāpta Bodhisattva!"

Xia Emperor knew well that the supreme powers of the Three Realms were divided into many factions.

At the very least, among the eight Pure Yang True Immortals who came today, the great powers behind them… almost all had good relations with his master, 'Primordial Dao Ancestor.' Only Mahāsthāmaprāpta Bodhisattva belonged to the Buddhist school, and his relationship with Primordial Dao Ancestor was neither good nor hostile.

"I must be careful. If he sets his sights on someone in the Immortal Fate Assembly, he might just secretly abduct that person," Xia Emperor pondered.

…

Within the world of the Moon-and-Mountains Painting.

Ji Ning was on a low mountain, lush with vegetation that also concealed his figure.

"Before I killed the Floating Cloud Immortal, I was barely mentioned in the intelligence of Treasure Hill. But after killing him, my name spread through the Xia capital, and even Treasure Hill's intelligence praised me greatly, deeming me capable of reaching the top hundred." Ji Ning felt helpless.

Treasure Hill had to leave some room for maneuver; only thirty-two people were deemed to have 'top hundred' strength. Treasure Hill considered these thirty-two almost certain to be in the top hundred, and Ji Ning was one of them!

Thus it could be seen…

In the Moon-and-Mountains Painting, once figures like Xiamang Zishan, Cangwu Jiu, and Ji Ning—all among those thirty-two—were discovered, they would be surrounded and attacked. The other cultivators believed that Ji Ning and the others had the best chance, so eliminating them early was the only way to pass the trial of the Moon-and-Mountains Painting.

"Let me change a bit." Ji Ning had just been chased by over a hundred people, but luckily his treasure ship was fast.

"Whoosh."

Ji Ning's robe quickly changed from beast-hide form to an ordinary black robe.

"A black-robed youth should be common enough," Ji Ning mused. "Not likely to be recognized at a glance."

"Let's go."

After transforming from a beast-hide youth into a black-robed youth, Ji Ning moved stealthily through the world of the Moon-and-Mountains Painting.

From time to time, he released his divine sense to probe the surrounding ten li.

With a small probing range, Ji Ning could rush over instantly, and it wouldn't alarm too many people.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

After probing with divine sense many times, on his eighteenth probe, Ji Ning immediately discovered a white-robed maiden. The white-robed maiden also sensed something and looked up abruptly.

"Swoosh!" Ji Ning, like a roc, swooped down like lightning from the peak above and in a flash reached the white-robed maiden.

"Courting death." The white-robed maiden's face turned cold, and two short rods crackling with lightning appeared in her hands.

The moment Ji Ning attacked, he willed it, and a huge water-fire lotus appeared. After comprehending the 'Lotus Sword Realm,' the two spells—Lotus Sword Realm and Water-Fire Lotus—influenced each other. Especially during this year in the Xia capital, Ji Ning had carefully studied and perfected them, making the Water-Fire Lotus spell increasingly perfect!

Moreover, Ji Ning's Earth Fire and Cold Abyss had been nurtured for a year and both reached the first-grade level!

With first-grade Earth Fire and Cold Abyss as the foundation, the 'Taiyin and Sun Divine Patterns' of his divine body drawing in the water and fire of heaven and earth as support, combined with the Dao of the Sword, the Dao of Rain, the Dao of Blazing Fire, the Dao of Wind, the Dao of Space… the resulting Water-Fire Lotus had terrifying power.

"Hm?" The white-robed maiden was astonished. The enormous water-fire lotus, a thousand zhang in size, had already enveloped her.

"A spell?" The white-robed maiden sneered coldly. Suddenly, her body expanded dramatically, becoming a giant twelve zhang tall. The giant white-robed maiden also used the 'Three Heads, Six Arms' divine ability. In her hands, she now held six short rods, all flashing with lightning. She roared and smashed the rods directly against the layers of water-fire lotus leaves that bound her.

Boom!

Boom!

Like two mountains colliding, the six rods, carrying the might of lightning and the power of the white-robed maiden's divine body, shattered layers of lotus leaves, but the water-fire leaves kept growing back.

"What!" The white-robed maiden was shocked. According to her guess, she should have been able to break the spell with overwhelming force, but now she was breaking it slowly, and the opponent's spell could sustain this continuous growth.

"Good heavens, this white-robed maiden is probably even stronger than Snowfeather Daoist," Ji Ning was also startled. "Luckily my Earth Fire and Cold Abyss have reached first-grade, and this spell is more perfected. If it were a year ago, she might have broken it. But since you can't break my Water-Fire Lotus, you've lost."

"Whoosh!"

Over seven hundred flying swords appeared around Ji Ning, with the Cold Abyss flying sword as the core, all of them Earth-grade flying swords.

"Go!" Ji Ning pointed into the distance, and the golden flying sword at his chest shot forth, directly attacking the white-robed maiden. The terrifying sword intent contained in the golden flying sword even assaulted her mind—it was the fearsome sword intent of a 'Sword Immortal.'

"You are Beiming True Immortal Ji Ning!" the white-robed maiden exclaimed. Lotus spells were common, but seeing over seven hundred flying swords combined, it would be strange if she didn't recognize Ji Ning.

"Clang!" Facing the attack of Ji Ning's Lesser Thousand Sword Formation's sword light, the white-robed maiden's six rods blocked repeatedly. Boom~~~ The power of Ji Ning's Lesser Thousand Sword Formation was far greater than that of the Water-Fire Lotus. The Water-Fire Lotus mainly bound and shredded, while the Lesser Thousand Sword Formation was a pure offensive means. Ji Ning's divine soul was almost ninety percent focused on maintaining the Lesser Thousand Sword Formation. The white-robed maiden was sent flying backward, two of her rods knocked from her hands, and she was caught by the fire lotus leaves behind her.

Whoosh whoosh~~~

The shredding force of the water-fire lotus leaves continuously pressed on the white-robed maiden.

"Damn it." The white-robed maiden gritted her teeth and glared at Ji Ning. "Ji Ning, you're ruthless."

She directly threw out the talisman token.

Hum!

An invisible force instantly enveloped the white-robed maiden, and then she was teleported away.

"Truly formidable," Ji Ning said, waving his hand to collect the talisman token. "Even a random encounter is this strong. Luckily, I bound her with the Water-Fire Lotus; otherwise, even if she couldn't defeat me, she could have escaped."

Treasure Hill's intelligence recorded clearly that Ji Ning's true body excelled in close combat, followed by flying sword formations, which were considerably weaker than his close combat.

The white-robed maiden realized that Ji Ning, relying solely on his 'sword formation,' could completely suppress her and might kill her in ten exchanges! If Ji Ning used close combat… he might kill her in one or two moves. With the Water-Fire Lotus binding her and no escape, she had to concede immediately to at least save her life.

…

Ji Ning moved cautiously, always vigilant, fearing a siege. His strength being deemed by Treasure Hill as capable of reaching the top hundred was actually reasonable.

After all, Ji Ning's true body, relying on divine abilities in close combat, had once survived the 'Bone-Exterminating Immortal-Slaying Needle'! This led Treasure Hill to believe that Ji Ning's close combat was extremely fearsome…

One-on-one…

In the Moon-and-Mountains Painting, Ji Ning was indeed among the very top.

Against ordinary opponents, the Lesser Thousand Sword Formation and Water-Fire Lotus sufficed.

Against powerful opponents, he needed to use both the Water-Fire Lotus and close combat.

Of course, this assumed one-on-one.

…

"Those with some reputation are beginning to show their power," Xia Emperor said, drinking wine while watching, with the eight Pure Yang True Immortals beside him.

Earlier, Xiamang Zishan, Cangwu Jiu, and others had suffered setbacks, but soon they hid their tracks, each becoming cautious, and then successively killed or forced opponents to give up, gradually increasing their talisman tokens. But since it was early, killing one person usually yielded only one or two tokens.

"That dirty-looking girl is quite formidable," Xia Emperor's eyes lit up.

Xia Emperor suddenly noticed Lü Dongbin beside him. In the Three Realms, Lü Dongbin had spread many teachings and was skilled as a teacher, ranking among the top Pure Yang True Immortals. His insight was naturally sharp. Xia Emperor laughed and said, "Lü Dongbin, among these youngsters, whose fortune is the strongest?"

"Strongest fortune?" Lü Dongbin half-reclined, drinking wine, glancing at the Moon-and-Mountains Painting, and shook his head. "How can that be seen? Fortune is inherently elusive… Even those with great fortune can still be killed."

Xia Emperor was helpless.

He knew well that those with great fortune could also be killed.

Great fortune only meant being luckier, often as if favored by heaven. But they could still be killed by others! The killer might seize their fortune… or might lower their own fortune.

For example, someone might be the only son of a great power.

Killing such a person would incur the hatred of that great power, even leading to personal intervention, and thus greatly reduce one's fortune.

Another example: someone who, due to a great encounter, possessed a great treasure and had strong fortune.

If he were killed, the killer would obtain the treasure and instead have his fortune greatly increased.

Thus…

Fortune is invisible and intangible, requiring inference from various aspects—this requires insight. Clearly, Lü Dongbin had extremely high insight.

"You drunkard, you won't even say a word," Xia Emperor said helplessly. "Of course I know those with great fortune can be killed, but those with great fortune are more likely to become strong figures in the Three Realms!"

"If I tell you, will you pick them away?" Lü Dongbin glanced at him. "Choose for yourself. I said, let your Dao Ancestor and you pick first, and I'll pick from the rest."

Xia Emperor was helpless. What could he do with such a shameless person?

…

Five days had passed in the Moon-and-Mountains Painting. Ji Ning was resting in a cave, where there was a cold pool. He washed his face, feeling refreshed.

"In five days, I've obtained over fifty talisman tokens," Ji Ning thought. "But at the start, there were many Wanxiang Adepts in the painting, so I often encountered them. The later it gets, the fewer people remain, and encounters become rarer. Moreover, those who survive to the end are all stronger and harder to deal with."

"But there's an advantage: those who survive to the end probably each carry many talismans." Ji Ning suddenly felt a stir.

Boom~~~

A faint vibration traveled into the distance.

"A fight? And it seems quite intense." Ji Ning immediately turned into a streak of light, dashed out of the cave, and cautiously approached.

…