Chapter Sixteen: The Firewing Guard

The Evil Dragon River surged mightily, its waves like ten thousand horses galloping.

On the great ship, after some questioning and conversation, Ji Ning had a clearer picture. This little girl named 'Qi Xiaoyu' truly had little experience, as pure as a blank sheet of paper. Moreover, she was clearly very respectful toward the three young masters and ladies, always watching that young master's expression to act.

'According to her, she has only been cultivating for twenty years. This great merit bearer indeed has excellent talent. And she is not an evil person.' Ji Ning nodded slightly.

He did not demand that his disciple be perfect, but at least not evil. With his current realm, it was naturally simple to scrutinize a Zifu cultivator thoroughly.

'I have taken a great liking to Xiaoyu,' Ji Ning spoke. 'Since Xiaoyu's previous master has already died, I wonder if Shi Feng would be willing to part with her and let Xiaoyu become my disciple.'

The waves of the Evil Dragon River roared endlessly, but the ship suddenly fell silent.

Qi Xiaoyu, the young girl, was stunned, then quickly shook her head while looking at her prince and princess.

The three princes and princesses also changed expression.

'This Beiming is truly overestimating himself,' the purple-robed woman transmitted angrily. 'He wants to take Xiaoyu as a disciple? Xiaoyu is blessed with great merit and can stabilize our royal clan's fortune. How could we give her to an elemental daoist? Hmph, even if an Earth Immortal or a loose immortal wanted to take Xiaoyu, we couldn't easily agree. Let alone this Beiming!'

'Big brother,' the black-robed woman also transmitted. 'What should we do? Xiaoyu absolutely cannot be given away lightly, but now this Beiming wants to take her as a disciple. How do we handle this?'

The prince also frowned.

Their royal clan had deep foundations and had previously had elemental daoists! With a sweep of divine sense, they naturally knew how astonishing Qi Xiaoyu's merit was. That was why they had expended effort to take her into their sect, even granting her the imperial surname 'Qi' and doting on her immensely, making Qi Xiaoyu deeply grateful.

'Xiaoyu is an important pawn. This Beiming, an elemental daoist... we absolutely cannot give her to him,' the prince transmitted.

...

While the princes and princesses of the Qi Kingdom's royal clan were transmitting among themselves, Qi Xiaoyu quickly said, 'Senior Beiming, I have received great kindness from my master and cannot betray...'

Ji Ning, however, said, 'If you are willing to let Xiaoyu become my disciple, I will repay you with treasures.' As he spoke, ten Heaven-grade flying swords radiating watery ripples appeared around him, their fluctuations faintly pressing on everyone present.

'Ten Heaven-grade top-grade flying swords, how about it?' Ji Ning said.

'This Beiming Daoist, who looks like a native, really has goods,' the purple-robed girl transmitted.

'Heaven-grade treasures are also important to elemental daoists. Bringing out ten is not easy. It seems he really wants to take Xiaoyu as a disciple. But to our Qi Kingdom's royal clan, what are ten Heaven-grade top-grade flying swords?' the prince transmitted.

Though the three princes and princesses feigned surprise, they were calm inside.

Seeing this, Ji Ning frowned slightly and said, 'How about a hundred Heaven-grade top-grade flying swords?'

Suddenly, over a hundred Celestial flying swords densely hovered above the great ship, and the fluctuations of each Celestial-grade flying sword imposed immense pressure on the group, which consisted of one Wanxiang Adept and eight Zifu Disciples.

"This, this..."

Qi Xiaoyu was completely stunned. Over a hundred top-grade Celestial flying swords? To take her as a disciple, he was willing to offer so many treasures. Although she was unwilling to betray and leave, this senior named 'Beiming,' who looked like a youth, still made her feel a hint of joy. At least this Senior Beiming was willing to pay such a high price, clearly valuing her greatly.

"A hundred pieces!" The three princes and princesses also coveted them.

Although they carried many treasures, they had been hunted for decades after their kingdom was destroyed. Many experts of their royal clan had died, and their treasures had been seized. As a prince, he only carried so many treasures.

A hundred top-grade Celestial flying swords were worth a million catties of primal liquid!

"This Primordial Daoist can actually produce so many Celestial flying swords." The purple-clad girl's eyes gleamed. "Big brother..."

"You three!"

Ji Ning controlled the hundred Celestial flying swords hovering above and frowned, shouting, "That's enough. Don't go too far!"

The prince was certainly covetous.

But he knew well that even if he obtained these hundred Celestial flying swords, it would not help his royal clan escape. Even if he went to a city to exchange them for primal liquid and buy treasures, what then? He already had some escape treasures; at most, he could buy a few more.

"Senior Beiming." The prince said respectfully, "A hundred top-grade Celestial flying swords are certainly enough for Xiaoyu to become your disciple. But... it's not that we are unwilling, but because Xiaoyu, after becoming a Zifu Disciple, long ago swore a Heavenly Dao oath to be loyal to my clan. If you make her leave, she would violate the Heavenly Dao oath and die immediately."

Ji Ning frowned: "When a servant swears a Heavenly Dao oath, the master can generally gift the servant to others."

It was very common for large tribes to gift death warriors and servants.

Thus, when servants swore Heavenly Dao oaths, they usually said they would obey the orders of the clan chief.

"Gifting is possible. But it requires the approval of the chief of my Shi clan. My words are useless." The prince said.

Ji Ning's face darkened.

The members of the Qi Kingdom's royal clan immediately tensed up.

Ji Ning waved his hand, and the hundred top-grade Celestial flying swords in the sky all vanished. He coldly glanced at the prince and said icily, "You are lying."

"Lying?" The prince was stunned. "I didn't lie..."

"You said you were Shi Feng? That is a lie! You said that letting Xiaoyu become my disciple was not up to you and required your chief's approval. That sentence was also a lie." Ji Ning said coldly.

The prince was startled.

The two princesses were also greatly shocked.

Indeed, the prince was not named Shi Feng, but Qi Rufeng! His surname was 'Qi'.

Now only the three of them remained of the Qi Kingdom's royal clan. Prince Qi Rufeng was the current clan leader; if he nodded, he could completely give this 'Qi Xiaoyu' to Ji Ning.

"I'm not lying." The prince still insisted stubbornly.

"Do you dare to swear a Heavenly Dao oath that you're not lying? If you dare to swear such an oath, I'll give you a hundred top-grade Heaven-rank flying swords and leave right now." Ji Ning's face darkened.

Qi Rufeng and his two sisters all felt the pressure.

"This Beiming can't win with softness, so he's using force. If it were ten years ago, when the old servant was still alive, I would have killed him long ago." The purple-robed girl transmitted unwillingly.

Just then—

"Hm?" Ji Ning suddenly turned his head to look.

"Hm?" The Qi Kingdom royal clan and the others also turned to look.

In the distance, a group of figures appeared on the banks of the Evil Dragon River—twelve figures in all, each clad in black armor, looking this way. On their arm guards was a 'Firewing' pattern.

These twelve soldiers gazed from afar. The squad leader, a black-armored man with a tiger's back and a bear's waist, held a Firewing Insect in his hand. This made him sneer coldly as he pointed into the distance: "The remnants of the Qi Kingdom are on that boat. Attack!"

"Kill."

"Kill."

Each one exuded an aura of boundless ferocity.

The twelve soldiers instantly transformed—some into giant one-horned rhinos, some into three-tailed foxes, some into coiling serpents, some into white-furred bears... But they all shared one trait: each wore black armor. With the one-horned rhino at the center, the other soldiers spread out, and soon their elemental power permeated through the Dao-soldier armor, linking them together.

"Boom~~~" A massive venomous insect with flaming wings appeared in midair.

The Firewing Insect resembled a winged centipede, its body coiling, its eyes gleaming green—clearly a venomous creature.

The Firewing Guard... their most famous feature was the Dao-soldier formation that formed a Firewing Insect!

...

"It's the Firewing Guard." The Qi Kingdom royal clan and the others all changed expression drastically. Over the past decades, they had been hunted too cruelly by the Firewing Guard, which was like a nightmare—a nightmare they could never shake off. The loose immortals and earth immortals in their tribe had died, and even the Soul-Refining Daoists had all perished.

Only they were left. Could they still hold off the Firewing Guard?

Although only a single squad had come, they knew that this squad of the Firewing Guard consisted of one Soul-Refining great demon and eleven Wanxiang great demons forming a Dao-soldier formation. Once the formation was complete... even a perfected Soul-Refining Daoist would probably find it hard to deal with these great demons.

"What do we do?" The black-robed girl transmitted urgently.

"Here on the Evil Dragon River, we can't use escape arts or fly. We can only rely on the boat." The prince was also panicking.

"Let this Beiming block them. He's a perfected Soul-Refining cultivator; he can definitely buy us some time." The purple-robed girl transmitted.

Just then, the centipede-like venomous insect with flaming wings charged into the Evil Dragon River, flying straight across the river's surface like lightning, arriving quickly.

"Hurry up and die!" The massive Firewing Insect let out a roar.

"This is my boat." Ji Ning stood by the railing, looking at the huge Firewing Insect flying across the river in the distance. "Get lost immediately."

The prince and princesses beside him were overjoyed.

"Good, this Beiming has taken the initiative."

"Let him block them for us first."

"It would be best if this Beiming and those Firewing Guards destroyed each other, and then we could get Beiming's treasures."

...

The Firewing Guard's ferocious reputation had long spread. If they were local cultivators or demons, they would have fled far away. They hadn't expected to encounter someone unafraid of them today. Behind them was the 'Firewing Demon King,' but they didn't know... behind Ji Ning was 'Patriarch Subhuti.'

"Since you dare to obstruct the Firewing Guard, die along with them!" The massive Firewing Insect's green-glowing eyes were filled with ferocity as it let out a sharp roar.

Whoosh.

The Firewing Insect flew straight over, and a hazy green mist even appeared around it, making the prince and princesses all tremble with fear. They immediately retreated repeatedly and set up a formation around them to defend. The ugly venomous insect's head rose high and charged, diving straight onto the deck of the large ship to kill Ji Ning.

Ji Ning shook his head: "You're really asking for death!"

Boom!!!

The ordinary-looking Ji Ning, who had been standing on the deck, suddenly erupted with an incomparably terrifying pressure. Heaven and earth instantly fell silent. The originally turbulent waves of the Evil Dragon River stopped at once, and even the droplets of water suspended in midair froze motionless. The huge Firewing Insect that had been charging over also froze in its pouncing posture.

The Qi Kingdom royal clan and the others hiding behind the formation also froze—some with expressions of shock, some with mouths still wide open, some in mid-step.

Everything around fell still.

Wind stopped, water stopped, people stopped, demons stopped—all motionless.

The boundless, terrifying pressure chilled everyone to the bone. The prince and princesses, though unable to move their expressions, showed terror in their eyes.

In this corner of heaven and earth, only Ji Ning remained as usual. He stood by the railing, looking at the massive Firewing Insect before him, shaking his head and sighing: "Seeking death—who can you blame?"