Chapter 27: The Quya Mountains

Gazing at the Quya Mountains from afar, Ji Ning couldn't help but feel a pang of fear, faintly sensing an immensely terrifying threat lurking deep within the Quya Mountains.

"With my current strength, in the Crescent Moon Great World, there are few who can do anything to me. Those truly far stronger than me are generally taken into the Mount Cuilei lineage, and when they see me, they might even call me 'uncle.' Even true immortals and celestial gods are my fellow disciples," Ji Ning mused.

Roaming the Crescent Moon Great World was like strolling through his own backyard; Ji Ning had always been at ease.

This was the first time he felt such fear.

"It seems there is real danger, and it threatens me," Ji Ning nodded slightly. "Well, if things look bad, I'll immediately hide in the Water Mansion. Then I'll ask Master for help to escape back to Mount Cuilei."

When trapped, seek Master.

Though a bit shameless, he was still within the Crescent Moon Cave Mansion World, and Master wouldn't be too harsh. Once he truly graduated and left this Crescent Moon Great World, he couldn't even mention Master's name outside; he'd have to rely entirely on himself.

"Master?" Qingya Xiaoyu called softly from beside him.

Ji Ning glanced at his disciple and said with a smile, "Xiaoyu, I'm going to explore the mountains. It's dangerous inside. You go into the immortal mansion first."

"Yes, Master." Qingya Xiaoyu obediently replied.

Ji Ning waved his hand, and Xiaoyu was taken into his随身 immortal mansion.

Then, alone, he transformed into a streak of light and flew into the Quya Mountains.

…

With the map and detailed records from the Qi Kingdom's successive generations, Ji Ning quickly found the periphery of the treasure.

"Hmm?" Stepping on the undulating mountains, Ji Ning sensed the peculiarity of the mountain soil.

"Kill… kill… kill…"

Faintly, he could sense an intangible roar emanating from the rocks and soil, as if a great battle had occurred in this mountain range in the distant past, and even now, the killing intent lingered, refusing to dissipate.

"The soil is different from ordinary soil in the Crescent Moon Great World; it's noticeably heavier, and the aura of this area is much denser," Ji Ning nodded slightly. "This might indeed be a fragment of the ancient Pangu World relocated here."

Drawing on the Qi Kingdom's generations of exploration experience,

Ji Ning quickly found a mountain path and walked inward. Mist swirled, and even with Ji Ning's abilities, he could only see a mile or two. As for divine sense probing? What it revealed was completely different from what his eyes saw.

"It completely obscures divine sense; everything probed is false." Ji Ning even touched various places with his hands to confirm his eyes weren't deceived.

He advanced cautiously.

In the distance, a massive ravine was faintly visible. Ji Ning could vaguely sense a sharp blade intent still lingering and coiling there.

"It looks like a natural ravine, but it's actually the aftermath of a blade strike." After walking for about the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, Ji Ning suddenly felt an invisible pressure envelop him.

"Exactly as recorded in the Qi Kingdom's books. According to the records, the deeper you go, the greater the pressure. The experts from the Qi Kingdom's successive generations were ultimately forced to give up by this invisible pressure. The path I'm taking now is the one with the least repulsive pressure." Ji Ning advanced rapidly.

The pressure began to increase sharply.

Just entering this area, the repulsive force acting on his body was about ten thousand jin, but now it was millions, tens of millions of jin…

"Boom, boom, boom…"

The violent repulsive force collided with Ji Ning's body, causing a series of booming sounds.

At this moment, the clash between this force and Ji Ning's strength was like countless towering mountains slamming into him again and again.

"An ordinary loose immortal couldn't withstand this." Ji Ning flipped his hand, and the Qianniu Sword appeared. He swung it, and a black divine dragon sword-light howled forth, directly smashing and blocking the repulsive pressure ahead.

"Quite easy."

Ji Ning advanced while using the Qianniu Sword to cleave through the invisible pressure.

This invisible pressure was clearly generated by some ancient formation or restriction, surging in waves. Loose immortals, being of the qi-refining path, had frail bodies, so they had to rely on magic treasures to blast away the pressure. Ji Ning had relied on his divine body to get this far without any treasures.

"Whoosh."

Streams of black divine dragon sword-light howled forth, leaving dazzling trails in the mist, smashing and dispersing the waves of pressure.

He walked for a long time.

"Transform!" Ji Ning suddenly assumed a three-headed, six-armed form, and five more immortal swords appeared in his hands, all of them the faintly ethereal black immortal sword 'Litian Sword.' In such a dangerous place, Ji Ning didn't want to use his second avatar, so his true body temporarily used the Litian Sword, as top-grade immortal flying swords had immense power.

Wielding six top-grade immortal flying swords and merely using the divine ability 'Three Heads, Six Arms,' Ji Ning found it easy again.

The divine power consumed by Three Heads, Six Arms was more than ten times less than that of Star Picking Hand.

"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh…" Six black dragon sword-lights howled, shredding the waves of pressure. Some residual force still struck Ji Ning's body with a rumbling sound. But as a divine-body cultivator, as long as the residual pressure wasn't too great, it was nothing.

"This is already territory never explored by the Qi Kingdom's successive generations."

Ji Ning walked for a long time. When even the six immortal swords felt strained, he saw a figure in the distance, and the figure also saw him.

"Northmoon Immortal." A deep voice sounded.

"Golden Fur Bear Demon King." Ji Ning spoke. The figure was the tall and sturdy Golden Fur Bear Demon King, surrounded by ninety-nine floating orb treasures.

"Did Northmoon Immortal also obtain a treasure map and discover this place?" Golden Fur Bear Demon King asked.

"Indeed." Ji Ning didn't deny it.

"When our Twelve Eastern Stream Demon Kings planned to enter the Quya Mountains, we were discussing it at Third Brother's place when we learned that his hundreds of Firewing Guards had died. We other demon kings went along to provide support… Who would have thought that most of them would die, and now only I am left to explore this treasure alone. Oh, and you, Northmoon Immortal, who killed many demon kings, are also here. Truly, the world is unpredictable!" Golden Fur Bear Demon King sighed.

Ji Ning smiled: "Indeed, I must thank Firewing Demon King; otherwise, how would I know about the treasure here? But Demon King, you've stopped here. Can't go any further?"

This invisible area had a peculiar trait: as long as you moved forward, no matter which direction, waves of pressure would strike. But if you stood still, you wouldn't be affected.

"I can't go further! You have a divine body, so you can withstand the residual repulsive force. But we loose immortals have fragile bodies; we dare not resist directly and must completely shatter these striking forces. Naturally, the elemental energy consumption is high… I'll stop first to recover my elemental energy before going deeper," Golden Fur Bear Demon King said.

"Then I'll go ahead." Ji Ning laughed heartily.

Relying on his six top-grade immortal flying swords, he charged inward and soon disappeared from Golden Fur Bear Demon King's sight.

"Our Twelve Eastern Stream Demon Kings have truly paved the way for this Northmoon." Golden Fur Bear Demon King gritted his teeth but felt helpless. He knew that in terms of strength, Ji Ning was still a cut above him, and Ji Ning's divine body gave him a greater chance in such dangerous places.

…

"Star Picking Hand!"

Under pressure, Ji Ning was forced to use Star Picking Hand.

Instantly, the power of the black divine dragon sword-light surged. Ji Ning even temporarily withdrew the Three Heads, Six Arms divine ability, relying solely on the Qianniu Sword and Star Picking Hand to charge inward.

Charge, charge, charge!

Gradually, Ji Ning was forced to use Three Heads, Six Arms again, with all six hands employing Star Picking Hand.

After a long time, Ji Ning even had to stop to rest and recover most of his depleted divine power.

…

Sometimes stopping to recover, sometimes advancing.

Later, every ten or so zhang he advanced required six uses of Star Picking Hand. The consumption of divine power was immense.

"Bang!" As Ji Ning took another step forward, he suddenly burst out of the pressure zone.

"Hahaha…"

"Finally out of that damned place."

Ji Ning laughed heartily. Here, there was no striking force. For the first time, Ji Ning felt that walking easily was a pleasure.

"That mere few thousand li took me nearly a day, and my divine power was exhausted many times." Ji Ning shook his head and sighed, but he still held his six immortal swords and advanced cautiously. He tried probing with divine sense, but it was still obscured, revealing only falsehoods.

Ji Ning walked along a mountain stream.

The mist still lingered, limiting visibility to a mile or two. In the distance, a canyon was faintly visible.

"Crackle!" When Ji Ning took a step, a bolt of lightning suddenly struck.

"Scram."

Ji Ning didn't hesitate. Six full-powered black divine dragon sword-lights howled forth, directly shattering the lightning bolt.

"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh…" A torrent of lightning bolts surged toward him.

"Earlier, it was just invisible pressure, at least not lethal. This lightning is deadly." Ji Ning continuously executed his sword technique. He found that retreating reduced the lightning attacks, but advancing caused them to increase rapidly, growing more ferocious and powerful.

Ji Ning advanced only a hundred zhang before stopping, unable to go further.

"Boom, boom, boom…" Massive lightning bolts, each as thick as a bucket, struck relentlessly. Ji Ning struggled to block them. He tried to advance one step, but even more ferocious lightning forced him back.

"What to do? I can't advance a single step."

Ji Ning grew anxious.

It was too strong.

Ji Ning had tried letting a tiny bit of lightning strike him at the start, and his divine body easily withstood it. But through experimentation, he found the limit of lightning his divine body could endure. The rest had to be cleaved apart by his sword-light.

He had only gotten this far by relying on his divine body.

"Should I go back? Going back is easy—the lightning diminishes the further back I go, easily blocked. As for the pressure zone, at most it'll take half a day to slowly break through." Ji Ning had no trouble returning. According to Qi Kingdom records, some loose immortals had used various means to charge deep inside, but once too deep, they couldn't return because they had to cleave through the same pressure zone.

It would take ages to slowly advance outward.

Ji Ning didn't know that Firewing Demon King had once been trapped in that pressure zone for decades.

"Boom!" Endless lightning struck madly.

Ji Ning felt deeply unwilling.

"Little brat, with such strength, you still come in? I advise you to leave quickly, don't lose your life here!" A sharp, thin voice sounded in Ji Ning's ear.

…