Chapter 17: The Ninth Group Strikes

"Quick, go."

"Chancellor."

The Seven Dharma Kings let out shrill, terrified cries. Their combined formation was broken in an instant, scaring them out of their wits. They had no thought of resistance—only one idea: flee! In that moment, the scattered magical treasures were all controlled by the Seven Dharma Kings, who each employed various escape techniques.

But...

Ji Ning, clad in black robes, wielded the sword art "Plow Heaven," a technique most adept at group attacks. With nine Plow Heaven Immortal Swords against only seven enemies...

Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish! Under Ji Ning's control, streaks of sword-light cut across the sky, each pursuing one of the Seven Dharma Kings.

All Seven Dharma Kings possessed Immortal-ranked treasures, though they seemed quite ordinary. One silver-haired, eagle-beaked elder had a set of three flying swords; another, who looked like a youth, controlled a mass of star sand. These two loose immortals were each chased by two Plow Heaven Immortal Swords, while the others were each pursued by one.

"I'll block!" The youth-like loose immortal, the strongest of the seven, sent his brilliant star sand madly to intercept the two black, ethereal Plow Heaven Immortal Swords.

Pfft! Pfft!

With just two streaks of sword-light, they forcibly broke through all obstacles, slicing through the youth's body. His shattered golden lotus primordial spirit appeared, then completely dissipated.

Dead!

"Chancellor, save me!" a black-robed, cold-faced female loose immortal cried anxiously, but she too was cut down by a Plow Heaven Immortal Sword.

...

Five or six years had passed since Ji Ning improved the ninth stance of the Three-Foot Sword. During those years of comprehending the Eight-Nine Arcane Art and learning archery, he had also been enlightenment on the Dao—especially in 'Wind' and 'the Grand Dao of Qiankun.' Naturally, his sword art had advanced.

In terms of sword art alone, Ji Ning was already extremely accomplished.

Moreover, he had nine top-grade Immortal-ranked flying swords, while the Seven Dharma Kings only had low-grade Immortal-ranked ones, at best mid-grade. Some even used Heaven-ranked treasures.

Furthermore, Ji Ning employed the sword art "Plow Heaven," created by a Dao Ancestor and matched with the Plow Heaven Sword Formation, doubling its power.

Even when used separately, each of the nine Plow Heaven Immortal Swords reached the level of a Celestial Immortal.

Thus...

All Seven Dharma Kings were slain!

"Whoosh!" The nine streaks of sword-light swept through the air, gathering all the treasures before flying back to the black-robed Ji Ning, who then stored them away.

"This, this, too..." The Mad Immortal's eyes were filled with ecstasy, his gaze burning as he looked at the black-robed Ji Ning. "Ji Ning, those were the Seven Dharma Kings—notorious and fearsome. And you killed them in one encounter! They say the Seven Dharma Kings together are unmatched below Celestial Immortal. But you... you're not just at Senior Beiming's level; you're even stronger than he was back then!"

The black-robed Ji Ning said, "In sword art alone, I'm not much higher than Senior Beiming. But I have a full set of nine top-grade Immortal-ranked flying swords and a sword art created by a Dao Ancestor. So even if a Celestial Immortal patriarch came in person, this second incarnation of mine could fight him!"

...

The Blood God Church had split into two groups.

The Seven Dharma Kings went to deal with the weakest—the Mad Immortal and the Whitewater Hound—while the Chancellor, 'Blood God,' went after Ji Ning's true body.

"Die!" Blood God stood on the black ship's prow. Before him appeared a row of long shuttles, their tips gleaming with blood light. The nine gray shuttles spread out, streaking through the air, leaving trails of surging blood waves.

The nine gray shuttles howled in, blood churning in the sky.

Ji Ning's true body stood there, watching from afar.

"Hmph."

Ji Ning flipped his hand, producing the Thousandbull Sword. As his powerful late-Return-to-Void-stage elemental energy poured into it, the sword—nearly a Pure Yang treasure—reached an astonishing level of power.

"This Thousandbull Sword truly is near the Pure Yang level. Such man-made treasures have extremely strict requirements on elemental energy. Pure Yang treasures can only be used by Celestial Immortals; this Thousandbull Sword is the finest of top-grade Immortal-ranked, nearly matching Pure Yang power. With my early Return to Void elemental energy, I couldn't fully activate its might. Now at late Return to Void, I can unleash all its power. But... its strongest might hasn't been revealed yet!" Ji Ning had always sensed a vague threat, but he didn't know where it came from.

This unease made Ji Ning hold back some of his strength to deal with unexpected situations.

"Rise."

A massive lotus sword domain appeared around Ji Ning. Since his earthly fire and cold miasma hadn't yet reached the 'heavenly fire, heavenly water' level, the water-fire lotus was actually weaker than the lotus sword domain.

A huge lotus bloomed, layer upon layer of petals.

With a higher realm of the Dao, the lotus sword domain was also more powerful.

"Boom!" "Boom!" "Boom!" The shuttles, carrying blood waves, charged straight in, tearing through layer after layer of petals.

Ji Ning, wielding the Thousandbull Sword, sent sword-light flashing to block each shuttle.

The rumbling continued.

Sword qi surged.

Ji Ning, using the lotus sword domain and the Thousandbull Sword with one hand, directly knocked back the shuttles.

"Oh?" Blood God, while controlling his treasures from afar, also kept an eye on the Seven Dharma Kings. "This Ji Ning does have some skill. Though I'm only using thirty percent of my power, he hasn't even used his Three Heads Six Arms, just a single sword to block me. It seems even at full strength, killing him would be difficult. With less than a hundred years of cultivation, this monstrous genius who won the Immortal Destiny Tournament is truly extraordinary. Well, once the Seven Dharma Kings kill the Mad Immortal, Diancai, and that spirit beast, they'll join me to finish off Ji Ning!"

Blood God was lost in his fantasy.

But then he was stunned to see...

A black-robed Ji Ning suddenly appeared within the sealing formation.

"A second incarnation? This Ji Ning dares to separate his second incarnation from his true body? Isn't he afraid of being defeated one by one? He's courting death." Blood God was startled but not panicked, thinking the Seven Dharma Kings could at least match Ji Ning's second incarnation.

"That's—"

The nine powerful Immortal-ranked flying swords, their might terrifying, howled as they combined to directly shatter the blood dragon.

The Seven Dharma Kings fled in panic, screaming, but were all caught and slain.

Blood God was dumbfounded!

Ji Ning's second incarnation was far stronger than he imagined. Even at full strength, he couldn't have shattered the blood dragon so directly! A significant power gap was needed for such a crushing defeat. Ji Ning's second incarnation was even stronger than the Chancellor himself!

"The Seven Dharma Kings—my Seven Dharma Kings, gone just like that." Blood God's heart ached. "This Ji Ning is inhuman, a monster. With less than a hundred years of cultivation, he's stronger than me even with my secret arts. He's probably on par with that old geezer 'Tuoshan' of the Andong Northshan clan."

"Since he killed my Seven Dharma Kings, I'll give him a taste of his own medicine."

Blood God's eyes were filled with madness.

The Blood God Church's followers were known for their madness, and the Chancellor Blood God was a lunatic. With the treasure ship in hand, he wouldn't leave easily.

"Swoosh!"

The shuttles quickly flew back, and the black ship in the air shrank rapidly. Blood God retreated into the cabin. The small black ship sealed shut like a fortress.

"Ji Ning, you killed my Seven Dharma Kings, so I'll kill your master!" Blood God's roar shook the heavens, while he muttered to himself, "Such a loss—killing Diancai should count as a great merit. I must get some more treasures."

...

Ji Ning had only been dealing with Blood God casually, his mind more focused on the unknown danger, ready to respond at any moment.

When Blood God suddenly hid inside the black ship, which became like a fortress, Ji Ning frowned and sent a mental message: "Uncle White, set up the formation to block Blood God. Don't let him get near Master."

"Don't worry, Ning'er." The Whitewater Hound hadn't even exerted himself yet; he was the final guardian of Immortal Diancai!

"Blood God is barely on par with a Celestial Immortal. Killing him is hard, but suppressing him is doable," Ji Ning thought. "That treasure ship of his is just for self-preservation... no threat to me. Where is the real danger?"

Ji Ning's eyes burned with candlelight as he scanned the surroundings.

His divine sense probed as well.

But he found nothing!

Suddenly—

Hum!

A white-robed man appeared out of nowhere, with a strange blood mark on his arm. Around him, eleven more white-robed figures materialized, each radiating powerful auras. The invisible pressure... each seemed no weaker than Blood God! The first one gave Ji Ning a feeling of being far stronger than Blood God.

"A Greater Teleportation Talisman!" Ji Ning was startled. "The area was sealed against spatial teleportation. Only a 'Greater Teleportation' could bypass that. They can't have comprehended the 'Grand Dao of Qiankun'—they must have used a Greater Teleportation Talisman."

"Just for a surprise attack, they used a Greater Teleportation Talisman? And the other eleven appeared later, meaning they were hiding in the leader's随身仙府."

Ji Ning deduced this in an instant.

And he grew even more alarmed.

A Greater Teleportation Talisman was incredibly precious. Using one just to appear meant their attack would be terrifying.

"Kill." One white-robed youth grinned savagely, and complex light patterns formed around him, with strange runes floating above, each glowing with black light.

The other white-robed figures did the same.

The leader's formation and runes were larger and more complex.

"Condense."

A massive black serpent appeared in midair, its eyes golden. Its body exuded a power that shook heaven and earth, making the very world tremble.

"An ancient divine beast—the Bashe?" Ji Ning was shocked.

The most supreme divine beasts in the Three Realms were born in ancient times, no weaker than Chaos Primordials, some even being Chaos Primordials themselves. Beasts like the Yinglong, the Kunpeng, the Zhulong... born from heaven and earth or chaos, they could also be considered divine demons. But as the progenitors of many divine beasts, with countless descendants carrying their bloodlines, they were also classified as divine beasts—the most primal of all.

The blood dragon formed by the Seven Dharma Kings' formation earlier was a very ordinary combined attack.

But formations that conjure ancient divine beasts are extremely powerful, granting mystical abilities once formed.

...

Slow as it seems to describe, it happened in an instant.

The twelve white-robed figures, using the Greater Teleportation Talisman, appeared instantly and formed a massive Bashe. The earth-shaking serpent opened its bloody maw, distorting space as if swallowing the very world. A tremendous suction force pulled at Ji Ning. Despite his divine body's resistance, he couldn't withstand it. Not long ago, a Celestial Immortal patriarch had been sucked in and killed.

"Swoosh."

Under the gaze of the Mad Immortal and the Whitewater Hound in the distance... the massive Bashe swallowed Ji Ning in one gulp.

...