Chapter 25: Strength to Uproot Mountains

"How would I know?" Infatuation Celestial was also anxious. "We fought him before, and it's been less than half a month. How could I have imagined his strength would increase so much?"

"Before, his strength wasn't as great as mine," Withered Tree Celestial nodded. "But now he can completely suppress the Shaoyin Demon-Subduing Formation... his strength has completely surpassed mine and Golden Bell's."

"Mm," Golden Bell Celestial admitted reluctantly, but the facts were before him.

Though the exchange was brief, all five celestials realized Ji Ning's strength was greater than they had estimated.

The Shaoyin Demon-Subduing Formation was indeed suitable for capturing and trapping enemies!

In the era of gods and demons, it was specifically used to capture demons, and it was indeed well-suited for dealing with Ji Ning. But to capture someone, the captor's strength must be completely dominant. If during their last encounter the five celestials had known Ji Ning possessed the Eight-Nine Arcane Art and had invited Fire Manta Celestial to join them in using the Shaoyin Demon-Subduing Formation, they would have succeeded long ago.

But this time...

Ji Ning's Eight-Nine Arcane Art had now reached the fifth level, and his Star-Picking Hand had reached the fourth turn. His strength had clearly increased by a large margin! From being weaker than Golden Bell and Withered Tree Celestials to being stronger than both! This change in strength meant the Shaoyin Demon-Subduing Formation was no longer sufficient to bind Ji Ning.

"Break for me!"

Ji Ning was furiously assaulting the five-colored mountain peak.

The five celestials were doing their utmost to maintain the defensive formation.

"He's completely suppressing us," Golden Bell Celestial gritted his teeth.

"His strength has grown even greater, and he also has the Eight-Nine Arcane Art protecting his body, so he doesn't need to defend. We're all qi refiners; if he touches us, we'll turn to ash," Withered Tree Celestial said.

"Alas," Jingyu Celestial also fumed.

The Eight-Nine Arcane Art was the most troublesome thing.

Ordinary gods and demons wouldn't dare to directly withstand magic treasures. But cultivators of the Eight-Nine Arcane Art dared to do so!

"What do we do?" Fire Manta Celestial looked at the other four. "What now? Wait here?"

"Maybe we should leave first, using Greater Teleportation Dao-seals," Golden Bell Celestial said. Though at a disadvantage, the five of them together had ways to escape.

"Escape?"

Infatuation Celestial sneered. "Ji Ning is now hiding inside this formation. To deal with him, we must enter the formation. Since we're already in, why rush to leave? This time Ji Ning has come to the lair of our Shaoyin clan, so our clan must capture him. Either our clan bows its head and admits defeat this time, or Ji Ning loses! When Ji Ning came to our Shaoyin clan's lair, neither side had a way back; one side must concede!"

"We cannot concede," Jingyu Celestial said in a low voice. "Our Shaoyin clan cannot concede to Ji Ning."

"So I intend to inform the ancestor and let him decide," Infatuation Celestial transmitted.

"Inform the master?" Fire Manta Celestial was startled, then nodded slightly. "At this point, we can only ask the master to decide."

"Mm."

"Inform the ancestor."

"I agree."

Golden Bell Celestial, Jingyu Celestial, and Withered Tree Celestial all nodded.

"I've sent my spirit beast to see Xuanji; Xuanji will immediately inform the ancestor," Infatuation Celestial said. Though the distance was great, as a celestial, the distance over which he could communicate mentally with his spirit beast was also very great.

...

Ji Ning attacked furiously but couldn't break through the five celestials' defense. The Seven Rotations Wind and Thunder was also bombarding from the side, and Uncle Bai even used the power of the formation to form magnetic light that pierced through, but still couldn't break the defense.

"Like a turtle shell," Ji Ning cursed and temporarily gave up.

Swoosh.

Ji Ning returned to Uncle Bai, Xiaoqing, and Mu Zishuo.

"Master, those five celestials defend too strongly; we can't break through. What do we do now?" Xiaoqing asked anxiously.

"What can we do? Wait," Ji Ning shook his head and sighed. "Celestials are celestials after all. Last time I was at a disadvantage under the siege of four celestials; this time my strength has greatly increased, and I have the upper hand. But with the five celestials joining forces... it's very difficult for me to truly defeat them. Killing a celestial is no easy task."

Then Ji Ning smiled: "But I never thought I had the strength to sweep through celestials."

"Senior apprentice-brother, you?" Mu Zishuo was also puzzled.

"Junior apprentice-brother," Ji Ning smiled. "Now the situation between me and the Shaoyin clan is completely different. I've come to their lair and even set up a formation here. I'm quite comfortable! With the intelligence network of the Grand Xia world, soon all major powers will know about this."

"Every day I stay carefree in the Shaoyin clan's lair, they lose face."

"If I stay here for half a year or a year, and the Shaoyin clan can't do anything to me, and finally watch me leave carefree, this will become a huge joke for the Shaoyin clan!" Ji Ning said. "The Shaoyin clan absolutely doesn't want this to happen; they will definitely find a way to deal with me."

"If they keep hiding in their turtle shell, of course I can't do anything."

"But if they want to kill me, they must risk entering the formation to do so."

"Risk coming in to kill me... as long as I seize one opportunity, I can kill one of their celestials." Ji Ning smiled. "Once one dies, it's possible to kill a second."

"This time... I'm here to fight a protracted war with the Shaoyin clan."

Battles at the celestial level often lasted many years.

Ji Ning was prepared for a long struggle, lasting half a year or a year, stirring up the Shaoyin clan until they were panicked. As long as the Shaoyin clan made one wrong move, or a celestial lost his head, that would be Ji Ning's chance to achieve success.

...

"Uncle Bai, occasionally use the formation to attack them, keeping them tense and maintaining the formation," Ji Ning suddenly said.

"Ji Ning, are you?" Uncle Bai was startled. "Are you going to rest for a while?"

"No."

Ji Ning shook his head and smiled. "I thought of a staff."

"Staff?" Everyone was puzzled.

"I'll go out of the formation to take a look; I'll be back soon," Ji Ning said with a smile. "Uncle Bai, be careful."

"Don't worry," Uncle Bai nodded.

"Master, what staff are you going to look at?" Xiaoqing pressed.

"A copper staff," Ji Ning said, then quickly left, soon quietly exiting the formation and directly teleporting through space to the depths of the earth.

Because Ji Ning knew the conflict with the Shaoyin clan would likely be prolonged, and since he couldn't kill the five celestials for now, he decided to first examine the mysterious underground copper staff! That huge copper staff... Ji Ning had just discovered it earlier but hadn't been able to investigate thoroughly because of the five celestials.

Now the five celestials were trapped there, and no one would disturb him.

"Chi chi chi~~~" Ji Ning's divine power surged around him, pushing aside the dirt and rocks, revealing the huge fiery red copper pillar. This copper pillar had been underground for who knows how many years but showed no rust. It was covered with runes, and waves of ripples emanated from it.

"Doesn't seem like a magic treasure," Ji Ning judged after probing.

"Let me probe with my divine sense."

Ji Ning immediately released his divine sense and carefully examined the true nature of the fiery red copper pillar.

Last time he had probed from high in the sky, so he had only detected part of the copper staff. Now he was deep underground right next to the copper pillar.

"This is..." Ji Ning gasped.

Heavens!

This fiery red copper pillar was ninety-nine zhang thick. It extended deep into the earth, and at its lowest point was an enormous fiery red rock wall! This fiery red rock wall stretched for over ten thousand li underground. Ji Ning's divine sense was limited in range, so he could only detect part of the rock wall. How large the rock wall actually was... Ji Ning couldn't tell.

And that huge copper pillar was inserted into this fiery red rock wall!

The part of the copper pillar exposed above the rock wall was over three thousand li long! How much was inserted into the rock wall was unknown, because Ji Ning's divine sense couldn't penetrate the fiery red rock wall at all.

"This rock wall..." Ji Ning immediately teleported through space again, directly moving three thousand li until he reached the fiery red rock wall.

The surrounding rocks and dirt were pushed aside by Ji Ning's divine power, revealing an empty area.

Beneath Ji Ning's feet was the fiery red rock wall, and beside him was the inserted fiery red copper pillar.

"What is this? This fiery red rock wall can't be probed by divine sense, nor refined by elemental energy," Ji Ning wondered in confusion, then suddenly stomped hard.

Bang~~~~

How powerful was Ji Ning's stomp?

His palm was comparable to a Pure Yang ultimate treasure, and the rest of his body had reached the level of a top-grade immortal treasure. The force of this stomp could easily shatter a great mountain. But the huge fiery red rock wall below only made a bang sound and was completely unharmed.

"Strange." Ji Ning suddenly slammed his palm down.

With the divine ability, the power of the Star-Picking Hand was terrifying.

Another, deeper sound.

"Still nothing?" Ji Ning was extremely puzzled. "Even an ordinary Heaven-grade magic treasure would be shattered by my slap, but this fiery red rock wall is completely unharmed?"

Ji Ning walked to the huge copper pillar inserted into the rock wall.

"The copper pillar is inserted into the rock wall?" Ji Ning carefully circled the huge copper pillar, pushing away the dirt and rocks around the ninety-nine-zhang-thick fiery red copper pillar, and discovered that the fiery red rock wall indeed had a ninety-nine-zhang-wide hole, into which the copper pillar fit perfectly!

Even Ji Ning's divine power couldn't penetrate the gap!

"Since the copper pillar can be inserted, can it be pulled out?" Ji Ning pondered and muttered. Whatever, this was something the Shaoyin clan had hidden here; Ji Ning wouldn't hesitate. He immediately shook his body, and with a whoosh, transformed into a three-hundred-zhang-tall giant.

After reaching the Void level in divine body cultivation, Ji Ning's limit with the Heaven-Earth Transformation had reached the thousand-zhang giant level.

Now transformed into a three-hundred-zhang giant, he easily wrapped his arms around the huge copper pillar.

"Pull!" Ji Ning exerted force suddenly.

A three-hundred-zhang giant's pulling strength was immense!

But it didn't budge!

"Star-Picking Hand." Ji Ning's eyes widened, the Star-Picking runes on his palms surged, greatly increasing his power. The pulling force soared, carrying the endless strength to uproot mountains...

Boom~~~~

With a loud noise, the huge copper pillar was pulled up a little. As it rose, the friction between the part deep in the hole and the wall produced a rumbling sound like heaven and earth splitting apart.

...

In a distant other world.

"Who? Who dares to touch my Endless Copper Furnace?" A humanoid creature with a single horn on its head, covered in cyan flames, and scales on its face opened its eyes, filled with boundless fury.

...