Chapter 28: Breaking Out of the Prison

"Death? Just with these three alien beasts?" The three-thousand-zhang giant Ji Ning laughed heartily, continuing to frantically pull up the bronze pillar. The power surging from beneath the pillar grew stronger and stronger, making Ji Ning feel increasingly at ease.

"You!"

The horned, golden-robed man was furious. His caution, cultivated since the ancient Pangu World, meant he never brought all his alien beasts with a single avatar. This avatar carried three alien beasts to guard the tribe long-term, while other avatars were hidden elsewhere, naturally with other venomous insects and beasts. This infuriated the horned, golden-robed man—if he had brought all his venomous insects and beasts, he could easily have suppressed the bronze pillar.

But—

Not bringing all venomous insects and beasts on one avatar was an iron law. It was the main reason he had lived for endless ages. Rather than violate this law, he would pay a huge price.

"Hmph, the Eighty-Nine Arcane Art." The horned, golden-robed man transmitted coldly, "The Eighty-Nine Arcane Art is formidable, but you haven't even passed the tribulation. If I truly wanted to deal with you... you would surely die."

"Come on, use whatever tricks you have." Ji Ning sneered.

The horned, golden-robed man's eyes flickered with cold light. He transmitted, "Fine, I, the Shaoyin clan, am willing to reconcile with you. If you agree to stop pulling the bronze pillar and even help us press it back down, the Shaoyin clan will never trouble you again."

"This is reconciliation? You won't trouble me, but I will trouble you. Do you think the annihilation of the Weichi clan can be brushed aside?" Ji Ning was furious.

"Annihilation of the Weichi clan?" The horned, golden-robed man's status was so lofty that he didn't even know about such a trivial matter as the Weichi clan's destruction. He transmitted, "Alright, I will arrest all Shaoyin clan members who decided to attack the Weichi clan, even those who acted, and hand them over to you for disposal!"

Such trivial matters were usually decided by the tribe's loose immortals and earth immortals.

For the Shaoyin Ancestor, a single seclusion could last millions of years. Loose immortals and earth immortals typically changed every tens of thousands of years. Most loose immortals and earth immortals never had the chance to meet this ancestor in their lifetimes.

Abandoning a few loose immortals or earth immortals, or even letting all the tribe's loose immortals and earth immortals die, didn't bother the Shaoyin Ancestor at all.

"So simple?" Ji Ning transmitted coldly, "Back then, the Celestial Immortal Xuanji arranged for someone to assassinate me, and even the soul of my sworn brother's Dao companion was annihilated by your Shaoyin clan's four celestial immortals. Can that be brushed aside? If you truly want reconciliation, I'm willing to nod. Besides sending everyone who acted against the Weichi clan, the four celestial immortals, including Celestial Immortal Xuanji, must all die! Then this matter is over."

"You go too far." The Shaoyin Ancestor was enraged.

"Then don't talk about reconciliation." Ji Ning continued frantically pulling the bronze pillar. By now, the pillar was already surging upward on its own. Even if Ji Ning stopped pulling, the power from below had completely surpassed the combined strength of the celestial immortals and the three alien beasts above.

"Loose immortals, cultivators, mortals—you can have anyone killed. But celestial immortals are absolutely not allowed, not even one." The Shaoyin Ancestor was furious.

A tribe must have its rules.

Sacrificing some loose immortals or earth immortals for the tribe's benefit was nothing.

But sacrificing celestial immortals? Other celestial immortals would feel that the fox mourns the death of the hare. If that happened, none of the tribe's celestial immortals would be at ease. Celestial immortals were the true foundation of the tribe. The Shaoyin Ancestor could not sacrifice them.

"I can compensate you with treasures." The Shaoyin Ancestor quickly added.

"Ten top-grade Pure Yang treasures—can you produce them?" Ji Ning retorted.

The Shaoyin Ancestor was choked speechless.

Ten?

What did he take Pure Yang treasures for? Despite his immense power over endless ages, he didn't even have ten top-grade Pure Yang treasures.

"Stop, stop now." The Shaoyin Ancestor watched the bronze pillar's ascent and realized the situation was irreversible. If Ji Ning had agreed to help press it down earlier, they could have pushed it back. Now? With the pillar risen this far, even if Ji Ning helped, they probably couldn't press it back.

"Ji Ning." The Shaoyin Ancestor's gloomy eyes were filled with murderous intent. "I, Du Chou, swear I will kill you. I will definitely kill you! Not only you, but also your tribe, all your relatives—they must all die!"

"Rest assured, I will also kill you and destroy your tribe..." Ji Ning looked up, his eyes like candlelight, clearly seeing the horned, golden-robed man.

Rumble~~~

The bronze pillar surged upward rapidly. The power from below far exceeded the Shaoyin clan's power above. Ji Ning added to the momentum, pulling the pillar even faster. His six hands turned into blurs.

"Damn it." The Shaoyin Ancestor's face darkened. He transmitted, "Everyone stop. Quickly form the Eight Immortals Sea-Suppressing Formation!"

"Yes."

The eight celestial immortals—Xuanji, Chixin, Jinzhong, Kumu, Jingyu, Huoba, Jinyun, and Heiyu—all revered their ancestor's command. They abandoned their efforts and flew into the sky. Even the three alien beasts gave up completely and flew high into the air.

The eight celestial immortals formed the formation, with the horned, golden-robed man at the center and the three alien beasts circling around.

"Here it comes." The horned, golden-robed man stared coldly downward.

"Crack." The bronze pillar suddenly stopped.

Ji Ning found that the pillar could no longer be pulled out. The exposed length of the pillar was now four thousand two hundred li.

Rumble~~~

A sound like heaven and earth splitting apart.

Ji Ning felt countless runes flicker on the fiery red rock beneath his feet, and the endless fiery rock began to shift. "Whoosh~~~" Under his divine sense, he saw a crack appear in the vast red rock. The crack grew larger and extended to both sides.

It was like the gap when a furnace lid is slowly lifted.

"We're out!"

"We're out!"

"Finally out!"

Figures shot out from the crack one after another, dense and numerous. As they emerged, they rapidly expanded from tiny specks into thousand-zhang divine demons, even ten-thousand-zhang divine demons. They let out excited, frenzied roars. The ancient divine demon language echoed across the heavens. Just hearing the excited roars, one could feel the boundless excitement and joy in their voices.

The sound alone brought a shock to the soul.

Anyone could feel the immense excitement in those voices.

"Boom, boom, boom~~~" The earth collapsed as countless divine demons soared into the sky. Some had two horns and snorted flames from their nostrils. Others had beast bodies and human faces. Some were simply a mass of black mist... All kinds of divine demons—tall and sturdy, cold and eerie, ferocious and mad.

Their sizes varied. The land shattered under their assault.

"This, this..." Ji Ning was completely stunned.

"How many divine demons are there? And their auras... most are Void-level divine demons." Ji Ning finally understood why the power beneath the bronze pillar had been so immense.

Because there were over nine hundred divine demons before him.

More than sixty percent were Void-level divine demons!

These were true divine demons, each with innate divine abilities. After endless ages, their Dao attainments were likely extremely high. Every Void-level divine demon was at the celestial immortal level, and the best among them could rival top-tier celestial immortals. With so many divine demons exerting force together, what could withstand them?

"What has the Shaoyin clan done, imprisoning so many divine demons?" Ji Ning was shocked.

But the nine celestial immortals of the Shaoyin clan in the sky all had grim expressions.

"Damn it." The Shaoyin Ancestor's face was ashen.

"We should have killed these divine demons long ago."

"This Ji Ning is truly detestable."

"He actually released the divine demons from the Endless Bronze Furnace."

The celestial immortals were all furious.

Over nine hundred divine demons burst through the surface, each enormous. The sky seemed to darken. They all stared at the Shaoyin celestial immortals in the sky, their eyes filled with endless hatred, hatred so thick it was almost tangible.

...

"Not good." The loose immortals and earth immortals in the formation were completely dumbfounded. Anyone could see the divine demons' hatred for the nine Shaoyin celestial immortals, and they could also see that more than half of the divine demons were at the Void-level. So many Void-level divine demons were terrifying.

The old demon Fufeng reacted fastest. He shouted angrily, "Can't you see those divine demons have gone mad? Quickly, quickly transfer all the clan members in the Chenyu Mountains. Hurry!"

"Yes."

"Alright."

"Quickly transfer the clan members." The loose immortals and earth immortals hurriedly set to work, still valuing their clansmen.

...

"Shaoyin clan!" The nine hundred-plus divine demons hovered in the air, glaring at the nine celestial immortals with boundless hatred. The leader, a humanoid divine demon with nine heads, roared, "You imprisoned us for endless ages, tortured us for endless ages. I, on behalf of all divine demons of the Bronze Furnace clan, swear that we will exterminate the Shaoyin clan to the last!"

"We swear to annihilate the Shaoyin clan."

"Annihilate the Shaoyin clan!"

"Annihilate!"

"Annihilate!"

The roars shook the heavens. Some Shaoyin clan members in the formation turned pale, and the nine celestial immortals all had grim faces. They knew well the divine demons' hatred for the Shaoyin clan. Anyone tortured for endless ages would have boundless hatred.

"Imprisoned and tortured for endless ages?" The Shaoyin Ancestor among the nine celestial immortals was very calm. He sneered, "Who's to blame? Only yourselves, you fools who don't know your place. If you had been willing to submit to the Shaoyin clan, you would have regained your freedom long ago and enjoyed endless pleasures."

"Submit? We divine demons fight heaven and earth. We are the masters of the world. How could we submit to you?" The nine-headed divine demon roared, and the other divine demons also let out furious shouts.

"Hahaha, masters of the world? Under my torture, didn't dozens of divine demons submit to me?" The Shaoyin Ancestor laughed heartily. "Masters of the world, how ridiculous. You're just some fools born when this great world was created."

"Those who submitted to you are all trash, the shame of our divine demons. The true warriors of the divine demons will never bow their heads." The nine-headed divine demon roared. "Shaoyin Chou, you imprisoned us one by one. Not killing us back then was your biggest mistake. Now that we are gathered here, we will surely annihilate your entire Shaoyin clan!"

By now, Ji Ning had also reached the surface. He looked up at the divine demons swearing in the sky and listened to their words, guessing much.

The nine-headed divine demon suddenly looked down at Ji Ning, who had appeared on the surface.

"Good brother, tell us your name." The nine-headed divine demon looked at Ji Ning. When they had burst out earlier, they had all seen Ji Ning pulling the bronze pillar. "You have given us freedom. This kindness is higher than the sky, deeper than the earth. We will never forget it."

...