Chapter 1 His Wait

Ji Ning fell onto the corridor floor, but he felt an eerie silence all around, a terrifying stillness.

His ears could no longer hear.

At the same time, his entire body was devoid of sensation. The immense vitality of his demonic god-like body began to take effect, divine power rapidly restoring everything. The torn muscles and skin, even the ruptured internal organs and meridians, quickly healed. Ji Ning's ears heard sounds again, and his body regained feeling.

"Pain, so painful." Ji Ning quickly looked into the distance. The momentary loss of all sensation and sound had been truly terrifying.

"It's really... really too terrifying." Ji Ning stared at the distant black-furred monster, hunched and exuding dense deathly aura. "The speed of that slap was too fast for me to dodge, and his strength far surpasses the combined force of those nine alien giants!"

The black-furred monster stood silently, its green eyes fixed on Ji Ning, letting out a hoarse sigh filled with helpless disappointment: "I have waited too long, so long that I've forgotten time. As long as you survive three trials, that's enough. You don't need to kill me, just knock me down or wound me."

Ji Ning struggled to his feet, the ground covered in bloodstains.

"Knock you down?" Ji Ning stared at the hunched black-furred monster.

"No, to be more precise, just wound me, break my skin, make me bleed," the black-furred monster said slowly. "I will fall on my own, and you will pass... Remember that time when Ju Hua the Immortal took disciples? Over a dozen people made it to me then. What a lively scene. Among them was a young man who wounded me with a powerful talisman. But I only stepped back and did not fall... If I had fallen then, I wouldn't have had to endure this endless loneliness. Loneliness is truly terrifying, truly terrifying..."

Ji Ning held his breath.

This black-furred monster before him had existed since the time of Ju Hua the Immortal. It certainly wasn't a cultivator or the like; no normal cultivator could live that long unless they became an Immortal and achieved true eternal life. But an Immortal couldn't be like this—an Immortal's breath would reduce him to ashes.

"My master only set the condition that wounding or knocking me down counts as passing this trial," the black-furred monster said hoarsely. "Come now, wound me. If you wound me, I will fall accordingly."

"Wound you?" Ji Ning used his divine will to retrieve his two flying Northmoon swords. His broken fingers reconnected, and the black-furred monster watched silently without interfering.

The black-furred monster looked at Ji Ning and said slowly: "Go all out. In the endless years, I have given the same chance to everyone who reached me: if they wound me, I will fall. But... not one of them could wound me. Not a single one!"

Ji Ning's heart tightened.

"Only that time, when Ju Hua the Immortal took disciples, that talisman wounded me. Why didn't I fall then? That one chance, I missed it, and there was never another." The black-furred monster spoke slowly, tormented beyond endurance by endless solitude.

"Wound him?" Ji Ning was terrified.

According to this monster, which had likely existed since the age of gods and demons, only one person had ever wounded it, and that was with a talisman!

"Over the years, there must have been geniuses who grasped the True Meaning of the Dao who entered," Ji Ning felt immense pressure. "How can I possibly do it?"

"Come." The hunched black-furred monster walked step by step toward him. "Come, wound me."

Ji Ning held the Northmoon sword.

Whoosh!

Ji Ning shot upward like a rocket, two talismans appearing in his hand—a Lightness Talisman and a Speed Talisman. From the storage treasures left by the corpses, he had found many talismans, but most had lost their power over the long years. Only about a hundred were still usable, with Lightness and Speed Talismans being the most common. Both talismans were activated and instantly merged into his body.

"Die." Ji Ning soared to the corridor ceiling, then kicked off and executed the Windwing Evasion, diving down from above.

At this moment, his speed reached its peak.

"Die!"

Ji Ning channeled all his power into the Northmoon sword in his right hand, stabbing downward.

The hunched black-furred monster stopped, looked up, and fixed its green eyes on Ji Ning diving from above. It just watched, silently... its gaze devoid of any emotion, dull and numb.

"Drip!"

"Pierce Stone!"

Ji Ning plunged downward, the tip of his sword turning into a drop of water that 'dripped' onto the monster's furry face. At this moment, both divine power and innate true essence were pushed to the limit. The penetration force from the extreme speed, combined with the 'Drip Pierce True Meaning,' formed a terrifying strike...

"Sss!"

The sword tip struck the monster's facial skin. The monster still looked up at Ji Ning.

"Still far off." The black-furred monster sighed, its green eyes filled with endless disappointment. "I must continue waiting, continue waiting... As for you, I can only kill you."

Ji Ning's sword strike left no mark on the monster's face. Unwilling to give up, he executed two killing moves with both swords—'Silk Rain into Thread' and 'Moth to Flame'—striking its chest and face, but neither could penetrate at all.

"Retreat." Ji Ning leaped back dozens of zhang.

The hunched black-furred monster advanced, walking slowly, but each step covered dozens of zhang. In terms of pure speed, it was actually faster than Ji Ning! Both its walking speed and attack speed surpassed his, marking the first time in the corridor that Ji Ning encountered an opponent faster than himself.

Previously, he could rely on the Windwing Evasion to flee and stall, but now he could no longer delay.

"How can its skin be so tough?" Ji Ning was frantic. Although the fallen innate lifeforms with divine bodies before him proved how difficult it was to wound this monster, the fact that his full-power strike couldn't even pierce its face filled him with despair.

"Die. Stop struggling." A hoarse voice sounded, and the hunched black-furred monster appeared beside Ji Ning.

Three water lotus leaves and three fire lotus leaves appeared around Ji Ning, spinning in opposite directions, churning. But to the black-furred monster, the churning force of the water and fire lotuses was like walking through small ripples, unable to shake its body.

Ji Ning's twin swords once again executed 'Drip Pierce Stone,' stabbing at the monster's groin and legs.

"Escape is impossible, defense is useless. I must find a chance to survive. Kill, kill, kill! Different parts of its body might have weak spots I can pierce." Ji Ning refused to give up.

"Stop struggling."

The black-furred monster sighed, its large, fan-like palm slapping toward Ji Ning again. It ignored his swords entirely, letting them strike its body while its palm landed on him.

"Boom!!!"

The magic armor Ji Ning wore was instantly torn apart. The large palm, dense with deathly aura, pierced straight through his chest, sending him flying far away.

Bang.

Ji Ning lay on the ground, a huge hole in his chest, his body nearly torn in two. He couldn't move; the massive wound had paralyzed his entire body. He could only wait for his body's vitality to restore itself, which would take about half a minute before he could move again.

But the distant black-furred monster was already walking toward him, likely reaching him in a second.

"Die." The hunched monster strode forward.

"No!" Ji Ning's heart burned with an endless desire for life. He had died before, even visited the underworld and seen Meng Po. So he craved life even more. He didn't want to drink Meng Po's soup. "What can I do? How can I survive? I can't even move... All I have left is my divine will. Can I use it to lift the Northmoon sword and wound the black-furred monster?"

Ji Ning despaired.

He knew the power of his divine will. After killing Tie Muzhan, he had tested it: his divine will could lift large trees and rocks, with strength comparable to a late-stage Xiantian lifeform with a divine body. That was impressive for materialized thought, but what use was such power now?

...

"I still have them." As the black-furred monster approached, Ji Ning suddenly thought of something and roared, "All of you, come out!"

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh...

A dense array of magic treasures appeared around Ji Ning—swords, blades, spears—thousands of them, all suspended in the air, each controlled by his divine will, their tips aimed at the black-furred monster.

"All innate true essence, go!" Ji Ning went completely berserk. The innate true essence in his dantian instantly surged into every magic treasure.

These were low-grade treasures left by the innate lifeforms who had died over the endless years. Ji Ning had easily refined them after acquiring them. Ordinary innate lifeforms wielded treasures by hand, but Ji Ning, with his divine will, could hold them with his mind.

It was as if thousands of hands suddenly grabbed each treasure, all aimed at the black-furred monster.

His innate true essence, dispersed into thousands of treasures, tore his meridians. An innate lifeform could usually fight for a long time, but Ji Ning's true essence, spread thin, was no longer abundant.

"Kill!"

Ji Ning, his body broken and unable to move, let out a roar with a ferocious expression.

The roar was filled with an endless longing for life!

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Countless sword beams, blade beams, and spear beams shot out, turning the entire corridor blindingly white. All struck simultaneously and precisely at the black-furred monster, which had opened its arms and closed its eyes!

"Boom..."

...