Chapter 18: Slaying Shaoyan Chou

This was a small stronghold, with only a single Celestial Immortal 'Shaoyan Chou' stationed there. Just like the Ten Thousand Demon Cave stronghold where Ji Ning had rescued Mu Zishuo in the Grand Xia world back then, that place also had only one Celestial Immortal.

Because it was weak enough.

On the contrary, it was more flexible, and building the stronghold didn't require much cost.

"Who goes there?"

Inside the stronghold, groups of patrolling guards were everywhere, and in the distance there were even some black-robed men, whose auras were already at the level of Sanxian and Earth Immortals. To ordinary cultivators, such a stronghold was a dragon's pool and tiger's den, but to Ji Ning, this kind of place wasn't worth his time.

His target was the stronghold's overseer—Shaoyan Chou!

"An enemy has broken in."

"Attack."

"It's a Celestial Immortal."

"Surround him."

The stronghold was heavily guarded. As soon as Ji Ning used Greater Teleportation to cross the restrictions and enter, he was immediately discovered.

"Attack." That group of black-robed men immediately formed a great formation and charged to surround and kill Ji Ning. They were all Sanxian, and some were even comparable to million-year Sanxian. Working together, they dared to fight a Celestial Immortal.

"Too bad I'm not a Celestial Immortal." Ji Ning's eyes were icy.

Whoosh.

A large banner appeared in Ji Ning's hand, its power faintly discernible. This was one of the Thirty-Six Heavens formed by three thousand six hundred Star Gold Beads, transformed into a banner. This先天灵宝 Star Gold Bead could change form at will and was extremely powerful; Ji Ning liked to use it the most.

"Kill!"

"Hold him off, wait for the Blood Demon Immortal to come, and he's dead."

"Right, the Blood Demon Immortal's strength is far beyond ordinary Celestial Immortals. Hold him off." The black-robed men were all fearless, and a huge black dragon formed in the sky above, trying to coil around Ji Ning.

Ji Ning gripped the large banner, the tip of its pole pointing outward.

"Mere chickens and dogs." Ji Ning stepped through the void, swift as lightning, heading straight for the stronghold. The large banner in his hand stabbed outward, as if he were using a flying sword. A faint golden light appeared in the air, and among the black-robed men forming the great formation, one had his chest pierced through.

Puff! Puff! Puff!!!

While advancing, the large banner in his hand stabbed nine more times in succession, and nine more black-robed men, like grasshoppers, were pierced through by the banner pole and died on the spot. As for the great formation, it had long since collapsed.

"Who dares trespass in a forbidden area?" A loud shout rang out, and an ugly old man rushed out, his aura overwhelming, the smell of blood permeating the air.

"Milord."

"Milord."

The surrounding guards, as if meeting their savior, immediately called out. They had long been scared out of their wits. Earlier, they had dared to fight Ji Ning only because of the great formation. Now that even the formation was useless, facing such an extraordinarily powerful Celestial Immortal, they had lost all courage to resist.

"State your name." The ugly old man sneered.

Ji Ning stood in midair, looking at the ugly old man. He recognized him at a glance as Shaoyan Chou, having seen him in person before. Then he sneered and said angrily, "The Escort Sect killed my beloved. Now that my strength has greatly increased, I naturally want to kill you all. Kill one if there's one, kill two if there's two. I'll make the Escort Sect regret what they did back then."

"You?" The ugly old man sneered. "The Escort Sect is not someone you can provoke. I advise you to leave quickly, or don't blame me for being ruthless."

"Leave? Dream on!"

Ji Ning immediately pounced straight at Shaoyan Chou.

Shaoyan Chou cursed inwardly: "What bad luck, running into a madman seeking revenge. The Escort Sect has caused havoc in the Three Realms, and there are far too many who have grudges against it. This Celestial Immortal I don't even recognize... probably was harmed by the Escort Sect, and now that he's broken through to Celestial Immortal, he's come to take crazy revenge. There are so many strongholds in the entire Dongxuan Major World, and he had to pick mine. I really am unlucky!"

He was displeased.

But since the other had made a move, Shaoyan Chou didn't delay. A blood-colored fly whisk appeared in his hand. He swung it, and the whisk transformed into three thousand blood-colored giant snakes, surging toward Ji Ning.

"Hah!"

Ji Ning thrust the large banner forward. The banner pole, still as thick as a palm, instantly expanded to a thousand feet long, like lightning, and with a 'puchi' sound, it pierced through Shaoyan Chou's chest! As for those three thousand blood-colored giant snakes, how could they hinder the power of this Heavenly Banner?

"You, you..." Shaoyan Chou stared wide-eyed, incredulous, looking at Ji Ning, but inwardly he was furious: "Nearly a Pure Yang True Immortal? He's definitely nearly a Pure Yang True Immortal. How unlucky am I, casually running into a Celestial Immortal attacker who's nearly at the Pure Yang True Immortal level. And his magic treasure is no ordinary thing; it's probably a先天灵宝."

"What bad luck."

"Fortunately, I have many other avatars. He probably can't guess where my avatars are hidden."

Shaoyan Chou gave Ji Ning a cold glare, then died.

"Milord."

"Run!"

"Milord is dead."

Panic ensued.

Ji Ning swung the large banner fiercely. Rumble~~~ The Heavenly Banner, containing a heaven within it, directly swept up all the Escort Sect's minions in the stronghold, and even some fortresses and buildings inside the stronghold were all taken into the Heavenly Banner.

...

Inside the Heavenly Banner.

"Where is this?"

"Here?"

In a void, these Escort Sect minions were panicking. Among these minions, besides cultivators, there were also some gods and demons.

"Rumble~~~" Two mighty forces surged in this void. Above, a huge millstone formed; below, another huge millstone formed. The two huge millstones began to rotate and press toward the center.

As the void millstones pressed down, puffs of blood burst, and all the minions died, including the gods and demons, every single one perished.

Among them, a bracelet carried by one god and demon was also crushed by the void millstone. As for other magic treasures, none were broken.

"What's going on?"

One by one, old men appeared, each with different appearances, but all with the aura of Shaoyan Chou. There were fourteen in total.

Shaoyan Chou's fourteen avatars looked around and immediately their faces changed drastically.

"My fourteen avatars have been captured." Shaoyan Chou immediately understood, then panicked: "How is that possible? That god and demon was just an ordinary one, and the magic bracelet he carried was only a low-grade Heaven-grade treasure. Ordinary powerful immortals and demons wouldn't bother with such a weak god and demon, and even if they did, they wouldn't destroy a Heaven-grade treasure."

How could he know...

Ji Ning was very clear about his whereabouts. Lord Bodhi had already marked them clearly, so how could Shaoyan Chou escape?

"Boom~~~" The void millstone pressed down again, and the fourteen Celestial Immortal avatars, inside the ultimate先天 treasure, were directly crushed. It must be noted that Ji Ning now had the strength of a Pure Yang True Immortal. Controlling this ultimate先天 treasure, once someone was taken into the Star Gold Beads of the Heavens, even if it were a Heavenly God or True Immortal, they would have no chance of survival!

The crushing power of the void millstone inside the Star Gold Beads of the Heavens was no less than that of the Eight Fires World of Kun. The important thing was that once inside, there was no escape. Even if a Heavenly God could withstand the crushing for a while, they couldn't hold out for long.

...

In the Dongxuan Major World, one of the Escort Sect's three lairs, the Iron Soldier Tower.

This was a majestic building, formed by huge weapons like swords, sabers, and staves, looking at first glance like a large number of weapons stuck in the ground. But in reality, it formed a huge formation. These weapons were just architectural forms.

"Hmm?"

"The Blood Demon Immortal's side has been attacked. Come quickly."

Soon, in the main hall of the Iron Soldier Tower, a building shaped like a giant axe, a middle-aged man was solemnly looking at a mirror in midair, while two other Heavenly Gods and True Immortals had already arrived.

"The Blood Demon Immortal's side has been attacked. This is the scene that just happened. Take a look." The leader of the Iron Soldier Tower, 'Iron Soldier True Immortal', spoke. His strength was considerably greater than the other two, so he naturally became the temporary leader. However, this lair only had three Heavenly Gods and True Immortals, so there was no strict hierarchy.

"Oh?" The other two, a man and a woman. The man was a Heavenly God in golden armor, the woman a True Immortal in pink clothes. They were intimate with each other, clearly a couple. They were the 'Gold and Red Couple', somewhat famous in the Three Realms. Their strength was only average among Heavenly Gods and True Immortals. They were famous because of their notorious reputation. The Gold and Red Couple—Gold Spear Heavenly God had thousands of concubines, and Red Flower True Immortal had tens of thousands of male lovers. The two of them being a couple was quite the extreme.

The Gold and Red Couple both looked at the mirror in midair.

The mirror showed the scene that had just occurred.

"The Escort Sect killed my beloved. Now that my strength has greatly increased, I naturally want to kill you all. Kill one if there's one, kill two if there's two. I'll make the Escort Sect regret what they did back then." Ji Ning in the mirror had madness in his eyes, and then he fought Shaoyan Chou. Just one move.

Directly killed.

Then he uprooted the entire stronghold, sweeping it clean.

"I haven't seen this Celestial Immortal before. He's quite handsome." Red Flower True Immortal licked her lips, her eyes full of seduction.

"I haven't seen him either. Probably popped up from some corner. Likely broke through from a Returning Void Earth Immortal. But to have such strength right after breaking through, he must have had some lucky encounter. That banner pole is very powerful; it's probably a先天灵宝." Gold Spear Heavenly God evaluated. "In short, it's just a guy who hates our Escort Sect deeply and got lucky breaking through to Celestial Immortal. Nothing special. The Blood Demon Immortal can only blame his own bad luck for being chosen by this Celestial Immortal."

"He has nearly Pure Yang True Immortal power; we shouldn't be careless." Iron Soldier True Immortal spoke.

"We shouldn't be careless indeed. How about I go capture him?" Red Flower True Immortal's eyes were full of greed, as if she wanted to devour Ji Ning in the image.

"He's already left that stronghold, and we don't know his whereabouts for now." Iron Soldier True Immortal said. "If I use my mind sense to search, I might alert the Dongxuan Army. Let's wait and see. Now we stay on high alert. Once we find that Celestial Immortal attacking another stronghold, you, Gold Spear, as a Heavenly God, teleport directly there and kill him."

"Killing him is a matter of one spear thrust." Gold Spear Heavenly God smiled, very unconcerned.

Iron Soldier True Immortal was helpless.

Working with these two Heavenly Gods and True Immortals, he was really unlucky. But since the higher-ups arranged it this way, he had no choice.

...

"How did you find me again?" Shaoyan Chou looked at the Celestial Immortal in front of him in terror. Just a moment ago, his other fifteen avatars had been killed by this Celestial Immortal. He had a total of sixteen avatars in the Dongxuan Major World. Only the Blood Demon Immortal was public; the other fifteen were hidden. The fourteen hidden in magic treasures had all been found, and now this last one was also found.

"Shaoyan Chou, I'm looking for you." An icy voice sounded.