Chapter 13: The Volcano Island

“Sword Dao…” Ji Ning closed his eyes.

Gradually, an invisible force began to gather around Ji Ning, and then formed a hazy black sword shadow that enveloped and surrounded him.

What is commonly called achieving mastery in the Sword Dao qualifies one as a Sword Immortal, but this is merely the beginning of the path of the Sword Immortal! Sensing the power of the sword… is the true pursuit of the essence of the sword.

“It is alive.” Ji Ning opened his eyes, looking at the hazy black sword shadow enveloping him. This was the manifestation of the fourth level of sword force. Ji Ning could clearly feel the ‘childlike affection’ of this hazy sword shadow, as if a little child clung to him with great fondness, filling Ji Ning’s heart with natural joy.

Spirit, life.

The first three levels of heart force were merely rigid power, but the fourth level actually possessed life and spirit. Although this spirit was still weak, it already shocked Ji Ning.

Previously, when he reached the fourth level in heart force, he had not felt this way. Heart force originates from oneself; it is the power of the mind. But sword force… originates from the mysterious and unfathomable source of the sword in the unseen. The path Ji Ning now walked was the path of pursuing the source of the sword.

“Whoosh.”

Ji Ning stood up, and with every movement, black sword force surged.

“Such strong power.”

“Before, there was still some gap between me and Senior Brother Silvermoon, Red Snow, and the others, after all, I have cultivated for too short a time. Although heart force is formidable, it is consumed too quickly in battle. It is naturally effective against those weaker than oneself, allowing victory in one or two moves. But when fighting opponents of the same level, it cannot last long. This sword force, however, requires no consumption of divine power or dharma power, and it is inexhaustible.” Ji Ning rejoiced.

He had comprehended.

Thus, even an ordinary mortal, with every move, could contain the fourth level of sword force.

“The power of this sword force is roughly eighty percent of my full heart force burst.” Ji Ning marveled in awe. Although it was only eighty percent, its inexhaustibility made it far more helpful to Ji Ning than heart force, which could only be sustained for a very short time.

“From now on, in one-on-one combat, I can finally match Senior Brother Silvermoon, Red Snow, and the others.”

…

Calming his mind, Ji Ning then observed this volcano island. The towering volcano on the island was constantly erupting with lava. But because the island was surrounded by frozen sea and endless snowflakes, only that fiery mountain was scorching hot; the temperature in other areas of the island, at least near the frozen sea side, was just right.

“Whoosh.” With a thought, a figure appeared beside Ji Ning—it was Xi Ke Celestial.

“Junior Brother Beiming.” Xi Ke Celestial came out and greeted with a smile, then looked around. As he looked, he froze.

The erupting volcano…

A scene completely different from Snow Island.

“This is, this…” Xi Ke Celestial stared, murmuring.

“This is the second island; I call it Volcano Island.” Ji Ning spoke.

“You made it, you actually made it. Hahaha… good, good.” Xi Ke Celestial turned to look at Ji Ning, his eyes full of excitement and fervor, “Junior Brother Beiming, to be honest, I wasn’t confident you would get through before. Even when I was staying in your immortal mansion for a few days, I was afraid you had already failed. Now that you’ve made it, it’s wonderful, wonderful.”

Xi Ke Celestial truly had not had much faith in Ji Ning.

Earlier, on Snow Island, he had seen Ji Ning’s swordsmanship when he killed the Snow Demon’s clone; it was only at the third level of sword force, though the speed and power of the sword were exceptionally astonishing. That was why he thought Ji Ning had a slight chance of gaining the approval of the Snow Demon’s true body. To get through, one did not necessarily have to defeat the Snow Demon’s true body; as long as the battle lasted long enough, the Snow Demon’s true body would approve and let them pass.

Because Ji Ning had spent a long time contemplating the stone tablet, he felt it was very brief, but in reality, it took nearly two days.

Xi Ke Celestial, waiting in the immortal mansion for a few days, also thought that Ji Ning had fought fiercely with the Snow Demon’s true body for a long time, and that the Snow Demon’s true body had approved of Ji Ning, allowing him to pass.

Ji Ning smiled.

“A bit of luck.” Ji Ning laughed.

“Being able to come here is strength.” Xi Ke Celestial sighed, “Anyway, we finally left that Snow Island. That place, I’ve had enough of it.”

“Snow Island is still quite beautiful.” Ji Ning said.

“When you are alone, staying for hundreds of millions of years in fear, even the best place is hell.” Xi Ke Celestial said quickly, “Let’s go, let’s not talk here. Let’s take a look quickly and see if there are any Celestials on this island. The further back, the stronger the surviving Celestials are. Even if they can’t make it to the next island, they should be able to live for a relatively long time.”

“Let’s go, take a look.” Ji Ning nodded.

…

Ji Ning and Xi Ke Celestial walked on Volcano Island, observing. Before long, they discovered a stretch of undulating pointed-roof palaces.

“Over there, if there are any surviving Celestials, they should be living there.” Xi Ke Celestial pointed at the palace cluster.

As soon as Xi Ke Celestial finished speaking,

Whoosh.

A burly man dressed in animal skins, with eyes like copper bells, appeared at the entrance of one of the palaces. He looked out and immediately saw Ji Ning and Xi Ke Celestial.

“Big brother, second brother, third brother, fourth brother, fifth brother, seventh!” The burly man immediately shouted loudly.

Instantly, figures rushed out from other palaces one after another, all coming outside and looking over.

Six men and one woman.

All dressed in animal skins, they looked over.

“Is that little brother Xi Ke?” Suddenly, one of the men with wrinkled skin called out.

“Seven Dragon Gods, you are still alive?” Xi Ke Celestial laughed heartily.

“The Seven Dragon Gods of antiquity?” Ji Ning was also greatly shocked.

Before coming, he had naturally learned about the Celestials who had entered the Moon Under the Pool from antiquity to the present. Among them, the ‘Seven Dragon Gods’ had entered the Moon Under the Pool in ancient times and had already spent an immensely long time. When Ji Ning chatted with Xi Ke Celestial, he learned that on Snow Island, there was an ambush every thousand years. Ji Ning guessed that other islands were probably similar.

In the Moon Under the Pool, living for hundreds of millions of years was already a miracle. Living from antiquity to the present?

“Little brother Xi Ke, how did you come to this damn place? This damn place shouldn’t be come to at all.” The man who looked the oldest said. By then, Ji Ning and Xi Ke Celestial had already walked over.

“Since we’re in, it’s too late to regret.” Xi Ke Celestial sighed, “I was trapped on Snow Island for hundreds of millions of years, but you seven came in during antiquity. I admire that you have managed to endure until now.”

“Hahaha… and this brother is?” A man with fiery red hair looked at Ji Ning, his eyes showing goodwill, “Although I can’t recognize him, I can feel that he is a brother of our human race.”

“Let me introduce.”

Xi Ke Celestial smiled and looked at Ji Ning, “Junior Brother Beiming, I believe you have guessed it. These seven… are the seven Dragon Gods who once followed the Human Sovereign Suiren in campaigns across the four directions. In those days, our human race rose from obscurity. The cultivation methods were still being experimented with. The Human Sovereign Suiren once collected the blood of true gods and used dragon blood to transform the human physique to practice divine demon methods. But later, it was discovered that this forced transformation had effects on both the body and soul, and most were stuck at the Celestial level.”

“Why talk about that.”

“At least we managed to become Celestials.”

The seven Dragon Gods all laughed.

“This is the eldest of the seven Dragon Gods, Ku Long Celestial; the second, Lie Long Celestial; the third, Xuan Long Celestial; the fourth, Hu Long Celestial; the fifth, Xiao Long Celestial; the sixth, Bao Long Celestial; and this most beautiful one is naturally the seventh, Xu Long Celestial.” Xi Ke Celestial introduced with a smile.

Ji Ning felt admiration in his heart.

He had always admired the earliest group of strong warriors of the human race. They opened up a world for later generations of humans, even using their own bodies to test cultivation methods. In those days, it wasn’t just these seven who were transformed with dragon blood; there were many more who even exploded and died on the spot.

After all, the blood of true dragons was not something anyone could withstand. These seven were among the batch of strong warriors that Suiren experimented with back then, known as the Seven Dragon Gods. Although they were not biological siblings, their bond was closer than that of blood brothers.

“Aren’t you going to tell us about this little brother?” The only woman, dressed in animal skins that couldn’t hide her handsome features, spoke with a crisp voice but was still very forthright.

“This is Junior Brother Beiming, a disciple of Patriarch Bodhi.” Xi Ke Celestial sighed.

“Beiming?”

“Little brother Beiming, we haven’t met a human brother in a long time. The seven of us are bored to death here. Hahaha, come, come, come, taste the fine wine brewed by Seventh from gathering the power of heaven and earth.” The tall, burly man with eyes like copper bells, who had first spotted Ji Ning and Xi Ke Celestial, immediately put his arm around Ji Ning’s shoulder and led him toward the palace.

…

The Seven Dragon Gods of antiquity, Xi Ke Celestial, and Ji Ning—these nine humans sat down casually, began to drink heavily, and chatted freely.

“I believe you seven should know that outside, it is now the era of the Three Realms.” Xi Ke Celestial suddenly said.

“Yes, we have heard.”

“Some Celestials passed by us, and we heard about it.” They all nodded.

Xi Ke Celestial nodded: “But those Celestials probably don’t know that now, the Three Realms… are facing a calamity.”

“Calamity?” The faces of the seven Dragon Gods changed.

“A calamity no less than the destruction of antiquity.” Xi Ke Celestial said solemnly.

“What.”

These seven Dragon Gods had entered the Moon Under the Pool in antiquity, so they had not experienced the war of the destruction of antiquity. But later Celestials who passed by had told them about it. They knew well how tragic the war of the destruction of antiquity was. Even great powers and ancestral gods died one after another, and even the Pangu Chaos World was shattered.

“Junior Brother Beiming told me.” Xi Ke Celestial looked at Ji Ning.

“Let me speak.” Ji Ning recounted the calamity in detail.

The faces of the seven Dragon Gods changed as they listened.

“If I had known this earlier, I would have killed those Celestials of the Fraternal Gate of No Return long ago.” Bao Long Celestial roared.

“Damn it, damn it, they are truly wolves that can’t be tamed. They should be killed, all of them killed.”

The seven Dragon Gods were all furious.

They all anticipated how tragic the outcome of such a calamity would be, which only made their anger surge even more fiercely.