Chapter 21 That Sword

Two Ji Nings appeared in midair. The only one present who was not surprised was the Demon King, who had long known from Snow Demon that Ji Ning possessed two avatars. That was why he had shown Ji Ning such 'favor'.

"Your avatar has finally appeared," the Demon King laughed heartily. "I've been waiting for a long time."

Whoosh.

He charged forward with a roar.

One Ji Ning, with three heads and six arms, also flew forward with a roar, six sword beams wildly slashing as he engaged the Demon King in close combat. The other Ji Ning—the one who had just appeared—had seven hundred and twenty-nine Pure Yang顶级 flying swords surrounding him. A vast, hazy sword shadow floated around Ji Ning, and pure divine power far surpassing that of a 'Pure Yang True Immortal' in the Three Realms surged from his body into each of those immortal swords.

Ji Ning's divine power was too pure.

As a result, the 'quality' of the sword energy transformed by the 'Grand Qian Sword Formation' soared rapidly. Under the convergence of this vast amount of sword energy, a floating jade sword formed before Ji Ning.

"Hmm?" The Demon King, who had just sent the other Ji Ning flying, suddenly felt a shock in his heart and turned to look. When he saw the floating jade sword, he sensed an intangible threat, which startled him. "That flying sword actually makes me feel threatened. How is that possible? How can he be so strong?"

"That flying sword..."

"The pressure of the sword formation..."

The demons and demon generals in the midst of battle, as well as the other nine Celestial Immortals including Feiyou, were all shocked. The aura of the sword formation could not be concealed, and the jade sword, condensed from sword energy, radiated pressure that spread directly. It made all the demons and Celestial Immortals feel a faint fear.

In the essence of life... Ji Ning had already taken a step further than them.

"Go!" Ji Ning pointed from afar.

Whoosh.

The jade sword left an arc-shaped afterimage in the air, like a crescent moon. The jade sword, flowing with black sword light, had already shot toward the Demon King. All the demons and Celestial Immortals present could feel how desolately beautiful that crescent moon left in midair was, and how terrifying it was to them.

Ji Ning's fourth-layer sword force and fourth-layer heart force were both at the pinnacle of Celestial Immortal level. When Ji Ning used Star-Picking Hand, it was also near the pinnacle of Celestial Immortals. Before his golden core transformed, Ji Ning's Grand Qian Sword Formation, ninth level, formed with over seven hundred Pure Yang顶级 flying swords, also had power at the pinnacle of Celestial Immortals and True Immortals.

The fourth-layer sword force, fourth-layer heart force, Star-Picking Hand, and Grand Qian Sword Formation ninth level were all on the same level. Although Star-Picking Hand and Grand Qian Sword Formation ninth level were slightly weaker, they were still on the same level.

And now!

As the Pure Yang golden core within Ji Ning transformed and elevated, his divine power became dozens of times purer. Without a doubt, the power of this 'jade sword', condensed from divine power through the sword formation, also surged dozens of times, surpassing the limit of Celestial Immortals and crossing the threshold of Dao Ancestors! In fact, in terms of pure power, it was even stronger than the 'Seven Radiance Celestial Immortal' formed by Red Snow Celestial Immortal and the others, and stronger than the Dao Ancestor puppet controlled by Evergreen Sword Immortal back then. It should be comparable to the strongest Executioner Celestial Immortal Ji Ning had once used.

"So fast." The Demon King's face changed drastically.

The jade sword flew over.

After the divine power became purer, the speed of the jade sword was also astonishing. The Demon King swung his long staff to block, but the black-sword-light jade sword was eerie, tracing a ghostly arc, brushing past the staff, and directly slicing through the Demon King's body.

Swish~~~ The Demon King, holding his long staff, stood stunned in midair, then his body split in half. He had been cleaved in two by the sword.

"I lost."

The Demon King's two halves re-formed intact, staring blankly at Ji Ning. The entire battlefield fell silent. The demons and demon generals who had been furiously attacking also stopped, looking up at the Demon King in midair and the white-robed youth surrounded by densely packed flying swords, who was hard to believe.

The nine Celestial Immortals also looked up at the white-robed youth.

"Beiming..." They were all shaken.

In the distance, the group of Celestial Immortals including the Seven Dragon Gods, who could only watch and not intervene, were completely stunned, each staring at the white-robed youth in midair.

"I lost, I lost." The Demon King looked at the two Ji Nings in midair. One Ji Ning vanished into thin air, leaving only the white-robed Ji Ning standing in midair.

The attack of the demon army... could be called a calamity.

There were two ways to survive the calamity: one was to endure long enough for the Demon King to declare a retreat.

The other was to slay the Demon King, causing the demon army to retreat as well.

In previous calamities, they had always relied on the first method, supporting each other and enduring with difficulty. Usually, one or two Celestial Immortals would die... In fact, as long as one Celestial Immortal died, the intensity of the demon army's attack would naturally decrease, because the original intention of the creator of the Moon Underwater Pool was to temper Celestial Immortals, not to kill them all.

In the past, they always relied on enduring the calamity.

But this time, Ji Ning had slain the Demon King!

"Beiming Celestial Immortal Ji Ning," the Demon King said, looking at Ji Ning. "After entering the Moon Underwater Pool, you advanced straight through to here. And in my opinion... even the 'Demon Ice Valley' guarded by countless demons under my command probably won't stop you for long. You should be able to reach the fourth island. After reaching the fourth island, only the final guardian remains before you... Your talent and strength are even higher than Jueming's back then, and your hope of leaving the Moon Underwater Pool alive is extremely high."

"Work hard, young man." The Demon King looked at Ji Ning with a meaningful smile. "When you reach the fifth island, you will be pleasantly surprised."

"Children, let's go!"

The Demon King then turned and left. The demon generals and the hordes of demons also roared away, glancing curiously at Ji Ning as they left.

The demon army surged in like a tide and receded like a tide.

Dongxu Celestial Immortal and Zhenbu Celestial Immortal breathed sighs of relief, and the other Celestial Immortals also descended to the ground.

"Beiming." Dongxu Celestial Immortal walked over and smiled. "Thank you, you saved my life."

"You also saved my life." Zhenbu Celestial Immortal also patted Ji Ning on the shoulder with a smile.

"Admirable."

"Beiming, I'm convinced now, completely convinced."

The nine Celestial Immortals had previously regarded Ji Ning as on the same level as themselves, but now they were immensely impressed by him. It must be noted that whether it was the 'Seven Radiance Celestial Immortal' of Red Snow Celestial Immortal and the others, or Ji Ning's leading of the Executioner Celestial Immortal or Luohou Demon God, they all relied on the power of formations and the combined strength of other immortals and demons to cross the threshold of Dao Ancestors.

From Pangu's creation of the world to the present, those who truly relied on their own strength to possess Dao Ancestor-level power at the Celestial Immortal or True Immortal level were extremely rare, countable on one hand! Each was a true favored son of heaven. Of course, at the Celestial Immortal level, the only one who could kill a True God or Dao Ancestor was Houyi.

Not comparing with Houyi, compared with countless other Celestial Immortals, Ji Ning already stood at the very peak!

...

In the quiet room of the immortal mansion.

The white-robed Ji Ning appeared, once again floating in the air as he performed the 'Ice Fire Golden Core Tempering Art'. Gradually, a hundred-zhang golden light formation diagram appeared beneath his feet, and later a hundred-zhang black light formation diagram appeared above. The Nine Flame Pulp and Ice Heart Marrow from the red jade gourd and green jade gourd flew out again, and Ji Ning began to temper and elevate his golden core once more.

His Pure Yang golden core had not yet been elevated to its limit.

...

After this battle, Wanshan Island returned to tranquility. Ji Ning's two avatars both tempered their Pure Yang golden cores, elevating them to the second grade. When both main avatars reached a bottleneck in strength, it was already a month and a half after the demon army's attack.

"I plan to go to the fourth island," Ji Ning said. "Earlier, the Demon King mentioned the Demon Ice Valley guarded by countless demons. What is that about?"

The other nine Celestial Immortals all laughed upon hearing this.

"You're finally setting out."

"With your strength, Beiming, you indeed have a good chance of crossing the Demon Ice Valley."

"We've been waiting for you to say that for a long time."

Everyone spoke with smiles. Feiyou Celestial Immortal, holding a wine jug, said, "On the other side of Wanshan Island, there is also a floating wooden bridge. The floating wooden bridge runs through the endless ice valley, which hides countless demons—far more than the number of the demon army you saw today. What you need to do is keep killing, killing as many demons as possible. You need to fight for a full hundred years. After a hundred years of slaughter, based on the number of demons you have killed, the Demon King will judge whether you can enter the fourth island."

"A hundred years of slaughter?" Ji Ning was astonished.

For the first three trials, he only needed to defeat the three guardians.

For this fourth one, he actually had to slaughter for a hundred years?