Chapter 12: Reunion

"Reunite with Kuafu and the others?" The foreign mighty being tapped lightly on the armrest, smiling as he looked down at Wuxiao Celestial Immortal. "Wuxiao, this Ji Ning is truly the number one sword immortal of the Three Realms. With swordsmanship like that... my useless subordinates can't deal with him. Now he wants to join up with Kuafu and the rest. He's already troublesome enough alone; once he joins them, he'll become even more troublesome. I'm out of options. If your Non-Action Sect wants to stop him, you'd better act quickly."

Wuxiao Celestial Immortal quickly said, "Back then, the strategy set by our Non-Action Sect and you, Great Demon God, was to use the environment of the ancient ruins to kill as many True Gods and Dao Ancestors of the Three Realms as possible. Now is not the time for our Non-Action Sect to act. Once we truly make a move, it will be the final decisive battle."

"Hmph, then I'm out of ideas." The foreign mighty being said indifferently.

...

Three Realms, Ten Thousand Demon Realm.

In the hall.

Seated there were the Ten Thousand Demon Lord, Huanshu Master, Demon Hand Dao Ancestor, Black Robe God King, Biyou Dao Ancestor, and others—a total of sixteen True Gods and Dao Ancestors, either present in person or manifested as avatars. The weakest among them were at the top-tier Dao Ancestor level.

"Master." A voice came from outside.

"Wuxiao, come in." The Ten Thousand Demon Lord said.

Wuxiao Celestial Immortal walked in and said respectfully, "We've just received the latest intelligence from the ancient ruins."

The assembled True Gods and Dao Ancestors all looked at Wuxiao. The Ten Thousand Demon Lord said, "Speak."

"Master, please look." Wuxiao Celestial Immortal pointed into the air beside him, and a battle scene appeared—the scene of Ji Ning fighting the nine insect beasts. Having seen it once, Wuxiao could naturally replay it.

"Ji Ning?"

"Ji Ning and the nine insect beasts. These insect beasts seem quite powerful, at the True God or Dao Ancestor level."

The mighty beings watched.

When a single sword strike easily killed an insect beast, the mighty beings merely frowned.

But when the move 'Sword Blossom' was unleashed, every mighty being in the hall was stunned. Even Dao Ancestors like Demon Hand showed expressions of fascination at its beauty.

"Such beautiful swordsmanship." Demon Hand Dao Ancestor murmured softly. "Truly beautiful."

"Such terrifying swordsmanship." Huanshu Master nodded.

"This is only Ji Ning's area attack sword technique. His close-combat swordsmanship is probably even more terrifying. Killing that insect beast was just a casual strike—he didn't even show the seven-colored sword light. That strike only revealed a fraction of his power." The Ten Thousand Demon Lord said solemnly, "This Northmont Sword Immortal of the Nuwa Camp has become a great enemy of ours, no less than Fuju Dao Ancestor back in the day."

"He has cultivated for a shorter time than Fuju Dao Ancestor." Huanshu Master said, "Less than a thousand years of cultivation to reach such a level."

"Ji Ning's rapid progress owes much to our God King here." Demon Hand Dao Ancestor joked, glancing at the gloomy-faced Black Robe God King beside him.

The Black Robe God King felt deeply frustrated inside.

Seeing that beautiful sword strike, even he couldn't help being captivated—the swordsmanship was too beautiful.

But then he remembered that the one who executed it was Ji Ning, a nobody he had never taken seriously, nor had he paid much attention to the pawn Yu Wei. Who would have thought that this insignificant person connected to Yu Wei... would now be stronger than him? Though unwilling to admit it, he knew clearly that Ji Ning, without relying on any formations, with just a single sword, had already far surpassed him. Such swordsmanship was approaching the leader level!

"Who could have imagined Ji Ning would progress so fast? The God King dealt with him before, even destroyed Yu Wei's soul... Normally, that would create a mental demon in Ji Ning, causing his strength to stagnate. The God King did nothing wrong; it's just that Ji Ning is too monstrous." Tongxuan Dao Ancestor laughed.

"Mental demon?"

Demon Hand Dao Ancestor shook his head. "I heard that during the territory war of the Crimson Bright Territory, our God King forced Ji Ning to make a choice, but who would have thought Ji Ning would immediately break through to the fourth level of heartforce? This time, the God King directly destroyed Yu Wei's soul, and in the blink of an eye, Ji Ning is approaching the leader level. This is not like the last time in the Great World of Zhulu, where he relied on the Luohou Formation and the Myriad Creatures Emissary. Now Ji Ning, without any external help, is already approaching the leader level."

"God King." Demon Hand Dao Ancestor looked at him with a smile. "Some people simply cannot be suppressed. The more setbacks you give them, the more they sharpen into astonishing brilliance. Ji Ning is that kind of person."

"The Master's lesson is correct." The Black Robe God King bowed.

"This Ji Ning has become a menace." The Ten Thousand Demon Lord looked down and ordered, "Wuxiao, keep a close watch in the ancient ruins. If there's an opportunity, kill Ji Ning there."

"Yes." Wuxiao Celestial Immortal said respectfully.

...

Ancient Ruins, Silent World.

"Boom~~~"

A giant foot pierced through the void, its sole covering tens of thousands of miles. With one stomp, mountains and rivers were crushed into a huge pit.

The giant foot quickly shrank, revealing a tall, burly man wearing only an animal skin skirt, his upper body bare. He laughed loudly, "Haha, what kind of crappy formation is this? All tricks and no substance, such a hassle. One stomp, and the earth and void are shattered—doesn't that destroy the formation?"

"Formations you can destroy aren't that powerful." A golden-robed woman with dragon horns on her forehead walked over, smiling.

"How boring. I wanted to see more of the formation's mysteries." A silver-haired handsome youth shaking a fan shook his head.

"Kuafu only relies on his speed. Otherwise, I could have split that formation with one axe." A tall headless divine demon walked out. On his exposed chest and abdomen, his nipples served as eyes and his navel as a mouth, speaking discontentedly.

"Xingtian, I didn't run. I just stretched my leg and destroyed that crappy formation." The tall man holding a wooden staff, 'Kuafu,' said smugly, wiggling his toes proudly.

The six divine demons chatted and laughed as they continued their destruction.

Whatever dangerous prohibition they encountered, they would first chop it with an axe or stomp on it.

Their methods were straightforward and ferocious.

"Hmm?" The handsome youth with the fan suddenly sensed something and turned to look into the distance. "There's movement."

The other five divine demons also focused their senses, on alert. They all knew that their friend 'Fengji,' though only an ordinary Dao Ancestor, was exceptionally skilled at sensing. He could use the wind to detect many things and was even adept at probing the heavenly secrets, earning him the title 'Fengji Dao Ancestor.' He was the best at detecting danger in this team; otherwise, a group of roughnecks would easily stumble into peril.

Swoosh.

A black lightning serpent flew over from afar.

"Nine-horned lightning serpent?" Seeing this, the six of them relaxed.

"It's Northmont Sword Immortal Ji Ning." Xingtian laughed. "In the Three Realms, only Ji Ning can use the nine-horned lightning serpent. But strange—wasn't his true body destroyed by the Non-Action Sect?"

"Bodhi Patriarch told me Ji Ning would come, but I didn't expect him to arrive via nine-horned lightning serpent." A delicate, soft-spoken girl said.

Ji Ning appeared in midair, then descended.

"Ji Ning."

"Northmont." The six divine demons walked over, all friendly.

"Greetings, six of you." Ji Ning quickly said. Among these six divine demons, he only had some connection with Xingtian. He had met the other four before, during the incident when 'Thunder God Heavenly Venerate' and other mighty beings tried to get the nine-horned lightning serpent from him, attracting a group of powerful figures.

Xingtian True God laughed, "Ji Ning, let me introduce you. This is Kuafu, a brute with nothing but knots in his head."

"You sound like you're quite refined." Kuafu laughed heartily.

"Kuafu actually said 'refined'—rare, rare." Fengji Dao Ancestor, shaking his fan, laughed.

"Ji Ning, Bodhi said you were coming. Mm, good, looks like your true body is fine." Kuafu reached out and patted Ji Ning on the shoulder.

Xingtian continued, "This is Fengji Dao Ancestor."

Fengji Dao Ancestor closed his fan and nodded with a smile.

"This is Xi Huang." Xingtian pointed to the golden-robed woman with dragon horns.

Ji Ning nodded.

Xi Huang was also a divine demon, the granddaughter of Ancestral Dragon. Ancestral Dragon had nine sons, and one of them, Bi'an, had a daughter named Xi. Unexpectedly, this Xi divine demon surpassed her father and had reached the level of a top-tier Dao Ancestor.

"This is Lu Wu." Xingtian pointed to the honest-looking man.

"Lu Wu True God." Ji Ning said.

Lu Wu smiled, appearing simple and honest. He had been a Heavenly God long ago and served as a guard for several mighty beings. The Heavenly Emperor killed by Xingtian back then... Lu Wu had also served as his guard general. When Xingtian attacked the Heavenly Court to kill the Heavenly Emperor, Lu Wu tried to stop him but failed.

That battle made Xingtian famous, and he eventually broke through to become a True God.

Meanwhile, the low-key Lu Wu quietly cultivated and also became a True God years later.

"This is Kong Xiu." Xingtian pointed to the delicate girl. "Four of her avatars are in the other four teams, allowing communication between them."

"Greetings, Kong Xiu Dao Ancestor." Ji Ning said.

Kong Xiu had a very powerful elder brother, the Great Ming King of the Buddhist sect, who was close to the leader level in ancient times, his ferocious reputation spreading far and wide, though he rarely appeared now.

Both Kong Xiu and the Great Ming King were children of the deceased Ancestral God 'Phoenix.'

Although Kong Xiu's strength was only that of an ordinary Dao Ancestor, she had refined her five peacock feathers into five avatars, each as indestructible as a top-grade innate magic treasure. The one acting outside was usually her avatar. Her true body always stayed in the legendary Phoenix Palace.

"There are four teams hunting in the ancient ruins this time." Kuafu laughed. "Our team consists of me, Xingtian, Xi Huang, Fengji, Kong Xiu, and Lu Wu—all divine demons. The team led by Buddha Tathagata is entirely composed of Buddhist Buddhas, four in total. The team led by Fuxi also has four, all human mighty beings. The last team is led by Yuding Daoist, with seven True Gods and Dao Ancestors from the Daoist sect."

"Now that you've joined us, hmm... we already have a joint formation from before. It's a bit tricky now that you're here." Kuafu pondered.

When Dao Ancestors moved in teams, they naturally used formations to enhance their strength.

"How about this." Xingtian said, "Ji Ning, you follow us. If we encounter danger, you can temporarily stay within our formation. We can't adjust the formation for you on short notice."

"Understood." Ji Ning nodded.

In truth, Xingtian and Kuafu were being tactful. Their formation was well-established with all True Gods. Suddenly adding Ji Ning, who in their eyes was only a Heavenly God or Celestial Immortal, would unbalance the formation—the others had True God power, while Ji Ning had Heavenly God power.

Ji Ning had his own considerations.

Xingtian and the others had True God power, while he was a half-step Ancestral God with purer divine power. If they formed a formation, it would still be unbalanced. It was better for him to act independently.

"Be careful and stay close to me. The ancient ruins are no joke." Kuafu advised. He was genuinely concerned about Ji Ning, who had made great contributions to the Nuwa Camp. But Kuafu was also puzzled—why had Ji Ning come? Wasn't he just a burden? He didn't say it aloud.

"I won't act recklessly." Ji Ning nodded.

"Alright, let's move." Kuafu gave the order, and the seven of them continued forward, crushing all obstacles.