Chapter 18: Nineteen Years

Inside the fortress of the ancient ruins.

The Great Demon God Cixiu's eyes flickered with fierce light. The entire hall was silent; his six subordinates dared not utter a word, including the extremely powerful golden-armored one-armed man. Although the Great Demon God Cixiu respected him somewhat—because they were on the same level of strength—the golden-armored one-armed man also understood how terrifying the demonic nature within Cixiu's bones could be.

"Careless!" the Great Demon God Cixiu muttered in a low voice. "I never expected that Ji Ning could break the Earthshaking Mountain. This is the Qixuan Realm; even Ancestral Gods and Ancestral Immortals couldn't break it so quickly. And he, a native who has cultivated for less than a thousand years, actually broke it."

"Had I known earlier, I would have waited in the Earthshaking Mountain myself."

The Great Demon God Cixiu felt somewhat regretful.

So close—he could have wiped out a team of True Gods and Dao Ancestors!

If he had personally ambushed them in the Earthshaking Mountain, he might have killed Kuafu and the others. But deep down, the Great Demon God Cixiu had an instinctive arrogance. Those were merely True Gods and third-rank Ancestral Immortals, while he was a full-fledged Ancestral God! Having undergone many trials in the endless chaos, how could he look up to these natives? To personally ambush them? He disdained it!

In the Three Realms, only the possibility of Nuwa leaving behind a contingency plan and the Lord of All Demons made him cautious.

Nuwa was, after all, a World God. Even if she had left, her homeland was not so easy to invade.

The Lord of All Demons was monstrous enough to escape from a World God.

Apart from that... the Great Demon God Cixiu had truly not cared about anything else. This time, he had estimated that Kuafu's team should have been doomed. He just hadn't expected Ji Ning to be so formidable.

But he couldn't be blamed. According to common sense, Ji Ning couldn't break the Earthshaking Mountain in such a short time. However, Ji Ning had inherited the legacy of World God Beixiu, and his knowledge of various techniques far surpassed even that of the Great Demon God Cixiu!

"Very well. Destroying my domain won't be so easy..."

"This is only the first time. You got lucky and escaped. Next time, I won't be so careless."

The Great Demon God Cixiu's slender right hand gently grasped the armrest. With a crackle, the armrest was crushed into powder, but then the powder coalesced and restored itself completely.

Below, all was silent.

Even the Celestial Immortal Wuxiao dared not speak. He had dealt with the Great Demon God Cixiu many times when he followed the Lord of All Things. This was a terrifying existence no less than the Lord of All Things.

...

The Thousand Mountains World.

Ji Ning and the others were together with Buddha Tathagata and his group.

"Beiming," said Tathagata, looking at Ji Ning with a smile. "There are four teams. Which one do you plan to follow? You are human; logically, it would be better to follow the human team."

"He's been with us for a long time already," Kuafu quickly said.

"He's also been cooperating with us for a while; we're all familiar," Xingtian added.

Xi Huang, Lu Wu, and the others all chimed in.

Jokingly, with Ji Ning's strength, how could they be willing to let him go?

"Kuafu, Xingtian, and I have always gotten along well. Let's not bother changing," Ji Ning said with a smile.

"That's right," Kuafu said, reaching out his big hand and directly placing it on Ji Ning's shoulder.

"Mm," Buddha Tathagata nodded. "That's fine, but you must not be careless. The danger you fell into this time was just one of the many perils in the campaign against the ancient ruins. There will be more dangers ahead, even more terrifying ones. You must be cautious. I can faintly sense that the ancient ruins are not as simple as we previously thought."

"We understand," Kuafu quickly said.

Buddha Tathagata carefully looked around, then said, "I believe Fuxi, Yuding, and the others will soon arrive. This time was too dangerous. If not for Ji Ning, your team might have been completely wiped out."

...

The four teams gathered together.

This danger had suddenly 'awakened' them. Previously, they had swept through everything, encountering some dangers but none fatal. Yet this time, danger had descended so suddenly and so terrifyingly.

After gathering, the four teams kept a closer distance, advanced more slowly, and became more cautious.

...

Time passed, and in the blink of an eye, nineteen years had gone by.

Ji Ning and the others had already conquered ninety percent of the ancient ruins, destroying heaven and earth along the way.

Over these nineteen years,

Tathagata, Fuxi, Yuding, and Ji Ning had been very cautious. Ji Ning's swordsmanship, displayed along the way, had completely won over Kuafu's team. His escape techniques were faster, his area attacks more powerful, his close combat more terrifying, and his ability to detect danger surpassed even Dao Ancestor Fengji! Over the nineteen years, they had encountered many dangers, and several stunning displays had earned Ji Ning's strength universal recognition!

Because of their caution and care, all four teams had survived the nineteen years.

"Beiming, catch!" Kuafu tossed a gourd of wine.

Ji Ning sat on a distant rock, casually caught it, and raised his head to drink.

"Our conquest speed is a bit fast; Yuding's team is slower. Let's wait and rest for a day," Kong Xiu said.

"Haha, we've already occupied over ninety percent of the ancient ruins," Lu Wu couldn't help but laugh. "Although the last few areas are dangerous, as long as we're careful, we can completely conquer them in another ten or eight years."

"Fuxi and Tathagata both said," said Xi Huang in his golden robe, standing like an emperor, speaking solemnly, "Along the way, we've experienced several dangers, though none as terrifying as the Earthshaking Mountain incident. But we can see some traces... Over such a long time, the strength of the ancient ruins is no longer as simple as we expected."

"Beiming, what do you think?" Xingtian looked at Ji Ning.

Ji Ning sat on the rock and laughed, "No matter what, we still have to fight our way through. We just need to be careful."

Nineteen years...

His second soul was in the Oblique Moon Great World, cultivating in the Kuiyin Taibao Pagoda, which maintained a hundredfold time acceleration. In effect, he had cultivated for nearly two thousand years externally. His swordsmanship had become more profound, and his strength had been steadily increasing.

...

Inside the fortress of the ancient ruins.

"These past years have been too comfortable for them. These natives haven't died a single one," the Great Demon God Cixiu said, rising from his throne, his icy eyes looking down. "Very well, they have entered the 'Golden River World.' This time, I will kill Fuxi and Tathagata in the Golden River World!"

The six golden-armored figures below were all startled.

Celestial Immortal Wuxiao quickly said, "Great Demon God Cixiu, although the Golden River World is a realm we spent much effort to set up, the Buddhist leader Tathagata and the Human Emperor Fuxi are extraordinary in strength. Killing even one of them would be difficult... Killing both? I think it's better to focus on one first."

"Last time, Kuafu's team escaped disaster," the Great Demon God Cixiu said, sweeping his icy gaze over Wuxiao, making him tremble. "I no longer fully trust mere arrangements."

"Killing Fuxi and Tathagata will require some arrangements, but mainly, I will act personally," the Great Demon God Cixiu said, his eyes faintly tinged with bloodlight.

"Act personally?" Wuxiao was stunned.

He had thought that this Great Demon God would only act in the final battle.

"Yes, personally," the Great Demon God Cixiu said, looking down. "Dao, you may need to act as well."

"Yes, master," the golden-armored one-armed man said respectfully.

Wuxiao's heart trembled. Heaven! The Great Demon God Cixiu and Dao Zun both acting? With the help of the Golden River World's own arrangements, they might indeed be able to slay the two leaders, Fuxi and Tathagata.

"You can inform the Non-Descent Sect," the Great Demon God Cixiu glanced over. "But it's best that as few people in the Non-Descent Sect know about this as possible, so the Nuwa Camp doesn't find out. My action this time can catch them off guard because the Nuwa Camp doesn't know of my existence. But once this fails, it will be hard to have another such opportunity."

"With the Great Demon God acting, how could it fail?" Celestial Immortal Wuxiao quickly said.

"They are unprepared, weaker than us, and the Golden River World is our setup," the red-bearded old man below also quickly said. "We are sure to win."

"If we don't act, fine; but if we do, we must kill them," the Great Demon God Cixiu said calmly. "Let's go."

Whoosh.

The fortress instantly flew out and began to speed toward the Golden River World.

Inside the fortress, the Great Demon God Cixiu and the six golden-armored figures were all calm. They had experienced too many dangers in the past. But Celestial Immortal Wuxiao was extremely excited: "If we kill Fuxi and Tathagata..."