Chapter 23: Fire

"Human Sovereign." Ji Ning sent a voice transmission. "I know the origins of these three aliens."

"Oh?" Fuxi looked at Ji Ning.

"Human Sovereign, aren't you skilled in using fire?" Ji Ning asked via voice transmission. "Just use the Undying Ember Flame on the three of them... they will retreat on their own."

Ji Ning was correct. The Water Abyss Clan were beings born from water. Their bodies were incredibly tough, and even if injured, they would heal as quickly as flowing water, consuming no divine power—they could be called 'undying bodies.' But such innate talents could not be without flaws. There were three ways to deal with the Water Abyss Clan.

The first was to use absolute power. If one were a World God, they could crush them into ashes, leaving nothing behind! But clearly, Ji Ning and his group could not achieve this. The second was to attack them repeatedly, inflicting heavy injuries. As long as the injuries were severe enough—for example, cutting them apart—their recovery would consume energy. After a certain number of times, the three Water Abyss Clan members would be unable to sustain themselves. However, this method required a long time, and time was exactly what Ji Ning and his group needed most urgently. Buddha Tathagata could not hold out much longer.

Then...

There was only the third method.

The Water Abyss Clan, being purely water-based life, could be countered by fire! They feared fire the most, but the stronger the Water Abyss Clan member, the greater their resistance to fire. At the True God level... ordinary Heavenly Fire or True Fire could not harm them. Only flames at the level of 'Solar Golden Flame' would work. Suiren's Undying Ember Flame was also at this level.

"The Undying Ember Flame is useful?" Fuxi was not particularly skilled with this flame.

His Water-Fire World-Destroying Array invoked the 'Undying Ember Flame' and 'Grand Yin Dark Water.' The Undying Ember Flame was provided by Suiren. Since Fuxi had fully comprehended both the Yin and Yang Heavenly Daos, he could control these Undying Ember Flames and Grand Yin Dark Waters. However, this was a large-scale attack, not particularly powerful against individual enemies, so Human Sovereign Fuxi had not used this move.

Though puzzled, Fuxi still trusted Ji Ning.

...

"Release."

Fuxi and the other four True Gods and Dao Ancestors had been holding the upper hand, but the three golden-armored aliens kept harassing them. At this moment, Fuxi gave a low shout, and a formation spanning hundreds of li immediately appeared around him. Within the formation, the 'Grand Yin Dark Water' withdrew to the side, and a vast amount of Undying Ember Flame emerged. It appeared as warm flames, ordinary at first glance, lacking the domineering nature of 'Solar Golden Flame,' but bringing only a warmth to the heart.

As soon as the flames appeared.

The three golden-armored aliens, who had been relaxed, immediately changed expression. Especially when the flames touched one of them, they exclaimed, "It's Ancestral Fire! Flee quickly!"

"Go!"

The three golden-armored aliens dared not linger. With a whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, they instantly transformed into three streams of water and fled into the distance.

Fuxi and the others tried to intercept, but the water streams were formless and fled extremely fast, quickly darting into the distant formation.

"If I had known they were so afraid of fire, I would have released the Undying Ember Flame earlier." Fuxi willed it, and the Water-Fire World-Destroying Array was withdrawn. He had prepared this array for mass attacks during the great calamity; when activated, it could envelop an entire major world, posing a great threat to top-tier Dao Ancestors and causing some trouble for leader-level existences.

"Ordinary flames wouldn't scare them," Ji Ning said.

In the endless Chaos...

Flames were clearly categorized: Heavenly Fire, True Fire, and Ancestral Fire.

Ancestral Fire represented the origin of flames! Solar Golden Flame and Undying Ember Flame had both reached a certain limit. In the Three Realms, such a classification did not exist, mainly because these flames were too rare. The only known ones were 'Solar Golden Flame,' 'Undying Ember Flame,' and 'Zhurong Divine Fire.' In reality, different cultivation methods and insights into the Dao would produce different Ancestral Flames. If each were given a name, it would be impossible to keep track.

Only in the Three Realms could they be individually named. In the endless Chaos, they were uniformly called Ancestral Fire level!

To advance further would be a qualitative leap, where fire returns to its origin, becoming 'Chaos Fire.' This was a flame generally only World Gods and Chaos Immortals could control, unless some extraordinary Ancestral God or Ancestral Immortal could manage it, but that possibility was extremely low. Encountering such a prodigy while wandering the endless Chaos was a hundred or a thousand times harder than finding the Heavenly Cang Palace.

"You..." Fuxi suddenly froze.

Ji Ning looked at him.

"You've reached the leader level?" Fuxi looked at Ji Ning with both surprise and delight.

...

At the same moment, in the Three Realms, at the Ten Thousand Races Hall.

The Nuwa camp was in an uproar.

"Kong Xiu, this is no joke," said Patriarch Bodhi, who was seated in the hall, startled.

"Yes, Kong Xiu, this is not something to say casually. Near leader level and leader level are completely different. Ji Ning's strength is formidable, and he displayed extraordinary power. Don't misjudge and mistake him for leader level." Even Carefree Heavenly Sovereign, usually so carefree, couldn't help but remind him repeatedly.

In the entire Ten Thousand Races Hall, many mighty figures were staring at Kong Xiu.

"Kong Xiu is right." Dao Ancestor Red Essence, standing beside Kong Xiu, also spoke up. "I, Yuding, and five others witnessed it personally. Beiming's strength far exceeded the seven of us combined. The formation set up by the two Sovereigns and six True Gods and Dao Ancestors... we seven couldn't break it no matter what, but Beiming pierced through it with just his hands and killed those eight True Gods and Dao Ancestors."

"Killed eight True Gods and Dao Ancestors?" The many mighty figures were even more shaken.

"Not only that, the other eight True Gods and Dao Ancestors who had been besieging us saw the situation was bad and tried to flee, but they were also killed by Beiming," Red Essence shook his head. "Sixteen True Gods and Dao Ancestors, including four Sovereigns. In just a short while, they were all slaughtered by Beiming. From today on, the four Sovereigns of the Ancient Ruins are just a legend. Oh, I heard that the Tumor Eye Sovereign still has a clone."

The hall fell silent first, as the mighty figures exchanged glances.

Then it erupted in noise.

Many mighty figures began to speak, wanting to inquire further.

"Enough." A voice sounded, and the mighty figures looked up to see Buddha Tathagata seated at the highest position.

"Ji Ning has indeed reached the leader level," Buddha Tathagata nodded. "I heard the alien leader-level mighty figure cursing!"

"Congratulations," Buddha Tathagata said to Bodhi. "Another leader-level mighty figure has emerged from your school."

"Haha..."

Patriarch Bodhi also laughed.

Houyi had always been formidable, but his so-called apprenticeship was merely hiding on Mount Fangcun.

Ji Ning was truly his disciple. He had always been optimistic about Ji Ning's talent in the sword. Although Ji Ning had made great progress in heartforce, breakthroughs in heartforce were elusive. Bodhi still believed Ji Ning was most suited for the sword... and indeed, Ji Ning had reached the fifth level of swordforce and had now become a leader-level figure.

"He tore apart the formation with his bare hands; he must have become a True God," Lord of the Three Purities also said with a smile.

"Yes, if he had become a Dao Ancestor, the Heavenly Dao would have sensed it. He must have become a True God," Bodhi also smiled.

"Cultivating for less than a thousand years, from a mortal to the leader level—impressive, impressive," Shennong also praised.

The mighty figures below all showed joy. How could they not be happy to have an additional leader-level figure on their side?

At the same time, they were shocked.

Those standing at the pinnacle of the Three Realms were only a few: the two leaders of the Buddhist and Daoist sects in the Nuwa camp, the Three Sovereigns of Humanity, and the ever-prodigious Great God Houyi from ancient times. Now another had taken that position, and this time it was a sword immortal!

Since Pangu created the heavens and the earth, no sword immortal had ever reached this level.

Although Dao Ancestor Fuju was renowned as the number one sword immortal of the Three Realms, his status was comparable to Patriarch Bodhi's. After all, the 'Northrest World God' of that time was focused on survival and was truly very weak, not even daring to fight Nuwa.

Sword immortals like Darklight Swordmaster and Dao Ancestor Holyfire were even inferior to Dao Ancestor Fuju!

Whether in the Pangu Chaos World, the Wujie Chaos World, or the current Three Realms, never had a sword immortal stood at the pinnacle of the Three Realms!

Now!

A sword immortal had appeared at the pinnacle of the Three Realms!

The Beiming Sword Immortal! Ji Ning!

"The Beiming Sword Immortal."

"The Beiming Sword Immortal." Many mighty figures in the hall murmured to themselves, feeling a natural reverence in their hearts—the reverence of cultivators for those of higher strength!

These mighty figures had previously addressed Ji Ning casually as 'Ji Ning,' but now they dared not; they had to address him by his Daoist name, 'Beiming.'

Only those very close to Ji Ning, like Bodhi, and those of extremely high status, like Lord of the Three Purities and Tathagata, might still call him by his given name.

From this day on!

Ji Ning stood on equal footing with Lord of the Three Purities, Suiren, and Buddha Tathagata!