Chapter 17: The Frenzy of Killing

Inside the mountain belly.

Meng Yu had bloodstains on his body and was tied to an iron pillar. From the first day he arrived at this hellish place, he had already despaired. At this moment, gritting his teeth and enduring the pain, he was still provoking: "Is that all the strength you've got? Harder, come on harder, my dear son, did you not drink milk when you were little?"

Suddenly—

"Your Young Master Ji Ning will soon come to keep you company! Hahaha..." The laughter drifted in.

"Ji Ning!" The bearded Meng Yu's body trembled, then he suddenly roared with all his might, "Young Master Ji Ning, flee quickly! There are cultivators here refining an evil magic treasure!"

Ji Wuyu, who had been slumped with his head drooping, too exhausted to move, jolted and lifted his head, murmuring, "Ji Ning? Ji Ning?"

"Ji Ning! Run! Get out of here!" Ji Wuyu also cried out shrilly, shouting with all his might.

Although he had once wanted his father's line to succeed as the Prefecture Lord, since he had lost, he accepted it with genuine admiration. Ji Ning was the next Prefecture Lord of their Ji clan's Western Prefecture! He had also witnessed Ji Ning's talent; the Western Prefecture would surely become stronger because of Ji Ning. He had already been crippled in his dantian and captured here. He did not want the most promising genius of the Western Prefecture, the next Prefecture Lord, to die here as well—this was a disgrace to the Ji clan!

"Run!" Ji Wuyu howled.

"Young master Ji Ning, flee quickly!" Ji Shan also shouted hoarsely.

Captured here, they often saw fierce ghosts emerge and sink into the ground, and the discussions of the six finely dressed men and women nearby made them understand... what a den of demons this was!

...

Black mist swirled around, and from afar came anxious shouts.

"Young master Ji Ning, escape quickly! There are cultivators here refining an evil magic treasure!"

"Young Master Ji Ning, quickly go."

"Flee."

Although their voices were hoarse from torture, they were still recognizable due to familiarity.

"Refining evil magic treasures?" Ji Ning suppressed the rage in his heart, staring at the black-robed man.

The black-robed man cackled eerily, "The genius of the Ji clan, the great Young Master Ji Ning... don't be anxious, don't be angry. They will all die, and you, you will die too." He wanted to drive Ji Ning to extreme fury; when a person is in extreme anger, they lose their calm. Without calmness, his chances in this battle would naturally be greater.

Having been on the run for many years, the black-robed man also understood that no opponent should be underestimated. Even if the Young Master Ji Ning before him was merely a youth.

"Go to hell!" Ji Ning, like a fierce tiger descending a mountain, charged straight at the black-robed man with an unstoppable momentum.

"Hmph, so lacking in composure, and yet a genius? After all, too young." The black-robed man thought to himself, holding a long black shuttle in each hand, like a specter he began to meet Ji Ning, thrusting the two black shuttles toward him. The moment they closed in—

Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish!

From the two black shuttles, black nails shot out, enveloping Ji Ning. Because the distance was too close and the nails too sudden, even with his superb swordsmanship, he could not block them all. Fortunately, the protective water-fire lotus surrounding his body resisted the black nails, allowing them to barely penetrate one layer before falling to the ground, where they instantly emitted a sizzling sound.

"All coated with deadly poison." Ji Ning thrust his Northern Bright sword furiously at the black-robed man.

The black-robed man's figure moved like a ghost, his two black shuttles barely parrying, while occasionally releasing black nails.

"What a formidable Ji Ning," the black-robed man thought in alarm. "His protective lotus is so powerful that it even affects my movement technique. Fortunately, this robe is a transformed dharma armor; otherwise, the protective lotus alone would have shredded my clothes."

"Pfft!"

A flash of sword light pierced the black-robed man's arm. He immediately leaped back, his expression turning ferocious. "Your protective lotus is quite mysterious; my Black Blood Nails cannot break it. It seems I must use force to overcome technique." The two black shuttles in his hands vanished, replaced by a six-sided black staff. At the same time, flames began to swirl around his body, and a powerful aura started to spread.

"Staff?" Ji Ning was secretly startled.

From their earlier exchange, he had realized that this black-robed man's skill with the black shuttle was truly weak; only his sudden use of the Black Blood Nail was rather insidious. Now that the opponent had produced a long staff, Ji Ning understood... this was the weapon he was truly skilled in.

"The staff is a long weapon, a heavy weapon," Ji Ning mused. "Most Fiendgod Body Refiners favor heavy weapons and treasures, using force to break through techniques."

"Take this." The black-robed man transformed into a black shadow, raising his long staff high. In an instant, the staff rapidly grew larger, its weight swiftly increasing. The staff alone must have weighed tens of thousands of jin, and it came crashing down directly toward Ji Ning's head!

Ji Ning held his Northriver sword horizontally.

Clang!

A tremendous clang rang out. Ji Ning himself flew backward, plowing a deep furrow in the ground. The tiger's mouths of both his hands were split open from the shock, blood staining the sword hilt.

"Such great strength, far greater than mine. Although I'm only at the fourth level of the Crimsonbright Diagram of the Nine Heavens, I can match an ordinary late-stage Fiendgod Body Refiner at the Xiantian level. This black-robed man is even stronger than I am; he's probably at the Xiantian perfection stage of Fiendgod Body Refining." Ji Ning realized he had truly met his match.

Killing a Fiendgod Body Refiner at the Xiantian level was far more difficult.

"Let's see how many of my staff strikes you can take." The black-robed man's eyes faintly glowed green. He charged forward with the momentum of a dragon, and when he closed in on Ji Ning, he thrust his long staff forward—a straight shot to the heart!

"The staff relies on strength; the sword relies on skill!" Ji Ning let out a low shout. Behind him, a pair of azure wings materialized, as if forged from steel. These were flying-wing treasures Ji Ning had discovered among the thousands of treasures in the Water Mansion.

The Windshadow Steps were merely the foundation of the Windwing Evasion technique, a divine ability. With wings, executing this technique was far more formidable, like adding wings to a tiger.

Whoosh!

Ji Ning's wings vibrated, and he became like a roc, swift and uncannily agile, like gusts of wind constantly changing direction. His twin Northriver swords repeatedly struck at the black-robed man.

"Aargh!" The black-robed man was completely frenzied. His true yuan drove the runes on the staff, causing the gravity runes' power to increase continuously. The staff felt like a small mountain; fortunately, he was a Fiendgod Body Refiner at Xiantian perfection, or he wouldn't have been able to wield such a heavy weapon.

"No matter how heavy the staff, what use is it if it can't hit anyone? Die!" Ji Ning too seemed possessed. The invisible pressure from the Zifu Disciple's presence and the imprisoned and tortured Ji clan members made Ji Ning's heart feel as if it were being scorched.

"Kill! Kill! Kill!"

Relying on his treasure wings, Ji Ning was as fast as a ghost, even quicker than the black-robed man's movement technique. His Northriver swords, refined through blood-forging arts, were extremely sharp, and his sword arts, imbued with the 'True Meaning of the Dao,' completely surpassed the black-robed man in terms of insight.

"Pfft!" A large hole was stabbed through the abdomen, but it quickly shrank and then healed completely.

"Swish!" A large gash was carved across the back.

"Chi." Even the face was cut with a scar.

"Aargh!!!" The black-robed man was about to go mad from frustration. With his virtually indestructible body and his staff technique that achieved unity between man and nature, he could easily toy with an ordinary Xiantian Qi Refiner at perfection. He hadn't expected to encounter such a tough opponent. Although the other was weaker in strength, he was also a Fiendgod Body Refiner and clearly superior in sword insight!

Bang!

Ji Ning was sent flying whenever the staff grazed him, and he retreated when struck. Although his hands were often split open from the shock, they healed instantly. Since his sword arts were more profound, Ji Ning only suffered minor setbacks, while the opponent was truly dancing on the edge of death. If Ji Ning pierced through his head, a vital point, he would be dead for sure.

"Pfft!" Twin swords worked in tandem, unfathomable. When dancing on the edge of death, one could always stumble.

Pfft!

The black-robed man's abdomen was instantly sliced by a sword flash, leaving a huge wound. He fell to the ground, his body severed in two.

"Impressive, impressive," the black-robed man said through gritted teeth. "But still, die."

Whoosh.

Just as Ji Ning's wings vibrated and he lunged with his twin swords, a bottle appeared in one of the black-robed man's hands. He suddenly smashed it against the ground. The bottle shattered on the rocky ground, and thick white mist instantly spread. Sensing trouble, Ji Ning retreated rapidly, but a faint fragrance had already entered his nose. Although he had held his breath, the aura still seeped into his body through his skin.

"Turn into a puddle of water!" The black-robed man stared at Ji Ning, gnashing his teeth. His two severed halves quickly drew together and began to stitch themselves back together automatically.