Chapter 32: Half-Step World God

"That is..."

The Lord of All Demons, the mighty ones of Nüwa's camp, and the incarnation of the Great Demon God Cixiu all gazed from afar at the suddenly formed chaotic vortex, each growing tense. At the same time, they sensed a powerful aura rapidly rising. The source of that powerful aura... was right in the palm of Source Elder's giant hand.

"Impossible, this is impossible." Source Elder sat cross-legged on his lotus throne, his expression drastically changing. One of his giant hands clearly felt the powerful force emanating from Ji Ning, who was obviously struggling with all his might.

"A breakthrough?"

Source Elder had experienced the war of the ancient destruction. In that war, Nüwa had broken through to become a World God mid-battle, absorbing a vast amount of chaotic power, and then swept through everything. Now, the suddenly appearing chaotic vortex... Source Elder could tell at a glance that Ji Ning was also beginning to break through, but Ji Ning had been cultivating for just over a thousand years.

"He's only been at it for a thousand years; there's no way he could become a World God so quickly."

"And judging by the commotion of this chaotic vortex, it doesn't seem like a World God either..."

"As long as he's not a World God, this Ji Ning is no match for me." Source Elder was already severely wounded. He knew this was a life-or-death moment, and he didn't want to lose or die at the hands of these natives, so he comforted himself.

"Come here."

Source Elder's hand strained to grasp Ji Ning.

"Boom~~~" Ji Ning stood in the void, manifesting three heads and six arms. With a shake of his six arms, he sent Source Elder's hand flying back.

Surges of chaotic power continuously poured into Ji Ning's body. His divine body was undergoing transformation, as portions of True God divine power began to convert into Ancestral God divine power. Ji Ning's aura grew stronger and stronger, and his power of resistance also increased.

"Damn it." Six massive hands attacked simultaneously.

"Bang." "Boom."

Ji Ning sometimes resisted, sometimes was knocked back. He only diverted a small portion of his attention to defense, focusing more on converting his divine power as quickly as possible.

His divine body grew stronger and stronger...

"How can this be? How can his power be so strong? Even if he becomes an Ancestral God, he shouldn't be this strong." Source Elder grew anxious. The power Ji Ning was now displaying had already surpassed the level of an Ancestral God. Source Elder's six hands simply couldn't suppress Ji Ning. How could he know that because Ji Ning had cultivated the two divine abilities, "Eighteen Fiendgods of Taowu" and "The One and Only True Body," once he became an Ancestral God, it was equivalent to seventeen Ancestral God divine bodies perfectly merging together—more perfect than merging through formations—and should be considered the "half-step World God" level.

Nor could Source Elder be blamed.

After all, even among Ancestral Gods and Ancestral Immortals, this was extremely rare, hard to find even one in ten thousand. Back then, Lord Jiufang, by cultivating "Eighteen Fiendgods of Taowu" to the third level and merging his eighteen incarnations into one, was able to dominate among Ancestral Gods and Ancestral Immortals. Later, when he became a World God, this foundation made his foundation more solid and his strength even greater.

...

"Source Elder can't suppress him." The Lord of All Demons showed joy.

"He can't suppress Beiming." Maitreya Buddha and the others were also excited. The many mighty ones and numerous immortals and demons who had bravely faced death—what was it for? It was to defeat the alien race and protect the Three Realms. And now, hope had appeared.

"We must win, we must win." Patriarch Bodhi was also excited, his divine body trembling slightly.

...

"Die, die, die for me." Source Elder's six giant hands furiously attacked Ji Ning.

Boom~~~ Surges of chaotic power continuously poured into his body, portions of True God divine power constantly converting. At this moment, Ancestral God divine power already accounted for seventy percent of Ji Ning's body, and the conversion was still ongoing. His immense power allowed him to effortlessly block Source Elder's hands with every move. In terms of pure strength, he had already surpassed Source Elder.

Half-step World God—when no World God appears, this is already an incredibly heaven-defying power.

"How is this possible? How is he so strong? What divine abilities and secret arts has he cultivated?" Source Elder was panicked and anxious. "Leave, I need to leave quickly."

Without further thought,

Source Elder immediately chose to flee!

As one of the Nine Divine Generals, he was extremely cunning. But he also knew that facing Ji Ning with his "Nine-Angle Lightning Serpent Evasion," escaping would be very difficult, so he had never considered fleeing before. Now he had no choice; if he dragged it out, his chances of survival were too slim. He could only think of fleeing while Ji Ning was breaking through.

"Swoosh." Riding the black lotus, Source Elder immediately fled far away, ordering the group of mighty ones under his soul control, "Stop Ji Ning."

"Flee?"

Ji Ning, whose divine power was continuously converting, transformed into a black lightning serpent and swiftly pursued. Although fighting during the divine power conversion would slow down the breakthrough, it only slowed it slightly. Back then, when Nüwa broke through from Ancestral God to World God, the commotion was even greater, the divine power conversion even more astonishing, yet Nüwa still swept through everything.

Whoosh! The black lightning serpent flickered, easily evading those mighty ones, and quickly caught up to Source Elder.

"Damn it." Source Elder hated it. He had prepared so thoroughly. In the previous war of ancient destruction, he had held back until the end and didn't act because he saw Nüwa's breakthrough. This time, the Heartlord had died, the two camps had ceased hostilities before he revealed his identity, yet he still encountered this freak Ji Ning.

Houyi was a freak.

Ji Ning was also a freak.

Houyi killed the Heartlord and broke the previous black lotus formation.

Shennong's "Life-Seizing Flower" severely wounded him.

The self-destructions of many mighty ones earlier had consumed most of Source Elder's divine power.

"If I were at my peak, with my skills, why would I fear a fight with this Ji Ning? But this body I seized is too slow." Source Elder shook his head. His flying speed couldn't reach the limit of the Heavenly Dao, so he couldn't escape. He couldn't flee by tearing through spacetime like Patriarch Bodhi, so he had to face the battle head-on.

...

"Black lotus, protect me." Source Elder sat cross-legged, a black lotus surrounding him for ten thousand miles, its petals spinning. He coldly stared at the white-robed youth in the void.

Ji Ning stood in the void, his aura continuously rising.

Ninety percent, one hundred percent!

The chaotic vortex above also began to dissipate. Ji Ning looked at Source Elder, his eyes blazing with terrifying killing intent.

"Alien, today you will surely die." With a flicker, Ji Ning manifested three heads and six arms.

"You, a native, dare to shout at me?" Source Elder sat in the black lotus, saying coldly, "Though I am severely wounded, I can still kill you, this native, in a desperate fight."

"Hmph."

Ji Ning let out an angry snort. Instantly, his six arms swung out, crossing through the void, expanding tens of thousands of miles. Six giant hands blotted out the sky and sun, simultaneously striking the black lotus around Source Elder. Ji Ning's six arms swung out like six giant axes... carrying the force of Pangu's axe splitting heaven and earth, directly chopping down on the black lotus.

Divine Ability — Star-Picking Hand!

Brightmoon Sword Art — Heaven Collapse Style!

"Don't think you can shake it." Source Elder was full of confidence. His black lotus protective technique was a secret art of the Black Lotus lineage, extremely strong in defense. Earlier, when Ji Ning, Lord Sanqing, the Lord of All Demons, Lord Huanmu, and others attacked together, they couldn't break the black lotus.

"Boom~~~" "Boom~~~" "Boom~~~" ...

Six loud sounds simultaneously.

The black lotus trembled violently, the lotus throne shaking and swaying, many petals beginning to crack.

"What!" Source Elder was shocked. How could this be? His black lotus secret art was personally taught by the God Emperor; even a peak Ancestral God would find it hard to break.

"Hmm?" Ji Ning also frowned.

He himself knew how astonishingly his strength had increased. Now he had a half-step World God body, his six palms were comparable to Chaos treasures, and his sword art realm was even higher. Executing the "Heaven Collapse Style" was definitely at the level of a peak Ancestral God's power. Moreover, he had also used the Star-Picking Hand divine ability, making him probably even stronger than the Heartlord.

Six palms struck together, yet the black lotus didn't shatter?

"I said, you will surely die." Ji Ning withdrew his three heads and six arms, and a blood-colored divine sword appeared in his hand — the divine sword Violetjade. Ji Ning's eyes were full of killing intent.

Without using the divine sword Violetjade, his brute force attacks would probably also break the black lotus and cause Source Elder to exhaust his divine power and die. But Ji Ning's hatred for Source Elder was too deep; he couldn't wait that long, so he naturally took out his current strongest weapon.

A half-step World God body, a peerless sword art, the Star-Picking Hand divine ability, plus the divine sword Violetjade, which was comparable to a "Dao treasure"...

Ji Ning's strength had reached the threshold of a World God.