Chapter 2: Small Thousand Sword Formation, Kill!

The Cyan Flame Bird and the Black Serpent were anxiously waiting high in the sky. They had been ordered to find Ji Ning, but although the Black Serpent had called out three times, there was no response.

"Could the young master not be in this area?" the Black Serpent said, extremely anxious.

"Brother Black, look below," the Cyan Flame Bird said in human speech.

The Black Serpent quickly looked down. Below, the originally calm great mountain had suddenly produced a large number of armored Dao-soldiers, with frost covering and flames burning... Those Dao-soldiers and the innate lifeform Dao-soldiers had actually formed a formation that manifested eight phantom images of flood dragons. The pressure from the phantom flood dragons shocked even the Cyan Flame Bird and Black Serpent high in the sky.

"Dao-soldiers, thousands of Dao-soldiers can unite?" The Cyan Flame Bird and Black Serpent were terrified. In Yan Mountain, none of the major powers had such means; only the army of the Grand Xia Dynasty stationed in Nanshan City possessed such techniques. "If we two went up against that, we would likely be easily annihilated."

"Look, it's Young Master Ji Ning."

Before the thousands of Dao-soldiers appeared a beast-skin-clad youth with an aura of boundless madness—it was Ji Ning!

"How can Young Master Ji Ning withstand the union of thousands of Dao-soldiers?"

"Ji Ning, run!" the Black Serpent shouted anxiously from high above.

…

Inside the mountain belly, the bound innate lifeforms were also anxiously and nervously watching outside. The flames and frost outside made their hearts tremble.

"Young Master Ji Ning, that Zifu Disciple is refining an evil magic treasure and cannot attend to other matters for now. Flee quickly!" Meng Yu shouted anxiously.

"Ji Ning, go now, or it will be too late," Ji Wuyu also hoarsely roared.

"Go!"

The innate lifeforms of the Ji clan shouted anxiously. Trapped for so long, they had often heard those people talking and had seen some evil spirits drilling deep into the mountain's base... They understood that there was a Zifu Disciple at the mountain's base refining an extremely evil magic treasure. Once he freed himself, what then?

"What, thousands of Dao-soldiers united?" The bound innate lifeforms suddenly saw those Dao-soldiers, burned by fire and frozen by frost, forming formations that manifested phantom images of flood dragons. They could only glimpse part of it, but it still made their hearts tremble.

"Run."

"Ji Ning, go!" Each one was extremely anxious.

…

Hearing Uncle Black's anxious shouts from above and the voices of the bound Meng Yu, Ji Wuyu, Wa Qiong, Ji Shan, and others inside the mountain belly, Ji Ning, already heavily poisoned, became even more frenzied. Run? Why run? Fleeing meant certain death anyway. If he could fight to the death and kill that Zifu Disciple, there might be a slim chance of survival.

"Kill!" Ji Ning looked at the thousands of Dao-soldiers before him and unhesitatingly unleashed his strongest killing move.

Hummm~~~

Over three hundred flying sword treasures appeared around Ji Ning out of thin air. Each sword faintly emitted a hazy white light, also drawing upon the power of heaven and earth. Now that Ji Ning's attainments in formations had improved, even executing the Small Thousand Sword Formation was noticeably easier. He no longer controlled it by rote memorization as before, but understood some of the mysteries and knew how to adapt to circumstances.

"What is that!"

"How can swords fly?"

"Flying treasures?"

The eight innate lifeforms among the thousands of Dao-soldiers were stunned. Seeing hundreds of flying swords suspended in the air, they almost instantly thought of—Zifu Disciples! At the very least, one had to be a Zifu Disciple to control flying treasures; this had almost become common knowledge. And now this youth was actually controlling treasures.

How could they know that Ji Ning had reached the 'divine sense' level in his soul, enabling him to do this?

"It's a Zifu Disciple! Master, it's a Zifu Disciple! That youth is a Zifu Disciple!" Some innate lifeform Dao-soldiers already cried out shrilly.

"Die." Ji Ning instantly manipulated the sword light before him.

Swish!

That streak of sword light traced an incomparably graceful curve, leaving a tragic trajectory in midair, easily piercing the chest of the handsome youth. The handsome youth stared wide-eyed in disbelief: "Zifu, Zifu..." Even in death, he could not believe it.

"No." The burly man had just cried out when he was directly pierced through by the sword light.

After all, their Dao-soldier formation had not truly merged into a single flood dragon, but was only dispersed into eight phantom flood dragon images. Each phantom flood dragon was formed by one innate lifeform Dao-soldier and several hundred or even a thousand acquired Dao-soldiers. In terms of defense alone, it was actually inferior to the combined force of the nine innate Dao-soldiers in the second trial of the water mansion.

Even in close combat, Ji Ning, relying on the essence of Drops of Water, had a chance of winning, but it would be very strenuous and he would face a siege.

But now...

With the fourth layer of the Small Thousand Sword Formation, which had the power of a Zifu early-stage cultivator using a graded treasure, even if the enemy had nine thousand Dao-soldiers and nine innate lifeform Dao-soldiers united into a flood dragon, Ji Ning could still fight. Not to mention that now the enemy was scattered, truly like cutting vegetables.

"Zifu Disciple!"

"It's a Zifu Disciple."

A streak of sword light traced a graceful curve and pierced through the eight innate lifeform Dao-soldiers. No matter how they fled, their speed was incomparably slower than the sword light. Even though the surrounding acquired Dao-soldiers tried to block, they were simply cut through.

"It's a Zifu Disciple."

"Zifu Disciple."

Shrill cries of despair echoed throughout the great mountain. These innate lifeform Dao-soldiers were filled with towering resentment and unwillingness. They had never imagined that this youth named Ji Ning would be a Zifu Disciple! Fighting a Zifu Disciple? They died unwillingly; if they had known, they would never have come out.

…

"What."

"This..."

The Cyan Flame Bird and Black Serpent high in the sky watched dumbfounded. Below, Ji Ning controlled hundreds of flying sword treasures, suspending them in the air, and condensed a streak of sword light to sweep in all directions. It was a power of an entirely different level, like an innate being slaughtering acquired ones. That single sword light easily killed eight innate lifeform Dao-soldiers. With the eight innate ones dead, naturally those acquired Dao-soldiers could no longer form the great formation.

"Ji Ning, he... he's a Zifu Disciple?" The Black Serpent, who had watched Ji Ning grow up, was also stunned.

…

Even Meng Yu, Ji Wuyu, Ji Shan, and the others, who had been anxiously urging Ji Ning to flee inside the mountain belly, were also stunned. From their angle, they couldn't see Ji Ning. But through the cave entrance, they could see the large number of Dao-soldiers outside. They saw with their own eyes those Dao-soldiers in black armor, the innate Dao-soldiers, being easily pierced through by an extremely dazzling sword light, each innate Dao-soldier falling dead.

And as they died, they cried out in grief and indignation: "Zifu Disciple!" "It's a Zifu Disciple!"

"A Zifu Disciple?" Meng Yu and the others, including the poor innate lifeforms from other Yan Mountain forces captured here, were bewildered. Could it be that besides Ji Ning, another Zifu Disciple had come?

And at that moment—

Bang!

A black shadow leaped out from the already opened dark hole. Its green pupils swept over the bound innate lifeforms in the mountain belly. There were also some ordinary servants who had not participated in the battle. Two unlucky ones, because they were not too far from the entrance, were invaded by the black corpse aura surrounding the black-furred zombie as soon as it appeared.

"Ah."

"Ah." These two unlucky servant boys, who hadn't even become Dao-soldiers, were naturally very ordinary. Invaded by the corpse aura, they let out shrill screams and soon their entire bodies dissolved into a pool of water.

But the black-furred zombie had already taken a step and exited the cave.

"Young master, be careful!" Meng Yu shouted anxiously.

…

After killing those innate lifeform Dao-soldiers, Ji Ning put away the three hundred-plus flying swords. After all, he was only at the early innate stage, and his innate true qi was not abundant. If he controlled several thousand flying swords, he would probably exhaust it all at once. With these three hundred-plus flying swords, he could only execute the formation ten times.

His true opponent was that truly terrifying Zifu Disciple.

"Roar~~" A roar sounded, and a black shadow flew over from afar.

"Could it be that Zifu Disciple?" Ji Ning's wings trembled, and he immediately traced an arc to dodge. The black shadow crashed heavily onto the ground, creating a pit over ten zhang wide, causing Ji Ning's expression to change.

The black-furred zombie stared at Ji Ning, its body surrounded by black mist-like corpse aura.

"This thing has immense strength and speed." Ji Ning was shocked. It even reminded him of the black-furred monster in the third trial of the water mansion. However, this black-furred zombie gave him a feeling of evil and gloom, with black mist around its body, unlike the monster in the water mansion's third trial.

"Kill." The black-furred zombie stared at Ji Ning and charged again.

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh! Ji Ning's wings vibrated, making him as elusive as a ghost. He dodged repeatedly, though barely, but still managed to evade. Occasionally, his Northmoon sword stabbed the black-furred zombie, but only left a white mark.

"This thing, like the black-furred monster in the water mansion, has great strength, speed, and an extremely tough body. But its strength is much less." Ji Ning discovered in the exchange that this black-furred zombie's use of power was very clumsy, whereas the black-furred monster in the water mansion had a soul. Whether in footwork or palm techniques, though seemingly simple, they were actually profound and impossible to dodge.

"It doesn't even reach the level of subtlety. It definitely isn't that Zifu Disciple. The antidote for the poison I'm afflicted with is likely on the Zifu Disciple. He hasn't come out now, so he must be tied up. I must seize the opportunity to eliminate him as soon as possible." Ji Ning understood that the Zifu Disciple's failure to come out must be due to some difficulty.

He must strike while the iron was hot.

Swoosh!

Ji Ning's wings trembled, tracing a curve to dodge the black-furred zombie. The zombie howled, wanting to chase Ji Ning, but how could it catch up to Ji Ning using the Windwing Evasion?

"Ji Ning?" A cold, shrill voice suddenly came from the mountain belly. Ji Ning saw, at the edge of the dark hole on the mountain belly floor, a man in a wide black robe standing. This man had long hair loose, a pale, bloodless face, and a pair of greenish eyes that were even more startling than the black-furred zombie's.