Chapter 28: When We Two Were Slaves

Ji Ning, accompanied by Su Youji, walked along the corridor toward the side hall.

"Whoosh."

A gray mist instantly burst out of the distant side hall, its speed completely surpassing the limits of the Heavenly Dao. In the blink of an eye, it rushed out through the gate of the Yishui Hall.

"The Snow Appraisal Diagram scroll—it's on that thing!" Ji Ning's expression changed. "After it."

He could sense that the other Snow Appraisal Diagram scroll had originally been inside the side hall, but now it was rapidly moving away, clearly carried along by that gray mist at high speed.

"Swoosh." "Swoosh."

Ji Ning and Su Youji immediately gave chase at top speed. Ji Ning was already extremely fast, and now that Su Youji had become a Chaos Immortal, with the power of her magic and the support of the chaotic world within her golden core, she could easily break through the limits of the Heavenly Dao as well, only slightly slower than Ji Ning. Of course, Ji Ning did not use his lightning wings.

Still, Ji Ning and Su Youji were slightly faster than the fleeing mist creature.

"Hum!" A golden light, an inch long, shot from Ji Ning's eyes, instantly revealing the fleeing gray mist ahead.

Though it appeared as gray mist, it was actually a strange beast with a body like a crocodile and a head like a dragon. Its four short legs churned rapidly as it fled, still surpassing the limits of the Heavenly Dao, its entire body trembling with gray mist.

"It's a bugbeast."

"Probably one of the bugbeasts raised by Lord Wan Shen."

Both Ji Ning and Su Youji were certain of this.

In the Misty Sea region, many bugbeasts lived. Lord Wan Shen was skilled in many areas—alchemy, artifact forging, formations, and so on—and he had achieved great mastery in raising bugbeasts. Even after his death, the arrangements within the Misty Sea continued to nurture generation after generation of these World-level bugbeasts.

"Roar~~~" The gray mist bugbeast let out a furious roar. With a whoosh, its body split into nine parts, fleeing in all directions.

"Don't even think of escaping!" Ji Ning shouted.

A large gourd appeared in his left hand, and he immediately pulled out the stopper.

"Rumble~~~"

Countless bolts of lightning surged out of the gourd, instantly covering the vast surrounding area, focusing on the nine streams of gray mist that had scattered in all directions. The speed limit of the 'Nine-Angled Electric Serpent' was the Heavenly Dao limit, but the 'Five-Thunder Gourd' that Ji Ning had bought at the treasure-gathering fair contained five types of Chaotic Divine Thunder, each capable of easily tearing through the Heavenly Dao limit, far faster than Ji Ning himself.

Five-colored lightning spread everywhere, wrapping around the gray mist.

"Screech!" A piercing cry, as if penetrating the soul.

Eight of the nine streams of gray mist dissipated.

The remaining stream rapidly grew stronger, revealing its gray-brown scaly skin. Its body completely withstood the attacks of the five-colored divine thunder. It turned its head to look at Ji Ning, its gray-white eyes filled with anger.

"Hand over the sword diagram scroll, and I'll spare your life," Ji Ning transmitted.

"You can't catch me," a low voice transmitted back.

Swish.

The bugbeast, with its gray-brown scales like a vicious dragon, once again turned into gray mist, which blazed with light and instantly fled into the distance. Its speed astonished Ji Ning; even with his lightning wings, he couldn't match it. He could only use the five-colored divine thunder from the Five-Thunder Gourd to bind it, but the fleeing mist didn't stop, though its aura seemed to weaken slightly.

"Master, we can't catch up," Su Youji said worriedly. The bugbeast had already escaped the range of the five-colored divine thunder. Since this was a dangerous place, Ji Ning didn't dare let the thunder cover too wide an area; recklessly spreading it might provoke powerful bugbeasts.

"I can sense it's injured," Ji Ning said with a smile. Despite desperately fleeing under the attack of the five-colored divine thunder, its aura had clearly weakened.

"It won't get away," Ji Ning said.

He could always sense the location of that Snow Appraisal Diagram scroll. Unless the bugbeast left the Wan Shen Mansion, he could track it at all times.

A moment later.

"It's ahead, not moving," Ji Ning transmitted.

Soon, Ji Ning and Su Youji saw the bugbeast, resembling a black-scaled crocodile-dragon, lying on a rock to rest. The moment it spotted Ji Ning, it once again turned into gray mist and fled. Bugbeasts were special creatures bred for battle, relying on their powerful bodies and unique talents.

They had no divine power or magic power, so they couldn't refine artifacts. Naturally, this bugbeast couldn't refine the sword diagram scroll.

"Boom~~~" Ji Ning, unable to catch up immediately, raised the Five-Thunder Gourd again and unleashed the five-colored divine thunder.

The fleeing gray mist's aura weakened further.

Swoosh. Swoosh.

Ji Ning and Su Youji continued the chase.

…

"There's a disturbance."

"A fight nearby."

Two men who had been sitting cross-legged stood up. One wore a golden robe, the other a black robe. Both had dark skin and green patterns on their faces, radiating vast, powerful auras. One was a World God, the other a Chaos Immortal.

"Let's check it out." Exchanging glances, they quietly approached.

…

"It keeps running." Ji Ning and Su Youji continued pursuing the bugbeast, which guessed that the two cultivators behind could track it, so it fled desperately, putting more distance between them.

"It's getting farther away," Ji Ning worried. "This bugbeast is familiar with the Misty Sea; it might hide in some dangerous place. We need to catch up quickly; the longer this takes, the more trouble we might face."

"Stop!" A cold shout rang out, exploding in Ji Ning and Su Youji's ears.

"Hm?"

Flying at high speed, Ji Ning and Su Youji frowned as they saw two figures ahead, both radiating fierce, overwhelming auras.

"Master," Su Youji's expression changed as she transmitted, "One is World God Huqiao, the other is Chaos Immortal Hujie. They're from the same clan, extremely vicious."

"Oh? Isn't this Fire Fairy Su Youji?" The golden-robed Chaos Immortal Hujie's eyes lit up. "You've broken through from Ancestral Immortal to Chaos Immortal? I hadn't heard of that. You must have just broken through... Ah, not long ago, the chaotic energy in the Wan Shen Mansion was surging—was that your breakthrough?"

"Su Youji?" The black-robed World God Huqiao's eyes also lit up. "Tsk tsk, quite something..."

Su Youji had always been stunningly beautiful and alluring. Now that she had become a Chaos Immortal, her bearing was even more extraordinary, her charm even greater. The two World-level cultivators felt their hearts itch.

"Please step aside, we have matters to attend to," Su Youji shouted.

"Step aside? Su Youji, you've just broken through to the World level. Instead of finding a place to consolidate your cultivation, you come to the Misty Sea... Running into us is your luck," World God Huqiao said coldly. "Killing you would be easy for us. But we'll give you a way out."

A newly broken-through World-level cultivator was very vulnerable.

Especially a Chaos Immortal, who lacks a powerful divine body. At the moment of breakthrough, they are only at the threshold of the World level. For World God Huqiao and his companion, who had cultivated for eons, killing someone at that threshold was indeed easy.

"Right, we'll give you a way out." Chaos Immortal Hujie examined Su Youji and licked his lips. "Simple: swear a life-bound oath to become our slave."

"Slave?" Su Youji's face turned icy.

"Don't worry, you're a World-level cultivator after all. We won't push you too hard. You'll just be our slave, occasionally engaging in dual cultivation with us. There's great pleasure in dual cultivation—you'll understand soon enough," World God Huqiao said, his eyes turning cold. "If you refuse, today will be the day you die."

"It's just dual cultivation. Your status will be higher than all our other slaves," Chaos Immortal Hujie added.

They had had many women, but a female Chaos Immortal, so alluring and stunningly beautiful, was extremely rare. And luckily, this Su Youji had just broken through and was very weak—perfect for capturing.

Their gazes were fixed on Su Youji.

As for Ji Ning?

A mere Ancestral God—they glanced at him and completely ignored him.

"You two are going too far," Ji Ning's voice rang out. He didn't want to fight, as he was in a hurry to chase the bugbeast.

"We World-level cultivators are speaking. An ant like you dares to interrupt?" World God Huqiao looked at Ji Ning with condescension, naturally looking down on Ancestral Gods and Ancestral Immortals.

"A mere Ancestral God dares to be insolent? I was planning to take you as a slave, but now, I'll just execute you," Chaos Immortal Hujie said, looking at Ji Ning with the same condescension, as if looking at an ant.

…