Chapter 12 The Curtain Falls

A Luo Yi was bound with ropes, yet scenes from the past surfaced in his mind. In that cold, ancient clan, his father was supreme, and all descendants trained desperately. He himself had once been a weak descendant, stepping over the corpses of others, growing step by step until he reached the perfection of the World realm and became his father's most beloved child. A Luo Yi dreamed day and night of one day becoming a true Eternal clan member.

"Defeated." A Luo Yi looked ahead.

Ahead, the white-robed youth carrying a divine sword on his back produced a small golden gourd in his hand. Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—a powerful suction force acted upon him, and bound as he was by ropes, he could not resist.

Swoosh, he was sucked inside.

…

Inside the gourd.

The ropes had already flown away on their own.

"No, no, I am unwilling, unwilling." A Luo Yi looked around. Inside the gourd space were two vortexes—one of black qi, one of golden qi. As soon as A Luo Yi appeared, the two vortexes erupted with terrifying energy, their swirling currents tearing toward him.

"Sizzle sizzle sizzle～" The terrible shredding filled the entire gourd space; there was nowhere to hide.

A Luo Yi could only consume divine power and rely on his divine body to resist with all his might. The moment his divine power was exhausted, he would turn to ashes.

"Right, I still have the Wind-Sand Puppets." A Luo Yi suddenly sensed eighteen fluctuations outside—the puppets absolutely loyal to him. Since he was not yet dead, these puppets still had a master.

"Join forces with Fu Kai, kill that fiend, kill him." A Luo Yi communicated mentally with the eighteen Wind-Sand Puppets. "Kill him, seize the golden gourd, and release me."

"Yes, master." The eighteen puppets were utterly loyal.

A Luo Yi himself knew it was a vain hope.

After all, he had fought Ji Ning and knew that Ji Ning's speed was far, far too fast. Even if the eighteen puppets and the beast swarms joined forces, was there any hope of killing Ji Ning?

Even if by some stroke of luck they did kill Ji Ning, his corpse would likely fall into Fu Kai's hands. For the eighteen puppets to snatch the corpse, find the gourd, and release him? Too difficult, too difficult. But theoretically, such a possibility existed, so A Luo Yi could only give it his all.

…

Ji Ning, holding the golden gourd, watched the eighteen Wind-Sand Puppets charging at him and felt relieved: "Good, these puppets didn't self-destruct."

In Ji Ning's eyes, these Wind-Sand Puppets would soon fall into his hands; it would be a pity if they self-destructed.

In a past calamity in the Three Realms, when the Lord of All Things died, all the Myriad Thing Emissaries self-destructed. But that was because the Lord of All Things was skilled in refining puppets; the emissaries were personally refined by him, so he naturally left some self-destruct restrictions.

But puppets Ji Ning himself bought at the treasure gathering could not self-destruct.

A Luo Yi's eighteen puppets were also bestowed by his father and could not self-destruct. After all, each puppet required vast amounts of precious materials and painstaking effort to refine. Destroying them would turn them into waste, at most usable for extracting some Five Elements essence. Thus, puppets sold externally rarely carried self-destruct restrictions; only those personally refined and not for sale might have such restrictions.

"What to do, what to do?" Fu Kai was stunned. "A Luo Yi has been captured."

"Flee?"

Fu Kai wanted to flee.

"But without obtaining the Eternal Divine Blood, I'll still die!" When Fu Kai and the others accepted this trial from the Eternal Kingdom, they had long sworn a life-bound oath.

Fleeing meant certain death.

Then fight!!!

"The eighteen Wind-Sand Puppets haven't given up, very good." Fu Kai's eyes turned red. He pointed at Ji Ning and roared, "Kill him, kill him for me."

"Roar～" "Howl～" …

High in the sky, a total of fifty-eight beast swarms and eighteen Wind-Sand Puppets charged madly at Ji Ning. But Ji Ning's thunder-light wings flapped, and he traced a flight path that made Fu Kai despair, easily evading the encirclement of puppets and beasts.

Then Ji Ning flew straight toward Fu Kai.

"Damn it, come on, come on, you want to kill me?" Fu Kai went berserk. He actively flew toward the puppets and beasts, thinking that if he stayed among them, Ji Ning would have to be surrounded by the eighteen puppets and fifty-eight beasts to kill him.

"Hmm? Still struggling, useless." Ji Ning frowned. His right hand rested on the hilt of the sword on his back.

"Clang."

The Eternal Divine Weapon, Purple Light Qiong, was drawn!

Ji Ning moved swiftly, directly chasing Fu Kai, and encountered a black-armored avian beast.

"Bang～" Ji Ning's left palm casually swept like swatting a fly. His palm, comparable in size to the beast, struck the black-armored avian beast's body, sending it tumbling away.

"Perfect." Fu Kai saw Ji Ning chasing him from behind and was overjoyed, because more and more beasts and puppets were gathering around him.

"This talisman of mine can withstand several of his full-force attacks. As long as he strikes me once, I can use the force to dodge farther, and he'll be trapped in the siege of beasts and puppets. How foolish, charging in on his own." Fu Kai was ecstatic, because Ji Ning had previously relied on speed to evade.

He had never fought the puppets and beasts head-on; this was the first time he was in danger, making Fu Kai feel there was hope.

Whoosh.

Ji Ning charged in at high speed.

"Bang." His powerful divine body collided with a puppet, sending it staggering.

Ji Ning finally drew his sword. The Eternal Divine Weapon 'Purple Light Qiong' instantly transformed into a massive blood light—a ghastly, terrifying blood light that streaked across the sky, slashing directly at Fu Kai.

Second Style of the Source Sword Intent—Myriad Gods Style!

"Th-this…" Fu Kai's expression suddenly changed drastically, because when Ji Ning's terrifying sword strike descended, the dense, brutal, bloody sword intent flooded his mind, making him involuntarily fear.

Different.

Different from last time!

Last time, Ji Ning's sword had only consumed two-tenths of his talisman's power, and at first glance it was the same sword move. But this time, the aura was far more terrifying than before; he felt a trembling and fear in his true spirit.

"Bang～" The golden light around him trembled and then collapsed.

The sword light then struck Fu Kai's body. Fu Kai was jolted and spat blood. His face pale, his eyes filled with despair as he looked at the approaching Ji Ning: "How is this possible? How could this happen? The protective talisman still had eighty percent of its power—how did it break in one blow? And after breaking the talisman, it still wounded me? I have a protective divine ability and a Dao armor. Could his single sword strike rival the power of a Life-and-Death Dao Lord?"

"Kill, kill, all beasts, start killing, kill the other beasts, kill." Fu Kai's eyes held mockery. Seeing Ji Ning's terrifying sword strike, he understood.

The protective talisman couldn't even block a single blow. How could he, a mere mortal, stand against this fiend? Even the beasts would probably fall in one strike each. He and A Luo Yi were no match for him.

"Kill, all kill each other. You haven't killed a single beast, wanting to control them. Haha, dream on." Fu Kai was delirious.

A Luo Yi controlled those puppets, but they couldn't self-destruct.

He controlled these beasts, but he couldn't make them commit suicide. Beasts were living beings, and their instinct was to survive! But he could make them kill each other. The most common way for beasts to grow was through mutual slaughter, devouring each other; the survivor would become stronger.

"Bang." "Bang." "Boom."

The fifty-eight beasts abandoned their pursuit of Ji Ning and began killing each other. In midair, blood, limbs, carapace fragments, and fur flew everywhere as the beasts frenziedly slaughtered one another.

"Damn it." Ji Ning had intended to take Fu Kai into the gourd and slowly refine him, but now his face darkened.

"Die."

Ji Ning erupted.

The Eternal Divine Weapon Purple Light Qiong once again streaked across the sky, sending down terrifying beams of blood light. Each strike was Ji Ning's full power, each could shatter the protective talisman, each was at the level of a 'One-Step Life-and-Death Dao Lord' attack.

Bang bang bang～

Sword light struck Fu Kai repeatedly. Fu Kai was sent flying, but Ji Ning followed and continued to strike. Facing such terrifying sword light, Fu Kai could not resist. Though he had a Dao armor and a protective divine ability, under such attacks, his body trembled and blood spurted with each blow, his divine power draining madly.

After just twelve strikes, his divine power was exhausted.

"Bang～" The thirteenth strike. Fu Kai's divine body trembled and began to crack like porcelain. His eyes still looked at the sky, where faint traces of dazzling blood-colored sword light lingered.

"This sword light, truly beautiful." Fu Kai closed his eyes. His entire body shattered completely, and his true spirit utterly dissipated.

Thus, A Luo Yi and Fu Kai, who had sought to kill Ji Ning for the Eternal Divine Blood, were one taken into the gourd to be refined and the other killed on the spot.

…