Chapter 35: A Bitter Victory

This was a humanoid body of complete pitch-blackness, only its eyes were a deep red. Being stared at by it made Ji Ning feel uncomfortable. Suddenly, the skin of this pitch-black humanoid body began to crack, with fissures all over its body, beneath which a faint reddish glow could be seen.

"Boom~~~" Occasionally, some reddish material would spray out from the cracks in the skin, at a speed far exceeding the limits of the Heavenly Dao, and the space-time around them began to twist.

He stood between heaven and earth. The reddish material that occasionally shot out from the cracks in his black skin, upon touching the seawater, caused it to rapidly boil and sink; upon touching the remnants of the island, it caused them to tremble and shatter.

"You forced me to reveal my true form, and now you will surely die. You indeed have the qualifications to challenge the fifth level, but unfortunately, you met me." The black-bodied lifeform spoke in a hoarse voice. When he opened his mouth, some reddish material occasionally flew out.

"Ugly," Ji Ning said softly.

"You—"

The black-bodied lifeform grew even more furious. After all, in this endless territory, the most numerous beings were cultivators, and there were far too many cultivators. Although he was a special lifeform, when the boundless chaos gave birth to him, he was alone. So he changed his appearance, always shrouded in a black robe, mingling among the cultivators.

He himself thought his true form was rather ugly, but only by revealing his true body could he unleash his strongest combat power; he had no choice. Ordinary cultivators saying this wouldn't anger him, but the one saying it was a powerful cultivator of the same level as himself.

"You're just good at talking. Remember, the one who kills you is 'Shabafuyi'." The black-bodied lifeform let out a low roar, and his pitch-black hands each grasped a heavy saber and a heavy sword.

"What an ugly name." Ji Ning deliberately taunted, seeing that this special lifeform's Dao-heart was quite ordinary.

"Die."

Two magnificent saber and sword lights, carrying boundless might, struck again.

"Hmph." Ji Ning manifested three heads and six arms, wielding six Eternal Divine Weapons, and charged forward again.

"Hmm? What's this?" As Ji Ning turned into a streak of light and rushed forward, he immediately felt the twisting of space-time around him, even his movement technique was affected.

Clearly, the space-time around 'Shabafuyi' was twisted, forming a kind of domain.

"Hmph." Ji Ning let out a furious snort, and from between his brows, a red-golden lightning bolt burst forth, like a flood dragon, charging forward. When this red-golden lightning approached the black-bodied lifeform, some reddish material shot out from the cracks in his skin, colliding with the red-golden lightning, causing it to tremble.

"I didn't expect that just revealing his true form, without even engaging in combat, the reddish material emitted from his body surface and the domain he generates would already affect my strength." Ji Ning felt a secret wariness.

Boom!

Boom!

A black-red rainbow light was the black-bodied lifeform 'Shabafuyi'.

The other streak of lightning light was the white-robed youth with three heads and six arms, from whose brows red-golden lightning burst forth.

"Bang, bang, bang, bang..."

The two instantly clashed in the high sky, causing tremors all around, the remnants of the island shaking and sinking, waves rolling.

Ji Ning and the other fought fiercely, with Ji Ning clearly at a disadvantage.

"Damn it."

Ji Ning was sent flying back repeatedly, dodging, then charging again.

The black-bodied lifeform 'Shabafuyi' was more domineering, wielding only a saber in one hand and a sword in the other, yet he was exceptionally ferocious, completely suppressing Ji Ning.

Even under the special, twisted space-time domain, his speed surpassed Ji Ning's.

"He's become this much stronger after revealing his true form." Ji Ning felt the pressure. Each of the opponent's saber strikes and sword strokes was clearly a level stronger than Ji Ning's, so even with six swords, Ji Ning was still at a disadvantage.

In fact, this special lifeform's power indeed matched a one-step Dao Lord, on par with Ji Ning, but his level of 'Dao' was a notch higher than Ji Ning's, so in battle, each of his saber and sword strikes was more powerful than Ji Ning's.

As for before?

Because he hadn't revealed his true form and fought at full power, shrouded in a black robe like an ordinary cultivator, he could only exert ten to twenty percent of his strength, so his full-powered sword strike was on par with Ji Ning's. But now it was different.

"You're dead, dead..." Shabafuyi let out a frenzied voice, superior in speed and ferocious in attack.

For the first time!

Since arriving at Star Island, Ji Ning had never been so miserable, completely at a disadvantage.

This was an opponent whose power and speed were not inferior to his, whose realm was clearly higher, who had been honing himself on Star Island for far too long, and who also had a strange protective domain that was even stronger than Ji Ning's Nine Source Divine Lightning.

Ji Ning was completely suppressed.

As the saying goes, prolonged defense leads to defeat; Ji Ning dared not hold out for long.

"Out!" Ji Ning grew angry too. This Shabafuyi was determined to kill him, to cut off his path.

Whoosh.

Beside Ji Ning, a black-red gourd appeared out of thin air—the Primordial Water-Fire Gourd. The black-red gourd floating behind Ji Ning suddenly spewed out two bolts of lightning like flood dragons: one was the Water Smoke Divine Lightning, like rolling dark clouds and surging black water, with lightning churning and immense power; this single bolt was already a notch stronger than Ji Ning's 'Nine Source Divine Lightning'. The other was the Fire Cloud Divine Lightning, a mass of fiery red clouds, equally powerful.

Two Dao Divine Lightnings—one Water Smoke Divine Lightning, one Fire Cloud Divine Lightning—water and fire were incompatible, originally opposed. Now these two 'Dao Divine Lightnings' simultaneously streaked across the sky like flood dragons, directly attacking the black-bodied lifeform 'Shabafuyi'.

"What is that?" The black-bodied lifeform was greatly startled.

Boom! Boom!

The two lightning flood dragons showed no mercy. As they struck the black-bodied lifeform, they collided with each other. The collision of the two divine lightnings, the clash of water and fire, seemed like heaven's thunder stirring earth's fire, unleashing a power that even Ji Ning found terrifying.

Even some World-level pinnacle cultivators would likely be instantly killed; those who could surpass the World-level pinnacle would be severely wounded in one blow, and it would take only a few strikes to kill them.

Only a one-step Dao Lord could withstand it. Even then, they would be heavily restrained.

"Rumble~~~" The two Dao Divine Lightnings madly coiled around the surface of the black-bodied lifeform, repeatedly colliding with each other, generating terrifying power, immediately greatly reducing Shabafuyi's speed and power.

"This is a Dao Divine Lightning!" Shabafuyi exclaimed.

"Yes." Ji Ning charged again.

"Even if it's a Dao Divine Lightning, it only restrains me; it can't kill me." Shabafuyi remained ferocious. His true body, comparable to a one-step Dao Lord, could indeed withstand these two Dao Divine Lightnings, but the impact was significant.

His speed dropped greatly, even slower than Ji Ning's.

"Rumble~~~"

But his saber and sword still retained fifty percent of their power, still suppressing Ji Ning.

Now, however, Ji Ning was much more at ease, because at least he had the advantage in speed; he could attack or retreat as he pleased. Moreover, the suppression from the opponent's saber and sword had become minimal.

"Kill!"

"Kill!"

The two fought desperately.

"I am a special lifeform. These cultivators' divine power, under extreme consumption, won't last long. But I can fight for a very long time." Shabafuyi was confident; he had enough confidence in a prolonged battle.

"One drop of my Blueflower Mist power equals all my magic power, divine power, and heart power combined. And when I fight, I don't need to use any powerful divine abilities; I can fight for an extremely long time. This special lifeform can unleash such strong power; he must be using some secret techniques, and he won't last long." Ji Ning was also confident.

Ji Ning only used the Three Heads, Six Arms divine ability, which consumed very little divine power. Ji Ning mainly relied on the power of Blueflower Mist, and that power was not consumed quickly.

This battle lasted over an hour.

From initial confidence to later shock from Shabafuyi, Ji Ning was also shocked; he had already consumed a full sixteen drops of Blueflower Mist power.

"I concede." Shabafuyi finally let out an unwilling low roar. "With such strong power, your divine ability must consume divine power very quickly. How can you fight this long? How..."

If it were a divine ability like Star Picking Hand, the consumption of divine power would be astonishing.

Ji Ning also breathed a sigh of relief.

He had won.

Finally won. He also sensed that his golden bamboo slip had changed—under the protection of Star Island, Star Island had confirmed that he had won ten consecutive matches.

"Hand over the inheritance treasures." Ji Ning looked at him. If the opponent hadn't been under protection, Ji Ning would have shown no mercy and killed him directly; he couldn't last much longer.

"Don't be smug. I was defeated from the fifth level and dropped down." Shabafuyi growled. "There are many on the fifth level stronger than me. Your power is considerable, but your swordsmanship realm is really ordinary... Haha, you can't even compare to a special lifeform like me."

With that, he waved his hand and threw out a large pile of inheritance treasures. Since he lost, he had to hand over all inheritance treasures unless Ji Ning allowed him to keep some. He dared not violate the rules of Star Island.

"Go." Shabafuyi looked up and roared.

Whoosh.

Space twisted, and the black-bodied lifeform 'Shabafuyi' vanished into thin air.

Ji Ning waved his hand and collected the many inheritance treasures. His golden bamboo slip also reminded him that he had gathered a full set of inheritance and could leave Star Island at any time.

"A full set?" Ji Ning was not surprised, because Shabafuyi had many inheritance treasures, originally possessing a full set.

"Swoosh."

Ji Ning beckoned, and the Primordial Water-Fire Gourd flew to his side.

Ji Ning held the gourd. In today's battle, without this Primordial Water-Fire Gourd, even if he could save his life, he would probably have lost. Once he lost, he would fall back to the third level and have to slowly win again.

"Shabafuyi, just someone defeated from the fifth level and dropped to the fourth... and he's already this strong. My swordsmanship is indeed a weakness." Ji Ning hadn't felt it strongly before, but the more he competed with geniuses of the same level, the more he realized his swordsmanship was relatively weak. After all, he had only entered the World level for a very short time.

"The fifth level, many are stronger than him?"

"Stronger, that's good." Ji Ning's eyes blazed with battle intent.

"Go." Ji Ning looked up and shouted.

Whoosh~~~

Space twisted, and Ji Ning was also teleported away, back to his own Star Island.