Chapter 17: Longing! Threads of Rain Form into Lines!

Dong Ziqi saw through the Ji clan's vital point at a glance. He was right—Ji Ning was indeed the future pillar of the Ji clan! Among the strong members of the Ji clan, Ji Jiuhuo and Granny Ying would rather die themselves than let Ji Ning die!

"Ji Jiuhuo, I advise you to obediently hand over the vassal token." Dong Ziqi frowned and shouted.

"Our Ji clan is indeed weak, so we are willing to offer the yuan stone vein without taking a single piece. But you forcibly demand the vassal token—this is too bullying! The vassal token is the foundation of our Ji clan. How could our Ji clan—" Ji Jiuhuo's face changed as soon as he spoke, and he couldn't help but look down at the ground.

The ground was trembling slightly.

Among the five people standing in the distance, the gray-robed man's eyes flashed sharply. The yuan power within his body had already surged into the ground. By the time the Zifu cultivators of the Ji clan sensed it, the spell had already been cast!

"Boom!"

Wood-green vines suddenly burst out from the ground, wildly swaying, their leaves shimmering with dense green light. The slender branches of the vines tangled together like tough ropes. They emerged abruptly from the ground around Ji Ning's feet, instantly wrapping him up!

Swift!

Completely unprepared!

"What!" Ji Jiuhuo, Granny Ying, and the others all changed expression drastically. In the blink of an eye, Ji Ning, who had been standing nearby, was surrounded and frantically entangled by countless vines.

"Save Ji Ning!" Granny Ying shouted.

"Too late!" Dong Ziqi, standing in the distance, laughed heartily.

Boom!

The countless huge vines entangling Ji Ning yanked him violently downward into the ground. With a rumble, a massive hole appeared on the surface. Ji Ning and the vines had already burrowed deep underground.

"You Snowdragon Mountain actually..." Ji Jiuhuo's face twisted with fury.

"Release my son." Ji Yichuan was also anxious.

Every member of the Ji clan wanted to rescue Ji Ning, but those vines had suddenly emerged, coiled around Ji Ning, and dragged him underground, leaving them all at a loss as to how to save him.

"Hahaha..." Dong Ziqi laughed wildly, then turned to look at the gray-robed man beside him. "Junior apprentice-brother Musi, capture Ji Ning—" Dong Ziqi's expression suddenly changed, for he saw that his junior apprentice-brother's forehead was beaded with sweat, clearly already going all out in the struggle.

"That Ji Ning is breaking my technique..." The gray-robed man's eyes were bloodshot as he poured in primal power with all his might.

...

Underground.

A thousand woody green vines grown from a single seed were tightly coiled around Ji Ning. Within the entwining vines, a Waterfire Lotus enveloped Ji Ning, spinning continuously, frantically supporting against the vines and constantly shredding them. Yet the shredded vines kept growing back.

"Immortal cultivators really have many tricks. This move wasn't in the intelligence; I wonder which member of the Snowdragon Mountain's Yanshan branch used it." Ji Ning had been attacked without warning; it was too fast for him to break free, and he had already been dragged underground.

The space bound by the vines was too small, making it impossible even to deploy the Small Thousand Sword Formation.

Ji Ning immediately manifested the Waterfire Lotus.

"Swish, swish, swish..." The Waterfire Lotus spun slowly, grinding the tender branches and leaves that tried to coil around him like ropes into powder. Nearly five years had passed since his battle with Bo Zishan, and in these five years, Ji Ning's insights into the Dao had grown ever greater.

In the earliest days, he had only comprehended a mere wisp of the Dao's true meaning. But later, he continuously comprehended more wisps.

A multitude of wisps... coalescing together, naturally becoming more and more profound.

Especially now that Ji Ning was at Serpentwing Lake, where he could almost always attune with heaven and earth... his level of insight was already very high. In fact, this was a phenomenon that only appeared when immortal cultivators reached extremely high levels—being able to attune with heaven and earth at any time, to sense the Dao at any moment. Naturally, they comprehended a great many of the Dao's true meanings.

His level of insight had risen.

The Waterfire Lotus he now manifested was naturally far more powerful; its sheer shredding force could instantly tear even a perfect-stage Xiantian expert into pieces.

"Northriver swords." Within the Waterfire Lotus, Ji Ning gripped a Northriver sword in each hand.

"Longing! Threads of drizzling rain!"

Ji Ning murmured softly to himself.

Whenever he executed this technique, he could not help but think of his mother. This technique was born from endless longing for her—a move realized from the threads of longing that connected the drizzling rain... Over the past five years, among the many techniques Ji Ning had comprehended from his insights into the Dao, this was the strongest.

This technique contained boundless, intense longing, originating from the *Dripping Water Sutra*, yet far surpassing it.

"Whoosh—"

Ji Ning's two Northmoon swords cleaved through the water-fire lotus at the same time. The water-fire lotus was like a bubble, offering no resistance to his swords. His swords, like a mother's caress, brimming with endless longing... drew upon vast amounts of worldly power, converging directly onto the two blades.

Even just seeing such swordplay made one's heart ache, feeling that infinite attachment.

"Sssss~~~" A mass of vines was slashed apart. Though still tough, they were severed. Faced with Ji Ning's strongest close-combat strike, the Zifu Disciple Mu Si's spell could not trap him. For one, Ji Ning's swordsmanship had already far surpassed ordinary Zifu Disciples; even among Wanxiang Adepts, many might fall short.

Second, Ji Ning's Fiendgod body was too powerful, comparable to a Fiendgod Body Refining cultivator at the early Zifu stage. With such inherent strength and formidable sword techniques, how could a mere spell easily trap him?

The sword light danced, cutting through the writhing, twisting vines. Ji Ning soared into the sky with the sword light, bursting through the soil and rushing above ground.

...

"Boom!"

Just as the Ji clan members were anxiously watching the hole left by the vines retreating into the earth, the ground dozens of zhang away suddenly exploded. A sword light shot into the sky, and a beast-hide-clad youth landed gracefully, holding twin swords, surrounded by a water-fire lotus.

"Impossible!" Dong Ziqi's face changed drastically. Others might not know his junior apprentice-brother's methods, but he knew them well. Breaking free from this sudden ambush spell was extremely difficult. Even he would find it very taxing.

"That Ji Ning broke free?" The burly man behind Dong Ziqi glared and growled, "How is that possible? I am a Fiendgod Body Refiner. Trapped by Senior Apprentice-Brother Mu Si, I couldn't struggle free."

Junior Apprentice-Brother Ju San was the newest among the five to have opened his Zifu.

He was merely at the early Zifu stage, but he followed the Fiendgod Body Refining path! As a Fiendgod Body Refiner at the early Zifu stage... his combat power was equally astonishing. Others could harm him without effect, but if he struck someone, they would die. That was the advantage of Fiendgod Body Refining. If he were at the late Zifu stage, even Dong Ziqi would have to address him as 'Senior Apprentice-Brother.'

"Broke through?"

"How old is he?"

"Senior Brother Mu Si's Everlasting Green Vine technique, just broken like that?" The pair of green-haired youths also looked utterly incredulous.

Among the five, Senior Brother Mu Si's status was second only to Dong Ziqi! It was precisely because of his formidable strength, especially in surprise attacks... the 'Everlasting Green Vine technique' had long earned the admiration of the other fellow apprentices. The binding power of the green vines was indeed immense; how great was the strength of a Divine Demon Body Refiner at the early Zifu stage? Yet it couldn't break free.

Now it had been broken by the opponent, and he was only sixteen! Even if he were the most monstrous genius, it was too...

How could they know that Ji Ning's strength was already comparable to their Junior Brother Jusan's, and in terms of sword technique realm, he surpassed that Junior Brother Jusan by countless levels!

...

"Ji Ning."

"Ji Ning." Ji Jiuhuo, Ji Liuzhen, Granny Ying, and other Ji clan members all looked at Ji Ning with surprise and delight, and they also felt immense satisfaction seeing the shocked and astonished expressions of the five Zifu cultivators from Snowdragon Mountain. At the same time, they couldn't help but be stunned by Ji Ning's strength. Ji Jiuhuo narrowed his eyes, sighing inwardly, finding it increasingly difficult to see through this young man.

The water and fire lotuses around Ji Ning vanished, and he walked straight over.

"Ji Ning!" A hoarse voice sounded.

Ji Ning turned his head to look.

In the distance, the pale-faced gray-robed man beside Dong Ziqi was staring fixedly at Ji Ning: "You, that sword move of yours, what is it called?"

"Yearning," Ji Ning said softly, "Threads of Rain Form a Line!"

"Threads of Rain Form a Line?" The gray-robed man stared wide-eyed in disbelief. "Your Ji clan's Dripping Water Sutra's Threads of Rain Form a Line has such power?" He was also well-versed in the nine swords of the Dripping Water Sutra.

"There's much you don't know," Ji Ning said coldly, but did not argue further.

This sword move was born from the Dripping Water Sutra, yet it was no longer the same Threads of Rain Form a Line.