by RWX
A youth had trained for less than a thousand years to journey from the ranks of mortals to the very apex of the Three Realms! He ranked above all other cultivators and stood side-by-side with Daoist Three Purities, Lord Buddha, and the Three Sovereigns of Mankind.
“Let’s go.” Ning looked at them and said quickly, “Lord Tathagata is in a perilous situation right now. We have to go reinforce Fuxi right away and come up with a way to rescue Lord Tathagata. Let me draw you into my estate-treasure for now…”
“Alright.” Daoist Jade Cauldron and the others couldn’t help but comply. When facing an overlord, they unconsciously assumed the role of followers.
Ning nodded. With a wave of his hand, he drew Daoist Jade Cauldron and the others into his estate-treasure, then transformed into a black lightning serpent and flew at high speed towards Fuxi.
……
Inside the formation trapping Tathagata.
The incomparably ugly, green-skinned Thearch Vileye was sending frantic mental message. “Master, almighty Master, we’re in trouble! In trouble!”
“Eh?” Godfiend Witherspike was currently working alongside Saber to deal with Lord Buddha. Upon hearing these words, he immediately turned his head to glance backwards.
“Dead! All dead!” Thearch Vileye said frantically, “I’m the only one who survived because I was born with two bodies. I lost one of my lives! Darkstill and the others, all of them are dead!”
“What? How? Fuxi has been tied down by the T’ya brothers, while Tathagata is in front of us. Who killed them?!” Godfiend Witherspike was quite unhappy.
He had trapped Tathagata in one of the most dangerous parts of the Goldriver world. Anyone from outside the Primordial Ruinworld would need to spend a considerable amount of time flying before arriving at this place! The reinforcements from the Nuwa Alliance wouldn’t be arriving any time soon. The only possible reinforcements would be the squads of Darknorth and Daoist Jade Cauldron, but the strongest members of those squads were merely close to the overlord level. There was no way they could possibly kill the group of True Gods commanded by the Four Thearchs.
“It was Darknorth.” Thearch Vileye said hurriedly, “It was Sword Immortal Darknorth. He’s terrifyingly powerful. In the face of his power, our combination formation was far too weak. His hands easily pierced through our formation, then slaughtered all eight of us. The eight led by Darkstill are all dead as well. They must’ve died to Ji Ning as well.”
“WHAT?!” Godfiend Witherspike’s face instantly changed. He was no fool. He immediately knew what this meant.
“Yet another individual with the power of an Elder God has appeared?” Godfiend Witherspike frowned deeply. “These aboriginals don’t have any good cultivation techniques. This Ji Ning should merely have trained to the True God level! He’s merely a True God, yet he is able to unleash the power of an Elder God, and he’s trained for less than a thousand years…even in the endless primordial chaos, it’s hard to find a genius like this. This is trouble. Yet another problematic figure has arisen.”
“Alright, understood!” Godfiend Witherspike barked.
“Y-y-yes!” Thearch Vileye hurriedly slunk back.
Godfiend Witherspike waved his hand, causing Celestial Immortal Blackheaven to appear next to him.
“Mighty Godfiend, have you slain Tathagata?” Celestial Immortal Blackheaven asked eagerly.
“I have some very bad news for you,” Godfiend Witherspike said. “Sword Immortal Darknorth, Ji Ning…he already has the power of an Elder God.”
“W-what did you just say?” Celestial Immortal Blackheaven’s mind went blank.
“Did I stutter?” Godfiend Witherspike said angrily, “Ji Ning. The Ji Ning your people kept on toying with? He already has the power of an Elder God. Or, to put it in words you people might understand, he has the power of an overlord! Those idiots in your Seamless Gate…don’t they know that there are some geniuses that you can’t simply beat down? You need to avoid causing trouble for them! Yes, some will end up being destroyed, but others…the more you beat them down, the more terrifyingly powerful they will become. You utter imbeciles! You absolute imbeciles!”
“This Ji Ning has trained for less than a thousand years. If you had completely ignored him and paid him no mind, if you had simply let him live a happy life with his wife, how could he possibly have become so powerful so soon? He’s now on the same level of power as I am! Another enemy of such power…I don’t give a damn about who wins this war between you and the Nuwa Alliance, but you are causing problems for me now! This bone is getting harder and harder to chew by the day. The Seamless Gate is a pack of fools. Idiots. Imbeciles! MORONS!”
Celestial Immortal Blackheaven was still mumbling to himself in a daze. “Ji Ning? Overlord?”
“You aren’t lying to me, right?” Celestial Immortal Blackheaven suddenly asked.
When things were in perfect balance, a tiny change could have an enormous impact, like the proverbial last straw that broke the camel’s back!
For a new overlord to suddenly appear at a time like this…the impact this would have on the war would be simply enormous. It was ten times more important than the outcome of the battle for the Deerchaser world!
“You think I’d lie to you?” Godfiend Witherspike laughed coldly. “All four of the Thearchs under my command, aside from Thearch Vileye who was born with two bodies, have been wiped out. It was Ji Ning who killed them.”
“Have the Seamless Gate hurry up and come up with an idea!” Godfiend Witherspike waved his hand and put away the still-dazed Celestial Immortal Blackheaven. After doing so, he once more turned his attention to Lord Tathagata the Buddha.
Lord Buddha was using all his power to defend against the one-armed man. The two seemed to be on equal footing; the one-armed man’s saber-light carried utterly ruinous power, while Lord Buddha’s defense was completely airtight and seamless.
“Darknorth has become an overlord?” Lord Tathagata the Buddha began to laugh. “Ahahaha…the Heavens truly favor our side!”
“Heavens my ass. A chaosworld is nothing more than the manifestations of the Worldheart that lies in its center. ‘Heavens’? Heavens my ass. Stupid bumpkins.” Godfiend Witherspike sneered coldly. “It doesn’t mater. A new overlord might have appeared, but he is definitely inexperienced and new to this level of power. If I can wipe out your Sakyamuni body, it’ll be enough to make up for the danger which Ji Ning poses.”
After speaking, Godfiend Witherspike once more attacked.
Lord Buddha had been able to fight on fairly even footing against the one-armed man, but now Witherspike joined in once more. The fight instantly became uneven, and Lord Buddha had to use all of the divine abilities and techniques he had in order to defend against the assaults of these two alien Outsiders.
“I have to fight at full power in order to withstand these two, but in doing so my divine power is going to be depleted far too quickly. Almost half of it is already gone. It seems that I really am going to die here. Still, for Ji Ning to actually make a breakthrough is cause for celebration.” Lord Tathagata remained quite calm.
……
As Godfiend Witherspike was cursing at Blackheaven, Ji Ning had already reached Fuxi’s location while riding his black lightning serpent.
“Eh?” Ning came to a halt and stared downwards.
Off in the distance, he could see an enormous hemispherical formation that covered an area of several million kilometers. Within the sealed area, one could see Fuxi’s group battling against three muscular golden-armored figures.
Ning stretched out his hand. A Darknorth sword appeared within it.
Swoosh!
He immediately charged downwards, transforming into a streak of light as he attacked the sealing formation. His sword stabbed straight through it. Boom! The entire sealing formation was immediately pierced through, allowing Ning to charge inside. As he did so, the hole he had just created closed up behind him.
Within the formation.
Fuxi was commanding three human experts in a wild battle against the three muscular golden-armored figures. However, the three were protected by layers of watery light that were actually capable of repulsing all attacks. Even though they were occasionally wounded, the wounds would quickly close.
“Darknorth?” When Fuxi’s group of four saw Ji Ning appear, they couldn’t help but reveal looks of excitement.
“Careful,” Fuxi instructed. “These three alien Outsiders have a special combination formation. There are three of them, but it is as though they are a single unit! And they are simply unkillable.”
Ning took a look, then instantly understood.
“The Waterian race?” Ning murmured to himself. World God Northrest had transmitted a great deal of information regarding the primordial chaos to Ning. He immediately recognized that these three alien Outsiders belonged to the Waterian race. Waterians were notoriously difficult to deal with, and in fact they were often described as having indestructible bodies! They were clearly just a trio of True Gods, but they still managed to completely tie down Fuxi’s group.
“Have Kuafu and the others arrived as well?” Fuxi said hurriedly, “Have your squad help out right away. Help me tie down these three alien Outsiders so that I can focus on solving this formation. Tathagata’s situation is quite grim; if too much time passes, he probably won’t be able to hold on for much longer. Remember, all you need to do is tie them down; they are very tough to kill.”
“Yes, they came. Leave these three to me.” Ning waved his hand and a group of figures appeared next to him. Aside from Kuafu’s squad, there was also Daoist Jade Cauldron’s squad.
“Jade Cauldron arrived as well?” Fuxi instantly smiled. “Wonderful. If the two of you join forces, you’ll be more than strong enough to deal with those three alien Outsiders.”
* * *
Book 22, Chapter 23 - Fire
“Human Sovereign,” Ji Ning sent mentally, “I know where these three alien Outsiders come from.”
“Oh?” Fuxi looked towards Ning.
“Aren’t you skilled in using fire, Human Sovereign?” Ning sent mentally, “So long as you use your Eternal Kindlefire against them, they will immediately retreat.”
Ning’s words were correct. The Waterians were creatures formed from water. They had incredibly durable bodies; even if you cut them apart, they would just reform like water without using up my divine power. This was why they were described as having ‘indestructible bodies’. However, this sort of innate ability came with its own drawbacks as well. There were three ways by which one could deal with Waterians.
The first was to use overwhelming power. A World God could easily blast them apart and grind them into dust, leaving nothing behind at all! However, Ji Ning and the others clearly couldn’t use this method right now.
The second method was to repeatedly attack and injure them. If you injured them heavily enough and often enough, they would still eventually use up all of their energy. At some point, the three Waterians would no longer be able to hold on. However, this method required a very long period of time, and time was exactly what Ning and the others did not have. Lord Tathagata the Buddha wouldn’t be able to hold out for much longer.
Thus…the only method remaining was the third method.
Waterians were completely water-aligned lifeforms. One could use fire to counter them! They were terrified of fire. However, the more powerful a Waterian, the more resistant the Waterian would be to fire. True God Waterians were generally immune to ordinary skyfire or truefire; one would have to use something on the level of Golden Solarfire. Suiren’s ‘Eternal Kindlefire’ was another type of fire that would work.
“Eternal Kindlefire is useful against them?” Fuxi wasn’t that skilled in using this type of fire. His ‘Waterflame Apocalypse Formation’ used ‘Eternal Kindlefire’ alongside ‘Arcane Moonwater’. Suiren provided the Eternal Kindlefire while Fuxi was able to harvest Arcane Moonwater himself. Thanks to his mastery over the Heavenly Daos of Yin and Yang, he was able to control both the Kindlefire and the Moonwater, but this formation was mainly used for extremely wide-area attacks; it wasn’t that useful against individual opponents, which was why he hadn’t used it yet.
Although puzzled, Fuxi trusted Ning.
“Come out.”
Fuxi and his Daofathers actually held the upper hand in this fight; the issue was just that they couldn’t force the three golden-armored Outsiders into submission. Fuxi suddenly let out a low growl, and as he did a massive formation suddenly appeared that was hundreds of kilometers across. The Arcane Moonwater was placed off one side and the Eternal Kindlefire was placed directly before their foes. The flames looked warm and inviting, almost like ordinary flames; they didn’t look as dominating or savage as Golden Solarfire. They were flames that brought warmth to one’s heart.
As soon as the flames appeared, the faces of the three alien Outsiders instantly changed. When the flames touched one of them, he let out a shocked cry. “Elderfire! Quick, flee.”
“Flee.”
The three golden-armored Outsiders no longer dared to tarry. Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! They immediately transformed into three streaks of watery light that disappeared into the distance. Fuxi and the others wished to stop them, but the watery streams were formless, shapeless, and moved at incredible speed. They instantly scurried back into large formation off in the distance.
“If I knew how afraid of fire they were, I would’ve used Eternal Kindlefire long ago.” Fuxi willed the Waterflame Apocalypse Formation to disperse. This was a formation which he had prepared for the war; he would use it to attack large groups of opponents. When activated, it would blanket an entire major world with enough power to cause even elite Daofathers to feel grave danger. But of course, against overlord Daofathers it would just prove to be a bit troublesome.
“They aren’t afraid of ordinary flames,” Ning said.
In the primordial chaos, flames were divided into three levels of power: Skyfire, truefire, and elderfire.
Elderfire consisted of some of the most ancient types of fire! Golden Solarfire and Eternal Kindlefire were both on this level. The term ‘elderfire’ didn’t really exist in the Three Realms as practitioners in the Three Realms only knew of three types of fire on that level; Eternal Kindlefire, Golden Solarfire, and Zhurong Godfire.
In truth, since there were many ways to cultivate and understand the Dao, there were many different ways to produce elderfire. If every person gave their own elderfire a special name, there would be an endless number of them. In the Three Realms, these three types of elderfire all had unique names, but in the endless primordial chaos they were all simply referred to as ‘elderfire’!
Advancing beyond elderfire meant making a truly fundamental change. The flames would return to their original, purest form: chaosfire. Generally speaking, only World Gods and Chaos Immortals were capable of controlling chaosfire. A few incredibly talented Elder Gods or Ancestral Immortals would be capable of controlling it, but by far the vast majority were not. To find such a monstrous genius would be a thousand times more difficult than finding Vastheaven Palace.
“You…” Fuxi suddenly stared.
Ning looked back at him.
“You’ve reached the overlord level of power?” Fuxi stared at Ning in shock and delight.
…….
The Allclans Palace of the Three Realms.
The Nuwa Alliance had become a hubbub of commotion.
“Graceful Peacock, don’t make jokes like that!” The seated Patriarch Subhuti was badly shocked.
“Right, Graceful Peacock. That’s not something you can just randomly claim. To be ‘close to the overlord level’ and to be ‘at the overlord level’ are two completely different concepts. Ji Ning is extraordinarily powerful, but don’t mistake that for him actually being an overlord-level figure.” Exalted Celestial Carefree no longer looked as laidback and carefree as usual. Instead, he looked excited as he nagged at Graceful Peacock.
“Graceful Peacock’s words are correct.” Close to her was Daofather Chijingzi. “I, Jade Cauldron, and the rest of our group all saw it for ourselves. Ji Ning is definitely much more powerful than all seven of us combined. Two Thearchs and six True Gods joined together into a formation, and the seven of us were unable to break the formation apart. Darknorth, however, was able to pierce it with his bare hands and kill all eight of them.”
“He killed eight True Gods?” All the major powers were stunned.
“Not just that. When the other eight True Gods who were attacking us saw what had happened, they immediately tried to flee…but Darknorth still killed them all.” Chijingzi shook his head. “Sixteen True Gods, with the Four Thearchs amongst their ranks. In a brief period of time, Darknorth slaughtered them all with ease. From this day forth…the Four Thearchs of the Primordial Ruinworld will be nothing more than an old legend. Oh, wait; I heard that Thearch Vileye has a second body.”
The entire palace was silent for a moment as the major powers all exchanged glances. Then, yet another storm of noise erupted as quite a few major powers spoke out to ask more questions.
“Enough.” A voice rang out, and all the major powers turned to look. It was Lord Tathagata the Buddha, who sat at the very highest position.
“Ji Ning is indeed at the overlord level of power.” Lord Buddha nodded. “I can still hear that alien Outsider leader screaming and raving about it!”
“Congratulations.” Lord Buddha looked towards Subhuti. “You’ve gained yet another overlord-class figure under your tutelage.”
“Hahaha…”
Subhuti laughed delightedly.
Houyi had already been extremely powerful when he had joined Subhuti. Although they framed it as him taking on Subhuti as his master, in truth he was just hiding himself within Mount Innerheart.
It was Ji Ning who had been truly trained by Subhuti. Subhuti had always held Ji Ning’s talent for the sword in high regard. Although Ji Ning had advanced considerably in heartforce, Subhuti had always felt that Ji Ning was still more talented in the sword. And indeed…Ji Ning had reached the fifth stage of swordforce, then became an overlord-level figure.
