by RWX
When the two had clashed, he had the feeling that Ning’s sword-arts were simply perfect. He couldn’t find any flaws at all, and so he decided to avoid wasting more time with such a troublesome opponent.
“Leaving?” Ning willed his swords to fly out.
Swish! Swish! Swish!
Nine streaks of sword-light shot out through the skies. These nine swords were all Chaos treasures that Ning had acquired in the Windsource Ruins. Although they weren’t part of a set, Ning’s Ancestral Immortal power filled them, ensuring that each of them possessed shocking levels of power. They spread out like a layered net, completely surrounding and blocking Hellsword’s path.
All nine swords moved faster than the speed of light and were thus able to quickly catch up to Hellsword.
“Damn.” Hellsword blanched as he stared at the nine swords surrounding him. “Where the hell did such a powerful expert of the sword come from? His sword-arts are completely flawless. Damn it all.”
He would rather fight against an enemy with ferocious offensive stances than someone like Ning, whose sword-arts could be described as truly flawless. One could easily succumb to a sense of despair when faced with such impeccable sword-arts.
The nine streaks of sword-light swirled around him, preventing him from fleeing any further.
“You won’t be able to escape.” Ning had already manifested three heads and six arms. He wielded six of his Darknorth swords as he charged straight towards Hellsword.
“Then let’s fight!” Hellsword went berserk as well, his eyes filled with bloodlust as he once more threw himself against Ning.
Neither would be willing to retreat. Two Dao weapons were at stake!
Dao weapons were incredibly rare, even amongst the other experts on their level. Every single Dao weapon was worth at least a cube of chaos nectar, with the best Dao weapons being worth more than ten! This was a sum of money that even World Gods would lust after. It was only natural that both Ji Ning and Hellsword went berserk over the two Dao weapons.
“If I get those two Dao weapons, I might be able to extract enough Five Elements essence to completely repair Violetjewel!” Ning’s killing intent began to soar.
“What’s going on?”
The four fleeing Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals could sense powerful ripples emanating from behind them. “Who is Hellsword fighting against now?”
The four of them carefully began to creep backwards. The allure of a pair of Dao weapons was simply too great!
“Eh?”
“Who is that?”
After sneaking back, they saw a white-robed figure battling furious against a black-robed figure.
The black-robed figure was the famous, highly regarded ‘Hellsword’.
The white-robed figure was an unknown youth.
“What? Hellsword is actually at a disadvantage?” The four were all shocked. “Where did such an expert of the sword suddenly come from? He’s so strong!”
“Brother Xiuyi, what should we do?”
“What can we do? Stay far away from them and watch. If both are heavily injured, we can try to seize the opportunity to attack them. If no chance presents itself, then we’ll immediately run away after their battle concludes.”
“Brother Xiuyi’s words are reasonable.”
“This white-robed Elder God is even more terrifying than Hellsword.”
Ning and Hellsword both suspected that those four had returned to watch them, but neither really cared about the four. Four supreme Elder Gods? Pffft. It might take them a bit of effort to kill the four, but it wouldn’t be too hard. Ning’s ‘Heartsword stance’ in particular ensured that he didn’t have to worry about group attacks at all.
The two continued to focus on battling each other.
Ning’s sword attacks seemed to be more casual and carefree, but they came in consecutive linked waves that made Hellsword feel as though he had no chance to even breathe.
Hellsword’s attacks were more frenzied and they were filled with a thick intent of darkness.
Clang!
Sword-light flashed. Finally, a blow landed upon Hellsword’s body. Ning felt as though he had just stabbed an extremely tough magic treasure. The power of the blow caused Hellsword to be knocked flying backwards, and he slammed into a distant boulder, causing it to break apart into tiny pieces that shot out in every direction.
“A protective divine ability?” Ning frowned slightly. “It seems as though I’ll have to suppress and seal him.”
“What!?” Upon Ning landed a blow against him, Hellsword’s face changed yet again. Clearly, his sword-arts were somewhat inferior.
“If I can’t overcome you in sword-arts…”
Hellsword gritted his teeth, then manifested an enormous violet hammer that emanated mighty ripples of power.
“A Dao weapon?” Ning immediately understood. So one of the two weapons which Hellsword had acquired was a warhammer. No wonder he hadn’t used it during this battle! Using sword-arts with a warhammer wasn’t really effective.
However…the difference in power between the two was obvious. Hellsword had no choice but to change the way he fought.
“Die!” Hellsword brandished the violet warhammer, then struck out with it.
Rumble…
As the warhammer struck out, streaks of lightning could be seen crackling around it. It compressed space in front of it as it smashed straight towards Ning.
“What tremendous might.” Ning could instantly sense how much power this strike held. He hurriedly willed his Darknorth swords to transform into black holes that he then used to defend.
Whoosh!
The warhammer was deflected off to one side, while Ning was knocked a few steps back.
“I knew it.” Hellsword had an ugly look on his face. This white-robed youth was ridiculously strong. Even though Hellsword had an advantage in weaponry, the white-robed youth was still able to defend against it with his techniques.
“A big warhammer like this must have lots of Five Elements essence inside of it.” Ning now wanted the weapon even more.
“There’s a total of two warhammers. You can have one, I’ll keep the other. Deal?” As Hellsword continued to battle, he began to send Ning a mental message. He was willing to compromise. There was nothing he could use against Ji Ning’s terrifying sword-arts, and he knew that he would definitely be defeated if this battle was to continued for much longer. This white-robed youth was also skilled in long-range attacks; there was no way he would be able to escape.
“Give me both and I’ll let you off the hook,” Ning sent back.
“Don’t even think about it.” Hellsword was beginning to go crazy.
“Then let’s keep fighting.”
Ning charged forward even more furiously than before, sending sword-light flashing everywhere. He even manifested a rope next to him, filling it with some of his will. If Ning was able to break through Hellsword’s defenses and catch him offguard, he would use this rope to bind and capture him.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Hellsword battled on the run, and while doing so he sent furiously to Ning, “This place is the Windsource Ruins. You never know when danger is going to appear here. If you keep chasing after me like this, you’ll end up in a death trap as well.”
Ning just continued with his furious attacks.
The four Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals watching from afar felt breathless.
“Both of them are crazy.”
“Hopefully, both of them will be killed by traps or protective formations, letting us pick up their treasures.” The four watched, prayed, and chased after the the Hellsword and the white-robed cultivator as those two continued their wild fight.
Boom!
Just as Ning clashed once more against Hellsword in midair…
Suddenly, a gray gust of wind suddenly appeared out of nowhere, spinning into a tornado and instantly whirling around both Ning and Hellsword. A few moments later, the tornado vanished…but with it vanished Ning an
d Hellsword as well.
When the four saw this from afar, their faces all changed.
“Everyone knows that the Windsource Ruins are too dangerous to fly through. You might end up being trapped inside some formation. Those two must’ve been teleported straight into a death trap.”
“Damn. Those two Dao weapons were swept away as well.”
Unwilling to just give up, the four of them continued to wait there for three full days, but they saw neither hide nor hair of Ji Ning and Hellsword, to say nothing of the Dao weapons. In the end, they had no choice but to leave unhappily.
* * *
Book 24, Chapter 19 - A Gray Wind
“Not good.” Ji Ning’s face immediately changed as that gray wind appeared, bringing with it an aura of death and stillness.
Hellsword had been driven by Ning to the brink of madness, which was why he had started to fly around in a crazed manner.
The difference in power between the two wasn’t that great, which was why Ning needed time to subdue and capture him. Ning had thought that he wouldn’t be so unlucky as to run into a protective spell during such a short battle…but alas, he really was.
Boom!
The gray wind swept both Ning and Hellsword into its grasp, and its utterly indomitable power threw the two of them flying downwards.
“What incredible power.” Ning did his best to halt his fall, but his divine power and Immortal energy were far too weak to do so.
Whooooosh.
There was an utterly enormous black pit beneath them.
Ning and Hellsword were both spun around like tops by the tornado and sent flying straight into the pit.
“Stop. Stop!” Ning instantly activated his [Three Heads, Six Arms] ability. All six of his arms dramatically increased in size as he clawed towards the edges of the pit. In midair, Ning had nothing to hold onto. Now, however, he was able to see the stone cliffs lining the edges of the pit. Ning had the feeling that if he was drawn deep into this pit by the tornado, he would probably end up dead.
He had to come to a halt! But the wind was simply too powerful.
Ning’s six arms simultaneously activated the [Starseizing Hand]. In the end, one of his hands managed to just barely clench around a pillar of rock.
Bang! Ning had been dragged down at an incredible pace. When his hand clenched around the stone pillar, his entire body came to a sudden halt. A terrifying ripping power was applied throughout his entire body, causing it to twitch. As for his hands that were using the [Starseizing Hand], they instantly went numb and slack…resulting in Ning continuing to be dragged downwards by that furious gray tornado!
Crack! Crack! Crack! The gray stone pillar that Ning had managed to grab onto earlier began to crack apart as well. Moments later, it completely shattered and was also dragged downwards by the furious tornado.
“Gotta stop.”
“Stop.”
“Stop!” Ning’s six arms wildly clutched at the surrounding walls, seeking to grasp anything that jutted out.
Rumble…
Ning finally came to a halt when three of his hands managed to simultaneously snake their way into an enormous crevice in the pit walls. Thanks to these three hands holding onto that crevice desperately, he was finally able to resist the power of the tornado.
“Whew. I stopped.” Ning let out a sigh of relief. The enormous stone crevice was thousands of meters long, and as Ning latched onto the crevice he had changed his arms to make them hundreds of meters long as well. He had dug his hands deep into the crevice, ensuring that he would be able to hang off the walls.
“No!”
Hellsword had also been dragged into the pit, and he was also clawing at the walls in an attempt to find something to hold onto. However, he was far weaker than Ning in raw strength. He managed to grab onto a jutting piece of rock, but the tearing force instantly rendered his hands completely numb and slack. He wasn’t able to slow himself down! The power of the tornado was simply too great, giving him no chance to grab onto anything.
Ning’s hands were akin to Chaos treasures, after all. He also had the power of a half-step World God body, as well as the enhancement of the [Starseizing Hand]. That was the only reason why Ning was more successful than him in coming to a halt.
Bang! As Hellsword continued to be dragged downwards, his body would occasionally smash into some jutting pieces of rock, resulting in him bouncing around the walls.
Bang!
Hellsword vomited out a mouthful of blood. These collisions were even more deadly than Ning’s sword-strikes, and he continued to smash into one jutting rock after another. Given how keen Ning’s eyesight was, he was able to clearly see Hellsword continuing to fall several hundred kilometers, smashing into the walls at least a few dozen times. It seemed as though the deeper Hellsword fell, the more powerful the tornado became. Hellsword’s body was beginning to twist and contort from the collisions.
Boom!
After smashing into a particularly sharp spear-shaped rock, Hellsword’s body actually completely blasted apart. The powerful tornado quickly ground the pieces of his body apart, completely wiping him out in body and soul. The tornado was far stronger than Ning, after all!
“A pity.” Still hanging off the stone walls, Ning could do nothing but watch as Hellsword died.
“The Dao weapons were sucked down as well.”
“But…what should I do?”
All six of Ning’s arms were clinging onto the stone crevice. He was wearing a top-grade suit of Chaos armor, and he had a powerful divine body that had trained the [Golden Statue]. He was more than capable of withstanding the power of this tornado.
“Am I supposed to just keep hanging here?” Ning spread out his heartforce, but alas it was instantly destroyed by that gray wind of destruction.
“This gray wind is capable of destroying even heartforce! How terrifying was this ancient power that erected the Windsource Ruins!?” Ning muttered softly to himself.
Ning had no idea. The strongest figure of the Badlands Territory, Daoking Badlands, had once paid a visit to the former master of this estate…and he had been thoroughly convinced of his inferiority. In fact, the reason why this place was named ‘Windsource’ was because that ancient power had reached an utterly unfathomable level of mastery over the wind.
Neither heartforce nor coresense could penetrate the gray wind. All Ning could do was use his own eyes.
“I have to get out of here.” Ning raised his head to look upwards. The gray wind howled furiously above him, blocking his vision. Ning used his top-grade Chaos armor to form a semi-translucent barrier over his head; only then was he able to see just a little bit of the area above him.
“I have to get out of this pit. The wind is too powerful; I won’t be able to maintain a grip on any jutting pieces of rock. My only choice is to drive my entire arm deep into some of those crevices and cracks.” Ning scanned the area above him for more crevices. The gray wind had caused quite a bit of erosion to this pit, resulting in quite a few crevices appearing.
“There’s one.” Three hundreds above Ning was a slightly smaller crevice.
“Let’s go.” Ning immediately stretched one of his hands upwards.
Whoooooosh.
The furious power of the wind blasted down against Ning’s hand with the weight of a thousand stars, completely preventing him from reaching upwards. Ning did his best to fight back against it, and he found that he was able to stretch his arms out in various other directions…but to go completely against the win and reach upwards? Completely impossible.
“Won’t work. Wind’s too strong.” Ning quickly gave up the attempt.
“If I can’t go up…”
Ning lowered his head to stare at the seemingly bottomless black pit beneath him. “Then my only choice is to go down!”
Ning looked downwards carefully. Roughly six hundred meters below him, he saw another large crevice. He immediately stretched out with a hand to grab a hold of it.
Going up
meant going against the wind.
Going down meant going with the wind.
When he increased his arm to make it many hundreds of meters long, it was easy for him to snake his hand deep into the crevice. Ning sent one hand after another into the second crevice before finally letting go of the first one.
Whoosh!
Ning quickly fell downwards, then came to a halt.
“Let’s continue.” Ning glanced at his surroundings, then began to climb downwards again.
And so, Ning began to slowly make his way down through this bottomless pit of darkness.
A while later, Ning saw a sword that was jutting out from a stone pillar.
“This sword wasn’t one of Hellsword’s. Some other poor bastard must’ve been dragged in here and lost control of his weapon, resulting in it being stuck here.” Ning immediately, laboriously reached out to grab that sword, then took it into his estate.
Ning then continued his slow downwards climb.
Three hundred meters. Three thousand meters. Thirty kilometers…
By now, Ning had picked up a total of three weapons. Alas, all three were ‘merely’ Chaos treasures; none of them were Dao weapons. Still, it made sense. If a World-level expert was grabbed by the gray wind, he wouldn’t have been manhandled as badly as Ning and Hellsword had been. There were very few Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals who held Dao weapons; the chances of one of them just happening to fall down into this pit were even lower.
Ning slowly clambered down over another hundred kilometers, then took a rest and glanced at his surroundings in the hopes of finding a way out of here.
“What’s that?” Ning look downwards, surprised.
A cave had actually appeared on the walls of the pit. This was clearly a cave that had been artificially dug out, and it was many hundreds of meters wide. Although the gray wind howled past it, it didn’t go into the cave itself, making the cave a rare and welcome oasis of peace.
Because it sloped downwards and inwards, Ning wasn’t able to see it earlier. Only now, when he drew closer, did it appear before him.
“Who dug out this cave? Doesn’t matter, I suppose. I’ve used up quite a bit of my divine power after climbing so long and keeping [Three Heads, Six Arms] active for so long. I need to get in there right away.”
