The Trial of the Golden Soldiers

Twenty-seven golden-armored soldiers thrust their gleaming golden spears simultaneously, unleashing overwhelming power toward Ji Ning! The fifty-four golden-armored soldiers behind them also held their spears at the ready, prepared to take over at any moment.

"There has to be a flaw. They must leave a thread of life. If they were truly immortal, they would just grind me down through attrition." Ji Ning gripped his Northsea Swords and charged forward like the wind. Clang! Clang! Clang!!! The Northsea Swords clashed against the spears as Ji Ning parried and deflected, forcing his way into the midst of the golden-armored soldiers.

"Fall back!"

"Attack!"

The first twenty-seven golden-armored soldiers withdrew in perfect unison, while the fifty-four behind them formed a larger encirclement, trapping Ji Ning like a turtle in a jar.

"Could it be…?" Ji Ning furrowed his brow.

"Water-Fire Lotus!" Ji Ning willed it.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh~~~

Eight pairs of Water-Fire Lotuses materialized around him, each pair consisting of one water lotus leaf and one fire lotus leaf. Because this technique embodied a True Meaning of the Dao, Ji Ning had to channel his full power into it. Splitting his concentration to manifest eight pairs was already quite taxing.

Crack, crack, crack~~~ The eight pairs of Water-Fire Lotuses spun like grinding millstones, simultaneously engulfing sixteen golden-armored soldiers. The soldiers scrambled to dodge, but one by one their bodies were crushed, cracks spreading across their surfaces.

"Kill!"

The golden-armored soldiers roared in fury as they swerved around the Water-Fire Lotuses and charged at Ji Ning.

Ji Ning gripped his Northsea Swords like a fierce tiger. His sword-light blazed like fire, instantly cleaving a golden-armored soldier into three pieces. However, the severed pieces rapidly reconnected, and the soldier roared again as it resumed its assault.

"So that's it. That's how it works." Ji Ning laughed heartily, feeling a surge of exhilaration. "Your so-called immortal body is nothing but a bluff! Every time you're wounded, your strength drops. Hah, let's see how long you can hold out."

Earlier, when the eighty-one golden-armored soldiers had surrounded him in formation, Ji Ning had noticed during his parries that their power had decreased slightly. Though the reduction was minimal, Ji Ning's perception was sharp enough to detect it.

Thus, he had simultaneously unleashed eight pairs of Water-Fire Lotuses, severely wounding sixteen golden-armored soldiers.

When he clashed with them again, Ji Ning discovered… that their power had been greatly weakened once more.

"Eighty-one golden-armored soldiers, functioning as one. If one is heavily wounded, all the others are affected," Ji Ning mused. "Moreover, these soldiers are formed from liquid gold. They have no vital weak points at all. I just need to keep wounding them over and over, draining the magic power they contain… until they eventually dissipate."

"Kill!"

The golden-armored soldiers fought without fear of death.

Ji Ning, however, continued to manipulate the eight Water-Fire Lotuses, shifting them to trap and grind the soldiers down, all while holding his Northsea Swords to dodge and deflect. He also noticed that piercing the soldiers with his swords weakened them very slowly, whereas crushing them with the Water-Fire Lotuses accelerated the depletion.

...

It was a battle of attrition.

Boom! One by one, the golden-armored soldiers spontaneously exploded into nothingness, until all eighty-one had vanished.

Ji Ning let out a long breath and dismissed the Water-Fire Lotuses.

"Too, too tenacious."

"If I didn't have the Water-Fire Lotus technique, I would have been ground down to death," Ji Ning mused as he sensed the Crimsonbright divine power within him. He couldn't help but sigh. He had only about half his original reserves left. And this was despite the fact that his cultivation of the Crimsonbright Diagram of the Nine Heavens granted him exceptionally abundant divine power.

This battle had been won mainly by using the Water-Fire Lotuses to repeatedly crush the soldiers. He himself had only used his Crimsonbright divine power to defend himself with his two Northsea Swords! And yet, even that had consumed half his reserves.

Ji Ning glanced behind him at the scattered corpses. Some had been turned to ash by the battle's aftermath, while others remained intact.

"Those who died here were probably mostly ground down by attrition," Ji Ning mused. "Even a Fiendgod Body Refining cultivator, who excels at protracted battles, found this exhausting. How could a mere Xiantian Ki Refiner possibly survive?"

Whoosh~~~

The mist at both ends of the corridor slowly dissipated.

Ji Ning cautiously advanced to the corner of the corridor. He did not proceed further but instead peered around the bend. In the distance, he could see more skeletal remains scattered along the next stretch of the corridor.

"There are even more corpses. It seems the next corridor is just as dangerous. I wonder how many more traps this ancient ruin holds." Ji Ning's heart trembled. "And those who died there… they must have all passed the test of the eighty-one golden-armored soldiers."

"Come."

Ji Ning stared at the corpses on the other side. Among them, only one relatively intact skeleton still bore some armor and weapons. He promptly used his divine sense to sweep that corpse and its treasures over to himself.

"Anyone who made it to the next corridor must have quite a few treasures." Ji Ning carefully examined the skeleton. This one was tall, over three meters in height. The most likely storage treasure on its body was the armguard wrapped around its arm bone. Ji Ning quickly retrieved it and refined it. "It really is a storage-type magic treasure."

"And quite a lot inside."

The armguard contained nearly a thousand magic treasures. Ji Ning easily refined each one, only to discover… that not a single one was even graded.

"None of them are even ranked." Ji Ning shook his head. "Though there are over a thousand of them, their total value probably isn't even one percent of the Ten-Thousand-Mile Trace-Away Talisman."

The Ten-Thousand-Mile Trace-Away Talisman was the clan's heirloom treasure!

Even a ranked magic treasure could barely compare to it.

"I should rest." Ji Ning sat cross-legged, pulled out his bamboo tube, uncorked it, and took a long drink. He also brought out some roasted meat and began to eat. "All these long-dead old fellows left behind storage treasures, but not a single bit of food. Too much time has passed. Any food they had would have long since turned to ash."

"These unranked treasures are useless to me now, anyway."

"After all, having just a few good magic treasures is enough." Ji Ning shook his head. What good would hundreds of storage treasures do? Would they increase his strength by even a sliver? If he couldn't make it out alive, the thousand unranked treasures he had obtained would someday be claimed by some future visitor, just as he had claimed these.

...

Ji Ning sat there eating and drinking, in no hurry to press forward.

Within him, his Crimsonbright divine power was gradually recovering.

After eating, he began flipping through the various storage treasures he had collected. Occasionally, he found cultivation manuals and sword techniques. However, most important esoteric arts were destroyed after being learned to prevent them from being leaked. So most of the books he found were quite ordinary—nothing resembling a rare secret manual.

He did find one technique that was comparable to the Dripping Sutra.

"A decent bonus find." Ji Ning smiled. Then he began pulling out all sorts of oddities from the vast collection of storage treasures, examining each one.

Clothes!

Tools!

Trinkets!

A steady stream of strange items emerged. The process of searching for curiosities lifted his spirits considerably.

"Hm?" Ji Ning suddenly flipped out a peculiar piece of tree bark. He was about to throw it away when he noticed the writing on it, and his expression instantly changed.

"Wudan, our tribe has just received word. Celestial Immortal Juhua, who has existed since the Primordial Fiendgod Era and lived for millions of years, is openly taking disciples. Though Celestial Immortal Juhua is a Loose Immortal, having survived millions of years and countless heavenly tribulations, our chieftain believes his strength is no less than that of a true Celestial Immortal.

Celestial Immortal Juhua has never taken disciples before. Even the Grand Xia Dynasty's second prince sought to become his disciple and was refused.

Now, Celestial Immortal Juhua is publicly recruiting disciples. The news has already spread far and wide.

He has also publicly declared that his disciples must be Fiendgod Body Refiners, at least at the Xiantian divine level, and at most at the Zifu Disciple level. He will set up two corridors… one for Xiantian beings to challenge, and one for Zifu Disciples.

Each corridor has three trials!

Those who survive all three trials will become Celestial Immortal Juhua's successor!

Celestial Immortal Juhua is only accepting a single successor!

As for the location, Celestial Immortal Juhua has descended to the Thousand Autumn Island in the North Sea and opened his immortal estate for recruitment. He will likely remain until he accepts a disciple. From our location to the distant Thousand Autumn Island in the North Sea, it will take over half a year to travel. Hurry. If you delay, someone else will get there first. Wudan, I've given you the news. Whether you go or not is up to you.

—Shenrong Water, leaving this message."

...

Staring at this ancient piece of tree bark, Ji Ning held his breath. "Shenrong? This tree bark must be from a Shenrong tree. No wonder such an ancient letter has survived to this day."

Shenrong wood never rots.

Valuable items are usually stored in boxes made of Shenrong wood. The Shenrong tree is a specialty and symbol of the Shenrong Tribe. That tribe is a truly powerful clan, many times stronger than the Ji Clan. It is one of the most dominant tribes on the vast lands ruled by the Grand Xia Dynasty!

"Celestial Immortal Juhua?" Ji Ning frowned. "Celestial Immortal Juhua publicly recruited disciples during the Primordial Fiendgod Era. At that time, he had already lived for millions of years. But from the Primordial Fiendgod Era to now… billions of years have passed."

"That recruitment event is long past. Celestial Immortal Juhua has probably long since died." Ji Ning understood this well.

Loose Immortals are constantly subjected to the Three Calamities and Nine Tribulations. Surviving millions of years is already a miracle. There's no way he could have lived until now.

"So this aquatic palace…"

"This should be the immortal estate where Celestial Immortal Juhua recruited disciples. The corridor I'm in now is likely one of the two recruitment corridors." Ji Ning pondered.

Ji Ning looked at the distant corpses.

Though these remains belonged to Fiendgod Body Refiners, the fact that they still existed meant they hadn't died too long ago.

Clearly, this immortal estate had, over the years, teleported many Xiantian-level Fiendgod Body Refiners or Zifu Disciples here. He was just another unlucky one.

"Celestial Immortal Juhua set extremely harsh conditions for recruitment. If it were easy, he would have found a disciple long ago." Ji Ning mused. "The corridor has three trials. It seems the one I just passed was the first. The first trial already forced me to rely on the Water-Fire Lotus to get through. The remaining two trials are sure to be even more dangerous… How am I supposed to survive them?"

"Am I going to end up like them, rotting here?" Ji Ning glanced at the distant skeletal remains and fell into deep contemplation.