Ji Ning Descends to the Lake Bottom to Battle the Winged Serpent

Ji Ning felt time and space shift, and then everything settled into stillness.

“Hmm?” Ji Ning looked at this dark nest passageway. This was where he had been teleported earlier. He couldn’t help but smile.

That encounter had truly been a narrow escape from death.

But he had come out alive, and his strength was now far greater than before.

“The next time I enter, I’ll need to refine this talisman first.” Ji Ning’s hand turned over, revealing a crude token talisman. On its surface was a Fiendgod script character, ‘You’ (Right). He had tried to refine it, but his Xiantian true essence simply couldn’t penetrate it. It seemed he would have to wait until he became a Zifu Disciple.

“You?” Ji Ning muttered to himself. “Why does this talisman have the character ‘Right’? I wonder what its origins are.”

Then Ji Ning put away the talisman. With a flicker of movement, he transformed into a light breeze and quickly flew out of the nest passageway.

…...

A single room had been built by the shores of Winged Serpent Lake. Ji Yichuan and his wife lived there.

At this moment, Yuchi Snow sat silently by the lake, holding a cup of hot water that steamed gently, drinking slowly.

“Xue’er, Xue’er!” Suddenly, an excited shout came from inside the room. Yuchi Snow turned her head sharply and saw Ji Yichuan, who had always been like an iceberg, now rushing out with a face full of joyful excitement. There were water stains on his chest, and a faint smell of wine lingered.

Seeing her husband like this, Yuchi Snow felt a premonition. “What’s wrong?”

“I sensed it,” Ji Yichuan said quickly. “I sensed the jade talisman. It’s completely undamaged! Earlier, Ji Ning must have entered some hidden place—a small pocket realm, a minor world, or an ancient formation. Now he has come out alive.”

Ruins were opportunities, but also represented great danger. With Ji Ning not emerging for over a month, the couple had grown increasingly worried, their hearts heavy with anxiety.

Yuchi Snow closed her eyes. Two streams of tears flowed down her face. She murmured, “Thank the heavens and the earth. Thank the heavens.”

“He’s in the center of Winged Serpent Lake right now. Probably on the island,” Ji Yichuan said.

“Let’s go see him.” Yuchi Snow stood up.

“Mm.” Ji Yichuan hadn’t lost his composure like this in a very long time. Even when he learned his son had become a Xiantian lifeform, he hadn’t been this excited. He took his wife’s hand and stepped directly onto the lake water, walking as if on flat ground, moving like a wisp of green smoke, quickly heading toward the distance.

The Greenflame Bird could not stay here forever; it was Ji Honghua’s spirit beast. In the past days, Ji Yichuan and Yuchi Snow had lived by the lakeside, and the Greenflame Bird had long since returned.

Suddenly—

“Winged Serpent! I, Ji Ning, am here again! Come out!” A loud shout spread in all directions, reaching the ears of Ji Yichuan and his wife, who were walking on the lake.

“Ning’er?” Yuchi Snow couldn’t help but smile. “Truly—the moment he leaves that hidden place, he immediately provokes the Winged Serpent again.”

Ji Yichuan nodded. “Ji Ning broke through to Xiantian through the Crimsonbright Diagram of the Nine Heavens. His gap with the Winged Serpent wasn’t huge to begin with. And he likely gained something from that hidden place. Now that I can sense his location, there’s no need to worry.”

“Mm.” Yuchi Snow agreed.

They kept walking.

Soon…

“Look!” Ji Yichuan pointed into the distance. Far away, the lake water parted to both sides, and a youth stepped directly onto the lake floor, walking downward. “That kid split the water and walked straight to the bottom.”

“He went to the lake bottom?” Yuchi Snow was startled.

Ji Yichuan shook his head. “No need to worry. You’ve watched Ning grow up. Don’t you know his personality? If he wasn’t confident, would he go down?”

“Mm.” Yuchi Snow nodded.

“Let’s go over and stay on the lake surface,” Ji Yichuan said. “I’ll constantly sense what’s happening at the bottom. If anything goes wrong, I’ll go down immediately.”

…

After shouting on the lake surface for a while, the Winged Serpent still did not emerge. Ji Ning made a decisive move. Using his ability to control water and fire, he began to part the waters of Winged Serpent Lake around him.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh~~~

The lake water was pushed aside by an invisible hand, forming a passage through the water.

Ji Ning stepped directly onto the lake floor, walking deeper and deeper. The water pressure kept increasing. Ji Ning maintained a circular underwater passage about three zhang in diameter, walking calmly down this corridor.

“It’s Ji Ning.”

“It’s him.”

The water-dwelling minor demons at the lake bottom watched from afar as the human youth walked through the underwater passage. One after another, they went to report.

The lake bottom nest.

The Winged Serpent had transformed into human form and sat on a chair, suppressing his fury. “That Ji Ning came to provoke me over a month ago, and now he’s doing it again! The lake is vast; who knows how many Xiantian lifeforms might be hiding somewhere? Knowing there’s a trap, would I fall for it?”

“Great King! Great King!”

“Great King!”

Three minor water demons rushed in.

“What is it?” The Winged Serpent growled.

The leading shrimp demon hastily reported, “Great King, that Ji Ning suddenly parted the water and is walking straight toward the lake bottom.”

“Into the lake bottom?” The Winged Serpent stood up abruptly, then said, “How did he part the water? I didn’t sense any Xiantian true essence, and I didn’t see anything—the water just split on its own.”

The shrimp demon answered, “He didn’t use any true essence, Great King. The water just parted automatically.”

The Winged Serpent was surprised. “No wonder this Ji Ning dares to be so arrogant. So he’s a Fiendgod Body Refiner who has reached Xiantian and gained water-control ability. I wonder which technique he’s cultivating. No matter—when I went to West Prefecture City, he was still Houtian. Even if he breaks through to Xiantian now, he’s only at the early Xiantian stage!”

“He dares to enter the lake bottom!” The Winged Serpent’s narrow, slitted eyes gleamed with murderous intent. “You truly don’t know when you’re well off. Since you’ve walked right into my domain, I’ll send you straight to the eighteenth level of hell!”

The Winged Serpent charged out of his nest.

If it were on the lake surface, he would still worry about an ambush. But at the lake bottom, this was his territory. A human entering the water would have their combat power reduced to less than ten percent. Even if Ji Yichuan came in, he could at most injure him.

“That Ji Ning is so foolish and arrogant. After all, he’s only an eleven-year-old child. Now that his strength has grown, he thinks he’s an unmatched genius who can look down on everyone. You killed my son Crimson, and this time I will definitely kill you.” The Winged Serpent shot out of the nest, transforming into his massive serpent form, swimming swiftly through the water.

“So it really is true!”

The Winged Serpent stopped abruptly, staring into the distance. He saw a cylindrical underwater passage extending close to the lake bottom, with a youth strolling leisurely within.

“He really did come to the lake bottom.” The Winged Serpent’s crimson vertical pupils were filled with fierce killing intent. “He’s truly seeking death.”

Whoosh~~~

He swam over swiftly.

…

Ji Ning held his Northsea Swords, walking on the water current across the bottom of Winged Serpent Lake. Wherever he passed, the water naturally formed a passage.

“Mm?” Ji Ning’s eyes locked onto a massive dark shadow approaching rapidly.

“Winged Serpent!” Ji Ning instantly recognized it. As the giant shadow drew closer, the fierce, serpentine head of the Winged Serpent became clearer, its crimson eyes fixed on Ji Ning with fury.

“Ji Ning!” The Winged Serpent roared directly, the sound traveling through the water. “You killed my son. Today, I will make you pay with your life!”

Ji Ning shouted back, “Old fiend, you have slaughtered thousands upon thousands of humans and even killed Chuncao. Today, I will definitely slay you with my own hands!”

This was the root of everything.

So many people had died. Chuncao had died. The origin of this whole affair was the enmity between himself and this Winged Serpent.

“Hahaha, you kill me? You little brat, you truly don’t know your limits. Coming all the way down to the lake bottom… once you’re down here, you’ll have to wait for your next life to return to the surface,” the old Winged Serpent said with great confidence. “Your father has wounded me several times. Now I’ll make him taste the pain of losing his son!”

As the words fell, the old Winged Serpent lunged straight into the underwater passage Ji Ning had created.

“Whoosh~~” A serpent tail was the first to squeeze into the passage, sweeping grandly toward Ji Ning. This tail’s speed and power far exceeded that of the Skygreen Serpent King.

“As expected of a great demon at the perfected Xiantian level.” Ji Ning was shocked. Just in terms of speed, the old Winged Serpent, a late-stage Xiantian great demon, had actually been inferior to the Skygreen Serpent King. In power, he absolutely surpassed the Skygreen Serpent. But now, even his supposed weakness—speed—was far above the Skygreen Serpent King.

As for his inherent advantage in strength, it had reached an utterly terrifying level.

“Old fiend, die!” Ji Ning used Windwing Evasion, transforming into a blurry wisp of smoke. He was even faster than the Winged Serpent’s tail strike and directly leaped onto the serpent’s body.

“ROAR~~~” The Winged Serpent turned his head, opening his stinking mouth wide, and lunged straight at Ji Ning to swallow him.

Ji Ning held both Northsea Swords, leaped up, and thrust directly toward the serpent’s head.