The Wrath of the Water-Fire Lotus

“He cannot be allowed to leave alive!” The six ornately dressed men and women shouted in unison. They knew full well that the grand formation had been broken. Without the formation’s concealment and protection, they would soon be discovered… and if Ji Ning escaped, the news would spread like wildfire, and they would be found just the same.

The formation banner had to be retaken! Ji Ning had to be killed!

“Kill!”

“Slay him!” A flood of servants surged madly toward Ji Ning.

Ji Ning stored the formation banner directly into his storage treasure. With a flap of the magic treasure wings on his back, he shot into the air. At the same time, a torrent of blazing fire descended, engulfing the servants. Flames licked at them from all sides, and they began to shriek in agony.

Swish! Swish! Swish! Three figures within the mass of servants transformed into blurs, lunging straight at Ji Ning.

“Xiantian lifeforms?” Ji Ning instantly recognized that all three were at the Xiantian level. “It seems that old fiend of a Ki Refiner has quite a few Xiantian lifeforms under his command.”

“Kill him.”

“The master has ordered his death.”

The three Xiantian lifeforms had killing intent burning in their eyes. They were all servants of Bei Zishan, controlled by poison and unable to defy his commands. They turned into streaks of light, attacking Ji Ning from different directions simultaneously. Ji Ning, however, executed the Windwing Evasion and charged directly at one of them—a big, burly man with a full beard and a fat face.

“ROAR!” The man hefted a great hammer.

Swish!

A flash of sword-light. The burly man immediately tumbled to the ground, clutching his chest and convulsing as blood stained the floor. In a single exchange, Ji Ning’s sword had pierced straight through his heart!

“Little brat!” An aquiline-nosed man howled as he charged in. A single sword-light slash cleaved half his head away, killing him on the spot. This frightened the third Xiantian lifeform, an old man, who immediately retreated in terror.

……

The endless flames descended, instantly killing two Xiantian lifeforms and scaring off a third. The six ornately dressed men and women exchanged glances, their expressions dark.

“Such terrifying speed!”

“His swordsmanship far surpasses any one of us. No wonder he was able to kill the senior apprentice-brother.”

They all instantly understood that even if they charged together, they would likely be courting death.

Ji Ning, meanwhile, had become a veritable reaper of lives. As he used the endless flames to burn the servants to death, he personally hunted down the Xiantian lifeforms. Including servants, spirit beasts, and disciples, Bei Zishan had over a dozen Xiantian lifeforms under his command.

“Flood Dragon Dao-Soldiers!” the youngest among the six, a handsome youth, suddenly cried out in a shrill voice.

“Flood Dragon Dao-Soldiers!”

The other five senior apprentice-brothers and sisters immediately understood. They all roared in anger, and black armor began to appear on their bodies. All six were clad in black armor.

“Boom~~~” The entire mountain seemed to tremble. This mountain had long ago been hollowed out. Aside from the main cavern, there were countless smaller tunnels. After all, a million mortals were being tormented here; the sheer number of caves needed to house them was enormous.

Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish! Like rain falling from the sky, soldiers clad in deep-green armor began to pour out of the densely packed caves. The armor of each soldier was covered in ancient, complex runes that drew upon the power of Heaven and Earth.

“Dao-Soldiers!” Ji Ning’s expression changed. He stared at the massive flood of soldiers leaping down from hundreds of caves dotting the mountain wall. He could tell at a glance that these were Dao-Soldiers!

“And they are even more powerful than my Ji Clan’s ‘Crimson Armored Guards’.” Ji Ning had a keen eye, and he could sense that the runes on the soldiers’ armor were drawing upon the power of Heaven and Earth at a level that was even more startling.

A full ten thousand Dao-Soldiers descended from the sky.

More than a dozen Xiantian lifeforms clad in black armor also charged out.

“Kill as many as I can.” Ji Ning knew he absolutely could not allow them to unite their forces. With a flap of his wings, he shot like a Roc bird a full li away in an instant, while the Dao-Soldiers, most of whom were at the Houtian level, were far slower.

“All of you, die!”

Ji Ning, his face covered in red spots from the poison, had gone completely berserk. In an instant, a sea of blazing fire and an endless expanse of freezing frost descended, sweeping furiously in two directions. Ji Ning was pushing his control over water and fire to the limit.

“Careful!”

“Form up!”

The ten thousand Dao-Soldiers, coming from all directions, began to form squads of nine, drawing upon the power of Heaven and Earth. A faint dragon-shaped phantom began to appear above them and behind them. Most of those who had formed squads managed to barely withstand the scorching flames and the assault of the freezing frost, but those who hadn’t formed up died instantly. Those caught directly in the center of the fire and frost, alternating between burning heat and extreme cold, perished even if they had formed up.

“Flood Dragon Formation!”

The dozen-plus Xiantian lifeforms clad in black armor also tried to charge into the formation.

“Not good.” Ji Ning had seen nine Xiantian lifeforms use Dao-Soldier Armor in the aquatic palace; how could he just stand by and let these people succeed?

“Water-Fire Lotus, crush them all!” In an instant, Ji Ning manifested nine Water-Fire Lotuses, sending them hurtling toward nine of the enemies.

The Water-Fire Lotuses appeared out of thin air—petals of fire and petals of water, rotating in opposite directions above and below, grinding everything within them to dust.

“AHH!” The woman with a scorpion on her shoulder screamed as she was torn into shreds.

“Hurry!”

“Form up.”

Despite their attempts to form the formation, six of the nine targeted Xiantian lifeforms died on the spot, while the other three were severely wounded. This struck terror into the hearts of the remaining Xiantian lifeforms… Such a technique was far too terrifying. He had been able to kill six Xiantian lifeforms simultaneously from such a distance! An ordinary Xiantian lifeform couldn’t attack from a long range, as they were unable to control magic treasures for long-distance assault.

The six who died were simply unlucky. They had not been afraid of Ji Ning’s control over water and fire, but they hadn’t anticipated him using the ‘Water-Fire Lotus’, which contained the True Meaning of the Dao. If they had known beforehand and prepared a protective Dao talisman, they wouldn’t have been killed instantly.

“Form up!” Runes began to glow on the black armor of the handsome youth, connecting with the dragon-shaped phantoms formed by the ordinary Dao-Soldiers, merging them into a single entity.

In an instant, the handsome youth and a thousand ordinary Dao-Soldiers became one, and the phantom of a Flood Dragon appeared above him and behind him.

“Form up.”

One by one, the Xiantian lifeforms began to merge with the Dao-Soldiers. Some commanded a thousand, others five hundred. Although the maximum a soldier could command was a thousand, far too many Dao-Soldiers had already been killed by Ji Ning.

“It’s a pity that less than nine thousand Dao-Soldiers remain. If they could all merge into a single Flood Dragon, they would be able to easily slay him.” Eight Flood Dragon phantoms appeared in the air, formed from the union of eight Xiantian lifeforms and several thousand Dao-Soldiers.

“Even if we cannot fuse into a single Flood Dragon, he must still die.”

……

In a secret chamber deep within the mountain.

Inside an ancient, unadorned cauldron, green flames of baleful fire blazed. A blood-red cloth banner hung suspended within, as countless vengeful spirits howled silently, madly slaughtering each other.

Bei Zishan sat cross-legged, his expression dark as pitch.

“This Ji Ning… he actually managed to break my formation.” Bei Zishan was both frantic and furious. He had been on the run, desperately trying to refine this supreme treasure to turn the tables. Without the grand formation, he had nowhere to hide. Moreover, a vast number of vengeful spirits had yet to be refined into the banner. He was currently straining to stop the process, willing to sacrifice the unrefined spirits.

But a magic treasure born from boundless sin was, by its very nature, extremely dangerous to refine. A moment’s carelessness could lead to a backlash. The process had to be handled with extreme caution. Even to stop… he had to first exterminate the unrefined vengeful spirits one by one before he could finally halt the process. If he tried to force it, he would only suffer the backlash.

Stopping required time.

“Master, there are less than nine thousand Dao-Soldiers left!” A transformed spirit beast-man in the mountain belly shouted urgently.

“What?!” Bei Zishan, who was barely suppressing his anxiety, heard what his spirit beast said from above and became even more frantic. “Less than nine thousand? With less than nine thousand, they cannot merge into a single Flood Dragon. With that Ji Ning’s strength, he’ll be able to escape!”

The blood-red cloth banner suddenly trembled. Countless vengeful spirits were madly struggling to break free.

“Not good.”

Bei Zishan fought down his anxiety, knowing that if he lost control and the vengeful spirits turned on him, he would likely die right here. He produced a small pouch, like an embroidered purse. From the pouch, a black coffin flew out, landing on the ground with a thunderous crash.

The coffin lid was flung open, and a terrifying aura spread out. A large hand covered in black fur grabbed the edge of the coffin, and a figure sat up. It was a black-furred zombie with glowing green eyes.

Whoosh.

The black-furred zombie landed on the ground. Around its body swirled a visible black mist—corpse miasma. Even a Xiantian lifeform who inhaled this black miasma would be killed by the poison. This zombie was one of Bei Zishan’s last-resort trump cards. It had been painstakingly refined from the body of a Zifu Disciple.

“Go. Kill him.” Bei Zishan gave the order. Zombies were neither alive nor dead. A black-furred zombie of this level already possessed a certain degree of intelligence. This black-furred zombie recognized Bei Zishan’s disciples, so it could quickly assess the situation and identify the enemy. It was comparable to a Zifu Disciple in power and was extremely dangerous.

“Hmph.” The black-furred zombie let out a low grunt, took a single step, and vanished. With a leap, it shot straight up out of the hundred-zhang-deep pit. (To be continued.)