The Predators Descend

Ji Jiu Huo, Granny Shadow, and the others had long since regarded Ji Ning as the future pillar of the Ji Clan! Naturally, they had already made sure Ning was familiar with the intelligence reports on all the Zifu Disciples and ancient Zifu-level demons in the major powers of the Yan Mountains. Ji Ning was very clear on this… this Dong Zifu Qi was a Zifu-level cultivator at perfection, and as a disciple of a sect, his methods were far superior to those of the native tribes of the Yan Mountains. Ziqi’s greatest strength was the ‘Eight Trigrams Blood Dragon Formation’!

Unlike ordinary formations which had to be set up in advance, the Eight Trigrams Blood Dragon Formation was somewhat similar to his own ‘Lesser Thousand Sword Formation’—it could be deployed with a single thought. Perhaps its tier was not as high as his own Lesser Thousand Sword Formation, but Ziqi himself was a Zifu Disciple at perfection, and when paired with such a formation, he could probably even trade blows with a newly ascended Wanxiang Adept. He was nothing like that Beizi Shan, who could only rely on a Banner of Ten Thousand Ghosts.

“I see it is Brother Ziqi.” Ji Jiu Huo humbly adopted a low posture. “I wonder what brings Brother Ziqi here?”

“Ji Jiu Huo.”

The five Zifu Disciples on the cloth screen all landed on the ground. They swept their gazes over the Ji Clan members, their expressions lofty and aloof, clearly holding the Ji Clan in contempt. This stirred a surge of anger in Ji Ning and the others, but they understood… they had to endure.

“Your Ji Clan’s territory really is a blessed land, harboring an Essence Stone mine.” Ziqi’s ghostly cold eyes stared at Ji Jiu Huo. “If it weren’t for the violent fluctuations in Heaven and Earth’s energy earlier, we wouldn’t have known about it. Hmph. Your Ji Clan has been secretly digging up quite a lot of Essence Stones, haven’t you? You’ve got some nerve.”

Rage flickered in the eyes of the Ji Clan members, but Ji Jiu Huo sent a mental message yelling, “Everyone, hold steady!”

“My Ji Clan only just found out about it.” Ji Jiu Huo faced Dong Ziqi with a smile still on his face.

“Just found out?” Ziqi swept his gaze across the Ji Clan group. “Have you determined the scale of the Essence Stone mine?”

“Not yet,” Ji Jiu Huo shook his head. “We only know it is a rich vein.”

Ziqi’s voice turned cold. “Since you don’t know, I’ll tell you. This Essence Stone mine is a rich vein that spans over four thousand li in circumference and is three hundred li deep! With such a massive Essence Stone mine, your tiny Ji Clan simply does not have the ability to swallow it whole. If you try to swallow it, you’ll choke to death!”

“No matter.” Ji Jiu Huo smiled. “If it comes to that, my Ji Clan can simply transfer this Essence Stone mine to the Grand Xia Dynasty. My clan would take thirty percent, the Grand Xia Dynasty seventy percent. Moreover, we would gain the protection of the Grand Xia Dynasty. There’s nothing to fear.”

Ziqi’s pupils contracted.

These natives!

Although they were not from a sect and had trained for nearly four hundred years and were still only Zifu Disciples, they had lived long enough to become incredibly slick. No matter how aggressively he tried to intimidate him, Ji Jiu Huo remained full of smiles. But when it came to the critical point, he directly stated the very thing the Snowdragon Mountain feared most.

“I’m telling you this now!” Ziqi’s voice was deathly cold. “The Snowdragon Mountain is taking this Essence Stone mine! Don’t you try to threaten me here. If you do… the Ji Clan will only face annihilation!”

Ji Jiu Huo’s expression changed.

Granny Shadow and the other Ji Clan clansmen felt both anger and anxiety. Ji Ning was also burning with frustration. According to the laws of the Grand Xia Dynasty, this Essence Stone mine belonged to the Ji Clan! The people from Snowdragon Mountain had come over to simply seize it by force, and they were being downright tyrannical about it.

“Brother Ziqi.” Ji Jiu Huo forcibly suppressed his anger.

He had only brought up that most vicious tactic earlier… to make the other party feel some restraint, so that he could slowly negotiate terms later. He never expected that the other party had no intention of negotiating at all. They were being utterly overbearing, bullying the Ji Clan for being weak and small!

“This is the Yan Mountains,” Ji Jiu Huo said solemnly. “The Snowdragon Mountain sect is a million li away. But if my Ji Clan reports this to the imperial court, an envoy of the Grand Xia Dynasty will arrive in just a few days, and we can sign the transfer contract then. In truth, my Ji Clan has no grand ambitions. All we seek is survival!”

“Survival?” Ziqi sneered. “At least you know when to back down!”

Ji Jiu Huo said, “The Snowdragon Mountain may send people to mine the vein. During the mining operations, my Ji Clan will absolutely not cause any disturbance. When you have finished mining, you must withdraw entirely from my Ji Clan’s territory. As for the Essence Stones, my Ji Clan will not seek a single piece! I am willing to swear a Heavenly Dao Oath with the Snowdragon Mountain to this effect.”

A Heavenly Dao Oath…

It was useless for ordinary mortals, but once one stepped onto the path of Immortal cultivation and became a cultivator, no one would dare break a Heavenly Dao Oath.

“Oh?” Ziqi hesitated.

“Elder Brother Ziqi,” the burly man beside him mentally transmitted, “These terms are acceptable. We don’t care about the Ji Clan’s territory anyway. What matters is the Essence Stone mine. Since the Ji Clan is willing to let us mine the entire vein, as long as we set a Heavenly Dao Oath… the Ji Clan won’t dare go back on it.”

“Foolish,” the green-haired woman transmitted. “This is nothing but a delaying tactic by the Ji Clan! The Ji Clan wants to swear a Heavenly Dao Oath with our Snowdragon Mountain, but not with us. If just a few of us disciples swear the oath, the sect’s high-level figures can still ignore it and destroy the Ji Clan. He surely intends to have our sect’s high-level figures swear the oath. The time it takes for our message to travel back and for the high-level figures to arrive here… will be enough for the Ji Clan to sign a contract with the Grand Xia Dynasty.”

“Junior Sister is right,” the gray-robed man transmitted in agreement.

Ziqi nodded gently.

The Ji Clan was waiting for an answer.

“Your Ji Clan wants to swear a Heavenly Dao Oath with our Snowdragon Mountain. Who from the Snowdragon Mountain are you asking to swear it?” Ziqi looked at Ji Jiu Huo.

Ji Jiu Huo smiled. “Any Wanxiang Adept will do. My Ji Clan is staking its fate on this, so we must be cautious. An oath from a Zifu Disciple of the Snowdragon Mountain carries somewhat little weight… We wouldn’t dare trust it. I imagine Brother Ziqi understands that an oath from a Zifu Disciple doesn’t bind the Snowdragon Mountain sect that much.”

Ziqi narrowed his eyes.

One Zifu Disciple? The sect could sacrifice one any day.

But a Wanxiang Adept was different. There were only so many Wanxiang Adepts in the sect. If one swore an oath for the sect, it would be an oath made for the sect. If the sect then dared to sacrifice a Wanxiang Adept, wouldn’t that chill the hearts of all the other Wanxiang Adepts and Zifu Disciples? Having a Wanxiang Adept swear an oath was the most appropriate choice.

“Ji Jiu Huo!” Ziqi’s voice was icy. “You want a Wanxiang Adept to come here and swear a Heavenly Dao Oath with you? Those are high-level figures of my sect, a million li away! If we send a message and wait for a Wanxiang Adept to arrive, it will take at least ten days to half a month! In that time, your Ji Clan will have quietly signed a contract with the Grand Xia Dynasty!”

“Well…” Ji Jiu Huo was taken aback.

“I think you should just hand over your vassal token!” Ziqi barked. “Hand over the vassal token of Ten Thousand Swords City to us! The Snowdragon Mountain will permit you to continue living in Ten Thousand Swords City. The entire Ji Clan will remain just as it was before… Once we finish mining the Essence Stone vein, I will return the vassal token to you!”

Ji Jiu Huo grew agitated. “How can this be?!”

“Impossible.” Granny Shadow spoke angrily as well. “The vassal token is the very foundation of my Ji Clan.”

Ji Ning watched from the side.

These people from Snowdragon Mountain were going too far! It sounded nice—they would return the token in the future. But what if they didn’t? Moreover, the Ji Clan had already made a huge concession, willing to give up the entire Essence Stone mine to the Snowdragon Mountain. Why were the Snowdragon Mountain people now acting like they were doing the Ji Clan a favor by taking the token first and returning it later?

“Hmph.” Ji Ning’s expression was ugly. The other Ji Clan clansmen looked the same.

“Would my Snowdragon Mountain stoop to bullying a tiny clan like yours?” Ziqi barked.

“It seems that the Snowdragon Mountain has bullied quite a few tribes already,” Ji Jiu Huo retorted angrily. “Otherwise, how could there be a branch of the Snowdragon Mountain here in the Yan Mountains?!”

Ziqi’s expression flickered.

Rebelling!

This Ji Jiu Huo was actually getting tough now. He swept his gaze across the gathered Ji Clan members, and his attention also fell on the most youthful and distinctive one among them—the fur-clad youth. He immediately sent a mental transmission: “Junior Apprentice-Brother Musi. The Ji Clan only has a few Zifu Disciples. The one with the most potential is this Ji Ning. It is said that he was the one who killed that Beizi Shan before.”

“Ji Ning.” The gray-robed man also noticed the fur-clad youth in the opposing group.

Ever since Ji Ning’s battle with Beizi Shan back then…

Ji Ning’s name had long since spread among the high-level circles of the major powers in the Yan Mountains. After all, many Xiantian lifeforms from other tribes had returned and reported that Ji Ning was terrifying. Some even speculated Ji Ning was a Zifu Disciple! To have become a Zifu Disciple at just eleven or twelve years old… what would he be capable of in the future? The major powers had long since taken notice of Ji Ning. They had gathered information about him in painstaking detail.

Matter after matter from his childhood, his appearance, his habits… they had collected it all.

Among the entire Ji Clan, Dong Ziqi didn’t care about anyone else. The only one he was concerned about was this Ji Ning! He wasn’t afraid of the current Ji Ning; he was afraid of the future Ji Ning! With talent like Ji Ning’s… stepping into the Wanxiang Adept realm in the future would probably not be difficult.

“Junior Apprentice-Brother Musi. Among the Ji Clan, the most talented and the most threatening is this Ji Ning. The entire Ji Clan treasures him as a jewel,” Ziqi transmitted. “He is still young, so his current methods probably aren’t that strong. Beizi Shan was an idiot; other than his refined Banner of Ten Thousand Ghosts, which posed a bit of a threat, he was extremely average in his own strength. Besides, that battle back then might have had more to do with that Wanxiang Adept. Ji Ning’s actual combat strength probably isn’t too high.”

“Junior Apprentice-Brother, you suddenly make your move and capture Ning! Once Ji Ning is in our hands, how would the Ji Clan dare to defy the orders of the Snowdragon Mountain?” Ziqi transmitted. “And even if the very low possibility occurs—that they truly don’t care about Ji Ning’s life—then we kill him. Without Ji Ning, the Ji Clan poses no threat at all.”

“Mm.” The gray-robed man nodded.

Ji Ning was indeed a threat. No one was afraid of the current Ji Ning, but they were afraid of the future Ji Ning.

“Junior Apprentice-Brother, your spellcasting is so sudden that even I would have trouble dealing with it. Capturing Ji Ning will be no problem,” Ziqi transmitted. Although his strength was greater than Junior Apprentice-Brother Musi’s, he needed to first deploy the Eight Trigrams Blood Dragon Formation. Once his formation appeared, the Ji Clan side would be fully on guard.

Thus, it had to be a surprise attack and succeed in an instant! And Junior Apprentice-Brother Musi was the perfect person for the job.

“Leave it to me. I’ve recently made a breakthrough in this spell.” Junior Apprentice-Brother Musi transmitted back with confidence.

“I’m counting on you, Junior Apprentice-Brother. Once we capture Ji Ning, we’ll have the upper hand in everything,” Ziqi said.