Ji Ning Battles Tongyu (Part 2)

The rain fell in a drizzling, drifting curtain.

Tongyu's entire body was wreathed in a layer of golden light, making him resemble a golden-armored Fiendgod. A tangible golden light shone from his eyes, and even his breathing caused the surrounding air to tremble.

Chi! Chi! Chi!

The previously gentle raindrops suddenly became sharp as knives. Countless raindrops crazily slashed towards the giant Tongyu. The hazy golden light flowing over the giant's surface easily blocked the rain. He swept his gaze across the area, and then a ripple of energy startled him. Without any hesitation, he threw a punch!

The golden fist, the size of a carriage wheel, smashed directly against a streak of fine rain—a sword-light formed by the Lesser Thousand Sword Formation.

His fist was clad in a black glove, but now a hazy golden light covered it. Only by looking closely could one see the glove beneath that hazy light.

His most powerful magic treasure was this pair of gloves.

BANG! With an explosive sound, the giant Tongyu was forced back a step. His foot slammed into the ground, causing the earth to tremble and crack open.

“Impressive, Ji Ning.” The giant Tongyu’s pupils contracted. That one streak of fine rain had actually possessed such terrifying power, definitely at the Wanxiang Adept level. No wonder he had been able to wipe out that other group of Zifu Disciples.

“Powerful.” “He actually made Senior Apprentice-brother Tongyu take a step back.”

The other Zifu Disciples felt their hearts tighten. They understood that this Ji Ning was likely on par with their Senior Apprentice-brother Tongyu.

“Are you Tongyu?” A clear, cold voice rang out. In the distance, the massive tail of a dragon slowly began to move through the black mist. Atop the dragon’s tail stood a youth clad in animal skins, holding a long sword in each hand. Around him, lotus flowers bloomed endlessly, unfurling their petals. Surrounded by water and fire lotuses, he walked forward.

“Ji Ning!” The giant Tongyu stared at the youth. From the blooming lotuses, he could sense an unfathomably profound mystery. He vaguely understood that this youth’s comprehension of the Dao was probably even deeper than his own.

A monster! Just sixteen years old, and his understanding of the Dao was already this deep and unfathomable.

Ji Ning walked forward slowly, the Northsea Swords in his hands. But the first time he saw Tongyu, he was startled. The figure was as tall as a two-story building, a majestic body radiating golden light. The invisible, powerful aura of a Fiendgod made Ji Ning feel somewhat oppressed. He estimated that he barely reached the giant’s knee.

“So this is the Heavenly Transformation?” Ji Ning mused to himself. He had long heard of this divine ability. It was arguably the most famous one of all.

Divine abilities were precious, very rare.

Generally, only the most powerful tribes, sects, and great cults possessed them. Among the divine abilities they owned, ‘Heavenly Transformation’ was the most common. Within the Yinglong Guard, this ability was particularly famous. As the most widespread divine ability, the difficulty of learning it was naturally lower.

But that didn’t mean the Heavenly Transformation was weak! Its threshold was low, but if cultivated to a profound level, it was truly a great divine ability. Legends said that when ancient Fiendgods engaged in battle, they loved to use this Heavenly Transformation most of all. With a single shake of the body, they would become a hundred, a thousand, or even ten thousand zhang tall.

With such a towering, majestic Fiendgod body, picking up a mountain range spanning thousands of li was as easy as picking up a strand of straw; stirring up rivers and seas was like taking a bath!

Such was the might of this divine ability…

Of course, those were all ancient legends, as distant as the story of Houyi shooting down the suns. Too far away!

“Ji Ning.” Suddenly, a gentle voice rang out.

The giant Tongyu, who was ready to fight, was startled. Ji Ning also followed the sound. Inside the black light pagoda stood a man with disheveled hair, wearing simple animal skins. He was looking at Ji Ning with a smile. “Your talent is extraordinary, your aptitude astonishing. What’s more commendable is that you have reached your current level of achievement in an ordinary, aboriginal tribe. You are a rare uncut jade. Your value far surpasses even that elemental ore mine.”

Ji Ning frowned.

The giant Tongyu was stunned, as were the other Zifu Disciples.

“If you are willing, I will swear an oath to guarantee that you will enter my Snowdragon Mountain sect,” said Nong Zidao with a smile. “With your talent, you will certainly become the most core, most important ‘Inherited Disciple’ of the sect. The moment you enter, your status will be no lower than that of the Wanxiang Adepts. My Snowdragon Mountain will spare no effort in training you, making you a true top-tier powerhouse. In the future, becoming a Primal Daoist… is not an empty dream!”

The giant Tongyu was taken aback, then said in a low voice, “Ji Ning, since Junior Apprentice-brother Zidao is willing to swear an oath, you can rest assured. If you join my Snowdragon Mountain, what happened before will naturally be forgiven. But if you don’t join… don’t blame me for being ruthless!”

Ji Ning was amazed.

Recruiting him into Snowdragon Mountain?

“I killed so many of your disciples, and you still want me to join?” Ji Ning said coldly.

“Those disciples, dead is dead,” Nong Zidao shook his head. “You are different from them. Mediocre Zifu Disciples, my Snowdragon Mountain has plenty! But your talent, your current realm… truly, I have never seen the like in my life. If I just put in a word, the Primal Daoists of my Snowdragon Mountain will be fighting to take you as their disciple.”

Ji Ning had also heard his parents say that with his talent, becoming a disciple of a great power would be easy. Even the artifact spirit of the aquatic palace had noticeably changed his attitude after Ji Ning comprehended the Rainwater Sword Domain.

Sixteen years old, comprehending the Rainwater Sword Domain…

Such talent was indeed monstrous.

“The conflict between your Ji clan and my Snowdragon Mountain only resulted in the deaths of my Snowdragon Mountain disciples. Inside this formation, not a single member of your Ji clan has died. Surely you won’t hold a grudge against Snowdragon Mountain,” Nong Zidao continued. “Without hatred between us, and you being from an aboriginal tribe with an utterly clean background, with talent so monstrous, how could the sect not spare no effort in training you? In a few hundred years, it isn’t even impossible for you to become the Sect Leader of my Snowdragon Mountain.”

The giant Tongyu also spoke up. “If you join my Snowdragon Mountain, these are all trivial matters. But if you don’t join… your Ji clan has slaughtered so many of my disciples. For the sake of our face, my Snowdragon Mountain will have to eradicate your Ji clan. Think it over carefully.”

“Think it over well,” Nong Zidao added.

Two paths. One path was to join, becoming one of the family. The deaths of these people were merely a minor matter of an honored Inherited Disciple killing some insignificant outer disciples. The other path was to not join. Killing so many disciples would be seen as a provocation against Snowdragon Mountain.

“Hahaha…” Ji Ning laughed. How could he possibly join Snowdragon Mountain? Nong Zidao had said there was no hatred, a clean background, monstrous talent, and that they would spare no effort in training him…

Loyalty was the first thing a sect considered when training a disciple. If they wanted to take him as an Inherited Disciple, Snowdragon Mountain would thoroughly investigate his background. At that point, the old affairs between Ji Yichuan and Yuchi Snow would likely be exposed! Snowdragon Mountain had the great enmity of killing his mother and uncle… With such a great hatred, no matter how high his talent, Snowdragon Mountain wouldn’t dare to train him. Instead, they would eradicate him as soon as possible to prevent a future calamity!

“Enough nonsense!” Ji Ning roared. “Don’t try to shake my resolve.”

“Ji Ning, you…” Nong Zidao, inside the black light high tower, shook his head. “One wrong step leads to many more. It’s still not too late to join now.”

“Die!”

Ji Ning didn’t waste another word. Just the ‘loyalty’ test alone would doom him upon review. He would stick to his original plan: deal with these fellows as soon as possible and delay until the Grand Xia Dynasty’s emissary arrived! Once the divine emissary arrived and he had the Grand Xia Dynasty’s protection… even if Snowdragon Mountain had a hundred times the courage, they wouldn’t dare to touch him. They could only swallow their anger.

Just give him some time… Snowdragon Mountain? He would still tear it down!

“Then die!” The giant Tongyu revealed a fierce grin and stomped his foot heavily.

Rumble~~~

The earth trembled. Countless fragments of stone and dust flew into the air, and hidden within them were countless grains of golden sand. These golden sand grains spun wildly, forming a massive vortex around the giant Tongyu. Some of the sand madly surged towards Ji Ning.

It was the giant Tongyu’s commonly used magic treasure, ‘Star Sand’!

Thump! Thump! Thump! The giant Tongyu himself trampled across the ground, leaving a trail of massive golden afterimages as he rampaged towards Ji Ning.

“Hmph.”

The rain surrounded Ji Ning, forming a resilient water wall. The transparent wall spun continuously… and when the golden sand grains crashed against it, they were all blocked by the wall.

“Die!” A golden fist the size of a carriage wheel smashed through the water wall. Even the blooming water and fire lotuses were fragile before this fist.

“So fast.” Ji Ning’s expression changed slightly. The black wings on his back flapped violently.

Divine Ability—Windwing Evasion!

Whoosh!

The golden fist crushed the water and fire lotuses, passing through Ji Ning’s body. But there was no joy on the giant Tongyu’s face. What he had pierced was merely an afterimage. Ji Ning was too fast, too agile. He had evaded in an instant.

“Useless. You can’t escape.” The giant Tongyu took a step, shattering the earth, and transformed into a beam of golden light that shot to Ji Ning’s front. His fists easily tore through the water walls and water-fire lotuses.

“Too fast.” Ji Ning was forced to dodge.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

He used the Windwing Evasion three times in a row before pulling away. Ji Ning realized… in a straight line, this giant Tongyu was even faster than he was! After using the Heavenly Transformation to become huge, the giant Tongyu’s speed and strength had both risen astonishingly. Ji Ning didn’t dare to clash head-on with him.

Earlier, when he had used the Lesser Thousand Sword Formation, the other party had blocked it with a single punch, only forced back a single step. This showed just how powerful his fists were.

Fortunately, with the Windwing Evasion, Ji Ning could rely on his agility to hold a slight advantage. His smaller body was naturally more agile, while the giant Tongyu, due to his massive size, was somewhat lacking in turning and changing direction.

“Lesser Thousand Sword Formation.” Over seven hundred flying swords immediately appeared around Ji Ning, but only just over six hundred of them emitted a hazy white light. Ji Ning was only able to drive the Lesser Thousand Sword Formation to the eighth layer.

A single streak of sword-light condensed before his chest.

“Go!” “Go!”

While using the Windwing Evasion to dodge, Ji Ning sent out six streaks of sword-light in succession. The six streaks entered the rain and transformed into fine silver threads… silent and invisible, they attacked the giant Tongyu from six different directions.