An Inescapable Web

“Sssss~~” Countless golden grains of star-sand swirled around the giant Tongyu. When the six streaks of sword-light transformed into a fine drizzle and tried to pierce through, the star-sand was naturally blasted away.

The giant Tongyu bellowed, “Ambushing me?”

His fists instantly opened into large, fan-like palms, and whoosh whoosh whoosh~ they began to swing and slap around him, as fast as phantoms. His two enormous palms instantly sealed off the entire area around him.

“Boom! Boom! Boom!” A series of explosive sounds rang out.

All six streaks of sword-light were actually blocked!

“Such fast palm techniques,” Ji Ning noted with surprise from afar. “Although his huge form after using the Divine Ability makes him less agile, his hands are astonishingly fast!”

“Ji Ning, accept death!” The giant Tongyu lunged forward, his body turning into a streak of golden light as he pounced straight at Ji Ning.

“Go.” The black feathered wings on Ji Ning’s back trembled as he once again condensed a streak of sword-light in front of him.

Boom!

The streak of sword-light had barely flown out when it was blasted apart by a punch from the giant Tongyu.

“Die.” Tongyu was like a fiendgod, his face twisted in savagery, his fists smashing toward Ji Ning like a barrage of meteorites.

Back! Back! Back!

Ji Ning did his utmost to execute the Windwing Evasion. The giant Tongyu was simply too much faster; Ji Ning could only rely on his agility to dodge, unable to create any distance. It was like dancing on a tightrope!

One who often walks by the river cannot always keep his shoes dry.

“Whoosh.” Tongyu was clearly to his left, yet suddenly his fist appeared right there, sweeping down toward Ji Ning.

Boom! The rainwater was blasted away!

Swoosh! The blooming Water-Fire Lotus was crushed directly!

Ji Ning held his twin swords, and the sword-light in his hands transformed into two streams of flowing water, soft and yielding, welcoming the incoming golden fist. “Bang!” A thunderous sound rang out. The giant Tongyu felt as if his fist had struck something incredibly slippery and insubstantial, a feeling of punching empty air while being guided off-balance.

“Huff.” Ji Ning himself was sent flying back over a hundred meters. The tiger’s mouth of his sword-hand had split open, but it quickly healed again.

“What a force,” Ji Ning thought to himself, shocked by the power of that punch.

His own Yuan force was beyond the Zifu Disciple level, augmented by the Rainwater Sword Domain. The power of his Northsea swords also surpassed the standard Mortal-rank grade. In pure close-quarters combat, though it was slightly weaker than the ‘Lesser Thousand Sword Formation sword-light,’ he estimated it had reached the Wanxiang Adept level. Yet in a head-on clash, even with all his effort put into defense, he was still sent flying.

“He didn’t die!” The distant giant Tongyu was the one stunned.

……

When the giant Tongyu’s blow struck Ji Ning, the other Zifu Disciples, including Nong Zidao, had been incredibly excited. But seeing Ji Ning sent flying without a scratch, they were all immediately filled with bitter disappointment.

“How can this be?”

“Senior Apprentice-Brother Tongyu used the Heavenly Transformation Divine Ability. How could his punch possess such might? Why wasn’t he crushed to death?”

One by one, the Zifu Disciples felt a chill in their hearts.

“Senior Apprentice-Brother Tongyu, let us help you.”

“We will help you.”

These anxious Zifu Disciples all began to unleash their own methods.

……

As Ji Ning was sent flying by Tongyu, a fierce light flashed in his eyes. All seven hundred-plus flying swords suspended around him lit up simultaneously. This was the first time since the battle began that Ji Ning had employed the ninth layer of the Lesser Thousand Sword Formation.

A sharp stab of pain shot through his mind!

“Go!” Before Ji Ning, the brilliant streak of sword-light that was almost like a real sword transformed into a single drop of rain.

“Go!” “Go!” “Go!” “Go!”

Seizing the distance opened by their exchange, Ji Ning condensed five streaks of ninth-layer sword-light before immediately stopping. The mere act of manifesting these five strands of sword-light had placed an immense strain on his soul, one he could barely withstand.

“Die!” Ji Ning’s eyes blazed with anticipation.

This was his strongest attack. It had to succeed.

“It’s useless.” Around the giant Tongyu, the countless grains of star-sand howled and danced, impervious to the ordinary rain. The moment Ji Ning’s first controlled streak of sword-light pierced through the star-sand, Tongyu immediately glanced at that raindrop and slapped it directly.

Boom!

The giant Tongyu shook hard. Stomp, stomp, stomp, he took three steps back, making the very earth tremble and quake.

The other four streaks of sword-light came in quick succession!

“How is it this strong?” Tongyu felt a numbness and pain in his arm. However, as a Fiendgod Body Refiner, his recovery was astonishing, so he wasn’t afraid. He strained to block the remaining sword-lights.

Boom! Boom!

Each time he blocked one, he was forced back, throwing off his footwork. In his carelessness, two of the raindrops slipped past his fists, slashing directly into his body. Sssss~ The raindrops were like blades, carving into Tongyu’s enormous frame. But his body, covered in a layer of golden light, was incredibly tough. When the sword-light forced its way past his protective armor and began to cut into his flesh, it encountered immense resistance.

Sssss~ After barely managing to leave a large wound on Tongyu’s body, the sword-light dissipated.

The remaining streak of sword-light similarly left only a wound behind before dissipating as well.

“What?!” Ji Ning’s eyes went wide.

He understood now.

When Tongyu used the Heavenly Transformation to grow larger, his body became so massive that it made cutting him in half exponentially harder. He was simply too thick and robust, and the toughness of every inch of his muscles and skin had sharply increased. Even the force of his ninth-layer blade was barely enough to leave a single wound.

“You wounded me?” Tongyu roared as he charged forward.

“Senior Apprentice-Brother Tongyu, we will help you!”

“Ji Ning, accept death!”

The other Zifu Disciples, who had been watching from afar, sent their magic treasures and techniques flying toward Ji Ning.

“Retreat.” Ji Ning shook his black feathered wings and explosively retreated backward.

The surrounding rainwater began to swirl, forming layer after layer of protective barriers that blocked the incoming magic treasures. The magic treasures of those Zifu Disciples… were completely incapable of piercing through these layers of barriers. This was a testament to the terrifying power of Ji Ning’s ‘Rainwater Sword Domain.’

Tongyu, however, smashed straight through the layers of watery barriers.

“Retreat.” Ji Ning completely changed his strategy.

While using the rainwater to form ever-thicker, tougher defensive barriers to impede and restrain his enemy, Ji Ning also began to conjure Water-Fire Lotuses around Tongyu! When they appeared around Ji Ning, they were a form of protection. But when Water-Fire Lotuses manifested around Tongyu, they became a form of restraint.

“Break!” Tongyu would furiously shatter a Water-Fire Lotus, then smash through a layer of watery barriers in his pursuit of Ji Ning.

Ji Ning channeled almost all his mental energy into controlling the rainwater and the Water-Fire Lotuses. When he poured his effort into this, more and more Lotuses bloomed, forming obstacles. The wall of water barriers were also layered on top of each other… Facing such a constricting morass, the giant Tongyu’s speed was greatly reduced, making it impossible for him to catch Ji Ning.

“A Dao Domain.” From within the Blacklight Tower, Nong Zidao’s pupils contracted. “So it truly is a Dao Domain. The layers of defensive barriers formed by the rainwater… for them to be this powerful… a Dao Domain at the mere age of sixteen. A monster!”

He hadn’t been certain before.

But when Ji Ning began to use the Rainwater Sword Domain at full power, causing the boundless rain to become his tool of obstruction, experts like Nong Zidao and Tongyu could confirm it was a Dao Domain. Nothing else could be this powerful.

The Water-Fire Lotuses bloomed one after another.

The Rainwater Sword Domain was omnipresent. While each layer of the rain barrier was inferior to a Water-Fire Lotus, there was so much rainwater that quantity became quality. This was why Tongyu’s speed was so diminished.

“Fight me if you dare!” Tongyu bellowed savagely. “Using such underhanded tricks, what skill is that?”

“Being able to trap you is also a skill,” Ji Ning retorted coldly. “And trapped, you will surely die.”

Tongyu’s expression changed.

“I see…” The look on Tongyu’s face was all the confirmation Ji Ning needed. His guess was correct.

From their earlier direct conflict, Tongyu had been overwhelmingly powerful. Even the full force of his ninth-layer sword-light had only forced him back three steps. Even when it cut into him, his two-storey-tall body could take a wound from a sword-light that would then dissipate. But the Heavenly Dao was fair after all.

The Heavenly Transformation Divine Ability granted a surge in strength, speed, and even physical toughness along with a massive increase in size…

With such a leap in combat power, there had to be a drawback, didn’t there?

Its weakness was likely… the massive consumption of Divine Power! Maintaining the state of Heavenly Transformation consumed an astonishing amount of Divine Power.

Ji Ning himself had trained in the Divine Ability ‘Windwing Evasion.’ The Windwing Evasion was different from the Heavenly Transformation. The Windwing Evasion leaned more toward technique! The Heavenly Transformation… leaned more toward a Divine Ability technique for body manipulation.

The Windwing Evasion was a flight evasion Divine Ability. Its great Roc diagrams contained profoundly deep mysteries, as well as techniques for using Divine Power! When he had fought Bozishan earlier, Ji Ning had consumed Divine Power to execute the Windwing Evasion. But in this fight with Tongyu, Ji Ning was solely using his Yuan power.

When one uses Divine Power to execute a Divine Ability, the might of that Divine Power can be exerted dozens or even a hundred times over. Naturally, such a Divine Ability is incredibly powerful.

However, Ji Ning’s current Fiendgod Body Refining ‘Divine Power’ was merely at the Xiantian (perfect) level, whereas his Ki Refining Yuan force was beyond the Zifu Disciple level. Yuan power could control his treasure-feathered wings; by using the mysteries of the great Roc diagrams, it was naturally quite fast.

“Sustaining the Heavenly Transformation consumes a fearsome amount of Divine Power. Let’s see how much you have,” Ji Ning mused to himself. “My own consumption is almost negligible. Both the Rainwater Sword Domain and the Water-Fire Lotuses are formed by drawing upon the power of Heaven and Earth.”

“Ji Ning!”

The giant Tongyu roared, “You will resort to such vile methods!”

Ji Ning, however, did his utmost to control the Rainwater Sword Domain and the Water-Fire Lotuses, wildly binding his opponent. Just as Ji Ning had guessed, the amount of Divine Power consumed by using the Divine Ability was terrifyingly high. The giant Tongyu didn’t dare to revert to his normal form, fearing Ji Ning’s sword-light would instantly drown and kill him.

……

Half an hour.

This was the last half hour of Tongyu’s life. For a time, he stopped smashing the Water-Fire Lotuses and the layers of water. This would slow down the consumption of his Divine Power. But… when he stopped, Ji Ning sent his sword-light to attack him. Being wounded by the sword-light, and then needing to heal, consumed even more Divine Power.

Fighting was impossible, but not fighting was also impossible.

Finally, his Divine Power utterly exhausted, Tongyu’s massive form shrank back down to the size of a normal man. Scythe! A streak of sword-light flashed past like a drop of rain, and Tongyu’s head flew through the air. His body crashed to the ground. With his Divine Power completely depleted, he had no way to heal such a wound. He was dead.

“Senior Apprentice-Brother Tongyu is dead!”

“Senior Apprentice-Brother Tongyu!”

The other Zifu Disciples were panicking, but trapped within the Blackflame Dragon Prison Formation, there was nowhere for them to escape.

“It’s over.” Within the Blacklight Tower, Nong Zidao reached out and gently stroked the Immortal Crane at his side. A pained, sorrowful look appeared in his eyes. “Crane, I’m sorry. Coming to the Yan Mountains was a mistake. I can’t save you now. I hope the Ji Clan will spare your life, master and servant… this is where it ends.” In his other hand, a Dao Talisman appeared.

Whoosh. A ripple of spatial energy flickered around him, and Nong Zidao vanished from within the Blacklight Tower. All that remained behind were the other five Zifu Disciples, the Earth Dragon, and the Immortal Crane.

The Immortal Crane let out a mournful cry, tears streaming from its eyes.