The Sole Survivor and the Tangential Insight

“Nong Zidao disappeared?” Ji Ning frowned.

The other five Zifu Disciples were terrified and unsettled. With the boost of the grand formation behind him, Ji Ning possessed the strength of a Wanxiang Adept, while the five of them couldn’t even combine their forces.

“Ji Ning, spare our lives, please.”

“I’ll give you all the treasures I have. My tribe will also offer treasures to ransom my life.”

“Ji Ning…”

…

The five of them all begged for mercy. Their morale was utterly shattered.

Ji Ning swept his gaze across them.

“Ji Ning,” a voice suddenly rang out in his ears. It was the Patriarch. “We’ve killed these two groups of Zifu Disciples. We still have about two days before the Grand Xia Dynasty’s Celestial Envoy arrives… In these two days, more Snowdragon Mountain disciples might still show up. We don’t have the time or manpower to guard these prisoners. Kill them all. As for those two Zifu direbeasts, if they can be tamed, tame them. If not, kill them.”

Ji Ning nodded.

The Patriarch was right.

“Accept your deaths,” Ji Ning said calmly, looking at the five.

A single strand of sword-light condensed before him, transforming into a streak of rain that flew toward them. Then another strand followed.

It was only the eighth layer of the Lesser Thousand Sword Formation!

“Ji Ning, Snowdragon Mountain will avenge us!”

“Ji Ning, you’ll die a horrible death!”

The five went mad, each of them trying to fight for their life. But without being able to combine their formation, even their powerful Dao talismans merely exploded against the watery wall, unable to touch Ji Ning at all.

Within a few breaths, all five were dead.

“Will you two direbeasts submit?” Ji Ning’s gaze shifted to the Earth Dragon and the Celestial Crane that were still alive.

The Earth Dragon and the Celestial Crane exchanged a glance. Then the Earth Dragon transformed into a green-armored giant, and the Celestial Crane took the form of a white-robed maiden. Both knelt and prostrated themselves. “We are willing to submit!”

Although Zifu direbeasts were incredibly proud and hard to tame.

But when faced with only two choices—‘death’ or ‘submission’—especially when the opponent’s strength was overwhelming, they would generally submit.

“Follow me.” Ji Ning’s gaze swept across the area. The rain vanished. Immediately afterward, blazing flames erupted, burning the corpses of the five Zifu Disciples to ash, leaving only their magic treasures and other items. Ji Ning easily collected them all.

“Yes.” The Earth Dragon and the Celestial Crane followed Ji Ning.

They quickly passed through the thick black mist and saw Ji Jiuhuo.

“Oh?” Ji Ning was surprised. In addition to the Patriarch and his father, Ji Liuzhen, Granny Shadow, and the old servant A Xing had also arrived.

“I asked them to come,” Ji Jiuhuo said with a smile. “The two groups of Zifu Disciples are all dead. We have no enemies for the moment, so I had them all come over.”

“Ji Ning, incredible!” Ji Liuzhen’s eyes lit up.

“Impressive, truly impressive.” The old servant A Xing was also beaming with joy.

Granny Shadow nodded and smiled as well.

Everyone was happy.

In just two or three days, Snowdragon Mountain had only been able to recruit some local Zifu Disciples from the surrounding area… As for the Snowdragon Mountain Sect itself, it was too far away. There was no way for them to make it in time. Now that they’d already slain eighteen Zifu Disciples and tamed two Zifu spirit-beasts, the threat from here on out should be much smaller.

“It’s a pity that Nong Zidao escaped,” Patriarch Ji Jiuhuo said with a shake of his head.

“Patriarch, how did he escape? He just suddenly vanished?” Ji Ning quickly asked. Granny Shadow and the others also looked at the Patriarch; they had just arrived and hadn’t had a chance to ask for details.

Ji Jiuhuo shook his head. “I don’t know either. He simply disappeared. There was no trace of him anywhere in the grand formation. But if we ask his spirit-beast, we’ll probably find out.”

Ji Ning and the others’ eyes lit up. Right. Ask the spirit-beast.

“Celestial Crane.” Ji Jiuhuo looked at the white-robed maiden. “How did Nong Zidao escape?”

The white-robed maiden said respectfully, “My previous master was skilled in formations and was highly valued by his teacher, who bestowed upon him a ‘Smallteleportation Dao Talisman’. Once this Smallteleportation Dao Talisman is activated, it can instantly teleport the user to any location within ten thousand li.”

“Smallteleportation Dao Talisman?” Ji Ning and the others exchanged glances.

Ji Ning silently committed the name to memory. It seemed that the Smallteleportation Dao Talisman was the same as his own Ten-Thousand-Mile Trace-Away Talisman. This Ten-Thousand-Mile Trace-Away Talisman had been obtained by an ancestor of the Ji Clan’s Western Prefecture through sheer chance; they had used two of them and had only one left. Because it could teleport anyone within ten thousand li, it was named the Ten-Thousand-Mile Trace-Away Talisman.

“Patriarch, what should we do with these two spirit-beasts?” Ji Ning looked at Ji Jiuhuo. Ji Jiuhuo and the other four exchanged glances.

“Ji Ning, would you be willing to take them in?” Ji Jiuhuo asked in return.

Ji Ning looked at the Earth Dragon and the Celestial Crane. Zifu spirit-beasts were very precious; even most Zifu Disciples couldn’t obtain them. But to be honest… Ji Ning didn’t really care about these two Zifu spirit-beasts. After his recent enlightenment, he would break through to the seventh stage of Fiendgod Body Refining in either a short moment or a few days.

In just a few more years, he would reach the ninth stage of Fiendgod Body Refining! Zifu spirit-beasts were truly useless to him; they would only hold him back.

“I don’t need them,” Ji Ning said with a shake of his head.

“In that case,” Ji Jiuhuo nodded, “I’ll take them in for now. After this tribulation is over, we’ll decide how to distribute them.”

“Alright.”

“Agreed.”

Ji Liuzhen, Granny Shadow, Ji Yichuan, and the others all nodded without objection. It was still too early to talk about the ownership of the spirit-beasts. None of them knew if they would even survive this tribulation.

“These are the magic treasures left behind by Tongyu and the others.” Ji Ning waved his hand, and a large number of magic treasures appeared on the ground. “Everyone, take a look and see what’s useful. If you find any flying swords… please refine them for me, elders. I need to find a place to train; I gained some insights from that battle just now.”

“Alright, leave it to us.” Ji Jiuhuo and the others didn’t refuse at all.

“Mm.” Ji Ning immediately turned and swiftly flew away.

The Earth Dragon and the Celestial Crane, now in the forms of the green-armored giant and the white-robed maiden, both looked a little disappointed. They had actually wanted to become Ji Ning’s spirit-beasts… For one, they didn’t hate Ji Ning. The Earth Dragon, for instance, had been forcibly taken by Tongyu back in the day through sheer strength. As for the Celestial Crane, although she had some feelings for Nong Zidao, since Nong Zidao had abandoned her to save his own life, that bond was severed. Secondly, Ji Ning was only sixteen years old and already this monstrous. His future prospects were boundless. Following a master like that, they would have a much brighter future.

Unfortunately, Ji Ning wasn’t willing to accept them.

…

In a mountain forest shrouded in netherworld energy, Ji Ning sat cross-legged.

“Yin and Yang transform into each other. They give birth to each other without end.” Ji Ning murmured to himself, then closed his eyes and began to ponder and comprehend. Earlier, when he was studying the Lesser Thousand Sword Formation, he had seen through this principle. The Great Daos of this world… were all the same. Whether it was formations, sword techniques, spells, or divine abilities… they all contained the ‘Dao’.

The Dao was the same; only the paths were different.

Ji Ning understood this principle… It would naturally be much easier to break through from the sixth stage of the Crimsonbright Diagram to the seventh stage.

“The mutual transformation of Yin and Yang!” Ji Ning closed his eyes in contemplation, mobilizing the divine power within his body.

About a thousand li from Snowdragon City, ripples appeared in the air, and a figure materialized out of thin air. It was Nong Zidao, still clad in his beast-hide vestments.

There was a look of sorrow in Nong Zidao’s eyes.

“One must never enter a formation lightly. Never enter lightly,” Nong Zidao sighed softly. “Such a simple principle, and yet so many of my Snowdragon Mountain disciples have forgotten it.”

All cultivators knew the principle of ‘never enter a formation lightly’.

Because formations were mysterious… No one knew what was inside a formation. Once you entered, you couldn’t escape! The Wanxiang Adept ‘Mu Xiao’, for example, clearly knew that Bei Zishan was hiding inside, but precisely because Bei Zishan had set up a grand formation, Mu Xiao chose to wait outside rather than enter.

But this time, the many disciples of Snowdragon Mountain had been far too careless.

They knew the principle, but none of them took the Ji Clan seriously. The Ji Clan was just a native tribe, and they knew their strength. They never imagined the Ji Clan could set up such a terrifying formation. Besides, with ‘Senior Apprentice-Brother Tongyu’ and the formation expert ‘Senior Apprentice-Brother Nong Zidao’ among them, along with nearly twenty fellow disciples…

Their strength was too great.

They were fully confident they could sweep away that tiny tribe. It was precisely because of this overconfidence and carelessness that they fell into the grand formation, unable to escape!

Tongyu, for instance, even with the boost of the Blackflame Dragon Prison Formation, was only on par with Ji Ning in power. He only died after his divine power was completely exhausted, leaving him unable to use his divine abilities. If they had been outside the formation, they could have fled the moment things turned bad. But inside the formation, there was nowhere to run!

“One must never enter a formation lightly. But if we don’t go in, are we supposed to just let the Ji Clan stall for time? Just sit back and watch the Grand Xia Dynasty’s Celestial Envoy arrive?” Nong Zidao shook his head and sighed.

“Formations… Ji Ning…”

“The Blackflame Dragon Prison Formation. A monstrous genius who comprehended the ‘Domain’ level of the Dao at sixteen years old. To encounter such a person in a tiny, native tribe… It’s not an unjust defeat. Not unjust at all!” Nong Zidao then produced a boat beneath his feet. The boat immediately tore through the air, cleaving a path through the sky as it rapidly flew toward Snowdragon City.

“Regardless, there are probably still other fellow disciples on their way. I need to warn them as well,” Nong Zidao thought to himself.

Of the group of Zifu Disciples who had gone before, he, Nong Zidao, was the only survivor.

If he didn’t go warn those who came later, when the sect questioned him about it, he, Nong Zidao, would also face censure.

…

A short while later.

A city appeared in the distance.

“Mm?” Nong Zidao, standing on his boat, immediately spotted a figure hovering high in the air above the distant city.

The figure stepped onto a streak of light and flew over rapidly.

“Dong Fanyu?” Nong Zidao immediately recognized the old man.

“Senior Apprentice-Brother Zidao.” Dong Fanyu, upon seeing Nong Zidao, immediately asked with urgent anxiety, “I heard that you and Senior Apprentice-Brother Tongyu led a group to Oxhorn Mountain. How is it that you are here? And… among the many fellow disciples who went to Oxhorn Mountain, quite a few have had their life-tablets shatter. Even my clan’s chieftain, Dong Zizi, had his life-tablet shatter. What in the world happened at Oxhorn Mountain?”

Nong Zidao shook his head. “Embarrassing, truly embarrassing. Of the many fellow disciples who went to Oxhorn Mountain this time, all of them are dead except for me.”

“What? All of them are dead?” Dong Fanyu was shocked. “So many fellow disciples, all of them…”

“All of them are dead except for me,” Nong Zidao sighed. “I came here to warn you that Oxhorn Mountain is extremely dangerous. You absolutely must not enter it lightly. We must prevent any more fellow disciples from suffering the same fate.”

Dong Fanyu became even more frantic. “Can’t enter lightly? Just a moment ago, the Wanxiang Adept Xu Li personally led a group of Zifu Disciples and has already left for Oxhorn Mountain!”