The Grand Dao Domain

Mu Northson and Nine Lotos, who were close with Ji Ning, both knew that his mother was named Yuchi Snow. Earlier, they had all been thinking about how to delay and at least escape this major world alive. Afterwards, relying on the power of the Dongyan clan and the Black-White College, they could send Ji Ning to another minor world or even a major world to flee for his life.

Unfortunately…

Xue Hongyi had already investigated Ji Ning. He had even purchased intelligence regarding Ji Ning from the Heavenly Treasures Mountain. Of course he knew the identity of Ji Ning’s mother.

“Shaoyan Nong!” Nine Lotos was enraged.

“Stop!” Yu Wei’s brow suddenly lit up with a white light, her aura rapidly turning terrifying as she let out a furious shout.

Cangjiang Realperson and Mu Northson both shouted in rage as well.

“Whoosh.”

Xiangliu Fang merely stretched out a single hand. His palm instantly expanded to a colossal size, and his five fingers transformed into five great serpents, each a hundred zhang long. They shot straight towards Nine Lotos, Yu Wei, Mu Northson, and Cangjiang Realperson. The terrifying aura emanating from each serpent caused Nine Lotos and the others to pale.

“Nine Lotos, I will not kill you,” Shaoyan Nong said, pointing at her. “But the three fellow disciples by your side… Uncle Fang, if they dare to act, kill them directly.”

Although he harbored a covetous desire for Yu Wei, women were mere playthings to Shaoyan Nong. Playthings, after all, were just playthings. He would kill one as easily as he would say the word.

“You…”

“Shaoyan Nong…”

Nine Lotos, Mu Northson, Yu Wei, and Cangjiang Realperson were all gnashing their teeth in fury. But they understood Xiangliu Fang’s strength very well. He possessed an utterly overwhelming advantage in power.

Although they had some life-saving treasures, they could at most protect themselves for a short time. There was simply no hope of turning the tables.

“Senior apprentice-sister, junior apprentice-brother, fellow disciple, Nine Lotos.” Ji Ning looked at the group in the great hall, then directed a calm gaze at Shaoyan Nong atop the dais. “Don’t interfere. This is between me and Shaoyan Nong.”

“Ji Ning.” Nine Lotos called out anxiously.

Ji Ning looked at her. “Don’t worry.”

“Shaoyan Nong!!!” Nine Lotos was furious. “You are provoking my Dongyan clan!”

“If the Dongyan Ancestor himself said that, I would have to think twice. But you?” Shaoyan Nong smiled and shook his head.

Nine Lotos’s hand suddenly produced a terrifying black lotus. The black lotus rapidly expanded in size, causing Xiangliu Fang to sneer coldly, “You seek death!” Instantly, the finger that had transformed into a great serpent slammed into the black lotus with reckless abandon. The black lotus trembled, then cracked. Yet this cracked black lotus still flew towards the great serpent.

Bang!

The great serpent instantly turned into an ice sculpture before shattering into pieces. Even Xiangliu Fang’s entire palm was frozen solid, all the way up to his elbow, before completely disintegrating. However, Xiangliu Fang’s arm immediately grew back. With a crack, the finger that had become a serpent lashed out at Nine Lotos, sending her flying back and spitting blood.

“Not bad, but it can only wound Uncle Fang,” Shaoyan Nong said with a shake of his head. “If even I can’t produce a treasure capable of killing Uncle Fang, how could you?”

Xiangliu Fang was a member of the primordial Xiangliu clan, a Fiendgod race with tremendous vitality and combat power on par with a top-tier Loose Immortal.

Killing Xiangliu Fang? How difficult would that be!

“Xue Hongyi, I am giving you an opportunity to render meritorious service.” Shaoyan Nong turned to look at Xue Hongyi. “Go. Kill Ji Ning.”

“I kill Ji Ning?” Xue Hongyi was stunned.

“Are you killing him, or not?” A cold light flashed through Shaoyan Nong’s eyes.

Xue Hongyi cursed silently to himself. He had been currying favor with Shaoyan Nong all along, even revealing that Ji Ning’s mother was called ‘Yuchi Snow’ in order to please him. He never imagined that Shaoyan Nong’s heart could be so ruthless. He actually wanted him to kill Ji Ning! He had absolutely no confidence in that.

“I’ll kill him, I’ll kill him,” Xue Hongyi quickly nodded, thinking to himself, “I might not be able to kill Ji Ning, but I am confident I can preserve my life.”

“Ji Ning, accept your death!” Xue Hongyi let out a furious shout, and instantly countless flying needles shot towards Ji Ning.

Shaoyan Nong and Xiangliu Fang both stood on the dais, watching the scene unfold. A look of anticipation was in Shaoyan Nong’s eyes. “This Xue Hongyi should be slightly weaker than Ji Ning. If Ji Ning truly fights for his life, he should be able to kill Xue Hongyi… and when Xue Hongyi dies, his Immortal-ranked magic treasure will become mine.”

“Uncle Fang, once Xue Hongyi is dead, you will go ahead and kill Ji Ning,” Shaoyan Nong sent mentally. “By then, the Immortal-ranked magic treasure will be mine as well.”

“Understood, young master,” Xiangliu Fang replied.

When he heard Shaoyan Nong say, “Kill Ji Ning. Anyone who obstructs my Shaoyan clan will be killed without mercy,” a resolute determination to slaughter Shaoyan Nong surged within Ji Ning’s heart!

Xiangliu Fang was far too powerful. Ji Ning had no confidence whatsoever, but at this moment, he no longer cared.

“Kill!” Xue Hongyi charged.

“I’ll kill you first, and then Shaoyan Nong.” Ji Ning held his pair of Northsea swords, too lazy to even bother concealing himself with his wings anymore.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!!!

Countless flying needles filled the sky, blotting out the heavens.

“Kill!” Ji Ning let out a furious roar. In this instant, his Sword Heart became more firm than ever before.

He understood.

He had already set foot on a completely different path. If he failed to kill Shaoyan Nong, he would die, trapped as he was within the Immortal estate with no way to escape. If he succeeded in killing Shaoyan Nong, then as the one most likely to become the next Yufeng Gong, the Shaoyan clan would pursue him in a frenzied hunt. That was a force far more terrifying than Anchan’s Beishan clan.

Two paths.

One was the path to death.

The other was to be hunted by the Shaoyan clan.

Driven to this extreme, Ji Ning instead became incomparably resolute.

“Rumble!”

His mind and soul became clearer than ever before. Ji Ning suddenly felt time slow down. The Grand Dao he had been striving to touch but had never truly been able to enter finally allowed him to step within. This was the Grand Dao… the ‘Dao of the Sword’! It was a vast, mighty Dao. In this instant, Ji Ning felt as if he himself had transformed into a sword, roaming freely amidst this Grand Dao.

In this moment, Ji Ning had fully entered the ‘Dao Domain’.

Most cultivators who comprehended the Dao would experience a ‘Domain of the Dao’, but that was for ordinary Daos. The Dao of the Sword was one of the Grand Daos. To reach the ‘Grand Dao Domain’ was actually far more difficult than comprehending a complete ordinary Dao. Although Ji Ning had long since reached the fifth stance of the Three-Foot Sword, if he hadn’t been pushed to his absolute limit today, achieving sudden inner clarity and breaking through the final barrier, it would have been difficult for him to comprehend this level.

Within the sea of consciousness.

Ji Ning’s divine soul had actually transformed into a sword—an incomparably dazzling sword. This was a ‘Sword Soul’, something only a Sword Immortal who had truly stepped into the ‘Grand Dao Domain’ could possess. It was a fundamental transformation in the nature of the soul.

Whoosh. The sword immediately transformed back into Ji Ning’s appearance, but the divine Ji Ning now had faint, flickering sword-light radiating from him.

“What is the purpose of a single life in this world?”

“It is to live with unbridled satisfaction.”

“Kill, kill, kill.”

“Kill all grievances and injustices!”

“Kill all who deserve to die!”

“Then, and only then, will I know true satisfaction.”

“As a Loose Immortal, there is no path to eternal life.”

“But…”

“One day lived with unbridled satisfaction is better than a hundred years lived in frustration.”

“My sword is a sword of unbridled satisfaction, a sword that cuts down all grievances and injustices. This sword-art… is called the ‘Three-Foot Sword’.”

As Ji Ning faced Xue Hongyi in battle, he laughed aloud, a laugh of unbridled satisfaction. “Kill, kill, kill! Kill all grievances and injustices! Kill all who deserve to die! One day lived with unbridled satisfaction is better than a hundred years lived in frustration!” Accompanying Ji Ning’s laughter, the Northsea swords in his hands suddenly became incomparably dazzling, incomparably vast and mighty.

Whoosh!

An utterly terrifying sword-qi instantly filled the entire great hall. A single, blinding streak of sword-light swept out with irresistible force, scattering all the flying needle treasures before it, then cutting across Xue Hongyi’s body.

“I, I, I…” Xue Hongyi’s eyes bulged wide. He had never imagined it would end this way. Under the horrifying sword-qi that attacked even the soul itself, his soul began to disintegrate and dissipate.

Immediately afterwards, his body split into two, tumbling to the ground.

The Sixth Stance of the Three-Foot Sword — Grand Dao Domain!

The Three-Foot Sword, the highest sword-art of the Black-White College, only had six stances passed down in the mortal world. The final three stances were transmitted through a Sword Immortal inheritance.

The First Stance — Sword Heart Illumination.

The Second Stance — Thorns Everywhere.

The Third Stance — Sword Light Flashes.

The Fourth Stance — Blazing Sun at High Noon.

The Fifth Stance — Moonlight Sheathes the Sword.

The Sixth Stance — Grand Dao Domain.

These stances had no absolute template. For example, the First Stance, ‘Sword Heart Illumination’ would manifest differently for each cultivator. The Three-Foot Sword was primarily a guide, leading a Sword Immortal to execute the techniques most suitable for themselves. Every practitioner of the Three-Foot Sword could unleash their own unique version.

And here, in his life-or-death crisis, his heart had united with the Grand Dao, allowing Ji Ning to reach the ‘Grand Dao Domain’. The power of the stance he comprehended was utterly terrifying.

“This is the Grand Dao Domain?” Shaoyan Nong, who had remained composed and unflappable, saw the sword-qi pervading the entire great hall, a sword-qi that caused even his soul to shudder with fear. His expression instantly changed dramatically, and he stared at the barbarian youth in beast-hide, this ‘Ji Ning’ who had killed Xue Hongyi with a single, berserk strike. “How old is he? He has already reached the Grand Dao Domain! And of all things, it is the Dao of the Sword, the most skilled at attacking!”

For the first time, Shaoyan Nong felt a surge of jealousy. Why didn’t he possess such talent? Why did it have to belong to this barbarian youth?

“The Grand Dao Domain?”

“This Dao of the Sword…”

Yu Wei, Cangjiang Realperson, and Nine Lotos were all filled with awe. The pervasive sword-qi carried an aura of absolute resolve, sharpness, and an unstoppable will.

The sword is a sharp weapon.

Only when a Sword Immortal’s heart was as sharp, as resolute, and as unstoppable as a sword itself could they truly comprehend the essence of the ‘Dao of the Sword’.

Once the sword leaves its sheath, there is no regret.

Once the sword leaves its sheath, nothing can stand in its way.

This was the Sword Immortal!

“Kill!” Ji Ning gripped his swords in both hands. His body rapidly expanded, transforming into a thirty-meter-tall giant. At the same time, he activated the divine ability ‘Starseizing Hand’. In this moment, the light of Ji Ning’s swords had reached a terrifying, soul-shaking intensity. However, Xiangliu Fang let out a furious roar, his palm slapping down like a black cloud, the great serpents on his fingers madly trying to devour everything.

Boom!

With a thunderous crash, Xiangliu Fang’s palm was ripped open, blood splattering everywhere as his divine power exploded into the air.

Ji Ning, on the other hand, was sent flying backward, spitting out a mouthful of blood. In that moment, he understood. Although his strength had increased dramatically, compared to Xiangliu Fang, whose combat power rivaled that of a top-tier Loose Immortal, a single palm from his opponent was enough to defeat him. The gap was far too great.

“Ji Ning!”

“Senior apprentice-brother!”

Mu Northson, Yu Wei, and Nine Lotos all cried out in alarm.

As Ji Ning flew backward, madness filled his eyes. A black bangle that had been resting on his arm suddenly appeared in his palm. This was a treasure personally created by the ancient Daoist Threelives. It was also one of Ji Ning’s two life-saving treasures and the only one he had for offense. He had no other options left.

“Go!” Ji Ning flung the black bangle.