The Moment Fate Knocks

In the Brightmoon Landscape Painting, the entire world was perpetually bathed in hazy moonlight.

Ji Ning moved silently through the forest, making his way to the summit of a mountain peak before anyone noticed. He crouched low amid the grass and undergrowth, peering into the distance.

Deep in a valley far ahead lay a lake as smooth as a mirror. A fierce battle was raging by its shores—three figures besieging a single woman.

Among the three attackers was a long-haired man in a black robe, suspended in midair. Before him, a massive black flood dragon had coalesced into being, so solid it seemed almost corporeal, radiating immense power as it savagely assaulted the woman.

Another was a silver-haired woman. She kept opening her mouth wide, and with a roaring whoosh-whoosh, terrifying gales of wind-blade energy resembling countless flying swords swept forth, shearing away an entire layer of the ground. The cyan-tinged wind energy battered relentlessly at the woman.

The last attacker was a silver-robed youth, cold and aloof. From a distance he pointed at the void, where a titanic sword over a hundred zhang tall hung in the air, stabbing down again and again at the woman below.

The woman besieged by three...

Was none other than a stunning girl in black. Around her, two enormous phoenixes—one of ice, one of fire—circled frantically, struggling with all their might to defend her. But under the assault of all three attackers, she was clearly overwhelmed, and the coiled body of the black flood dragon trapped her inescapably.

"Senior Apprentice-Sister Yu Wei!" Ji Ning's eyes widened.

The woman being cornered was indeed his senior apprentice-sister, Yu Wei. The black-robed man's eyes had started to glow red, and the black flood dragon began to transform...

"Hold!" Ji Ning bellowed, his voice exploding like thunder.

Whoosh!

Ji Ning instantly manifested the Windwing Evasion, shooting forward like a roc as he surged into the sky.

Yu Wei felt she was truly at a dead end. Each of these three opponents was remarkably powerful, especially the massive black flood dragon. That black dragon was the manifestation of a treasure-formation, its sinuous, coiled body completely trapping her.

The silver-haired woman's "Wind-Devil" secret art was equally terrifying. Every gale that swept past made it feel as though she were fleeing against a hurricane, her speed reduced to a crawl.

"Only six days in, and I'm already cornered," Yu Wei gritted her teeth.

Roooar!

The great ice phoenix—formed from her thirty-six Luohou Divine Needles—was encased in a layer of crystalline ice, hard as steel, and it repeatedly blocked the wind-devils, the flood dragon, and the heavenly sword. This was Yu Wei's trump-card defensive art.

The fire phoenix, formed from the other thirty-six needles, blazed with violent heat. Each time it charged, it could obliterate the wind-devils, drive back the flood dragon, or repel the heavenly sword. But a phoenix could only counter one threat at a time.

"Senior Apprentice-Brother, Senior Apprentice-Sister, this woman is quite capable. She must have a lot of talisman tokens—perhaps over a hundred. I'll suppress her, and you both finish her off together," the black-robed long-haired man sent mentally. They were from the same sect, and he—who looked the oldest—was actually the junior apprentice-brother.

"Fine."

"Do it, Junior Apprentice-Brother," the silver-haired woman and the silver-robed youth both replied.

The black-robed man clenched his jaw, his eyes faintly reddening as he poured out his Yuan energy. With a mighty roar, the enormous black flood dragon split into two massive heads. The twin-headed black dragon's aura exploded upward, and it savagely pounced at the ice phoenix. If the ice phoenix was shattered, Yu Wei would lose her last bastion, and it would all be over.

"Damn it," Yu Wei bit her lip, a wild look flashing in her eyes.

Just then—

"Hold!" A furious shout, infused with Yuan power, detonated in the air around them.

The silver-haired woman, the silver-robed youth, and the black-robed man all turned their heads to see a black-robed youth hurtling toward them like a vast roc.

Yu Wei also turned and saw the rapidly approaching black-robed youth.

The moment she recognized his face, her heart trembled.

"Ji Ning!" Yu Wei couldn't believe it.

At the very moment she had fallen into desperate straits... her junior apprentice-brother had arrived, of all the coincidences.

"Is this... destiny?" In that instant, Yu Wei's heart was thrown into chaos. The truth was, long ago, when Ji Ning had first entered the Black-White College, Yu Wei had already looked into his background. She knew his past... and she, too, had a tragic history. Both of her parents were dead as well.

From that time, Yu Wei had secretly harbored good feelings toward Ji Ning. When he stood out brilliantly in the Dao Debate Palace, she had witnessed that exuberant confidence. Later, she had personally fought him, defeating him and even teasing him a little.

Given her usual cold demeanor toward others, why would she casually tease a junior apprentice-brother?

She had silently watched Ji Ning...

But then Ji Ning and Nine Lotos had come together. It had turned Yu Wei's heart into an overturned bottle of five spices. She could only silently send her blessings and bury all her feelings deep inside.

Later, she heard that Ji Ning had defeated the Snowfeather Daoist. That gave her an excuse to visit him together with Mu Northson and Cangjiang True Immortal. She even planned to spend the next two or three years at Serpentwing Lake. But then Shaoyan Nong had unexpectedly invited them to the Wu Jiang Immortal Estate.

During the Wu Jiang Immortal Estate expedition...

Nine Lotos and Ji Ning had ultimately parted ways.

Nine Lotos chose to leave. At that moment, Yu Wei had felt an impulse to say, "I'll go with you!" But what right did she have to say that? She wasn't Ji Ning's Dao-companion. And with the calamity looming ahead, her strength was insufficient to help him. All she could do was rack her brains for countermeasures!

She had parted with Ji Ning, watching him venture out alone. She could only force everything down, burying it deep and silently wishing him well.

Who would have thought...

Ji Ning was even more dazzling than she had anticipated. His second Primaltwin had slain the Immortal that was Floating Cloud, so the Shaoyan clan could do nothing to him. And he had also participated in the Immortal Fortunes Assembly! That filled Yu Wei's heart with secret joy. But once they entered the Brightmoon Landscape Painting world, they had all been scattered.

"The Brightmoon Landscape Painting world is vast. There are over a hundred thousand people in it. It's only the sixth day, and at the very moment I'm at death's door, Ji Ning appears right on time. Is this fate? Is this the arrangement of destiny?" Yu Wei was both delighted and flustered.

Ji Ning shot through the air like lightning.

The silver-robed youth, the silver-haired woman, and the black-robed man were all furious.

"Junior Apprentice-Sister, block him," the silver-robed youth sent.

"Fine."

The silver-haired woman turned to face Ji Ning and opened her mouth wide. Whoosh-whoosh-whoosh—a massive storm of cyan-edged wind energy, which upon closer inspection was actually countless "cyan needles," swept toward him. This wind was far more penetrating than ordinary wind-devils, its power far greater.

Hoooo...

A beautiful lotus of water and fire bloomed. The immense lotus, with its layers of incredibly resilient petals, directly blocked the gale. After all, Ji Ning's technique was founded on top-grade Earthfire and Cold-sha, drawing on the power of water and fire from Heaven and Earth and condensed into his own secret art.

In terms of secret arts, Ji Ning was a hair above his opponent—this was a technique he had created himself.

And his Earthfire and Cold-sha were two elements, while the woman's wind-devils were only a single element.

Although her wind-devils were terrifying, they were still blocked by the Water-Fire Lotus.

"Get lost!" Ji Ning, still hurtling forward, suddenly expanded his body, swelling to eighteen zhang in height. A black-robed giant surrounded by arcs of lightning. At the same time, the center of his forehead split open, revealing a vertical eye.

Divine Ability—Thunderclap God-Eye!

Crack!

A bolt of lightning shot out from Ji Ning's third eye—the vertical eye on his brow—striking with impossible speed. It slammed into the round umbrella that the silver-haired woman had raised in defense. The combination of "Fivefold Thunderbody" and "Thunderclap God-Eye" amplified the lightning's power far beyond ordinary divine abilities. The silver-haired woman was blasted backward, coughing up blood. Simultaneously, the Thunderclap God-Eye also carried a spiritual shock.

"Ahh!" The silver-haired woman screamed in agony.

"Protect her!" The black-robed man and the silver-robed youth were both alarmed. They had expected the wind-devils to at least delay the youth, but not only had he easily blocked them, he had struck back and wounded their comrade with a single lightning bolt.

"Go!" The silver-robed youth could no longer afford to focus on Yu Wei. The black-robed youth, surrounded by that water-and-fire lotus and charging forward with unstoppable momentum, was far too fierce.

Hum!

At the silver-robed youth's mental command, the hundred-zhang heavenly sword, its surface covered in flowing runes, gathered its power at the tip. The titanic sword shot forward like a lightning bolt, stabbing straight at Ji Ning.

"Block me?" Ji Ning's momentum only swelled. He didn't dodge or flinch. The vertical eye on his brow fired two more bolts of lightning.

Crack! Crack!

One bolt struck at the silver-robed youth, the other at the black-robed man.

These lightning bolts were not to be taken lightly. Both of them knew it well, so they each used their own methods to block.

A chain appeared around the silver-robed youth. Crack! The lightning bolt was absorbed by the chain, which was sent flying, but the spiritual shock within the lightning still entered the youth's body. His expression shifted, but he managed to endure.

The black-robed man was protected by the black flood dragon, which took the brunt of the lightning bolt. However, the formless spiritual shock still entered his body. He staggered, and the black flood dragon flickered unsteadily for a moment before solidifying again.

"Careful! His divine ability has a spiritual attack!" The silver-haired woman, who had been thrown to the ground, sent a frantic mental message.

The fight had been far too fast.

Ji Ning had arrived and immediately fired three lightning bolts, sending all three of them reeling in shock.

"Single Thought, Myriad Soldiers!"

After unleashing his divine ability, Ji Ning then executed a true divine-sense secret art—the "Single Thought, Myriad Soldiers" technique he had acquired from the Wu Jiang Immortal Estate. This was a far more powerful art than the Black-White College's "Soul-Shattering Art." Though Ji Ning had cultivated other divine-sense arts, this was his main one.

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

Within Ji Ning's sea of consciousness, his Primal sat cross-legged, a floating soldier-seal in hand. As divine sense was channeled through the seal... it transformed into countless formless, colorless swords, sabers, and spears, shooting murderously toward the silver-robed youth, the black-robed man, and the silver-haired woman.

Divine-sense attacks were incredibly fast!

The swords formed of divine sense were sharp beyond measure, stabbing directly at their souls!

The sabers were ferocious and unstoppable, hacking brutally at their souls.

The spears combined the advantages of both—fierce and focused, stabbing into their souls with pinpoint precision.

A torrent of formless soldiers—sword after saber after spear—assaulted the three minds.

Rrrrrp! Whoosh! Thud!

Their souls were immediately battered by Ji Ning's divine-sense secret art in a mad frenzy.