The Third Forbidden Zone

At the entrance of the gorge, there were scattered flowers and grass, but as Ji Ning stepped inside, he felt an inexplicable tremor in his heart.

“Die!”

An ancient, howling roar assailed Ji Ning’s soul.

An endless, terrifying killing intent crashed against him like tidal waves. Ji Ning immediately visualized the Nuwa Diagram. Within his soul, the image of the goddess Nuwa manifested, stabilizing his mind considerably. After so many years at Mount Innerheart, Ji Ning knew well that the Nuwa Diagram was a visualization technique passed down from Nuwa’s lineage, brimming with boundless life-force. Even if his soul was severely wounded, visualizing the Nuwa Diagram allowed for swift recovery. It was a renowned visualization technique from the primordial Pangu’s World.

The ninth level of the Daoist monastery housed the visualization technique, the Nuwa Diagram, a premier method for nourishing the soul, facilitating recovery, and resisting mental assault.

“This place?” Ji Ning quickly regained his composure and took in the scene within the grand gorge.

Mist shrouded the area.

He could only see for a li or two. In the distance, a vaguely humanoid figure lay motionless. From his angle, Ji Ning could only make out two legs and a torso; the thighs were like carved rock, a full hundred zhang long.

“The death-aura is incredibly dense. He should be dead. A body of several hundred zhang… it must be a Fiendgod,” Ji Ning speculated silently.

This treasure ground was mysterious, preventing even divine sense probing. Ji Ning could only rely on conjecture.

“Die.”

Endless killing intent pulsed from the massive Fiendgod corpse, assaulting Ji Ning’s soul. As he drew closer to the corpse, the force of the killing intent grew stronger, forcing him to continuously visualize the Nuwa Diagram to resist.

“The residual killing intent from a corpse forces me to use the Nuwa Diagram. If he were alive, he could probably kill me with ease.” Ji Ning’s original soul had long since been split in two. If one counted the soul within his Primaltwin, it was actually split into three parts!

One portion of his soul resided in his Primaltwin.

One portion resided in his original body’s Primal soul.

The final portion was completely fused with his original body’s flesh—every shred of blood and flesh contained a sliver of his soul. This was the level reached by Fiendgod Body Refining that allowed even a drop of blood to transform into a separate clone.

For those who cultivated both Ki Refining and Fiendgod Body Refining, splitting the soul in two was mandatory upon reaching the Primal stage.

One half fused with the flesh; the other half fused with the Primal soul.

Now, under the assault of the killing intent, Ji Ning’s original Primal soul felt the strain. However, his Fiendgod body was completely unafraid, for his soul and every shred of his flesh were intertwined, making it exceptionally stable. Especially now that he had cultivated the Eight-Nine Arcane Art, even if the killing intent were a hundred or a thousand times stronger, it could not harm his Fiendgod body.

Ji Ning advanced step by step, circling the enormous Fiendgod corpse as he drew nearer.

Finally, he saw it clearly.

The Fiendgod’s skin was a bluish-grey, resembling rock. His facial features were ancient and rugged. His body bore numerous wounds, and the black armor he wore was cracked. Scattered beside him were two fiery-red arrows and a large black bow that had no string.

“I didn’t think a little fellow at the early Void stage could make it here. Admirable, admirable.” A shrill voice sounded.

Ji Ning followed the sound and saw a black-robed youth sitting in a cranny of the gorge’s cliff wall.

“Do you know the Empyrean God Silvermoon?” Ji Ning suddenly asked. This black-robed youth was at least a Celestial Immortal to have reached this place. Many Celestial Immortals of the Crescent Moon Major World had likely taken refuge at Mount Innerheart. If they were of the same sect, things might be easier.

“Empyrean God Silvermoon? Heh, an Empyrean God? Never heard of him.” The black-robed youth sat there, looking at Ji Ning. “Kid, it seems you have a strong background, knowing even an Empyrean God. But in this treasure ground, knowing anyone is useless. To get the treasures, it all depends on ability.”

Ji Ning judged inwardly that this black-robed youth was probably not of Mount Innerheart’s lineage.

Earlier, when he himself had breached the lightning forbidden zone, even the Celestial Immortal Wuyan outside had guessed he was from Mount Innerheart. This black-robed youth, however, showed no such recognition.

“The Crescent Moon Major World still has quite a few Celestial Immortals who haven’t submitted to Mount Innerheart and don’t even know of its existence,” Ji Ning mused.

“Kid, you’ve only passed two forbidden zones. There’s still one more. Let me warn you… the treasures on that Fiendgod corpse aren’t so easy to take.” The black-robed youth sat leisurely, as if waiting to see Ji Ning make a fool of himself.

Ji Ning looked at the black-robed youth. “You’re just going to let me take the treasures without stopping me?”

“Stop you? Even the lightning forbidden zone couldn’t harm your body in the slightest. You freak, even if I attacked, it would be a waste of Immortal energy. If I had a binding-type treasure, I could tie you up. But unfortunately, I don’t.” The black-robed youth shrugged helplessly.

Ji Ning understood the weakness of the Eight-Nine Arcane Art.

Having merely reached the third cycle, his body was already incredibly formidable. However, if he encountered binding treasures like ropes or demon-suppression pagodas that could directly bind or capture him, he would be in trouble. But he wasn’t a fool—with his sword in hand, he could resist. Binding him would be extremely difficult. And even if he were bound, it wouldn’t kill him.

“Then I’ll go collect the treasure,” Ji Ning said, moving closer to the Fiendgod corpse.

When he reached about a hundred zhang away—

Suddenly—

The large black bow beside the corpse lit up. The bow had a broken string, but at this moment, endless surging natural forces converged upon it. A bowstring formed from natural forces appeared, along with a fiery-red arrow also made of natural forces.

“Whoosh!” The black bow, with no one controlling it, loosed the arrow.

The arrow streaked through the air, faster than lightning, arriving before Ji Ning in an instant.

“Block.”

Ji Ning swung his arm, and the arrow struck his upper-arm.

Boom!

The tremendous impact sent Ji Ning flying backward several hundred zhang, crashing into the distant cliff wall. The wall rumbled and cracked, and large chunks of stone fell. Ji Ning leaped down from the crater in the wall.

“What a treasure!” Rather than being alarmed, Ji Ning was delighted.

“You freak, you can even withstand that?” The distant black-robed youth was stunned.

Ji Ning, however, was excited as he stared at the large black bow that was gathering natural forces: “It’s gathering natural forces, not the slightest trace of Immortal energy. It has to be the bow’s artifact spirit acting on its own. Without an owner, just the treasure itself possesses such power… It’s unbelievable.”

The Greenfire Lotus Lamp from before could be forcibly seized by Xue Hongyi.

The Thousandbull Sword could be taken by Ji Ning when he was still a Wanxiang Adept, thanks to the Starseizing Hand.

But now, with his strength immeasurably greater than before, he had been sent flying by a treasure drawing upon natural forces!

“The Thousandbull Sword was a supreme-grade Immortal-ranked treasure, nearly on par with a Pure Yang treasure. Then this bow… is at least a Pure Yang treasure. If it is Pure Yang, it’s probably high-grade or even top-grade Pure Yang. Or it could even be a Protocosmic spirit-treasure!” Ji Ning made a rapid judgment.

Just the treasure itself, without an owner, displayed might comparable to a Celestial Immortal!

“Right. That Fiendgod corpse has been dead for who knows how many ages, yet its residual killing intent is so terrifying. How could the bow and arrows used by such a powerful being be ordinary?” Ji Ning frowned. “But the bowstring is broken, and his armor is cracked. I wonder what kind of battle caused such damage, even to such formidable treasures. It even cost the Fiendgod his life. And the strangest thing is… after his death, his corpse still remains!”

One must understand, a Fiendgod’s soul is intertwined with its flesh and blood.

With a single drop of blood, one could generally be reborn from a drop of blood!

Unless…

A supreme expert had wiped out every shred of the soul intertwined with the Fiendgod’s flesh and blood. With the soul gone, the remaining physical body was useless.

“What a battle that must have been.” Ji Ning thought back to the great calamity that had shattered the primordial Pangu’s World. It had been terrifying beyond measure—even Patriarch Subhuti had not dared to approach at that time, and Daoist Threelives, after killing several Daofather Fiendgods, had still perished.

“Regardless, this black bow and armor, even damaged, possess such might without an owner. They must be extraordinary treasures.”

Ji Ning produced the Thousandbull Sword in his hand.

He advanced rapidly, pressing forward.

“Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!”…

The black bow began firing arrows continuously. Its bowstring and arrows were all formed from natural forces, and the fiery arrows streaked toward Ji Ning.

Ji Ning executed his sword technique.

His sword-light flowed like water, deflecting each arrow of natural forces to the side. The sword art he was using now was from the ninth level of the Divine Immortal Palace, a technique called the Water Heavens, which excelled in defense.

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

Suddenly, a torrent of arrows was loosed. Sometimes ten arrows were fired at once. In the blink of an eye, dozens of arrows were shot. However, the faster they came, the weaker each individual arrow became.

Ji Ning either deflected them with his Thousandbull Sword or withstood them with his body.

“Kid, although your divine body is like a magic treasure, this is just an attack from a divine bow without its master. Withstanding it is no great feat. Let me tell you, when you get within ten zhang of the corpse, that’s the third forbidden zone. This third zone has nothing to do with how strong or weak your body is. Your treasure-like body won’t help you there.” The black-robed youth sat watching as Ji Ning pushed forward under the hail of arrows.

Ji Ning charged forward under the barrage.

When he reached within ten zhang of the Fiendgod corpse, the natural forces gathered by the black bow dissipated, and it ceased its attack.

“Whew.” Ji Ning took a deep breath. So close to the Fiendgod corpse, the invisible pressure made his heart tremble.

“The third forbidden zone?”

“No matter what, I have to get my hands on these treasures.” Ji Ning’s gaze fell on the treasures on the Fiendgod’s corpse, and the one he coveted most was still that large black bow.