The Basilisk's Belly

“Basilisk?”

“Ning, my child!”

The Wufeng Immortal and the Whitewater Hound were both stunned. The Whitewater Hound, in particular, knew Ji Ning’s power very well. Who could have imagined that he would be unable to resist the Basilisk’s terrifying suction and be swallowed in a single gulp?

Although Ji Ning’s Primaltwin was still safe, they all knew that in terms of potential, the true body far surpassed the Primaltwin. After all, the Primaltwin could only walk the path of Ki Refining, making it fundamentally weaker in combat.

“Such a terrifying Basilisk!” Aboard the small black boat within the formation, ‘Bloodfiend,’ the leader of the Blood God Cult, could also see everything outside, particularly the heaven-shaking, earth-shattering Basilisk. He was completely dumbfounded. “This Basilisk’s might is even stronger than that old bastard Tuoshan. Where did a force like this suddenly appear to deal with Ji Ning? Could it be a power from outside the Grand Xia world?”

The Bloodfiend had a clear sense of his own limits.

Compared to the twelve white-robed men who had appeared earlier, his strength was far inferior! Even that single Basilisk alone was enough to suppress even a Celestial Immortal Patriarch!

“This monstrous genius of the current age, Ji Ning, is probably about to die.” The Bloodfiend mused to himself. “Heh heh, fine. I’ll send your master to join you.”

……

While the Bloodfiend outside was attacking the sealing formation, Ji Ning was deep within the distant, colossal Basilisk.

“Whoosh.”

An incredibly powerful suction force, impossible to resist, had dragged him into the Basilisk’s gaping maw.

After being swallowed, the surroundings became dim.

Ji Ning kept falling, falling…

“Transform.” Even as he fell, Ji Ning activated the divine ability, Three Heads, Six Arms. Six swords appeared in his hands: the Thousandbull Sword, three Northsea Swords, and two Wave-Cleaving Shark Swords. The main issue was that his true body didn’t have any other Immortal-grade swords on hand. The Wave-Cleaving Shark Swords were top-grade Earth-ranked flying swords from the Aquatic Palace’s Treasure Hall, nearly as powerful as low-grade Immortal swords.

“Hahaha, Ji Ning! Now that you’re inside the Basilisk’s body, you’re dead!” A wild, arrogant laugh echoed out.

“Haha, you’re dead for sure.”

“Don’t struggle.”

“Even a Celestial Immortal would die if they entered.”

Voices came from different directions. At the same time, a long shuttle suddenly emerged from the fleshy wall not far from Ji Ning. The shuttle, glowing with a faint, ominous light, shot towards him with lightning speed, the phantom image of a cyan bee-like insect appearing behind it.

“Clang!”

Ji Ning, wielding one of his Northsea Swords, cleaved the long shuttle away.

Following that, other treasures and spells came flying in from all directions, attacking him. Because he was inside the Basilisk, these attacks would suddenly burst forth from the Basilisk’s flesh, bones, and organs. They were extremely close and completely unexpected. Ji Ning found himself hard-pressed to defend.

“Water Heavens!” Ji Ning executed his swordsmanship with six blades. Instantly, the phantoms of countless flowing waters appeared around him, coiling about him, turning the area into a watery world.

He was using the sword-art from the ninth layer of the Immortal Palace, created by a Daofather and on the same level as the ‘Plowshares.’ The art was called ‘Water Heavens’!

‘Plowshares’ excelled at group attacks but was also formidable in single combat.

‘Water Heavens,’ however, was the absolute best at defense.

“No good. This won’t hold.” Ji Ning felt the overwhelming pressure. As they said, two fists can’t fight four hands. Even though he had six arms, his enemies were twelve! They wielded even more treasures, and each attack was a serious threat. And because they were ambushing him at close range, his reaction time was extremely limited.

“It seems I have to rely on the Thousandbull Sword.”

Ji Ning had wanted to keep the Thousandbull Sword’s ultimate technique a secret, saving it for a decisive killing blow.

But now, this barrage of chaotic attacks was forcing him to reveal it. This was a technique that Ji Ning could only use after reaching the late-stage of the Primal stage.

“Ancient River, emerge!”

A wild light shone in Ji Ning’s eyes. The pure, refined Ki from his late-stage Primal body surged into the Thousandbull Sword, fully activating the ‘formation diagram’ hidden within the sword! Instantly, the sounds of surging waves filled the air. A vast, turbulent river, tens of thousands of li long, appeared out of nowhere. Part of it materialized within the Basilisk’s body, and part of it even appeared outside!

The entire Ancient River was fully ten thousand li long!

Activating the Ancient River placed an extremely harsh demand on one’s Ki, but its power was also terrifyingly great.

“Rumble…”

The waves surged violently, sweeping across everything.

The twelve white-robed men of the ‘Earth Nine’ team, who were hidden deep within the Basilisk’s body, were all shocked. Under the crushing, sweeping pressure of this ‘Ancient River,’ which was coiling around them both inside and outside the Basilisk, their ‘Basilisk Formation’ began to experience problems.

“Don’t panic! This is the power of a flying sword’s formation diagram, a suppression effect at best. A single sword formation diagram is not enough to kill the Basilisk!” The leader of the white-robed men immediately transmitted his voice to reassure them.

……

Outside.

The Bloodfiend was trapped within the formation. Although he could see the distant Diancai Immortal, the Whitewater Hound, and the others, he simply could not get close to them.

“That Whitewater Hound only used a Fuxi Staff Formation earlier, but how is the formation he’s controlling so powerful? I’ve cultivated for millions of years and have some understanding of formations, but I can’t find the slightest flaw in this one!” The Bloodfiend was completely stuck.

It was at this moment.

A massive boom sounded in the distance.

The Bloodfiend looked over as well. He could still see the Basilisk in the distance, but he simply couldn’t fly over to it.

“Basilisk?”

“That river?”

The Whitewater Hound and the Wufeng Immortal saw it too.

They saw that the Basilisk, a full thousand zhang long, was being wrapped and entangled by a vast, surging river that was an astonishing ten thousand li long. The river water was savagely coiling around the Basilisk.

Then, the vast river began to rapidly shrink. It shrank to a hundred li, then to ten li.

A river ten li long and a Basilisk a thousand zhang long were now more evenly matched.

The river’s power seemed to grow even stronger, continuously binding the Basilisk. Water even began to flow from the Basilisk’s mouth and nostrils.

“ROOOAR!” The Basilisk raised its head and let out an angry roar, twisting and struggling with all its might.

But the river held fast.

……

“Captain, the force of the river’s binding and pressure is too strong, and it’s spread throughout the Basilisk’s entire body. Our Ki is being depleted too quickly just maintaining the ‘Basilisk Formation’!”

“Captain, what do we do?”

The others were getting anxious.

Under normal circumstances, once an enemy was trapped inside the Basilisk’s body, they couldn’t find the twelve cultivators. Instead, the cultivators could attack freely. Their attacks would suddenly emerge from the ‘flesh walls’ and ‘bones’ at point-blank range, making them difficult to defend against. Therefore, enemies would generally be tortured to death quickly. But this Ji Ning, trapped inside the Basilisk, had a way to attack the entire Basilisk itself!

“A formation diagram? A formation diagram? Normally, Pure Yang magic treasures have formation diagrams. Even if this Ji Ning has a Pure Yang treasure, logically speaking, he would need to be a Celestial Immortal to use it. How can he unleash the power of a formation diagram?” The captain was also anxious and confused.

The original ‘Ancient River Scroll’ had to suck an enemy into the scroll itself to use the Ancient River to suppress them.

But through the methods of the Aquatic Palace’s artifact spirit, ‘Endless Water Moon,’ the scroll had become a formation diagram for the ‘Thousandbull Sword.’ As long as the formation diagram was activated, the Ancient River could manifest anywhere.

This was the unique characteristic of a formation diagram!

This was also why the Thousandbull Sword was comparable to a Pure Yang magic treasure!

“This Ji Ning definitely has some powerful treasures. By the same logic, if we kill Ji Ning, these powerful treasures will be ours.” The captain immediately transmitted, “We must kill Ji Ning at all costs, even if we have to use the forbidden arts!”

“Forbidden arts?”

“This…”

“Captain, do we really have to use them?” They were, after all, cultivators, not fanatical suicide soldiers. They had their own selfish concerns.

The captain transmitted his voice sternly, “For a Primal-stage Earth Immortal to be able to unleash the power of a formation diagram, this treasure is absolutely no less than a Pure Yang magic treasure! Ji Ning’s body is definitely carrying many valuable items. If we get our hands on them… heh, we can all share the spoils. Even if you exhaust your vitality, it will be worth it. Stop hesitating! The longer we wait, the more Ki we consume. Anyone who hesitates further, don’t blame me for being merciless!”

“Fine. Let’s go all out.”

“Let’s kill this Ji Ning!”

Threatened by their captain, none of them dared to hesitate any longer. They all began to execute the forbidden arts.

The ‘Basilisk Formation’ was an ancient, powerful formation transmitted by the Bloodcloud Hall. It required twelve Immortal-level cultivators to perform. Besides normal attack methods, it had three tiers of forbidden arts.

These three tiers of forbidden arts were also extremely complex.

With the ‘Earth Nine’ team’s level of Dao comprehension, they could only execute the first tier.

But even the first tier was terrifyingly powerful.

The twelve white-robed men, hidden in different locations within the Basilisk’s body, all began to execute the forbidden arts. The floating formation flags around them began to turn blood-red, and strange, blood-red runes appeared. These blood-red runes floated around them. The moment the forbidden art was complete.

“Basilisk Prison, Soul Annihilation!” The leader, the white-robed man with scar marks, let out a low, resonant voice that echoed through every part of the Basilisk.

All the blood-red light and runes…

A stream of them flowed rapidly from the twelve different points within the Basilisk, gathering towards the belly of the beast. An area of blood-red light appeared in the dark space of the Basilisk’s abdomen, swirling with runes.

“Whoosh.”

Ji Ning, in his Three Heads, Six Arms form and wielding six divine swords, was desperately trying to block the sudden assaults. “I have to find a way to escape this Basilisk’s body. If I don’t…”

He suddenly felt a massive surge in the suction force. With a “plop,” he fell directly into a vast lake of blood-red liquid.

This was the blood-colored lake in the Basilisk’s belly. Blood-red runes floated above it. The moment Ji Ning fell in, he struggled desperately to fly out, but the lake’s suction was incredibly strong, holding him fast. He couldn’t escape. At the same time, he felt a powerful, corrosive force assaulting his entire body.

“Captain, is Ji Ning dead?”

“This forbidden art, ‘Basilisk Prison,’ has a powerful corrosive effect. Even those ancient Primal Fiendgods renowned for their powerful bodies would be corroded to death by this. This Ji Ning definitely can’t survive.”