The Four Celestial Immortals’ Siege

Ji Ning knew things were going wrong the moment the battle began. The combined assault of the Withered Tree Ancestor and the Profound Origin Ancestor had completely suppressed both him and his junior apprentice-brother. The fourth layer of the Grand Thousand Sword Formation still can’t overcome them, he thought, gritting his teeth. If I were a Celestial Immortal, channeling that level of godly power through the formation… the result would be different. A returning Void Earth Immortal fighting a Celestial Immortal is still at too great a disadvantage.

Without hesitation, he crushed the messenger talisman, signaling for help from his master, the Diancai Immortal, and the Camel Mountain Celestial Immortal.

“A messenger talisman.”

“Ji Ning is asking for help.”

“Quickly.”

All four Celestial Immortals of the Shaoyin clan were monitoring the battle and immediately noticed the shattered talisman being crushed into powder by the sword-light divine dragon.

“I’ll go.” The burly man who had been casually holding a great bell let out a furious roar. He swung the bell in his hand, sending it soaring high into the air. The dense, sky-obscuring vines naturally parted to form a path for it as the bell transformed into a rainbow of light, instantly appearing several kilometers away from Ji Ning.

It hung in the air, its surface covered in a hazy golden light.

The man controlling the golden bell immediately began channeling his own magic power to activate this pure Yang-ranked top-grade magic treasure. This treasure had been passed down from the era when the Shaoyin clan had existed in the ancient Primordial Pangu’s World, and it had been their clan-protecting heirloom ever since.

Dong!

Suddenly, the golden bell emitted a sound. The chime was melodious and drawn out. The bottom of the bell was aimed directly at Ji Ning, and as the sound rang out, visible rings of golden light ripples appeared at its base. These rings of golden light ripples were transmitted directly downwards. The vines immediately began to rapidly separate to make way, and any branches that were too slow to dodge instantly turned to ash.

The golden light ripples were incredibly fast. By the time Ji Ning saw them, they were already crashing down upon him.

“Be careful,” Ji Ning cried out in alarm. As his mind moved, the black-robed Ji Ning beside him vanished into thin air.

Dong!

The golden light ripples ground a black divine dragon into dust, then slammed into Ji Ning’s body, producing another melodious chime. Ji Ning felt as if countless heavy hammers were smashing into him.

Mu Northson, who was controlling the Yixian puppet beside him, was also caught in the blast. The Yixian puppet was sent tumbling, unable to control its trajectory. At that moment, two of the nine massive vines, thick as pillars, coiled around the puppet.

“Junior apprentice-brother.” Ji Ning reached out one hand. His palm expanded to hundreds of feet in size and directly grabbed the tumbling Yixian puppet. “Don’t resist.” He immediately stored the puppet into his mobile Immortal mansion.

…

Once the golden bell appeared, the Primaltwin was forced to retreat. The Yixian puppet was already struggling against the ‘All-Encompassing Starlight’, and now it was completely helpless. Ji Ning could only choose to make his Primaltwin and his junior apprentice-brother retreat for now.

Only his true body remained, standing alone in mid-air.

“Hahaha…” The man controlling the golden bell laughed arrogantly. “Now that the divine bell has appeared, you are as good as dead.”

Ji Ning’s heart was filled with shock. What terrifying power.

The Withered Tree Ancestor and the Golden Bell Ancestor were at two extremes. The Withered Tree Ancestor focused more on ‘restriction, control, and suppression’, while the Golden Bell Ancestor specialized in head-on, brute-force crushing. In truth, the Withered Tree Ancestor was the greater threat to Ji Ning! If those vines ever truly trapped him, even his mastery of the [Eight-Nine Arcane Art] would not be enough to escape.

Dong! Dong! Dong!

The golden bell high in the sky let out a series of melodious chimes, and the golden ripples repeatedly attacked Ji Ning, who was below.

Ji Ning had completely put away his three hundred-plus flying swords and instead activated the divine ability Three Heads, Six Arms. Using just his six palms, he began to block the attacks.

The golden ripples slammed into him.

But Ji Ning was completely unharmed!

“Hmph.” The Profound Origin Ancestor continued to manipulate the All-Encompassing Starlight. No matter how the Starlight suppressed him, Ji Ning paid it no mind.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh…

An enormous number of vines pressed in on him.

It was only now that Ji Ning began to take the situation seriously. He activated the grand divine ability [Nine Heavens Astral Wind]. In an instant, Ji Ning became like a gust of wind. At times, he was gentle and ethereal; at other times, he was ferocious and wild. He weaved and darted through the forest of vines, while simultaneously using his six palms to activate the divine ability [Starseizing Hand]. His strength was overwhelming, and each palm carried the power of a Pure Yang-ranked magic treasure. He began to strike out in all directions!

Boom! Boom! Boom! Smaller vines and branches were directly smashed to pieces, even pulverized into dust. Only the thickest, most robust vines could withstand the blows.

But relying on the Nine Heavens Astral Wind, Ji Ning was incredibly agile.

“How is this possible?”

“Impossible!”

The Profound Origin Ancestor and the Golden Bell Ancestor were both greatly shocked. Their attacks actually had the least effect on Ji Ning. The Golden Bell Ancestor, in particular, was on the same level of power as the Withered Tree Ancestor. Yet, Ji Ning was completely tanking the blasts from his golden bell. He was even using the impact of the bell to accelerate, making himself even faster.

“This golden bell of mine is a pure Yang-ranked top-grade magic treasure. The power is such that even Celestial Immortals would not dare to take it head-on. Even a returning Void Fiendgod would die if hit by it,” the Golden Bell Ancestor said, unable to believe it.

“Does he have some protective treasure?” the Profound Origin Ancestor suggested.

“Even if he does, after being struck by my golden bell this many times, its energy should have been depleted in the blink of an eye,” the Golden Bell Ancestor retorted, refusing to accept it.

Now that the Golden Bell Ancestor had made his move, the fourth and final Celestial Immortal of the group, the Heartseeker Ancestor, also began to go all out. Cold orbs of light appeared around him, thousands of them, each covered in flowing runes. They began to merge with each other, forming an incredibly profound magical formation.

Boom!

In the space of a thousand feet around the Heartseeker Ancestor, the entire area was transformed into a frozen world.

Everything was ice. On top of a towering ice spire, the Heartseeker Ancestor stood at the very peak, like the sole ruler of this miniature frozen world.

“Slash!”

The Heartseeker Ancestor looked at Ji Ning, who was trying to escape under the assault of the golden bell and the pursuit of the vines, and pointed his finger from afar.

Instantly, more than half of the ice in this small frozen world gathered together, forming a massive frozen guillotine. It was like the knife of an executioner, but it was just a blade, without a handle. This enormous frozen blade… flashed through the void, slashing down directly at Ji Ning’s head.

Ji Ning was using the Nine Heavens Astral Wind to evade. He looked up and saw the enormous frozen blade descending from above.

Cold!

A bone-chilling cold. The blade hadn’t even touched him, but just the sight of it made Ji Ning feel a chill in his heart. A natural feeling of heart palpitations, pain, and sorrow arose. This was the painful, sorrowful feeling that came from seeing this terrifying slash.

“What a bizarre slash,” Ji Ning muttered, sensing something was wrong. He let out a low roar. “Get lost!”

Two of his arms directly raised themselves into the air, as if Pangu himself were holding up the heavens.

The enormous frozen blade fell!

Boom!

The blade and the two palms clashed directly!

Ji Ning was sent plummeting downwards like a meteor. He had never suffered such a terrible attack before. Even back at the Eastwood Mountain Range… he hadn’t been struck down this badly.

“What? He’s not dead?” The Heartseeker Celestial Immortal couldn’t believe it. His attack, which had roamed the Three Realms unchallenged, had failed to kill Ji Ning. This attack was so powerful that it could instantly crush some Heaven-ranked magic treasures to pieces.

“A protective treasure couldn’t have lasted this long… Could it be his body?”

“[The Eight-Nine Arcane Art]!!!” The Heartseeker Ancestor was shocked.

He guessed the possibility.

And he became more and more convinced. The likelihood that Ji Ning had trained in the [Eight-Nine Arcane Art] was very high! This was because Ji Ning had been ambushed by the Bloodcloud Hall before. Given the Bloodcloud Hall’s methods, if they dared ask such a high price, it was unlikely to be just for a protective treasure. Only ‘The Eight-Nine Arcane Art’ would make any sense.

“So what if he has the Eight-Nine Arcane Art? He’s just a returning Void cultivator. With the four of us Celestial Immortals besieging him, he won’t escape.” The Heartseeker Ancestor immediately sent a mental transmission to the other three. “This Ji Ning has most likely learned the Eight-Nine Arcane Art. Withered Tree, you bind him. Golden Bell, you directly suck him into that golden bell of yours and suppress him.”

“Fine.”

…

Ji Ning was sent plummeting down by that frozen guillotine. Slosh, slosh, slosh… Instantly, the other massive vines came coiling towards him.

“Not good.”

The force of that single slash was too great. Seeing that he was about to be entangled by those thick vines, Ji Ning gritted his teeth.

Boom!

As he was falling, his body instantly split in two. The [Eight-Nine Arcane Art] directly tore his body apart, dividing him into two separate physical forms. The two Ji Nings simultaneously struck each other with their palms, and with a bang, they used the rebounding force to fly off in two different directions at high speed, avoiding the mass of vines that were wrapping around them from below.

“A clone?”

“He’s just asking for death.”

The Withered Tree Ancestor sneered instead.

Splitting into a clone in an instant might seem like a way to escape, but after splitting, the power of both clones would decrease. After all, the soul-force contained in each of the two bodies was only half of the original. The power of his sword-arts would be much weaker. The subtlety of his Nine Heavens Astral Wind would also decrease. All of these were weaknesses.

As long as one clone was destroyed, the divine power contained in that clone would be completely lost.

“Explode,” one of the Ji Nings suddenly roared.

Boom!

The other fleeing Ji Ning instantly felt his power rise sharply. A large amount of divine power returned, and his soul-force quickly recovered to its peak. A Fiendgod Body Refiner… As long as their divine power wasn’t completely exhausted, they could still be reborn from a single drop of blood.

“What decisiveness,” the Heartseeker Ancestor, standing atop his ice spire in the small frozen world, sneered coldly. “Let’s see how many times you can self-detonate.”

He pointed his finger from afar once more.

Another enormous frozen guillotine formed, appearing above Ji Ning in the blink of an eye.

Ji Ning gritted his teeth.

What do I do?

Even though he had split his body in two the moment before and self-detonated one clone to recover some of the power, a huge amount of divine power had still been consumed. Just that one self-detonation… had consumed twenty to thirty percent of his divine power. That was far more than the divine power consumed during the fighting up to this point. He would probably be finished after another three or four self-detonations.

What do I do? Panic began to set in. Hide in my mobile Immortal mansion and then flee using a Greater Teleportation Dao Talisman?

This method seemed good, but it had one danger.

Could his mobile Immortal mansion withstand the combined attacks of the four Celestial Immortals, including the Heartseeker Celestial Immortal?

Although it was called a ‘mobile Immortal mansion’, it was actually not an Immortal-ranked magic treasure. If it were, Ji Ning wouldn’t have been able to refine it in the first place! This type of cave-dwelling magic treasure, while portable, was not extremely defensive. This mobile Immortal mansion was probably on the same level as an ordinary Heaven-ranked magic treasure. Back when he faced the Bloodcloud Hall’s Basnake, Ji Ning had estimated that it could hold on for a little while.

But against a far more powerful enemy like the ‘Heartseeker Celestial Immortal’, with the combined force of four Celestial Immortals, his mobile Immortal mansion would probably be blown to pieces in a single instant.