Prying Open a Furnace

“How would I know?” the Fathomhearted Celestial Immortal said, growing anxious. “We fought him not even half a month ago. How could I have predicted his strength would increase by this much?”

“His strength used to be inferior to mine,” the Withered Wood Celestial Immortal nodded as well. “But now, he's able to completely suppress the Lesser Yin Demon-Subduing Formation… His power now far exceeds mine and Golden Bell’s.”

“Mm.” The Golden Bell Celestial Immortal was unwilling to admit it, but the facts were right in front of him.

Although the exchange had been brief, all five Celestial Immortals realized that Ji Ning’s combat ability had far surpassed their estimates.

The Lesser Yin Demon-Subduing Formation was indeed excellent for capturing and trapping enemies. In the Fiendgod Era, it had been used specifically to capture Fiendgods, so it was certainly suitable for dealing with Ji Ning. But to capture someone, the capturer’s strength had to be overwhelming. If, during their last battle, the five Celestial Immortals had known that Ji Ning possessed the *Profound Arcane Art and had asked the Fire Mackerel Celestial Immortal to join them in using the Lesser Yin Demon-Subduing Formation, they would have succeeded long ago.

But this time…

Ji Ning’s *Profound Arcane Art had reached the fifth stage, and his Starseizing Hand had reached the fourth revolution. His strength had clearly skyrocketed! He had gone from being weaker than Golden Bell and Withered Wood to being stronger than them both! This sudden shift in power meant that the Lesser Yin Demon-Subduing Formation was now insufficient to bind him.

“Break for me!”

Ji Ning was savagely assaulting the five-colored mountain peak, while the five Celestial Immortals struggled to maintain their defensive formation.

“We’re being completely suppressed by him,” Golden Bell gritted his teeth.

“His power has grown, and what’s more, he has the *Profound Arcane Art protecting his body, so he has no need to defend. We’re all Ki Refiners. If his body so much as touches us, we’ll be reduced to ash,” Withered Wood said.

“Ugh.” The Jingyu Celestial Immortal was also furious.

This was the most troublesome aspect of the *Profound Arcane Art.

Ordinary Fiendgods wouldn’t dare to clash head-on with magic treasures. But a practitioner of the *Profound Arcane Art would!

“What do we do?” the Fire Mackerel Celestial Immortal looked at the other four. “What now? Do we just wait here?”

“Or perhaps we should leave first, using Greater Teleportation Dao talismans,” the Golden Bell Celestial Immortal suggested. Although they were at a disadvantage, the five of them together definitely had ways to escape.

“Escape?”

The Fathomhearted Celestial Immortal sneered. “Ji Ning is hiding inside this grand formation. If we want to deal with him, we have to enter the formation. Since we’re already inside, why rush to leave? Ji Ning has come to our Shaoyin clan’s lair… so our Shaoyin clan must capture him. It ends with either our clan bowing its head and admitting defeat, or Ji Ning losing! Now that Ji Ning has arrived at our clan’s ancestral home, neither side has a way out. One side must yield!”

“We cannot yield,” the Jingyu Celestial Immortal said in a low voice. “My Shaoyin clan cannot admit defeat to Ji Ning.”

“Then I intend to inform our Ancestor and let him decide,” the Fathomhearted Celestial Immortal transmitted mentally.

“Inform the master?” The Fire Mackerel Celestial Immortal was startled, then nodded slightly. “At this point, we can only ask the master for his decision.”

“Mm.”

“Notify the Ancestor.”

“I agree.”

The Golden Bell, Jingyu, and Withered Wood Celestial Immortals all nodded.

“I’ve already sent my spirit-beast to see Xuanji. Xuanji will immediately inform the Ancestor,” the Fathomhearted Celestial Immortal said. Although the distance was great, a Celestial Immortal could communicate mentally with their spirit-beast over a very long range.

Ji Ning attacked wildly, but no matter what he did, he couldn’t break through the five Celestial Immortals’ defense. The Seven Maelstrom Windthunder was also bombarding them from the side, and Uncle White was even channeling the formation’s power to create piercing beams of magnetic light, but none of it could breach their defenses.

“Hard as a turtle shell.” Ji Ning cursed and temporarily gave up.

Swoosh.

Ji Ning returned to where Uncle White, Little Qing, and Mu Northson were.

“Master, those five Celestial Immortals are defending too strongly. We can’t break through. What do we do now?” Little Qing asked urgently.

“What can we do? We wait.” Ji Ning shook his head with a sigh. “Celestial Immortals are Celestial Immortals, after all. Back then, I was at a disadvantage while besieged by four Celestial Immortals. Now, having grown much stronger, I have the upper hand. But with five of them working together… it will be very difficult for me to truly defeat them. Killing even a single Celestial Immortal is no easy task.”

He smiled. “But then again, I never thought I had the strength to sweep through a group of Celestial Immortals.”

“Senior apprentice-brother?” Mu Northson was confused.

“Junior apprentice-brother.” Ji Ning laughed. “The situation between me and the Shaoyin clan is completely different now. I’ve come straight to their lair, set up a formation here, and am quite comfortable. With the Grand Xia world’s intelligence network, all the major powers will soon know about this.”

“Every day I’m comfortable in the Shaoyin clan’s lair is another day of humiliation for them.”

“If I stay here for a year or more, they won’t be able to do anything to me, and they’ll have to watch me leave at their leisure. That would become a massive joke for the Shaoyin clan!” Ji Ning said. “The Shaoyin clan absolutely won’t allow that to happen. They’ll have to find a way to deal with me.”

“If they stay holed up in their turtle shell, I can’t do a thing to them.”

“But if they want to kill me, they have to take the risk of entering the formation to do so.”

“And if they take that risk… I just need to seize one opportunity, and I can kill one of their Celestial Immortals.” Ji Ning smiled. “Once one dies, I can kill a second.”

“This time… I’m going to outlast them.”

Battles at the Celestial Immortal level often dragged on for years.

Ji Ning was prepared for a long campaign. If he could stir up chaos in the Shaoyin clan for a year or two, causing them to lose face and panic, then as long as the Shaoyin clan made one wrong move or one of their Celestial Immortals got hot-headed, Ji Ning would have his chance.

…

“Uncle White, periodically use the formation to attack them. Keep them tense and maintaining their formation,” Ji Ning suddenly said.

“Ji Ning, you want to rest for a while?” Uncle White was puzzled.

“No.”

Ji Ning shook his head. “I just thought of something… a staff.”

“Staff?” Everyone was confused.

“I’m going to slip out of the formation and take a look. I’ll be back soon.” Ji Ning smiled. “Uncle White, be careful.”

“Don’t worry.” Uncle White nodded.

“Master, what staff are you going to look at?” Little Qing pressed.

“A copper staff.” Ji Ning finished speaking and quickly departed, silently leaving the formation’s range before tearing through spacetime to the deep underground.

He understood that his struggle with the Shaoyin clan would be a protracted one. Since he couldn’t kill the five Celestial Immortals anytime soon, he decided to examine the mysterious underground copper staff. He had just discovered it, but the arrival of the five Celestial Immortals had prevented him from investigating it closely.

Now, with the five Celestial Immortals trapped in the formation, no one would disturb him.

“Hsssssss~~~” Divine power surged around Ji Ning, pushing aside the soil and rock, revealing the huge, fiery red copper pillar before him. It had been buried deep underground for who knows how many years, yet it showed no signs of rust. Strange runes covered its surface, and waves of rippling energy spread out from it.

“Doesn’t feel like a magic treasure,” Ji Ning secretly judged after his initial probe.

“Let me use my divine sense.”

Ji Ning released his divine sense, carefully examining the true nature of this fiery red copper pillar.

The last time he had used his divine sense, he had been high in the air, so he had only detected a part of the copper staff. Now, however, he was deep underground, right beside it.

“This is…” Ji Ning sucked in a breath of cold air.

Good heavens!

This fiery red copper pillar was ninety-nine zhang thick. It stretched straight down into the earth, and at its very bottom was an incredibly enormous, fiery red cliff-face! This cliff-face was buried deep underground and stretched out for over ten thousand li. Ji Ning’s divine sense had a limited range, only allowing him to survey a portion of this fiery red cliff-face. He had no idea just how massive it truly was.

And that enormous copper pillar was embedded right in the middle of this fiery red cliff!

The part of the copper pillar exposed above the cliff-face was over three thousand li long! As for how long the section embedded in the cliff was… that was a mystery. Ji Ning’s divine sense couldn’t penetrate the fiery red cliff-face at all.

“This cliff-face…” Ji Ning tore through spacetime again, traveling three thousand li in an instant, and soon arrived atop the cliff.

Divine power pushed the surrounding soil and rock aside, creating an empty space.

Beneath his feet was the fiery red cliff-face, and next to him was the fiery red copper pillar embedded into it.

“Just what is this thing? My divine sense can’t penetrate this fiery red cliff, and my elemental energy can’t refine it either.” Ji Ning was utterly puzzled. He stomped his foot hard.

BOOM~~~

The force of that stomp was immense! Ji Ning’s palms were comparable to Pure Yang supreme magic treasures, while the rest of his body had reached the level of an Immortal-ranked top-grade treasure. The power of that one stomp could pulverize an entire mountain range with ease.

But the enormous, fiery red cliff beneath him merely emitted a loud bang… and remained completely unharmed.

“Strange.” Ji Ning slammed his palm down.

His divine ability activated. The Starseizing Hand was terrifyingly powerful.

Another, much deeper sound rang out.

“Still nothing?” Ji Ning was baffled. “Even an ordinary Heaven-ranked magic treasure would be shattered by that palm strike of mine. This fiery red cliff is completely unscathed?”

He walked over to the enormous copper pillar embedded in the cliff.

“The copper pillar is stuck in the cliff?” Ji Ning carefully inspected the giant pillar, which was ninety-nine zhang thick, pushing the surrounding soil and rock away. He discovered that the cliff did indeed have a hole that was exactly ninety-nine zhang wide. The copper pillar was inserted into this hole, fitting perfectly!

His divine power couldn’t even penetrate the seam between them!

“If it can be inserted, can it be pulled out?” Ji Ning muttered to himself. Regardless, this was something the Shaoyin clan had hidden here. He had no intention of being polite about it. His body shook, and with a WHOOOOSH, he transformed into a giant three hundred zhang tall.

With his Fiendgod Body Refining having reached the Void level, the limit of his Heavenly Transformation had reached the level of a thousand-zhang giant.

Now, turned into a three-hundred-zhang giant, his hands easily wrapped around the massive copper pillar.

“Heave!” Ji Ning put his back into it.

How much strength could a three-hundred-zhang giant exert?

Unfortunately, the pillar didn’t budge.

“Starseizing Hand!” Ji Ning’s eyes bulged. The Starseizing divine patterns on his palms flared with power, and his strength skyrocketed as he pulled with the force of one capable of uprooting mountains and rivers…

RUMBLE~~~~

With an earth-shaking sound, the giant copper pillar was actually pulled out a small amount. As it rose, the friction between the portion still inside the hole and the cliff-face produced a rumbling noise like the sky itself was falling apart.

…

In a faraway, different world.

“Who is it? Who dares to touch my Endless Cupping Furnace?” A humanoid creature with a single horn on its head, its body wreathed in cyan flames and its face covered in scales, opened its eyes. Its gaze was filled with boundless fury.