The Massacre of a False Front

This was a small outpost, guarded by a single Celestial Immortal named Shaoyan Chou. It was just like the Ten Thousand Demon Lair outpost where Ji Ning had rescued Mu Northson back in the Grand Xia world—that place, too, had only a single Celestial Immortal.

Because they were weak.

This made them more flexible, and the cost of building and maintaining such outposts was negligible.

“Who goes there?!”

Within the outpost, squads of patrolling guards roamed about. Further in, there were even some black-robed figures whose auras were at the Loose Immortal and Earth Immortal levels. To ordinary cultivators, this outpost was a dragon’s den and a tiger’s lair, but to Ji Ning, it wasn’t worth wasting his time.

His target was the one sitting in command of this outpost—Shaoyan Chou!

“An enemy has broken in!”

“Attack!”

“It’s a Celestial Immortal!”

“Surround him!”

The outpost was heavily guarded. The moment Ji Ning used Greater Teleportation to pierce through the restrictive formations, he was immediately discovered.

“Charge!” The black-robed figures instantly activated a grand formation and swarmed toward Ji Ning, attacking with everything they had. Every single one of them was a Loose Immortal, and some possessed strength comparable to a million-year Loose Immortal. United, they dared to fight even a Celestial Immortal to the death.

“It’s a pity I’m not a Celestial Immortal,” Ji Ning sighed inwardly.

Whoosh.

A massive banner appeared in Ji Ning’s hand, its power faintly pulsing. This was an incarnation of one of the Thirty-Six Heavens formed by the condensation of three thousand six hundred Stargold Beads. This Innate spirit-treasure, the Heavenly Stargold Beads, could change its form according to his will and possessed extraordinary power. Ji Ning loved using it.

“Kill him!”

“Tie him down! Once the Blood Celestial Immortal arrives, he’s dead!”

“Right! The Blood Celestial Immortal’s power is extraordinary—he’s no ordinary Celestial Immortal. Tie him down!” The black-robed men were utterly fearless. A massive black dragon formed in the sky above, coiling as it tried to entangle Ji Ning.

Clutching the enormous banner, Ji Ning turned the tip of its pole outward.

“Mere dregs,” Ji Ning said coldly, stepping through the void with lightning speed as he charged straight into the heart of the outpost. The massive banner in his hand stabbed outward like a flying sword. A faint golden light streaked through the air, and one of the black-robed men forming the grand formation had his chest pierced through.

Pfft! Pfft! Pfft!!!

As he advanced, the great banner in his hand stabbed nine more times in quick succession. Nine more black-robed men were skewered like grasshoppers on the banner pole, killed on the spot. As for the grand formation, it had long since collapsed.

“Who dares trespass in this forbidden grounds?!” A thunderous roar rang out as an ugly, wizened old man charged out, his aura surging to the heavens and his bloodlust filling the air.

“Milord!”

The surrounding guards cried out as if they had seen their savior. They had long since been scared out of their wits. They had dared to fight Ji Ning earlier only because of the grand formation. Now that their formation had proven useless against an opponent of such overwhelming strength, they had lost all will to resist.

“State your name!” The ugly old man sneered.

Ji Ning stood in midair, staring at the ugly old man. He recognized Shaoyan Chou at a glance—he had seen him in person before. With a cold, furious laugh, he yelled, “The Seamless Gate murdered my beloved! Now that my power has soared, I will slaughter every last one of you! One for one, two for two! I’ll make the Seamless Gate regret what they did!”

“You?” The ugly old man sneered. “The Seamless Gate is not someone you can provoke. I advise you to leave at once, or don’t blame me for being ruthless.”

“Leave? Dream on!”

Ji Ning immediately pounced at Shaoyan Chou.

Shaoyan Chou cursed inwardly: What rotten luck. I’ve run into a madman out for revenge. The Seamless Gate has brought calamity to the Three Realms; there are far too many people with grudges against us! I don’t even know who this Celestial Immortal is—he was probably harmed by the Seamless Gate, and after a breakthrough to Celestial Immortal, he’s out for bloody vengeance. There are so many outposts in the entire Dongxuan Major World, and he just had to pick mine. How unlucky can I be!

Despite his displeasure, Shaoyan Chou did not dare to be careless. He produced a blood-colored horsetail whisk and swung it. The whisk transformed into three thousand enormous blood-colored serpents that surged toward Ji Ning.

“Hah!”

The great banner in Ji Ning’s hand thrust forward. The banner pole, still as thick as a wrist, instantly swelled to a thousand zhang in length, streaking through the air like a bolt of lightning. With a pfft, it pierced straight through Shaoyan Chou’s chest! The three thousand blood-colored serpents couldn’t even slow down the might of this banner of the Heavens.

“You… you…” Shaoyan Chou’s eyes bulged in disbelief as he stared at Ji Ning, his heart burning with fury. Almost Pure Yang True Immortal? He’s definitely almost a Pure Yang True Immortal! How could I be so unlucky? I just happen to run into a Celestial Immortal who attacks out of nowhere, and he has the strength of a Pure Yang True Immortal! And his magic treasure is no ordinary item—it’s probably an Innate spirit-treasure.

What rotten luck.

Fortunately, I still have my other clones. He probably won’t be able to guess where my clones are hiding.

Shaoyan Chou shot Ji Ning one last cold glare, then died.

“Milord!”

“Run!”

“Milord is dead!”

Panic erupted.

The great banner in Ji Ning’s hand swept out. BOOM — the Banner of the Heavens, containing an entire Heaven within it, swept up all the Seamless Gate minions in the outpost. Even some of the fortresses and buildings inside the outpost were all pulled into the banner.

Within the Banner of the Heavens.

“Where is this?”

“Where are we?”

The minions of the Seamless Gate found themselves in an empty void, panicked. Among them were cultivators and Fiendgods.

RUMBLE… Two streams of immense power surged through the void. A colossal grinding disc formed above, and another formed below. The two grinding discs began to rotate toward each other, pressing down.

The Void Millstone ground down. Pfft! Pfft! Pfft! The minions were all crushed to death, even the Fiendgods. The bracelets carried by one of the Fiendgods were also shattered by the grinding discs. The other magic treasures, however, were left intact.

“What’s happening?!”

A group of old men appeared, each with a different appearance, but all exuding the aura of Shaoyan Chou. There were fourteen of them.

Shaoyan Chou’s fourteen clones looked around and their faces instantly fell.

“My fourteen clones have all been captured,” Shaoyan Chou realized immediately, and then terror set in. “How is that possible? The Fiendgod was just an ordinary Fiendgod. The magic treasure bracelet he carried was only a low-grade Heaven-ranked treasure. A powerful Immortal or Fiendgod wouldn’t bother with such a weakling. Even if they did, they wouldn’t destroy a Heaven-ranked treasure!”

How could he know…

Ji Ning was already very clear about his location. Patriarch Bodhi had marked them out long ago. How could Shaoyan Chou possibly escape?

BOOM… The Void Millstone ground down once more. The fourteen Celestial Immortal clones were crushed to death within the supreme Innate spirit-treasure. One must know that Ji Ning now possessed the strength of a Pure Yang True Immortal. With his control over this supreme Innate treasure, once they were sucked into the Heavenly Stargold Beads, there was no escape. Even a Heavenly God or a True Immortal would have no chance of survival!

The crushing power of the Void Millstone within the Heavenly Stargold Beads was no less formidable than that of the Eight Fires Inferno Realm. The key was that once they were inside, they could never escape. Even if a Heavenly God could endure the pressure for a time, they could not hold out indefinitely.

Dongxuan Major World, the Iron Weapon Tower — one of the Seamless Gate’s three main lairs.

This was a towering structure, shaped from massive weapons like swords, sabers, and staffs. At first glance, it looked like a forest of weapons stuck into the ground, but it actually formed a colossal formation. These weapons were merely architectural forms.

“Hm?”

“The Blood Celestial Immortal’s outpost has come under attack. Report immediately.”

Soon, in the main hall of the Iron Weapon Tower—a building shaped like a giant battle-axe—a middle-aged man sat solemnly in the hall, staring at a mirror floating in midair. Two other Heavenly Gods and True Immortals had already arrived.

“The Blood Celestial Immortal’s outpost has been attacked. This is the scene that just occurred. Take a look.” The leader of the Iron Weapon Tower, ‘Iron Weapon True Immortal,’ spoke. His strength was considerably greater than the other two, so he naturally became the temporary leader. However, since this lair only housed three Heavenly Gods and True Immortals, there was no strict hierarchy of rank.

“Oh?” The other two, a man and a woman, stepped forward. The man was a Heavenly God clad in golden armor, and the woman was a True Immortal dressed in pink. They were clearly intimate with each other. This pair was known throughout the Three Realms as the ‘Golden Red Couple,’ famous for their notoriety. The Golden Spear Heavenly God had thousands of concubines, while the Red Flower True Immortal had tens of thousands of male lovers. That they had ended up together was quite something.

The Golden Red Couple both looked at the mirror in the air.

The mirror displayed the scene that had just occurred.

“The Seamless Gate murdered my beloved! Now that my power has soared, I will slaughter every last one of you! One for one, two for two! I’ll make the Seamless Gate regret what they did!” The Ji Ning in the mirror had a wild look in his eyes. Then he fought Shaoyan Chou. One move.

Instantly killed.

Then the entire outpost was uprooted and wiped out.

“I haven’t seen this Celestial Immortal before. He’s quite handsome,” Red Flower True Immortal said, licking her lips, her eyes filled with a seductive charm.

“I haven’t seen him either. He probably crawled out of some backwater. Most likely a Void-level Earth Immortal who just broke through. And to have this kind of strength right after a breakthrough, he must have had some lucky encounter. That banner pole is very powerful—probably an Innate spirit-treasure.” Golden Spear Heavenly God evaluated. “In short, he’s just a Celestial Immortal who bears an extreme hatred for our Seamless Gate and got lucky with a breakthrough. Nothing special. The Blood Celestial Immortal can only blame his bad luck for being picked by this Celestial Immortal.”

“He has almost Pure Yang True Immortal power. We shouldn’t be too careless,” Iron Weapon True Immortal interjected.

“We certainly shouldn’t be careless. How about I go catch him?” Red Flower True Immortal said, a greedy glint in her eyes. She looked as if she wanted to devour the Ji Ning in the image.

“He’s already left that outpost. We don’t know where he is for now.” Iron Weapon True Immortal said, “If I use my heartforce to search, it might alarm the Dongxuan Army. Let’s wait and see. For now, we’ll be on high alert. Once we discover this Celestial Immortal attacking another outpost… Golden Spear, you are a Heavenly God. Teleport over directly and kill him.”

“Killing him will take just one spear thrust.” Golden Spear Heavenly God laughed, utterly unconcerned.

Iron Weapon True Immortal felt helpless.

Working alongside these two Heavenly Gods and True Immortals was truly troublesome, but since the higher-ups had arranged it this way, there was nothing he could do.

“How did you find me again?” Shaoyan Chou looked in terror at the Celestial Immortal before him. Just moments ago, his other fifteen clones had all been killed by this Celestial Immortal. He had a total of sixteen clones in this Dongxuan Major World. Only the Blood Celestial Immortal was public knowledge; the other fifteen were all hidden. The fourteen hidden inside magic treasures had been found, and now even this last one had been discovered.

“Shaoyan Chou, I was looking for you,” a cold voice rang out.

A second chapter is here. There will also be a third.