The Nine-Horned Lightning Serpent

The green-haired man’s gaze was as fierce as a starving eagle’s as he stared at Ji Ning. His voice hoarse, he said, “If I submit to you, what will you have me do?”

Ji Ning smiled. The other party clearly had thoughts of submission. However, as a True God, if he were humiliated too greatly, he would probably rather die. Ji Ning said, “I need the treasures on your person. You’ve been imprisoned here; the treasures are useless on you. You might as well give them to me. There’s one more thing… I want to look through your memories.”

“Memories?” The green-haired man’s expression changed.

“To you, I am a Chaos Outsider, and to me, you are one as well,” Ji Ning laughed. “Some things that are very important to you are completely useless to me. Don’t worry, I won’t spread them.”

The green-haired man stared at Ji Ning.

“I guarantee it,” Ji Ning said. “Just these two conditions! If you agree, you will be able to live on safely, and I will provide you with medicinal pills to keep you alive. As long as you live, there is hope of escaping this World Prison.”

“Fine!” The green-haired man said hoarsely. “I agree.”

The other’s decisiveness pleasantly surprised Ji Ning.

The green-haired man immediately closed his eyes and sat there cross-legged. Ji Ning, standing outside the formation restriction, stretched out his right hand. His hand instantly swelled to hundreds of li in size and landed on top of the green-haired man’s head. Immediately, his soul power seeped in, and he began the Soul-search technique. The green-haired man offered not the slightest resistance… if he had resisted, Ji Ning would not have been able to conduct the Soul-search at all.

The memories of this True God were vast and boundless—countless bubbles, each one representing a massive trove of memories. Some of the bubbles even had complex divine runes on their surfaces. Those with runes on the surface were memories that Ji Ning could not penetrate or examine, no matter what. When high-level beings like Celestial Immortals, Empyrean Gods, True Immortals, or True Gods learned powerful techniques, they all swore life-oaths. Even if they wanted to pass those techniques on, they could not.

“No wonder he was willing to submit…”

“So he carries such a deep-seated hatred. His enemies are also some Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals. Even if the Ninefang Chaosworld is destroyed and those Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals scatter and flee, some of them might still escape and survive.” As soon as Ji Ning examined the memories, he understood the True God’s identity and understood the hatred in his heart even more clearly.

The other longed for freedom. He longed to get out and find his enemies. To kill them all, one by one! Even if the Ninefang Chaosworld had already fallen, he still had to go out and confirm with his own eyes that all his enemies were dead before he could rest.

Ji Ning did not pay close attention to the other’s grudges. He quickly set them aside and instead carefully searched through the memories for what he needed…

Whoosh.

Ji Ning’s soul power seeped into a memory bubble. Instantly, a mysterious and profound technique surged into his mind.

…

Within the Immortal Sword World, at Mount Wu Bao.

In a thatched hut, the white-robed Ji Ning, who was seated cross-legged comprehending sword techniques, suddenly paused. He also came to know of that mysterious technique.

…

“Master, Brightmoon has gone looking for trouble again. She saw an injustice on the road and got into a fight with some cultivators. She beat up the juniors, and the seniors came out. She just kept killing and killing, and now she’s slaughtered quite a few enemy cultivators. It’s blown up into a big mess now. The patriarch of the sect she’s fighting against is a Celestial Immortal! I’m not afraid of the sect’s underlings, but if that Celestial Immortal shows up, things will get troublesome. Autumn Leaf and I haven’t even undergone our tribulations yet.” Qingqing quickly reported to the black-robed Ji Ning.

“Oh? It’s fine, don’t worry.” The black-robed Ji Ning nodded. “Brightmoon has a kind heart. It’s good for her to experience more of the world. But you need to keep a close watch and make sure she doesn’t go down the wrong path.”

“Don’t worry, Autumn Leaf and I have been keeping an eye on her the whole time.” Qingqing nodded quickly. “Alright, I’m off.”

Swish.

She vanished into thin air, teleporting away directly.

The black-robed Ji Ning just smiled. So many years had passed, and Brightmoon had long since matured. She no longer liked to walk around looking like a child and had forcibly changed her appearance to that of a young maiden. Brightmoon’s talent for cultivation had also been inherited from her parents. On top of that, Patriarch Subhuti doted on her, and she had long since reached the Void stage. However, because of her extraordinary background and experiences, her Heavenly Tribulation was sure to be extraordinary, so she was still building up her power. Ji Ning let Brightmoon travel the world, only allowing Qingqing and Autumn Leaf to accompany her.

In reality, none of them knew…

His second-avatar had split into eighteen clones, one of which was hiding inside a seemingly ordinary jade talisman. This talisman was a Pure Yang magic treasure, one which Ji Ning had specially requested from his senior apprentice-brother, Lord Jiang, on Mount Innerheart. Lord Jiang had set up a restriction on the talisman, making it look exactly like a mortal item, so that no one could see its mysteries at all.

After Ji Ning refined this talisman, he gave it to his daughter. Since Ji Ning rarely gave gifts, Brightmoon naturally kept it on her with delight. She had no idea that this seemingly mortal talisman was actually a Pure Yang treasure. Inside the talisman’s spatial pocket, a clone of Ji Ning was seated, comprehending sword techniques and training, while also providing her with the closest protection possible.

However, Ji Ning couldn’t let his daughter know. If she knew, it would lose its purpose as tempering, and Brightmoon would probably be furious as well.

“That Brightmoon of mine… she really is…” As he thought of his daughter, the black-robed Ji Ning couldn’t help but reveal a smile. Suddenly, he froze.

That mysterious technique had surged into his mind.

…

True body, eighteen clones. Second-avatar, eighteen clones.

When a single clone learned something, they all learned it simultaneously… All the clones were stunned. After more than ninety years of sweeping through the World Prison, having captured over four hundred Empyrean Gods and Celestial Immortals and three True Gods and True Immortals, Ji Ning had finally made a true gain while Soul-searching a True God!

Inside the World Prison.

After acquiring the complete technique, Ji Ning suppressed his excitement and continued to look through the True God’s memories before withdrawing his hand.

Ji Ning’s eyes were filled with surprise and delight. His body even trembled slightly as he murmured, “A great fortune. A great fortune.”

“Heaven is helping me.”

“Heaven is helping me!!!” Ji Ning’s eyes blazed with fervor and excitement.

Ji Ning had always believed that since the Ninefang Chaosworld was an even more formidable power than the Three Realms, it should have produced some heaven-defying techniques and divine abilities. The Three Realms had the Starseizing Hand and the Eight-Nine Arcane Art, after all. The Ninefang Chaosworld indeed had some impressive techniques and divine abilities, but all those he had examined before had been sealed by life-oaths, making it impossible for him to look at them.

But this time, Ji Ning had finally obtained a technique—and it was one he desperately desired.

“The Nine-Horned Lightning Serpent Evasion Technique.” Ji Ning murmured to himself. “The chaos has a sea of lightning, and within that sea dwells a serpent. The serpent’s head has nine horns…”

“I can train in it.”

“I can definitely train in it. It can be trained in the Three Realms.” Ji Ning hadn’t expected to encounter such a great opportunity.

In the Three Realms.

Escape techniques were naturally extremely important divine abilities. The more powerful the escape technique, the greater the speed. The famous ones in the Three Realms, such as his senior apprentice-brother’s Somersault Cloud and the Golden-Winged Roc’s Garuda Wings, were all top-tier escape techniques. For example, the Golden-Winged Roc’s Garuda Wings, when trained to the ultimate limit, could carry one two hundred thousand li in a single breath! This was something that even many True Gods and Daofathers could not match.

But Ji Ning knew very well…

The true number one escape technique in the Three Realms was a legendary one known as the Sun Golden Rainbow!

The paramount star, the Sunstar, could give birth to a type of divine beast—the Golden Crow! These Golden Crows born completely from the Sunstar were the truly perfect ones. As for the Golden Crows born from the mating of Golden Crow divine beasts with other living beings of the Three Realms, no matter how pure their bloodline, they could never reach absolute perfection.

In the primordial era, the Sunstar had once given birth to ten Golden Crows at once. These ten Golden Crows possessed heaven-defying talent and roamed the primordial era relying on their divine abilities. One of them even reached the True God level and was honored as the Demon Emperor… They released endless flames and blazing light, acting as ten suns in the primordial skies, causing the entire primordial era to suffer immensely.

Moreover, they had an incredibly heaven-defying escape technique—the Sun Golden Rainbow! With True God-level power and the Sun Golden Rainbow technique, even Mother Nuwa and the other Elder Gods of that era could not catch them.

But then, Houyi made his move.

Houyi was equally heaven-defying and fearsome, possessing power that made the entire primordial era tremble. His arrows were the fastest and most terrifying arrows in the primordial era, the ones that most terrified the mighty. Of course, even Houyi was not confident he could kill the Golden Crow Demon Emperor. So, he first spent considerable time forging ten incredibly powerful arrows, and then he struck! Not even spacetime could stop his arrows. The Golden Crow Demon Emperor could not escape and was killed instantly. The remaining nine Empyrean God Golden Crows were incredibly fast, but they were even less able to escape. Houyi killed eight more, and only the last one survived because Mother Nuwa intervened.

This does not negate the power of the Sun Golden Rainbow technique.

The Sun Golden Rainbow is, in essence, a ray of rainbow light! Its speed is the speed of light! One’s body vanishes into the Sun Golden Rainbow, and wherever the rainbow light reaches, they can reach. The speed… is six hundred thousand li in an instant! This is the absolute limit of pure speed. Even the mighty cannot surpass the Sun Golden Rainbow in speed. Only by manipulating spacetime, or by using treasures or spells to bind the Golden Crow and slow it down, could they possibly catch it.

Back then, no one could catch the Golden Crow Demon Emperor at the True God level.

Only Houyi, with his arrows—specially forged, terrifying arrows—could catch it and kill it.

The Sun Golden Rainbow… the speed of light!

It absolutely surpassed any living being in the Three Realms. Ji Ning’s third senior apprentice-brother was a Golden Crow newly born from the Sunstar in the current era of the Three Realms. He had been born with an innate mastery of this technique. This technique had long since left countless mighty beings salivating.

But—

The Sun Golden Rainbow could only be trained by Golden Crows born on the Sunstar!

“The Nine-Horned Lightning Serpent Evasion Technique?” Ji Ning was excited.

The Nine-Horned Lightning Serpent Evasion Technique was an escape technique of the same caliber as the Sun Golden Rainbow.

The Sun Golden Rainbow was, in essence, a beam of light, and one needed a Golden Crow body to control it.

The Nine-Horned Lightning Serpent was, in essence, a bolt of lightning. Training in it was similarly incomparably difficult and had harsh conditions. One could even say it was a life-or-death gamble. However, once trained successfully, one’s body could instantly vanish into the Nine-Horned Lightning Serpent. With a flash of the lightning serpent, one could reach a distant location. The speed of lightning and the speed of light were the same—both were an absolute limit.

“If I can train successfully, I will be able to roam the Three Realms at will and attack the Seamless Gate from all sides. The Seamless Gate won’t be able to catch me.” Ji Ning knew that this technique was extremely hard to train in. But the instant he obtained it, he made up his mind. No matter the price, he would definitely master this divine ability!