The Bright Void Sealing Formation

“Let’s go!” Fiendgod Ji Ning urged the Void Boat forward, preparing to tear through the void and vanish. But in that hazy emptiness, faint golden threads suddenly appeared, woven into the fabric of space itself. These threads made tearing through the void a grueling task.

“Not good. They’ve tampered with the void here. Tearing through it has become this difficult. When I first arrived at this major world, it was easy. It seems the Seamless Gate set up their schemes while I was attacking that city.” Ji Ning realized this instantly. The entire thought took but a single breath.

In that same moment, the space ahead of him and behind him tore open with ease. Two massive warships emerged.

…

The First World.

The Seamless Gate, born from the Seamless Chaosworld, possessed deep foundations. Their core strongholds were the Ten Worlds—the Tenth World, the Ninth World, all the way down to the First World. These ten worlds were ten super-sized military camps. Each was guarded by a Daofather, allowing for the rapid dispatch of Immortals and Fiends to battlefields across the major worlds.

Among these ten camps, the higher the ranking, the greater the power.

The ‘First World’ was the true core of the entire Seamless Gate. Even compared to the All-Demon Realm, where the Lord of All Demons sat, it was more than a match. When the Godking discovered Ji Ning’s surprise attack, he came directly here.

“Uncle-Master.” The Godking stood respectfully beside a man in purple robes.

The purple-robed man carried a deep purple wooden ruler on his back. His expression was calm, with a faint, gentle smile. He was the one overseeing the First World. In the entire Seamless Gate, his status was utterly transcendent. Even before the Dawn War, he was second only to the Lord of the Heartlord. In those days, his status was even higher than the Lord of All Demons.

He was ‘Master Stonerule.’

A being of unique charm, admired and willingly followed by many of the Seamless Gate’s great powers.

During the era of the Seamless Chaosworld, the Lord of the Heartlord and Master Stonerule were polar opposites.

The Lord of the Heartlord was warlike, relished slaughter, and delighted in playing with the hearts of men.

Master Stonerule was gentle, loved peace, and above all, he loved collecting wood. For a great power, this was a truly peculiar hobby. He had named himself ‘Stonerule’ because he was utterly obsessed with a type of wood called ‘Stonerule Wood,’ a wood naturally born from the Seamless Chaosworld. He had gathered every last piece of it and titled himself ‘Master Stonerule.’

He dabbled in formations, in spells, in divine abilities—but always as a pastime. His true root remained his ‘Stonerule Wood.’

He disliked conflict.

He was aloof from worldly struggles. If others came to him seeking guidance, he would advise them. Thus, he had earned the gratitude of many great powers. In the Seamless Chaosworld, his prestige was immense. Had he wished to contend for supremacy, even the Lord of the Heartlord might have struggled to unify the Seamless Chaosworld. Fortunately, he had no such desire. The Lord of the Heartlord became his sworn brother, and he became the second-in-command of the Seamless Chaosworld.

This man’s power was unfathomable!

He was a master of formations, spells, and divine abilities alike. But the most terrifying thing was the wooden ruler on his back; his close-combat prowess was the most astonishing of all.

Then came the Dawn War.

Mother Nuwa broke through and became a Pangu God. She was absolutely unstoppable.

Even Master Stonerule could not withstand her; he was fated to fall. Fortunately, the Lord of All Demons was unsurpassed in escape. He saved him and also rescued many other Seamless Gate elites. By turning the tide and earning the gratitude of all survivors, and by escaping from Mother Nuwa—who was at the Pangu God level—the Lord of All Demons’ status skyrocketed, making him the undisputed number one figure of the Seamless Gate today.

But Master Stonerule’s strength was beyond question, and he now oversaw the First World.

In truth, before the two camps fell out…

Master Stonerule had been on excellent terms with everyone. Daoist Three Purities, Tathagata, and Patriarch Subhuti were all his close friends. When the great calamity loomed, Three Purities and the others had even said to him, “Daoist Stonerule, you need not participate in this war between the two camps. Whether the Seamless Gate is destroyed or we are, no one will target you.”

In the war between two camps, it was said no one could stand aloof.

Take the old man, Origin. He wanted peace and refused to fight, but in the end, both sides would have forced his hand.

But Master Stonerule…

The Nuwa camp told him not to fight and promised never to attack him. The Seamless Gate did not stop him either. Yet in the end, he chose to stand with his birthplace—the Seamless Gate. This alone showed the man’s remarkable character.

“This little fellow, Ji Ning, is nothing more than a minor nuisance. You’re taking this too seriously.” Master Stonerule laughed. “You even had Bloodriver sacrifice fifteen of his clones. With my ‘Bright Void Sealing Formation,’ the usefulness of his Void Boat is greatly diminished. He is a fish in a net, hard-pressed to escape.”

“Having Uncle-Master personally create this Bright Void Sealing Formation means Ji Ning has died with some honor,” the Godking said.

“He is still a disciple of Subhuti…”

Master Stonerule shook his head gently.

To strike at the beloved disciple of an old friend filled him with regret. But now that the two camps were locked in a life-or-death struggle, showing mercy to an enemy was cruelty to one’s own camp!

“Uncle-Master, this is only Ji Ning’s true body. He still has his Primaltwin,” the Godking said quickly. “If his true body dies, his strength will be halved. Without the Void Boat and his many treasures, he will have no means to launch a surprise attack against us again. This is best for him, and best for us.”

The Godking said this, but in his heart, he was displeased.

He worshipped his master, the Lord of the Heartlord, above all else. He relished slaughter and believed in pulling out the roots. Still, he had to placate this Uncle-Master of his.

“I am not so soft-hearted. Killing Subhuti’s disciple is nothing. This is only the beginning. As for the final battle…” Thinking of the coming decisive war, Master Stonerule felt helpless. Yet, he knew in his heart that he was still biased toward the old brothers he had known since they were born from the primordial chaos.

Daoist Three Purities, Subhuti, and the others… when compared to his own sworn brothers, if one side had to die…

He could only grit his teeth and see Three Purities and the others off.

The Godking and Master Stonerule watched the battle from afar. In truth, many great powers of the Nuwa camp were also watching.

“Bright.”

“Void.”

The two ships, each carrying three hundred and twenty Empyrean Gods and True Immortals, formed two grand formations. Like the Yin and Yang of a Taiji fish, they combined perfectly into the massive ‘Bright Void Sealing Formation.’ This colossal formation enveloped an entire major world. It was a technique at the level of a True God or Daofather.

Once the formation was established, the world membrane was infused with the formation’s power, making it incredibly difficult to tear open. The process now required a prolonged period of time.

Of course, as the controllers of the formation, the two warships could easily enter this major world.

“Kill Ji Ning.”

“A major world is completely sealed. He has no time to slowly tear through the void, and he cannot escape through void-shuttling. He’s doomed.”

On both warships, the Seamless Gate’s Empyrean Gods and True Immortals were brimming with confidence.

The Bright Void Sealing Formation had been created by the Godking after Ji Ning’s last sneak attack. Enraged and fearing further disruptions, he had specially asked Master Stonerule to devise it. In truth, a formation to seal a single world was not particularly significant. Sealing a single world with a mere group of Empyrean Gods and True Immortals was meaningless against a True God or Daofather, who could easily break it.

It was useless in a war.

But as a way to ‘catch a turtle in a jar’ and kill Ji Ning, it was perfect. Master Stonerule, with his extraordinary skill in formations, had spent three years creating it.

And now, Ji Ning had fallen into its trap.

…

The two warships tore through space and appeared.

“Let’s go.” Fiendgod Ji Ning did not hesitate. With a thought, a massive black lightning serpent appeared, wrapping around the Void Boat, and with a whoosh, it vanished into thin air.

“This, this…”

“Where… I can’t see him anymore.”

“Too fast! I can’t even see him anymore…”

The Empyrean Gods and True Immortals on the two ships stared in shock.

The difference in speed was absolute.

At the speed of light, the Seamless Gate’s cultivators only saw a streak of black lightning in the sky. By the time it faded, Ji Ning was completely gone.

“How can we chase him?”

“How?”

“In an instant, he’s already out of sight.” They all looked at each other.

…

Fiendgod Ji Ning quickly put a vast distance between himself and his pursuers. Then, the Void Boat began to forcefully tear through spacetime. The golden threads resisted, making the process extremely difficult. But because the pursuing army was so far away, they could not close the gap in time. With a tearing sound, the world membrane finally split open, and the Void Boat vanished without a trace.

Soon, in another major world.

“There are still some who haven’t fled.” Fiendgod Ji Ning, riding the Void Boat, attacked the Seamless Gate’s stronghold in this world.

“Ah, that’s…”

“It’s his face. It’s Ji Ning!”

“Why didn’t the Godking inform us?”

“He did. He told us to run.”

“He’s only telling us now. It’s too late!”

BOOM!

With overwhelming force, Fiendgod Ji Ning destroyed this stronghold. The Godking had been so confident that Ji Ning could not escape that he had not ordered the Empyrean Gods and True Immortals in the other major worlds to retreat. And so, he suffered another heavy loss.

In the First World.

“Impossible! This is impossible!” The Godking could not believe it. His eyes held a hint of madness. “How could Ji Ning have a divine ability like this? This speed… it’s already at the Heavenly Dao’s limit. On the Nuwa side, only the Golden Crow should have such speed! How can Ji Ning have it? He’s merely a mortal!”

“A perfect teleportation divine ability.” Master Stonerule murmured, “A mortal can even execute it. It shouldn’t be an innate divine ability. Has the Nuwa camp created such a technique?”

“What do we do? What do we do? How can we stop him? How can we kill him?” The Godking was frantic. “If we let Ji Ning continue like this, he will sweep through world after world. Will the Seamless Gate’s entire plan to infiltrate the Three Realms be changed because of one man? Will we have to abandon all our hard work? No! Impossible!”

The Godking was frantic, but he could think of no way to stop Ji Ning.

“Uncle-Master.” The Godking looked at Master Stonerule.

“Mm?” Master Stonerule looked at him.

“Please, Uncle-Master, give me your counsel.” The Godking’s voice was urgent.