The Snow Fiendlord's Secret

Chapter Two for Today!

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“How can he be this fast? My sword-art is already extremely fast—six divine swords attacking simultaneously—yet he blocked every single one.” Ji Ning, after crashing into the ice, flew back up and hovered in midair, his eyes filled with disbelief. Despite using all six arms of his Three Heads, Six Arms technique and the Starseizing Hand simultaneously, he had been effortlessly crushed.

The sheer gap in power was deeply frustrating.

“Heartforce, after all, is an ethereal, formless power.”

“In close combat, strength is only one factor. What truly matters is battle technique.” Ji Ning sighed inwardly. He had already noticed it: this Snow Fiendlord had grasped ‘Tai-chi Force,’ which elevated his close-combat skills to an incredibly profound level. His own Sword Force, after all, was only at the third stage, and his Brightmoon Sword-Art was completely outmatched by the Fiendlord’s staff technique on a technical level.

The gap in combat technique was far too great.

Even with his Three Heads, Six Arms, he was still being suppressed.

“Hahaha! Come on, then, let’s go again!” The Snow Fiendlord was growing excited by the carnage. He let out a booming laugh as he charged forward once more, his golden staff howling through the air.

Ji Ning dove down to meet him.

……

Clang-clang-clang!!! Boom-boom-boom!!!

The two of them fought savagely atop the frozen sea. Momentarily, Ji Ning would be sent flying backward, but by relying on his Arcane Art, he stubbornly continued to trade blows. He had to maintain the Starseizing Hand at all times — otherwise, the sheer difference in power would send his swords flying away the moment they touched the staff. Only by using the Starseizing Hand could he hold his ground.

Occasionally, Ji Ning would erupt with Heartforce, inflicting light wounds on the Snow Fiendlord. But the Fiendlord could dissolve into countless snowflakes and re-form at will; these minor injuries were utterly useless.

“Interesting.”

“You can suddenly erupt with power, and I can’t even sense it coming. Could that be the legendary, formless Heartforce?” The Snow Fiendlord said as he attacked, still calmly inquiring.

Ji Ning gritted his teeth and continued to assault him.

This was the first time he had faced an opponent at the same level and been completely suppressed. In raw power, in movement technique, in close-quarters combat skill — he was at a disadvantage in every single aspect.

“Faster. Even faster.”

“The Five Treasures Sword Art is right — when speed reaches its absolute limit, it becomes unstoppable.”

“Back in the day, the Golden Crow Fiend-Emperor’s speed was so extreme that even the great powers of the Primordial Era couldn’t do anything to him. It took Houyi, relying on arrows, to slay him. As long as my sword is fast enough, even he won’t be able to block it.” Ji Ning attacked with wild, reckless abandon. He completely abandoned any thought of defense, focusing solely on offense. He only used two techniques: the Shadowless Stance and the Blood Drop Stance.

Although the Brightmoon Sword-Art had three offensive stances — the Shadowless Stance, the Blood Drop Stance, and the Heavenbreaker Stance — the Heavenbreaker Stance relied on sheer overwhelming power. Ji Ning was already far too weak compared to the Snow Fiendlord in that regard. This Fiendlord used a long staff, and his specialty was smashing with raw power. Using the Heavenbreaker Stance against him would be pitting his own weakness against the enemy’s strength. He would die a miserable death.

The Shadowless Stance and the Blood Drop Stance.

Sometimes ethereal and unpredictable.

Sometimes ferociously swift.

Three Heads, Six Arms, attacking madly. Attack, attack, attack!

Faster. Faster! Faster!

The Snow Fiendlord, however, wielded his long staff with black and white energy swirling around it, the staff’s afterimages turning into circles that completely crushed all of Ji Ning’s attacks.

“I need to be even faster.”

A faint, dazzling golden light naturally enveloped all six of Ji Ning’s divine swords. But no matter how wildly and ferociously Ji Ning attacked, the seemingly ordinary long staff continued to shatter his momentum and suppress him.

……

After a long, bitter struggle, Ji Ning’s divine power began to rapidly drain.

“It seems you’re still not good enough.” The Snow Fiendlord laughed, his staff continuing to press Ji Ning down.

Ji Ning, however, continued his mad assault.

Then, without warning.

One of his six divine swords suddenly erupted with astonishing power.

“Using Heartforce again?” The Snow Fiendlord didn’t care in the slightest. Although this sword-strike from Ji Ning was even more bizarre and unpredictable, its explosive surge of power having already brought the sword right to the Fiendlord’s body, the Snow Fiendlord’s staff still managed to tap the side of that sword. The sword was deflected, leaving only a shallow cut on the Fiendlord’s abdomen.

But at that very moment, Ji Ning’s hand — the hand holding that sword — suddenly opened.

“Grab!”

His hand swelled massively and shot forward, aiming to seize the Snow Fiendlord.

This move was completely unexpected. The Heartforce-imbued sword-strike was merely a feint. Ji Ning’s true goal was to get that hand closer to the enemy! The moment the sword-strike failed, Ji Ning let go, and his hand became the final weapon.

“Oh?” The Snow Fiendlord was startled and quickly tried to dodge, his movement technique as mysteriously profound as ever. Ji Ning’s grab only managed to catch hold of one of the Fiendlord’s arms.

“Break it off!” The Snow Fiendlord laughed indifferently. He was nothing more than a condensed mass of snowflakes; he could disperse and reform at will. Losing an arm was nothing.

With one arm caught by Ji Ning, his other hand continued to wield the long staff, blocking Ji Ning’s other five divine swords.

“Pfft!”

A bloody sword-tip emerged from the Snow Fiendlord’s forehead.

A look of shock and terror filled the Snow Fiendlord’s eyes. He… he had actually been stabbed through the head?

Whoosh.

The Snow Fiendlord instantly dissolved, only to reform a short distance away. He stared in disbelief at the direction from which the attack had come. Standing there was another Ji Ning.

“Two of you?” The Snow Fiendlord stared at the two white-robed Ji Nings.

“You let go of your sword and grabbed me just now in order to give your other clone a chance to strike?” The Snow Fiendlord looked at Ji Ning.

“Right.”

Ji Ning nodded. “You completely outclass me in power. I knew I couldn’t beat you head-on, so I had to use a bit of cunning.”

“First, a Heartforce-charged sword-strike. Then, you let go of the sword to grab me. Your hand is no weaker than your divine swords.” The Snow Fiendlord said.

“Correct. In fact, my hand is even stronger than my swords.” Ji Ning said.

His Starseizing Hand was now comparable to an Innate supreme-grade spirit-treasure. Even though it wasn’t in the shape of a sword, its power could still match an Innate high-grade divine sword, so it was naturally a bit stronger than the swords he was using.

“Although my hand is stronger, and my attack was more sudden, your movement technique is too profound. I only managed to grab your arm.” Ji Ning shook his head.

“One sword-strike. Then, a hand attack. And when that hand failed, another clone, identical in power to you, came to strike me again.” The Snow Fiendlord shook his head. “At that moment, I was fully occupied dealing with you. Being ambushed like that, I didn’t even have time to dodge. I am thoroughly convinced by this defeat.”

“My power was insufficient, so I had to rely on schemes.” Ji Ning said.

If he had sent both clones to attack from the very beginning, the enemy would have been prepared. With the Fiendlord’s overwhelming strength, the outcome would have been a single word: defeat.

Only by saving the second clone for the most critical moment and exploiting the element of surprise could he achieve victory.

“That’s only because you had a second clone.” The Snow Fiendlord shook his head. “Two clones, both with the bodies of an Empyrean God. It seems you’ve cultivated some kind of divine ability. Normally, techniques like this can split into quite a few clones, right?”

Ji Ning smiled.

That was right. The Art of the Eighteen Fiendgod Avatars could produce eighteen clones.

“You win.” The Snow Fiendlord shrugged his golden staff over his shoulder, turned around, and strode away. Snowflakes swirled around him as he quickly vanished into the endless blizzard.

Ji Ning let out a long breath.

“My god.” A wave of belated terror washed over him.

“Although I guessed the Snow Fiendlord would be powerful, I didn’t think he’d be this powerful. I exhausted every trick I had, and one of my clones has nearly used up all its divine power and Heartforce. If this final plan had failed, I could only have tried to flee back to the Snow Island.” Ji Ning had been fighting for ages earlier, partly to lull the Fiendlord into a state of routine.

Everything was for that final ambush.

First the sword, then the hand, then the clone’s strike! If that had failed, he would have fled back to Snow Island to spend a few more years cultivating, just like Empyrean God Xiuke and the others.

“I succeeded!”

“I finally succeeded!”

Although he was relieved, Ji Ning also felt the immense pressure. There were a total of five islands along this path. He had only just defeated the Snow Fiend to reach the second island, and he had already burned through all his trump cards and used every trick he could think of. Could he even make it past the remaining islands?

Whoosh.

Riding the Mind-Form-Will-I Serpent Gourd along the floating wooden bridge, he continued to fly swiftly toward the distant end.

As he flew, Ji Ning constantly pondered and savored the battle he had just fought. While he had been fighting like a madman against the Fiendlord, he felt that there had been something elusive about the third scroll of the Five Treasures Sword Art that he hadn’t yet been able to grasp. But during that frenzied combat, he had vaguely felt on the verge of a breakthrough. However, with life-and-death on the line, he hadn’t been able to focus on it.

Now, recalling those feelings, Ji Ning couldn’t help but examine them closely.

After flying for half a day.

Ahead, another island appeared. On this island stood a towering volcano, erupting with a thunderous roar. Magma shot up into the sky, dyeing the entire island a fiery red.

“A volcano island?” Ji Ning set aside his thoughts on the sword-art and flew over quickly, soon landing on the volcano island.

This was the second of the five islands.

“Oh?”

At the head of the floating wooden bridge stood a massive stone stele. Carved onto the stele was a huge picture of a ‘Roaring Ape,’ an ape that looked very much like the Snow Fiend, throwing its head back and howling.

The moment Ji Ning saw it, his consciousness was drawn in.

An illusory ape figure was practicing staff techniques, one form after another, starting simple and growing increasingly profound and mysterious. Having just fought the Snow Fiendlord for so long, Ji Ning now watched as the ape phantom carefully broke down each form and demonstrated them, and a feeling of sudden, dawning comprehension washed over him. After a long while, the demonstration was complete.

“Hm?” Ji Ning’s consciousness returned.

“Such a profound staff technique. A pity… I walk the path of the sword.” Ji Ning’s body suddenly went stiff. He stood there, dumbstruck.

The Five Treasures Sword Art — which had been stuck at a bottleneck for so long — suddenly broke through as he finished watching and pondering that set of staff techniques. It was as if sunlight had broken through a crack in the dark clouds that filled an endless night sky.

Ji Ning stood there.

Silently.

He and his other clone were both completely immersed in the Five Treasures Sword Art. He constantly analyzed and gained insights into the third scroll. The final bottleneck could no longer hold him back. All the fragmented insights finally merged together completely, and the entire third scroll was fully comprehended.

Ji Ning’s Sword Force had, silently and without a sound, reached the fourth stage.

First stage of Sword Force — Silver Moon. Second stage — Blazing Sun. Third stage — Imperial Sovereign. Fourth stage — Sword Heart.

“Sword Heart…” Ji Ning murmured to himself. He stretched out a finger and gently traced a line in the air. A wisp of black sword-light circled around his finger.

Back when he had first created the initial stance of the Brightmoon Sword-Art, Ji Ning had already reached the third stage of Sword Force. Nearly a hundred years had passed since then. During that time, he had created the complete Brightmoon Sword-Art, fought against a vast number of Empyrean Gods and Celestial Immortals in the World Prison, and even sparred with True Gods and True Immortals. Yet, he had been unable to break through. Now, after battling the Snow Fiendlord and then observing the insights within the stone stele, he had finally broken through that bottleneck and reached the fourth stage.

From today onwards, Tomato will attempt to move the daily two chapters to a noon update. This is the first day. If I can manage to keep this up for seven or eight days, it should become a consistent habit. Under normal circumstances, the two chapters will henceforth be updated around noon.