The Sword Peacock’s Judgment

“Join Kuafu and the others?” The alien grand elder tapped the armrest of his throne with a single finger, smiling down at Celestial Immortal Wu Xiao. “Wu Xiao, this Ji Ning is indisputably the number one Sword Immortal of the Three Realms. With sword arts at this level… my useless underlings cannot handle him. Now he’s about to rendezvous with Kuafu and the others. He was troublesome enough acting alone; once he joins them, he’ll become even more troublesome. I am out of options. If your Seamless Gate wants to stop him, you had better act quickly.”

Wu Xiao quickly replied, “Our Seamless Gate and you, Great Demon God, originally agreed on a strategy: to use the environment of the Ancient Ruins to kill as many True Gods and Daofathers of the Three Realms as possible. This is not the time for our Seamless Gate to strike. Once we truly commit, it will be the final battle.”

“Hmph. Then I am helpless.”

The alien grand elder said indifferently.

…

The Three Realms. All-Demon Realm.

Within the main hall.

Sixteen individuals were seated, including the Lord of All Demons, Master Stonerule, Magic Hand Daofather, the Blackclad Godking, Azuremyst Daofather, and others. They were either present in person or had manifested avatars. None were weaker than the top-tier Daofather level.

“Master.” A voice came from outside.

“Wu Xiao, enter.” The Lord of All Demons said.

Celestial Immortal Wu Xiao walked in and said respectfully, “We have received the latest intelligence from the Ancient Ruins.”

The assembled True Gods and Daofathers all looked at Wu Xiao. The Lord of All Demons said, “Speak.”

“Master, please take a look.” Celestial Immortal Wu Xiao pointed at the air beside him. Immediately, a scene of battle appeared—the scene of Ji Ning battling the nine insect-beasts. Having seen it once, Wu Xiao could naturally replay it.

“Ji Ning?”

“Ji Ning against nine insect-beasts. These insect-beasts seem quite powerful, at the True God or Daofather level.”

The grand powers watched.

When Ji Ning casually killed an insect-beast with a single sword-stroke, the grand powers merely frowned.

But when the ‘Sword Peacock’ technique was unleashed, every single grand power in the hall was stunned. Some, like Magic Hand Daofather, even showed a hint of infatuation with the sheer beauty of the move.

“Such beautiful sword-arts.” Magic Hand Daofather sighed softly. “Truly beautiful.”

“And such terrifying sword-arts.” Master Stonerule nodded as well.

“This is merely Ji Ning’s area-of-effect sword-art. His close-combat sword-art is likely even more fearsome. The strike that killed the insect-beast was just a casual wave of his sword; he didn’t even manifest his seven-colored sword-light. That single blow only revealed a tiny fraction of his power.” The Lord of All Demons spoke solemnly. “This Darknorth Sword Immortal of Nuwa’s camp has become a great enemy of ours, no less dangerous than Daofather Fuju in his prime.”

“He has trained for a much shorter time than Daofather Fuju.” Master Stonerule added. “Less than a thousand years to reach this level.”

“Our Godking here has played a significant role in Ji Ning’s rapid cultivation.” Magic Hand Daofather said teasingly, glancing at the gloomy Blackclad Godking beside her.

The Blackclad Godking felt extremely bitter inside.

Seeing that beautiful sword-strike, even he had been involuntarily captivated. The sword-art was too beautiful.

But then he remembered that the one who executed it was Ji Ning—a minor figure he had never taken seriously, not even caring much about the chess piece Yu Wei. Who could have imagined that this minor figure, connected to Yu Wei… would now possess power surpassing his own? Although he was unwilling to admit it, he knew clearly that Ji Ning, relying on nothing but a single sword, had already far exceeded him. Such sword-arts were approaching the level of a leader!

“Who could have predicted Ji Ning’s progress? The Godking’s previous actions against him, even extinguishing Yu Wei’s soul… normally, this would have created a demon in Ji Ning’s heart, causing his power to stagnate. The Godking did nothing wrong. It’s just that Ji Ning is simply too monstrous.” Tongxuan Daofather said with a smile.

“A demon?”

Magic Hand Daofather shook her head. “I heard that during the Realm War in the Crimsonbright Realmverse, our Godking forced Ji Ning to make a choice. Unexpectedly, Ji Ning turned around and broke through to the fourth level of Heartforce. This time, the Godking directly annihilated Yu Wei’s soul. In the blink of an eye, Ji Ning has already approached the leader level. This isn’t like the Zhuolu Major World incident. Back then, he relied on the Rahu Formation and the All-Things Emissary… but now, Ji Ning, without any external aid, already approaches the leader level.”

“Godking.” Magic Hand Daofather looked at him with a smile. “Some people simply cannot be suppressed. The more setbacks you give them, the sharper their edge becomes. Ji Ning is exactly that kind of person.”

“Your disciple takes your lesson to heart.” The Blackclad Godking bowed.

“This Ji Ning has now become a calamity.” The Lord of All Demons looked down and commanded, “Wu Xiao, keep a close watch in the Ancient Ruins. If the opportunity arises, annihilate Ji Ning there.”

“Yes.” Celestial Immortal Wu Xiao said respectfully.

The Ancient Ruins. The Silent World.

“Boom~~~”

A giant foot pierced through the void. The sole of the foot was tens of thousands of li across. With one stomp, mountains and rivers were crushed into a massive deep crater.

The giant foot rapidly shrank, and a tall, burly man wearing only a beast-skin skirt, his upper body bare, revealed himself. He laughed loudly: “Hahaha! What kind of crap formation is this? So pretentious and troublesome. One stomp, and it crushes the earth, the void, everything. Isn’t the formation destroyed?”

“Any formation that can be destroyed by you isn’t that impressive.” A golden-robed woman with dragon horns on her forehead walked over, smiling.

“How boring. I wanted to study the mysteries of this formation a bit more.” A handsome silver-haired youth, holding a fan, shook his head.

“Kuafu only relies on his speed. Otherwise, I would have split this formation with a single axe-stroke.” A headless Fiendgod stepped forward. On his exposed chest and abdomen, his nipples served as eyes and his navel as a mouth. He spoke with dissatisfaction.

“Xingtian, I didn’t run. I just stretched out my leg and destroyed that crappy formation.” The tall man holding a wooden staff, Kuafu, said with a proud laugh, wiggling his toes triumphantly.

The six Fiendgods chatted and laughed while continuing to destroy everything.

Whatever dangerous prohibition they encountered, they would first chop it with an axe, then stomp on it. Their methods were brutally efficient.

“Hm?” The handsome young man with the fan’s expression shifted. He turned his head to look into the distance. “Something’s coming.”

The other five Fiendgods listened carefully, remaining on alert. They all knew that their friend, ‘Fengji,’ although only an ordinary Daofather, was exceptionally skilled at detection. He could sense many things through the wind and was even adept at divining fate. Thus, he called himself ‘Fengji Daofather.’ He was the one most capable of sensing danger in this team; otherwise, a group of rough warriors like them would easily be led into dangerous situations.

Swoosh.

A black electric serpent flew over from the distance.

“Nine-Horned Electric Serpent?” Seeing this serpent, the six of them felt relieved.

“It’s Darknorth Sword Immortal Ji Ning.” Xingtian laughed. “The only one in the Three Realms capable of using the Nine-Horned Electric Serpent should be Ji Ning. But it’s strange… wasn’t his true body destroyed by the Seamless Gate?”

“Patriarch Subhuti told me that Ji Ning would come, but I didn’t expect him to arrive via the Nine-Horned Electric Serpent.” A delicate, soft-spoken girl said.

Ji Ning’s figure appeared in midair before descending.

“Ji Ning.”

“Darknorth.” The six Fiendgods all walked over, greeting him warmly.

“Greetings, seniors.” Ji Ning hurriedly said. Among these six Fiendgods, he only had some connection with Xingtian. He had met four of the other five during the incident when ‘Heavenly Thundergod’ and other grand powers had tried to obtain the Nine-Horned Electric Serpent from him. At that time, a group of grand powers had been drawn to him.

True God Xingtian laughed: “Ji Ning, let me introduce you. This is Kuafu, a barbaric fellow whose head is full of knots.”

“You sound quite refined yourself.” Kuafu laughed heartily.

“Kuafu actually used the word ‘refined.’ How rare, how rare.” Fengji Daofather, fanning himself, laughed.

“Ji Ning, Bodhi told me you were coming. Mm, not bad. It looks like your true body is still in good shape.” Kuafu reached out and patted Ji Ning on the shoulder.

Xingtian continued: “This is Fengji Daofather.”

Fengji Daofather closed his fan and nodded with a smile.

“This is Xi Huang.” Xingtian pointed to the golden-robed woman with dragon horns.

Ji Ning nodded.

Xi Huang was also a Fiendgod, the granddaughter of the Ancestral Dragon. The Ancestral Dragon had nine sons; one of them, Bi’an, had a daughter named Xi. Who would have thought that this Xi Fiendgod… would surpass her father, reaching the top-tier Daofather level?

“This is Lu Wu.” Xingtian pointed to the simple, honest-looking man.

“True God Lu Wu.” Ji Ning also greeted him.

Lu Wu smiled gently, looking like a straightforward man. He had been a Celestial God for a very long time, serving as a ‘guardian’ for several grand powers. The Heavenly Thearch who was slain by Xingtian… Lu Wu had once served as his guardian general. Back when Xingtian stormed the Heavenly Court to kill the Heavenly Thearch, Lu Wu had tried to stop him but failed.

That battle had forged Xingtian’s legend, and he ultimately broke through to become a True God.

The low-key Lu Wu, however, had quietly cultivated and become a True God many years later.

“This is Kong Xiu.” Xingtian pointed to the delicate, soft-spoken girl. “Her four clones are in the other four squads, allowing us to communicate between the squads.”

“Greetings, Daofather Kong Xiu.” Ji Ning said.

Kong Xiu had a very powerful elder brother—the Great Ming King of the Buddhist faith. In the primordial era, he had been at the level of a leader, his ferocious reputation spreading far and wide. However, he rarely appeared nowadays.

Both Kong Xiu and the Great Ming King were children of the already-deceased Ancestral Fiendgod, ‘Phoenix.’

Although Kong Xiu was only an ordinary Daofather in terms of strength, she had refined her five peacock feathers into five clones. Each clone was as indestructible as a top-grade innate spirit-treasure. The ones acting in the outside world were usually her clones. Her true body remained perpetually in the legendary Phoenix Palace.

“This time, there are four squads hunting in the Ancient Ruins.” Kuafu laughed heartily. “In our squad, we have me, Xingtian, Xi Huang, Fengji, Kong Xiu, and Lu Wu. We are all Fiendgods. The squad led by the Tathagata Buddha is composed entirely of Buddhist Buddhas. Four in total! The squad led by Fuxi also has four members, all human grand powers. The last squad is led by Yuding, with seven True Gods and Daofathers, all from the Daoist school.”

“Now that you’re joining us, well… we already have joint formations established among ourselves. It won’t be easy to integrate you now.” Kuafu pondered.

Squads of Daofathers always moved with formations to amplify their combat power.

“How about this,” Xingtian said. “Ji Ning, follow us. If we encounter danger, temporarily shelter within our formation. We can’t adjust the formation just for you on short notice.”

“Understood.” Ji Ning nodded.

In truth, Xingtian and Kuafu were being tactful. Their formation had been set up by True Gods with True God-level power, perfectly balanced. A sudden addition like Ji Ning, who was a Celestial God or True Immortal, would disrupt the balance. While he might have other impressive abilities, formation synergy requires equal power levels.

Ji Ning had his own considerations, too.

Xingtian and the others possessed True God-level divine power, while he himself was a Half-Step Ancestral Fiendgod. His divine power was even more refined and pure. If he joined the formation, the imbalance would be equally problematic. It was better to act independently.

“Be careful. Stay close to me. The Ancient Ruins are no joke.” Kuafu instructed. He genuinely cared about Ji Ning, who had rendered great service to Nuwa’s camp. Still, Kuafu was puzzled—why had Ji Ning come here? Wasn’t he just a burden? But he didn’t voice this thought.

“I won’t do anything reckless.” Ji Ning nodded.

“Good. Let’s move out.” Kuafu gave the order. The seven of them continued forward, crushing all obstacles in their path.

One chapter posted for now. The second chapter will be posted at 6 PM.