A Stone-Cold Declaration

Inside the All-Demon Realm.

"What? Leader-level?" The Blackclad Godking found this impossible to accept.

"Didn't you say last time that breaking through to the Fifth Layer of Sword Force would only bring his strength close to a leader? How long has it been, and now he's already at leader-level?" The Blackclad Godking felt a fire burning in his chest, an unbearable frustration. He barked, "Wu Xiao, are you mistaken? Did you see wrong?"

Celestial Immortal Wu Xiao, however, couldn't be bothered with the Blackclad Godking. He turned solemnly to the Lord of All Demons and said respectfully, "Master, the Great Demon God Cixiu is furious. Ji Ning's strength is indisputably at leader-level. Master, what should we do now?"

"Indisputable?" The Blackclad Godking clenched his teeth upon hearing this.

Hatred.

How could it be? How could a brat who had cultivated for less than a thousand years stand at the peak of the Three Realms, while he—the disciple of the Lord of the Heartlord, the nominal leader of the Seamless Gate—had failed to reach that step?

"Foolish." Daofather Magic Hand glanced at the Blackclad Godking and let out a cold laugh.

The words 'foolish' jolted the Blackclad Godking awake. He was, after all, a master of manipulating hearts. This time, he had allowed himself to be manipulated by his own emotions. The main reason was that he had watched Ji Ning grow every step of the way, even suffering setbacks that he himself had 'bestowed' upon Ji Ning. Now that Ji Ning had reached the peak of the Three Realms, the Blackclad Godking had played an 'indispensable' role in it all. How could he not feel a bitter grievance in his heart? But he was no ordinary mortal; he quickly came to his senses.

"Lord of All Demons, this Darknorth is already at leader-level. He cultivates too quickly. It would be best to eliminate him as soon as possible," the Blackclad Godking said.

"I know." The Lord of All Demons frowned. "I hear that Houyi, Suiren, and a group of True Gods and Daofathers have already set out. Even if we wanted to help, we'd have to enter the Golden River World and then fly slowly. Our speed probably won't match theirs. We can't help... Wu Xiao, tell the Great Demon God Cixiu that we can't make it in time. There's nothing we can do. Everything depends on him."

"Yes." Wu Xiao nodded.

"And tell him this," the Lord of All Demons instructed. "Kill one if you can. Kill the Buddha Tathagata as quickly as possible."

"Yes," Wu Xiao acknowledged respectfully.

The Lord of All Demons pondered for a moment, then muttered softly, "The Nuwa Camp's hidden reserves run deep. We haven't even forced out their ultimate trump card, and now a Ji Ning pops up... As for the Great Demon God Cixiu, hmph, a chaosworld alien with ill intentions. Let him fight it out with the Nuwa Camp."

Outside the grand formation in the Golden River World.

Fuxi looked at Ji Ning with pleasant surprise. He didn't have time to say much and quickly spoke, "I won't say more. For you to break through at a time like this is Heaven helping our side... Right now, Tathagata's divine power has been drained too heavily. He can't hold on much longer. We must break the formation and save him immediately."

"This formation is very complex," Ji Ning said, gazing at the formation before him.

"Yes." Fuxi nodded. "If I were to slowly decipher it, it would take about half an hour. By then, Tathagata would be long dead." Fuxi continued, "Tathagata is extremely important to our side. If his true body is destroyed, our side will be at a great disadvantage in the final battle. Regardless of the cost, we must save him."

"What do you need me to do?" Ji Ning asked quickly. Although he understood formations to some extent, compared to Fuxi, he was practically illiterate.

"For a formation to exist, the most important thing is stability," Fuxi said. "If a formation isn't stable enough, it can easily collapse. After all, it relies on external power."

Ji Ning nodded. He understood this principle.

"There." Fuxi pointed into the distance, and a stream of divine power flew out to mark a region of the grand formation. "That's a key operational node of the formation. I need you to try your best to tear the formation open—tear it as wide as you can... Use all your strength. If this operational point is heavily disrupted, the entire formation will be affected, making it much easier for me to decipher."

"Understood." Ji Ning got the idea.

Ji Ning stepped forward.

Whoosh.

His form instantly swelled, from an ordinary white-robed youth to a height of ten thousand zhang. At the same time, he manifested three heads and six arms. All six of his arms reached out simultaneously, with sharp sword-light glimmering at the tips of his six palms. He then struck out violently, executing the 'Blood Drop Stance' of the Brightmoon Sword-Art—faster than light itself—and stabbed into the grand formation.

The grand formation was incredibly tenacious. Ji Ning's six arms were submerged within it, facing a powerful repulsive force. This was a formation that the Great Demon God Cixiu had used to trap Tathagata, specifically designed to kill him. Breaking it through raw force... no one in the Three Realms could do it.

Fortunately, Fuxi hadn't asked Ji Ning to break the formation through force, only to shake it through force! If he could shake it, deciphering it would be far, far easier. And just shaking it would probably require leader-level strength.

"Assist Darknorth!" Fuxi barked orders. "Attack the area of the formation next to Darknorth!"

"Yes!"

"Alright!"

"Attack!"

Immediately, Kuafu's group and the Jade Cauldron True Immortal's team formed formations and began a wave of attacks. The attacks landed on the formation again and again. The three human great powers under Fuxi's command also helped with the assault, but they stayed by Fuxi's side, protecting him as he immersed himself in deciphering the formation.

"Oh?" Ji Ning immediately felt a slight easing of the pressure. He gritted his teeth and let out a low growl.

Whoosh...

His six arms strained with all their might, barely tearing open a crack.

This crack was wide enough for a person to enter, but entering would be useless. The interior of the formation was still filled with countless dangers. The entire formation had to be broken.

Fuxi, ignoring everything else, rapidly worked to decipher the formation.

Inside the formation.

Tathagata was tottering on the verge of collapse, his divine power drained to a mere ten percent.

"These two alien leader-level powers—I don't know where they came from—but their strength is astonishing. This is a true calamity. The true face of this calamity is gradually being revealed. I'm afraid we won't know the source of the catastrophe until the very end," Tathagata sighed inwardly. He recalled that in the last Dawn War, the mastermind—Old Man Yuan—had only been revealed at the very end.

But now, the strength of the two alien leader-level powers that had already revealed themselves made Tathagata worry.

His defensive abilities were formidable.

In the Three Realms, even if three leader-level powers besieged him, he could hold out! But now, he was being besieged by just two alien leader-level powers, and he was already on the verge of collapse... Clearly, the attacks of these two alien leader-level powers were terrifying, a notch stronger than the leaders of the Three Realms.

"Oh?" The Great Demon God Cixiu suddenly furrowed his brow. "The formation is being deciphered..." He controlled the formation and could clearly sense that one of its key operational points was rapidly breaking down. At this rate, it wouldn't be long before the entire thing collapsed.

"Master, Master."

Three golden-armored men of the Shuizui Clan appeared. One of them quickly reported, "The human, Darknorth, has transformed to a height of ten thousand zhang and is straining to tear open the formation. Fuxi is taking advantage of this to decipher the formation."

"Tearing open the formation?" The Great Demon God Cixiu immediately understood. Of course, a less stable formation would be much easier to decipher. He quickly ordered, "Blade, go immediately. Stop Darknorth from shaking the formation. Without Darknorth's help, Fuxi will need a long time to decipher it... I can handle this Tathagata by myself. Given the rate at which he's consuming his divine power, he's probably about to run dry."

"Alright." The golden-armored one-armed man didn't hesitate. He nodded.

Swoosh.

The golden-armored one-armed man immediately departed, speeding towards Ji Ning's location.

The Great Demon God Cixiu stared at Tathagata, who was sitting cross-legged, and sneered, "Tathagata, it's useless even if your human side has gained a Darknorth.

Blade has gone over... Ji Ning won't be able to help Fuxi any longer. By the time Fuxi deciphers the formation, you'll already be dead."

The Buddha Tathagata was still deploying numerous divine abilities and techniques, desperately resisting the Great Demon God Cixiu.

Both the Great Demon God Cixiu and Blade were exceptionally strong—after all, they were Elder Gods! The Buddha Tathagata was only a True God. He had to rely on countless divine abilities, secret arts, and great techniques to resist them. Now that Blade had left, Tathagata was a bit more at ease, but with his divine power down to only ten percent, death was approaching.

"Heh." Ji Ning, now ten thousand zhang tall, strained with his six arms. Seven-colored sword-light swirled around his palms as he frantically tore at the grand formation.

"Darknorth, be careful! Tathagata says an alien power who uses a blade is coming for you!" Kong Xiu transmitted hurriedly.

Kong Xiu had only just finished speaking when, a single breath later.

Ji Ning saw a golden-armored, one-armed figure appear. The golden-armored one-armed figure also grew larger, transforming to ten thousand zhang as well. This was a cold, emotionless man whose appearance was almost identical to a human's. He held a long blade in his single hand, staring at Ji Ning, and with a single step, he was upon him. He immediately swung his blade, the frigid light of the edge carrying an irresistible power as it cleaved directly towards Ji Ning.

Ji Ning had two choices.

One was to continue tearing at the grand formation. The other was to abandon tearing the formation and block this blow.

"Darknorth!" Kuafu, Kong Xiu, Jade Cauldron True Immortal, and the others all cried out in alarm from a distance. The blade-light had already reached Ji Ning, yet he was still straining with all his might to tear the formation, completely ignoring the incoming strike.

"Clang!"

The sharp blade struck Ji Ning's divine body. His white robe was torn, but sparks flew from the skin on his chest, leaving only a faint white mark. It hadn't even broken the skin.

Ji Ning merely cast a cold glance at this golden-armored one-armed man.