Chapter 5 Never Forgotten

Ji Ning did not know that Senior Sister Jiuyue had come looking for him shortly after he left. At this moment, he was embarking on a journey to capture a wanted criminal with his junior apprentice-brother, Uncle Bai, and Qingqing.

Thanks to intelligence provided by the Yinglong Guard, after spending over a month traveling to three different places, Ji Ning and his companions finally caught up with the fleeing evil cultivator known as 'Blackhorn True Man.' Relying on his 'Ghost Infant King,' Blackhorn True Man had never been subdued by anyone before.

Unfortunately, he ran into Ji Ning and his group.

First, Uncle Bai quietly set up a grand formation, leaving Blackhorn True Man with no escape. Then Ji Ning and the others appeared... Ji Ning didn't even need to make a move. His junior apprentice-brother, Mu Zishuo, merely unleashed the 'Swallowing Heaven Demon Serpent' puppet, which directly killed the Ghost Infant King. Without the Ghost Infant King, Blackhorn True Man panicked and was easily slain.

"Junior apprentice-brother, your strength has clearly improved greatly," Ji Ning praised. "You killed this notorious Blackhorn True Man with such ease."

"Hehe." Mu Zishuo rubbed his head. "I've reached the peak of the Wanxiang stage. More importantly, I exchanged quite a few materials at the 'Heavenly Treasure Mountain' earlier and improved my 'Swallowing Heaven Demon Serpent' puppet again, so its power has naturally increased greatly."

Ji Ning understood.

The path of puppetry... demands a great deal of rare materials.

"Let's go. On to the next wanted criminal," Ji Ning said.

"With all four of us Wanxiang cultivators working together, it's a piece of cake," Qingqing said smugly. The Whitewater Hound stood quietly nearby, watching and smiling.

Whoosh!

The dragon-headed warship once again tore through the air as Ji Ning and his companions set off on their journey to capture another wanted criminal—Qiantou True Man.

...

No matter how well one hid, they couldn't escape the intelligence of the Yinglong Guard.

Unless one could hide in a 'Water Mansion' like Ji Ning, it was nearly impossible to evade the Yinglong Guard's pursuit within the Grand Xia Dynasty's major world.

"That Qiantou True Man hid really far. He's over three million li from Anchan City, in a truly remote and desolate part of Anchan Commandery. If he fled any further, he'd leave Anchan Commandery."

"If he leaves Anchan Commandery, it won't be our Anchan branch's job to hunt him down."

Ji Ning and the others chatted at the teleportation array in the Red Dragon Mountain Range.

Whoosh!

In Dongyu City, three million li away, a hundred-zhang-tall teleportation array lit up, and Ji Ning, Mu Zishuo, and the others appeared within it.

"Greetings, Yinglong Guards." An old man beside them bowed respectfully, along with six Zifu cultivators and a group of Xiantian lifeforms, all showing great deference.

Ji Ning glanced around.

Dongyu City was a garrison city of the Grand Xia Dynasty, similar to 'Yanshan City.' The only difference was that this city had a small teleportation array for the Yinglong Guard. Dangerous places like 'Yushan Great Wasteland' would have Primordial Daoists or even Sanxian stationed there, but Dongyu City was too ordinary, so only a few Zifu cultivators were here.

"Mm." Ji Ning nodded.

"Junior apprentice-brother, let's go." Ji Ning didn't waste words with these people. He immediately boarded the dragon-headed warship and sped away. According to the latest intelligence from the Yinglong Guard branch, Qiantou True Man was hiding in an ancient mountain range tens of thousands of li from Dongyu City.

Ji Ning and his companions searched carefully.

Soon it was deep into the night.

"Found it." Ji Ning, standing by the railing on the night sky, released his divine sense, covering a three-hundred-li radius below. He immediately discovered a true 'evil city' hidden within the great mountains. This evil city was likely concealed by an illusion formation, invisible to the naked eye. If not for Ji Ning's divine sense, it might have taken months to find.

"What an evil city." Ji Ning's eyes flickered with killing intent.

"Where?" Mu Zishuo asked hastily.

"Right below," Ji Ning said in a low voice. "Come, follow me down."

Ji Ning leaped down directly, a sword-light appearing beneath his feet, tearing through the air as he rushed downward. The Whitewater Hound and Mu Zishuo followed, flying down from the sky.

They dove down.

"Break." Ji Ning pointed into the distance. Water materialized out of thin air, wrapping around a formation flag and easily pulling it out.

Instantly, the surrounding area of over ten li began to twist and change. The originally ordinary barren mountains vanished, replaced by a massive city. Inside the city, countless slaves were doing hard labor—carrying stones, carving stone walls, even logging nearby to build this city.

"This is..." Mu Zishuo stared wide-eyed at the suddenly appearing city, speechless.

"Extravagant and depraved," Ji Ning said coldly.

"He's an evil cultivator. It's bad enough that he slaughters mortals to practice evil arts, but why does he force these mortals to build a city for him? And oppress them so harshly?" Mu Zishuo could see that many mortal slaves were being worked to death.

Ji Ning remained silent.

Because his divine sense covered the entire evil city, he could feel the despair, pain, sorrow, and numbness of the countless mortals inside. It was a numbness born of extreme despair, and some mortals harbored endless resentment in their hearts—a resentment so strong that Ji Ning's divine sense could clearly detect it.

"Hell!" Ji Ning suddenly shot into the sky, transforming into a streak of light, and hovered above the entire evil city.

A massive water-fire lotus surrounded Ji Ning.

The light of the water-fire lotus was dazzling in the night. For a moment, the mortal slaves, forced to work even at night, looked up and saw the enormous water-fire lotus above, and within it, a seemingly tiny figure.

"Old demon Qiantou, come out and die!" Ji Ning suddenly roared.

His voice thundered, echoing throughout the evil city.

"Ah!"

"Bang."

"Bang!"

One by one, the ferocious Xiantian cultivators overseeing the city wailed in agony, blood streaming from their seven orifices, and dropped dead on the spot.

They were Qiantou True Man's disciples and followers, committing all kinds of evil.

Under Ji Ning's divine sense, he could see that these people were shrouded in 'karmic sin energy'... Ordinary mortals had neither 'karmic merit energy' nor 'karmic sin energy.' The mere appearance of karmic sin energy indicated great sin. Ji Ning used his Soulshaker Art on all those shrouded in karmic sin energy. The gap in power was too great, and they died on the spot, blood flowing from their seven orifices!

"What?"

"How could this great demon...?" The mortal slaves stared in disbelief at the usually ferocious Xiantian cultivators, all of whom had fallen dead.

Just then...

"Which Daoist brother is this?" A man in a white Daoist robe with a long beard flew up into the air, facing Ji Ning from a distance.

Ji Ning looked at him, unafraid that he might flee.

Because while he charged out, Uncle Bai had already quietly set up a space-sealing formation around them.

"Old demon Qiantou, and quite a few minor demons." Ji Ning's gaze swept over a distant palace, where several Zifu cultivators stood at the entrance. They were clearly the old demon's subordinates and disciples.

"May I ask which Daoist brother you are?" Old demon Qiantou still wore a smile.

Ji Ning stood on the water-fire lotus, looking down at the hellish scene below, and said softly, "When you die and go to the underworld, you'll suffer endless torment in the eighteen levels of hell. The suffering you've inflicted on these countless mortals will be returned to you a thousandfold, ten thousandfold."

"Die?" Qiantou True Man shook his head. "Once I become an Earth Immortal, a sliver of my true spirit will enter the underworld. As an immortal, I can willingly become a ghost immortal—why would I suffer such torment?"

"Earth Immortal?" Ji Ning stared at him coldly. "Prepare to taste the bitterness of the eighteen levels of hell. With such great sin, you probably won't last many years before you're tortured until your soul scatters."

This man's sin far exceeded that of Bo Zishan.

Qiantou True Man was no longer shrouded in mere energy—it was blood light! Dazzling blood light! Heart-stopping blood light! Such sin was truly horrifying.

As Ji Ning's words fell, Qiantou True Man roared in anger, "I think you'll die!"

Whoosh.

Above his head suddenly appeared a huge blood-red vertical eye. The enormous blood-red eye, filled with endless evil and murderous intent, stared at Ji Ning. The moment it looked at him... Boom! An intense blood aura directly assaulted Ji Ning's soul.

"An ant trying to shake a tree?" In Ji Ning's sea of consciousness appeared a statue of Nuwa, hanging high in the endless void, radiating boundless light. The blood aura that invaded melted like snow under the sun, instantly turning to nothing.

"Not good." Qiantou True Man's expression changed, and he turned to flee.

"Die!" Ji Ning shouted coldly.

Rolling divine will, surging and mighty, directly crushed Qiantou True Man's soul. Qiantou True Man felt a dizzying vertigo. Ji Ning pointed into the distance, and a water-fire lotus appeared out of thin air around Qiantou True Man. The spinning lotus caught the dizzy, defenseless Qiantou True Man and ground him into a pulp!

"What!"

"Run!"

The five Zifu cultivators in the palace panicked. These five had followed Qiantou True Man in his evil deeds and were all shrouded in sin. Ji Ning pointed into the distance, and lotuses bloomed one after another, pure and holy, grinding the five into a pulp.

All settled.

Mu Zishuo and the Whitewater Hound flew over from afar. They felt no joy, looking at the countless oppressed mortals below.

"How could he bring himself to do this?" Mu Zishuo sighed.

Because the enemy had the 'Blood Hell Demon Eye,' which was very troublesome. Ji Ning, with his strong soul and soul-secret arts, was the perfect counter. So in the plan, it was decided that Ji Ning would handle this battle.

"In this world, there is good, and naturally there is evil," Ji Ning said calmly.

"Senior apprentice-brother, we've completed both tasks. What's next?" Mu Zishuo looked at Ji Ning.

Ji Ning was startled.

Next?

Suddenly, the three bloody names buried deep in Ji Ning's heart surged up—Dong Qi! Yu Tong! Shui Yi! These three names Ji Ning had never forgotten. They were like brands seared into his soul. Because the most important people in this world to him, his mother and father, had died because of these three!

A surge of emotion filled Ji Ning's chest.

Kill!

Kill!

Kill!

When Ji Ning brought up this matter buried deep in his heart, all he felt was hatred and murderous intent. These were the three people he hated most in this world!

"Next..." Ji Ning said softly, "Revenge!"

"Revenge?" Mu Zishuo was puzzled. "What revenge?"

"The revenge for my parents!" Ji Ning said slowly. Mu Zishuo's expression changed upon hearing this. Qingqing lowered her serpent head, pressing close to Ji Ning's arm as if to comfort him. The Whitewater Hound stood silently beside Ji Ning, his eyes also filled with longing. After all, he had personally experienced that nightmare.

"This enmity, I will not share the heavens with them!" Ji Ning said.