Chapter 8 The Grand Divine Power of the Black Tortoise

In the world of the Moonlit Landscape Painting.

“Junior apprentice-brother.” Yu Wei was so excited she could hardly contain herself.

“Senior apprentice-sister, the commotion from your earlier battle was considerable, and it went on for a while. There are definitely others lurking nearby now, and more may be on their way.” Ji Ning, however, had no time for lengthy talk. With a wave of his hand, he gathered up the storage treasures and other valuables left behind by the dead silver-haired woman and the black-robed long-haired man. The tokens of faith were inside the storage treasures—how could he leave them behind?

Whoosh.

A treasure ship appeared before Ji Ning and Yu Wei.

“Senior apprentice-sister, let’s go.” Ji Ning grabbed Yu Wei’s hand and leaped directly into the ship. The two entered the treasure ship, which immediately transformed into a streak of light and fled swiftly. As they fled, Ji Ning released his divine sense to sweep the surroundings. Everything was just as he had expected—there were indeed quite a few people nearby.

“Who is that black-clad youth? How is he so formidable?”

“With such strength, he should be able to rank among the top hundred in this Immortal Fortune Assembly. He seems very similar to the Ji Ning recorded in the Tianbao Mountain intelligence—uses twin swords, excels in close combat, and is skilled in lotus spells. His power has reached this level, so it must be Ji Ning. But Ji Ning has always worn animal skins; the youth just now was in black. It seems even Ji Ning doesn’t dare to be too conspicuous.”

“Mm. If he wore animal skins, we could recognize him at a glance. In black… we need to look closely.”

“The strength of a top-hundred contender in the Immortal Fortune Assembly is truly remarkable. If it came to one-on-one combat, with Ji Ning’s many divine powers erupting in close combat… he could probably kill us in a single exchange.”

“We must be careful.”

One by one, they secretly retreated quickly. Ji Ning was fast, and without enough people to join forces, they dared not provoke him.

…

Whoosh.

The treasure ship whistled through the air for several thousand li before hiding inside a large mountain. After putting away the ship, Ji Ning and Yu Wei both breathed a sigh of relief.

Ji Ning smiled and said, “Senior apprentice-sister, within ten li of the battlefield just now, there were eight people watching. Within a thousand li, nearly two hundred were closing in… In this world of the Moonlit Landscape Painting, even a battle cannot last too long, or the commotion will surely attract others. We must fight quickly and decisively.”

“Of course I know we need to fight quickly and decisively, but just now I was trapped by them and couldn’t even escape.” Yu Wei said helplessly, “I was about to throw out a talisman and give up.”

Her temperament and appearance were both top-notch—truly a peerless beauty. That helpless expression made Ji Ning’s heart waver, but he quickly steadied himself.

“Senior apprentice-sister, the ice phoenix and fire phoenix you used earlier,” Ji Ning said with an emotional smile. “I haven’t yet congratulated you on mastering another complete Dao.”

Three years ago, she had mastered the Dao of Cold—just one Dao.

“Don’t you call me the Fire Rainbow Immortal?” Yu Wei said with a light laugh. “I’ve always been better at fire. The Dao of Cold was comprehended first due to a stroke of luck. The Dao of Blazing Fire was only a step behind.”

Ji Ning nodded.

He himself felt he was on the verge of a breakthrough in the Dao of Blazing Fire, but always fell just short.

“When the time comes, I’ll need your guidance on the Dao of Blazing Fire, senior apprentice-sister,” Ji Ning said.

“A small matter.” Yu Wei was naturally happy to teach Ji Ning.

“By the way, senior apprentice-sister, this is the storage treasure of that silver-haired woman. Please refine it. I’ll refine the other storage treasure. The tokens of faith are inside.” Ji Ning handed a bracelet to Yu Wei.

“Take your time refining it.” Yu Wei looked at Ji Ning. “If I refine it, you definitely won’t take the tokens of faith inside. Don’t try to fool me.”

Ji Ning was stunned.

From past interactions, Ji Ning knew that Senior Apprentice-Sister Yu Wei was very meticulous and intelligent. Ji Ning considered himself clever, but compared to her, he was still lacking. He had only asked her to help refine the storage bracelet, and she immediately realized that he intended to give her the tokens of faith inside. It was hard to deceive her!

“Those two were killed by you, senior apprentice-sister, so the tokens should rightfully be yours. How about we split them half and half?” Ji Ning said.

“You saved my life, and when I killed them, they were both dazed and unconscious.” Yu Wei shook her head. “Alright, we still have to roam this world of the Moonlit Landscape Painting together. From now on, whoever kills gets the tokens. But this time, you saved my life, so the tokens should all go to you.”

Ji Ning could only nod.

Seeing Ji Ning like this, Yu Wei felt very pleased, and the corners of her mouth involuntarily lifted.

“Let’s go, senior apprentice-sister. You’ve just been in a fight; first restore your primal power and calm your nerves.” Ji Ning immediately led Yu Wei to quickly find a cave to hide in.

…

Time passed, day after day.

Ji Ning and Yu Wei, working together, had indeed greatly increased their strength.

Yu Wei had mastered two Daos, and combining water and fire, her ice phoenix and fire phoenix were truly powerful. In terms of defense alone, the ice phoenix was comparable to Ji Ning’s Waterfire Lotus. That was how she had held out so long against the three who had besieged her. In offense, the fire phoenix was equally astonishing.

The two supported each other, and even facing a siege of over a dozen people, they had a chance of victory.

“Yu Wei is truly extraordinary, comprehending two complete Daos.” The Mad Immortal was very proud of these two disciples of the Black-White College and often boasted to others from Anqi Commandery. “Ji Ning is even more formidable. One of the ninety-six seats is surely ours from the Black-White College. And there’s our senior disciple of the third generation—that little slob hasn’t shown his power yet.”

“Ji Ning is indeed formidable, but I haven’t seen anything remarkable about your Black-White College’s Slob Immortal.” A white-haired loose immortal from the Lie Yan Sword Sect shook his head with a cold laugh, clearly unable to stand the Mad Immortal’s smugness.

“You’re just jealous!” The Mad Immortal glared.

…

The Immortal Fortune Assembly had been going on for over a month.

The Slob Immortal was lying leisurely in a cave, beside a pool of clear water, cool and comfortable.

“The first three months are the most chaotic. I’ll rest for three months first. By then, those who survive will all be formidable characters, and they’ll probably have more tokens. That’s when the killing will be satisfying.” As he lay there, a large bone appeared in his hand, and he began gnawing on it, his mouth greasy.

Suddenly—

Whoosh!

A gust of wind swept through, and eight figures appeared in the cave. A burly man laughed, “Big brother, let’s rest a while in this cave and refine the storage treasures. Hopefully, there are tokens inside—” The burly man suddenly widened his eyes.

The other seven also stared in shock at the slovenly fat man lying inside, gnawing on a bone.

The world of the Moonlit Landscape Painting was vast, and the chance of randomly picking a cave and encountering someone else was very low. Although the Slob Immortal often hid in caves, this was the first time in over a month he had met someone so coincidentally.

“If you walk by the river often, your shoes are bound to get wet.” The Slob Immortal helplessly stood up, muttered softly, then said with a smile, “Everyone, this is my resting place. Would you like to leave? Or should I?”

“Slob boy, are you playing dumb or are you really stupid?” A youth with triangular eyes said coldly, “Hand over all your tokens obediently, and we’ll spare your life. Otherwise, don’t blame us for being ruthless.”

“No.” The Slob Immortal shook his head.

“Stop wasting words with him. Kill him!” The leader, a youth holding a feather fan, smiled coldly and waved his hand. Feathers flew from the fan, hundreds of them forming a huge celestial crane. The crane screeched and clawed at the Slob Immortal, causing the cave to shake and rocks to collapse.

“Die!” The burly man roared, suddenly swelling to twelve zhang tall. Because of the cave, he had to stoop and lower his head. He also manifested three heads and six arms, each hand gripping a giant axe.

He charged forward like thunder.

All eight unleashed their techniques.

Three were divine-body refiners, the others were qi refiners, each with their own secret arts. The leader’s ‘Celestial Crane Nine Heavens’ secret art was not far behind the Small Thousand Sword Formation. But secret arts aside, the actual power depended on the user. Now, the Small Thousand Sword Formation in Ji Ning’s hands was even more dazzling than when it was in the hands of the ‘Thousand Sword Immortal’ at the Wanxiang Completion stage.

Those eight came from a super sect on the Eastern Sea, the Ten Thousand Beasts Gate, one of the top sects in the entire Great Xia Dynasty, several levels above the Black-White College, with hundreds of loose immortals and earth immortals.

These eight were naturally very strong.

“Rumble~~” A fierce battle ensued. Rocks crumbled, and the mountain peak began to collapse.

“Roar!”

From the collapsing mountain emerged a massive phantom of a tortoise and a snake, exuding an overwhelming aura. A plump youth, his skin patterned like a tortoise shell and eyes like a snake’s, bare-handed, sent a blood-red seal flying with a punch, then slapped a terrified white-clad youth into ashes. His hand then formed a bird’s beak, piercing the head of a divine-body refiner, then slashed downward, tearing his divine body apart.

“Whoosh~~~” The massive tortoise-snake phantom rapidly shredded the broken divine body, soon turning it to ashes.

“Run!”

“Heavens!”

“How can he be so strong? This slovenly fat man isn’t even listed among the strongest in the Tianbao Mountain intelligence!”

The genius disciples of the Ten Thousand Beasts Gate were completely broken. They threw out their tokens, but the enraged plump youth killed six of them in succession, with only two barely escaping.

“Whoosh.” The Slob Immortal stood atop the rubble, gathering the treasures and tokens around him. He had returned to normal, no longer as terrifying as before.

“I didn’t want to fight in the first three months, but they forced me to use my grand divine power.” The Slob Immortal shook his head. “The Immortal Fortune Assembly is indeed extraordinary. Just eight people forced me to use it. I’d better leave quickly; many will be coming soon.”

Whoosh.

With a step, the Slob Immortal vanished like the wind.

…

Main Hall of Tianmang Hall.

The Xia Emperor, Lü Dongbin, the Northern Dipper Immortal, and the other nine all changed expression. Though they had seemed indifferent to the Moonlit Landscape Painting, as Pure Yang True Immortals, they observed every scene within it.

“It’s the Grand Divine Power of the Black Tortoise.”

“The Black Tortoise Emperor!”

“To think it’s a disciple of the Black Tortoise Emperor—I wonder if he’s a personal disciple or a nominal one.”

Each of them looked solemn.

The Black Tortoise Emperor… was a great power in the Three Realms, extremely fearsome.

“The Grand Divine Power of the Black Tortoise ranks among the top hundred of all divine powers since the creation of the world.” Lü Dongbin said gravely, “I never thought we’d see such a top-tier grand divine power of the Three Realms at your Great Xia’s Immortal Fortune Assembly.”

…