Chapter 18: The Treasure

The purple-clad girl stared at Ji Ning, gritting her teeth. “If we die, Xiao Yu dies too. If the master dies, the servant can’t live either!”

Ji Ning immediately felt disgust toward this purple-clad girl, Qi Ruhui, but he also knew that since the Qi Kingdom’s royal family had long known that ‘Qi Xiaoyu’ was blessed with merit, they would surely bind her tightly to the royal family. If the royal family was destroyed, Qi Xiaoyu would probably die along with them.

Ji Ning closed his eyes.

The ship fell completely silent. Everyone watched Ji Ning, waiting for his answer.

The prince, Qi Rufeng, was especially anxious and expectant: “This senior Beiming is so powerful; a hundred years should mean nothing to him.” Little did he know that Ji Ning had only lived for a few decades.

Silence!

The princes and princesses were all tense, and Qi Xiaoyu’s heart was also uneasy.

Ji Ning suddenly opened his eyes and looked at Prince Qi Rufeng. “I agree… to shelter you for one year or to slay the Firewing Demon King. If I accomplish either, I will take Qi Xiaoyu away.”

“This is my answer. If you agree, then you will give Qi Xiaoyu to me as a disciple. If not, I will kill you now and seize your royal treasures.”

“Agree, or disagree?” Ji Ning looked at Qi Rufeng.

“Senior, just a hundred years…” Prince Qi Rufeng couldn’t help saying.

“You only need to tell me: agree, or disagree?” Ji Ning said coldly.

The three princes and princesses exchanged glances.

There was no other choice!

At least this Daoist Beiming could shelter them for a year; within that year, they might find a turning point.

“Fine.” Qi Rufeng gritted his teeth.

Ji Ning nodded slightly.

This was within his expectations. If he gave no sweetener at all, the other side might truly prefer death. By giving a little sweetness, their desire to live would prevail! And he didn’t really intend to waste a year here; he was more inclined to go and slay the Firewing Demon King!

Killing the Firewing Demon King would fulfill his promise.

“Will you set Qi Xiaoyu free?” Ji Ning looked at the prince.

Prince Qi Rufeng couldn’t help lowering his voice. “Senior, please make a Heavenly Dao oath to set our minds at ease.”

Ji Ning’s face darkened, and his killing intent erupted. “It seems you want to die!”

The binding power of a Heavenly Dao oath was too great; cultivators never made such oaths lightly.

The prince and two princesses could see that Ji Ning had lost patience. The prince, frightened, quickly said, “We trust in senior’s promise.”

“Qi Xiaoyu, from now on, you will follow Senior Beiming’s orders. You have no further connection with the Qi royal family.” Qi Rufeng declared.

Instantly, a ripple of the Heavenly Dao descended.

Evidently, the Heavenly Dao oath Qi Xiaoyu had sworn back then was now fulfilled.

Qi Xiaoyu knelt down. “The Qi family’s great kindness, Xiaoyu will never forget.”

Ji Ning sighed inwardly. Qi Xiaoyu was truly loyal. But from her account of her past, he had noticed some suspicious points. The tribe of her childhood was a tribe of tens of thousands; such a tribe was rarely attacked by great demons!

Xiantian great demons lacked confidence, and demons at the cultivator level were unwilling to incur great karmic sin.

Yet the large tribe of Qi Xiaoyu’s childhood was attacked, collapsed, and fled, with all her relatives dead. She then happened to encounter a Qi royal family expert.

Was it such a coincidence? The Qi royal family was fleeing at the time; how could it be so coincidental?

“Perhaps the destruction of Qi Xiaoyu’s childhood tribe was related to the Qi royal family,” Ji Ning thought.

…

Qi Xiaoyu also knelt to Ji Ning. “As the prince commands, from now on, Xiaoyu will naturally follow senior and obey senior’s orders.”

“Remember, from now on you are free, no longer a servant. Don’t always act like one.” Ji Ning looked at Qi Xiaoyu. “I have never taken a disciple before. If you enter my school, you will naturally be my senior disciple. This matter is important to you and also to me. I don’t wish to force you. If you are willing, then bow to me as your master. If not, I will send you to some immortal sect or other place; I believe they will compete to take you as a disciple.”

Ji Ning had his pride.

For his first disciple, he disdained coercion. The Crescent Moon Great World was vast; he could always find another great merit-holder.

Qi Xiaoyu was actually very perceptive. She could feel that the prince was only so-so to her, the second princess was slightly better, and the little princess actually disliked her. In the entire Qi royal family, only one person had truly been good to her—her master. But her master had died under the pursuit of the Firewing Guard.

As for Ji Ning before her, Qi Xiaoyu could also sense that this ‘Senior Beiming’ valued her greatly. He had taken out a hundred Earth-ranked flying swords from the start, and now he was even willing to shelter the Qi royal family, knowing that doing so meant opposing the Firewing Guard.

All this was to take her as a disciple.

If she didn’t bow, Ji Ning would still have to shelter the Qi royal family for a year as promised.

This showed… that Ji Ning respected her own wishes.

“Disciple pays respects to Master.” The young maidservant immediately knelt down.

Joy filled Ji Ning’s heart, and he couldn’t help smiling. He nodded. “Good. From today, you are the senior disciple of Ji Ning, the Daoist Beiming. I have no other requirements for disciples, only one: no disobedience!”

“Disciple understands,” Qi Xiaoyu said respectfully.

“Follow me inside.” Ji Ning headed toward the second-level cabin, instructing, “Qi Rufeng, you may rest in the cabins. On my ship, I will naturally ensure your safety. No need to worry.”

Qi Xiaoyu obediently followed Ji Ning into the second-level cabin.

…

At the moment Ji Ning accepted his senior disciple, in a city hundreds of thousands of li away.

Inside a massive palace.

The palace was so vast that sunlight could hardly reach inside. In a dark hall, a tall, thin man with reddish skin, dressed in a black robe, sat frowning in thought.

“Third Brother.” Suddenly a voice sounded.

Another tall, thin man walked in, clad in green armor, with eyes as fierce as an eagle’s.

“Seventh Brother.” The tall, thin man in black nodded slightly. “You’ve come.”

“You, the Firewing Demon King, are living free and easy. Why suddenly summon all the brothers?” the green-armored, eagle-eyed man asked.

“Naturally, there’s a great benefit.” The Firewing Demon King said, “Seventh Brother, you’re the earliest to arrive, so I’ll tell you first. Do you know why I went to so much trouble to destroy the Qi Kingdom back then?”

The green-armored, eagle-eyed man asked doubtfully, “Destroy the Qi Kingdom? Didn’t you say you found your territory too small and wanted a larger one? Wasn’t that it? Or is it like the legend says, that the Qi Emperor had a treasure? Hahaha… I don’t believe in any treasure. To us, even treasures left by Celestial Immortals are not worth considering.”

“There really is a treasure.” The Firewing Demon King said solemnly.

“Oh?” The green-armored, eagle-eyed man was startled.

“It was after learning that the Qi royal family had a great treasure that I made my move,” the Firewing Demon King said. “Through soul-scouring, torture, and every means, I finally learned from the old fellows of the Qi royal family… that the founding emperor of Qi indeed once discovered a treasure. But he was too weak and only obtained a tiny portion of it—cultivation methods, divine abilities, secret arts, and so on. With just those methods, the Qi clan rose rapidly, founded a kingdom, expanded, and in tens of thousands of years occupied a territory of a million li.”

The green-armored, eagle-eyed man was astonished.

“Over the tens of thousands of years, the Qi royal family visited the treasure site several times but could not penetrate deep,” the Firewing Demon King said. “After learning of this treasure, I also went twice. The first time I returned empty-handed. The second time, well-prepared, I forced my way in but was trapped inside for over twenty years, nearly dying, and only recently escaped with difficulty!”

“What!” The green-armored, eagle-eyed man was shocked.

He knew well the Firewing Demon King’s strength.

In Star Continent, there were many great powers. The ‘Twelve Eastern Flow Demon Kings’ were renowned, each with immense power and vast territories. The Firewing Demon King was one of them, and his strength was formidable—otherwise, he couldn’t have destroyed the Qi Kingdom.

“The treasure site is extremely dangerous,” the Firewing Demon King shook his head. “The outermost treasures were taken by the Qi founding emperor, but those aren’t worth my interest. Deeper inside, there are even more powerful treasures, and the ripples of those treasures… make my heart tremble.”

“Make your heart tremble?” The green-armored, eagle-eyed man was also tempted.

“This treasure site is mysterious beyond measure. I’ve always wanted to know what’s inside, but I can’t do it alone. So I’m inviting all the brothers to join forces. With the twelve demon kings working together, I believe we have a chance to enter the depths of the treasure site,” the Firewing Demon King said.

The green-armored, eagle-eyed man nodded slightly.

As the two demon kings conversed, a figure appeared outside the hall: “Great King, a subordinate has urgent Firewing Guard business to report.”

“Oh?” The Firewing Demon King glanced outside and nodded. “Enter.”

A tall, thin old man with a long neck and downy hair on his face walked in, glancing at the green-armored, eagle-eyed man beside him.

“Speak. There’s nothing to hide from Seventh Brother,” the Firewing Demon King said.

“Yes.” The long-necked old man said respectfully, “The Great King ordered the pursuit of the Qi remnants. Now only three princes and princesses remain, the strongest at the Wanxiang Adept level. But just now, one of the dozen squads I dispatched was completely annihilated. Their jade slips all shattered. The place of their death is about six hundred thousand li from here.”

“Oh?” The Firewing Demon King frowned.

Something was wrong.

This territory was under his rule. The demons all obeyed him, and human cultivators had long been driven away. In his own domain, no one should dare to attack the Firewing Guard.

“Your subordinate suspects the Qi remnants…” the long-necked old man began.

But the Firewing Demon King cut him off, frowning and snapping, “Arrange for three Firewing teams to investigate this matter. Could the Qi remnants have some secret I don’t know about?”

“Yes.” The long-necked old man immediately accepted the order respectfully.

…

Soon, three Firewing Guard teams, each led by a demonic loose immortal, teleported away from the Qi capital to investigate.

…