Chapter 5 Who Sets Me Free?

The black clouds were full of resilience, completely covering the area below. Even those hundred-plus immortal-rank top-grade flying swords could not pierce through the black clouds, but Ji Ning was simply too fast—before the black clouds could block him, he had already slain over twenty black-robed loose immortals.

The silver-armored youth watched with a grim expression.

"Break." Ji Ning withdrew his many immortal swords and condensed the second level of the Grand Thousand Sword Formation's sword light. This dazzling ray of sword light transformed directly into a black divine dragon, tearing through the black clouds, rolling and surging with abandon.

"Hmph."

The silver-armored youth waved his hand and withdrew the black clouds, looking down. By now, the black-robed figures had already fled.

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh! One bronze demon guard after another flew in from all directions, hovering in midair behind the silver-armored youth.

"All demon guards, form the formation and surround him!" The silver-armored youth pointed down and shouted, "Do not act alone."

"Yes."

Immediately, every nine bronze demon guards formed a team, merging into a hundred-zhang divine beast in midair. It was a tiger-like divine beast, but with longer claws, longer fangs, drooping fur, and eyes gleaming with cold blue light.

"A Bi'an divine beast?" Ji Ning was startled. "Last time I encountered the Bashe formation of the Bloodcloud Hall, and now I run into a Bi'an formation. This force is truly formidable."

The Ancestral Dragon was born from chaos; it was the most ancient divine dragon since the beginning of chaos, older than the 'Candle Dragon,' the first dragon, hence called 'Ancestral Dragon.'

The Ancestral Dragon had nine sons.

Each of the nine sons was born with immense power, and Bi'an was one of them.

"Kill!"

"Kill him!"

Three Bi'an divine beasts dove straight down from midair. Ji Ning looked up at them, then felt the castle behind him tremble. He turned his head and saw that at the main gate of the castle, another 'Bi'an divine beast' was charging out.

There were also some bronze demon guards in the castle, but Ji Ning had killed too quickly for them to gather and form a formation.

"This white-robed man's immortal swords are powerful; he must be a mighty sword immortal of the qi-refining path. Though qi-refining sword immortals are formidable... they fear close combat most. If we surround him and land a claw on him, he's dead."

"Kill him, or the general and all of us will be in trouble."

They were all bent on killing.

None of them wanted Ji Ning to leave alive, because the forging of puppets in the Donglin Mountains was a very secret affair. Once this stronghold was exposed and the Grand Xia Dynasty learned of it, the Grand Xia would likely launch a frantic investigation, a targeted one, which might reveal even more strongholds.

Note... so far, none of the many strongholds had been exposed! Although the Grand Xia Dynasty had found some places 'suspicious,' they didn't know what these places were for, so the Grand Xia hadn't acted rashly.

It was just the bad luck of this Donglin Mountains stronghold.

After all, in the entire Grand Xia world, only Ji Ning knew the 'Seventy-Two Transformations.' Only he could infiltrate silently; anyone else would be unable to enter and discover this great secret.

"He must not escape!" The silver-armored youth's eyes flashed coldly as he stared at Ji Ning from high above. "If he escapes, I'm in big trouble. The cave lord will surely put the blame on me!"

...

Four Bi'an divine beasts charged with boundless might, each no weaker than the 'Bashe' that the Bloodcloud Hall had sent to assassinate Ji Ning. But Ji Ning was no longer the same Ji Ning; after cultivating the Crimsonbright Diagram of the Nine Heavens to the sixteenth level, his strength had taken a great leap.

"Get lost."

A giant hand, also a hundred zhang in size, slammed down at one Bi'an divine beast. The Bi'an roared and extended its claws, each blade-like nail extremely long and sharp.

Boom!!!

The golden-glowing giant hand sent that Bi'an divine beast flying. The other three Bi'an divine beasts frenziedly attacked, and Ji Ning swung his other hand, which grew as it moved, instantly reaching a hundred zhang, sending another Bi'an flying.

"Three heads, six arms." Ji Ning transformed into three heads and six arms, and six giant hands struck out in all directions.

The hands had the power of pure yang treasures, far better than using immortal swords, which consumed elemental energy. The 'Star Picking Hand' had long been refined like a magic treasure, just like the 'Eight-Nine Mysteries'; the hands themselves didn't require divine power, but the immense force from the Star Picking Hand technique did consume divine power.

"Boom!" "Boom!" "Boom!" "Boom!" "Boom!" "Boom!" Six giant hands, each gleaming with sharp golden light like sword blades, either slapped, chopped, or stabbed.

The four Bi'an divine beasts attacked wildly but were sent flying time and again.

"General!"

"General, this man is a Fiendgod! And his divine body is strong, like a vajra body. He even blocks our attacks with his hands."

One bronze demon guard after another sent voice transmissions to the silver-armored youth.

The silver-armored youth watched from high above, his face dark. "I didn't expect his close combat to be even more formidable than his sword formation." In truth, if he used immortal swords, Ji Ning's close combat would be weaker, but with his hands, it was stronger than the second level of the Grand Thousand Sword Formation.

"Hahaha, General, still want to fight? You can't do anything to me, and I can leave whenever I want." Ji Ning's loud laughter came from below.

"Stop." The silver-armored youth shouted.

Immediately, the four Bi'an divine beasts retreated, hovering on either side of the silver-armored youth, watching the white-robed Ji Ning. They were all shaken... thirty-six bronze demon guards working together couldn't handle this man; no wonder he had broken out of the castle so easily.

"With your strength, you could have used a Greater Teleportation Dao Talisman to leave the castle," the silver-armored youth said coldly. "But you didn't. It was for that Mu Zishuo, wasn't it."

Ji Ning was startled.

He had used the Seventy-Two Transformations to change his appearance and aura; how did this general directly mention 'Mu Zishuo'?

"Ji Ning." The silver-armored youth looked down and said coldly, "You think I can't guess it's you? In the entire Grand Xia world, the only one who can silently enter a forbidden area is you, who knows the Seventy-Two Transformations. And when I checked, I found that the only puppet master missing from the castle was Mu Zishuo. If anyone would come to rescue Mu Zishuo, I could only think of you, Ji Ning."

"I wasn't sure you had cultivated the Eight-Nine Mysteries before, but now I am."

The silver-armored youth sneered.

The white-robed youth below laughed heartily, then shook his body and transformed back into the fur-clad Ji Ning.

"Yes, it's me. I knew I couldn't hide the Eight-Nine Mysteries for long. Last time I was trapped in your Donglin Mountains, and this time you guessed it." Ji Ning said, "I know that Fiendgod puppet of yours is important. I can give you the Fiendgod puppet, but you need to set my junior apprentice-brother Mu Zishuo free."

"Surely a puppet worth a top-grade pure yang treasure is a good deal for my junior apprentice-brother, don't you think?" Ji Ning said.

"A good deal? No, that puppet is only half-forged, not yet complete. It's not worth much." The silver-armored youth said.

"It may not be worth much to outsiders, but it's very valuable to you. You can continue forging it to completion." Ji Ning looked up at the silver-armored youth. "I only ask one thing: set my junior apprentice-brother free."

"Hahaha, free?"

The silver-armored youth laughed in fury. "If I set Mu Zishuo free, who sets me free?"

Ji Ning was taken aback.

Who sets him free?

"You've discovered this forbidden area. If the secret of this place leaks, if I don't kill you, how can I escape punishment?" The silver-armored youth's face twisted. "You and your junior apprentice-brother, both die."

Ji Ning understood now. This mysterious force used 'demon slaves,' 'demon servants,' 'demon guards,' and 'demon generals' to define ranks, clearly as hierarchical as an army. He had barged in and discovered the secret of this forbidden area; once the secret leaked, this mysterious force would be in a very passive position.

"Wait." Ji Ning quickly said, "I am willing to swear a Heavenly Dao oath not to reveal the secret of the Donglin Mountains forbidden area. I'll also give you the Fiendgod puppet. You set my junior apprentice-brother free."

"Even if you swear a Heavenly Dao oath, the higher-ups will still punish me. So only if you die will I be safe." The silver-armored youth said in a low voice, "You think that just because you've cultivated the Eight-Nine Mysteries, I can't do anything to you? Hmph... I've killed a pile of Celestial Immortals with my own hands, let alone a mere Void Refiner like you."

As his words fell, a green serpent over ten li long appeared in the sky, very slender, and coiled down toward Ji Ning.

"A rope?" Ji Ning was alarmed.

Divine abilities like the Eight-Nine Mysteries were most vulnerable to binding-type treasures. If he were tied up by this rope, he wouldn't be able to use Dao talismans or enter his immortal mansion—that would be real trouble.

Thus—

He absolutely must not be bound.

"I only ask you to set my junior apprentice-brother free." Ji Ning had immortal swords floating around him, condensing a sharp golden sword light before him.

"Only by killing you can I be safe." The silver-armored youth roared.

The golden sword light and the huge green serpent clashed in the sky. The serpent formed from the rope possessed immense power; with a single collision, it shattered the black divine dragon formed by the golden sword light.

"If you won't agree, I'll kill you until you do!" Ji Ning was furious. A black-robed Ji Ning appeared beside him.

The two Ji Nings stood side by side.

In midair, three hundred and twenty-four immortal-rank top-grade flying swords appeared. The true body and the second avatar each controlled 'one hundred and sixty-two' immortal swords. Since the true body and second avatar shared memories and were of one mind, and their elemental energy was both from the *Northmyth Sutra*, both at the late Void Refiner stage...

The elemental energy from the *Northmyth Sutra* flowed into each immortal-rank top-grade flying sword. Though controlled separately by the true body and second avatar, it was as if one person controlled them!

In an instant, over three hundred immortal-rank top-grade flying swords were fully united!

"Buzz buzz buzz~~~"

A golden immortal sword, radiating terrifying pressure, appeared floating before the true body and second avatar.

The fourth level of the Grand Thousand Sword Formation!

This was Ji Ning's strongest qi-refining combat power—even stronger than the true body's close combat!

"Kill!" The fur-clad Ji Ning and the black-robed Ji Ning roared simultaneously.

...