Chapter 13 Suppressing the Eight-Nine Arcane Art

Ji Ning felt something was wrong as soon as he engaged. The combined forces of Patriarch Deadwood and Patriarch Mystic alone completely suppressed him and his junior apprentice-brother: "Even the fourth stage of the Grand Thousand Sword Formation can't defeat them. If I were a Celestial Immortal, using Celestial Immortal法力 to unleash the fourth stage... it would be different. A Return to Void Earth Immortal fighting a Celestial Immortal is still too much of a disadvantage."

Without hesitation, Ji Ning crushed the talisman to send a distress signal to his masters, the Immortal Diancai and the Celestial Immortal Tuoshan.

"The talisman."

"Ji Ning is asking for help."

"Quick."

The four Celestial Immortals of the Shaoyin clan were all watching the battle and naturally noticed the talisman being crushed by the sword-light divine dragon in an instant.

"I'll handle it." The man who had been holding the large bell with one hand let out a roar, then swung the bell. The bell flew high into the air, and the dense, sky-covering vines automatically parted to make way. The bell turned into a rainbow light and flew to a spot several li away from Ji Ning.

It hovered in the air, its surface shimmering with a faint golden light.

The man controlling the golden bell immediately used his own mana to activate this top-grade Pure Yang treasure. This treasure had been owned by the Shaoyin clan since the ancient Pangu World and had been passed down to the present day, serving as the clan's heirloom.

"Dong~~"

The golden bell suddenly rang, its sound melodious. The bottom of the bell was aimed at Ji Ning, and as the bell sounded, visible ripples of golden light appeared at the bell's base. These ripples spread downward, while the vines quickly parted to clear a path. Any vines that couldn't dodge in time instantly turned to ash.

The golden light ripples moved extremely fast. By the time Ji Ning saw them, they were already upon him.

"Careful." Ji Ning exclaimed, and with a thought, the black-robed Ji Ning beside him vanished into thin air.

"Dong~~~"

The golden light ripples crushed a black divine dragon, then struck Ji Ning's body, producing another melodious bell sound. Ji Ning felt as if countless heavy hammers were pounding against him.

His junior apprentice-brother Mu Zishuo, controlling the Winged Immortal puppet, was also affected. The puppet tumbled out of control, and at that moment, two of the nine massive vines coiled toward it.

"Junior apprentice-brother." Ji Ning immediately reached out, his palm expanding to a hundred zhang, and grabbed the tumbling puppet. "Don't resist." He then stored the puppet into his随身仙府.

...

With the golden bell deployed, the second avatar had to retreat, and the Winged Immortal puppet, already struggling against the 'Starlight of the Heavens,' was now completely helpless. Ji Ning could only choose to have his second avatar and junior apprentice-brother temporarily withdraw.

Only his true body remained standing alone in midair.

"Hahaha..." The man controlling the golden bell laughed wildly. "With the divine bell out, you're dead for sure."

"Such terrifying power."

Ji Ning's heart trembled.

Patriarch Deadwood and Patriarch Golden Bell were two extremes. Patriarch Deadwood leaned more toward 'restraint, control, suppression,' while Patriarch Golden Bell favored brute-force crushing. In truth, Patriarch Deadwood posed a greater threat to Ji Ning, because once those vines truly trapped him, even with the Eight-Nine Arcane Art, he would find it hard to escape.

"Dong~~" "Dong~~~" "Dong~~~"

The golden bell high in the air rang out melodiously, and the golden ripples struck Ji Ning below again and again.

Ji Ning now completely put away his three hundred-plus flying swords and activated the divine ability Three Heads and Six Arms, using only his six palms to block.

The golden ripples struck.

But Ji Ning was completely unharmed!

"Hmph." Patriarch Mystic manipulated the Starlight of the Heavens, but Ji Ning completely ignored its suppression.

"Whoosh whoosh whoosh~~~"

A large number of vines closed in.

Only then did Ji Ning take them seriously. He activated the great divine ability 'Nine Heavens Annihilating Wind,' and for a moment, he was like a wind, sometimes gentle, sometimes fierce, weaving through the forest of vines. At the same time, his six palms executed the divine ability 'Star Picking Hand,' with immense strength and the power of Pure Yang treasures, striking in all directions!

"Bang bang bang~~~" Weaker vines and branches were directly shattered or turned to powder, while only the thick vines could withstand the blows.

But relying on the Nine Heavens Annihilating Wind, Ji Ning was extremely agile.

"How is this possible?"

"Impossible!"

Patriarch Mystic and Patriarch Golden Bell were both shocked. Their attacks posed the least threat to Ji Ning. Especially Patriarch Golden Bell, whose strength was on par with Patriarch Deadwood's. Yet Ji Ning was completely enduring his golden bell's attacks, even using the impact to increase his speed.

"My golden bell is a top-grade Pure Yang treasure. Its power is such that even Celestial Immortals dare not withstand it head-on. Even a Return to Void Fiendgod would die from a single strike." Patriarch Golden Bell couldn't believe it.

"Does he have a protective treasure?" Patriarch Mystic said.

"Even if he does, under my golden bell's attacks, it would be exhausted in the blink of an eye." Patriarch Golden Bell didn't believe it.

After Patriarch Golden Bell made his move, the last of the four Celestial Immortals, Patriarch Infatuation, also went all out. Around him appeared cold orbs, thousands of them, each inscribed with flowing runes. They then began to combine, forming an extremely profound formation.

"Boom~~~"

Where Patriarch Infatuation stood, an area a thousand zhang in radius turned into a world of ice.

Everywhere was ice. On a tall ice tower, Patriarch Infatuation stood at its peak, like the sole ruler of this small ice world.

"Slash!"

Patriarch Infatuation looked at Ji Ning, who was fleeing under the golden bell's attacks and the vines' pursuit, and pointed from afar.

Instantly, more than half of the ice in this small ice world gathered together, forming a massive ice cleaver. It was like an executioner's blade, but only the blade edge existed, no handle. This huge ice cleaver... instantly crossed the void and slashed down at Ji Ning's head.

Ji Ning, using the Nine Heavens Annihilating Wind to flee, looked up and saw the massive ice cleaver above him.

Cold!

A bone-chilling cold. Before the blade even fell, just seeing it made Ji Ning's heart feel icy, and he naturally felt a sense of dread, pain, and sorrow. It was a painful, sorrowful feeling that arose upon seeing this blade.

"Such a strange blade." Ji Ning sensed something was wrong and let out a low roar, "Get lost."

Two of Ji Ning's arms reached up, as if Pangu were holding up the heavens.

The massive ice cleaver fell!

"Boom~~~"

The cleaver and the two palms clashed directly!

Ji Ning was sent plummeting downward like a meteorite. He had never suffered such a terrifying attack. Even back in the Donglin Mountains... he hadn't been struck this badly.

"What? He's not dead?" Celestial Immortal Infatuation couldn't believe it. His signature attack, which had allowed him to roam the Three Realms, had failed to kill Ji Ning. This strike was so powerful that even some Heaven-grade treasures would be shattered into pieces.

"A protective treasure couldn't last this long. Could it be his body?"

"The Eight-Nine Arcane Art!!!" Patriarch Infatuation was shocked.

He guessed this possibility.

And he became even more convinced that Ji Ning had likely mastered the Eight-Nine Arcane Art. After all, Ji Ning had been targeted by the Bloodcloud Hall before, and given the Bloodcloud Hall's methods and the high price they demanded, it couldn't just be a protective treasure. The 'Eight-Nine Arcane Art' would explain it.

"Even with the Eight-Nine Arcane Art, he's only a Return to Void cultivator. Surrounded by four Celestial Immortals, he can't escape." Patriarch Infatuation immediately sent a mental message to the other three. "Deadwood, restrain him. Golden Bell, use your bell to take him in and suppress him."

"Good."

"Good."

...

Ji Ning was sent plummeting by the ice cleaver. "Rustle~~~" Immediately, other massive vines coiled around him.

"Not good."

The force of the cleaver was too great. Seeing that he was about to be entangled by the thick vines, Ji Ning gritted his teeth.

Bang!

In mid-fall, Ji Ning split into two, his physical body tearing apart into two separate bodies. The two Ji Nings clapped their palms together, and with a bang, they used the rebound to fly in opposite directions, avoiding the mass of vines below.

"A split?"

"He's asking for death."

Patriarch Deadwood sneered instead.

Splitting in an instant seemed to let him escape, but after splitting, the strength of both avatars would decrease. After all, each body contained only half the divine soul, so the power of sword techniques would be much weaker. The finesse of the Nine Heavens Annihilating Wind would also decrease. These were all weaknesses.

If one avatar was destroyed, the divine power within it would be completely lost.

"Explode." Suddenly, one of the Ji Nings exploded.

The other fleeing Ji Ning's strength rapidly increased as a large amount of divine power returned and his divine soul quickly recovered. For Fiendgod Body Refiners... as long as divine power wasn't exhausted, they could regenerate from a drop of blood.

"How decisive." Patriarch Infatuation, standing on the ice tower in the small ice world, sneered. "Let's see how many times you can self-destruct."

He pointed from afar.

Another massive ice cleaver formed and soon appeared above Ji Ning.

Ji Ning gritted his teeth.

What to do?

The instant he split his body and self-destructed one part, although he recovered some divine power, a large amount was still consumed. Just one self-destruction... consumed two to three-tenths of his divine power, far more than the previous battle. Probably after three or four more self-destructions, he would be finished.

"What to do?" Ji Ning grew anxious. Should he hide in his随身仙府 and then use a Greater Teleportation Dao Talisman to escape?

This plan seemed good, but it had one danger.

Could his随身仙府 withstand the attacks of the four Celestial Immortals, including Celestial Immortal Infatuation?

Although called a '仙府,' it was not actually an Immortal-grade treasure. If it were, Ji Ning wouldn't have been able to refine it in the first place. This type of cave dwelling treasure, though portable, was not very defensive. It was probably on par with an ordinary Heaven-grade treasure. When facing the Bashe from the Bloodcloud Hall, Ji Ning estimated it could hold out for a while.

But against the much more powerful Celestial Immortal Infatuation and the combined force of four Celestial Immortals, they would probably blow up the随身仙府 in an instant.

...