Chapter 20 The Old Demon of Fufeng

Ji Ning and the others gazed from afar at the mountain range that stretched to the edge of their sight. Though they had not yet entered, each of them could sense the surging pressure released from the mountains—the pressure of the mountain-protecting grand formation that was constantly maintained.

“Senior apprentice-brother, how do we enter?” Mu Zishuo transmitted anxiously.

Xiaoqing, however, muttered to herself, “Countless mortals, over a million cultivators... who knows how many formations and restrictions have accumulated in such a lair over endless years? The generations of Celestial Immortals of the Shennong clan must have spared no effort in setting them up. A lair like this is as solid as a block of iron—how can we break in? How?” Xiaoqing also glanced at Ji Ning beside her.

“Senior apprentice-brother...” Mu Zishuo also looked at Ji Ning.

Faced with such a lair, they were utterly helpless.

It was too heavily guarded!

This was far more heavily guarded than the Donglin Mountains. Although it was only one of the three major lairs of the Shennong clan, it already surpassed the Anchan Northshan clan! From the age of the Primordial Era to the present, the Shennong clan must have produced no small number of Celestial Immortals. The lair of such a clan... in terms of danger, it was probably no less than Mount Yan, which had obtained the grand formation of the Square Inch Mountain lineage!

“Forcing our way in is certainly not an option,” Ji Ning shook his head. “With layer upon layer of formations, once we force our way in, we’ll immediately be trapped in them.” Back when the Bloodcloud Hall had tried to assassinate him, Ji Ning had been trapped in the formations of the Donglin Mountains and had only been able to escape by using a Greater Teleportation Dao Talisman.

“Then what do we do?” Mu Zishuo pressed.

“Have you forgotten how I entered the forbidden ground?” Ji Ning glanced at Mu Zishuo.

Mu Zishuo was startled.

“I’ll use the same method to infiltrate the Chenyu Mountains,” Ji Ning said with a smile. Among the Three Realms, cultivators of the Eight-Nine Arcane Art were the most unfathomable. Even immortal caves, the Heavenly Court, and the Underworld could be easily entered by relying on the Eight-Nine Arcane Art.

...

A mere hour later.

Inside the mobile immortal mansion.

“Spare me, senior, spare me! If I, Shennong Lu Shao, have offended you in any way, please make it clear.” A gaunt middle-aged man looked fearfully at the masked black-robed figure before him. He had no thought of resistance, for the black-robed figure was far too powerful.

He had clearly been inside a city, but the other had appeared out of nowhere and, relying solely on his ‘Dao domain,’ had completely suppressed him and taken him into the mobile immortal mansion.

With such power in his Dao domain... the opponent could kill him, Shennong Lu Shao, with a single thought.

“If I wanted to kill you, you would have died long ago,” the masked black-robed figure said hoarsely.

Shennong Lu Shao breathed a secret sigh of relief. If this mysterious being had killed him outright, it would have been too unjust. He quickly said, “If you have any orders, senior, please speak. I will give my life to carry them out.”

“Oh?” The masked black-robed figure seemed to smile slightly. “There are some things I wish to know, so... I want to take a look at your memories.”

“Take a look at my memories?” Shennong Lu Shao was startled, then said uneasily, “Senior...”

“I intend to perform a soul search. If you do not resist, the harm will probably not be too great. If you resist, I will have to use force,” said the masked black-robed figure. “Are you willing, or not?”

Shennong Lu Shao was bitter and helpless. After hesitating only a moment, he gritted his teeth and said, “I am willing.”

“Mm.”

The masked black-robed figure immediately placed a hand on Shennong Lu Shao’s head and executed the Thousand Star Soul Search technique.

...

Midair.

Ji Ning trod on the clouds and nodded slightly. “The first Primal Daoist. Primal Daoists hold a relatively high status in the Shennong clan and know quite a bit. It seems... the Dongfu Commandery branch of the Shennong clan is strictly hierarchical and has many formations. Even this Primal Daoist, Shennong Lu Shao, can only go to certain areas and only knows the methods to enter and exit the formations.”

This soul search had only revealed the grand formations of some areas.

“I’ll need to find more Primal Daoists and investigate thoroughly.”

Whoosh.

Ji Ning immediately tore through the void and vanished.

...

Ji Ning began to target some Primal Daoists of the Shennong clan within Dongfu Commandery. The status of Primal Daoists varied; some knew more about the formations and restrictions of the clan’s lair, some less. Ji Ning gradually gained a rough understanding of the formations and restrictions within the Chenyu Mountains of Dongfu Commandery, and he relayed all this to Uncle Bai.

Uncle Bai was a formation grandmaster and could devise a better method of attack!

“Hahaha, you want to perform a soul search?” A green-robed man let out a manic laugh. “If I’m not mistaken, you must be that Ji Ning the ancestors spoke of!”

“Not good.”

The masked black-robed figure—Ji Ning’s second true body—immediately sensed trouble and sent a thought.

Whoosh!

A streak of sword-light appeared out of nowhere, directly piercing the green-robed man’s body and cutting it in two. The green-robed man’s Tortoise-Snake Nascent Soul immediately flew out, but sword-light enveloped it, shattering it directly. The human-shaped soul within began to head toward reincarnation.

“Did you think self-destruction could let you escape my soul search?” Ji Ning held a black pearl in his hand, which emitted a powerful suction force, drawing the human-shaped soul toward it.

When killing a Primal Daoist, destroying the Nascent Soul usually also destroyed the soul.

But Ji Ning’s strength far surpassed his opponent’s; he destroyed the Nascent Soul while preserving the soul, intending to collect it and then perform a soul search.

“Soul search? Hahaha...” The human-shaped soul—the green-robed man—roared madly, and cracks began to appear on his soul. Then it shattered and dissipated.

“What?” Ji Ning sighed inwardly.

The technique of splitting the divine soul could be performed by those with sufficiently powerful souls. Ji Ning had once split his soul to create a second true body. But for the opponent to simultaneously split into several cracks meant utter soul annihilation.

“He actually annihilated his own soul.” Ji Ning sighed inwardly. “It seems the Shennong clan still has some who are utterly loyal to the clan.”

“He guessed I was Ji Ning? Quite clever.”

Ji Ning was not surprised, because he had already performed soul searches on several Primal Daoists and learned that the Celestial Immortal ancestors of the Shennong clan had long issued orders for the entire clan to be extremely cautious, wary of Ji Ning sneaking into the clan’s mountain gate!

“Last time, four Celestial Immortals besieged me. Though they failed, they must have guessed that I cultivate the Eight-Nine Arcane Art,” Ji Ning thought. “Practitioners of the Eight-Nine Arcane Art are best at infiltration and transformation. It would be strange if the Shennong clan had no precautions.”

“But even with precautions, what can they do? Among the Three Realms, even the heavily guarded Heavenly Court is as easy to enter and leave as one pleases for a practitioner of the Eight-Nine Arcane Art.”

This was the royal path!

Though the enemy knew Ji Ning had the Eight-Nine Arcane Art, they could not prevent him from entering the Chenyu Mountains.

But likewise...

With the enemy on guard, achieving the goal would be more difficult.

“This Primal Daoist’s death—the Shennong clan probably already knows. But just one death should be fine,” Ji Ning thought. The Shennong clan was vast, and in these turbulent times, the death of a single Primal Daoist was not a major event. But if two died in a row, it would likely draw attention.

“Let it be for now.”

“Uncle Bai.” Black-robed Ji Ning arrived in a hall within the mobile immortal mansion. In the hall were Uncle Bai, Mu Zishuo, and Xiaoqing.

“How did it go?” Whitewater Lake looked over.

“Though I carefully checked the intelligence recorded in the Treasure Mountain for each target, I still ran into one who wasn’t afraid to die,” Black-robed Ji Ning shook his head. “That Shennong Xun just now killed himself before I could force a soul search.”

“Every major clan has those willing to sacrifice for the clan,” Uncle Bai nodded.

“Having performed soul searches on eight Primal Daoists in total, we’ve gathered quite a bit of intelligence on the lair of the Shennong clan’s Dongfu Commandery branch,” Black-robed Ji Ning said. “How to deal with those formations and restrictions is up to you, Uncle Bai.”

“Let me think it over.”

Uncle Bai nodded.

Ji Ning recorded the portions of the eight Primal Daoists’ memories concerning the formations and restrictions of the clan’s lair into a Dharma treasure bamboo slip, then handed it to Uncle Bai.

From these fragments, Uncle Bai could gain a rough understanding of the formations and restrictions in the Chenyu Mountains.

...

Within the Chenyu Mountains of Dongfu Commandery, the mountain range stretched for nearly a million li. It was so vast that it contained plains, lakes, and even many built-up cities. There were countless cities spanning hundreds or even thousands of li, housing vast numbers of mortals—a single city could hold over ten million people.

Underground, in lakes, on plains, on mountainsides...

City after city, outpost after outpost.

The Chenyu Mountains were the absolute territory of the Shennong clan!

“Grandmaster, Grandmaster.” A young man hurried to a palace made entirely of white jade. Around it were many beautiful maidservants, each one stunningly seductive. Some wore clothes so sheer they might as well have been naked, their bare bodies visible through the gauze. Others were like noble matrons, and still others like lively young girls...

The young man swallowed hard.

These maidservants had all been gathered from various places by the grandmaster to serve him alone.

This grandmaster was the most uniquely positioned loose immortal in the entire Chenyu Mountains—a loose immortal who had lived for over a million years: Immortal Fufeng. But outsiders rarely called him an immortal; instead, they called him ‘the Fufeng Demon’—a true great demon.

“What is it?” A black-haired, black-bearded old man was holding two beauties, looking perfectly at ease.

“Reporting to Grandmaster, Third Senior Apprentice-Brother, Third Senior Apprentice-Brother... he is dead.” The young man quickly knelt down, sobbing.

“What?”

The Old Demon Fufeng’s face changed dramatically.

Among the current Primal Daoists of the Shennong clan’s Dongfu Commandery branch, the one he favored most was this junior apprentice-brother, Shennong Xun. Though not his disciple, he simply liked him. He even felt that Shennong Xun was like a younger version of himself—committing every evil, yet fanatically loyal to the Shennong clan.

Moreover, his talent was high, so the Old Demon Fufeng had arranged for Shennong Xun to work outside, believing that only by experiencing storms could he truly grow. But he never expected Shennong Xun to die! As a key figure being groomed within the clan, he naturally had protective treasures, yet he still died...

“Damn it, damn it!” The Old Demon Fufeng ground his teeth in rage.

“Investigate! Investigate!” the Old Demon Fufeng growled. “Find out how Shennong Xun died.”