Chapter 17: Dao-Soldier Armor

Ji Ning held a Northdark sword in each hand, walking directly down the center of this ancient corridor.

Suddenly, at both ends, hundreds of zhang away, nine dark cyan seeds appeared—four ahead and five behind. These nine seeds appeared simultaneously with nine sets of armor and weapons. The armor was uniform black, and the weapons were identical long staves that looked like rock.

Nine seeds, nine sets of armor and weapons.

With a whoosh, the dark cyan seeds instantly turned into liquid and flowed into the armor, transforming into nine giant, dark-cyan-skinned men. Each giant was over ten feet tall, with two sharp horns on his forehead, an ugly face, and a pair of fangs. They wore the armor and picked up the stone staves beside them, which were also over ten feet long.

The nine ugly giants glanced at each other; their eyes were filled with brutality and excitement.

"It's been so long—we're finally out again!"

"This time, we're up against this human youth. Such a tender-skinned human—I could crush one with a single hand. With all nine of us, plus divine armor and weapons, haha, this is too easy."

"First, form the formation."

The nine ugly giants babbled at each other in some alien tongue. Ji Ning couldn't understand, but his expression changed, because he realized these giants formed from seeds had intelligence! They could even communicate with each other!

Thick mist began to rise at both ends of the corridor.

"Human, die!" The nine ugly giants roared. The ancient armor they wore emitted dazzling black light, and the foul-smelling black light quickly intertwined, forming a giant centipede phantom in midair.

Ji Ning was shocked: "Dao-soldier armor?"

Dao-soldiers were a common troop type in the Xia Dynasty. For instance, the Ji clan's strongest troop, the Red Armor Guards, were the lowest grade of dao-soldiers. Each dao-soldier's armor was covered with numerous runes, allowing them to merge their strength, combining attacks and defenses.

With the Ji clan's Red Armor Guards' dao-soldier armor, at most nine Red Armor Guards could act as one. Once united, nine Red Armor Guards could even match a peak early-stage Xiantian lifeform.

The Ji clan had as many as fifty thousand of their strongest troop, the Red Armor Guards!

This was the Ji clan's true foundation.

Normally, they deployed the Black Armor Guards. The Red Armor Guards were only dispatched after a unified decision by the five prefectures of the Ji clan, and only for matters that affected the entire clan.

"Dao-soldier armor is supposed to be used by Houtian lifeforms, right? And it should be covered with runes, easy to spot at a glance." Ji Ning stared. "But these nine alien giants wear dao-soldier armor with no runes on the surface, and each of them is no weaker than a Xiantian lifeform."

"This is trouble." Ji Ning held his breath.

The six overlords of the Yanshan Mountains simply could not obtain the Dao-soldier armor used by innate lifeforms; Ji Ning had never even heard of it. It was likely that only the armies of the Great Xia Dynasty possessed such things!

"Kill!" The nine ugly giant men, each gripping a thick stone staff in both hands, charged straight at Ji Ning from both sides, roaring furiously. Above them, a massive centipede phantom coalesced.

Ji Ning immediately transformed into a blur of mist, swiftly darting toward one side. On that side, there were only four of the alien ugly giant men, each maintaining a distance of several zhang from the others as they charged wildly, holding their huge stone staves.

"Die!" One of the ugly giant men swung his enormous stone staff high with both hands.

"Come on." Ji Ning also unleashed his full strength, channeling his divine power into the Northsea sword in his hand, and clashed head-on with the staff. He wanted to gauge the true strength of these ugly creatures.

Bang!

The stone staff, as thick as a man's thigh and over a zhang long, cut through the air and slammed directly into Ji Ning's Northsea sword. Immediately afterward, Ji Ning's entire body was sent flying backward with a 'whoosh.' The alien giant man, however, stumbled back a step and let out a strange cry in his native tongue: "This human has great strength, but still not as good as me, let alone the nine of us working together."

Although Ji Ning had only clashed head-on with one man, due to the Dao-soldier armor, that single staff strike actually carried the combined force of all nine alien giant men.

Flying backward through the air, Ji Ning felt numbness throughout his body; the tiger's mouth of his right hand was torn, and the Northsea sword in his hand nearly slipped from his grasp.

"Can't fight head-on!" In midair, Ji Ning quickly somersaulted. His divine physique allowed him to recover rapidly, and while still in the air, he stepped off the corridor wall, darting out like a roc, swiftly passing the four charging alien ugly giant men.

"Don't run!"

"Running is no skill."

"Humans only know how to flee."

The nine alien giant men roared with their fanged mouths wide open, realizing that this human was faster than them.

Ji Ning pointed from afar: "Waterfire Lotus!"

Whoosh whoosh whoosh~~~

Each pair of waterfire lotuses consisted of one water lotus leaf and one fire lotus leaf. A full six pairs of waterfire lotuses appeared out of thin air, completely enveloping the nine ugly giant men. The lotus leaves slowly rotated in opposite directions, generating a terrifying crushing and grinding force.

"What a formidable human." The nine ugly giant men all stopped and looked at each other. "Without this divine armor, we might have been injured."

Ji Ning saw the nine ugly giant men halt and chatter among themselves in their strange language.

But his previously invincible waterfire lotuses had failed to harm them in the slightest.

"It really doesn't work." Ji Ning was startled. Last time, when dealing with Tiemuzhan, Tiemuzhan had been able to hold out for a long time using formations and vajra talismans. Ji Ning realized that his waterfire lotuses were not invincible. "When I first comprehended this waterfire lotus, it was meant for defense. In terms of attack, it's still lacking."

……

Nine alien giants, wielding stone clubs, charged at him again like a crushing wave.

"Lotus Body Protection." Around Ji Ning's body appeared three water-lotus leaves and three fire-lotus leaves, encircling him. When the nine alien giants charged in, the rotation of these water and fire lotuses affected their forms, preventing them from attacking Ji Ning all at once.

Ji Ning, gripping the North Sea sword, fixed his gaze on one and struck.

"Die."

The sword light was like fire, astonishingly fast. He was executing the killing move 'Lightning and Flint' from the "Remnant Chapter of Thunderfire Sword."

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Streaks of sword light struck at the giant before him. The ugly giant roared in fury and swung his stone club. The club was immensely heavy; the last time Ji Ning had clashed with it, he had been sent flying and his whole body went numb. Now he dared not meet it head-on, relying solely on more exquisite swordplay to torment the giant.

The armor protected most of the body, but the head and other parts were still exposed.

Ji Ning's every sword strike aimed for the giant's head!

But each thrust was hindered by the dense black light. Barely breaking through, it could only leave a scar on the giant's face, which immediately healed, leaving no damage.

"Kill, kill, kill." Ji Ning fought fiercely.

"I want to live! So I must kill you all!" Ji Ning exerted all his strength, even pouring his innate true essence into the North Sea sword, but he could only inflict minor flesh wounds on these alien giants—wounds that had negligible effect on their combat power.

The skirmish lasted a full quarter of an hour.

Because he had been constantly controlling the water and fire lotuses while fighting desperately, his divine power was draining very quickly.

"Their strength hasn't dropped at all; I can't even seriously wound one of them." Sensing that his divine power was less than half, Ji Ning dared not persist. He swiftly dodged and slipped out of the encirclement.

Swish! Swish! Swish!

Ji Ning executed the Windwing Evasion Art, darting this way and that, evading the pursuit of the alien giants.

"Human, stop running."

"You can't escape."

"Humans only know how to flee." The nine ugly giants roared in fury as they ran, chasing him again and again. Ji Ning refused to fight head-on, relying on the Windwing Evasion Art to shake them off time after time.

Ji Ning also sighed.

He had practiced the sword for so long, yet in the end, his life depended on this Windwing Evasion technique.

… …

A long time passed again.

"What should I do?" Ji Ning, while fleeing, anxiously pondered. He glanced at the nine ugly giant men who were roaring madly without any sign of fatigue. "They've been chasing me for half a day and still show no signs of tiring. But my divine power is less than twenty percent left."

The Windwing Evasion technique also consumed Redbright Divine Power! Although it was far less draining than intense combat, running for half a day still consumed a lot.

"My full-powered sword can only inflict minor flesh wounds on them," Ji Ning thought to himself. "But these nine aliens were actually transformed from those nine seeds. Just like when I killed those eighty-one golden-armored soldiers earlier, even if I completely shattered them, they could reform."

Ji Ning understood clearly...

Even if he pierced their heads, it might not necessarily kill them.

More importantly, his full-powered sword could only leave minor flesh wounds on them.

"What to do?"

"What to do?" Ji Ning kept thinking.

There was no solution.

Despair!

"In the distant past, those Fiendgod Body Refining innate lifeforms who were teleported in probably watched helplessly as their divine power drained away, only to be killed later," Ji Ning also realized his weakness: his Redbright Nine Heavens Diagram had only reached the fourth level.

This corridor was meant for Fiendgod Body Refining innate lifeforms to charge through.

Back when Immortal Juhua took disciples, most of those Fiendgod Body Refining innate lifeforms who came to challenge were probably at the peak of the innate stage! But Ji Ning? Only when the Redbright Nine Heavens Diagram reached the sixth level would he be considered at the innate peak. He was only at the fourth level now! In terms of purity and abundance of divine power, he was still far from his innate limit.

It was only natural that he couldn't pass the three trials.

"Compared to those innate lifeforms who challenged when Immortal Juhua took disciples, my divine power is still very weak," Ji Ning understood. "Fortunately, I comprehended the true meaning of the Dao and realized the 'Waterfire Lotus' technique, barely passing the first trial! Otherwise, I probably wouldn't have even passed the first one."

"But there are three trials."

"Never mind the third trial, even this second trial..." Sensing that his Redbright Divine Power had dropped to less than ten percent, Ji Ning felt both anxious and desperate deep inside.