Chapter 47: No Other Way

Outside the floating mountain peak, the Nine-Tooth Heavenly God was waiting on the clouds. Suddenly he saw his master, Ji Ning, swiftly emerging from the distant mountain peak. He was startled: "The master went to see the Thunder God Celestial, why is he back so soon?"

Swoosh.

Ji Ning took a step and arrived on the clouds.

"Master?" the Nine-Tooth Heavenly God said in a low voice.

"Let's go." Ji Ning said nothing more, directly releasing the Void Boat, then taking the Nine-Tooth Heavenly God aboard and departing through the void.

…

In the clouds of the Hu Kingdom Great World, a Void Boat appeared abruptly.

"The Thunder God Celestial was quite polite when he first saw me. But as soon as I mentioned the Nine-Cornered Lightning Serpent, he immediately turned hostile." Ji Ning pondered carefully. In this era of great calamity, major powers on his side were generally kind to juniors. Ji Ning had also met figures like the Redbright Dao Ancestor and Fuxi.

All were very kind. Although the Thunder God Celestial had a naturally fiery temper, he was indeed quite polite at first.

"Why did he turn hostile as soon as I mentioned the Nine-Cornered Lightning Serpent? I offered to trade treasures, but he dismissed it with disdain." Ji Ning frowned in thought. "What to do? Among the major powers of the Three Realms, only the Thunder God Celestial has the Nine-Cornered Lightning Serpent. If I can't get it from him, I'll have to go to the Sea of Thunder to cultivate that divine ability..."

Capturing a Nine-Cornered Lightning Serpent was extremely difficult. Even the few major powers capable of capturing them were unwilling to expend great effort, since the serpents were useless to them. Only the Thunder God Celestial, after endless years, had captured many.

"Master?" the Nine-Tooth Heavenly God asked in confusion. "Why have we come to the Hu Kingdom Great World?"

"To see the Immortal Hu Yu, of course." Ji Ning said.

The Hu clan was a tribe of the ancient human race. Though quite prosperous, they had never produced a True God or Dao Ancestor. Since the ancient era's destruction and the birth of the Three Realms, the Hu clan had moved to this great world and occupied it. With their strength, occupying a great world was very easy.

In ancient times, the Hu clan had over eighteen Heavenly Gods and True Immortals; now they had over thirty!

"Immortal Hu Yu?" the Nine-Tooth Heavenly God wondered, not understanding why Ji Ning wanted to see her.

"Whoosh." Ji Ning released his heartforce, covering the Hu Kingdom Great World, and soon found Immortal Hu Yu.

…

In a quiet valley, a few scattered thatched cottages were spread around. Some women were chatting and laughing, some playing in the stream.

"Daoist Hu Yu." A voice sounded directly in the valley.

"Hm?"

One of the green-clad women playing in the stream released her divine sense and immediately discovered the white-robed youth and bald old man outside the valley's formation.

"Ji Ning?" the green-clad woman recognized him. "The bald old man beside him should be the Nine-Tooth Heavenly God, one of the seven Heavenly Gods like Red Snow Heavenly God who appeared in the realm war of the Redbright Realm."

"Sister, what's wrong?"

"Sister."

One by one, women came out of the cottages or from the stream and gathered around. These women were all Celestial Immortals, disciples of Immortal Hu Yu. But Immortal Hu Yu disliked the master-disciple form of address, so they all called her sister.

"Stop messing around." Immortal Hu Yu commanded, and the group of female Celestial Immortals obediently quieted down, curious about who was visiting.

Immortal Hu Yu waved her hand.

Whoosh.

A passage appeared at the end of the valley. The valley was originally covered by a formation barrier, not easy to breach. Through the passage came two figures: a white-robed youth and a bald old servant.

"Daoist Beiming." Immortal Hu Yu said with a smile.

"Daoist Hu Yu, I have come to ask a favor." Ji Ning said.

"Oh? Let's talk inside. If I can help, I naturally won't stand idly by." Immortal Hu Yu was very curious—what could this newly famous Beiming Sword Immortal want from her?

Immortal Hu Yu led Ji Ning into a thatched cottage.

The cottage was elegantly arranged. Ji Ning and Immortal Hu Yu sat down facing each other, and Immortal Hu Yu poured some immortal wine for Ji Ning.

"Before coming to you, I already visited your master, the Thunder God." Ji Ning said, "I went to see the Thunder God to exchange treasures for a nine-cornered lightning serpent. But he wouldn't even let me finish speaking and threw me out. I had no choice but to come to you. Do you have any way?"

The Immortal Hu Yu was a disciple the Thunder God doted on greatly.

The Thunder God was born from chaos, innately mastering the Great Dao of Lightning. His temper was violent; some disciples he doted on, others he treated harshly. His most beloved was his only female disciple, Immortal Hu Yu. That was why Ji Ning had come to her, to see if there was any way.

"You want a nine-cornered lightning serpent?" Immortal Hu Yu was startled.

"Yes." Ji Ning nodded.

"This is troublesome." Immortal Hu Yu shook her head. "In the Three Realms, only my master has nine-cornered lightning serpents. But to him, they are extremely important. Back then, when Lord Sanqing asked my master for one to refine a treasure, my master was very reluctant. It was only after Sanqing offered a chaos treasure my master needed that he traded one. But that was long ago. Now that the great tribulation is upon us... even if Lord Sanqing or others came asking, they couldn't get one."

"Oh?" Ji Ning was surprised.

"Don't you know that my master's most important divine artifact is the Hammer of Divine Punishment?" Immortal Hu Yu asked.

"I know that." Ji Ning nodded. "The Thunder God wields the Hammer of Divine Punishment, releasing lightning to punish immortals and demons." He was puzzled. "But what does that have to do with the nine-cornered lightning serpent?"

"Where does the lightning in the Hammer of Divine Punishment come from?" Immortal Hu Yu shook her head with a smile. "Weaker lightning, my master can draw directly from heaven and earth. But powerful lightning, especially the top-grade 'nine-cornered lightning serpents,' he painstakingly gathers from the Lightning Sea, refines them, and then forges them into the Hammer of Divine Punishment. At critical moments, he can release the nine-cornered lightning serpent to attack enemies. After the attack, he can retrieve it."

Ji Ning was taken aback.

Among lightning, the most powerful were the Lightning Sea Serpents and the nine-cornered lightning serpents. The Lightning Sea Serpents had no intelligence, while the nine-cornered ones did. Relatively speaking, the nine-cornered ones were easier to refine. The unintelligent Lightning Sea Serpents were impossible to control.

Just like the ancient god Zhurong, who couldn't directly control the 'Solar Golden Flame' and instead created his own 'Zhurong Divine Fire.' Suirenshi also couldn't control the Solar Golden Flame and created the 'Undying Torchfire,' which was no less powerful.

The reason they couldn't control it

was that it was too violent!

The Solar Golden Flame, without intelligence, was too violent! Even Fuxishi, the foremost formation master of the Three Realms, could only guide the Solar Golden Flame into formations and use great arrays to channel it, and even then it was extremely difficult. He had perfectly merged the two Great Daos of Yin and Yang and was highly accomplished in formations, yet he could only manage that much.

The Lightning Sea Serpents, like the Solar Golden Flame, were too violent.

In contrast, the 'nine-cornered lightning serpents' had intelligence and could potentially be refined. But they were very rare; among the vast numbers of Lightning Sea Serpents, only a very few developed intelligence and became nine-cornered lightning serpents.

"To my master, the nine-cornered lightning serpents are his trump card, his strongest means. He spent immense effort refining each one and forging it into the Hammer of Divine Punishment." Immortal Hu Yu said, "If there were no tribulation, my master might have a slight chance of giving you one. But with the tribulation upon us, the final battle determines life or death. My master absolutely will not give up a nine-cornered lightning serpent."

"When it comes to life and death, given my master's temper, no one can persuade him." Immortal Hu Yu looked at Ji Ning. "As his disciple, I have no way either."

Ji Ning nodded. "I see. I was too rash."

"I suggest you give up on the nine-cornered lightning serpent, Daoist Beiming." Immortal Hu Yu said, "Besides my master, the only other source is the Lightning Sea in chaos. In that sea, there are countless 'Lightning Sea Serpents,' and the nine-cornered ones are among them. Even great powers dare not enter. My master, with his lightning divine body, is probably the best in the Three Realms at capturing nine-cornered lightning serpents, yet he only managed to catch a few with great difficulty."

"Yes." Ji Ning nodded lightly. "Thank you, Immortal Hu Yu. I'll take my leave."

...

Ji Ning sent the Nine Tooth Heavenly God back to the Picking Star Grand World, then alone rode the Void Boat, tearing through the void again into the endless chaos.

Chaos mist filled the air.

If one went too far into chaos, they could easily get lost. Fortunately, Ji Ning had a map of the chaos around the Three Realms. On the map, there were two Lightning Seas. Ji Ning naturally headed for the nearest one. But it was much farther than his previous journey through chaos. Ji Ning was careful, afraid of getting lost.

After traveling by Void Boat repeatedly, using stars in chaos as references, it took over six hours. The distance covered was probably many times larger than the entire Three Realms.

"Arrived."

Ji Ning stood on the Void Boat, gazing ahead.

A vast ocean...

An ocean of lightning...

At a glance, countless white lightning bolts formed a boundless sea. The deeper it went, the darker it became. In the deepest parts, one could faintly see massive black lightning bolts shaped like great serpents. Those were the 'Lightning Sea Serpents.' Even great powers feared them.

A single or a few Lightning Sea Serpents might be manageable, but deep in the Lightning Sea, endless black lightning gathered, and the Lightning Sea Serpents were virtually infinite. No matter how powerful a great power was, only the most顶尖 could risk going deep. And 'nine-cornered lightning serpents' were even rarer; among millions of Lightning Sea Serpents, it was hard to find even one. That showed how difficult capture was.

"No other way."

"I have to take the risk." Ji Ning stood on the Void Boat, gazing at the endless Lightning Sea.