Chapter 5: Ancient Ritual

The black ox looked at Ji Ning, whose face was covered in sweat, and praised, "Impressive, impressive. Little Ji Ning, at such a young age you can already execute the fifth level of the Lesser Thousand Sword Formation. Compared to you, Lei Zhan is nothing! I never thought that after endless years of waiting, the immortal mansion would find such a rough gem as you."

Ji Ning muttered to himself, a rough gem? He had the wisdom accumulated from his past life, the "Nuwa Painting," and had trained hard since childhood without daring to slack off. Only then did he earn the black ox's praise as a rough gem.

"Senior, I still struggle to execute the fifth level," Ji Ning shook his head repeatedly. "With the fourth level, I can do everything as I wish."

"Being able to do everything as you wish is more important," the black ox sighed. "Have you noticed that although the fourth level of the Lesser Thousand Sword Formation only manipulates over three hundred flying swords, its power is greater than when you clumsily controlled thousands of treasures before?"

Ji Ning showed a delighted expression: "Greater than the combined power of thousands of treasures before? Although I can sense that the condensed strand of sword light does everything as I wish and has great power, I don't know exactly what level it has reached."

The black ox said, "The fourth level of the Lesser Thousand Sword Formation can easily kill an ordinary perfected innate lifeform."

Ji Ning was overjoyed to hear this.

"Senior," Ji Ning pressed on, "May I ask how my current strength compares to that of a Zifu Disciple?"

"Your current combat methods are mainly divided into two types. One is close combat relying on your divine demon body refinement and swordsmanship," the black ox said. "Your swordsmanship already contains a trace of the true meaning of the Dao. Most innate lifeforms haven't reached this level; most perfected innate lifeforms are only at the level of unity of heaven and man. In terms of this method alone, you might have an advantage over ordinary perfected innate lifeforms! But that's only generally speaking. If your opponent is also a prodigy with swordsmanship no worse than yours, it's hard to say."

Ji Ning nodded.

He understood this. For example, his father Ji Yichuan—his swordsmanship might still be inferior to his father's. His father had reached perfected innate a long time ago, so naturally he was no match.

"If you rely on your Lesser Thousand Sword Formation," the black ox continued, "with your powerful soul and hundreds of flying sword treasures combined with the formation, the power is indeed great. In terms of power, it far exceeds perfected innate and should reach the level of an ordinary early Zifu cultivator."

"Only early Zifu?" Ji Ning felt he had made great progress.

The black ox shook his head: "Don't underestimate Zifu cultivators. Once a Zifu cultivator opens the Zifu, they can nurture primal power within their body! Even a casual gesture far surpasses innate lifeforms—they are fundamentally two different levels! Moreover, what's more important is that Zifu cultivators can use graded treasures."

"Graded treasures have immense power. When a Zifu cultivator activates them, the power is far beyond what you innate lifeforms can imagine. A perfected innate lifeform compared to a Zifu cultivator is like an infant to an adult," the black ox sighed in admiration.

Ji Ning suddenly understood.

Yes, the leap from innate lifeform to Zifu is a fundamental crossing, allowing the use of true graded treasures. Just as an innate lifeform can slaughter a perfected Houtian like cutting vegetables, a Zifu cultivator can slaughter an innate lifeform just as easily.

"Remember," the black ox wagged his head, "never underestimate a Zifu cultivator. Every cultivator has strange methods—some excel in formations, some in gu worms, some in controlling ghosts, some in puppets, some in spells... you can't generalize. Once you encounter someone who counters you, you're dead."

"Overcoming the strong with the weak."

"If perfectly countered, an early Zifu can defeat a late Zifu—it happens." The black ox lamented, "On the path of cultivation, everything is included; there are too many methods... Even a weak Zifu cultivator, if he raises millions of terrifying poisonous insects, could even devour a Wanxiang Adept alive!"

Ji Ning gasped.

"It's rare," the black ox quickly added. "Killing across levels is rare. For example, your soul is this strong, you have hundreds of flying sword treasures, and the Lesser Thousand Sword Formation—many factors combine to give you this combat power. I'm only saying this to remind you not to underestimate any opponent, even an innate lifeform."

Ji Ning nodded lightly: "I understand."

Once someone becomes a Zifu cultivator, none of them are easy to deal with.

...

Ji Ning was actually quite pleased inside. This trip to the water mansion had given him a major killing move—the Lesser Thousand Sword Formation!

"Little Ji Ning," the black ox said again, "I noticed earlier when you were crossing the corridor that the sword in your hand is of average power. Don't you know the 'Divine Demon Blood Refinement Art'?"

"Divine Demon Blood Refinement Art?" Ji Ning blinked. "What's that?"

The black ox couldn't help but say, "In the age of divine demons, almost any slightly powerful figure or any moderately large tribe knew it, because every divine demon understood it and it was a necessary secret art for them. I saw that you clearly practice the number one divine demon body refinement method, yet you seem not to know this blood refinement art—that puzzled me."

"Please enlighten me, Senior," Ji Ning pressed on.

Having an elder at home is like having a treasure!

This old fellow who had lived since the age of divine demons knew a lot.

"Divine demons are different from humans," the black ox sighed. "They don't refine qi and can't use treasures, but they still need weapons. However, as their strength increases day by day, how can they find a weapon suitable for them? So... the great powers among divine demons created the Divine Demon Blood Refinement Art!"

"Find a weapon and perform a complex blood refinement ritual! After the blood refinement, the weapon can absorb baleful qi, murderous qi, killing qi, and other auras. The more enemies you kill, the stronger the enemies you kill, the weapon will naturally improve, able to grow or shrink, become lighter or heavier, all as you wish."

"Such weapons are also called 'divine weapons,' 'demonic weapons,' or 'weapons of the killing path.'" The black ox said, "As the master's strength increases and they kill powerful enemies, the weapon's power grows. In the age of divine demons, some divine or demonic weapons were even more powerful than immortal-ranked treasures."

Ji Ning's eyes lit up.

Yes, heaven is fair. Divine demons have no magical power, but they should have a means to create their own weapons. It turns out they absorb auras like baleful qi, relying on slaughter to upgrade their divine weapons.

"Please teach me, Senior," Ji Ning said quickly.

"Since I brought it up, I naturally intend to tell you," the black ox said. "The blood refinement ritual is very complex. Listen carefully."

The black ox narrated the detailed process of the blood refinement ritual, occasionally drawing some diagrams beside him, and Ji Ning listened and memorized.

What is the blood refinement art?

The main material needed is the blood of a divine demon. For human divine demon cultivators, they must rely on naturally formed divine patterns to enter the innate stage, undergo a transformation to achieve a divine demon body, and then perform the Divine Demon Blood Refinement Art. Some inferior divine demon body refinement methods cannot perform the blood refinement art.

"Whoosh whoosh whoosh~~~" Ji Ning took out a gourd. This gourd had been used for storing wine before; though it seemed small, it could hold ten thousand jin of fine wine. Ji Ning first poured out the remaining wine, not a drop left. Then he placed his finger at the mouth of the gourd.

Blood flowed directly through his finger into the gourd.

After a while.

"A thousand jin of blood is enough," the black ox said beside him. "This blood refinement art can only be used by divine demons. Ordinary cultivators would bleed to death."

Ji Ning sat cross-legged to the side. As soon as he released some blood, the powerful vitality in his body naturally regenerated it, consuming his divine power. By the time his divine power was reduced to half, the gourd had stored about a thousand jin of blood.

"The ritual has seven steps; you must be sincere," the black ox reminded.

Ji Ning first knelt respectfully and kowtowed three times, then stood up and knelt again to kowtow three more times, kowtowing eight times in eight different directions!

"Whoosh~~" Ji Ning tilted the gourd in his hand. The large amount of bright red blood that flowed out was immediately swept up by Ji Ning's divine sense, quickly spreading and enveloping an area of about eighty zhang. The countless drops of blood formed a huge pattern—a picture of a disheveled head.

Once the pattern was formed,

Boom! Instantly, visible blood-colored light shot up into the sky.

"Descendants kneel and invite the Ancestral God," Ji Ning shouted loudly.

The first step of the blood refinement ritual—Invite the Ancestral God!

...

The complex blood refinement ritual lasted a full half day. The surrounding blood-colored light had condensed into a strange character. According to the black ox, this script was called divine demon script—a script naturally born from heaven and earth. Even if one had never seen or studied it, they would understand it at first sight.

This divine demon character was... 'Kill'!

"Whoosh whoosh whoosh~~~" Three Northstar swords appeared out of thin air, floating and dispersing. The weapon Ji Ning used for blood refinement was the Northstar sword! According to the black ox, although the requirements for a weapon used in divine demon blood refinement were not strict, the better the foundation, the stronger it would be. Those ungraded treasures were too poor.

According to the black ox's judgment, the Northstar sword had probably been a Heaven-ranked treasure before. Although its various talisman patterns were damaged, for blood refinement, only the material mattered. The patterns were useless.

"Whoosh!" "Whoosh!" "Whoosh!"

The 'Kill' character formed by the surrounding blood light flew out phantom after phantom, merging into the three swords. The huge 'Kill' character floating in midair grew dimmer and dimmer until it finally dissipated, and the entire hall returned to calm.

Ji Ning let out a long breath.

"Senior," Ji Ning couldn't help but say, "Just now, it felt even more majestic than the 'Dao'..." He had comprehended the Dao and touched its aura, but the ancient aura naturally contained in the blood refinement ritual felt as if he had encountered an existence even more ancient and greater than the Dao.

The black ox sighed, "During the blood refinement ritual, I didn't dare speak; I was completely awed. Now take a look at your weapon."

Ji Ning beckoned with his hand, and the three Northstar swords fell into his grasp. He directly used his divine sense to sweep a divine weapon across his arm. Chi~~ Like tough cowhide, sparks flew from the skin of his arm, and finally a wound split open.

"Much sharper," Ji Ning was astonished.

"Your Northstar sword has a good foundation," the black ox said. "Your close combat strength has greatly improved now. An ordinary perfected innate lifeform is no match for you. It's only one or two levels below the fourth level of the Lesser Thousand Sword Formation. But you must understand, you practice the number one divine demon body refinement method, so your close combat strength will increase very rapidly. For example, when you reach the sixth level, your close combat strength will completely surpass the Lesser Thousand Sword Formation! Once you learn a close combat divine ability, crossing levels in battle will be easy."

Ji Ning's eyes lit up: "Does Senior know any divine abilities?"

"Divine abilities? Those are closely guarded secrets of some great divine demon powers," the black ox quickly shook his head. "The immortal Ju Hua knew a divine ability called 'Heavenly Earth Transformation,' but I never asked about it. Well... with your potential, you will definitely learn a divine ability in the future. Once you do, crossing levels in battle will be normal—that's the true combat power of a divine demon!"

Ji Ning nodded.

He understood. His divine demon foundation was good; in a few years, he would reach the sixth level. As for the Lesser Thousand Sword Formation, he also had talent thanks to his powerful soul. The only problem was that the formation had strict requirements for treasures. Once he became a Zifu cultivator, acquiring hundreds of graded treasures... just thinking about it gave him a headache.

"Alright, you can go out now," the black ox said.

"Thank you, Senior, this time," Ji Ning had naturally already put away the beast hides of the "Lesser Thousand Sword Formation" and the "Inner Visualization of the Sun and Moon Radiant Buddha." Although he didn't need the visualization technique, he could leave it for his parents and the Ji clan.

"Go," the black ox said.

Whoosh!

Ji Ning only felt a vague giant bear head phantom appear and swallow him in one gulp. The surrounding space-time twisted completely. He understood that he was returning to the island on Serpentwing Lake.