Chapter 15: That Faint Ripple

When that strange object pierced through the layers of golden light, Emperor Xi finally noticed it, his expression changing: "Not good." He dodged while swinging his sleeve to block. With a whoosh, the sharp strange object struck the sleeve, then flew away.

"Everyone be careful," Emperor Xi quickly said. "It's too fast; we can't afford any distraction."

"Xingtian, do you have any other shield treasures?" Lord Luwu asked hastily.

"Yes." Xingtian produced a small shield from his hand, which flew toward Lord Luwu and rapidly grew to nearly half a person's height. Lord Luwu grabbed the shield with one hand, holding an iron whip in the other.

Xingtian also held a shield in one hand and the Xingtian Axe in the other, asking, "Who else needs a shield?" His gaze swept around and inevitably fell on Ji Ning inside the formation.

Among these seven...

Kuafu was the strongest, followed by Xingtian and Emperor Xi. Xingtian had his own shield, and Emperor Xi was skilled with his sleeves.

Next were Kong Xiu, Feng Ji, and Luwu. Luwu had just taken a shield. Feng Ji had his fan, which could also serve as a shield; for him, the fan actually allowed greater power. As for Kong Xiu, she was a clone refined from a single tail feather, comparable to a top-grade innate treasure, making her the safest.

In Xingtian's view, Ji Ning used a sword.

A sword was better for offense, weaker in defense. He thought Ji Ning might need a shield.

"Not yet," Ji Ning said with a smile, shaking his head.

"Be careful," Xingtian advised, saying no more.

Invisible strange objects came one after another. The six divine demons remained on high alert, even deliberately shrinking the formation's range to protect Ji Ning inside.

After nineteen consecutive waves of attacks, the six divine demons blocked them all with full effort. Ji Ning took advantage, remaining untouched within the formation.

"Eh, it seems to have stopped," Kong Xiu said softly.

"The earth's rumbling is starting to fade," Kuafu said.

Dong~~~ Dong~~~ Dong~~~

The sound from deep within the earth, like a heartbeat, was indeed weakening.

"After a while, the rumbling will strengthen again, and there will be more attacks," Kuafu said. "Let's all rest and prepare for the next assault from the Earthrumble Mountain."

"Mm."

The divine demons' expressions were grim.

Those invisible attacks were immensely powerful and eerily elusive. In just the nineteen waves, Lord Luwu had been wounded three times, Feng Ji twice, and Emperor Xi and Xingtang once each. Kuafu, Ji Ning, and Kong Xiu remained unharmed. Each injury required a large amount of divine power to heal.

Restoring a divine body consumed vast divine power. Over time, if divine power ran out, the formation could not be maintained. They had survived the nineteen waves only because the formation weakened the attacks in advance. Facing them head-on, even Kuafu would be in danger of death.

Everyone saw the threat of death, so the atmosphere grew heavy.

"This Ji Ning, while we're all so tense, he's... daydreaming?" Lord Luwu glanced at Ji Ning in the center of the formation. Ji Ning stood there, his eyes vacant, clearly lost in thought.

"Alas." Lord Luwu, a simple and honest man, said no more. "Let's do our best. We'll protect Ji Ning if we can. If we die... and can't protect him, there's no help for it. He is, after all, still too young."

...

Ji Ning stood there, pondering: "Each time an attack comes, especially when it gets close, I can faintly detect a trace of emitted ripple. Clearly, these strange objects are immensely powerful. At such close range, they can't completely evade my detection... but I can only sense a ripple. I can't pinpoint the exact location of the strange object."

When he detected the ripple, it might be from the strange object, but at the speed of the invisible attack... it would already be striking a target.

"I need to determine the trail of the strange object, to identify its attack direction."

"Such great power must cause a ripple in space." Ji Ning looked at the surrounding jungle. "But the jungle illusion is too real, and space is full of ripples everywhere, masking the strange object's ripple."

"What I need to do is... separate the jungle illusion's ripples from the strange object's ripples."

During the past dozen or so attacks, Ji Ning had been carefully sensing.

But he had never been able to determine the flight direction of the strange object.

"Dong!" The heartbeat from deep within the earth suddenly grew from faint to strong.

"Dong!" "Dong!" "Dong!" Each heartbeat grew louder.

"Everyone be careful, the Earthrumble Mountain's attack is coming again," Kuafu shouted.

"Mm."

The other five true gods responded, maintaining the formation and staying on guard.

Ji Ning, with drooping eyelids, channeled his heartforce and soul, carefully sensing all ripples—the complex ripples of wind, light, space, scent... He could pick out the 'ripples of space' from them. Now he needed to find, among the endless spatial ripples, that one ripple caused by the strange object.

Even for a great power like Ji Ning, it was extremely difficult!

In fact, back then, even Lord Sanqing had taken over three thousand years to achieve it. Ji Ning's advantage was the powerful heartforce technique created by the World God Beishan.

"Whoosh."

"Chii."

"Swoosh."

Invisible attacks began to descend one after another.

Kuafu, Xingtian, and the others blocked with all their might, giving their utmost.

"It seems... the spatial ripple of the strange object..." Ji Ning, inside the formation, kept his eyelids lowered, sensing carefully.

"Ji Ning, you'd better enter a cave treasure," Xingtian shouted. He and Ji Ning had a relatively close relationship.

But Ji Ning did not respond, continuing to sense.

...

In the Three Realms, the Human Imperial Palace, Hall of Ten Thousand Races, many great powers gathered.

"Hurry," Kong Xiu stood up anxiously. "This is already the third attack from Earthrumble Mountain. Lord Luwu is severely injured, his divine power nearly exhausted. If divine power runs out, the formation can't hold, and Kuafu and the others will soon die on Earthrumble Mountain."

"Tathagata," Lord Sanqing looked over.

"I am breaking the formation," the nearby Buddha Tathagata said quickly. "It should be a formation created by Lord Huanmu with endless effort, based on the countless mountains. Though I'm breaking it as fast as I can, it still takes time."

"No help for it," Tathagata shook his head. "Even if you rushed there now, you'd first have to reach the formation. By the time you flew there, I would have already broken it."

Lord Sanqing nodded.

Indeed.

The Thousand Mountains World was fraught with danger; one could not directly teleport there. Like Ji Ning and the others, Tathagata and Fuxi had to fly slowly.

"Fuxi, the best at breaking formations, is also tied up by those aliens in the Ancient Ruins," Kong Xiu said anxiously. "He can't go now."

"This Huanmu..." The nearby Patriarch Bodhi's expression also darkened.

In war, the worst thing was entering a battlefield set up by the enemy.

Now the Ancient Ruins was a battlefield deliberately prepared by the enemy. But regardless, the Nuwa camp could not allow the Ancient Ruins to profit from the situation. Even just to eliminate an ally of the Frivolition Sect, they had to break it. Because they feared dangerous environments and formations in the Ancient Ruins, only two leading great powers had gone.

The other great powers remained stationed in the Three Realms, ready to respond if the situation changed.

"My dharma bodies are all manifesting; I will break the formation soon," Tathagata said solemnly.

...

Buddha Tathagata was indeed giving his all.

In the high sky, three other Buddhas formed a formation, radiating Buddha light, unleashing various attacks that could destroy heaven and earth.

Meanwhile, Buddha Tathagata appeared in a different form.

He manifested three bodies.

They were the original dharma body of Shakyamuni, the Vairocana Buddha dharma body, and the Bhaisajyaguru Buddha dharma body. Huge Buddha palms descended from the sky, tearing through heaven and earth, destroying mountain after mountain. But even when some mountains were destroyed, endless worldly power would gather and recreate them. Clearly, this was the power of the formation.

Tathagata was originally a Chaos True God.

Later, in ancient times, his soul was scattered, leaving only a sliver of true spirit to be reborn into the human race as 'Shakyamuni.' This brush with death and rebirth ultimately allowed him to reach the peak, comprehending the five great Daos of Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, and Earth, achieving five dharma bodies! Using these five dharma bodies consumed immense divine power; he only used them when fighting for his life. For this attack on the Ancient Ruins, he had brought most of his power, leaving two dharma bodies to guard the Three Realms.

Lord Sanqing had 'One Qi Transforms into Three Purities.'

Tathagata had his five dharma bodies, with the Shakyamuni original being the strongest.

...

"Tathagata's strength is truly impressive," the Great Demon Cixiu remarked, watching the scene unfold. Tathagata was breaking the formation with earth-shattering force. "These natives' cultivation methods are quite ordinary—even becoming Ancestral Immortals, they're only third-rate Ancestral Immortals. But a few of the most monstrous ones have truly high Dao realms."

"Fuxi is also tied up."

"Huanmu's formation is formidable too... Even if other great powers come, they'll need time to break it. After they break through, they still need to enter Earthrumble Mountain. The mountain is full of illusions; finding Kuafu and the others will take more time. I estimate... Kuafu and his group won't hold out," Cixiu said softly with a smile.

"Tathagata is so frantic, trying to break the formation in a short time. Kuafu and the others must be on their last legs," the Celestial Immortal Wuxiao below laughed.

They could only speculate.

Because Earthrumble Mountain was a naturally formed harsh environment in the Ancient Ruins; even they could not probe what was happening inside.

...

The situation inside Earthrumble Mountain was indeed dire. Lord Luwu and Feng Ji were pale, their bodies covered in bloody wounds, with no divine power left to heal.

"Swoosh." Another cruel invisible strange object attacked.

Ji Ning, who had been keeping his eyelids lowered, suddenly opened his eyes. They shone like stars, and he murmured, "Finally found it."