Chapter Sixteen: Clansmen

"Senior apprentice-brother, there's an enemy who sneaked in trapped in the master's maze formation. He looks like a youth," said the handsome youth called Xiao Qi quickly. "But his strength is astonishingly high. He even killed one of the master's spirit beasts, Black Needle, and I nearly lost my life."

The black-robed man frowned: "Oh? That formidable?"

"Extremely formidable. That enemy also cultivates both qi and body, and should be at the Xiantian perfection level. Only if senior apprentice-brother goes can he be killed."

"Once senior apprentice-brother unleashes Drunken Dragon's Spittle, no matter how powerful he is, he'll certainly fall unconscious and be captured."

One after another, they flattered him on the side.

The black-robed man glanced at this group of fellow disciples: "Just one enemy intruder has left you all helpless! Hmph, the master is now refining a magic treasure and cannot be distracted. Since you six can't handle other tasks well, go personally torment these Xiantian beings to help the master complete the treasure."

"Yes, senior apprentice-brother." The six men and women answered in unison, then each picked up various torture instruments from the ground and walked toward those Xiantian beings.

These bound Xiantian beings, whose dantians had been crippled, were almost all from the Yanshan region. As for those from other places, there were very few, because most had long been tortured to death. Even the dozens still alive were on the verge of death.

"Cultivating both qi and body? Xiantian perfection? Let me have a look." The black-robed man snorted and immediately strode out.

……

"The Three Powers as the foundation." Ji Ning, sitting cross-legged with water and fire lotuses protecting him, murmured silently while observing the surrounding formation. "In the Five Elements, water and earth are primary… the source of change lies in these directions."

In his mind, a massive formation model naturally formed, and the mysteries of the formation's operation were fully interpreted.

Ji Ning immediately stood up.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Instantly turning into a blur, he changed direction several times in succession. The faster he moved, the greater the pressure on the formation, revealing more of its strengths and weaknesses.

"It's even more profound than the formation model I conceived," Ji Ning shook his head. "If I could see the formation flags and plates, I could quickly understand the formation's mysteries." He knew this was a great formation controlled by a Zifu cultivator. For some special reason, that cultivator might be unable to break away and had yet to deal with him.

But Ji Ning understood that it was only a temporary distraction. Once the Zifu cultivator freed a hand, with his own strength and the aid of the formation within the maze, Ji Ning would almost certainly die.

"I must break the formation."

Time was pressing. Under this invisible pressure, Ji Ning devoted himself fully to comprehending the formation, and his understanding of the Way of Formations continuously improved. Thanks to his past life's foundation, his current life's powerful soul, and the scattered immortal's formation insights, his progress was astonishing. But to break a formation set by a Zifu cultivator… he was still far off.

To break a formation set by a Zifu cultivator by force required overwhelming power. Even a Wanxiang Adept would find it difficult. As for Ji Ning, he could only try to discern the formation's secrets to break it easily. Using force was out of the question—he was far too weak.

"Hoo!" The black mist ahead seemed to thin, revealing a distant black figure. The black figure watched the seated Ji Ning with interest. "Controlling water and fire? That protective lotus seems quite extraordinary."

Pfft!

The black-robed man was now holding a porcelain bottle and had pulled out the stopper. From the bottle began to emit a scent that could intoxicate the heart. The bottle contained Drunken Dragon's Spittle. If drunk directly, even a Wanxiang Adept would fall drunk, though making a Wanxiang Adept drink it was difficult—they would smell it at once.

Just the scent of Drunken Dragon's Spittle, when inhaled, would cause a Xiantian being to fall unconscious. As the senior apprentice-brother, he had been granted this Drunken Dragon's Spittle by the master, allowing him to capture so many Xiantian beings silently.

"Fall, fall, fall!" The black figure watched Ji Ning expectantly.

"Hm?"

Ji Ning, sitting cross-legged, felt a fragrance enter his nose. His body immediately went limp and his head dizzy. But thanks to his Xiantian divine demon body achieved through the "Illustrated Manual of the Nine Bright Radiance," which was far superior to ordinary divine demon bodies, though he felt dizzy, his divine power circulated and quickly dispelled the feeling.

"What coward is using tricks behind my back!" Ji Ning stood up abruptly and shouted loudly.

"Haha, as expected, it's hard to intoxicate a Xiantian who cultivates the divine demon body," the distant black-robed man said as he walked over. "Xiantian beings who cultivate the divine demon body already have divine demon bodies. Intoxicating them is no easier than intoxicating a Zifu qi cultivator. So when I captured Xiantian beings in Yanshan, I only took qi cultivators."

"Qi cultivators fall unconscious at a sniff, and once their dantian is crippled, they have no resistance. But divine demon body cultivators can regrow even a hole punched through their dantian—they're the hardest to control. And torturing a divine demon body Xiantian to death is too difficult." The black-robed man sighed to himself.

Ji Ning stared at the distant black-robed man, holding his twin swords, extremely cautious. The approaching man gave him an invisible pressure—the domineering aura of a Xiantian divine demon body cultivator. Clearly, the man had activated his divine power and was at a peak state, ready to strike at any moment.

"You said you capture Xiantian beings?" Ji Ning stared at him.

The black-robed man answered irrelevantly, looking at Ji Ning with a half-smile: "If I'm not mistaken, you should be the young master of the Ji clan, 'Ji Ning.'"

"Hm?" Ji Ning was startled.

This era was a tribal age where communication relied on shouting and transport on running. Only high-ranking members of tribes knew Ji Ning's name. Even if they knew, they generally couldn't recognize him on sight…

"It seems I'm not wrong," the black-robed man sighed. "Throughout the land of Yanshan, one so young who is a Xiantian being, even considered by my junior brothers and sisters to be at Xiantian perfection, is probably only Ji Ning, who kicked down a city wall with three kicks and sent Jiang Sansi flying with one kick."

"You know quite a lot," Ji Ning said, looking at him.

The black-robed man sighed: "Of course I need to know a lot. I was ordered by the master to capture a large number of Xiantian beings in Yanshan. Naturally, I had to learn more first, know the intelligence on each Xiantian being in the land of Yanshan. If I didn't know beforehand and accidentally hit an iron plate, I'd be done for! For example, your father, Ji Yichuan… he reached Xiantian perfection long ago. I even suspect he's already a Zifu cultivator. I wouldn't go after someone like that."

"Only after figuring out the details can I capture accurately. So far, so many Xiantian beings have gone missing in Yanshan, but no one knows who did it," the black-robed man said, looking at Ji Ning. "Young and this strong, you're the only one in all of Yanshan. Besides, this is the territory of the Ji clan's Western Mansion, and you're from the Western Mansion."

Ji Ning was shocked.

So many Xiantian beings missing in Yanshan? How did he not know?

In truth, these events had just occurred recently. Capturing Xiantian beings had to be done quickly—snatch them away suddenly. It would take days for the victims to be discovered, and more time for the tribe to make a decision. So they had to capture a large batch frantically and quickly, not slowly. Once the major powers in Yanshan reacted and set traps, it would be dangerous.

"Nearly a hundred Xiantian beings have gone missing in Yanshan," the black-robed man said, looking at Ji Ning. "Because this place is near the Ji clan, the Ji clan has more missing—twenty-four in total. Some are directly under the Ji clan, some under tribes loyal to the Ji clan. The Ji clan's territory is so vast that they probably haven't even compiled an accurate number of missing Xiantian beings yet."

Ji Ning was horrified.

The Ji clan… had lost that many Xiantian beings?

"Your Ji clan's Western Mansion has also lost some. Let me list some names—you probably know them," the black-robed man said. "Ji Wuyu, Ji Shan, Wa Qiong, Zhen Tu, Meng Yu. These five are directly under the Western Mansion. You should know them, right?"

"Ah!"

Ji Ning's face turned pale.

Ji Wuyu… was Ji Lie's son, Ji Lie's most outstanding son. The Ji Lie faction and the main lineage had been fiercely competing for the next mansion lord position. Ji Wuyu was one of the most active, and Ji Ning had once disliked him.

Ji Shan was a young Xiantian being of the Western Mansion. Though not a commander, the Western Mansion had high hopes for him, as he bore the Ji surname and belonged to the main lineage.

Wa Qiong was a newly recruited Xiantian being nurtured by the Western Mansion. Ji Ning had seen him many times in Western Mansion City. Wa Qiong would always bow slightly and call out 'Young Master Ji Ning!'

Zhen Tu was one of the Ji clan's twenty commanders!

Meng Yu… Meng Yu… Meng Yu!!!

"Master Meng Yu!" Ji Ning's heart trembled.

Master Meng Yu had taught him archery. He was the most familiar of the five.

Five people.

He knew every one of them. Having grown up in Western Mansion City, he had seen all the Xiantian beings there. At the annual Snow Drift Hall gatherings, he would see this group. He was too familiar with them—they were his clansmen in this life! Among them were those he had once resented, those from his main lineage, those he had some friendship with, and the archery master who taught him!

"You…" Ji Ning's face was pale.

"You know them all, haha." The black-robed man suddenly shouted loudly, "Ji Wuyu, Ji Shan, Wa Qiong, Zhen Tu, Meng Yu! Your Western Mansion's young master Ji Ning is inside the great formation! Your young master Ji Ning will soon come to keep you company! Hahaha…"

His voice was loud, directly penetrating into the distant mountain belly.

……