Chapter 23: The Wind Beast

Ji Ning climbed downward at high speed, descending over ten thousand miles in a short time. Along the way, he picked up more than twenty Chaos treasures. The reason there were no innate spirit treasures was that, under the gray gale deep in the bottomless cavern, over time even innate spirit treasures would turn to powder; only Chaos treasures could endure for long periods.

"Hm? The bottom?" Ji Ning, with his six long arms gripping the rock wall, looked down.

"Rumble~~~"

The gray gale formed a whirlpool below, but the cavern did not extend any further downward.

From Ji Ning's perspective, he could only see a corner of the enormous gray gale whirlpool.

"This should be the bottom. Since the gale forms a whirlpool here, the treasures left behind by the dead cultivators are probably here." Ji Ning grew excited. Prisonmaster Sword Immortal had only two Dao weapons. Earlier on the path, he had already picked up over a hundred Chaos treasures, including a top-grade Dao weapon saber. The treasures at the bottom should be even more abundant.

Whoosh, whoosh.

The closer he got to the treasure, the more cautious Ji Ning became. He climbed down slowly, carefully observing with his naked eye. The gray gale here was so fierce that without mastering the 'Vastspace,' Ji Ning could not have climbed freely at such a depth.

"This whirlpool is huge." As he climbed down, the true face of the gray gale whirlpool gradually revealed itself.

"What?" Ji Ning was startled.

The gray gale whirlpool spanned about a thousand miles. At one end was the deep cavern Ji Ning had just climbed down; at the other end was another equally deep cavern. The gray gale whirlpool constantly sent gusts of wind roaring into the other cavern.

"This scene?" Ji Ning's heart stirred.

The 'Diagram of a Hundred Streams Converging' appeared in his mind.

Stream after stream surged and converged.

"I understand. This is the 'Spectacle of a Hundred Wind Streams' that Senior Shuifengzi mentioned. What I'm experiencing now is probably just one tributary." Ji Ning immediately understood.

The Hundred Wind Streams.

There were a full hundred channels, winding and twisting, eventually converging. Each channel was over a million miles long.

The 'Hundred Wind Streams' embodied the Dao comprehended by the great power who built this cave estate over his lifetime.

Shuifengzi had observed a few tributaries and gained some insights, leaving the 'Diagram of a Hundred Streams Converging' on the stone wall of the cave.

"The cavern I just climbed down, and the other cavern ahead, should both belong to the same tributary." Ji Ning nodded slightly. "Like a river, there are bends along the way, and whirlpools form at the bends... So I've only been within one tributary all along. But that makes sense—Senior Shuifengzi, whose strength was unfathomable, only explored a few tributaries."

"This is a bend in the tributary, where many treasures should have settled."

Ji Ning vaguely understood.

He had been sucked in from outside, and now he had encountered the first bend of this tributary, which should be the outermost part of the Hundred Wind Streams.

"The deeper I go, the more dangerous it will be," Ji Ning thought. "Even Daoist Damo and Senior Shuifengzi never fully conquered this ancient relic. With my strength, going deeper would be suicide."

...

Realizing he was still at the outermost edge of the 'Hundred Wind Streams,' Ji Ning immediately sobered up.

"I'll take these treasures and leave quickly." Ji Ning made his decision, then continued climbing down cautiously. Soon he reached the very bottom.

At the whirlpool, there was no suction, only some tearing force. At the edges and corners of the whirlpool, it was surprisingly calm. Many treasures had been thrown to these edges by the whirlpool. Ji Ning glanced around and saw at least several hundred or even a thousand treasures along the thousand-mile boundary, some with particularly powerful auras.

"Nine Dao weapons?" Ji Ning rejoiced. "And that's just what I can see with my eyes. Some Dao weapons might be hidden inside storage treasures."

"Hmph." Ji Ning willed it, and the power of the Vastspace mist infused his legs, allowing him to walk easily along the cavern floor.

The suction at the bottom was not as strong, making Ji Ning feel quite relaxed.

Ji Ning advanced silently and soon reached a corner. This area, about a hundred zhang in size, was in a sheltered nook with no wind at all. Many treasures had been thrown here.

"What a thrill." Ji Ning waved his hand to collect the treasures.

Swish~~~

In this small corner alone, there were dozens of Chaos treasures and one Dao weapon. The Dao weapon was a strange token the size of a fist. Ji Ning first infused it with divine power to refine it. Upon refining it, he understood that this fist-sized token was actually a razor-sharp soft sword that could also be used as a whip.

"Hm? These fragments?" Ji Ning looked at the inconspicuous shards.

Ji Ning reached out and picked up a sword hilt. The entire divine sword was now just a hilt.

"This is?" Ji Ning frowned. On the broken edge of the hilt, deep indentations were clearly visible.

"Tooth marks?" A chill ran through Ji Ning's heart.

"Collect." Ji Ning waved his hand to gather all the dense fragments. Once they were inside his cave treasure, where his heartforce was unaffected, he examined them carefully and found a peculiar object among the seemingly ordinary shards.

Ji Ning flipped his hand and took it out.

In his palm lay a blue-white scale the size of a palm.

Earlier, with so many colorful fragments of broken treasures, Ji Ning hadn't noticed this scale.

"A scale?" Ji Ning looked at its patterns, clearly a naturally grown scale from some exotic beast.

"Tooth marks? Tooth marks that bit through Chaos treasures... A scale? This place is not safe. I'll take the treasures and leave quickly." Ji Ning dared not dwell on it and hurried toward another corner. But just then, looking into the distance, he saw a streak of light flying against the gray gale from the other deep cavern, approaching at an astonishing speed.

Ji Ning's face changed drastically.

Heavens.

Even with his greatly increased strength, Ji Ning still had to climb with his hands. But the thing flying toward him was moving against the gray gale, and its speed was simply unbelievable.

"Run." Ji Ning abandoned the treasures. His six arms stretched out, expanding a thousand zhang, and he began climbing upward frantically.

...

"Mine, my treasures."

When Ji Ning picked up that scale, the blue-white scaled monster coiled deep in the cavern awoke. It had crystal whiskers, a lion-like head, a body covered in dense fish-like scales, a long tail, and four thick, powerful legs.

It had been born and lived in these endless caverns.

Occasionally, it would find weapons like swords, blades, staffs, and hammers in the caves. These weapons were useless to it, but it liked them—they were its trophies, its collection. It would place them in windless corners and leave a shed scale of its own to mark them as its property.

"It dared to steal my treasures."

"Die."

"Die."

It was enraged.

It immediately turned into a streak of light, flying against the wind stream toward that location.

...

"What kind of monster can fly against the wind in these Hundred Wind Streams? Could that scale be its?" Ji Ning had only glanced and fled, but he could vaguely see that the flying creature was a blue-white beast, and the scale he had taken was also blue-white. "And the tooth marks on the broken treasures—were they also its?"

"The intact Chaos treasures were all high-grade or top-grade... The ones bitten apart were relatively ordinary Chaos treasures."

"But being able to bite through Chaos treasures..."

Ji Ning realized that the monster's strength was likely beyond his ability to oppose.

Swish, swish, swish, swish, swish, swish!!!!!!

Ji Ning's six arms moved like phantoms, frantically grabbing and climbing upward. He had never climbed so fast before; earlier, he had been cautious to avoid danger, but now he was climbing at top speed. In the blink of an eye, Ji Ning, like a giant ape, had climbed over ten thousand miles upward.

Whoosh!

But the blue-white streak of light, flying against the gray gale, had already caught up! The streak was too fast; how could Ji Ning's climbing match its flight?

"Damn it! I've gotten so many treasures, and now I'm going to die here? How unjust!" Ji Ning turned his head and saw the blue-white scaled monster, radiating a fierce and murderous aura, already upon him.