Chapter 6: Swept Clean

The terrifying impact force besieged him from all directions. Even after being weakened by his armor, it still reached Ji Ning's divine body.

"Whoosh."

Ji Ning bent his knees slightly, standing steadily, and let out a breath. He looked around; the divine runes on the corridor walls had dimmed, and shockwaves still echoed through the passage, but these aftershows posed no threat to Ji Ning.

"This World God Dongming actually left such a trap—ruthless indeed. If it were a Chaos Immortal, suddenly ambushed like this, they would likely have died on the spot," Ji Ning murmured to himself. The power of this formation's eruption was no less than a strike from a World-level cultivator, but Ji Ning, even wearing merely Chaos-class top-grade armor, handled it with ease.

Those with stronger divine bodies could withstand it; only fragile-bodied qi refiners would fall for it.

"Stone." Ji Ning strode directly into the secret chamber.

The rock giant had been slammed into the chamber wall earlier but now steadied himself, rumbling, "Master, I'm fine. World God Dongming was indeed treacherous; he must have set this up secretly, without even my knowledge."

"Hmm." Ji Ning turned to look at the chamber. It was about a hundred zhang in size. In the center sat a black-robed figure cross-legged, with a huge cloth banner stuck in the ground behind him.

"Whoosh..." "Whoosh..." "Whoosh..." The huge cloth banner swirled with black qi, and from it flew figures like demon gods. Each had an upper body like a human and a lower body of mere mist. They bore black scales, blood-red eyes, and sharp, vicious claws, all staring at Ji Ning and the rock giant.

"Sin demons," the rock giant sent mentally to Ji Ning. "Master, these are the 'Changxue Banner,' a great-sin dharma treasure personally refined by World God Dongming. There are nine sin demons, each slightly weaker than me."

Ji Ning's expression changed.

A great-sin dharma treasure?

He could tell at a glance that these nine sin demons were beings similar to 'ghost generals' in the Three Realms. Such sin demons feed on endless sin, growing stronger by devouring it. With some chaos treasures, they might even break through in life level. These nine were all at the World level.

"World God Dongming died long ago," the rock giant growled. "Will you nine still block me and my master?"

"Your master? You acknowledge a mere Ancestral God as master?"

"We were created by our master; he is our eternal master."

"Trespassing into our master's cultivation ground—death."

"Death."

The nine sin demons roared one after another, then transformed into streaks of light, charging at Ji Ning from all directions.

They were intelligent enough to know that Ji Ning was the rock puppet's master; killing him would end everything.

"Foolish sin demons." The rock giant roared and charged forward, turning into a streak of light. He was far faster than the sin demons, and his palms grew enormous as he slapped at them.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

His huge palms swung wildly.

The rock giant rampaged, his strength overwhelmingly dominant. As a rock puppet, in terms of pure strength and speed, perhaps one in ten thousand World Gods could match him. But World Gods had high insights and superb techniques, making it hard for the rock giant to kill World-level cultivators.

The sin demons, however, had no insights—they relied solely on brute talent.

"Boom!" A sin demon let out a piercing shriek as it was smashed apart.

The chamber was only so large; the rock giant alone intercepted six sin demons.

But three others arced around him, charging straight at Ji Ning.

"Can't kill that rock puppet—kill this Ancestral God."

"Devour him."

"Devour."

As the three sin demons flew, they emitted piercing screeches and inaudible waves that assaulted Ji Ning's soul.

"Hmm?" Ji Ning's soul, within his divine body, was protected by the heartforce soul-locking technique and the power of blueflower mist, completely resisting the assault.

"Slash!"

Ji Ning suddenly swung his sword.

A flash of sword-light, dazzling and brilliant.

"Pfft!"

The unstoppable killing sword-art drew upon a trace of the power of the 'divine sword's origin' from the Violetjade Sword. Ji Ning's own strength was at the World God level; how could a mere sin demon withstand the might of an Eternal divine weapon?

Chii—

The Violetjade Sword, with some difficulty, cleaved through a sin demon's body, splitting it in two. But the demon turned into mist and quickly reformed, though its eyes held a trace of terror and disbelief.

“How is that possible?”

“How could a Ancestral God harm me?”

“How could a mere Ancestral God be so strong?” The other demons in the secret chamber were also shocked.

“Surround him.”

“There’s only one of him. Let’s surround him, kill him, kill him.” With a demon’s shriek, the nine demons in the chamber all let out piercing cries. The rock giant roared: “Foolish demons, shatter!” It swung its huge palms wantonly, rarely enjoying such a carefree slaughter, for when fighting World-level cultivators, despite its immense strength and speed, it could hardly truly unleash them.

The rock giant charged straight ahead.

The demons dodged again and again, then encircled Ji Ning to attack.

“Chop.”

“Chop.”

Ji Ning struck out nine times in succession, each time cleaving a demon in two.

But Ji Ning was still blocked near the chamber door, unable to advance, because even when split apart, the demons were completely unharmed and kept coming wave after wave, preventing him from moving forward.

“They are formless beings to begin with; splitting them is useless.” Ji Ning’s gaze fell on the cloth banner stuck in the distance. “As long as I refine that banner, these nine demons will no longer be a threat.”

“Stone.” Ji Ning sent a mental message.

“Master.” The rock giant responded.

“Fetch the cloth banner.” Ji Ning commanded. Each demon’s power was equal to his own, and they kept swarming him, making it truly difficult for him to approach the banner.

“Yes.”

The rock giant strode toward the cloth banner.

“Stop it!”

“Stop it!” The nine demons grew frantic. Previously they had been avoiding the rock puppet, but now they no longer dodged. One after another, the demons madly charged at the rock giant, and the two sides clashed head-on. The rock palms collided with the demons’ claws and heads; even though the demons shattered repeatedly, they instantly reformed and continued attacking.

Each demon’s power was equal to Ji Ning’s.

A full eight demons joined forces to hold back the rock puppet.

“Hmph.” Ji Ning swiftly flew toward the cloth banner. Although one demon tried to block him, facing Ji Ning’s sword art, the demon was completely overwhelmed and could not stop him.

“No—”

The nine demons were helpless: if they blocked the rock giant, they couldn’t block Ji Ning.

If they blocked Ji Ning, they couldn’t block the rock giant.

As for that cloth banner… the nine demons themselves could not touch it; the moment they did, they would be sucked in.

“Whoosh.” Ji Ning smiled and reached out to grab the cloth banner, his divine power surging as he immediately refined it.

“Ooo—”

“No—”

Though unwilling, the nine demons one by one turned into mist and were sucked into the cloth banner.

“Such a heavily sinful treasure—easy to cultivate, low cost, yet immense power. No wonder so many cultivators take this evil path.” Ji Ning sighed inwardly. To refine a puppet, one must first have a high level of attainment in formations and consume vast quantities of precious materials to forge a single powerful puppet—too difficult and costly.

But these demons? Too simple. The materials for the treasure itself were cheap, and it would naturally grow stronger through endless sin, just like a sin divine weapon.

As for the demons? They only needed to devour endless sin to keep growing stronger. All one had to do was keep slaughtering to gather enough sin.

“Whoosh.” Having collected the cloth banner, Ji Ning’s gaze fell on the black-robed corpse beside him and the sword-qi painting hanging on the far wall.

“Collect.”

Ji Ning waved his hand, and both the black-robed corpse and the sword-qi painting were put away.

“Stone, search thoroughly and see what other treasures this immortal mansion holds.” Ji Ning commanded.

“Yes, Master.”

The master and servant searched the entire cave-dwelling treasure from the underground chamber upward, digging three feet into the ground, before finally leaving the immortal mansion.

On a small hill on the island.

Ji Ning sat down leisurely and said with a light laugh, “The treasures on this island have been swept clean. This time I’ve really profited. If not for Big Brother’s help, who knows how long it would have taken me to accumulate so many treasures.” Then Ji Ning began to examine the treasures left by the God of the Cave-Ming World.