Chapter 25: The Nine Great Secret Arts—The Lightning Secret Art

"You have passed the trial and deserve a treasure." The formation spirit elder looked at Ji Ning. "Tell me, what do you desire most?"

Ji Ning was still pondering the matter of the 'Dao Alliance' in his heart. Hearing the inquiry of the Wan Mountains formation spirit, he set aside his thoughts and, after a slight hesitation, spoke: "Do you have the Snowsight Diagram?"

"No." The Wan Mountains formation spirit elder shook his head. Indeed, among the vast array of treasures left by Lord Wan Gods, there was no Snowsight Diagram.

"Oh..." Ji Ning also fell into thought.

Treasures?

What treasures did he need? This chance to choose was rare. For a moment, countless thoughts surged in Ji Ning's heart. Having experienced the Treasure Competition, he understood that there were far too many excellent treasures.

"Haha, you don't know what treasures I have, so asking you to name one is indeed difficult. Let me ask you instead... what are you skilled in?" The formation spirit elder smiled. "Aside from the sword."

"I am most skilled in the sword, followed by lightning and water." Ji Ning said.

"My master was called 'Wan Gods' (Ten Thousand Gods)." The formation spirit elder said. "That was because he excelled in too many things! Alchemy, formations, and so on, but he indeed knew nothing of the sword. He was, however, extremely accomplished in lightning! But since you are adept at fighting above your level, even if I gave you a lightning technique, it wouldn't help you much."

His aged face was full of wrinkles, clearly deep in thought.

"Got it!" The formation spirit elder looked at Ji Ning, extended his hand, and spatial ripples appeared in his palm, followed by a jade slip.

"This jade slip is yours." The formation spirit elder handed it to Ji Ning, and the jade slip floated toward him.

"And as for the original treasure of this place..." The formation spirit elder also tossed out the fiery red statue. "That is yours too. This statue was obtained by my master after slaying a Fire Dao Lord of great sin. If sold, it would be worth about one to two thousand cubic units of chaos nectar. As for this jade slip, it contains a secret art created by my master himself. Its value is incalculable; even three or five Eternal Divine Weapons could not exchange for it."

Ji Ning was startled.

The statue being worth one to two thousand units was normal. But this jade slip was astonishing.

Ji Ning put away the statue, then took the jade slip. The jade slip was ink-black, and faint characters could be seen within it with the naked eye. As his mind sense slightly penetrated it, he first discovered a 'Life Oath'.

"I swear by my life that before becoming a Life-Dao Lord, I will never divulge this secret art, the 'Nine Source Divine Thunder'..." The oath was simple.

Whether it was techniques bought at the Treasure Competition or those taught by a sect, one always had to swear an oath.

"Boom~~~" As soon as he swore the oath, a flood of information surged into his mind. The thunderous secret art left by Lord Wan Gods, which had shocked the world, was fully revealed before Ji Ning.

This secret art was called the Nine Source Divine Thunder.

Lord Wan Gods was a great power who had truly achieved high attainments in alchemy, artifact forging, formations, and other fields. Moreover, at his level, the divine abilities and secret arts he comprehended himself were the most suitable for him! So he naturally created some secret arts with the mindset of alchemy and artifact forging. The goal of these secret arts was to pursue power!

The greater the power, the better!

Lord Wan Thunder (Wan Gods) had once created nine powerful secret arts. Even without engaging in close combat, by unleashing these secret arts from afar, he could easily sweep away opponents of the same level, and even contend with Eternal Emperors!

And the Nine Source Divine Thunder was one of those nine great secret arts!

"There are secret arts like this?" After reading through it, Ji Ning was dumbfounded. "Secret arts can be like this?"

It completely shattered Ji Ning's concept of secret arts.

Many spells and secret arts required sufficient insight into the Dao, and then the use of some special techniques. Like the forbidden arts used by Black Lotus Divine Emperor.

Like Ji Ning's Nameless Sword Art, layer by layer, only when one's sword Dao realm was high enough and one had fully comprehended it could one execute deeper sword techniques.

But the Nine Source Divine Thunder was completely different.

It was like refining a pill: gathering various heavenly treasures, then blending them, refining them with civil and martial fire... ultimately forming a miraculous pill.

The same principle.

The Nine Source Divine Thunder gathered nine types of divine thunder, and through complex coordination, like refining a pill, underwent many transformations to finally form a perfect lightning secret art.

Ji Ning was stunned by the process of this thunder and lightning coordination.

It was too perfect.

Like a work of art.

"Thunder and lightning, in his hands, could be kneaded at will, easily coordinated and matched, ultimately forming a powerful lightning secret art." Ji Ning was deeply shaken, because he had refined the Nine-Angled Electric Snake and knew very well that lightning was inherently a violent force. Just refining it was difficult enough, but to perfectly blend it like alchemical ingredients to form a secret art was beyond imagination.

...

The Nine Source Divine Thunder was divided into two parts.

The first part required gathering nine specific types of chaotic divine thunder. If these nine types of chaotic divine thunder were used separately in attacks, they could not even kill an ordinary World God. But these nine types, each mediocre on their own, when 'perfectly blended' through this lightning secret art, could directly slay a World God at the Consummation level and suppress a World God at the Pinnacle level!

The power of the secret art completely surpassed that of Eternal Divine Weapons.

The second part required gathering nine specific types of Dao divine thunder. These 'Dao divine thunders' had to be naturally born, extremely rare. When the Wan Shen Dao Lord created this secret art, he was already on the verge of Dao integration. He used Dao divine thunders, the more the better, but he only found nine types. However, once mastered, one would stand at the pinnacle among Life and Death Dao Lords!

But...

The difficulty of cultivation was also extremely high!

"This is indeed an incredible secret art," Ji Ning couldn't help saying. "I never imagined that lightning could be controlled like this."

"Back then, my master, in order to kill Emperor Melobo, exhausted his heart and mind, creating nine secret arts. Each one was enough to dominate the masses. Even a Life and Death Dao Lord on the verge of Dao integration would find it hard to withstand them. When the nine secret arts were combined... they could completely kill a Dao Lord on the verge of Dao integration." The formation elder was very proud. "Against Emperor Melobo, although the nine secret arts couldn't kill him, each of them was a domain... The nine domains completely suppressed Emperor Melobo, forcing him to only use half his strength under the suppression."

Ji Ning nodded.

He had already read through the entire method and naturally understood that once the first part of the Nine Source Divine Thunder was fully mastered, with a thought, one could release a vast expanse of divine thunder, spreading over a million miles! This was the 'Thunder Domain'! It could suppress even a World God at the Pinnacle level. Even if encountering some exceptionally powerful enemies, this 'Thunder Domain' might not kill them, but it could affect their strength, limiting them to only fifty or sixty percent of their power.

"Nine secret arts..." Ji Ning marveled inwardly.

"Unfortunately, in the end, Emperor Melobo escaped. He was too skilled at fleeing." The formation elder sighed. "Before my master died, he left his nine secret arts in the Dao Alliance. Those who made great contributions to the Dao Alliance or were willing to offer enough treasures could learn them from the Dao Alliance. But such secret arts were far more precious than the 'Heaven-Stealing Life-and-Death Pill' that World Gods coveted! Life and Death Dao Lords all desired this secret art."

Ji Ning nodded.

The secret art was indeed powerful, but Ji Ning also understood that cultivating it was extremely difficult!

Gathering the lightning was only one difficulty.

The most important thing was to blend the lightning like alchemical ingredients, which required extremely high proficiency in many aspects. The Wan Shen Dao Lord was an ancient great being skilled in alchemy, qi cultivation, and formations, so he could naturally do it. But Ji Ning, after just one reading, first felt the process was beautiful, like a work of art, perfectly flawless. But immediately after, his scalp tingled, because cultivating it was too hard.

"Fortunately, my divine body is powerful, my divine power far more abundant than others at the same realm, and my soul is also strong... I should be able to master it," Ji Ning thought to himself.

"I've given you the secret art. I hope that in the future... you can at least reach the level of the Da Mo Dao Lord," the formation spirit elder said. "Alright, you've taken the treasure. Hurry up and leave with your companions. This treasure space is about to collapse."

Whoosh~~~

After speaking, the figure of the formation spirit elder, formed from gathered light, automatically dissipated. The light orb that had been on the stone coffin also vanished, and the light that had filled the surroundings disappeared.

The Fu Long World God and Fire Fairy Su Youji, who had been waiting in the distance, both looked at Ji Ning.

"Master."

"Brother Ji Ning." Both spoke.

"Rumble~~~" The treasure space began to tremble, and at the same time, one wall of the cave started to split open, revealing a passage.

"The treasure space is about to collapse. We need to leave quickly," Ji Ning said hurriedly, without time to say more.

"Let's go." Fu Long World God and Su Youji understood. The three of them immediately followed the newly opened passage and swiftly departed.

Rumble~~~

The vast treasure space completely collapsed. Rocks crumbled, the original corridor also collapsed, and the treasure gate sank down.