Chapter 28: Death Threat

He charged down layer by layer.

Ji Ning easily made it to the twelfth layer, and he hadn't even drawn his sword—he swept through everything with just the Yin-Yang Sword Intent Domain.

"The twelfth layer."

Ji Ning stood on a mound, gazing into the distance.

The world of the twelfth layer of the Abyss of Ten Thousand Demons was a dark red world. The soil was dark red, the rocks were dark red, and even the river water was dark red. Only the distant, enormous whirlpool was black. The black whirlpool was immense, radiating powerful spatial fluctuations.

"A teleportation passage?" Ji Ning knew at a glance that it was a spatial passage; through it, he could leave safely.

But to leave without encountering any opportunities—Ji Ning was unwilling to accept that. He knew very well that merely reaching the twelfth layer wouldn't catch the attention of those three great Sword Dao masters. Not to mention Ji Ning, even among the native cultivators, many World-level cultivators had reached the twelfth layer. As Ji Ning journeyed down, he had discovered some dharma treasures left behind by World-level cultivators.

"This is already the twelfth layer, so there should be so-called Demon Lords. It's said that deeper in the Abyss of Ten Thousand Demons, there are large groups of Demon Lords. Every chaos cycle, a Demon Lord leads a host of demons out of this abyss to attack a world outside, but most attacks fail. I suppose the Demon Lord's strength isn't that great either." Ji Ning revealed a hint of a smile. He didn't take the Demon Lord seriously. He released his divine sense, instantly covering the entire twelfth-layer world.

The release of his divine sense immediately alarmed the demons of this layer and the more powerful demon—the so-called 'Demon Lord'.

After just the time it takes to drink a cup of tea.

"Pfft."

Ji Ning's sword pierced a demon with dark red skin and a larger build. The previous demons had all been gray-black skinned; this one, larger and with dark red skin, was the Demon Lord!

"Heh heh..." Though its throat was pierced, the Demon Lord let out a strange cry and swung its claws, trying to tear Ji Ning apart.

"Swish, swish, swish."

The divine sword in Ji Ning's hand traced a bizarre curved sword-light, directly cutting the 'Demon Lord' into three pieces. But the Demon Lord's body quickly healed and grew back together. It angrily attacked again, each move carrying immense power that shook the surroundings—a clear sign of poor control over its strength.

As for Ji Ning, the power that could easily crush an entire chaos world was completely concentrated in his sword-light, with not a trace leaking out.

"Pfft." A flash of sword-light, and the Demon Lord was cut in half at the waist again.

And so...

Ji Ning successively used the Yin-Yang Sword Intent Domain, the Blooddrop Style, the Shadowless Style, and many other techniques to torment this Demon Lord for nearly half an hour. Though born to madly kill, after being tormented for so long, this Demon Lord finally became afraid, terrified, and chose to flee. Killing a Demon Lord was easy, but making one flee in fear was not.

"Hmm, this Demon Lord's body is quite strong, comparable to a two-step Daolord," Ji Ning nodded slightly. "But its Dao realm is abysmal—even any random World-level cultivator far surpasses it."

After testing many times,

Ji Ning understood that for other monstrous World-level cultivators, like Prince Qinghuan, a single Demon Lord was no match, but once there were many, it became quite threatening. Because the 'Demon Lord's' body itself was comparable to a two-step Daolord, its attacks were threatening, albeit clumsy. But with numbers, attacking from all sides, dealing with them would be troublesome.

However, Ji Ning had the 'Yin-Yang Sword Intent Domain' and the seven types of Dao Lightning and seven types of Dao Water, making it much easier for him to handle.

"Let's go."

Ji Ning, bathed in sword-light, flew downward.

Boom!

He easily passed through the earth, penetrating a world membrane, and arrived at the thirteenth layer of the Abyss of Ten Thousand Demons. This was a blood-red world, exuding an endless bloody aura. The very air carried a hint of temptation, luring cultivators' hearts and leading them into madness.

Ji Ning's divine sense immediately covered this layer. In this layer, there were only eight living beings, all Demon Lords.

"Roar."

"Kill."

"Kill him."

The eight Demon Lords all flew from various parts of this world toward Ji Ning. Ji Ning had tormented one for nearly half an hour before making it flee in fear, showing how bloodthirsty these beings were.

"So weak." Ji Ning didn't take them seriously. He easily defeated the nearest Demon Lord and flew to the fourteenth layer.

...

Layer after layer.

Relying on the Yin-Yang Sword Intent Domain, these Demon Lords, with their extremely low Dao realms, couldn't threaten Ji Ning at all.

Soon, Ji Ning reached the nineteenth layer.

Ji Ning had thought this layer would also be easy, but when his divine sense discovered an Eternal divine weapon left behind in this layer's world, he immediately knew something was wrong.

"From the first to the thirteenth layer, I saw many treasures left behind by cultivators after death. Those were probably left by natives; at most, they left Dao weapons. From the fourteenth to the eighteenth layer, I didn't see a single treasure." Ji Ning's expression turned serious. "But on this nineteenth layer, there's an Eternal divine weapon."

The natives couldn't forge Eternal divine weapons.

Ji Ning cautiously surveyed, his divine sense covering the area. This layer had only nineteen Demon Lords, seemingly no different from the eighteenth or seventeenth layers.

"Whoosh..."

A presence suddenly appeared.

It surged from deep underground, lofty and overwhelming, making Ji Ning's heart tremble.

Looking into the distance, the earth split open, and a figure flew out. He wore cyan armor and a mask, revealing only a pair of icy eyes. On his back were nine blood-red divine swords.

"You..." Ji Ning's expression changed.

Among the three great Sword Dao masters he had seen in the inner domain world, the strongest was the towering, burly man who rivaled the Great Dominator, with a huge azure sword resting before his chest. The other two included one who looked exactly like the figure before him, with nine huge blood-red swords thrust into the ground before him.

"If you can kill me, you'll obtain the nine divine swords left by my master. Those nine swords accompanied my master through endless ages of battle, their power extraordinary, only a hair's breadth away from being universe treasures. Even if you don't use them and sell them, each divine sword is worth fifty million square of chaos nectar. As a set, they are priceless." The cyan-armored figure said coldly.

The value of the nine divine swords was indeed astonishingly high.

But Ji Ning felt no greed. At this moment, he stared intently at the cyan-armored figure before him.

Though the cyan-armored figure spoke of a 'master,' the terrifying Sword Dao aura he contained... was almost identical to that of the deceased cyan-armored Sword Dao master. Both were filled with boundless killing intent, both lofty and transcendent, surpassing Ji Ning by an unknown degree. Ji Ning even suspected it might be the sword intent of an Eternal Emperor!

"I'm just a World-level cultivator. The Demon Lords before were one thing, but this opponent's realm seems terrifyingly high." Ji Ning had already manifested three heads and six arms, holding six divine swords, on full alert.

"Don't be afraid. These nine swords of mine are not my master's swords. They are merely Dao weapons, casually forged by my master before his death." The cyan-armored figure walked toward Ji Ning. His steps carried overwhelming killing intent, each movement evoking the tragic momentum of a thousand troops charging into battle, making Ji Ning's heart feel suffocated.

Ji Ning understood.

Those who could pass through the Origin Chains to enter the inner domain world were the cream of the crop among prodigies. Yet, judging by the Eternal divine weapon and storage treasures left on the nineteenth layer, more than one had died here. No wonder—this opponent was too terrifying.

"Kill me, and you'll get my master's nine divine swords." The cyan-armored figure spoke as he walked.

Ji Ning's gaze grew even colder.

The nine divine swords of that Sword Dao master were still thrust into the ground there, with no one able to take them. That meant no World-level cultivator had ever been able to kill the cyan-armored figure before him!

"Boom..." Ji Ning's eyes turned cold. He had no time to think further. Instantly, dazzling lightning and water light burst from his body. These divine lightning and divine water immediately transformed into giant swords, sweeping wildly, turning the surrounding ten thousand miles into a deadly sword domain.

But the cyan-armored figure didn't stop, his gaze unchanged, and he continued walking into the deadly sword domain.

...