Chapter 51

Twenty-seven golden-armored soldiers simultaneously thrust their golden, gleaming spears, carrying boundless might as they lunged at Ji Ning! The fifty-four golden-armored soldiers behind them also held their spears, ready to take over at any moment.

"There must be a weakness, there must be a glimmer of hope. If they were truly invincible, they would have worn me out long ago," Ji Ning thought, holding the North Sea Sword in both hands, he charged forward like a fierce wind. Clang, clang, clang!!! The North Sea Sword clashed with the spears, and Ji Ning deflected them while charging into the crowd of golden-armored soldiers.

"Retreat!"

"Attack!"

The first twenty-seven golden-armored soldiers retreated in unison, while the fifty-four behind them formed a larger encirclement, trapping Ji Ning like a fish in a jar.

"Could it be?" Ji Ning frowned.

"Water and Fire Lotus!" Ji Ning's mind moved.

Swish, swish, swish~~~

Suddenly, eight pairs of Water and Fire Lotus appeared around him. Each pair consisted of a water lotus leaf and a fire lotus leaf. Since this move contained the true meaning of the Dao, even Ji Ning had to exert all his efforts to perform it, and controlling eight pairs of Water and Fire Lotus was quite strenuous.

"Crack, crack, crack~~~" The eight pairs of Water and Fire Lotus rotated, like millstones grinding, enveloping sixteen golden-armored soldiers. These soldiers dodged frantically, but their bodies still showed cracks from being crushed.

"Kill!"

"Kill!"

The golden-armored soldiers, enraged, roared and dodged the Water and Fire Lotus, charging at Ji Ning.

Holding the North Sea Sword, Ji Ning was like a fierce tiger, his sword shadow blazing as he instantly cut one golden-armored soldier into three pieces. The body of the golden-armored soldier, cut into three pieces, quickly reconnected and continued to roar and fight with Ji Ning.

"Indeed, it is so, indeed, it is so," Ji Ning felt elated, laughing heartily, "Your so-called invincibility is just a scare tactic. Each time you are injured, your strength decreases. Ha ha, I wonder how long you can hold out."

When the eighty-one golden-armored soldiers formed an array to attack, Ji Ning noticed that their strength had decreased slightly. Although the decrease was not significant, Ji Ning's senses were so acute that he still detected it.

Therefore, Ji Ning simultaneously controlled eight pairs of Water and Fire Lotus, severely injuring sixteen golden-armored soldiers.

When they clashed again, Ji Ning found that the strength of these golden-armored soldiers had weakened even more.

"Eighty-one golden-armored soldiers, acting as one. One severely injured, all affected," Ji Ning thought, "Moreover, these golden-armored soldiers are formed from golden liquid, with no vital points. I just need to keep severely injuring them, making their contained magic power continuously weaken... they will eventually disintegrate."

"Kill!"

The golden-armored soldiers fought without fear of death.

Ji Ning, however, controlled the eight pairs of Water and Fire Lotus, repeatedly enveloping and crushing the golden-armored soldiers, while also dodging with the North Sea Sword. Ji Ning noticed that each time his sword pierced a golden-armored soldier, it weakened them very slowly. But the Water and Fire Lotus, crushing them, weakened them much faster.

...

This was a prolonged battle.

"Boom!" One by one, the golden-armored soldiers exploded into nothingness, and all eighty-one disappeared.

Ji Ning finally let out a long sigh, retracting the surrounding Water and Fire Lotus.

"Too, too stubborn."

"If it weren't for the Water and Fire Lotus, I would have been worn out," Ji Ning sensed the Chi Ming divine power within him, sighing. His Chi Ming divine power was now only about half left. This was still under the premise that the divine power from the "Nine Heavens of Chi Ming" was particularly thick.

This battle mainly relied on the Water and Fire Lotus to repeatedly crush them, while he only used the Chi Ming divine power to protect himself with the two North Sea Swords. Even so, it consumed half of his divine power.

Ji Ning glanced behind him, where some of the corpses had been reduced to ashes by the battle, while others still remained.

"They died here, most likely worn out," Ji Ning thought, "Even divine body cultivators, who excel in prolonged battles, found it difficult. How could those pure qi cultivators survive?"

Swish~~~

The mist at both ends of the corridor slowly dissipated.

Ji Ning cautiously approached the corner of the corridor, not continuing forward but looking at the other side. He saw some corpses on the distant corridor.

"There are still corpses, it seems the next corridor is also dangerous. I wonder how many dangers this ancient ruin holds," Ji Ning's heart trembled, "And those who died there must have passed the eighty-one golden-armored soldiers."

"Come."

Ji Ning stared at the corpses on the other side of the corridor and noticed that only one of them, the most intact, had some armor and weapons. He immediately used his divine sense to pick up that corpse and the magical treasures.

"Those who made it to the next corridor must have had many magical treasures," Ji Ning carefully examined the corpse. This corpse was tall, about ten feet high, and the most likely storage-type magical treasure was the arm guard on its arm bone. Ji Ning quickly took it off and refined it, "Indeed, it is a storage-type magical treasure."

"Quite a lot."

There were over a thousand magical treasures inside, and Ji Ning could easily refine each one, but he found that... none of them were high-quality.

"None of them are high-quality," Ji Ning shook his head, "Although there are over a thousand, they are probably not worth a fraction of the 'Ten Thousand Mile Traceless Talisman.'"

The Ten Thousand Mile Traceless Talisman was a treasure of the town!

Even a step-up magical treasure would be hard to compare...

"Rest a bit." Ji Ning sat cross-legged, took out a bamboo tube, opened the stopper, and drank. He then took out some roasted meat and started eating, "These old guys, although they left storage magical treasures, had no food. The food has long turned to ashes."

"These low-quality magical treasures are useless to me now."

"After all, a few magical treasures are enough for me." Ji Ning also shook his head. For example, storage-type magical treasures, what good would hundreds do? Could they increase my strength? If I can't get out alive, the thousands of low-quality magical treasures I obtained might be found by someone in the future.

...

Ji Ning sat there eating and drinking, not in a hurry to move forward.

At the same time, the Chi Ming divine power within him gradually recovered.

After eating and drinking, Ji Ning took out various storage-type magical treasures and started flipping through them, occasionally finding some cultivation secrets and sword techniques. However, the important and rare books were usually destroyed after learning to prevent them from spreading! So the books carried were mostly ordinary and not precious secrets.

There was only one comparable to the "Dripping Water Sutra."

"Consider it a lucky find," Ji Ning smiled, and then began to sift through the various odd items from the large number of storage treasures, examining each one.

Wearing!

Using!

Playing!

All kinds of strange items were taken out, and this process of finding treasures greatly improved Ji Ning's mood.

"Hmm?" Ji Ning suddenly found a peculiar piece of bark, about to throw it away, but upon seeing the writing on it, his expression changed.

"Fog Dan, our tribe has just received news that the immortal Ji Hua, who has lived for millions of years since the divine and demon era, is openly recruiting disciples. Although Ji Hua is a wandering immortal, he has lived for millions of years, enduring countless heavenly tribulations without dying. According to our tribal leader, his strength is no less than that of a celestial immortal.

"Ji Hua has never taken disciples before, not even the second prince of the Great Xia Dynasty could become his disciple.

"Ji Hua's recruitment of disciples has been widely publicized.

"Ji Hua has also publicly stated that the disciples he seeks must be divine body cultivators, with a minimum strength of a innate divine being and a maximum of a Purple Mansion realm. He will set up two corridors... one for innate divine beings and one for Purple Mansion realm cultivators.

"Each corridor has three trials!

"Those who survive the three trials can become Ji Hua's disciple!

"Ji Hua will only take one disciple!

"The recruitment location is on the Thousand Autumns Island in the North Sea, where Ji Hua will descend his immortal palace to recruit disciples. He will likely stay until he finds a disciple. It takes more than half a year to reach the Thousand Autumns Island from here. Hurry, or you will be beaten by others. Fog Dan, I have given you the message, whether you go or not is up to you.

"Written by Shen Rong Shui!"

...

Holding the ancient piece of bark, Ji Ning held his breath, "Shen Rong Clan? This bark must be from a Shen Rong tree, no wonder such an ancient message could be preserved to this day."

The Shen Rong tree, eternal and uncorrupted.

Precious items are generally stored in boxes made of Shen Rong wood. The Shen Rong tree is a specialty and symbol of the Shen Rong Clan, a truly powerful tribe, far stronger than the Ji Clan. It is one of the top tribes in the vast land ruled by the Great Xia Dynasty!

"Ji Hua Immortal?" Ji Ning frowned, thinking, "Ji Hua Immortal is openly recruiting disciples, and he has lived for millions of years since the divine and demon era. But from the divine and demon era to now, it has been billions of years."

"The recruitment of disciples happened too long ago, Ji Hua Immortal is likely long dead," Ji Ning understood this.

Wandering immortals must continuously endure the three calamities and nine tribulations. Living for millions of years is already a miracle, let alone living to the present day.

"Then this immortal palace..."

"Is likely the immortal palace where Ji Hua recruited disciples. The corridor I am in now is one of the two corridors for recruitment."

Ji Ning looked at the distant corpses.

Although these corpses were all divine body cultivators, their existence indicated that they had not been dead for too long.

Clearly, this immortal palace frequently teleports innate divine beings or Purple Mansion realm cultivators here. And I am one of the unfortunate ones.

"Ji Hua's recruitment of disciples had extremely strict conditions, otherwise, he would have easily found a disciple long ago," Ji Ning thought, "The corridor has three trials. The previous one was the first trial, which forced me to rely on the Water and Fire Lotus to pass. The next two trials are likely even more dangerous... how will I survive them?"

"Am I also destined to die here, to rot here?" Ji Ning looked at the distant corpses, holding his breath and deep in thought.

***

{Piao Tian Literature}