Book 26, World Level, Chapter 35 – A Miserable Victory
It was a humanoid creature whose skin was completely pitch-black. His eyes were crimson red in color, and the way in which he stared at Ji Ning made Ning feel uncomfortable. This pitch-black humanoid’s skin suddenly began to crack and split apart, revealing a dim crimson substance beneath the skin.
Pop! Every so often, a piece of that crimson material would suddenly shoot out from beneath his skin, moving vastly beyond the speed of light and causing s.p.a.cetime around it to twist and distort.
The creature simply stood there, allowing his ‘skin’ to crack and pop. Every so often, more of that crimson substance would shoot out. Whenever it touched the waters of the ocean, the water would begin to hiss and boil away. Whenever it touched the the remnants of the island, the island would shudder and break apart even further.
“You’ve forced me to reveal my true form, which means you have to die. You are indeed qualified to make it to the fifth stratum, but unfortunately for you… you ran into me.” The sable creature spoke in a hoa.r.s.e voice, and a few flecks of that crimson material flew out from his mouth with each word.
“Aren’t you the ugly one,” Ning said softly.
“You-!”
The sable creature was both embarra.s.sed and enraged. Cultivators were the true masters of the Endless Territories, after all. They were simply too numerous! Even though he was an incredibly powerful special lifeform, when he was born from the primordial chaos he found himself to be the only member of his race. Thus, he changed his appearance and always wore a black robe, spending his life within the world of cultivators.
As a result, even he himself felt that his true appearance was rather ugly. However, only by revealing his true form was he capable of unleas.h.i.+ng his full power. There was nothing else he could do. When normal cultivators insulted him, he wouldn’t be that irritated, but the person who just spoke was a powerful cultivator who was on his general level of power.
“All you can do is flap your mouth. Remember this in your next life. The person who killed you is Sabafey.” The sable creature let out a low growl as he gripped the heavy warblade and the heavy greatsword with his hands.
“What an ugly name as well.” Ning was intentionally mocking him. He could tell that this special lifeform had a fairly weak Dao-heart.
“Die.” Two sonorous streaks of saber-light and sword-light struck out, carrying an aura of incredible majesty and power.
“Hmph.” Ning once more manifested three heads and six arms, using his six Eternal weapons fight back.
“Eh? What’s this?” When Ning transformed into a streak of lightning and charged forward, he immediately sensed s.p.a.cetime twisting around him. This had an impact on even his own agility and movements. Clearly, this Sabafey was capable of causing s.p.a.cetime to twist all around him in a domain-type maneuver.
“Hmph.” Ning let out an angry snort as that streak of crimson-gold lightning once more blasted out of his forehead. The lightning was shaped like a Flood Dragon as it struck out, but once it moved closer to that black humanoid, it was impacted by some of the crimson substance spurting out of its cracked skin. The crimson-gold lightning instantly began to tremble.
“We haven’t even clashed yet, but that crimson substance shooting out of his body and this domain around him is already having an impact on my abilities. So this is the power of his true form?” Ning was secretly nervous.
Boom!
Boom!
A streak of black light suddenly shot out. This was the sable freak, Sabafey!
A streak of lightning shot out as well. This was the three-headed, six-armed, white-robed Ji Ning. Crimson-gold lightning continuously shot out of Ning’s forehead.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
The two instantly clashed multiple times in midair, causing the air around them to tremble, the fragments of the island beneath them to sink deeper into the sea, and tremendous tidal waves to arise.
The two of them battled in a wild orgy of destruction, and Ji Ning was clearly at a disadvantage in this fight.
“d.a.m.n.”
Ning was forced to repeatedly dodge backwards, then charge forward once more. As for the black freak Sabafey, he fought in an utterly dominating fas.h.i.+on. Although he only had a single warblade and a single greatsword, his strength and savagery was enough to allow his two weapons to completely overwhelm Ji Ning.
In fact, the unique s.p.a.cetime domain surrounding this creature was enough to make him superior to Ning in speed as well.
“So his true form makes him this much stronger than before.” Ning could feel how difficult this battle was becoming. The power of every single blow from the enemy’s sword and saber was superior to Ning’s power. Even though Ning had six weapons to his foe’s two, he was still at a marked disadvantage in this fight.
In truth, this special lifeform was indeed as physically strong as a Daolord of the First Step. He was on par with Ji Ning, and his insights into the Dao were even more profound than Ning’s. This was the reason why the power of his every blow exceeded Ning’s power.
As for their earlier clash? Before revealing his true form and unleas.h.i.+ng his full power, he looked just like an ordinary cultivator dressed in black robes. He had only been able to unleash roughly ten or twenty percent of his maximum power in that state, which was why his full-strength blow was merely on par with one of Ning’s sword-strikes. Things were completely different now.
“You are definitely going to die. You are gonna die!” Sabafey’s hoa.r.s.e, maddened voice rang out. He held an advantage in both speed and power!
This was the first time since arriving at the Astral Islands that Ning had been in such a terrible situation. He was being completely dominated.
This was someone who was just as fast and as strong as him, but who also had an even higher level of insight into the Dao. Sabafey had been training here at the Astral Islands for an extremely long period of time, and he possessed that strange domain which was even stronger than Ning’s [Novessence Thunder].
Ning was being crushed.
As the saying goes, if you always stay on the defensive, sooner or later you will lose. Ning no longer dared to let things continue like this.
“Come out!” Ning was furious as well. This Sabafey really was trying to kill him and sever his path.
Whoos.h.!.+
A black-crimson gourd suddenly appeared out of nowhere next to Ning. This was the Elementum Waterflame Gourd! The gourd hovered behind Ning, then instantly spat out two streaks of dragon-shaped lightning. One streak of lightning was the Watersmoke Lightning, and it looked a flood of black water descending from an enormous stormcloud. The power of this lightning was so tremendous that it alone was superior to Ning’s [Novessence Thunder]. As for the second streak of lightning, it looked like a cloud of flame and was just as strong as the first streak of lightning.
Two streaks of lightning. The first was Watersmoke Lightning, the second was Firecloud lightning. Fire and water were incompatible by nature! They were opposing forces! But these two streaks of Dao lightning simultaneously coiled around each other as they thundered towards the sable freak, Sabafey.
“What is that?!” The sable creature was shocked.
BOOM! BOOM!
The two streaks of Dao lightning showed no mercy at all. They simultaneously hammered down upon the sable creature, then began smas.h.i.+ng into each other as well. As the two streaks of fiery lightning and watery lightning collided, they unleashed an utterly ruinous level of explosive power that caused even Ning himself to be in awe.
Even most supreme World G.o.ds would be instantly slain by such an attack. As for transcendent World G.o.ds, they would be heavily injured at the very least. A few consecutive blows would ensure that they would perish.
Only Daolords of the First Step would be able to endure such a blow, but even they would be heavily restricted and bound.
Boom! Boom! The two streaks of Dao lightning furiously swirled around the sable creature’s body, and each time they collided they released tremendous amounts of power, causing Sabafey’s speed and strength to both fall dramatically.
“This is Dao lightning!” Sabafey called out in shock.
“Yes it is.” Ning charged forward once more.
“So what if you have Dao lightning? It can at most slow me down. It can’t kill me!” Sabafey remained as ferocious and savage as ever. His true body was indeed comparable to that of a Daolord of the First Step, allowing him to endure the strikes of these two types of Dao lightning. However, he was still hindered tremendously by them. He was now slightly slower than Ning!
Boom! Boom! Boom! His warblade and his greatsword still held roughly half of their former level of power. He was still able to crush Ning in power.
Still, things were now much simpler for Ning. Now that he had an advantage in speed, he was able to advance and withdraw at his leisure. In addition, his foe’s advantage in strength was now much smaller than before.
“Kill!”
“Kill!”
The two continued to battle ferociously.
“I am a special lifeform. This cultivator has to be using his divine power at an incredible rate. He won’t be able to hang on for much longer, while I’ll be able to keep going for quite some time.” Sabafey was filled with confidence. He was certain he would be able to keep fighting for an extended period of time.
“Every single drop of my azureflower mist energy represents the distillation of all my divine power, heartforce, and Immortal energy. I’m not using any particularly powerful divine abilities for this fight. I’ll be able to go on for ages. This special lifeform has to be using some sort of secret art which allows him to release tremendous amounts of power, but I’m certain he won’t be able to maintain it for too long.” Ning was filled with confidence as well.
Ning was merely using [Three Heads, Six Arms]. This divine ability used up fairly little divine power. Ning was mainly relying on his azureflower mist energy in this battle, and it wasn’t being used up that quickly.
This battle went on for more than two full hours.
At first, both were very confident. As time went on, both Sabafey and Ning grew increasingly amazed. By now, Ning only had sixteen drops of his azureflower mist energy left.
“I admit defeat!” Finally, Sabafey let out a disgruntled growl. “Given how much power you have unleashed, you have to be using up divine power at an incredible rate. How is it even possible for you to continue fighting for this long? How?!”
If Ning was using abilities like the [Sta.r.s.eizing Hand], he would indeed be using up divine power at an astonis.h.i.+ng rate.
Ning let out a sigh of relief.
He had won. Finally, he had won.
He could sense the golden book in his possession begin to transform. He was now under the protection of the Astral Islands, which acknowledged the fact that he had just won ten battles in a row on the fourth island.
“Hand over your legacy treasures.” Ning stared at him. If it wasn’t for the fact that this person was also under protection, Ning would’ve shown him no mercy at all and slain him. This person wasn’t going to be able to hold on for much longer.
“Don’t be smug. I was defeated by the others on the fifth stratum, after all.” Sabafey let out a hoa.r.s.e growl. “There are many on the fifth stratum who are stronger than me. You are indeed quite strong, but your insights into the sword are quite mediocre. Ahaha… you are even inferior to a special lifeform like myself.”
As he spoke, he waved his hand and tossed out a large amount of legacy treasures. Upon losing, he had to hand over everything he had unless Ning voluntarily accepted less. He didn’t dare violate the rules of the Astral Islands.
“EXIT!” Sabafey raised his head and let out an angry shout.
Whoos.h.!.+ s.p.a.cetime twisted around him, causing his sable form to disappear into thin air.
Ning waved his hand, collecting the many legacy treasures. His golden book immediately sent him an alert, informing him that he had already acquired a full legacy and that he was permitted to leave the Astral Islands whenever he wished.
“A full set?” Ning wasn’t that surprised. He knew that Sabafey had many legacy treasures on him, including a full legacy set.
Swoos.h.!.+
Ning waved his hand again, causing the Elementum Waterflame Gourd to fly towards him as well.
Ning put away the gourd. If it hadn’t been for this gourd he probably would’ve lost this fight, even if he was able to keep himself alive. Upon losing, he would’ve been knocked down to the third stratum once more, where he would’ve had to slowly acc.u.mulate enough wins for another promotion.
“Sabafalle. He was merely an individual who wasn’t strong enough to stay in the fifth stratum permanently. He was beaten down into the fourth stratum… and yet, he is incredibly powerful. My sword-arts are indeed a weak point.” Prior to this, Ning didn’t fully realize how great a weakness this was. However, the more he battled against other incredibly talented figures, the more he realized how lacking his sword-arts were. In the end, he simply hadn’t spent enough time as a World-level cultivator.
“So many of the cultivators on the fifth stratum are more powerful than him?”
A flicker of battle-l.u.s.t appeared in Ning’s eyes. “Good. The stronger they are, the better.”
Ning raised his head and called out, “Exit!”
Whoosh.
s.p.a.cetime twisted around Ning, causing him to be teleported away and back to his own astral island.