“How should I know?!” Celestial Immortal Infatuation was frantic as well. “Thest time we fought with him was just half a month ago. How could I have imagined that his power would suddenly rise by so much?!”


    “Last time, he wasn’t even as strong as me.” Celestial Immortal Deadwood nodded. “But this time, he’s able topletely shut down even the Shaoyin Fiendtamer Formation. His power has alreadypletely eclipsed that of myself and Goldclock.”


    “Yes.” Although Celestial Immortal Goldclock didn’t wish to admit it, the reality of the matter wasid bare before them.


    Although their sh had been brief, the five mighty Celestial Immortals had all discovered that Ji Ning’s power was much greater than they had anticipated.


    The Shaoyin Fiendtamer Formation was indeed very well-suited for capturing foes! Back during the Fiendgod Era, it had been specially designed for capturing Fiendgods; it was indeed quite well-suited for dealing with Ji Ning. But to actually ‘capture’ him...that required the capturing party be able topletely suppress the target in terms of power.


    Last time, if these five Celestial Immortals had known that Ji Ning trained in the [Eight-Nine Arcane Art], they would’ve invited Celestial Immortal mefish toe on that attempt as well. They would’ve seeded long ago through their usage of the Shaoyin Fiendtamer Formation.


    But this time...Ning had reached the Fifth Cycle of the [Eight-Nine Arcane Art] and the Fourth Cycle of the [Starseizing Hand]. His power was clearly on a significantly higher level! He had vaulted from being weaker than Celestial Immortals Deadwood and Goldclock to being more powerful than them! This sudden surge in strength made it so that the Shaoyin Fiendtamer Formation waspletely unable to capture Ning.


    “Break for me!” Ning was wildly assaulting the five-colored mountain peak. In turn, the five mighty Celestial Immortals were striving to maintain their defensive formation.


    “We’re actually beingpletely held down and beaten upon by him.” Celestial Immortal Goldclock ground his teeth.


    “He’s be even more powerful, and he has the [Eight-Nine Arcane Art] protecting him; he doesn’t even need to defend. All of us are merely Ki Refiners; once he strikes us with his body, we’ll transform into dust,” Celestial Immortal Deadwood said.


    “Ugh.” Celestial Immortal Sunfish was enraged as well.


    The [Eight-Nine Arcane Art] was truly a pain in the neck.


    Generally speaking, Fiendgods didn’t dare to ept blows from magic treasures head-on. But those who trained in the [Eight-Nine Arcane Art] were absolutely able to do so!


    “What should we do?” Celestial Immortal mefish looked at the other four. “What should we do? Just wait here?”


    “How about...let’s leave for now, using a Greater Teleportation Dao-seal to depart,” Celestial Immortal Goldclock said. Although they were at a disadvantage, through working together, the five of them were indeed able to flee when they pleased.


    “Flee?”


    Celestial Immortal Infatuation snorted coldly, “Ji Ning is currently hiding within this great formation; if we want to deal with him, we’ll have to enter it. Since we’ve already entered it...why should we be in a rush to leave it? This time, Ji Ning has attacked the headquarters of our Youngme n...and so, the Youngme n absolutely must capture Ji Ning. This time, either our Youngme n lowers our heads to admit defeat, or Ji Ning admits defeat! From the moment that Ji Ning came to our headquarters, both our sides lost all other options; one side has to admit defeat!”


    “We can’t admit defeat,” Celestial Immortal Sunfish said in a low voice. “There is no way our Youngme n can admit defeat to Ji Ning.”


    “Thus...I am preparing to notify the Ancestor. I will let the Ancestor make the decision,” Celestial Immortal Infatuation sent mentally.


    “You are notifying Master?” Celestial Immortal mefish was startled...but then he nodded lightly. “Given the current situation, the only option we have is to ask Master to decide.”


    “Right.”


    “Notify the Ancestor.”


    “I concur.”


    Celestial Immortals Goldclock, Sunfish, and Deadwood all nodded.


    “I’ve already instructed my spirit-beast to go find Arcanum. Arcanum will immediately notify the Ancestor,” Celestial Immortal Infatuation said. Although they were very far away from each other, since he was a Celestial Immortal, he was simrly able tomunicate spiritually with his spirit-beast at a tremendous distance.


    Ning continued to attack wildly, but was unable to break through the defenses of the five Celestial Immortals. The Seven Ruinous Thunderwinds were wildly attacking as well, and Uncle White even summoned the power of the formation to generate rays of maces of light to attack...but they were still unable to break the defenses.


    “It’s like a turtle-shell.” Ning was forced to temporarily give up, unwilling though he was.


    Swoosh.


    Ning returned to Uncle White, Little Qing, and Northson’s sides.


    “Master, the defenses of these five Celestial Immortals are far too powerful. There’s no way to break through at all. What should we do next?” Little Qing asked with worry.


    “What can we do? Wait.” Ning shook his head and sighed. “Celestial Immortals are Celestial Immortals, after all;st time, when they attacked me en masse, I was at a disadvantage. This time, I’ve grown stronger and have the upper hand...but when faced with all five of them, I still find it extremely hard to actually defeat them. To kill a Celestial Immortal is no easy task.”


    Ning thenughed. “However, I never believed that I had the power to simply dominate Celestial Immortals.”


    “Senior apprentice-brother, you...?” Northson was puzzled.


    “Junior apprentice-brother.” Ningughed. “The situation for us,pared to the situation for the Youngme n, ispletely different. We’ve attacked their headquarters, and have even erected a massive, mighty formation within their headquarters. We’re resting and rxing here,pletely carefree! Given how widespread the intelligenceworks of the world of the Grand Xia are, the various major powers will quickly learn of this matter.”


    “Every day we spend here is a day where the Youngme n will be losing face.”


    “If we can spend half a year or a year rxing here, with the Youngme npletely unable to do anything to us, and being forced to just watch us leave at our leisure eventually...the Youngme n will turn into a huge joke for the rest of the world!” Ning said, “The Youngme n definitely won’t permit this to happen. They’ll definitelye up with a method to deal with me.”


    “If they want to continue hiding like a turtle in its shell, there’s nothing I can do about that, of course.”


    “But if they want to kill me...they’ll have to take some risks. They’ll have to enter the formation and actively attack me.”


    “By attacking me, they’ll be taking risks...and if I can seize the right opportunity, I can kill one of their Celestial Immortals,” Ning said with augh. “Once I kill the first one, I’ll have an even better chance of killing the second one.”


    “This time...I intend to drag this out with the Youngme n as long as I can.”


    Battles at the Celestial Immortal level could drag on for many, many years.


    Ning had that intention as well; to drag this out as long as possible. If he could drag this out for a year, he would cause the nsmen of the Youngme n to all feel nervous and restless. So long as the Youngme n made a single misstep, or so long as a single Celestial Immortal overextended himself...then Ning’s chance woulde.


    ......


    “Uncle White, every so often, use the formation to assault them. Keep them nervous and force them to keep their formations activated,” Ning suddenly said.


    “Ji Ning, you are...?” Uncle White was startled. “Are you nning to take a rest?”


    “No.” Ning shook his head and smiled. “I just thought of a big rod.”


    “A rod?” They were all puzzled.


    “I’m going to leave the formation to take a look. I’ll be back soon,” Ning said with augh. “Uncle White, you must be careful.”


    “Don’t worry.” Uncle White nodded.


    “Master, what sort of a rod are you going to go look at?” Little Qing asked.


    “A copper one.” After speaking, Ning quickly departed. He stealthily slipped out of the grand formation, then used a void blink to go deep underground.


    Ning knew very well that this battle with the Youngme n would most likely be an extremely long once. Since he wouldn’t be able to kill those five Celestial Immortals for now...he might as well make a trip to check out that mysterious underground copper ‘rod’! That enormous copper pir...immediately after Ning had discovered it, the five mighty Celestial Immortals had arrived, preventing him from investigating it in detail.


    Now that the five Celestial Immortals were trapped, there was no one else who could disturb him.


    Crackle crackle crackle...


    Ning’s divine power agitated the surroundingnd, pushing aside the nearby mud and rocks. He stared at the enormous, fiery copper pir before him. This copper pir had been here for who-knows how long...but it hadn’t rusted in the slightest. It was covered with runes, and ripples of power were emanating from it.


    “Doesn’t seem to be a magic treasure.” Ning came to this private conclusion after investigating it a bit. “Let me try divine sense.”


    Ning immediately released his divine sense, attempting to carefully ascertain what the real face of this fiery copper pir was.


    Last time, his divine sense had been unleashed from midair, and so he had only been able to scan a small part of the copper pir. This time, he was right next to it, deep underground.


    “This is...” Ning took a deep breath.


    Good heavens!


    This fiery copper pir was nearly three hundred meters wide, but it stretched extremely deep down underground...and at the very bottom of it was an unfathomably massive fire-red stone wall! This fiery stone wall stretched out over ten thousand kilometers in the deep subterranean. There was a limit to how far Ning’s divine sense could stretch. He was only able to scan a portion of this fiery stone wall. As to howrge it was exactly...there was no way Ning could find out as well.


    As for the giant copper pir, it was nted firmly into the fiery stone wall!


    More than three thousand kilometers of the giant copper pir jutted out from above the stone wall! As for how deep it was beyond the wall...there was no way to know! This was because Ning’s divine sense waspletely unable to prate through the fiery stone wall at all.


    “This stone wall...” Ning immediately used yet another void blink, teleporting three thousand kilometers downwards. He quickly arrived next to the fiery stone wall.


    Ning used his divine power to force aside all the nearby mud, creating an empty region deep underground.


    Beneath Ning’s feet was the fiery stone wall. Next to him was the fiery copper pir.


    “What is this thing? Divine sense is unable to see through this fiery stone wall, and elemental ki is unable to bind it.” Ning waspletely puzzled. He immediately gave it a hard stomp.


    BOOM...


    How powerful were Ning’s feet by now? It must be understood that Ning’s hands wereparable to supreme Pure Yang treasures. As for the rest of his body, every other part wasparable to at least a high-grade Immortal-ranked magic treasure. The power of his kicks would be able to effortlessly cause mountains to crumble. The enormous, fiery stone wall beneath him, however, just let out a booming sound...and waspletely undamaged.


    “Weird.” Ning suddenly struck down with a palm as well.


    The power of the activated [Starseizing Hand] was incredibly terrifying...but the only result was yet another, deeper booming sound.


    “Still nothing?” Ning was truly confused now. “Even Heaven-ranked magic treasures would bepletely shattered by my palm blows, yet this fiery stone wall ispletely undamaged?”


    Ning walked to the enormous copper pir that was nted firmly into the fiery stone wall.


    “So the copper pir is nted into the stone wall?” Ning carefully made a circle around the giant copper pir, inspecting it. He pushed aside all of the mud surrounding the three hundred meter thick pir, only to discover...that this fiery stone wall really did seem to have a three hundred meter opening here. The copper pir was stuck into the opening and tightly locked to it!


    Ning’s divine sense was unable to find the tiniest of seams to prate into!


    “The copper pir was nted here...I wonder if it can be pulled out?” Ning mumbled to himself for a moment as he pondered. <i> Screw it. The Youngme n hid it here.</i> Ning wasn’t afraid of anything. His body flickered, and with a whoosh, he instantly transformed into a nine hundred meter tall giant.


    As a Fiendgod Body Refiner at the Void level, upon using the Heavenly Transformation divine ability, Ning’s maximum size was actually three thousand meters.


    As a nine hundred meter tall giant, his two hands were able to effortlessly sp around the enormous copper pir.


    “Come OUT!” Ning pulled, hard.


    How much power did this pull have,ing from a nine hundred meter tall giant?


    s...it didn’t budge at all!


    “[Starseizing Hand]!” Ning stared for a moment, then the divine tattoos of the [Starseizing Hand] began to flow across his hands. His power exploded dramatically, and his pulling strength increased greatly as well. He now had what felt like limitless strength, capable of uprooting mountains and rivers...


    Rumble...


    Apanied by a thunderous sound, the enormous copper pir actually began to rise slightly. When it did, all sorts of grinding sounds could be heard from deep below the stone wall, at the points where the stone wall and the copper pir were joined together. In fact, a rumbling sound that sounded like the heavens were breaking apart could be heard as well.


    ......


    In a very distant world.


    A man-shaped creature with scales on his face, a single horn on his forehead, and a body covered by azure mes suddenly opened his eyes. Boundless rage could be seen in his gaze.


    “Who?”


    “Who dares...WHO DARES TOUCH MY INFINITY FURNACE?!”