Book 18, Pure Yang, Chapter 33 – Death Is But A Statistic
The bare feet of Ji Ning’s Heaven Punisher pounded against the ground as it charged forward. Ning lead the charge, the other Heaven Punishers by his side. More than three hundred of them were charging forward against the forces of the Seamless Gate, including many Empyrean God golems, White-Faced Flood Dragons, Zhuyan Apes, and other types of Terrorbeasts and Fiendgods.
BOOM!
The two armies collided against each other.
“Kill!”
Despite charging forward, Ning’s Heaven Punisher continued to move at the speed the other Heaven Punishers were moving at. Although there were twelve Empyrean God or True Immortal commanders amongst the 326 Heaven Punishers, neither they nor Ning moved beyond the pack. Once the two armies collided, however, Ning and the twelve all exploded with full power, their speed and their strength increasing dramatically!
“That one is Ji Ning’s Heaven Punisher.”
“Careful.”
The forces of the Seamless Gate were naturally able to recognize Ning, but there was no way for them to avoid him on this vast field of battle; the only choice was to take him on! A Zhuyan Ape, completely covered with white fur and with red feet, bellowed and charged forward with a similarly ferocious aura of power, pushing past the other Terrorbeasts and becoming the first to bar Ning’s path.
“If he dares to block me, he must have at least a bit of power behind him. This is most likely a Zhuyan Formation commanded by an Empyrean God or a True Immortal. This is the first clash in the Realmwar, with both sides striking each other head-on; such a chaotic battle is the perfect chance to render military merits!” A savage light flashed through Ning’s eyes, and the top-grade Pure Yang ‘Splitter’ in his hands instantly transformed into an utterly massive shield.
The headless Heaven Punisher held the shield in its two mighty arms and continued to smash forward!
The burly Zhuyan Ape was shocked. “How sly of Ji Ning! I am a Pure Yang True Immortal with many marvelous spells; in skill and technique, I’m naturally vastly superior to him. Although I’ve heard that Ji Ning’s Heaven Punisher is very powerful, if he was to use sword-arts, I trust I could tie him down for at least a short period of time. If I can do that, the other members of the Seamless Gate will have arrived to assist me. But he instead chooses to ram forward with a shield; my only option is to take him head-on.”
“Still…even if we are competing in raw strength, I’m in command of 1800 Celestial Immortals and many Loose Immortals. I don’t believe I can’t beat him!”
Zhuyan Apes were incomparably savage and strong as well.
“ROAAAR!” The Zhuyan picked up a shield and also charged straight forward towards Ning.
The two great figures, each holding a giant shield, rammed straight towards each other, their footsteps causing the earth to tremble.
BOOM!!! The two shields collided.
“What?! How can he be so strong? He’s even stronger than Azurefox and Whitefox claimed him to be!” The Zhuyan Ape felt a terrifying, irresistible surge of energy push straight towards him. He was knocked flying away, completely unable to control himself.
The spectators, however, only saw that as soon as Ning and the Zhuyan Ape collided, the Zhuyan was immediately knocked backwards, causing the other Zhuyan Apes behind it to hurriedly clear a path to avoid being hit.
During the year-long ceasefire, Ning had improved greatly in his soul heartforce technique. In this exchange, however, Ning still concealed his true power and true level of improvement. The simple fact that he now had three times as many Celestial Immortals and Loose Immortals resulted in his Heaven Punisher instantly and automatically becoming much more powerful.
“This isn’t the time for me to unleash my full power yet. I need to find a turning point, a turning point capable of influencing the entire war.” Massive shield in hands, Ning immediately threw himself towards a second Zhuyan Ape after having knocked the first one flying.
“Get over here, quick!”
“Stop him!”
The second Zhuyan Ape was panicking. In truth, a Pure Yang True Immortal was already flying towards them, preparing to cast a spell. A dazzling golden light suddenly appeared in the skies, shining down upon Ning’s Heaven Punisher. This sort of constrictive spell, however, was almost negligible to something as powerful as Ning’s Heaven Punisher. Most likely, only ten Pure Yang True Immortals casting the same type of spell simultaneously would be enough to tie Ning down.
“Let’s fight together!” Five more nearby Zhuyan Apes charged forward in unison.
However…despite being slowed down slightly by the spell, Ning was still able to bound forward far more quickly than the five were. He soon arrived next to the fleeing Zhuyan Ape.
Although the terrified Zhuyan Ape wanted to block, the difference in power between him and Ning was far, far too great.
Ning’s Heaven Punisher leapt forward, his right hand chopping downwards as sword-light flashed.
Swish!
A simian head went flying, and the white-furred Zhuyan Ape completely disintegrated, revealing the utterly terrified Immortals that had been inside of it.
BOOM! A palm-leaf fan appeared within Ning’s hands. Ning swung it towards the many fleeing Immortals, some of whom were using evasive techniques while others were hiding within Immortal estates. BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! Countless Immortal estates were instantly disintegrated, with only a very small number of extremely powerful Immortal estates being able to safely withstand the power of Ning’s palm-leaf fan.
Alas, the Yin-Yang Arcane Ki Bottle appeared before Ning as well. The bottle began to ravenously devour all of the surving estates, swallowing all of them and the Immortals inside them.
In this war, they had to wipe out all living creatures on the enemy’s side!
If he merely destroyed the Zhuyan Ape and allowed the majority of the Immortals to escape, they would quickly be used to form yet another army.
“Let’s attack!”
“Damn him!”
There were now a total of eight Zhuyan Apes surrounding Ning, as well as two Pure Yang True Immortals.
In truth, in a battle like this, both sides would quickly end up in a deadlocked quagmire. Only at the very beginning would there be a tiny chance to achieve a quick victory, and Ning used that chance to completely destroy that Zhuyan Ape! Only a few dozen Celestial Immortals with exceptionally astonishing evasive techniques had been able to escape.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Ning, all by himself, wildly assaulted those eight Zhuyan Apes. Even after having joined forces together, the eight were still being utterly dominated and outclassed. Fortunately, they had two Pure Yang True Immortals supporting them, allowing them to just barely hold on.
“Darknorth, we’re coming!”
“Nice kill, Darknorth!”
Instantly, the Heaven Punishers of Celestial Immortal Unity, Celestial Immortal Dustfloat, and a few others came charging from behind to help Ning.
“Kill!” The White-Faced Flood Dragons of the Seamless Gate were drawing near as well.
Soon…
Ning’s combat region became a fairly densely populated battlefield. Almost a tenth of the full power of each side was concentrated within this region.
“So that’s Ji Ning? The Godking seems to pay a great deal of attention to him.” The three Diremonster Gods of Mount Dragoneater were quite accustomed to battlefields. They had already transformed into their true Diremonster forms. Of the three, the eldest brother known as the ‘Great Sage Who Swallows The Mountains’ was actually a gold-feathered eagle. His wings allowed him to move as fast as a streak of lightning; in terms of speed, this ‘Great Sage Who Swallows The Mountains’ was the fastest one on this field of battle!
The second brother, the Great Sage Who Swallows The Seas, was an ugly dragon that had broken horns and a completely pitch-black body. He swam through the battlefield, his claws striking out with such power that space itself shattered apart.
The third brother, the Great Sage Who Swallows The Skies, was a nine-headed lion that was as massive and majestic as a mountain. Every step he took caused the world to shudder with a strange, inexplicable cadence. Even when the Pangu War-Formations on the side of the Crimsonbright Realm collided head-on against the nine-headed lion, they would be knocked backwards by it.
It must be understood that even True Immortal Whitepole, when going all out, was just barely strong enough to tie down a Pangu War-Formation.
Each of these three Diremonster Gods possessed overwhelming power, so mighty that it could be said that not a single Empyrean God or True Immortal of the Crimsonbright Realm could compare to them on this field of battle. In turn, none of the Empyrean Gods or True Immortals of the Seamless Gate who were taking part in this battle could compare to them either.
Their fame had long since spread throughout the Three Realms.
“Let me give that Ji Ning a test.” The gold-feathered eagle, the Great Sage Who Swallows The Mountains, let out a loud laugh, then gave his wings a flap.
Swish!
With but that one motion, he threw himself straight towards Ning like a streak of light, moving at an utterly astonishing speed.
“Follow him!”
“Don’t let him run off!”
There were a total of six Empyrean Gods/True Immortals on a ship of pure light, with the Xia Emperor one of them. These six were riding on a Protocosmic spirit-treasure, the Worldspan Lightship. It was only thanks to the speed of this ship that they were able to keep up with the gold-feathered eagle. Of the three Diremonster Gods, the eldest wasn’t actually the strongest, but he was definitely the fastest. If he was allowed to run about as he pleased on the battlefield, with no one tying him down…he would be incredibly deadly.
Thus, the responsibility of the Xia Emperor and the rest of the six was to keep an eye on him and tie him down.
“Chasing me?” The gold-feathered eagle let out a snicker, making sudden and unexpected left and right turns as he moved through the field of battle.
When moving in straight lines, the Worldspan Lightship was actually slightly faster than the gold-feathered eagle…but in terms of agility, it couldn’t compare.
“We’re coming as well.”
“Whoever kills Ji Ning will have won a great victory. His bounty is worth more than the bounty of twenty ordinary Heaven Punishers!” The other two Diremonster Gods of Mount Dragoneater all immediately charged towards Ning as well. When they attacked, certain forces of the Crimsonbright Realm were forced to give chase. Multiple Raindragons and Pangu War-Formations frantically attacked them, but the two were still able to force their way towards Ji Ning’s direction.
……
“Ji Ning.”
The gold-feathered eagle quickly reached Ning’s location, and it charged straight towards him.
Although Ning was currently battling others, he was still keeping an eye on his surroundings. His side had managed to kill some foes, but the Seamless Gate had killed some of them as well. The six Diremonster Gods of Mount Tonglian were particularly deadly; after they joined together into the ‘Six Unities Formation’, the six of them were able to support each other and sweep through their foes with power far greater than each of them could individually muster. The combined strikes of these six Diremonster Gods had slain two Heaven Punishers and destroyed a Pangu War-Formation. In the end, it had taken three full Raindragons to tie them down!
But of course, the Empyrean Gods and True Immortals on Ning’s side were similarly extraordinary, also gaining many victories.
This initial clash had already resulted in countless casualties for both sides.
While watching the overall battlefield, Ning suddenly saw from the corner of his eyes a flashing golden light.
“Is that…? Ah, the eldest brother of the three Diremonster Gods of Mount Dragoneater?” When Ning saw the massive, terrifyingly fast gold-feathered eagle fly towards him, he was instantly shocked.
Whoosh! Instantly growing cautious, Ning’s weapons instantly transformed into two shields.
“Die for me, puny human.” The gold-feathered eagle pounced upon Ning, its sharp talons gouging towards him like terrifyingly sharp hooks.
Ning just stood there on the ground, not moving to dodge at all.
In the instant that the attacks of the gold-feathered eagle reached him, Ning brandished the shields in his arms. Boom! They struck head-on against the sharp claws of the gold-feathered eagle. Now that he was commanding three times as many Immortals, his Heaven Punisher was faster than it had been in the past, especially its arms, which were both dexterous and strong. Given that the shields he was using were quite large, he was able to completely block this strange, profound, terrifying claw attack.
BOOM!
The gold-feathered eagle was actually sent spinning backwards through the skies, only coming to a halt a few moments later. This instantly caused the always arrogant and brash Diremonster God, the Great Sage Who Swallows The Mountains, to feel completely humiliated and enraged. “Second brother, third brother, get over here! This Ji Ning guy is tremendously strong!”