Dong!

The toll of a bell resounded.

It alarmed countless birds in the forest, scattering them into the air.

A group of nuns emerged from the mountain gate, each grasping a wooden sword. They quickly moved into their respective positions―three in the front, three in the center, and three more behind. They soon arranged themselves in a three-by-three grid sword array. There were elderly nuns as well as young. Each thrust out two fingers in a swordplay gesture. Their wooden swords were pointing at Ning Tao with murderous malice.

Ning Tao was shocked. “What, what do you mean by this?”

Ci’en replied, “Doctor Ning, so sorry. These are our rules. Any outsider wanting to enter our mountain gate must break past our Nine-Heavens Sword Array. You are our guest, so we decided to use wooden swords.”

Ning Tao frowned. “I am a cultivating doctor. I only know how to refine pills and treat illnesses. I’m a complete greenhorn when it comes to fighting. Isn’t it quite inappropriate to test me in your sword array?”

Ci’en said, “This actually is a chance for Doctor Ning to show your real strength. Not everyone can enter Emei Sect. This place is sacred Buddhist grounds. Our Nine-Heavens Sword Array is imbued with Buddhist philosophy. Only someone who can break through it is qualified to enter.”

Ning Tao said, “And what if I fail?”

Ci’en raised a finger and pointed.

Ning Tao looked in the direction of the pointing finger, and saw a ramshackle thatched hut. It was in the middle of a few farmlands, looking exceedingly desolate.

Ci’en said, “Then we would have to ask Doctor Ning to stay there in the meantime.”

Ning Tao watched that thatched hut, his heart wondering, “Does Reverend Miexin know my intention in visiting her? She doesn’t want me to go beyond the mountain gate, but wants me to mend her flying sword. Is this a way to make me stay in this thatched hut?”

If it weren’t for Zhu Hongyu’s skull fragments, he would have turned and left. But he could only find Zhu Hongyu’s skull fragments after entering this mountain gate and paying a visit to Reverend Miexin. Only then could he unravel the mystery of Zhu Hongyu’s death. He could not be so impulsive as to leave now!

Seeing Ning Tao’s silence, there was a note of mockery in Ci’en’s voice. “Doctor Ning, don’t you even have the guts to enter our mountain gate?”

Ning Tao gathered his thoughts and gave a nonchalant smile. “If this is the case, I will have to try breaking this array.”

“Please proceed!” Ci’en stepped back.

Cixin and the other nuns also stepped back. Only the nine nuns with wooden swords, positioned in a sword array, were left facing Ning Tao on the path leading to the mountain gate.

Ning Tao pulled up the hood of his Heavenly Gem Magic Garment, covering his head. Then he strode towards the sword array.

“There are nine levels of Heaven. Let nine times nine revert to one!” In the sword array, an elderly nun recited. All nine wooden swords including hers suddenly streaked out from the sword array, merging into one. It tore through the air ferociously, whizzing towards Ning Tao.

Ning Tao did not duck. He puffed out his chest to take the stroke.

Cixin gasped in shock, “Be careful!”

However, her reminder was much slower than the wooden swords streaking towards him. The moment the exclamation left her lips, the gigantic wooden sword had stabbed into Ning Tao’s chest.

Ci’en and the watching nuns were all flabbergasted, rooted to the spot. How could such a useless man hope to break through their Nine-Heavens Sword Array?

But just when they thought Ning Tao would collapse to the ground and throw up blood, Ning Tao stretched out his hand and struck. He instantly shattered the wooden sword merged into one from nine. They broke up and clattered to the ground.

The jaws of every Emei nun also dropped to the ground.

He had received the sword with his chest and broken the sword array!

The Heavenly Gem Magic Garment was impervious to knives and guns. Even bullets could not penetrate it, let alone a few wooden swords. They could not have stabbed and injured Ning Tao. But of course, he would not disclose this secret.

The nine nuns extended their arms and beckoned. The wooden swords on the ground seemed attracted by magnets, whizzing back into their hands. The nine nuns at this moment immediately spread out, enclosing Ning Tao in their midst.

Chanting of Sanskrit sutras emitted from their lips. They flourished their wooden swords as ferocious gales raged. Plumes of thick fog surged in from every direction, engulfing Ning Tao in their center.

Outside the sword array, Ci’en remarked blandly, “There are nine stages in the Nine-Heavens Sword Array. He was lucky to have scraped past the first. He will surely not break through the second.”

A nun smiled and said, “After he is defeated by our sword array, I will make his bed in the thatched hut and get him to stay there.”

Ci’en gave a slight nod.

But just at this moment, a human figure soared out from the dense fog into the sky. As he stepped in mid-air, each step he took raised him up by a level. He soon took a second, third, fourth and fifth step!

Each step was about two meters high. After taking five steps, he had risen by 10 meters. Add that to the five-meter leap he first took at the start, and Ning Tao had soared about 15 meters into the air. It was the height of a five-storied building!

Such height could not be achieved even by Tang Zixian, whose lightness skill was exceptional. And he was stepping in mid-air. His dashing demeanor seemed almost as if he were dancing!

The nuns stared up at Ning Tao in the sky, their widened eyes bulging.

After freezing in mid-air for two seconds, Ning Tao calmly took out his Unbreakable Fan. Shoosh! He unfurled it and started to fan the heavy fog beneath him.

A gust of wind emitted from the Unbreakable Fan, yet the dense fog beneath was not dispelled.

There was the awkwardness of failure after an extravagant display.

The Unbreakable Fan was a magic weapon of Xuan Tianzi, an equivalent magic tool for most practitioners. Although Ning Tao had mended it, he could not execute its full powers. The most he could do was use it to deflect bullets. Right now, the Heavenly Gem Magic Garment could do the same, and the fan’s tiny surface seemed trivial in comparison. It was time for him to retire the fan. He could give it to Jiang Hao, Qing Zhui, even Bai Jing or Yin Molan.

Ning Tao’s feet touched the ground and he was already outside the perimeters of the sword array. He waved his Unbreakable Fan gently, trying to disguise the fact he was trying to scatter the dense fog of the array just now.

The dense fog from the sword array immediately dispersed. The nine nuns holding the swords soon revealed themselves, all with a shocked expression on their faces. When Ning Tao tried to break through the array with his lightness skill, they would not let him escape. All nine went after him. The lightness skill of Emei Sect was renowned, certainly not inferior to that of the Tang Sect. They even felt that Ning Tao was humiliating them, trying to break their formation using lightness skill. But once they started going after him, they realized that Ning Tao was not only faster than them, he could also soar to a greater height!

Ning Tao spoke. “Um, could I be considered to have broken through the array?”

The nine sword-wielding nuns gave a crisp cry. They soon pounced at him again.

This time, they did not attack Ning Tao directly with their flying swords. They encircled Ning Tao, chanting incantations as they held their swords,

In Ning Tao’s sight, the air trembled. A golden image of Bodhisattva Samantabhadra riding an elephant appeared in the air, dazzling and awe-inspiring, almost impossible for anyone to direct their eyes. The gigantic elephant was 100 meters tall. Its feet seemed able to crush a mountain in one step.

Outside the sword array.

Ci’en gave a cold snort. “He won’t be able to break through the third stage. This third stage requires one to have comprehended the essence of Buddhism.”

In the sword array.

Ning Tao chanted quietly, “I rest within the womb, listening to the sound of the Way.”

Dong!

The divine bell sounded a toll. Outsiders could not hear the massive toll of the divine bell, but in Ning Tao’s mind, it was like a huge billowing wave. It instantaneously washed away the dazzling and immense image of Bodhisattva Samantabhadra, as well as his 100-meter-tall white elephant mount.

It was only an illusion. And the first line of Your Text was particularly effective against illusions.

Ning Tao’s figure flashed and he once again broke through the Nine-Heavens Sword Array.

More jaws dropped to the ground. Not only the watching nuns’, but those in the sword array as well.

Ning Tao spoke. “How many stages are there to this sword array? How long will it take for me to break through every stage? Just attack me with your most powerful move and be done with it!”

“What insolence!” Ci’en was enraged. She waved her hossu. “The highest firmaments revert to one. Exterminate the devil with Dharmic fire!”

Ning Tao smiled. “I am no devil, so how can you exterminate me?”

The nine sword-wielding nuns swiftly took up their positions, once again encircling Ning Tao in their center.

Cixin instantly became tense. “Senior Sister, according to our rules, Doctor Ning only needs to break through three stages. This last stage is ‘the Exterminating Stage’. How could you…”

Before Cixin could finish her words, Ci’en had interrupted her. “I know my limits. Don’t talk so much—let the fire commence!”

The moment she uttered this, the wooden swords of the nine nuns suddenly exploded. In that instant, wooden flakes scattered in the array, all surging towards Ning Tao. Before they could touch his body, the flakes started to catch fire. All around and above Ning Tao were fiery, golden flames.

It was a prison of fire!

Ning Tao could not use Ladder under Feet to escape and break through the array.

The nine nuns advanced a step towards Ning Tao. The prison of fire instantly shrank. They took another step forward and the prison of fire shrank further. Ning Tao could already feel the scorching flames. This Dharmic fire was not only extraordinarily hot, but also seemed to be tormenting his soul!

Ci’en cried harshly, “Doctor Ning, if you admit defeat now and stay in that thatched hut, I will withdraw the sword array.”

Ning Tao suddenly understood. Just now, Cixin had said that he only needed to break through three stages, according to their rules. And yet Ci’en had deliberately used the final and most powerful ninth stage. She claimed that if he were to admit defeat and stay in the thatched hut, she would withdraw the array. It was obvious that Reverend Miexin would not let him stay in Emei Sect.

The more Reverend Miexin insisted on this, the more it meant that Zhu Hongyu’s skull fragments were in Emei!

Ning Tao gave an indifferent smile. “Admit defeat? In my dictionary, there’s never a phrase called ‘admit defeat’. ”

Ci’en said, “You think that your garment can resist the raging flames of Nine Heavens? You will be burned to death!”

Ning Tao too knew that the Heavenly Gem Magic Garment could not fully counter the Dharmic fire of this sword array. It could only resist its Dharmic powers to a certain extent, not completely. Whenever he encountered a powerful magic tool or formation, the garment would wear out and he might be injured. He might even be caught in an extremely dangerous situation. However, he had his own ways to break through this array!

Ning Tao shifted his eyes to glance at Ci’en outside the prison of fire. He grinned. “I think your fire is no different from that of a street barbecue stall.”

Ci’en was infuriated. “Attack!”

The nine nuns in the array took a fourth step, the prison of fire shrinking again. In that instant, fiery flames scorched and the soaring temperature began roasting Ning Tao. Although he was wearing the Heavenly Gem Magic Garment, the hairs on his naked hands and fingers had incinerated, releasing a burning odor. His skin was also cracking. Any moment, the fire would have seared him!

Ci’en bellowed angrily, “Admit defeat now!”

Ning Tao inhaled a deep breath and recited aloud, “There is no end in this sea of karma, I drift alone in its midst.”

Reciting the scripture using spiritual power would have its magic effect.

The moment he uttered this third line of Your Text, the temperature around Ning Tao suddenly dropped. The whole world seemed submerged under a deep ocean. Sorrow and despair overwhelmed the hearts of all, including the nine nuns’ in the array.

On one side was the Dharmic fire, on the other was the ocean. The two forces collided and dissipated each other.

Ning Tao walked out of the Nine-Heavens Sword Array.

Behind him, the large company of nuns was dumbfounded.