Desolate Era

by RWX

  “…and this. And this!” Ning was frantically collecting books.

  A short while later, the entire room was completely empty. The final person to arrive, young master Youngflame, was only able to collect a few books.

  “These are all full versions.” Ning and the others began to look through the books they had acquired.

  “Eh? Just Earth-ranked techniques?”

  “This one is Mortal-ranked?”

  “These ‘secret arts’ are too ordinary.” Ning and the others began to frown as they looked. They were all geniuses, and in the Black-White College, they chose from Immortal-ranked Ki Refining techniques. However, the books they had found here were all Mortal-ranked and Earth-ranked techniques and secret arts. Although the books were extremely numerous, there wasn’t even a single Heaven-ranked technique.

  “My Youngflame clan has plenty of this sort of crap. There isn’t even a single useful book here.” Youngflame Nong furrowed his brows, shaking his head.

  Ning, however, just laughed. Right. These books were useless to him, but they would be very useful to the Ji clan. The Ji clan had far, far too few techniques and secret arts, and those they had, he had purchased from the Heavenly Treasures Mountain. But how many could he possibly buy, on his own? To accumulate a large number of secret arts and techniques, generally speaking, the only way was to annihilate another large clan and seize their books.

  “More than a million techniques and secret arts. Although they aren’t that good, they are enough for Xiantian lifeforms and Zifu Disciples to use,” Ning mused to himself. “In the future, after I find some top-tier Ki Refining techniques, my Ji clan will be able to set up a Dao Repository of its own to pass down to later generations.”

  Dao Repositories were the heart of any tribe, sect, or school. Each generation relied on their Dao Repositories to grow strong.

  “Immortal Witchriver was a Celestial Immortal; he definitely must have more powerful techniques and divine abilities. But where are they?” Youngflame Nong frowned.

  “The most powerful techniques and divine abilities must be stored in extremely well-hidden places. They might not even be in this Dao Repository Palace.”

  Ning and the others just pondered briefly, and then… swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh! They all scattered in different directions, searching for treasures. Although this Dao Repository Vault didn’t necessarily have any top-tier techniques, secret arts, or divine abilities, perhaps it did!

  Swoosh.

  Youngflame Nong once more returned to that earlier room. He sat down in the lotus position in front of the stone book, beginning to once more bind the core of this Dao Repository Palace.

  “Once I bind it, I’ll be in complete control of this entire Dao Repository Palace. No matter how well-hidden a room is, I’ll know about it,” Youngflame Nong mused to himself. “I need roughly two hours to bind it. Given how well-hidden the top-tier secret arts and divine abilities must be, they might not be able to find them within two hours.”

  * * *

  Book 10, Chapter 19 - Pentabolt Vajra, Soldiers of the Mind

  “The top-tier techniques, divine abilities, and secrets arts. They are going to be mine, all mine!” Xue Hongyi was rapidly checking one room after another, his eyes filled with an endless frenzy. He came from Snowdragon Mountain, which currently didn’t even have a single Loose Immortal; even if it did occasionally produce a Loose Immortal or Earth Immortal throughout its long history, there was no way those figures could compare to a Celestial Immortal like Immortal Witchriver.

  The divine abilities and secret arts left behind by a Celestial Immortal would definitely be extraordinary.

  When one’s level of power was very close to another’s, the deciding factor were divine abilities and secret arts. This was especially true for geniuses.

  ….…

  “This is a chance. A tremendous chance. I have to find it. With powerful secret arts, in this life, I might be able to overcome the Celestial tribulation.” Adept Vastriver was filled with endless desire as well.

  ….…

  Everyone was searching. Ji Ning, the Whitewater Hound, and Little Qing had separated as well.

  “Where is it? Where could it be?” A little azure serpent was slithering forward like a streak of light, occasionally disappearing into thin air and reappearing somewhere else, and at other times moving directly into a room without even pushing the stone door open.

  “For me, finding fortunes is as easy as eating rice, but in this Immortal estate, I’ve gotten fewer treasures than even Uncle White.” The Azure Skysnake used her Void Blink technique repeatedly, and even blinked from one end of a hallway to the other to save time, or directly into rooms. She wildly teleported about with abandon, trying to find something.

  Whoosh.

  Yet another Void Blink. The Azure Skysnake appeared within a new room. “Nothing here eith…” The Azure Skysnake suddenly came to a halt. “Eeee?”

  The Azure Skysnake looked about this room in surprise. This was a very ordinary room. It wasn’t very large, and it only held two bookcases and a single table. The bookcase was covered with a few books, while the number of books on the table was even more pitifully low. The total number of books in this entire room was very low.

  “That’s all?”

  It must be understood that training tomes for Immortal cultivators were extremely massive and complicated; a single set might comprise of dozens of books. For example, when Ji Ning had received the transmission of the [Starseizing Hand] divine ability, it had been directly transferred to his soul, and had taken several months. From this, one could tell how massive the amount of information was.

  The Azure Skysnake couldn’t help but transform into an azure-robed maiden. She lowered her head to glance at the books, and as she did, her gaze narrowed.

  “Master, master, quick, come quick!!!” Little Qing hurriedly shouted through their spirit-link.

  “Wha..? Coming!”

  Ji Ning, located in another region, spread out his divine sense, searching through the various corridors. Given that he could mentally sense where Little Qing was located, he quickly found a route to her. As he did, he felt extremely surprised. “Little Qing actually ran to this place? This place really is rather unassuming and out of the way. How long would it have taken to find such a tiny little study?”

  Swoosh!

  Ning immediately transformed into a streak of smoke, rapidly advancing forward and soon arriving outside the room. He pushed the door open.

  “What is it?” Upon entering, Ning saw that the room was completely empty. There was nothing there, aside from Little Qing, who stood there.

  “I collected it all,” Little Qing said excitedly. “I didn’t dare leave them here, for fear that others might take them.”

  “What techniques did you discover? Why are you so careful?” Ning began to grow excited as well.

  Little Qing said in a lowered whisper, “Six types of Immortal-ranked Ki Refining techniques, totaling more than three hundred volumes. Three types of divine abilities, totalling more than a hundred volumes. One divine will technique, totaling six volumes. All of them are complete!”

  Ning’s eyes instantly turned completely round.

  Immortal-ranked Ki Refining techniques?

  Divine abilities?

  A divine will technique?

  This… this was truly, truly priceless. Even in the Black-White College, it would number amongst their top-tier materials.

  “This room was actually filled with Immortal-ranked Ki Refining techniques, divine abilities, and divine will techniques.” Ning quickly understood. “Previously, we only discovered Mortal-ranked and Earth-ranked techniques and what not… I imagine that another room was used to store Heaven-ranked techniques and arts.”

  Mortal, Earth, Heaven, Immortal – the higher the rank was, the more precious the technique was. Now that he had acquired the Immortal-ranked Ki Refining techniques, divine abilities, and a divine will technique, Ning was no longer t
oo interested in those Heaven-ranked techniques and arts. It’d be nice if he could get them, but it wouldn’t matter if he didn’t.

  “Master, they are all over here.” Little Qing waved her hand, and a pile of books instantly appeared in front of her.

  Ning was so terrified that he instantly waved his hand, collecting them into his own storage-type magic treasure. He actually began to sweat from fear. “How could you just take them out?!”

  “It’s better to leave them with you. I’m not a Fiendgod Body Refiner; those divine abilities are useless to me. I already have top-tier Ki Refining techniques of my own as well. Right… later, I’ll give that divine will technique a try,” Little Qing instructed.

  “Right.” Ning nodded. He immediately sent his divine sense into his storage treasure, beginning to investigate.

  There were only a few hundred tomes present; in total, there were ten complete sets! Six sets of Immortal-ranked Ki Refining techniques! Three sets of divine abilities! One divine will technique!

  “These Immortal-ranked Ki Refining techniques are useless to me. The divine abilities?” Ning swept them with his divine sense. “[Heavenly Transformation], [Three Heads, Six Arms], and [Pentabolt Vajra].” This caused Ning to feel delighted.

  [Heavenly Transformation] was a commonly seen divine ability, which virtually all larger schools and sects possessed.

  [Three Heads, Six Arms] was in the possession of the Black-White College, but it could be considered quite a precious divine ability. Ning had yet to train in it, primarily because he didn’t have enough black-white pellets yet. Now, however, he had acquired it, and a complete set at that!

  “This ability, [Three Heads, Six Arms]… when executed, it will allow me to grow four more arms that are identical to real arms.” Ning was extremely excited. Actually, at the Void level, powerful Fiendgod Body Refiners were capable of transforming a single strand of hair into a clone, and could completely change their physical appearance. It would be extremely easy to even generate eighteen new arms, but that would just be a superficial change; those wouldn’t be true arms.

  The reason why [Three Heads, Six Arms] was so powerful was because the heads and arms it generated were absolutely real, allowing one’s power to truly rise exponentially! Ning could execute the [Starseizing Hand] divine ability with two arms, but once he used the [Three Heads, Six Arms] technique, all six arms would be able to use the [Starseizing Hand]… this was why Ning had always deeply desire to acquire this technique.

  “I didn’t acquire it at the Black-White College, but I acquired it here.” Ning was absolutely overjoyed. “The [Three Heads, Six Arms] technique, when synergized with my [Starseizing Hand]… the power will definitely be exponentially greater.”

  “[Pentabolt Vajra]?” Ning, with a thought, made a book appear in his hand. It was the first volume of the [Pentabolt Vajra]. He began to flip through it…

  The [Pentabolt Vajra] was a divine ability which only a true Fiendgod, or perhaps a Fiendgod Body Refiner who was very close to being a true Fiendgod, was capable of learning.

  “Fortunately, I trained in the [Crimsonbright Diagram of the Nine Heavens].” Ning let out a secret sigh of relief. Previously, when he had been at the local Raindragon Guard branch, Ning had discovered that some supreme, top-tier divine abilities had extremely high requirements for Fiendgod Body Refiners. Some actually stated outright that only someone who trained in the [Crimsonbright Diagram of the Nine Heavens] or someone who was a true Fiendgod could train in them.

  That Immortal of the Raindragon Guard had also told Ning… that once he passed the trials of the wild marshes of the Gaol Mountains, he would soon come to learn how truly powerful the [Crimsonbright Diagram of the Nine Heavens] was.

  The reason the [Crimsonbright Diagram of the Nine Heavens] was so mighty was because it allowed the user to train in some truly top-tier divine abilities, including some which generally only Fiendgods were able to use.

  “[Pentabolt Vajra]… to bathe in thunder and lightning and form a vajra-like body. Only after five baptisms by five types of lightning can one be said to have mastered it. But the fifth one actually requires one to be at the Empyrean God level before training in it?” Ning was secretly shocked.

  It was the same as the [Starseizing Hand], which was divided into the Six Cycles. The [Pentabolt Vajra] was divided into five levels; the highest level was only trainable by Empyrean Gods. Only at that level could this divine ability be truly perfected to a supreme level.

  “This is the simplified version of the legendary divine ability, [Golden Nirmana Body]?” [1. It is indeed Nirmana, not Nirvana. This bit actually took me nearly half an hour to research and completely comprehend. The actual term in Chinese was ‘丈六金身’, literally ‘Zhang Six Golden Body’. Zhang is a term referring to 3.3 meters, so this would literally mean ‘20 Meter Golden Body’. I did some research, and the phrase 丈六金身 refers to one of the manifestations of Buddha’s corporeal/created body. In Buddhism, the Lord Buddha has three bodies (Trikaya); the Dharmakaya (Truth body), the Niramanakaya (the created/corporeal body), and the Sambhogakaya (I’m not even sure how to translate this one). Since this 20 Meter Golden Body was basically one of the manifestations of the Nirmanakaya/Nirmana Body, I decided to translate this as Golden Nirmana Body.] Ning, upon seeing this, nodded in understanding. The very first tome said it plainly; this divine ability’s creator had developed it as a simplified version of the [Golden Nirmana Body], to be left to his descendants.

  The [Golden Nirmana Body]… it was a legendary divine ability that was one of the top divine abilities of the entire Three Realms. From the notes in this tome, at least, the [Golden Nirmana Body] was one of the absolute best divine abilities. Ning hypothesized that it should be on the same general level as his own [Starseizing Hand].

  “I wonder which major power simplified the [Golden Nirmana Body] into this [Pentabolt Vajra],” Ning mused to himself. “To be able to simplify it… this major power must be incredible.”

  ……

  Ning waved his hand, collecting the divine ability book, then took out the divine will technique. There was only one of them, and it was titled [Soldiers of the Mind].

  “Soldiers of the Mind?” Ning had just begun to flip through it, but he suddenly frowned, then hurriedly sent through their spirit-link, “Little Qing, hurry up and leave.”

  Swoosh. Little Qing instantly disappeared into thin air.

  BOOM. The stone door was pushed open, and Xue Hongyi charged in.

  “You?!” Xue Hongyi stared in astonishment towards Ning.

  “What a coincidence.” Ning glanced at Xue Hongyi, then paid him no attention, immediately flying out from the stone door that had just been opened.

  Xue Hongyi frowned as he studied the room. It was completely empty, with nothing within. He hesitated a moment, then shook his head. “Nah… no way…” He then turned and left, continuing the search.

  ……

  Each of the rooms within the Dao Repository Palace were hidden quite well. Ning continued to frantically search through them in a seemingly crazed manner. He didn’t want others to know that he had already acquired top-tier Ki Refining techniques, divine abilities, and a divine will technique. It must be understood that the Yuchi clan had suffered annihilation, simply because they had been discovered to be in possession of a single divine ability, the [Windwing Evasion].

  Thus, it was best not to casually reveal such things.

  ……

  “Whew.”

  Youngflame Nong gave the stone book in front of him a glance. He had already completely refined the core to this Dao Repository Palace, and everything within it was now under his control.

  “Eh?” He closed his eyes, sensing everything in the palace. “Nothing? There is actually nothing?”

  His senses were telling him that the entire Dao Repository Palace didn’t have a single book within it. It was completely empty.

  ……

  Another hour passed. Ning and the o
thers had just reunited with Youngflame Nong at the outermost hall.

  “We’re all here. Did you find any divine abilities or secret arts?” Youngflame Nong laughed as he looked at them.

  “Nothing.”

  “Nothing.”

  They all shook their heads. Ning, too, shook his head. “Nothing.”

  “The Rainbowflame Fairy and Adept Vastriver were fairly lucky; they discovered those Heaven-ranked techniques,” Xue Hongyi spoke out. “But… there should be Immortal-ranked techniques, divine abilities, and secret arts. We didn’t find them anywhere.”

  “Can it be that those things were too valuable, and so they weren’t placed in the Dao Repository Vault, and were instead hidden somewhere else?” Northson said.

  “Hm, that’s possible,” Ning nodded.

  * * *

  Book 10, Chapter 20 - The Final Palace

  Youngflame Nong gave the group of Wanxiang Adepts a look. He mused to himself, “Perhaps they aren’t in the Dao Repository Palace… or perhaps one of them has them. Still, Immortal Witchriver was merely a Diremonster Immortal; his roots weren’t that deep. Even if he had some divine abilities or techniques, the Youngflame clan probably has them as well. And they are still very useful to me…”

  “Everyone, since we have finished our investigations, then let us head to the final palace,” Youngflame Nong said.

  “Right.”

  Ning and the others immediately began to grow nervous.

  “Let’s go!” Youngflame Nong took out yet another magic treasure, a flying weaver’s shuttle. The flying shuttle expanded to thirty meters long and ten meters wide. Ning and the others entered it, which was quite roomy.

  Swish! The flying shuttle immediately exited the Dao Repository Palace. As they emerged, the Fiendgod Xiangliu Fang was already waiting for them.

  “Young master.” Xiangliu Fang transformed into a streak of light, flying towards the shuttle

  Youngflame Nong smiled and nodded towards Xiangliu Fang, seeming somewhat relaxed. But then, he turned his head to stare at the final golden Skypillar of light, and the many monstrous Dao-soldiers guarding it. He snorted coldly, “These monstrous Dao-soldiers have blocked me repeatedly. After I bind this Immortal estate, I am definitely going to repay them for their actions!”