Desolate Era

by RWX

  * * *

  Book 20, Chapter 5 - The Treasury

  Sword Immortal world. The towering Five Treasured Peaks.

  Ji Ning stood atop a cloud in front of the stone cliffs of the fourth peak, staring intently at the fourth chapter of the [Five Treasures] sword-art. Ning hadn’t been in a hurry to immediately go to Undermoon Lake after the meeting with the Nuwa Alliance’s major powers. He first headed to the Five Treasured Peaks to carefully read through chapter four.

  It had been years, but despite all his hard work Ning remained unable to master the third chapter! It was obvious that for him to read through the fourth chapter before mastering the third was a bit too impatient. The reason he was doing this was because he was about to enter Undermoon Lake.

  Undermoon Lake was an incredibly mysterious place. Once he entered, he would be completely shut off from the outside world. Not even his Primaltwin or his other clones would be able to communicate with the clone that had entered Undermoon Lake! Ever since the Primordial Era, thousands of Empyrean Gods had entered Undermoon Lake, many of whom had Primlatwins or other clones living in the Three Realms. This was the reason why despite that, no one knew exactly what was inside Undermoon Lake.

  To this very day, Buddha Jueming was the only person to leave the place after having entered it. He had come back with three treasures, but had only said that the place contained many treasures within it. He had carefully described these three treasures to others, but with regards to the dangers and events which occurred within Undermoon Lake, he was completely close-mouthed.

  The only person who had ever left the place was unwilling to say anything about it at all. Undermoon Lake was a complete mystery!

  Buddha Jueming had entered when he was merely an Empyrean God. After he became a Buddha, many Empyrean Gods in the Three Realms felt certain that Undermoon Lake must be a place of fortune and tempering. Thus, there were still many who were willing to enter the lake and risk their lives. Alas…no one else had ever left.

  “My true body’s clones shall immediately lose contact with the outside world upon entering Undermoon Lake. I’m afraid I’ll spend quite a bit of time within it. If that’s the case, the clone that enters Undermoon Lake will work hard on the [Five Treasures] sword-art with the primary goal of perfecting the ‘Shadowless’ stance of my [Brightmoon] sword-art. As for my other clones and my Primaltwin clones in the Three Realms, they’ll meditate on the [Five Treasures] to improve the other four stances of [Brightmoon].”

  There was no way to link the memories together when separated by Undermoon Lake. There was no point in duplicating his efforts in Undermoon Lake and the Three Realms; that would be a waste of time.

  The Shadowless stance was the most mysterious stance, and an incredibly fast one. For a single clone to train in it was quite suitable.

  After returning from Undermoon Lake, his memories would merge together again. Because they had been training in completely different things, once all those memories merged, his insights might very well increase dramatically.

  “[Icefire Jindan Smelting]?” The Ning who was carefully reading the fourth chapter, attempting to get a clearer picture of it, was suddenly stunned.

  This was the moment that his clone within the prisonworld had discovered the [Icefire Jindan Smelting] technique.

  “I had been planning to closely read through the [Five Treasures], then head straight to Undermoon Lake. Now, it seems, I need to pay a visit to the Humanworld of Yu the Great first,” Ning mused to himself.

  A day later.

  After having memorized the [Five Treasures] multiple times, Ning boarded his Voidboat and flew towards the headquarters of the Primordial Imperial Clan, the Humanworld of Yu the Great.

  “Fellow Daoist Ji Ning.” A voice rang out as a muscular, fur-clad man appeared out of nowhere.

  “Empyrean God Fuqu.” Ning smiled. Last time, it had been Fuqu who had welcomed him as well. This was primarily because one of Fuqu’s primary responsibilities in the Primordial Imperial Clan was to welcome guests.

  Fuqu looked at Ning with a gaze that was a bit different than before. This was because, just a day ago, Ning had shown off his [Ninehorn Lightning Serpent] technique and roamed through the Three Realms, slaughtering the Seamless Gate’s forces until the Seamless Gate had bowed their heads. News of this had quickly spread out, and even the major powers of the Nuwa Alliance were often discussing this matter. They all tsked and sighed appreciatively, “Ji Ning truly is talented in heartforce.”

  All of the major powers of the Nuwa Alliance truly believed that Ning had relied on heartforce alone to tame a serpent.

  In truth, after Suiren had carefully analyzed and researched the [Ninehorn Lightning Serpent] technique, he had the feeling that there was a tiny chance one could indeed use heartforce to tame a serpent, which was why he inserted the part about heartforce into the technique’s description. This also served the dual purpose of hiding the fact that they had the necessary chaos nectar. Only by deceiving their own would they also be able to deceive the Seamless Gate.

  “Might I ask why you have come again, fellow Daoist Ji Ning?” Empyrean God Fuqu asked.

  “I wish to pay a visit to the treasury and trade for some treasures,” Ning said.

  “Oh. Quite a few fellow Daoists of the Three Realms have come to visit the treasury, but this is your first trip, fellow Daoist Ji Ning. I had thought that our treasures didn’t match up to your expectations.” Fuqu chortled. “Come, come. Follow me in.”

  Moments later, two streaks of light shot past the winding clouds that were outside a grouping of ancient palaces. They flew straight into one of the palaces.

  “The Primordial Imperial Clan truly is extraordinary.” As Ning flew forward, he paid close attention to his surroundings, and he couldn’t help but feel stunned.

  The nominal managing power of the Three Realms, the Celestial Court, was extremely beautiful and filled with lofty jade buildings.

  The imperial palace of the Grand Xia had the Skylight Palace, an absolutely dominating fixture that was not one whit inferior to the Celestial Court.

  But…

  The Palaces of Mankind of the Primordial Imperial Clan was quite simple and plain. And yet, every single palace gave Ning a sensation of tremendous pressure.

  “Our human race spent countless years during the Primordial Era to build them,” Fuqu said proudly. “We produced a total of thirty-six top-grade Pure Yang-level magic treasures which could be used as palaces. Over the course of time, they’ve grown more powerful and all of them have become Protocosmic spirit-treasures. These thirty-six supreme Protocosmic spirit-treasures match perfectly with a formation-diagram which Human Sovereign Fuxi has created, and their joint power is equal to that of a Chaos treasure.”

  “All those years ago, during the war that destroyed the Primordial Era, the Palaces of Mankind played a major role and rendered many merits,” Fuqu said proudly.

  Nind nodded, sighing in amazement. The Palaces of Mankind were indeed like an impregnable fort!

  “This is the Palace of the Numerous Heavens.” Fuqu led Ning into a large gray palace. “The treasury is right inside. There are a few Immortals inside right now as well. Pick what you want. As long as you have enough treasure, you’ll be allowed to trade for it. I still have other tasks to attend to, so I won’t stay here with you any longer.”

  “Thank you, Empyrean God Fuqu,” Ning said with a smile. Fuqu transformed into a streak of light and departed, leaving Ning here. Ning turned and stepped inside the treasury.

  Many of the major powers and experts of the Nuwa Palace had placed the treasures they didn’t need into this place. It made for an utterly astonishing sight!

  There were piles of powerful Protocosmic spirit-treasures, and the weakest treasures here were at least at the Pure Yang level. There were many Chaos ingredients and materials as well. Virtually everything could be found here!

  During normal times, the various major powers would probably hide their t
reasures in other locations, making these items almost impossible to locate and trade for. Now that the storm had descended, everyone took out everything they didn’t need.

  “What fine treasures.” Ning knew, however, that only treasures which were a good fit for him were truly ‘good’ treasures.

  He first procured five kilograms of the two other types of materials the Seamless Gate had requested. In truth, the Seamless Gate had underestimated Ji Ning. As they saw it, he was still just an Empyrean God and True Immortal; if they demanded too many valuable treasures, there would be no way Ji Ning could produce them. Thus, two of the three treasures the Godking had requested were fairly common.

  If they knew that Ning had acquired a prisonworld of the chaos-kingdom of Pangaea, giving him thousands of times as many treasures as they had expected, they would probably feel quite regretful.

  “How much of this Ninefire Lava do you have?” Ning asked.

  “Senior Darknorth.” Instantly, a Celestial Immortal walked over and said respectfully, “We have quite a bit of this Ninefire Lava, more than a million kilograms. All of it was discovered in the past by Human Sovereign Suiren in the primordial chaos. If you need more, senior Darknorth, the Human Sovereign should be able to provide you with it.”

  Ning nodded. “Give me half a million kilograms of it.”

  Chaos materials could differ greatly in value. Chaos goldstone, for example, was available in almost limitless supply. Some of the medicinal herbs that could be found in the primordial chaos were extremely rare and valuable, while others could be produced in enormous batches.

  Ninefire Lava and Iceheart Pith were fairly average items as Chaos materials went. Whenever they appeared, they would appear in large quantities. The Iceheart Leaves of Undermoon Lake grew out of large quantities of Iceheart Pith; although the pith was valuable, it was naturally on a lower level of value compared to the leaves.

  [Icefire Jindan Smelting]…

  There were different levels to the technique. This was much like how the higher levels of Ning’s [Starseizing Hand] required increasingly large amounts and increasingly expensive types of Five Elements treasures!’

  When smelting a treasure, the more valuable the ingredients you used, the more powerful the flames would have to be to smelt it! In turn, the higher-level the Jindan in the body was, the more materials the [Icefire Jindan Smelting] technique would require.

  A Celestial Immortal’s Jindan needed one level of items, while a True Immortal’s Jindan would require a high level’s worth of items. As for an Ancestral Immortal/Daofather’s Jindan…those were simply far too powerful. To transform them would require even more treasures, none of which would be so easily acquired.

  “According to my records, to advance a True Immortal’s Jindan from the third-tier to the second-tier will require 5000 kilograms of Ninefire Lava and 5000 kilograms of Iceheart Pith. I have more than thirty clones; I’ll need more than 150,000 kilograms of each. Alright…the Ninefire Lava was the easy part. Iceheart Pith…I wonder how much of it exists in Undermoon Lake.” Ning boarded the Voidboat, then left the Palaces of Mankind.

  Ning only had to hand over six Protocosmic spirit-treasures and three sets of top-grade Pure Yang treasures. The Empyrean Gods and True Immortals of the Seamless Gate which Ning had slain had provided Ning with dozens of Protocosmic spirit-treasures. It was normal for ordinary Empyrean Gods and True Immortals to have several Protocosmic spirit-treasures with them, after all.

  “Time to go to Undermoon Lake.”

  The Voidboat quickly traversed through the great Void, speeding towards and entering the infinite primordial chaos.

  * * *

  Book 20, Chapter 6 - The World of Undermoon Lake

  Prisonworld 17.

  Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! A series of white-robed figures flew through the region of primordial chaos, entering the vast prisonworld. A total of sixteen white-robed figures levitated in midair. All eighteen of Ning’s clones had entered the prisonworld now.

  “Before I go to Undermoon Lake, I need to complete certain careful preparations.” Fifteen of the sixteen white-robed youths instantly vanished, leaving behind only the one with the Ninehorn Lightning Serpent.

  Whoosh. An enormous black lightning serpent streaked through the skies, rapidly flying off into the distance.

  Although Ning had acquired quite a few treasures thanks to his many battles against the Seamless Gate, that amount couldn’t come close to comparing to the things he had gained from this prisonworld. Even the prisonworld’s Empyrean Gods and Celestial Immortals had carried extremely rare and valuable treasures with him, thanks to the fact that all of them had extraordinary backgrounds. As for the True Gods and True Immortals, they were equivalent to the Daofathers of the Three Realms, and so their treasures were even more shocking.

  “Undermoon Lake is too mysterious a place. To this very day, only Buddha Jueming managed to survive it and emerge from it. It’s very possible that this clone of mine will die inside. I need to bring some good treasures with me, but I can’t take the very best ones,” Ning mused to himself.

  Thus far, Ning had already disposed of Empress Jin, True God Skysplitter, and three other True Gods and True Immortals. These were all figures that were comparable to Daofathers! Every single one of them possessed treasures that were far better than Ning’s Voidboat and Darknorth swords. Although most weren’t a good fit for Ning, there were some that were.

  True God Skysplitter, for example. After he self-detonated and died, he had left behind a total of nine divine swords. Each of them were Protocosmic spirit-treasures, and they formed a complete set! This set of swords alone was enough to make the True Gods and Daofathers of the Three Realms turn glaze-eyed with lust.

  There was no way Ning would be willing to take them into Undermoon Lake. Even in the prisonworld, only a few True Gods and True Immortals specialized in the sword. It was entirely possible that after sweeping through the entire prisonworld, he still wouldn’t be able to find a better set of swords.

  “My true body has eighteen clones. I’ll send two of them into Undermoon Lake; sending an extra clone will give me an extra chance for success.” Ning made up his mind.

  The two clone he had sent naturally didn’t include the clone that possessed the Ninehorn Lightning Serpent.

  Of the eighteen clones, just a single one was in possession of a Ninehorn Lightning Serpent. These serpents were far too hard to come by; if he ended up losing it within Undermoon Lake, he would feel endless regret.

  “I’ll take these treasures with me.” Ning finished selecting his treasures.

  First, he chose a set of 729 top-grade Pure Yang flying swords which he would use for the [Greater Thousand Swords] formation. He had acquired 720 of these swords from the first Celestial Immortal he had met in the prisonworld, Liangqiu. There weren’t many Empyrean Gods or True Immortals in the Three Realms who could afford to be spend so much on swords. This set would allow him to launch distant attacks.

  Next, he chose a set of twelve swords that were well-suited for close combat. All of them were also top-grade Pure Yang swords.

  After that, he selected a Protocosmic spirit-treasure meant for fleeing, the ‘Ruyi Soulsnake Shuttle’ [1. Ruyi is a very difficult to translate term which basically means, ‘as one wills’; it suggests that it can transform free in size and shape, or that it will allow him to go where he desires.]. Ning actually had several Protocosmic treasures of this type, having acquired three from the True Gods and True Immortals of the prisonworld and a few from the Seamless Gate.

  Naturally, he also brought along some Ninefire Lava and other necessary treasures such as spirit pills. No one knew how long he would be trapped there, after all.

  Ning brought along fifty thousand kilograms of Ninefire Lava. Supposedly, Undermoon Lake had Iceheart Pith inside; he would absolutely be able to refine and upgrade his golden pellet Jindan with Undermoon Lake.

  After completing his preparations, the white-robed Ning boarded his
Ruyi Soulsnake Shuttle and began to travel towards Undermoon Lake.

  ……

  The Three Realms. Sword Immortal world. The thatched cottage in front of the Five Treasured Peaks.

  The black-robed Ning was seated in the lotus position within the cottage. Since his true bodies were going to hide for now, it was time for the Primaltwin Ning to take the lead. It was now the Primaltwin which carried the Starseizing Manor with it. Given how strong the Primaltwin was, it was also capable of joining together into the Rahu Formation as it pleased.

  ……

  An enormous star hung there in the primordial chaos, emanating a gentle aura of light that shone down upon the chaos around it.

  This star was very similar to the Lunar Star. Because the Lunar Star was located in the Void outside the Three Realms, there was no chaos blocking its light, allowing it to shine down upon the entire Three Realms. Although the star in front of Ning was very similar to the Lunar Star, it wasn’t particularly famous. The countless ordinary denizens of the Three Realms, at least, had no idea of its existence.

  “Undermoon Lake!”

  Seated within his Ruyi Soulsnake Shuttle, the white-robed youth stared off into the distance.

  An utterly titanic lake of water hung there in the middle of the primordial chaos. It was so vast, even Ning’s heartforce couldn’t cover it all. The surface of this endless lake of water was extremely calm and tranquil, making it as flat and smooth as a mirror. It reflected the image of the enormous nearby star, which appeared within it like the reflection of the moon. It truly was absolutely mesmerizing.

  “Undermoon Lake truly is an odd place. One has to be an Empyrean God to enter it; anyone else, including True Gods and Daofathers, are completely unable to pass through it. If they try to force their way into the lake, the waters of the lake will squeeze and compress around them, preventing them from entering the world within.”