Desolate Era

by RWX

  “Of course we are.”

  “Willing, willing!”

  “Fellow Daoist Darknorth, you truly are formidable. It’s only been a year, but you’ve improved so dramatically.”

  “We’re all willing.”

  The Empyrean Gods all hurriedly assented in unison with excitement.

  Ning wasn’t surprised that all the other Empyrean Gods were going to accompany him. They had chosen to give up long ago, after all! But when Sin and Sealthroat actually spoke out as well, Ning couldn’t help but ask, “Sin, Sealthroat, are the two of you sure you want to follow me? You’ve already made it this far in Kilostar Island; you are only one step away from freedom.”

  “That step is simply too long a step to take.” Sealthroat shook his head.

  “Right. Both of us gave up long ago,” Sin said with a laugh. “We couldn’t even match up to Ninedawn and Greatdream, and it’s been a long, long time since we’ve improved at all. Based on our experiences during the Primordial Era, for us not to improve at all despite the passage of so many years means that we’ve probably reached our limit. There’s no way for us to improve any further. If we don’t go with you, we will probably be trapped here forever, unable to escape.”

  Sealthroat nodded as well. “Darknorth, you said it yourself; nowadays, fewer and fewer people will be willing to enter Undermoon Lake, and the number that can reach Kilostar Island will be smaller still. If we don’t go with you, we probably won’t see another new Empyrean God here at Kilostar Island for the next trillion years.”

  Ning nodded, understanding their feelings. “Alright. If that’s the case, then let’s have everyone follow me. I don’t dare to claim complete confidence, but I’ll definitely work hard.”

  These Empyrean Gods hadn’t imagined that their opportunity would come so quickly. After initially experiencing excitement and nervousness, they quickly collected their Immortal estates and allowed Ning to collect them without fighting back.

  In midair. Ning stared down at Kilostar Island. Previously, it had been extremely bustling and lively, but now it was completely silent. All the Empyrean Gods had departed.

  “My [Brightmoon] has advanced by yet another level. This is the perfect time to find someone to test it against.” Ning transformed into a streak of light, flying far off towards the horizon. He soon arrived at the borders of Kilostar Island, then flew forward while following the floating wooden bridge.

  He advanced forward, through the Path of Blades. He reached the place he retreated from last time, then stared at the ninth guardian who was seated in the lotus position.

  “You came.” The golden-robed youth looked at Ning, his eyes filled with an aura of despair. “I’ve waited quite some time. I hope you won’t disappoint me.”

  After speaking, the golden-robed youth rose to his feet, a pair of swords appearing in his hands. He said calmly, “You already had a chance to view the sword-art last time. This time, let’s just fight.”

  Ning also knew that each person was only given a single chance to view each sword-art. If you failed at the Path of Blades, you would be allowed to try again, but you would never be able to view the sword-art again.

  “Alright.” A pair of twin swords appeared in Ning’s hands as well.

  Whoosh.

  Whoosh.

  The two quickly charged towards each other, and sword-light began to howl through the air. The golden-robed youth’s sword-arts were incredibly fast. Although they seemed to be filled with endless mourning and despair, they were also incredibly deadly and vicious. As for the two streaks of sword-light in Ning’s hands, they transformed into a pair of black holes that completely blocked out the golden-robed youth’s attacks. Every so often, Ning was even able to launch a counter-attack or two.

  “Is defense the only thing you can do?” While attacking, the golden-robed youth barked at Ning.

  “First break through my defense, then talk.” Ning was very calm.

  To him, the ninth guardian was merely someone he was going to gain further experience from. Ning wanted to see what the differences were between his own mastered [Mourning] and [Mourning] as wielded by the ninth guardian.

  This battle went on for a full hour.

  The ninth guardian revealed all of his abilities for Ning to see, and as a result Ning was able to discover a few imperfections in his own mastery of [Mourning]. When cultivating in a type of sword-arts, every person would put their own distinctive twists on it, after all.

  “Time to finish it.”

  Ning’s sword-light suddenly changed as he went from defending to attacking.

  Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

  Sword-light howled forth with incredible, extraordinary speed, seeming to cover the skies with its might. The ninth guardian was so startled he immediately used [Three Heads, Six Arms]. Ning, however, did the same. An infinite amount of sword-light seemed to blast forward like an inexhaustible, seamless flow of water, carrying an aura and intent of mournfulness within it. In but a single breath’s worth of time, the ninth guardian was knocked flying backwards. He fell onto the ground, rolling over several times before managing to clamber back to his feet.

  “You win.” The ninth guardian grinned. “Darknorth, the only one standing between you and escape is the final guardian, the tenth guardian. Be careful.” After speaking, he vanished into thin air.

  Ning grinned as well. When he used full power, his opponent had only been able to just barely hold on for a breath’s worth of time. Ning was quite satisfied with this result.

  Swoosh! He advanced deeper into the Path of Blades at incredible speed!

  The sky was completely dark in this part of the path. The countless titanic spears, blades, and swords that were jutting out from the ice on each side of the wooden bridge were glowing with dim light. Without their light, it would probably be completely pitch-black here.

  “How odd,” Ning mused to himself.

  Soon, a black-robed youth appeared in the distance. He was seated in the lotus position, and when Ning arrived he opened his eyes to look towards Ning.

  Those eyes…

  They contained a deathly silence within them. They seemed to have no life within them at all, just utter despair, enough to freeze one’s heart.

  “View the sword-art,” the black-robed youth said calmly.

  Ning turned his head to look at the sword-art which had appeared on the nearby giant sword. As with before, the entire sword-art was displayed from start to finish, from simple to complex. As Ning watched, he began to feel stunned. Even after watching three times, Ning didn’t recover from his dazed state.

  “Enough.” The black-robed youth rose to his feet, a pair of swords appearing in his hands.

  Ning came back to his senses.

  “What is this sword-art?” Ning immediately asked.

  “The name of this sword-art is Seversoul!” The black-robed youth replied.

  “Seversoul? Seversoul…? The name is just like the sword-art itself…it really does sever the soul.” Utter agony filled Ning’s heart when he just visualized that sword-art. He knew, however, that there was no way for him to truly master this sword-art, because the essence and intent of this sword-art was the ruination of the soul that would come when one experienced true, absolute, eternal despair.

  Ning, however, had no way of forcing himself to feel this sort of absolute despair! The techniques of this sword-art were also far superior to that of the [Mourning] sword-art; in fact, it was no weaker than Ning’s own [Brightmoon] sword-art. It was only surpassed by the [Five Treasures] sword-art itself.”

  “Come,” the black-robed youth said calmly.

  Ning nodded, swords appearing in his hands as well.

  Swish! Swish!

  Their two figures became blurred as they started to fight.

  Two mighty sword-arts. One was filled with the intent of mourning, its sword-light flowing out in a consecutive stream. It had been created by distilling the essence of [Five Treasures], [Mourning], and many other
techniques.

  The other was filled with the essence of a ruined soul and utter despair. Its profoundness and marvelousness came from the creator of Undermoon Lake, who had intended it. Although it was different from the [Five Treasures], it was also quite shocking and brilliant.

  Boom! Boom! Boom!

  The two continuously battled, advancing and retreating.

  They actually fought to a complete standstill. Both sword-arts had their own strengths; both could be described as having reached the apex of skill possible for the fourth stage of swordforce. If their swords moved any faster, they would have surpassed the limits of the Heavenly Daos. If the intent of their swords was any deeper and stronger, they would have reached the Sword God stage.

  “So the sword can actually be used in a way like this.” Ning had viewed this sword-art three times prior to this. Upon seeing how the tenth guardian actually wielded this sword-art, he instantly gained a much deeper understanding of some of its mysteries. New insights regarding the [Seversoul] sword-art began to fill his mind.

  There was an intrinsic difference between Ning and the tenth guardian.

  The tenth guardian was only capable of unleashing this single sword-art.

  Ning, however, was capable of learning from the tenth guardian and fusing what he learned into his own [Brightmoon] sword-art. Although the learning process resulted in him occasionally being put at a disadvantage, Ning’s overall level of power was slowly, steadily beginning to rise. His sword-art became even more unpredictable and ephemeral, and it became faster and more powerful as well.

  The battle continued for a day…two days…three days…

  Neither side used any divine abilities. They were solely competing in sword-arts.

  The insights Ning had gained into this sword-art were merging together nonstop in his mind, then inspiring him further. This sort of feeling, the feeling of of nonstop improvement, was quite intoxicating…but he had still essentially reached the limit possible for him at his current level of sword-arts. Any improvements he was now able to make would be minute. He would at most be able to put the tenth guardian at a disadvantage, but the tenth guardian would still be able to launch occasional counterattacks as well.

  “Eh?”

  Ning was suddenly stunned, and his sword-light turned sluggish for a moment.

  Boom! A streak of sword-light crashed against his body, knocking him flying.

  “Why did you stop?” The tenth guardian stood there, a frown on his face. Ning’s sword-art was clearly on a slightly higher level than his. If they continued to fight without Ning making any improvements at all, he would’ve permitted Ning to go into the fifth island. However, he could sense that Ning was still slowly improving, and his sword-arts were slowly transforming. Thus, he didn’t stop the fight and instead continued to battle against Ning.

  This was because the purpose of Path of Blades was to temper and train Empyrean Gods. If Ji Ning was still improving, then of course the guardian wasn’t going to halt.

  But Ning had suddenly come to a halt…this puzzled the tenth guardian.

  Ning stood there atop the wooden bridge, a dazed look in his eyes. In his mind, however…there was a disturbance that felt like Pangu cleaving apart Heaven and Earth.

  BOOM!!!!

  The [Seversoul] sword-art worked in a way that was completely different from the [Five Treasures] sword-art. Ning’s [Brightmoon] was derived from the essence of the [Five Treasures], and so as Ning gained more and more insight into [Seversoul] and began to fuse it with the essence of the [Five Treasures] within [Brightmoon]…with a boom, he suddenly understood. He blew through the last bottleneck preventing him from mastering the [Five Treasures].

  Prior to this, it was as though a thin curtain of mist had been preventing him from seeing the final parts of it clearly. But now…Ning broke straight through that final barrier.

  Boom…..

  “The [Five Treasures]…” Ning shut his eyes, the many profound mysteries within his mind rapidly beginning to join together. All of the insights he had gained into the [Five Treasures] were merging into a perfect whole at high speed.

  He had mastered the entire [Five Treasures]!

  There was no doubt about it, no questions left in his mind.

  “So this…this is what it means to surpass the Heavenly Daos.” Ning opened his eyes to stare at the dark skies surrounding him. He lightly flicked out with a finger, and it seemed to create a ripple as though it had touched something.

  * * *

  Book 20, Chapter 31 - The Fifth Island

  In the past, Ji Ning always believed the Heavenly Daos to be the rules by which the Three Realms operated. To surpass the Heavenly Daos would therefore mean breaking through of the control and functioning of the Three Realms!

  But now, upon making the actual breakthrough and fully comprehending the [Five Treasures], Ning truly understand what it really meant to surpass the limits of the Heavenly Daos.

  The Heavenly Daos…

  They weren’t just the Heavenly Daos of the Three Realms. They were the Heavenly Daos that existed in all places!

  The Pangu Chaosworld and the Seamless Chaosworld all had Heavenly Daos that belonged to them. Every single chaosworld had Heavenly Daos that differed from each other! Even within the endless primordial chaos itself, the Heavenly Dao of Primordial Chaos was omnipresent, including places such as Undermoon Lake, Prisonworld 17, or the Void.

  An invisible layer of laws permeated and covered the primordial chaos and everything within it.

  These laws laid out many restrictions; for example, the fastest speed possible was the speed of light! Time could only go forward, not backwards! The so-called ‘temporal inveresion’ spell was nothing more than a way to view the past; it didn’t actually cause time itself to reverse! There were also restrictions on how powerful thunder, fire, wind, water, and other things could be.

  These were laws. They were shackles that had been placed on every single creature and being. It was thanks to these shackles that the various chaosworlds could function in a stable, coherent manner. Without them, the likes of the Pangu Chaosworld and the Seamless Chaosworld may well have exploded and been destroyed long before colliding into each other.

  But of course…

  There were countless living creatures in the universe, and some of the most dazzling figures were capable of shattering these shackles and reaching a higher level.

  Now…Ji Ning’s sword had broken through the shackle on speed.

  “Invisible laws. Invisible shackles. They exist everywhere.” When Ning flicked out with his finger, it actually moved faster than the speed of light, resulting in an interaction with those invisible shackles of law. If he hadn’t truly broken through, he wouldn’t even be able to sense those shackles at all.

  “Even the major powers are under the control of the Heavenly Daos of the Three Realms. Only people like Mother Nuwa have truly ascended beyond the Heavenly Daos.” Ning sighed to himself.

  Chaos Immortals and World Gods had all used raw, overwhelming power to burst through those shackles and ascend to a new level.

  Ning was very far from that level for now; he was only able to transcend in terms of the speed of his sword.

  “In terms of sword speed…I stand at the pinnacle of the entire Three Realms!” Ning mused to himself, “And in sword-arts…I should be ranked amongst the top three.”

  Who was the number one Sword Immortal of the Three Realms?

  This was a matter that had always been under contention.

  Daofather Fuju had been publicly acknowledged by everyone in the Three Realms as the number one Sword Immortal, but he had died. Right now, many venerated Daofather Holyflame. Daofather Holyflame was actually just like Ning; he had only reached the fourth stage of swordforce, but had mastered the [Five Treasures]!

  There were still a few other major powers in the Three Realms who had reached the fifth stage of swordforce. However, although fifth-stage swordforce was capable of unleashing
astonishing power and dazzling skill, it was still constrained in speed by the Heavenly Daos to be merely as fast as the speed of light.

  If the difference in speed was too great, all the technique in the world would be useless.

  Daofather Holyflame clearly had ‘just’ fourth-stage swordforce, but there were still many experts who believed him to be the number one Sword Immortal of the Three Realms. It was simply that there were some who would still dispute it. As for the likes of incredibly powerful figures such as Swordfather Darklight of the Three Realms, they had reached the fifth level of swordforce, but none would say that he was the number one Sword Immortal of the Three Realms.

  The essence of the sword lay in the word ‘speed’, after all.

  Take the simplest possible motion; a direct stab. If it was launched faster than the speed of light, its power would become ridiculously great. Enemies would find it hard to even block such attack. Speed was where the true essence of the sword lay!

  Lu Dongbin had felt that Ning was a born Sword Immortal, while Patriarch Subhuti viewed Ning with tremendous favor, but neither of the two would have ever imagined that in just three hundred short years, Ning’s sword-arts would rise to such a level.

  The reason why Ning could advance so rapidly was primarily due to the tempering effect of being within Undermoon Lake. Ning’s other clones in the Three Realms were also working on the [Five Treasures], but they were incredibly far off from being able to master it! Clearly, this special environment and these life-and-death challenges brought results that were completely different from one quietly training on one’s own. In the Three Realms, there were no sword-arts like [Mourning] or [Seversoul] to help guide the way.

  “If I can reach the fifth stage of swordforce, I would become the undisputed number one Sword Immortal of the Three Realms.” Ning’s heart was filled with excitement, but he also knew that reaching the fifth stage of swordforce would probably not be much easier than reaching the fifth stage of heartforce.