Desolate Era

by RWX

  The other major powers of the Three Realms who had also mastered the Heavenly Dao of Water were the first to react. Lord Tathagata the Buddha, Suiren, and the others who had mastered the Heavenly Dao of Water could also sense the resonance with the Heavenly Daos. Soon, they discovered that the person who had caused this major disturbance through his breakthrough was Ji Ning.

  “It’s Sword Immortal Darknorth.”

  “Haha…Darknorth has finally mastered a Heavenly Dao.”

  The major powers of the Nuwa Alliance all laughed and rejoiced. None of them were surprised at all, because Ji Ning’s attainments in the sword were simply far, far too exemplary.

  It was true that the Heavenly Daos were vast and profound. Normally speaking, mastering a Heavenly Dao would take an incredibly long period of time; for someone like Ji Ning who had trained for a bit over a thousand years to succeed in doing so was a ridiculous concept.

  However, Ji Ning was someone who had spent less than a thousand years to become an overlord! They weren’t surprised at all that he was now able to master a Heavenly Dao as well. But of course, they had no idea that Ji Ning had actually used roughly twenty thousand years in order to master a Heavenly Dao. Still…to master a Heavenly Dao in twenty thousand years was almost inconceivably fast, something which was rarely seen even in the Primordial Era.

  ……

  Within the main palace of the Allfiend world.”

  “It was Sword Immortal Darknorth who made the breakthrough.” Daofather Ink Bamboo frowned.

  “So he really didn’t master the Heavenly Dao of Water before this.” Daomother Devilhand frowned as well. “It seems that before this, he was completely focused on the path of the sword! Just by relying on his skills with the sword and his True God body, he was able to unleash the power of an overlord. In fact, he was able to fight Godfiend Witherspike to a standstill. Even his body is comparable to a top-grade Protocosmic spirit-treasure. What the hell type of cultivation path has Ji Ning been walking?”

  “He’s mastered a Heavenly Dao, but his insights into the Heavenly Dao of Water are far inferior to his insights into the sword,” Keeper Everwood said. “He’s always been weaker as a Ki Refiner. He might be a Daofather now, but it won’t make much of a difference.”

  “Agreed.”

  “Sword Immortal Darknorth’s power lies in his close combat ability.”

  Everyone nodded in agreement.

  Ning’s divine body was terrifyingly strong; he had long ago acquired the power of a True God in close combat! For him to become a Daofather as well really was nothing more than adding a bit of icing onto the cake; it wouldn’t be of significant benefit to him in terms of power.

  ……

  Atop a barren island within the Crescent world.

  The black-robed Ning could sense a flood of Immortal energy coursing through him. Although he was a second-tier Ancestral Immortal, thanks to the [One True Body] and [Taowu Eighteen Fiendgods] techniques, his Immortal energy was absolutely comparable to that of an Ancestral Immortal’s.

  “A first-tier Ancestral Immortal…”

  “The power flowing through me truly is incredibly thick and pure. It’s a pity that my Primaltwin doesn’t have any good weapons.” The black-robed Ning couldn’t help but frown. In the Three Realms, virtually all overlord-class powers used Chaos treasures as their weapons! Daoist Three Purities even had an entire set of Chaos treasures, as well as the Immortal Slayiing Swords which he himself had devised!

  “My true body has Violetjewel, but my Primaltwin has no suitable weapons. It seems I need to pay the prisonworld another visit.” Ning came to this conclusion.

  Whoosh.

  A second figure suddenly appeared next to Ning. It was Subhuti.

  “Ji Ning.” Subhuti had a smile on his face. “You’ve mastered a Heavenly Dao and become a Daofather. Congratulations.”

  “Fortunately, I was able to make the breakthrough before the Endwar begins. Master, I need to leave the Crescent world for a time,” Ning said. Although he was at an extremely high level of power and was the undisputed number one Sword Immortal of the Three Realms, he was still very weak in terms of his mastery over spacetime. In this regard, he was far from being a match for Daofather Subhuti.

  “Alright.” Subhuti pointed towards the air next to Ning, causing a whirlpool to immediately appear.

  A second black-robed Ning suddenly appeared next to the first one.

  Although one Ning was going to enter the spatial whirlpool, the other one was going to remain on the Crescent world.

  ……

  The icy star located deep within the endless primordial chaos.

  A figure appeared in midair. Walking quickly, the figure soon reached a deep gorge, then entered the prisonworld hidden deep inside of it.

  Inside the prisonworld.

  The white-robed Ji Ning and the black-robed Ji Ning advanced through it, shoulder-to-shoulder, emanating auras of tremendous power.

  “Eh?” The skinny, emaciated, bone-chewing wild dog suddenly rose to his feet, staring towards Ning’s direction. His dark yellow eyes stared fixedly at Ning as he spoke out. “Not bad, kid. You actually upgraded your Jindan from the third tier to the second tier…and you also learned a powerful divine ability that allows you to have the power of a first tier Jindan.”

  The two Ji Nings simultaneously glanced towards him and chuckled.

  “I have to thank you for your advice all those years ago.” The white-robed Ning spoke out, then the two quickly flew away.

  “Coward.” The wild dog sneered.

  When he had first met Ji Ning, he had discovered that Ji Ning had a third-tier Jindan. Now, however, Ji Ning had the aura of a first-tier Ancestral Immortal…and he certainly wasn’t a weak Chaos Immortal. The aura of pressure and might which a Chaos Immortal had was completely different from that of any Ancestral Immortal’s. Even someone with a third-tier Jindan who broke through to become a Chaos Immortal would be an absolutely terrifying figure.

  This meant that Ji Ning must have become an Ancestral Immortal. How, then, could an Ancestral Immortal with a third-tier Jindan suddenly have the aura of a first-tier Ancestral Immortal?

  There was only one possibility!

  First, upgrade the Jindan…but the Jindan could only be upgraded to the second tier at most! The second step would be to rely on certain secret arts to cause his power to vault all the way to that of a first-tier Ancestral Immortal’s.

  “In the future, I’ll definitely pay you a more in-depth visit.” Ning’s voice rang out from far away.

  “In the future?” A bitter look instantly appeared on the wild dog’s face. “This damnable Overseer…”

  The white-robed Ning and the black-robed Ning continued to fly forward through the prisonworld.

  “The prisonworld has a total of sixteen Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals,” Ning calculated silently to himself. “Anyone who not only has the courage to offend a World God but also ends up being imprisoned here instead of being slain or enslaved is definitely either extremely powerful or has an important background.”

  “When I swept through all of the True Gods and True Immortals, I learned quite a bit from soulscouring them.”

  “These sixteen Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals…that wild dog is one of the three most formidable ones,” Ning mused to himself. “Doesn’t matter. He’s not one of my targets for this campaign.”

  The wild dog Elder God was extremely famous in the chaos-kingdom of Pangaea as well. He was born an Elder God, and over the course of countless years he had come up with just a single divine ability…‘Eat’! The wild dog Elder God loved to eat. He ate living creatures, delicacies, mountains, rivers, the skies, the earth…he was an utter madman! He gave the terrifying divine ability he had created an equally bizarre name: ‘Eat’.

  Using just this single divine ability, he had taken the lives of more than thirty Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals with his mouth! The King of Pangaea favored him for his talent, and so
even though he had disobeyed the King’s will, the King had merely chosen to imprison him. The goal was to tame his unruly temperament, then release him in the future and allow him to once more fight on the kingdom’s behalf.

  The wild dog Elder God could be described as amongst the most deadly of the sixteen Ancestral Immortals and Elder Gods. Only two of the others could match him for savagery and power.

  “If the wild dog Elder God was free, he would pose a far greater danger than Godfiend Witherspike,” Ning murmured to himself.

  “The Endwar is about to erupt. I can’t let myself go too crazy with these Elder God and Ancestral Immortal prisoners.” Still, Ning felt a certain itchiness in his chest. He wanted to have a good fight with these Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals. After all, even if his true body was slain in combat, he would be able to slowly rebuild it. That, however, would most likely require more than ten thousand years. Ning didn’t have the time to waste for now.

  “Fortunately, my target is Swordfather Triult,” Ning mused to himself.

  Swordfather Triult was one of the sixteen imprisoned Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals. He was a Ki Refiner who possessed a set of three supreme Chaos swords, and so he styled himself ‘Triult’. His attacks were extremely powerful, but Ning was actually very confident in his ability to deal with his type of powerful attacks. His protective divine ability was a perfect counter!

  However, Ning’s only knowledge of Swordfather Triult’s power came from those True Gods and True Immortals. Thus, it was entirely possible that Swordfather Triult had certain secret techniques that they didn’t know about. Ning didn’t dare to be over-confident in fighting him…but for the sake of acquiring that set of three Chaos swords, he still decided to take the risk.

  “Here I am.”

  The white-robed Ning and the black-robed Ning quickly arrived at a place in the desolate wilderness. A black-haired elder was seated in the lotus position here, emanating an aura of boundless cold. The black-haired elder opened his eyes, frowning as he looked at Ning. After becoming the Overseer, Ning had never come here to bother Swordfather Triult. Thus, the man didn’t recognize Ning.

  “Who are you?” The black-haired elder frowned. “Judging from your aura, you should be a first-tier Ancestral Immortal. The Overseer of a prisonworld shouldn’t be someone as powerful as you.”

  “But I do just so happen to be the Overseer of this prisonworld.” The black-robed Ning and the white-robed Ning landed at the same time, both radiating auras of incredible power.

  The black-haired elder could sense the threat which Ning posed him.

  “You are the Overseer?” The black-haired elder said in a low voice, “For the prisonworld to fall into your hands…it must mean that Pangaea is already destroyed. Speak. Why have you sought me out?”

  “Hand over those three ultimate swords of yours,” Ning said calmly.

  “Hmph.” The black-haired elder’s eyes flashed with cold light. “Quite a few Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals have died to my swords.” Although he had been imprisoned here, he was still able to unleash his full power within an area of a thousand kilometers around him. He naturally wouldn’t be willing to lower his head to other Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals unless he had to. He had risen to power through blood and slaughter, and quite a few powerful figures had died to his Triult swords.

  “It seems we have no choice but to fight.” Ning was quite cautious as well. This was his first time battling against an Ancestral Immortal.

  Many Elder Gods were only at that level of power because they were born with it. Ancestral Immortals, however, had all definitely risen to their level of power through cultivation!

  However, this was a battle he had to win. He desperately needed a good Chaos sword for the Endwar which was about to erupt.

  * * *

  Book 23, Chapter 11 - Retainer

  The white-robed Ji Ning and the black-robed Ji Ning walked forward, shoulder-to-shoulder. The two exchanged glances with the old man located in the center of the distant wilderness.

  Waves of murderous intent billowed from both sides.

  Since negotiations had failed…it was time to fight!

  “Come forth!” The black-robed Ning let out a cold shout. The air around him instantly became filled with a dense cluster of goldstar beads. The Goldstar Beads of the Heavens quickly began to merge together, transforming into the Thirty-Six Heavens. He filled them with his powerful Ancestral Immortal energy, causing each of them to transform into a beautiful frozen lotus. Each frozen lotus was like the core and essence of an entire world, and when the thirty-six frozen lotuses appeared, a stream of freezing energy filled the entire area around them. The wilderness around them began to freeze and crack apart, with space itself seeming to have been frozen solid.

  “Go.” The black-robed Ning pointed in front of him, causing the thirty-six frozen lotuses streaking forward through the skies and swiveling around the black-haired elder like thirty-six streaks of frozen energy.

  Over the past twenty thousand years, Ning had improved dramatically both with the sword as well as in the Dao! He would also spend quite a bit of time meditating on the Nine Chaos Seals. Due to his tremendous level of insight into the Dao, he had already mastered six of the chaos seals. The sixth chaos seal allowed Ning to closely resonate with the ‘original essence of water’, something which was located infinitely far away. As a result he was now able to manifest these frozen lotuses, which could be used to emanate streams of unfathomably cold energy to bind and trap foes.

  After activating the sixth chaos seal, Ning’s Thirty-Six Heavens were comparable to ordinary Chaos treasures in power. Alas, in this form they could only really be used to constrict and bind foes!

  “You want to bind me?” The black-haired elder let out a cold laugh. “I am an Immortal cultivator, not a Fiendgod. I don’t even need to fight you in close combat. What can this technique of yours possibly do?”

  “If you won’t come fight me in close combat, I’ll come fight you in close combat.” The white-robed Ning’s body momentarily blurred as he manifested the [Three Heads, Six Arms] technique, holding five Darknorth swords and Violetjewel in his six arms.

  Whoosh.

  The white-robed Ning immediately surged forward like a streak of light, flying towards the black-haired elder.

  “Eh?” The black-haired elder’s face changed. Ki Refiners hated fighting in close combat. He immediately let out a cold snort, causing two streams of energy to emerge from his nostrils. These two streams of energy crystallized like ice, forming a pair of divine swords.

  “Just two of them? Pull out all three of your swords,” Ning roared as he charged forward.

  “Against you?” The black-haired elder sneered coldly, “Two swords is enough.”

  The two crystalline swords sliced out in two streaks of light, causing the air itself to glimmer with frozen energy as they struck straight towards the white-robed Ning.

  Clang!

  The two attacks collided against each other.

  The white-robed Ning was knocked backwards, his face changing slightly. “Damn.” As soon as they exchanged blows, he realized that this Ancestral Immortal definitely had the power of an elite Elder God! He was even more difficult to deal with than Godfiend Witherspike had been. Fortunately, Ning had mastered the Sixth Cycle of the [Starseizing Hand]; otherwise, Ning wouldn’t be able to do anything to him.

  “That little bit of power you possess won’t be enough to allow you to even get near me,” the black-haired man sneered.

  “Is that so?” The white-robed Ning charged forward once again, striking out with all six swords. This time, he applied the Sixth Cycle of the [Starseizing Hand] to each hand! His mighty divine power instantly burst forth, causing six streaks of sword-light to tear through the skies, carrying an aura of inexorable might.

  [Brightmoon] sword-art, Heavenbreaker stance!

  The two flashing crystalline swords that were striking out towards Ning were instantly struc
k by thise blow.

  Boom!

  The two crystalline swords were actually smashed flying backwards. On Ning’s side, the flashing strike from the blood-colored Violetjewel continued to streak forwards, striking out more than a thousand kilometers as it hacked towards the distant black-haired elder.

  “His divine ability is pretty powerful.” The black-haired elder frowned slightly. A third sword that was golden in color flew straight out from his forehead, quickly expanding in size to become more than three hundred meters long. It swept forward in a straight line, carrying an aura of utmost forceful Yang energy as it struck against Ning’s Violetjewel.

  BOOM!!!

  Ning felt his hand go numb as Violetjewel was knocked backwards, but the golden sword was also knocked backwards.

  “Again.” Ning once more charged forward, six swords in six arms.

  “Damn.” The black-haired elder frowned as he glanced at the icy lotuses surrounding him. The icy lotuses were emanating streams of energy that furiously coiled around him, constricting his movements. Although he wasn’t fighting in close combat, his three swords were still somewhat impacted.

  “Triult Sword, First Stance!” The black-haired elder’s eyes flashed with cold light.

  The two crystal swords and the golden sword came together in midair to form a triangle, with the surface of the triangle flowing with runic light. Soon, the light solidified to form an shockingly sharp sword that was golden-white in color. When the sword appeared, an aura of infinite sharpness instantly appeared, slicing apart the energy streams surrounding him.

  Ning’s face changed dramatically as he saw this. “Such power. They really do form a perfect set of Chaos swords. These three Chaos swords are at least high-grade Chaos treasures; in fact, they could well be top-grade Chaos treasures. When the seals inside of them combine together to unleash their full power, they are almost as powerful as my own Violetjewel.”

  Daoist Three Purities of the Three Realms had something similar. He had those four Chaos swords, which he was able to link together with the Immortal Slaying Sword-Diagram. By Ning’s estimation, that set was also close to Violetjewel in power. This was how powerful a complete set of Chaos treasures could be.