by RWX
It looked like a simple increase of just a third, but in reality breaking past the speed limits of the Heavenly Daos was incredibly difficult. And more importantly, in the past Ning had to rely on the Ninehorn Lightning Serpent in order to reach the speed of light. Now, he wasn’t using the lightning serpent at all, merely relying on the power of his divine body…and yet, he was able to breach the speed of light! Ning hadn’t gained any new insights with regards to space or speed, but his flying speed had just dramatically increased!
It was almost like becoming a World God.
World Gods were dramatically strengthened in every single way, resulting in them completely eclipsing the various limits of the Heavenly Daos. The limits of the Heavenly Daos were now completely unable to restrict them any further, allowing them to ‘brute-force’ past the speed of light.
“I was actually able to brute-force past the limits?” Ning came to a halt. He stood there in the air, completely astonished.
“I originally just had the body of a half-step World God….but with the mist supporting me, I’m actually able to effortless brute-force the limits of the Heavenly Daos?” Ning truly couldn’t believe it.
In truth, when he had struck the ground of the cave with a palm just now, he had already begun to sense it. The power of his palms definitely equaled the power of a Dao weapon. It was absolutely at the level of a World-level expert!
Now, he had apparently also reached the World-level in terms of speed as well.
And the reason for these miraculous results…was the power of the mist that formed within the azureflower region.
Although the energy was unable to leave his body, it supported and reinforced it, upgrading Ning in every single area to an entirely different level. He was now stronger and faster…and Ning had the feeling that he was now as fast as a World God. Even if he wasn’t, he had to be extremely close to that level.
He was able to fly faster than the limits of the Heavenly Daos while relying solely on his body.
He was able to strike as hard as a World God while solely striking out with his palms. This, too, represented a breaching of the limits of the Heavenly Daos.
The limits of the Heavenly Daos…they were like paper, easily pierced through by Ning.
There was no need for him to rely on his insights from the [Five Treasures]
There was need for any other forms of support.
Just by allowing the mist to reinforce his body, he was able to completely breach the limits of the Heavenly Daos in every single way. Even if he wasn’t a World God, he wasn’t far off from that level.
“How could it be this powerful?” Only now did Ning truly understand how marvelous the azureflower space was.
“Who on earth came up with this technique?”
The primordial chaos did have quite a few monstrously powerful techniques. For example, Ning’s combined usage of the second stage of the [Taowu Eighteen Fiendgods] and the [One True Body] technique to give himself the power of a half-step World God. The primordial chaos also contained stories of some even more powerful techniques that had been devised by truly ancient powers, and in some of those stories these techniques allowed extremely powerful Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals to slay World-level experts.
What did one need in order to kill someone on a higher level?
Ridiculously powerful techniques, terrifying treasures, shockingly high levels of insight into the Dao, and more. Only when one had reached the utmost peak of power in every single aspect could one produce such extraordinary results.
Ning had the feeling that the technique which produced his azureflower space was one such technique.
The stronger one became, the harder it would be to grow even more powerful. There were actually quite a few strength-enhancing techniques akin to the [Taowu Eighteen Fiendgods] or the [One True Body], such as the [Thousand Bodies Sutra], a technique which was even more monstrous. However, after all those clones were joined together into one, it would become thousands of times more difficult to improve the body any further.
Or, to put it another way…the azureflower space technique was a technique that was thousands of times more valuable than the combination of the [Taowu Eighteen Fiendgods] and the [One True Body] techniques.
* * *
Book 24, Chapter 22 - Continuing Downwards
Ji Ning began to feel excited.
He had just undergone a transformation on a qualitative level. He had long ago mastered the ‘Heartsword stance’, ensuring that he would be able to withstand a blow or two from even a true World-level expert. If he was able to completely repair Violetjewel, then he might actually be able to give those World-level experts an actual fight.
“Am I going to be one of those legendary monsters who are able to slay World-level experts despite merely being an Elder God?” Ning mumbled to himself, then grinned.
It was too difficult to break through to the World-level.
Every single person who was capable of succeeding in doing so was an absolute genius who had many fortuitous encounters. Thus, an Elder God who could slay a World God had to be an even more brilliant genius who had even better luck and even deeper insights.
“The Dao of the Sword is a Dao meant for combat. I need to do my best to master the second stance of the [Nameless] sword-art. I might not be capable of becoming one of those monsters, but I still need to work as hard as I can to advance through my chosen path.” Ning had a look of desire in his eyes.
A man had to aim for the stars and set high goals for himself on his path to cultivation. That way, even if he didn’t succeed in his goals, he would still be able to travel farther than most cultivators.
Ning once more appeared within the cave inside the pit. With a wave of his hand, he put away his estate-world treasure.
“This mist energy is truly marvelous. Still…I imagine it’ll be used up quite quickly in battle. I need to store up more of it.” Ning waved his hand, causing the Heavengazer Tower of Radiance to appear next to him, then entered it.
Within the Heavengazer Tower.
Ning began to fill the azure flower with his heartforce, divine power, and Immortal energy. The azure flower accepted it all, ravenously devouring the energy and converting it into mist, resulting in the mist grower denser and denser.
After most of his energy was used up, Ning took a break to recover. He could withdraw energy from the primordial chaos to replenish his divine power, but his heartforce could only be recovered through rest.
After recovering…he continued to pour all his energy into the azure flower.
Whoooosh. Finally, once the mist in the region reached a certain level of density, a vortex suddenly formed which drew in all the mist energy, converting it into a single crystalline drop of water.
“A drop of water?”
Ning attuned to it briefly, then immediately understood.
This drop of water was the form the mist took when it reached an extremely high level of density. When battle began, he would be able to draw the mist energy out from the drop of water.
“I have to use up almost all of my divine power, heartforce, and Immortal energy in order to condense a single water drop.” Ning couldn’t help but feel shocked. “Well, time to continue.”
The primordial chaos was truly vast and infinite. There was a limit to how much of its energy a cultivator could draw upon, with the hard limit being how much the cultivator’s body could withstand! Thanks to the Heavengazer Tower, Ning was able to withdraw chaos energy at a rate that was ten times faster than someone in the outside world. He repeatedly went through a cycle of exhausting all his heartforce, divine power, and Immortal energy, then replenishing it through resting. More and more water drops began to appear in the azureflower space. One drop. Two drops. Three drops…
Every single drop was formed through Ning completely exhausting and converting all his energy.
Finally, after a long period of time, a total of thirty-six drops of water were circling within the azureflower
space. A strange equilibrium had been reached, and a sense of pressure radiated outwards from the azureflower space, letting Ning know that it had reached its limit for now.
Ning spent a few more days in the cave after this. He needed to get a full picture of what the azure flower could do. As for the other clone of his true body which was within the prisonworld, it had also mastered the Nine Chaos Seals and had gained an azure flower seal of its own, one which was also capable of manifesting those drops of water.
However, for the clone, three drops was the absolute limit.
“It seems as the my true body’s azureflower space is able to hold more power than my backup clone’s?” Ning murmured to himself.
“Is it due to it having a stronger divine body? A stronger Jindan? Or is it due to the soul?” Ning was filled with many questions.
His true body was formed through merging seventeen clones. It had a more powerful divine body, a stronger soul, and a Jindan that was comparable to first-tier Jindans. Its azure flower was more powerful as well.
“No need to dwell on it. For now at least, it seems as though the azureflower energy can only be applied to the divine body,” Ning mused to himself. He had a feeling that the azureflower energy wasn’t that simple, but despite spending quite a bit of time analyzing it he was still unable to discover any other methods of applying it.
“Given Mother Nuwa’s abilities, I’m sure she must’ve been able to merge the Nine Chaos Seals together as well. She also must have an azureflower space of her own, and I’ll wager her insights into it are much greater than mine. She might’ve discovered some of its secrets,” Ning mused. “But…I still have no idea where she’s gone off to. There’s actually no record of her in the Badlands Territory.”
Mother Nuwa had left the Three Realms roughly half a chaos cycle ago. If she had arrived in the Badlands Territory…given her power, her arrival definitely would’ve been recorded down. It must be understood that even the more powerful Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals were known throughout the Badlands Territory. As for the World Gods, all of them would definitely be recorded down. And yet, Ning was unable to find any records of Mother Nuwa at all.
“Or perhaps she didn’t make it to the Badlands Territory? Did she get lost in the spatial vortex tunnel? Given her power, Mother Nuwa should’ve been able to traverse that tunnel with ease unless her luck was so horrid that she was completely surrounded by spatial rifts, giving her no way out at all. The chances of that happening, however, are quite low.”
“Or did she hide her true identity here in the Badlands Territory?”
“Mm. Well, I’ll worry about that later. Given her power…if she’s still in the Badlands Territory, her reputation will quickly spread throughout the region.” Ning was in quite a good mood right now. His mastery of the azureflower space had been more beneficial to him than anything he could imagine. Even if his true body ended up dying here, his backup clone would eventually be able to rebuild it.
“Thank you, senior Waterwind.” Ning turned to look at the words left behind on the cave walls.
It was thanks to the diagram of the ‘Hundred Streams merging together to form the Dao’ that Ning had been able to gain tremendous insights of his own and thus master the Nine Chaos Seals. This was far more valuable and important to Ning than merely improving his sword-arts a bit.
Ning moved to stand at the edge of the cave. He first stared upwards, then downwards towards the bottomless abyss.
“Should I climb upwards? Or should I go down?” This was what Ning was pondering.
With the azureflower energy supporting him, he would be able to easily climb upwards and escape from the pit. But after leaving the pit, would he be able to escape this place safely? Hard to say.
What would happen if he climbed downwards? Still hard to say.
“It won’t be too hard for me to climb upwards, but…” Ning nodded slowly. “I don’t need to rush out of here. I’ll go down and take a look first. Countless cultivators must’ve been swallowed by the Windsource. Hellsword himself had a pair of Dao weapons on him. The depths of the Windsource Ruins must hold many treasures.”
Although the path downwards might be filled with many dangers, it was also a path that led to great treasures.
It wasn’t impossible that Ning might end up finding four or five Dao weapons there.
“Time to go.” Ning no longer hesitated.
Cultivators were meant to battle against Heaven and Earth. If they wanted to acquire good treasures, they’d have to risk their lives for it!
Ning’s arms stretched out many hundreds of meters. He looked like a giant ape as he swung from crevice to crevice, the azureflower energy filling his body making the process quite simple. In fact, Ning was now able to easily grasp onto jutting pieces of rock without needing to focus on cracks. Previously, Ning wouldn’t be able to maintain his grip, but now he was able to do so with ease.
Swoosh. Swoosh. Swoosh. He clambered down very agilely with six arms, moving so fast that he looked like a blur.
Ten kilometers. A hundred kilometers. A thousand kilometers.
Ning continued his downwards descent.
Every so often, he would encounter a treasure that was caught within a crack or on a ledge.
“This is way too deep. I must’ve gone down at least thirty thousand kilometers by now.” Ning couldn’t help but secretly sigh in amazement. “The deeper I go, the more powerful the Windsource seems to become as well.”
Right now, the Windsource was at least five or six times more powerful than it had been when he was next to the cave. However, Ning had become so much more powerful that he was still able to proceed in a very relaxed manner.
“Eh?” Ning’s eyes lit up as he saw a warblade that glistened with bloody light that had been caught within a crevice. As the gray wind blew past the warblade, it emitted an ear-piercing screech. The warblade was quite dazzling to behold, and its aura caused even Ning’s heart to clench.
“A Dao weapon!” Ning revealed a look of delight. “After climbing down thirty thousand kilometers, I picked up more than a hundred Chaos weapons. Now, I’ve finally found a Dao weapon.”
Whoosh.
Ning reached out with his arms, stretching them out several hundred meters as he stuck his hands deep into the crevice, then pulled the warblade out. Judging from the ripples emanating from the warblade, it was an ownerless item. Its former owner had most likely died a long time ago.
“I feel as though its aura is even stronger than Violetjewel’s aura is,” Ning murmured to himself. “It must be quite a powerful Dao weapon.”
Ning’s guess was correct.
This warblade was a weapon which an Elder God had acquired from an incredibly deadly place. It was a top-grade Dao weapon! However, after acquiring the weapon, the Elder God had been unable to escape the danger zone he was in. He continued to flee through the area and in the end had been swept into and perished within the Hundred Streams of the Windsource.
“For the sake of this warblade alone, I have to make it out of here alive. It’d be a huge waste if I died.” Ning quickly put the warblade away. One could perish at any moment when trapped within a deadly area such as this…but the rewards one could reap could also be staggering.
“I’ll keep going downwards.”
“I still haven’t seen those two Dao weapons which Hellsword found.” Ning reached out with his six arms, continuing his quick downwards descent into the depths of this bottomless pit.
* * *
Book 24, Chapter 23 - Windbeast
Ji Ning continued to clamber downwards, traversing yet another ten thousand kilometers. On the way down, he picked up another twenty-plus Chaos treasures. The reason why he picked up no Protocosmic spirit-treasures was because the gray wind here was so strong that even Protocosmic spirit-treasures would be slowly ground to dust by it. Only Chaos treasures were able to survive the wind for extended periods of time.
“Eh? I reached the bottom?” Ning held onto th
e walls with his six long arms as he stared downwards.
Rumble…
The gray wind formed a swirling maelstrom at the bottom, but the pit itself had come to an end. All Ning could see was the small part of the enormous maelstrom that was visible from his location.
“This should be the bottom. This is where the wind transforms into a maelstrom, at least. That means that the treasures left behind by the dead cultivators should all be here.” Ning began to grow rather excited. Hellsword had two Dao weapons on him, and Ning had already picked up over a hundred Chaos treasures and a top-grade Dao warblade on the way down. The number of treasures at the bottom had to be immense.
Whoosh. Whoosh.
The closer he got to the treasures, the more careful he became. He slowly climbed downwards, carefully inspecting his surroundings as he did so. The gray wind here was so powerful that if it wasn’t for his azureflower energy, there was no way he would be able to climb around here.
“The maelstrom is pretty large.” As he continued to climb downwards, the true size of the gray maelstrom of wind began to reveal itself.
“What?!” Ning was stunned.
The enormous maelstrom covered an area of roughly a thousand kilometers. On one end of the maelstrom was the deep pit which Ning had just emerged from, while on the other end of the maelstrom was another pit that seemed just as deep and dark. Quite a bit of the gray wind would occasionally howl towards and go through the second pit as well.
“This is…?” Suddenly, Ning had a thought. The image of the ‘Hundred Streams’ once more appeared in his mind, with those rivers all surging forward before coming together as one.
“Now I understand. This is what senior Waterwind spoke of when he said he saw the marvelous sight of the Hundred Streams of the Windsource. What I experienced just now should’ve been just one of those flows.” Ning immediately understood.