by RWX
Many of their descendants had done everything they could to fight over this mission. In the end, it had been Fukai and Arroyo who had managed to succeed in having it assigned to them.
According to the orders given by the Aeonian Kingdom, if they succeeded in acquiring the Eternal blood their status would skyrocket, and they would be Awakened to become true members of the Aeonian race.
But if they failed… they would die!
“Fukai, as per the lifeblood oath we swore all those years ago, once that freak of an Elder God appears we’ll have to work together to seize the Eternal blood from him. Once we acquire it, we’ll fight to the death. The survivor will take the Eternal blood back to the Aeonian Kingdom.” Arroyo looked at Fukai.
“Naturally.” Fukai felt quite confident as well. In a true life-and-death battle, he would unleash every single ability he had to offer. He truly didn’t fear anyone below the Samsara Daolord level of power.
“Three thousand years is nothing. Even if we wait thirty thousand years or three hundred thousand years, it would be worth it.” A cold light flashed through Arroyo’s eyes.
……
Arroyo and Fukai waited impatiently on the outside. From the inside, Su Youji was left to speculate on how long she would have to wait for her master.
Ning, however, was completely absorbed within that sea of sword-arts.
He had never experienced something like this before!
Never in his entire life had he felt so confident in his own sword-arts.
Whoosh.
Ning appeared out of nowhere within the hall, then turned to stare at the thousands of sculptures on the four walls. At the very center of the hall there was a large pagoda-shaped tower. This was the Heavengazer Tower of Radiance.
Ning had spent almost every minute of every day meditating within the Heavengazer Tower, as he knew that completely dissecting and mastering these thousands of different sword-arts would require an incredibly long period of time. He naturally was going to make use of the Heavengazer Tower’s time compression abilities.
“I’ve finally finished meditating on every single sculpture, and I’ve reached my limit for now.” Ning waved his hand, putting aside the Heavengazer Tower.
Ning was filled with boundless vigor and excitement. As he stared at the surrounding statues, he bowed slightly and said, “Thank you, senior Allgod. If it wasn’t for you collecting all these sword-arts, how could I, Ji Ning, possibly have gained sudden enlightenment today?”
Ning was being quite modest in describing himself as having ‘gained sudden enlightenment’ today. There was nothing sudden about the hard work he had put in.
As a saying on Earth went, comparisons can be deadly. What were the strengths and weaknesses of a sword-art? An amateur wouldn’t be able to tell just by looking at it. Only by completely dissecting these sword-arts and carefully comparing them to each other would you slowly discover that while this sword-art was exceedingly profound in this area, it had certain flaws in other areas.
Why was it strong?
Why was it weak?
After dissecting all of those sword-arts, Ning had gained certain yardsticks which he could use to judge the qualities of various sword-arts. Slowly, he gained an increasingly deeper level insight into the Dao of the Sword. In fact, Ning now had a complete, systemic view of the Dao of the Sword that belonged to him and him alone.
These thousands of sword-arts could be divided up into several general categories. In the end, Ning had divided those five thousand-plus sword-arts into twelve primary categories. After ascertaining that his judgements were correct, Ning suddenly felt as though wide panorama had opened up before him. He almost felt as though no sword-arts were too mysterious for him to understand! Even if there were some which were so profound that he would not be able to understand them at present, if he was given enough time he would thoroughly master it!
This self-confidence came into being after he had finished visualizing these thousands of sword-arts.
“Let me test it all out using the [Nameless] sword-art and Violetjewel’s quintessence core.” Ning smiled slightly. In recent years, he hadn’t spent any time truly focusing on the [Nameless] sword-art At most, he would just turn a small part of his attention to it when he learned something that would be relevant for it. Despite that, he had still long ago mastered the third stance of the [Nameless] sword-art, the ‘Great Firmament’ stance.
“The fourth stance of the [Nameless] sword-art – ‘Horizon’s End’. Quite profound, really.”
Ning quickly began to work on dissecting this sword-art, starting from the basic essence of the sword and then slowly working up to mentally executing the technique.
He spent a total of twelve hours on it.
“So that’s how it works. The creator of this sword-art truly was an incredible figure. This fourth stance is far more profound than those thousands of sword-arts I just finished analyzing.” Ning sighed softly in amazement. Still, he knew that although those thousands of sword-arts weren’t particularly profound in comparison, they had still served to help broaden his horizons and let him get a deeper understanding of the true nature of the sword.
It had only taken him twelve short hours for him to master the fourth stance of the [Nameless] sword-art.
“The fifth stance, then?” Ning began to meditate on the fifth stance, but a short while later he gave it up. “Even World God Northrest himself was only able to master the fifth stance. During the past three thousand years, I’ve been meditating in seclusion but haven’t gained any practical combat experience.”
Violetjewel suddenly appeared in Ning’s hands. “I suppose I should take a look at my sword’s quintessence core.”
Ning carefully attuned himself to the savage, murderous, yet exalted sword-intent that lay hidden within Violetjewel’s quintessence core. In the past, it was extremely hard for him to attune to it, but it was now noticeably easier. It took him a full day before he felt as though he could no longer make any further improvements or gain a better understanding of it… but the insights he did gain were more than enough.
Soon, Ning began to develop a new sword-stance of his own.
“This stance shall be the second stance of the [Quintessence Sword-Intent]. Since I developed it here in the Allgod Estate, let it be named the Allgod stance,” Ning murmured softly.
In his heart, Ning felt a hint of gratitude.
If it hadn’t been for Daolord Allgod spending many chaos cycles of hard work in watching master-class World Gods train in the Dao of the Sword, then laboriously carve these thousands of sculptures, how could Ning have been able to gain such tremendous enlightenment in such a short period of time?
But of course, this was also because Ning’s own understanding of the sword was a pure one that guided him straight to the prime essence of the sword. There might be many other experts of the Dao of the Sword who had more profound insights than Ning, but when they saw these statues they would probably say, “I have my own path already. These differ from my Dao of the Sword.”
“Haha… I had planned on leaving this place after becoming a World God, but I didn’t expect that this place would be far more valuable to me than the drop of Eternal blood.” Ning let out a heartfelt laugh. Not only had he mastered the third stance of the [Nameless] sword-art, he had even mastered the fourth stance. The third stance was all that was needed to become a World God!
These past three thousand years had been a truly transformative period of time for Ning.
His sword had now truly gained a soul of its own.
He had established a firm foundation for becoming a peerless expert in the Dao of the Sword in the future.
“Mm. Time to break through to the World level.” Ning sat down in the lotus position, calming his heart and soul.
* * *
Book 26, Chapter 6 - Breakthrough, World Level!
BOOM!!!
The heavens shook and the earth quaked as the chaos energy in the area began to oscilla
te wildly.
Swoosh! Swoosh!
Two figures suddenly appeared in the plaza before the Castrum Divinitus. It was the bald three-eyed man and the formation-spirit maiden. Both raised their heads to stare deep into the castle.
“What a torrent of chaos energy.” The maiden let out a sigh. “This is causing a far greater disturbance than is usually seen when a cultivator breaks through to the World level.”
“You can’t compare Ji Ning to ordinary World-level cultivators,” the three-eyed man said.
It must be understood that they were located within the Allgod Estate, but they were still able to see the chaos energy surging violently. One could imagine how huge the disturbance outside was! When the Flamefairy had made her breakthrough, the disturbance had been much smaller.
……
“A breakthrough? It must be Ji Ning of Vastheaven Palace.” The formation-spirit of the Ten Thousand Mountains appeared at the top of a mountain peak in white robes. He raised his head to stare at the chaos energy pulsating through the skies.
……
“The chaos energy seems to be shaking quite violently.” Even though Su Youji was located within the Castrum Divinitus, she could still sense that something was happening. “Did someone make a breakthrough? Was it Master?”
……
Outside the Allgod Estate. The disturbance in the rest of the chaosworld was far greater than the disturbance within the estate itself. An utterly enormous chaos vortex had appeared high above the chaosworld, covering the entirety of the skies. Just looking at it would cause one’s heartrate to speed up.
“What a huge event.” The blood-robed Arroyo, the gold-robed Fukai, and World God Boneplate all raised their heads to stare coldly at the skies.
“That freak of an Elder God must have made his breakthrough,” Fukai growled.
“Most likely. Good. Now that he’s made his breakthrough, he’ll be coming out soon.” Cold light flashed through Arroyo’s eyes. “He lives up to being an Elder God who can battle master-class World Gods to a standstill. Look at the size of that thing! He has to be close to being on par with me by now.”
“Right.” Fukai nodded as well.
Both had extraordinary backgrounds and were extraordinarily talented. When they had made their breakthroughs, they had caused similarly shocking disturbances to the local flow of chaos energy.
……
The Castrum Divinitus. Within the Hall of Swords.
Ning was seated in the lotus position, an endless torrent of chaos energy swirling around him and into his body.
Rumble…
Within his Jindan region. This had previously been a beautiful, peaceful place, filled with islands that floated within a sea of elemental energy. However… everything was now being destroyed and returned to the primordial chaos from whence they came.
The entire Jindan region had been reduced to a region of utter chaos.
“Sword-seed!”
A seed had appeared out of nowhere. This seed was a sword-seed that would naturally form once one reached the fifth stage of swordforce, the ‘Sword God’ stage. Generally speaking, it would be extremely hard to see it with the naked eye. However, now that the entire region had been reduced to primordial chaos it was now much more noticeable.
The entire region of chaos energy swirled around the sword-seed. It was the center of the entire region.
“The sixth stage of swordforce – Sword World!” A voice echoed throughout this world of chaos.
Whoosh….
This seed surrounded by sword-ki began to expand and transform. It slowly began to split open, allowing a sapling to emerge from its shell. Soon, the sword-seed had completely transformed into a small tree that was growing at an incredible pace. Its many branches began to furiously extend outwards as Ning poured his insights regarding the Dao of the Sword into it, nourishing it and allowing this tree which represented his Dao of the Sword to grow nonstop.
Rumble…
The tree continued to grow at an incredible pace, becoming thirty meters tall. Three hundred. Nine hundred. Eighteen hundred. Three thousand…
Ning’s insights into the Dao of the Sword were simply astonishing. As a result, his Dao-tree was growing to a similarly astonishing size.
Ordinary trees allowed the ground they were rooted in to be stable, while a Dao-tree would allow a Chaos Immortal’s Jindan chaos region to be stable. The presence of the Dao-tree would allow the Jindan chaos region to continuously grow and expand.
This Dao-tree represented a cultivator’s insights into the Dao!
Ning’s path was the Dao of the Sword, and so this tree was a tree which represented the Dao of the Sword! Of course, in the future Ning’s Jindan chaos region could give birth to other Dao-trees as well, ones which embodied the Daos of Water or Lightning. However, at present Ning clearly was not sufficiently enlightened with regards to these Daos. His other Daos were not at the World level yet. He might be able to form Dao-seeds, but there was no way for them to bloom and grow into trees.
The height of a Dao-tree represented a cultivator’s level of insights into a Dao.
Normal cultivators who had just broken through to become World-level cultivators would generally just have Dao-trees that were around a thousand meters tall! Only after stabilizing their foundation would their Dao-tree grow to become three thousand meters tall.
A Dao-tree of three thousand meters meant that one had become a ‘normal’ World-level cultivator.
A Dao-tree of thirty thousand meters meant that one was comparable to elite World-level cultivators.
A Dao-tree of 108,000 meters meant that one had reached the level of full mastery as a World-level cultivator.
For World-level cultivators, Dao-trees growing to 108,000 meters was the maximum possible limit. No World-level cultivator’s Dao-tree could ever grow any higher. Only if one found one’s own Dao and underwent a fundamental transformation would this limit be breached, allowing the Dao-tree to grow even taller and thicker. This was the level of the Samsara Daolord.
Rumble…
This Dao-tree became an increasingly towering presence within this region of primordial chaos, sprouting more and more leaves and branches. Every single branch represented a different sword-art which Ning had mastered. Because Ning had created many sword-arts of his own and had mastered thousands of sword-arts in the Hall of Swords, his Dao-tree was filled with leafy foliage.
15,000 meters… 24,000 meters… 30,000 meters…
The Dao-tree continued to grow.
It contained all of Ning’s insights into the Dao of the Sword, and it clearly had an incredible foundation. When it reached 63,000 meters, it finally came to a halt and stopped growing taller, but its leaves and branches continued to stretch out in every direction.
It had three branches that were particularly thick. These three boughs represented the [Nameless] sword-art, the [Quintessence Sword-Intent], and the [Brightmoon] sword-art.
The bough that represented the [Nameless] sword-art emanated a boundless yet calm sword-intent.
The bough that represented the [Quintessence Sword-Intent] radiated an aura of savagery and violence.
As for the bough which represented the [Brightmoon] sword-art, it seemed to represent the vastness of the void itself, making it impossible for others to fully comprehend it.
“63,000 meters? It seems my insights into the Dao of the Sword are superior to that of most elite World-level cultivators, but is still quite a distance away from the level of full mastery.” Ning understood that in cultivation, the latter stages were always the hardest ones. Still, he wasn’t too far away from the level of full mastery.
“My insights into the Dao are somewhat inferior to the insights of master-class World Gods… but no matter how profound your insights are, what really matters is your ability to apply them.”
It was common for two master-class World Gods to execute sword-arts that were world’s apart in power.
Ning had mastered the fou
rth stance of the [Nameless] sword-art, the ‘Horizon’s Edge’, as well as the second stance of the [Quintessence Sword-Intent], the ‘Allgod’ stance. On a technical level, he was on par with the Starlord of Fogstone or God Emperor Blacklotus. Those two had been roughly on par with each other in terms of technique; Blacklotus’ advantage primarily came from the fact that he had an Eternal weapon.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The entire chaos region began to furiously expand, devouring more and more chaos energy from the outside world.
At a time like this, having a first tier, second tier, or third tier Jindan no longer made any difference. Upon becoming a Chaos Immortal, everything would return to the primordial chaos from whence all things arose.
Generally speaking, most Chaos Immortals would have a chaos region of a certain predetermined size. As their insights expanded and their Dao-tree grew, the chaos region would naturally grow as well. Because Ning had fused seventeen clones together, his heartforce and his Jindan regions were qualitatively superior to that of most cultivators, resulting in a larger chaos region. The Chaos Immortal energy he could draw upon would also be purer than that of most cultivators.
Training in a technique that allowed one to have many different clones then merging them together would indeed result in one becoming a significantly more powerful cultivator.
Ning had ‘merely’ merged seventeen clones, and so he hadn’t become too ridiculously powerful.
Techniques like the [Thousand Bodies Sutra] allowed for the creation of a thousand clones. Once all those clones were merged together, one would be enhanced to a ridiculous level. Those who had successfully trained in the [Thousand Bodies Sutra] then broke through to become World Gods would have bodies that were comparable to the bodies of Samsara Daolords! This was proof of how truly incredible this technique was. Because Ning’s own body was merely formed from seventeen different clones, his body was merely strengthened by a single small level.