Desolate Era

by RWX

  “No idea. I didn’t dare ask,” Ning said.

  “If you stay here in the Trileaf Realm long enough, you’ll find out. It’s not really a secret. Master was the one who created the entire Trileaf Realm,” Daolord Yuhong said. “My master is one of the three Primordial Starkings of the Church of Annihilation, the Paragon of Pills.”

  Ning’s eyes instantly bulged out. “P-P-Paragon of Pills?”

  When the deceased Hegemon had transmitted his legacy to Ning, he had said: “My disciple… if in the future you succeed in the Daomerge and gain eternity, it is my wish that you repay the grace I shall show you today you unto the Paragon of Pills.”

  So the mysterious, powerful woman was actually the Paragon of Pills!

  “No wonder she treated me in such a special manner,” Ning mused. “The dead Hegemon and the Paragon of Pills clearly had a very special relationship! Both he and the other thirty-five Eternal Emperors all perished in the Prime Reaches of the Genesis Lands… I imagine the Paragon of Pills knows all the secrets behind their deaths.”

  “My master is extremely skilled in alchemy. In the Dao of Alchemy, she is the undisputed number one expert of our entire universe. The second-ranked figure has perhaps a tenth of Master’s skills in alchemy. The ten most dazzlingly famous pills and medicines in this entire universe were all forged by Master,” Daolord Yuhong said smugly. “You can imagine for yourself how incredibly talented my master is in the Dao of Alchemy.”

  “And that’s not her only skill. Although she hasn’t spent as much effort in artificing and golem-making, she still ranks as one of the top three experts in this universe.” Daolord Yuhong suddenly added smugly, “Her retainer, ‘Emperor Gonflame,’ once studied the art of artificing under her. He has now surpassed her in this regard, and is considered the number one expert in artificing within our universe. When Master told you to go explore the Trileaf Realm, I’m sure that her true goal was for you to go pay a visit to Emperor Gonflame. Cultivators need to be able to acquire suitable weapons, after all. The weapons of others will never be a perfect fit for you; only a custom-forged weapon that was made for you personally will be an ideal fit.”

  Ning was secretly speechless. Clearly, the Trileaf Realm had a truly transcendent status within this universe.

  The Paragon of Pills was this universe’s foremost expert in alchemy. Her retainer, Emperor Gonflame, was its foremost expert in artificing.

  But of course, although it had a transcendent status, what really mattered in the world of major powers was power itself! The lord of the Church of Annihilation had been able to unify his universe thanks to his overwhelmingly great power. Emperor Gonflame might be the number one artificer and weaponsmith, but he was still just a retainer. The reason why he and the other four Eternal Emperors were all willing to be retainers to the Paragon was because of her incredible strength! Similarly, the reason why Emperor Maniseal had gifted Ning a Dao-seal via the Paragon in order to befriend her was because of how strong she was.

  “Where does Emperor Gonflame live?” Ning asked.

  “Take a look over there.” Daolord Yuhong pointed towards a distant inferno that towered through the heavens. The skies themselves were bathed a fiery red color. “That right there is Emperor Gonflame’s residence. Go pay a visit when you have some free time.”

  Ning nodded. “Then I’ll go back to my own residence for now.”

  “Come find me if there’s anything you need.” Daolord Yuhong smiled warmly. He certainly wouldn’t dare to treat Ning in a negligent manner.

  Ning immediately transformed into a streak of light as he flew towards his own estate.

  ……

  The estate already had a number of servants within it. When they saw Ning descend from the skies, they all bowed respectfully. “Greetings, Master.”

  Ning nodded and smiled at them. “Carry on with your normal tasks. Do not disturb me unless I call for you.”

  “Yes, Master,” they all acknowledged.

  Ning immediately entered the estate. As he had descended, he had instantly sent out a stream of Immortal energy and bound the estate to him. Cultivators would only feel at ease if they were in complete control of the estate they were residing in! But of course, when Ning left he would naturally disperse the binding seal he had laid upon the estate.

  Ning strode forwards through his estate.

  Rumble… a stone door within the estate swung open.

  Ning entered the room. Past the stone door was a circular stone disc that was covered with many divine runes. Ning immediately walked forwards, then sat down in the lotus position atop the stone disc. He could sense ripples of power emanate out from the disc to cover him and his heart, causing him to completely calm down. Moments later, the giant stone door swung shut once more.

  This was the estate’s meditation room.

  “Let’s take another look.” Ning closed his eyes as he once more began to mentally read through the contents of the [Seven Leafpill Chapters]. He spent five full days in the careful reading process.

  The [Seven Leafpill Chapters] provided a slow, systemized guide to the art of alchemy. However, Ning didn’t need to actually concoct pills, as he mainly needed to learn certain alchemical methods to help him work on his [Novessence Thunder]. Althrough the alchemical techniques in the first three chapters were fairly formidable, they were nothing compared to what the final four chapters held! This was especially true for the alchemical techniques held within the seventh chapter. Those were truly incredible, and were most likely the techniques which the Paragon of Pills herself used.

  Now that Ning had been able to develop five Supreme Daos and then join them together, he was able to learn technical skills like these quite quickly. Still, he was far from being at the level which the Paragon was at. He had to spend another five full days before he was able to just barely learn and understand the alchemy techniques contained within the seventh chapter.

  “Although I’ve only learned half of it, if I used it to actually concoct pills I would be far more effective than if I used all the techniques of the first three chapters.” Ning was in an excellent mood.

  “Time to test out the [Novessence Thunder] and the [Novessence Water], I suppose.” Ning could sense that he now had much more control over his lightning and water. The alchemical techniques which the Paragon of Pills had given him had improved his finesse more a thousand times over. No wonder the Paragon had said that if he spent some time and effort on it, it would be easy for him to surpass the creator of the [Novessence Thunder] in alchemical skill. This alchemical system, the [Seven Leafpill Chapters], truly was the most supremely sacred sutra of the Dao of Alchemy.

  Ning shut his eyes and began to visualize his body.

  Within his Jindan chaos region.

  A towering Dao-tree that was 108,000 meters high was here. This tree symbolized Ning’s insights into the Dao of the Sword. In truth, he could break through to the Daolord level whenever he wanted, allowing his Dao-tree to surpass that limit! Ning had actually already reached the World level in many different Daos, such as wind, fire, lightning, and space, but he hadn’t been able to cause new Dao-trees to form for them within his Jindan chaos region.

  Crackle! Boom!

  The region was filled with flickering lightning essences and gushing water essences that bubbled with power.

  “Arise.” The azureflower mist energy spread out, easily taking control over two streaks of Dao lightning. These were the two easiest types of Dao lightning to control; Watersmoke Lightning and Firecloud Lightning.

  “The [Seven Leafpill Chapters]…” Ning immediately began to use the Leafpill techniques. Slender threads of slender golden light began to appear, each thread filled with countless divine runes. The threads slowly manifested into a pair of enormous golden hands that gently grasped the two types of Dao lightning, then began to almost pinch them together with ease, continuously harmonizing them.

  Slowly, the two streaks of Dao lightning began to transform. The fire and
the water merged together, producing a single stream of deep azure lightning.

  He had succeeded in merging two types of Dao lightning!

  “Too easy.” Ning himself was shocked at how easy it had felt. It had been as easy as breathing.

  “I’ll go straight to three types.” Ning was brimming with confidence. Logically speaking, he should’ve first left behind a ‘seed’ for the dual-essence thunder, but he was so confident that he couldn’t even be bothered to do so. He went straight to a tri-essence thunder.

  One of the giant golden hands was gripping the bi-essence thunder, while the other golden hand picked up a strand of Earthfiend Lightning. The two quickly began to merge together…

  Completing the tri-essence thunder was more than ten times as difficult as completing the bi-essence thunder.

  Still… step by step, Ning managed to use the [Novessence Thunder] technique to finalize his tri-essence thunder! The tri-essence thunder was a streak of deep yellow lightning. When the lightning spread out, it contained so much power that it was clearly significantly stronger than the seven types of Dao lightning and Dao water added together.

  * * *

  Book 28, Chapter 42 - Quadressence Water

  A full day passed in the blink of an eye.

  For now, Ji Ning resided within a side pavilion within the estate. He just sat there, staring past the railing towards the beautiful scene of the Trileaf Realm outside.

  Whoosh. Ning stretched out a finger, causing a strand of deep yellow lightning to jump out from his fingertip. It looked absolutely beautiful, but it contained terrifying amounts of power.

  Ning then stretched out a second finger. From this finger, a thin stream of water came pouring out, swirling around his fingertip. The water emanated a beautiful, gemlike aura of green light, but its power was on a slightly lower level than that of the lightning. And yet, a powerful Daolord of the First Step who was touched by this stream of water would be instantly frozen into an ice statue. Even his truesoul would be frozen solid, then crumble into tiny bits.

  This was the quadressence Dao water Ning had been able to create.

  “Lightning is brutal and wild. To tame and control lightning is more difficult than taming and controlling water.” Ning nodded slowly. “For now, creating tri-essence thunder is my limit. To master quadressence thunder is far too difficult.”

  Both the lightning and the water could go up to the ‘novessence’ level. However, the difficulty level would skyrocket with each additional essence. According to what Daolord Allgod had said, a Daolord of the First Step would be able to just barely master the tri-essence thunder. A Daolord of the Second Step had a chance to master the pentessence thunder, a Daolord of the Third Step might be able to master the heptessence thunder, while a Daolord of the Fourth Step would be able to master the complete Novessence Thunder! Ning was still merely at the World level. It was all thanks to the azureflower mist energy and the [Seven Leafpill Chapters] that he was able to master the tri-essence thunder.

  “For now, my most powerful killing attack is once more the ‘Yin-Yang Sword Domain’.” Ning couldn’t help but let out a laugh. This was clearly a defensive technique, but because of his upgrade powerful multi-essence Dao water and Dao lightning it was now his most powerful killing technique as well!

  “Oh, right.” Ning waved his hand, causing a figure to appear out of nowhere. It was World God Pillsaint, and he had a rather blank look on his face. He was dressed in loose red robes. A smear of grease could be seen on his red lips and his white teeth.

  “Oh, Master.” World God Pillsaint started to laugh when he saw Ning. “I was wondering what was going on. I was in the middle of a meal when the world around me suddenly changed.”

  “You might’ve been having fun stuffing your face with food, but I’ve been freaking out for quite some time now.” Ning laughed. When he had been abducted by the Paragon of Pills, he truly had felt quite nervous. Thankfully, it had been a good thing in the end.

  “What happened?” World God Pillsaint was rather puzzled as he scanned his surroundings. “And where are we? And right, where is Youji? Didn’t you have a number of comrades travelling with you, Master? Why are you sitting here by yourself? Heeeey… and it seems as though you have some servants here as well.”

  Ning shook his head. “Good lord, you talk a lot. Just shut your mouth for a moment.”

  World God Pillsaint immediately fell silent.

  “I asked you to come out because I wanted to bestow some good fortune upon you,” Ning said.

  “Good fortune?” World God Pillsaint was puzzled.

  “Right. Don’t fight back.” As Ning spoke, he reached out with a finger and tapped Pillsaint on his forehead.

  Ning directly transmitted the first chapter of the [Seven Leafpill Chapters] directly into Pillsaint’s mind. According to what the Paragon of Pills had said, Ning was at most permitted to transmit the first three chapters to certain people of his choosing! If Pillsaint was able to learn the first three chapters in a fairly short period of time, Ning would be permitted to bring Pillsaint before the Paragon, at which point he might earn a truly great opportunity for himself.

  Ning had to do this right away. Once they went back to their own universe, it would most likely be close to impossible for them to return to this universe again.

  A long while later…

  “Wow. T-t-this is… this is absolutely inconceivable. Inconceivable! This is TRUE alchemy! Absolutely incredible! Compared to this, the crap I learned in the past can’t even be called alchemy!” World God Pillsaint began to scream with excitement.

  Ning couldn’t help but start to laugh upon seeing this.

  “This is simply marvelous! You can actually use alchemy like this?! A completely new world, a completely new Dao of Alchemy, has opened up before my eyes!” Pillsaint only grew increasingly excited as he spoke. He stared at Ning, his eyes blazing with excitement. “But Master… it seems as though you only transmitted part of a complete technique to me?”

  “Yes, this is just the first chapter,” Ning said.

  “And the rest?” Pillsaint was extremely excited. Alchemy and pill-making was his area of specialty. He was already delirious with joy upon having received the first chapter of the [Seven Leafpill Chapters], a supreme, sacred manual for the Dao of Alchemy.

  “After you fully master the first chapter, I’ll naturally transmit the second chapter to you,” Ning said.

  “Second chapter? Does that mean there’s also a third chapter? And a fourth chapter?” Pillsaint was so excited that his face had turned beet-red. “Who created this alchemy technique? My master was a Daolord who was extremely skilled in alchemy and quite famous, but compared to what you just transmitted to me… he is way, way, waaaay inferior! I insist on becoming apprenticed to the person who created this technique!”

  Ning shook his head. “You might want to become that person’s apprentice, but that person might not want to accept you. Calm down and focus on learning the technique I just transmitted to you, and you might have a chance in the future.”

  “Right, right!” Pillsaint nodded repeatedly.

  “Master.” Pillsaint suddenly fell to his knees, intending to kowtow.

  Ning was stunned. He hurriedly lifted Pillsaint back up to his feet. “Pillsaint, what are you doing?!”

  “Master, you might not understand what this alchemy technique represents. To me… this is a new path, a new Dao that leads to the greatest heights of my profession. This… this is the true Dao of Alchemy. I’ll be able use it to become a Daolord… and perhaps rise to even greater heights.” Pillsaint said gratefully, “I, Pillsaint, have no way of repaying you for your gift of the Dao…”

  Ning nodded. “All you have to do is study hard.”

  This Dao of Alchemy led all the way to the Eternal Emperor level! By using this Dao, Pillsaint might very well become an Eternal Emperor himself.

  ……

  Now that he saw a chance to become a Daolord, Pillsaint be
gan to spend all of his time in frenzied study and training. Ning had merely memorized some of the pill-making techniques, but Pillsaint was thoroughly analyzing and studying every aspect of the technique. He even went as far as to try them out in actual pill-making. Pillsaint truly was quite talented in alchemy, but he never had a teacher as good as this. Although his previous master was quite talented, he was still significantly inferior to even the likes of Daolord Allgod, to say nothing of the Paragon of Pills.

  Now that this opportunity had come before him, Pillsaint truly had a chance to soar into the heavens.

  Ning knew very well that his foundation was still the Dao of the Sword! He was mainly going to make use of the [Seven Leafpill Chapters] to learn more about alchemy. Pillsaint was his retainer; it would be of tremendous help to Ning if Pillsaint was to become an incredible grandmaster alchemist.

  The day after transmitting the first chapter to Pillsaint, Ning departed from his estate and transformed into a streak of light which flew off into the distance.

  “My name is Darknorth. Greetings, fellow Daoist.”

  “Greetings, fellow Daoist Darknorth.”

  Ning encountered quite a few World-level cultivators on his journey. On occasion, he even met a few Daolords.

  The Trileaf Realm was an incredibly vast world, much like how the Brightshore Kingdom itself also contained countless living beings and cultivators.

  “Emperor Gonflame?” Ning spent more than six hours flying and teleporting at top speed before finally reaching Emperor Gonflame’s residence.

  “This is the Emperor’s residence. Outsiders are not permitted to enter.” Two novices were guarding the gates to the estate. They immediately barked at Ning upon seeing him fly over.

  “This junior has heard of the Emperor’s skill in artificing and thus has come to greet him. I wonder if I might be fortunate enough as to have an audience with him?” Ning asked.