by RWX
“Once I take that final step and become a Daolord of the Fourth Step, I’ll go and challenge the Azureflower Estate once more! The destiny which awaits me there is definitely an extraordinary one.” Ning eagerly anticipated the coming of that day… but everything had to wait for him to become a Daolord of the Fourth Step first! Although he had already reached the fourth stage in all five of his stances, he had to merge them together into his final Omega Sword Dao.
How long would this step take? It could be as fast as the next instant… but could also be as slow as a chaos cycle or even a hundred chaos cycles!
……
“Eh?” The airborne sea dragon peered downwards at the white-robed youth, realizing that the youth had come to a halt. It let out a rumbling shout, “Kid, you tired from all the fighting? You were fighting me head-on like crazy. I imagine you must’ve used up a great deal of your divine power and Immortal energy.”
The distant Ning smiled slightly. “Let’s do it again. If you can still withstand my strike, I’ll stop the fight.” His voice echoed throughout the air.
“Darknorth… did he…?” The distant Ninedust was truly shocked as he watched this.
“Why is this young fellow suddenly saying something so bold?”
“Did he come up with a way to gain victory?”
“Let’s see just what he’s planning.”
The two races of beasts in the two seas watched curiously from afar. They wanted to see just what technique Daolord Darknorth would use in this final clash.
Boom! Ning suddenly moved with incomparable savagery, transforming into a streak of light that shot straight towards the distant deep blue sea dragon. The three-headed, six-armed Ning once more wrapped all six hands around the hilt of the Northbow sword, filling it with an aura of overwhelming might as he transformed it into a dominating mist-formed sword.
“This technique again?”
“Isn’t that what he used previously?”
Everyone was puzzled. Even the sea dragon fighting against Ning was confused, but it didn’t hesitate; it let out an enraged howl and charged forwards. Ning’s own agility and sword-arts made it hard for it to dodge, and so it chose to meet the attack head-on.
Whoosh! As the sea dragon charged towards Ning, it suddenly swept out with its tail, using it to lash out at Ning like an enormous long whip. Crack!
Ning suddenly let out an earth-shaking howl! The ethereal, mist-formed sword in his hand suddenly exploded with power, instantly becoming millions of times brighter as it exploded against the sea dragon’s tail.
BOOM!
As soon as the sea dragon collided against Ning’s sword, it immediately knew that something was wrong! The power of the Omega Sword Dao – Heavenbreaker was only evident in the very last instant, when it released its stored power. A slumbering volcano was very ordinary and unremarkable; one could only understand how truly terrifying it was in the moment of its explosion. The sea dragon could sense a terrifying surge of power instantly spread out to cover his entire body.
Bang! Its entire icy carapace was only able to withstand the force for a brief instant. A heartbeat later, the entire carapace shattered apart. No… more than just the icy carapace, the body inside cracked apart as well! The entire deep blue sea dragon shattered apart like a piece of ice, instantly breaking apart into countless little pieces.
As for Ning, he stumbled just thirty meters backwards. He stared intently at the shattered bits of eyes, watching as a stream of energy flew out from the freezing ice region and gathered into a blurry figure which looked much like that of the sea dragon. The illusory sea dragon looked at Ning, then let out a laugh: “My frozen form was built up over the course of countless years, but you broke it apart just like that? Impressive, impressive. You’ve won!”
Ning let out a sigh of relief. He watched as the illusory sea dragon continued to draw upon the icy energy of the area, slowly rebuilding its body. However, the full recovery process would take at least ten thousand years. The creature continued, “Still… even though that stance of yours was useful against me, it’ll be useless against the fiery fellow over there. My forte lay in agility and unpredictability, but the fiery fellow’s skills lie in overwhelmingly fierce attacks.”
After speaking, the creature retreated into the deep blue seas, flying into it and then hovering above its surface. A large amount of watery energy swirled around its body, which it constantly drew upon and absorbed.
……
“Won.”
“He actually won.”
“That sword-strike was quite ferocious. He smashed the frozen form apart.” The hundreds of spectator beasts were all quite surprised.
Ninedust was extremely excited. He flew straight towards Ning: “Darknorth, Darknorth, you won! Haha! These two beasts should be two matching pairs; one emanates an aura of endless cold, the other is formed from endless flames. They should be on par with each other in power! Since you were able to beat one, you should be able to beat the second one as well. I can already see your victory!”
“We can’t get careless.” Ning stared at the distant flaming equine, then said in a low voice, “They might be on par with each other, but one might be much easier to defeat than the other.”
For example, defeating Ning would be extremely difficult. Anyone skilled in defense or who had extremely formidable protective divine abilities would all be quite difficult to defeat. Given that the sea dragon came first and the flaming equine was the second challenge, it seemed likely that in some way, shape, or form, the flaming equine would be even tougher to deal with.
……
“If you can defeat me, then our two races will no longer move to bar your path.” The flaming equine’s voice was deep and dominating. “But I’m not as easy to deal with as the frozen fellow; although those beasts have extremely hard bodies that can be used as weapons, their bodies are too easily shattered. Excessive hardness can result in brittleness. To create bodies formed from frozen ice was a fool’s choice to begin with.”
“No, you fire beasts are the true fools.” Instantly, one of the many spectating sea dragons in the air bellowed in disagreement: “Every part of our frozen bodies can be used as weapons. We only sent out one of the most common members of our race to spar against that young fellow. If our clan leader entered the fray, his sword wouldn’t be able to leave as much as a mark behind on our leader’s body!”
“Defeat is defeat.” The flaming equine glanced sideways at the sea dragon, not even wanting to bother with him.
“You idiot.”
“No, you guys are the idiots.”
“You wanna start a fight? You wanna fight again?”
“Bitch, let’s go!” The two races quickly began to squabble against each other. Both sides were boiling with the eagerness to do battle, a sight which stupefied both Ning and Ninedust.
What Ning and Ninedust didn’t understand was that this planet had no other living beings, and so the two races which lived on it had nothing better than to do when bored than to battle against each other! They’d fight until the skies themselves turned dark and the world itself turned old. To them, fighting against each other was as normal as eating or drinking.
“Let’s not be too hasty.” An ancient voice rang out from one of the deep blue sea dragons in the skies. This sea dragon looked quite ordinary, but its aura was so reserved and stately that Ning hadn’t even noticed it earlier. The sea dragon continued, “The Autarch’s decree was that we were to live here and prevent cultivators from entering that place! If you want to fight, you can fight later; we have business to finish first.”
“Agreed. We have business to finish first.” A similar order came from a stately flaming equine on the other side of the planet.
The two races quickly calmed down and fell silent. As for Ning and Ninedust, they were intrigued; the ‘Autarch’s decree’? It seemed as though this place had also been set up in accordance with an Autarch’s plans… but why had none of it been written down on the st
one stele?
“Come, then.” The flaming equine stood in the air above that narrow strip of land, its body blazing with flames so hot that the air around it was bubbling.
“Let’s.” Ning instantly transformed into a streak of light as he shot over towards the flaming equine.
The flaming equine moved as well, its four hooves galloping across the air itself as it suddenly sped up. It immediately moved more than a hundred times the speed of light… and in fact, it was even faster than the sea dragon. Its flying speed was absolutely ferocious! It lowered its head slightly, pointing its horns straight at its foe.
BOOM! Ning once more used his most savage strike, the Omega Sword Dao – Heavenbreaker. His sword shot out, smoting furiously upon the flaming equine’s skull! As for the equine, it didn’t dodge at all; it just continued its headlong charge.
An enormous explosion rang out! The flaming equine trembled slightly as it staggered more than three hundred meters backwards, while Ning was actually blasted more than a thousand kilometers away before Ning came to a halt. Ning was secretly shocked: “Just like the sea dragon said… this beast specializes in overwhelmingly ferocious attacks. It really is ferocious; it’s even stronger than my Omega Sword Dao – Heavenbreaker! Perfect! Only foes like this are strong enough for me to temper my sword-arts.”
What he needed to do was to take that one final step and become a Daolord of the Fourth Step. To do that, he needed sufficient challenges to face!
* * *
Book 35, Chapter 8 - Daolord Coldsky
“Gwaaaaaar!” The flaming equine’s entire body was covered in flames as it galloped across the skies towards Ji Ning with frenetic momentum.
BOOM! Ning transformed into a streak of light, clashing against the flaming equine time and time again in midair. Sometimes he fought it head-on, sometimes he used unpredictable movements, and sometimes he completely disappeared into thin air… but once he moved closer to the creature, he was forced to show himself by its blazing flames!
……
This was an incredibly exciting battle. The shockwaves generated by the repeated collisions blasted out in every direction, causing Ninedust to repeatedly move backwards as he watched.
“Such power! Darknorth is growing stronger and stronger.” Ninedust was excited by what he saw.
“Interesting.”
“They’ve fought to a standstill?”
“The flame beast holds an advantage in power, while the kid holds an advantage in unpredictability. Still… based on what I can tell, this battle should be depleting quite a bit of the kid’s divine power and Immortal energy. Once a bit more time passes, it’ll be hard for the kid to stay in top fighting form, whereas his opponent can draw from the energy of the endless sea of flames. It’d be easy for him to stay in battle for ten years or even a hundred years without resting. If things proceed like this, the kid’s probably going to die.”
“Yes, if the young fellow wishes to win, he needs to win as soon as possible. The longer this drags out, the greater his chances of losing will be.” The two races of beasts watching from the sidelines all commented with interest.
One day… two days… three days… Ning continued to battle against the flaming equine in midair, the two landing on the ground every so often to continue the battle there.
“He’s definitely going to lose.”
“Look! His sword-arts aren’t able to maintain that mist-form from before.”
“He probably has depleted too much divine power and Immortal energy. He’s unable to maintain it.”
“It’s been too long. He’s lost.” The majority of the watching beasts all came to this conclusion.
……
The battle between Ning and the flaming equine lasted for an extremely long period of time. By the third day, Ning gave up on using the [Heartsword] art! This was because the [Heartsword] art allowed Ning to fight the flaming equine to a standstill… and Ning had quickly discovered the flaming equine’s flaws! Whenever Ning wished it, he would be able to quickly defeat the creature.
However… Ning’s greatest goal was to break through to become a Daolord of the Fourth Step. What he needed was a good opponent to temper himself against! This was why, after the third day, he pretended to be exhausted and stopped using the [Heartsword] art. Without it strengthening him, his power instantly dropped by half! This caused him to immediately be at a disadvantage and be suppressed by the flaming equine.
“This is perfect. Now, I can truly test out my sword-arts. Mm… yes, I see many more flaws in my sword-arts that I previously had not discovered. I need to perfectly master and merge the mysteries of these five stances into a whole. Only then will my sword-arts be truly flawless and complete.”
Ning was being dominated and beaten down, but this only showed him more clearly the weaknesses in his sword-arts. His mind was now filled with many new insights… but these insights weren’t enough! He would need far more if he wished to merge his five stances into the fourth stage of the Omega Sword Dao and then become a Daolord of the Fourth Step.
In the blink of an eye, nineteen days had passed with Ning and the flaming equine locked in combat. This caused the many watching beasts to feel puzzled: “The kid’s actually been able to hang on for nineteen days?”
“That couldn’t have been easy. He’s clearly much weaker now, but he’s still been able to hold on… not bad at all.”
“This will end in defeat, but an honorable one.”
……
Ning continued to dodge and stumble about while defending with his six swords. Suddenly, his movements changed as a sharp light flashed through his eyes. “Time to bring it to an end.”
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
The sword-light once more formed into streams of mist as the power of his strikes increased twofold! With a boom, Ning’s strikes collided against the flaming equine, catching it off-guard and sending it stumbling.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Slash! Slash! Slash! Ning’s six swords suddenly disappeared without a trace, reappearing much closer to the equine when its flames forced them to manifest. The six swords were like a peacock unfurling its plumage. They were absolutely incandescent yet completely ghostly in their movements.
Although the flaming equine was quite valiant and doughty, Ning had used the Heavenbreaker stance and the Blood Drop stance to break through its guard, then used the Shadowless stance to quickly wrap his swords around its bodies. The divine swords transformed to become long and flexible, coiling around the flaming beast and quickly tying the entire thing up securely.
“Impossible.” The trussled flame beast had a look of disbelief on its face. “How could this have happened?”
It clearly recalled what had just happened. It had endured the Omega Sword Dao – Blood Drop, Heavenbreaker, and Shadowless multiple times by now; those techniques were of no threat to it. How was it that this time, it had been defeated?
In truth, if Ning had merely used those three stances by themselves, he wouldn’t have been able to pose a threat to the creature at all. However, when he used all three together in a manner where they reinforced each other, he was able to capitalize on a weakness in the flaming equine’s movements and thus capture and bind it.
An effective combination of attacks could cause one to become quite a bit more dangerous.
“Again! Let’s do it again! I can’t accept this outcome.” The flaming equine was furiously struggling against its bonds, twisting and turning while it roared angrily, “You got lucky just now! I was over-confident. Let’s fight again!”
“Hmph.” When Ning saw the uncowed look on the flaming equine’s face, Ning silently muttered to himself, “If I didn’t want to use you to temper my sword-arts, I would’ve captured you on the very first day.”
“A defeat is a defeat,” an ancient voice rang out. The stately clan leader flew out from within the ranks of the hundred or so flaming equines.
“Clan leader.” The tied-up equine was still rather unwill
ing to accept this outcome. “I-I…”
“Just look at yourself. You’ve been tied up like a baby.” The flaming equine turned to look at Ning. “This young fellow’s sword-arts can switch between being supremely hard and supremely soft, between being fast and being slow, and is defensively impenetrable. It truly has no weaknesses at all. As soon as he unleashed his full power, he instantly captured you. Although it was partially because of your own over-confidence, even if you were careful you still probably wouldn’t have been able to hold out too long.”
Ning was secretly startled. The clan leader really had good judgment. It was true that part of the reason why he had been able to instantly capture the flaming equine was because he hadn’t used the [Heartsword] art during the past ten-plus days. His sudden usage of it and the corresponding increase in power had caught the flaming equine off-guard, allowing him to catch it with ease. If his foe was prepared, Ning still would’ve been able to capture him, but it wouldn’t have been nearly this easy.
“Alright.” The captured equine nodded submissively. The clan leader’s prestige was quite high and had a suppressive effect on it.
“Young fellow, you won. From this moment forth, our two clans will no longer stand in your path.” The flaming equine leader looked at Ning.
Ning waved his hand, retracting the Northbow swords which had been wrapped around the flaming equine and drawing them back into his hands.
“These two battles have benefited me tremendously,” Ning said with a respectful bow.
Whoosh. The similarly stately and reserved leader of the sea dragons flew out of deep blue sea and towards Ning. It landed next to Ning, then let out a laugh: “Hah! It has been a very, very long time since a Daolord has passed the trials.”
“When was the last time a Daolord passed the trials?” Ning asked curiously.
“Very long ago, more than nine hundred thousand chaos cycles ago.” The sea dragon leader peered at Ning. “I think his name was Daolord Coldsky.”