Desolate Era (Book 1 - Book 5)

Within his body, in the location where the dantian had previously been.

This was now a vast, empty, boundless space. This vast, empty space contained a limitless amount of violet ki which filled it. This strange location, quasi-real and quasi-imaginery, was the Violet Palace! Every single person, upon establishing their Zifu Violet Palace, would have the same thing. However, as to what sort of level a person would be able to train to in the future, that depended on each person’s destiny and techniques.

“Absorb!” Ning opened his mouth, and more liquefied elemental essence from the watery pool into Ning’s body like water.

The vast, spread-out space with violet ki instantly had the first drop of elemental ki formed from it. Soon, a large amount of ki was constantly coalescing. Within this boundless, empty, illusory void, a small pool began to form, which quickly transformed into a small pond…elemental ki continued to solidify and accumulate, and the size of the pond continued to grow as well…





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Book 5, Chapter 26 - Stormclouds Approaching


Ji Ning was seated next to the pool of water in the lotus position. His aura was like that of savage waves crashing down. He continued to open his mouth, absorbing the liquefied soul essence within the pool, causing that layer of liquefied essence to quickly deplete.

But suddenly, Ning shut his mouth.

“Whew.”

A smile on his face, Ning opened his eyes. He glanced at the green, liquefied soul essence in the pool. “It let me break through as a peak Xiantian expert, allowing me to establish my Zifu, then solidify my base as an early Zifu Disciple. It has saved me at least a year or two of effort. I used up a third of the liquefied essence!”

In a short period of time, just long enough to boil a pot of tea, not only had he established his Zifu, he had also solifidied his base. Even Ning, at his astonishing rate of improvement, would have needed a year or two.

If I use the remaining two thirds of liquefied essence to train, I might be able to reach the mid-stage as a Zifu Disciple.” Ning understood that since he had already stabilized his base as an early Zifu Disciple, by relying on the remaining liquefied essence, he absolutely had the possibility of breaking through again, but if he really were to rely on the [Water Element Art] to train to the mid-stage as a Zifu Disciple, his future Ki Refining path would become difficult.

After all, the [Water Element Art] was a very low-class technique. It was fine to use it to establish a Zifu, because every person’s Zifu was the same. But if Ning was to use it to break through to the middle of the Zifu level? There would be a very negative effective on the purity of his elemental energy. This single wrong step would be something which he would be unable to undo in the future. In the future, it would become ten times or a hundred times more difficult for him to become a Wanxiang Adept.

“I’ve already made a large leap forward and become a Zifu Disciple! Even if I break through to become a mid-stage Zifu Disciple, the amount of benefit I would see in terms of power would be limited.” Ning pondered to himself. Leaping to a new level was a qualitative transformation! But a small leap within the same level didn’t have that much of an impact on his power.

Xiantian lifeforms could dominate Houtiane experts.

Zifu Disciples could dominate Xiantian lifeforms!

Even an early Zifu Disciple could still dominate most peak Xiantian lifeforms. This was a qualitative difference. To battle someone at a higher level? Difficult!

But if an early Zifu Disciple were to battle a mid-stage Zifu Disciple…it would be hard to say who the victor was. This sort of small gap within the same level didn’t result in huge differences in strength.

“Even if I use up the remaining liquid, the amount of power I would gain would be limited, and it would destroy my future path. Not worth it.” With a flip of his hand, Ning made a talisman appear, which had a Fiendgod word on it; ‘Right’. This was the control talisman for the Aquatic Manor. Ning stared at it, an eager light flickering in his eyes. “Although I’ve established my Zifu, and I am confident that if I were to meet Dong Ziqi again, I would be able to suppress him and perhaps even kill him…this time, I will have to face not just Dong Ziqi by himself, but an entire group of Snowdragon Mountain experts.”

“I hope this Aquatic Manor…will allow my power to rise to a new level.”

“Given that this Aquatic Manor was able to produce the likes of Immortal Juhua, it should be extraordinary.” Ning said eagerly. A drop of green elemental ki passed from his hand into the talisman, quickly binding it.

A surge of ancient-feeling power seemed to awaken, causing Ning to feel the desire to worship it from the depths of his heart.

“What a fellow.” Ningn stared at the talisman. “I really wonder who the first master of the Aquatic Manor was.”

“Let’s go.”

Ning immediately arose, while at the same time, with a flip of his hand, he produced a palm-sized jade bottle. This was an unranked magic treasure. Although it was the size of his palm, it was able to contain within it thousands of kilograms of fine wine. Ning had quite a few storage-type magic treasures like this one. For example, when Ning had undergone the Fiendgod Bloodforging process in the Aquatic Manor, he had used one such gourd to contain a thousand kilograms of blood.

“Go in.” Ning stared at the liquefied elemental essence in the pool. Summoning his divine will, ripple, ripple…the liquefied essence rose into the air, passing through the neck of the jade bottle. Every single drop was put in, leaving not a single drop remaining.

“I wonder which Immortal left behind this stone room.” Ning, before leaving, took a final glance around the room. “It has caused such a calamity to my Ji clan, but it also allowed me to establish my Zifu in advance.”

Ning understood in his heart that this wasn’t the fault of that Immortal; if he had to blame someone, he could only blame the Ji clan for being too weak.

“Whoosh!”

He left the stone room. Ning then used his Waterflame Lotus, which swiveled about him, carving a path straight out from within this elemental ore mine. He quickly charged upwards at a constant pace. Ning knew that it would take some time for him to charge a hundred kilometers upwards, and so two magic treasures appeared in his hands; one was a palm-sized flying boat magic treasure, while the other was a pair of black wing-type magic treasures.

The flying boat had belonged to Bei Zishan, while the black wings had belonged to Ju San. They were both ranked magic treasures.

“Now that I’ve reached the Zifu level! I am able to use these ranked magic treasures.” Ning understood that when reaching a new level, one benefit was a qualitative improvement to his personal strength, while another benefit was that the type of magic treasures he could use had also risen. These two benefits, combined, made it so that Zifu Disciples could absolutely dominate Xiantian lifeforms.

……..

Boom!

A petal of the Waterflame Lotus burst forth from the ground, with Ning behind it.

“Ji Ning.” In the distance were Ji Ninefire, Granny Shadow, and the others. They had long since dispersed and recollected the surrounding bewildering formation, and the sight of the desolate mountain forests had returned. Only, in parts of the forest, the traces of the earlier battle could still be seen.

“Patriarch. Father.” Ning hurriedly walked over.