Desolate Era (Book 11 - Book 15)

There were some Immortal cultivators who, believing their Zifu’s to be damaged, would steal the bodies of others. This sort of possession, however… had a major problem. It was that the affinity between the body and the soul would be very weak. Generally speaking, most bodies were not of very high quality. Some Immortal cultivators, upon finding a good body, would seize it. Once their affinity with it reached a certain level, they would be extremely satisfied.

However, the likes of the Darkvalley Pearl, the Sole-Ki Pearl of Primalwater, and other such naturally occurring spirit-treasures were truly perfect vessels. Because they had never been inhabited by a soul, once a soul did enter them, they would merge together perfectly. In terms of quality, as naturally occurring spirit-treasures, they were of course of superb quality.

“It was lucky for me that Youngflame Nong had procured this. If I were to search for it on my own, where the hell would I even start?” Ji Ning had begun his refining process, and as he did, he instantly realized how wonderful this pearl was. He couldn’t help but sigh to himself, “Youngflame Nong must have prepared this for himself. However, in the end, his efforts ended up being for my sake.”

Sole-Ki Pearls of Primalwater were filled with elemental essence to begin with; there was thus no need to absorb elemental ki from the surrounding world. One only needed to refine the ki within it. Ning was currently rising in power at a rapid rate.

BOOM!

A world suddenly came into being within the pearl. A Zifu region was born, and large amounts of elemental water essence began to transform, causing the Zifu region to expand in size.

Stars. The Moon. The Golden Crown. Three major Manifestations appeared… and the body immediately broke through to the Wanxiang level.

“This sort of ‘training’ truly is wonderful.” The old black bull, watching, couldn’t help but sigh in amazement, “What tremendous speed.”

“It’s just like when a reincarnated Immortal regains his memories. He already had the sufficient insights and a strong enough Dao-heart. Given that the Sole-Ki Pearl of Primalwater has condensed water elemental essence within it to begin with, it wouldn’t even surprise me if he trained all the way to the Primal stage,” the giant yellow bear said. These sorts of treasures, which contained elemental essence within them, would generally allow those who used them to reach the Primal stage. One couldn’t help but sigh at how marvelous the treasures of the natural world could be.

“He’s about to make a breakthrough,” the old black bull suddenly said.

After just an hour, the Sole-Ki Pearl of Primalwater had risen in power from the Xiantian level to the peak of the Wanxiang level. It was currently moving towards the Primal level.

Within the pearl. There was a vast, empty void here. The Zifu Lake was almost infinitely vast, and within the sky of this world, thousands of stars, a Jade Rabbit, and a Golden Crow hung in the sky. The aura of this place was even more powerful than the aura of Ning’s true body. This was because this body had truly reached the absolute peak of the peak Wanxiang stage!

“Arise!”

Ning’s soul was above the thousands of stars, at the very heart of the void in his Zifu region. He willed it… and instantly, the sea of elemental energy in his Zifu began to frantically condense into trillions of specks of purified light that wildly soared into the skies, towards those stars, the moon, and the sun, all of which were beginning to move in accordance with a secret rhythm. In the instant in which they all merged into the heavenly bodies, the stars, the Jade Rabbit, and the Golden Crow, all of which had already reached their limit long ago, suddenly transformed into pillars of light that shot downwards.

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

Tens of thousands of pillars of light, some thin, some thick. The pillars of light created from the countless stars appeared very thin, while the pillars of light from the Golden Crow and the Moon Rabbit were clearly far thicker.

The countless pillars of light all focused on the central part of the Zifu, beginning to slowly form into an enormous creature.

The enormous creature was beginning to take shape. The light from the Golden Crow was focusing on its head, forming a tortoise-like beast. The light from the Jade Rabbit was beginning to focus on the other side, forming a serpent’s head. The countless beams of light from the stars were beginning to form the body of the creature. The massive thing began to take clearer and clearer form; it was a mutant beast that looked like a turtle with a snake intertwined within it.

This was a legendary creature; the Turtle-Snake!

Any living creature, upon breaking through to the Primal level, would form a Primal Turtle-Snake.

Rumble…

In that instant, the enormous Turtle-Snake suddenly seemed to move. It actually began to crawl downwards, through the void, until it reached the elemental sea. Within that vast elemental sea of energy, the enormous, island-like Turtle-Snake began to slowly swim about.

“The Turtle-Snake has been formed. Let the Primal soul descend!”

Instantly, Ning’s soul, which had remained hovering in the sky this entire time, descended directly into the enormous Turtle-Snake. As it entered the creature’s body, it felt an incomparably comfortable sensation. It was as though the body of the Turtle-Snake was innately nurturing to souls; Ning could even feel his own soul begin to strengthen at an alarming speed.

“What a shocking speed of advancement. The rate at which my soul is strengthening is even faster than the rate at which it was healing when I visualized the image of Mother Nuwa.” Ning sighed in absolute amazement. He finally understood why it was that although many Immortal cultivators had fairly weak souls at the Wanxiang stage, upon reaching the Primal stage, they would all quickly come to possess divine sense.

It was precisely because, within the Primal Turtle-Snake, the soul would strengthen at an astonishing rate! It was like grass being sown into mud, then quickly growing out of it.

Rumble…

The Turtle-Snake swiveled there. Yin and Yang intersected on the back of the Turtle-Snake, which is to say, it’s shell. Suddenly, a golden flame emerged, blazing with incomparable heat and yet not harming the Primal Turtle-Snake in the slightest. This was the ‘Primal Fire’ which every single Primal Daoist was capable of using.

Whooooooosh. The enormous Turtle-Snake swam about happily in the vast sea of elemental ki. The eyes of both the turtle-head and the snake-head both seemed extremely lively and clever, as though they were true living creatures.

As for the thousands of stars, the Golden Crow, and the Jade Rabbit, they continued to send down their condensed elemental essence. Bathed by it, the Turtle-Snake was still continuing to slowly grow.

After another long period of time, the stars, the Golden Crow, and the Jade Rabbit finally stopped sending down essence.

“The early Primal stage!” The giant Primal Turtle-Snake spoke out in the human tongue. “The energy within the Sole-Ki Pearl of Primalwater truly is remarkable. It was only used up after I trained all the way to the early Primal stage, then solidified my base.”

……

In the instant he had become a Primal Daoist, there had actually also been a sudden change in the surrounding elemental ki aura of the underwater estate. In addition, the ancient, eternal aura of the Dao itself had also descended.

“He made the breakthrough.” The giant yellow bear and the old black bull both laughed. Very soon, mist suddenly began to emerge from the pearl, which had been hovering in midair… and then the mist solidified into a black-robed Ji Ning.

“Greetings, seniors,” the black-robed Ji Ning laughed.

“Take a look at your original body,” the giant yellow bear said with a smirk.

The black-robed Ning turned his head. The original Ning turned his head as well. Their gazes intersected.

“Hahaha…” The two both laughed.

Actually, their memories were linked; it was as though one was the left hand, while the other was the right hand. As they exchanged glances, their thoughts were identical; this was, indeed, an extremely marvelous feeling.

“Greetings, fellow Daoist,” the black-robed Ning said.