Desolate Era (Book 16 - Book 18)

……

Yu Wei sat there in the lotus position at the beach. The seas and the skies were the same color, giving an impression of a infinitely vast firmament. Her heart was extremely calm right now.

She was nurturing her Dao-heart.

She was quietly preparing…

Based on what Patriarch Lu had said, once she overcame her tribulation and became a Celestial Immortal, she would leave his tutelage.

“Junior apprentice-brother, I’ll undergo my tribulation soon. Afterwards, I’ll go seek you out right away.” A hint of a smile played at the corner of Yu Wei’s mouth. Ji Ning was the warmest memory in her heart; when Ji Ning had returned to the Grand Xia, Patriarch Lu had naturally informed her once he had learned of this. However, Yu Wei didn’t have any idea that Ji Ning was currently trapped in a danger zone.

The term ‘Three Realms’ referred to the Heaven Realm, the Netherworld Kingdom, and the Mortal Realm.

The Heaven Realm and the Netherworld Kingdom were extremely vast, while the three thousand major worlds and trillion minor worlds of the Mortal Realm were as countless as the stars of the Milky Way. And beyond all of these realms…there was the vast, limitless Void, an empty region that was even greater than the Three Realms themselves. Within the Void were two supreme stars, the Solar Star and the Lunar Star, as well as many other stars.

Within the infinite Void, there were countless danger zones, including some which would cause even True Immortals and Empyrean Gods to perish. In fact, there were some places which even True Gods and Daofathers would hesitate to venture into, preferring to simply watch them from a distance.

The three thousand major worlds and trillion minor worlds were like tiny little islands or reefs located within the infinite Void. The three thousand major worlds were like large islands, while the trillion minor worlds were reefs. At the very center of the three thousand islands and trillion reefs, there was an enormous ‘continent’ located within the infinite void.

This ‘continent’ was countless times greater than any of the major worlds. There, space and time clashed and twisted against each other…

It truly was a terrifying place. And at the places where the chaotic continent and the empty Void intersected, there were constant waves of void-ripples that spread out.

Rumble…

It was much like how, on a mortal world, where the waters of the ocean met the land, enormous oceanic waves would slam down against the land.

The waves of Void slammed repeatedly against the margins of the vast, chaotic continent…and the constant collisions formed a region of utter annihilation. The Nihilum Zone!

……

The Nihilum Zome.

Rumble…

A streak of white light suddenly flashed by, transporting a youth to this location.

“AAAARGH!”

Pain.

Pain like he had never experienced before. For mortals, once their level of pain reached a certain threshold, they could actually die from it. As for Immortal cultivators…the terrifying agony brought by the first round of punishments from the karmic sinflames was an agony that was applied directly to their souls. There was no escape, nowhere to hide. The pain of it vastly outstripped the pain of one’s soul being torn apart.

There was a limit to how much pain the body and the soul could take.

The amount of pain the heart could suffer, however, was limitless.

Once the Dao-heart collapsed due to agony, the soul would quickly burnt to ash.

“No. No…” Ning was struggling to stay alive. He was able to remain just barely conscious, but that hint of consciousness was simply too weak; he wasn’t even able to pay any attention to his surroundings.

Finally, the increasing amount of pain reached a peak, a plateau.

Instantly…the pain vanished.

Ning was rather stunned. To go from a peak of pain to no pain at all…this, too, caused Ning’s Dao-heart to tremble.

“This place is…” Ning finally managed to look at his surroundings.

Blackness surrounded him.

Aided by the incomparably dim wisps of light sent forth by the distant Solar Star, Ning was able to just barely see that the darkness arounded him seemed to surge and ebb like flows of water. The void waves…they stretched off into infinity, while Ning was nothing more than a tiny little speck in the midst of a vast, endless void sea.

Rumble…a void wave came sweeping over. Ning felt his entire body tremble; the terrifying power of the wave vastly surpassed the combined power of all the Celestial Immortals of the Youngflame clan.

Immediately afterwards…

Ning’s entire world went dark.

……

“Young master.” An utterly ravishing beauty, dressed in thin, gauzy clothes, was looking straight towards Ning. She gently loosened her clothes, allowing them to slide downwards, half-revealing her body. She then gently licked at one of her fingertips, then used that finger to flick at her her shoulders, causing her clothes to slip down even further. Instantly, her clothes slipped all the way down, revealing her completely bare body. She walked over slowly, her large, limpid eyes staring longingly towards Ning. “Young master, I want it…”

This woman’s appearance was a mixture of the best aspects of Cloudjade, Autumn Leaf, Yu Wei, and Ninelotus’ appearances.

However, she was even more alluring and even more enchanting; she completely aroused Ning’s desire.

“F*ck off.”

Ning remained clear-minded; he knew that this was an illusion created by the descent of the karmic sinflames. This was the second tribulation brought by the sinflames; the ‘lust tribulation’ of the ‘red dust tribulations’. Once one became enmeshed into the illusions, one would truly die. He immediately struck out with his arm, intending to smash the woman before him into dust.

However…Ning suddenly realized that his body had become extremely weak. When his palm struck out, it only carried the amount of power an ordinary mortal would have. The nude beauty stretched her own hand out, immediately catching Ning’s arm. She whispered softly, “Are you shy?” She immediately pressed Ning down to the ground…

……

When gripped by the throes of lust, one’s Dao-heart could indeed be shaken. Ning was completely unable to fight back; all he could do was strive to maintain his Dao-heart, strive to resist what was happening.

“It seems this humble one’s services weren’t enough. However…this humble one has six sisters who are even better.” The woman lying across Ning’s chest whispered gently into his ears. Instantly, six more beauties appeared in the distance. Each had their own unique charms; truly, beauties like these were almost impossible to encounter the real world. In addition, each were exactly the type of woman which Ning liked the most, and also the type of woman that stirred his lust the most.

He knew that this was all just part of the ‘lust tribulation’.

But…how could the lust tribulation be so easily overcome? It was much like how, in real life, many people knew that drugs were harmful, but upon having tasted it once, they would never be able to abstain from them ever again. By the same principle…a person might know that his soul would be destroyed if he succumbed to lust, but succumbing to lust was a very basic part of human nature. There was no way for a person to completely rid himself of lust; all a person could do was suppress it. However…when one was unable to resist, one would still be repeatedly enticed and aroused by lust.

“Powdered skeletons. All of them are nothing more than skeletons; they are transformed toads that have pustules on their skin. All of them have intentionally transformed into this appearance to deceive me.” Ning repeatedly mumbled these words to himself, continuously and forcibly suppressing his own desires.





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Book 16, Chapter 3 - Iceheart