Desolate Era (Book 19 - Book 21)

The black-robed Ning stood off to one side, staring at the Ninefire Lava and the Iceheart Pith. He secretly sighed to himself, “I still have quite a bit of Ninefire Lava, but there’s not much Iceheart Pith left. After this, I’ll only have around fifty thousand kilograms of Iceheart Pith left.”


His main body had been destroyed. Thanks to chaos nectar, Iceheart Pith, and Ninefire Lava, he was able to completely heal himself in a single short month! However, if the main body was destroyed yet again…he didn’t have enough Iceheart Pith, nor did he have much chaos nectar left. If he wanted to recover from it a second time, he would probably need an extremely long period of time to do so. The same had been true of Youngflame Freak in the past; if too many of his bodies died, he would need an extremely long period of time to recover.

A month later. The seventeen white-robed youths had all seen their golden pellet Jindans upgraded, and they now once more used the [One True Body] technique to merge together.

“I’m back to full power.”

A hint of a murderous look flashed through the white-robed Ning’s eyes.

He would never forget the sight of the Godking annihilating Yu Wei’s soul. That sight would probably haunt him for the rest of his life.

“Godking. I’m not strong enough yet, so just keep waiting for now. I’ll be back.” Ning’s heart was filled with the utmost resolve.

“Let’s go.” Swoosh. The white-robed youth collected the black-robed Ning, then flew outwards, leaving behind just a single clone to continue using the Five Elements Cauldron. Ning would use this clone to as he had in the past, to serve as a base template for slowly rebuilding his other bodies if his main body was destroyed. Thus, Ning absolutely would not permit this body to be merged with the others through the [One True Body] technique. If he did that and then died, his death would be a true death.

After flying for a while, the white-robed Ning’s speed began to lessen. A series of stone steles lay in the grasslands before him, like monoliths that jutted out from the plains. These stone steles surrounded an unspeakably beautiful jade palace.

“I was gravely wounded, which was a disaster, but the chance to fight against Swordfather Darklight, Daofather Shadowless, and Daomother Devilhand was a blessing,” Ning mused to himself. Although he was able to battle against True Gods and True Immortals in the prisonworld, the ones that were imprisoned here generally had yet to master any of the Heavenly Daos.

If they did, they would become Ancestral Immortals!

It was precisely because they hadn’t been able to master a Heavenly Dao that these True Gods and True Immortals, in terms of raw power, were generally just comparable to ordinary Daofathers. Occcasionally, a few possessed divine abilities that allowed them to release the power of a elite Daofather, but the likes of Swordfather Darklight and Daofather Shadowless were experts even amongst their elite Daofather peers. As for Daomother Devilhand, she was an overlord-class figure!

Although the Daofathers of the Three Realms had relatively weaker foundations than the denizens of Pangaea, in terms of insights into the Dao, they were far superior. In terms of insights into the Dao, only a minority of the Ancestral Immortals and Elder Gods who were imprisoned in Prisonworld 17 were a match for the likes of Daomother Devilhand.

Daomother Devilhand’s palm-arts were reputed to be number one in all the Three Realms, superior to even that of Lord Tathagata the Buddha.

When Ning fought against her, he had naturally been considerably enlightened and stimulated.

“I need to carefully think over what I saw and quietly ponder it all. Perhaps I’ll be able to make use of this setback to reach the fifth stage of swordforce.” After Ning entered the jade shrine, he sat down on a prayer mat woven from a type of Chaos treasure known as Winterheart Grass. His heart and soul quickly grew calm, and he began to engage in silent meditation and reflection. He thought back through all the things he had seen when battling against Swordfather Darklight, Daofather Shadowless, and Daomother Devilhand.





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Book 21, Chapter 31 - Fighting, Killing


Daofather Shadowless, in terms of power, was slightly superior to Swordfather Darklight, but that was primarily because of his divine abilities. In terms of raw technique and skill, Swordfather Darklight was actually superior.

His sword-arts were the strongest sword-arts the Seamless Gate had, and his assassination techniques were second to none. Alas…he had died under Houyi’s hatchet.

Ji Ning pondered over Swordfather Darklight’s sword-arts in close detail, replaying every single sword-stroke in his mind and learning much from them. Daomother Devilhand’s palm-arts…although there was no way for Ning to understand them, he had been able to see some of the underlying mysteries behind them. As quietly reflected on them now, he was able to discover more and more of their secrets.

By the time Ning opened his eyes, nine days had gone past.

The white-robed Ning left the jade shrine. With a wave of his finger, he materialized a longsword before him.

Swish! Swish! Swish! Sword-light flickered in a light, graceful manner. It was occasionally sharp and valiant, occasionally strange and mysterious, and occasionally brutal and dominating.

“I can clearly sense that I’m just a tiny step away…but why is it that I’m just not able to break through?” Ning shook his head, murmuring to himself. He had thought that the insights he had gained from this fight would allow him to reach the fifth stage of swordforce. Daomother Devilhand was an overlord-class expert, after all, and she had mastered four of the Heavenly Daos of the Seamless Chaosworld: Earth, Fire, Water, Wind. A chance to face her in a life-and-death battle was a rare opportunity indeed.

When Ning had been meditating, he could sense that his improvements had been quite remarkable. And yet, he was still unable to reach the fifth stage of swordforce.

“To advance from the fourth stage of swordforce to the fifth stage really is extraordinarily difficult.” Ning had a sudden thought, and he immediately waved his hand. Boom! Boom! Boom! One enormous goldstar bead after another came crashing down upon the flat plains, falling down around the scattered stone steles. After all 3600 goldstar beads landed, the Nine Chaos Seals began to manifest atop them.

Ning stood there, carefully staring at the giant goldstar beads and the stone steles covered in sword-arts.

The stone steles had been left behind by World God Northrest for his successors. As for the Nine Chaos Seals of the goldstar beads, they were even more arcane.

He spent half a day staring at them. Then, Ning shook his head. “Come back.” He waved his hand, instantly causing the jade shrine, the ninety-eight stone steles, and 3600 goldstar beads to all be collected.

“In the end, life-and-death battles are what truly matter.”

Swoosh. The white-robed Ning instantly transformed into a lightning serpent, speeding off into the distance at high speed.

A short while later…

“Eh?” A skinny, short man with horns on his forehead was seated in the lotus position in the desert. He raised his golden eyes, staring intently at Ning. He laughed coldly, “Overseer, why have you come again? Last time, you used a pile of Protocosmic spirit-treasures to threaten me. What are you planning to do this time? Try everything you have. You want me to submit to you, a trifling True Immortal? You are absolutely dreaming! You-…eh? This time, you’ve completely suppressed and withdrawn your aura to the point where even I cannot sense it. Did the other True Gods and True Immortals berate you so much that you ended up deciding to hide that puny little aura of yours?”