Desolate Era (Book 28 - Book 30)

Swish! Ning stood there in the desert, sending out yet another stabbing strike. In the instant in which his stab came to a halt, the sword-light around Ning’s sword twisted just slightly. This twisting represented the true, marvelous nature of the new Blood Drop stance! The reason why a wooden drill was able to drill through a wooden board was because it had to pass through the resistance of the wood.

Actually, it had to pass through the resistance of the air itself. Even in the emptiness of the space, there were forms of energy that would pose a degree of resistance, and even in true emptiness of the void, there would be the ripples of energy that came from the various prime essences of the universe, such as the prime essence of the sword, the prime essence of metal, the prime essence of wood, or the prime essence of space.

Every single place was filled with traces of the Dao. All of them served as barriers or forms of resistance that laid countless invisible strands around you. So long as any trace of the Dao existed in a place, Ning’s sword would have to go through those layers of resistance. There was no way it could ever reach an infinitely fast speed! Thus, Ning’s current stance was a stance of destruction, of piercing through anything which sought to bar his path!

His sword was like that wooden drill which forcibly drilled through that wooden board.

In fact, Ning’s stance even had the effect of destroying the Dao itself! It was capable of destroying the Dao of Space, allowing him to enter a separate spatial dimension.

“When my sword strikes out, nothing can bar its path. After I am able to strengthen it so that nothing can stop it, not the Five Elements, Yin and Yang, or even spacetime… then that is when this stance of mine should be comparable to the strongest stance which Emperor Mirrorsnow left behind.” Ning still remembered the image of his master, Emperor Mirrorsnow, displaying the most powerful stance of the [Heartseal] sword-art. That, too, was a strike that completely surpassed the limits of space and time.

Emperor Mirrorsnow had relied on that stance to gain eternity!

“The faster you rush, the slower you go. In the past, all I wanted to do was strike faster and faster… but that isn’t real speed.” Many thoughts flickered through Ning’s mind. “Many cultivators and many mortals try to seize every moment of every day, but they still end up failing.”

“Sometimes, if you slow down and catch your breath, then explode with full power, you might be more successful. The Dao can be found in life itself. It can be found in all things.” Ning smiled.

In comprehending the Dao, one had to fully understand life in all its myriad forms, to understand the essence of all things. If you did so, then when the moment came you would be able to see through to the true nature of things.

This sword-stance Ning had created destroyed all other Daos that barred its path. It seemed slow, but in reality it was now faster than ever before.

“My Blood Drop stance is the fastest of all swords, a sword of destruction, a sword that annihilates all other Daos. It is a stance that seeks to raise the sword to the ultimate level.” Ning nodded slowly. “Now, of the five stances of [Brightmoon], my Yin-Yang sword-intent and my Blood Drop sword-intent have taken form.”





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Book 28, Chapter 5 - Ji Nings Second Disciple


Within the mountainous forest. That gray-templed youth continued to work on his simple tools, while Ji Ning continued to stare at him while holding his fish bucket in one hand and his fishing rod in the other.

“How odd. He looks like a youth, but he speaks in such a grandiose manner. I’m just here working on some furniture for myself, and he’s been staring at me for more than an hour,” the young man muttered to himself. “Still… from the looks of him, he probably isn’t an ordinary mortal. How could an ordinary mortal youth be fishing by himself in the deep mountains? His demeanor seems quite extraordinary as well.”

Ning just continued to stare, and the young man didn’t say anything about it.

Suddenly, Ning let out a laugh as the sword-light in his eyes completely faded away. In truth, no ordinary mortal would even be able to see the sword-light generated from the visualizations he had just performed.

“I just came here out of curiosity on my way home from fishing… who would’ve thought that I would’ve mastered yet another stance of [Brightmoon] as a result?” Ning laughed and shook his head, his gaze still focused on the young man. “Although he doesn’t realize it… that drilling he did earlier helped inspire me to master this stance. I have to repay him for that.”

Ning had already taken a liking to the man due to his extraordinary heart. Now that the young man had also helped him comprehend the Dao, Ning decided to bless him with some transformative luck.

“First, I’ll take a look at his history and see what he experienced. Only then will I know what he truly needs.” Ning’s gaze rested on the young man’s figure as he began to visualize all of the young man’s past experiences.

Although he wanted to thank and reward this young mortal, he had to first know what the man wanted.

After seeing the man’s history, Ning couldn’t help but shake his head. This young man’s true name was Yang Quding, and he came from an excellent family background. His mother had died when he was young, resulting in his father doting on him. Ever since he was young, he had been covered in brocade cloth and jade treasures. He was the son of a rich merchant, after all. He was born with great cleverness, and his father had once wanted to come up with a way for him to become an Immortal cultivator. Alas, Yang Quding didn’t have a so-called ‘spiritual root’. Ning, however, knew that the so-called ‘spiritual root’ was actually linked to one’s affinity for the natural energy of Heaven and Earth.

The greater an affinity you had for that natural energy, the easier it would be for you to absorb it. Ever since Ning was young, for example, he always had a close affinity for water. But of course, after he trained in the [Ninehorn Lightning Serpent] his body gained a high affinity towards lightning. Alas, Yang Quding had absolutely terrible elemental affinity.

If you were only able to absorb 1% of how much others could absorb, it would naturally be far more difficult for you to engage in cultivation. Even worse, this continent possessed very sparse elemental energy to begin with, making cultivation difficult for all. For someone in a place like this to absorb elemental energy at such a ridiculously low rate… the chances of becoming a successful cultivator were incredibly poor.

For the sake of allowing his son to become an Immortal cultivator, Yang Quding’s father had paid an enormous price. In the end, he had perished while escorting a shipment of valuables. This had been a tremendous blow to Yang Quding. After failing to become an Immortal cultivator, Yang Quding focused all of his efforts on continuing his father’s legacy as a merchant. He was quite clever and capable, and in just a few short years he had become a huge tycoon. In fact, he even employed two Foundation cultivators as well as several weaker Qi Condensation cultivators. He eventually married a woman as well.

But then… one day, a young, evil man entered the city which Yang Quding was in. He took a fancy to Yang Quding’s wife, and desired to kidnap her and make her his concubine. However, Yang Quding wasn’t an easy person to deal with; he had Foundation cultivators by his side, and he was able to bring a stop to this!

The problem was that this evil man had an extraordinary background. When Yang Quding looked into this man’s background, he immediately befriended a Core Formation elder of a major sect, giving him many precious treasures and eventually becoming that Core Formation elder’s adopted son. But of course, this was only in name! What really mattered was that with this protector of a ‘father’, his opponent wouldn’t dare to be too rash.