Desolate Era

by RWX

  Sword Immortal world. Five Treasured Peaks.

  The five towering peaks pierced high into the clouds as always. Ning was floating atop a cloud, standing in front of the stone walls of the third mountain peak and reading the third chapter of the [Five Treasures] sword-art. During his previous fifty-one years of cultivation, Ning’s swordforce had reached and surpassed the third level, and he had also long ago mastered the complete second chapter.

  In truth, when he had gone to meet Daofather Hasbear, he had done so with a sense of pressure weighing down upon him.

  “We have to win the Endwar. We can’t lose. If we lose, the entire Nuwa Alliance will be annihilated, as will the entire human race.” Ning didn’t even dare think about what would happen if they lost. Discarding those thoughts for now, he turned to carefully read through the third chapter of the [Five Treasures].

  The [Five Treasures] sword-art was extraordinarily profound. This third chapter…it caused Ning to sigh in amazement. In fact, he couldn’t help but unconsciously begin to include some of the essence of the third chapter into his own [Brightmoon] sword-art.

  ……

  Within a vast world of darkness.

  The Godking, seated atop his towering throne, gently strummed the fingers of his left hand against the armrest. Tap. Tap. Tap. The tapping sounds echoed throughout the entire dark world.

  “I didn’t expect that Ji Ning would end up making a play like this. He actually gave up alien Outsider techniques to Fuxi, who developed a formation just for him and gave him 100,000 Celestial Immortals and 10 million Loose Immortals.” The Godking pondered silently to himself. “What sort of techniques did he hand over? And what sort of a formation did Fuxi give him?”

  Although their intelligence methods were formidable, there was no way it could be detailed to such a level. They weren’t even able to find out the details of the formation Fuxi had created.

  “And it seems Ji Ning has finished developing his own sword-art.”

  “Mmm…Swordfather Darklight evaluates it as being extraordinary. Third-stage swordforce? This kid, Ji Ning…through sparring with those puny little cultivators, he actually ended up reaching the third stage of swordforce. Sheesh…” The Godking shook his head. He himself didn’t know much regarding the Dao of the Sword. Swordfather Darklight, however, was a terrifyingly powerful member of the Seamless Alliance who, in the Seamless Chaosworld, had been their number one expert in the Dao of the Sword.

  However, the Seamless Chaosworld and the Pangu Chaosworld were both destroyed, resulting in the birth of the Three Realms…and by then, everyone acknowledged that he was a bit inferior to Daofather Fuju!

  “I knew that Ji Ning was formidable in heartforce, but he’s actually this impressive in swordforce as well? Still, he’s merely at the third stage; that’s nothing.” The Godking shook his head. “Not much of a threat.”

  And then, the Godking cast Ji Ning to the back of his mind, turning his attention to other matters.

  He was responsible for the entire Seamless Gate, and compared to his many other concerns, Ji Ning truly was a minor figure.

  ……

  The stone stele. The prisonworld.

  The prisonworld held two of Ning’s bodies. One was dealing with a True God, while the other was dealing with the female True Immortal.

  “Eh?” Ji Ning opened his eyes, ceasing his meditations on his sword-art. He looked downwards.

  The bottle, gourd, bracelet, and other magic treasures around him continued to unleash torrents of fire, water, and wind against the foe below. The enemy’s magic treasure was shuddering, and its defensive force was beginning to weaken.

  “Fifty-six years. Finally, she’s unable to hold on any longer.” Ning felt a hint of eagerness in his heart. Perhaps this female True Immortal would be able to help him by providing him with extremely powerful techniques or magic treasures.

  Ning willed it, and whoosh! Instantly, the fire, water, and wind all returned to their respective treasures. Everything returned to normal. Ning definitely didn’t want to accidentally roast the woman to death!

  “Submit.” Ning looked at the female True Immortal.

  The female True Immortal dispersed her own magic treasure as well. She gave Ning a cold look.

  Ning could sense how resolute she was. He couldn’t help but sigh and say, “Why must you be like this? You are going to be imprisoned here for countless ages, no matter what; so what if you choose to serve me? All I need are some of your magic treasures and some of the techniques you hold in your memories. I won’t harm you or lower your own personal power at all. In the future, you’ll have a chance to escape this place.”

  “Stop dreaming.” The female True Immortal continued to look at Ning coldly. “You lowly, crawling insect…forget about making me, Shui Jin, submit!”

  “Empress Jin?” Ning was stunned.

  When he had scoured True Immortal Winterpeak’s memories, he had learned of some of the more famous True Gods and True Immortals of the Pangaea chaos-kingdom. The woman before him was extremely emaciated, and her aura was unfamiliar to Ning. This was why, prior to this moment, Ning had no idea as to who she was. She was an extremely domineering True Immortal who was even more powerful than Winterpeak, and so she was referred to by others as ‘Empress Jin’.

  “Empress Jin…” A reminiscent look appeared in the female True Immortal’s eyes. “That’s all in the past now. All in the past. Pangaea is gone. Everything is gone.”

  “You want me, Shui Jin, to submit? Submit to someone as weak as you? Hahaha…ahahaha…” She began to laugh loudly, laugh wildly, laugh in a dreary, desolate way…

  Whoosh.

  She suddenly vanished, her soul dispersing. The only thing left behind was the echoes of her desolate laughter, which reverberated in the empty world.

  Ning couldn’t help but sigh upon seeing this. Upon learning that she was Empress Jin, Ning had realized right away that it was highly unlikely that she would submit. In truth, every single top-tier True Immortal possessed incredible pride and self-confidence. The only reason why there was even a chance for them to submit to Ning was because their souls had been tormented by their chaos cycles of imprisonment within this prisonworld. Some, however, would still rather die than submit!

  But despite this, Ning didn’t waver in his decision.

  He needed to acquire more power from this prisonworld. He wanted to survive this tribulation, to survive the Endwar. He wanted to rescue his wife, to ensure that his daughter Brightmoon would be able to live a long and happy life. He wanted to ensure that his master and his other loved ones would survive as well. Thus…Ning would only give these alien Outsiders a single chance to survive: Submit to him! If they refused to choose to submit, then…they could all go die!

  * * *

  Book 19, Chapter 44 - Empyrean Gods and Celestial Immortals

  After the female True Immortal known as ‘Empress Jin’ perished, Ji Ning carefully went through the relics that she had left behind. Although his gains were significant, he didn’t find any important techniques or chaos items which he was in desperate need of. Clearly, prior to coming to this prisonworld, she had exchanged items that she couldn’t use for large amounts of spirit pills and Immortal pills. Here in this prisonworld, those were what really mattered.

  “Although I used six types of treasures at the same time to unleash fire, water, and wind against her…clearly, the power was vastly inferior to that of the Eight Fires Qiankun World.” Ning shook his head. “I’ll let my other clone deal with the True Gods and True Immortals. I should have this one deal with the Empyrean Gods and Celestial Immortals. Although their treasures are much less valuable, and although the chances that they are in possession of a powerful technique are very low, at least I can kill them or force them to submit in a much shorter period of time. I can also use them to train and temper my [Brightmoon] sword-art.”

  Ning had already comprehended 90% of the third chapter of the [Five Treasures] sword-art. The remaining
parts were becoming increasingly difficult to understand. He would need to rely on repeated, actual battles so as to gain the insights he needed to better understand the [Five Treasures].

  In addition, he created the [Brightmoon] sword-art through dueling weak Immortal cultivators. Only by battling against experts on his level in actual, life-and-death duels would he be able to further perfect this sword-art!

  Obviously, outside the prisonworld it would be hard for him to find so many experts on his level to spar against. The prisonworld, however, had many.

  “Overseer?” A skinny, weak-looking youth sat there, head raised as he stared at the distant Ning. “A True Immortal…but with such a weak aura? Strange. Logically speaking, a position as important as ‘Overseer’ should be given to core members of Pangaea. How could a core member be a True Immortal of the weakest possible level? Can it be that the prisonworld has fallen into enemy hands?”

  “DIE!” Ning let out a loud roar, and his twin swords howled through the skies towards the youth.

  Upon seeing Ning attack him without even speaking to him, the skinny youth was shocked…and then a mad look appeared in his eyes. “So it really is an enemy. You want me to die? Puny True Immortal, you go die first!”

  The skinny youth let out a low growl as the muscles on his tiny frame suddenly began to bulge out. His rune-covered skin became pure-white as he instantly transformed from a skinny, beggar-like youth to a figure that looked like a god of war. His body went blurry for a moment, then four different faces appeared on him, as well as a total of eight arms, each of which was wielding a strange, black, staff-like weapon. He growled, then pounced towards Ning. “Outsider, die!”

  Ning viewed these people as alien Outsiders. They, too, viewed Ning as an alien Outsider!

  Clang! Clang! Clang!

  Sword-light flashed everywhere, as did dancing staff-shadows.

  Ning was knocked flying backwards in their very first clash. He smashed hard against the ground, creating a deep ditch within it. Ning’s body then blurred momentarily before he, too, gained three heads and six arms, with a sword in each hand. “Master’s words were wise. If I wish to truly perfect [Brightmoon], I have to fight against more experts.” A blazing light was in Ning’s hands as he once more charged forward.

  The two battled nonstop. It seemed as though the skies would collapse and the earth would shatter. The fight was absolutely frenetic.

  This prisoner had four faces and eight arms, and his staff-techniques were extremely profound. Imprisoned here for countless eras, the only thing he had to do was to meditate and cultivate, resulting in his staff-techniques become even more formidable, far more so than Ning’s [Brightmoon] sword-art. Ning was at a complete disadvantage in their battle. Fortunately, however, Ning was protected by the [Eight-Nine Arcane Art], and so even when he was struck he wouldn’t be injured at all.

  Ning didn’t use the [Starseizing Hand] or his heartforce; the [Starseizing Hand] used up too much divine power, while heartforce was quickly depleted in a battle. In addition, what Ning really cared about right now was to further perfect his sword-arts. By relying on the protection of the [Eight-Nine Arcane Art], Ning was able to continue the fight, even though he was being completely outclassed.

  “Damn. What the hell type of protective ability is this? As a Fiendgod Body Refiner, he’s clearly just an Empyrean God. How the hell is his divine body this tough?!” The youth was beginning to panic.

  Even in the Pangaea chaos-kingdom, protective divine abilities were extremely precious. It was incredibly difficult for someone at the Empyrean God level to be able to train his body to become comparable to a top-grade Pure Yang treasure. For example, the True God which Ning’s other clone was dealing with only had a body that was on Ning’s level as well! In truth, the only reason why Ning himself was able to completely master the [Eight-Nine Arcane Art] was because of his accomplishments in the Realmwar in the Grand Xia. Daofather Crimsonbright wished to express his thanks, which was why he had gifted Ning with the many Great Firmament pills Ning needed.

  “If this continues…my divine power continue to be depleted. Once it is all used up, I’ll die.” The youth was both furious and frantic. “But even if I die, I’m not going to let this alien Outsider off.”

  “Outsider…DIE!” The youth’s entire body suddenly began to glow with red light. Clearly, he had used some sort of divine ability that allowed his power to increase by an explosive amount.

  However, Ning was extremely skilled in defensive techniques, and his [Eight-Nine Arcane Art] continued to render his opponent’s attacks ineffective. He was still able to endure the blows and continue fighting.

  After battling for another hour, Ning had become completely familiar with this foe’s techniques. The youth had begun to repeat them over and over, and they were of no further use to Ning in terms of perfecting his sword-arts.

  “[Starseizing Hand]!”

  “Heartforce!”

  “Shadowless!”

  Ning’s swords suddenly became blurry. Whoosh! The youth’s four-faced head was instantly severed and sent flying into the air. The severed head’s eyes were filled with a look of shock. He had clearly been dominating his foe…how was it that his foe had suddenly exploded with power that far surpassed his own? He had no idea that when Ning used both the [Starseizing Hand] and his fourth-stage heartforce, Ning’s power was vastly superior to his own.

  When he had overpowered Ning, he had struck Ning more than a hundred times without being able to breach Ning’s [Eight-Nine Arcane Art] in the slightest.

  When Ning had overpowered him…a single sword had lopped his head off!

  This made it obvious how important a protective divine ability was. Alas, the [Indestructible Body] technique which Ning had learned from the stone stele required an incredible price to be paid for mastery. Even the likes of Fuxi and Subhuti, upon seeing the price, had instantly discarded the notion of training in it. This was because they hadn’t even heard of some of the chaos materials necessary to master it.

  Swoosh. The severed head came flying back, reattaching itself to the body.

  “Eh?” The youth frowned in puzzlement as he stared at Ning. “Outsider, why didn’t you kill me?” Given that Ning was able to sever his head with a blow, Ning clearly was capable of completely crushing and destroying his body…and yet, Ning had not, allowing his head to fly back and reattach to it.

  “Ahahaha…I’ve long heard that the Immortals and Gods of Pangaea are incredibly formidable. My hands were a bit itchy, so I wanted to see it for myself,” Ning said with a laugh.

  “See it for yourself?” The youth was speechless. “Y-y-you…aren’t you afraid of me killing you?”

  “Are you able to?” Ning rebutted.

  The youth was stunned. Yes…given how formidable the man’s protective divine ability was, it would be impossible for anyone on his same level to overpower and kill him. The only solution would be to keep him suppressed!

  “Right. Even if I suppressed you with my power…eventually, my divine power would be used up and I would still die.” The youth shook his head. What he didn’t know was that Ning actually had another body here. Even if the Empyrean Gods and Celestial Immortals of Pangaea were powerful enough to suppress him, the other clone could come and, by relying on the Eight Fires Qiankun World, slowly roast to death any and every Empyrean God or Celestial Immortal.

  To roast the energy out of a True God or True Immortal might take dozens of years, but to do the same to an Empyrean God or Celestial Immortal would be far quicker.

  “What exactly has happened to Pangaea? And…what exactly do you want?” The youth looked at Ning.

  A short while later, the youth succumbed to Ning’s combination of threats and blandishments, electing to serve Ning. Ning was more powerful than him, which naturally made it so that he didn’t feel as opposed to serving Ning as more powerful figures might.

  “If you really just wanted to spar against me…you could’ve first recruited m
e, then fought me. Both of us could’ve simply lowered the amount of energy we used to keep things safe. Wouldn’t that be easier?” The youth still felt a bit of resentment; that battle just now had used up an enormous amount of his divine power.

  “If I had first recruited you, would you have been willing to go all-out against me?” Ning shook his head. If the youth hadn’t had the desire to go all-out and try to kill Ning, the battle would’ve been completely different.

  After recruiting the youth, Ning searched his memories, then went to the field of primordial chaos to replenish his divine power. The chaos region inside the stone stele was just a few hundred meters in size, but it was completely split apart from the prisonworld itself. This was because this chaos region was meant for Overseers to use. Because the chaos region had been created by the King of Pangaea, it naturally converted the primordial chaos within it into elemental energy.

  The previous Overseers would occasionally wander the prisonworld, but they generally spent most of their time in the chaos region.

  After replenishing his divine power, Ning spent a bit of time pondering the [Five Treasures], then improved his [Brightmoon] sword-art before once more seeking out that youth for more sparring.

  Only after a full month did Ning leave to go deal with the next Empyrean God or Celestial Immortal.

  And so, just like that, Ning began a voyage through the prisonworld in which he would sweep through all the Empyrean Gods and Celestial Immortals. Although the prisonworld was vast, it actually didn’t have that many Empyrean Gods or Celestial Immortals. There weren’t many, after all, at that level of power who would be qualified to be locked up in a place like this. Ning took every single battle very seriously, and after each battle he would gain many new ideas for further perfecting his sword-arts.