Desolate Era

by RWX

  “You want a Ninehorn Lightning Serpent?” Hu Yu was surprised.

  “Yes.” Ning nodded.

  “That’s…going to be hard.” Hu Yu shook her head. “It’s true that the only person in the Three Realms who possesses these serpents is my master…but to Master, these serpents are incredibly important. Once, long ago, Daoist Three Purities asked for Master to provide him with a Ninehorn Lightning Serpent for use in forging a certain magic treasure. Master was extremely unwilling. In the end, Daoist Three Purities gave my master multiple Chaos ingredients that he needed before my master accepted. However, that was a long, long time ago. Now that the storm has decided…there’s no way even Daoist Three Purities would be able to acquire another serpent from him, to say nothing of you.”

  “Oh?” Ning was surprised.

  “Don’t you know that Master’s most important treasure is the ‘Hammer of Punishment Thunder’?” Hu Yu asked.

  “I do know.” Ning nodded. “Exalted Celestial Thundergod wields the Hammer of Punishment Thunder, releasing lightning to punish wicked Immortals and Fiends alike.” Ning was puzzled. “But what does that have to do with the Ninehorn Lightning Serpents?”

  “Where do you think the lightning of the hammer comes from?” Hu Yu shook her head and smiled. “Master can simply summon some of the weaker types of lightning from the natural world, but he has to work hard to extract the more powerful types of lightning from lightning seas in the primordial chaos. This is especially true for the supreme type of lightning, the Ninehorn Lightning Serpents. After extracting them, he has to refine them before he can smelt them into his Hammer of Punishment Thunder. This allows him to release them at a critical moment to assault his foes, then draw them back after the attack is finished.”

  Ning was startled.

  It was true that of the various types of thunder, the most powerful types were the lightning sea serpents and Ninehorn Lightning Serpents. The lightning sea serpents were not sentient, while the Ninehorn Lightning Serpents were. Thus, comparatively speaking the horned serpents were easier to refine and smelt, as the mindless lightning sea serpents were completely uncontrollable.

  This was why even the likes of Elder God Zhurong was unable to take control over Golden Solarfire, forcing him to devise his own ‘Zhurong Godfire’. Suiren had similarly been unable to control Golden Solarfire, which was why he had to devise his own Eternal Kindlefire, which was equally powerful.

  The reason why they couldn’t control it…was because it was simply too explosive and wild!

  Golden Solarfire didn’t possess any sentience. Thus, it was too explosive and wild! Even Fuxi, the number one formations expert of the Three Realms, was merely able to ‘guide’ the Golden Solarfire into his formation, and the guiding process was still extraordinarily tiresome. He had completely mastered and fused the Heavenly Daos of both Yin and Yang, and his skill in formations was tremendous…but that was still all he was capable of.

  Lightning sea serpents were just like Golden Solarfire; they were both too wild and untamable.

  Ninehorn Lightning Serpents were sentient, which was why one could bind them. However, they were extremely rare; only a tiny percentage of the already-rare lightning sea serpents would gain sentience and transform into Ninehorn Lightning Serpents.

  “As far as Master is concerned, these serpents are part of his killer weapon, his most powerful attack. Master has spent an enormous amount of blood and sweat binding every single serpent and infusing them into his hammer.” Hu Yu continued, “If it wasn’t for this great tribulation, there might be a tiny chance that Master would be willing to give up one of them…but the tribulation has arrived, and he might very well die in the Endwar. There’s absolutely no way he would give up any of them at all.”

  “This is something that will have an impact on his chances of his survival. Given Master’s temperament…it’s useless for anyone to try to convince him.” Hu Yu gave Ning a look. “I’m just his disciple; there’s nothing I can do at all.”

  Ning nodded. “So that’s why. I was rash and foolish.”

  “Fellow Daoist Darknorth, I urge you to give up your hopes of acquiring the Ninehorn Lightning Serpents,” Hu Yu said. “Aside from Master’s serpents, the only way you can find them is by going to the lightning seas within the primordial chaos. However, those lightning seas contain many lightning sea serpents, with a small number of Ninehorn Lightning Serpents intermingled within. Not even major powers would dare to go too deep within. Master has the body of a thundergod, and thus he is most likely the number one figure in the Three Realms in terms of catching these serpents. Despite that, it took him a long time and much work before he was able to catch a few.”

  “I know.” Ning nodded slowly. “Sorry to have troubled you, fellow Daoist Hu Yu. I’ll leave now.”

  ……

  Ning ordered Ninefangs to temporarily return to the Starseizer major world, then went by himself via Voidboat into the primordial chaos.

  Chaos mist billowed everywhere around him.

  If he went too far and too deep into the primordial chaos, it was entirely possible that he would become lost. Thankfully, Ning had some maps regarding the chaos regions around the Three Realms. Two lightning seas were marked down on the maps, and so Ning naturally headed towards the closest one. However…this still took him much deeper into the primordial chaos than he went last time. Thus, he advanced very carefully, for fear of becoming lost.

  He advanced continuously through the primordial chaos in his Voidboat, tearing through space and using the various stars as his signposts. He advanced for twelve full hours, and the amount of space he travelled past in the Voidboat was most likely several times larger than the Three Realms themselves.

  “Here I am.”

  Ning stood up within the Voidboat, staring into the distance.

  A vast, endless sea…

  A sea of lightning and thunder…

  As far as he could see, there were countless streaks of jagged white lightning that came together to form an endless sea of electricity. The deeper one went into the sea, the darker it became. At the deepest parts, one could even see black flashes of lightning. These black flashes of lightning were all shaped like giant serpents. These were the ‘lightning sea serpents’, living lightning-beings that even major powers feared.

  A single lightning sea serpent was one thing, but the depths of the lightning sea held countless black streaks of lightning within them. The lightning sea serpents there were simply uncountably numerous. Even the mightiest of major powers would have to go all-out in order to go deep into the lightning sea. However, Ninehorn Lightning Serpents were incredibly rare, with less than one in ten million lightning sea serpents giving birth to one such sentient serpent. From this, one could tell how difficult it was to find and catch them!

  “I have no other choice.”

  “I’ll have to take the risk.” Ning stood atop the Voidboat, gazing deep into the endless lightning sea.

  * * *

  Book 19, Chapter 48 - Deep Within the Lightning Sea

  “I have to enter the lightning sea in order to train this divine ability.” Ji Ning had no other options.

  Ning had fifteen other clones of his true body by his side, hidden within the Starseizing Manor. One of them emerged from the manor, then flew towards the endless sea of lightning.

  After flying for a short while, the clone reached the borders of the lightning sea.

  “Whew.” Staring at the countless flashes of white lightning before him, Ning couldn’t help but feel his heart shudder.

  “Time to go in.” With a boom, Ning charged forward into the endless flashing streaks of lightning. Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Countless lightning bolts surged around him. Ning had long ago put away his magic robes, leaving him completely nude within the sea of lightning. He allowed the white lightning bolts to crash down upon his body repeatedly, and almost instantly close to a thousand lightning bolts came hammering down against him.

  These lightn
ing bolts were countless times more powerful than the lightning bolts Ning had encountered during the ninth nine-set of his Empyrean Tribulation. Fortunately, Ning had already mastered the Ninth Cycle of the [Eight-Nine Arcane Art] and so was able to take them with ease.

  “Time to begin training in the [Ninehorn Lightning Serpent] and transform my divine body.” Ning allowed his nude body to bathe in the lightning, shutting his eyes and focusing on activating the divine ability. Instantly, a series of divine golden tattoos began to appear on the surface of his body. As the divine tattoos continued to appear, the white lightning around Ning that had been attacking him seemed to become more gentle.

  Slowly, Ning’s entire body became covered in countless golden tattoos. These golden tattoos were all linked together, and one could vaguely make out a single massive character…the character for lightning in the script of the Pangaea chaos-kingdom.

  Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Once the barrier of golden tattoo-light was formed, the surrounding white lightning all began to swirl around it. Slowly, a vortex of lightning was formed, and at the center of this vortex was what looked like a cocoon of lightning, with Ning located within the cocoon.

  Inside the lightning cocoon.

  The muscles and skin of Ning’s naked body were all twitching and shuddering as strands of white lightning continuously flowed into them.

  Previously, Ning’s body had been capable of easily withstanding the white bolts of lightning thanks to the [Eight-Nine Arcane Art], which completely blocked all the lightning. But to transform his divine body, he had to allow the lightning to enter every single part of it. Only then would his divine body undergo a qualitative change. Right now, his body wasn’t truly ‘defending’ against the lightning; it was just lowering the power of the lightning dramatically. One slip-up, however, and the body would instantly be reduced to dust.

  This was just the beginning. The body’s elemental composition had to be complete changed.

  All bodies had elemental affinities and natures. Some, for example, were born with bodies of water, while others were born with bodies of fire. Generally speaking, at Ning’s level, the nature of the body didn’t really matter. For example, even Exalted Celestial Thundergod, who was born with control over the Grand Dao of Lightning, didn’t have a body that could allow lightning sea serpents or Ninehorn Lightning Serpents to roam within it without causing damage. What Ning had to do was to change his body to become a perfect lightning vessel, capable of allowing lightning sea serpents and Ninehorn Lightning Serpents to roam about it with impunity.

  Perhaps in terms of power, there was no way he could match Exalted Celestial Thundergod, but his affinity towards lightning would become closer than even the Thundergod’s.

  In truth, this alone was testament to how difficult it was to transform one’s divine body. The major power who developed this evasion technique was definitely an extraordinary individual. The only reason why the True God which Ning had acquired this technique from even had access this technique was because he had been extremely lucky when adventuring in a dangerous area.

  “Argh.” Ning could sense his entire body being wracked by pain.

  The divine body had to be transformed in a procedural manner.

  The first step was to use weak lightning bolts to transform it. Next, he would slowly upgrade the power of the lightning, allowing his divine body to become even more perfectly affiliated with lightning, until finally it was suitable for Ninehorn Lightning Serpents to reside within!

  The other types of lightning were easily encountered. Ninehorn Lightning Serpents, however, were incredibly rare and precious. Ning had been planning to slowly train within the Three Realms, but he was now forced to enter the lightning seas. The power of the lightning within the lightning seas would increase the further he went in, making it quite a suitable place for him. However, what awaited Ning within the heart of the lightning sea wasn’t the Ninehorn Lightning Serpents; it was the even wilder race of mindless lightning sea serpents.

  As for the final step of perfecting his divine body…

  Ning had planned to use the Ninehorn Lightning Serpent to do this. The lightning sea serpents were simply too wild; clearly, using them to transform the body would be much more dangerous. However…since he didn’t have a Ninehorn Lightning Serpent, he had no choice but to accept the dangerous alternative.

  Time slowly passed on. His divine body transformed at a very slow pace, and every so often a small part of his body would break apart. Ning would hurriedly use his divine power to repair the damage, then continue with his efforts. He spent more than a month within the white cocoon of lightning. Still completely naked, he allowed the white lightning to roam across his body and even inside his body, suffering no damage at all.

  “Continue.” Ning soon began to advance towards the deeper parts of the lightning sea.

  Slowly, the color of the lightning began to turn darker and darker, and they began to increase in power as well.

  Ning came to a halt, then once more began his cultivation. He guided the dull white lightning bolts into his body, allowing them to transform it. He spent merely half a year before succeeding, then once more headed deeper into the sea…

  Once Ning reached an area where all the lightning was gray, he came to a halt. He began to use the gray lightning to transform his divine body. This time, he succeeded after just a few days.

  “The final step is before me.” Ning stared forward. Past this region of gray lightning was the region of black lightning.

  The black lightning serpents swam everywhere. Once they moved at full speed, they would be moving at the speed of light, giving them extraordinary power and savagery.

  No matter where Ning looked, he could only see these lightning sea serpents; he was unable to see any Ninehorn Lightning Serpents at all.

  “Using lightning sea serpents to transform my body is very dangerous…” Ning stared forward, sensing a certain pressure that made it hard for him to breathe. His [Eight-Nine Arcane Art] was completely incapable of withstanding such terrifying lightning bolts. Even major powers would fear them; Ning was nothing by comparison.

  “If I had a Ninehorn Lightning Serpent, my chances would be comparatively greater. Well…there’s nothing for it.” Ning once more activated the body transformation technique. Once more, the golden tattoos appeared atop his skin, quickly forming together into a cocoon of golden light, causing the lightning around Ning to begin to swirl towards him.

  Ning continued to advance forward, moving towards the region where the black lightning intersected with the gray lightning.

  Whoosh.

  Whoosh.

  Crackle.

  The lightning sea serpents were wild and unbridled. They were in the shape of serpents but possessed no sentience. In truth, they were nothing more than peculiarly-shaped bolts of lightning.

  Finally, a lightning sea serpent at the border region brushed past Ning’s body. The black lightning was instantly attracted towards the golden barrier formed by the divine tattoos, resulting in a cocoon of black electric light surrounding Ning, who immediately retreated back into the region of gray lightning.

  “Time to begin.” Black electricity crackled within the cocoon. Ning carefully guided a strand of black lightning from the cocoon into his own divine body, allowing it to invade.

  Lightning sea serpents and Ninehorn Lightning Serpents were both types of lightning; the only difference was that Ninehorn Lightning Serpents were sentient. If he was able to succeed in transforming his body via lightning sea serpents, it would also become suitable for Ninehorn Lightning Serpents.

  BOOM!

  The nude Ning’s arm instantly blew apart…and then the cocoon of black lightning collapsed as well. When the vestiges of black lightning brushed past Ning’s body, it instantly collapsed and transformed into dust, leaving nothing else behind.

  “Failure.” Outside the sea of lightning. Ning was still seated atop his Voidboat, and his face turned pale. The pain his clone had fe
lt as it was destroyed filled Ning with utter agony. The lightning sea snakes were simply too terrifying; even the portion of truesoul within the clone had been reduced to nothing. “Damn. The lightning sea snakes are far too wild. I just guided a tiny part of their energy into my body, but wasn’t even able to succeed in transforming one of my arms.”

  “Let’s do it again.” Ning once more sent a clone forth.

  Although he had sent just a single clone into the lightning sea, all of his other clones had shared in the experience. They had all begun to ponder on how to increase his chances of succeeding in transforming his body. Although the [Ninehorn Lightning Serpent] evasion technique had very detailed notes, once the time came to actually apply the technique, experience made a tremendous difference.

  This death had given Ning experience in using a lightning sea serpent to transform his body. Next time, he would avoid certain mistakes and do better.

  After three months…the second clone died as well.

  “Again.”

  The other bodies were all pondering carefully on what to do. His true body’s clones continued to enter the lightning sea, testing and trying new techniques, but this was indeed the most dangerous part of training in this divine ability. The technique’s notes didn’t exaggerate at all; the stated 90% chance of death wasn’t just talk! This was even more true for Ning, who was using the extremely dangerous method of using lightning sea serpents to transform his body.

  In the blink of an eye, more than four years had gone by. Ning remained within the Voidboat, staring at the distant, vast sea of lightning.

  “It’s been more than four years.”

  “My other fifteen clones have all died, but I still haven’t succeeded. I was just a tiny, tiny bit off.” Ning gritted his teeth.

  His true body’s clones had all died. Only one of them remained alive, and that one would be able to slowly grow out new clones. This was a process that allowed for the rebirth of the truesoul, the soul, and the divine body. However, a fairly long period of time was required. To completely recover all fifteen bodies would take countless years. This was the reason why Youngflame Freak had felt such despair when he lost his sixteen clones.