Desolate Era

by RWX

  “If my guess is correct, those Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals are all using the energy they absorb from the primordial chaos to maintain their estate-world treasures. Their estate-world treasures contain a world inside of them with many living creatures, and so the Ancestral Immortals and Elder Gods have sent their minds and their incarnations into those worlds, roaming through them and experiencing the vicissitudes of life.” True God Shiyu laughed softly. “But…that’s the behavior of a weakling.”

  Ning was startled.

  “Now that they’ve been imprisoned here, they’ve lost all their motivation and willpower; all they care about is enjoying life.” True God Shiyu laughed coldly.

  “Their actions aren’t exactly wrong.” Ning shook his head. “They have been imprisoned here for countless years. How many would be willing to endure such loneliness for so long? If they can’t endure it, why shouldn’t they go and enjoy life in another world?”

  “Weaklings.” True God Shiyu let out a cold laugh. “They have completely given up on escaping this place.”

  “Oh? You haven’t given up?” Ning looked at him.

  “I’ve never given up. I train in infiniforce and taiji-force; I only need to break through to the sixth stage in one of them and I’ll be able to break these shackles. In fact, I’ll be able to break apart this entire prisonworld as I regain my freedom.” True God Shiyu didn’t try to hide it at all. All of the Immortals and Fiendgods imprisoned here, Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals included, hoped to make a critical breakthrough and shatter their fetters, then break apart the prisonworld and leave.

  “If you were to reach the sixth stage, you would be at the World-class of power.” Ning nodded. “That would indeed be possible. But…you’ve been imprisoned here for a very long period of time.”

  “Nearly five chaos cycles.” True God Shiyu nodded, staring at Ning. “I know what you are going to say. You are going to say, if a person is unable to break through to the World-level within one chaos cycle, it will be forever impossible for them to make that breakthrough. Am I right?”

  Ning looked at him. This was common knowledge.

  After searching through many memories of the prisoners of Pangaea, he had learned many things. Ning had also learned many bits of common knowledge from the information imparted to him by World God Northrest. If a person wasn’t able to reach the World-level within a single chaos cycle, it was virtually impossible for him to succeed for the rest of his life.

  “But there are no absolutes in life. There’s always a chance.” True God Shiyu gritted his teeth as he stared at Ning.

  Ning nodded. It was true. There really were no absolutes!

  For example, perhaps someone only didn’t make that breakthrough because his cultivation techniques were too poor, or because he didn’t have a good teacher. He might spend multiple chaos cycles of painstaking work to become a ‘mere’ Elder God. However, once he gained detailed information regarding a top-tier cultivation technique or guidance from a World-class expert, he might quickly break through to the next stage and become a World God himself.

  Or perhaps an Elder God or Ancestral Immortal might experience an unexpected event that would allow a breakthrough to be made.

  In short…there was always a chance of a lucky stroke of fate!

  None of the major powers of the Three Realms had access to truly top-notch cultivation techniques, and none of them had been guided by particularly powerful figures. Houyi was a good example. Although he had been alive for more than a chaos cycle, he had trained painstakingly on his own and developed his heartforce technique all by himself, as well as his archery techniques. If he was given truly top-tier techniques or had the guidance of Vastheaven Palace, however, it was entirely possible that he would’ve broken through to become a World God by now.

  “Here in the prisonworld, True God Shiyu has no one to provide him with tutelage, and he won’t have any lucky encounters either. It has been nearly five chaos cycles, but he still wishes to reach the World-level? It really is almost impossible.” Ning couldn’t help but secretly sigh to himself.

  “I’ve come here for just one reason.” Ning looked at him.

  “Speak.” True God Shiyu looked at Ning calmly. He didn’t hold this Overseer in any regard at all.

  “Your Heavengazer Tower of Radiance,” Ning said.

  True God Shiyu’s face changed. He stared at Ning, then let out a cold laugh. “You actually know about the Heavengazer Tower, eh? What, you want me to give you a Chaos treasure? You? A trifling Overseer? Your only job is to watch over this prisonworld. You should just f*ck off and stop bothering me.” He couldn’t even be bothered to waste words with Ning. How could he hand over such a precious treasure to someone else?

  “If that’s the case, I’ll have no choice but to fight you.” A pair of swords appeared in Ning’s hands.

  “You’d actually dare to assault me?” True God Shiyu was shocked. “Y-you…you aren’t a member of Pangaea?”

  The chaos-kingdom of Pangaea would generally send Celestial Immortals with first-tier Jindans to be Overseers. How would a Celestial Immortal possibly dare to attack him?

  “Pangaea has been destroyed.” Ning held his swords in his hands. “This prisonworld is now under my control, and you are my prisoner. I don’t wish to kill you, but you WILL hand over the Heavengazer Tower to me.”

  “In your dreams.” True God Shiyu snapped back in a frozen voice.

  “Then we’ll simply have to fight it out.”

  Swoosh.

  Ning’s words still echoed in the gorge, but his lightning-fast streak of sword-light had already reached True God Shiyu. It was the fastest stance of Ning’s [Brightmoon] sword-art: Blood Drop stance!

  “What a fast sword!” True God Shiyu was shocked. He no longer dared to be brash, and he produced a pair of short cudgels in his hands as well. The cudgel glowed with golden light, and the head of the cudgel had a triangular shape to it that seemed incredibly sharp.

  Clang!

  True God Shiyu’s twin cudgels had manifested the faint outline of an enormous Taiji diagram before him, blocking Ning’s sword-attack. After doing so, he suddenly spun his twin cudgels, transforming the Taiji diagram into an orb of black light and sending it smashing towards Ning with frenzied might.

  Boom! Ning’s own sword-light transformed into a pair of black holes as he used the Soleheart stance to block. He could sense an incomparably savage and bizarre surge of energy smash against him, and he couldn’t help but be knocked flying backwards.

  “What tremendous power.” Ning landed on the ground, stunned. He immediately understood that True God Shiyu had to have trained in some sort of special divine ability that was akin to Ning’s own [Starseizing Hand], an ability that allowed him to explosively increase his power. In fact, it was possible that his divine ability was even more powerful than the [Starseizing Hand]; otherwise, there was no way the twin cudgels could have produced such enormous power.

  The distant True God Shiyu had a solemn look on his face as well. He stared at Ning, not daring to be overconfident. He said softly, “What a fast sword. It has surpassed the limits of the Heavenly Daos? A pity that it won’t be of use.”

  “Is that so?” Ning’s body blurred momentarily, then two more heads and four more arms grew out of him, allowing him to wield a total of six swords.

  “Hmph.” In response, True God Shiyu manifested a total of six arms as well. He now wielded six cudgels, but four of them had noticeably weaker auras than the original two.

  The two once more began to clash against each other at full power. As they did so, True God Shiyu felt even more shocked, because this time Ning used the Blood Drop stance, Shadowless stance, and Heavenbreaker stance in succession. The most dangerous attack for True God Shiyu was the Shadowless stance, as it was both fast and incredibly unpredictable, making it extremely difficult for him to block.

  Those six swords worked together in harmony, unleashing those three mighty sword stances in a s
eries of berserk attacks. Although True God Shiyu’s divine ability was formidable, he still had to fight in an extremely cautious manner.

  The two continued to fight for quite a long period of time.

  Boom! Boom! Boom!

  The flowers and the grass in the area around the gorge had long ago been reduced to dust, but True God Shiyu couldn’t spare the attention to worry about them. Although he had spent considerable time on these flowers, they were nothing more than a way for him to relieve the loneliness in his heart. He wasn’t willing to waste the energy needed to maintain an entire world, and so he used a comparatively much lower amount of energy to maintain a garden.

  “It’s useless. Your sword-arts are indeed powerful; in fact, I admit that they are extremely powerful. I roamed the chaos-kingdom of Pangaea for countless years, and I’ve met more True Gods and True Immortals than I can count. However, I’ve see no one with sword-arts which can compare to yours. Sword God stage sword-arts which are faster than the limits of the Heavenly Daos…and yet, your divine body is far too weak, and your divine abilities are too ordinary.” True God Shiyu’s voice echoed within the gorge.

  Swoosh! Swoosh!

  The two collided once more, with both being knocked flying backwards.

  Ning came to a halt. Staring at True God Shiyu, he said in a low voice, “It seems I’ll still have to rely on long-range attacks.”

  “Long-range attacks?” True God Shiyu was stunned.

  Thirty-six Swords of the Heavens suddenly appeared around Ning, and an enormous torrent of Daofather-level energy began to flow through them.

  * * *

  Book 21, Chapter 36 - Two Methods

  The swords were filled with Ji Ning’s Daofather-level energy, causing each of them to emanate auras of blinding might. This caused True God Shiyu’s face to change as he became even more solemn. “It seems this Overseer’s abilities as a Ki Refiner are even better than his abilities in close combat.”

  “Go.”

  The distant midair Ji Ning waved his finger.

  Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh! The Swords of the Heavens instantly soared out like streaks of light, striking towards True God Shiyu from every direction. They didn’t move that fast, not even surpassing the limits of the Heavenly Daos; their speed was something which True God Shiyu could handle. However, as soon as the thirty six Swords of the Heavens closed in on True God Shiyu, they suddenly sped up dramatically, accelerating past the limits of the Heavenly Daos. Each of them moved in bewildering, mysterious ways as well, as all of them were using the Shadowless stance of the [Brightmoon] sword-art.

  The [Brightmoon] sword-art which Ning created had a total of five stances, each of which had its own will and intent. Ning designed them to have unlimited potential; so long as Ning himself could grow stronger, they could continue to be perfected.

  Swish swish swish! True God Shiyu was in a three-headed, six-armed form, and the six cudgels in his hands swept out in streaks of light. True God Shiyu seemed to have become an enormous Taiji diagram, capable of blocking all assaults.

  “Eh?” Ning frowned. His long-range attacks were somewhat more powerful than his close-range attacks, yet he still remained unable to injure his foe.

  “I refuse to believe you can keep blocking my attacks.” Controlled by Ning’s soul heartforce technique, the thirty-six Swords of the Heavens attacked even more frenetically as he put all sorts of dazzling, arcane sword-arts on display. When they struck in unison, they seemed to encompass all types of sword-arts…but True God Shiyu just focused completely on defense, his six cudgels forming a simply flawless, impregnable defense.

  “Hahaha…”

  True God Shiyu continued to block while roaring with laughter. “Overseer, have you heard? In the past, I battled multiple times against Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals, but they were unable to do anything to me. Compared to them, you are even weaker.”

  “When we first started to fight, your sword-arts really did give me a bad scare! Hah! But although your sword is rather fast, it’s still within the realm of what I can handle. Even if I just used two arms, I’d be able to defend against you, to say nothing of using six.” As True God Shiyu spoke, he actually dispelled four of his arms, returning to his normal appearance and wielding just two cudgels.

  The two cudgels worked together in a truly flawless manner, like Yin and Yang coming together. His defense was completely airtight, and the faint image of an enormous Taiji diagram completely covered him.

  Ning had an ugly look on his face. “How come…”

  “I was quite cautious when we first started to fight. But now, it seems, you haven’t reached a level of power comparable to Elder Gods or Ancestral Immortals yet. If I simply focus on defense, I don’t even need to use my full power.” True God Shiyu said calmly, “I don’t need to use any divine abilities at all. We can just keep fighting like this, and I’ll keep absorbing energy from the primordial chaos here. I can fight like this very a long, long time.”

  Ning knew this as well. If he could force the man to use divine abilities, the man wouldn’t be able to keep it up for too long. Ning would be able to use his long-range attacks and spirit-pills to slowly exhaust the man…but now, it seemed, True God Shiyu’s defense was utterly unshakable. If he didn’t attack and instead focused solely on defense, he would be able to defend against Ning’s attacks without using any divine abilities at all.

  “Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals have better abilities than you and greater power as well.” True God Shiyu said calmly, “But my taiji-force and infiniforce have both reached the fifth stage, and I’ve merged them together into a perfect whole. I can survive attacks from Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals and escape to tell the tale. You? You aren’t even close.”

  Elder Gods had divine bodies that were far more powerful than the bodies of True Gods. Their bodies alone ensured that they would have close to the power of an overlord-class expert.

  Ancestral Immortals with first-tier Jindans were far more powerful than the Daofathers of the Three Realms. They were equivalent to Elder Gods, and the weakest of them would be close to the overlord level as well.

  The overlord level…

  This was a clear, dividing line within the Three Realms.

  To be at the overlord level meant that one had to have reached the Elder God level of power. Elder Gods were generally born at this level of power, with Mother Nuwa being an example. She had also been born with mastery over the Heavenly Dao of Life. She had then mastered the Heavenly Daos of Yin and Yang, then the Heavenly Daos of the Five Elements of Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, and Earth. This ensured that even amongst Elder Gods, she was at the absolute peak of power.

  This was why Mother Nuwa had been the number one figure of the Primordial Era, superior to the other Elder Gods and the leaders of Daoism and Buddhism!

  In the Seamless Gate, the only one who was a match for her had been the Lord of the Demonheart. Although Daomother Devilhand had been able to fight Mother Nuwa one-on-one, that was just in a short clash. She was still considerably weaker than Mother Nuwa.

  The Lord of All Fiends was also born an Elder God, but his fleeing skills were superior to that of a World God’s! From this, one could see how formidable he was.

  True God Shiyu, in turn, was able to escape the clutches of a number of Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals. From this, one could see how terrifyingly perfect his fusion of taiji-force infiniforce was. And of course, True God Shiyu had other divine abilities which could allow him to unleash incredibly mighty amounts of power. When matched with his taiji-force and infiniforce, it allowed him to withstand even Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals for a brief period of time.

  “Hmph.” Ning assaulted him furiously for a short while longer, then unwillingly came to a halt.

  “It seems that although I can suppress him in power and force him to focus on defense, I’m still just ‘close’ to the overlord level of power. True God Shiyu specializes in defense. Beating him will be very difficult.” Nin
g pondered to himself. “But I still have to acquire the Heavengazer Tower of Radiance as quickly as possible. If too much time passes, the Endwar might begin. By then, acquiring the Heavengazer Tower will be pointless.”

  The whole reason why he desperately needed the tower was because the Endwar was coming soon.

  “To grow much more powerful in a short period of time…” Ning pondered to himself. “There are two methods.”

  “The first method is to become a True God. Once I become a True God…given the power of the [Taowu Eighteen Fiendgods] and the [One True Body] techniques, I’ll essentially be half a step into the Elder God realm of power. Although I’ll still be physically weaker than actual Elder Gods, my sword-arts should ensure that I’m no weaker than an ordinary Elder God. By then, I should be at the overlord level of power. Although True God Shiyu was able to defend against Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals, that was just for a short period of time before he fled. He’s trapped here in the prisonworld with nowhere to run. If we really were to get into a fight…once I am at the overlord level of power, he would definitely lose.”

  “But…”

  “To actually become a True God…” Ning frowned.

  Technically speaking, he should’ve already fulfilled all the necessary requirements for breaking through to become a True God long ago.

  The first requirement was to have a perfect divine body, and his body had reached that level long ago. The second was to have mastered a Grand Dao, and Ning had mastered three of them already; the Grand Dao of Lightning, the Grand Dao of the Waterdrop, and the Grand Dao of the Sword.

  “According to the [Solitary World God], I’ll need to find a spark of inspiration from within the midst of endless solitude. Once I find it, I’ll be able to make my breakthrough.”

  “That…sounds incredibly opaque and mysterious. Ugh…the most important thing needed for the [Solitary World God] is time. The thing I lack the most is also time.” Ning shook his head.