by RWX
As for Ning, he just chuckled as he stood there next to the bamboo door, then grabbed his fishing pole and once more headed out to go fishing.
In previous years, he had wandered the Three Realms. Recently, however, he had chosen to merge into the ranks of commoners and live life alongside them. This actually resulted in Ning slowly gaining insights into a different aspect of the nature of water. In the mortal world, there was a saying that ‘water was life’. Water could lift up a boat, but it could also capsize it. Ning could vaguely sense a profound truth pertaining to the vast Heavenly Dao of Water…
“Eh?” Just as Ning picked up the fishing pole, he came to a halt.
“I’ve finally finished refitting my divine ability.” Ning revealed a hint of delight.
“Let’s take a look.”
Whoosh.
Ning soared into the skies, instantly disappearing into the horizons. However, none of the villagers were able to see this. They only saw the white-robed youth pick up his fishing pole and head off to go fishing. They had no idea that only an incarnation had been left behind.
……
Ning appeared out of nowhere atop a tattered, damaged star located deep in the Void of the Three Realms. As he descended upon the star, some dust was kicked up and sent flying into the endless Void.
“I’ll train in the [Starseizing Hand] here.”
Ning nodded, then waved his hand. The dust on the ground was all swept up together, then solidified into a stone boulder than landed next to Ning.
Ning sat down in the lotus position atop the stone boulder. Waving his hand, he produced a gourd. This gourd was filled with Five Elements essence, the essence that he had acquired from breaking down Pure Yang treasures and Protocosmic spirit-treasures in the Prisonworld through his Five Elements Cauldron. Ning needed to use the Five Elements essence to train the [Starseizing Hand] to the Sixth Cycle!
The Sixth Cycle of the [Starseizing Hand] was incredibly hard to train in.
Daoist Threelives had been lucky eough to acquire a piece of golden starstone which held certain divine runes within it. After spending a long period of time analyzing it, he had used the golden starstone as well as many other supplementary materials to master the Sixth Cycle of the [Starseizing Hand]. The only other person who had ever acquired golden starstone aside from Daoist Threelives was Daoist Three Purities!
However, Daoist Three Purities had used the piece he acquired as a component of his Immortal Slaying Swords!
The Immortal Slaying Swords were based off of his insights into the Nine Chaos Seals. Countless precious materials had been consumed in their creation, and the four Chaos-level swords were like a single weapon that could be joined together to unleash utterly terrifying devastation!
“Golden starstone…this should have been the ‘Starheart’ item which World God Northrest’s records mentioned. It’s quite impressive that the denizens of the Three Realms managed to find two such items.” Ning shook his head. Without golden starstone, there was no way he could master the Sixth Cycle of the [Starseizing Hand].
And so…
Ning had begun to focus on researching and analyzing this technique. To Ning, upgrading his hands to become Chaos-level treasures wasn’t that important, because he already had real Chaos-level treasures. In fact, Violetjewel was far more powerful than Chaos treasures! The real reason why Ning cared about the [Starseizing Hand] was because when it unleashed its full power, he would be able to deliver blows of utterly tremendous power that vastly surpassed his ordinary level of strength!
Daoist Threelives wasn’t that talented in comprehending the Dao; he hadn’t even mastered a single Heavenly Dao. However, thanks to the [Starseizing Hand], he had been able to valiantly slay multiple alien True Gods and Daofathers in the war that had ended the Primordial Era!
The [Starseizing Hand] was ranked by Three Purities as one of the top ten divine abilities of the Three Realms, on par with [Houyi’s Archery]. This was precisely because it could unleash utterly shocking levels of power! Unfortunately, Daoist Threelives himself wasn’t that innately powerful; if he was a half-step Elder God like Ji Ning, he definitely would’ve been able to reach the overlord level of power with just the [Starseizing Hand]! Ning was in bad need of a technique which would allow him to explosively increase his level of power. Although he had the [Nine Elements Annihilation], he would need a long period of time before being able to develop a powerful divine ability of his own from it.
World God Northrest naturally possessed formidable techniques that allowed for an explosive increase in power, but all of them had come from Vastheaven Palace and could not be taught to outsiders! Over the course of his many years of adventure, he had acquired a few similar techniques, but alas all of them were fairly mediocre. Although he had passed them on to Ning, none of them could match the Sixth Cycle of the [Starseizing Hand].
“The Sixth Cycle of the [Starseizing Hand] was developed by Daoist Threelives after he meditated on a piece of golden starstone.”
“However…the way in which he caused his divine power to explode out was excessively violent! My palms would first have to first be refined to become Chaos treasures; otherwise, there’s no way they would be able to withstand such tremendous power,” Ning mused to himself.
The [Starseizing Hand] allowed for an incredibly forceful increase in power. This meant that the palms had to be made incredibly sturdy; only then would they be able to endure this level of power!
“It has been a hundred and seventy-two years since I became a True God. My Primaltwin has spent a total of more than seventeen thousand years in the Heavengazer Tower of Radiance,” Ning mused to himself. “Although I’ve mainly focused on comprehending the Dao and only occasionally spent time on my sword-arts and divine abilities, I was still able to finish retrofitting the [Starseizing Hand].”
Using the [Nine Elements Annihilation] as his foundation, he had carefully restructure and remade the [Starseizing Hand].
The mysteries of the [Starseizing Hand] actually came from some of the profound secrets contained within that piece of golden starstone. The construction of the [Starseizing Hand] technique itself wasn’t that complicated. With the [Nine Elements Annihilation] serving as a reference guide, Ning was able to completely deconstruct it, then slowly rebuild and postulate a new Sixth Cycle.
This process took more than seventeen thousand years…but now, the Primaltwin had finally mastered it!
This new technique allowed for the use of Five Elements essence to replace golden starstone and the other precious materials needed to refine the hands and make them into Chaos treasures. The fundamental underpinnings of the [Starseizing Hand] was to use Five Elements treasures to refine the hands, after all.
Ning sat there in the lotus together, a gourd placed next to him which was filled with Five Elements essence.
Whoooosh…
Under Ning’s guidance, the Five Elements essence soared towards his twin palms. The divine Starseizing Tattoos appeared on his hands, and they quickly began to grow more and more complicated. Finally, the tattoos reached a new peak of power, causing Ning to feel as though they were bursting with power. His hands began to emanate an aura of limitless might. However, Ning had long ago set up a barrier of heartforce around the area, preventing anyone from investigating it.
The Seamless Gate knew that Ji Ning was on this star, but they had no way of looking into what Ji Ning was doing here.
“Success.” Ning willed the absolutely dominating aura of power radiating from his hands to be suppressed.
“My hands are now comparable to Chaos treasures. They are now strong enough to withstand an explosion of divine power.” Ning willed the divine ability active as he struck out towards the Void with his palm.
Boom!
An enormous, semi-translucent palm smashed through the Void, causing space itself to shudder and ripple. An enormous Voidwave that was a hundred million kilometers in size blasted forward, heading off to who-knows where.
&
nbsp; “What tremendous power.” Ning nodded, revealing a look of delight. This sort of explosive power, when combined with Violetjewel, would become even more formidable.
“My divine ability has been completed!”
“Now, the only thing I am lacking…is in my insights into the Dao! I hope that before the Endwar begins, I’ll be able to master a Heavenly Dao.” Ning felt a hint of worry. He had left one of his incarnations in Allclans Palace, which was why he knew exactly what the situation was like in the Three Realms. Things were truly at the tipping point now; the Endwar could start at a moment’s notice.
Even the Endwar occurred only after the war for karmic luck ended, that meant it was only a few decades away.
Sometimes, the more you try to force something to happen, the harder it will be for you to succeed.
Ning understood this principle very well. He deeply desired to master a Heavenly Dao, and he had made tremendous progress during the past seventeen thousand years in understanding the Heavenly Dao of Water, but he knew that the more impatient he felt the more it would hinder him in actually mastering the Dao. Thus, Ning remained very calm. He acted the same as he always had, and he would also take rests to go meditate on his sword-arts and other techniques.
Although he hadn’t mastered a Heavenly Dao during the past period of time, he had upgraded the [Starseizing Hand] and had improved tremendously in sword-arts as well.
“I’ve already mastered ninety-six of the ninety-eight techniques on those stone sword-steles. Only two more techniques remain. I need just a little more time. Once I master them, I can begin to meditate on the [Nameless] sword-art.” Within the Heavengazer Tower, the black-robed Ning was staring at the two final stone steles in front of him.
* * *
Book 23, Chapter 8 - Nameless Sword-Art, Heartsword Stance
The black-robed Ji Ning stretched out a finger. A rainbow-colored sword materialized out of nowhere, which he then began to use to execute sword-arts.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
His sword-shadows flowed through the air, as illusory as dreams. It was as though rainwater had appeared throughout the area, with an occasional hint of sharpness appearing.
At first, Ning had a puzzled look on his face as he began training. However, a look of delight slowly began to appear on his face. In fact, he began to let out cries of delight and amazed sighs.
Swoosh.
The sword-light flashed one final time before disappearing into the void.
“What a fine [Hidden Edge] technique.” Ning came to a halt, unable to disguise the excitement in his eyes. “World God Northrest truly went all out in his efforts to guide me forward on my path. Each of these ninety-eight stone steles have led me forward, step by step, to gain more and more insights into the sword. I am becoming an increasingly suitable candidate for training in the [Nameless] sword-art.”
“Both of these stone steles focused on hiding one’s sharpness. I’ve now thoroughly mastered them.”
“The ninety-eight stone steles…I’ve mastered them all!”
Ning waved his hand, and the jade shrine instantly appeared next to him. He entered the jade shrine, and as he did he looked at the countless sword-diagrams that were drawn onto the walls of the shrine. These diagrams recorded the most important technique which World God Northrest had ever possessed…the [Nameless] sword-art. Even someone like World God Northrest had only been capable of merely memorizing all of the techniques; he was only able to actually master a portion of them.
Being able to memorize something didn’t mean that you could truly understand and master it.
Daoist Three Purities, for example, had been able to memorize all nine of the Nine Chaos Seals. However, when he fashioned the Immortal Slaying Swords, he had only been able to understand seven of them!
“This [Nameless] sword-art is completely focused on the true essence of the sword,” Ning said softly. “According to what World God Northrest said…someone who masters this technique has a chance of mastering the sixth stage of swordforce.”
The sixth stage of swordforce was the ‘Sword World’ stage. This was a stage of true perfection.
If a Fiendgod could truly reach this stage of power, then one could use the ‘Sword World’ to serve as the core of the body and remake it to become a World God!
If a Ki Refiner was to reach this stage of power, the ‘Sword World’ could be used as the nucleus for causing the Jindan region inside the body to be remade into primordial chaos anew, allowing him to step into the Chaos Immortal level!
The ‘Sword World’ realm was a level of mastery that was on the same level as the Heavenly Dao of Primordial Chaos!
The Heavenly Dao of Primordial Chaos was one of the most commonly seen Heavenly Daos. According to what World God Northrest said, more than 99% of World Gods and Chaos Immortals had reached that level through mastering the Heavenly Dao of Primordial Chaos! This was because the primordial chaos itself existed in all things. It didn’t matter what Heavenly Dao you meditated on; once you started training in any Heavenly Dao, such as the Heavenly Dao of Water you would also be able to begin training in the Heavenly Dao of Primordial Chaos.
The primordial chaos could be divided into the duality of Yin and Yang. It could also be divided into the essence of life and the essence of destruction, or the Five Elements of metal, wood, water, fire, earth.
If you trained in any of the other nine Heavenly Daos you trained it, you were also training in the Heavenly Dao of Primordial Chaos! This was why only Daofathers were able to draw upon the energy of primordial chaos and able to train in that Dao. As a result, World Gods and Chaos Immortals who reached that level through understanding the Heavenly Dao of Primordial Chaos were extremely, extremely common.
As for reaching that level through understanding the true essence of the Sword and reaching the ‘Sword World’ stage? Very, very few World Gods and Chaos Immortals had ever done so.
However, every single World God and Chaos Immortal who had reached that level through mastery of the ‘Sword World’ stage was an incredibly powerful figure with shocking offensive capabilities! Ordinary Chaos Immortals and World Gods simply couldn’t compete with them.
But…
Each stage of swordforce was a hundred times more difficult to master than the last.
To advance from the first stage to the second stage was fairly easy, and to reach the third stage wasn’t that hard either. The fourth stage, however, was extremely difficult.
As for reaching the fifth stage of ‘Sword God’, the number of people in the Three Realms who had ever succeeded in doing so could be counted on one hand. More people had become ‘overlords’ than reach the Sword God stage!
As for advancing to the sixth stage of ‘Sword World’…this would be even more difficult, far more so than ‘merely’ becoming a World God or Chaos Immortal!
“The [Nameless] sword-art, however, is a technique that guides me straight to the essence of the sword itself, a peerless sword-art that can allow the user to reach the ‘Sword World’ stage.” Ning stared at the sword-stances recorded on the walls of the jade shrine.
The [Nameless] sword-art as recorded before him had a total of seven stances! This was, of course, just part of the real technique; it was so incomplete that World God Northrest himself didn’t even know the actual name of this sword-art.
World God Northrest himself had only mastered five stances! However, so long as one could master the third stance, one would be able to reach the ‘Sword World’ stage.
“Forget about three stances. This first stance alone…if I can master it, my chances in the Endwar will become much greater.” Ning stared at the walls of the shrine.
If Ning could master even just the first stance, then in terms of pure sword-arts it would be almost impossible for him to find an equal who was not a World God or Chaos Immortal. Far less than one in ten thousand Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals would possess an equal level of skill in the sword.
The black-robe
d Ning carefully inspected the jade shrine, meditating on the first stance.
Those ninety-eight stone sword-steles existed for the purpose of molding him to become a good candidate for training in the first stance. Without those ninety-eight sword-arts, just glancing at the first stance would probably result in Ning suffering injuries and vomiting up blood. However, now that he had mastered the ninety-eight sword-arts, Ning…still found it incredibly hard to understand the first stance of the [Nameless] sword-art.
“The Heartsword stance…b-but…how can the very first stance of the [Nameless] sword-art be so ephemeral, arcane, and unfathomably profound?” Ning simply couldn’t understand the countless sword-stances that had been engraved on the walls of the shrine, and in truth they were just samples for Ning to inspect.
The Heartsword stance…
It had no stances. It was a sword of the heart.
In all his years of training, Ning had always used the sword in his hand to do battle! The [Brightmoon] sword-art’s ‘Soleheart’ stance, ‘Blood Drop’ stance, ‘Heavenbreaker’ stance, ‘Shadowless’ stance, and ‘Yin-Yang’ stance were all stances that could be seen with the naked eye. The ‘Heartsword’ stance of the [Nameless] sword-art, however, didn’t have any actual stances to it at all. This made it incredibly hard for Ning to comprehend it.
He could catch vague glimpses of the nature of this sword-art, but actually training in it remained incredibly hard.
Still…he could sense that one he mastered it, he would have reached a completely different realm of using the sword.
After training in it for roughly five years, Ning came to a halt and instead once more turned to mastering the Heavenly Dao of Water.
Training in the sword. Meditating on the Dao.
He alternated between the two. Although the flames of the Endwar were growing increasingly visible, Ning remained calm as he trained in solitude.
The Three Realms was in a state of complete chaos now. Both sides had finished their preparations and were ready for the Endwar.
