by RWX
World God Northrest himself had claimed that countless cultivators dreamed of having the chance to join Vastheaven Palace.
“Who is Darknorth to you, senior?” The Starlord and the others were all stunned.
“He’s my friend and brother.” The raggedy old man nodded. “I’m going to take him back with me now. You won’t stop me, right?”
“Of course not!” The Starlord hurriedly nodded. “Darknorth just joined us a short while ago. He was quite powerful when he joined us, and so the lifeblood oath he had to swear was a fairly lax one. He’s absolutely permitted to leave.”
Immortal Abyssus and the others all looked towards Ning as well, a look of envy in their eyes.
Good heavens.
A Samsara Daolord was addressing him as ‘brother’? Who wouldn’t want to be in his place?! They’d even be willing to be the Daolord’s retainer, to say nothing of being his brother. However, Samsara Daolords had extremely high standards. They wouldn’t just casually accept anyone as their retainer.
“There IS one thing.” The Starlord gritted his teeth. “I’d like to ask you to help me, senior.” Although he was afraid of angering this Daolord, he still forced the words out.
“What is it?” The raggedy old man smiled cheerily at him.
“Childstar!” The nearby World God Blackmist sent a furious mental message, terrified that Starlord was going to anger this powerful old man.
The Starlord lowered his head, then said respectfully, “My second uncle used an incomplete divine technique which is causing his entire body to transform into fogstone. We aren’t able to stop or reverse the process. I hope that you can intervene to rescue my second uncle, senior.”
“Oh?” The raggedy old man walked forward towards Blackmist. “This is your second uncle? Yes, he really is completely transforming into fogstone. Hmm. Don’t resist. Let me take a look.”
The raggedy old man extended a hand, pressing it against World God Blackmist’s shoulders and carefully extending his senses.
“Uh…what the hell type of divine ability is this? How unique. It is actually causing even his truesoul to transform into fogstone. If this continues, he’s going to transform into a hunk of rock.” As the raggedy old man extended his senses, he continued to mumble to himself. “But this divine ability really is quite powerful. It actually allows for one’s divine power to explode to such a level of might…quite impressive.”
“Unfortunately, you are using an incomplete version of this divine ability, resulting in your truesoul being petrified. There’s no way to reverse it. Even if you were to suddenly gain the complete, correct version right now, you still wouldn’t be able to stop it.” The raggedy old man let out a sigh. “His truesoul is undergoing an irreversible transformation. When the process is completed, he’ll lose all life and become a hunk of rock.”
“Is there nothing you can do?” The Starlord revealed a look of desperation.
“He won’t be able to hold for much longer. Less than the time needed to boil a kettle of tea.” The raggedy old man shook his head.
“Second Uncle.” The Starlord gripped World God Blackmist’s hands, his eyes reddening.
“Don’t be sad, Childstar. Quite a few of the elders and ancients of the Fogstone lineage have been forced to use the fourth stage, and all of them died in the grips of despair…” World God Blackmist looked fondly at the Starlord, almost as if he was looking at his own son. “I, however, will be dying happily. You are alive! I’ve lived for long enough. Eternity isn’t for everyone.”
“I understand.” The Starlord nodded, but he was still filled with pain.
Slowly, World God Blackmist’s skin turned grayer and grayer. Earlier, there was at least a tinge of pinkish flesh to his coloration, but now his aura grew dimmer and dimmer. And yet, a smile remained on his face.
Finally…
His aura was completely extinguished.
World God Blackmist had completely transformed into a statue. However, his gaze remained gentle and calm, as though he was forever looking at a beloved child.
“Second Uncle.” The Starlord shuddered, wracked by agony.
“Brother Blackmist.” Immortal Abyssus and the others all sighed and bowed slightly.
Ning bowed respectfully as well. He felt great gratitude towards World God Blackmist, who had treated him better than anyone else on Fogstone. Blackmist had even taught him sword-arts with care. Although Blackmist’s sword-arts weren’t particularly formidable, he had truly been very diligent in guiding Ning, going so far as to allow Ning to inspect the sword-arts he himself had come up with.
Thud. Thud. Thud. The Starlord fell to his knees, kowtowing heavily as his tears stained the ground before him.
The statue didn’t move. It just stood there, continuing to stare at him with gentle warmth.
“Let’s go, let’s go. I hate seeing stuff like this happen. Ugh.” The raggedy old man shook his head and sighed. “There’s nothing I can do. His truesoul was transformed into fogstone. Let’s go, Ji Ning. Let’s go.”
“Right.” Ning nodded.
“Everyone…” Ning looked at the World-level experts and Elder Gods.
Everyone nodded.
Since the Starlord was still kneeling before the statue in grief, it wasn’t appropriate for them to chat too much with Ning. Their gazes said everything that needed saying.
“Let’s go.” The raggedy elder stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Ning as they both soared into the skies and disappeared.
As Ning flew away, he turned his head to look backwards, once.
He saw the Starlord on his knees, as well as the gently smiling statue of World God Blackmist.
“Fogstone…” Ning knew that he would never, ever be able to forget this place, his first home in the Badlands Territory.
* * *
Book 25, Chapter 1 - Daolord Solesky
Atop a large ship that was advancing through the emptiness of space.
“Sit.” The raggedy old man sat down in the lotus position, a table in front of him. The table was covered with fruit and wine, and Ji Ning sat down in front of the old man.
“Oh, right. I haven’t introduced myself yet.” The raggedy old man smiled. “I’m one of the three Palace Lords of Vastheaven Palace, ‘Daolord Solesky’.”
“Three Palace Lords?” Ning was surprised.
The information which World God Northrest had left behind indicated that Vastheaven Palace only had two Palace Lords.
“All members of Vastheaven Palace address each other as ‘brother’. There’s no difference in status amongst us,” the raggedy old man explained. “Anyone who can become a Samsara Daolord will be honored with the title of ‘Palace Lord’. A short while ago, Vastheaven Palace gave birth to a new Samsara Daolord.”
Ning was secretly amazed.
This was truly incredible. Their organization had a total of three Daolords! Vastheaven Palace truly was a thriving, powerful place.
“Earlier, you said that it was Northrest who gave you the talisman of welcome. How exactly did Northrest die?” A hint of a baleful aura began to gather around the raggedy old Daolord Solesky. The members of Vastheaven Palace showed extreme solidarity, especially since it was extremely hard to join Vastheaven Palace in the first place. Every single member of the Palace was extremely talented. World God Northrest was on the same level of power as God Emperor Blacklotus, and strictly speaking he was actually a bit more powerful. This was because World God Northrest had trained in the [Nameless] sword-art. When using it alongside Violetjewel, he was somewhat stronger than even Blacklotus had been.
“He was slain by the three Wujiao Godbeasts,” Ning said.
“Them?” A cold light flashed through Daolord Solesky’s eyes, then he closed them and began to spread out his senses.
Daolord Solesky looked just like an ordinary old beggar, but when he closed his eyes, a wave of invisible power swept out from him that caused even Ning to feel a sense of uncontrollable veneration towards the man. Pr
ior to this, Daolord Solesky had kept his aura completely suppressed, so as to ensure that Ning wouldn’t feel any pressure from his presence at all. Now, however…Ning felt the pressure.
A short while later, Daolord Solesky opened his eyes and nodded. “I’ve already sent word to Vastheaven Palace. Both Warlord and I engaged in a bit of divination. Those three Wujiao Godbeasts truly were the slayers of Northrest.”
Ning couldn’t help but secretly sigh in amazement.
Divination?
Ning himself had some insights into the workings of fate, and was capable of seeing the destinies of ordinary mortals and weak cultivators. Thus, he knew exactly what Daolord Solesky meant! To use the power of divination to calculate and identify the killer of Northrest was extremely difficult, because there were many different streams of variables which interfered with the workings of fate.
However, once they knew that the killers were the three Wujiao Godbeasts, things were different. They were able to use divination to calculate the actions of both Northrest and the three Wujiao Godbeasts, making it millions of times easier to come to the correct conclusion. Still, few World-level experts would be capable of such a thing.
“Those three vile creatures truly were audacious. How dare they scheme against one of our brothers?” Daolord Solesky’s eyes flashed with cold light. “I really wonder where the hell they got their courage from. Six of our brothers from Vastheaven Palace have already set out after them. Soon, those three vile creatures will die.”
Ning couldn’t help but secretly sigh for the three Wujiao Godbeasts.
To plot against a member of Vastheaven Palace was no easy feat. The slightest misstep would spell certain doom.
All those years ago, the three Wujiao Godbeasts had successfully ambushed World God Northrest, acquiring the treasures they wanted and forcing him to flee while heavily injured. Despite their ‘success’, they risked their own lives as they furiously chased after him, diving deep into many dangerous areas! They did this precisely because they actually were filled with tremendous terror regarding the possibility of Vastheaven Palace finding out what they had done. If that happened…given how powerful Vastheaven Palace was, they would be easily wiped out.
In the Vastheaven Territory, Vastheaven Palace was the undisputed hegemon.
All of its members were extremely formidable, and some of their most powerful members transcended even supreme World Gods in might. They were even stronger than Northrest had been! Just one of those figures would be able to easily slay all three of them. Even ‘ordinary’ members of Vastheaven Palace would be more powerful than the three Godbeasts; if several ‘ordinary’ members were sent out, they would have no chance at all of surviving.
In the end, World God Northrest was forced to flee into such a lethal death trap that even his Eternal weapon was half-shattered! Only then was he able to throw the three Wujiao Godbeasts off his trail. Thankfully, the quintessence core of his Eternal weapon was extremely powerful, allowing the remnants of his truesoul to hide within it. Alas, in the end, he was unable to reverse or stop the process of his truesoul breaking apart.
“Eh? Why is my lifeblood oath still active?” Ning frowned slightly.
He had sworn a lifeblood oath to go to Vastheaven Palace and inform its Welcomer of Northrest’s death within a chaos cycle.
He had now notified Daolord Solesky, which meant that word had surely been spread to all the members of Vastheaven Palace. In fact, several of the brothers had already struck out for revenge. By all rights, the Welcomer should have been informed as well.
“Gah!”
“Right.” Ning immediately understood what was going on.
The exact wording of his lifeblood oath had been: “I swear on my very life itself that within a thousand years of becoming an Elder God, I must leave the Three Realms. I must reach ‘Vastheaven Palace’ within a chaos cycle and inform a Welcomer of Vastheaven Palace that World God Northrest was slain by the three Wujiao Godbeasts.”
The wording of his lifeblood oath specified that he had to physically reach Vastheaven Palace within a chaos cycle. This was part of his oath.
“It seems that the lifeblood oath will only dissipate after I actually reach Vastheaven Palace,” Ning mused to himself. “Eh. I’m going there anyways. No rush.”
“Ji Ning.” Daolord Solesky suddenly spoke out.
“Palace Lord,” Ning said.
“Just call me big brother Solesky,” Daolord Solesky said with a laugh. “In Vastheaven Palace, people on the same level simply refer to each other as ‘brother’. If someone is a level higher than you, you should just refer to them as ‘big brother’.”
“Big brother Solesky.” Ning nodded.
“Ji Ning, I spent quite a bit of time rushing all the way from the Vastheaven Territory to the Badlands Territory because there are two places in the Badlands Territory I must visit,” Daolord Solesky said.
“Two places in the Badlands Territory?” Ning listened attentively.
“The first place is the Windsource Ruins,” Daolord Solesky said. “I was headed over there, but halfway there I sensed your talisman of welcome. However, I could also sense fate whispering to me that you weren’t in too much danger, so I took my time and wasn’t in a rush to go find you. Alas…if I had known what was happening, I would’ve travelled to you at maximum speed. Perhaps I might’ve been able to save that ‘World God Blackmist’ fellow.”
Ning couldn’t help but sigh as well.
He couldn’t really blame Daolord Solesky. Daolord Solesky had only really been focused on Ning’s survival, after all; when he sensed that his brother Ning wasn’t in too much danger, he naturally didn’t feel the need to rush over.
“This ship is heading straight for the Windsource Ruins.” Daolord Solesky looked at Ning. “The Windsource Ruins were established by Daolord Windsource. Daolord Windsource was an absolutely incredible figure. He was every bit my equal and he very nearly succeeded in his Daomerge. The protective spells and formations he left behind to guard his estate are quite troublesome. I really don’t want to risk them, but I have to.”
Ning could tell that apparently Daolord Solesky was just as strong as Daolord Windsource had been.
“Before he died, he laid out all of his insights into the ‘Hundred Streams of the Windsource’,” Daolord Solesky said. “Once that formation is activated, it’ll cause the entire Windsource Chaosworld to completely blow apart. It will be as strong as a full-strength desperation blow from Daolord Windsource!”
“Fortunately, I don’t need to actually break his formation on this trip. All I need to do is enter the core region and acquire a certain treasure,” Daolord Solesky said. “Despite that, it’ll still be dangerous. If you are going with me…I recommend you either stay in my estate-world or wait for me outside the Windsource Ruins.”
Ning said hurriedly, “Big brother Solesky, is there a relatively safe location inside the Ruins that you can take me to?”
He had dared to adventure through the Ruins by himself. Now that he had a Daolord by his side, what did he have to fear?
“I knew it.” Daolord Solesky rather admired Ning’s adventurous spirit. “That place is divided into an outer region, an inner region, and a core region. I’m headed to the core region. If you come with me, I’ll find a relatively safe place inside the core region for you and set up a perimeter for you. No matter what, you are not permitted to leave that area!”
“Understood.” Ning nodded.
No kidding. The core region was the most terrifying place in the entire Windsource Ruins. If he ran about randomly within it, he would essentially be treating his own life as a joke.
“Good.” Daolord Solesky nodded.
Just two hours later, Daolord Solesky and Ning arrived at the Windsource Chaosworld.
Ning couldn’t help but sigh. Samsara Daolords travelled much more quickly than Ning himself could…and this was supposedly a slow, leisurely pace for Daolord Solesky. He would probably move much faster when
time really mattered.
“The Windsource Ruins are right over there. I actually went there before, once. Ning pointed at a wide region covered by fogs.
“The Ruins…” Daolord Solesky stood there in the sky, staring downwards at the vast Windsource Ruins. A rather complicated look was on his face. He sighed, “He made it to the very last step. All he needed to do was complete his final step and merge his Hundred Streams into the Dao…but in the end, he failed. Knowing that he was about to die and his Dao was about to vanish, he decided to leave these Ruins behind to let people in the future know that a person named Windsource once existed.”
“Big brother?” Ning looked towards Daolord Solesky.
“Ahahah! My Daomerge is coming. Recently, I’ve developed a habit of thinking about all sorts of random things.” Daolord Solesky shook his head and laughed. “I’m much luckier than Windsource was, and my Dao is stronger than his was as well. Ahaha! Come, come! Follow me inside.”
Whoosh.
Daolord Solesky immediately led Ning to charge downwards into the clouds below.
* * *
Book 25, Chapter 2 - Sword-Ki Island
Within the Windsource Ruins.
Daolord Solesky and Ji Ning stood in the air, the area around them filled with streams of gray energy.
“Uhh…” Daolord Solesky stared at the streams of gray energy swirling in the skies. Every single stream of energy came out of great crevices within the earth, intermingled with the other streams of gray energy in the air, then plunged back down into a different crevice.
“Interesting. Daolord Windsource was quite a legend, and it seems he had the power to match his reputation.” Daolord Solesky stared at the many criss-crossing streams of gray energy in the skies. “A pity that my path is completely different from his. Otherwise, I’d burrow into the ground and spend some time getting a clear look of the Hundred Streams of the Windsource.”
