Desolate Era

by RWX

Ning was stunned by this revelation.

  Still… it made sense. He himself had already found the direction in which his Dao of the Sword would lead. His path involved analyzing and dissecting all sword-arts he encountered in order to better understand the fundamental essence of the sword. His goal was to infuse all of the mysteries of all sword-arts into his own Dao of the Sword.

  This path was an insanely ambitious one. To understand the fundamental essence of the sword and to absorb all of its mysteries meant that in the end, he would have developed what could be described as an ‘ultimate’, perfect sword-art.

  Perfection was not so easily achieved.

  Ning had chosen an extremely difficult path. In truth, Ning could’ve chosen to walk a simpler path. For example, right now Ning was extremely skilled in defensive techniques. If he focused all his efforts on defense, things would be much easier for him.

  “Why should cultivators fear difficulties?” Ning laughed. “Even if you choose the simpler path, perhaps less than one in a hundred thousand Samsara Daolords shall gain eternity. It is best to follow your own heart and embark upon a path which is hard but glorious. That way, if you do become an Eternal Emperor, you’ll be truly invincible and will have nothing and no one to be afraid of.”

  “Right!” Lord Woodflower laughed loudly. “In the Endless Territories, there are three almighty Hegemons. All three were freakishly powerful Daolords who were capable of slaying Eternal Emperors, and they eventually were successful in breaking through to become Eternal Emperors. After they made their breakthroughs, no one has ever been able to shake them and their positions. To show our respect for them and in order to differentiate them from ordinary Emperors, we revere with them the title of ‘Hegemon’. The almighty Hegemony of our own Brightshore Kingdom is one of the three, and he has been alive for far longer than our Twelve Palaces have existed.”

  Ning nodded. A thought suddenly flashed through his mind, causing him to take a deep breath before asking the question which he cared about more than all other questions. “Senior apprentice-brother Woodflower… if a truesoul is destroyed, is the almighty Hegemon capable of reversing time to save it?”

  In terms of mastery over spacetime, it was possible that the almighty Hegemon was second to none in all the Endless Territories. Would it be possible for him to reverse the flow of spacetime and rescue Yu Wei?

  Lord Woodflower was startled. He gave Ning a hard look. “In the Endless Territories, there is indeed a legend that says it is possible to invert spacetime itself, allowing you to reach out into the distant past and bring back to life a person whose truesoul has already been destroyed in the present day. However, I’ve heard that the person who uses this technique would have to pay an utterly ruinous price. I don’t know if the almighty Hegemon can accomplish this task, but even if he truly can he wouldn’t make it public. To invert spacetime and rescue a truesoul from the distant past is something which would probably cause him to suffer heavy injuries. There’s no way he would make something like this public.”

  Lord Woodflower continued to look at Ning. “Still… it is indeed true that if you can reach a profound enough level of insight, you can invert spacetime and bring someone back to life. However, it will be so difficult that very few of the ancient powers capable of doing it would actually be willing to carry it out.”

  “Understood.” Ning felt excited.

  Hope.

  He finally saw some hope!

  Ning had always clung onto a dream which even he knew was unlikely. He had felt that theoretically, someone who had reached certain incredible heights in the manipulation of spacetime should be able to invert it and reach into the past to save a deceased truesoul. However, there was no proof backing up this theory of his… but today, Lord Woodflower had personally verified that this was indeed possible. And in fact, the almighty Hegemon might be someone who was capable of such a thing.

  But of course, if Ning wasn’t able to offer enough of an incentive and pay enough of a price, there was no way he would be able to convince the almighty Hegemon to do such a thing.

  “Senior apprentice-sister. We will definitely be able to meet each other once again. I don’t care how long it takes. I’m going to work hard until the day I see you again.”

  Ning closed his eyes. When he imagined that day in the distant future, he felt as though he could see Yu Wei smiling at him from afar. Ning felt a warmth spread into his heart, filling him with strength and resolve.

  Ning opened his eyes. “Thank you, senior apprentice-brother Woodflower.”

  Lord Woodflower nodded. “Take some time and consider your choices. If you have any questions regarding the Dao of the Sword, you can go find me in my estate.”

  “Thank you, senior apprentice-brother Woodflower.” Ning could sense Lord Woodflower’s goodwill and felt quite grateful towards the man.

  Lord Woodflower left, allowing Ning to search through the Pavilion of Mysteries by himself.

  “The Windsmoke secret art. The normal price is five hundred thousand cubes of chaos nectar, and it involves…

  “The Endless Dark divine ability. The normal price is three hundred thousand cubes of chaos nectar…”

  These divine abilities and secret arts all had a simple explanation regarding how much one had to pay in chaos nectar in order to purchase them. The cheapest started off at a hundred thousand cubes, while the most expensive was as high as three million cubes. Even for Daolords, these techniques were truly consummate, killer techniques. Only in a place like the Sword Palace could one easily gain access to them. In the outside world? Acquiring such techniques would be far more difficult.

  “Eh?” Ning was stunned.

  “Novessence Fire, a million cubes of chaos nectar. This secret art was developed by Daolord Allgod…

  “Novessence Water, a million cubes of chaos nectar…

  Ning found five consecutive secret arts which had been developed by Daolord Allgod.

  “They even have Daolord Allgod’s techniques?” Ning was rather surprised. The five secret arts he found were the [Novessence Fire], [Novessence Water], [Novessence Earth], [Novessence Wood], and [Novessence Metal] techniques.

  Ning carefully read through the other secrets arts following them, only to find nothing else.

  Curious, Ning hurriedly ran over to the entrance to the Pavilion of Mysteries.

  “Have you chosen, Darknorth?” The guardian golem, Swordthree, looked at Ning.

  “I saw five of the secret arts left behind by Daolord Allgod,” Ning said. “But I heard that Daolord Allgod actually had nine in total?”

  “Right. Daolord Allgod was an astonishingly talented man who was skilled in alchemy, artificing, rearing bugbeasts, and more. He was a master of many different skills, and so he was an exceptional developer of secret arts as well. He created nine mighty secret arts, and when those nine secret arts came together they were able to unleash utterly shocking levels of power. Unfortunately, the Dao Alliance completely refuses to give us the entire thing.” Swordthree shook his head. “The almighty Hegemon made a personal appearance and paid a considerable price, but was still only able to convince the Dao Alliance to give us five of the secret arts belonging to Daolord Allgod. The four remaining secret arts were even more powerful, but we weren’t able to acquire them.”

  Now Ning understood.

  Ning had already come to a decision, but to be careful he still reviewed the basic descriptions of all the divine abilities and secret arts in the entire Pavilion of Mysteries.

  Each of the five secret arts of Daolord Allgod cost a million cubes of chaos nectar, and every single one of those secret arts was enough to slay weak Daolords of the Fourth Step. These were terrifying killer techniques.

  “Aside from the Dao of the Sword, I have some affinity for lightning, water, and space. Lightning and water resonate with each other and can support each other.” These were two naturally aligned elements.

  “The nine secret arts of Daolord Allgod were meant to be used toge
ther in a combination. I shall choose the [Novessence Water] secret art.” Ning quickly made up his mind.

  “Are you certain you wish to choose the [Novessence Water] secret art?” Swordthree looked at Ning. “To tell you the truth, legacies are more important for World-level cultivators.”

  “I am certain.” Ning nodded.

  “Alright.” Swordthree easily dispersed the restrictive spell covering the jade slip. “Go ahead and learn it.”

  Ning sent his senses into the slip, immediately swearing the relevant lifeblood oath and beginning to study the technique.

  Although the [Novessence Water] was very powerful, it was more of a soft, subtle technique. By contrast, the [Novessence Thunder] was a more dominating, destructive technique.

  Of the nine secret arts, the five pertaining to metal, wood, water, fire, and earth were slightly weaker, whereas the [Novessence Thunder], [Novessence Light], and the other two were slightly stronger.

  “Time to go to the Armaments Gorge.” After learning the secret art, Ning departed from the Pavilion of Mysteries and headed towards the Armaments Gorge. He had to acquire the fourth Mirrorsnow Painting as soon as possible.

  * * *

  Book 27, Chapter 6 - Broken Sword?

  Ji Ning hovered there in midair, staring downwards at the Armaments Gorge. He then immediately flew downwards and landed in front of an icy building that was erected within the gorge. This was the true Armaments Gorge.

  There were two golems guarding the gates to the building.

  “Darknorth greets you,” Ning said courteously.

  “Swordfive.”

  “Swordsix.”

  The two golems introduced themselves. They both had stately, solemn auras of tremendous power.

  Ning walked past the gates, and the two golems let him enter unimpeded. Although there were many weapons and treasures stored here, not even Eternal Emperors were strong enough to seize them by force. The formations surrounding the most important parts of the Twelve Palaces had been personally established long ago by the almighty Hegemon himself, and the successive generations of geniuses in the Twelve Palaces had repeatedly strengthened them and reinforced them. By now, there were few to none in all the Endless Territories capable of breaking inside.

  “What a treasure trove.” As soon as Ning entered, he saw the divine swords that had been firmly planted into the ground. They were clustered tightly next to each other, and they all emanated auras of terrifying sword-intent. Even the weakest sword was at least an Eternal weapon.

  There was a stone stele next to every single sword, and each stone stele had a simple line of characters on them: “Thirty thousand cubes.” “Ninety thousand cubes.” “Fifty thousand cubes.” These were the prices of the swords, and the prices were actually quite low. Still, it hadn’t been easy for the Sword Palaces to collect these wondrous weapons, and there was no way Ning and the others could simply take the swords away without paying anything at all.

  “What is…”

  Ning’s gaze suddenly turned towards the distance, where he sensed an incredibly terrifying sword-intent radiating from afar. Although it was quite a distance off, and although there were thousands of other swords there, Ning could sense that none of them were able to shake that terrifying sword-intent in the slightest. It was a broken sword that was emanating that aura, and it was placed atop a table.

  This was the only sword in the entire Armaments Gorge which was placed on a table.

  “A broken sword?” Puzzled, Ning walked towards it to give it a careful look.

  “Eh? It was broken in such a clean, natural way. It seems as though it was actually forged this way and meant to be this way.” Ning quickly was able to tell that this sword wasn’t actually ‘broken’; it was created this way.

  Rumble…

  Sword-intent billowed out from the sword. Ning felt as though he was a tiny ship facing the wild waves of the ocean, about to be capsized at any moment. The incomparably ancient sword-intent… it was the most terrifying sword-intent Ning had ever sensed. The [Nameless] sword-art, Violetjewel, the Forest of Sword Pagodas… none of these things had ever given Ning such a sensation before.

  It was vast, it was awe-inspiring, and it was unfathomably ancient. It made Ning feel like he was back on Earth, staring into the endless sea of stars.

  “Eh?” When Ning reached within thirty meters of the broken sword, a surge of invisible force suddenly stopped him from moving any farther. No matter how Ning tried, he was unable to take so much as a single extra step.

  “I actually can’t go any closer to it?” By now, Ning realized that there were no other swords within thirty meters of the broken sword. “And it doesn’t have a price tag on it?”

  The other swords all had clearly labeled prices on the stone steles. Only this broken sword was different. There was nothing within thirty meters of it, not even a stone stele.

  Ning gave it a long, deep look, firmly engraving it into his memory.

  Roughly a third of the Armaments Gorge was set aside for swords. The rest was used to hold many other types of treasures and unique artifacts, and they too had prices listed next to them.

  “Fifty thousand cubes.” “Two million cubes.” “Ten million cubes.” “A hundred and ten thousand cubes.”

  The treasures and artifacts all had different prices.

  Ning wanted to acquire Dao lightning. Things like Watersmoke Lightning, Firecloud Lightning, or Azurewood Lightning represented the Five Elements and thus were fairly cheap, requiring roughly two hundred thousand cubes. Other types of Dao lightning, however, were much more expensive. The ‘Felworld Lightning’ cost 1.9 million cubes, and it was the most expensive of the nine types of Dao lightning which Ning needed.

  Ning was able to acquire all nine types of Dao lightning here in the Armaments Gorge, but the price was quite steep.

  The Armaments Gorge even had a tenth type of Dao lightning that was naturally formed. This lightning was known as the ‘Allheaven Lightning’ and cost ten million cubes, and it could only be used if one was willing to swear a lifeblood oath! The Allheaven Lightning could only be harvested by the almighty Hegemon himself, and it was unique to the Brightshore Kingdom.

  If any of the other supreme organizations wished to acquire the Allheaven Lightning, they would have to pay an utterly shocking fee to the Brightshore Kingdom. Only for actual members of the Brightshore Kingdom would such a ‘low’ price of ten million cubes be accepted.

  “Daolord Allgod himself was only able to acquire nine suitable types of Dao lightning, at which point he created his [Novessence Thunder].” Ning couldn’t help but sigh. “But the Brightshore Kingdom actually has ten types…”

  Ning’s horizons truly were broadened after he spent some time wandering through the Armaments Gorge. He finally began to realize how many treasures existed in the primordial chaos.

  “Darknorth, done already?” Swordfive, one of the two golems guarding outside, asked Ning curiously, “What treasure have you chosen?”

  “I was looking for but unable to find nine types of divine water, including Netherstring Water and Wormwind Water,” Ning said. He was going to train in the [Novessence Water] secret art and needed nine types of water.

  Fire could be classified into Elder fire (such as Golden Solarfire), Chaos fire, and Dao fire. The same was true for water. When Elder Gods or Ancestral Immortals were touched by Wormwind Water, they would find their bodies riddled with holes. Even their truesoul would begin to collapse.

  “Oh, Chaos water?” The nearby Swordsix said in a low voice, “The Sword Palace doesn’t have low-level water like that. One of the other palaces, the Palace of Kindwater, definitely has it. If you really need it, we can have the Kindwater Palace deliver it to you.”

  “I need nine types of Chaos water.” Ning carefully listed out the number types of Chaos water he needed.

  The [Novessence Water] was also divided into two parts. The upper part involved using nine types of Chaos water, while the lower p
art involved using nine types of Dao water.

  This was a technique which was on par with the [Novessence Lightning]. However, because of certain innate properties of lightning, the [Novessence Thunder] was slightly more powerful. Once these two techniques were used in unison then they would become much more powerful, especially considering that water and lightning were mutually complimentary elements. It must be understood that when Daolord Allgod used all nine secret arts together, he had been able to suppress even Eternal Emperors.

  “Right. In the Armaments Gorge, I was only able to find a copy of the third Mirrorsnow Painting?” Ning looked at Swordfive and Swordsix.

  “That’s the only one we have,” Swordfive said. “Emperor Mirrorsnow was a rather dissolute and wanton figure, but his sword-arts were exceedingly profound. Countless World-level cultivators were driven mad with lust for his paintings. If it wasn’t for the fact that only World-level cultivators are permitted to study from his legacies, they would probably be much more expensive.”

  Ning agreed with this assessment. Emperor Mirrorsnow’s legacies actually provided even Daolords with good experience. If Daolords could learn from them, the price would become astonishingly high.

  The only reason why the price was fairly low was because Emperor Mirrorsnow had decreed that only World-level cultivators could study his legacy. How much money could a World-level cultivator possibly have? Still, every single painting was usually worth around a hundred thousand cubes of chaos nectar.

  “I need the fourth Mirrorsnow Painting,” Ning said.

  “The fourth?” Swordfive and Swordsix exchanged a glance.

  “It isn’t present within the Brightshore Kingdom. We’ll need to rely on the strength and reach of the Twelve Palaces in order to find it somewhere else in the primordial chaos,” Swordfive said. “If you want us to do that… before we begin, you’ll have to pay a certain amount of chaos nectar as a deposit. Also, if you search for one specific painting, it’ll probably end up costing you much more money.

  “I can accept any price under half a million cubes,” Ning said.