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Book 24, The Starlord of Fogstone, Chapter 34 – The Starlord's Obsession
The second stance of the [Nameless] sword-art was the 'Killsword' stance. The third stance was the 'Great Firmament' stance, also known as the 'Sword World' stance.
Upon mastering one's own Sword World, one would step into the World-level!
Different sword-arts would result in the creation of completely different Sword Worlds. Some Sword Worlds would be insidiously cold, others would be bursting with heat, while still others would be seep through every pore in your body. The third stance of the [Nameless] sword-art was clearly quite profound, but this meant that mastering it would also be incredibly difficult. Not even Ji Ning knew how long it would take for him to master the third stance.
Whoosh. A streak of light flew towards him from afar.
"Eh?" Ning was seated in the lotus position at the top of his mountain. He quickly turned his head to look over.
The streak of light came to a stop in front of Ning. It was a thin, gray-robed man with tousled hair. His eyes were dark yellow and filled with cruel coldness, but when he looked at Ning his gaze was filled with veneration and respect. He said respectfully, "Master."
Ning nodded.
This thin gray-robed man was actually the wild dog Elder God in his human form. After Ning had subdued the Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals of the prisonworld, the one who ended up worshipping him the most and being the most loyal was actually Elder God Wilddog! Elder Dog Wilddog, in order to prove his loyalty, had insisted on swearing a second lifeblood oath to Ning which was so stringent, even Ning was shaken by its terms.
Elder God Wilddog was born as an Elder God in the form of a canine. He was a very solitary, arrogant man, but once he truly accepted someone as his master, he would be completely and utterly devoted to the man.
Given that even Ning had been shaken by Wilddog's oath, he often chose to have Wilddog carry out many tasks on his behalf.
"How did it go?" Ning asked.
"I looked into this matter carefully. During the past few centuries, the 'Mindlord' in the service of God Emperor Blacklotus has been hiding within the imperial capital of the Blacklotus Empire. He hasn't done any adventuring at all, nor has he led any troops out to do battle." A look of resentment was in Elder God Wilddog's eyes. "This Mindlord must be afraid of you, Master…"
Ning frowned.
The reason he had joined the Fogstone Dominion was for the sake of killing the Mindlord.
However, both Ning himself as well as Wilddog had made numerous scouting trips, only to discover that the Mindlord had spent the past few centuries in the imperial capital of the Blacklotus Empire. Or, to be precise – ever since Ning had slain Old Man Yuan, the Mindlord had returned to the imperial capital, never taking so much as a single step out of it.
"This Mindlord truly is a cautious man." Ning frowned.
In truth, the sword-strike which Ning had used to slay Old Man Yuan had completely terrified the Mindlord.
The Mindlord knew exactly how deep the enmity between the Three Realms and himself ran. So many major powers had died by his hands, many of whom were pioneers and who had assisted, guided, or taught Ji Ning. Houyi, for example, was Ji Ning's senior apprentice-brother. As long as Ji Ning had the chance, he would definitely come for revenge.
Given how powerful Ji Ning had been…it would be far too easy for him to slay the Mindlord. It must be understood that Ji Ning's final sword-strike had pierced straight through his body, which was comparable to a top-grade Protocosmic spirit-treasure!
"Master?" Elder God Wilddog hunched over. "The Mindlord often visits friends in the imperial capital, and also likes to enjoy life. Why don't you buy some Elder God slaves and let me lead them into the imperial capital, then kill him? After assassinating him, I'll immediately flee through teleportation."
"Unacceptable." Ning shook his head.
"Not even World-level experts can be watching over every inch of their capital at all times. If I can find the right moment to attack, I'll be able to escape afterwards." A look of savagery was in Wilddog's eyes.
"We are talking about the imperial capital of the Blacklotus Empire…" Ning shook his head. "There's no rush. We have plenty of time. Let's take it slow."
If they were hasty, they might make mistakes.
Ning was confident that he was capable of slaying the Mindlord. The only thing he needed was a good opportunity.
So long as he didn't rush, opportunities would come!
The planet of Fogstone.
A quiet, secluded estate-world. This estate-world was filled with sparkling stars that twinkled with streams of energy.
A handsome man dressed in an astral robe was seated in the lotus position by the side of a lake. Whoosh. Whoosh. Whoosh. Glittering divine jewels flew out of his body. These divine jewels were made from crystallized divine power. Once Fiendgod Body Refiners became World Gods, their divine power would crystallize into divine crystals. This was a qualitative transformation.
The divine jewels twinkled, filled with mysterious auras of the Dao. Every single divine jewel was filled with a slightly different aura of the Dao, but they all came together into a perfect whole.
Whoooooosh. A large number of divine jewels flew out of his body, swirling around him in circles, then flying back inside of him. As the divine jewels flew in and out of his body, dancing in the air, they glimmered with the light of the stars themselves.
"The stars…"
The handsome man murmured softly to himself as his mind was filled with certain memories that he would never forget.
"I really have to go back. I must. I can't disobey."
"Alright…but you have to come back, Starchild."
"I definitely will."
Who would've thought that with this farewell would become an eternal one?
He would never forget the sight of his beloved shedding tears as he left.
Whoosh. Suddenly, the chaos energy began to stir around him as a total of twelve divine crystals suddenly materialized around him.
Boom!
The handsome man's divine body split apart, transforming into a total of 36,000 divine crystals that all swirled around each other. Their Daos were joined together into a perfect whole that gave off a natural aura of completeness.
"Reform."
The 36,000 divine crystals once more gathered together and transformed back into the astral-robed man.
"Full mastery…"
"I've finally become a master-class World God." The astral-robed man's eyes were filled with excitement as he murmured to himself, "Yi…I've kept you waiting far too long."
Whoosh.
The astral-robed man disappeared into thin air.
A black-robed man was seated at the front of a palace, drinking some wine and watching as a troop of female dancers performed before him. There were musicians present as well, playing some melodies.
"Mm?" World God Blackmist frowned, then instructed, "All of you, leave."
"Yes." All of the dancers, attendants, and musicians all departed, leaving behind just World God Blackmist within the palace.
A single person walked into the palace, a man dressed in astral robes with long black hair. It was the Starlord of Fogstone.
"Starchild." World God Blackmist smiled. He had watched as the Starlord grew up, and the Starlord truly was an incredible genius. He had grown and improved tremendously fast and had long ago surpassed Blackmist himself. Blackmist had known and protected him for so long that the Starlord viewed himself almost as Blackmist's son.
"Second Uncle." The Starlord seated himself next to him.
"Mm? What is it?" World God Blackmist could sense that something was off.
"I've already become a master-class World God," the Starlord said.
"Master-class? You've gained full mastery?" World God Blackmist revealed a look of surprise and delight, but then his face stiffened. "You…"
"Right. I've been waiting and biding my time for far, far too long. When Father left the Badlands Territory and went out adventuring, he ended up never returning. Back then, the Fogstone Dominion was very weak. There was no way I could get revenge. All I could do was keep on training…and in the end, I broke through to become a World-level expert. However, that old bastard Owlsoar ended up joining God Emperor Blacklotus. Even if I commanded all of the forces of the Fogstone Dominion against them, the end result would just be that both of our sides would be heavily damaged. As for Owlsoar himself, if he focused on fleeing I might not have been able to capture him."
"For the sake of the Fogstone lineage…"
"I've been enduring my hate and biding my time. Now that I've become a master-class World God, it is time to act," the Starlord said.
"But…" World God Blackmist hesitated.
He knew of the enmity between the Starlord and Chaos Immortal Owlsoar, of course.
When the Starlord had been very weak, World God Blackmist had accompanied him as he had wandered the outside world.
During his wanderings, the Starlord had encountered a female Immortal.
Both had been quite weak, but they still ended up falling in love with each other. Back then, World God Blackmist had pretended to be nothing more than an old servant.
Some time after the two met, the Starlord's father, who had himself been the Starlord of Fogstone at that time, had summoned him. Thus, he had to immediately go back to Fogstone. As for that female Immortal, she was bound by her duty to her clan and so had to remain behind within it.
And with this parting…their farewell became eternal.
After the Starlord had returned to Fogstone, his father had completed all of his arrangements and then left the planet, never to return.
Chaos Immortal Owlsoar had been refining a mighty sin-treasure. He butchered countless innocent cultivators in order to baptize his sin-treasure with their blood…and alas, the clan of the Starlord's lover was one of the clans that had been wiped out. By the time the Starlord found out, it was far too late…
The Starlord had cried bitterly before the ruins of his lover's clan.
He swore he would take revenge.
Ever since that day, the Starlord began to improve at a dramatic pace, reaching the World-level in an astonishingly brief period of time! After doing so, he continued to grow tremendously quickly, making repeated breakthroughs without pausing. And now…he had become a master-class World God! Even his sword-arts were now far more profound than World God Blackmist's.
"I can no longer wait," the Starlord growled. "I truly cannot. I've already reached the level of full mastery. How much more stronger do I need to become? Am I supposed to wait until I become a Daolord? That's far too difficult. Even if I waited another hundred chaos cycles, I still might not be able to achieve it."
"Now that I've reached the level of full mastery, I'm as strong as I possibly can be for now."
"We will definitely win this attack! I'll take part myself. There is no way that Chaos Immortal Owlsoar will be able to escape." The Starlord's handsome face was twisted with rage and savagery.
World God Blackmist couldn't help but secretly sigh upon seeing this. In the past, the Starlord had always been quite relaxed and nonchalant about cultivation. It was all due to his obsession, his stubborn desire to take revenge that he had transformed into a cultivating fanatic and improved so rapidly. In fact, the only reason why he hadn't left for revenge a long time ago was because he was worried about protecting the Fogstone lineage. That was why he had waited for so long.
"Starchild, if you wish to go seek revenge, then I shall definitely help you," World God Blackmist said. "However…you should first go and convince the other World-level experts of the Fogstone Dominion. The more who stand with us, the better our chances are."
"Alright." The Starlord of Fogstone nodded.
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Book 24, The Starlord of Fogstone, Chapter 35 – The Order
It was often said that the Fogstone Dominion held a total of nine World-level experts. This, however, referred to the ones who permanently resided within this region.
The Fogstone Dominion held sway over ninety-six chaosworlds. Over the course of many years, it had given birth to quite a few World-level experts. Many of them, such as the Starlord's father, had ended up leaving the Badlands Territory and adventuring through other lands! In truth, there were many World-level experts who drifted through other territories. Even the Starlord himself had visited quite a few territories, despite being fairly young.
At present, there were nine World-level experts on the planet of Fogstone. The Starlord, World God Blackmist, and Immortal Skyram were all members of the Fogstone lineage. As for the other six, they were treated something like distinguished guests and honored vassals.
"If the Starlord wishes it, then I agree to take part in this battle. I will do everything I can to support our side in our campaign against the Blacklotus Empire, but if the situation goes south, I'll still have to focus on keeping myself alive," a bald, golden-robed elder said in a slow voice.
"Let everything happen according to the plan. I agree as well."
"Right."
"Acceptable."
"Haha, I'm reminded of the days when I adventured through the outside world. I've been secluded here on the planet of Fogstone for far too long. It is time for a good fight!"
"Since the Starlord has paid such a hefty price, we naturally are willing to agree!"
In the end, the nine World-level experts all agreed to join the battle against the Blacklotus Empire.
The Starlord nodded.
"Second Uncle, I'll have to trouble you to pay a visit to the Badlands Everworld and purchase the 'Minor Thousand Elder Gods Formations' and the 'Minor Thousand Ancestral Immortals Formations'," the Starlord said.
"Done." World God Blackmist nodded.
"Everyone, when the time comes, just follow the plan. It'll make everything easier for you," the Starlord said. "I don't insist on you killing too many foes; I just need you to help me tie them down."
"Don't worry, Starlord."
"A minor task for people like us."
"Given the price you've already paid, Starlord…I can't see how the Blacklotus Empire can possibly win."
These vassal World-level experts, including Chaos Immortal Abyssus, were all couldn't help but secretly sigh in amazement at how ancient and deep-rooted a lineage the Fogstone lineage was. They were actually capable of purchasing a 'Minor Thousand Elder God Formation' for the Fogstone Army!
In truth, over the course of countless years, the Fogstone Dominion had actually come into possession of three such formations. In order to strengthen their hand even more, they were going to purchase three sets of those formations for Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals. Immortal Abyssus, the most unfathomably powerful of the six vassals, was also loaning one of his own formation sets as well.
These formations allowed a thousand Elder Gods or Ancestral Immortals to join together in battle. Roughly three hundred cubes of chaos nectar was needed for each. Most World-level experts wouldn't be able to afford such a price. All their possessions combined wouldn't necessarily be worth that much.
A so-called 'Major Thousand Elder Gods Formation' actually allowed a total of nine thousand to assemble together in battle. However, those formations were far too expensive; they were worth almost as much as an Eternal weapon! However, these formations were also ridiculously powerful; once a World-level expert was trapped within this formation, he would definitely perish!
The Windsource Chaosworld. The Eastcalm mountains.
Ning was seated in the lotus position within the Heavengazer Tower of Radiance, working on the Seventh Cycle of the [Starseizing Hand].
Although most of his time was spent on sword-arts, he still needed to alternate through other areas of cultivation as well. During the past few centuries in the Windsource Chaosworld, Ning had been able to use his insights into the [Fogstone Apocalypse] and the [Nine Elements Annihilation] to roughly sketch out how the Seventh Cycle of the [Starseizing Hand] would work.
"Master." A voice suddenly called out from outside.
"Eh?"
Ning opened his eyes. He hadn't blocked out sound from the outside world, and so he was able to hear what was happening outside the Heavengazer Tower.
Swoosh!
Ning appeared out of nowhere within a study. He waved his hand, causing the Heavengazer Tower which had been atop the table to disappear.
Creeeeak. He pulled the door open. Outside the study stood Elder God Wilddog.
"Master, orders have come from the planet of Fogstone." Elder God Wilddog said hurriedly, "The three captains stationed here have all been summoned already."
"Orders?" Ning was startled, then nodded. "Let's go take a look."
"What? Everyone is to return to Fogstone?" The golden-robed Elder God Mountain Eater called out in shock.
"There's no longer a need for troops to be stationed here on the Windsource Chaosworld?" The other two captains, Tearwell and Soulflight, were completely shocked as well.
As for Ning, he looked at the messenger before him.
The messenger said respectfully to Ning, "General, captains, this order comes from the Starlord himself. You can see it for yourself." As he spoke, he handed over a glowing golden scroll over to Ning.
Ning unfurled the scroll and gave it a thorough reading.
The words on the scroll had been etched with divine power, and their aura was indeed the aura of the Starlord's.
"The three of you can take a look as well." Ning handed the scroll over.
Elder God Mountain Eater, Immortal Soulflight, and Elder God Tearwell accepted the scroll and looked through it, puzzled. None of them questioned the validity of the order, as there was no way the scroll or the messenger could be faked. Anyone capable of making a scroll that could fool them was powerful enough to not need to do such a thing!
"This is an important border region, but he's actually withdrawing all troops? This has never happened before in all the years I've been here," Elder God Mountain Eater said in a low voice.
"Very well." Ning nodded then instructed, "Since the Starlord has ordered it, all of us should immediately return to Fogstone. Also…the decree states that we have to withdraw in a stealthy fashion."
"Right." The three captains all nodded.
Ning left Swordfather Triult in the Eastcalm mountains, so as to protect the Immortals and Fiendgods who lived in the surrounding area. All the others, such as Flamefairy Su Youji or Elder God Wilddog, followed Ning in leaving this place.
They moved in stealth. Ning led his retainers as well as the hundreds of Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals of the Fogstone Army away from the Windsource Chaosworld and travelled to the planet of Fogstone.
Upon reaching Fogstone…Ning realized that thousands of Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals had all gathered here.
"It's been a long time since I've seen so many Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals."
"This many?"
The soldiers all sighed in amazement, then began to break up into groups of four or five.
"General, the Starlord has summoned you." Things wouldn't be as relaxed for Ning as they were for the ordinary soldiers. He was immediately summoned into the Starlord's estate.
The Starlord's estate.
Four figures were seated within a side chamber.
"Eh?" Upon entering the side chamber, Ning immediately saw those four seated figures. All of them had extraordinary auras and different appearances.
"Greetings, generals." Ning was the first to speak out.
"I heard that our Fogstone Army has gained a new general who sparred against World God Blacklist. A pity that by the time I heard of this, fellow Daoist Sunrise, you had already left Fogstone." A tall, muscular, scaled alien cultivator dressed in white robes was the first to respond.
"Greetings, Sword Immortal Sunrise."
"Brother Sunrise, we should spar as well if we have some free time."
The four generals all behaved in a fairly friendly manner towards Ning. They were on the same side, after all, and they had all sworn lifeblood oaths to support each other. Naturally, they would be quite a cohesive force.
Soon, the sixth general arrived as well as Elder God Imperius.
"The Starlord has arrived." The seven turned to stare towards the outside, sensing the vast astral aura approaching. Moments later, an astral-robed man stepped into the hall.
"Greetings, Starlord." The six generals and Elder God Imperius all bowed respectfully.
The Starlord sat down in the principal seat. "You can be seated as well."
"Thank you, Starlord." Ning and the others all sat down.
"I've summoned all of our Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals to Fogstone. I imagine you have your own guesses as to why." The Starlord had a smile on his face.
Ning and the others were all quite curious. Given that the Starlord had summoned all of their many scattered armies…there definitely had to be an important reason behind this.
"The entire Fogstone Army is going to mobilize. Every World-level expert and every soldier is going to move out…and assault the Blacklotus Empire," the Starlord said.
"What?!"
Everyone was shocked.
Ning was shocked as well. Although he was awaiting a good chance to act against the Mindlord, he was still stunned upon hearing this news. Generally speaking, the various organizations within the Badlands Territory would only engage in small-scale skirmishes against each other. These skirmishes were only meant to temper the Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals within their ranks. Things would rarely escalate to the point of a full-blown war! Wars on that level…they had a tremendous impact on the area and would result in horrifying casualties.
Although the Fogstone Dominion had nine World-level experts, the Blacklotus Empire had six! In addition, a battle between cultivators wouldn't be solely dependent on mere numbers alone. A single powerful World-level expert could very possibly counter seven or eight weaker World-level experts. An extremely powerful one, such as World God Northrest when he wielded Violetjewel, could easily slay ten ordinary World Gods who stood in his path!
Thus, numbers didn't mean everything. No one could say for certain what the various World-level experts hid up their sleeves.
"Our plan has already been drawn up," the Starlord said. "The seven of you will each take control over 999 Elder Gods or Ancestral Immortals! You'll form a total of six 'Minor Thousand Elder Gods Formation' and one 'Minor Thousand Ancestral Immortals Formation'.
"Seven formations?" Ning was secretly shocked by this.
A formation that allowed a thousand Elder Gods to join their power would be able to surround and kill some of the weaker World-level experts! Even powerful ones would be stymied for a time by them!
"Imperius will be responsible for the Ancestral Immortals, while the six of you will be responsible for the Elder Gods. I'll give you all a month to familiarize yourselves with these formations," the Starlord said. "A month from now, we shall head out towards the Blacklotus Empire."
"Acknowledged." The six generals and Elder God Imperius all assented in unison.
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Book 24, The Starlord of Fogstone, Chapter 36 – Sparring With the Sword Again
Ji Ning and the other generals each accepted a set of formations, then left. Because Ning didn't have his own estate on the planet of Fogstone, the Starlord of Fogstone arranged special accommodations for him.
The estate Ning was given was roughly a hundred kilometers in size. It was once filled with gardens and pools, but all of those things had been flattened as a military drill grounds had been established here.
"General." A throng of Elder Gods were standing on the drill ground, watching Ning.
"Nine captains!" Ning called out.
"Present!" Instantly, nine goldenscale Elder Gods responded to Ning's call.
"Each of you shall command a total of 110 Elder Gods. Spend some time getting familiarized with this formation and getting better control over it." Ning waved his hand, causing nine dark-golden discs to fly out towards those nine captains. The entire Fogstone Army had undergone a significant revamping, with some of the personal servants of the World-level experts having been sent to join as well to make sure that each team had enough men!
The nine captains accepted the dark-golden discs, quickly binding them and attuning themselves to the mysteries within them.
"As for the rest of you…" Ning looked at the other Elder Gods, then waved his hand again, causing a large number of slightly smaller formation-discs to appear in the air. The divine runes covering these formation-discs were slightly less complicated as well. "You need to work hard as well. Cooperate with your captains. Your formation-discs will be a bit simpler; I trust that in four or five days, you should have mastered them."
Whoosh. Whoosh. Whoosh. The nine hundred-plus discs all flew towards the Elder Gods, with each Elder God receiving one.
"As for me?" Ning explained, "I'll be at the core of the formation, leading the nine captains."
"I imagine you have already have an inkling as to what this is. Correct…this is a 'Minor Thousand Elder Gods Formation'!" Ning could see the curious looks on the faces of the Elder Gods. Most of them were probably secretly exchanging mental whispers, and so Ning just went straight to the point.
All of the Elder Gods present fell silent upon hearing this.
A Minor Thousand Elder Gods Formation?
A formation which would allow a thousand Elder Gods to perfectly join their strength together and unleash it? Supposedly, even weak World Gods who were trapped within such a formation would be slain by it. They were actually going to have a chance to use such a legendarily powerful formation?
Hundred Elder Gods Formation. Minor Thousand Elder Gods Formation. Major Thousand Elder Gods Formation.
These formations weren't developed by any single power or any single Daolord. They had been developed and refined by many generations of major powers over the course of countless years. By now, they had reached the point of utmost perfection! It could be said that there was no way to improve these formations any further at all. They had become perfectly standardized and refined, and so all 'Minor Thousand Elder Gods Formations' were identical to each other, capable of allowing a thousand Elder Gods to unleash the full might of their combined power.
"From this day forth." Ning swept the Elder Gods with his gaze. "You will have just one assignment. You are to master this formation as quickly as possible! You can practice with your captains and comrades in small groups. Every three days, all of us will come together for a joint practice session."
"Alright. Go and meditate on the formation," Ning commanded.
"Yes, General." The Elder God soldiers all responded in unison.
Ning's own formation-disc was the most complicated disc of all. He would be at the center of the formation and responsible for harmonizing it, and so Ning actually entered the Heavengazer Tower to meditate on it in detail. After spending six days inside the Heavengazer Tower, Ning completely mastered the formation.
Three days passed in the outside world.
The planet of Fogstone. The drill grounds at the front of Ning's estate.
"Assemble the formation!" Ning issued the order.
Rumble…
Instantly, the thousand formation-discs joined together, causing countless streams of light to spring up and form a web that covered every single Elder God. The entire region seemed to be completely encompassed by this net of light.
"What a strange feeling." Ning stood there, head raised towards the skies. "I feel as though I've become one with the heavens and the earth of this area."
Once the formation was established, the users would become one with this dimension, forming a world unto themselves. This was the reason why they were able to fight evenly against even World-level experts.
"Eh?" Ning glanced sideways towards a fairly muscular Elder God captain. The formation in his region was trembling slightly.
"I'm still not that accustomed to this formation." The captain sent a rather ashamed mental message.
Ning sent back, "Get accustomed, fast."
"Yes." The muscular captain himself realized that the eight other captains were in complete control of their parts; he was the only one who was falling behind. As for the ordinary Elder God soldiers, quite a few of them were rather unstable as well. However, because those soldiers served ancillary roles, their instability wouldn't make much of a difference. They were like the twigs, while the nine captains were like the branches! As for Ning, he was the trunk of the tree!
If anything happened to Ning, the entire formation would collapse.
"A world unto ourselves…once we strike, we'll strike with not just the power of all the Elder Gods, but also with the power of the world itself." Ning nodded to himself. An enemy attack on any single Elder God would be dispersed across the entire formation, as well as the world which the formation had created. Most likely, 99% of the power would be dispersed into the world.
Only a tiny amount of power would actually land upon the thousand Elder Gods!
Thus, most World-level experts would be unable to do anything to a thousand Elder Gods who had joined together in such a formation. Weaker ones would actually be killed.
"Alright. Most of our Elder Gods have already mastered the technique. Go back and spend some more time on it. I hope that three days from now, our formation will be even more perfect," Ning said.
"Yes, General." The Elder God soldiers were all rather excited.
This was their first time being part of such a tremendously mighty force. Even though they were merely the twigs of this mighty formation, they were still supposed by the world which this formation created, allowing each of them to reach the World God threshold of power. As for the nine captains, they would be even more powerful. As the center of the formation, Ning was the most powerful of them all! He was now far more powerful than when he was by himself and using the azureflower mist energy.
Whoooooosh. The Elder God soldiers quickly departed and the drill grounds fell silent.
"Eh?" Just as Ning turned to leave, he suddenly saw a figure appear.
A black-robed man with tousled hair had appeared on the drill grounds. He had a smile on his face as he strolled towards Ning in a leisurely fashion.
Ning was surprised. World God Blackmist? Why had he come to this place?
"Greetings, senior." Ning immediately called out respectfully to him.
"I could sense you assembling the formation so I took a look. Your forces have been pretty fast. The formation is more or less ready, and your control over it is excellent." World God Blackmist chuckled. "The core formation-disc is the most complicated disc. To be able to master it within three days is impressive."
Ning hurriedly said, "I actually spent a total of six days. I relied on the assistance of a temporal treasure to speed time up for myself."
"Oh…"
World God Blackmist couldn't help but let out a surprised laugh. This Darknorth really was quite an honest fellow.
"The Starlord gave you a month, primarily because the core-disc is extremely hard to master. Six days is still impressive." World God Blackmist continued, "Last time, when you sparred against me, I could see that that your sword-arts were on the verge of making a great breakthrough. Have you succeeded?"
"I did indeed make a breakthrough," Ning said.
"Oh?" World God Blackmist's eyes lit up. He couldn't help it; of the Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals on Fogstone, the only one who was truly an expert in the Dao of the Sword was Ji Ning.
"Come on, then. Let's spar a bit!" World God Blackmist said.
"Yes." Ning was growing excited as well.
Whoosh. Ning produced a longsword that seemed to flow with the waters of autumn. It was the flexible Dao sword he had acquired. Since they were merely sparring and testing out each other's sword-arts, there was no need to take out an Eternal weapon.
"Be careful." World God Blackmist waved his hand, causing an ordinary-looking longsword to appear. He naturally wouldn't use his most powerful weapon in a sparring match against a junior.
A smile on his face, World God Blackmist struck out with the sword in his hand.
When the sword-light flashed, it instantly seemed to fill the heavens and the earth with its light. The surrounding area seemed to have been transformed into an endless haze of black mist…and suddenly, a bizarre but dominating streak of sword-light stabbed out from within the mist.
Ning remained quite calm. He knew that this was the 'Sword World' of World God Blackmist.
"Break!" Ning struck out with an exceedingly savage stab as well.
When his sword shot out, it was like a stream of light.
This was the fastest and most penetrative stance of the [Brightmoon] sword-art, the 'Blood Drop stance'. By now, this stance had been completely infused with the essence of the 'Killsword stance' of the [Nameless] sword-art. The [Nameless] sword-art actually represented a certain realm of comprehension regarding the sword. After absorbing the essence of its techniques, Ning had completely incorporated them into [Brightmoon].
When the Killsword stance struck, it held nothing back at all! Once the sword struck out, it carried an aura of grim resolve with it.
Boom!
Ning's sword-light clashed against Blackmist's strange sword-light, smashing it apart.
"Eh? This sword-art is quite clever. Last time, your sword-arts focused around complete control and perfect flawlessness. This time, it's the opposite…you ignore all else in favor of an attack that holds nothing back at all, filling it with savage resolve. In savagery alone, you are quite close to the average 'Sword World' level." World God Blackmist's voice rang out. "Fortunately, I'm not new to the Sword World level."
The power of Ning's sword-art was quite tremendous.
The essence of the Killsword stance was to be vicious to the enemy and merciless to the self. It ignored all defense and held nothing back, sending forth a strike of utterly incomparable might that was close in power to that of an ordinary Sword World's might.
Only someone who had already mastered the Heartsword stance would be able to use this technique without injuring himself. If someone who didn't master the Heartsword stance was to train in this technique, they wouldn't have the flawless control necessary to ensure that there would be no openings. The end result would be that if you were unable to kill your opponent, your opponent would be able to seize upon your flaws and kill you instead!
Only when the Heartsword stance was mastered could one use such a dangerous, ruinous stance.
The longer Blackmist fought, the more excited he became. This Darknorth truly was talented in sword-arts. He had improved so dramatically since their last fight! Aside from the savage and violent 'Killsword stance', Ning actually had another sword-art that was even more shocking to Blackmist. This was something Ning had come up with based on Violetjewel's quintessence core. Although it hadn't truly taken shape, it was still enough to make Blackmist's heart clench.
"Enough, enough." World God Blackmist laughed. "I'm using a Chaos weapon and the strength of an Elder God, but I'm at the verge of being beaten."
"I'm using a Dao weapon," Ning hurriedly explained.
"Oh, so that's how it is." World God Blackmist once more let out a surprised laugh as he glanced at Ning's flexible sword. "That explains it. My sword-arts are clearly more profound than yours, and yet I wasn't able to suppress you when I used a Chaos weapon and the strength of an Elder God."
Ning felt tremendous gratitude in his heart.
They had sparred for quite a long period of time just now. Only when Ning was unable to gain anything further had Blackmist brought things to a halt. This sparring match allowed Ning to test and verify all the many insights he had gained during the past few centuries, which translated into thousands of years in the Heavengazer Tower. His sword-arts had improved by quite a bit.
"It's rare for Fogstone to produce such an expert in the Dao of the Sword." World God Blackmist looked at Ning. "I can sense that your talent in the sword is no lower than the Starlord's was. Train hard. Oh, right. Be careful on this trip to the Blacklotus Empire. Staying alive is what matters the most."
"Alright." Ning nodded.
"Also…this is a sword-art I personally devised. It has a simple name: [Blackmist] sword-art. You are already so talented with the sword that this sword-art of mine won't be of much use to you, but if you read through it you might gain a few ideas." World God Blackmist waved his hand, producing a jade slip which he tossed to Ning.
Ning immediately caught it, then said gratefully, "Thank you, senior."
"To be honest, I was thinking about taking you on as my disciple. However, judging by your performance today, I can tell that you'll soon catch up to me and perhaps even surpass me." Blackmist smiled. "Alright. Continue with your preparations for the war."
"Right," Ning said.
World God Blackmist departed in as leisurely a fashion as he had arrived. His hair still tousled and mussled, he casually sauntered off before slowly disappearing into thin air.
Ning felt tremendous gratitude towards the man. The very first time Ning had arrived on Fogstone and met with World God Blackmist, Blackmist had personally sparred with him and guided him as well.
Time continued to pass, and Ning spent his days analyzing World God Blackmist's sword-arts. Soon, a full month had gone past. It was time for the grand army to go on campaign!
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Book 24, The Starlord of Fogstone, Chapter 37 – Invasion
The Starlord's estate. An enormous empty region within the estate was filled with a teeming mass of Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals.
"I wonder what they are planning to do with such an enormous force."
"They have to be planning on attacking a different organization."
"Even if they plan to launch an attack, is there a need to go this far? The Fogstone Army usually has around three thousand Elder Gods, and they normally would use just three of those formations. But now, they've actually managed to summon a force of seven thousand Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals, including some who were servants or slaves of the various Chaos Immortals and World Gods."
"Let's just watch and see."
The Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals were all discussing this amongst themselves.
Ji Ning, Elder God Imperius, and a few others who knew the truth felt a certain tightness in their chests. Yes…their leaders had spared no expense on this war.
They had originally numbered just three thousand, but after recalling all of their far-flung forces and adding in many servants and slaves, the Fogstone Army now numbered seven thousand! Ancestral Immortal Imperius was a good example of an irregular who had been pulled in. He was the disciple of Chaos Immortal Abyssus and was incredibly strong, which was why he had been assigned to command one of the seven armies.
"I wonder what sort of a feud exists between the Blacklotus Empire and the Fogstone Dominion. Why is the Starlord going all out in this fight?" Ning murmured these words to himself.
"Here they are." Ning's eyes suddenly lit up as he saw the nine figures walking towards them from afar.
The leader of the nine was the astral-robed Starlord of Fogstone. Next to him were the other World-level major powers. The nine of them walked forwards together, causing all of the gathered Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals to fall silent.
"Everyone," the Starlord said, "This campaign is an extremely important one. When the fight begins, all of you need to listen to the orders of your generals."
"Yes," all the soldiers acknowledged.
'Come in." The Starlord waved his hand. Whoosh. Instantly, a ripple of power spread out. None of the Elder Gods or Ancestral Immortals resisted, resulting in all of them disappearing into thin air.
"By my command, the planet of Fogstone is to be completely sealed. No one is to be allowed to enter or leave." A sonorous voice suddenly spread out into the ears of every single cultivator on the planet. Even the normally public trading markets were quickly sealed away as the entire planet was put on lockdown.
Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh swoosh! Swoosh!
The nine World-level experts soared upwards, quickly appearing in the skies and staring down upon Fogstone.
"Come in." The Starlord waved his hand, causing the enormous planet of Fogstone itself to disappear as well. The planet had long ago been refined into an enormous magic treasure. This was the core legacy of the entire Fogstone lineage. Now that the entire Fogstone Army was on campaign, the Starlord naturally wasn't willing to leave the planet here undefended.
"The Starlord really is going out this time," a green-robed elder said with a chuckle.
"This time, we're going to have a chance to witness the Starlord's true power."
"If all of us go all-out, we might very well be able to wipe out the entire Blacklotus Empire, even though that isn't our goal. The only thing I'm concerned about is the guardian formation protecting the imperial capital of the Blacklotus Empire."
"Starlord, that guardian formation truly is quite deadly."
The other World-level experts all issued words of caution.
An enemy's capital was bound to be an incredibly dangerous place to invade. Every generation of Starlords had worked hard to further reinforce Fogstone, rendering its formations increasingly deadly. Although the Blacklotus Empire wasn't as old as Fogstone and mainly relied on God Emperor Blacklotus' personal power, without a doubt the God Emperor and his vassals had set up many mighty formations around the imperial capital.
"Don't worry. Just carry out our plan," the Starlord said. "All you need to do is do what I told you to do. Don't worry about anything else."
"Alright."
"Right."
These World-level experts were just giving the Starlord a few words of caution. They weren't ordinary pawns who could be sacrificed for the sake of a greater goal. Given their power, they were qualified to speak and treat with the Starlord as equals.
"Alright. We can't waste any time." The Starlord frowned. "The sudden disappearance of Fogstone will soon be noticed, but it'll take a bit of time before the word gets to the imperial capital of the Blacklotus Empire. We need to get there as soon as possible. Ideally, we'll arrive before the Blacklotus Empire is prepared for us."
After speaking, the Starlord waved his hand and caused a ship of stars to appear before him.
The nine World-level experts all boarded this ship, which then twinkled with starlight and disappeared.
The imperial capital of the Blacklotus Empire was located within the Blacklotus Chaosworld. It was the central administrative city for the entire Blacklotus Empire.
The entire city was actually an enormous magic treasure which was shaped like a nine-petal black lotus. The entire city stretched out ten million kilometers and was seated at the very tip of a mountain. The city's layout was actually quite similar to the layout of the Badlands Everworld's Waveshift City. This was a testament to how ambitious God Emperor Blacklotus was. He was an incredibly arrogant figure, which was why he had styled himself as the 'God Emperor'.
"I wonder what's been going on with the Fogstone Dominion lately. They actually summoned back all of their Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals from their various stations." A gray-robed, black-haired man was frowning in thought as he sat within a winehouse located in the imperial capital.
This gray-robed, black-haired man had lofty brows, and the look in his eyes made it so that not even the winehouse's attendants dared to go near him.
"Can it be that Fogstone is about to launch a grand campaign?" The gray-robed man muttered to himself, "It can't be for the sake of that Ji Ning fellow, right? He shouldn't have that sort of ability."
"Ji Ning."
"Goddamn Ji Ning." The gray-robed man's face grew uglier by the moment.
He was one of the Nine Divine Generals of God Emperor Blacklotus, the Mindlord.
His Primaltwin had possessed Old Man Yuan in the Three Realms and had lived there for many years. As he saw it, for someone like him to wipe out a backwaters chaosworld was simplicity itself!
Although a World God in the form of Mother Nuwa had suddenly appeared out of nowhere, the Mindlord had remained hidden and didn't reveal his true power or intentions. Eventually, Mother Nuwa left.
He had remained hidden, even after her departure. He was in no rush, and his long life had taught him to be patient.
Finally, the Endwar had come.
First, that 'Lord of the Demonheart' had appeared once more! Although Demonheart had the power of a supreme Elder God, Old Man Yuan felt confident in being able to handle him.
And yet, those yokels had actually given rise to a formidable Heartforce Cultivator, Houyi! Still, this was not entirely unexpected. Old Man Yuan had taken control over Chang'e long ago, precisely because he wanted to have some leverage over Houyi. As a Heartforce Cultivator, he knew exactly how devastating such a mental influence could have on a cultivator.
He had accounted for everything…except for this Ji Ning.
Ji Ning. He had trained for a very brief period of time, but he was an utterly terrifying monster. In the end, Ji Ning had broken through and become so powerful that he had utterly crushed Old Man Yuan, defeating his palm-arts through superior sword-arts, then stabbing him through the forehead.
"Someone who has the power of a truly transcendent Elder God." Old Man Yuan had truly been terrified. He immediately planned a deception, and in the moment of his death he willed all of his servants and slaves to die. He even released his bindings over his various magic treasures, so as to put on a show of being truly dead. All of this was for the sake of preventing Ji Ning from finding him later.
However, when the Mindlord carefully analyzed this matter, he realized that he had made an miscalculation.
"Witherspike!" The gray-robed elder muttered to himself, "I didn't give a damn about Witherspike, but he knew exactly who I was. It is very possible that he might've told Ji Ning and the others about me. If he did that…given how much those of the Three Realms hate me, they'll definitely come for revenge. Given how strong Ji Ning is, he stands a very good chance of surviving the trip through that spatial vortex tunnel!"
"If he wants revenge…he'd probably want to find a backer. It's entirely possible that he might've joined one of the nearby organizations."
The Mindlord had instantly come to this conclusion, and so he immediately began to purchase intelligence reports to see if any transcendent Elder Gods had appeared in recent years! In the end, he finally found out that Fogstone had gained a new general by the name of 'Sunrise'.
"Sunrise?" The gray-robed elder smirked. "Transcendent Elder Gods don't just appear out of nowhere. If Ji Ning truly has left the Three Realms, he most likely is this 'Sunrise' figure."
Although he had already guessed at the truth, there was still nothing that he could do about it.
Sunrise was stationed on the Windsource World and had three hundred Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals under his command. What was the Mindlord supposed to do? Ask a World-level expert to intervene? He didn't have that sort of ability.
All he could do was hide!
"Ugh."
"I don't even know if this 'Sunrise' really is Ji Ning," the gray-robed elder muttered to himself. "I hope he isn't. I hope that Witherspike never told Ji Ning about me."
To tell the truth, the Mindlord had been miserable in recent years! However, he knew that he had to keep enduring it and bide his time. He had to at least verify whether or not Sunrise really was Ji Ning.
If Sunrise really was…
Going outside by himself would be suicide.
"OUTRAGEOUS!!!" Suddenly, a furious roar rang out, echoing throughout the entire chaosworld and causing it to tremble. All the cultivators within the imperial capital of Blacklotus were shocked by this.
"Come to my estate immediately!" An icy cold voice that was tinged with rage suddenly rang out in the Mindlord's mind.
"His Imperial Majesty?" The Mindlord was shocked.
Swoosh!
Ignoring everyone and everything else, the gray-robed figure immediately flew out of the innhouse's window and headed straight towards the God Emperor's estate.
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Book 24, The Starlord of Fogstone, Chapter 38 – Legacy Treasure, Fogstone Planet
The Blacklotus Chaosworld. A giant warship with an aura of awe-inspiring majesty was forcing its way straight through this world.
The warship was ten thousand kilometers long, and at its prow stood nine World-level experts. Behind them stood a dense cluster of seven thousand Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals.
"This chaosworld is the home of God Emperor Blacklotus." The Starlord's face was icy and solemn. "There's no way for us to escape his notice after we enter his chaosworld. Still…there's no need to keep it hidden. It'll be too late for him."
Whoosh.
The great warship disappeared in a teleportation. When it reappeared, it was over the clouds that were above an enormous city that was shaped like a black lotus with nine petals.
Rumble…
A ripple of power spread out from the Blacklotus imperial capital. The ripple of power spread out to cover the entire chaosworld, seeking to completely seal it off from the space around it, but it was too late.
"This is the imperial capital of the Blacklotus Empire?"
"A city shaped like a nine-petal black lotus…it has to be it." Only now did most of the Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals aboard the ship understand who their target was. It was actually the Blacklotus Empire! All of them felt both excited and nervous. If they were by themselves, they would never dare to cause trouble here…but now there were seven thousand of them as well as nine World-level powers!
This filled all of them with excitement and eagerness.
"Assemble the formations," the Starlord commanded.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The seven generals, including Ji Ning and Imperius, immediately began to assemble their formations. In almost an instant, all seven thousand of the Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals were in place.
"Not a single one moved to flee?" The Starlord sat at the very front of the prow, staring downwards at the vast city below them. The entire chaosworld was now sealed so tightly that not even an ant could escape from it.
"Perhaps they feel that they are strong enough to leave when they please, if they feel the need to do so later," Chaos Immortal Abyssus said with a chuckle.
"Hmph." The Starlord laughed coldly. "They won't be able to."
Whoosh.
The Starlord swept open his astral robes. Instantly, an enormous planet suddenly appeared in midair. It was the planet of Fogstone! Fogstone was kept to a size of merely ten million kilometers, roughly the same size as the nine-petal black lotus below it, but Fogstone was emanating ripples of utterly terrifying power. And then…
Whoooooosh.
It shot out countless specks of astral light.
The starlight spread out to cover trillions of kilometers, completely illuminating the city beneath it, the nearby mountains and lakes, and the distant seas themselves as well as many mortal cities. In fact…its light spread out to cover this entire chaosworld.
"Ah?!"
"W-what's…"
The countless living beings within this chaosworld, mortals and beasts included, all stared in puzzlement at the starlight that had just appeared everywhere.
The starlight felt very comfortable to them.
"What's going on?" A cultivator suddenly realized, to his shock, that it was now impossible to engage in teleportation here.
"The ripples of spacetime have become completely locked."
Within the black lotus city.
Inside the God Emperor's estate.
Six figures were standing shoulder-to-shoulder, staring upwards at the skies. When they saw the enormous planet of Fogstone suddenly appear and radiate starlight in every direction, their faces all paled.
"Damn." A chubby, ruddy-skinned alien with just one vertical eye let out a growl. "The Starlord of Fogstone has actually moved his headquarters, the planet of Fogstone, to this place. According to the stories, the planet of Fogstone is actually the legacy treasure of the entire Fogstone lineage. When it spreads out its astral light, it will completely suppress the local ripples of spacetime, causing every single region to be completely locked down. There's no way for us to escape, even if we wished to do so."
"They actually brought their entire planet with them?"
"There's not much of a feud between us and Fogstone. We have the occasional border skirmish, but none of our World-level powers have ever feuded against theirs. Why would the Starlord be so crazed as to move his entire planet here for this attack?"
The six were all quite puzzled. God Emperor Blacklotus was puzzled as well!
The Fogstone Dominion was of an ancient lineage, and its legacy treasure was the planet of Fogstone itself. In addition, every single Starlord of Fogstone was a terrifying figure. Even if a person was once nothing more than an ordinary World-level power, upon assuming the mantle of 'Starlord of Fogstone' that person would transform into an utterly terrifying figure. This was all because of the legacy treasure known as the planet Fogstone.
Fogstone could be used to attack…and if one paid an incalculable price, one would be able to unleash utterly ruinous power from it. The planet itself was filled with countless dangers and traps, making it so that very few organizations would dare to raid it or launch attacks within it.
When used as a defensive structure, World-level experts had virtually no chance of breaking through into Fogstone.
When used to trap foes, the astral light it radiated would make it so that even World-level experts would move much slower!
Every single Starlord of Fogstone had the power to command and control the planet of Fogstone. This naturally made them some of the most troublesome opponents a World-level expert could face!
"Starchild." A cold voice rang out, echoing within the prow of the incoming warship. "I don't believe my Blacklotus Empire has ever offended you…and yet, you've actually gone so far as to move your legacy treasure, the planet of Fogstone, to my territory."
"Blacklotus." The Starlord stared downwards from his position at the prow, then said in a calm voice, "It is true that no grudges exist between the two of us, and I have no desire to engage in a war against you."
"No desire to engage in a war? Then why have you come in such force?" The voice of the God Emperor rang out once more, causing the very air above the imperial capital to tremble.
"I've come here today solely for the sake of Immortal Owlsoar," the Starlord said calmly. "After killing Owlsoar, I'll immediately lead my forces away and also offer valuable treasures to make up for the offense."
Everyone fell silent.
"I'll give you as much time as is needed for a single stick of incense to be burned. Afterwards, if you choose to continue to protect Owlsoar, I'll have no choice but to press the attack." As the Starlord spoke, he waved his hand. A stick of gray incense instantly appeared in the air then self-ignited, emitting a calming and fragrant aroma. This was a precious treasure which cultivators used, known as the 'Three Zens Incense'. Once it was lit, the cultivator would become extremely calm and be able to much more easily sense the Dao. This was of great benefit. When Ning trained in the [Solitary World God, what he needed to break through to the next level was to have his heart be completely calm.
"What's this all about?"
"Owlsoar, the Starlord of Fogstone did all this just to kill you?"
"What sort of grudge exists between the two of you?"
The other five, including God Emperor Blacklotus, turned to stare at Chaos Immortal Owlsoar.
Immortal Owlsoar was a jade-eyed elder who had a divine blood tattoo on his forehead. His oily jade eyes inspired terror in all who saw him. He frowned and said in a low voice, "I don't think there is any enmity between the two of us. Don't be impatient. Let me ask him about this."
"Starlord of Fogstone." Immortal Owlsoar's cold voice rang out towards the great warship in the skies. "I don't know how I've offended you. Is it possible that there has been some sort of a misunderstanding?"
"Haha…misunderstanding?" The cold voice that rang down from above was filled with endless hatred. "Were you the one behind the great massacre that occurred within the Blackcold Chaosworld?"
Immortal Owlsoar's face immediately changed upon hearing this.
For the sake of forging a mighty sin-treasure, he had once butchered countless living creatures. However, although he had slain many individuals, he had been careful not to slay any creatures who were protected by other World-level experts. However, he knew that this sort of butchery would naturally stir revulsion amongst certain noble-minded figures and possibly result in them attacking him, which is why he had immediately joined God Emperor Blacklotus after finishing the refining process.
"Was there a connection between the creatures of that chaosworld and you?" Immortal Owlsoar still couldn't believe it. By his calculations, when he wiped out the Blackcold Chaosworld the Starlord of Fogstone, Starchild, had been nothing more than a young fellow. Back then, the Starlord had actually been Starchild's father.
"Haha…" A frenzied, frozen laughter was torn from the Starlord's throat. "My Dao-companion was located on the Blackcold Chaosworld!"
"What?!" Immortal Owlsoar's face completely changed.
Back then, Starchild truly had been nothing more than a young fellow, and his Dao-companion was nothing more than a weak female Immortal.
All those years ago, in the face of the power of a Chaos Immortal like Owlsoar, they were nothing more than dust in the wind. But now…the weak little Starchild had come for revenge in his capacity as the Starlord of Fogstone.
"Blacklotus." Immortal Owlsoar hurriedly turned his head to look at the frowning God Emperor Blacklotus. He said frantically, "Blacklotus, we aren't that much weaker than them. There's no need for us to be afraid of Starchild."
"Hmph." God Emperor Blacklotus glanced sideways at him and let out a cold snort. Clearly, he was quite unhappy at the trouble which Immortal Owlsoar had brought to his doorstep.
God Emperor Blacklotus had quite an unpleasant look on his face, and he felt quite unhappy that the Starlord of Fogstone had come to his very doorsteps.
At this very moment. The spacetime transfer array of Sevenwater Star.
A barefoot old man dressed in ragged clothes suddenly appeared within the array.
The Immortals and Fiendgods responsible for protecting the array stared at the old man in astonishment. "H-he…actually paid the fee to have the array be activated for him ahead of schedule?"
This would cost a hundred bottles of chaos nectar for short distances and even more for longer distances. Thus, not even World Gods or Chaos Immortals would do so lightly. Generally speaking, only the most top-tier of World-level experts would ever choose to have the spacetime transfer arrays activated for them on an individual basis. They often travelled throughout the outside world, after all, and constantly went from one array to another. If they had to pay for a personal activation each time, the costs would be quite staggering. Thus, it was quite rare for even the caretakers of the spacetime transfer arrays to see a cultivator have the array activated on an individual basis. This was especially true for a lesser-travelled location such as Sevenwater Star.
As for this old man's strange appearance, that didn't really matter. Cultivators dressed and acted as they pleased. They could all tell that this barefoot old man had an extraordinary demeanor. None of the caretakers even dared to breathe loudly in front of him.
"Ugh. Finally made it to the Sevenwater Star of the Badlands Territory." The raggedy old man stepped out of the formation and into the skies. He muttered to himself, "If Daolord Windsource was going to die, he could've just died somewhere convenient. Why the hell did he have to run all the way over here, to the Badlands Territory? This old man is dog-tired from the journey."
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Book 24, The Starlord of Fogstone, Chapter 39 – The Battle Begins
"The Windsource Ruins. Mm. Thank goodness Daolord Windsource set up an estate just before he died. All of his treasures should probably be inside that place. I hope my information is correct and the talisman is truly inside there as well!"
The raggedy old man took another step through the void of space, then completely disappeared.
The Blacklotus Chaosworld.
Above the city shaped like a black lotus with nine petals was an enormous planet that glimmered with boundless amounts of astral light.
The two forces faced each other watchfully.
Within the God Emperor's estate.
"What do you think we should do, everyone?" God Emperor Blacklotus glanced at the other four World-level experts.
"Help me out, everyone." Chaos Immortal Owlsoar looked at the other four as well, a hint of ill-disguised entreaty on his face. At a time like this, face no longer mattered. If God Emperor Blacklotus and the other five weren't willing to stand up for him and he was forced to face the might of the entire Fogstone Army by himself, he would most assuredly perish.
"Owlsoar, you…ugh. Forget it. It is far too late now." A man dressed in a white robe embroidered with flowers shook his head.
"What, are all of you shrinking back already? The Fogstone Dominion isn't that much more powerful than us. If they force us to bow our heads this time, how will we ever be able to raise our heads again when meeting the other World-level powers of the Badlands Territory?" An alien covered in oily black armor spoke out, his golden eyes filled with anger.
"The entire reason we all joined together in an alliance was so that we could jointly deal with any threats, right? It's also been a long time since I've had a good fight. My hands itch." The chubby cyclopean alien spoke out in concurrence.
A look of delight and gratitude appeared on Immortal Owlsoar's face.
"I'll listen to what Blacklotus says," the bald, gray-robed elder said calmly.
"Blacklotus…" All of them turned to look at God Emperor Blacklotus. Immortal Owlsoar had a hopeful look on his face.
God Emperor Blacklotus gave Immortal Owlsoar a glance, secretly shaking his head. He had always felt rather contemptuous towards Immortal Owlsoar. Immortal Owlsoar had only been able to break into the World-level due to a stroke of tremendous luck, not talent. After breaking through to this level, it had become extremely difficult for him to improve any further at all. Thus, Immortal Owlsoar had chosen to embark upon an evil path…and yet, despite having chosen this path, Immortal Owlsoar was always worried about the consequences of his actions. As a result couldn't be considered a truly demonic figure.
Based on what God Emperor Blacklotus knew…
The truly demonic figures of the legends were able to throw an entire territory into utter turmoil despite merely being World-level figures! They would cause all the living creatures of tens of thousands of chaosworlds to perish for the sake of refining a single terrifying sin-treasure. Compared to those figures, Immortal Owlsoar was quite lacking.
"Everyone, I agree with what you said." God Emperor Blacklotus nodded. "Since we've chosen to stand together, we need to remain unified."
Immortal Owlsoar was delighted upon hearing this.
"In addition…although Starchild claims that he holds a huge grudge against Immortal Owlsoar, who knows if he's even telling the truth?" God Emperor Blacklotus laughed coldly. "He might have simply come up with a random excuse to force us to give up Owlsoar. After he kills Owlsoar, what's to stop him from coming up with another random excuse to kill another one of us? Are we supposed to give up our fellows one after the other? By then, we'll be even weaker before. They'd probably be able to wipe us out at one blow."
"Right, right! This is probably a plot!" Immortal Owlsoar said hurriedly.
"Enough! Shut your damn mouth. I only said he 'might have'." God Emperor Blacklotus cast him a cold glance. "The more likely answer is that he really does hold a grudge against Owlsoar. To engage in such a large battle for just a bit of territory wouldn't really be worth it. It is very possible that his Dao-companion truly was killed by Owlsoar."
Immortal Owlsoar nervously bit his lips.
"Still…for him to force his way to our doorstep is a sign of completely disrespect towards me and towards all of you." God Emperor Blacklotus said calmly, "They have nine World-level experts while we only have six, but we also have the protective formations surrounding our imperial capital. How dare they act so brashly?"
"Agreed."
"They really are holding us in no regard whatsoever."
"They're actually kicking in our doors. Let's have a fight with them and see who is really stronger."
Atop the warship in the air.
The Starlord of Fogstone and the rest of the nine World-level experts were waiting quietly. The stick of incense hovering in midair continued to slowly burn, with less than half of it remaining.
"Starchild." A voice rang out from below.
"Have you made your decision?" The Starlord of Fogstone replied coldly.
"You say you wish to kill Immortal Owlsoar, and so I must let you kill him? What if you then demand to kill my other World-level experts? Am I supposed to offer them up as well?" God Emperor Blacklotus' voice was icy cold as well. "In the end, I'll be all by myself…and then you'll just gang up on me and kill me, right?"
The Starlord frowned then sent back, "Blacklotus, if you don't believe me, I'm willing to swear a lifeblood oath."
"No need for a lifeblood oath. Even if Owlsoar truly did kill your Dao-companion, he is still a Chaos Immortal of my Blacklotus Empire! All of us have joined together in an alliance, precisely because we saw the value of joining together against powerful enemies." God Emperor Blacklotus' voice grew even colder. "If you leave right away, I'll forget about your affront and your invasion of my territory. If you do not…then I have no choice but to let this be settled through combat."
"A true pity." The Starlord waved his hand, causing the half-burnt stick of incense to disappear.
"It seems we will still have to face them in combat."
"We expected that."
The others, including Immortal Skyram and Immortal Abyssus, all glanced at each other. All of them had suspected that Fogstone wasn't powerful enough to force the Blacklotus Empire to surrender without firing a single shot. Thus, they were already prepared to storm this city by force. The reason why they had acted in such secrecy was to ensure that the Blacklotus Empire wouldn't have the chance to purchase any Elder God Formations of their own.
"Seven formations, attack!" The Starlord commanded.
"Acknowledged!" Ning and the rest of the six called out in unison.
"Let's go," Ning ordered. He led his 999 Elder Gods to fly out of the great warship, and the other six armies flew out alongside them.
"Spread out," Ning sent mentally.
Whoosh. Whoosh. Whoosh.
Everyone, Ning included, began to spread out to cover an area of ten million kilometers. Their bodies then blurred as they each transformed to become massive titans who were ten thousand kilometers tall. These titans each held weapons in their hands and were surrounded by veils of flowing light. Clearly, they were reinforced by the world-energy of the 'Minor Thousand Elder Gods Formation'.
A thousand titanic Elder Gods had appeared, staying within roughly ten thousand kilometers of each other.
Aside from Ning's army, the other six armies of Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals had also scattered within an area of ten million kilometers. The Elder Gods all transformed to become ten thousand kilometers tall, and the weapons in their hands grew alongside them. As for the Ancestral Immortals, they retreated slightly but began to take control over their magic treasures.
"ATTACK!" The Starlord of Fogstone pointed downwards towards the lotus-shaped city and gave the order.
"Attack!"
"Attack!"
The seven thousand Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals howled furiously as they charged downwards. It was as though a giant hemisphere of light formed by thousands of towering Fiendgods had come smashing downwards towards the city…and right behind them were the nine World-level powers!
The World-level powers were worried about the formations guarding the imperial capital of Blacklotus. The formations protecting any organization's headquarters were bound to be extraordinarily powerful, and ordinary Chaos Immortals and World Gods might not be able to handle them.
However, the 'Minor Thousand Elder Gods formation' was expressly meant to block attacks and entangle foes. Thus, part of their plan was to have those seven formations join together and reinforce each other. This was the most dangerous part of the plan, and the nine World-level experts weren't willing to take the brunt of the danger.
A black cloud suddenly appeared around the black lotus city below them. The black cloud drifted outwards, covering the air above the city and serving as a protective layer.
"Kill!"
"Kill!"
"Kill!"
The seven thousand Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals simultaneously launched attacks downwards, with the Elder Gods lashing out with their enormous weapons. Ning, for example, was using the flexible Dao sword with his right hand and Violetjewel with his left. Both swords had been transformed to become many tens of thousands of kilometers long, and he hacked down furiously with both of them at the same time! But of course, Ning kept part of Violetjewel's true power in abeyance, not letting it truly erupt.
Right now, all of their forces were attacking simultaneously. Even if Ning held nothing back at all, it wouldn't make much of a difference. It was better to keep his true power hidden and unleash it later in a sudden, critical attack against the forces of the Blacklotus Empire.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! The seven thousand Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals launched frenzied attacks at the black cloud, smashing down with their gigantic weapons or striking from afar with magic treasures.
Every single Elder God and Ancestral Immortal was supported by the power of the world which had been created by their formation!
Even the attacks of ordinary Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals had reached the World God threshold of power! The nine captains of each formation were even more powerful, and as for the generals at the center? They were now comparable to true World-level experts. Although the ordinary Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals had merely reached the World God 'threshhold' of power, they had the advantage of overwhelming numbers.
None of the World-level experts of the Blacklotus Empire would dare to withstand the combined assault of seven thousand Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals in formations.
Whoosh.
The black cloud didn't seem to resist at all, allowing the enormous weapons and magic treasures to pass straight through it.
"It isn't blocking?" The nine World-level powers behind the seven thousand Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals all frowned.
If the Blacklotus Empire focused completely on defense and forcefully fought back against every attack, it would actually be fairly easy for them to take it down. In a head-on clash, the Blacklotus Empire's formation would have to withstand the full brunt of their blows, after all. But now that the Blacklotus Empire wasn't blocking and was instead enduring and ablating their attacks, things would become a bit more difficult.
"It seems the guardian formation of the imperial capital of Blacklotus is quite profound." The Starlord sent mentally, "Seven formations, enter the imperial capital and smash all before you."
"Yes."
The seven thousand Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals had joined together to form a half-globe of light that was ten million kilometers across. They pressed downwards forcefully, emanating a thick aura of World energy.
In truth, all World-level experts possessed World energy. Chaos Immortals dispersed their Jindan region into primordial chaos, then formed a chaosworld from it. As for World Gods, the mighty power within their body was equivalent to the power of an entire chaosworld, which was why they were also capable of forming chaosworlds.
As for Ning and his subordinates, they had World energy thanks to the 'Minor Thousand Elder Gods Formation'.
A thousand Elder Gods who were able to perfectly mesh their energy together through a formation would be able to naturally merge with the dimension around them and be supported by the power of the local World energy.
Rumble…
The seven thousand Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals were incomparably valiant as they continued their downwards charge, brandishing countless weapons. They soon charged into the dark clouds that were covering the lotus-shaped city.
The black clouds were pushed aside by their World energy, and they continued to crash downwards.
"We have seven formations working together." A hint of a killing intent could be seen in the Starlord's eyes. "No matter how formidable your formations are, there's no way you can break our seven mighty formations."
A single 'Minor Thousand Elder Gods Formation' was already extremely tough to break apart. Seven of them joining forces…
The Starlord believed that most likely only a Daolord would be capable of defeating such a force.
The seven thousand Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals were what he was relying on to deal with the formations protecting the imperial capital of Blacklotus!
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Book 24, The Starlord of Fogstone, Chapter 40 – Ji Ning and the Mindlord
"The restrictive spells covering the imperial capital are no longer a threat to us." Immortal Abyssus smiled.
"Agreed." The Starlord of Fogstone nodded. "Everyone, our seven thousand Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals have already entered combat. It is time for us to join them. Blacklotus and the rest of the six are inside the city. There's no way they can avoid my astral light. Let everything proceed as according to plan."
"Excellent."
"Let's go."
"Attack."
Flickers of killing intent appeared in the eyes of the World Gods and Chaos Immortals.
"Ji Ning, your squad of Elder Gods is responsible for protecting Immortal Overguard." The Starlord's voice rang out by Ning's ears.
Rumble…
An enormous number of icy blades were howling through the air towards him. The titanic Ning wielded two swords in his hands, using them to hack with abandon and knock the blades aside. All of the formations and restrictive spells protecting the imperial capital had been activated, resulting in a furious flurry of attacks being directed at the seven thousand Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals.
"Yes, Starlord." Ning immediately acknowledged the order, then sent out an order of his own. "Captain Mountain Eater, lead your 110 Elder Gods to protect Immortal Overguard."
Ning had a total of nine squads under his command. Elder God Mountain Eater's squad was located closest to Immortal Overguard.
"Acknowledged."
The hundred-plus Elder Gods under Mountain Eater's command immediately moved into a defensive perimeter around Chaos Immortal Overguard.
"Follow me." Chaos Immortal Overguard stood atop an enormous formation-diagram which was covered with four different streams of colored light that emanated an aura of awesome power. As for Mountain Eater and his hundred, they were all scattered around him in a protective stance. Once any attacks from the defensive formation and spells appeared, they would immediately go forward to block them.
Although Ning's army of a thousand Elder Gods were scattered across various corners of the castle, they remained joined together in one unit!
A grand formation like the 'Minor Thousand Elder Gods Formation' could be maintained across great distances. Even if all of them were spread throughout an entire chaosworld, they would still be able to keep the formation active. But of course, if they continued to expand it too much beyond that, there would be no way for the formation to remain active.
Whoosh. Whoosh. Whoosh.
The nine World-level experts broke apart into six squads, each of which was protected by over a hundred Elder Gods. The six squads launched attacks against the six World-level experts of the Blacklotus Empire.
Finally, the World-level experts of both chaos empires were about to clash.
"Owlsoar." The handsome, astral-robed Starlord stared coldly towards the distant jade-eyed elder. The old man's eyes were closed as he took out a treasure that looked like a ritual tower. The ritual tower emanated the screams and calls of countless souls. Weaker individuals who heard the terrifying cries emanating from a sin-weapon like this could very well suffer a mental breakdown.
"The Starlord of Fogstone." Immortal Owlsoar held the ritual tower in his hands, staring coldly at the Starlord and the black-robed, black-haired man next to him. "Two of you against me? You honor me too much."
"Owlsoar." World God Blackmist said calmly, "Today, you shall definitely die."
"Oh, is that so?" Immortal Owlsoar let out a cold laugh, then waved his hands. Suddenly, a large group of figures appeared out of nowhere next to him. There were exactly a thousand Elder Gods, and they all emanated the same ripples of World-energy.
"A Minor Thousand Elder Gods Formation?" The Starlord's face changed.
He didn't expect that Immortal Owlsoar would actually have a thousand Elder Gods with him, as well as a Minor Thousand Elder Gods Formation of his own. This was going to be tricky. Everyone knew how defensively formidable these formations were. When he joined forces with World God Blackmist, he had thought that it would be easy for them to deal with Owlsoar. Similarly, if they were just dealing with a thousand Elder Gods in formation, it wouldn't be too difficult. But to deal with both at the same time…this was going to be tough.
"Eh?" The Starlord frowned. His astral light was spread throughout the city, and thus he saw that a Minor Thousand Elder Gods Formation had suddenly appeared next to God Emperor Blacklotus as well.
"They actually have two of their own?" The Starlord was surprised.
"Be careful, everyone. The Blacklotus Empire has two Minor Thousand Elder Gods Formations of their own. One is protecting God Emperor Blacklotus while the other is protecting Chaos Immortal Owlsoar," the Starlord sent mentally.
"How can this be?"
"Why do they have two of their own?"
"Was our attack leaked by someone to them?"
"Impossible. If it was leaked, the Blacklotus Empire would've paid any price necessary to acquire more of these formations. They wouldn't just have two."
"If there was no leak…this means they are always carrying two thousand Elder Gods with them at all times?"
The World-level powers of the Fogstone Dominion conversed mentally amongst themselves, growing more vigilant and wary.
They all knew exactly what these two additional formations represented.
A single such formation required roughly three hundred cubes of chaos nectar! It must be understand that even after selling off so many treasures, Ning had only been able to acquire a bit over a hundred cubes. This was already roughly equivalent to the entire networth of most World-level experts. More powerful World-level experts might have perhaps five hundred cubes worth of treasures, but almost none of them would be willing to sell off three hundred cubes worth of treasures in order to purchase a single formation.
In the Fogstone Dominion, the only person who personally owned one of those formations was Chaos Immortal Abyssus, who had adventured in the primordial chaos for many years and was unfathomably powerful. None of the other eight owned any of these formations in their own right! The Fogstone Dominion itself had three of these formations, but those belonged to the Fogstone lineage, not the Starlord of Fogstone himself. This time, they had then paid an utterly enormous price, selling off quite a few of the Dominion's treasures in order to buy an additional three sets.
Seven total sets. Six belonged to the Fogstone lineage, one was on loan from Chaos Immortal Abyssus. From this, one could see how rare and valuable these formations were.
But the Blacklotus Empire?
God Emperor Blacklotus had personally established the entire empire; he had no lineage or backing. As for the other five World-level experts, they were just temporary vassals and none of them were particularly outstanding. Logically speaking, they shouldn't be wealthy enough to waste money on one of these formations, as none of them should've even had that many Elder God slaves.
So…where did these two formations come from?
"None of the other World-level experts have a thousand Elder God slaves with them."
"Only God Emperor Blacklotus might have that many. Although he didn't have that many slaves, he did have an army with thousands of Elder Gods. Those two formations probably came from him…but he built up the Blacklotus Empire all on his own with no outside backing. How could he possibly afford two of those formations all by himself?" This was why all nine of the World-level experts of Fogstone had grown wary.
God Emperor Blacklotus stood in place, an enormous black lotus with nine petals beneath his feet. The lotus flower swiveled slowly as its petals spread outwards.
Beyond the perimeter of the lotus flowers stood a thousand Elder Gods.
"Blacklotus, it seems all of us have underestimated you." Immortal Abyssus, Immortal Skyram, and World God Goldcloud stood there in midair, each surrounded by a hundred Elder Gods who were helping them block the enemy defensive spells.
The Fogstone Dominion had a total of nine World-level experts.
Three of them had been sent to deal with God Emperor Blacklotus!
Two were dealing with Immortal Owlsoar.
The others were all fighting in single combat. The goal wasn't to win; it was just to tie their foes down.
"Since you've decided to come onto my territory…you shall never leave again." God Emperor Blacklotus swept them with a calm gaze. "Attack."
"Attack!" The thousand Elder Gods around him all howled furiously as they charged forwards.
Ning could sense the six titanic shockwaves emanating throughout the city. These were the shockwaves coming from the battles against the six World-level experts.
Fortunately, this place was the imperial capital of Blacklotus! And fortunately, the astral light of Fogstone was suppressing the ripples of spacetime in this area.
Otherwise, a battle on this scale and level would've caused the entire chaosworld to break apart long ago.
"Things are much easier for us." Ning and the seven thousand Elder Gods only had to focus on dealing with the defensive enemy spells and formations.
Rumble…
A streak of violet-golden thunderfire struck directly towards Ning.
Ning struck out with his sword, immediately breaking apart the streak of thunderfire. 99% of the power of the attack was absorbed by the invisible dimension protecting them, while the remaining 1% was jointly handled by the thousand Elder Gods.
Whoosh. Ning charged straight forwards. As the center of the entire formation, he had to stay within the city. So long as he did so, the formation would be fine. The other Elder Gods were assigned to various regions, but he, as the core, wasn't given a specific assignment.
"The Starlord really is impressive."
As Ning moved from place to place, suppressing the power of the defensive spells and formations, he also kept an eye on the various World-level experts. After watching two of them, he turned to watch the battle going on with the Starlord.
The Starlord was an extremely dazzling figure. Countless streams of astral light spread out from around him as though he was their sovereign and emperor. All by himself, he was able to tie down both Immortal Owlsoar and the formation of a thousand Elder Gods. World God Blackmist was helping out as well, but the tower-wielding Immortal Owlsoar and his formation of Elder Gods was still able resist their attacks. These formations were meant for defense, after all.
"Eh?" Ning was suddenly stunned.
He had just seen a gray-robed, black-haired old man amongst those thousand Elder Gods…and the man had seen Ning as well.
Sparks began to fly as their gazes met in midair.
"Old Man Yuan?" Ning had received a detailed intelligence report regarding the Mindlord long ago which included information about his appearance. He was able to recognize the man at a single glance…and the way in which that man looked at Ning made Ning feel completely certain that it was definitely Old Man Yuan!
"Ji Ning?" When the Mindlord saw that distant, blurry figure amongst the ranks of the Elder Gods of Fogstone, he was frightened quite badly.
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Book 24, The Starlord of Fogstone, Chapter 41 – The Death of Chaos Immortal Owlsoar
"H-he actually did leave the Three Realms." The Mindlord's heart was shaking, but he quickly came back to his senses. "Why should I fear him? I'm a member of a Minor Thousand Elder Gods Formation. Not even World-level experts can do anything to me right now. Me, fear him, an Elder God? It's actually good that he's here. I'll find a chance to kill him."
"Him! It's him!" Ji Ning had been quite calm, but upon seeing the Mindlord Ning's eyes instantly turned bloodshot.
Those memories began to play through his mind…
The death of Human Sovereign Suiren, whose body had transformed into those petals of kindlefire…
The self-detonations of Daoist Three Purities, Lord Tathagata the Buddha, Keeper Everwood, and Buddha Jueming…
Senior apprentice-brother Houyi, who had died right in front of Chang'e…
And those countless other Immortals and Fiendgods of the Three Realms who had sacrificed their lives in self-detonation…
Ning could hear the sounds of those detonations ringing within his memories. He could hear those furious roars, those frenzied screams.
Murderous rage began to swell in his heart, rage which he was unable to suppress. It quickly filled his entire being.
Countless comrades had died in the Endwar…all because of this man!
"Old Man Yuan! DIE!" Ning immediately charged straight towards the Mindlord.
"Eh?" When the Mindlord saw Ning transform into a streak of light and fly towards him, he let out a cold smirk. "He's just an Elder God. How can he possibly shake our formation of a thousand Elder Gods?"
"He's too powerful." Chaos Immortal Owlsoar had an ugly look on his face. He gritted his teeth, summoning the ritual tower closer towards himself. He was just barely able to set up a defensive perimeter of roughly thirty meters around himself. "How is the Starlord this powerful? Aren't they only powerful because they can rely on the power of Fogstone itself? But the planet of Fogstone is outside the city! The Starlord is relying on just his sword-arts yet is still incredibly powerful!"
Thanks to this mighty sin-weapon, Chaos Immortal Owlsoar was a very formidable figure even amongst World-level experts, and the ritual tower was actually meant for defense.
And yet…even though he had a thousand Elder Gods helping him to divert his enemy's attacks, he had still been beaten back to the point of only being able to keep a defensive perimeter of just thirty meters. If he didn't have the thousand Elder Gods, he probably would've been slain in just one or two strokes.
"Second Uncle, this formation is a pain in the ass," the Starlord sent frantically. He was using his seven formations to suppress the protective formations and defensive spells of the imperial capital, but now two such enemy formations were causing him problems as well.
"Yes, they are quite troublesome. I'm not able to breach their defenses either." World God Blackmist had gone all out as well.
However, World God Blackmist was a bit weaker than the Starlord to begin with. He was roughly on par with Chaos Immortal Owlsoar.
"With this formation present, it'll be very hard for us to kill Immortal Owlsoar." The Starlord was growing frantic.
"This formation…" World God Blackmist was frantic as well. He had transformed to become a titanic figure who was thirty thousand kilometers tall, and he furiously launched attacks in every direction, but the thousand Elder Gods just absorbed his strikes as if they were made of soft taffy.
"Eh? Ji Ning?" The Starlord noticed Ji Ning suddenly charging towards them from afar.
Sword Immortal Darknorth, Ji Ning. The leaders of the Fogstone Dominion all knew who he truly was.
"Ji Ning, hurry up and go help World God Blackmist tie down the Minor Thousand Elder Gods Formation!" The Starlord ordered.
"Yes, Starlord." Ning immediately flew towards World God Blackmist.
"Ugh, what's the point of him coming here?" The Starlord couldn't help but secretly sigh to himself. "Even though he has the formation strengthening him, and even though he is the core of the formation, he will still be at most comparable to an ordinary World God. He's probably a bit weaker than even my second uncle! Even if he does help out, it'll be hard for them to completely tie down that enemy formation."
Ning was wielding Violetjewel in his hands. His gaze was ice cold, and the azuremist energy had quickly begun to flow out from the azureflower seal on his forehead, permeating his entire body.
The reason why Ning had come to the Badlands Territory…was to kill the Mindlord!
And now, the Mindlord stood right before him!
Kill!
The power of the azureflower mist energy was strengthening him!
The World energy generated by the formation of Elder Gods was strengthening him!
He had an Eternal weapon…Violetjewel!
"KILLSWORD STANCE!"
Ning raised Violetjewel up high, assuming a stance reminiscent of Pangu cleaving Heaven from Earth. In this instant, Ning was using the 'Heavenbreaker stance' of the [Brightmoon] sword-art to unleash the essence 'Killsword stance'.
All the stances of the [Nameless] sword-art, be it the Heartsword stance or the Killsword stance, represented a certain realm of enlightenment regarding the Dao of the Sword. Ning's own [Brightmoon] sword-art was completely capable of unleashing the full extent of his insights into these realms.
Whenever the Minor Thousand Elder Gods Formation suffered an attack, it would first divert 99% of the energy of the attack into the World energy surrounding it, with the remaining 1% being spread across all thousand World Gods. This was why Ning had immediately used his most overpowering and dominating strike, the Heavenbreaker stance!
Rumble…
A strand of power was also extracted from the quintessence core within the Eternal sword and infused into the surface of the sword.
The enormous sword chopped straight towards Ning's most hated foe, the Mindlord.
"Ahahaha, it is useless! I'm now a member of an Elder God Formation. No matter how strong you are, you won't be able to do anything!" The Mindlord watched as that terrifying sword descended towards him. Although his heart shook a bit as he knew he wouldn't be able to survive it without the formation…the fact was that right now, he DID have the formation. What did he have to fear?
BOOM!!!
The blood-colored Violetjewel crashed down upon the Mindlord with absolute fury.
The concussive power of the blow was instantly dissipated into the surrounding region as well as across the bodies of all thousand Elder Gods. All of the Elder Gods trembled, their bodies coming to a brief halt.
"Eh?" World God Blackmist was both shocked and delighted by this.
To cause a thousand Elder Gods to come to a halt required an incredibly powerful attack. When World God Blackmist himself used his most powerful killer moves, this was the exact same result.
"What?!" The distant Starlord was also completely shocked and overjoyed by what he was seeing.
"Impossible. He's just an Elder God. There's no way he could've done this." Immortal Owlsoar's heart turned so cold that it was like a block of ice, and his eyes were filled with shock and rage.
"Ahahah…excellent, Darknorth, excellent! I didn't expect that with the formation strengthening you, you would actually be as powerful as I am!" World God Blackmist sent mentally, "Join with me and attack these Elder Gods. Let's make it impossible for them to help Immortal Owlsoar."
"Acknowledged," Ning said.
With the support of the azureflower mist energy and the formation, Ning was probably slightly more powerful than even World God Blackmist. He also had an Eternal weapon! And yet…Ning understood that his fatal weakness lay in his insights.
His sword-arts were still merely at the level of the Killsword stance, while World God Blackmist's sword-arts were at a far higher level. This was why the two of them remained on par with each other in strength. In addition to that, Ning was still unable to unleash his Eternal weapon's true power.
Eternal weapons were valuable because they had quintessence cores. It was the power that lay within their cores which was truly terrifying! If Ning was able to unleash just thirty or forty percent of that power, he would probably be able to chop apart the enemy formation with just a single blow! Alas, actually unleashing that much power from the quintessence core was far too difficult. Ning would probably have to reach the same level of sword-arts as World God Northrest in order to command such power.
In truth, Ning was already quite formidable. World God Blackmist was no ordinary World-level expert, after all.
Generally speaking, World Gods were more formidable than Chaos Immortals. This was because most World Gods also trained as Ki Refiner as well! World God Blackmist in particular was an expert of the Dao of the Sword and incredibly skilled in launching offensive attacks. For Ning to be comparable to him in might was absolutely incredible.
"Kill!"
"Kill!"
World God Blackmist and Ji Ning simultaneously launched their respective killer moves.
The way in which World God Blackmist was fighting was completely different from when he had been sparring with Ning. He had manifested a total of six arms and was striking with six swords in an endless windmill of attacks, sending six streaks of sword-light against his opponents in a constant barrage.
As for Ning, he wielded Violetjewel as he furiously struck out with the Heavenbreaker stance once more.
BOOM!
The simultaneous double attack from two experts of the Dao of the Sword caused all thousand Elder Gods to once more tremble and come to a halt. Although every single Elder God only had to endure a tiny part of their blows, the difference between them and the World-level experts was simply too great. Now that Ning and Blackmist had joined forces, the power of their blows made the Elder Gods feel absolutely miserable. They had been completely suppressed in power.
"These formations truly are incredible. Even when World God Blackmist and I join forces, we're still merely able to just keep them suppressed." Ning couldn't help but sigh to himself.
Ning and Blackmist had joined together to completely shut down this Minor Thousand Elder Gods Formation, making it so that those thousand Elder Gods were completely unable to help protect Chaos Immortal Owlsoar.
"How can this be? How?!" The terrified Chaos Immortal Owlsoar immediately turned tail and transformed into a streak of black light, intent on fleeing.
"Do you think you can actually escape me?" The Starlord's handsome face was now somewhat twisted by savagery. In fact, he could be described as looking rather crazed. "Owlsoar, I've waited for this day for far too long!"
BOOOM!!!!
The Starlord's entire body suddenly radiated with brilliant light. The astral light swept forward and caught Immortal Owlsoar within it, making it so that his movements became dramatically slower, almost as though he was moving through quicksand.
"N-no…spare me!" Chaos Immortal Owlsoar had learned quite some time ago that there was a huge gap in power between himself and the Starlord.
"Die."
The Starlord sent six streaks of sword-light straight towards him in a series of consecutive blows.
The terrified Immortal Owlsoar sought to use his ritual tower to defend, even summoning his other two Dao weapons as well…but alas, those two weapons were clearly inferior to the ritual tower.
Clang! Clang! He was able to just barely block the first two sword attacks.
Slash.
The third strike plunged deep into his forehead, and as it did so a terrifying sword-intent erupted forth into the Jindan chaos region inside his body. The Jindan chaos region began to break apart, and the Dao-tree inside of it was also beginning to be obliterated.
"No…" A look of resentment and disbelief was in Immortal Owlsoar's eyes as his life aura rapidly began to weaken.
The Starlord pulled his sword out of Owlsoar's forehead. As he stared at Owlsoar's corpse, he fell silent and said not a word.
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Book 24, The Starlord of Fogstone, Chapter 42 – Blacklotus
"Excellent!" World God Blackmist and Ji Ning were both delighted by what they saw.
The Starlord of Fogstone stared at Immortal Owlsoar's corpse, his heart filled with many complicated feelings. He murmured softly to himself, "Yi, I've finally slain Owlsoar."
"What? Owlsoar died?"
"Owlsoar died?"
The other four World-level vassals of God Emperor Blacklotus sensed Owlsoar's powerful aura vanish from the battlefield. The entire city only held a total of fifteen World-level experts! There was a tremendous difference in power between them and Elder Gods. For one such aura to suddenly be extinguished caused the Blacklotus Empire's forces to feel alarmed.
If one of them had died…then the Starlord and World God Blackmist would now be free to strike at the others.
The situation would just grow uglier and uglier.
"Don't panic." A voice suddenly rang out within the minds of the four World-level experts.
"Blacklotus, what should we do now?" The other four were all growing worried.
The enormous black lotus swiveled below God Emperor Blacklotus' feet while a thousand Elder Gods surrounded and protected him. Although Immortal Abyssus, Immortal Skyram, and World God Goldcloud had joined forces against him, they still found it hard to do anything to him.
God Emperor Blacklotus had an ugly look on his face.
He was in control of all the formations protecting this entire city and thus he knew better than anyone else what was happening in each part of the city. Immortal Owlsoar had simply died too quickly. As soon as Ji Ning had entered the fray, Immortal Owlsoar had been almost instantly slain by the Starlord.
"I never would've thought that an Elder God would be able to force me to do this…" God Emperor Blacklotus murmured softly to himself.
Even with the formation strengthening him, Ning was still merely on par with World God Blackmist.
However, the Blacklotus Empire had been at a disadvantage this entire time. Ning's suddenly burst of power was the last straw that broke the camel's back!
"Have I been in retirement for too long?" God Emperor Blacklotus suddenly manifested a total of twenty-four arms, each of his arms coming together to form a mudra.
BOOM!!!!
A terrifying aura of power instantly burst forth from his body.
"What?!" Immortal Abyssus, Immortal Skyram, and World God Goldcloud had been unable to do anything against God Emperor Blacklotus this entire time…and now, their faces blanched.
"This aura. T-this…" Immortal Abyssus stared in astonishment at God Emperor Blacklotus. He had travelled through many territories and experienced many dangerous situations. Right now, God Emperor Blacklotus was giving him a sense of tremendous danger. "He's actually this powerful? Then why has he squirreled himself away within his Blacklotus Empire for all these years? We are in trouble now! No wonder he was able to so casually produce two of those Elder God Formations!"
As soon as the Starlord slew Immortal Owlsoar, the God Emperor's aura began to explode with power. This immediately snapped the Starlord out of his reverie and cleared his mind.
"What a terrifying aura." The Starlord was shocked.
He was tremendously talented and had great affinity for the Dao of the Sword. He was now also a master-class World God, which meant he was unquestionably one of the top-tier World Gods around. However, the Starlord also knew that his level of power wasn't THAT special; World Gods who had Eternal weapons or who had incredibly monstrous divine abilities would still be able to completely dwarf him in power. And now, it seemed as though God Emperor Blacklotus had just activated a secret art that was so powerful, its aura alone was enough to cause the Starlord to feel nervousness.
"Second Uncle, Ji Ning, hurry up and wipe out this formation," the Starlord immediately ordered. "God Emperor Blacklotus is unfathomably powerful. We need to wipe out his other supporters, then encircle and slay him!"
As soon as he had sensed the God Emperor's aura, the Starlord immediately understood that although he himself was also quite powerful, he probably wasn't a match for the God Emperor in single combat. The Starlord was rather stunned. How was this God Emperor Blacklotus so powerful?! Still, it was too late for regrets.
"Alright." World God Blackmist had turned solemn as well. "Ji Ning, let's attack."
"Right."
Violetjewel in hand, Ning had already turned his gaze towards those thousand Elder Gods, focusing in particular on the Mindlord.
"Kill them!" The Starlord bellowed as he flew through the air, moving far faster than even Ji Ning. Astral light radiated from every part of his body, those specks of light shooting out like countless tiny stars.
As the astral light spread out, they exerted their power upon the Elder Gods, constricting them.
"Flee!"
"We need to flee!"
"Separate and flee!"
The Mindlord and the others began to flee in every direction. They had realized long ago that this new Elder God who had joined the fray was merely on par with World God Blackmist, but the Starlord of Fogstone was far more powerful than either of them. If World God Blackmist and Ji Ning were already capable of suppressing them, then once the Starlord joined in they would definitely be shattered.
"No."
"Damn!"
"Imperial Majesty, save us!"
The Elder Gods scattered in every which way, but they still were merely able to watch as the Starlord, Blackmist, and Ji Ning chased after them. All three of them moved faster than the limits of the Heavenly Daos, while the thousand Elder Gods were much slower in comparison.
"Die!" The Starlord let out a cold shout as he struck out with his sword.
Whoosh! A dazzling river of stars appeared in midair, coming together to form a gigantic sword that cleaved down upon the back of a fleeing Elder God.
Boom! Boom! Ji Ning and World God Blackmist struck out at the same time as this blow landed.
The Mindlord was one of the captains of these thousand Elder Gods, and as such he was able to flee faster than most of the others. For the sake of ensuring that his blow would land at the same time as the Starlord's, Ning had no choice but to just attack the Elder God closest to him.
BOOM!!!!
The bodies of all thousand Elder Gods shook.
"Urgh." More than ten of the Elder Gods spat out a mouthful of blood. Cracks appeared on their faces and blood began to pour out of them.
Every single one of the thousand Elder Gods had to endure the same amount of power from the attacks. At a time like this, the weakest would be the first to perish! The Mindlord and others who had powerful protective divine abilities would be able to hold on for much longer than the rest.
"Again!" The Starlord sent mentally.
"Ahhhh!"
"We're doomed."
"No."
Some of the already heavily-wounded Elder Gods began to panic…but alas, there was nowhere to run.
Yet another dazzling stream of stars split the skies and chopped down towards an Elder God.
Ji Ning and Blackmist struck out with their full power as well.
At this moment, God Emperor Blacklotus' twenty-four arms completed their mudras. His terrifying aura skyrocketed even further, covering virtually the entire city.]
"Everyone dies eventually." God Emperor Blacklotus could sense the despair of his thousand Elder Gods. He let out a soft sigh. "I bid you farewell on your next journey. I'll take revenge for you." The Elder Gods were simply too far away, and he was still surrounded by those three World-level powers, with Chaos Immortal Abyssus being particularly tough. Thus, not even God Emperor Blacklotus would be able to save those thousand Elder Gods in time.
"Blacklotus, although you are powerful, you are taking us a little too lightly," Immortal Abyssus said with a cold laugh.
God Emperor Blacklotus gently waved his hand.
Whoosh.
The black fog permeating every part of the entire city began to vanish, revealing all of the countless buildings in it. Of course, the majority of the buildings had already been wrecked by now.
"Eh?" Chaos Immortal Abyssus, Chaos Immortal Skyram, and World God Goldcloud were all secretly shocked.
The black fog covering the entirety of the imperial capital had made it impossible for them to get a good picture of their surroundings. Only the Starlord had been able to scan the entire area, thanks to his astral light permeating the entire area…but now, the God Emperor had actually dismissed the black fog. Clearly, he no longer wished to bother with using any minor tricks. This was a display of utmost confidence in his superiority.
"You are right. I really don't treat the three of you seriously at all." God Emperor Blacklotus frowned slightly. He could sense that six of the weakest Elder Gods had just been slain. Although the core and the nine captains were still present and were able to just barely keep the formation up, it would now be even harder for them to withstand any attacks. All of the Elder Gods had already begun to panic and flee.
"The three of you…who do you think you are?"
"In years past…more than a few World-level experts died by my hand!" God Emperor Blacklotus said calmly, "I came to the Badlands Territory, set up a little empire for myself, and just wanted to reign here in peace. I never would've thought that trouble would come crashing down out of nowhere."
"Fine, then. I'll wipe out the entire Fogstone lineage and let the cultivators of the Badlands Territory know exactly how powerful I am."
When Abyssus, Skyram, and Goldcloud heard these words, they couldn't help but turn to look at each other.
These words were a bit too brash, weren't they?
Wipe them all out?
What did he take the nine World-level experts of Fogstone to be?
"Prepare to receive a blow from me." God Emperor Blacklotus' aura began to surge outwards. Whooooosh. Instead, a series of black lotuses began to bloom in the area around him. Countless black lotuses emerged, causing an area of a million kilometers around him to transform into an enormous pool of lotuses. These black lotuses radiated a tremendous killing intent that surged towards the three World-level experts.
"This is the first stance of the Forbidden Black Lotus…Lotus Sea." A calm look of supreme confidence could be seen in God Emperor Blacklotus' eyes.
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Book 24, The Starlord of Fogstone, Chapter 43 – Slaying the Mindlord
The black lotuses bloomed throughout the area, carrying a unique sort of charm.
However, Immortal Abyssus, Immortal Skyram, and World God Goldcloud weren't in the mood for enjoying their beauty. Immortal Abyssus hurriedly sent a mental message to the hundred Elder Gods surrounding him. "Hurry up and retreat. Don't get involved in this."
"Yes." The hundred Elder Gods could sense that things were turning dangerous. They didn't dare to push it too far.
"Go." Immortal Abyssus waved his hand, causing a semi-translucent cloth banner to fly out. The cloth banner flew through the air, instantly covering the skies as an enormous number of divine runes began to flow through it. The semi-translucent cloth banner began to emanate streams of gloomy white light that completely suppressed the countless black lotuses. The lotuses tried to push them back, but the light of the cloth banner was extraordinarily tough.
"I've always heard that Immortal Abyssus of the Fogstone Dominion is unfathomable in his power, but I didn't think that you'd be able to withstand the first stance of my Forbidden Black Lotus." God Emperor Blacklotus spoke out calmly, but the murderous aura which had once pervaded him when he had roamed through the various territories was beginning to slowly reveal itself.
"He managed to block it." World God Goldcloud and Immortal Skyram were both overjoyed.
Both of them had started to panic just now. They could sense that if they were completely surrounded by those countless black lotuses, they would most likely die within them.
"Brother Skyram, Brother Goldcloud, this God Emperor Blacklotus is far too strong. He's already forced me to take out my most powerful treasure," Immortal Abyssus sent mentally. "I'm already at my limit. Listen to my instructions. As long as we can hang on for a bit longer, the Starlord will soon arrive. With him by our side, we will no longer need to fear God Emperor Blacklotus."
"Right." Immortal Skyram and World God Goldcloud both held great faith in Immortal Abyssus. In the past, they knew he was strong but were uncertain as to how strong he actually was. Now they realized that he was strong enough to block those countless black lotuses that had inspired such terror in them.
"Ahaha…" God Emperor Blacklotus let out a laugh. "Now, try out the second stance of my Forbidden Black Lotus. This stance is known as 'Lotus Hell'."
His voice echoed throughout the skies and by the ears of the three World-level experts.
Whoosh….
Suddenly, one black lotus after another began to descend from the skies. Countless black lotuses descended, and as they did so they were actually beginning to resonate with the countless black lotuses on the ground that had been suppressed by Immortal Abyssus.
"Starlord, hurry over here!" Immortal Abyssus blanched as he hurriedly commanded the cloth banner to send out light to both suppress the black lotuses on the ground as well as the black lotuses falling from the skies. For a moment, he was able to establish a defensive perimeter and block the lotuses from every direction.
The Starlord knew that time was of the essence, and so he struck out with two sword at maximum speed, slaying six of the weakest Elder Gods in the Elder God Formation.
"Second Uncle, Ji Ning, let's go. We need to get over there right now." After breaking through the formation, the Starlord immediately waved his hand, causing dozens of streaks of sword-light to chop out towards the Elder Gods closest to him.
"Alright," World God Blackmist said.
"Starlord, I'll go right away, but first I need to kill the Mindlord." Ning didn't immediately follow behind him, instead flying at maximum speed towards the terrified, fleeing Mindlord.
The Starlord glanced backwards at Ning. Ning had said long ago when he had first joined the Fogstone Army that his goal was to kill the Mindlord. "Fine. Hurry up and get rid of the Mindlord, then come join us right away." Ji Ning was now an important member of their force. The other six formation commanders were merely comparable to ordinary World Gods, while Ji Ning was comparable to World God Blackmist, an expert of the Dao of the Sword. He could be considered an expert amongst World Gods.
"Alright," Ning said.
Swoosh.
Ning moved faster than the limits of the Heavenly Daos, furiously chasing after the Mindlord.
"Why is this happening? Why?!" The Mindlord was frantically fleeing, but the Starlord's astral light was slowing him down too much. Ning caught up to him almost instantly.
"Ji Ning, spare me! Ji Ning!"
The Mindlord began to beg for his life. Earlier, when the Starlord had broken apart the formation, he had slain quite a few Elder Gods before heading off towards the other World-level experts. The entire Minor Thousand Elder Gods Formation had collapsed, resulting the Mindlord becoming much weaker as well.
"I gifted you my [Heart Sutra] long ago!" The Mindlord sent frantically. When he was in the guise of Old Man Yuan in the Three Realms, he had put on a truly flawless act! He had helped train juniors, 'risked his life' for his friends, and acted exactly as the true Old Man Yuan had. This was why the Nuwa Alliance had never suspected a thing or seen any flaws in his masquerade.
In fact, Patriarch Subhuti's friendship with Old Man Yuan had only deepened!
He had casually bestowed the [Heart Sutra] to Ji Ning, but that was merely a manual with some extremely crude bits of information pertaining to heartforce. This was part of his usual act of pretending to be a kind old man!
"Die."
Ning had already arrived, and his eyes flashed with murderous malice.
The Mindlord grew frantic.
"I've already informed one of my slaves about the Three Realms. Once I die, my slave's lifeblood oath will compel him to immediately spread this information regarding the Three Realms. By then, quite a few adventurers of the Badlands Territory will probably set off towards it." The Mindlord sent threateningly, "Eventually, an endless stream of adventurers will go from the Badlands to the Three Realms. It'll be finished!"
Boom!
Sword-light flashed. Although the Mindlord was wearing armor, it was a very weak set of Chaos armor. There was no way it could withstand Ning's full-force strike! Ning's sword-light struck the Mindlord at the waist, chopping straight through the Chaos armor. The terrifying power of Violetjewel swept through the Mindlord's entire body, wiping out all of his divine power as well as his truesoul.
Even when Ning was back in the Three Realms, his full-force blows were capable of piercing through top-grade Chaos treasures.
He now was strengthened by the azureflower mist energy, the World energy of his formation, and was wielding a fully repaired Eternal weapon. Even his sword-arts had improved! His full-force strikes were now completely capable of shattering ordinary Chaos treasures. If the Mindlord was wearing a suit of top-grade Chaos armor, Ning wouldn't be able to chop through it, but the kinetic force of Ning's blows would still be enough to reduce the Mindlord's body to dust.
"I…" A look of true despair appeared in the Mindlord's eyes.
Whoosh.
The two severed halves of his body suddenly broke apart and crumbled. Violetjewel's power was more than enough to cause his entire body to break apart.
"The Mindlord…is finally dead."
After slaying the Mindlord, Ning was momentarily dazed.
He could almost see his senior apprentice-brother Houyi in the moment of his truesoul's dissipation. He could almost see the other major powers of the Three Realms who had all transformed themselves into enormous suns.
"This troublemaker has finally been dealt with. My fellow Daoists…seniors…rest in peace."
Ning's heart was filled with many complicated feelings.
Was he happy?
Ning didn't feel even the slightest bit of happiness right now.
He felt disappointment and frustration.
He also felt a sense of release.
The Mindlord's death represented the true, final end to the great Endwar.
"He even dared to threaten me as he died." Ning glanced at the Mindlord's completely shattered corpse. The truesoul within the corpse had been wiped out, and there wasn't any hint of life in his body. "Even if you really did tell your servant about the Three Realms, so what? How many adventurers would dare to brave the spatial vortex tunnel between it and the Badlands Territory?"
"And even if they do brave it…so what?"
"My Primaltwin has also mastered and unified the Nine Chaos Seals. It is capable of using the azureflower mist energy and has the power of a World-level expert as well. It doesn't matter how many adventurers make it there; I'll kill them all," Ning murmured to himself. He didn't believe that any World-level experts would go adventuring in the Three Realms.
In addition…
Ning himself would eventually become a World-level expert as well, and the azureflower mist energy would guarantee that he was far stronger than most World-level experts.
"I really wonder how Daoist Three Purities managed to acquire those Nine Chaos Seals." This thought briefly flitted through Ning's mind.
Rumble…
Ripples of incredible power spread out from off in the distance.
Ning turned his head to look. The black fog had long ago dissipated, and so he was now able to see everything quite clearly. The astral light from the planet of Fogstone continued to shine down upon the city, revealing the scene of Immortal Abyssus, Immortal Skyram, World God Goldcloud, the Starlord of Fogstone, and World God Blackmist all fighting against God Emperor Blacklotus.
The most dazzling figures were the Starlord and the God Emperor.
"Attack!" Each blow of his sword struck out like a stream of stars, leaving a trail of shattered black lotuses behind them. The Starlord was able to destroy more than half of the black lotuses by himself. He was so powerful that he was roughly comparable to the other four allied World-level experts combined.
As for God Emperor Blacklotus, he stood in the center, the enormous nine-petal black lotus below his feet still slowly swiveling. Even now, it was the God Emperor who was attacking while the other five were defending.
"Ji Ning, hurry over here and help protect Abyssus." As soon as Ning slew the Mindlord, the Starlord of Fogstone immediately urged him to come.
"Acknowledged." Ning transformed into a streak of light, moving faster than the limits of the Heavenly Daos as he charged straight towards the most terrifying place on the battlefield.
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Book 24, The Starlord of Fogstone, Chapter 44 – Supreme World God
As Ji Ning moved closer to the battlefield, he saw those countless black lotuses bloom and then be smashed apart. He couldn't help but feel a hint of fear.
"Senior Abyssus." Ning immediately flew towards Immortal Abyssus.
"Sorry for the trouble, my young friend."
Immortal Abyssus smiled towards Ning, then once more turned his full attention towards controlling his swirling cloth banner. The cloth banner looked quite ordinary, but it made it so that the black lotuses weren't able to move past it in the slightest. Of course, this was primarily because the Starlord of Fogstone had charged to the very forefront of the battle, destroying the majority of the black lotuses before they were even able to get close to him.
"Should I just stand here and watch?" Once Ning arrived next to Immortal Abyssus, he felt rather puzzled. The others were all launching furious counter-attacks against the black lotuses.
"Yes, just stand here and watch for now," Immortal Abyssus sent mentally. "Don't be deceived by the fact that I'm able to block these attacks. I'm almost at my absolute limit. If God Emperor Blacklotus was just a bit more powerful, I wouldn't be able to hold them back any longer…and as a Chaos Immortal, I'm much weaker in close combat."
Ning nodded.
Pure Chaos Immortals were innately weaker than World Gods. Most World Gods were dual refiners, giving them an overall advantage.
"Ji Ning, all you need to do is help protect Abyssus." The Starlord's voice rang out within Ning's mind.
"Acknowledged." Ning understood.
Ning began to simply watch the battle, while all the others such as Immortal Abyssus went all out.
As for God Emperor Blacklotus, his eyes were filled with a murderous intent. He showed no mercy in his attacks at all.
"It seems as though God Emperor Blacklotus is extremely strong," Ning mused to himself. "The Starlord seems to be slightly weaker than him. Immortal Abyssus is right behind the Starlord! After him should be World God Blackmist. World God Goldcloud and Immortal Skyram are both significantly weaker."
Ning could clearly see the difference in power between the various World-level experts.
Just as Ning was watching…
The stalemate had clearly angered God Emperor Blacklotus, who suddenly let out a furious roar: "Forbidden Black Lotus, third stance…Blacklotus World!"
Whoosh. Whoosh. Whoosh. Whoosh. Whoosh. Whoosh. The countless black lotuses had been falling from the skies and rising from the ground. Now, however, every single inch of space on the ground or in the air within a million kilometers began to manifest the black lotuses. The black lotuses even began to appear next to Immortal Abyssus and Ji Ning.
"Not good."
"Careful."
Everyone's faces changed.
Immortal Abyssus immediately acted, willing an enormous black shadow to swirl around him and cover Ji Ning as well. The black shadow covered an area of roughly three hundred meters, and all the black lotuses in the area covered by the black shadow were immediately shattered.
Things weren't so bad for World God Blackmist and World God Goldcloud. They were World Gods, after all; even though a few attacks made it through their defenses, they were able to hold on.
"Careful!" The Starlord was forced to divert some of his energy to protecting Immortal Skyram.
"All of you will die."
God Emperor Blacklotus had a sinister look on his face as he stood there atop the enormous, slowly swiveling nine-petal lotus. The area around him had become completely filled with the trillions on trillions of small black lotuses, all of which were furiously striking out towards his World-level enemies.
Immortal Abyssus continued to use his illusory shadow, blocking out all lotuses within its range.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Countless black lotuses smashed towards the illusory shadow in an endless stream, exploding as they struck it.
"Darknorth, my young friend." Immortal Abyssus' face tightened. "I'll use my magic treasures to block these lotuses as best I can, but if any slip through I need you to help me stop them. Try to minimize the number that end up striking against my Shadow Idol."
While speaking mentally with Ning, Immortal Abyssus immediately took control over the cloth banner once more.
Part of the cloth banner separated from the rest of it, then coiled around Immortal Abyssus, blocking more than 90% of the black lotuses that had been striking towards him. Alas, some of the black lotuses materialized inside its defenses, and so the closest black lotuses continued to stream towards the enormous illusory shadow.
"Leave it to me." Ning's body momentarily blurred as he transformed to become three hundred meters tall. He struck out with Violetjewel, which pierced out beyond the protection of the illusory shadow and set up a protective barrier of sword-light that covered more than half of the empty space.
The sword-light transformed into a black hole, continuously weakening the power of the assaulting black lotuses.
The true, terrifying power of the Heartsword stance was now on full display. Ning had absolutely perfect control over his sword, especially the 'Soleheart stance' of the [Brightmoon] sword-art, which was a technique which focused on defense. As a result, when the black lotuses struck him, they did so after 90% of their power had been ablated. The remaining 10% was then mostly absorbed by the World energy that protected him, with the tiny remaining amount of energy being spread across a thousand Elder Gods. By then, there was only a tiny bit of power remaining.
"Whew." Immortal Abyssus relaxed slightly.
With Ning helping him defend against the majority of the black lotuses, things were now much easier for him as well.
Things weren't so bad for Ning and Immortal Abyssus, but this was primarily due to Immortal Abyssus' usage of the cloth banner and the Shadow Idol. All Ning had to do was provide a bit of help in order to ensure that they would survive the danger.
"God Emperor Blacklotus is far too powerful. He's able to fight against multiple World-level experts by himself and actually have the upper hand." Ning stared past the swiveling cloth banner and stared at the distant God Emperor Blacklotus.
"Blacklotus!" The Starlord suddenly let out an angry roar.
His handsome face actually began to turn a grayish-white color, as did his hands. His entire body seemed to become almost statue-like as his aura suddenly exploded with might. His six arms wielded six swords, and he sent them forth as utterly dazzling streams of stars. He was using the same sword-arts as before, but the power of his attacks had increased tenfold!
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
Countless black lotuses were blasted apart as the sword-light easily chopped through them. The sword-light slashed all the way to God Emperor Blacklotus' side and struck directly at the enormous nine-petal black lotus.
Boom! Boom! Boom! When the slowly swiveling black lotus was struck by the terrifying sword-light, it began to shudder slightly.
"So this is the [Fogstone Apocalypse] of the Fogstone Dominion, eh?" God Emperor Blacklotus was startled as well.
"Attack!" The Starlord's skin had now completely turned the color of stone. His aura grew even more savage, and his blows even began to cause cracks to appear on the nine-petal black lotus.
"The [Fogstone Apocalypse]." Ning was secretly surprised by what he saw. "And he's using the third stage of it."
The third stage of the [Fogstone Apocalypse] involved transforming the entire body into stone. It would allow the user to become tremendously more powerful, with the body becoming comparable to a Dao weapon in toughness. However, this sort of explosive technique resulted in a rapid consumption of divine power. Once the divine power was used up, one would transform into a true statue forever. Thus, this divine ability generally wouldn't be used until things were truly dire.
The Starlord had clearly grown nervous upon seeing that the five of them were at such a disadvantage.
"He truly has reached full mastery of his skills." Immortal Abyssus sighed in amazement and nodded. "The Starlord hasn't trained for very long, but this divine ability alone ensures that he is a master-class World God."
"Master-class?" Ning was puzzled.
God Emperor Blacklotus was now being completely suppressed by the Starlord's attacks. No more black lotuses were appearing around Ning and Abyssus. Clearly, the God Emperor was now focused on his own defenses.
"Yes." Immortal Abyssus nodded and smiled. "There are differences in power amongst World-level experts, and they can be divided into several rough categories."
"The first level is the level of brand new World-level experts. They are young, inexperienced, and quite weak. They can be described as having just barely reached the World-level threshold."
"The second level is the ordinary level which most World-level experts are at! This is a level which every single World-level expert can reach after they spend a bit of time in training."
"The third level can be described as the elite level! Blackmist, for example, is at this level, thanks to the fact that he has the body of a World God and is skilled in the offensive Dao of the Sword. I'm actually at this level as well, but I have a few more tricks up my sleeve than he does, which is why I'm a bit stronger than him."
"The fourth level is the level of full mastery! Both the Starlord and God Emperor Blacklotus can be described as master-class World Gods."
Ning nodded. "Are there any higher levels?"
"There are. If either of them had an Eternal weapon, they could be described as supreme World Gods," Immortal Abyssus said. "This is a fairly widespread classification system used in these Endless Territories. As for why they are classified in this manner…once you reach the World level, you will understand."
Ning nodded.
He wasn't a World God yet. He naturally didn't understand the cultivation mysteries of World-level experts.
Based on Immortal Abyssus' classifications…World God Northrest was most likely a supreme World God! As for the deceased slave he had seen in that house by the lake inside the Windsource Ruins, he was probably a supreme World God as well.
"Are there any who are more powerful than even 'supreme' World-level experts?" Ning was curious.
"There are." Immortal Abyssus nodded. "But you won't possibly be able to understand why those World Gods are as powerful as they are. Some are World Gods who have unleashed the full power of their Eternal weapons, while some have cultivation paths that we can't fathom. Perhaps they might have gained some particularly incredible legacies! However, those figures are nothing more than legends. I've wandered through many territories, but I've only seen just one of those terrifying figures. In our Badlands Territory, not a single one of them exists. Thus, to be a supreme World God is already quite incredible."
Ning nodded secretly to himself. No wonder World God Northrest was such an incredible figure! Alas, in the end he had still fallen.
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Book 24, The Starlord of Fogstone, Chapter 45 – Eternal Weapon
The morale of the Fogstone Dominion was soaring.
"Break for me!" His entire body a grayish-white color, the Starlord of Fogstone waved his hand, unleashing streams of astral sword-light against the enormous black lotus, causing it to begin to crack apart and crumble. God Emperor Blacklotus continued to stand atop the black lotus, allowing this to happen. He murmured softly, "I heard that the [Fogstone Apocalypse] is just something derived from fragmentary records of an ancient technique. And yet, it is this powerful? I wonder how powerful the true, complete technique was."
Quite a number of Fogstone's supreme techniques were incomplete.
[Dust of the Mortal World] was one.
[Fogstone Apocalypse] was another.
Ning's own [Nameless] sword-art was just a fragment of the true, complete technique as well.
The reason why so many techniques only existed in fragmentary parts was because they were simply too profound. There was no way to completely memorize them! Daoist Three Purities had an incredibly high level of insight into the Dao, but it still took him countless years before he was able to completely memorize the Nine Chaos Seals, which Ning had already merged together into one.
However, techniques like [Dust of the Mortal World] and the [Nameless] sword-art were ancient techniques which even Daolords would sigh with amazement upon seeing. There was no way a World God could possibly have the ability to completely memorize such a technique; the could at most just memorize part of it.
Thanks to a stroke of tremendous luck, World God Northrest had been able to view the [Nameless] sword-art, but he was only at a level where he could memorize its first seven stances. He wasn't able to memorize any of the rest of it at all.
"Against you? It'll be enough." The Starlord surged with a killing intent.
"You overestimate yourself." The God Emperor looked at the Starlord coldly. "I didn't want to use this treasure. I thought I could defeat you just by using a few secret arts…but it seems I'll still be forced to activate it. It's been a long, long time since I've truly fought someone."
God Emperor Blacklotus stretched out his right hand. Whoosh. A crystalline scimitar that seemed to have been carved out from a block of ice suddenly appeared in his hand. The scimitar was roughly three feet long.
Whoosh!
An unspeakable aura instantly filled the entire city. In fact, the aura spread out past the city and covered an enormous region beyond it as well.
The entire battlefield fell silent.
Cold!
Every single cultivator, be it the Elder Gods, the World Gods, or the Chaos Immortals, felt an icy cold feeling in their hearts.
"Is that…" All the cultivators turned their heads to stare at the origin of this feeling of icy terror. They saw that frozen crystal scimitar in God Emperor Blacklotus' hand, as well as the glimmer of azure light flowing over its surface. Every single cultivator felt their hearts shudder when they merely looked at the scimitar.
"What is that?" Ning's heart was shaking as well.
"That is an Eternal weapon." The nearby Immortal Abyssus had turned completely pale. "That's an Eternal weapon. I've seen the power of an Eternal weapon before, and this gives me exactly the same feeling. When you see an Eternal weapon, you'll immediately lose all your courage."
"An Eternal weapon." The faces of World God Blackmist, Immortal Skyram, and the others all changed as well.
"How could he have an Eternal weapon?"
"How could God Emperor Blacklotus be this powerful?"
Everyone was dazed.
Eternal weapons were just legends to most World-level experts! The number of World-level experts in the entire Badlands Territory who possessed Eternal weapons could be counted on one hand. They either had incredible luck or had been bestowed it by a Daolord! It must be understood that most Daolords used Eternal weapons, and so for them to bestow one on a World-level expert was incredibly rare.
Whooooosh. An invisible, freezing intent filled the hearts of every single cultivator present.
"I'm also wielding an Eternal weapon, but none of the World-level experts paid it any attention. But now that God Emperor Blacklotus has taken one out, he has stunned the entire battlefield." Ning couldn't help but sigh. This was all because his attainments in the sword were simply too low. He was only able to unleash just a tiny fraction of the power within Violetjewel's quintessence core, so little that no one even paid attention to it.
If he was as powerful as World God Northrest, who was able to unleash thirty to forty percent of Violetjewel's quintessence core, he'd be able to inspire terror in other World-level experts just by standing there with the sword in his hands.
"A supreme World God. I never would've thought that God Emperor Blacklotus is this powerful." A frantic look was in Immortal Abyssus' eyes.
"Blacklotus."
The Starlord withdrew, slowly stepping backwards as he looked at God Emperor Blacklotus.
"Why are you retreating?" God Emperor Blacklotus asked calmly.
"I admit defeat," the Starlord said in a low voice. "I'm willing to pay a high price to stay your hand and quell your rage, God Emperor Blacklotus."
As a cultivator, one had to know when to advance and when to retreat. To continue the battle when there was such a large disparity in power was just suicide.
"Hahaha…" God Emperor Blacklotus laughed. "A high price? As far as I'm concerned, the Fogstone lineage is worth nothing! Oh, wait. I actually rather like the planet of Fogstone itself. Hand over the planet and I'll let you leave."
"Impossible. God Emperor Blacklotus, you should know that the planet of Fogstone is a legacy treasure of the Fogstone lineage. Someone who is not of our lineage cannot bind or control it," the Starlord said.
This was the truth.
In the past, the Fogstone lineage had actually been completely wiped out by enemies before. However, once the major powers of the Fogstone lineage who were out exploring in other territories returned, they would generally take revenge and retake their legacy treasure, resulting in the lineage continuing to be passed down. Starchild's own father, the previous Starlord, was someone who had gone out exploring as well.
This was the custom of the Fogstone lineage. Once they reached a certain level of power, they would leave and go out adventuring in the primordial chaos. After a few dozen chaos cycles passed, they might eventually return to Fogstone, ensuring that its lineage would remain unbroken.
Their most important legacy treasure was the planet itself, and one had to have mastered certain core techniques in order to bind the planet. These core techniques were never taught to outsiders.
"I'm willing to offer treasure that is worth three thousand cubes of primordial chaos," the Starlord said hurriedly.
"Do you think I care?" God Emperor Blacklotus lifted the scimitar up.
The Starlord's face turned even uglier.
"When I journeyed through the primordial chaos, I passed through many territories and took on many masters. And yet, in the end I remained unable to take that final step to the next level. I no longer hold any hope of becoming a Samsara Daolord." God Emperor Blacklotus said softly, "And so I returned to the Badlands Territory. It had changed significantly since my departure from it. In fact, when I was born here, it wasn't even called the Badlands Territory…"
"I simply chose a random location and set up a little empire for myself, intending to rule over it in peace…and yet, trouble chose to come knocking on my door."
"It seems that I've been too…benevolent."
"To tell you the truth, I had a nickname when I roamed the primordial chaos. 'Daoist Blacklotus'," the God Emperor said.
"Daoist Blacklotus?" Immortal Abyssus sent mentally, "Careful, I know who he is now! He's a true fiend, a demon who delights in slaughter and who walks the path of evil. Don't put too much faith in his promises. He's an extremely temperamental person who has killed many World-level experts. Its been a long time since anyone has heard any news regarding him. I never would've thought that he had actually come to the Badlands Territory and set up an empire for himself to rule over."
"Daoist Blacklotus?" None of the other World-level experts, including the Starlord, knew what this name and title represented.
However, the Starlord and the others knew what they had to do.
God Emperor Blacklotus shook his head. "Still, I'm willing to be benevolent one final time. I'll give you two choices."
"The first choice is for all of you to hand over all of your treasures, including the planet of Fogstone and the treasures and techniques it contains," God Emperor Blacklotus said. "I'll spare your lives."
"The other choice is death." God Emperor Blacklotus had a very calm look in his eyes. The lineage of Fogstone truly was an ancient one. Perhaps it held certain techniques that might be of use to him. Although he didn't really feel that he would be able to make any more breakthroughs, he was still willing to give it a try.
"The planet of Fogstone? All of the treasures and techniques it holds?" The Starlord's skin once more transformed to become grayish-white. He couldn't possibly hand those things over, because he had sworn a lifeblood oath upon joining the lineage. If he violated it, the lifeblood oath would immediately take his life. It was impossible.
"Attack!" The Starlord's entire body had turned grayish-white, and his eyes were filled with a murderous frenzy.
"I've already taken revenge for Yi, so let's have a good fight. I want to see just how powerful an Eternal weapon is!" The Starlord charged forwards in a frenzy.
As he did so…
"Run!"
"All of you, run!"
"I'll hold him down. The rest of you, go hide within the planet of Fogstone. He won't be able to do anything to you once you go inside!" The Starlord's voice simultaneously rang out within the minds of Ji Ning, Immortal Abyssus, World God Blackmist, the other World-level experts, and the minds of the many Elder Gods as well.
Rumble…
The enormous planet which had been hanging in the sky suddenly came crashing downwards.
Ning and the others all understood that the planet of Fogstone was definitely filled with formations and protective spells that were far more powerful than the ones which had been protecting the imperial capital of the Blacklotus Empire. If they could make it inside, they would be safe! The Starlord of Fogstone was the most powerful person on their side; he was the only one who had a chance of stopping God Emperor Blacklotus.
"He wishes to stop me? To hold me down?" God Emperor Blacklotus held that enormous crystal scimitar in his hands as he strode forward, his voice echoing in the ears of every single cultivator present. "You really do have a fine Starlord. A pity, though…he won't succeed. All of you will die."
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Book 24, The Starlord of Fogstone, Chapter 46 – Shield You From the Wind and the Rain
God Emperor Blacklotus showed no mercy at all as he struck out with the giant crystal scimitar. Whoosh! A streak of icy saber-light shot out through the air, carrying an aura of extreme coldness as it flew towards the Starlord. The Starlord's body was now completely grayish-white, and he hurriedly shot out streaks of astral sword-light to defend.
Boom!!!
The Starlord was knocked flying backwards as the saber-light slashed past his chest. Fortunately, his body was as tough as a Dao weapon and so he was able to endure the blow.
"You can't stop me. In a head-on fight, you have no chance of stopping me at all." God Emperor Blacklotus smiled coldly.
The Starlord was beginning to panic.
He truly was a blessed child of the heavens! His father had been the previous Starlord, while World God Blackmist had supported him and guided him. Even though he hadn't been particularly diligent in cultivating, he had still been able to easily overcome his tribulations. After his beloved Yi had perished, he had begun to work hard and improved at an even more astonishing speed, becoming a World God. He then continued until he reached his certain stage, resulting in his divine body reaching the stage of full perfection! He was now the most powerful expert of the Fogstone lineage.
His path had always been a path that led straight upwards! Thus, his most powerful sword-arts were all focused on offensive attacks, making him somewhat weaker in defensive skills. The Starlord had always believed the old maxim that the best defense was a good offense! When he used the [Fogstone Apocalypse] his body was rendered comparable to a Dao weapon. Why, then, should he waste his time and effort on mastering defensive sword-arts? Only when he focused his efforts in the right area would he be able to more quickly reach a higher level of power.
But now…
He had encountered someone who was so superior to him that his vaunted attacks were useless! At a time like this, only someone tremendously talented in defensive sword arts would be capable of dealing with such a difficult foe.
Boom! The airborne Starlord was smashed downwards towards the ground.
"Let's go."
"Let's get out of here."
Quite a few Elder Gods immediately began to flee, not hesitating in the slightest. They all soared towards the skies, obeying the Starlord's orders to flee.
However…the Starlord had misjudged one of them.
"Childstar." World God Blackmist looked at the Starlord, a gentle look in his eyes. "You want me to flee?"
There was no way he would flee.
The previous Starlord had shown him great benevolence, which was why he had chosen to help take care of Childstar! At first, World God Blackmist had only done so in order to repay the old Starlord's kindness, and so Childstar had called him 'Second Uncle'. He had watched as the child slowly grew up, while the old Starlord himself had actually spent very little time with his son.
In the end…
It was World God Blackmist who spent virtually all of his time by Childstar's side. He had watched as Childstar grew up, had shielded him from the wind and the rain, ensuring that he would live a carefree life! As for the death of Childstar's Dao-companion, there was nothing that World God Blackmist could do about that. All he could do was silently support his young ward, hoping that this tragedy would encourage him to grow up even faster.
It had been so many years.
Although he was nominally the child's 'second uncle', in reality Blackmist had spent far more time and effort on Childstar than the old Starlord ever had. He had been there when Childstar was a crying and screaming newborn, and he had watched as Childstar grew up. By now, Blackmist truly viewed Childstar as he would his own son.
At a time like this…the Starlord was going to defend them?
Was ordering him to flee?
How could he possibly flee?
However, World God Blackmist still felt a warm feeling in his heart.
Whoosh. World God Blackmist's body suddenly began to blaze with white light, and all of his skin instantly transformed to become a rocky-gray color as well.
"Childstar, retreat!" World God Blacklist let out a loud roar as he charged forwards.
Although Childstar was the Starlord, he had always obeyed his second uncle's instructions. Eventually, however, he had become a World God and become more powerful than his second uncle. It had been a long time since his second uncle had given him any orders.
The fact that he was doing so now caused Childstar to grow blank for a moment…and then he saw World God Blackmist charging forward, his entire body glowing with white light.
The look in Childstar's eyes instantly changed.
"Second Uncle!" Childstar's eyes instantly reddened. He was the current Starlord of Fogstone. He knew exactly what his second uncle had just done.
"Not even your Starlord is a match for me. You think you are?" God Emperor Blacklotus once more chopped downwards with his enormous crystal scimitar.
Ssssshrk. Whoosh!
Sword-light and saber-light clashed against each other.
World God Blackmist was different from Childstar. He had relied entirely on himself as he had grown up, with no one there to provide him with any protection. His sword-arts were unpredictable and savage, but also quite suited for defense. Still, even the most defensive of stances would be useless if the disparity in power was too great.
"Eh?" God Emperor Blacklotus was astonished to see that World God Blackmist was merely knocked a few steps back. "H-how is it that you…"
"Childstar, leave right now!" World God Blackmist sent mentally to the Starlord, who was standing there blankly.
The Starlord gritted his teeth, his eyes glistening with tears.
Second Uncle…
Thanks to his second uncle, he had never worried about anything as a child. His second uncle had always been by his side, and the Starlord had grown used to his presence. Upon seeing his second uncle's body be wreathed in white light, he immediately understood that his second uncle had just used the forbidden fourth stage of the [Fogstone Apocalypse]!
Right. The [Fogstone Apocalypse] actually had a fourth stage!
However, their [Fogstone Apocalypse] was a fragmented technique. Only the first three stages were complete, which was why using the first three stages posed no risks. Even when one used the third stage, so long as that person stopped before completely using up his divine power, he wouldn't turn into fogstone and die. However, their records of the fourth stage were incomplete. Although it was still usable…once it was used, the body would begin an uncontrollable transformation into fogstone!
In other words…once a cultivator used the fourth stage, he was doomed to die! This was why the Starlord had been so agonized and grief-struck upon seeing the white light wreathing World God Blackmist's body. There was no way to reverse this process at all.
"This is my choice, and there is no turning back. If you don't wish for my death to have been for nothing, leave. Leave right now!" World God Blackmist roared furiously, "If you don't run, I'll have died for nothing! NOTHING!"
"Aaaaaaaaaaargh!" The Starlord let out an agonized howl, but he still turned and fled at high speed, charging into the skies.
He felt hatred and regret.
Why. Why!
Only now did he truly understand how important his second uncle was to him. His second uncle was his most beloved family member and just as important to him as Yi had been! Why? Why did it have to end up this way?
"Stay alive and forget about revenge. Only when you become a Daolord should you come and seek your revenge. Otherwise, I'll never forgive you. Never!" World God Blackmist's voice echoed in the Starlord's mind.
The Starlord lowered his head to stare downwards, tears cascading down his face.
"Second Uncle…"
Boom!
Whoosh!
World God Blackmist continued to battle against God Emperor Blacklotus.
"What type of divine ability did you use just now?" God Emperor Blacklotus was now quite intrigued. He sent mentally, "You clearly are quite weak, but this divine ability actually allows you to be on par with your Starlord. For a divine ability to be capable of strengthening you this much…Fogstone really does have quite a few nice things."
God Emperor Blacklotus did know that in the Endless Territories, there were a number of monstrously powerful forbidden divine abilities.
"Hand this divine ability over to me and I'll spare your life," God Emperor Blacklotus sent mentally.
"Don't even think about it!" World God Blackmist roared back.
To be honest, it wasn't just that he didn't want to hand it over. People like Ji Ning were only capable of acquiring the first and second stage, while the third stage came with many strict requirements. As for the fourth stage…only the most core members of the Fogstone lineage would have access to it. Although the fourth stage was fragmentary and incomplete, every generation of Starlords had done their best to repair it.
The fourth stage was simply too powerful. If they were capable of restoring it to the point where they could use it safely, it would be wonderful!
"You are now as strong as the Starlord, and your sword-arts are quite strange, but…do you think that's enough to stop me?" God Emperor Blacklotus let out a furious roar as the giant scimitar in his hands suddenly unleashed hundreds of streaks of crescent saber-light, sending them swirling around World God Blackmist. Every single strike contained the power of his scimitar's quintessence core.
"I have to be able to block them all. For the sake of Childstar, I have to block them all." World God Blackmist was wielding six swords in his hands.
He had long ago stopped caring about whether or not he would survive.
In this moment, he felt a greater desire than he had ever felt in his entire life.
His six swords transformed into six streaks of utterly dazzling sword-light, criss-crossing in the area around him and forming an enormous sphere of black mist.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! The hundreds of streaks of saber-light struck down upon the sphere of black mist. Although they carried tremendous power, World God Blackmist was completely capable of withstanding them.
"Y-you…" God Emperor Blacklotus stared in astonishment at World God Blackmist. "You actually made a breakthrough?" Before this, World God Blackmist's sword-arts were very unpredictable, but they weren't as resilient and tenacious as they were now. His sword-arts had clearly improved to a brand new level, capable of enduring offensive blows as though they truly were made of mist.
This was a terrifyingly strong defensive sword-art. Although God Emperor Blacklotus was stronger than his opponent, he remained unable to break through his defenses.
"Yes. My sword-arts reached a bottleneck a long, long time ago…but fortunately, I was able to make a breakthrough today." World God Blackmist revealed a relaxed, carefree smile. He was able to stop God Emperor Blacklotus' attack. Childstar would be able to stay alive. It was enough.
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Book 24, The Starlord of Fogstone, Chapter 47 – None Shall Escape
At present, World God Blackmist was every bit the Starlord's equal in the Dao of the Sword. However, the Starlord focused on offensive attacks, whereas World God Blackmist specialized in defense.
His sword-light was like a web of black mist that filled the entire region. Although God Emperor Blacklotus held an absolute advantage, he was still unable to breach it!
"Damn."
"Do you really think…that you can stop me?!"
"I, Blacklotus, spent countless years roaming across many territories. You think you can stop me with just a defensive technique like this? You underestimate me too much!" God Emperor Blacklotus turned his gaze towards the fleeing cultivators of the Fogstone Dominion, then let out a cold smile. "I trained as both a Fiendgod Body Refiner and a Ki Refiner!"
Rumble…
The entire imperial capital below them began to shudder, then slowly began to swivel. The city itself was in the shape of a nine-petal black lotus that covered an area of ten million kilometers. As the enormous black lotus swiveled, the entire Blacklotus Chaosworld began to shake. Countless black lotuses began to appear, and they covered the heavens and the earth as they furiously shot out towards the cultivators of the Fogstone Dominion.
"What's going on?!"
"This is even more terrifying than the secret arts he used earlier."
"Why are there so many black lotuses?"
Ning and the others were all dazed as they stared downwards.
As the gigantic nine-petal black lotus below them swiveled, it emanated an aura of terrifying power that quickly spread over the entire chaosworld.
"My Daoist name was Blacklotus. My true skills do not lie in close combat, nor was my reputation established because of this Eternal weapon. It was all because of my Dao, the Dao of the Black Lotus!" God Emperor Blacklotus smiled as every inch of the entire chaosworld began to shake. "The imperial capital of the Blacklotus Empire is actually a magic treasure which I used when I roamed through the Endless Territories. I poured all of my blood, sweat, and effort into it, and it contains my Dao."
"What?"
"It's a Dao weapon."
"His Dao?"
The fleeing cultivators all started to panic.
Usually, only Samsara Daolords were capable of forging Dao weapons! It was incredibly difficult for a World-level expert to forge a Dao weapon, but if a World-level expert successfully in doing so and infusing his own Dao into his creation he would have a weapon that was perfectly suited to him, allowing him to unleash tremendous power from it.
The deceased Immortal Owlsoar, for example, had murdered countless living beings to create that ritual tower of great sin. He had personally forged that ritual tower, and the mysteries of the Dao within it belonged to him and him alone, which was why he was quite powerful when using it. His insights into the Dao were quite average, but with that ritual tower in hand, he was actually on par with someone like World God Blackmist.
Some World-level experts who found themselves unable to make any more breakthroughs would generally focus most of their time, energy, and effort on forging a Dao weapon for themselves.
The same was true for God Emperor Blacklotus!
He had personally refined and forged this gigantic black lotus, infusing it with all of his insights into the Dao of the Black Lotus. When he used this new Dao weapon to execute his Forbidden Black Lotus technique, the power of the technique would increase dramatically.
However, after he acquired an Eternal weapon, he rarely saw the need to use his original Dao weapon. In fact, after arriving at the Badlands Territory, he had actually transformed it to make it a hundred thousand kilometers in size and treated it as a city.
Although there were some cultivators who had a strange feeling about the city, as though the entire thing was just one giant treasure, none of them knew that this city actually contained all of the insights into the Dao of God Emperor Blacklotus.
"Now this…this is the true Blacklotus World."
"Long ago, I set down restrictive spells on every part of this chaosworld. The chaosworld itself can become one with my magic treasure, creating a Blacklotus World of enormous proportions." God Emperor Blacklotus smiled, but his eyes were filled with madness. "This…is a world of lotuses…"
The entire chaosworld was shaking. The earth had cracked apart in many places, revealing enormous formation leylines. The seas had parted, revealing divine runes that glowed with black light. The mountains had collapsed and the cities had crumbled. The entire chaosworld was like an enormous painting that had been filled with spells…and now, all of the formations that God Emperor Blacklotus had secretly set down long ago suddenly exploded in power.
Countless black lotuses began to take shape.
The activation of this formation alone resulted in trillions of living beings on this chaosworld dying. God Emperor Blacklotus didn't kill them on purpose, but he also wasn't willing to weaken the power of his mightiest attack, the 'Blacklotus World', just to keep them safe.
The black lotuses filled every inch of the entire chaosworld, and they furiously flew through the air towards the fleeing Elder Gods and other cultivators.
The planet of Fogstone had been rocketing downwards towards the cultivators, but it was now completely surrounded by the endless black lotuses and unable to move any further.
"Be careful."
"Seven formations, join forces together and do your best to hold!" The Starlord sent frantically.
"Hold!"
The seven thousand Elder Gods had transformed into an enormous protective circle, with Immortal Abyssus and Immortal Skyram having hidden themselves inside the circle. However, the valiant Starlord of Fogstone remained outside the circle, lashing out with his sword repeatedly as he attempted to chop apart as many black lotuses as he could.
However, there were simply too many lotuses.
"We won't be able to escape. Once God Emperor Blacklotus returns, we'll be doomed."
"What should we do next?"
"How could the God Emperor be this powerful?"
All of them were frantic, Ning included. They weren't capable of breaching past those black lotuses; there was no way they could make it back inside the planet of Fogstone.
"Second Uncle." The Starlord was still wracked by grief and agony.
"If this continues, all of us are definitely going to die." Ning was pondering his next steps. "Right now, we're able to block the black lotuses because all seven formations are sharing the load together, but once God Emperor Blacklotus arrives and strikes out with his Eternal weapon, we won't even be able to dodge. If his attack lands on me, my Minor Thousand Elder Gods Formation will collapse."
The seven formations weren't truly as one. Given how strong the God Emperor was, it would be easy for him to break through the defenses of the formations one by one.
"I have no other options." Ning frowned. Violetjewel was his most important possession, and treasures were incredibly important for any cultivator. Ning truly didn't wish to loan Violetjewel out to someone else! It was entirely possible that the Starlord would become greedy and not return it. As the leader of the entire Fogstone lineage, the lifeblood oath he had sworn was a very lax one.
As the leader of their organization, he had tremendous authority. He could find excuses to issue punishments to his subordinates, and so it was entirely possible for the Starlord to find a way to put Ning to death without running afoul of his lifeblood oath!
"I'll have him swear another lifeblood oath of my choosing, then I'll secretly lend him Violetjewel," Ning mused. "That's the only way to survive this."
"But…there's just one problem."
"Spirit of the sword." Ning immediately reached out to commune with the sword-spirit residing within Violetjewel.
"Master," the sword-spirit said.
"If I was to allow the Starlord to bind Violetjewel for his own use, how long would it take?" Ning asked. Ning didn't know much about Eternal weapons, but he had heard that binding them was actually quite difficult.
"According to what the old master told me all those years ago, Eternal weapons are quite hard to bind," the sword-spirit said. "Normally speaking, anyone below the World level of power will not be able to bind Eternal weapons at all. The only reason why you were able to do so after a few centuries was because of the secret 'Heartseep technique' which Vastheaven Palace had access to.
"The Starlord is a World God. He can bind it. But…the quintessence core of an Eternal weapon contains some of the insights into the quintessence of a Dao from the original creator of that weapon. Thus, if you wish to fully master an Eternal weapon, you have to be approved of by the sword's quintessence core itself," the sword-spirit said.
Ning nodded.
Creating Chaos weapons and Dao weapons, by contrast, was much simpler. They didn't have quintessence cores, just a few divine runes and tattoos.
"For a World-level…it'll take anywhere from four or five days to forever," the sword-spirit said.
"Forever? You mean, he might never be able to bind it?" Ning was stunned.
"Right. The quintessence cores have their own personalities and will try to seek out masters that suit them. If a core is completely opposed to the person trying to bind it, there'll be no way to succeed in binding it. However, both you and the Starlord are quite talented in the Dao of the Sword. He should be able to bind it," the sword-spirit said. "And it should be fairly fast for the Starlord. He should be able to succeed in just a few days."
Ning began to panic.
A few days?
That was far too much time. Given how furiously World God Blackmist was fighting, he would probably run out of energy in the time needed to boil a kettle of tea. A few days?
"Let's see how much longer you can hang on for." God Emperor Blacklotus was quite relaxed as he used the giant crystal scimitar in his hands to chop towards World God Blackmist again and again.
World God Blackmist's entire body had turned a stony gray color and emanated a dazzling white light. Clearly, he had gone all out.
"What should I do? What should I do?!" World God Blackmist was beginning to panic.
He had managed to stop God Emperor Blacklotus, yes. But God Emperor Blacklotus was also an incredibly talented Ki Refiner. This entire chaosworld had become completely filled with black lotuses, all of which were surrounding and suppressing the cultivators of the Fogstone Dominion, making it so that there was no way they could escape.
"Eh?"
A crack suddenly appeared in the membrane protecting the chaosworld, and a barefoot, sloppy-looking old man dressed in tattered robes walked out from the crack, staring downwards with curiosity.
"What's with all these black lotuses? Oho! An Eternal weapon? Isn't that interesting." The raggedy old man's forehead creased as he smiled.
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Book 24, The Starlord of Fogstone, Chapter 48 – You Dared Attack One of Mine?
"I wasn't too late. That young brother of mine hasn't been killed yet." The raggedy old man's gaze pierced through all obstructions as he stared at the great battle being fought.
"Let's go take a look."
He sauntered forward through the air. Although his body touched some of the lotus flowers, they slid right through him as though his body was illusory, having no effect on him at all.
He looked as though he was walking quite slowly, but with each step he moved millions of kilometers.
The battle was still continuing.
Ji Ning, the Starlord of Fogstone, Immortal Abyssus, and the others had been completely surrounded by the endless black lotuses. There was no way out whatsoever.
"I never would've thought that I'd end up dying here." Immortal Abyssus let out a soft sigh. "For me to die is one thing, but my disciples…" Although some of the disciples remained behind on the planet of Fogstone, once the World-level experts died the planet of Fogstone would fall into the hands of God Emperor Blackstone. Not a single living being would be able to escape.
"How could this God Emperor Blacklotus be so strong?"
"My luck is horrid. I've been in seclusion for so many years, and the very first time I leave it to take part in a fight, I end up running into someone as frightening as him."
"I know. His insights into the Dao are profound, his forbidden secret arts are incredibly powerful, and he even has an Eternal weapon! Even when I roamed about the primordial chaos, I almost never encountered people as terrifying as him."
The various World-level experts could do nothing but sigh. Their hearts were filled with resentment and an unwillingness to give up, but they could read the situation. Whether they lived or died was now completely up to God Emperor Blacklotus.
"Second Uncle." The Starlord lowered his head and saw World God Blackmist continuing to furiously fight back against World God Blackmist. Tears appeared in the Starlord's eyes. "Second Uncle, forget it. Forget it. We've lost."
The fourth stage of the [Fogstone Apocalypse] was indeed terrifyingly powerful, but it used up divine power at an even more terrifying rate. Soon, the very last bit of Blackmist's divine power would be used up.
"Ahahaha…Blackmist, I have to say that even I admire your tenacity. To show my respect for you, I'll allow all of these World Gods and Chaos Immortals to join you in death." The God Emperor's mocking voice rang out in the skies. "After all of you die, I'll come up with some other ideas for acquiring your divine abilities and techniques from within the planet of Fogstone."
"There's no way you'll succeed," World God Blackmist growled, his eyes filled with savagery and pain.
He wasn't afraid of death.
What he feared was dying while failing to protect the Starlord.
"If I succeed, I'll be happy. If I don't, it won't make much of a difference. Blackmist, I'm curious as to how long your divine power will be able to hold out." God Emperor Blacklotus was quite relaxed. He held the absolute upper hand and was launching attacks with impunity. "You can fight for as long as you wish, but in the end the result will still be death."
World God Blackmist's eyes were filled with resentment.
He was continuing to fight, only because he truly wasn't willing to give up.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
Suddenly, a series of echoing booms began to ring out in the heavens.
Serpent-shaped streaks of lightning began to cascade down from the heavens. It looked as though trillions of lightning chains had manifested, wantonly crashing downwards against the earth. The countless black lotuses were all wiped out, and even some of the black lotuses that weren't directly struck by the lightning bolts saw sparks of lightning crackle around them, wiping them out.
One moment ago, the entire world was filled with countless black lotuses. Now…they had all vanished. The mountains, the skies, the seas…the mighty divine runes that filled this world had all been shattered as well.
"What…"
"What just happened?"
The seven thousand Elder Gods that had been struggling to defend were all stunned. The Starlord, Immortal Abyssus…all of them were stunned.
Vanished?
The countless black lotuses which they had been struggling to push back had all just…vanished?
"Impossible. That's impossible." God Emperor Blacklotus blanched. He no longer paid any attention to World God Blackmist as he frantically scanned the world around him. He knew exactly how strong this forbidden art of his was, because he had to prepare it in advance by filling the entire chaosworld with many formations.
When all of the formations were unleashed, they were almost comparable to his full power when he used his Eternal weapon.
A forbidden art of such power had been instantly defeated? By lightning? Who could do such a thing?!
"Uh…so did you guys think the lightning looked really pretty?" A voice suddenly rang out by the ears of the Ji Ning, the Starlord, God Emperor Blacklotus, and all the other cultivators.
A barefoot old man dressed in tattered robes walked towards through the air from afar, the trillions of lightning bolts parting before his path.
"I really like lightning, you know."
"Unfortunately, I don't have much talent for it. I lived in the Grand Lightning Sea for ages, but in the end I was still able to master just one stage of its lightning. It is pretty weak, but its not bad when you just want to mess around." The raggedy old man beamed as he spoke, then waved his hand, causing the trillions of lightning bolts to vanish from the heavens.
The battle between the two sides had come to a complete halt.
The Fogstone Dominion's major powers were filled with excitement, believing that perhaps they might be able to survive after all.
God Emperor Blacklotus began to worry.
"Greetings, senior." Immortal Abyssus was the first to react.
"Greetings, senior." All of the cultivators of the Fogstone Dominion bowed respectfully, including World God Blackmist.
"Greetings, senior." God Emperor Blacklotus and the World-level experts on his side, as well as all of the Elder Gods, also bowed respectfully.
None of them were fools. What they had witnessed just now spoke volumes. This person had easily, casually wiped out God Emperor Blacklotus' terrifying forbidden art. Most likely, only someone on a completely different level of power could accomplish this…a Samsara Daolord!
According to the stories, Samsara Daolords walked at the borders between life and death. Each time they traversed this samsara cycle of life and death, they would grow dramatically more powerful. If they failed…then they would die.
Every single one of them was inconceivably powerful.
There were legends of monstrous Elder Gods who could slay World-level experts! However, even the most monstrous of World-level experts would only at most be capable of dealing with newly ascended Samsara Daolords. Any Samsara Daolord who had been alive for just a bit of time had the power to utterly crush any World-level expert, and the longer they stayed alive the more powerful they became. According to the legends, an enraged Samsara Daolord who was about to die might wipe out entire territories in their death throes!
And those legends were true!
Only those who had actually encountered a Daolord would understand how terrifying they were.
"Mm." The raggedy old man swept the Fogstone Dominion's experts with his gaze, revealing a smile.
The experts of Fogstone all felt a surge of joy.
The experts of the Blacklotus Empire all felt their hearts tremble.
"You actually dared to attack one of mine." The raggedy old man looked towards God Emperor Blacklotus, a smile still on his face. "You really are quite bold."
God Emperor Blacklotus quivered, his body turning soft.
He had experienced many things while roaming through foreign territories, and he had encountered quite a few Samsara Daolords. He knew exactly how terrifying a Samsara Daolord could be.
"Great!"
"It looks like he's on our side."
"Didn't you hear the Daolord say 'one of mine' just now? Does he belong to us? Starlord, could he possibly be one of the ancient seniors of the Fogstone lineage?" Every member of Fogstone was jubilant, and Ning let out a sigh of relief as well.
The Starlord was also puzzled. He sent back, "I don't know. Fogstone does have quite a few ancient cultivators who are roaming the outside world. It is possible that one of them broke through to become a Samsara Daolord, I suppose…but I don't recognize this man."
"Blackmist, do you recognize him?"
"I don't recognize this senior either." World God Blackmist flew towards them, his skin still that grayish-white color. "If he's a Samsara Daolord, he must have been training for an extremely long period of time. He probably left Fogstone long before I even started to cultivate. It's also possible that he's completely unrelated to Fogstone."
Fogstone's experts were musing over who this Daolord was, while the experts of the Blacklotus Empire were filled with terror upon realizing that he was an enemy.
"You attacked one of mine, so…I have to kill you." The raggedy old man continued to smile in a jolly fashion, but his words were utterly terrifying. He waved his finger, causing an enormous illusory finger of lightning to shoot out towards God Emperor Blacklotus.
"My master is Daolord Seven Sovereigns!" God Emperor Blacklotus had a look on his face as he screamed, "Daolord Seven Sovereigns is my master!"
God Emperor Blacklotus wanted to flee, but spacetime was sealed off in this area. He had nowhere to run or hide.
The finger of lightning tapped him on his body.
Whoosh! One moment, a look of terror was on God Emperor Blacklotus' face. The next moment, he had been completely transformed into dust.
The entire world was silent.
Ning and the others hadn't even had the chance to digest the fact that Blacklotus was a disciple of this 'Daolord Seven Sovereigns' before Blacklotus died.
"Seven Sovereigns?" The raggedy old man spat. "Seven SOVEREIGNS? More like seven bugs! He hides from me like a bug. This old man wanted to kill him before my Daomerge, but he actually abandoned his home and went scurrying off to some godforsaken place."
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Book 24, The Starlord of Fogstone, Chapter 49 – The Daolord's Brother
After killing God Emperor Blacklotus the raggedy old man waved his hand, collecting the treasures which Blacklotus had left behind. He singled out the giant crystal scimitar in particular, picking it up and giving it a close look. He mumbled to himself, "Huh, this Eternal weapon isn't bad." Watched by all of the cultivators, the old man put the scimitar away.
The raggedy old man wasn't the slightest bit self-conscious about looting Blacklotus' items.
"He's crazy powerful."
"He squashed God Emperor Blacklotus like a bug."
"Didn't you hear? This senior even wishes to kill that 'Daolord Seven Sovereigns'." The cultivators of Fogstone felt their hearts shudder as they contemplated this. Samsara Daolords were figures that vastly surpassed them in power. However, their innate fear didn't prevent them from also feeling gratitude and veneration towards this raggedy old man who they had just met for the first time. They all hoped that one day they might also reach his level.
The entire purpose of cultivation was to go out and see more things and experience greater things, to possess more formidable techniques and divine abilities.
"Let's go down," the Starlord sent.
Whoosh. Whoosh. Whoosh.
Thousands of figures descended from the skies. Now that nothing was around to interfere with their movements, they moved quite quickly as they descended upon the enormous nine-petal black lotus which was now bereft of all buildings. A day ago, this black lotus was a city. After being activated as a treasure, some of the buildings that lay atop it had been put away while the rest had been crushed into dust.
"Greetings, senior." The Starlord stepped forward and bowed. "Thank you for saving us, senior."
"Thank you for saving us, senior." The thousands of cultivators behind him all bowed as well.
As for the surviving Elder Gods and World-level cultivators of the Blacklotus Empire, all of them were feeling rather uneasy. They didn't even dare to try and flee, nor did they dare to go forward and speak to the Daolord. They were afraid that he'd wave his finger at them and kill them all.
"Senior." The man dressed in white floral robes gritted his teeth, then said respectfully, "We have nothing to do with this matter. The Starlord came here to take revenge on Chaos Immortal Owlsoar, who is now already dead. We were just defending ourselves and were the weaker side until the God Emperor revealed his true power in an attempt to wipe out the Fogstone lineage…but that was him, not us. We just staid on the sidelines and didn't get involved at all."
"Right right right! We didn't get involved at all, nor were we strong enough to get involved."
"Please show mercy, senior."
The four remaining World-level experts and the Elder Gods all waited nervously.
The raggedy old man waved his hand dismissively. "Beat it, beat it! All of you, beat it."
The survivors of the Blacklotus Empire were stunned for a moment, then revealed looks of joy.
"Thank you, senior."
First, they bowed respectfully. And then…swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh! All of them flew into the skies and departed. The Starlord didn't dare to stop them; he even withdrew the astral light that had been emanating from the planet of Fogstone. If the Daolord had granted them permission to leave, how could he possibly dare to stop them?
After waving the survivors off, the raggedy old man turned to smile at the cultivators of the Fogstone Dominion who were standing closest to him.
"He's looking at us."
"He's staring at us."
"He's smiling!"
"So what if he's smiling? He smiled when he wiped out God Emperor Blacklotus with a finger, didn't he?"
"What are you talking about? The Daolord already said that he was on our side."
"We have no idea who he is. He might be an ancient member of Fogstone who left long ago but made a breakthrough to become a Daolord." Everyone present was secretly speculating, but they all knew that actually breaking through from the World level to become a Samsara Daolord was incredibly difficult. The Fogstone lineage was an ancient one, but it had only produced a fairly small number of World-level experts. For it to give birth to a Samsara Daolord was extremely unlikely, unless one of them had a stroke of absolutely tremendous luck.
The raggedy old man walked towards them.
The Starlord and the others all bowed respectfully while secretly feeling eager to find out exactly who this old man was.
"Mm." The raggedy old man glanced at them, then turned his gaze to…Ji Ning.
"The Fogstone lineage, eh?" The raggedy old man nodded slowly, turning his gaze back to the Starlord. "Fogstone deserves to be thanked for its efforts in taking care of this young brother of mine."
"Young brother?" The Starlord and the others were all stunned.
Ning was also stunned.
Brother?
The raggedy old man winked at Ning, then sent mentally, "What is your name? Who gave you the talisman of welcome?"
Ning immediately understood.
Talisman of welcome?
The Vastheaven Palace's talisman of welcome? This was a talisman which World God Northrest had prepared for his heir before he died. Every single formal member of Vastheaven Palace was given a single opportunity to welcome and recruit a new member into their ranks. Anyone welcomed in such a manner would be allowed to enter Vastheaven Palace with no need for any testing. Thus, the formal members of Vastheaven Palace wouldn't casually bestow their talisman of welcome to others. They were generally extremely exacting in their standards, and some of them would never use the talisman a single time in their entire lives.
"My Daoist title is Darknorth, while my personal name is Ji Ning. This talisman of welcome was given to me by World God Northrest," Ning sent mentally.
"Northrest?" The raggedy old man blinked, then the look in his eye changed. "Do you know how he died?" Vastheaven Palace had known of Northrest's passing in the moment of his death. It had investigated the cause of his death but had been unable to discover anything.
"Yes." Ning nodded.
"Let's chat about that in a bit. Also, there's no need for you to stay here on Fogstone any longer. Return to Vastheaven Palace with me," the raggedy old man said. "Vastheaven Palace is much more powerful."
"Understood," Ning said.
The lifeblood oath he had sworn to Fogstone had been a fairly loose one, as Ning was planning all along to spend the next chaos cycle searching for Vastheaven Palace. In addition, since this raggedy old man was able to immediately recognize that Ning had a talisman of welcome, he was most likely a member of Vastheaven Palace as well. In fact, it was entirely possible that he was one of their highest ranking members! Only a fool would refuse to join such a powerful organization.
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.
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Book 25, Novessence Thunder, 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. Prior 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 Battlemaster and I engaged in a bit of Numerancy. Those three Wujiao Godbeasts truly were the slayers of Northrest."
Ning couldn't help but secretly sigh in amazement.
Numerancy?
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 Numerancy 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 Numerancy 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.
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Book 25, Novessence Thunder, 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."
Ning just stood next to him, not understanding any of this. It had been one of those streams of gray energy that had pulled him into one of the deep abysses.
"Big brother." Ning pointed towards a pool of water below them, then said, "When I last entered the Windsource Ruins, I accidentally encountered a little house by that lake. The house held a deceased World God and a tower-shaped Eternal treasure he had."
"An Eternal treasure?" Daolord Solesky glanced downwards, two streams of golden light shooting out of his eyes.
"No, nothing there. There's no house." Daolord Solesky shook his head. "The Hundred Streams of the Windsource are constantly changing. The house you encountered last time could well be ten million kilometers away by now."
Daolord Solesky wouldn't mind taking away an Eternal weapon if there was no effort involved, but alas it wasn't there.
"Let's go." Daolord Solesky shook his head. "When Daolord Windosurce died, many of his World Gods died with him, but only four or five of them held Eternal weapons. All of them are scattered throughout the Ruins, and I'm not able to break apart the formation protecting this place. All I can do is try my luck, but I could spend thousands of years without finding one of the Eternal weapons."
Ning agreed with this analysis.
Daolord Solesky himself had said earlier that when the Hundred Streams of the Windsource Formation unleashed its full might, it would be tremendously powerful. Quite a few Daolords, such as Daolord Waterwind or Daolord Badlands, had visited this place before, but all of them acted with great caution. None of them tried to actually breach the formation! This was a formation which Daolord Windsource had poured all of his heart, soul, power, and Dao into as he lay on the verge of death. When the formation was activated, it would possess as much power as Daolord Windsource himself did when engaging in a last-ditch final attack.
"I wouldn't be afraid of fighting Daolord Windsource himself, but…" Daolord Solesky laughed. "Because he was dying, he poured everything he had into this formation. I don't want to take on an explosive, full-strength from the thing."
"Let's go to the core regions."
Daolord Solesky led Ning as they continued to fly forwards.
He didn't try to breach the formation or bypass it. Instead he followed its natural flows, resulting in them slowly moving closer and closer towards the core regions.
Whoooosh. Before them were countless gusts of gray wind. The further they advanced, the more powerful the wind was and the more gusts of them appeared.
Ning stood by Daolord Solesky's side, but he still couldn't help but feel nervous.
He could sense that if he was by himself here, he would be completely ground apart into tiny pieces.
"These are all some of Windsource's killer techniques, but those powerful enough can easily go through them without harm. In fact, they'll actually form a giant corridor." Daolord Solesky laughed as he led them through the gray wind.
Before them were a series of islands.
"We are now in a core region," Daolord Solesky said.
"It is so beautiful here." Ning saw a large lake that was thousands of kilometers long. In the center of the lake was a single large island surrounded by more than ten smaller islands.
"Don't be fooled by appearances. This place is extremely dangerous." Two streams of golden light shot out from Daolord Solesky's eyes as he surveyed the region. "The island in the center is the place where Daolord Windsource used to live. The surrounding islands should be places where his disciples and servants lived."
"Oh?" Ning swept the area with his gaze.
Every single island emanated ripples of energy.
Some emanated ripples of electric.
Some emanated ripples of frost.
Some emanated ripples of a bloody aura.
One island had an aura of sword-ki at its center that soared into the heavens.
As for the central island where Daolord Windsource had lived, that island emanated multiple rings of ripples. It was as though this island was generating a omnidirectional wind that gently rippled out in waves. In fact, when the wind reached them Daolord Solesky didn't move to block it, allowing it to gently blow across them. The feeling was quite comfortable.
However, for some reason, whenever Ning looked at the central island his heart was filled with a sense of fear. "That old bastard." Daolord Solesky stared intently at the central island, his eyes glowing with golden light as he mumbled to himself, "He died, but he wanted to make sure that it wouldn't be easy for others to acquire his treasures without paying a price."
"I won't be able to take you inside, and I won't be able to protect you once I go inside." Daolord Solesky glanced at Ning. "There are quite a few islands around the big one. Just pick one."
Ning felt a surge of joy. He actually didn't want to go to the central island. It was too dangerous! If he went inside, he would probably die without even realizing what was happening.
"Alright." Ning glanced at the small islands before turning to focus on the one which was emanating a towering aura of sword energy. "That one, I suppose."
Ning knew that all of the World-level experts here had died, which meant that the treasures they had left behind were all ownerless. Ownerless treasures would naturally emanate ripples of tremendous power…and a treasure which emanated such towering ripples of sword energy was bound to be an extraordinary one.
"That one?" Daolord Solesky turned his golden gaze towards that island. That island had an Immortal estate built atop it, and it was from this place that the sword-ki was emanating.
"Ji Ning, you should have the Eternal weapon which Northrest owned, right?" Daolord Solesky looked at Ning.
"Yes." Ning nodded.
"Mm. When I saw you defend against those black lotuses, I could sense that you were quite strong. That's why I suspected that you were probably using his 'Violetjewel'." Daolord Solesky nodded. "Since you have Violetjewel…although that island is filled with danger, you should be able to handle it."
"Filled with danger?" Ning was secretly surprised.
"Go. That island holds three deceased World-level experts." Daolord Solesky laughed. "The treasures they left behind aren't bad. They are a good fit for you."
"Three?" Ning nodded.
"Remember. No matter what, don't move as much as a single step off of that island." Daolord Solesky said solemnly, "If you touch or activate part of the formations here, you'll instantly be reduced to dust. I won't have any chance to save you."
"I understand." Ning nodded.
"Then go." Daolord Solesky waved his hand, causing a stream of watery light to immediately surrounding Ning and send him flying towards the small island at high speed.
Whooooosh.
Ning landed atop a grassy patch of land. He hurriedly raised his head to stare at the skies, where he saw Daolord Solesky smile and nod towards him. "Just wait here for me on this island." Daolord Solesky then immediately transformed into a formless stream of water that flew straight towards the large central island.
The ripples of gentle wind surrounding transformed into ripples of incredibly sharp golden wind that could cut through anything. However, that stream of water was durable and formless; even after being chopped apart, it seeped through the wind and reformed, easily bypassing the barrier and entering the central island.
When Ning saw Daolord Solesky transform into a stream of water and sensed the terrifying power of the golden wind emanating from the central island, he was once more reminded of the huge gap in power that existed between him and them. They were on completely different levels.
"I'm still very weak." Ning turned his head to look at the island he was on.
The island he was on was a few dozen kilometers in size.
The island was filled with beautiful flowers and lovely trees, as well as a few small hills. The Immortal estate was located at the very center and was quite dazzling to behold.
"Is that where the three World-level experts are?"
"Big brother Solesky told me that although this place is filled with danger, I can handle it." Ning stretched out his hand, causing Violetjewel to appear within it. The azureflower mist energy began to fill his body as well, further strengthening it.
Ning carefully walked forward, arriving before the Immortal estate within a few seconds.
The doors to the palace were open. It was completely silent.
"Eh?"
As Ning cautiously advanced through the estate, he could sense how deathly still the entire place was. At the same time, the hallways were all extremely clean and tidy.
"Nobody here at all?" As Ning walked forward, he saw that the entire place was completely empty. There weren't even any corpses to be seen. Ning tested out using his coresense and heartforce to scan the place, but the entire region hummed with a gentle wind that blocked out everything. Daolord Solesky was able to scan the place, but clearly Ning was far too weak to do so.
"Eh?" Just as Ning was wondering why there was nobody to be seen here, his eyes suddenly lit up.
Ning saw a small mountain off in the distance located just outside the walls of the palace. Midway up the mountain, there was a little pavilion, and there was a golden-robed figure seated in the lotus position within the pavilion.
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Book 25, Novessence Thunder, Chapter 3 – Stone Titan
"I never would've thought that the first World-level expert would actually be located outside of the estate." Ji Ning hopped over the wall, then walked up the mountain. The golden-robed figure seated within the distant pavilion looked as though he was alive. He had a long beard, a peaceful face, and emanated faint ripples of a Chaos Immortal's energy. However, no signs of actual life could be seen.
"The sword energy emanating from this island doesn't come from him." Ning turned to glance backwards at the Immortal estate. The sword energy was emanating from deep within the immortal estate itself. Ning had spent some time wandering it, but had been careful to stay in the outer regions of the estate. He hadn't gone deeper inside of it yet.
If even someone like Daolord Solesky described this place as being 'filled with danger', how could Ning possibly dare to take it lightly?
"Senior." Ning walked to the pavilion, then clasped his hands as he stood outside of it. "I'll take the treasures you left behind, but I'll also give you a proper burial to ensure that you won't be disturbed again."
Just as his words finished…
Rumble. An aura of power suddenly burst forth.
Ning's face changed. He hurriedly retreated at high speed, then turned to stare at the place where the aura was coming from. There were many boulders on this mountain, and an enormous boulder was located right next to the pavilion. Ning hadn't paid it too much attention, but this boulder was now emanating an aura of power that vastly outstripped Ning himself. In fact, Ning had the feeling that it was even more powerful than most World-level experts.
Whoosh. The boulder melted into liquid, then reformed anew, transforming to an enormous stone titan. The stone titan had dark yellow eyes and his entire body was formed from stone, and he was staring straight at Ning.
"A golem?" Ning carefully reached out with his senses. Although this stone titan had an aura of tremendous power, it didn't have an aura of life; all it had was an aura of energy. It was a construct or a magic treasure of some sort.
"An Elder God?" The stone titan's voice rumbled. "Puny Elder God. It is good that you chose to show respect to your seniors. If you dared to desecrate my master's corpse, I would've smashed you into a thousand pieces already."
Ning immediately understood. This stone titan had to be some sort of construct which the deceased Chaos Immortal had created long ago. The Chaos Immortal hadn't chosen to destroy the golem; instead, he had allowed the golem to stay by his corpse's side and guard him for all these years.
"So this senior was your master?" Ning said with curiosity, "I imagine you must've been trapped on this island for a long, long time. Don't you want to leave?"
"What do you care?" The stone titan looked at Ning. "You wish to bamboozle me into accepting you as my new master?"
Ning smiled, but in his heart he felt rather embarrassed. This golem wasn't created through a grafted soul and instead had an artificial golem spirit, but it was quite intelligent.
Generally speaking, intelligent beings who were by themselves for a long period of time would want to leave a place like this. For example, the treasure-spirit of the Eternal-level tower which Ning had encountered in the house by the lake wished to leave the Ruins. Ning could tell that this powerful golem, which had an aura that was mightier than that of most World-level experts, was extremely tough to deal with. Wouldn't it be nice if Ning could convince the golem to join him and accept him as its new master?
But alas, Ning was mistaken.
This golem was fashioned from a type of marvelous ore, and the golem spirit that had emerged from it had a stony personality as well. The golem enjoyed peace and quiet and was perfectly happy with staying in one place without moving for countless years on end. He had taken the shape of a giant boulder and guarded its master's corpse for countless years without fail. If Ning hadn't come, he would've continued to remain in that form.
"Yes, I wish you to accept me as your master." Ning nodded and smiled. "You should be a World-level golem. To leave you here is a complete waste of your power."
"You were quite respectful to my master, so I'll give you a chance." The stone titan nodded. "Since you are just a puny little Elder God, I won't make it too hard for you. If you can withstand three of my palm-strikes, I'll accept you as my new master."
The stone titan still remembered the final words of his master.
His master had known that death was nigh. Before dying, he had said, "After I die, if there are any outsiders who come and act with great respect and propriety, you may follow him after testing him and verifying that he is strong. But if any would act to defile my corpse, slay them! If you cannot slay them, dive into the lake. If they dare to follow you into the lake, they shall surely perish."
There were some cultivators who would ransack and defile the corpses of deceased seniors. Any of those who came here would be in trouble!
"Understood." Ning nodded.
"These three palms of mine won't be too powerful, but there aren't many Elder Gods who can withstand them. Weak Elder Gods aren't qualified to be my master. Be careful!" The stone titan looked at Ning. Ning was an Elder God, which was why the stone titan was only going to strike three times. If Ning was a World-level expert, the golem would be fighting with full power.
"Come." Ning nodded.
Whoosh.
The stone titan suddenly struck out with his enormous, pillar-like arms. His arms stretched out to become many dozens of meters long as his giant palms came crashing down towards Ning!
"Fast!" Ning was secretly startled. He unleashed his flexible sword, causing it to transform into a black hole that immediately entangled the stone palm.
Boom!
Ning took one step backwards.
Actually, Ning was doing this on purpose. With the azureflower mist energy strengthening him, his body was as tough as any World God's body. He easily could've stood there without needing to take a step back at all. However, Ning was afraid that this might rouse the golem's fighting spirit, resulting in the next two palms becoming much more powerful. Taming this golem was what really mattered right now; after he became the golem's master, there would be plenty of time for the two of them to spar. A World-level golem was far more valuable than most Dao weapons; if any danger appeared, Ning could allow the golem to stand in front and protect him.
"So you have a bit of power." The stone titan let out a growl. "Try out my second palm!"
Whoosh!
The stone palm easily broke past the speed of light as it instantly appeared before Ning. It was clearly much faster than the previous blow, and as the giant stone palm appeared Ning felt as though the entire world was growing dark.
Boom!! Yet another massive explosion rang out from the collision.
This time, Ning took three steps backwards.
"Eh?" The stone titan frowned at this, and a 'frown' appearing on a giant stone face was actually quite an amusing sight. The stone titan had thought that this palm of his would smash the Elder God and send him flying all the way back to the walls of the Immortal palace…but instead, the Elder God had only taken three steps back. Clearly, the man was holding back some of his true power.
"Final palm!" The stone titan let out a growl, sending his palm down towards Ning in an even more brutal strike. This palm-strike was so fierce that space itself was being crushed in on itself and came slamming towards Ning as well.
"Let's do this!" This time, Ning used his Eternal weapon Violetjewel. He unleashed his most powerful strike!
Boom! It was time for the 'Heavenbreaker' stance. Ning lifted Violetjewel up high, transforming it to become three hundred meters long, then chopped down furiously towards the stone titan. It was already the third palm, and so Ning felt that it was time to show the stone titan his real power. He wanted to show the stone titan that he was not a 'puny Elder God'!
"Eh!?" The stone titan was caught off-guard. The power of the blow which Ning had just unleashed caused him to feel shocked. His palm had been crashing downwards towards Ning, but now he hurriedly angled it upwards to block Ning's attack instead.
BOOM!!!
A head-on, frontal collision.
The sword-light smashed directly downwards against the giant stone palm, causing the stone titan to sink downwards into the ground. Even the mountain itself trembled slightly. However, this island had been constructed by Daolord Windsource; World-level experts would often spar in these islands but were unable to truly damage it in the slightest.
As for Ning, he was driven quite a few steps backwards by the shockwave generated through this exchange of blows.
"What tremendous power. I caught him off-guard and he only used one hand to block, but he was still able to knock me backwards. In raw strength alone, he vastly surpasses me," Ning mused to himself.
"I've received all three of your palm-strikes," Ning said.
The stone titan stared at Ning. Puzzled, he asked, "You…you ARE an Elder God, right?"
"Can't you tell from the aura?" Ning grinned.
"But your power…I feel as though you are comparable to some of the World Gods I've met in the past." The stone titan stared at Ning, feeling quite curious. "There are legends of some Elder Gods who can defeat World Gods. I think you should be able to defeat some of the weakest World Gods…but don't get smug. I treated you as an Elder God and so I didn't strike with full force. Otherwise, I would've smacked you flying with a single hit. I was afraid if I hit you too hard, I'd send you flying off the island and get you killed by the formations."
Ning laughed.
He had noticed earlier that the attacks of the stone titan had all come from the same direction. From this direction, even if Ning had been sent flying, he would've merely smashed against the Immortal palace. But of course, if he was hit too hard, it was still possible that he would've bounced off the Immortal palace and been knocked off the island regardless.
"Do you remember what you promised just now?" Ning said.
"My previous master was a master of formations." The stone titan glanced at the golden-robed figure within the pavilion. "I didn't expect that my new master would be an Elder God with the power of a World God." He opened his mouth, causing a fist-sized globe that was covered with countless divine runes to fly towards Ning, coming to a halt before him.
Ning immediately recognized it. This was the life-core of a golem which contained its formation-diagram. This was the core of the entire golem; upon binding it, he would become capable of controlling it.
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Book 25, Novessence Thunder, Chapter 4 – Twelve Disciples
Ji Ning's Elder God energy flew out, surrounding the life-core and quickly binding it.
After binding it, Ning could sense the intimate connection that now existed between him and the golem. The golem was now completely under his control.
"A World-level golem. This is far rarer than a Dao weapon." Ning was in an excellent mood.
"Master." The stone titan now had a much friendlier look in his eyes as he looked at Ning.
"Right. What's your name?" Ning asked.
"My previous master just called me Rocky," the stone titan said honestly.
Ning blinked. A World-level golem was actually named 'Rocky'?
"Alright, I'll keep calling you Rocky as well." Ning nodded, then turned towards the golden-robed corpse. Ning waved his hand, causing the golden-robed corpse and the stone titan to disappear.
Within Ning's estate world. This was a place filled with endless mountain ranges.
Ning had sent one of his divine power incarnations to accompany the stone titan in travelling through this place.
"When I encounter certain deceased Immortals and Fiendgods in my travels, I'll generally bury them here." Ning pointed at a distant mountain which held a graveyard filled with many tombstone, each tombstone quite large.
"Open up." Ning pointed at a verdant mountain in front of them. Rumble…the mountain began to split apart. Moments later, the golden-robed corpse flew into the mountain crevice. The mountain then reformed, a new tombstone appearing at its very peak.
"What was your previous master's name?" Ning asked.
"Chaos Immortal Origination," the stone titan rumbled.
Ning nodded. A total of seven words immediately appeared on the surface of the tombstone: "The burial site of Chaos Immortal Origination." The stone titan stared at the lush mountain for a moment, then rumbled softly, "Let us leave, Master."
The pavilion on the mountain in the outside world.
"Immortal Origination didn't have any Dao armor?" Ning began to bind Immortal Origination's treasures and carefully sift through them.
"Immortal Origination placed all of his time and energy into his golems. He never engaged in close combat against foes," the stone titan said. "His most important treasures were the 'Ninehearts Heavenloop Formation' and a domain-type artifact known as the 'Rainbow Cloud World'. Both can be considered top-grade Dao weapons."
After finishing his inspections, Ning was quite excited by what he had just found. He now possessed an enormous number of chaos jewels! Immortal Origination had stored up roughly fifty cubes worth of chaos jewels.
"The Ninehearts Heavenloop Formation was his most powerful formation. Once he used it, no enemy would dare to move close to him. Once they entered the sphere of the formation, it would be almost impossible for them to break free from it. It was completely up to him whether or not he wished to keep fighting or to flee," the stone titan said. "However, the formation is an incredibly complicated one. Only someone with incredible talent in the art of formations is capable of using it."
Ning waved his hand, causing the nine loops to appear before him. Every single loop was filled with countless divine runes that were much more complicated than even the formation-diagram located in the stone titan's core.
The stone titan had been personally created by Immortal Origination. This Ninehearts Heavenloop Formation, however, was a Dao weapon that had been fashioned by a Samsara Daolord. It was naturally much more profound.
"It is too complicated. I can't use it." Ning shook his head then waved his hand again, causing a pearl to appear within it. This pearl was brimming with a strange mist that swirled around it. Ning smiled. "This is better for me. Domain-type Dao weapons are quite rare."
Although Immortal Origination didn't have many treasures, the ones he did have were all exquisite.
The Ninehearts Heavenloop Formation was a set of nine loops that were worth more than a hundred cubes of chaos nectar.
The stone titan Rocky was also worth more than a hundred cubes.
The Rainbow Cloud World was a domain-type treasure that was incredibly rare and worth more than fifty cubes.
And then there was the enormous amount of chaos jewels!
"Immortal Origination really had a lot of chaos jewels." Ning let out a sigh.
"He focused on the art of formations and the art of constructs. He naturally had to prepare many chaos jewels to keep them powered," the stone titan said.
"Help protect me for a time. I need to spend a bit of time in cultivation," Ning said.
"Yes, Master." The stone titan nodded.
Whoosh.
The Heavengazer Tower of Radiance appeared next to him. Ning stepped into the tower.
Within the tower.
Ning sat down in the lotus position. He waved his hand, causing thousands of chaos jewels to appear, all of them brimming with power.
"I can't let all these chaos jewels go to waste. My protective divine ability isn't really cutting it any longer. If I just slowly train it on its own, even if I use the Heavengazer Tower it'll take me tens of thousands of years to master it," Ning mused to himself. "Since I've gained such a great fortune, I might was well be a bit extravagant and break through my current bottleneck."
Ning had already mastered the upper portion of the [Golden Idol] when he was in the Three Realms, resulting in a divine body that was comparable to a top-grade Protocosmic treasure.
Ning had been working on the middle portion of the [Golden Idol] ever since he had become an Elder God.
This divine ability was actually a very simple one. All it needed was energy. Divine power, Immortal energy, chaos energy, spirit-pills…it accepted all types of energy. Ning had started with complete mastery over the [Eight-Nine Arcane Art] and so was able to use its energy to easily master the upper portion. The middle portion, however, was much more complicated…but it allowed for the cultivator to make his body comparable to a top-grade Chaos treasure. The amount of energy it required was correspondingly great as well!
If Ning continued to simply train slowly, he would need roughly a million years before he was able to master this technique. Even when using the Heavengazer Tower to save time, he would still need tens of thousands of years. Ning had indeed been preparing to spend that time slowly cultivating, because if he wanted to rely on the energy of chaos jewels or chaos nectar he would need to spend dozens of cubes worth of energy. This price was far too high! Even most World Gods would rather spend twenty or thirty thousand years cultivating rather than pay such an enormous price.
Chaos jewels and chaos nectar were used like currency in the Endless Territories.
Chaos nectar's advantage lay in its quality! It was incredibly marvelous and could be used in many ways. Many divine abilities, secret arts, pill-making techniques, and protective spells needed it.
Chaos jewels' advantage lay in energy quantity! They were jewels that were naturally formed through a crystallization of chaos energy, which meant that every single chaos jewel held an enormous amount of chaos energy within it. Powerful formations and powerful golems all required chaos jewels to be used as their energy sources. Chaos jewels had many uses as well.
"I need to break through this bottleneck as quickly as I can. If I do so, I'll stand a better chance of surviving any future dangers. Although big brother Solesky said that I should be able to handle the dangers here, nothing is absolute. Best to be safe."
Ning waved his hand, causing a chaos jewel to fly into his palm.
Ning then sat there in the lotus position, drawing out an enormous amount of chaos energy into his body from the chaos jewel. His divine body began to transform, and Ning's skin began to emanate a faint golden light…
Two days later.
After having used up nineteen chaos jewels, Ning opened his eyes.
"Mm. My body has broken through to the Chaos treasure level. I'll pause here for now. When I go to the outside world and have some more free time, I'll finish the process." Ning had spent hundreds of years slowly drawing in energy, resulting in him reaching a bottleneck. Within the Heavengazer Tower, he was able to cause time to flow fifty times faster than in the outside world, resulting in his body eventually breaking through to the Chaos level. Although this used up quite a bit of energy, Ning wasn't worried about the cost in chaos jewels.
Whoosh.
Ning appeared within the pavilion once more.
"Master." The stone titan looked at Ning.
"Rocky, there should have been two other World-level experts on this island, right?" Ning asked.
"Yes." The stone titan pointed at the other distant islands. "There are twelve islands surrounding Daolord Windsource's residence. These islands housed his twelve disciples as well as some servants."
"Twelve disciples?" Ning was startled. "What of this island?"
"The three World-level experts who resided on this island were World God Cavecry, Chaos Immortal Bloodpool, and Chaos Immortal Origination. World God Cavecry was the Daolord's disciple while Immortal Origination and Immortal Bloodpool were responsible for serving World God Cavecry," the stone titan said. "World God Cavecry was far more powerful than Immortal Origination and Immortal Bloodpool."
Ning's curiosity had been aroused. "World God Cavecry was Daolord Windsource's disciple. Was he ordered to accompany his master into death as well?"
"The disciples who were summoned here were all the ones he didn't really like. The Daolord was a strange man with a strange personality. If he didn't acknowledge and respect you, you would die with him," the stone titan said. "However, Daolord Windsource still bestowed a painting upon World God Cavecry. I still remember what the Daolord said to him when giving him the painting. 'If you can comprehend and master this painting, you'll be be given your freedom and allowed to leave.' Alas, World God Cavecry didn't manage to master it before his death."
"Oh." Ning nodded.
"Actually, Daolord Windsource gave all twelve of these disciples a chance to live. The problem was that he gave them extremely harsh tests that were far too difficult for them. I don't think any of the twelve managed to live," the stone titan said.
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Book 25, Novessence Thunder, Chapter 5 – The Underground Hallway
The stone titan said hurriedly, "These twelve disciples were not favored by the Daolord and weren't acknowledged by him. However, although the Daolord had a rather strange temperament, he would still work hard to cultivate and rear powerful subordinates. Thus, the stronger ones were all expelled and driven away once the Daolord returned to his home. The ones who were required to follow him to this place were the ones who didn't have much potential.
"Didn't have much potential?" Ning immediately asked, "Did World God Cavecry have an Eternal weapon?"
"He did not." The stone titan shook his head.
Ning felt a bit of disappointment. When he had heard that the lord of this island was World God Cavecry, who had two Chaos Immortals serving him, he had thought that Cavecry had to be a truly incredible figure. Who would've thought that he didn't have so much as a single Eternal weapon?
"Eternal weapons are extremely valuable. Not even Daolords can just toss them around casually, and the Daolord preferred for his disciples to adventure for their treasures rather than just wait for him to hand them out," the stone titan said. "Based on what I know, only nine of the Daolord's disciples had Eternal weapons. Most of them acquired them on their own. The Daolord doted dearly on his first disciple and his second disciple, and he only bestowed Eternal weapons upon the two of them."
"None of the twelve disciples who accompanied him in death had Eternal weapons."
"However, quite a few of his hundreds of slaves had Eternal weapons. They had acquired those weapons by chance as they had accompanied the Daolord in his adventures," the stone titan said.
Ning nodded slowly.
"Don't feel disappointed, Master." The stone titan said hurriedly, "As I recall, before World God Cavecry died he would often spend his time staring at that painting. My master said that painting is equal to an Eternal weapon in value."
"Painting?" Ning suddenly remembered that Daolord Windsource had bestowed a painting upon World God Cavecry, promising to release him if Cavecry was able to comprehend it.
Alas…World God Cavecry was unable to do so.
"Are you familiar with the palace?" Ning pointed at the Immortal estate before them.
"Of course. Follow me, Master," the stone titan said.
The stone titan shrank down to a size of three meters, then walked down the mountain alongside Ning and entered the palace.
"Master, you must be careful. World God Cavecry was a cruel, narrow-minded, vicious man who was exceedingly selfish," the stone titan warned. "Even though he knew he was going to die, he still didn't wish for others to be able to acquire his treasures. His extreme selfishness was the true reason why Daolord Windsource disliked him. Early on, he improved incredibly fast as a cultivator, and so the Daolord held high hopes for him. However, later on he stopped improving. Given how selfish he was…the Daolord ended up choosing him to be one of the twelve to accompany him in death."
Ning nodded as he gripped Violetjewel carefully in his hand.
"He spent most of his time within the underground study, focusing on the painting," the stone titan said. "Daolord Windsource's death came suddenly. As a result, World God Cavecry died in that underground study, and his corpse remains there."
When Daolord Windsource died, his twelve disciples and many servants all died as well.
The servants and disciples all knew that his death was impending, but none of them knew exactly when it would occur. There was of course no way that Daolord Windsource himself could send them a mental message warning them that he was about to die.
Rumble…
The stone titan led the way, pushing aside a stone wall in a practiced manner and revealing a stairway leading downwards.
The stone titan walked in front while Ning walked behind him. The two advanced down the stairway.
It was fortunate for Ning that the stone titan was very familiar with the Immortal estate. Otherwise, given how he couldn't even scan the place with coresense or heartforce, it would've been extremely difficult for Ning to locate the door behind that wall.
"Careful, Master. We are now very close to that private study. There might be danger," the stone titan said as they advanced through the dark hallway.
"Right." Ning remained on high alert.
The underground hallway was extremely dark, with just the divine runes etched into the sides of the corridor providing a dim amount of flickering light.
The stone titan and Ning continued their advance.
"Come here, Master!" When they reached a turn, the stone titan suddenly sent a mental message to Ning. At a time like this, the stone titan was quite cautious as well.
Ning silently moved to stand next to the stone titan and peered down the hallway.
A figure in blood-colored robes was seated on the ground, slumped against the walls.
"That was Immortal Bloodpool." The stone titan sent mentally to Ning, "Immortal Bloodpool was probably walking through this hallway when his truesoul was suddenly extinguished, which is why he is half-sitting, half-slumping."
"Right." Ning felt a bit of eagerness.
Immortal Origination had quite a few treasures on him. What did Immortal Bloodpool have?
"Let me take a look first, Master." The stone giant stepped forwards. As a golem, his task was to charge forward and absorb the blows as the vanguard. His body was comparable to a Dao weapon in strength; he would be able to withstand even a blow from most Samsara Daolords! His ability to stay alive was far greater than that of almost any World-level expert.
Only when the stone titan was unable to discover any danger around Immortal Bloodpool's corpse did Ning step forward as well.
Immortal Bloodpool was quite handsome, but his robes and his hair were all blood-colored, giving him a rather evil aura.
Whoosh. Ning waved his hand, causing Immortal Bloodpool's body to be drawn into his estate.
After inspecting the man's possessions, Ning found a few pleasant surprises. Although Immortal Bloodpool had slightly fewer treasures than Immortal Origination did, the difference wasn't that great…and one treasure was particularly useful to Ning.
"A suit of Dao armor." Ning waved his hand, causing a glittery suit of silverscale armor to appear in his hands. This was most likely a high-grade Dao armor of tremendous worth. The Fogstone Dominion only gave the generals of the Fogstone Army suits of top-grade Chaos armor, while the Blacklotus Emperor didn't even give the Mindlord or his other generals such precious equipment.
Armor was incredibly rare and expensive! Even a 'mere' high-grade Dao armor was worth more than a hundred cubes of chaos nectar.
"Bloodcloud Seat, Five Elements Bloodflame Needles." Ning nodded.
Immortal Bloodpool had a total of three sets of Dao treasures.
The armor was worth over a hundred cubes of chaos nectar. However, there was no way Ning would be willing to sell it. He focused on close combat and was in dire need of such a strong suit of armor.
The Bloodcloud Seat was an extremely bloodthirsty type of Dao weapon that was worth more than fifty cubes of chaos nectar.
The Five Elements Bloodflame Needles were a set of five needles that were also worth more than fifty cubes of chaos nectar.
Whoosh. Ning quickly bound the suit of armor to himself and put it on.
He now had a suit of Dao armor protecting his body, and his body was itself comparable to a Chaos treasure. Ning could now withstand even a full-force blow from an elite World God. But of course, although Ning could 'withstand' such a blow, he would still be easily captured and then killed in other ways. Naturally, Ning wouldn't be so foolish as to actually get into a real fight against an elite World God.
"It seems as though after we leave this place, I'll have to find an opportunity to sell off these treasures," Ning mused to himself. Ning had no use to the treasures which Immortal Origination and Immortal Bloodpool had loved the most.
"Keep going forwards, Rocky," Ning instructed.
"Yes, Master." The stone titan advanced fearlessly. A short while later, he came to a halt. He then stretched out with his massive hands and pushed at a section of the wall. That section of the wall looked plain and ordinary, but when he pushed at the section it immediately swung open.
"World God Cavecry is inside there," the stone titan sent mentally.
"Right." Ning immediately walked to the entranceway and stared into the study.
The private study was quite large. It was completely silent here.
A black-robed figure was seated in the lotus position, an enormous banner placed behind him.
The ripples of divine power emanating from the black-robed man's corpse were indeed that of a deceased World God. He was facing a wall which was covered by a painting, and the painting was the most eye-catching thing in the entire study.
The entire scroll emanated a towering aura of sword energy!
The sword energy filled the entire study. In fact, it was so powerful that it went through the entire Immortal palace and soared high into the heavens. Ning and Daolord Solesky had both been immediately able to discover the sword energy soaring out of this particular island.
"So the sword-ki came from this painting." Ning stared at the painting. Because the banner behind World God Cavecry partially blocked his vision, he was only able to see that it appeared to be a painting of mountains and rivers.
"Should I enter, Master?" The stone titan knew that he shouldn't act rashly at a time like this.
"Yes, but be careful," Ning instructed.
The stone titan carefully crept into the study, walking towards the seated black-robed corpse. When he was roughly thirty meters away from the black-robed corpse, circles of divine runes suddenly began to manifest around corpse. The divine runes glowed with dazzling, beautiful light, forming an enormous hemisphere of light that surrounded and protected the corpse. Even the faintly glowing runes located on the walls of the corridor began to grow dramatically brighter!
BOOM!
A terrifying power suddenly burst forth. Ning was only able to use his sword to block from one direction, while the omnidirectional burst of power struck at his body from every other direction…
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Book 25, Novessence Thunder, Chapter 6 – A Clean Sweep
A terrifying shockwave blasted out towards Ji Ning from every direction. Although the brunt of it was blocked by his armor, some of the power still made it through to assault Ning's body.
"Whoah."
Ning's legs were slightly flexed as he stood there in a stable position. He took a deep breath, then glanced at his surroundings. The divine runes that had been flickering on the walls had turned dim. A few aftershocks of power continued to swirl through the corridor, but they were incapable of posing any danger to Ning.
"So World God Cavecry actually prepared a nasty trick like this. What a nasty fellow. If a Chaos Immortal encountered this trap, he probably would've died," Ning murmured softly. The power of that formation was as strong as a frontal blow from a World God. Still, given Ning's power, even if he was still just wearing his previous set of top-grade Chaos armor he still wouldn't have been in any trouble.
Anyone with a strong divine body would've been able to withstand this blow. Only physically weak Ki Refiners would've been slain by it, most likely.
"Rocky." Ning stepped into the room.
The stone titan had been blasted into the room and against one of the walls. He had now regained his footing as well and he said in a rumbling voice, "I'm fine, Master. World God Cavecry really was a nasty piece of work. He probably set this formation up in secret. Even I didn't know about it."
"Right." Ning turned to glance at the private study. The private study was roughly three hundred meters in size, and the black-robed figure remained seated in the lotus position in the center of it. That enormous banner remained placed directly behind him.
Flutter. Flutter. Streams of black energy swirled around the enormous banner as Fiendgod-like figures began to fly out from it. The creatures that flew out of the banner had human-shaped upper bodies but lower bodies of mist and smoke. They wore suits of black scale armor, had blood-red eyes, and sharp claws. All of them stared intently at Ning and the stone titan.
"Sinfiends." The stone titan hurriedly sent mentally to Ning, "Master, this is a powerful sin treasure which World God Cavecry personally forged. It is known as the Eversnow Banner and it holds a total of nine sinfiends, each of which is slightly weaker than me."
Ning's face changed upon hearing this. A powerful sin treasure?
He could instantly tell that these three 'sinfiends' were creatures akin to the 'ghost generals' that existed within the Three Realms. The difference was that these sinfiends could grow powerful by devouring sin. When given certain valuable treasures that existed in the primordial chaos, they could undergo a fundamental transformation and become living creatures. These nine sinfiends were all World-level creatures.
"World God Cavecry died long ago," the stone titan growled. "The nine of you still intend to bar me and my master?"
"Your master? You acknowledged a puny Elder God as your master?"
"Master created us. He shall always be our master."
"Any who barge into Master's cultivation grounds shall die."
"Die!"
The nine sinfiends bellowed and transformed into blurs that charged towards Ning from every direction.
They were intelligent creatures. They knew that Ning was the master of the stone titan. So long as they could kill Ning, everything would come to an end.
"Foolish sinfiends." The stone titan let out a roar, charging forward to meet them. He transformed into a streak of light, moving far faster than the sinfiends. His hands became enormous in size as he smashed down towards the sinfiends with them.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
His enormous palm smashed down upon them again and again.
The stone titan possessed an overwhelming advantage in strength. As a stone titan golem, his speed and strength was far superior to the vast majority of World Gods! However, those World Gods all had high levels of insight into the Dao and were very skilled, which was why it would be very hard for the stone titan to slay them.
These sinfiends, however, also didn't have any insights into the Dao. They solely relied on their innate gifts and brute strength.
Bang! A sinfiend let out an ear-piercing screech as it was smashed aside.
The private room wasn't that large. The stone titan was able to stop six of the sinfiends all by himself. However, the other three managed to move past the stone titan and charge straight towards Ning.
"There's no way we can kill the stone golem. Kill the Elder God instead."
"Eat him."
"Eat him alive."
As the three sinfiends flew towards Ning, they emitted strange, ear-piercing cries that caused inaudible ripples of sound that struck out towards Ning's soul.
"Eh?" Ning's soul was protected by the heartforce soul-lock technique and reinforced by the azureflower mist energy. It was able to completely negate this soul attack.
"CHOP!"
Ning struck out with the sword in his hand.
Sword-light flashed in a dazzling manner.
Slash!
The Killsword stance, an attack that held nothing back. Ning had just unleashed a tiny amount of the power of Violetjewel's quintessence core. Given that Ning himself had the strength of a World God, how could these puny sinfiends possibly withstand Ning's Eternal weapon?
Violetjewel managed to chop through a sinfiend's body with some difficulty, splitting it in two. Alas, the sinfiend completely transformed into mist before once more reforming in front of Ning. And yet, a look of terror and disbelief was now in its eyes.
"How can this be?"
"How could an Elder God have injured me?"
"How could a mere Elder God be this strong?" All the sinfiends were stunned.
"Surround him and attack him."
"He's just one person. Surround him, attack him, and kill him!" One sinfiend let out a sharp cry, followed by shrill screeches from the rest of the nine. The stone titan bellowed, "Foolish sinfiends! Shatter!" The stone titan smashed out with its giant palms with abandon. He rarely had the chance to unleash its full strength in such a manner because when fighting against World-level experts, they would make it extremely difficult for him to strike with full force.
The stone titan struck out with wild abandon. The sinfiends all tried to avoid him, instead focusing on attacking Ning.
"Chop!"
"Chop!"
Ning sent out nine sword-chops in succession, each chop splitting a sinfiend apart. Alas, Ning was still kept outside the room by their assaults, unable to enter it. These sinfiends were completely undamaged by his attacks, and they charged forward in an unceasing stream that prevented Ning from advancing.
"They are formless creatures. Chopping them apart is useless." Ning's gaze turned towards the banner that was placed behind the black-robed figure. "If I can bind that banner, the nine sinfiends will no longer pose any danger."
"Rocky," Ning sent mentally.
"Master." The stone titan looked at him.
"Bring that banner to me," Ning instructed. Every single sinfiend was roughly as strong as he was, and they came in an unending stream; it would be extremely difficult for Ning to move past them and reach the banner.
"Alright." The stone titan immediately marched towards the banner.
"Stop it!"
"Stop it!" The nine sinfiends began to panic. They had all been working on avoiding the stone titan, but now they no longer were able to continue to do so. The sinfiends all turned to charge towards the stone titans, resulting in a series of head-on clashes between a pair of giant stone palms and many sharp claws. Each time, the sinfiends were blasted apart…and yet, they would almost instantly recover and continue their attacks.
Every single sinfiend was roughly as strong as Ning himself. Eight of them had to work together in order to stop the stone titan in its tracks.
"Hmph." Ning suddenly charged towards the banner. Although the lone remaining sinfiend sought to block him, he was completely dominated by Ning and his sword-arts. There was no way it could stop Ning at all.
"No…"
There was nothing the nine sinfiends could do. If they tied down the stone golem, they would be unable to tie down Ning. If they tied down Ning, they wouldn't be able to tie down the stone golem.
As for the banner…the nine of them weren't able to touch it. If they did, they would immediately be sucked into it.
Whoosh. Smiling, Ning stretched his hand out and grabbed the banner, immediately pouring his Immortal energy into it.
"Graaaaah!" The nine mighty sinfiends didn't wish to give up, but they all dispersed into mist and were drawn back into the banner.
"It isn't that hard or that expensive to create sin treasures, but they are quite powerful. No wonder so many cultivators end up deciding to walk the path of evil." Ning sighed to himself. If one wished to create a golem, one had to have incredibly profound insights into the art of formations and large amounts of precious resources. Only then could a powerful golem to be created. By comparison, golems were far more costly and difficult to make.
Sinfiends? Sinfiends were easy, and the treasures meant to house them were cheap to make. After absorbing enough sin, they would naturally become very powerful, much like how sin-weapons could grow in strength as well.
As for the Sinfiends themselves? If they were fed enough sin, they would grow more powerful as well. The only thing you needed to do was slaughter many people and collect enough sin.
Whoosh.
After putting away the banner, Ning turned his gaze to the black-robed corpse and the distant painting of sword-ki that was hanging on the walls.
"Come here." Ning waved his hand, collecting both the corpse and the painting.
"Rocky, let's look around and see if we can find any other treasures," Ning instructed.
"Yes, Master."
These two began to search every nook and cranny of the entire estate for treasures. They even dug three feet deep into the floor of every room. Only after completely sweeping through it did they leave.
Atop a mountain on the island.
Ning sat down in a relaxed manner, then laughed softly. "I've swept this island clean of all treasures. I really made a killing this time. If it hadn't been for big brother Solesky, I don't know how long it would've taken for me to acquire such a hoard of treasures." Ning then turned his attention to the treasures which World God Cavecry had left behind.
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Book 25, Novessence Thunder, Chapter 7 – A Sudden Change
After searching through the items, Ji Ning felt both delighted and slightly disappointment.
The surprise and delight came from the fact that World God Cavecry truly was quite wealthy. As a personal disciple of Daolord Windsource, he had treasures that were worth over a thousand cubes of chaos nectar, not including the sword-ki painting! What caused Ning to feel slightly disappointed was the fact that aside from the Eversnow Banner, none of the treasures of World God Cavecry were of use to himself at all.
For example, World God Cavecry's most valuable treasure-set was a set of six top-grade Dao scimitars. They were worth more than five hundred cubes…but alas, Ning used swords, not scimitars.
As for his armor, it was a set of high-grade Dao armor. This was the same type of armor that Immortal Bloodpool had used. Since Ning already had one, this second set was temporarily of no use to him.
"I suppose I'll sell it all once I leave."
Ning cast the treasures to the back of his mind, then waved his hand to summon the painting.
This was the most valuable treasure of the entire island. It was definitely worth as much as an Eternal weapon.
"What secrets are hidden within this painting?" Ning unfurled the painting and gave it a close look. He had already bound the painting and so the sword energy of the painting had been restrained. It now looked completely ordinary.
"It doesn't have any divine runes on it."
"There don't appear to be any ways to activate it."
"It…it is just a painting…" Ning stared at the sword-ki painting, puzzled.
The sword-ki painting looked like an ordinary painting of mountains and rivers. It held mountains, waterfalls, and creeks. In fact, from an artistic standpoint the painting actually looked rather mediocre. Ning himself could paint something like this. And yet, whenever Ning extended his senses into this seemingly ordinary painting, he could sense a sword-intent that struck fear into his heart. The exalted sword-intent which filled the painting was just as strong as Violetjewel's quintessence core.
"The person who painted this painting had to be a terrifyingly powerful expert of the Dao of the Sword," Ning mused. "But so what? At least I can link my consciousness up with my sword's quintessence core and get a basic understanding of it. All I can do with this painting is look at it!"
What use was a painting that was merely filled with sword-intent that couldn't be interacted with?
Violetjewel's quintessence core had a similarly profound sword-intent, but Ning could actually make use of it to do battle!
"Wasn't this supposed to be equal to an Eternal weapon in value?"
"Eh, it makes sense. Daolord Windsource told World God Cavecry to comprehend and master this painting, but he wasn't able to succeed in doing so before he died. I'm probably at too low a level of insight into the Dao to understand the true secrets hidden within the painting." Ning could do nothing save console himself with these words. Still, he couldn't help but give the painting a few more glances. He had a strange feeling that this painting was hiding certain secrets within it…but alas, a gauze had been draped over these secrets, making it impossible for him to behold them.
"What the hell is it?"
Ning ended up spending six more hours on the painting before giving up and putting it away for now.
"Master." The nearby stone titan said curiously, "Why have you come to this place? I heard that only Samsara Daolords are capable of passing through the Hundred Streams of the Windsource Formation."
"I accompanied my big brother, of course." Ning smiled.
"Your big brother, Master?" The stone titan was quite curious, and his dark yellow eyes suddenly lit up. "Master, your 'big brother' is a Daolord? Where is he?"
"He went to the central island." Ning pointed to the central island. "We'll just wait for him here. When he returns, he'll take us out of the Windsource Ruins."
If Daolord Solesky didn't return, Ning himself certainly wouldn't be strong enough to lead.
"But that's where Daolord Windsource once lived. It is the most dangerous place in this world," the stone titan said.
Suddenly, a golden ripple of power burst out from the central island. The terrifying ripple instantly swept out in every direction, terrifying Ning and causing his face to turn ashen. Upon seeing the golden omnidirectional wave blast out towards him, he knew that if it touched him he was dead. He wouldn't even have a chance to dodge.
Fortunately, as the golden wave blasted out from the central island it parted past the various smaller islands.
"What the hell?" Ning was badly rattled.
"He must've activated some formation or trap," the stone titan offered.
"I know that! But he didn't activate anything earlier. What happened?" Ning was rather worried out. He had spent six hours meditating on the sword-ki painting and nothing had happened…but now, all of a sudden, a huge shockwave had just blasted out in every direction. This caused Ning to feel extremely uneasy.
Within the central island.
A barefoot, raggedy old man let out a long breath. The buildings around him had been completely reduced to rubble. Only a towering palace located at the very center of this island remained standing.
"Damn this Windsource. If he died, he died. Why the hell did he have to leave so many restrictive formations behind?" Daolord Solesky cursed softly. "What, did you want everyone to know how badass you once were?"
He knew that it wouldn't be easy, but upon actually entering the island he immediately found himself beset with countless dangers, even though there weren't any treasures nearby! This caused Daolord Solesky to feel quite irritated.
"Nobody can stop my dao!"
"Not only are you dead, even when you were alive you wouldn't have been able to stop me!"
Daolord Solesky no longer looked as relaxed as he normally did. A terrifying light was now shining in his eyes.
Whoosh!
Daolord Solesky actually split into two…then into four…then into eight…
In the blink of an eye, he split into more than ten thousand figures. Every single Daolord Solesky peered towards the undamaged main palace, then began to walk towards it from different parts of the island. The countless divine runes surrounding and protecting the main palace all began to flicker and flow.
Boom. Boom. Boom. Boom. Boom. Boom. As the thousands of Daolords advanced, some attacks began to erupt forth and cause his bodies to burst open like bubbles. However, those bodies would then quickly reform. A disturbance was caused within the formation, and quite a few of the bodies seized this opportunity to march inside the formation.
And so, in a seemingly simple fashion, the thousands of Daolords managed to completely bypass the protective barrier of countless divine runes.
"If the actual Hundred Streams of the Windsource formation was activated, I might be in for a bit of trouble. These lesser formations, however, are no match for me at all."
"Like an illusion."
"Like a shadow."
"Space and time."
"Only I remain."
The thousands of bodies all vanished, leaving behind just one figure standing before the main palace.
Daolord Solesky stood there, staring at the silver-haired figure seated in the lotus position within the main palace. The silver-haired man had a handsome face, was dressed in white robes, had a smile on his face, and emanated an aura of light. He said with a smile, "I don't know which fellow Daoist has arrived. Given how hard you worked to defeat the thirteen formations surrounding my island, I imagine you must've come for my Talisman of Eternity. The Talisman of Eternity is right here. Before my Daomerge, I nearly perished in order to acquire this Talisman of Eternity. So long as you are willing to kowtow to me three times, fellow Daoist, you may take this talisman with you. But if you wish to take it by force…hmph."
"You want me to kowtow?" Daolord Solesky's eyes bulged out.
"You are already dead, and yet you still wish to toy with me? I'll never kowtow to you, even if it means that I'll fail my Daomerge as well!" Daolord Solesky was truly enraged now.
He could tell that this was an illusory image when Daolord Windsource had left behind prior to dying.
"The Hundred Streams of the Windsource Formation is an enormous formation. There's no way its full power can be instantly unleashed. Let's see what other tricks you have up your sleeve besides this formation!" Daolord Solesky smiled coldly. "I wasn't afraid of you when you were alive. Now that you are dead, I'm even less afraid of you!"
As he spoke, Daolord Solesky reached out with his hand.
Whoosh.
An enormous illusion of a giant palm suddenly appeared, and it made a snatching motion towards the clothes and treasures located at the very center of the palace. Daolord Windsource had failed his Daomerge, eventually perishing as a result. Since he had died due to failing his Daomerge, at the moment of his death his entire body crumbled apart. Even his truesoul vanished, leaving nothing behind aside from his clothes and his treasures.
Whoosh. The giant palm grabbed the clothes and magic treasures. Although there were Eternal items in the pile, Daolord Solesky didn't care about them. The only thing that mattered was the Talisman of Eternity.
"I nearly died to acquire this Talisman of Eternity. Fellow Daoist, you want to simply seize it from me? Hahaha…"
Suddenly, a cold laugh began to ring out throughout the main palace.
Countless divine runes suddenly began to manifest from every inch of the palace, causing it to radiate with dazzling light. The entire main palace almost instantly blew apart, the terrifying shockwave sweeping through the entire area. Daolord Solesky's face immediately changed. He didn't even have a chance to curse; all he could do was immediately flee for his life.
Rumble…
The entire central island began to crumble as the savage wave of might spread out in every direction.
Ning and the stone titan were waiting patiently on their island for Daolord Solesky to return. They suddenly saw the entire central island begin to break apart as an incomprehensibly powerful shockwave suddenly lashed out in every direction.
"Careful, Master!" The stone titan's body instantly expanded dramatically as he transformed into a giant globe that completely surrounded Ning.
BOOM!!!!!!
The island which Ning was on began to violently tremble…and then, with a boom, it completely broke apart as well. The shattered bits of the island began to sink into the surrounding waters of the lake, and the palace itself was knocked thousands of kilometers away in the blink of an eye and sent into the distant, howling gray wind.
The stone titan was protecting Ning in the form of a giant boulder that had surrounded him. It was also sent flying and was swept into the howling gray wind, quickly disappearing within it.
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Book 25, Novessence Thunder, Chapter 8 – Emperor Mirrorsnow
A short while later.
A stone titan was deep inside a giant pit, holding onto the edges of a giant crevice. The gray wind had dragged it inside here.
"Master, the wind is much weaker here," the stone titan sent mentally.
"Yes." Ji Ning let out a sigh of relief.
That had been far too dangerous.
Fortunately, he had taken on the stone golem as his servant. Otherwise, he probably would've lost his life just now!
"I wonder how my big brother is doing," Ning mused to himself. "That blast of power was simply incredible. Even though the stone titan covered me and absorbed more than 90% of the force, I still suffered serious internal injuries and used up a great deal of divine power. Without it, I definitely would have died."
Daolord Windsource's protective spell was meant to kill other Samsara Daolords who were as powerful as he had been. It was ridiculously powerful! Just the collateral shockwave alone was enough to wipe out weaker Samsara Daolords!
Ning truly had been incredibly lucky!
The twelve islands themselves possessed strong defensive properties. The shockwave had first expended much of its power tearing apart the islands, then landed against the stone titan which had protected Ning, who was wearing a set of high grade Dao armor. All of these factors combined were why Ning managed to survive!
"Master, what should we do next?" The stone titan sent.
"Wait." Ning sent mentally, "Let's just wait here for my big brother to come."
"We should be inside the Hundred Streams of the Windsource Formation," the stone titan sent mentally. "I heard that there are many windbeasts located inside this formation, each of which has the power of a World-level expert. Once a large number of them surround us, we will be in grave danger."
"I know." Ning nodded. He had fought against the windbeasts before. "Don't worry. If we just wait here quietly, it'll be difficult for them to discover us."
"Right," the stone titan replied.
Time passed by slowly, one minute at a time.
Ning and the golem continued to wait within the deep abyss. "I have the talisman of welcome with me. Big brother can sense exactly where I am located. Why hasn't he come to me yet?"
"Can it be that he…?"
A thought came to Ning's mind. Had Daolord Solesky died?
Ning didn't wish to believe it. Daolord Solesky had been incredibly powerful!
However, he couldn't help but logically follow this train of thought. That last blast of power had been incredibly strong. Even the weaker shockwaves generated by it had been so strong as to wipe out all the islands. One could imagine how powerful the blast had been within the central island itself! It was entirely possible that Daolord Solesky had died in the face of such great power.
"Impossible."
"He won't die that easily." Ning didn't wish to believe it, and so he continued to wait quietly.
One hour.
Two hours.
Ning grew more and more nervous, but he continued to wait silently.
"Big brother…"
Ning truly didn't wish to believe it.
Thump!
Suddenly, a rumbling sound could be heard from deep below them.
"Careful, Rocky." Ning looked downwards. "It might be a windbeast."
"A windbeast?" The stone titan was startled.
Ning felt a headache coming. He wasn't afraid of one windbeast, but if an entire group of them attacked…
"It really is a windbeast!" Ning growled. Below them, at the very bottom of the deep abyss, he could vaguely make out the silvery-blue forms of three windbeasts. Ning instantly went on full alert…but then, he was confused. These three windbeasts were actually rolling forward.
"They…roll?" Ning was speechless.
Whoosh.
A familiar figure suddenly appeared next to two of the rolling windbeasts, foot upraised to deliver a kick. A look of utter terror could be seen on the windbeasts' faces.
"Ahaha, brother Ji Ning! I finally found you. I searched forever." The figure was initially quite blurry, but it quickly appeared before Ning. It was the ragged, barefoot Daolord Solesky.
"Big brother!" Ning was delighted.
"I'm glad you are safe." Daolord Solesky let out a sigh of relief. "The Hundred Streams of the Windsource Formation is filled with twists and turns. It really is a pain in the ass. I could sense you weren't too far away, but I just couldn't find the right path to you. I ended up moving farther and farther away from you! I had to spend a bit of time understanding this formation before I could find the correct tunnel."
"All the twisting tunnels really pissed me off. I really wanted to wreck the entire damn thing, but in the end I managed to keep my temper down." Daolord Solesky's face was rather ashen. He waved his hand towards the nearby wall.
Whoosh.
A giant illusory hand tore the wall open, carving out a small cave.
"I suffered a bit of an injury. I need to take a rest. We'll leave later," Daolord Solesky said.
"Of course. I'm in no rush," Ning said. Ning understood that Daolord Solesky had probably rushed off to search for him without even taking the time to heal.
"This Daolord Windsource guy really is a dumbass. Even in death, he wanted to screw other people over." Daolord Solesky entered the cave, then sat down in a rather frustrated, embarrassed manner. "Thank goodness this old man is pretty strong. Otherwise, this old man would've died just now."
"Hurry up and heal," Ning urged.
"Right." Daolord Solesky nodded and closed his eyes.
Rumble. Rumble. Rumble. A series of illusory circles began to radiate out from Daolord Solesky, causing spacetime to twist and distort. The flow of time in the surrounding area began to speed up rapidly, making time in the area move roughly a hundred times faster than in the outside world. Streams of condensed chaos energy began to swirl around Daolord Solesky, transforming him into a black hole that devoured chaos energy.
"He's absorbing energy from the primordial chaos even faster than I absorb energy from chaos jewels." Ning was secretly speechless.
Nearly an entire year went by before the process came to a halt.
The streams of chaos energy vanished and spacetime in the cave went back to normal. Daolord Solesky opened his eyes. Nearly a year had gone by within the cave, while merely three days had gone by in the outside world.
"I'm fine now." Daolord Solesky rose to his feet, a smug look on his face. "That Windsource idiot had to have spent a lot of time and effort setting up that nasty formation. A pity for him that this old man completely recovered after spending just three days."
"Congratulations, big brother," Ning said.
"Ahaha! Yes, I should indeed be congratulated. This journey of mine into the Windsource Ruins was a success." Daolord Solesky looked at Ning. "How about you? Did you get that painting?"
"Yes, I acquired the sword-ki painting." Ning nodded. "However, I can't see anything special about it at all, aside from its aura of sword-ki."
"Ahaha! You don't get it. Hand it over to me, I'll help you take a look at it," Daolord Solesky said.
Ning waved his hand, causing the painting to appear.
Daolord Solesky accepted the painting, opening it and taking a look at it. He nodded slightly as he pointed at the mountains and rivers. "Artistically speaking, this painting really is hideous. Emperor Mirrorsnow clearly is terrible at painting, yet he still takes delight in it. If he spent just a bit of effort on the actual Dao of Painting, he would've immediately reached an incredibly high level of skill in painting and calligraphy. And yet, he refuses to actually train in it, instead insisting on treating it as his hobby."
"Ning said, "That's how hobbies work, I suppose. If he treated it as part of his cultivation, he would've no longer enjoyed it."
"I suppose." Daolord Solesky nodded. "Your words make sense. Anyhow, although this painting is quite unsightly, it definitely is as valuable as an Eternal weapon. Emperor Mirrorsnow succeeded in his Daomerge, after all. He became an ancient, eternal figure.
"A successful Daomerge means becoming eternal?" Ning was surprised.
"Yes. Eternal." Daolord Solesky mused softly, a distant look in his eyes, "Truly eternal in every possible spacetime continuum. No matter how much time passes, they shall remain eternal and everlasting. This old man is just one step away from that level…but alas, this step is the hardest step of all."
"Enough of that." Daolord Solesky looked at Ning. "In short…I once had the opportunity to meet Emperor Mirrorsnow. However, roughly a thousand chaos cycles ago, Emperor Mirrorsnow departed and ventured off into unknown realms. The endless primordial chaos is simply too vast. As someone who had become a truly eternal figure, Emperor Mirrorsnow naturally would want to continue his journeys and see more things."
"He was a fickle, restless man. He didn't have the patience necessary to teach any disciples. However, before he left, he produced a total of forty sword-ki paintings," Daolord Solesky said.
"Forty?" Ning was surprised. That many?
"Right." Daolord Solesky nodded. "A total of ten sets of four paintings."
"If you can collect an entire set and pass the trials he established within the paintings, you'll be able to receive his legacy and become his personal disciple," Daolord Solesky said. "Every single set can only be successfully used once, and so theoretically speaking he can take on a total of ten disciples at most."
"But of course, Emperor Mirrorsnow scattered those forty paintings across many territories." Daolord Solesky laughed. "To collect an entire set of four will be quite hard. This painting that you have is the third painting in the set."
Ning immediately said, "But I didn't discover any trials yet?"
"Haha…every single Mirrorsnow Painting actually holds an estate-world within it," Daolord Solesky said. "Once you go inside it, you'll be given a trial. If you master the relevant sword-art, you'll have succeeded in passing the trial."
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Book 25, Novessence Thunder, Chapter 9 – The Badlands Court
"An estate-world?" Ning was rather startled. He had already bound the painting to himself, but he had yet to discover any estate-world hidden inside of it.
Daolord Solesky began to laugh when he saw the look Ning's face. "That's why I said you don't get it. Emperor Mirrorsnow left behind those ten sets of paintings with the intention of finding good disciples for himself. However, as an Emperor who had succeeded in his Daomerge and gained eternity, he naturally hoped for his disciples to be figures of great power. They had to at least be capable of becoming Samsara Daolords! How could he possibly be willing to take on an Elder God or Ancestral Immortal as his disciple? They are far too weak, and some have been alive for countless chaos cycles and will never become World-level experts. If someone this weak became his disciple, he would've wasted a legacy spot!"
"Thus, only World-level experts can sense the true mysteries hidden within the Mirrorsnow Paintings. Only they are worthy of being tested by it," Daolord Solesky said.
"You have to be at least a World-level expert?" Ning nodded slowly.
"No, you have to BE a World-level expert!" Daolord Solesky explained, "If you were a Samsara Daolord, you still wouldn't be able to enter. Samsara Daolords are too strong; they would be able to easily pass his trial. However, Samsara Daolords have already found their own paths and discovered their own Daos. His legacy would be completely useless to them!"
"It has to be World-level experts. Only World-level experts can use these paintings! Only World-level experts are worthy of becoming his disciples," Daolord Solesky said. "Emperor Mirrorsnow's Dao was the Dao of the Sword! You are quite a good fit, which is why I agreed to let you go to that island."
"Oh…" Ning nodded.
No wonder.
No wonder Daolord Windsource had his disciple, World God Cavecry, spend his time meditating on the Mirrorsnow Painting. It could be said that he was actually treating his disciple quite decently by giving him this opportunity. Alas, this was a trial that had been set down by an Eternal Emperor who had succeeded in his Daomerge. One had to acquire and master all four paintings in order to become his disciple, while World God Cavecry hadn't been able to pass the trial of even a single painting. If he had succeeded, Daolord Windsource would've viewed him in a different light and allowed him to live.
"I only have a single painting, and there's only ten sets in total. Emperor Mirrorsnow scattered them throughout the territories…" Ning said worriedly, "Big brother, how am I supposed to get a full set?"
"Ten sets, forty paintings." Daolord Solesky smiled merrily. "There are ten of each painting, so it's not impossible for you to collect an entire set."
Ning listened carefully.
"I really shouldn't get involved. I should let you temper yourself and adventure for the paintings, but…my rashness damn near got you killed just now." Daolord Solesky said, "So I suppose it would only be fair for me to give you something nice in compensation. It doesn't make much of a difference anyhow."
"Catch." Daolord Solesky pulled out a jade slip and tossed it to Ning.
Ning accepted the slip.
"Memorize this," Daolord Solesky said.
"Alright." Ning immediately sent his Immortal energy into the jade slip as he began to read it.
A stream of information began to enter his mind.
"I swear on my very life itself…"
Ning immediately discovered a lifeblood oath within the jade slip. One had to swear a lifeblood oath in order to gain access to its contents. Ning read through the lifeblood oath. Simply put, it was an oath to never reveal the contents of the jade slip under any circumstances. If he discovered similar information from other sources, he could only reveal the part he had learned from other sources to others.
This oath wasn't too stringent. Ning swore the lifeblood oath, then accepted the large amount of information that surged towards his mind.
"Emperor Mirrorsnow has a total of ten sets of paintings. We've discovered six ownerless sets of the first painting. The first is located in the third-level world of the 'Lost Tower City' of the Voidblue Territory…"
"We've discovered five ownerless sets of the second painting. The first is located in the Snowfall Territory…"
"We've discovered seven ownerless sets of the third painting. The first is located…"
"We've discovered three ownerless sets of the fourth painting…"
Ning stared speechlessly.
There were only forty paintings total, but there were records of twenty-one paintings here! They were scattered throughout the various territories, with the Badlands Territory holding merely two paintings.
One was the third painting, located in the core regions of the Windsource Ruins. Daolord Windsource had acquired it long ago. The core region was an incredibly dangerous place where Daolord Windsource had died. It was filled with many treasures but countless dangers. World-level experts who attempted to enter it would almost invariably perish.
The second was the first painting. It was located in the Allgod Estate. Daolord Allgod had acquired it long ago. Although it was merely in the inner region of the state, which wasn't that dangerous, the Allgod Estate was a place which was easily entered but almost impossible to leave!
This jade slip even contained detailed information regarding the various dangers one would encounter within the Windsource Ruins and the Allgod Estate.
"Big…" Ning was truly shocked. Why did his big brother have such a detailed intelligence report regarding such an important treasure that was scattered across so many territories? In Ning's eyes, this sort of valuable information was equal to an Eternal weapon in value! Without this intelligence, he wouldn't have even known where to begin searching.
"Remember," Daolord Solesky said solemnly. "You are not allowed to discuss it with any others."
"Understood," Ning immediately said.
"In the future, when you are strong enough, you can go and search based on the intelligence I just gave you," Daolord Solesky said. 'However, these places are all rather dangerous. The ones in easy-to-get locations have been picked up long ago."
"As for the Allgod Estate…if you choose to challenge it, you must be careful," Daolord Solesky said. "When Daolord Allgod was alive, he was an extremely dangerous Daolord. Even I wouldn't have been a match for him."
Ning was startled. Daolord Allgod was this incredible?
The Allgod Estate…
Ning had heard of this place before. It was another one of the ancient ruins located within the Badlands Territory, and it was said to be even more dangerous than the Windsource Ruins. Roughly 30% of the Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals who entered that place would make it out alive.
"He was terrifyingly strong, far more so than Daolord Windsource. Even amongst Daolords, the Allgod Estate is not a place where many would dare tread!" Daolord Solesky let out a sigh. "Let's go. I already have the talisman I need. Accompany me to the Badlands Court. We're going to meet Daolord Badlands."
"Big brother, we're going to go meet Daolord Badlands?" Ning was puzzled.
"As I said, I came to the Badlands Territory because there are two places I have to visit," Daolord Solesky said. "The first place was the Windsource Ruins. As for the second place…I'll need Daolord Badlands to help me out with it."
Ning nodded slowly.
Daolord Badlands…he was indisputably the number one cultivator of the entire Badlands Territory. His power was unfathomable.
Daolord Solesky led Ning out of the Windsource Ruins. They travelled to Sevenwater Star, then spent a hundred bottles of chaos nectar to travel to the Badlands Everworld.
Whoosh.
A wind was blowing.
Daolord Solesky led Ning forward atop a cloud through the air.
"Flying…" Ning still hadn't recovered from his shock. "Big brother, you are able to fly in the Badlands Everworld?"
"This everworld does indeed have certain restrictions placed upon it." Daolord Solesky smiled. "Its laws were created by the ancient power which created this everworld…but since a person was able to create these laws, then another person would be capable of resisting these laws! This old man is just one step away from the Daomerge. If that ancient power came in person, he'd be able to suppress me, but he's been gone for countless years. These empty laws cannot bind me."
Ning nodded.
"This old man can fly, but weaker Daolords wouldn't be able to." Daolord Solesky had quite a smug look on his face. "Ah, there we are." He pointed towards the front.
Ahead of them was an enormous lake that was at least a million kilometers in size. Ordinary mortals would describe it as a sea, but to cultivators it truly was nothing more than an inland lake. A large estate could be seen hovering above the lake, filled with countless buildings. In front of the great estate was an enormous stone stele.
The stele was three thousand meters high, and there was a single word engraved upon it – Badlands!
A vigorous, heroic aura spread out from that stele, shaking the world around it.
"The Badlands Court," Ning murmured softly.
The legendary Badlands Court! In truth, a smaller 'Badlands Court' existed within Waveshift City as well. However, this place was the true center and foundation of the organization. This was where Daolord Badlands lived.
"Badlands!" Daolord Solesky led Ning downwards, sending their cloud soaring across the lake. His voice echoed throughout the region. "This old man has come here to eat your food and drink your wine!"
Quite a few figures in the Badlands Court raised their heads to look up. When they saw the ragged, barefoot old man flying through the skies with a white-robed youth in tow, all of them were quite speechless.
"He's flying?"
"You can fly in an everworld?"
These were proud, arrogant figures. They were World Gods and Chaos Immortals who could all but do as they pleased in the Badlands Territory…and yet, all of their hearts trembled. They knew very well what it meant for someone to be able to fly in this everworld. They all quickly put on very friendly looks as they gazed at the figures in the skies.
"Ahaha! How wonderful that you've arrived, big brother Solesky! It wouldn't matter even if you ate me out of house and home!" A booming laugh rang out as an azure-robed man and a beautiful lady walked out of a house together. They walked into the air, striding towards Daolord Solesky.
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Book 25, Novessence Thunder, Chapter 10 – An Avatar
When the cultivators of the Badlands Court saw these two emerge, they all felt quite proud. See? Daolord Badlands of our Badlands Court is also capable of flying in this everworld!
"Daolord Badlands really lives up to his reputation." Ji Ning stood next to Daolord Solesky, simply watching this all happen. He was secretly quite surprised Solesky himself had said that weaker Daolords wouldn't be able to fly in this everworld. Daolord Solesky truly was a formidable figure who was capable of controlling an entire territory.
"Oh?" Daolord Solesky glanced at the beautiful lady in surprise. "Little sister Yan'er, you reached the Daolord level as well? Congratulations, Badlands! You don't even know how many of our old friends envy you two Dao-companions."
"I just broke through recently." The beautiful lady smiled. "And I'm merely at the first step. I'll be happy if I can one day have even a fraction of your power, big brother Solesky."
"Yan'er loves to waste time on random things. I'm amazed she even managed to become a Daolord." The azure-robed man smiled as he looked towards Ning. "This is a member of your Vastheaven Palace?"
"Yes, he's a brother of Vastheaven Palace." Daolord Solesky nodded.
"Ji Ning greets you, Daolords." Ning immediately greeted the two respectfully.
Everyone in the Badlands Territory knew that the Badlands Court was run by Daolord Badlands. Who would've thought that his Dao-companion would also become a Daolord?
Alas…
Dao-companion…
How wonderful it would be if he could journey through the vast universe alongside Yu Wei? Solesky's words were correct; countless cultivators felt envious of Daolord Badlands and his Dao-companion.
"A brother of Vastheaven Palace?" Daolord Badlands gave Ning a second look, as did the beautiful woman next to him. Both felt that this Ji Ning fellow truly was quite lucky. It must be understood that for anyone wandering the primordial chaos, a powerful backer was of paramount importance. Generally speaking, anyone who heard the words 'a brother of Vastheaven Palace' would be terrified and unwilling to launch an attack.
All members of Vastheaven Palace viewed each other as brothers. They were a truly united force!
Thus, only a truly crazed, insane individual would dare to attack a member of Vastheaven Palace. The only reason the three Wujiao Godbeasts had dared to do so was because their greed had truly overwhelmed them…and it was also because they knew that World God Northrest didn't have any clones! If he had left a clone at Vastheaven Palace, the three Wujiao Godbeasts would have never dared to attack him under any situation.
To be a brother of Vastheaven Palace meant far more than merely being a disciple of the Badlands Court.
The disciples of the Badlands Court could do whatever they pleased in the Badlands Territory! Not even God Emperor Blacklotus or the Starlord of Fogstone would have dared to do anything to one of them. However, in the other territories of the Endless Territories, the Badlands Court was a much less imposing presence.
In addition, the disciples of the Badlands Court were clearly delineated in status based on their strength. The life of an Elder God or Ancestral Immortal was naturally valued much less than that of a World-level experts!
However, Vastheaven Palace treated all of its members equally. The life of every single member was incredibly precious, and actually joining Vastheaven Palace was extremely difficult. Once one succeeded in joining it, one would instantly be protected by its mighty aura and reputation.
In addition, the Badlands Court was overall weaker than Vastheaven Palace. Daolord Solesky of Vastheaven Palace was a Daolord who was on the verge of the Daomerge, while Daolord Battlemaster was quite close to him in strength. Now that it had given birth to a third Daolord, it had only become still more powerful.
However, the only formidable figure the Badlands Court possessed was Daolord Badlands himself.
"Eating and drinking isn't the main reason I came this time. There's something I need to trouble you with, Badlands." Daolord Solesky turned slightly more serious as he spoke.
"Oh? Come, come. Let's sit and talk it over," Daolord Badlands said hurriedly.
Whoosh. Whoosh.
Daolord Solesky led Ning while Daolord Badlands led his wife. The four flew into a secluded residence within the Badlands Court. The entire Badlands Court was merely a hundred thousand kilometers or so in size, but it was filled with quite a few mountains where the disciples of the Badlands Court had set up homes. Daolord Badlands had chosen a location which was the most quiet, secluded location within the entire region.
"Sit."
Inside this thatched cottage, there was a long wooden table. Daolord Badlands and his wife sat down on one end of the table, while Daolord Solesky led Ning to sit down on the other end.
Daolord Badlands personally poured two cups of fragrant wine.
"Big brother Solesky, what do you need my aid with? So long as I can help you, I will definitely do my best," Daolord Badlands said.
"Battlemaster is now in control of Vastheaven Palace, while brother Overflow has also broken through to become a Samsara Daolord. I no longer have anything to worry about, and so I can now focus on my Daomerge." Daolord Solesky said slowly, "But…I'm still not completely confident in being able to succeed in it. The main reason I came to the Badlands Territory is because of the Waveshift world!"
Ning was listening to this discussion carefully.
The Waveshift world?
This was the most dangerous and mysterious place of the entire Badlands Territory! The Badlands Territory had quite a few dangerous regions within it. Some were naturally formed from the primordial chaos itself while others were ruins left behind by deceased Samsara Daolords.
The Waveshift world, however, was the personal estate of the ancient power who had established the Badlands Everworld itself. It was filled with both incredible dangers as well as countless treasures.
Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals who entered it were absolutely guaranteed to die.
The majority of World-level experts who entered it would perish as well.
"You acquired the talisman?" Daolord Badlands asked.
"I paid a visit to the Windsource Ruins and acquired a talisman, yes." Daolord Solesky smiled.
"Oh?" Daolord Badlands was surprised. "I entered that place as well, but when I performed a bit of Numerancy, I predicted that I could very well perish if I tried to force my way through it. I ended up leaving."
"Ahahaha! You live up to your reputation, Badlands! In terms of Numerancy, you rank amongst the top three Daolords! Even my brother Battlemaster is a bit inferior to you." Daolord Solesky sighed. "Your prediction was quite accurate. Daolord Windsource died, but he still wanted to ensure that others wouldn't profit from his death. That final, cataclysmic attack he unleashed…thankfully, this old man is extremely skilled in staying alive. Other experts on my level who specialize in other areas may have very well died."
"Mm." Daolord Badlands nodded. "My own Numerancy told me as well that I would probably die if I tried to force it."
Daolord Solesky was extremely famous. The reason why Vastheaven Palace was such a powerful organization was primarily due to Daolord Solesky's personal might, and he was famous for being incredibly hard to kill! If you weren't able to kill him, he would eventually come seek revenge upon you. Thus, most of the other ancient powers were unwilling to make an enemy out of him. This was also why Daolord Solesky was confident enough to force his way through the Windsource Ruins.
"Now that you have the Talisman of Eternity…big brother Solesky, you can go to the Waveshift world." Daolord Badlands nodded.
"I'm not familiar with that place. No one is more familiar with that place than you, Badlands. That's why I'm hoping you can help me out," Daolord Solesky said. "Send one of your avatars and accompany me in my journey through the Waveshift world. Of course, I'm not asking you to do all this for free."
As he spoke, Daolord Solesky took out an estate-treasure and handed it over.
Daolord Badlands accepted the treasure, pondered for a moment, then nodded. "Fine. I'll send my avatar to accompany you to the Waveshift world, big brother Solesky! But I'll need a bit of time. Give me three years to prepare."
"I'm in no rush." Daolord Solesky relaxed slightly after seeing Daolord Badlands agree. Avatars were incredibly important to Daolords, and the chances that Daolord Badlands' avatar would survive the trip to the Waveshift world were quite low. That was why Daolord Solesky not only had to pay a high price, he also had to see if Daolord Badlands was willing to give him face.
Fortunately, the two were good friends.
There was no way he could've forced Daolord Badlands to do this. First of all, Daolord Badlands was extremely powerful, on par with Daolord Solesky himself. Secondly, if Badlands didn't whole-heartedly wish to help him and instead wanted to scheme against him, it wouldn't be too hard for Badlands to cause trouble with skewed Numerancy.
"The Water Curtain Home is located quite close to my place, and nobody is staying inside it. Big brother Solesky, why don't you stay there for now along with my young friend Ji Ning?" Daolord Badlands said.
"Very well! Badlands, no need to send us off. We'll go by ourselves." Daolord Solesky immediately led Ning to depart from this place.
Daolord Badlands and the beautiful woman remained seated in the lotus position.
"Milord husband." The beautiful woman was rather worried. "The Waveshift world is filled with many dangers…and as you know, the place which Daolord Solesky is travelling to can be considered part of the core region."
"I know." Daolord Badlands nodded. "Although it isn't easy to create an avatar, if I spend three years in a spatial treasure I should be able to recreate a slightly weaker avatar. My true body will remain here as well, slowly empowering it and strengthening it. Big brother Solesky gave me enough treasure to create two avatars, with a little to spare."
"Alright." The beautiful woman nodded, but she remained somewhat unhappy.
A powerful avatar was incredibly important, both to Daolord Badlands himself as well as the entire Badlands Court.
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Book 25, Novessence Thunder, Chapter 11 – The Daolord's Arrangements
The Water Curtain Home of the Badlands Court took up an area of roughly a hundred kilometers. It was a secluded, graceful place which the Badlands Court used to receive its most distinguished visitors.
The Water Curtain Home.
This was a dwelling with a garden, a palace, a study, and other buildings that were all hovering atop a great lake of water. They were connected to each other by a series of levitating wooden bridges, and a barefoot, ragged old man was currently walking alongside a white-robed youth across one of those bridges.
"Whew." Daolord Solesky let out a sigh of relief, an emotional look on his face. "I knew Badlands would help me out. When he actually said it, though, I couldn't help but feel rather guilty. I really hate owing favors to my old friends."
"It's just an avatar, big brother. You aren't asking him to go in person. Even if he loses it, he should be able to remake it quite quickly, right?" Ji Ning was rather puzzled by this.
Daolord Solesky turned to look at Ning. "A short period of time? Do you know how a Daolord creates his avatar?"
Ning was startled. He slowly shook his head.
"When a World-level expert finds his own Dao and is about to break through to become a Samsara Daolord, he must first ensure that both his body and his soul have reached the utter apex of fullness," Daolord Solesky said.
"The utter apex of fullness?" Ning murmured to himself.
"In other words, all of his clones must be merged into one," Daolord Solesky said. "It doesn't matter what type of cloning technique you might've learned in the past; you must merge all of your bodies into one. Of course, there are some special cases, such as the 'Primaltwins' which can be created by mortal cultivators. Because both the Primaltwin and the true body have undergone the Celestial Tribulation, there's no way for them to merge together."
Ning nodded.
He himself had a Primaltwin that was a Ki Refiner. His true body was a dual refiner, training as both a Fiendgod Body Refiner and a Ki Refiner. His true body had eighteen clones, all of which could join together because they were completely identical. However, there were significant differences between Ning's Primaltwin and his true body. There was no way to merge them whatsoever.
"Thus, cultivators who started off as mortals essentially have two lives," Daolord Solesky said with a laugh. "However, although more than half of high-level cultivators started off as ordinary mortals, quite a few of them don't have Primaltwins! Some of them died, after all, over their many years of cultivation. I would say that more than 90% of Samsara Daolords only have their true body and do not have a Primaltwin."
Ning nodded slowly.
"Look at me. I'm a Samsara Daolord, and I'm currently very far away from Vastheaven Palace. Why is it that I'm still in touch with them? It is precisely because I have my 'avatar' there." Daolord Solesky looked at Ning.
"Avatars are created from magic treasures!" Daolord Solesky explained, "They are much like golems. We forge golem-bodies for ourselves, then send a strand of our soul into them and take control of them! Simply put, we essentially need to fully and perfectly merge our soul with a golem-body, then pour energy into it to upgrade it. The cost of every single avatar is greater than the cost of buying ten Eternal weapons."
Ning was secretly speechless.
"The treasures which I gave Badlands are enough for him to make two absolutely top-tier avatars, with a bit left to spare." Daolord Solesky let out a sigh. "But raw materials isn't the only thing needed to ensure that an avatar body can reach maximum power. The Daolord himself will need to spend an extremely long period of time building it up."
"In addition, each Daolord can generally only work on a single avatar at once. Each avatar only had a small amount of his soul, after all; once he stops focusing on it, it will slowly degrade in power. Generally speaking, most Daolords only have a single avatar," Daolord Solesky explained. "I only have a single avatar myself. Because avatars are essentially bodies formed from magic treasures, my avatar is able to seamlessly and perfectly integrate into the great formation protecting Vastheaven Palace. When fused into the formation, the power of my avatar is comparable to my own power! This ensures that it is more than capable of keeping Vastheaven Palace safe."
"In addition, when an avatar serves as the core of a defensive formation, it will ensure that the power of the formation itself will become tremendous."
"An avatar is a core force for any organization's defenses." Daolord Solesky looked at Ning. "Daolord Badlands' avatar is also capable of perfectly integrating into the formation protecting the Badlands Court. For me to ask him to send his avatar with me into the Waveshift world means that the Badlands Court's defenses will be significantly weakened."
Ning started to understand.
"The reason why he needs three years is because he needs the time to create a second, weaker avatar. In addition, this also means that his true body will have to stay at the Badlands Court and be unable to leave it!" Daolord Solesky continued, "Once his powerful avatar dies in the Waveshift world, he'll immediately turn all of his efforts and attention to strengthening the second avatar."
"He's already prepared for his avatar's death?" Ning was startled.
"Right." Daolord Solesky nodded. "His avatar stands a 90% chance of death if it joins me on a trip to the Waveshift world. A perfect avatar that he spend countless years on is going to die, just like that. This isn't just something that can be waved away by giving him some treasures. I owe Badlands now! If I fail in my Daomerge, then before I die I'll do everything I can to pay him back. But right now, I must do everything I can for my Daomerge. Nothing else matters."
Ning nodded slowly.
He had thought that an 'avatar' was something akin to the dharma-bodies which Lord Tathagata had in the Three Realms, a body that was created through divine abilities or secret arts. Now, it seemed, they were more like golems! They were completely different concepts.
Ning and Daolord Solesky sat down within a wooden house that was located inside the garden that was hovering above the water.
"Everything is going as I predicted. I now have the Talisman of Eternity, and Badlands will be sending his avatar to accompany me to the Waveshift world." Daolord Solesky looked at Ning. "The only thing I didn't predict was that you would be here. I won't be able to take you to Vastheaven Palace right away. If everything goes completely and perfectly according to plan on my trip to the Waveshift world, I should be able to return in four or five years."
"But if I end up trapped somewhere inside the Waveshift world, things will get tricky. I might be stuck there for hundreds of million years, or perhaps even as much as a hundred chaos cycles." Daolord Solesky looked at Ning. "If I'm trapped there for an extended period of time, you'll have to head off to Vastheaven Palace on your own."
"Don't worry about me, big brother." Ning was quite confident in his abilities.
"It won't be hard for you to break through to become a World God. Once you make your breakthrough, it'll be much safer for you to travel off to Vastheaven Palace on your own." Daolord Solesky waved his hand, causing a shimmering golden scroll to appear in the air before him. "This star map has a detailed route that leads from the Badlands Territory to the Vastheaven Territory. Memorize it right away."
Ning was delighted. He immediately sent a strand of his coresense into the scroll, quickly memorizing its contents. After finishing, Ning was badly shocked by what he discovered.
What an incredible distance.
The Badlands Territory was located extremely far away from the Vastheaven Territory. The route which Daolord Solesky gave him was the simplest route possible, but it still required him to travel through a hundred and twenty-one different territories! Details regarding quite a few danger zones were also recorded on the star map. It must be understood that even the Starlord of Fogstone had only visited a few of the neighboring territories. If one wandered about randomly without a good star map, one could easily end up into a dangerous part of a foreign, unfamiliar territory.
"The star map I gave you only includes roughly three hundred or so territories worth of information." Daolord Solesky looked at Ning, then said solemnly, "There are also quite a few other foreign territories that I didn't note down because I'm worried that you might go astray. The Endless Territories are filled with countless dangers. A World-level expert can't just go running around randomly. You have to follow the line I mapped out. It'll lower the danger level significantly…but despite that, you are not to head out until you become a World-level expert."
"Understood." Ning nodded.
There was no such thing as true safety in the primordial chaos. It was filled with countless mysteries.
The existing maps and travel lines had been all verified and authenticated by countless generations of cultivators who had risked their very lives. These were all safe routes! If you ran around randomly without paying attention to those routes, you could easily end up trapped in a dangerous death trap.
The distance between the Badlands Territory and the Vastheaven Territory was simply too great. The route which Daolord Solesky had provided included some definitely safe locations as well as relatively safe locations. Only when Ning was strong enough would he be able to reach his destination.
"I'll bestow a few techniques upon you as well." Daolord Solesky waved his hand, causing a series of bamboo slips to appear on the table before Ning. "In truth, after you formally join Vastheaven Palace you'll be given access to a large amount of techniques and secret arts. Still…the formal rites will only occur after you actually reach Vastheaven Palace. Only then will you become a true member of Vastheaven Palace."
"You have the talisman of welcome, and so it's not a big deal if I bestow a few techniques upon you early."
"Master these techniques and do your best to become a World-level expert as soon as possible. If I'm not able to return, you'll have to rely on your own power to go to Vastheaven Palace," Daolord Solesky said.
"Yes, big brother." Ning felt tremendously grateful. Daolord Solesky had already taken many factors into account in trying to help Ning out. It wasn't realistic to expect him to abandon his own plans and instead shepherd Ning through more than a hundred territories, some of which weren't even directly linked by transfer arrays. There were actually a number of dangerous regions on the way as well.
Ning spent the next three years living in the Badlands Court. He permitted his retainers, Flamefairy Su Youji and Elder God Wilddog, to come out from his estate-world and also take up residence in the Water Curtain Home for now.
During these three years, Daolord Solesky would occasionally provide Ning with a bit of guidance. He even gave some advice to the Flamefairy. As for Elder God Wilddog, his comprehension abilities were too weak. Daolord Solesky couldn't be bothered to teach him.
Three years passed in the blink of an eye.
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Book 25, Novessence Thunder, Chapter 12 – The Nature of the Sword
On this day, Ji Ning was seated within the levitating wooden study, working on his calligraphy. Every single character was filled with his surging sword-intent.
Next to him was the Flamefairy, Su Youji. She was obediently helping him grind his ink and watching as Ning wrote. Usually, the Flamefairy was a woman with a temper that was just as fiery as her name. The reason why she was being so obedient as to help him grind his ink wasn't just because she was his retainer; it was also because she wanted to spend as much time next to him as possible. That way, when Daolord Solesky came to offer Ning his advice, he might give her some off-hand advice as well.
"That Daolord is simply incredible." Whenever the Flamefairy thought of Daolord Solesky, she was filled with admiration and amazement. "He gave me a few pointers during the past three years, allowing me to get a clear picture of what I need to do to advance to the World level. Once I break through this bottleneck, I'll become a World-level expert!"
Su Youji had benefited tremendously through her association with Ning.
Daolord Solesky was a Samsara Daolord who had reached the very verge of the Daomerge. There was no one else like him in the entire Badlands Territory; even Daolord Badlands was slightly weaker than him! For her to have the chance to get advice from someone like him was truly a tremendous blessing for her! When she had to learn on her own and struggle through many wrong paths, she had still become comparable to a supreme Elder God even though she was just a Ki Refiner. These days, she was improving at an astonishing pace and was just a breath away from becoming a World-level expert herself.
Ning had made significant improvements as well. Daolord Solesky had even personally sparred with him a few times while using the sword. As a result, Ning's understanding regarding the nature of the sword was undergoing a series of fundamental changes.
If one was at a completely different level of power, one would have a different perspective on the Dao. Although World God Blackmist was a formidable figure, there was a limit to how much he understood. Although Daolord Solesky didn't really focus on the Dao of the Sword, there were certain commonalities which every single Dao shared.
"What is the sword?"
"Haha, I once heard Emperor Mirrorsnow discuss what the sword is. I felt that his words made a great deal of sense." Daolord Solesky had once said these words to Ning. "The sword is a weapon which living beings created in order to kill others! The sword has a tip, two edges, and two flat sides. It was designed to kill. In order for you to discover and understand the Dao of the Sword, you need to start with its creation and its design."
"How should the tip of the sword be used to kill?"
"How should you use a single edge of the sword to kill?"
"How should you use both edges together to kill?"
"How should you use the flat of the blade to kill?"
"When all these things are mixed together…how should you use them to kill?"
"When you meditate on the Dao, you meditate on the true essence and true nature of a thing. You should focus on simplicity, rather than complexity! If your Dao gets more and more complex, eventually you will lose yourself within it! Your Dao can appear to be complex to others, but to you it must be as clear and bright as a mirror." Daolord Solesky had looked at Ning. "Remember this. This is very important."
"Also – all techniques spring from the same source! If you reach a bottleneck that you cannot overcome in the Dao of the Sword, you can switch to other tasks such as calligraphy. I saw that your calligraphy isn't bad, and you can infuse it with your Dao of the Sword. This is something that is quite different from using it to fight. However, these two things will share many commonalities, and both have their strengths with regards to helping you understand the Dao. Based on what I know, the majority of Samsara Daolords who focus on the Dao of the Sword also enjoy painting and calligraphy. I imagine there has to be a good reason for this."
"I can also see that you have high affinity towards water, lightning, and space. Don't discard or abandon these insights. Focus on them as well. There are commonalities between every single Dao. For example, although I've never focused on the Dao of the Sword, if I spent four or five days on it my mastery over the Dao of the Sword would become comparable to that of some weaker Samsara Daolords who do focus on the sword."
Ning had felt as though a brand new gateway had just appeared before him, one which had brought him a completely new way of looking at the Dao of the Sword.
Ning had never intended to give up on water, lightning, space, or any of his other Daos. He did understand that all Daos shared certain commonalities.
As for calligraphy, he had always felt that that writing calligraphy was very pleasing and relaxing. However, only after listening to Daolord Solesky's words did he truly understand how helpful it could be.
A new world had truly opened up before him.
"Right. Long, long ago, one of the first creatures of the primordial chaos created the very first 'sword'. Ever since then, countless living beings have used his 'sword'. Their techniques constantly improved until it all reached the level of a Dao unto itself that only became more and more powerful. Only then did the Dao of the Sword, a Dao feared by countless cultivators, come into existence."
"The tip of the sword…the edge…the double edge…the flat…"
Ever since that day, the way in which Ning viewed the sword completely changed.
In the past, he had always felt that the Dao of the Sword was truly unfathomably profound, and he had dedicated himself to piously and slowly understanding all of its mysteries.
Now, Ning had a different view of the sword. Although the Dao of the Sword was indeed profound, its fundamental essence remained quite simple; it lay in the sword itself. If you could truly understand the structure of a sword, you would be able to quickly grasp the essence of the Dao of the Sword itself.
Ning now viewed the [Brightmoon] sword-art and the [Nameless] sword-art in completely different ways. He immediately began to retrofit them, making the 'Blood Drop' stance purer, the 'Soleheart' stance more ephemeral, the 'Yin-Yang' stance more chaotic, the 'Heavenbreaker' stance more dominating, and the 'Shadowless' stance slightly less unpredictable but even faster than before.
In fact, he split the Heavenbreaker stance into two different stances. The first used the edge of the sword to attack and was known as the 'Heavenbreaker Hacker'; the other used the flat of the blade to attack and was known as the 'Heavenbreaker – Eliminator'.
The power of the [Brightmoon] sword-art had suddenly increased more than twofold, just because he now had a completely different way of viewing the sword. In the distant future, Ning would understand how tremendously beneficial this new way of thinking would be for him and also feel even more gratitude towards Daolord Solesky for advising him.
"Mm." Daolord Solesky was currently seated off in the distant, leisurely sipping some wine and watching as Ji Ning worked on his calligraphy within that levitating wooden study. Daolord Solesky couldn't help but nod slowly.
"This Ji Ning really does have some talent."
The Dao was not to be transmitted casually!
It wasn't just that his guidance was incredibly valuable or precious. His avatar in Vastheaven Palace was capable of giving good guidance to every single member of Vastheaven Palace…and yet, every single cultivator had their own firm beliefs. If your guidance was very different from what they believed or what their own insights were, they would reject your guidance on an intrinsic level. Or worse; because they trusted in the Daolord and felt certain that his words had to be right, they might end up questioning their own Dao and losing their own way. That would be even worse!
Thus, each person's Dao truly was different.
It wasn't easy for a master to find a good disciple! When Ning had created his [Brightmoon] sword-art, he had already drawn the rough sketches of his own personal understanding of the Dao. When Ning had been in the Three Realms, he had proudly and foolishly believed that he could infuse the entirety of the Dao of the Sword into his five stances. What he didn't realize was that all five stances were just variations on the true essence of the sword.
He had already reached out to the true essence of the sword. He just didn't understand that he had done so.
Daolord Solesky's guidance helped him to see past his own preconceptions, allowing him to see the truth. Since this was the path he had already chosen, the guidance he was given was enormous beneficial and helped him to understand his path more clearly than before.
"Ji Ning." Daolord Solesky rose to his feet.
"Big brother." Ning put down his brush and hurriedly walked out of the study. Elder God Wilddog was on duty, awaiting his commands.
"I am going to go to the Waveshift world now," Daolord Solesky said. "After I leave, it'll all be up to you."
"Don't worry about me, big brother. When you go to the Waveshift world, you need to be careful and stay safe." Ning was worried as well. During the past three years, Ning had gotten a better sense of how dangerous the Waveshift world was. It was unfathomably more dangerous than the Windsource Ruins had been, and even Daolord Solesky would be in danger of dying in there.
"Ahaha! This old man plans to succeed in the Daomerge. How could I possibly let myself die in the Waveshift world?" Daolord Solesky laughed loudly, then strode away into the skies. An azure-robed figure was already waiting for him high in the air. This was Daolord Badlands' avatar.
"Sorry for the trouble, brother Badlands," Daolord Solesky said.
"Haha, I've never gone into the core regions of the Waveshift world either. Now that you are here, I can do a bit more exploring than I've done in the past." Daolord Badlands' avatar smiled.
"Let's go."
"Let's."
The two transformed into streaks of light, disappearing into the horizon.
Ning just watched them from afar. After having spent three years with Daolord Solesky, he knew that the man truly did view him as he would a brother.
"Come back alive, big brother." Ning murmured these words softly to himself.
Daolord Solesky had said that if everything went perfectly smoothly in the Waveshift world, he would be able to return in four or five years. If he ended up trapped, it could easily be hundreds of millions of years or even a hundred chaos cycles before he managed to escape.
Ning, the Flamefairy, and Elder God Wilddog continued to live within the Badlands Court. They slowly became familiar with the other cultivators who lived here, and Ning would even spend some time dueling with other cultivators of the Dao of the Sword. One of the competitions resulted in quite a bit of hubbub, because every single Elder God and Ancestral Immortal sword-wielder of the Badlands Court ended up being defeated by Ji Ning.
It must be understood that all of them used extremely ordinary swords and very little force; it was merely a contest of Daos.
In the end, even World-level experts got interested and involved. Now that Ning had begun to understand the true essence of the sword, only World-level experts who were truly skilled in the Dao of the Sword were able to suppress him…and they were only able to suppress, not defeat. The cultivators of the Badlands Court couldn't help but sigh to themselves, "Brother Darknorth is most likely going to become a World God through the Dao of the Sword."
Life was relaxed but quite fulfilling. Time passed on, year after year.
Three years. Five years. Ten years. Fifty years. A hundred years.
Ning continued his quiet life here at the Badlands Court, but Daolord Solesky still had yet to return.
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Book 25, Novessence Thunder, Chapter 13 – The Mysterious Treasure Auction
"Ji Ning."
Ji Ning was seated atop a levitating wooden bridge, lazily fishing. A voice suddenly rang out, badly startling him. He hurriedly turned his head, realizing that an azure-robed figure had just appeared next to him.
"Ji Ning greets you, Daolord." Ning hurriedly rose to his feet. It was Daolord Badlands! Ning's heart clenched. After having spent more than a hundred years here at the Badlands Court, he had grown quite used to this place and become very familiar with many of its World Gods, Chaos Immortals, Elder Gods, and Ancestral Immortals. However, he had never met Daolord Badlands a second time.
He knew that Daolord Badlands rarely showed his face in the Badlands Court. Millions of years often passed without a single appearance! However, he was actually one of the more visible Daolords. Some Samsara Daolords would only reveal themselves within their own clans a single time during each chaos cycle.
When there was such an absolute disparity in power, it became hard for people to become friends and hold conversations.
"Brother Solesky asked me to pass you a message." Daolord Badlands looked at Ning. "He probably won't be able to make it out of there any time soon. Your return to Vastheaven Palace will be up to you."
"He won't be able to make it out of there any time soon?" Ning was startled. He asked nervously, "Daolord, my big brother…"
"You don't have to worry." Daolord Badlands smiled. "He isn't in much danger, but both him and my avatar are going to be trapped for a while. It'll probably take at least a million years to make it out of the formation we are currently trapped in, and there will be more dangers to come!"
Ning nodded slowly.
"Catch." Daolord Badlands tossed a black talisman over.
Ning accepted the talisman. This talisman only had two rippling waves carved onto it. One wave looked fast while the other looked slow and calm."
"This is the Badlands insignia," Daolord Badlands said. "I've set down restrictive spells upon it, ensuring that it can only be bound once. Anyone who has the Badlands insignia is equivalent in status to a formal member of the Badlands Court. In the Badlands Territory, it'll be of some use to you."
"Thank you, Daolord." Ning hurriedly expressed his gratitude.
He had naturally heard of the Badlands insignia before.
With this insignia in hand, not even figures like God Emperor Blacklotus would dare to touch him. Although his status as a disciple of Vastheaven Palace was even more incredible, Vastheaven Palace was too far away. Almost nobody in the Badlands Territory even knew what Vastheaven Palace was. In fact, not even many of the disciples of the Badlands Court knew about it.
Similarly, not many of the members of Vastheaven Palace had ever heard of the Badlands Court. The Daolords of each organization generally wouldn't give the other members such detailed maps, for fear that they might end up running too far away and getting lost, never to be able to make it back.
But of course, the powerful Daolords of Vastheaven Palace, the Badlands Court, and other similar organizations all knew each other. Thus, many Samsara Daolords would be unwilling to attack Ning once they realized who Ning was.
Powerful World-level experts generally weren't afraid of other World-level experts. If they weren't able to win, they would be able to flee! They only feared Samsara Daolords…and that's when having a powerful organization as a backer made all the difference.
However, you also had to understand what the relationship was between your enemy and your own organization. God Emperor Blacklotus had foolishly reported that he was the disciple of Daolord Seven Sovereigns, but what he didn't know was that Daolord Seven Sovereigns was mortal enemies with Daolord Solesky…and had been so terrified by Daolord Solesky that he had fled long ago. Blacklotus reporting his affiliation only resulted in him dying even quicker.
Time passed on, day by day.
Ning continued to live within the Badlands Court. He was in no rush to go out adventuring, because he was currently growing stronger at a break-neck pace.
The Seventh Cycle of the [Starseizing Hand] had started to take form long ago. Thanks to Daolord Solesky's guidance, it had truly come into being.
After using up a few dozen cubes worth of chaos jewels and the Heavengazer Tower, Ning had already mastered the middle portion of the [Golden Idol] as well. His body was now comparable to a top-grade Chaos treasure, the same level which World God Northrest had reached all those years ago.
These two accomplishments had been relatively simple ones.
The reason why Ning continued to live peacefully here at the Badlands Court was because he now had a completely different way of viewing the Dao of the Sword. He was improving incredibly fast and had yet to encounter a bottleneck! Generally speaking, cultivators would only go out adventuring when they had reached a bottleneck in their cultivation. Only by seeing and experiencing more things would they be able to more easily break through those bottlenecks.
"Darknorth, senior apprentice-brother Threecold is planning to pay a visit to the Azuresky Territory's Startower region and give it a go. Anyone who wants to go with him can go seek him out. Any interest?"
"The Azuresky Territory? The Startower region?"
"Yes. It's not too far away from our Badlands territory. The legends say that the Startower region was created when an ancient power tossed out a tower-shaped magic treasure and left it there in the primordial chaos. The tower drew in energy from the primordial chaos, creating an entire region of incredible power around itself. I hear that even Samsara Daolords will visit that place in the hopes of finding and acquiring that magic tower. Unfortunately, none of them have been able to master it to date. The treasures and techniques it contains are enough to satisfy World-level experts like us. Want to go? Senior apprentice-brother Threefrost is very powerful. If we go with him, it'll be much safer."
"I don't wish to leave for now. Thank you for asking, brother Sevencolor."
"Oh. Alright."
Immortal Sevencolor exchanged a few more words with Ning, then departed.
Ning couldn't help but sigh to himself.
As the most powerful organization within the entire Badlands Territory, the Badlands Court was quite strict on accepting new disciples. New disciples had to be tremendously talented, and most were World-level experts. The Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals who made it in were all monstrously talented, and so most of the World-level experts of the Badlands Court were able to reach the level of full mastery and become master-class World Gods.
Upon reaching this level, the next breakthrough would result in them becoming Samsara Daolords!
There were many independent World-level experts in the outside world, but only a few of them would ever reach the level of full mastery. However, the vast majority of the disciples of the Badlands Court would become master-class World Gods! Thus, all of them were filled with exuberance and valor. They wished to go out and adventure, in the process discovering their own Daos and becoming Samsara Daolords.
"Almost everyone at Fogstone had given up and had chosen to live a peaceful, comfortable life. Everyone in the Badlands Court, however, is still fighting hard for their dreams."
Ning couldn't help but sigh.
And yet, what he didn't understand was that in truth there were also some members of the Badlands Court who had fought long and hard, yet remained unable to break through and so had given up. They were tired. They had lost their energy, their passion, and so they chose to leave the Badlands Court and find another place where they would live in peace. Those who decided to remain in the Badlands Court were the ones who were filled with energy and motivation.
This was the real reason why so many members of the Badlands Court would often venture out into new places. Each time they did so, they would usually announce it to their peers and try to recruit others to go with them. If four of five of them joined forces, they would stand a much better chance of surviving their adventures! Brothers from the same organization were more unified and generally more trustworthy than outsiders, after all.
"I'm beginning to solve the riddle of the third stance of the [Nameless] sword-art, the Great Firmament stance."
"I'm improving very rapidly. When I reach a bottleneck or when I master this third stance, I'll travel to the Allgod Estate. When I do that, I'll let everyone in the Badlands Court know and invite some of them to accompany me," Ning mused to himself.
The Allgod Estate…
Aside from the Windsource Ruins, the only place in the entire Badlands Territory which had a copy of a Mirrorsnow Painting was the Allgod Estate.
A hundred and sixty-one years after Ning arrived at the Badlands Court.
"Treasure auction."
"They are about to start a treasure auction."
The news quickly spread throughout the entire Badlands Court, causing quite a stir.
"Master! Master!" Flamefairy Su Youji came running into the room.
"What is it?" Ning was in the middle of practicing some calligraphy and meditating on his sword-arts. He put down his quill, looking up towards Su Youji.
"I just received word of something." Su Youji's oval face was pink and lovely. Her eyes were very bright, and she extruded an aura of natural charm. Thus, she was quite a popular figure within the Badlands Court and made many friends. In contrast, Elder God Wilddog was always a cold, unfriendly figure. He didn't make many friends.
"Ninety-nine years from now, the Palace Opulentia will be hosting a Treasure Auction," Su Youji said.
"A treasure auction?" Ning's eyes lit up.
"There will be many treasures to buy, and whoever offers the most money will take the treasures home. Many treasures which normally are never available for sale will be on display." Su Youji was quite excited. "I heard that these auctions are only hosted ten times per chaos cycle. Each time, almost all of the World-level experts of the entire Badlands Territory will gather around it."
"I heard that all sorts of treasure will be offered for sale, including Eternal weapons and some treasures that are even more marvelous than Eternal weapons." Su Youji was incredibly excited. "Master, we have to go take a look."
Ning nodded slowly.
He knew that in every single territory, including the Badlands Territory and the Vastheaven Territory, ten treasure auctions would be held during each chaos cycle! All sorts of valuable treasures would emerge for the many cultivators in that territory to bid on. These weren't treasures that belonged to the Badlands Court or the Vastheaven Palace; rather, they were treasures delivered to this place by another mysterious organization.
The organization would send a Daolord to host each auction. Ten times per chaos cycle, the Daolord would come here to the Badlands Court and host a treasure auction. The Palace Opulentia merely loaned out their own auction grounds for this mysterious organization to use.
Any treasures that were not purchased during the auction would all be taken away at the end.
"This mysterious organization is spread throughout almost every single territory," Ning mused to himself. "Every single territory has these auctions. Mm. I absolutely cannot miss this one. If I do, it'll be countless years before the next one."
"It seems I'll need to hurry up and sell off the treasures I acquired in the Windswept Ruins. I need to prepare some money for the upcoming treasure auction." Ning's eyes were filled with eagerness.
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Book 25, Novessence Thunder, Chapter 14 – The Gathering
This was a blazing hot planet. The surface of this planet was filled with lakes of lava and magma.
Whoooosh. One particular lake of lava could be seen bubbling and hissing as a gigantic head could be seen slowly bobbing up and down at the banks.
Suddenly…
The giant sleeping creature opened his crimson eyes.
"Oh? Treasure auction?"
Whoosh.
This enormous creature that had been lying within the flows of lava suddenly transformed into a streak of light, flying over to the nearby shores and transforming into a handsome, barefoot man. A set of fiery red robes appeared over his body as well.
"The treasure auction for the Badlands Territory will begin ninety-two years from now?" A simian red light could be seen flickering in the man's eyes. "Not too far away. Hmph. I've wandered through quite a few Daolord ruins over the past ten chaos cycles, and I finally managed to find an Eternal weapon for myself! If I sell both it and the other Eternal weapon I acquired all those years ago, I might be able to purchase a 'Pseudo Samsara' pill."
"A Pseudo Samsara pill!"
"I have to get it, no matter the cost!" The handsome man gritted his teeth, then transformed into a streak of fiery light and disappeared into the heavens.
"A treasure auction? It'll be in the Waveshift City of the Badlands Everworld? Eighty-six years from now?" A beautiful woman dressed in elaborated white robes was seated atop a towering throne. She smiled as she spoke in a soft voice.
"Sect Mistress, you've been in secluded meditation this entire time and so I didn't dare to disturb you. If you didn't emerge by the final year, I would've been forced to disrupt your session. Thankfully, that wasn't necessary." A woman dressed in a beautiful violet robed laughed.
"I finally managed to store up three thousand cubes of chaos nectar. Hopefully, this time I'll be able to buy the treasures I need." The white-robed woman mused softly, "I'll be comparable to supreme World Gods if I succeed."
"A treasure auction?"
"Let's go check it out and see if there's anything we can afford that would be of use to us."
"Let's go."
Three World-level experts who had entered seclusion together within a chaosworld had decided to make haste to the Badlands Everworld.
After the Badlands Court released the news of the auction, the word quickly spread throughout the entire Badland Territory. As for the major organizations who were headquartered in Waveshift City, they naturally became the first to find out.
A short while later, this information also spread out to some of the nearby territories.
The reason why it had been announced ninety-nine years in advance was to give everyone enough time to receive word of this auction, then travel to the Badlands Everworld. Some had actually come all the way from neighboring territories.
The ancient city of Waveshift was growing more and more lively by the day.
New, unfamiliar World Gods and Chaos Immortals began to gather here. Some of them belonged to the Badlands Territory. However, the more famous World-level experts in the Badlands Territory were figures who had lost their courage and determination, choosing to live peaceful lives of luxury. Most of the figures who were still dedicated to their Dao and improving themselves spent all of their time adventuring through the primordial chaos, resulting in very few Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals knowing about them.
But of course, some of the unfamiliar cultivators had come here from the neighboring territories.
"Master, when nightfall comes, the treasure auction shall begin." The skinny, grim-looking Elder God Wilddog was following behind Ning.
"What a beautiful sight." The nearby Flamefairy let out an amazed sigh.
"Yes." Ning nodded slowly.
The skies had already begun to darken. This everworld had been created by an ancient power, but it also had cycles of day and night.
The distant Palace Opulentia was a dazzling, eye-catching sight. Streams of light swirled around him, and it was the most dazzling, beautiful building located within the entire Waveshift City. Many World Gods and Chaos Immortals were currently in the process of entering the palace.
"It's usually quite rare for us to encounter a World God or Chaos Immortal, but we are swarming with them today." Ning sighed in amazement.
"Of course we are. More than half of the World-level experts of the entire Badlands Territory have arrived, as well as some from other nearby territories." Su Youji was extremely excited.
"Let's go. We should go inside as well." As Ning spoke, he led Su Youji and Elder God Wilddog into the Palace Opulentia.
The Palace Opulentia was extremely noisy today, and it had a World God and Chaos Immortal standing guard outside of it.
"Please enter, fellow Daoist."
"Please enter, fellow Daoist."
The two disciples of the Badlands Court smiled as they welcomed the guests.
As for the World Gods and Chaos Immortals who had come to take part in the treasure auction, they were all courteous as they responded to the greetings. This was the territory of the Badlands Court, after all, and Daolord Badlands' reputation in this territory and the neighboring territories was quite stunning.
"Anyone below the World level, come this way." A female attendant was leading the way for the weaker cultivators.
"Master, there are so many World-level powers here!" A True Immortal was following behind an Elder God in terror. This Elder God was quite famous in their homeland, but he was currently walking forward nervously for fear of accidentally offending someone. "Just follow me." The Elder God was behaving quite obediently and he followed the female attendant into the side door.
"This treasure auction will be an extraordinary one. All of the treasures up for sale are quite extraordinary, but space is limited. Anyone below the World level has to prove that he has at least ten cubes of chaos nectar before being granted entry. I hope you can understand, fellow Daoist." Beyond the side door were two female attendants, and one of them spoke out courteously to the Elder God.
"Naturally, naturally."
"Wonderful. This way, fellow Daoist."
The Palace Opulentia kept things in perfect order.
World-level experts were allowed to enter the bidding grounds, but Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals had to be tested. Otherwise, the spectators would end up squeezing out all of the actual bidders!
The white-robed Ji Ning led the fiery and dazzling Su Youji as well as the grim, icy-cold Elder God Wilddog towards the palace as well.
"Anyone below the World level, come this way." A female attendant came to greet them.
One of the two disciples of the Badlands Court stationed outside the palace noticed this sight. The Chaos Immortal immediately walked over and barked, "Step back!"
The female attendant was badly shocked. She was nothing more than a hired employee, not a real disciple of the Badlands Court.
"Brother Darknorth, why didn't you come alongside the rest of my fellow disciples?" The Chaos Immortal laughed. This was Immortal Sevencolor, who was one of the disciples of the Badlands Court who was on the most friendly terms with Ning.
"I wanted to check the place out so I came out for a stroll There really are a lot of World-level experts today," Ning said with a smile.
"Yes there are. You normally would never see this many of them in one place. Only the treasure auction can possibly attract so many World-level figures from all the nearby territories. In fact, even Daolords have come." Immortal Sevencolor lowered his voice conspiratorially when he said this.
"Oh?" Ning was surprised. Daolords?
"Darknorth, you can go straight to the third floor. That's the place we've reserved for ourselves. No need to waste your time in the main hall downstairs," Immortal Sevencolor said.
"Alright." Ning nodded. "You can go back now. I know you are very busy today!"
"Haha." Immortal Sevencolor chuckled, then hurriedly returned to the palace entrance. As for Ning, he led Su Youji and Elder God Wilddog into the Palace Opulentia through the main gates. This caused some of the nearby Chaos Immortals and World Gods to stare at him in a somewhat puzzled manner.
"Darknorth."
"This way, brother Darknorth."
There were some disciples of the Badlands Court maintaining order inside the palace as well. When they saw Ning, they immediately came to greet him.
"You can go straight to the third floor, brother Darknorth." Ning was guided straight to the third floor which had many private rooms within it. This was where the disciples of the Badlands Court were going to stay, and Ning was given a room of his own.
Ning, Su Youji, and Elder God Wilddog entered their room. They were able to see through an enormous window to the great hall below them.
The hall below them was filled with many seats that were occupied by World Gods and Chaos Immortals, with the Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals seated to the rear. There were quite a few rooms available on the second floor, but one had to spend ten cubes of chaos nectar in order to claim one. Ten cubes of chaos nectar was enough to purchase a Dao weapon. This was flat out extortion! Thus, 99% of World Gods and Chaos Immortals elected to sit in the great hall below.
A tiny fraction who truly did not wish to reveal themselves chose to sit on the second floor.
The top floor of the hall was quite spacious. A white-robed women was seated in the lotus position, and a stick of incense had been placed next to her. The scent of the incense swirled around her, emanating a sense of utter peacefulness.
"Thousand Shadows." Two figures walked in from outside. It was the azure-robed Daolord Badlands and his beautiful wife.
"Badlands. Little sister Yan'er." The white-robed woman nodded slowly.
"Dracogod came as well," Daolord Badlands said.
"Dracogod?" The seated woman frowned slightly when she heard the name, a slightly disgusted look on her face.
At this moment, a man of noble demeanor dressed in golden robes walked in. He looked very poised and had a few scales on his forehead. This was Daolord Dracogod. When he saw the white-robed woman, he smiled. "Fairy Thousand Shadows! I didn't expect you to be the one in charge of escorting the treasures this time. If I knew, I would've come to help out instead of letting you go to all this trouble."
"I wouldn't dare to ask you to help," the white-robed woman said calmly.
Daolord Dracogod chuckled, but a hint of ice could be seen in his smile.
Daolord Badlands and his wife exchanged a glance. There was nothing they could do. Due to a 'dragonification fruit', a feud had sprung up between Daolord Dracogod and Daolord Thousand Shadows. Most likely, if they were meeting anywhere else, they would already be trying to kill each other.
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Book 25, Novessence Thunder, Chapter 15 – The Treasure Auction Begins
"Fellow Daoists." A loud laugh rang out as an azure-robed man with deer antlers on his head walked in.
"Brother Daoist Azuresky! I didn't expect you to join this treasure auction." Daolord Dracogod was the first to respond in a very warm fashion.
"Old brother Azuresky." Daolord Badlands and his wife greeted him as well.
"Mm." The antlered man smiled and nodded at Daolord Badlands and his wife, then glanced at Daolord Dracogod. Finally, he turned his gaze towards the white-robed woman. He smiled. "Thousand Shadows, I heard that you were the one responsible for escorting the treasures this time. My Azuresky Territory is pretty close to this place, so I came to come visit my old friends."
"It has indeed been quite some time." The white-robed female Daolord nodded slowly, a hint of a smile on her face.
This was the most powerful figure of the surrounding territories, Azuresky. Azuresky was another major power who was at the verge of the Daomerge, but his Azuresky Sect didn't have any powerful Daolords that could help assume the mantle of leadership. Given that he still had plenty of time left, Daolord Azuresky spent most of his time slowly accumulating more power and experience, planning on attempting the Daomerge sometime in the future.
Whoosh. A gust of wind blew past, materializing into a figure.
"Little sister Thousand Shadows." A short old man dressed in short sleeves beamed merrily and called out at her.
"Big brother Waterwind." The white-robed woman had acted in quite an aloof manner thus far, but she now hurriedly rose to her feet and walked over towards that short old man and grabbed his hand. "Big brother Waterwind, it's almost impossible for me to find you. The only reason I accepted this mission to the Badlands Territory was because I thought I might be able to see you. And now, I really have!"
"Ahaha, your big brother just loves to go wandering around the world," Waterwind laughed.
"Long time no see, Waterwind." Daolord Badlands smiled as well.
"Badlands." Waterwind nodded.
The Badlands Territory actually held four Daolords. However, most of them rarely showed their faces, and so most Elder Gods, Ancestral Immortals, and World-level figures only knew of Daolord Badlands. They didn't know any of the others.
The four Daolords of the Badlands Territory were Daolord Badlands, his wife, Daolord Waterwind, and Daolord Cavefloat. Daolord Cavefloat was somewhat weak, while Waterwind was extremely lazy. Waterwind had no interest in setting up his own sect whatsoever, preferring to wander the primordial chaos by himself. In terms of strength, however, he was a formidable figure who was absolutely on par with Daolord Badlands himself.
Of the five Daolords on the top level, the strongest was Daolord Azuresky. Daolord Badlands and Daolord Waterwind were ranked second, while Daolord Thousand Shadows and Daolord Dracogod were even weaker. As for Daolord Badlands' wife, she was the weakest one of them all.
Generally speaking, not many Daolords would be drawn to any given treasure auction; it was normal for four or five to attend at most. This was because these treasure auctions were mainly meant to let World-level experts have a chance to buy some fairly rare items. However, each treasure auction would also hold a few items that would make even Daolords feel envious, which was why they would often come and see if there was anything they fancied.
"Brother Daoist Azuresky." Daolord Dracogod behaved in an extremely friendly manner, repeatedly referring to Azuresky as as 'brother Daoist'. This caused Waterwind to purse his lips in disdain.
If Waterwind was a solitary man who wandered as he pleased, Dracogod was the exact opposite. He curried favor with everyone around him and enjoyed making friends with the most powerful Daolords he could find! Daolord Solesky and Daolord Azuresky both were at the verge of the Daomerge and were extremely frightening figures of tremendous power.
If they failed their Daomerge, it was guaranteed that they would eventually perish. However, if they went berserk before they died, they would prove to be a terrifying foe for anyone to encounter. Who would dare antagonize someone who knew that death was coming no matter what? Not even ancient powers who had succeeded in their Daomerge and gained eternity would be willing to antagonize Daolords who had failed in their Daomerge.
Daolord Dracogod delighted in befriending the top-tier Daolords, doing everything in his power to curry favor with them. And as a result, he really did end up making quite a few friends. Generally speaking, no matter where he went, the other Daolords would give him some face. However, many solitary wanderers like Daolord Waterwind would feel very disdainful towards him.
"The treasure auction is beginning." Daolord Thousand Shadows glanced downwards.
Ji Ning, Su Youji, and Wilddog peered out through their giant window towards the great hall below them. The hall didn't look that large from the outside, but it was actually ten kilometers in size. Tens of thousands of cultivators were seated around the central auctioning platform. Most of the people present were World Gods and Chaos Immortals, with a few Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals present.
Even the Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals who were allowed in had to have at least ten cubes of chaos nectar in wealth. The chairs were all seated a fair distance from each other as there was ten kilometers worth of space here. But of course, all of them had such perfect vision that they could see ants crawling on the ground from ten kilometers away with absolute clarity.
"Master, it has begun." Su Youji hurriedly pointed downwards.
"Right." Ning looked as well.
Three female Chaos Immortals dressed in marvelous floral robes walked out to the central auction platform. Their leader was a woman whose skin looked like it had been carved out of ice, and her eyes were a steely silver color. This silver-eyed woman stood there in the center, the other two standing by her side.
"Welcome, distinguished cultivators and guests from many different territories. I shall be the one in charge of this treasure auction." The silver-eyed woman had a smile on her face. "I imagine all of you are tired of waiting, so I won't waste any time. Let the auction begin! The rules to the auction are quite simple. Every single treasure will have a reserve price, and every bid has to be at least one cube of chaos nectar higher than the previous bid."
"Alright. Let the first item be brought out."
The silver-eyed woman waved her crystalline, frozen arm. Instantly, a dried yellow wooden slip appeared in her hands, then levitated into the air. It rose to a height of roughly thirty meters, so as to allow all of the cultivators a clear line of sight to it.
"This is a piece of Soulguide Wood." The silver-eyed woman smiled. "Soulguide Wood. Once it is lit, it will completely ignite and transform into a certain type of smoke. If you completely inhale all of the smoke, you'll enter a deep slumber for a thousand years. Any cultivators whose hearts have been cast into shadow due to some event will find the shadow to be dramatically weakened and no longer pose a threat to them."
"Soulguide Wood has a reserve price of twelve cubes of chaos nectar. Let the auction begin!"
"Fifteen cubes! The first bidder was an Elder God whose eyes were filled with desire."
"Sixteen cubes." A gray-robed Chaos Immortal called out calmly from a different part of the hall. The Elder God immediately gritted his teeth helplessly. The reason why he had immediately increased the bid to fifteen cubes was because he wanted to scare off any bidders…but alas, everyone knew just how valuable Soulguide Wood was. How many Elder Gods could possibly win a bidding war against World-level figures?
"Seventeen cubes."
"Eighteen cubes."
Ning watched as the bidding proceeded, rather surprised. "Soulguide Wood? I didn't expect the first treasure to be such a valuable one."
When cultivators encountered certain types of setbacks, every so often a shadow would be cast over their heart. Sometimes, the shadow would be as strong as a demonheart curse. This would constantly disturb and nag at the cultivator, worrying away at him. Even if he was able to suppress it, he wouldn't be able to be truly at peace when meditating on the Dao, making it much more difficult for him to grow more powerful. However, Soulguide Wood would send the cultivator into a thousand-year slumber. Upon awakening, the cultivator would feel as though the shadow cast over his heart was something that had happened long, long ago. He would barely be able to remember it.
This was quite a marvelous treasure. Although it was comparable in value to most Dao weapons, it was incredibly rare. Normally, if a person wished to purchase this item within the Palace Opulentia, the Palace Opulentia would charge an extortionate price to help them even locate the item. The price would start off at fifty cubes at least! Sometimes, even organizations like the Badlands Court would find it difficult to acquire, making it truly expensive to purchase.
However, the prices offered at these treasure auctions were much lower.
This was the reason why even Daolords would come and take a look. They wanted to see if they could pick up something cheap.
"Thirty-two cubes. Any higher bids?" The silver-eyed woman glanced at the surrounding cultivators. "Since there are no higher bids…" As she spoke, the Soulguide Wood slowly began to float downwards. When it landed in her hand, it represented this particular bidding cycle as having been completed.
The Soulguide Wood landed in her hands.
"Very well then. The Soulguide Wood is sold at thirty-two cubes," the silver-eyed woman said. The woman behind her immediately walked forward, accepting the Soulguide Wood and then taking it off the auction platform. She walked to the Elder God who had placed the final bid of thirty-two cubes.
Soulguide Wood was something which many Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals were desperately in need of.
Generally speaking, the higher one's level of insight into the Dao was, the more powerful their hearts were. It was very rare for World-level experts to have their hearts troubled by the demonheart, and even if they were the problem wouldn't be resolvable through usage of Soulguide Wood. If they truly did wish to buy Soulguide Wood, they could just spend fifty cubes to buy it at a later point in time. It was slightly cheaper now, which was why the Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals present were desperate to buy it.
Many of the World-level experts had merely watched. It wasn't yet time for them to make bids.
As for Ning, he also just watched from the third floor as well. He had sold off quite a few treasures for the sake of this treasure auction, precisely because he was waiting for rare, powerful items he needed to show up!
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Book 25, Novessence Thunder, Chapter 16 – Wings
Thanks to the time he had spent in the Badlands Court, Ji Ning understood that each treasure auction would have many treasures for sale. Treasures of every single type would be sold, and so Ning sold off the vast majority of the treasures he had acquired in the Windsource Ruins. He had been planning on keeping the Eversnow Banner and the Rainbow Cloud World, but he ended up selling them as well.
The Eversnow Banner was quite useful. It had several sinfiends within it and could be used to trap enemies or test out dangerous regions. However, Ning deeply disliked sin treasures. He had planned on temporarily using it since he had a deficit of good treasures, but now that an abundance of treasures was coming towards him he was naturally going to sell it off to buy things he actually liked.
Although the Rainbow Cloud World was a domain-type artifact, Ning had no insights into the Dao of Mist at all. There was no way for Ning to even bind the layers of seals held within the Dao weapon and so he was only able to unleash a tiny fraction of its true power. He naturally chose to sell it as well.
The Eversnow Banner alone had been sold off for more than 150 cubes.
In short…Ning had sold off almost all of the treasures of those three World-level experts, save for the Mirrorsnow Painting and Rocky the stone titan. He had sold these treasures off to the Badlands Court, and since he was their respected guest they didn't try to make much money off of him. Ning was able to earn a total of 1580 cubes of chaos nectar. This was an enormous sum of money! However, it wouldn't be that impressive in the context of the treasure auction, and so he had to be very careful in how he spent his wealth.
"Violetjewel and the Mirrorsnow Painting are worth incredible amounts of chaos nectar, but they are very important to me." Ning continued to stare through the window towards the great hall below him.
The great hall was still filled with tens of thousands of seated cultivators.
The silver-eyed woman took out one treasure after another, arousing waves of excited discussions.
In the blink of an eye, six hours had gone past. This was nothing more than the start, as every single treasure auction would go on for nearly ten days. Between the explanation phase and the bidding phase, every single treasure would take quite a bit of time. Even after a full day of auctioning, only a few hundred treasures had been sold off.
"This treasure." The silver-eyed woman waved her hand, causing a white pair of wings to appear in her palms. The tiny, delicate little wings quickly flew into the air and began to expand in size. When it reached a height of thirty meters, it was roughly as tall as a normal human. It emanated waves of strange ripples as it constantly phased in and out of existence.
"This is a high-grade Dao treasure known as the Voidsea Wings. It is filled with many divine runes that embody the profound mysteries of space and is suitable for cultivators who cultivate the Dao of Spacetime." The silver-eyed woman continued, "With this set of wings, you'll be able to fly incredibly fast. When engaged in close combat, you'll be able to move much more agilely."
"The Voidsea Wings have a reserve price of thirty cubes of chaos nectar. Let the bidding begin!" The silver-eyed woman called out.
"Thirty cubes."
"Thirty-one cubes."
"Thirty-five cubes."
Instantly, quite a few cultivators began to fight over the treasure. Treasures that could increase one's agility in combat were actually very important, especially since they could also be vital when fleeing from danger.
These wings could allow one to fly much faster and also made one much more agile. Although it was merely a high-grade Dao treasure, it was even more rare and valuable than most top-grade Dao weapons.
The third floor.
"Master, don't you need treasures like this?" Su Youji asked.
"Let's wait for a bit longer. I imagine there will be even better treasures later." Ning frowned. He did want a set of wings, because his path was the path of close combat, but his greatest skill lay in the Dao of the Sword. Although he did have some insights into lightning, water, and space, they were significantly weaker than his insights into the Dao of the Sword.
Strictly speaking, his most powerful Dao was the Dao of the Sword, the second was the Dao of Lightning, the third was the Dao of Water, and the last one was the Dao of Space…
The divine runes that had been imprinted into those Voidsea Wings were undoubtedly quite abstruse and profound. Given his limited skill in the Dao of Space, he probably would only be able to unleash a fraction of the full power of that set of wings.
"Sixty-nine cubes. Any higher bids?" The silver-eyed woman glanced at the surrounding people as the pair of wings in the air began to slowly descend from its height of thirty meters, shrinking as it did so. Finally, it landed in her palms. "The auction is complete. The Voidsea Wings have been sold for sixty-nine cubes."
One of the female Immortals behind her immediately took the wings and delivered them to the winning bidder.
Ning continued to watch. He had yet to make a single bid, because there was nothing that had truly excited him thus far. There was no need for him to buy a treasure that wasn't a perfect fit for him. With enough chaos nectar on hand, he would have plenty of other chances to purchase what he needed.
"If push comes to shove, I'll buy a boat-type treasure that's meant for fleeing," Ning mused to himself. "Even if I'm not as agile as I would be with those wings, my sword-arts will ensure that I have nothing to fear."
This was his backup plan.
The treasure auction continued for another two hours.
"This is the fifth set of wings to appear in this treasure auction. This is also a pair of high-grade Dao wings, and it is known as the Thunderlight Wings." The silver-eyed woman waved her hand as her voice echoed within the great hall.
"Thunderlight?"
Ning's ears twitched.
For the sake of mastering a Ninehorn Lightning Serpent, Ning had transformed his body to give it an even higher affinity for lightning than Exalted Celestial Thundergod. His improvement in the Dao of Lightning was quite fast, on the same level as his improvement in the element of water. It was second only to the Dao of the Sword.
"Is that…" Ning stared from afar as a set of azure wings appeared in the silver-eyed woman's hands. The wings appeared to spark and hum with electric light.
"Thunderlight Wings are powered by lightning and use sword-light to tear through all obstacles, allowing the wielder to move at tremendous speeds. It is highly suited for both close combat and evasive techniques. It is a perfect fit for cultivators who are skilled in both the Dao of the Sword and the Dao of Lightning," the silver-eyed woman said.
Ning shot up, his eyes gleaming as he stared through the window. "That's the one!"
The Thunderlight Wings were actually even tougher to use than the Voidsea Wings. There were quite a few cultivators who were skilled in the Dao of Space, the Dao of Lightning, and the Dao of the Sword, but fairly few who were skilled in both the sword and in lightning.
However, a treasure which was able to join together two different Daos would generally be even more astonishingly powerful than 'normal' treasures of that type.
"The Thunderlight Wings have a reserve price of thirty-six cubes of chaos nectar. Let the bidding begin," the silver-eyed woman said.
"Thirty-eight cubes."
"Forty cubes."
"Forty-five cubes."
Quite a few World Gods began to make their bids, the price rising much faster than the price for the Voidsea Wings had. Although fewer cultivators were able to use these Thunderlight Wings, there were so many World Gods present that there were multiple figures here who were skilled in both lightning and the sword. Under normal circumstances, Waveshift City didn't have many Dao treasures for sale. Wing-type Dao treasures were even rarer, and dual-affinity ones such as this almost never showed up.
"The bidding war is pretty fierce." Ning frowned slightly, then spoke out and made his first bid. "Fifty cubes!"
His voice rang out from the third floor, causing quite a few cultivators to turn their heads in his direction.
"That's the third floor."
"He must be a disciple of the Badlands Court."
"So what if he is? Fifty-two cubes!"
"Fifty-five cubes."
"Sixty cubes."
"Sixty-five cubes."
The bidding war grew increasingly intense.
"Seventy-two cubes." Ning raised the price, making his second bid. This pair of wings were extremely hard to design and quite complicated to forge. They rarely showed up in the marketplace. If he used them, his ability and his speed would both increase dramatically. Ning would not accept no for an answer!
"Seventy-three cubes."
"Seventy-four cubes."
The bidding speed began to slow down. There was a limit to how much anyone would pay for a high-grade Dao treasure; in the end, they could try to find and buy one during the next treasure auction. Waveshift City would hold ten of them each chaos cycle, after all.
"Seventy-six cubes."
Ning frowned slightly, then spoke out for a third time. "Eighty cubes!"
The entire hall fell silent. No further bids came. Eighty cubes appeared to be the ceiling. It must be understood that the stone titan Ning had acquired was itself worth merely a hundred cubes.
"Eighty cubes. Any higher bids?" The set of azure Thunderlight Wings continued to hover above the silver-eyed woman, but a moment later it began to slowly descend. Finally, it landed in her hands. "Bidding is now closed. The Thunderlight Wings have been sold for eighty cubes."
On the third floor, Ning let out a sigh of a relief and revealed a hint of a smile. The highest possible price he was willing to pay was actually a hundred cubes of chaos nectar. Other cultivators and World-level experts had been around for a long time and were willing to wait; there were ten of these auctions each chaos cycle, after all. They wouldn't be willing to pay too high a price. Ning, however, wasn't willing to wait. By the time the next treasure auction came around, he would probably be a World-level expert himself!
"Eighty cubes for a set of wings that are a perfect fit for me. I'm satisfied." Ning secretly celebrated.
"Congratulations, Master." Elder God Wilddog hurriedly congratulated Ning.
"Congratulations, Master. You were silent for so long, but when you found something you liked you stopped at nothing to take it." The Flamefairy smiled as well.
"We are just getting started. This was just a warmup." Ning grinned. This set of wings had only cost him eighty cubes of chaos nectar. He had prepared more than a thousand cubes for this auction, and the best treasures had yet to appear! Supposedly, there were some treasures that would cause even Samsara Daolords to grow intrigued.
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