Read The Desolate Era - Chapter 17 – Aquaflect online free - Novel Full
Book 25, Novessence Thunder, Chapter 17 – Aquaflect
One treasure after another was sold off. Of course, there was also the occasional treasure which had no bidders at all.
Three days of bidding passed in the blink of an eye, with the cultivators in the hall growing increasingly excited. Increasingly unique treasures were beginning to come out, as many of the best treasures had been saved for last.
"This next treasure is a suit of armor." The silver-eyed female Immortal smiled, her voice echoing within the ears of the tens of thousands of cultivators present. "This is the most unique set of armor we have for sale in this treasure auction."
"Oh?" The eyes of quite a few people lit up as they began to listen carefully.
Ji Ning listened carefully as well.
"The most unique set of armor?" The Daolords seated at the top floor also glanced downwards towards the great hall.
"Little sister Thousand Shadows, what's so unique about this armor?" Waterwind asked curiously.
The white-robed Daolord Thousand Shadows smiled. "Just keep watching, big brother. You know the rules! No leaks are permitted regarding the treasures for sale during any treasure auction."
"Fine, let's see what this treasure is." Daolord Dracogod smiled as well.
Daolord Badlands and his wife watched curiously as well.
"Armor as precious as this is rarely seen during the various treasure auctions that have been held in these territories during recent chaos cycles. For me, at least, this is the first time I'm seeing such a precious treasure appear in an auction that I'm officiating over." The words of the silver-eyed woman caused the cultivators present to feel even more intrigued. What was so rare and special about this armor?
"I imagine some of you have heard of this type of armor, but few of you have ever seen it."
The silver-eyed woman waved her crystalline arm, causing a tiny suit of armor to appear in her palm. As the suit of armor floated into the air, it quickly expanded in size. The armor looked quite ordinary, but it was covered by a layer of icy frost.
"This suit of armor is known as the Frosthorn Robe." The silver-eyed woman laughed. "It is suitable for cultivators skilled in the Dao of Water. It admittedly looks quite ordinary, and it is nothing more than a suit of top-grade Dao armor."
"But…it has the 'reflect damage' property."
"Any attacks, close range or longe range, that land on this suit of armor will result in an equal amount of damage being reflected onto the attacker."
As soon as her words came out, the entire hall exploded into a shocked clamor.
"An equal amount of damage reflected!?" All of the cultivators were stunned. So if an enemy launched a full-force attack against you, your armor would automatically cause them to suffer an attack of the exact same level of power? How would you even try to fight against someone with this armor in close combat?
"With armor like this, World Gods that are skilled in close combat can even fight back against experts at a higher level of power."
"This is crazy."
World Gods generally all had incredibly tough bodies as well as top-grade Dao armors protecting them. Generally speaking, even World-level opponents who were one or two classes of power above them in strength would find it difficult to annihilate them in one blow. If their opponent was not only unable to slay them in one blow but would also suffer damage reflection…even foes stronger than the armor-bearers would find actually fighting them to be a painful experience.
Ning began to grow excited as well. This was definitely a set of armor that was perfect for anyone who specialized in close combat. Ning's own body was very tough, especially when reinforced by the azureflower mist energy. Once he became a World God, he would become even more formidable in this regard! Him acquiring this set of armor would be like a tiger being given wings.
"Aquaflect?" The Daolords on the top floor, however, were all puzzled.
"So it's just water-element damage reflection." Daolord Dracogod frowned. "Although aquaflect armor is fairly rare, there's one or two for sale in every treasure auction. Daolord Thousand Shadows, your subordinate is bragging a bit too much. Why did she say that this item is something that is all but unmatched in value in treasure auctions hosted during recent chaos cycles? She even claimed that this was the first time she ever encountered such an item while hosting an auction. Is this her first time being the auction mistress?"
"Aquaflect?"
Azuresky, Waterwind, and the Badlands couple were all puzzled as well. While the World Gods were all excited, this item wasn't that exciting to Daolords like them.
"She's hosted at least a hundred treasure auctions." Daolord Thousand Shadows gave Daolord Dracogod a cold sideways glance. "If you aren't impressed, don't bid on it."
"Don't bid on it?" Daolord Dracogod was stunned. What was that supposed to mean? Was there something about this suit of armor that would attract his interest? Was this a joke? He was a venerable Daolord; all his items were of the Eternal level!
"The divine seals embedded into this armor are incomparably profound," the silver-eyed woman said in a loud voice. "It contains seven layers of seals. World-level cultivators with complete mastery over water might be able to completely bind all seven seals…and if they do so, when they put on these robes they will be able to generate a Frosthorn Domain."
"The Frosthorn Domain will span up to ten thousand kilometers."
"Any attacks launched within this domain will result in full-force damage reflection."
"The Frosthorn Robes have a reserve price of five thousand cubes of chaos nectar." The silver-eyed woman smiled. "Let the bidding begin!"
Everyone in the great hall was silent.
Five thousand?
Was this a joke?
"Why the hell is it so expensive?" Ning had been debating buying the treasure, but he was instantly stupefied by the price. Five thousand cubes? He didn't even have close to that much! And, based on what he knew, ten thousand cubes was enough to purchase an Eternal weapon!
For even the reserve price to be so high meant that this treasure was just as valuable as an Eternal weapon.
"Why the hell is it so expensive?"
"I saw a suit of aquaflect armor during the last treasure auction as well. It wasn't nearly this expensive."
"This is ridiculous."
"Even Elder God Formations start off with a reserve price of around 150 cubes during these auctions."
The tens of thousands of cultivators in the hall were all silent for a moment. Then, they started to stealthily discuss this matter amongst themselves. It must be understood that ordinary top-grade Dao weapons were only worth a few dozen cubes at most! This was the price which Ning had been given for the warblade he had sold off. The Eversnow Banner held nine sinfiends within it, which was why it went for one or two hundred cubes of chaos nectar. Even complete sets of top-grade Dao weapons would generally go for a few hundred cubes at most.
Five thousand cubes?
This was a price that would render 99% of World-level experts completely speechless.
"Ten thousand cubes!"
"Twelve thousand cubes!"
"Daolord Dracogod, I thought you weren't impressed with it? Fifteen thousand cubes!"
A rapid-fire series of bids began to ring out from the top floor of the auction hall. Everyone, Ning included, felt an enormous sense of pressure pushing down upon them.
There were quite a few terrifyingly powerful World Gods here, including some who were stronger than even World God Northrest. This was a gathering of the majority of the World-level experts from all the nearby territories, after all. Some of them were able to afford this price, but…was it really worth it? For just a top-grade set of Dao armor?
The top floor.
"Daolord Thousand Shadows, your insights into the element of water aren't as profound as mine. Stop fighting with me over this." Daolord Dracogod chuckled, then called out once more, "Eighteen thousand cubes."
"Dracogod, you brat." Waterwind spoke out, causing Daolord Dracogod's face to turn dark. However, Waterwind was unquestionably more powerful than him. "Stop fighting with my little sister Thousand Shadows. Although this set of top-grade Dao armor has seven seals within it, didn't you hear that only World-level cultivators who have reached the level of full mastery over the Dao of Water are able to bind all seven seals? My little sister is definitely capable of that."
"If I wasn't bound by the rules of our organization, I would've taken this treasure away long ago. There's no way I would've let it show up on the floor of the auction hall." Daolord Thousand Shadows glanced at Daolord Dracogod. Although she was in charge of this expedition, she didn't dare to violate any of the rules. No information regarding the treasures was to be leaked, and all treasures had to be bid in a fair fashion during the actual auction itself.
This was a rule that had existed for countless chaos cycles.
"Twenty thousand cubes." Daolord Thousand Shadows raised the price again.
"Twenty-one thousand cubes." Daolord Dracogod immediately countered.
"Sorry, Yan'er. Nothing I can do." Daolord Badlands looked at his wife.
"Forget it. I rarely go out into battle anyhow." His beautiful wife laughed.
"Frosthorn Domain…who the hell managed to create something like this?" Daolord Badlands let out a sigh. "So long as you are in the range of this domain, each time you launch an attack you'll immediately suffer from damage reflection. It'll only end when you stop trying to attack! Even though this domain will have less of an impact on a powerful Daolord, he'll still see his strength whittled away by more than half as his attacks travel through it."
Once the Frosthorn Domain appeared, it would initiate a series of counter-attacks. Daolords could use the power of the counter-attacks to whittle away at the strength of the enemy's blows. This effect alone ensured that the item would be a valuable one.
"Thirty-eight thousand cubes."
"Forty thousand cubes."
Daolord Dracogod and Daolord Thousand Shadows were completely at odds now. As Samsara Daolords, these two were neither particularly weak nor particularly strong. This was why they both desperately needed treasures like this one! As for the likes of Daolord Badlands, Azuresky, or Waterwind, any foes that might prove to be a threat to them wouldn't be threatened by a mere Frosthorn Domain.
"Fifty thousand cubes." Daolord Thousand Shadows made yet another bid.
"Damn." Daolord Dracogod's face was ashen. He had originally planned to just watch the treasure auction and see if he could pick up something cheap, and so he hadn't prepared a particularly large amount of chaos nectar. However, Daolord Thousand Shadows had been in charge of escorting this mission! Although she couldn't tell others about the treasures under her protection, she herself knew that this suit of armor was within it. Thus, she had prepared more than enough chaos nectar.
In truth, she wasn't really getting much of a bargain, as this was the 'standard' price for an item of this nature. However, as the silver-eyed auction mistress had said…this type of armor was rarely available for sell! It truly was incredibly rare! It was a fairly cheap yet extremely effective item for Daolords, perfect for Daolords of average strength such as the two of them.
In the end, the Frosthorn Robe was sold for fifty thousand cubes of chaos nectar. The many cultivators present were all stunned by this price, especially the Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals.
Six more hours passed.
"This treasure is another set of armor. It is known as the Primalwater Armor, and it also has the aquaflect property." The silver-eyed woman continued, "However, this set of armor only has three seals inside of it, and so it will only generate the damage reflection property when an attack actually lands upon it. It won't generate a domain like the Frosthorn Domain we previously discussed."
As she spoke, she waved her hand and caused a suit of armor to fly out of her palm. This armor was silvery-white and looked a bit more beautiful than the Frosthorn Robe.
The suit of armor flew into the air, expanding as it flew upwards. It immediately attracted the attention of many cultivators, Ning included.
"The Primalwater Armor's reserve price is two hundred cubes of chaos nectar. Let the bidding begin!" The silver-eyed woman said.
Ning let out a sigh of relief.
This was a more 'normal' price!
If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know report chapter so we can fix it as soon as possible.
Report chapter
Book 25, Novessence Thunder, Chapter 18 – Completely Broke
As soon as the silver-eyed woman stopped talking, the cultivators in the hall all began to call out, especially the World Gods. "Two hundred and twenty cubes!"
"Two hundred thirty."
"Two hundred forty!"
The price rapidly began to rise.
As for Ji Ning, he watched silently from the third floor even though he also desired this item quite badly. There were a number of World Gods in the great hall who were interested but were in no rush to make a bid. Most of the initial bidders were just trying to see if they could pick it up on the cheap, as most 'normal' top-grade Dao armors would go for at least three hundred cubes.
Top-grade Dao armor with the aquaflect property would naturally be worth much more.
"Three hundred twenty."
"Five hundred!" Suddenly, a deep voice rang out. It came from a muscular alien World God whose entire body was covered with fiery red scales, and with his growling bid the price instantly rocketed up to five hundred cubes.
The hall grew much quieter.
There were 'customary' prices for most magic treasures. Ordinary top-grade Dao armor would go for around three hundred cubes, while something like this Primalwater Armor would go for around six hundred cubes or so.
"Five hundred and ten."
"The disciples of the Badlands Court are truly impressive." Many cultivators turned to look at the third floor. During this auction, many of the disciples of the Badlands Court remained silent until they chose to make a bid, at which point they would stun everyone present. This was their territory, after all, and everyone would look at them when they bid from the third floor. They generally wanted to ensure that they would gain face from their bids.
"Six hundred cubes!" A World God seated in the great hall whose entire body was covered by a gray robe suddenly spoke out in an icy voice.
"Six hundred and ten cubes," the fire-scaled alien World God snarled.
"Six hundred and twenty cubes," the gray-robed World God bid.
The alien World God hesitated, not sure if he should continue.
"Six hundred and ninety cubes!" Ning made yet another bid.
This bid caused two other hesitating cultivators to fall silent. Ning's bid had caused them to both change their minds. Although Primalwater Armor was rare, one or two would appear during each treasure auction, and they'd generally go for around six hundred cubes. Sometimes the price would a bit higher; other times, the price would be a bit lower. Six hundred and ninety cubes was fairly high.
"Forget it. Later I'll go back and buy some World-level golems that can be used in a formation. They'll cost the same amount and will be a bit more useful to me than this armor."
"Forget it."
Quite a few World Gods began to talk themselves down from joining the bidding. This was an enormous sum of money, after all. The combined treasures which Ning had initially acquired from Immortal Origination and Immortal Bloodpool in the Windsource Ruins weren't worth as much as this single suit of armor. The only reason why Ning was able to afford it was because World God Cavecry had left behind some nice treasures as well.
"Six hundred and ninety cubes. Any higher bids?" The silver-eyed woman spoke out as the suit of armor began to descend towards her palm. Finally, it came to a rest. "This suit of Primalwater Armor has been sold. The bidding is over."
"Whew." Ning let out a sigh of relief, sitting down and picking up a glass of wine. He took a small sip of it. Just now, he had been so nervous that he had jumped to his feet. He knew very well that the only reason why he had so much chaos nectar was thanks to Daolord Solesky. If it wasn't for him, who knew how long it would've taken for Ning to acquire so much wealth?
"Congratulations, Master." Elder God Wilddog spoke out.
"I imagine there aren't many World Gods who can afford a treasure like this," Su Youji said.
Ning chuckled.
Strictly speaking, for now, this suit of armor wouldn't be as helpful to him as seven hundred cubes worth of bugbeasts or golems. For example, Ning could've purchased thirty-six sinfiends like the ones he had sold off! Generally speaking, most World-level experts would purchase quite a few bugbeasts or sets of golems.
Golems were magic treasures that could be deployed in formations, after all. An entire set of five or six golems in a formation would prove to be extraordinarily powerful.
"Fellow Daoist." A soft voice rang out from outside.
"Come in," Ning said.
Creeeeak. The door swung open and a woman walked in holding the suit of armor. Smiling, she said, "Primalwater Armor, six hundred and ninety cubes."
"Right." Ning tossed out a storage treasure.
The woman accepted it, glanced at it, then placed the suit of armor on the table and departed.
Ning reached out to gently stroke the suit of silver armor, filling it with his divine power. He was able to bind it quite easily. Whoosh. The armor instantly appeared over his body, while the set of high-grade Dao armor Ning had previously been wearing was put away.
"I have Violetjewel as my weapon and the Primalwater Armor as my armor. For agility and evasion, I have the Thunderlight Wings." Ning nodded slowly to himself. "Given my sword-arts have improved during this period of time I spent at the Badlands Court…I'll wager only master-class World Gods are capable of suppressing me in might."
Ning had already used up nearly half of his chaos nectar. He was in no rush to make any further bids.
The treasure auction continued to proceed day by day, and many new marvelous items appeared. Ning's horizons were truly broadened. Only now did he understand how many treasures the Endless Territories possessed! The World-level experts he had previously encountered, such as God Emperor Blacklotus, were actually nothing more than failures. Truly powerful cultivators would be able to wield their treasures to absolutely devastating effect.
On the seventh day of the treasure auction, Ning purchased yet another treasure. A Pentabolt Gourd!
The Pentabolt Gourd was filled with five different types of divine chaos lightning. In truth, a single one of those five types of lightning was enough to utterly devastate anyone below the World level of power, but against World Gods and Chaos Immortals it wouldn't be of much use. The Pentabolt Gourd, however, mixed all five types of chaos lightning together. It was enough to threaten the lives of weaker World-level experts, and even powerful ones would be entangled and ensnared by them.
"The Pentabolt Gourd can be used to launch group attacks. Even if I can't kill my foes, I can slow them down." Ning nodded to himself.
Ning had spent a total of 180 cubes to purchase the Pentabolt Gourd.
The eighth day of the treasure auction.
"This next treasure is a set of three golems." The silver-eyed woman waved her hand, causing three fiery golems to appear in her palms before slowly levitating into the air. "However, these golems are unlike ordinary golems! They don't have any treasure spirits within them, but they do have a compartment which a cultivator can enter and control them through."
"When these three golems come together into a formation, their defensive powers will increase exponentially."
"This set of golems has a reserve price of three hundred cubes. Let the bidding begin!" The silver-eyed woman said.
Instantly, quite a few cultivators began to make their bids.
These golems that could hold cultivators inside them were very popular amongst Chaos Immortals. Chaos Immortals had fragile bodies, but when they were inside golems they would be fairly safe! In addition, golems that fought on their own usually did so in clumsy ways. Cultivators had much higher levels of insight into the Dao; when they personally commanded a golem, it was only natural for the golem to be capable of much greater power.
However, there was a weakness!
Ning's own stone titan golem was able to fight alongside him; the two were able to surround and pincer-attack a foe together. If Ning was to enter a golem, the fight would turn into a one-on-one fight.
"Three hundred and sixty cubes."
"Three hundred and seventy cubes."
Ning was rather nervous. Twelve hours ago, a set of five similar golems had appeared. Ning had made multiple bids, but in the end the price had risen to over eight hundred cubes. Ning only had roughly six hundred cubes left!
"I have to win this time," Ning mused to himself. If he let his powerful Elder Gods or Ancestral Immortals control these three golems, they would actually be a bit more powerful than the stone titan was. Ning would then have much more resources at his disposal if he encountered dangerous situations when adventuring.
Originally, Ning had been planning on buying a Minor Thousand Elder Gods Formation.
At this treasure auction, around two hundred cubes would be enough to procure one of these formations! As for the thousand Elder God slaves needed to operate it, they could be purchased for a hundred cubes. Three hundred cubes would translate into an army of Elder God slaves who were able to join together into a formation. However, by comparison the set of three golems was even more attractive to Ning, even though they were somewhat more expensive.
"Five hundred cubes."
"Five hundred and ten cubes."
The price continued to rise.
"Six hundred cubes!" Ning said. He only had a bit over six hundred cubes left.
A momentary silence.
The silver-eyed woman glanced at the people nearby, then said, "Six hundred cubes of chaos nectar. Any higher bids?" The three golems began to slowly descend from midair.
"Six hundred and ten cubes!" Suddenly, a green-robed Chaos Immortal located in the corner of the hall gritted his teeth and place a bid.
"Six hundred and twenty cubes!" Ning almost immediately raised his bid once more.
The green-robed Chaos Immortal raised his head to glance at Ning. He didn't say a thing.
The silver-eyed woman continued to ask for more bidders as the three golems began their descent. Finally, they landed in her palm. "This set of golems has been sold for six hundred and twenty cubes! The bidding is complete."
Ning was standing at the window, staring down towards the great hall. He broke out into a grin.
It was enough.
Daolord Solesky wouldn't be around to help him out. Ning would go out adventuring by himself, and he had spent all of his chaos nectar to buy what he needed. He had acquired enough from this treasure auction.
"I'm completely broke now." Ning sat down to simply watch. This treasure auction would no longer mean much to him.
If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know report chapter so we can fix it as soon as possible.
Report chapter
Book 25, Novessence Thunder, Chapter 19 – Pseudo Samsara Pill
Ji Ning had also acquired a certain amount of chaos nectar and chaos jewels from the corpses of the three deceased World-level experts of the Windsource Realms. As a result, Ning still had roughly fifty cubes worth of chaos nectar left. However, such a small amount wouldn't be enough to purchase any truly powerful items at this auction. It was better to hold onto them for now. If he ended up being heavily injured, he could use the chaos nectar to heal himself and save his life! This wouldn't pose any burden to him and the healing effect would be quite quick.
The only things he really had to worry about were strange toxins, curse-spells from major powers, or attacks that caused the truesoul to crumble. It was hard to use chaos nectar to heal damage inflicted to the truesoul, but almost all other types of injuries could be healed.
"Everyone, there are only nine treasures left in this treasure auction."
On the ninth day of the treasure auction, the mood in the hall noticeably grew more exuberant. The past few treasures had all sold for more than a thousand cubes or had been listed with such a high reserve price that over half of them hadn't been sold. They were simply too expensive! Only someone truly in desperate need of them would purchase them.
"The first of the final nine is an Eternal weapon, a greataxe-type weapon. This is a weapon suitable for Earth-attribute cultivators to use. This weapon possesses tremendous power and the quintessence core within it is so strong that we rank this weapon as high-grade." The silver-eyed woman produced a small black hatchet in her hands. As it rose into the air, it quickly expanded in size as it began to emanate waves of overpowering majesty, causing all of the cultivators in the great hall to feel a sense of tremendous pressure.
"This is an Eternal weapon, the 'Three Extinctions Axe'. The reserve price is fifty thousand cubes. Let the bidding begin!"
All of the cultivators were silent. Even the Daolords on the top floor were silent.
And so…
No bids were placed.
It wasn't that there was anything wrong with the treasure. It was that it was just too expensive! It was beyond what the vast majority of World-level cultivators could afford…and quite frankly, most World-level cultivators had no need of such a high quality Eternal weapon. They wouldn't even be able to unleash much of its power! It was quite unlikely for a World-level cultivator to be able to unleash the full force of a high-grade Eternal weapon.
Thus, even the most powerful of World-level cultivators generally preferred to use low-grade Eternal weapons. Power only mattered if you could actually command it and wield it! If you couldn't, what good would it do you?
"The second of the final nine…" The silver-eyed woman didn't seem surprised.
During each treasure auction, the final nine treasures would be truly fine specimens that were worth at least ten thousand cubes of chaos nectar. Thus, there were rarely any bidders on them.
This time, there were bids on the fifth and sixth treasures, but the bids all came from the top floor.
The fifth treasure was a drop of blood that was the size of a man's head. It glimmered with azure light and radiated with an aura of tremendous power. The silver-eyed woman simply described it as being a drop of essence-blood from a Chaos Godbeast, giving no further information about it. In the end, it was purchased by Daolord Waterwind for a price of 83,000 cubes!
The sixth treasure was a stone statue. The silver-eyed woman had given even less information about it: "This stone statue is filled with boundless mysteries. The reserve price is 80,000 cubes. Let the bidding begin." In the end, Daolord Azuresky had purchased it at the reserve price.
The seventh treasure…no bids.
The eighth treasure…still no bids.
"Alright. We have now come to the final treasure of this treasure auction." As the silver-eyed woman's words came out, the atmosphere in the great hall began to change. The tension was so palpable and thick, you could cut it with a knife.
The eyes of all the cultivators had lit up. In fact, some were unable to even breathe.
"Can it be true…?"
Su Youji and Elder God Wilddog stared unblinkingly at the great hall below. Ning did the same.
"You won't be disappointed." The silver-eyed woman smiled. "The final treasure up for sale in this treasure auction…is a single Pseudo Samsara pill!"
"It really is a Pseudo Samsara pill!?" A white-haired woman in a room on the second floor had an utterly terrifying look in her eyes.
"What a wonderful coincidence. I just acquired a large amount of chaos nectar, and the very first treasure auction I go to has a Pseudo Samsara pill for sale. I have to have it." In another room on the second floor, a handsome man dressed in fiery red robes had a similarly terrifying look of lust in his eyes.
"Please don't fight me over it. Please don't fight me over it. Gotta have it. Gotta have it." A wild-haired youth was muttering these words feverishly to himself, a look of madness in his eyes.
"A Pseudo Samsara pill." The silver-eyed woman smiled as she swept the entire great hall with her gaze. "I imagine all of you know what it does. Let me remind everyone of the rules pertaining to this pill! Only those who have reached the level of full mastery as World-level experts can use Pseudo Samasara pills. This pill shall guide cultivators into finding their own Dao, letting them break through their bottleneck and become a Samsara Daolord."
"What?! It allows World Gods to become Samsara Daolords?!?"
"A single pill?"
"The path of cultivation is an incredibly arduous one. How could a single pill have such monstrous power?" The cultivators hearing about Pseudo Samsara pills for the first time, especially the Elder Gods and the Ancestral Immortals, were utterly speechless.
Ji Ning, Su Youji, and Elder God Wilddog sighed in amazement from their room on the third floor. During the time they spent at the Badlands Court, they had learned that there was a very small chance that the final item for sale during each treasure auction would be a Pseudo Samsara pill! However, this truly was quite rare; less than one in a thousand treasure auctions would feature a Pseudo Samsara pill.
However, this was virtually the only chance World-level cultivators would have to purchase one of the these pills. They were never sold on the ordinary market. They only ever appeared during the treasure auction!
This was one of the reasons why so many World-level cultivators from neighboring territories had hastened here upon hearing that a treasure auction was going to be held soon.
When master-class World-level experts used the Pseudo Samsara pill, they would have a better than 99% chance of becoming Samsara Daolords. It was all but guaranteed.
"So pills like this really do exist. When I first heard of them, I really couldn't believe it," Ning murmured softly to himself.
"The endless primordial chaos is filled with endless possibilities." Su Youji was uncharacteristically quiet.
"This is a pill that would drive any World God mad with lust," Elder God Wilddog muttered.
Ning nodded slowly.
As for the Daolords on the top floor, they were actually sighing in a rather disappointed way.
"Pseudo Samsara pills. I wonder what that Eternal Emperor was even thinking? To be skilled in the Dao of Alchemy is one thing, but why does he have to spend so much of his time making these Pseudo Samsara pills?" Azuresky shook his head and chuckled. "Pseudo Samsara pills are ruinous things. If you rely on one to become a Samsara Daolord, it is almost guaranteed that you will forever be stuck at the first step. Even if you have absolutely incredible luck, you would at most reach the second step. That will be a hard limit. Samsara Daolords move between life and death with each step. Weak Daolords like them will never have a chance of improving ever again. If they keep their head down, nothing bad will happen to them, but if they get too uppity…"
"The second step? I've never personally encountered anyone who used a Pseudo Samsara pill who could reach the second step." Waterwind shook his head.
"Look at the two of you go." Daolord Badlands laughed. "Yes, you feel disdain towards those pills, but the vast majority of World-level experts never stood a chance of becoming Samsara Daolords to begin with. They don't care how far they can progress after becoming Samsara Daolords; just becoming a Samsara Daolord is enough to satisfy them."
The silver-eyed auction mistress continued, "Let me warn everyone once more of the Pseudo Samsara pill's flaw. If you rely on it to become a Samsara Daolord, it'll be very, very hard for you to make any further improvements afterwards."
Flaw?
Who cared? Without it, most of them would never even be able to reach the Samsara Daolord to begin with.
"The reserve price is a hundred thousand cubes of chaos nectar. Let the bidding begin!" The silver-eyed woman announced.
"A hundred thousand cubes!" Instantly, a hoarse voice rang out from a room on the second floor.
"A hundred and ten thousand cubes!" An icy voice rang out from another nearby room.
"No…no…" The gray-robed, triangle-pupiled old man in the first room had a look of resentment and grief in his eyes. He didn't have that much chaos nectar, just a hundred thousand cubes. He had gone to all of the treasure auctions in the surrounding territories after amassing this fortune, and on this trip, his third, he encountered a Pseudo Samsara pill. He made a bid at the reserve price, hoping no one would fight him for it, but…
Everyone who wanted a Pseudo Samsara pill knew exactly how much it was worth. Thus, whenever a treasure auction was being held, all the interested experts from the dozens of nearby territories would all hasten to the auction location.
This was one of the true reasons why treasure auctions were publicly announced ninety-nine years in advance.
The price continued to rise.
"A hundred and fifty thousand cubes!"
Each time one of these pills appeared, the price would be driven to a staggering level. Most Eternal weapons were worth just ten thousand cubes, while high-quality ones might be worth thirty or forty thousand cubes. Top-grade ones would generally go for around a hundred thousand cubes, and there were indeed some extremely powerful World-level experts who were capable of purcashing one or two of them. However, many of them saved their money instead…all for the sake of being able to afford a Pseudo Samsara pill!
Ning couldn't help but sigh. Only someone who had been driven to despair would go so berserk over a pill.
God Emperor Blacklotus had an Eternal weapon, but it was merely a low-grade one that was worth twenty thousand cubes. He had no chance of getting a Pseudo Samsara pill at all, as they would usually go for more than 160,000 cubes during the treasure auctions.
"168,000 cubes. Any higher bids?" The silver-eyed woman spoke out. "Then…the bidding for the Pseudo Samsara pill…is over!"
Her final words came out very slowly as she scanned the crowd for any more bids. This was the only treasure which they didn't take out to physically show the cultivators present.
"Ahahahah! It's mine! MINE! Ahahahahah!" Frenzied laughter rang out from the second floor. The bidders for the pseudo Samsara Pill had all been located on the second floor, choosing to hide their identities from the masses.
"I finally have it." The handsome, fiery-robed man had a look of excitement in his eyes. "I'll train to become a Samsara Daolord right here in Waveshift City. I have ten thousand cubes of chaos nectar left. I can even buy a weak Eternal weapon for myself to use!"
If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know report chapter so we can fix it as soon as possible.
Report chapter
Book 25, Novessence Thunder, Chapter 20 – [Quintessence Sword-Intent] – The First Stance
The treasure auction had come to an end!
After having experienced that great battle against God Emperor Blacklotus, Ji Ning had felt as though he now knew something of how the world worked…but now, he realized how truly vast the universe really was. There were many terrifying World-level experts skilled in formations or bugbeasts who could easily destroy him, to say nothing of Samsara Daolords.
"Let's follow the plan." Ning led Su Youji and Elder God Wilddog to move towards the other disciples of the Badlands Court. They jested and chatted amongst themselves as they headed back to the Court.
Swoosh.
Swoosh.
Swoosh.
Azuresky, Dracogod, Thousand Shadows, and Waterwind all began to depart as well. Azuresky and Thousand Shadows soared into the skies and left, while Dracogod was forced to use his legs to physically walk out of Waveshift City.
"Hmph." Daolord Dracogod glanced coldly at Waterwind and Thousand Shadows as they soared into the skies. Thousand Shadows didn't actually have the power to fly on this everworld by herself; it was Waterwind who was helping her do this.
"Thousand Shadows…that bitch. Hmph. All she can do is flatter and cozen up to Waterwind and the others. When the chance comes, I'll slaughter you myself." Daolord Dracogod then quickly hid the killing intent that had appeared in his eyes. He had given himself the name 'Dracogod', and getting a 'dragonification fruit' was an incredibly important part of his cultivation path. Alas, it had been seized by Daolord Thousand Shadows all those years ago.
He had many friends, true. But Daolord Thousand Shadows also had many friends of her own.
Daolord Dracogod deeply desired to kill Daolord Thousand Shadows. Alas, she was his equal in strength.
"She ruined my karmic luck! One day…" Daolord Dracogod strode through the land, quickly arriving at the spacetime transfer array and departing from the Badlands Territory.
The Badlands Court. Within a quiet room inside the Water Curtain Home.
The Heavengazer Tower was located next to a prayer mat. Within the tower there was a golden leaf, which was itself an estate-world treasure.
Within the estate-world.
Whooooooosh. Waves gently lapped at the beach, caressing the sands before slowly retreating into the sea once more.
A white-robed Ning was seated on the beach in the lotus position, a blood-colored sword resting over his knees. He kept Violetjewel with him at all times so that he could be in constant communion with the sword's quintessence core and the exalted sword-intent within it. As a result, Ning's sword-arts were beginning to increasingly align with the core's murderous intent.
The [Nameless] sword-art…
Although it only had seven stances, Ning could tell from these seven stances that the creator of the sword-art had to be at least at the same level as the creator of Violetjewel. Both were definitely peerless powers who were skilled in the Dao of the Sword.
The sword-intent of Violetjewel's quintessence core was just as exalted as the sword-intent of the [Nameless] sword-art, even though these were two completely different interpretations of the Dao of the Sword.
"I'll meditate on both paths." Ning lowered his head to look at the blood-colored sword resting across his knees. "In the future, I'll definitely become a Samsara Daolord as well. I'll have to find my own path."
The [Nameless] sword-art's path wasn't his path.
Nor was Violetjewel's quintessence core's path his path.
Every single Daolord had to find a completely unique path that belonged to them alone. In the Endless Territories, there were no creatures who had souls or memories that were absolutely identical. By this same principle, no two Daolords could ever have exactly the same Daos. Even if both walked the path of the Dao of the Sword, their paths still would not be identical.
"The [Nameless] sword-art's strength lies in its balance! Its very first stance, the 'Heartsword' stance, is a testament to this," Ning mused to himself. "Although Violetjewel doesn't have an actual sword-art connected to it, it does have an exalted sword-intent that I can meditate on. From this, I can tell that its greatest strength lies in its offensive attack power!"
This estate-world was more than a million kilometers in size. It was a top-grade Chaos treasure which had originally belonged to Immortal Origination and was the sturdiest estate-treasure Ning had access to. He usually had his servants and retainers live within this estate-world, and it even had many other living beings who flourished within it.
Ning continued to meditate on the sword by the beach, occasionally striding across the waves to stand upon the surface of the ocean as he trained.
Sword-light flew everywhere with wild abandon, causing the waves around them to be annihilated.
Day by day…
Year by year…
Ning continued his research into the [Nameless] sword-art and Violetjewel's quintessence core. Every so often, he'd take a break and instead turn to researching the Daos of Water, Lightning, and Space. Sometimes he'd even go strolling about the world of ordinary mortals who lived within this treasure. The living beings in this world were divided up amongst six continents and many islands, and each continent held an enormous number of individuals. They even had their own various religions, with the most powerful figures having just barely reached the Pure Yang True Immortal level.
Two hundred years passed in the blink of an eye.
Atop an island in the sea.
"Flamefairy, we're bored senseless in this estate-world."
"Right! Flamefairy, when will Master lead us out into the outside world?"
Eleven Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals were seated in a disorderly fashion, eating and drinking together. The most prominent figure within their ranks was Flamefairy Su Youji.
Ning generally kept the Flamefairy and Elder God Wilddog by his side. He had released many Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals from the prisonworld. Some had chosen to be stationed on the Windsource Chaosworld, while nine of them had chosen to follow Ning in his adventures. They normally were stationed here within this estate-world.
"How should I know?" Flamefairy Su Youji pointed towards a distant, small island located far away in the depths of the ocean. "Master is living right there on that island, but neither I nor Wilddog would dare to go there and disturb him without being summoned. When Master wants to come to us, he will. Let's just keep waiting."
"Ugh."
"No choice but to wait."
These Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals truly were quite bored. They all had their own estate-worlds, and they had already spent countless ages in the prisonworld diverting themselves by living amongst the mortals of their own estate-worlds. What they really wanted was action and excitement.
BOOM!
Suddenly, a terrifying wave of power swept over from afar.
"What?!" Su Youji, Elder God Wilddog, and the other nine Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals simultaneously rose to their feet. They turned to stare towards that distant island.
Whoosh.
A bloody streak of sword-light soared into the skies, spreading out into a rippling wave of power that caused all of them to quake.
"This wave…" Su Youji was the strongest of the eleven, but even she was so terrified that her heart quailed.
"What's going on?" The more powerful figures who lived on the six continents and many islands of this estate-world all turned to stare at the same location! Although they couldn't see anything physically, they could sense an utterly exalted and supremely terrifying sword-intent rising towards the heavens. Although the sword-intent was limited to this estate-world, all of the living creatures within it felt that it was something that was truly supreme and beyond all other power.
After this day, quite a few new Sword Immortals began to arise from within this estate-world. In fact, quite a few of its citizens began to sail off into the seas in search of the source of that sword-intent. Alas, they were never able to find it.
"Master is coming." Su Youji and the other ten all stared off into the distance.
A white-robed youth was striding across the waves, an ordinary-looking blood-colored sword on his back. He soon arrived at their island.
"Greetings, Master." Su Youji and the other ten all bowed respectfully.
"Mm." Ning nodded.
"We've spent five hundred years here at the Badlands Court," Ning said. "My sword-arts have now reached a bottleneck. It is time for us to go out adventuring."
Five hundred years in the Badlands Court actually translated into more than ten thousand years within this estate-world.
"Master, just now…?" Su Youji's eyes were shining.
"I developed a sword-stance." Ning chuckled.
Alas, it wasn't the Great Firmament stance!
He had long ago reached a bottleneck in the [Nameless] sword-art. In recent years, Ning had turned most of his efforts towards understanding the quintessence core of Violetjewel. Today, he had developed a sword-art that had an incredibly powerful offensive potential. Ning called it the first stance of his [Sword Quintessence] – Blackmist stance!
"World God Blackmist…" Ning couldn't help but sigh to himself.
He would never be able to forget how he met this man after he had left the Three Realms. He would never be able to forget the sight of World God Blackmist slowly transforming into a statue. He had named this stance the 'Blackmist' stance in order to memorialize this deceased World God.
The creation of the Blackmist stance was the final result of the ten thousand years of hard work and effort Ning had spent within this estate-world!
"In terms of killing power, this stance should be quite close to the power of the 'Great Firmament' stance of the [Nameless] sword-art. Because I based it off Violetjewel's quintessence core, it'll actually make it easier for me to summon some of the core's power." Just now, Ning had tested that stance out. He was now able to summon more than ten times as much power from Violetjewel's quintessence core, and the power of his strike was definitely comparable to that of a master-class World God's strike.
Thanks to the azureflower mist energy strengthening his divine body, his body was comparable to a World God's body.
His sword-arts were comparable to an elite World God's techniques.
With the 'Blackmist' stance activating a good amount of his Eternal weapon's quintessence core…Ning was now qualified to battle against master-class World Gods.
"It'll be hard for me to improve my sword-arts any further just by sitting here and studying on my own. It is time for me to leave this place." Ning glanced at Su Youji and the others, then instructed, "Youji, Wilddog, Blacksun, the three of you shall follow me."
"Yes." The Flamefairy and Wilddog were quite calm, but Elder God Blacksun was absolutely overjoyed.
Whoosh.
Ning led the three in departing from this place.
Ning had purchased those three mighty golems during the treasure auction. One was meant for the Flamefairy while the other was meant for Wilddog. As for the third, Ning had chosen to let Elder God Blacksun to command it. Elder God Blacksun was one of the most powerful Elder God retainers Ning had under his command, and he was also a bit more honest and obedient than the others. Ning preferred subordinates who were able to follow orders.
"Youji." They had returned to the Water Curtain Home inside the Badlands Court. "You can go and pay some visits to your friends in the Badlands Court. You can tell them that I am heading out towards the Allgod Estate."
"The Allgod Estate?" Su Youji was startled.
"Yes." Ning nodded.
"Alright. I'll make sure the entire Badlands Court knows." Su Youji laughed delightedly. She had far more friends here than Ning did, which was only natural; a woman of such charm and beauty would naturally be welcomed wherever she went.
"Also…I'm planning for us to leave three months from now," Ning said.
"Understood." Su Youji nodded.
If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know report chapter so we can fix it as soon as possible.
Report chapter
Read The Desolate Era - Chapter 21 – Allgod Estate online free - Novel Full
Book 25, Novessence Thunder, Chapter 21 – Allgod Estate
Three months later.
A white-robed youth and a fat man whose eyes brimmed with flames were striding shoulder-to-shoulder across the surface of a lake, advancing across the waves as they departed from the Badlands Court.
"Brother Ji Ning, you picked something of a bad time." The pudgy man chatted to Ning as they continued their journey forwards. "Quite a few people came back to the Badlands Court to take part in the treasure auction, but once it ended all of them quickly headed out to go adventuring. If you had spread the word right after the treasure auction that you had chosen to head to the Allgod Estate, at least four or five World-level experts would've chosen to go with you. But you instead chose to wait for more than two hundred years!"
The pudgy man chuckled. "Most of the people who wanted to go out already have."
This pudgy man was quite an amiable fellow, even though he looked rather ugly due to the jagged scars and tattoos that lined his face. His eyes brimmed with flames, and his skin was suffused with a faint red color as well. Even when he was smiling, he still looked quite frightening.
"I still have you, senior apprentice-brother Dragonbinder." Ning laughed.
"I purchased a treasure during the auction and spent a bit of time binding it. I was just about to head out anyhow. Our timing was perfect," the pudgy man said.
The two moved across the ground, their bodies flickering like illusions as they advanced nonstop.
Ning had waited three months for word of his journey to spread, but only a single member of the Badlands Court had chosen to journey with him – the pudgy fellow next to him, World God Dragonbinder!
They entered the spacetime transfer array and left the Badlands Everworld. They then boarded a flying ship, flew for several months, then finally reached the Allgod Estate.
The Allgod Chaosworld was an oceanic world. There were two great continents and a vast ocean that covered everything else. One continent held countless living beings while the other held the Allgod Estate.
Whooosh.
A cloud was floating through the skies. Ning and the pudgy man were standing atop the cloud, staring down at the vast world before them. They could vaguely make out the outlines of a towering edifice far off in the distance. That distant sight was enough to cause both Ning and World God Dragonbinder to feel breathless, as though they were staring upwards at something supreme.
"The Allgod Estate!" The pudgy man's eyes blazed with fire as he stared at the great edifice. He said in a low voice, "Brother Ji Ning, we've been fairly relaxed on the way over. Now that we are about enter the Allgod Estate, though…I want to make a few things clear to you! Once we go in, we need to do exactly as we discussed. You can't act rashly! If you do, then I'll have to part ways with you."
"Acting rashly in a place like this is suicide. Don't worry, senior apprentice-brother Dragonbinder," Ning said.
"Good." The pudgy man nodded. In truth, he felt certain that Ning wouldn't be so foolish. At the same time, he knew that unexpected things would sometimes happen! As a member of the Badlands Court, he was naturally quite a talented figure. He hadn't trained for very long, but he had already become a master-class World God. If he was to lose his life due to an act of foolishness on the part of Ji Ning, how lamentable that would be!
"The Allgod Estate was created by Daolord Allgod," the pudgy man said. "Daolord Allgod was an incredibly powerful Daolord. Although he failed his Daomerge, based on what I've learned I believe that he was a thousand times more powerful than other Daolords who were on the verge of the Daomerge."
"That much more powerful?" Ning was shocked. A thousand times?
This was insane!
Daolord Solesky himself had admitted that he was vastly inferior to Daolord Allgod. However, Ning didn't understand exactly how much more powerful Daolord Allgod had been. Even now, he could hardly believe what World God Dragonbinder was telling him. The difference in power was simply too great! If this was true, then it meant that Daolord Allgod had the power to easily slay other Daolords who were at the Verge.
"I'm not exaggerating. Although he failed his Daomerge, he once attacked and chased after an Eternal Emperor who had successfully completed his Daomerge. He pursued the man for multiple chaos cycles, and to this very day no one knows what happened to that Eternal Emperor." The pudgy man looked at Ning.
"He was really that powerful?!" Ning felt rather stunned. He only spent a brief period of time by Daolord Solesky's side and had spent most of his time at the Badlands Court in seclusion. Thus, he knew very little information regarding these mysterious, powerful figures. However, World God Dragonbinder was a true disciple of the Badlands Court who often conversed with his fellow cultivators. He knew quite a bit of 'secret' information.
"It is true. I once discussed this with our eldest disciple at the Court." World God Dragonbinder let out a sigh. "And…you should know that Daolords generally are afraid to try to enter the Allgod Estate."
The Allgod Estate was an extremely strange place.
30% of Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals were able to survive it, 50% of World-level experts were able to survive it, but…of the Daolords who dared to enter it, less than 10% would be able to emerge! This was an incredibly high casualty rate, making it so that not many Daolords dared to even attempt it.
"He was simply way too powerful!" World God Dragonbinder looked at Ning and smiled. "Although he's a bit ruthless towards other Daolords, he's quite benevolent towards World-level experts, Elder Gods, and Ancestral Immortals. He left behind more than ten thousand treasuries at the 'Ten Thousand Mountains' alone! Come, it is time for us to enter."
"Alright." Ning smiled as well.
Whoosh. Whoosh.
As the two simultaneously charged downwards, they suddenly encountered a region of twisted space. Moments later, both of them vanished.
Ning could sense space twisting around him. Moments later, he reappeared in the air with World God Dragonbinder next to him.
"How beautiful." Ning saw a long, winding series of majestic mountains located in front of him. The mountains were all interconnected and seemed to form a long, sinuous coiling dragon.
"The Ten Thousand Mountains of the Allgod Estate," World God Dragonbinder said softly.
"Right." Ning stared at them from afar as well.
There were countless mountains before them. At the end of the mountains there was a region of endless mist…and beyond the 'endless' mist there was an utterly dazzling, eye-catching estate of vast proportions. This estate was simply too vast. Even though they were very far away, they could still make out its details quite clearly.
"I can sense it…" Ning could sense the Mirrorsnow Painting within his Jindan region was calling out joyfully, having sensed a faint resonance nearby.
"It should be up ahead. According to what big brother Solesky said, it should be within the center of the Fog Sea." Ning stared at the endless Fog Sea located past the great mountains.
The outermost layer of the Allgod Estate consisted of the Ten Thousand Mountains. There were exactly ten thousand mountains in this region!
The second layer was the Fog Sea!
The core region was the actual, towering edifice known as the Castrum Divinitus.
"Brother Ji Ning." World God Dragonbinder looked at Ning. "Let's try out the Ten Thousand Mountains first. After that, I'll go to the Fog Sea by myself. You shouldn't go there; it is far too dangerous a place for you."
"Alright." Ning nodded.
He had come here mainly because he wanted to acquire the Mirrorsnow Painting. Since the painting was located within the Fog Sea, he naturally had to enter it! However, he knew that World God Dragonbinder was looking out for his best interests. According to what the vast majority of cultivators had experienced, although Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals had a good chance of surviving the mountain region, they would almost certainly die upon entering the Fog Sea.
However, World-level experts stood a very good chance of surviving the Fog Sea.
"Let's go," World God Dragonbinder said.
Whoosh. Whoosh.
The two flew through the air towards the nearest mountain.
Based on what past cultivators had discovered, there were two fairly safe paths that could be followed through the Ten Thousand Mountains.
After the two landed atop the mountain, they began to advance through its forests. Watery waves spread out in constant ripples around them as they kept a close eye on their surroundings.
They travelled through one mountain after another.
They travelled cautiously and didn't move too quickly. More than ten days passed in the blink of an eye, and they saw a number of Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals on their journey. However, all of them were so frightened upon seeing Ning and Dragonbinder that they immediately fled. Naturally, the two of them paid these minor figures no heed.
"Ji Ning, did you know? Every single mountain here holds the grave of a World-level expert," World God Dragonbinder said.
"I've heard." Ning nodded. "According to the stories, after Daolord Allgod failed his Daomerge he began to wander through the Endless Territories as he searched for cultivators who had committed many grave sins. More than ten thousand World-level experts died by his hand! Every single mountain is the rest spot for at least one of those evil cultivators.
"My guess is that Daolord Allgod wanted to kill as many sinners as he could to accumulate more karmic virtue, hoping that he might be able to find a way to survive." World God Dragonbinder sighed. "But once you fail your Daomerge, your death becomes an inevitability. Many powerful experts have tried using various methods to stay alive…but alas, all of those efforts came to naught."
The two continued to walk while chatting.
"Eh?"
"Eh?"
Ning and World God Dragonbinder both came to a halt. They raised their head to stare off into the distance. The forest here was blocking their vision, but they were able to see a half-opened door that was covered with some divine runes and inscriptions.
"Is that the treasury?" Ning and Dragonbinder exchanged a curious glance.
Every single mountain of the Ten Thousand Mountains held the corpse of a sinful cultivator as well as a treasury! This meant that there were ten thousand treasuries here…but the treasuries were tightly guarded and not easily accessed. This mountain, however, had a great gateway carved into it, and the runes covering the gateway were even more profound than the ones used to forge Dao weapons. Clearly, this had to be a treasury!
"Let's go in and take a look," Dragonbinder sent mentally. "We've found the treasury, but we won't necessarily be able to take it with us. Plus, the 'real' treasury might be inside there."
"Alright. Let's go." Ning carefully scrutinized the great door as well."
If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know report chapter so we can fix it as soon as possible.
Report chapter
Book 25, Novessence Thunder, Chapter 22 – Treasury
The great door was sixty meters tall and completely black. It was covered with complex silver runes that emanated ripples of might.
Ji Ning and World God Dragonbinder moved to stand directly in front of the great door.
"This is my first trip to the Allgod Estate." World God Dragonbinder let out a sigh. "Just by looking at this door, I can tell that the legends of Daolord Allgod were probably all true! How could a mere door be this complex and profound? This is just one of ten thousand treasures located within these mountains, and yet its restrictive spells are incredibly complex."
"Let's go in," Ning said with a laugh.
"Right." World God Dragonbinder nodded.
The two advanced together into the deep, dark hallway past the door.
Rumble…
Ning glanced backwards. As expected, the great door had already closed behind them.
Based on the information Ning had previously purchased, there were ten thousand mountains here and every single mountain had a treasury within it. If anyone passed through a treasury door, the door would temporarily swing shut behind them so as to bar any other cultivators from entering! If Ning and World God Dragonbinder failed in acquiring the treasures located in the treasury, the door would swing open and release the two of them.
If they successfully acquired the treasures, then the entire treasury region would crumble apart and reveal a different hallway that would grant them safe departure.
"There is light up ahead." Ning sped up just slightly.
"There shouldn't be any traps." World God Dragonbinder was quite excited as well.
The two quickly reached the end of this first hallway. Before them was a spacious region that was roughly thirty kilometers in size and filled with a layer of blurry light.
"This is the treasury region." World God Dragonbinder revealed a look of excitement. "This treasury region is still intact. That means it still holds its treasures."
"The treasures are hard to win. Less than one in ten thousand cultivators will succeed in their attempts." Ning couldn't help but sigh. Although the trials were quite difficult, so long as the door remained open and a steady stream of cultivators continued to enter this place, sooner or later there would be a successful trial-taker.
Whoosh. Whoosh.
Ning and World God Dragonbinder entered the treasury region of blurry light. Both of them grew more cautious as they did so, because this place had restrictive spells which had been emplaced by Daolord Allgod. Once those spells were triggered, even Daolords might perish!
"A corpse."
Ning stared at the very center of the treasury region. A stone coffin was located there, and a corpse could be made out inside of it. Above the stone coffin hovered a globe of light.
Thanks to their intelligence reports, both Ning and Dragonbinder knew that the light globes were where the treasures were stored! The ten thousand treasures in the mountains were all different. Some had a single powerful treasure, such as an Eternal weapon, while others had eight or nine different Dao weapons. Some even had extremely formidable techniques, forbidden arts, divine abilities, or special legacies…
In short, everything was possible.
"You try first, senior apprentice-brother Dragonbinder," Ning said.
"Alright, I'll try first." Dragonbinder nodded as he strode forward. When he reached a distance of three hundred meters from the stone coffin, the globe of light expanded in size to instantly become more than three hundred meters large!
Everything within that region transformed into a blur. Ning could no longer see World God Dragonbinder at all.
"I wonder which treasury this is." Ning waited quietly to one side. The reason he let World God Dragonbinder make the first attempt was because Dragonbinder was quite powerful! Even if Ning unleashed all of his power, he still would probably be forced to flee in the face of Dragonbinder's power. Dragonbinder was a true master-class World God, after all, and he had some special treasures of his own. He was definitely a match for the Starlord of Fogstone and arguably even a bit more powerful.
A period of time passed, enough to boil a kettle of tea.
"Whew." World God Dragonbinder emerged from that region of blurred space. The blurred space quickly shrank in size as the light was retracted back into the globe of light.
"Ugh." World God Dragonbinder shook his head. "That was ridiculously hard. Way too hard! Even if I spent another chaos cycle training for it, I still wouldn't have any chance of taking over this treasury."
"What was the trial?"
Every single treasury had its own trials as set down by Daolord Allgod. You would only gain the contents of the treasury if you succeeded in passing the trial. Everyone had to follow the rules of the game which Daolord Allgod had set down! Perhaps some ancient powers who had become Eternal Emperors might be able to forcibly plunder a few treasures, but those figures generally disdained from acting in such a manner.
In addition, Daolord Allgod's fame was so great that even many of those Eternal powers were afraid of him.
"It pertained to the mysteries of the Dao of Fire." World God Dragonbinder explained, "Although I'm quite talented in Fire and in Water, I'm not even close to being able to solve this trial."
"Fire?" Ning just stared.
Although he had some insights into Fire, he was still quite weak in this regard. He hadn't even mastered the Heavenly Dao of Fire! To pass Daolord Allgod's trial was quite unlikely.
Although Daolord Allgod gave trials to Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals which were easier than the trials he gave to World-level experts, Ning clearly wouldn't be able to succeed in this particular trial. If it was a trial over the Dao of the Sword, Ning would've given it a shot, but Fire?
"I'm very weak in the Dao of Fire." Ning shook his head. "I'll let one of my retainers give it a shot."
"Oh, Youji?" World God Dragonbinder grinned. It had been Flamefairy Su Youji who had informed the others that Ji Ning was heading to the Allgod Estate.
"Yes." Ning nodded, then willed her to emerge. Whoosh. An incomparably beautiful woman dressed in fiery robes appeared by his side. It was Su Youji, the Flamefairy.
"Master." Su Youji revealed a smile, then glanced at World God Dragonbinder. She said in a rather unhappy manner, "Senior Dragonbinder, you accompanied my master to this place but refused to let come out as well."
"That's because we wanted to wait until we could give you something nice, such as right now." World God Dragonbinder grinned at her.
"Something nice?" Su Youji was puzzled.
"Youji." Ning pointed at the distant light globe which hovered above that stone coffin. "We are in one of the treasury regions of the Ten Thousand Mountains of the Allgod Estate."
"A treasury? I heard that Daolord Allgod left behind ten thousand treasuries." Su Youji looked at the globe of light, a heated look in her eyes. She then glanced at Ning. "Master, you let me out because…?"
"Senior apprentice-brother Dragonbinder gave it a shot but failed. The trials of this treasury pertain to the Dao of Fire," Ning explained. "You are quite skilled in the Dao of Fire. You can be considered one of the most elite Elder Gods or Ancestral Immortals in this regard, and you are very close to becoming a World-level expert yourself. You might have a chance at passing this trial."
Su Youji began to grow rather excited.
She had heard others speak of this place before…
Every single trial in the Allgod Estate was incredibly difficult for World-level experts, but they were generally a bit easier for Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals. However, the trials were all different in nature. A Trial of Fire would test everyone in the Dao of Fire, whereas a Trial of Lightning would test everyone in the Dao of Lightning.
"Should I give it a try?" Su Youji looked at Ning.
"Go." Ning nodded.
Su Youji eagerly and nervously walked forward towards the stone coffin. Once she reached three hundred meters of it, the globe of light once more expanded to completely encompass her within it.
"Ji Ning, do you think Youji will be able to acquire the treasures?" World God Dragonbinder asked.
"She should have at least a 20% to 30% chance," Ning posited. After Daolord Solesky had given Su Youji some guidance, she had improved quite dramatically. She was just a hair away from becoming a World-level expert and could break through at any moment. Given how talented she was in the Dao of Fire, it was likely that she stood a very good chance.
Time continued to pass, one minute at a time.
"She's been inside for longer than me," World God Dragonbinder said expectantly.
"Yes." Ning nodded. He was rather excited as well. It would be wonderful if the treasury's contents ended up in one of their hands. If the treasures Su Youji acquired were of limited use to her but of tremendous use to World God Dragonbinder, she could trade them to him.
Whoosh. The Flamefairy suddenly emerged from that blurry region. The field of light quickly retracted and returned to the globe.
"I failed." Su Youji looked at Ning, a hint of disappointment and helplessness in her eyes. "I was so close! Just a bit more and I would've succeeded. If I had just slightly deeper insights into the Dao of Fire, I would've succeeded. Unfortunately, when that happens I'll probably reach the World level."
"The Daolord's trials must include a different component as well," World God Dragonbinder said.
"Mm. Perhaps. Based on the records I read, less than one in ten thousand cultivators will succeed in passing one of these trials. Most likely, you have to have certain special insights into the Dao of Fire in order to succeed." Su Youji nodded.
Ning nodded as well. "Now you two have gotten me interested. I want to give it a shot as well."
"You, Master? But your Dao of Fire…?" Su Youji looked at Ning. She had followed Ning for some time now and knew him to be very weak in the Dao of Fire.
"I can at least give it a try, right?" Ning also knew that he was quite weak in the Dao of Fire, but he had never tried one of these trials before. He wanted to at least experience it for himself. It was quite safe; no one had ever lost their lives in the treasuries before.
Whoosh.
Ning stepped into the range of the stone coffin as well. That globe of light emitted a large wave of light and quickly encompassed a region of three hundred meters with it.
If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know report chapter so we can fix it as soon as possible.
Report chapter
Book 25, Novessence Thunder, Chapter 23 – The Treasury's Trial
Ji Ning was transported into the blurry region of light.
"Eh?" Ning stared in surprise. In front of him were a series of walls of light that protected the light globe above the coffin. There were nine walls of light in total, and each of them were covered with flowing, fiery-red runes.
"Pass through all nine restrictive spells and you shall acquire the treasure." A booming voice rang out by Ning's ears.
Ning was puzzled.
Where did that voice come from? Was it the voice of Daolord Allgod, or was it the voice of a treasure spirit?
"Who cares." It didn't really matter. All Ning needed to know was that he had to be on his best behavior in a place which had been established by a Daolord of such incredible power.
"Pass through all nine restrictive spells? How?"
Ning stared at the first light barrier and the fiery red runes flowing atop it.
"Doesn't seem that hard." Ning quickly came to understand how the barrier worked. He pressed his palm onto the light barrier, filling it with his Immortal energy. Because Ning had already comprehended its mysteries, he was easily able to master it and take control over it.
"Disperse." Ning willed the light barrier to disperse. Whoosh. The first light barrier completely vanished, leaving eight more behind.
Ning once more advanced forward. The second barrier was also one covered by divine runes pertaining to the Dao of Fire, but they were clearly much more complicated. Ning just stood there, blinking several times as he stared at those runes.
"I had no idea the difference between me and Su Youji was this huge," Ning mumbled to himself. He was both an Elder God and an Ancestral Immortal, and so he was given the exact same trial as the one Su Youji had been given. She had said that she was 'very close' to succeeding, which meant that she had probably made it to the final light barrier and was very close to solving it."
"I…can't even understand the runes on this eighth barrier." Ning shook his head. "I really am weak in the Dao of Fire."
Despite this setback, Ning wasn't too disappointed.
Cultivation was a path filled with choices! If you chose to focus your efforts in areas you were skilled in, you would be able to advance much more quickly and even find it easier to break through certain bottlenecks. Ning was best suited to the Dao of the Sword. Even Lu Dongbin and Patriarch Subhuti had seen this in him all those years ago. Although Ning had made fairly quick breakthroughs in heartforce as well, heartforce remained a matter of the heart. Even after experiencing the great war that had shaken the Three Realms, Ning's heartforce was merely at the fourth stage. His Dao of the Sword, however, had advanced quite rapidly. He was now just one step away from sixth-stage swordforce, the 'Sword World' level. He had even invented a first stance for his [Quintessence Sword-Intent, the 'Blackmist' stance, and this stance was nearly as powerful as the third stance of the [Nameless] sword-art, the 'Great Firmament' stance.
The power of this technique was so great that it was superior to some weaker Sword Worlds!
All Sword Immortals trained in the Dao of the Sword, but no two Sword Worlds were the same. Some were dominating, others were insidious. Even two cultivators who trained in the exact same technique would end up with their own different insights into it. As for the 'Great Firmament' stance, it would result in one of the most powerful types of Sword World.
"The Dao of the Sword is my true Dao. Fire?" Ning shook his head and laughed.
"Uh…" Ning's face suddenly went blank.
"That voice said that I had to 'pass through all nine restrictive spells'." Ning glanced at the eight light barriers remaining. "It just said 'pass through'. It didn't say how I had to pass through."
"When I bind and take control over the restrictive spells, I can disperse them and pass through them." A strange light flickered in Ning's eyes. "But…if I forcibly break through them, I would also be able to pass through."
There were two ways of dealing with any formation.
The first method was to understand the formation and then break it down on a technical level. This was what Ning had done with the initial light barrier, and it was the most common solution.
The second method was just to overpower it with raw force!
It didn't matter how profound a formation was if an enemy could rip it apart using raw, overwhelming power!
"Would I be able to breach a formation left behind by Daolord Allgod?" Ning mused to himself.
He pondered for a moment, then he bowed respectfully and called out, "Revered Daolord, this junior is not capable of passing through these nine barriers through mastering and dispersing them. However, this junior would like to be so bold as to attempt breaking through using raw power."
After speaking, Ning turned his gaze towards the eight light barriers.
"Break!" Ning thrust out his palm, forming a streak of light at the tip of his fingers. The streak of light had the vague form of a sword, and it was filled with Ning's azureflower mist energy. Ning even activated the Seventh Cycle of the [Starseizing Hand] in his two hands, making his fingers comparable to Dao weapons.
Boom!
As Ning struck out, the second barrier of light trembled then shattered apart.
"It broke?" Ning was overjoyed. However, he wasn't in a hurry to press the attack, instead pausing for a brief moment to see if there were any repercussions.
Nothing happened.
"It seems as though using raw power to break through the formation isn't considered a violation of the Daolord's decree."
"Let me continue." Ning took another step forward, his right hand quickly executing the savage 'Blood Drop' stance as he sent it stabbing towards a light barrier. Whoosh! It struck out like a sharp sword, stabbing into the light barrier. The light barrier trembled twice, then shattered apart.
Ning laughed.
His power was nothing to joke about. With the azureflower mist energy reinforcing him, he was every bit as strong as a World God! The power of this blow was as strong as a blow from an actual World God…but of course, this was merely the seventh barrier.
"I still wonder where this 'azureflower region' formed by the merging of the Nine Chaos Seals came from." Ning felt increasingly amazed by how unearthly powerful this technique was. Without it, he would at most have the body of a half-step World God. Even with Violetjewel, he would be just barely comparable to a normal World God at best. He wouldn't even be a match for an elite World God! Now that the azureflower mist energy was reinforcing his body, he was definitely as physically strong as a World God. With Violetjewel in hand, he was able to give master-class World Gods a run for their money.
"I wonder how powerful I will be when I become a World God." Ning fantasized about it for a moment, then returned to the matter at hand.
"Time to continue." Ning once more struck out, attacking the sixth barrier. However, this one was clearly much harder to penetrate. Ning wasn't able to breach it with his first strike and needed to hack at it multiple times before succeeding.
"I'll use my sword, I guess." Ning waved his hand, producing Violetjewel.
"Break!" He stabbed out with his sword, activating a hint of its quintessence core as he did so.
Hiss!
The sword easily stabbed straight into that barrier of light.
"Again!"
"And again!"
Ning stepped forward one step at a time. With Violetjewel in hand, his strikes were now much more powerful. This was a formation meant to test Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals. Ning naturally found it quite easy to penetrate. Even without using the Blackmist stance, he was still able to breach the seven of the nine barriers.
"The eighth barrier?" Ning once more stabbed out with his sword. This time, however, he failed.
"Hmph." Ning solemnly held Violetjewel in his hands…then suddenly lashed out, transforming it into a bloody shadow of sword-light. Violetjewel left a streak of terrifying, bloody red light in its wake as it pierced forward. This was the power of its quintessence core! Violetjewel itself was covered in bloody light that radiated an aura of astonishing might.
[Quintessence Sword-Intent, first stance – Blackmist stance.
Whoosh!
The bloody sword-light stabbed straight through the eighth barrier, causing it to crumble.
"Just one left." Ning didn't hesitate at all, once more striking out with his ultimate attack. The azureflower mist energy made Ning's sword far faster than the limits of the Heavenly Daos, while the quintessence core of the sword made this Eternal weapon irresistibly sharp! It was very sharp, very powerful, and incomparably fast. This blow would've been able to easily shatter a chaosworld apart. Even if the Solar Star or the Lunar Star were in front of Ning, they would have been pierced through by this blow.
Boom!
When the tip of the sword slammed against the ninth barrier, the barrier began to tremble violently. Ripples shuddered over its surface as though a rock had fallen into a pool of water…and yet, it did not break.
"I'm still a bit too weak?" Ning was stunned.
His blows were now incredibly powerful thanks to his own great strength and the fact that he had an Eternal weapon.
"I told you to break!" Ning once more struck out with his most powerful killing blow. Although the ninth barrier shuddered violently, it was clear that Ning's blows were just a bit too weak to break it.
"Eh?!" Ning frowned. This was already the most powerful sword-strike he was capable of mustering.
"I guess I'll have to find a way to strengthen the power of that blow." Ning immediately stepped back, moving to stand just within the three hundred meter radius of the blurry light region.
Whoosh. A pair of azure wings appeared behind Ning's back, crackling with electric light. These were the 'Thunderlight Wings' which Ning had purchased during the treasure auction. The wings used lightning as their energy source and sword-light to tear through all obstructions, allowing the user to move at incredible speeds.
"Attack!"
The wings trembled, instantly sending Ning hurtling through the torn layers of space and allowing him to move at tremendous speed as he moved towards the ninth light barrier like a streak of light himself.
Cultivators needed a bit of distance to build up speed as well. Long-distance flying speed and short-distance dodging speed were two completely different things. It was extremely difficult for one to instantly unleash all of his power and speed! Three hundred meters simply wasn't enough. Ning had to use the Thunderlight Wings to build up enough speed to surpass the limits of the Heavenly Daos. Without it, Ning would perhaps only be able to move at 60% of his normal speed.
"Break!" As Ning charged out, he once more struck forward with his Eternal weapon!
A sword's attack speed was extremely important.
Even a pebble that moved at the speed of light could cause tremendous damage. By the same principle, a sword that moved 30% faster than it previously did could easily cause more than double the amount of damage! If Ning just struck out from point-blank distance, there was no way for him to increase the speed of his sword. Thus, he was forced to resort to the most primitive of options…fly forward at high speed and borrow from his own speed to deliver a full-force blow. This instantly allowed his sword to move 20% or 30% faster than before.
BOOM!!! Ning's terrifyingly sharp Eternal weapon struck out like a bloody blur. Although it paused momentarily, in the end it still pierced straight through the light barrier.
BANG!!!! The final light barrier disintegrated.
The light globe above the stone coffin was now within arm's reach!
If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know report chapter so we can fix it as soon as possible.
Report chapter
Book 25, Novessence Thunder, Chapter 24 – Formation Spirit
Ji Ning looked at the globe of light hovering above the coffin. He couldn't help but feel slightly excited; this was a treasury left behind by Daolord Allgod, after all! He really was quite lucky to have encountered a treasury so soon after entering the Allgod Estate.
Whoosh. Ning reached out with his hand, touching the light globe with his fingers.
"Eh?" Ning's face changed. He sent his fingers through the light globe two more times, completely confused. "Nothing? There's nothing inside?"
When his fingers touched the light globe, they went straight through the globe as though the globe didn't even exist. There really was nothing inside.
Rumble…
Suddenly, a beam of light descended out of nowhere, materializing next to the stone coffin into the shape a white-robed old man.
Although Ning was quite surprised, he was able to keep calm. This was because he knew exactly how powerful the restrictive spells Daolord Allgod had left behind. It was capable of easily slaying most Daolords; if the formation wanted him dead, he had no chance of fighting back at all! However, countless cultivators throughout countless chaos cycles had ventured through these treasuries. There was no danger here whatsoever! No one had ever lost their lives while trying to gain a treasure from within a treasury.
"An Elder God?" The white-robed elder glanced at Ning. The old man emanated an aura of natural majesty and prestige, but he chuckled softly as he looked at Ning. "Can you tell me your name?"
"Darknorth." Ning looked at the elder. "Who are you, senior?"
"The formation-spirit of the Ten Thousand Mountains. My master once gave me a name, 'Myriad Mountains'," the old man said.
"Formation-spirit?" Ning was surprised.
It was quite normal for treasures to give birth to treasure-spirits. However, it was incredibly rare for powerful formations to gain sentience as well. For example, the ancient spacetime transfer arrays that were spread throughout the various territories of the primordial chaos had existed for countless chaos cycles, but Ning had never heard of any of them gaining sentience. Similarly, although some incredibly powerful formations would appear during various treasure auctions, Ning had never heard of any of them possessing sentience.
"Is it really that surprising? Master lay down three formations in total: the Ten Thousand Mountains Formation, the Fog Sea Formation, and the Allgod Estate Formation. He infused all three with his most profound insights into formations, and all three of us gained sentience." The old man looked at Ning. "Someone on your level cannot possibly even imagine how truly powerful Master was. You might've met some Samsara Daolords in the past, but don't even try to judge Master by their yardstick. They aren't worthy! Only a Samsara Daolord who has pursued an Eternal Emperor after sending them fleeing can be discussed in the same breath as my master."
Although countless years had passed, the spirit of this formation was still filled with the utmost of pride in his master.
"Understood." Ning nodded.
If you boasted while having nothing to back it up, others would mock you. However, Daolord Allgod was so powerful that even Daolord Solesky was in awe of him and admitted inferiority before his prowess. Even Daolord Badlands would sigh in awe when discussing Daolord Allgod with his subordinates and juniors. Clearly, Daolord Allgod had been so awe-inspiring a figure in life that even now, after having died countless ages ago, his fame continued to resonate with later generations of cultivators.
"There's no need for me to wax on any longer regarding how almighty Master was. Once you become a Daolord, you'll understand," the white-robed elder said.
"Me? A Daolord?" Ning laughed. "Why do you have such confidence in me, senior?"
"You clearly are just an Elder God, but you are capable of unleashing the power of a master-class World God." The formation-spirit sighed. "It would be very easy for you to kill weak World Gods. An Elder God capable of easily killing most World Gods! There are very, very few monsters such as you. Many people will have a chance to encounter a Samsara Daolord in their lifetimes, but meeting a monster like you is incredibly rare."
"Monsters like you generally are blessed with tremendous luck. Based on what I know, roughly 80% of people like you end up becoming Samsara Daolords," the formation-spirit said.
"Oh? Eighty percent?" Ning nodded slowly.
In the Three Realms, there was a belief in 'karmic luck'. Luck was an ephemeral, fleeting thing. No cultivator had 'fixed' luck, as luck could often change. For example, you might be born into an incredibly good family with your parents both being powerful Immortals or Fiendgods. Someone born into a situation like this could be said to be born into a tremendously lucky situation. However, if this person ended up becoming a silkpants wastrel who didn't work hard in cultivation, his karmic luck would begin to decline.
Ji Ning, for example. He was reincarnated into a decent family and with the Nuwa Painting, and so it could be said that he was born with fairly decent luck. After he gained the legacy of Daoist Threelives, his karmic luck became even better.
Every single person had to fight for their own karmic luck.
However, the karmic luck of the Three Realms was quite weak compared to the overwhelming power of the primordial chaos. Ning was now fighting to gain the karmic luck of the Endless Territories! There were some World-level cultivators who would massacre the living creatures of many chaosworlds, causing great sin to accrue upon them. Daolord Allgod had once chased after and slaughtered countless great sinners, resulting in more and more karmic luck and karmic blessings being bestowed upon him. Karmic virtue and karmic sin existed in the Endless Territories…and so too did karmic luck!
In the Three Realms, three people gained the Nine Chaos Seals – Nuwa, Ji Ning, and Daoist Three Purities. All of them gained tremendous karmic luck as a result. If it wasn't for the Nine Chaos Seals, Ning wouldn't be able to easily slay weak World Gods as a mere Elder God!
"However, on the path of cultivation, either you advance forward or you slowly fall behind." The formation-spirit looked at Ning. "My master was even more monstrously talented than you are. Alas, he still failed in his Daomerge. He died and his Dao faded away. Remember to treasure every single scrap of karmic luck you come across."
"Thank you for your words of wisdom." Ning nodded.
"Actually, all of the treasuries here in the Ten Thousand Mountains are empty." The elderly formation-spirit looked at Ning. "I decide what treasures are to be awarded to those who pass the trials. Master left me with many treasures and decreed that I can teleport any of them into the globe of light. He certainly didn't want to be bothered with such minor matters."
Ning finally understood.
"In this treasury, I had originally intended the light globe to be filled with an idol of fire that was filled with the mysteries of the Dao of Fire." As the elderly formation-spirit spoke, he waved his hand and produced a palm-sized fiery idol. This idol had eight faces, some beautiful, some ugly, some stern. The idol was covered with countless mysterious runes.
"However…"
"Every single Elder God who wishes to try and break the treasury formations here in the Ten Thousand Islands has to have at least the power of a master-class World God. If they do, then they can succeed." The elderly formation-spirit looked at Ning. "Every single monstrously talented figure such as yourself is qualified to receive a treasure…but of course, you have to find a treasury first."
Ning nodded.
"However, each person will only have one such opportunity."
"On your very first trip here, you defeated a barrier spell through raw power. As a result, the seeds of good karma have been sown between us! However, you'll find that you will no longer be able to break through any of the other barrier spells using raw power," the elderly formation-spirit said.
"Understood." Ning said in surprise, "But senior, you spoke of 'sowing the seeds of good karma'. Although I feel confident in my powers, you are the formation-spirit of the Ten Thousand Mountains. Can it be that there is something you wish Darknorth to do, senior?"
The elderly formation-spirit said, "There is indeed one thing. However, I won't force you to do it; I merely hope that you can help."
"Please let me know what you wish me to do, senior." Ning was puzzled.
"My master had a hated foe." A savage light flickered through the elderly formation-spirit's eyes, and a murderous aura permeated his voice. "Master pursued his foe for many years, spending enormous amounts of effort in his attempt to kill him. Alas, in the end he wasn't able to do so. His foe ended up fleeing."
Ning was stunned. "Senior, are you speaking of that Eternal Emperor he pursued?"
"Yes. The Eternal Emperor." The formation-spirit explained, "His name was Emperor Melobo."
"Emperor Melobo?" Ning tasted the name. The name felt foreign, alien.
"According to what Badlands told me, Emperor Melobo has already returned." The elderly formation-spirit laughed coldly. "My master chased him all the way into the endless darkness, where he hid himself from my master's sight. He must have returned only after learning that my master died."
Although Ning was surprised that Daolord Badlands was apparently acquainted with the formation-spirit, he couldn't help but instead first ask, "Senior, are you asking me to deal with this Eternal Emperor in the future?"
"I am." The elderly formation-spirit nodded.
Ning was speechless. "Senior, you think too highly of me."
Eternal Emperors were eternal figures who had succeeded in their Daomerge! Daolord Allgod had died countless years ago but Emperor Melobo was still alive and well.
Daolord Allgod had chased after Emperor Melobo for countless years but had been unable to slay him. In other words, there wasn't an enormous difference in power between the two. Given how much time had passed, Emperor Melobo had to have grown more powerful.
"Haha, I'm just planting seeds to sprout in the future. I don't expect all of them to blossom." The elderly formation-spirit explained, "In addition, Emperor Melobo is an enemy of the entire Dao Alliance! You came here with World God Dragonbinder of the Badlands Court. Given that he trusts you, I imagine you should be a member of the Dao Alliance as well. There's no way a monstrously talented genius like you would betray them for our enemies."
"What is a 'Dao Alliance'?" Ning was rather dazed now.
"An alliance which encompasses virtually all of the cultivators of the Endless Territories." The elderly formation-spirit looked at Ning. "Daolord Badlands is a member as well, and long ago the seeds of good karma were sown between the two of us as well. Haha…of the many seeds that I have sown, his has been the most illustrious one to date. I know all the disciples of the Badlands Court. Given that you came alongside World God Dragonbinder, you should also be a member of the Dao Alliance. Are you a member of the Badlands Court or…?"
"Vastheaven Palace," Ning said.
Daolord Solesky was on very good terms with Daolord Badlands, and they were willing to meet each other in public. This meant they were probably on the same side.
However, this 'Dao Alliance' sounded quite powerful. An alliance comprising almost all the cultivators of the Endless Territories? What an extravagant claim.
"Ah." The elderly formation-spirit nodded. "I've heard Badlands speak of Vastheaven Palace before. Yes, it is indeed part of the Dao Alliance as well. I'm not surprised you haven't heard of the Dao Alliance, as you are still too young and weak. Even amongst World Gods, 99% of them will have never heard of the Dao Alliance! Only the truly illustrious World-level experts will be accepted into the Dao Alliance, as the alliance is primarily composed of Samsara Daolords. I expect World God Dragonbinder has perhaps heard of the Dao Alliance."
"The mysteries of the Endless Territories are not for someone like you to comprehend. However, there are some dangers that are aimed at all cultivators…and Emperor Melobo is one of them." The elderly formation-spirit looked at Ning.
"But enough of that. Once you become a World-level expert, your clan or sect will inform you of some of our mysteries. In addition, my information is a bit outdated." The elderly formation-spirit nodded. "Well, then. What treasure do you want?"
If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know report chapter so we can fix it as soon as possible.
Report chapter
Book 25, Novessence Thunder, Chapter 25 – The Nine Secret Arts – Secret Art of Thunder
"You've passed the trial. You deserve a treasure." The elderly formation-spirit looked at Ji Ning. "I have many treasures. Which treasure do you desire the most? If I have it, I'll give it to you."
Ning had been still musing about this 'Dao Alliance'. Upon hearing the formation-spirit's question, he turned his attention to the treasury. Hesitating slightly, he asked, "Do you have any scrolls of the Mirrorsnow Painting?"
"I do not." The elderly formation-spirit shook his head. Daolord Allgod had left behind many treasures, but the Mirrorsnow Painting was not one of them.
"Oh…" Ning continued to ponder.
What treasure? What treasure did he need? The opportunity to choose a treasure was a priceless one. Many thoughts flitted through Ning's mind. After having experienced a treasure auction, Ning now knew of many more treasures than he had in the past.
"I guess I was wrong to make that suggestion. You don't even know what treasures I have. How about this…what are you skilled in?" The formation-spirit chuckled. "Aside from the Dao of the Sword."
"I'm most skilled in the Dao of the Sword. Aside from that, I'm also skilled in lightning and in water," Ning said.
"Master's title was 'Allgod'," the elderly formation-spirit explained, "Precisely because he was skilled in almost everything! Alchemy, formations…he was a master of many Daos. Unfortunately, he truly wasn't that skilled in the Dao of the Sword. He was, however, extremely skilled in the Dao of Lightning! However, you'll be fighting against enemies well above your level. Lightning-attribute techniques won't be that useful to you."
His old face wrinkled as he frowned. Clearly, he was pondering this question.
"I have it!" The formation-spirit looked at Ning, then reached out with his hand and generated a spatial ripple from his palm. Moments later, a jade slip appeared.
"This jade slip now belongs to you." The formation-spirit passed it over to Ning, sending it floating through the air.
"Also, the treasure that was originally assigned to this treasury…" The elderly formation-spirit tossed out a second item, a fiery idol. "This is yours as well. My master once slew a vile Daolord who trained in the Dao of Fire and took this idol from him. If you were to sell it, you'd be able to sell it for one or two thousand cubes of chaos nectar. As for the jade slip, it contains a secret art which Master personally developed. Its value is incalculable. Not even the combined value of four or five Eternal weapons would be a match for it."
Ning was shocked.
For the idol to be worth one or two thousand cubes made sense. The jade slip, however, was truly amazing.
Ning accepted the idol, then turned to look at the jade slip. The jade slip was a inky jade color, and one could see faint characters carved into the inky jade. Ning sent his coresense into it, quickly discovering that it contained a lifeblood oath.
"I swear on my very life itself that prior to becoming a Samsara Daolord, I am not to share this [Novessence Thunder] secret art with anyone else." The lifeblood oath was quite simply worded.
Almost all techniques required lifeblood oaths to be sworn, be it treasures acquired from a treasure auction or from one's sect.
Rumble…
As soon as Ning swore the oath, an enormous amount of information poured into his mind. Daolord Allgod had left behind an utterly amazing lightning-attribute secret art in this jade slip, and all of it was put on display for Ning.
This secret art was known as the [Novessence Thunder].
Daolord Allgod was an ancient power who was extremely skilled in alchemy, formations, artificing, and many other arts. At his level, only divine abilities and secret arts that he personally developed would be a good fit for him. Thus, he poured some of his insights into alchemy and artificing into developing secret arts that were meant to give himself greater power.
The more power, the better!
Daolord Allgod had created a total of nine mighty secret arts. These secret arts could be used at long range, allowing him to effortlessly dominate other experts on his level. In fact, he could even use them to tangle with Eternal Emperors!
As for the [Novessence Thunder, it was one of those nine mighty secret arts!
"A secret art like this can actually exist?!" Ning was boggled as he read through the information. "A secret art like this can exist?!"
This technique completely destroyed Ning's preconceptions regarding secret arts.
Most techniques or secret arts required the wielder to have certain insights into the Dao, allowing him to use certain special technical tricks. The forbidden arts used by God Emperor Blacklotus fell into this category.
Ning's [Nameless] sword-art was a good example. It had multiple levels, and only when one gained a high level of insight into the Dao of the Sword could one use the increasingly profound levels of the [Nameless] sword-art.
However, the [Novessence Thunder] was completely different.
It was like alchemy. When forging pills, one would gather all sorts of rare and precious ingredients, mix them together, use fire and energy to smelt them, then form them into a marvelous pill.
The [Novessence Thunder] required the wielder to harvest nine types of divine lightning, mix them together in a complicated way that was akin to alchemy, then transform them into a perfect thunder-attribute secret art.
As for the mixing process, Ning was rendered completely speechless upon reading it.
It was simply perfect. It was like a work of absolute art.
"In his hands, thunder and lightning were playthings that he could mold as he pleased. He was able to effortless mix various types of lightning together, joining them into an incredibly powerful secret art of thunder." Ning was truly stunned. He had once bound a Ninehorn Lightning Serpent, and so he knew very well that lightning was intrinsically a type of force that was extremely wild and savage. Just binding and refining lightning was extremely difficult, to say nothing of using quasi-alchemical methods to mix multiple types of lightning together to form a secret art. This was truly unimaginable.
There were two sections to the [Novessence Thunder].
The first section required the user to harvest nine specific types of chaos lightning. These nine types of chaos lightning, by themselves, weren't even capable of killing an ordinary World God. However, once you perfectly mixed these nine types of ordinary chaos lightning together in a certain manner through this secret art, you would be able to slay master-class World Gods and suppress even supreme World Gods!
The power of this secret art completely surpassed any Eternal weapon.
The second section involved harvesting nine specific types of Dao lightning. These types of Dao lightning had to be naturally harvested and not artificially manufactured, and they were incredibly rare. When Daolord Allgod created this technique, he had been at the Verge. He had many types of divine Dao lightning to choose from, but in the end he was only able to find these nine types which were suitable. After binding and smelting them together, he instantly rose to stand at the very peak of power amongst Daolords!
However…
It was extremely difficult for a person to succeed in mastering this technique!
"This truly is an inconceivable secret art." Ning couldn't help but praise the technique. "I've never seen anything like it. So lightning can be manipulated in a way such as this?"
"For the sake of killing Emperor Melobo, Master poured all of his energy into coming up with those nine mighty secret arts. Every single one of them was so powerful as to allow any wielder to gaze down upon the other heroes of the realm. Generally speaking, even Samsara Daolords at the Verge would find it difficult to withstand these techniques. When the nine secret arts are used together, they are capable of killing almost any Samsara Daolord." The formation-spirit was quite proud. "Although the nine secret arts weren't able to slay Emperor Melobo, all nine of them were able to form domain-type effects that were able to completely suppress him. As a result, Emperor Melobo's power in battle was weakened to roughly a half of his maximum power."
Ning nodded.
Having fully reviewed this technique, he knew quite well that once one completely mastered the first section of the [Novessence Thunder, one would be able to unleash an awe-inspiring domain of endless lightning bolts that stretched out more than a million kilometers. This was a lightning domain! It could suppress even supreme World-level experts. Even if Ning ended up encountering an extremely powerful figure which the lightning domain couldn't kill, it would still dramatically weaken them and ensure they would only be able to unleash half of their full power.
"Nine secret arts…" Ning couldn't help but sigh in amazement.
"Unfortunately, Emperor Melobo still managed to escape in the end. He was simply too skilled in fleeing techniques." The formation-spirit sighed. "Before Master died, he left all nine of his secret arts with the Dao Alliance. If you render great services unto the Dao Alliance or are able to sell them enough treasures, you'll be able to learn all nine techniques from them. However, these secrets are far more valuable than even the 'Pseudo Samsara pills' which so many World-level experts lust over! Even most Samsara Daolords would love to have a chance to learn any one of these nine secret arts."
Ning nodded.
Secret arts were incredibly powerful, but Ning also understood that mastering them could be incredibly difficult!
In this case, harvesting the nine types of lightning was just one of many difficult tasks. What really mattered was the process of perfectly alchemizing them together into a perfect blend. Actually succeeding in this required the user to be very, very skilled in multiple areas. Daolord Allgod was an ancient power who was skilled in alchemy, formations, and more, which was why he was able to accomplish it. However, when Ning viewed the technique he had two responses. First, he felt that the technique was so beautiful it was like a perfect work of art. Then, he felt a cold chill run down his spine. Training in this technique would be incredibly hard.
"Thank goodness I have a powerful divine body. My divine power is far more robust than others at my level, as is my soul. I should still be able to succeed in this secret art," Ning mused to himself.
"I've given you the secret art. I hope that, in the future, you'll at least be able to reach Daolord Badlands' level," the formation-spirit said. "Alright. Now that you've taken the treasure from this treasury, hurry up and leave this place alongside your companions. This treasure region is about to fall apart."
Whoosh. After speaking, the formation-spirit's body dispersed into particles of light, then vanished. The light globe above the stone coffin also vanished, as did the region of light around the coffin.
World God Dragonbinder and Flamefairy Su Youji stared towards Ning from their original positions.
"Master."
"Brother Ji Ning."
The two called out to him at the same time.
Rumble…
The treasure region began to shake as one of the walls split apart, revealing a new passageway.
"This treasure region is about to crumble. We need to hurry up and leave." Ning didn't have a chance to explain what had just happened.
"Let's go." World God Dragonbinder and Su Youji both understood that time was of the essence. The three immediately moved at high speed towards that distant passageway.
Rumble…
The enormous treasury region began to completely fall apart. Boulders slammed down from the ceiling, completely burying the passageway behind them as the treasury sank down into the ground.
If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know report chapter so we can fix it as soon as possible.
Report chapter
Book 25, Novessence Thunder, Chapter 26 – A World-Level Retainer
Ji Ning, Su Youji, and World God Dragonbinder travelled through the new passageway and reached another part of the mountain. They all turned to glance at the collapsed treasury.
"Brother Ji Ning, congratulations! You acquired the treasures," World God Dragonbinder said.
"You are formidable as always, Master." Su Youji was filled with admiration for Ning.
"Brother Ji Ning, I don't quite understand…both the Flamefairy and I attempted the trial but neither of us could retrieve the treasures. But you, brother Ji Ning…" World God Dragonbinder couldn't help but ask this question. He knew that Ji Ning was most skilled with the sword. If the trial was a trial of the Dao of the Sword, fine. But this clearly was a trial of the Dao of Fire!
Even the Flamefairy, who was just a hair away from becoming a Chaos Immortal, was unable to pass this trial. How could Ji Ning have succeeded?
"There are certain secrets and tricks to overcoming the treasury trials which Daolord Allgod laid down." This was the only thing Ning said in response.
World God Dragonbinder and Su Youji both understood. The answer most likely involved some of Ji Ning's personal secrets, and so they no longer asked. Cultivators sometimes would be placed under lifeblood oaths or simply be unwilling to disclose their most powerful, life-saving techniques. Thus, in general if someone didn't wish to discuss something, others wouldn't force the topic.
"I did acquire a treasure from within this treasury." Ning waved his hand, producing a palm-sized fiery idol.
"What is this?" World God Dragonbinder's gaze turned dreamy for a moment as his attention became absorbed by this idol.
As for the Flamefairy, her response was even more exaggerated. As she stared at the fiery idol, she was completely captivated by it.
As a master-class World God, Dragonbinder was quickly able to shake off the effect and come to his senses. He looked at Ning in an admiring manner. "Brother Ji Ning, I'm surprised that you are willing to show this treasure to the two of us in such a casual fashion. This idol hides within it a fire-attribute technique of tremendous profundity. The idol itself has eight faces, with each face representing one of eight great mysteries. This is something far more valuable than a mere technique-holding jade slip. Jade slips merely contain information on a technique; if you want to understand the technique, you have to slowly meditate on it. This fiery idol, however, has eight different auras and intents that can actually guide the cultivator in the correct method to train in this technique."
"I've already become a master-class World God. What I now need to do is find my own path and then follow it to become a Samsara Daolord! These techniques are useless to me, but they are of tremendous use to the Flamefairy." World God Dragonbinder explained, "This idol has to be worth over a thousand cubes of chaos nectar. Generally speaking, a person would have to pay a hundred cubes to even be given the chance to merely 'borrow' this idol to look at it for a while. You truly are generous to this retainer of yours."
"It is useless to me but useful to her. I'm naturally going to give it to her. She's my retainer! If she becomes more powerful, that means my team will be more powerful," Ning said with a laugh.
"Ahaha…" World God Dragonbinder nodded.
Different cultivators treated their retainers in different manners. Some cultivators who were on the same general level of power as their retainers would treat them as friends and equals. However, if there was an enormous disparity in power the retainers would often be treated like slaves! When Daolord Windsource died, he even took quite a few of his disciples with him, to say nothing of his retainers.
During his time in the Badlands Court, Ning had sparred with quite a few people. His sword-arts were so profound that no Elder God or Ancestral Immortal in the Badlands Court was a match for him. From this alone, World God Dragonbinder could tell that Ji Ning was definitely comparable to a World God in power! He had to be much more powerful than Su Youji. For him to be courteous to her was one thing, but for him to give her such a valuable legacy in such a straightforward manner was something else. This sort of behavior was fairly rare.
"Eh?" Ning turned to look at Su Youji. A look flickered through World God Dragonbinder's eyes as he turned to look at her as well.
Su Youji had already shut her eyes and vague ripples of fire had begun to swirl around her.
"Sudden enlightenment?" World God Dragonbinder said softly.
"Yes." Ning nodded. They were inside the Allgod Estate, a very dangerous place. Generally speaking, no one would engage in meditation here. If Su Youji was here by herself and a prajna-state of sudden enlightenment descended upon her, she would probably break it right away. She would first leave the ruins, find a safe place to stay, then re-engage in her meditations. However, in doing so she would've lost the benefit from this prajna-state of sudden enlightenment. Thankfully, she was alongside Ji Ning and World God Dragonbinder. She trusted that the two would protect her, and so she allowed herself to be drawn into the prajna-state.
"Come here." Ning waved his hand, causing Su Youji to be drawn into his estate-treasure and be placed atop an island.
Ning exerted his will, causing that island to be completely separated from the rest of the estate-world. As the master of this estate-world, Ning was able to ensure that there was absolutely no way that Su Youji's moment of enlightenment would be disturbed.
"It seems likely that the Flamefairy is going to break through to become a Chaos Immortal." World God Dragonbinder let out an impressed sigh.
"Yes." Ning nodded. "Youji was always quite talented. In the past, however, she never had any good teachers. Although my big brother Daolord Solesky gave her a few tips, he did so in a rather casual manner. This idol, however, has a truly systemized and complete technique within it."
"Yes. This idol can guide someone to become a master-class World-level figure. Haha, Ji Ning…it seems you are about to acquire a World-level retainer." World God Dragonbinder laughed.
"I can feel the pressure already." Ning laughed as well.
"Hurry up and make your own breakthrough as well. Your sword-arts are as impressive as the sword-arts of quite a number of World-level Sword Immortals that I know," World God Dragonbinder said.
"Mm." Ning himself could sense that he had reached a bottleneck in the 'Great Firmament' stance. However, he was fairly close to making his breakthrough. The [Nameless] sword-art was an extremely profound sword-art; upon mastering this next level, he would form a Sword World that was far stronger than that of most Sword Immortals! As for Ning's own 'Blackmist' stance, it was a stance that was fairly close in power to the 'Great Firmament' stance.
"Although I'm just a hair's breadth away, that tiny bit of distance has prevented countless Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals from taking the next step." Ning let out a sigh.
"True." World God Dragonbinder couldn't help but think about himself and the many other cultivators who were trapped as master-class World-level experts and were unable to make a breakthrough. "A single step that can be as wide as a moat that separates the heavens and the earth."
That final step was the hardest step to take.
There were many, many master-class World-level experts. Even the Starlord of Fogstone, who had only trained for a fairly short period of time, had become a master-class World God. So had God Emperor Blackstone! But how few of them would become into Samsara Daolords?
"Let's go view some other places," Ning said.
Ning and World God Dragonbinder were fairly strong, and the Ten Thousand Mountains were merely the outermost layer of the Allgod Estate. There were actually very few World-level experts here; most cultivators present were Elder Gods or Ancestral Immortals. Thus, the two were essentially able to roam through this region as they pleased. No one dared to antagonize the two of them.
In the blink of an eye, more than two years had gone by.
Given how powerful Ning and Dragonbinder were, the 'outer region' truly was of no challenge to them. This was especially true for World God Dragonbinder. He was an exalted master-class World God; he naturally had to enter the Fog Sea to test himself! And yet, because they needed to stand guard for the Flamefairy, he had remained by Ning's side instead of venturing into the more dangerous Fog Sea region.
"Sorry to have troubled you, brother Dragonbinder. I've made you waste quite a bit of time here in the outer region." Ning sat down on a stone as he held out a flask of wine.
"It's just two or three years, and I'll be able to see a new Chaos Immortal be born. No big deal at all. Uh…wow. This is good wine. Good lord, brother Ji Ning…how much money did you spend on Immortal wine?" World God Dragonbinder was guzzling wine with gusto.
"Ten cubes," Ning said.
"Nice, nice." World God Dragonbinder certainly wasn't willing to spend this much money on wine.
When Ning had departed from the Windsource Ruins, he was laden down with many treasures. Thus, he chose to spend ten cubes of his wealth to purchase a great deal of fine Immortal wine. He was living in the Badlands Court and would often receive their disciples as his guests. How could he allow himself to be lacking in wine? The Immortal wine he had purchased had been created through many different valuable ingredients. Once it was consumed, it would actually help the imbiber by replenishing his Immortal ki.
Suddenly…
Rumble…
A dim sound rang out from the heavens above them.
The seated Ning and Dragonbinder both turned their heads to stare at the heavens. The vague image of a vortex of chaos energy could be seen swirling in the skies.
"We can even see the chaos vortex from within the Allgod Estate. There has to be an enormous flood of chaos energy in the outside world." World God Dragonbinder revealed a look of delight…and his words were spot on. An utterly enormous vortex of chaos energy had formed in the skies above the Allgod Chaosworld.
"The Flamefairy should've begun her breakthrough," World God Dragonbinder said. "Let everything return to the primordial chaos from whence it came. Let the Dao-seed grow and let all things be renewed…"
Ning felt eager as well.
He had received certain teachings from Daolord Solesky, and so he knew that breaking through to become a World-level expert would result a transformation on a fundamental level. When he thought of Su Youji's transformation, he felt even more anticipation towards his own. He had the [Taowu Eighteen Fiendgods, the [Sole True Body, and the mysterious azureflower mist energy. This was why he was comparable to a World God despite being an Elder God.
One could imagine how enormous his transformation would be upon becoming a World God! He would be on a completely different level of power!
A long period of time went by, but neither Ning nor Dragonbinder were in a rush.
Whoosh.
A peerless beauty suddenly appeared, wreathed in flames. She knelt down towards Ning and said gratefully, "Youji shall never forget the great kindness you have shown her, Master."
"It's good that you know the importance of repaying the kindness of others." World God Dragonbinder nodded. There were some retainers who would begin to treat their masters with disdain once they broke through and reached a higher level of power. Once their lifeblood oaths were completed, they would immediately depart.
"You are now a World-level expert. Hurry up and rise." Ning hurriedly held the Flamefairy to her feet. He could sense the aura of a Chaos Immortal emanating from the rings of fire that wreathed her body, and he couldn't help but sigh.
If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know report chapter so we can fix it as soon as possible.
Report chapter
Book 25, Novessence Thunder, Chapter 27 – The First Mirrorsnow Painting
Ji Ning's retainer had just become a Chaos Immortal, but he himself had yet to make a breakthrough! Still, Ning was fairly happy. At least he got a powerful assistant out of this event! However, Su Youji was a new Chaos Immortal who didn't even have a suitable Dao weapon to use. Thus, she was actually weaker than most World-level experts; she could at most be considered to have reached the lowest benchmark of that level.
New Chaos Immortals with no suitable treasures and who hadn't had the chance to solidify their powers were actually quite weak. Usually, they'd find a private location and spend a few thousand years in solitary cultivation. Only when they increased in power to become comparable to normal World-level experts would they emerge from seclusion.
"Congratulations, Flamefairy. This breakthrough you just made represents a fundamental transformation," World God Dragonbinder said with a laugh. "From this day forth, you will no longer be the same person you once were."
Su Youji's eyes were shining with light and her heart was filled with many emotions.
Countless scenes from the past began to flash through her mind. Thanks to the technique she created, she was a woman of absolutely stunning charm. As a result, quite a few cultivators had desired to become Dao-companions. Some of them acted properly towards her, but others had been stuck at the Elder God or Ancestral Immortal level for so long that they had lost their rationality along with their hopes of making a breakthrough. As a result, they abandoned themselves to vices and would often try to kidnap alluring woman and use them to sate their own lusts. Someone like Su Youji, who was both powerful and mesmerizing, drove these men absolutely wild.
Su Youji's technique was special. Before becoming a World-level expert, she could not allow herself to lose her virginity. Thus, in many cases her only choice was to flee from those men rather than to submit to them. She lived quite an arduous life as a result.
"Finally…finally…" Su Youji could sense how powerful she had become. The Jindan chaos region inside her body was filled with an enormous amount of World energy, giving her a sense of absolute power and control over herself and her surroundings.
"From this day forth, I am now Chaos Immortal Su Youji."
A Chaos Immortal would be welcomed with open arms by any of the organizations of the Badlands Court. They would be ranked as one of the most high-level figures and be given tremendous power and authority.
"Since the Flamefairy has completed her breakthrough…brother Ji Ning, let us part ways here." World God Dragonbinder said, "I'm planning to pay a visit to the Fog Sea."
"Thank you for everything, senior apprentice-brother Dragonbinder," Ning said.
"A minor matter." World God Dragonbinder smiled as he began to walk away.
Only now did Su Youji come back to her senses. She hurriedly said, "Thank you, big brother Dragonbinder."
"I wager others would have begged for a chance to serve as your protector, little sister!" World God Dragonbinder's voice rang out from afar as he moved further and further away from them. Soon, only Ning and Su Youji were left.
"Thank you, Master." Su Youji was filled with gratitude.
"Oh, right." Ning waved his hand, causing that palm-sized fiery idol to appear once more. When she saw the idol appear, Su Youji's eyes instantly lit up. The techniques contained within this idol were a perfect fit for her. The idol had a total of eight faces, one of which was related to a charm technique. This was the reason why she was immediately stimulated upon seeing the idol, resulting in her breaking through to become a Chaos Immortal.
Su Youji's eyes blazed with eagerness as she stared at that idol. This idol would truly be of tremendous use to her.
"Take it." Ning handed it over to her.
"B-but…" Su Youji didn't know what to say or do. She had taken part in the treasure auction as well, and thus she knew exactly how valuable a treasure like this was. It would probably start at a reserve price of roughly a thousand cubes!
"I'm giving it to you, so take it," Ning said.
"But…I…" Su Youji hesitated. In the end, this fiery idol was simply too alluring to her. She said in a low voice, "Master, just let me view it for an hour. I'll memorize the technique within it then give it back to you."
Ning shook his head. "What's the point of just memorizing the technique? This fiery idol has eight different types of conceptual intents radiating from it. It'll be of tremendous benefit to you in your cultivation. And I'm not giving it to you, I'm just letting you use it. When I want it back, you'll have to return it to me. So take it." Ning pressed the fiery idol into Su Youji's hands.
Su Youji's heart quivered as Ning took her hand into his own.
Although she had served him for quite some time, this was actually the first time they had touched.
"Alright." Su Youji nodded obediently.
"Right. I'm planning to go into the Fog Sea as well," Ning said. "Go ahead and enter the estate-world and focus on solidifying your current foundation. You've just broken through, after all."
"No need, Master." Su Youji waved her hand, causing the fiery idol to be drawn into her Jindan chaos region. "I only need to spend part of my time working on this idol. With it, I should be able to solidify my foundation in less than a century. Your golem is by my side as well; once I enter it and command it, I'll be able to unleash tremendous power from within. I won't be in any danger."
With such a detailed technique and helpful idol, her path to becoming a master-class Chaos Immortal was clear. It naturally wouldn't take her much time to solidify her foundation. If she didn't have the idol and instead had to work on her own, she probably would've needed a thousand years in order to succeed.
"Might as well." Ning nodded. Although Su Youji didn't have a Dao weapon, she did have that golem. If danger arose, she could instantly hide herself within that golem. She really wouldn't be in much danger.
"Come. Let us enter the Fog Sea."
Ning turned his head to stare off into the distance, where the vast, billowing Fog Sea could be seen. He could sense the ripples emanating from the Mirrorsnow Painting he had bound and its desire to enter the Fog Sea and reunite with the other painting there.
The Fog Sea was part of the 'inner region' of the Allgod Estate. It was far more dangerous than the Ten Thousand Mountains.
Whoosh. Fog billowed everywhere.
Ning stood atop an earthen hill, staring off into the distance. Even at his level of visual acuity, the fog ensured that he could only see to a distance of a few hundred kilometers.
"It's up ahead." Ning pointed straight ahead. Thanks to his Mirrorsnow Painting, Ning could easily determine the location of his target. The toughest part of being in the Fog Sea was that one would be unable to find one's bearings. Anyone who spent a bit of time within it would quickly discover that they could no longer tell the directions apart. This was true even for World-level experts. But of course, if you walked in one direction for a long enough period of time, sooner or later you'd make it out of the Fog Sea.
"A lake?"
After walking forward for tens of thousands of kilometers, Ning saw a placid, almost mirror-like lake up ahead. The lake was quite wide, so vast that Ning couldn't see the other side of it. It was so still here that not even any ripples could be seen on the lake's surface. Ning did, however, get a vague sense of danger emanating from the area.
Su Youji looked towards Ning. "I sense as though this lake…"
"I sensed it as well." Ning nodded.
"Should we walk on the surface of the lake? Fly over it? Or go around it?" Su Youji waited for Ning to decide.
Ning frowned as he glanced at the great lake before them. Finally, he said, "Let's go around it."
"Right." This was Su Youji's preference as well.
The two began to circle around the lake. However, the lake truly was quite enormous. Based on how much time they spent walking around it, Ning judged that it had to be more than a hundred thousand kilometers long.
Whoosh. Whoosh. Whoosh.
Ripples suddenly appeared on the surface of the formerly-still lake. Then, a golden head began to silently emerge from the waters beneath. This golden head had a pair of golden wings where a human would have ears. It stared off into the distance towards a place which Ji Ning and Su Youji had walked past just a short while ago. Some time later, the strange creature slowly sank beneath the waves once more.
Ning and Su Youji continued their journey after going past the lake, moving with slow caution. Whenever they encountered a place they felt was dangerous, they would avoid it. This was the Fog Sea, after all. This was a terrifying place which spelled death for nearly half the World-level experts who entered it! Even though Ning had the power of a master-class World God, he still didn't dare to act rashly. In addition, his true goal was merely to find the Mirrorsnow Painting.
"We are almost there. We should be less than fifty thousand kilometers away," Ning said. He had spent more than a month in here with Su Youji and had walked more than ten million kilometers. The reason why it had taken them this long was because they had to avoid quite a few dangerous areas.
The past month had been fairly safe. They had only engaged in battle a single time when they had encountered a scorpion-shaped bugbeast that had just barely reached the World level of power. Ning had simply taken out his Pentabolt Gourd and effortless killed the bugbeast with a thunderblast.
"It's up ahead."
"There it is."
Ning and Su Youji had just reached a mountain. Halfway up the mountain, there was an elegant-looking palace which had three characters carved onto it: Yi River Palace.
"Yi River Palace?" Ning frowned.
"What's wrong?" Su Youji glanced at Ning, puzzled.
"This doesn't make sense." Ning frowned. The Fog Sea had quite a few dangerous locations within it. Many generations of cultivators had ventured within the Fog Sea, resulting in many of its dangerous locations being marked down. The Yi River Palace was one such location! It held valuable treasures but was also filled with tremendous danger.
According to the intelligence report which Ning had acquired from Daolord Solesky, although the Mirrorsnow Painting was in the Fog Sea it wasn't located within the Yi River Palace.
"For some reason, the Mirrorsnow Painting must've been moved from its original location into the Yi River Palace," Ning mused to himself.
Boom! Ning gave the gates to the Yi River Palace a hard shove.
Rumble…the gates slowly swung open.
"Let's go in," Ning said. "Youji, the deeper parts of the Yi River Palace are filled with tremendous danger. We can't get in too deep. Let me scout out the outer perimeter of the palace first."
"Alright." Youji nodded.
The two carefully stepped into the estate. The Yi River Palace was extremely large and it had a front hall, a main hall, an inner hall, and many side halls. According to the information Ning had, the other halls of the Yi River Palace were fairly safe, but the main hall was filled with tremendous danger. However, the main hall also had the most treasures.
"The Mirrorsnow Painting. It doesn't seem to be in the main palace…" Ning could sense from his attunement to his own painting that this second one was actually located in a side hall.
If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know report chapter so we can fix it as soon as possible.
Report chapter
Book 25, Novessence Thunder, Chapter 28 – Be Our Slaves
Ji Ning led Su Youji towards the direction of the side hall.
Whoosh.
A streak of gray fog quickly surged out from that distant side hall, moving far faster than the limits of the Heavenly Daos as it poured out of the Yi River Palace.
"That thing is carrying the Mirrorsnow Painting!" Ning's face changed. "Chase it down!"
He could sense that the Mirrorsnow Painting had originally been within the side hall, but it was now receding from him at high speed. Clearly, it was being taken away by that gray streak of mist.
Swoosh. Swoosh.
Ning and Su Youji immediately chased after it at high speed. Ning had always been extremely fast, while Su Youji was now a Chaos Immortal. Thanks to her powerful Immortal energy and the Jindan chaos region inside her body supporting her, she was now also able to easily overcome the limits of the Heavenly Daos and move just a tiny bit slower than Ning himself did. But of course, this was with Ning not using the Thunderlight Wings.
Boom! An inch-thick streak of golden light shot out of Ning's eyes, allowing him to clearly make out the true form of that fleeing streak of gray fog.
Although it looked like gray fog, it was actually a strange beast that had a crocodilian body and a dragon-like head. Its four stubby legs propelled it forward at high speed, allowing it move faster than the limits of the Heavenly Daos as gray mist emanated from its body.
"A bugbeast of some sort."
"It most likely is one of the bugbeasts which Daolord Allgod once reared."
Both Ning and Su Youji were able to see and identify the creature.
Many bugbeasts lived within the Fog Sea region. It must be understood that Daolord Allgod was skilled in many things, including alchemy, artificing, formations, and more. He had also reached an extremely high level of skill in the art of rearing bugbeasts. Even though he had died long ago, certain formations within the Fog Sea region continuously nurtured and gave birth to multiple generations of World-level bugbeasts.
"GRWAAAR!" The graymist beast let out a howl. Its body suddenly split into nine different pieces, each of which began to flee towards a different direction.
"Don't even think about fleeing!" Ning roared. He pulled out a giant gourd with his left hand, immediately uncorking it.
Rumble…
Countless thunderbolts blasted out from within the gourd, instantly covering the entire region but centering around the area which included the nine streaks of gray mist that were beginning to flee. The [Ninehorn Lightning Serpent] technique was limited to the speed of the Heavenly Daos, but this Pentabolt Gourd which Ning had purchased during the treasure auction contained five different types of chaos lightning, each of which was able to effortlessly breach the speed of light. They all moved much faster than Ning himself.
The five types of lightning crackled throughout the area and thundered around the gray mist.
"EEEEE! An ear-piercing, soul-piercing cry.
Eight of the nine streaks of gray mist instantly vanished. The remaining streak of gray mist quickly began to expand in size, its scaly crocodilian body beginning to emerge as well. The beast's body was resisting the attacks of these five types of chaos lightning, and it turned to glare at Ning, its grayish-white eyes filled with rage.
"Hand over that sword-ki diagram and I'll spare your life," Ning sent mentally.
"You'll never catch me." The creature's gravelly voice rang out in Ning's mind.
Swish.
The scaly crocodilian creature once more transformed into mist. This time, the misty gray aura surrounding it brightened dramatically as it began to fly off into the distance at a speed which rendered Ning speechless. Even if he used his Thunderlight Wings, he still wouldn't be able to catch up to it. His only choice was to use the Pentabolt Gourd to release those five streaks of chaos lightning to slow the creature down…and yet, although the creature seemed to be weakened by the lightning it didn't slow down in the slightest.
"We can't catch up to it, Master." Su Youji was worried. The bugbeast had already flown out of the range of the five types of lightning. This place was quite dangerous, and Ning didn't dare to let the lightning reach out to a much greater distance, for fear of accidentally striking and irritating other powerful bugbeasts.
"I can sense that it's been injured." Ning chuckled. The final blasts of lightning had injured the creature. Although it had managed to escape, its aura had been noticeably weakened.
"It won't be able to escape me." Ning could continuously sense the exact location of the Mirrorsnow Painting. So long as the creature remained within the Allgod Estate, Ning would still be able to sense its location.
A short while later.
"It is up ahead. It isn't moving," Ning sent.
Soon, Ning and Su Youji saw the creature. It was a crocodilian bugbeast with black scales, and it was resting as it lay atop a giant boulder. It instantly noticed Ning's arrival and immediately transformed into an aura of gray mist as it once more began to flee.
Bugbeasts were artificially created lifeforms. They had tremendous strength and certain special gifts, and they used these advantages when they fought. However, they didn't have divine power or Immortal energy. Thus, they were unable to bind magic treasures to themselves. In other words, the bugbeast hadn't been able to bind the sword-ki painting and thus couldn't sense Ning's location.
Boom! Ning didn't have enough time to chase after the creature. He instead once more pulled out the Pentabolt Gourd and released those five types of chaos lightning to attack.
The aura of the fleeing streak of gray mist began to noticeably weaken yet again.
Swoosh. Swoosh.
Ning and Su Youji continued their chase.
"I can sense ripples coming from over there."
"There's a battle happening nearby."
Two men who were seated in the lotus position rose to their feet. One was dressed in golden robes while the other was dressed in black robes. Both had dark, swarthy skin, and their faces were covered with green floral tattoos. Both emanated auras of tremendous power as well. One was a World God, the other a Chaos Immortal.
"Let's go take a look." The two exchanged a glance, then quietly began to move towards the direction of the ripples.
"It is still fleeing." Ning and Su Youji continued their pursuit of the bugbeast. By now, the bugbeast could tell that the two cultivators probably had a way to track it and so it continued to frantically run as fast as it could.
"It's moving farther and farther away." Ning was worried. "The bugbeast knows the Fog Sea much better than us. It'll probably end up hiding itself within a dangerous location. We have to catch up to it soon. If too much time passes, we'll be in trouble."
"HALT!" Suddenly, an icy shout rang out from afar and blasted into the ears of Ning and Su Youji.
"Eh?"
Ning and Su Youji had been flying at high speed. Both frowned and turned to look at the two figures which had appeared behind them. These two figures both emanated auras of power and savagery.
"Master." Su Youji's face tightened as she sent a quick mental message. "I know these two. One is known as World God Foxblaze while the other is Chaos Immortal Foxbold. The two belong to the same race and are extremely savage."
"Oho, isn't this Flamefairy Su Youji?" Chaos Immortal Foxbold was dressed in golden robes, and his eyes lit up when he saw the Flamefairy. "You actually broke through to become a Chaos Immortal! I hadn't heard the news. It must be recent. Huh. Come to think of it, a short while ago the chaos energy within the Allgod Estate was in a state of great turmoil. Was that when you made your breakthrough?"
"Su Youji?" The black-robed World God Foxblaze's eyes lit up as well. "Oho, what a rare treat…"
Su Youji was a peerless beauty of tremendous charm. After becoming a Chaos Immortal, her aura and demeanor had only grown more graceful. Both of these World-level experts felt a certain itchiness in their hearts when they saw her.
"Please make way! We are busy," Su Youji barked.
"Make way? Su Youji, you just recently became a World-level expert. Instead of finding a safe place to stabilize your foundation, you instead came here to the Fog Sea. You are lucky that it was the two of us who found you." World God Foxblaze laughed coldly. "It would be simplicity itself for us to kill you, but we'll give you a chance to stay alive."
Newly ascended World-level experts were very weak, especially Chaos Immortals. Chaos Immortals had fairly weak bodies; when they first made their breakthrough, they could be considered as having just barely reached the World-level threshold of power. Although World God Foxblaze and his friend weren't that powerful, they had still been alive for a very long period of time. It would indeed be quite easy for them to slay a newly ascended Chaos Immortal.
"Right, right. We'll give you a chance to live." Chaos Immortal Foxbold stared appraising at Su Youji, licking his lips. "It's simple. You simply need to swear a lifeblood oath to be our slave."
"Slave?" A layer of frost appeared on Su Youji's face.
"Don't worry. You are a World-level expert as well; we won't make things too hard for you. After you become our slave, all you'll have to do is engage in 'dual cultivation' with us every so often. Dual cultivation is a source of great joy, as you'll soon come to know." World God Foxblaze's eyes grew colder. "But if you refuse, today is the day you die."
"All we ask is that you engage in 'dual cultivation' with us. You'll have a much higher position than all the rest of our slaves," Chaos Immortal Foxbold agreed.
The two had many women, but female Chaos Immortals of such peerless beauty and charm were incredibly rare. Most importantly of all, Su Youji had just recently become a Chaos Immortal. She was still very weak and would be easily captured.
Both of their gazes were fixed upon Su Youji.
As for Ji Ning?
He was merely an Elder God. The two completely ignored him!
"The two of you are going a bit too far." Ning's voice rang out. He didn't want to fight as that would distract him from chasing after the fleeing bugbeast.
"World-level experts are speaking. How dare you interrupt us, you ant?" World God Foxblaze looked at Ning, a lofty look in his eyes. He naturally felt complete contempt towards a mere Elder God like Ning.
"Puny Elder God, how dare you speak so rashly before us? I was planning to simply enslave you as well. I suppose I might as well just kill you instead." Chaos Immortal Foxbold glanced at Ning as well, a similar look of arrogance in his gaze. He, too, felt as though he was speaking to an ant.
If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know report chapter so we can fix it as soon as possible.
Report chapter
Book 25, Novessence Thunder, Chapter 29 – Slaying World-Level Experts
An island within Ji Ning's estate world.
"Wild Dog. Blacksun." A booming voice echoed across the great island. Elder God Wilddog and Elder God Blacksun had been seated amongst their fellow Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals, eating and chatting, but now the two immediately rose to their feet. They called out in unison, "Master."
"Take control of your golems and await my signal."
"Yes, Master."
Elder God Wilddog and Elder God Blacksun simultaneously transformed into two tall, muscular black golems. Previously, the golems had been fiery red in color, but they had been cosmetically altered and recolored to black in order to conceal their true power. Once you bound a golem, you could completely withdraw and suppress its aura of power. In fact, golems with spirits controlling them such as Rocky were almost like living creatures. Rocky was able to completely suppress his own aura and transform into a boulder that not even Ning would be able to detect.
The two black golems stood there at the edges of the island, awaiting Ning's summons.
"We're about to enter combat."
"Yes. We've been waiting forever for a real battle like this. All we were doing prior to this was nothing more than sparring."
Both were filled with an eagerness to do battle. The golems they commanded filled them with tremendous self-confidence. It must be understood that Ning had to spend more than six hundred cubes of chaos nectar to purchase these three golems…and that was at the discounted treasure auction price. Normally, each of these three golems would go for significantly more than two hundred cubes of chaos nectar. Each of the three were individually more powerful than Rocky, and they were able to join together in a formation as well.
The outside world. The Fog Sea region of the Allgod Estate.
World God Foxblaze and Chaos Immortal Foxbold both glanced disdainfully at Ning, ignoring him after mocking him. In their eyes, he truly was nothing more than an ant-like presence. They were on a completely different level of power; why would they pay him any heed?
Their gazes turned once more to Flamefairy Su Youji. World God Foxblaze spoke out: "Su Youji, if you wish to live a long life, you have to learn when to compromise. We won't make your lifeblood oath too harsh."
"All you have to do is serve us in dual cultivation. It'll be fun." Chaos Immortal Foxbold truly looked forward to enjoying the pleasing company of this truly ravishing female Chaos Immortal. He never thought that a chance like this would come so quickly.
The two alternated between threatening her and persuading her. They wouldn't be able to overpower her and force her to serve them; even if they did manage to capture her, she would be able to effortlessly self-detonate herself. It must be understood that even slaves could easily choose to self-detonate themselves. Thus, while an owner could oppress and coerce their slaves, they still had ensure that their slaves weren't driven to utter despair. Otherwise, their slaves could choose to be disobedient. When Daolord Windsource had commanded his slaves to accompany him into death, many of them had cursed and railed at him for his actions. Alas, all they could do was curse, nothing else.
"Come here."
"Come, Su Youji." The two stared hungrily at the Flamefairy.
Su Youji's face was so cold, it looked as though it was covered by a layer of frost. She sent to the nearby Ning, "Master, what should we do?"
"Since they insist on dying…then let's just go ahead and spend a little bit of time to get rid of them." Ning glanced at the two World-level figures. "Kill them!"
To be honest, Ning truly didn't wish to get into this fight. Killing World-level experts wasn't a simple task. World God Foxblaze was an elite World God while Chaos Immortal Foxbold was merely an ordinary one. Ning was completely capable of slaying the two of them, but it would still take him quite a bit of time. This was why he had been hoping he could talk the two of them into getting out of his way.
"We can hunt down the bugbeast later. Given that I can sense its location, I'm sure it'll hide somewhere it feels is very safe." The more Ning thought about it, the angrier he became.
"Fine." Su Youji suddenly clenched her teeth and said aloud, "Show me your lifeblood oath."
"Ahahaha, that's more like it!"
"Good, good, good! What a fine beauty you are. Don't worry. We couldn't bear to mistreat you."
World God Foxblaze and Chaos Immortal Foxbold were delighted upon hearing her words. Just like that, a lovely female Chaos Immortal had fallen into their clutches. What a stroke of great luck! World God Foxblaze waved his hand, causing a golden pearl to fly out. "This is my oathstone. Take a good luck, my pretty. If there's anything you don't like, we can change it."
"Ehehe." Chaos Immortal Foxbold felt more and more excited. This was better than finding an entire stash of valuable treasures. They never would've even imagined in their wildest dreams that such a female slave would fall into their clutches.
"I simply can't believe how lucky we are. As soon as Su Youji broke through to become a Chaos Immortal, she ran into the two of us." Both of them were filled with eagerness. They could already visualize the fantastic scenes of the two of them cavorting with her, causing their hearts to blaze with lust.
Ning was standing next to Su Youji. His eyes suddenly turned cold.
"Attack!"
His voice echoed within his estate-world as a black gourd suddenly appeared in front of him. The black gourd vomited out countless streaks of lightning, completely filling the region with five types of chaos lightning that surrounded and attacked Chaos Immortal Foxbold and World God Foxblaze.
"Shit!" The two blanched as they saw this happen. Chaos Immortal Foxbold's robes instantly glowed with light, forming a protective barrier around him. Alast, the five types of chaos lightning were simply too powerful, causing the barrier to completely shatter as they crashed straight through it and against Foxbold.
A series of flying daggers had also appeared around Chaos Immortal Foxbold, but they were only able to deflect part of the lightning. The rest of the lightning crashed directly against his body.
Boom! An ugly look was on Chaos Immortal Foxbold's face as he vomited out a mouthful of blood. He sent frantically, "Save me, big brother!"
"Shit. That's one powerful lightning treasure." World God Foxblaze instantly was both enraged and unnerved. "Hold on for a short while. I'll capture Su Youji and take that gourd of hers."
The gourd was hovering in front of Ning, who was standing right next to Su Youji. Thus, both of the enemies believed the gourd to belong to Su Youji.
The five types of lightning continued to furiously attack the two World-level experts. However, World God Foxblaze was quite a powerful figure, and he was dressed in a suit of low-grade Dao armor. His divine body was completely capable of withstanding the attacks from these five types of divine lightning.
Swish!
World God Foxblaze transformed into a streak of light, flying towards Su Youji with a furious look in his eyes.
Right at this moment…
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Three golems suddenly appeared out of nowhere. One was Rocky the stone titan, while the other two were pitch-black golems. These three golems simultaneously charged towards Chaos Immortal Foxbold from three separate directions! World God Foxblaze was sprinting straight towards Ji Ning and Su Youji and so wasn't able to turn in time, allowing all three golems to charge straight past him and towards Chaos Immortal Foxbold.
"They are fast!" World God Foxblaze's face changed.
"Save me, big brother!" Chaos Immortal Foxbold was shocked as well. When he saw those three golems speeding towards him, he immediately understood that they were definitely World-level golems. He was utterly terrified and quickly sent out a distress call. It must be understood that he merely had the power of an ordinary World-level expert and was merely a Chaos Immortal. He had already been driven to distraction and unnerved by the five types of divine lightning that filled every inch of this area.
And now three golems were charging towards him as well? What was he supposed to do?
"Die." The black golem controlled by Elder God Blacksun struck out with a massive fist, sending an enormously powerful punch towards Chaos Immortal Foxbold.
"Kill." Elder God Wilddog delivered a vicious kick towards him.
"GRWAAAR!" Rocky sent two furious palm-blows towards him as well.
The five types of lightning in the surrounding area continued to furiously assault Chaos Immortal Foxbold as well. As for World God Foxblaze, he had charged towards Ji Ning and Su Youji at maximum speed and was completely unable to make it back in time to save Foxbold.
"NO!!!"
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Golems had an innate advantage in raw strength to begin with, with less than one in a thousand World Gods being comparable to World-level golems in strength. The only way you could beat a golem was by suppressing them with your superior insights into the Dao, but Chaos Immortal Foxbold had already been completely shut down by Ning's Pentabolt Gourd attack. All he could do was scream repeatedly as he tried to use his blade barrier to block the attacks. "NOOOOO!"
BOOM!!!!
Chaos Immortal Foxbold was reduced to dust.
"What?!" World God Foxblaze had been charging towards Ning and Su Youji, but upon seeing this he blanched. "Those golems are way too powerful. Those are no ordinary golems! Each of them has to be worth at least a hundred cubes of chaos nectar."
Whoosh! Right at this moment, Su Youji transformed into a black golem as well. World God Foxblaze was now quite close to her and she didn't dare fight him in close combat.
"What?!" Upon seeing Su Youji transform into a black golem, World God Foxblaze felt as though his heart had been gripped by icy fingers. Four golems? He could tell that every single one of those golems was probably comparable to him in strength. If the four joined forces, they would completely dominated him.
"Time to leave." World God Foxblaze no longer had any interest in tangling with Su Youji. He transformed into a streak of light, beginning to flee.
Whoosh. A pair of lightning wings suddenly appeared on Ning's back. The wings fluttered slightly, sending Ning flying out at tremendous speed. Although World God Foxblaze also flew fairly quickly, the five types of lightning slowed him down somewhat.
"Eh?" World God Foxblaze stared at the figure who had suddenly appeared before him.
The white-robed youth stood there, his Thunderlight Wings spread wide and a blood-red sword in his hands. The youth stared at Foxblaze coldly. "You won't be able to escape!"
If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know report chapter so we can fix it as soon as possible.
Report chapter
Book 25, Novessence Thunder, Chapter 30 – Willing to be Enslaved
World God Foxblaze was astonished by the speed of this white-robed youth, and he was able to tell right away that the Thunderlight Wings on Ning's back were quite extraordinary. However, he wasn't afraid; rather, he was delighted. If he killed this Elder God, then this extraordinary treasure would become his, right? He didn't even consider the possibility that he might not be able to defeat this Elder God. Even the most monstrously talented Elder Gods would at most be comparable to ordinary World Gods…and he was an elite one!
"Puny Elder God, you overestimate your abilities. Die!" World God Foxblaze drew out a curved scimitar, then used it to chop towards Ning. It was like a streak of crescent moonlight had suddenly struck out.
Ning showed no mercy at all, immediately using his most powerful attack with his most powerful weapon, the Eternal weapon Violetjewel. He delivered a powerful, furious overhead chop with Violetjewel, his weapon moving far faster than the speed of light. As Violetjewel struck out in a cruel blur, Ning also activated as much of its quintessence core as he could, giving his weapon an utterly terrifying amount of power.
At this moment in time, Violetjewel was so incredibly sharp and powerful that even an ordinary mortal who casually brandished it would unleash a blast of sword-ki that could easily chop a mountain apart. But of course, there was no way that a mortal would ever come into possession of a weapon such as this.
BOOM!
Violetjewel's sword-light clashed head-on against the crescent moon of saber-light.
The crescent moon of saber-light was blasted apart, while World God Foxblaze was knocked flying backwards. He stared at the midair figure of Ning, his eyes absolutely huge and filled with disbelief. How was this possible? How? He was an exalted World God who had been alive and training for countless years and had reached the 'elite' level. How could he possibly be at a completely disadvantage in this fight?
There was least a full level's worth of difference between him and his foe!
This Elder God actually had the power of a master-class World God? How was this possible? How could anyone be this much of a freak? Even if this Elder God was wielding an Eternal weapon, it should've been impossible for him to be this powerful.
BOOM! The terrifying force of Ning's blow had knocked World God Foxblaze flying backwards, and the five types of lightning in the area continued to furiously hammer down against his body. Foxblaze's situation was growing more dire by the moment.
"Kill."
"Kill."
The three black golems and the stone titan quickly charged towards World God Foxblaze. Su Youji's black golem was already quite close to Ning, and so it was the first to arrive and strike at him.
Whoosh! The black golem's fierce claws lashed out with dominating power, leaving a cruel fiery blur behind in the air as the golem struck at Foxblaze.
Bang! Although Foxblaze frantically lifted up his scimitar to block, he was knocked backwards yet again. Although he was actually roughly on par with the black golems, he had been completely knocked off his game by Ning's attack. That first failure was causing a cascade of problems for him, and the entire situation was extremely grim.
"Die!" Elder God Wilddog and Elder God Blacksun's golems arrived and began to attack, as did the stone titan Rocky.
"Hmph." Ning charged towards Foxblaze as well, leaving a trail of dazzling electric light in the air behind him.
Foxblaze was completely trapped!
Although the four golems were somewhat inferior to him in technique and skill, they were superior to him in power and speed. He was able to to deal with one of them but four was simply too much. The worst thing was, the white-robed Elder God he had thought to be the weakest cultivator present was actually the most terrifying figure of them all!
He was a terrifying Elder God who had the power of a master-class World God! These types of Elder Gods only existed in legends!
"Four golems, five types of divine lightning, those electric wings…I was wrong. I was completely wrong from the start! How could Su Youji possibly afford treasures such as these? They most likely all belong to that white-robed Elder God! Su Youji is merely his servant as well!"
"N-n-no…I can't just die here…"
"I can't!"
Although World God Foxblaze felt regret and self-pity for being driven to such dires straits, he also felt a powerful urge to stay alive.
"Transform!" World God Foxblaze instantly transformed to gain a total of six arms, each of which was now wielding a scimitar. His aura grew slightly more powerful as well, and even his eyes began to turn red. Clearly, he was now in an utterly berserk state.
The only way for him to survive was for him to go all out!
"KILL!" He immediately charged towards the stone titan, because he could tell right away that all three black golems were identical and belonged to a single set. He could sense that they were arrayed together into a formation and so he naturally chose to go against the stone titan instead.
"Stop him, rocky." Ning immediately sent a mental message over.
"Don't worry, Master. My talents lie in tying down foes." Rocky's palms suddenly expanded dramatically in size as his stony body suddenly began to flow like a liquid.
BOOM! World God Foxblaze exchanged blows with Rocky, the force of the collision causing a few ripples to appear on the liquid-like surface of Rocky's body. However, Rocky himself didn't take so much as a single step back.
"What?!" World God Foxblaze was shocked.
As for the three black golems, they once more charged towards him and attacked him.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The four mighty golems surrounded and assaulted this solitary World God.
World God Foxblaze still refused to give up. Although blows were raining down upon him, he had a set of Dao armor and a tough divine body. World Gods weren't easily killed, and he continued to do his best to find a way to survive this assault. Alas, the three black golems moved together in perfect unison, giving him no chance to flee whatsoever.
"N-no…"
"Give up!" Right at this moment, Ning arrived. He struck out with Violetjewel, sending that terrifying streak of bloody sword-light towards Foxblaze once more.
"NO!" World God Foxblaze truly felt despair now.
BOOM! The sword-blow knocked him flying once more… and then, with a series of booms, two of the black golems smashed him into the ground.
If he was a World God who specialized in defense, he wouldn't have been taken down so quickly. He would've been able to keep fighting for a somewhat longer period of time. Ji Ning, for example, had the Heartsword stance that gave him perfect control over his defensive sword-arts.
But of course, the Dao of the Sword was an offensive Dao that had tremendous advantages in close combat! Although World God Foxblaze used the scimitar, his specialty lay in a Dao of the Wind. This gave him certain advantages in speed and power in close combat, but once he lost the upper hand he would quickly be defeated.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Once Foxblaze was knocked down to the ground, the four golems began to rain a wild storm of blows upon his body.
As for Ning, he stood there to one side, not taking part in this. The blow he had just delivered was the final straw that had broken the camel's back. World God Foxblaze would no longer have any chance of turning the tables on his attackers.
"Go." Ning willed a long rope to suddenly appear next to him. The rope agilely slithered through the air like a serpent, quickly tying up the completely beaten World God Foxblaze and rendering him securely and completely incapacitated.
A look of utter despair was in Foxblaze's eyes.
"Come." Ning turned his head to glance backwards. The black gourd that had been spewing endless streams of lightning quickly flew towards Ning, coming to a halt within his hands.
Ning held the black gourd with one hand as he stared downwards at the tied and bound Foxblaze.
"It really…really…" When Foxblaze saw the black gourd fly to Ning, he couldn't help but mumble to himself, "The gourd really does belong to him."
"Master, this Foxblaze fellow was much harder to deal with than Foxbold," Su Youji said with a laugh.
"He insisted on setting off on a path of no return. He has no one to blame for his death but himself," Elder God Wilddog growled.
"Spare me. Spare me!"
World God Foxblaze was completely trussed up. He stared at Ning. "Spare me and I'll give you all my treasures."
"You idiot. Do you really take us for a fool? After we kill you, all of your treasures will be ours regardless." Su Youji let out a cold laugh. Towards outsiders, she remained as ill-tempered and explosive as ever before.
"I-I…" World God Foxblaze stared wildly at Ning, then gritted his teeth. "I'm willing to be your retainer."
"No need." Ning shook his head.
"No. No!" World God Foxblaze took a deep breath. "I'm willing to be your slave! Your slave! I, World God Foxblaze, am willing to be your slave!"
"Master?" Su Youji, Elder God Wilddog, and Elder God Blacksun all turned to look at Ning.
"My slave? You honor me too much. I'm not interested, and so… it's best you simply die." Ning lifted up his black gourd, then activated it with a thought. A powerful sucking power suddenly emerged from it and was applied to World God Foxblaze.
Foxblaze was instantly sucked towards the gourd, shrinking as he flew towards the gourd's opening.
"No… you… can't possibly…"
He was in a state of utter disbelief. Someone actually refused to accept him, an exalted World God, as a slave? A moment later, he was drawn into the Pentabolt Gourd. A few moments after that a rope flew out from the gourd, then Ning resealed it.
Trapped within the Pentabolt Gourd, Foxblaze would suffer perpetual attacks from those five types of lightning. Sooner or later, his divine power would run out and he would be ground into dust.
"Why, Master? He was a World God, after all." Su Youji and the others looked curiously at Ning.
"I wanted to kill him, so I did." Ning's response was quite calm.
A World God? What of it?
He didn't like people with Foxblaze's character. He'd feel uncomfortable having the man around, and a mere elite World God wouldn't be of much use to him anyhow. Any of his four golems was comparable to Foxblaze in power, after all.
As for selling him off into slavery? He wouldn't be worth nearly as much as a golem. Golems were absolutely loyal to their masters, after all. Foxblaze would most likely go for just a hundred cubes of chaos nectar at most, but the problem was that he knew how strong Ji Ning actually was. For now, Ning wished to keep his true power a secret.
He wouldn't worry about the information leaking after he became a World God, and wouldn't have minded selling Foxblaze off at that time… but who knew how long that would take? And by then, would he care about a petty hundred cubes of chaos nectar.
"Might as well kill him. I feel more comfortable doing that." High-level cultivators had to follow their own hearts and their own paths to begin with.
"At my current level of power, killing elite World Gods still requires a bit of effort." Ning reflected on this recent fight. "Without the four golems helping out, things probably wouldn't be so easy."
Thanks to the four golems, he had been able to kill an elite World God in a fairly short period of time.
"Wild Dog, Blacksun, go back and get some rest. Await my orders," Ning instructed.
"Yes," both Elder Gods said respectfully, their eyes filled with blazing eagerness.
What a show of utter dominance.
They had almost instantly slain a Chaos Immortal and a World God. The World God had begged to be enslaved, but their master didn't even want to bother with enslaving him. This was true dominance! Their master truly was far too powerful. How mighty would he become when he actually reached the World level?
Whoosh. After Rocky, Elder God Wilddog, and Elder God Blacksun were all transported back into the estate-world, Ning turned to look towards Su Youji. "Youji, let's get back to our hunt for that bugbeast."
"Right." Su Youji nodded as well.
Swoosh! Swoosh! Relying on his attunement to the Mirrorsnow Painting, Ning quickly led Su Youji towards the location of the second painting.
If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know report chapter so we can fix it as soon as possible.
Report chapter
Book 25, Novessence Thunder, Chapter 31 – Grove of Monoliths
Ji Ning led Su Youji forward, using his attunement to the painting to sense where they should go.
The bugbeast had already come to a halt, causing Ning to feel quite uneasy. Although most bugbeasts were fairly dumb, World-level bugbeasts were both powerful and rather clever. Since this one knew that Ning had a way to track it, for it to come to a halt could only mean that it had found a place it felt was very safe.
Whoosh. Whoosh.
Ning and Su Youji flew past one mountain peak after another, shrouded by mist. Every so often they could thread their way past forests or deep gorges. They advanced with great caution and deliberation, and as a result spent nearly an hour before they reached their destination. The bugbeasts had come to a halt, after all; it didn't matter too much if they were moving a bit slower than before.
"It should be up ahead." Ning was standing atop a towering, jagged boulder as he mentally conversed with the fiery-robed Su Youji.
"Let's take it slow," Ning sent mentally.
He was the vanguard and Su Youji was the rearguard.
The two began to move even more slowly than before. Thanks to the mist which permeated this region, Ning was only able to see to a distance of a few hundred kilometers. As he slowly drew closer and closer to the destination, he could sense a terrifyingly powerful aura suddenly sweep towards them from afar. Both Ning and Su Youji blanched at the power of this aura.
"Where are we?" Suddenly, Ning saw something up ahead.
A few hundred kilometers up ahead, there was a single giant monolith that was roughly three hundred meters tall and surrounded by mist.
"The Grove of Monoliths?" Su Youji's face tightened. "Master, this seems to be the Grove of Monoliths."
"Let's move a bit closer and check it out," Ning replied. His heart clenched as they slowly moved closer and closer to the monolith. Soon, they were roughly ten kilometers away from the first monolith and were able to see a second monolith of similar size and shape that had been embedded into the ground.
This second monolith had a red-winged beast that lay coiled atop it which emanated an aura of tremendous savagery.
Ning frowned. They continued to advance, keeping a careful distance from the creature. One monolith after another entered their field of vision, each of which was roughly three hundred meters tall. The monoliths had all been planted deeply into the ground, and many of them had terrifying bugbeasts that lay coiled on top of them. Other monoliths were surrounded by magic treasures and weapons which had auras of tremendous power. Most of them were Dao-level weapons or treasures.
"Master…" Su Youji grew increasingly nervous. This was a terrifyingly dangerous part of the Fog Sea, the 'Grove of Monoliths'.
"Withdraw." Ning finally gave the other.
The two carefully, quietly, and rapidly retreated from this location, only coming to a halt after they entered a nearby copse of trees.
"It actually went into hiding within the Grove of Monoliths." Ning frowned.
"This is all the fault of World God Foxblaze and Chaos Immortal Foxbold. They delayed us at a critical moment! Otherwise, we probably would've been able to catch up to that heavily injured bugbeast." The Flamefairy couldn't help but feel quite upset by this. She knew exactly how much her master needed that sword-ki painting, and it now seemed evident that the painting would be unobtainable.
Ning wasn't in a very good mood right now.
He had felt rather exuberant after slaying World God Foxblaze and Chaos Immortal Foxbold, as this was the first time he had personally slain a World-level expert, and two of them at that! However, Ning now felt rather resentful at all this.
"They ruined everything!" Ning gritted his teeth.
"What should I do? What should my next plan of action be?" Ning began to ponder.
The Ten Thousand Mountains was the outer region of this world.
The Fog Sea was part of the inner region.
The Fog Sea had many dangerous areas within it, and the Grove of Monoliths was definitely ranked as one of the deadliest locations. Based on the experiences of the many cultivators who had adventured into it, this was a region that took up roughly ten thousand kilometers of space, and within this region there were many enormous monoliths that had been inserted into the ground.
For some unknown reason, bugbeasts were highly attracted to these monoliths. Thus, bugbeasts would often rest within the Grove of Monoliths, with dozens of them nesting in this region at any given time. All of these bugbeasts were World-level creatures. Bugbeasts were fairly unintelligent and did not understand the mysteries of the Dao. They had to rely on their physical strength and their innate gifts to fight, and so most of them only had the power of ordinary World Gods! A minority were comparable to elite World Gods and a tiny number of them were comparable to master-class World Gods.
Alas, they did have one advantage: they existed in overwhelmingly large numbers. The Grove of Monoliths often had around a hundred World-level bugbeasts within it at any given moment in time. There were simply too many of them! If any cultivator dared to trespass within the Grove, that cultivator would immediately suffer the attacks of every single bugbeast there! As more time passed, bugbeasts from other areas would also hurry to the Grove to reinforce their fellows, causing the situation to grow increasingly dangerous!
The Grove of Monoliths was definitely a place of incredible danger. Only supreme World Gods would be able to survive in that place, but if they were unlucky enough to encounter particularly powerful bugbeasts they might still perish!
"The Grove of Monoliths is too dangerous." Su Youji looked at Ning. "Master, according the information we acquired regarding the Allgod Estate, only supreme World Gods have a chance of surviving a trip into the Grove of Monoliths. If we go in there, we'd probably be doomed."
"Mm." Ning nodded. "It's true. We have no hope of surviving that place. I knew that damned bugbeast would pick a troublesome place to hide." Ning continued to ponder on this matter but could find no solutions.
The place was simply too dangerous.
All bugbeasts had a fetish for collecting magic treasures. Although they couldn't use them, they viewed those items as their spoils of combat. Thus, the hundred-plus bugbeasts in the Grove of Monoliths had a correspondingly enormous hoard of magic treasures of inestimable value.
Alas, no one dared to go and try to take the treasure from them. Even supreme World Gods only stood a fairly small chance of surviving that place. Who would dare to risk their lives in such a rash way?
"It seems I'll have to wait for my own breakthrough to the World level. Perhaps then I'll have a chance," Ning mused. He was already comparable to a master-class World God; after he actually broke through to the World level, he would definitely become much more powerful than before.
As for exactly how much more powerful he could become, even Ning himself wasn't sure. This was because the main reason he was so powerful was because of the azureflower region inside of him. It was currently of tremendous help to him, but would it continue to be effective after he reached the World level? There was no way for Ning to find out in advance.
"Let's leave," Ning said.
"Leave?" Su Youji looked at Ning.
"Yes. We have no choice but to give up for now!" Ning turned his head to give the distant Grove of Monoliths a final look. "The Grove of Monoliths isn't a place which I can challenge. Not now, at least. Let's go explore some other areas. Perhaps, after a period of time passes, that bugbeast will voluntarily depart from the Grove."
Voluntarily leave the Grove? Even Ning himself knew that he was just daydreaming. The graymist creature had nearly lost its life. It probably would stay hidden within the Grove for a long period of time before leaving. It wouldn't be surprising if it stayed there for at least a million years!
"Right, right. Maybe it'll come out later," Su Youji said supportively.
Time flowed on.
In the blink of an eye, more than five months had passed since the two had slain Foxblaze and Foxbold.
Within the core region of the Allgod Estate, the Castrum Divinitus itself.
Whoooooooosh.
The towering estate was an utterly dazzling sight to behold, emanating an aura of light that seemingly stretched off into infinity. Although the Allgod Estate took up nearly half of this entire chaosworld, the Castrum Divinitus itself was so high that it could be seen from the very ends of the world.
This was an utterly enormous castle that spanned trillions of kilometers! This was a place which spelled doom for even Samsara Daolords! A place none dared to enter rashly!
"We're just one step away. Just one step."
In front of the towering castle was an enormous plaza, and before the plaza were a flight of stairs. However, there were 108,000 steps to this flight of stairs.
Two squads of cultivators were advancing up the stairs. One squad had four World-level experts and was led by a small, skinny, blood-robed youth. This skinny youth had blood-red eyebrows, and his eyes seemed like a deep, bottomless sea of blood. Anyone who looked at him would be seized by uncontrollable fear.
The blood-robed youth walked at the head of his squad, and behind him were three World Gods with auras of tremendous power. These three World Gods all treated the youth with tremendous respect.
"Fukai! Ahahaha. You brought ten World-level servants in, but only two of them remain." The blood-robed youth let out an ear-piercing laugh. "I think you should just surrender and commit suicide."
"Surrender? To you?" The leader of the other squad was a golden-robed youth, and behind him were two World-level experts of tremendous power.
The golden-robed youth laughed coldly as he cast the other youth a sidelong glance. "Arroyo, you brought in ten as well but you only have three left. You aren't that much better off."
"I still have one more than you. One more servant means my chances are better," the blood-robed youth snickered. His bloodsea eyes were overflowing with a desire to kill, and he didn't disguise his intent at all as he glared at the golden-robed youth.
These two squads advanced simultaneously up the stairs, neither squad pausing to rest.
Soon, they finished the 108,000 steps and reached the very top of the stairs, arriving at the great plaza.
Both squads raised their heads to stare at the enormous castle before them, a castle so great that they could barely see the top of it clearly.
If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know report chapter so we can fix it as soon as possible.
Report chapter
Book 25, Novessence Thunder, Chapter 32 – Bringing Disaster Unto Others
The towering castle was utterly, endlessly enormous.
The two squads held a total of seven World-level experts, and they were like ants crawling atop the surface of that utterly enormous plaza. The leaders of the two squads, that blood-robed youth and that gold-robed youth, both raised their heads to stare at the titanic gates to the towering castle.
The front gates to the Castrum Divinitus was just as vast and towering as the castle itself.
Even though they were World Gods, they could just barely make out the outlines of the great castle. The edges to the castle were so far away that they appeared quite blurry to these World Gods. This was a testament to how truly vast this castle was.
"Daolord Allgod truly was a cultivator who was comparable to Eternal Emperors." A blazing look was in the eyes of the blood-robed youth. "Sooner or later, I'll become just as powerful as Daolord Allgod was. My name will spread throughout the Endless Territories, just as his did. Countless cultivators will tremble in fear when they hear my name. Ahahaha…"
"Are you still daydreaming? Time to wake up." The golden-robed youth in the other squad smirked.
"Hmph. You'll be nothing more than a stepping stone to me." The blood-robed youth glanced sideways at the golden-robed youth.
"Based on what I can sense from the workings of fate… you'll die here while I will survive." The golden-robed youth's voice held a strange cadence to it as he spoke.
"You fool." The blood-robed youth laughed coldly.
As they were chatting with each other, drops of liquid suddenly began to manifest atop the vast plaza. The drops of liquid were covered in flames, and they slowly began to drawn together into a fiery figure. The flames began to die away, revealing the figure's form. This was a bald, muscular man who had three eyes, the third eye in the middle of his forehead glowing with golden light.
"The Goldeye Golem." The golden-robed youth and the blood-robed youth blanched, hurriedly suppressing their auras and beginning to act in a much more humble manner.
The Goldeye Golem was Daolord Allgod's greatest creation and the most perfect manifestation of his Dao of Constructs.
Daolord Allgod was an expert in both artificing and in golem-making. The Goldeye Golem was the most powerful golem he had ever created, and Daolord Allgod had infused it with certain restrictive spells that ensured that there was no way any other cultivators would ever be able to take control over it. In other words…the Goldeye Golem possessed freedom!
It possessed tremendous power and was comparable to a Daolord who had reached the verge of the Daomerge! The Allgod Estate was under its control, as was the many formations and protective spells inside of it. Even Samsara Daolords who were themselves at the Verge would definitely die if they tried to force their way through the estate… and this Goldeye Golem was just one of the many defensive mechanisms which Daolord Allgod had left behind in this place.
This was a golem that could not be bound. It would forever stay within the Allgod Estate, serving as its eternal guardian! This was the First Guardian and Commander of the Castrum Divinitus, the core of the Allgod Estate.
"It has been a long, long time since a cultivator has come to the Castrum Divinitus." The bald, three-eyed man stared coldly at the two squads. "You were able to overcome many dangers and make your way to the castle. Very well done."
The Allgod Estate was divided into three regions.
The outer region was the Ten Thousand Mountains. The inner region was the Fog Sea. The core region was the Castrum Divinitus.
Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals generally stayed in the Ten Thousand Mountains, as 90% of them would perish if they dared to enter the Fog Sea.
World-level experts generally stayed in the Fog Sea. Although some of them would die, they still stood a decent chance of survival. However, if they dared to travel on to the Castrum Divinitus it was almost guaranteed that they would perish.
As for Daolords?
Daolords did not dare to enter this place at all.
"There were originally twenty-two of you. For seven of you to survive and make it to this place means that you are fairly strong for World-level experts," the three-eyed man evaluated.
Generally speaking, only one out of ten World-level cultivators would be able to survive a journey to the Castrum Divinitus. Thus, people like Ning or World God Dragonbinder wouldn't even think about trying to travel all the way to the core region. Such an attempt would be sheer suicide.
"Tell me. What do you desire?" The bald three-eyed man asked.
The gazes of the two squad leaders lit up. The blood-robed youth and the gold-robed youth had both risked their lives in order to acquire the same treasure!
"The divine blood of the Eternal!"
"The divine blood of the Eternal!"
The two simultaneously said the exact same thing.
"The divine blood of the Eternal?" The bald three-eyed man frowned. It was clearly just a golem, but it behaved just as an actual living being might. Previously, there was a look of kindness in his gaze. Now, his words and his bearing had turned markedly colder. "If you have come here for the divine blood of the Eternal, you should know exactly where that blood came from! My master spent endless years chasing after Eternal Emperor Melobo. After dealing him a grievious injury, my master was able to steal away a portion of his divine blood. After refining it down to its purest essence, Master was able to produce just a single drop of purified divine blood!"
"That drop of Eternal blood is utterly priceless. It is one of the top ten treasures of the Allgod Estate!" The bald three-eyed man swept the seven cultivators with his gaze. "But since you have made it past all the dangerous obstacles in your way… per Master's orders, you are qualified to be given one chance to acquire one of his legacy's."
"However, the more valuable the legacy, the more difficult the trial." The three-eyed man continued, "I urge you to give up and instead choose an Eternal weapon, a precious elixir, or even a hundred bugbeasts servants. Those trials are all much easier."
"I only wish for the Eternal blood," the blood-robed youth said.
"The only thing I desire is the Eternal blood," the gold-robed youth agreed.
"Oh?" The three-eyed man was rather irritated, but he couldn't go against the orders which his master had set down.
"Very well then." The three-eyed man's voice was now ice-cold, and it grated against the ears of the seven cultivators. "All seven of you desire the divine blood of the Eternal?"
"Yes."
"Yes."
"Yes"
The other five World-level experts all spoke out as well.
"You have made your request, and your request is for the Eternal blood of Melobo!" The three-eyed man nodded. "Very well then. You shall be given the most difficult trial…the Twin Samsara Heavens!"
"Good." The gold-robed youth and the blood-robed youth both had blazing, eager looks in their eyes.
Anyone who reached the front gates of the Castrum Divinitus could make a request of the Goldeye Golem. Daolord Allgod was quite benevolent towards weaker cultivators. He slew any and all Daolords who attempted to enter his estate, but any World-level experts who made it to the front gates usually would not leave empty-handed!
"You've already experienced many life-threatening dangers in your quest to reach this place. If you asked for any other treasures, even if you failed your trials you wouldn't be at risk of losing your lives," the three-eyed man said. "However, the trial of the Twin Samsara Heavens is the most difficult trial possible. Many of you will die, and it is possible that all seven of you will fail to acquire the Eternal blood. By then, it will be too late to feel regret."
"We won't feel regret."
"No regrets."
The blood-robed youth and the gold-robed youth both spoke out in unison. In their hearts, they were actually beginning to curse at the golem.
Cut the crap, alright? Hurry up and start!
"Very well." The three-eyed man nodded. "The trial of the Twin Samsara Heavens requires a total of ten World-level experts. Only seven of you are present. Therefore…I will teleport three additional World-level experts from various places throughout the Allgod Estate. They, too, shall take part in the Twin Samsara Heavens alongside the seven of you. They too shall have a chance to acquire the Eternal blood.
The faces of both the blood-robed youth and the gold-robed youth tightened… but then they smiled coldly.
"Would those ants even dare to compete against us?"
"If they come, they die."
Both felt quite confident in their abilities.
"Mm…" The three-eyed man nodded slowly. "I can sense four other World-level experts within the Allgod Estate right now. I'll teleport the three closest ones here."
"Hmph. You wanted to resist me?" World God Dragonbinder was seated atop a boulder, a somewhat excited look in his eyes as he stared at a flying needle which he had just recently acquired.
Rumble…
Suddenly, space around him began to twist and distort.
"How can this-…" Dragonbinder's face twisted. He had never heard of something like this happening before, of a person tripping a formation despite sitting there and not even moving. Space around him formed into a spatial whirlpool which quickly drew Dragonbinder into its folds.
Swoosh.
World God Dragonbinder disappeared without a trace.
"Perhaps I'll have a chance of succeeding once I become a master-class World-level expert." A green-haired man dressed in long pink robes and whose narrow eyes were filled with foxlike cunning was staring at a palace in front of him. He had two females behind him, both Ancestral Immortals.
"Yes, I have to reach the level of full mastery first. If I still fail, then I'll simply accept my death within this Fog Sea." A look of resolve was in the pink-robed man's eyes.
Rumble…
Space twisted around him as well as that spatial vortex appeared.
"What's going on?" The pink-robed man was astonished. He had spent more than a thousand years in the Fog Sea but had never encountered a situation like this.
"Master!" His two maids were shocked as well.
The whirlpool of twisted space completely enveloped him as well as both of his maids.
Swoosh.
All three of them disappeared without a trace.
"Youji, you need to spend some time thinking about how to infuse your insights regarding the Dao of Fire into your combat tactics." Ning was by Su Youji's side, watching as she filled the air around her with countless curved scimitars. These were the treasures left behind by Chaos Immortal Foxbold, and they actually a very good fit for the Flamefairy.
But of course, Ning would help Su Youji acquire even better weapons after they left the Allgod Estate.
"Alright." Su Youji nodded.
Rumble…
Spatial ripples began to appear in the surrounding area.
"What's going on?!" Ning and the Flamefairy were both shocked. The spatial ripples twisted into a vortex which quickly encompassed the two of them, giving them no chance to hide or to dodge.
Swoosh.
Both Ning and the Flamefairy disappeared as well.
The blood-robed youth, the gold-robed youth, and the five World-level retainers were all standing before the great plaza. As for the three-eyed man, he stood at the very front of them.
At this moment, a series of spatial ripples began to appear next to him.
Whoosh. Whoosh. Whoosh.
A series of figures began to appear from within the spatial ripples. The three groups consisted of the pink-robed man and his two maids, World God Dragonbinder, and Ji Ning and Su Youji.
"Even Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals were roped in?" The blood-robed youth laughed. "Why'd you even bring them? My servants are all World-level experts."
"For them to come means death." The gold-robed youth laughed coldly.
Although the two wanted nothing more than to kill each other, that was because they viewed each other as dangerous opponents. As for other World-level experts? They truly held very little respect for the vast majority of them.
"What's going on?"
"Why are we here?"
The cultivators who had just been forcibly dragged to this place all stared around in a bewildered fashion.
"Senior apprentice-brother Dragonbinder." When Ning saw Dragonbinder, he couldn't help but call out to him mentally.
"Brother Ji Ning. Flamefairy." When World God Dragonbinder saw Ning and Su Youji appear, he was also delighted and hurriedly messaged both of them. They could all sense that something strange was happening and so confined their conversation to the mental realm.
"Hmph. All of you were quite lucky. The seven of us risked our lives and nearly died to make it to this place, but you were lucky enough to be teleported straight here." The blood-robed youth laughed coldly.
"Wrong. They aren't lucky. They are unlucky as all hell… because they are going to die very soon," the gold-robed youth said calmly.
If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know report chapter so we can fix it as soon as possible.
Report chapter
Book 25, Novessence Thunder, Chapter 33 – The Samsara Grinders
Ji Ning, Flamefairy Su Youji, World God Dragonbinder, and the rest of the cultivators who had been teleported here glanced cautiously at their new surroundings. They heard the words of both the blood-robed youth and the gold-robed youth, and it led them to come to a certain conclusion. This conclusion was simply so inconceivable that it caused all of them to feel shock and awe in their hearts!
"Are we standing before the Castrum Divinitus?" Ning raised his head to stare at the infinitely vast castle before him. "According to the information I purchased, one has to experience countless dangers in order to make it to the doorstep of the Castrum Divinitus, the coremost region of the entire Allgod Estate. It is said that death is virtually assured for anyone who tries to make this journey! Can it be that these seven World Gods have all successfully made it here?"
Seven had survived the journey through the Allgod Estate to this place. How many had originally been in those two squads? According to the accepted odds of only one in ten surviving, could it be that dozens of them had made the attempt? Were there really this many suicidal World Gods in the world?
"Welcome, our three newcomers." The three-eyed man's voice rang out as he glanced at the three new World-level experts. Everyone on the plaza fell silent.
"I forcibly teleported all of you here, and I imagine you are rather confused," the three-eyed man said. "Although being teleported here can be described as a devastating disaster, it can also be described as a tremendous opportunity."
Ning and the others all looked at the bald three-eyed man. The three-eyed man, simply standing there, radiated a faint aura of absolute transcendent power. Although he was clearly suppressing his aura, Ning and the others could all tell that this man could probably wipe them all out with a single gentle breath! And indeed, their senses were accurate. This three-eyed man, the Goldeye Golem, was the First Guardian of the Castrum Divinitus. He was every bit as powerful as Daolord Solesky was.
"The three of you, and the seven of you!" The three-eyed man pointed towards the cultivators on both sides, and all of them listened obediently.
"You must take part in the trial of the Twin Samsara Heavens," the three-eyed man said.
"Senior." World God Dragonbinder couldn't help but speak out. "Why must we experience this trial? Must we take part in it? Also… you spoke of a 'tremendous opportunity'. What are you speaking of?"
"You must take part," the three-eyed man replied calmly.
Dragonbinder couldn't help but sigh to himself.
He wasn't a fool. He could tell that this Twin Samsara Heavens trial had to be an incredibly dangerous one. Even though he was a disciple of the Badlands Court, he had never even heard of the Castrum Divinitus forcibly teleporting World-level experts to this location to take part in any trials. In addition, the other group of seven World Gods gave him a sense of enormous danger!
Clearly, either of the two squads in that group could effortlessly kill him.
He didn't want this 'tremendous opportunity'. All he wanted to do was get out of here! But alas, there was no way out.
"The seven of them experienced countless dangers on their journey, and many of their comrades died on the way to this place." The three-eyed man pointed towards the two squads as he explained to Ning and the others. "They were allowed to make certain requests of me, and if they requested bugbeasts, golems, high-level techniques, or other similar items they would've been given fairly simple trials."
"However, they only desired one thing… the divine blood of the Eternal."
"The divine blood of Eternal Emperor Melobo." A dangerous tone could be heard in the three-eyed man's voice.
Ning's heart clenched when he heard this. Emperor Melobo?
Wasn't that the Eternal Emperor which Daolord Allgod had wished to kill for so many years?
"The divine blood of the Eternal is of inestimable value." The three-eyed man swept Ning and the others with his gaze. "Its value vastly surpasses the value of any items you are familiar with such as Pseudo Samsara Pills or Eternal weapons! It is one of the ten most valuable items in the entire Castrum Divinitus. As for its purposes… if one of you is able to obtain it, I'll tell you then."
The blood-robed youth had a look in his eyes that could only be described as 'berserk'.
Although the gold-robed youth was more sedate, one could also see the flames of excitement burning deep within his icy cold gaze.
"Blood of the Eternal? What's that?" World God Dragonbinder and the pink-robed man were both quite puzzled. They had never even heard of such a thing.
"Hmph. You fools."
"You know nothing."
The blood-robed youth and the gold-robed youth exchanged a glance, completely disdainful of the newcomers who had just appeared.
The three-eyed man waved his hand. Suddenly, an enormous black and white millstone and grindstone appeared the air above the great plaza. The two giant stones were a hundred kilometers in size, and they slowly descended downwards before alighting on the plaza.
"This is the Samsara Grinders." The three-eyed man pointed at the enormous grinder. "I will split the ten of you into five pairs! Each pair will take turns battling atop the Samsara Grinders, and your opponents shall be the many warriors who will appear and attack you."
"In short, you will only achieve victory when your opponent and any forces he controls all perish!"
"If both you and your opponent perish at the same time, you can only blame your own poor luck." The three-eyed man continued, "As for the surviving cultivators, they will each blessed with a small bit of fortune. The cultivator whose performance was the best will have a chance of acquiring the divine blood of the Eternal."
"A chance?" The blood-robed youth and the gold-robed youth both spoke out at the same time.
"If you wish to acquire the Eternal blood, then do your best to kill. Kill the warriors on the Samsara Grinders and kill your foe! The more you kill, the more power you reveal, the greater the chances that you will acquire the Eternal blood." The three-eyed man said calmly, "You have to at least meet my minimum expectations. Otherwise, none of you should even think about acquiring the Eternal blood."
The breaths of the two youths turned ragged. They had paid an enormous price to get here! But alas, they had no other options.
"The first pair."
The bald three-eyed man swept his gaze across the ten World-level experts. He first pointed towards the World God standing behind the blood-robed youth. This World God actually had bone armor growing out of his upper back and protecting his chest. Spikes grew out from his elbows and knees, and his face was covered with a mask of bone which covered everything but his eyes and his mouth.
The three-eyed man pointed at the World God and said, "You!"
"And… you!" The three-eyed man then pointed towards the pink-robed man.
"Master." World God Boneplate looked at the blood-robed youth respectfully.
"Just kill him as fast as you can," the blood-robed youth instructed.
"Yes," World God Boneplate said respectfully.
The pink-robed man frowned as he carefully scrutinized his opponent in the Samsara Grinders. "Not good. I've never even seen this man before. He probably isn't a World God of the Badlands Territory. I sense tremendous danger from this man! Still, since he's willing to be the blood-robed youth's servant, he probably shouldn't be too powerful."
The pink-robed man murmured softly to himself, "Looks like I'll have to go all out."
"The two of you, listen up! Each of you will only be permitted to use nine Elder Gods or Ancestral Immortals at most! You can at most use a total of nine bugbeasts! You are also limited to no more than nine golems! Furthermore, none of your World-level servants are permitted to take part!" The three-eyed man finished his instructions, then gave the final commands. "Now, go up onto the Samsara Grinders. Once I give the order, you can begin your attacks."
"Yes," World God Boneplate said.
"Shit. I can't use my thousand-man Elder God Formation!" The pink-robed man's face turned pale. That formation was one of his killer trump cards.
Whoosh. Whoosh.
World God Boneplate and the pink-robed man both flew atop the enormous black-white bedstone, rapidly shrinking to become ant-sized as they landed.
"The Samsara Grinders contains a dimension of its own," World God Dragonbinder sent mentally.
"Agreed." Ning nodded.
The black-white bedstone and millstone were both covered with countless marvelous runes and patterns.
World God Boneplate stood there, staring at his distant foe. He said aloud, "Chaos Immortal Flygrace. I recognize you. You have the power of an elite World-level expert." His voice boomed with power and strength.
"But I've never heard of you before," the pink-robed Chaos Immortal Flygrace replied.
Rumble…
The enormous Samsara Grinders began to tremble as the countless runes covering its surface began to emit light. The light quickly began to swirl together and condense into human-shaped warriors dressed in golden armor. There had to be thousands of those golden warriors, and every single one of them had the aura of a World-level expert.
"What?! How can there be this many golden warriors?" Everyone watching this was shocked, including the two combatants on the Samsara Grinders as well as everyone watching from below. Their faces all turned pale!
The auras generated by these golden warriors indicated that all of them had reached the World level of power. Even if they were merely at the threshold, there were thousands of them! This was utterly terrifying.
"Begin, then." The three-eyed man gave the order.
"Kill!"
"Kill!"
The thousands of golden warriors transformed into streaks of light, moving at the speed of light as they charged towards the pink-robed man and World God Boneplate.
If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know report chapter so we can fix it as soon as possible.
Report chapter
Book 25, Novessence Thunder, Chapter 34 – The Silkmaid Race
"Not good." The pink-robed Chaos Immortal Flygrace had an ugly look on his face. He immediately willed the area around him to become filled with silvery-white shuttles. After they appeared, he furiously poured all of his Immortal energy into them, unleashing the power of the seals hidden within this set of Dao weapons. Instantly, the nine silvery-white shuttles began to transform and blur, first dividing into a total of eighty-one shuttles, then dividing into 729 shuttles, then…
Soon, more than ten thousand flying shuttles had appeared in the area around Chaos Immortal Flygrace, and they clustered around him in a dense array.
"Kill!"
"Kill him!"
The golden warriors bellowed with rage. Some of them wielded warblades, some wielded spears, some wielded gourds, some wielded ropes, and some wielded whips. They all surged forward en masse as they wildly charged towards their foes.
Boom! Boom! Boom! These golden warriors quickly entered into combat against Chaos Immortal Flygrace. The thousands of flying shuttles around him all transformed into streaks of light as they furiously plunged down upon the gold-armored warriors. Due to the limitations of space, only a hundred golden warriors could attack him at the same time. Thus, there were over a hundred shuttles striking against every single golden warrior.
Massive explosions could be heard ringing out nonstop.
The golden warriors had no fear of death and continued to charge forwards fearlessly. Some died due to their injuries, but more of their fellows would charge forward to take their spots. The runes of the Samsara Grinders committed to emit that dazzling light, causing a steady stream of golden warriors to continue to be born. Slowly, the total number of golden warriors atop the Samsara Grinders began to increase.
"Not good. I'm already using my most powerful area attack technique, and I'm using up my Immortal energy at an incredible rate. Despite that, I'm just barely able to hold on." Chaos Immortal Flygrace was quickly forced into shrinking his defensive perimeter.
"Kill!"
"Charge!"
The golden warriors charged forward in an endless flood, fearing neither injury nor death. Quite a few of the silvery-white shuttles actually vanished, as there were only nine real ones to begin with. The rest were all condensed out of Immortal energy.
"Not good. I can't hang on for much longer." Chaos Immortal Flygrace spared a moment to glance at his distant opponent, wanting to see how his opponent was fairing. The distant World God Boneplate was slaughtering all of the golden warriors around him with incomparable valor. More and more golden warriors had appeared around him as well, and they had started to use teamwork, with some using ropes to slow him down and others using spears to strike at him from afar. World God Boneplate was starting to look a bit haggard, and yet he was still able to hold his own.
"A master-class World God?" Chaos Immortal Flygrace's face changed. When he saw World God Boneplate continue to dispatch the golden warriors with comparative ease, Chaos Immortal Flygrace immediately understood just how powerful his foe was. In addition, his foe had clearly slain more of the golden warriors than he had.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
More and more of the shuttles surrounding Chaos Immortal Flygrace began to disappear before reforming. His defensive perimeter was continuing to shrink as the golden warriors began to grow increasingly frenzied in their attacks. Many of them were starting to strike from afar by hurling their spears, putting even more pressure on Chaos Immortal Flygrace.
"N-no… am I going to just die here?"
"How can it end like this?"
"I have to make it back. I paid such an enormous price and abandoned all my pride. I slew my only friend in order to be able to acquire this Lesser Thousand Elder Gods Formation. I was going to go back once I reached the level of full mastery! How can I die here…"
"N-no…"
Boom! Boom!
The golden warriors were now able to move to within thirty meters of him, and more and more of them were surging in his direction. A short while later, Chaos Immortal Flygrace was completely smashed apart and slain by the golden warriors.
Ji Ning, World God Dragonbinder, and Su Youji watched all this happen from afar. Rather unpleasant looks could be seen on their faces.
"Chaos Immortal Flygrace had quite a good reputation, actually." World God Dragonbinder sighed. "Him and Chaos Immortal Winterbowl were good friends and known as the 'Two Immortals Who Fly in Winter'. Chaos Immortal Winterbowl died just a short while ago, and now Chaos Immortal Flygrace has died as well. Alas."
"This Samsara Grinders truly is dangerous." Su Youji was quite nervous. "Those golden warriors don't look that tough, but there are simply far too many of them."
"That World God covered in bony armor is able to slay a warrior with each strike of his palms. I can sense that these warriors have merely reached the threshold of the World level of power." Ning nodded. "The problem is that there are too many of them, and they are completely fearless."
Fighting enemies who had no fear of death at all was a completely different experience from fighting normal enemies.
"They have poor techniques. In fact, you can say that they have no techniques at all." World God Dragonbinder nodded. "However, they are extremely strong. See that? When dozens of them toss their spears at the same time, even that bone-armored World God is suffering some injuries when he blocks them head on."
"Although this Samsara Grinders supposedly is meant for the two combatants to duel each other, there's actually no point to it. The gold-armored warriors alone are enough of a challenge!" Ning slowly shook his head.
"Right. Most likely, only someone with the power of a supreme World God would be capable of bursting past the encirclement of the golden warriors," World God Dragonbinder agreed.
Although there were many golden warriors on the battlefield, only so many could attack you at any given moment in time. Thankfully, they didn't have any combination formations to use either. Thus, if you were strong enough you might stand a chance of bursting past their many attacks.
"Unfortunately, none of us have that level of power." World God Dragonbinder shook his head as he looked at Ning and Su Youji. "Youji, you just made your breakthrough a short while ago. You are too weak. It will be very dangerous for you once it is your turn to enter the Grinder."
As he saw it, Ji Ning was merely an Elder God while Su Youji was just a newly ascended Chaos Immortal. The two of them were far too weak. Even an elite World-level expert like Chaos Immortal Flygrace had been overwhelmed and mobbed by those many golden warriors. How could Ji Ning and Su Youji possibly survive? World God Dragonbinder was very worried about them.
Whoosh. Whoosh. Whoosh.
After Chaos Immortal Flygrace let out a final despairing cry, all of the golden warriors atop the enormous Samsara Grinders came to a halt. Moments later, their bodies began to break apart and dissipate into light.
Soon, the only one remaining was World God Boneplate.
"The first of the five matches has ended." The three-eyed man waved his hand spoke out in a frosty voice. His fiery hand dramatically increased in size, seized World God Boneplate by the shoulder, then roughly tossed him towards the direction of the blood-robed youth. "Since it's over, why the hell are you still taking up space on the Grinder?"
A hint of rage was in World God Boneplate's eyes, but he quickly suppressed it and instead returned obediently to the blood-robed youth's side.
"Not bad." The blood-robed youth glanced sideways at his slave.
"Thank you, Master." World God Boneplate revealed a look of joy.
"The second match…"
The three-eyed man swept the remaining combatants with his gaze, then pointed towards a World God standing behind the gold-robed youth. This was a hideously ugly old hag who had sharp, claw-like fingers. A dull red light could be seen flickering deep within her eyes, and she emanated an aura of extreme weirdness.
"You." The bald three-eyed man pointed towards the ugly old hag as he spoke.
"And… you!" The three-eyed man pointed towards World God Dragonbinder.
"You already know the rules. Up you go!" The three-eyed man ordered.
The ugly old hag gave World God Dragonbinder a rather serious look. The gold-robed youth by her side instructed, "Be careful. This is World God Dragonbinder, a disciple of the Badlands Court. He definitely is far more powerful than that Chaos Immortal Flygrace was. Don't embarrass me!"
"Don't worry, master." The ugly old hag nodded then immediately flew towards the enormous Samsara Grinders.
"Be careful, senior apprentice-brother Dragonbinder," Ning said.
"Big brother Dragonbinder, I don't recognize any of these cultivators. They must be from other territories, and I can sense that they came with ill intentions. That master-class World God who fought just now was merely a servant; this one is probably a master-class World-level expert as well," Su Youji said with worry.
"Mm…" World God Dragonbinder nodded slowly.
He knew that a critical moment had arrived.
Swoosh!
World God Dragonbinder flew towards the Samsara Grinders.
World God Dragonbinder and the hideous old hag stared at each other from afar from their positions at the opposite ends of the Samsara Grinders. The runes covering the enormous Grinder began to radiate light that quickly coalesced into those golden warriors.
"World God Dragonbinder. I've heard of your prowess and your might… but today, you shall die by my hands. Listen up! You can call me 'Silkwater'. Don't die without even knowing who you died to!" The ugly old hag began to grow in size as she spoke, her lower body transforming into the body of a giant scorpion. As for her upper body, it transformed into the form of a nude woman of surpassing charm whose face was every bit as beautiful as Su Youji's.
Upon seeing this, World God Dragonbinder's face tightened. "A Silkmaid?"
"A Silkmaid?" Ning's face tightened as well. Before leaving, Daolord Solesky had given him information regarding many of the mysteries and secrets of the various territories around them. One bit of information pertained to a race known as 'Silkmaids'.
"Who the hell are these people? How is it that they have master-class World Gods and Silkmaid experts serving as their slaves?" Ning turned to stare at the distant gold-robed youth and blood-robed youth.
"Don't die, senior apprentice-brother Dragonbinder. You have to stay alive." Ning wasn't even thinking about his own safety right now. All of his attention was focused on World God Dragonbinder.
If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know report chapter so we can fix it as soon as possible.
Report chapter
Book 25, Novessence Thunder, Chapter 35 – Dao-Seals
The endless primordial chaos was filled with endless mysteries. Even the exalted Eternal Emperors, figures who would exist for all eternity for and whose every word carried the force of law, would never dare to claim that they understood all of its secrets. The primordial chaos held certain special types of lifeforms, one of which Ji Ning had encountered in the Three Realms. Back then, Ning had encountered the Waterian servant of the Elder God known as Godfiend Witherspike. Although Waterians were considered alien Outsiders to the Three Realms, they were actually quite common in the Endless Territories and not worthy of special mention.
The Silkmaid race, however, was different. They were much rarer and much more mysterious.
They existed only in small numbers, and all of them were female. They had to copulate with males belonging to other species in order to give birth to new Silkmaids, and their children would always be female! Despite being few in number, they were extoradinarily powerful because they were born with tremendous innate skill in illusions and also were very skilled in close combat. A Silkmaid who reached the World level would be an absolute nightmare for other World-level experts to face, because anyone trapped in one of their illusions would find themselves easy prey for the Silkmaids in close combat.
"Let us begin," the three-eyed man ordered.
Thousands of golden warriors once more began to manifest atop the Samsara Grinders. With a loud howl, the golden warriors all transformed into streaks of light as they threw themselves towards World God Dragonbinder and World Goddess Silkwater.
Whoosh.
Two azure golems suddenly appeared next to World God Dragonbinder.
"Master." The two azure golems took up defensive positions around him.
"Block any foes who attempt to attack me. Don't let them get too close," World God Dragonbinder sent mentally to them. At the same time, he took out a Dao-seal that looked like a dried yellow leaf. The seal was covered in many wriggly divine runes and emanated an aura of mystery and power.
"Time to go all out." World God Dragonbinder felt a tinge of heartache. This was a treasure which he had saved to keep himself alive in a desperate situation. However, upon learning that his opponent was a Silkmaid and upon seeing all those golden warriors charge towards him, he could no longer afford to be stingy with his treasures. Staying alive was what mattered the most.
Rumble…
As World God Dragonbinder poured his Immortal energy into the Dao-seal, the dried leaf-like seal instantly disintegrated into countless divine runes. These runes intersected with each other like countless thin strands of silk, forming a golden set of armor over Dragonbinder's body.
"SHKREE!!!"
The half-scorpion, half-female World God Silkwater let out an ear-piercing shriek. The sound instantly drove its way into the ears of the distant World God Dragonbinder, the strange cadence delving deep into his mind and causing him to instantly lose his mental connection to the outside world.
He realized that he had suddenly been transformed into an ordinary mortal. He was in the middle of a lake, and there were many beautiful women dressed in just swathes of gauze who were slowly moving closer and closer to him.
"Illusions? BREAK!!!"
Although he seemed like he was just an ordinary mortal, his suddenly explosive roar was filled with his heartforce and the power of his mighty will. The roar caused the illusory world to instantly break apart and quickly dissipate.
World God Dragonbinder regained his faculties.
A large number of golden warriors had drawn close to him and were charging straight towards him. The two golems he had were doing their best to defend, but there were simply too many of them. By now, two of them had already reached Dragonbinder himself and were in the process of launching an attack against him. However, the golden leather armor covering his body just rippled slightly, easily defending against this attack.
"Die." World God Dragonbinder stabbed out with his claw-like hands, piercing directly through the heads of those two golden warriors. Boom! Boom! Both golden warriors died instantaneously.
"What a powerful illusion. It managed to trap even me within its world for a period of time." World God Dragonbinder was shocked. My heartforce has reached the fourth stage, and I have a secret art which Master taught met, yet I was still unable to defend against it."
Although he had almost instantly defeated the technique, battles between World-level experts could start and finish in a single instant. That brief moment when he had been trapped by the illusion was quite possibly enough to spell doom in battle. However, weaker illusions wouldn't have been able to drag him into that illusory world, thanks to his powerful heartforce and his soul technique.
"Die!"
"World God Dragonbinder, die!" The Silkmaid battling against the other golden warriors off in the distance let out repeated screeches, each screech causing Dragonbinder a certain amount of trouble. He'd often come to a halt mid-strike, giving those golden warriors a chance to land attacks against him.
Although his two golems stayed close to him and defended him in close combat, it was impossible for them to prevent every single golden warrior from reaching him.
"The disciples of Daolord Badlands truly are difficult to deal with." The gold-robed youth's face tightened slightly. "So he actually had a seal of such tremendous power?"
"Fukai, aren't you supposed to be very talented in the art of Dao-seals? The Dao-seal which World God Dragonbinder used just now was pretty powerful, right? When those golden warriors manage to land attacks against him, the Dao-talisman seems to almost completely nullify and ignore those attacks." The blood-robed youth snickered. "It seems your Silkmaid is about to lose."
"There's a limit to how much power any Dao-seal can have. Once its power is used up, he'll die." The gold-robed youth ground his teeth. He had paid a staggering sum of money in order to purchase this World Goddess of the Silkmaid race to be his slave. The thing was, she hadn't actually reached the level of full mastery as a World Goddess. Even so, thanks to her innate talents and some special abilities even actual master-class World Gods found it difficult to fight against her. The gold-robed youth had done everything he could to help her grow and to help strengthen her, but his quest to find the Eternal blood was simply too important. He was willing to risk even his own life to succeed in this question. Naturally, he had brought his Silkmaid to join him.
"I didn't expect him to actually have such a powerful Dao-seal. Thus far, more than twenty golden warriors have landed attacks against him, but the power of the Dao-seal hasn't even begun to dim." The gold-robed youth secretly began to worry. "This Dao-seal has to be worth more than two hundred cubes of chaos nectar, and it can only be used a single time. I'm amazed he was willing to spend that much money."
As for Ji Ning, he let out a sigh of relief. "So senior apprentice-brother Dragonbinder actually had such a powerful Dao-seal on him. He's safe now. Still…I'm amazed he was willing to spend that much money on it."
Dao-seals were very powerful, but the problem was that they were single-use items! Then again, their advantage lay in the fact that they generally didn't have strict usage requirements. All you needed to do was to fill the seal with your Immortal energy and its power would be fully unleashed.
The power of this Dao-seal which Dragonbinder had just used was comparable to a Samsara Daolord's defensive technique. Its energy was being depleted nonstop, and when the energy ran out the golden leather armor would disappear, but prior to that happening Dragonbinder was in a position of absolute security.
"No. No! Damn…"
Although World Goddess Silkwater did her best to battle against her many foes, the golden warriors continued to swarm her without pause. She let out repeated screeches, causing World God Dragonbinder to be briefly trapped within that illusory world, but Dragonbinder had both the golems protecting him as well as the Dao-seal. By now, the golden leather armor over his body had dimmed just slightly.
Silkwater, however, was close to the end of her rope. These golden warriors attacking her weren't actual living creatures, and as such they were able to completely ignore her illusions.
"Master." World Goddess Silkwater cast a final glance to the gold-robed youth standing outside the Samsara Grinders, a look of apology and longing in her eyes.
Every single Silkmaid retainer was absolutely loyal to her master.
"Go, then. Go." The gold-robed youth felt tremendous sorrow in his heart as well. Silkmaids were rarely used to fight on the front lines in such a manner. During the previous battles, World Goddess Silkwater had primarily been responsible for casting illusions from the back lines while the other World Gods attacked furiously from the front lines.
"If I can get the divine blood of the Eternal, all of this will have been worth it."
"If I cannot… then the only thing awaiting me shall be death as well." The gold-robed youth shut his eyes.
"Aaaaaah!" An ear-splitting scream rang out as World Goddess Silkwater cast her final illusion… and then she was completely tied up by the ropes of the golden warriors. A golden warrior holding a flask drew Silkwater into the flask, then ground her apart into dust. Just like that, World Goddess Silkwater died.
"The second match has concluded." The bald three-eyed man's voice rang out once more. World God Dragonbinder quickly put away his two golems then hurriedly flew off of the Samsara Grinders. He was worried that if he moved too slowly, he would also be physically tossed off the stage just as the previous winner had been.
"Congratulations, big brother Dragonbinder," Flamefairy Su Youji said.
Dragonbinder's body was still covered with a suit of faintly glowing golden leather armor. He shook his head. "I was just lucky. That Silkmaid wasn't that strong. If she had actually reached the level of full mastery as a World God, she would've been able to withstand the attacks of those golden warriors for an extremely long period of time. My Dao-seal would've been used up and I would've been not long for this world."
Ning and Su Youji both nodded.
Ning couldn't help but sigh. Silkmaids possessed terrifying powers of illusions. One had to have strong heartforce, a strong soul, and certain secret arts to be able to withstand their illusions. Ning was still at the fourth stage of heartforce and as such he was probably a bit too weak. Alas, upgrading heartforce was simply too difficult. There were many World-level experts who possessed only limited talent for heartforce, because heartforce was a completely different path of cultivation.
Cultivation was primarily divided amongst Ki Refiners, Fiendgod Body Refiners, and Heartforce Cultivators. Thus far, Ning had yet to encounter a single World-level expert who was a Heartforce Cultivator! One could imagine how rare they truly were.
"Master, how should we deal with them when it is our turn?" The Flamefairy was a bit worried.
If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know report chapter so we can fix it as soon as possible.
Report chapter
Book 25, Novessence Thunder, Chapter 36 – Ji Ning Enters the Fray
"These two squads are too mysterious. Based on how they address each other, it would appear as though the blood-robed youth and the gold-robed youth are the leaders while the others are all servants or slaves! That bone-armored World God was a master-class World God while World Goddess Silkwater was of the 'Silkmaid' race, according to what big brother Dragonbinder said. Even big brother Dragonbinder was repeatedly drawn into her illusions. Given how powerful those two were, the rest can't be weak either." Su Youji sent worriedly, "And what worries me most is the possibility that we'll encounter one of the leaders on the Samsara Grinders. They have to be even more dangerous."
"Mm." Ji Ning nodded.
Su Youji didn't fully comprehend how valuable Silkmaids were, but Ning himself did. If the gold-robed youth truly had purchased a Silkmaid who was a World Goddess, he had to have a staggering amount of wealth! A Silkmaid World Goddess was worth more than a thousand cubes of chaos nectar.
But if the Silkmaid World Goddess had willingly chose to serve the gold-robed youth… that just made him even more terrifying.
"When it is our turn, follow the plan I set out earlier," Ning sent. "Given our level of strength, we should be able to hold off those golden warriors."
"Alright." Su Youji nodded.
The bald three-eyed man swept the remaining contestants with his gaze, then said, "The third match will be… hm. You!" He pointed directly towards Su Youji.
"And… you!" He pointed at the skinny, viper-like man who was standing behind the blood-robed youth, a man who emanated an aura of insidious cold.
"Senior!" The blood-robed youth's face tightened as he hurriedly said, "Senior, I feel as though your actions are unfair."
"Yes. Senior, your actions truly are a bit unfair," the gold-robed youth agreed.
Both Ning and Su Youji were puzzled.
What was this all about?
"Unfair?" The three-eyed man looked at the two of them.
"We had to experience countless dangers in order to reach this place, and I imagine you know exactly how strong the seven of us are," the blood-robed youth said. "But the three World Gods you just chose were the three weakest ones under our command."
"Right." The gold-robed youth agreed. "Of the seven of us, World Goddess Silkwater could be considered the equivalent of a master-class World God, thanks to her illusory prowess. Thus, all three of them were roughly comparable to master-class World Gods. However, the rest of us are all supreme World Gods! You sent our three weakest followers to compete against the three newcomers. It is clear that you intend to have the four of us, the strongest four, to battle each other. This isn't really fair."
"You are acting in a rather prejudiced manner, senior." The blood-robed youth was rather irritated as well.
They had a total of seven cultivators split between their two teams. Three of them were roughly on par with master-class World Gods while the other four had the power of supreme World Gods. The First Guardian of the Castrum Divinitus had arranged for the three World-level experts he had forcibly teleported to this location to battle against the three weakest members of the original seven. Clearly, he was acting in a biased manner.
"Unfair?" The three-eyed man said coldly, "I forcibly teleported the three of them here and forced them to accept a potentially deadly trial. Do you think that was fair for them?"
"And her!" The three-eyed man pointed at Su Youji. "She broke through to become a Chaos Immortal just a few short months ago, right here in the Allgod Estate. We're having a newly ascended Chaos Immortal compete against a master-class World God. You tell me, is that fair?"
The three-eyed man swept the gold-robed youth and the blood-robed youth with a cold gaze. "Or are you telling me that we should have her, a brand new Chaos Immortal, battle against one of you four supreme World Gods?"
The two instantly fell silent.
In truth, both of them knew exactly how strong Su Youji was. Before coming to the Badlands Territory, they had collected a significant amount of intelligence and information regarding all the World-level experts, Elder Gods, and Ancestral Immortals who lived in this territory. They had both long ago reviewed the information pertaining to Su Youji the Flamefairy. Although they weren't sure when she had made her breakthrough, it was definitely within the past thousand years.
"You don't even have the balls to compete against others on the same level of power as you, yet you dream of acquiring the divine blood of the Eternal?" The three-eyed man snorted, a hint of a mockery on his lips.
"Senior, please give us some guidance. What must we accomplish on the Samsara Grinders in order to acquire the Eternal blood?" The blood-robed youth, Arroyo, asked respectfully.
The gold-robed youth, Fukai, looked at the three-eyed man as well.
"Personally kill your opponent. Quickly." The three-eyed man said calmly, "Enough. Hurry up and get onto the Samsara Grinders."
"Hear that, Darkfall? She broke through to become a Chaos Immortal just a few months ago. Kill her as fast as you can," the blood-robed youth instructed.
"Understood," the tall, skinny, insidious man replied. Swish! He left behind a blur in the air as he moved to stand atop the Samsara Grinders.
"What incredible speed." The faces of both Ning and Su Youji tightened when they saw this. Their opponent was clearly so fast that not even Ning using the Thunderlight Wings was a match for him.
Swoosh. Swoosh.
Ning and Su Youji both flew up onto the Samsara Grinders. World God Dragonbinder wanted to stop Ning but he wasn't able to do so in time. His face turned pale and he felt misery in his heart. "Brother Ji Ning, why the hell did you go up there? It doesn't matter if the Elder Gods or Ancestral Immortals don't take part."
The divine runes covering the Samsara Grinders had already begun to glow with countless streams of light, resulting in the appearance of the golden warriors .
The tall, slender, insidious man stood far away from Ning and Youji. He was dressed in black robes, and he stared at them as he said in a cold voice, "Flamefairy Su Youji. I've heard of you, but I didn't expect for you to have broken through to become a Chaos Immortal. I urge you to put away that Elder God of yours. For him to take part in this competition is suicide. Oh. I forgot to tell you my name. I am World God Darkfall. Now, when you die, you'll at least know the name of the person who killed you."
World God Darkfall stood there, emanating an aura of absolute confidence. If he couldn't even kill a newly ascended Chaos Immortal, even he himself would feel that he was a joke.
"Master." Su Youji mentally messaged Ji Ning.
"Follow the plan," Ning instructed.
A master-class World God? This would be the toughest foe he had ever faced. Although he had encountered God Emperor Blacklotus who was even more powerful, Ning hadn't been the one to actually face him.
"Begin!"
The three-eyed man gave the order.
"Kill!"
"Kill!"
The countless golden warriors were driven into a frenzy as they transformed into streaks of light that shot towards the two sides.
"Come out." Ning willed three golems to suddenly appear by his side. Two were black golems while the third was Rocky the stone titan. The Flamefairy also brought out her own black golem and took personal control of it upon entering it.
The three black golems formed a triangle that surrounded Ning and Rocky.
"She actually had four golems?" The blood-robed youth's face tightened slightly when he saw this.
"She actually had four golems, Arroyo. It seems this won't be as easy as you thought it would be." The gold-robed youth spoke in quite a relaxed manner.
"Hmph. So what if she has four? Just watch and see." The blood-robed youth was quite confident in the prowess of this subordinate, World God Darkfall.
Boom! Boom!
Golden warriors charged towards them in an endless tide, but the three black golems were like a dam that quelled their surge. As the two sides began to fight, quite a few of the golden warriors were knocked flying while some were actually shattered to pieces.
"Kill."
"Kill."
"Kill."
Elder God Blacksun, Elder God Wilddog, and Su Youji each commanded a black golem. All three of them howled as bloodlust filled their veins, and they showed no mercy in their attacks whatsoever as they furiously blew apart all of the golden warriors charged towards them. These three black golems came as a set, and the formation linking them together was extremely suited for defense. The three of them were clearly far better at blocking out the enemy warriors than the two golems which World God Dragonbinder had used.
After battling for a brief moment in time, more than hundreds of golden warriors had been knocked away. Only two golden warriors managed to make it past their defensive perimeter, but Rocky was able to effortlessly crush both of them. Ning just stood there, not even needing to move.
"Hm?" Ning glanced at the situation on the other side of the battlefield. "It seems as though we need to give this World God Darkfall a bit of pressure."
"Come out."
Ning willed it, and a black gourd suddenly appeared before him in the air. The stopper to the gourd was open, allowing it to instantly release an enormous flood of lightning. Instantly, all five types of lightning began to furiously slam down towards the distant World God Darkfall.
"Shit." World God Darkfall was wielding six different warblades as he furiously hacked at the golden warriors around him with abandon, causing many of them to fall. But once the five types of lightning began to slam into him, his face couldn't help but tighten.
Although these five types of lightning weren't capable of threatening his life, they were able to encumber down his movements and have an effect on his combat potential.
It must be understood that Ning was focusing all five types of lightning against him and him alone! Ning had spent a total of 180 cubes of chaos nectar in order to purchase the Pentabolt Gourd. Any weapon with such a hefty price tag would pose at least some degree of danger to most World-level experts.
"How can this be happening?!" World God Darkfall was clearly starting to struggle now.
He was feeling both angry and humiliated! He was a master-class World God, but he was mired into a dangerous situation while his opponent seemed to have an airtight defense.
"GRAAAAH!" World God Darkfall suddenly raised his head and let out a furious howl. Red lines appeared all across his face like tattoos as his aura was dramatically strengthened.
"Die!"
World God Darkfall's speed suddenly rose dramatically. He moved past the golden warriors in a ghostly manner, slaughtering a path through them as he moved closer and closer towards Ji Ning and Su Youji.
"He's too fast! How is he this fast?" Ji Ning was shocked. "He must've used some sort of special divine ability. Even though the five types of lightning are slowing him down, he's still faster than me! He's also incredibly agile."
World God Darkfall was moving in an almost serpentine fashion as he dodged past the many enemy attacks. He continued to slaughter a path through the golden warriors as he moved closer and closer to Ning's side.
"Of the servants under my command, Darkfall is the fastest and most agile. He's completely capable of avoiding the golden warriors and moving to the other side of the arena." The blood-robed youth, Arroyo, was watching with arms folded across his chest, a look of absolute confidence in his eyes. "So what if she has four golems? Soon, all of you will have to deal with attacks from both Darkfall as well as the golden warriors."
The Samsara Grinders.
Whoosh.
World God Darkfall's six arms were hacking away with his six mighty warblades. His warblades attacked with incredible speed and in an unpredictable manner.
"The Dao of the Saber?" Ning carefully watched the man fight. This was a World God of the Dao of the Saber.
World God Darkfall continued to press closer and closer towards them. Soon, he reached an area that was directly in front of Ning and the others. Elder God Wilddog sent mentally, "Master, we're currently able to keep a tight defensive perimeter against these golden warriors, but if that World God attacks I don't think we'll be able to hold."
"Leave it to me." Ning stretched his hand out, allowing a blood-colored sword to appear within it.
"Haha, that puny Elder God actually took out his sword. Is he actually planning to attack? He really has quite some gall, even though he's clearly suicidal!" The blood-robed youth laughed.
If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know report chapter so we can fix it as soon as possible.
Report chapter
Book 25, Novessence Thunder, Chapter 37 – Yes, Master
"Maybe he really does want to die." The golden-robed youth, Fukai, was watching from afar as well.
Atop the Samsara Grinders.
The three black golems continued to circle around Ji Ning and Su Youji, blocking all of the offending golden warriors. World God Darkfall had drawn very close to them, and his cold eyes were staring directly at the four golems and Ning himself. "This ant-like Elder God actually dares to draw his sword, as though he's preparing to enter the fray? Mm. He should be Su Youji's retainer. Logically speaking, a single Elder God shouldn't make any difference at all in a battle like this, and yet Su Youji permitted him to take part. There has to be a trap."
"This puny Elder God probably has some sort of self-sacrificial suicide attack," World God Darkfall mused to himself.
The endless primordial chaos was filled with untold mysteries. As Darkfall saw it, given that the Flamefairy was capable of producing those four black golems and that lightning gourd, she must have encountered a stroke of tremendous karmic fortune. Perhaps she had some other dangerous toys hidden up her sleeve as well.
"Unfortunately, Su Youji, you are a new Chaos Immortal and have no idea how great the power disparity is between an Elder God and a master-class World God. No matter what type of treasure you gave him, he still won't pose a threat to me." Many thoughts flitted through Darkfall's mind, but he didn't slow down in the slightest as he charged straight towards one of the black golems.
This black golem's claw-techniques were clearly based off the mysteries of the Dao of Fire. World God Darkfall was instantly able to identify this particular golem as being the one which Su Youji was commanding.
"Once Su Youji dies, all of this will be over." Right now, Darkfall had just one target: Su Youji!
"DARKFALL!"
A thunderous shot.
Ji Ning had been standing within the protective encirclement of the three black golems, the blood-colored Violetjewel in his hands. The pair of Thunderlight Wings suddenly appeared on his back as he instantly shot out in a streak of light, charging out of the protective encirclement and towards World God Darkfall.
"Eh?" World God Darkfall laughed when he saw this. Still, since he was worried that Ning might try to pull some sort of suicide attack or trap against him, he remained slightly on his guard. One of his six blades howled through the air in an illusory fashion as he released hundreds of streaks of saber-light towards Ning.
Because they were fighting atop the Samsara Grinders, World God Darkfall didn't dare to transform his warblades and make them thousands of meters long. This was because if he did so, he would instantly have to deal with a hundred times more golden warriors than he was dealing with before. Even though he was a master-class World God, he would still be utterly demolished and killed by them.
Thus, everyone present including Ji Ning, World God Darkfall, and the golems all kept their weapons to a maximum size of just a few meters long. That way, only a comparatively low number of golden warriors would be able to assault them at any given moment.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Hundreds of streaks of saber-light flew towards Ning, but most of them actually landed upon the golden warriors who were charging towards Darkfall. Still, a portion of them ended up flying towards Ning.
"Hmph. He's nothing more than an Elder God, while I'm a master-class World God. Any casual blow from my saber would be more than enough to wipe him out. You might have some powerful techniques up your sleeve, but if I don't let you get close to me there's nothing you can do." World God Darkfall felt quite confident in his abilities, but he continued to keep a close eye on Ning's actions. He wanted to watch as Ning died.
BOOM!
The Thunderlight Wings trembled as Ning charged straight towards Darkfall in an utterly ferocious manner.
"You think you can bar my path with those puny little blades of light?" Ning wasn't worried in the slightest. Sword-light flashed in his hands and effortlessly chopped apart the incoming streaks of saber-light.
"What?!"
"How can this be?"
"This Elder God…"
World God Darkfall wasn't the only one who was shocked. Even the blood-robed Arroyo and the gold-robed Fukai, along with their World God servants, were stunned. Although Darkfall had sent out those chops of saber-light in a rather casual manner, he was still a master-class World God who walked the path of the Dao of the Saber! Not even elite World Gods should be able to deflect his blows in such a casual manner.
"Ji Ning was… was this powerful?" World God Dragonbinder was stunned by what he saw as well. When Ning dueled against the World-level experts of the Badlands Court, he had only competed in sword-arts. He had never gone all-out and so the disciples of the Badlands Court had no idea as to exactly how powerful Ning was.
"How can an Elder God be this powerful?" The blood-robed Arroyo was absolutely stunned.
"What a monster. I simply must enslave him and take him for my own." The golden-robed youth, Fukai, stared at Ning with a gleaming look in his eyes. He didn't give a damn about whether Darkfall would die or not, as Darkfall was his foe's subordinate. He actually hoped Darkfall would die faster!
"Not good." Darkfall was completely stunned by this. Only now did he realize that there was no so-called 'suicide attack'. This Elder God was just an absolute monster, a freak with incredible power who was capable of battling against him in close combat.
"How could a monster like him have chosen to become Su Youji's retainer…"
"WAIT!"
"I was wrong!" The three-eyed man himself had told them that Su Youji had made her breakthrough to become a Chaos Immortal just a few months ago. In other words, a year ago she was nothing more than an Ancestral Immortal. Given how ridiculously, monstrously powerful this Elder God was…
"There was no way he had been Su Youji's retainer. Su Youji had to be his retainer!"
World God Darkfall was no fool. As soon as Ning revealed a hint of his true power, Darkfall immediately came to the correct conclusion.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Ning showed absolute valor and courage as he charged forward, sending golden warriors flying in every direction from his wake. Some were actually blasted into smithereens by his very charge itself. Ning's sword-arts had become even more perfected than before. World God Darkfall was able to move past the golden warriors thanks to his tremendous speed and agility, but Ning was able to do the same by relying on his absolutely flawless sword-arts and the Soleheart stance.
"No matter how much of a monster you are, you are still just an Elder God. Die for me!" Darkfall let out a cold snarl as he pounced towards Ning.
To be beaten into a retreat by an Elder God would be a true humiliation!
"You aren't good enough." Ning instantly met him mid-blow.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Sword-light and saber-light clashed numerous times in the air, generating powerful booms with each collision. The saber-light was rather fluid and unpredictable while the sword-light thrummed with awesome power.
World God Darkfall's agility and speed were both utterly astonishing, far superior to that of most master-class World Gods. However, his saber-arts were a bit lacking in comparison. In fact, they were considerably weaker than Ning's sword-arts. Thankfully for Darkfall, his advantage in speed and agility allowed him to cover up his flaws and seek out Ning's.
Ning used just a single sword, but by relying on the [Heartsword Realm] he was able to deliver awe-inspiring attacks that gave World God Darkfall no chance to defeat him at all.
"Impossible. How can he possibly withstand my attacks?" World God Darkfall began to panic.
"The Dao of the Sword?"
"He's actually every bit the match of Darkfall in a head-on collision." The watchers, Arroyo and Fukai included, felt their hearts quiver. These two in particular were the favored sons of heaven and were every bit as talented as the Starlord of Fogstone had been. In fact, they had greater strokes of karmic fortune and were more powerful than the Starlord was. This naturally meant that they had far broader visions than most people… and yet, even they felt utterly speechless when they saw this Elder God fight a master-class World God to a standstill.
"He's an utter monster."
"What a complete freak…"
"Hurry over here! Assist me in surrounding and killing this World God Darkfall," Ning roared loudly.
"Yes, Master."
"Yes, Master."
"Yes, Master."
"Yes, Master."
The four golems all assented in unison. The three black golems began to advance while spinning together like a whirlpool, grinding apart and blasting away all the golden warriors who assailed them. As for the stone titan named Rocky, he helped deal with any of the stragglers who made it through the initial defensive perimeter.
"He really is the true master."
"This Elder God is the real person in charge."
Everyone present felt stunned at the thought that they actually had the chance to witness such a peerless monster in action. Individuals like Ji Ning only existed in legends, and it was almost impossible to actually encounter one of them in the flesh. Encountering someone like Ji Ning was far more difficult than encountering a Samsara Daolord!
When the spirit of the Ten Thousand Mountains Formation saw Ning break through all nine barriers through raw force, it came to understand how much of a monster Ning was and thus it gifted him with a powerful legacy. The technique he had given was one of the nine mighty secret arts possessed by Daolord Allgod, the Novessence Thunder technique. This was a secret art which even Samsara Daolords would go mad over. The reason the spirit had given Ning the technique was because he had seen a faint sliver of a chance that Ning would one day reach the same level as Daolord Allgod. Although the chance was quite small, at least there was a chance.
Daolord Allgod was a Samsara Daolord but was able to hunt down Eternal Emperors.
When he was an Elder God, he was naturally just as much of a monster, if not more so! If you started far behind everyone else, you'd have even less of a chance of surpassing them in the future. Still, as far as the spirit of the Ten Thousand Mountains Formation was concerned, Ji Ning had just a tiny chance of actually reaching Daolord Allgod's level. Over the course of these countless years, he had seen more then ten such peerless geniuses and had handed them quite a few legacies, but the most dazzling performer to date was just Daolord Badlands.
Yes, Ji Ning might appear to have a strong start, but who knew how outstanding a figure he would be upon becoming a World God or becoming a Samsara Daolord? Each step taken by a Samsara Daolord involved treading on the boundary between life and death. To even reach the Verge of the Daomerge was extremely difficult. Not even Daolord Badlands had reached the Verge yet.
"Not good!" World God Darkfall was shocked.
"If those four golems join forces with this monster in front of me, I'm going to be in big trouble." Darkfall began to panic.
If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know report chapter so we can fix it as soon as possible.
Report chapter
Book 25, Novessence Thunder, Chapter 38 – A Trap
Rumble…
The three black golems and the stone titan worked together flawless, the three black golems circling around Rocky as the four slowly advanced through the golden warriors towards Ji Ning and Darkfall.
"I have to kill this monster of an Elder God before those four golems arrive." World God Darkfall could sense that this was an incredibly dangerous situation. His eyes flashed red and his attack patterns suddenly changed. Previously, he was trying to use his speed, agility, and unpredictable saber stances to find a flaw in Ning's attacks. Now, he entered a berserk state and began to unleash saber-arts that focused on overwhelming, dominating power!
Each of the six dazzling sabers carried enough power to hack apart a chaosworld. Limitless amounts of power permeated every single saber as they burst forth with explosive might.
Boom! Boom! Boom! One explosion after another rang out. Ning used the Eternal weapon in his hand to block each time, but he clearly seemed to be somewhat struggling.
"Right! What a fool I am! This monster of an Elder God has only been using a single sword this entire time. Clearly, his other weapons are significantly weaker. This sword is most likely an Eternal weapon." When World God Darkfall saw Ning begin to stagger, he couldn't help but feel overjoyed. "I have six blades but he only has one sword. He was able to easily defend against me when I focused on trying to find flaws in his swordplay, but when I go all-out and attack him with full force he won't be able to withstand my blows.
"It doesn't matter how tight your defensive swordplay is. As long as I keep I hacking down upon you with my sabers, a flaw will be revealed."
Boom!
The two mighty Fiendgod Refiners exchanged hundreds of blows in an instant. World God Darkfall could sense the specter of death looming over him and so began to furiously attack with all his might, making it very difficult for Ning to defend against him.
"An opening!" World God Darkfall's eyes lit up. He finally saw a flaw in Ning's defenses.
Whoosh.
World God Darkfall didn't hesitate at all. As soon as he saw the opening, he delivered a strike with an icy-cold streak of saber-light. This streak of saber-light went straight through Ning's defensive perimeter! As the saying goes, 'when he is ill, go for the kill'! A single critical strike could completely change the entire nature of a duel, and so Darkfall quickly struck out with all five of his other swords at the same time.
"No…!" Ning blanched as he hurriedly tried to deflect, but alas, this single mistake resulted in a cascade of mistakes.
Boom! Boom!
Two streaks of saber-light slammed down upon Ning at virtually the same moment.
"Haha…" A look of delight flashed through Darkfall's eyes… but it was then quickly replaced by a look of shock and rage.
When his sabers had landed against Ning and struck his arm, it was as though some sort of spring mechanism had been activated. When the armor absorbed the force of his blows, it seemed to briefly store it, then sent it right back at Darkfall at the exact same level of power.
It must be understood that World God Darkfall had poured every last scrap of his power into those two saber-blows, making them incredibly strong!
And yet, he was now caught completely off-guard by this damage reflection. Two surges of utterly terrifying power had just been sent towards him from his two sabers!
BOOM!!!! The twin surges of obliterating power instantly blasted World God Darkfall backwards.
Being prepared for an attack and being unprepared for an attack… the results would be completely different!
This was true even for mortals. If he saw that someone was about to push him and prepared himself, he would at most stumble a few steps backwards. But if he was caught completely offguard and was 'ambushed' by the push, he might be instantly pushed down onto the ground! Even powerful experts could be slain by weaker opponents who managed to catch them offguard through a sneak attack!
This was the difference between being prepared and being unprepared.
"Die!"
Ning had clearly been struck twice, but he was only knocked a few steps backwards. Every step he took caused the entire Samsara Grinders to shudder, and as he did so he suddenly struck out with his Eternal weapon. Violetjewel instantly increased to become three hundred meters long, and as soon as World God Darkfall was knocked flying backwards Ning chopped at him with Violetjewel!
World God Darkfall had no choice but to frantically position his warblades in front of him to block.
BOOM!!!
He had already been knocked into the air; now, he was sent smashing into the ground by the force of Ning's sword-blow.
This strike of Ning's had made his situation go from bad to worse!
"It was a trap." Darkfall instantly realized this.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! This entire time, the golden warriors had been assaulting both sides with no luck. However, almost all of them began throwing out ropes towards World God Darkfall. In the moment that Darkfall had been sent tumbling to the ground, two ropes had already tightened around his legs. He roared as he furiously struggled to break free, trying to use his warblades to hack the ropes apart and regain his freedom.
He knew very well that if he couldn't break free, he would die.
"Useless." Ning watched from afar, occasionally flicking out Violetjewel to attack the nearby golden warriors.
"He lost?" The blood-robed Arroyo could hardly believe this was happening. Alas, when he saw Darkfall be smashed to the ground and a rope snake around his legs, Arroyo knew that his retainer had lost.
The golden warriors were an extremely dangerous part of the Samsara Grinders matches.
Master-class World Gods could withstand them, but once any additional variables were introduced (such as being knocked to the ground) even they would be thrown into grave peril. In a situation like this, their chances of surviving would rapidly slip away and death would be nigh! The countless golden warriors, all of whom had reached the World threshold of power, wouldn't give you any chance to recover at all.
"He was actually defeated by an Elder God." The golden-robed Fukai also stared at Ji Ning, located atop that distant Samsara Grinders. Although he was very proud, he sensed that Ji Ning could potentially pose a huge threat to him in the future. He knew that if this Elder God continued to grow, he would definitely surpass both Arroyo and Fukai himself.
"Screw off! Break!"
World God Darkfall fought hard to break free, but it was useless. When a second rope coiled around his body, it became even harder for him to try and fight back. More and more ropes coiled around him, causing a look of despair to appear in his eyes. He turned his gaze towards the distant Elder God Ji Ning, then let out a low growl. "A trap. It was a trap. Just one mistake…"
Ning stood there, the four golems circling around him and protecting him, stopping the golden warriors from getting close to him.
It had indeed been a trap. Strictly speaking, it wasn't even that clever of a trap. Then again, when experts fought in a duel to the death there was no time to set up particularly intricate schemes. They would at most be able to set up a few small tricks to entrap their foes.
As soon as Ning had started to fight against World God Darkfall, he had immediately realized that actually killing his foe would be quite difficult. Both of them were roughly on par with each other in power. Even if the four golems came to assist, given how fast and agile Darkfall was he would've been able to easily bypass the golden warriors and flee from them.
Thus, Ning had deliberately said aloud, "Hurry over here! Assist me in surrounding and killing this World God Darkfall."
This order was meant to be heard by Darkfall. Darkfall had naturally started to panic upon hearing it. He could flee, but what good would that do? He had to win this match and so he had naturally launched increasingly furious attacks to try and speed this up.
At that moment, Ning had deliberately revealed a tiny opening. Darkfall hadn't suspected a thing.
He had fallen hook, line, and sinker!
Ning had spent 690 cubes of chaos nectar to purchase this Primalwater Armor during the treasure auction. When its damage reflection property was activated it had sent two incredibly powerful surges of power back towards World God Darkfall, catching him completely off his guard. He had suffered greatly from this attack! In truth, Primalwater Armor normally wasn't as effective as this, and people who were prepared for it wouldn't suffer quite this match. Ning, for example, had known exactly what was going to happen!
Although he had been struck twice, he had merely stumbled back by two steps. Knowing this was going to happen, he immediately struck out with a critical strike from his sword, slamming it against the already airborne World God Darkfall and sending him crashing to the ground.
His final strike was the straw that broke the camel's back!
When Darkfall was knocked down to the ground and the countless golden warriors began to swarm him, his fate was virtually sealed. Only a stroke of absolutely incredible luck would've allowed him to escape this dire predicament. Alas, his luck wasn't good enough.
Whoosh. A golden warrior who held a gourd in his hands sucked Darkfall inside the gourd, then ground him to dust.
Even as Darkfall was being drawn into the gourd, he continued to stare unblinkingly at Ji Ning.
Ji Ning just calmly looked back at him.
In the end, one of them had to die. There were no other options.
"The third match has concluded." The bald three-eyed man's voice rang out, causing all of the golden warriors to halt and then disappear.
Ning waved his hand as well, putting away the three golems. Su Youji appeared in her true form as well.
"Let's go." Ning and Su Youji transformed into streaks of light, flying off of the Samsara Grinders.
All of the cultivators atop the great plaza had fallen silent. Even Arroyo and Fukai, two incredibly experienced figures who had previously held Ning in no regard, were silent. They stared at Ji Ning and Su Youji as the two flew off of the Samsara Grinders… or to be precise, they stared at Ji Ning.
"I am Arroyo!" The blood-robed youth, Arroyo, stared at Ning as he spoke. "Tell me your name."
Ning smiled. "Arroyo, you should spend your time worrying about your next match on the Samsara Grinders. You will probably be next."
If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know report chapter so we can fix it as soon as possible.
Report chapter
Book 25, Novessence Thunder, Chapter 39 – Arroyo
The faces of Arroyo and Fukai both tightened as they turned to glance at each other.
True enough.
Three of the five matches had concluded, with just two more to go. Although this freakishly strong Elder God was worthy of their attention, what really mattered was still the divine blood of the Eternal. In the end, the two figures who had the greatest chances of acquiring the Eternal blood were Arroyo and Fukai. They no longer paid any attention to Ji Ning, who simply chuckled as he and Su Youji walked back to World God Dragonbinder's side.
"Brother Ji Ning, you hid your true power quite deeply," World God Dragonbinder sent mentally to Ning.
"Please pardon me, brother Dragonbinder," Ning said.
"Haha, I understand." Dragonbinder chuckled. His comment was just a casual throwaway comment with no real blame attached. He understand Ning's predicament. As the saying went, a large tree attracted the most wind! It was even more important for freakishly powerful Elder Gods like Ning to keep a low profile. Unless absolutely necessary, they wouldn't let others know of their true strength! The only reason why Ning had revealed it today was because he had no choice.
World God Dragonbinder now viewed Ning in a completely different light. In the past, he had treated Ning as he would an equal due to his ties to Daolord Solesky. However, now that he knew exactly how freakishly strong Ning was, Dragonbinder truly wanted to befriend him. Ning was still merely an Elder God, but he was already Dragonbinder's equal in power. How much more powerful would he become in the future?
"Your true abilities have been revealed. You have to be careful after you leave the Allgod Estate. I can sense that Arroyo and Fukai are incredibly dangerous. They somehow managed to convince even supreme World Gods to be their servants! This is truly unbelievable. They have to have a shockingly powerful backer," Dragonbinder sent mentally. "They might take an unsavory interest in you."
Ning nodded slowly.
It was true.
Arroyo and Fukai had stated earlier that the three members who had taken part in the matches thus far were the weakest members of their two groups. The remaining four were all supreme World Gods! Fukai and Arroyo were both supreme World Gods and they each had a supreme World God retainer. It was truly unfathomable for a person to be willing to subordinate himself to be a servant of someone who was merely his equal.
"My sword-arts are just a hair away from breaking through. I need to try my best to become a World God here in the Allgod Estate," Ning mused to himself.
Once this affair was included, it was highly possible that Arroyo or Fukai would try to capture Ning and force him to become a slave!
He was still a bit too weak right now. After he broke through to become a World God, he would truly have nothing to fear.
"It is now time for the fourth match." The bald three-eyed man's voice was filled with a hint of mocking as he turned his gaze towards Arroyo and Fukai.
"You!" The three-eyed man pointed straight at the blood-robed Arroyo.
Arroyo's face tightened slightly. It was finally his turn… but who would his opponent be? Arroyo turned to glance at the gold-robed Fukai as well as the swarthy, withered-looking man standing behind him.
"And… you!" The three-eyed man pointed towards that swarthy, withered-looking man.
"Buxin." Fukai sent a mental message to his servant.
"Master." The withered man respectfully acknowledged him.
"You should know quite well how incredibly important the Eternal blood is to me. If I cannot acquire it, I will definitely die… and you will die with me. In fact, even your entire school will be doomed. I think you know how angry my father will be if I die," Fukai sent mentally.
World God Buxin's pupils contracted slightly.
Fukai's father was a true devil amongst devils, an utterly terrifying figure. It would be easy for him to annihilate Buxin's school.
"But if I successfully acquire the Eternal blood, my status and power shall skyrocket! However, my greatest obstacle right now is Arroyo. If you can kill him, I'll be the one to acquire the Eternal blood. I can promise you right now that I will bestow a Pseudo Samsara Pill upon you, and your sect will also receive my eternal protection!" Fukai sent mentally.
"Don't worry, Master. Buxin will do his absolute best," World God Buxin sent mentally.
"I don't want you to your best. I want you to kill Arroyo! If I fail and die, you'll die as well since you are my servant. I know that you will work hard, but you also need to be smart about this. Find a way to kill him!" Fukai gritted his teeth, then took out a jade green globe. "I'm willing to temporarily loan this treasure of mine to you."
When the nearby Arroyo saw Fukai take out that jade green globe, his face tightened.
"Let me warn you…" The three-eyed man suddenly said, "All treasures, golems, bugbeasts, seals, and even Elder God servants can only be used a single time on the Samsara Grinders! You are forbidden from using them twice! If you give your servant a treasure, you are not permitted to use it for yourself!"
"What?! Why?" The gold-robed Fukai was shocked. "You never mentioned this before."
"Because no one tried to lend someone else a treasure." The three-eyed man said calmly, "I've already said what I need to say. Decide whether or not you wish to loan him that treasure."
"Ahahaha…" The blood-robed Arroyo let out a loud laugh. "Fukai, go ahead and loan it to your servant… if you have the balls to, that is!"
The gold-robed Fukai hesitated for a moment, then turned to look at his servant. "It'll all be up to you."
"Understand, Master." World God Buxin nodded.
His master, Fukai, would take part in the fifth match. If that precious Eternal treasure could only be used in a single match on the Samsara Grinders, there was no way Fukai would loan it to him!
Whoosh. Whoosh.
Two figures flew straight towards the Samsara Grinders. The blood-robed Arroyo and the withered-looking World God Buxin stared at each other from afar as the light around them began to coalesce into those golden armored warriors. These two supreme World Gods didn't even blink, paying no attention whatsoever to the golden warriors.
"You think yourself worthy of facing me?" Arroyo had a look of ridicule in his eyes.
"Arroyo, on this day, either you or I will perish here atop this Samsara Grinders. I have no choice but to offend you." World God Buxin's voice was very calm and flat. Arroyo had an exalted background and his status was slightly higher than even Fukai's, but they were more or less on the same level. Buxin and Arroyo were both supreme World Gods, but their statuses were completely different.
Neither side could afford to fail in this quest for the Eternal blood. World God Buxin was going to have to fight with his full power.
"Begin!" The three-eyed man ordered.
"Kill!"
"Kill!"
Thousands of golden warriors let out furious roars as they charged straight towards Arroyo and World God Buxin.
"Heh heh heh…" Arroyo laughed coldly as waves of blood suddenly manifested around him. The waves of blood spread out in every direction, smashing into those golden warriors. Some of the warriors were actually shattered by the waves while the rest were pushed far away.
Arroyo waved his hand, and nine mighty golems appeared in the area around him. Each of the nine golems had auras of incredible power, and they were clearly even stronger than the golems which Ning had purchased.
"You are doomed." An enormous pair of scimitars suddenly appeared within Arroyo's hands. The scimitars were simply huge, larger than even Arroyo himself. Both emanated auras of utterly shocking power and were clearly Eternal weapons.
Arroyo strode forward confidently. The waves of blood continued to push outwards, preventing the golden warriors from even moving close to him, while his nine golems surrounded him like an honor guard escorting an emperor.
"What incredible power." Ning was shocked by what he saw. The blood waves alone were so powerful that they were perhaps superior to most master-class World Gods in might. Those two weapons Arroyo were wielding were most likely Eternal weapons as well. Once he attacked, he would definitely be able to unleash the power of a supreme World God.
And most likely, he would be an incredibly strong one, superior to other supreme World Gods such as God Emperor Blacklotus.
"Even World God Northrest only had access to one Eternal weapon, but both of Arroyo's scimitars appear to be Eternal weapons. And those nine golems surrounding him… I imagine every single one of them has to be worth over a thousand cubes of chaos nectar. Given that they are able to join together into a formation, the entire set has to be worth tens of thousands of cubes."
Ning was shocked by Arroyo's wealth. He now felt a sense of pressure. Just as Dragonbinder had warned him, it was very likely that either Fukai or Arroyo would try to capture him after these trials were concluded. They would want to force Ning to become a servant or a slave.
The terrifying power which Arroyo had just put on display would be turned against Ning. Would Ning be able to handle it?
And then there was Fukai, someone who was just as terrifying as Arroyo himself…
Boom! Boom! Boom! World God Buxin calmly walked forward, having manifested a total of eighteen arms. These eighteen arms were unleashing a series of palm-arts and fist-arts, and each time they struck a golden warrior the golden warrior would be smashed into tiny pieces. He just calmly walked forward through the sea of golden armored foes towards Arroyo.
Both sides completely ignored the golden warriors. They only had eyes for each other.
Only one of the two would survive!
If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know report chapter so we can fix it as soon as possible.
Report chapter
Book 25, Novessence Thunder, Chapter 40 – Close the Gates
The battle between Arroyo and World God Buxin went on for nearly an entire hour. Finally, the battle came to an end.
"Impossible. How could this have happened?" The golden-robed Fukai was muttering to himself, a look of disbelief in his eyes. He truly couldn't believe what he had just seen.
"How could this have happened? Is this… is this my destiny? My doom?" Fukai felt his entire body turn as cold as ice.
Ji Ning, World God Dragonbinder, Su Youji had already safely secured victory in their match. Although they were quite curious about this 'Eternal blood', it wasn't something which they absolutely had to acquire. Thus, they had been watching the fourth match quite calmly.
"Huh. So that happened." World God Dragonbinder was still rather stunned.
"Impressive." Ning sighed in amazement.
"Master, would he now be considered a transcendent figure amongst World Gods?" The Flamefairy asked.
Ning nodded slowly. "I think he should be."
The battle had been utterly exhilarating.
As World God Buxin entered the battlefield, his power actually began to increase! He used his fists and his feet as his weapons, and when his eighteen arms struck out they formed an inviolable domain that swept away any who sought to breach it. All nine of Arroyo's golems had been somewhat suppressed by him! Fukai had been incredibly excited upon seeing this as nothing would have made him happier than seeing Arroyo die.
"Arroyo really did have quite a few treasures. He used up so many treasures that he was able to buy himself a considerable amount of time. In the end, just as he was about to lose, he went completely berserk and actually made a breakthrough. He became much more powerful as a result." Ning still couldn't get that dazzling saber-strike out of his mind. Gripped by utter despair, Arroyo released an utterly dazzling strike with his saber that suddenly exploded with unbelievable power. That strike had completely knocked Buxin off his feet and had sent him flying backwards.
Arroyo had been wildly overjoyed. He had struck out two more times, causing World God Buxin to tumble down to the ground. The golden warriors had seized the moment to tie him up with his ropes, and shortly afterwards he was drawn into one of their gourds and grind apart into dust.
"The fourth match ended," the bald three-eyed man announced. Even he couldn't help but give the blood-robed Arroyo a glance. Transcendent World Gods were incredibly rare. Any master-class World God who acquired an Eternal weapon or some incredibly powerful treasures would possess the power of a supreme World God, but to transcend past the supreme level was incredibly difficult.
One had to reach an incredibly high level of skill in a certain aspect in order to become a transcendent World God. These figures were incredibly rare! The number of transcendent World Gods in the entire Badlands Territory could be counted on one hand. They were just as rare as Samsara Daolords!
"Ahaha! I won! I WON! Ahaha…"
Arroyo flew downwards alongside his servants, a look of crazed joy and excitement on his face. The blood sea hidden within his eyes seemed to be roaring and shaking.
"Fukai. Your servant really was quite impressive. He actually forced me to the utter brink. Haha! I really need to find a way to thank him. If it hadn't been for him forcing me to the brink of utter despair, I never would've been able to comprehend the true essence of the 'Sanguine Decay'." Arroyo was filled with smugness as he stared at the gold-robed Fukai. "Fukai, if you can't accept this outcome, make your own breakthrough as well! That way, you'd also become a transcendent figure…"
Arroyo was filled with complete confidence now. "You've lost. You've utterly lost. The divine blood of the Eternal is mine."
"My match hasn't even started. You are celebrating too soon." A gloomy look was on Fukai's face as he spoke.
"Look at how unhappy you are! This is the first time I've seen you with such an ugly look on your face." Arroyo snickered loudly.
Fukai had always looked completely calm, unflappable, and self-assured. Now, however, an extremely dark and gloomy look was on his face.
Fukai no longer had any confidence in his ability to win. To advance from being a supreme World God to become a transcendent one was an impossibly difficult step to take! However, Fukai still clung onto hope. "If Arroyo can make a breakthrough, why can't I? I'll definitely make a breakthrough as well. I'm going to acquire that Eternal blood, then become a Samsara Daolord. My path has just begun… I'm not going to be beaten. I'm not!"
"The fifth match." The three-eyed man spoke out again. "It goes without saying that you two will be the ones to participate. That match just now was quite dazzling. It's been a long time since I've seen a transcendent World God. Don't let the final match be a disappointment."
The blood-robed Arroyo laughed, while Fukai's face turned serious.
"Go," Arroyo ordered his subordinate. "Play with him a bit."
"Understood." Behind Arroyo was an alien creature who looked something like an ape. His entire body was covered with black fur and protected by a suit of golden armor. When he allowed his aura to spread out, it crashed out towards everyone else like waves slamming against the beach.
"Hmph." Fukai let out a cold snort, then immediately transformed into a streak of light as he flew towards the Samsara Grinders.
"Die. The black-furred ape flew towards the Samsara Grinders as well, filled with a murderous aura.
Ning and the others continued to simply watch from below.
"That jade green globe actually held an army of bugbeasts inside of it." Su Youji sighed in amazement.
"He really had quite a few treasures." World God Dragonbinder couldn't help but speak out as well.
"Hah. Him and Arroyo are no ordinary World-level cultivators." Ning couldn't help but sigh. These guys were simply too rich. That jade green globe held an entire world within it that was exclusively devoted to rearing bugbeasts. The rules of the competition meant that only nine of the bugbeasts could be unleashed, but all nine were comparable to master-class World Gods who could give even Ning a run for his money!
It had been a truly wild battle.
Fukai had intentionally let himself fall into dangerous situations, hoping that the pressure of it all would result in him making a breakthrough.
Alas, breakthroughs weren't that easy to make. In addition, he very nearly died due to a dangerous situation he put himself into. In the end, he only survived because he used a Dao-seal.
The battle went on for four full hours.
"I've done everything I can, Master." The black-furred ape let out a low growl. The four hours of frenzied combat had completely wiped out his reserves of divine power.
"Die in peace. I'll protect your entire race." Arroyo smiled.
The battle came to an end.
The ape's divine power was completely used up, resulting in his death. Fukai was the victor! However, he didn't seem to be the slightest bit pleased by his victory. He put away his bugbeasts and flew off the Samsara Grinders in a rather numbed, dazed manner.
"Fukai." Arroyo looked at Fukai.
Fukai looked at him.
Their gazes met. One would acquire the Eternal blood and survive. The other would die.
"You lost," Arroyo said.
"N-no…" Fukai ground his teeth. He had won his match, but he had lost the competition between himself and Arroyo. Although he had intentionally let himself fall into dangerous situations, he hadn't made any breakthroughs at all! He knew very well that Arroyo was now far more powerful than him.
Daolord Allgod had established the trial of the Twin Samsara Heavens for anyone who sought to acquire Eternal blood. Given what a proud figure he was, it was guaranteed that everything would be happened in accordance with his will. There was no way that World God Dragonbinder, World God Boneplate, Flamefairy Su Youji, or Fukai would be the ones to earn the Eternal blood.
There was only one possible victor!
Arroyo!
Transcendent World Gods were incredibly rare. He, and he alone, was qualified to be considered the victor of this trial.
"The five matches have come to an end." The bald three-eyed man spoke out, causing everyone present to turn towards him.
"Five World-level cultivators remain." The three-eyed man swept his gaze across Arroyo, Boneplate, Fukai, Dragonbinder, and Su Youji. These five had survived; the other five had died.
"Eternal blood aside, all survivors will be given a bit of karmic good fortune." The three-eyed man smiled as he pointed towards the towering gates of the Castrum Divinitus.
Rumble…
These massive gates had been shut for countless years. They now slowly began to move, and it was like two giant continents were swinging open. Past the gates was utter darkness. Nothing could be seen at all.
"The survivors shall all be granted entry into the Castrum Divinitus, and all of you will benefit from it." The three-eyed man turned to look at Fukai, Arroyo, and Boneplate. "The three of you experienced many dangers to reach this place. Even for those of you who do not acquire the Eternal blood, you will still be blessed with some karmic fortune."
"As for you." The three-eyed man turned to look at Dragonbinder, Su Youji, and Ji Ning. "I teleported all of you here against your will, then forced you to enter duels to the death. Since you have survived, I shall bless you with good fortune as well."
"What about the Eternal blood?"
The blood-robed Arroyo said hurriedly, "I don't care about other 'fortunes'. I only care about the Eternal blood."
"This group has performed excellently and is qualified to receive the Eternal blood," the three-eyed man said. "However, you'll only find out if you shall be the one to receive the Eternal blood after you enter the Castrum Divinitus. Each of you will be teleported to a different part of the Castrum Divinitus, with the victor being sent directly to the Eternal blood."
"Why don't you take it out right now?" Arroyo frowned. "Only five of the ten have survived! What, are you saying that it's possible that someone besides me shall win the Eternal blood?"
Arroyo began to grow rather impatient.
The three-eyed man's face turned cold as he said flatly, "The divine blood of the Eternal is incredibly precious. It is stored deep within the Castrum Divinitus, which is why the victor has to go in person to retrieve it. As for who that person is, you'll know shortly."
"Enough. All of you, get in." The three-eyed man swept the cultivators with his gaze.
"Let's go, let's go." World God Dragonbinder chortled merrily. "I'm not too ambitious and know my own limits. The Eternal blood isn't for me. Still, to be blessed with some karmic fortune isn't too shabby! Very few will ever be able to even enter the core region of the Allgod Estate, the Castrum Divinitus."
"Let's go. If we refuse to enter, he'll just grab us and forcibly throw us inside. I'd rather that not happen." Ning and Su Youji walked inside as well.
"Hmph." Fukai had a gloomy look on his face as he also passed through the gates of the Castrum Divinitus.
"I have faith." Arroyo nodded. "I'm sure that the trials left behind by Daolord Allgod were fair ones and will be judged fairly." The only reason why Arroyo had been quibbling was because he truly couldn't afford to lose this trial.
In the end, all of them walked towards the Castrum Divinitus.
Whoosh. World God Dragonbinder was the first to step inside the castle. As soon as he took a single step into the endless darkness, he completely disappeared.
Ning and Su Youji twitched slightly when they saw this. The insides of the castle were pitch-black, and they couldn't see a single thing within the darkness at all. As for coresense or heartforce, they naturally were completely ineffective here. Still, they understood that it would be very easy for Daolord Allgod to slay them if that was the goal. There was no need for any tricks or schemes.
"Let's go in." Ning and Su Youji both stepped into the Castrum Divinitus, disappearing into the endless darkness.
Fukai, Arroyo, and Boneplate all entered the Castrum Divinitus as well.
"Haha…"
"It is over."
The bald three-eyed man waved his hand, causing the Samsara Grinders to shrink as it flew back into his hands.
"Close the gates!" The three-eyed man laughed merrily.
Rumble…
The massive, towering gates of the Castrum Divinitus rumbled shut.
If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know report chapter so we can fix it as soon as possible.
Report chapter
Book 26, World Level, Chapter 1 – The Owner of the Eternal Blood
The instant that Ji Ning stepped through the towering gates and into the endless dark of the Castrum Divinitus, space began to twist around him. A moment later, the world brightened up as he found himself within a hallway.
This hallway had rather uneven walls that had torches stuck into them. The torches were blazing merrily, filling the hallway with their light.
"Eh?" Ning stood there in the hallway and scanned the area. No one else was in sight.
"What's going on? Why have I been separated from Youji and the others?" Ning mused to himself.
Suddenly, a faint wave of energy rippled out from up ahead. Ning hurriedly turned to look, only to see strands of fire fly out from the two torches and coalesce in the air, transforming into the form of a barefoot, gauze-clad maiden. The maiden had long, beautiful green hair. Although her body was covered by a layer of thin gauze, she was essentially nude for all intents and purposes.
"I am the formation-spirit of the Castrum Divinitus. This is one of my incarnations," the maiden said.
Ning was puzzled. "Why have I been separated from the others?"
"Everyone who took part in the Samsara Grinders and survived shall be blessed with good fortune. However, since you each walk different paths you shall each be given unique bits of karmic fortune. Thus, every single person has been teleported to a different part of the Castrum Divinitus," the maiden said. "Come with me."
Ning followed behind her obediently.
Indeed, every single person had been teleported to a different region.
The blood-robed youth, Arroyo, had also appeared in an empty hallway. He scanned the hallway with his bloodsea eyes, a hint of impatience visible within them. Suddenly, a barefoot, gauze-covered maiden suddenly appeared before his very eyes as well.
"I am the formation-spirit of the Castrum Divinitus. This is one of my incarnations. Follow me," the maiden said.
"Where is the divine blood of the Eternal?" Arroyo asked.
"The divine blood of the Eternal?" The maiden looked at him, a strange smile playing on her beautiful face.
"Yes, the Eternal blood. My performance atop the Samsara Grinders should've been the best of the five. The Goldeye Golem himself said that our group's performance was good enough to warrant the Eternal blood being awarded, but that I would have to enter the Castrum Divinitus to acquire it." Arroyo gazed at the maiden, a look of urgency in his eyes. "I don't give a damn about any other 'blessings'. I just want the Eternal blood right away."
The maiden looked at him, then slowly shook her head. "There is none."
"None?" Arroyo was stunned.
"None for you, that is." The maiden looked at him calmly.
"What are you saying?" Arroyo began to grow upset.
"It is simple. The divine blood of the Eternal shall be given to a different cultivator, not you." The maiden smiled. "But of course, you'll still be blessed with some good karmic fortune."
"Impossible!" Arroyo's eyes instantly turned red with fury. He howled angrily, "I was the most powerful one! Which of the four surviving World-level cultivators can possibly compare to me? That new Chaos Immortal, Su Youji? World God Dragonbinder of the Badlands Court? My servant? Fukai? None of them are qualified! Daolord Allgod was an ancient power and an incredibly proud man. There's no way he would be so unfair!"
"All of the trials which Master set down were quite fair," the maiden said. "And the results of the trial were… that you did not qualify to acquire the Eternal blood."
"SHIT!!!" Arroyo was both enraged and panicked.
How could he not be enraged? How could he not panic? His very life was riding on him gaining the Eternal blood! Both he and Fukai had paid enormous prices just to make it from the Fog Sea to the gates of the Castrum Divinitus. Both had experienced countless dangers, but they had been willing to risk their lives multiple times because they needed the Eternal blood.
If they acquired the Eternal blood, their status would instantly skyrocket!
If they did not… they would die!
No one would be able to save him. Not even his father would be able to save him.
But it made no sense. After he made his breakthrough atop the Samsara Grinders, he was definitely the most powerful of the five surviving World Gods. He had felt certain that the Eternal blood would fall into his hands… and yet, reality had proven otherwise. How could he not be angry? How could he not panic?
"How could this have happened? Who was it? World God Dragonbinder? No way, he was only able to win because of his Dao-seal. Fukai? He won in a pathetic fashion, and he is much weaker than me. My own servant? His performance was completely unremarkable."
Arroyo continued to ponder the matter. "Perhaps the Flamefairy, Su Youji? Mm… possible. She is a brand new Chaos Immortal, but she was able to kill Darkfall! It could be said she punched well above her weight…"
"Was it Su Youji?" Arroyo looked at the maiden before him.
"That's a secret," the maiden said. "No need for you to ask."
"Wait, wait… something's off. Daolord Allgod was an incredibly proud figure, while Su Youji is extremely weak. The only reason she even survived was because of that freakishly strong Elder God! How could Daolord Allgod possibly have been willing to give her the Eternal blood? Hell, he'd probably give it to that freak of an Elder God before he'd give it to her."
Suddenly, Arroyo's face turned white.
"That freak of an Elder God."
Arroyo suddenly remembered the words that the three-eyed man had said just before the trial of the Samsara Grinders.
"As for the surviving cultivators, they will each blessed with a small bit of fortune. The cultivator whose performance was the best will have a chance of acquiring the divine blood of the Eternal."
"The cultivator whose performance was the best… right. The word was 'cultivator'. World Gods and Chaos Immortals are cultivators, but so too are Elder Gods." When Arroyo carefully thought back to what had been said and what had happened, he realized that it all fit perfectly. It was entirely possible that the freakishly strong Elder God had been the one to win the Eternal blood.
In terms of 'best performance'? For an Elder God to end up killing a master-class World God, albeit through the usage of a small trick, was an utterly inconceivable feat. Arroyo himself had merely slain a supreme World God while originally being a supreme World God himself.
"Right. If we factor in that Elder God…"
"That freak of an Elder God does indeed stand a better chance to earn the Eternal blood than me." Arroyo turned to stare at the maiden before him, then growled, "It was that freak of an Elder God, right?"
"I told you, it is a secret." The maiden remained as calm as ever. "Enough. Stop wasting time. Since you survived, you'll be blessed with good fortune. Follow me."
"No need. I don't want it." A cold light was flickering in Arroyo's eyes.
"You don't want it?" The maiden frowned.
"Right. I want to leave the Castrum Divinitus immediately," Arroyo said.
"I hope you don't regret it," the maiden said. "Others would beg for the chance to be blessed with such good fortune. I recommend that you at least take a look at it. You can always leave after doing so."
"I don't need it," Arroyo said calmly. If every single survivor was going to be blessed with a bit of karmic luck, how good could it possibly be? In addition, as far as he was concerned, no blessing mattered at all if he didn't find the Eternal blood. He would still end up dying!
"If that's the case, I'll let you leave." The maiden nodded.
The gold-robed Fukai stared at the maiden before him, an ugly look on his face. "I knew it. The Eternal blood was awarded to someone else! It must've fallen into Arroyo's hands. No… I still have a chance! If I can kill Arroyo, I can seize the Eternal blood!"
"So what if he's more powerful than me now that he's made a breakthrough? I was completely unable to use most of my treasures during the trial of the Samsara Grinders. If I use all of them, I can dominate anyone below the Samsara Daolord level." A berserk look was in the gold-robed youth's eyes. "Once I kill Arroyo, the Eternal blood will be mine."
"Follow me," the maiden instructed.
"I don't need any 'blessings'. I want to leave the Castrum Divinitus immediately," the gold-robed Fukai said.
"You want to leave immediately?" The maiden was surprised.
"Right." The gold-robed youth nodded.
"No regrets?" The maiden asked.
"No regrets." Madness could be seen flickering in Fukai's eyes. He had been pushed to a precipice! He felt certain that the Eternal blood was now in Arroyo's hands. If he wasn't able to seize it, he would definitely die. His only chance of staying alive was to kill Arroyo before the man was able to leave this chaosworld!
If he wasn't able to do so and if Arroyo was able to escape this chaosworld, there would be no chance to stop him whatsoever.
"How odd. One person after another has refused the blessing of good fortune, instead choosing to leave the Castrum Divinitus right away," the maiden mused to herself.
"One person after another?" Fukai was stunned upon hearing this. "Who left? Was it Arroyo?"
The maiden glanced at him. "This is a secret."
"It has to be Arroyo. I want to leave right away! Immediately! As fast as possible!" Fukai was panicking.
"As you wish." The maiden nodded.
Ning was calmly but curiously following behind the maiden leading the way before him. Her bare feet gently glided over the floor as she advanced, soon leading him to an enormous stone archway.
"Go in." The maiden went past the stone arch.
Ning followed inside. Upon doing so, light flashed in front of him. This was an enormous hall that was filled with many statues. There had to be thousands of these enormous stone statues here! Ning swept the hall with his gaze. It had to be at least ten kilometers high and a hundred kilometers in diameter.
"What's that?" Ning saw that a long narrow table was located in a corner of the massive hall. Atop this table was a crystalline globe that glowed with white light.
If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know report chapter so we can fix it as soon as possible.
Report chapter
Book 26, World Level, Chapter 2 – The Aeonian Kingdom
The maiden's lips curved upwards slightly as she turned to gaze in that direction in an intrigued manner.
Whoosh.
A figure suddenly appeared out of nowhere. It was the bald three-eyed man who was the First Guardian and Commander of the Castrum Divinitus – the Goldeye Golem.
"Eh?" Ning was slightly surprised when he saw the Goldeye Golem appear.
"Ji Ning, congratulations on having won the divine blood of the Eternal," the Goldeye Golem said.
"You know my name?" Ning was rather surprised. During his conversations with World God Dragonbinder and the others atop the plaza in front of the Castrum Divinitus, Ning had never revealed his name. Any mention of his name would've occurred during their mental conversations, resulting in the likes of Fukai and Arroyo still having no idea as to exactly who Ning was.
"Nothing that occurs within the Allgod Estate can escape my eyes," the nearby maiden said. "I heard about you from 'Myriad Mountains' quite some time ago. Enough. Go ahead and take a look. The Eternal blood is within that crystal globe."
"Why is it going to me?" Ning was puzzled.
Although he was rather pleased, he was also quite calm. For most cultivators, what mattered the most was their insights into the Dao. This was what allowed them to reach higher levels of cultivation. As for treasures, they were of secondary importance! There was a limit to useful an outside source of help would be. Ning was already comparable to a master-class World God, but no amount of treasures would allow him to be comparable to a Samsara Daolord.
A Samsara Daolord who was skilled in illusions could instantly plunge Ning into an illusory world with a single glance. Ning wouldn't be able to resist it, and he wouldn't even have a chance to use any of his treasures. This was what happened when one was at a much lower level of cultivation!
"As I said," the Goldeye Golem said, "After the trial of the Samsara Grinders comes to an end, the cultivator whose performance was the best will have a chance of acquiring the divine blood of the Eternal. You were the cultivator whose performance was the best."
"Cultivator?" Ning blinked, then quickly understood.
"Ahaha, right! Cultivator! World-level cultivators are cultivators, but so too are Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals." The Goldeye Golem roared with laughter. "Those two kids, Arroyo and Fukai? Hmph! How could I possibly let the Eternal blood go to them?"
"Eh?" Ning was puzzled. What was this all about.
"If it wasn't for you, then based on the rules which Master set down all those years ago, I truly would've been forced to hand the Eternal blood over to Arroyo. But since you came, me giving the blood to you instead is still in keeping with Master's rules." The Goldeye Golem pointed towards the table. "Go open it up."
"Alright." Ning nodded, then walked over towards the table. He was quite curious as well. Both Arroyo and Fukai had an extremely large number of treasures, but they were desperate and willing to pay any price to acquire this Eternal blood. What sort of treasure was it, exactly?
The formation-spirit of the Castrum Divinitus and the Goldeye Golem exchanged glances as they watched Ning move towards the table. Both of them were smiling.
"Eternal blood." Ning walked to the table, staring at the crystal ball that was glowing with hazy light. After carefully inspecting it, he was able to tell that it was actually composed of two separate parts, an upper part and a lower part. Ning reached out to grab the crystal ball, then applied a bit of pressure to it. Whoosh! The two parts began to swivel in opposite directions. After Ning gave it a slight tug, the two parts completely separated.
In that instant…
BOOM!!!!!
An utterly terrifying aura that was far beyond anything Ning could've imagined instantly blasted forth into his mind, striking against his soul and his truesoul.
Thud! Thud!
Ning's face was completely ashen as he took two heavy, stumbling steps backwards. His mind was completely blank, and the two halves of the crystal ball fell out of his hands and onto the ground with a crashing sound. However, the fist-sized globe of blood-streaked golden liquid that had been slowly flowing inside of the crystal ball continued to hover in midair. As it slowly spun and swiveled, it released an aura of utterly incomprehensible power.
Only after a long period of time passed did Ning manage to regain his faculties and recover from the sudden shock of that terrifying aura.
As soon as Ning regained his senses, he couldn't help but furiously retreat several kilometers before he was able to feel slightly less nauseous.
"Is that the divine blood of the Eternal?" Ning stared at the fist-sized globule of blood that was hovering in the air. He had never imagined that a single drop of blood essence could brim with such incredible power. He had encountered other Eternal weapons and had attuned himself to the exalted sword-aura that was located within Violetjewel's quintessence core, but this was the first time that he was completely shaking with terror.
It was his very soul that was shaking. He was utterly horrified! The aura from the blood alone had instantly caused his mind to go completely blank, rendering him completely incapable of thought.
"Right. This is the divine blood of the Eternal, the Eternal blood of Emperor Melobo," the Goldeye Golem said. "Years ago, Master was able to heavily wound Emperor Melobo, hacking off a large amount of his flesh. Master took that large amount of flesh and blood, then distilled it into this single drop of Eternal blood. This essentially represents half of the entire lifeforce vitality of Emperor Melobo."
"Oh." Ning nodded slowly.
"Remember. After you bring the Eternal blood out of this place, you absolutely must not open the globe." The Goldeye Golem waved his hand, causing the two fallen halves of the crystal globe to fly into his hand. He resealed the globule of Eternal blood into the crystal ball, then locked it tightly. That terrifying aura instantly vanished. He then tossed that crystal globe, sending it flying towards Ning like a streak of light.
Ning caught it. Puzzled, he asked, "I cannot open it?"
"The members of the Aeonian Kingdom are able to sense this Eternal blood, but so long as you remain here in the Castrum Divinitus they will not dare to come and take it." The Goldeye Golem explained, "But if you were to open the crystal globe while outside the Allgod Estate, the terrifying experts of the Aeonians will immediately pursue you upon sensing it."
Ning was stunned. He hurriedly asked, "What is this 'Aeonian Kingdom'?"
"Something which you weren't meant to know about. Generally speaking, it is rare for even World-level experts to have any interactions with them. Still, once you break through to become a World God you will be an extraordinary figure. You probably should get a better sense of them now," the Goldeye Golem said.
"Let me explain to him," the maiden suddenly interjected.
"Fine, you explain." The Goldeye Golem had a hint of a smile on his face.
The maiden looked at Ning. "The Endless Territories are filled with countless cultivators. Do you know what the most powerful organization in the Endless Territories is?"
"The Dao Alliance!" Ning said, then chuckled. "Senior 'Myriad Mountains' mentioned them to me."
"Right. The Dao Alliance, an alliance that comprises virtually all of the cultivators of the Endless Territories." The maiden nodded. "Cultivators are by nature unrestrained figures that like to do as they please. Why, then would they join together to form an alliance? It is precisely because there exist certain creatures which are born enemies to all cultivators."
"Born enemies?" Ning was puzzled.
"Right." The maiden nodded.
"As you probably know, the endless primordial chaos is filled with countless mysteries and has given birth to many unique races," the maiden said. "Ordinary cultivators who originally started off as mortals were generally born on a chaosworld and slowly grew up there. Even natural-born Fiendgods are born from the Worldheart of a chaosworld."
"However, there are some special types of lifeforms that are different. They were brought into being within the primordial chaos due to certain special, unique circumstances, and they have certain special abilities."
"Then again… most of those creatures are fairly rare. In fact, some races might have just one or two representatives in all the Endless Territories. There is no way they can compete against the Dao Alliance."
"However, there is one organization that can. We don't know where they came from, and although they are fairly rare they number in the hundreds. Every single member of this race possesses at least the power of a Samsara Daolord," the maiden said. "They set up the 'Aeonian Kingdom' and call themselves the 'Aeonians'. Much like us, they need to engage in cultivation, but there is a major difference! If they can kill and devour other Samsara Daolords, they can grow much more powerful."
"Devour other Samsara Daolords?" Ning was shocked.
"Right!" The maiden nodded. "Devour them, just like cultivators might devour food or fine wine. To them, Samsara Daolords are delicacies to be feasted on!"
The maiden continued, "The countless cultivators of the Aeonian Kingdom wish to grow more powerful and walk farther on their paths. The Aeonians, however, seek to devour us. Thus, we are born enemies." The maiden's gaze turned cold. "My master's Dao-companion was devoured by Emperor Melobo, which was why Master went so berserk in his efforts to slay him."
Ning's heart shivered.
How could such creatures even exist? Creatures that could actually devour Samsara Daolords?
"As a race, the Aeonians are fairly few in number. It takes a long time for a new Eternal to be born, but they've been in existence for an even longer period of time. Multiple Eternal Emperors stand guard over their Aeonian Kingdom, making it so that even the Dao Alliance is unable to break into it." The maiden laughed. "In all honesty, they don't really matter that much. The Aeonian Kingdom is actually much weaker than the Dao Alliance, as the Dao Alliance is an alliance of all the cultivators of the Endless Territories. It has countless experts within it! The Aeonian Kingdom's advantage lies in the fact that its members are extremely unified, with all of their experts living together in the same place. Their Aeonian Kingdom is also protected by an utterly inconceivable treasure. If it wasn't for that treasure, they would've been wiped out by the Dao Alliance a long time ago."
Ning nodded.
"The endless primordial chaos has given birth to many different races of creatures. This race, the Aeonians, rely on devouring our Samsara Daolords to grow more powerful. As a result, they are one of our most hated enemies. In truth, there are actually many types of lifeforms that are both more powerful and more numerous than the Aeonians. There are also types of lifeforms that both rarer and more individually powerful as well. They have existed for countless years and possess simply inconceivable amounts of power," the maiden said. "However… the most powerful organization shall forever remain the Dao Alliance! The Dao Alliance has far more cultivators and its ranks are all but endless."
Ning chuckled. It was true. The Badlands Territory was a perfect example. It was filled to the brim with cultivators; when did Ning ever see other types of lifeforms within it?
If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know report chapter so we can fix it as soon as possible.
Report chapter
Book 26, World Level, Chapter 3 – Unschooled in the Dao of the Sword
Ji Ning looked at the crystal globe in his hands, then asked, "So… what can I do with this Eternal blood?"
"This drop of Eternal blood isn't that valuable to the Dao Alliance. At most, they would use it to refine certain pills or rear certain unique bugbeasts," the maiden said. "However, it is incredibly, incredibly important to the Aeonians. This drop of Eternal blood is enough to allow any member of their race to skyrocket in power! It represents nearly half the vital essence of Emperor Melobo, after all. Almost half of his blood and flesh was used in the refining of this drop of divine blood."
"Any member of the Aeonians who knows that you are in possession of this blood will try to hunt you down and kill you," the maiden said.
Ning frowned. So it wasn't of use to him, but the Aeonian Kingdom would do anything to get it?
"Still, don't worry. The Badlands Territory is one of the fairly central regions of the Dao Alliance. The Aeonians would never dare to encroach upon this territory! At most, they would send some of their World-level pawns." The maiden continued, "To tell you the truth, both of us suspect that Fukai and Arroyo are most likely pawns of the Aeonians."
"Right. They want the Eternal blood too much, far too much. It doesn't make sense." The Goldeye Golem agreed. "The Allgod Estate has many rare treasures within it, but the only thing they care about is the Eternal blood. In addition, both of them led squads of ten World-level servants, have many treasures, and have Eternal weapons."
The Goldeye Golem shook his head. "They have so many treasures and such an extraordinary background, yet they are completely fixated on the Eternal blood and are willing to sacrifice anything to get it. This is more than enough to make us suspect that they are the running dogs of the Aeonians."
Ning nodded. Right. They had to be lackeys at the most, as true members of the Aeonians were incredibly rare and were all at least at the Samsara Daolord level.
"But of course, I have nothing more than my suspicions," the Goldeye Golem said. "In the end, they followed all of Master's rules as they made it through many dangerous regions to come to the gates of the Castrum Divinitus, then survived the trial of the Samsara Grinders. If it wasn't for you, I would've been forced to give this drop of Eternal blood to Arroyo."
"Right." Ning nodded.
"This drop of Eternal blood won't be of much use to you. Once you leave this place, hurry over to the Badlands Court," the Goldeye Golem said. "Tell Daolord Badlands that you acquired a drop of Eternal blood and that you wish to sell it to the Dao Alliance."
The nearby maiden nodded in agreement. "Daolord Badlands is extraordinarily powerful. Although he has yet to reach the Verge of the Daomerge, he is an impressively powerful Daolord of the Endless Territories. In Numerancy, at least, he can rank as one of the top three Daolords in all the Endless Territories. If he can advance by just one more step and reach the Verge, he'll most likely be every bit as strong as Master once was."
"As strong as Daolord Allgod was?" Ning was secretly shocked.
Daolord Badlands truly was an incredible figure. If he reached the Verge, he would be comparable to Daolord Allgod? No wonder even Daolord Solesky was so courteous to him.
"You needn't worry that a power such as Daolord Badlands would lust after your drop of Eternal blood." The maiden laughed. "Handing it over to him is the safest solution. If you mention it to the other Samsara Daolords of the Dao Alliance, nine out of ten would choose to simply kill you and seize it for themselves. Although this drop of Eternal blood isn't that valuable to the Dao Alliance, they'd still be willing to pay a price of roughly two million cubes of chaos nectar to purchase it."
"Two MILLION cubes?" Ning was rather stunned. This was like manna falling from the heavens!
Still, wealth and treasures didn't matter that much. In the end, they were all outside sources of strength. Personal strength was what mattered the most!
"The Aeonian Kingdom would probably be willing to pay ten million cubes." The maiden chuckled. "But there is no way the Dao Alliance would ever sell it to them. It would only result in an Aeonian expert becoming even more powerful and dangerous."
"Two million? Ten million?" This was a simply staggering amount of wealth for Ning. Suddenly, Ning remembered his big brother Daolord Solesky telling him that he had given Daolord Badlands enough treasures to create two perfect avatars. This was all for the sake of convincing Daolord Badlands to assist him.
Ning immediately asked, "How much wealth would be needed in order for a Samsara Daolord to create a perfect avatar?"
"A perfect one?" The maiden grinned as she looked at Ning. "Most Samsara Daolords generally create simple and rather crude avatars. With each step they take, they tread the line between life and death, after all. Only after reaching an inconceivable level of power would they dare to go and create an avatar which could be described as 'perfect'. Thus, you would probably need at least ten million cubes worth of treasure in order to create a perfect avatar! Even for Samsara Daolords who are at the Verge, this is is a sum that represents all the wealth and treasures they possess."
Finally, Ning understood. His big brother Daolord Solesky must have sold off nearly all of his possessions in order to acquire enough wealth to convince Daolord Badlands to help him. Daolord Solesky was a Palace Lord of Vastheaven Palace and had lived for countless years. This time, for the sake of his Daomerge, he had been willing to bring out almost everything he had.
"Ten million cubes is normally a sum which only Samsara Daolords at the Verge can produce," the maiden said. "Normal, weaker Samsara Daolords generally have a networth of just a few hundred thousand cubes of chaos nectar. In other words, this drop of Eternal blood is worth as much as all the combined treasures of multiple 'ordinary' Daolords."
The Goldeye Golem said solemnly, "The endless primordial chaos is filled with countless hidden treasures. A single mysterious leaf might be worth millions of cubes of chaos nectar. For example, a single drop of Mirrorheart Water is worth enough to drive mad even a Samsara Daolord who is at the Verge. They'd be willing to spend ten million cubes of chaos nectar to buy such a treasure, but they wouldn't find anyone willing to sell to them. However, all these things are illusory. Treasures are nothing more than outside sources of strength. In the end, success in cultivation requires you to rely on yourself."
Ning nodded.
When Daolord Solesky had gone to the Waveshift World, he had been searching for a special treasure. For the sake of finding that treasure, Daolord Solesky had first risked his life in the Windsource Ruins to acquire that 'Talisman of Eternity', then paid an utterly enormous price to convince Daolord Badlands to help him out. They had then delved deep into the Waveshift World. From this, one could see that there were indeed some treasures that would drive even the most powerful of Daolords mad with desire.
"True. In the end, all treasures are nothing more than outside sources of help." The maiden sighed. "For the sake of his Daomerge, my master risked his life to find certain useful treasures and also invited many of his friends to help him out. He did everything he possibly could to prepare for his Daomerge, but in the end he still failed. However, there are legends of ancient powers who made no preparations at all. They naturally completed their Daomerge while sleeping and dreaming, winning eternity for themselves."
"In the end, cultivation is what matters the most." The maiden sighed.
Ning nodded. He had come to understand this point long ago. Honestly, everyone did, including Daolord Allgod and Daolord Solesky. However, they had reached the end of their cultivation path and were unable to advance any further. They had reached the Verge of the Daomerge but weren't confident in succeeding in it. It was only natural that they would go try and find treasures that might help them out and increase their odds of succeeding in their Daomerge.
"You now know how you should dispose of this drop of Eternal blood." The maiden pointed at the statues surrounding them. The great hall was a hundred kilometers in diameter, and its four walls were filled with thousands of statues. "Master personally carved all of these statues."
"Alchemy, artificing, formations… Master was skilled in many, many things. This is why he titled himself 'Allgod'," the maiden said. "Master even tried to train in the Dao of the Sword. For the sake of his cultivation, Master inspected the skills and sword-arts of more than five thousand World-level experts who walked the path of the Dao of the Sword. All of these World-level experts had completely different sword-arts."
The maiden continued, "After Master viewed their sword-arts, he carved these five thousand-plus statues."
"Every single statue is different and represents a different World-level cultivator's sword-arts," the maiden said. "After visualizing and mastering all of these different sword-arts and spending all this effort in carving these statues, Master's skill in the Dao of the Sword had reached the level of a new Samsara Daolord who specialized in sword-arts."
Ning was speechless upon hearing this. This sort of cultivation method was simply…
Viewing the sword-arts of more than five thousand World-level experts who trained in the Dao of the Sword? The entire Badlands Territory probably didn't hold so many experts of the sword!
After finishing his carvings, he had reached the level of a new Samsara Daolord who had ascended through the Dao of the Sword?
"Afterwards, Master gave it up. As he put it, he simply didn't have any talent for the Dao of the Sword," the maiden said. "Master actually spent a total of multiple chaos cycles in order to first master the sword-arts of all of those World-level experts, then carve these thousands of statues."
Ning had indeed heard from the formation-spirit of the Ten Thousand Mountains that Daolord Allgod "wasn't that skilled in the Dao of the Sword." However, that was only in comparison to his other Daos. Daolord Allgod had been so incredibly skilled in other areas that he before dying, he had been able to set up a formation that frightened even Eternal Emperors. The golem he had made, the Goldeye Golem, was comparable to major powers who had reached the Verge of the Daomerge.
As for the Dao of the Sword? He was merely comparable to new Samsara Daolords who specialized in this Dao. By comparison, he truly "wasn't that skilled in the Dao of the Sword."
"Spend some time meditating on these statues. These five thousand-plus statues represent more than five thousand different types of sword-arts. Master often said that all Daos are linked. As a result, from these many sword-arts he ended up discovering a path that would allow someone to break through to become a Samsara Daolord," the maiden said.
"Right." Ning nodded, then walked over to stare at the statues. Suddenly, he turned his head and asked, "How much time do I have?"
"As much time as you want!" The maiden laughed. "You can spend one or two chaos cycles here if you wish. I trust that Fukai and Arroyo won't wait outside the Allgod Estate for such a long period of time."
"They are waiting outside?" Ning was slightly startled. He had already anticipated this possibility, but for it to actually occur still made him feel uneasy.
"Yes. The two of them did not wish to be given any blessings or treasures. Both of them chose to leave the Allgod Estate right away. If my prediction is correct, both are definitely waiting for you outside," the maiden said.
Ning nodded, then laughed.
Who cared about them?
These statues represented more than five thousand different sword-arts. This was plenty to keep Ning occupied for a very, very long period of time. He would spend his time cultivating here. As for Fukai and Arroyo? They could just wait outside.
If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know report chapter so we can fix it as soon as possible.
Report chapter
Book 26, World Level, Chapter 4 – Ji Ning's Path to the Dao of the Sword
Ji Ning said hurriedly, "Please assist me in something, seniors. Please tell my retainer, Su Youji, not to panic. She should simply wait for me patiently."
"Sure, leave it to me." The formation-spirit maiden laughed. "Spend as much time here as you wish. Whenever you wish to leave the Allgod Estate, just let me know and I'll teleport both you and Su Youji together. Oh, right. World God Dragonbinder is a member of your group, right? If he leaves on his own, he'll probably be ambushed and killed as well."
"Right." Ning nodded. "Please have World God Dragonbinder wait ten years after Su Youji and I leave. Only then should he leave."
Ning wasn't going to leave until he became a World-level expert. By then, even if World God Dragonbinder did join them he wouldn't be of that much assistance.
After making his requests, Ning walked towards one of the walls of this enormous hall. The walls were all filled with enormous sculptures that bore the likenesses of many different cultivators.
"How marvelous." Ning couldn't help but sigh in amazement as he stared at the statues.
"His sculpting skills were simply inconceivable." Every single sculpture had its own unique sword-aura. They were all completely different.
For example, the fiery idol which Ning had acquired earlier contained eight different types of Fire-attribute intent, as well as an incredibly powerful technique. As for these thousands of sculptures, every single sculpture contained a unique sword-intent. They didn't actually contain any specific sword-arts, but for an expert of the Dao of the Sword such as Ning, every single engraving and carving on those enormous statues was a sword-art.
"Explosive and dominating."
Ning stared at the sculpture before him. This sculpture had required more than ten thousand strokes of the sculptor blade in order to be created. Some of the strokes seemed rather crude and unsightly, but they slowly came together to form an increasingly marvelous whole. Clearly, as Daolord Allgod had watched this cultivator train, the Daolord had slowly gained an increasingly deeper understanding of the sword-arts involved.
"This one is ice-cold."
"Ephemeral and carefree."
"Strange and unpredictable."
"Dark and shadowy."
Ning stared at all of the surrounding sculptures, each one giving him a completely different feeling.
Ning was in no rush to meditate on them. He slowly strolled forward, carefully inspecting each statue.
This was a veritable sea of sword-arts!
Every single statue embodied a unique type of sword-art, and every single sword-art was incredibly profound. Ning was quite astute in judging these sword arts. He could tell that all of these sword-arts were at the level of a master-class World God's sword-arts. The reason why it had taken Daolord Allgod so many chaos cycles on this project was because simply finding more than five thousand master-class World Gods of the Dao of the Sword was an incredibly time-consuming process. During this process, Daolord Allgod made a breakthrough in his Dao of the Sword, rising to the level of an new Samsara Daolord's mastery of the sword. If he hadn't made this breakthrough, he probably would've continued to hunt down more and more master-class World Gods.
Upon breaking through and finding his own path, he had understood the general direction which his own Dao of the Sword would follow.
Outside the Allgod Estate.
Three figures were seated in the lotus position atop the clouds, their senses spread out to cover this entire chaosworld. If so much as a bug tried to fly out, they would immediately detect it.
These three were the blood-robed Arroyo, the gold-robed Fukai, and World God Boneplate.
They had immediately left the Allgod Estate, then ran into each other in the outside world. Fukai had wanted to fight with Arroyo, but Arroyo immediately began to berate him and curse at him. "You imbecile, I left the Allgod Estate before you. Would I be sitting here waiting for you if I had the Eternal blood? I would've left long ago! I didn't get the damn blood. If you don't believe me, I'll swear a lifeblood oath, alright?!"
Arroyo was willing to compromise because he wanted to make use of Fukai's strength! "That freak of an Elder God was the one to obtain the Eternal blood. If he's the cautious type, he'll probably stay inside the Allgod Estate until he becomes a World-level expert himself. He was already comparable to a master-class World God. Once he breaks through, he'll probably be as strong as I am. Fukai, the two of us will need to join forces if we want to be able to shut him down."
Fukai glowered. "Don't worry, Arroyo. If neither of us can get the Eternal blood, both of us will die. But you are overestimating that Elder God's abilities. Even if he does become a World-level expert, his sword-arts are far inferior to yours. He might have some incredibly powerful divine abilities or secret arts, but I wager he'll at most become a supreme World God."
Arroyo shook his head. "Don't underestimate him. We can't afford to make any mistakes."
"Agreed." Fukai nodded.
And so, the three of them had sat down in the clouds, setting up a permanent vigil over the entire chaosworld with their godsense.
After becoming a World God, one's soul and divine power would join together and be able to detect distant ripples of power through something known as 'godsense'. Chaos Immortals had something similar called chaosense, but the two were essentially the same. However, if one's heartforce was able to break through to the sixth level then one would truly have incredibly scanning abilities that could catch anyone offguard!
These three were all extremely formidable figures. It must be understood that even the Daofathers of the Three Realms were capable of scanning the entire Three Realms with their senses. These three mighty World Gods naturally found it quite easy to keep a constant vigil over an entire chaosworld. In fact, they were also capable of completely locking down the space around the chaosworld and making it so that no one would be able to teleport out of it.
"Once he comes out, he dies!" Arroyo's eyes were filled with the crashing waves of a bloody sea.
"Kill him." Fukai's face was cold as well.
Either Ji Ning died or the two of them died! There were no other options!
Time passed on, day by day, but Ji Ning did not come out. As for the three World Gods, they waited like a trio of patient hunters, not growing restless at all.
Within the Castrum Divinitus. Inside the Hall of Swords.
Ning was still slowly strolling through the hall, staring at each and every sculpture.
More than five thousand sword-arts, with no two sword-arts alike!
Ning was completely spellbound by what he saw. He felt as though he was swimming within a sea of knowledge. It was all too stunning. Ning had never felt this stunned before, not even when he had seen the many sword-arts which World God Northrest had created.
All of those sword-arts had been the product of a single cultivator, after all. These sword-arts were created by more than five thousand different cultivators. This was a completely different situation!
Every single cultivator had their own special insights into the Dao. They might create many sword-arts, but in the end the sword-arts they created would belong within a single overarching system. However, these thousands of cultivators were all completely different individuals with completely different backgrounds, thoughts, insights, and sword-arts. This truly was an all-encompassing selection of sword-arts.
"Long, long ago… before the weapon known as the 'sword' even existed… a creature picked up a long, flat piece of metal and used it as a weapon. Slowly, certain mysteries and insights were developed for the application of this weapon, this 'sword'. The first sword-arts began to be created, and over time it was qualified to be described as a Dao of its own, the Dao of the Sword…
"Countless years have gone past since then. The trillions of cultivators of the Endless Territories have passed down many generations of legacies, resulting in the Dao of the Sword becoming increasingly profound. Multiple Samsara Daolords have found their own paths within it, and deep within the primordial chaos there lies a place which holds the true essence of the sword…
"But in the end… all of it stems from this single, seemingly simple weapon – the sword."
Ever since that day long ago when Ning's understanding of the sword had changed, the entire Dao of the Sword had changed in his eyes.
Through these thousands of sword-arts, Ning could see how all the different sword-arts advanced from simplicity to complexity and profundity. The carvings which Daolord Allgod had created represented himself and how he slowly learned more and more about the start. His earliest carvings were rather crude, but his later ones became quite marvelous. This made it even easier for Ning to understand and analyze them.
"So the tip of the sword can actually be used like this? That means 'Blood Drop' stance can be redefined in many new ways…
"So my 'Shadowless' stance isn't sufficiently shadowless. This… this stance right here is what 'shadowless' truly means!"
Ning looked at one sword-art after another.
Everyone specialized in something different. Some sword-arts had truly reached the pinnacle in certain areas and exceeded Ning's wildest imaginations. For example, Ning's 'Blood Drop' stance could be described as a particularly ferocious and fast technique, but in this hall Ning saw at least a hundred different sword-arts that truly struck with the speed and strength of a celestial comet. These sword-arts were truly, incomparably dazzling.
This process of breaking down and comprehending the fundamental underpinnings of so many sword-arts resulted in Ning's own insights rising at an incredible pace. Prior to this, Ning had reached a bottleneck in his attempts to master the third stance of the [Nameless] sword-art, the 'Great Firmament' stance. However, as Ning's insights into the sword continued to rise, he slowly but naturally came to grasp and completely understand this stance. He broke through! He was now completely capable of advancing to the World level.
However… Ning did not!
He was completely intoxicated and mesmerized by this sea of swords. He didn't want to let himself grow distracted.
He continued to mentally disassemble and inspect every single sword-art.
Slowly, a great tree began to take form within Ning's mind. This great tree was the 'true nature of the sword', and it started off with more than five thousand branches, each branch symbolizing a specific type of sword-art.
As Ning's insights continued to develop, some of the branches began to cluster together and grow into large boughs.
This was a truly priceless experience, an enormous bit of good fortune.
In fact, as far as Ning was concerned this experience was far more valuable to him than the Eternal blood. The Eternal blood was nothing more than a source of outside help, but these thousands of sculptures would help him grow more personally powerful. The unsightly markings left atop the sculptures were especially helpful, because Daolord Allgod had personally left those markings as he had studied the Dao of the Sword. Thus, the first ones were fairly simple and allowed Ning to dissect them in a fairly easy fashion. If everything was incredibly profound and abstruse, there would've been no way for Ning to analyze them.
The great tree in Ning's mind which represent the Dao of the Sword began to grow larger and larger. More and more of the various branches began to congregate together and merge into large boughs. The branches began to grow fewer and fewer in number, from several thousand to several hundred, then to one hundred, then to a few dozen…"
Ning's mastery of the sword was constantly rising without him even being aware of it.
If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know report chapter so we can fix it as soon as possible.
Report chapter
Book 26, World Level, Chapter 5 – The Fourth Stance of the [Nameless] Sword-Art
Time flowed on.
A fiery-robed maiden was seated in the lotus position next to a bubbling river of lava. It was Flamefairy Su Youji, who was meditating within the Castrum Divinitus on the karmic fortune she had been blessed with.
Su Youji stared in front of her, where a lotus was slowly swiveling within the bed of lava.
"This place is indeed a blessed place for anyone seeking to meditate on the Dao of Fire." Su Youji frowned slightly. "However, no matter how hard I try I am unable to make any further improvements whatsoever. Ugh. According to what the formation-spirit of Castrum Divinitus said, Master is currently meditating as well. I wonder how long he will take. It has already been more than three thousand years!"
Right.
Su Youji had been in the Castrum Divinitus for more than a thousand years already.
After spending a bit of time firming up her foundation, she had gained the power of an ordinary World-level cultivator. After spending nearly three thousand years meditating in this location, a blessed place for meditating on the Dao of Fire, Su Youji had advanced to become comparable to an elite World-level cultivator.
It must be understood that although Daolord Allgod was not skilled in the Dao of the Sword, he was incredibly talented in the Dao of Lightning, the Dao of Fire, and many other Daos. Su Youji had benefited greatly from her exposure to this place.
"I suppose I'll just have to keep waiting." Su Youji had no other options.
"It's been three thousand years, but he still hasn't come out." Arroyo, Fukai, and Boneplate were still quietly keeping a watch over the entire chaosworld from their position above the clouds.
Fukai had a gloomy look on his face. "I imagine that this freak of an Elder God suspects something, which is why he insists on delaying and remaining within the Allgod Estate. However, breaking through to become a World God isn't an easy feat, even for a freak like him. Three thousand years? It is entirely possible that he might spend thirty thousand years or three hundred thousand years without making a breakthrough."
"Cut the crap and just keep waiting," Arroyo said coldly.
Both of them felt tremendous pressure, and this pressure caused their hearts to become filled with an intense desire to kill.
"All of those old bastards want to acquire the divine blood of the Eternal, but none of them dare to come in person. All they dare to do is send World-level experts like us for it." Fukai was rather resentful.
"Right. They even made acquiring the Eternal blood part of our Awakening test." Arroyo shook his head. "This is the Badlands Territory, and Daolord Badlands is one of the most skilled Numerancy experts of the entire Endless Territories. If any of those old bastards dared to enter the Badlands Territory, Daolord Badlands would probably be able to divine it right away."
"Right." Fukai nodded. Daolord Badlands was a very frightening person indeed.
The Endless Territories was an incredibly vast place. Not even Daolord Allgod would've dared to claim that he was the most powerful Daolord of the Endless Territories. Daolord Badlands, however, was ranked as one of the top three Numerancy experts of this entire realm! Numerancy experts like him would easily be able to predict and calculate when danger was coming without even needing to leave the safety of his own home. The Aeonians were the hated foes of the entire Dao Alliance. If any Aeonian dared to enter this place, he would find it almost impossible to avoid the Numerancy divinations of Daolord Badlands.
In addition, this was one of the central regions of the Dao Alliance. Once the Aeonian's presence was discovered, there would be no way for him to escape.
This was why Aeonians, as a race, generally tried to avoid the terrifying members of the Dao Alliance whose Numerancy skills made them virtually omniscient. Only the truly terrifying members of their race who were comparable to Daolord Allgod in his prime would dare to trespass through places like this.
"We have no one to blame but ourselves for not being able to Awaken ourselves," Fukai sent mentally. "If we were able to become true Samsara Daolords on our own, Awakening to become true members of the Aeonian race, we wouldn't have to risk our lives to pass this trial in such a manner."
"Mm." Arroyo nodded.
The two of them could rely on Pseudo Samsara Pills to make their breakthrough, but if they did so they would have almost no potential for any future breakthroughs. There would be no way for them to truly Awaken, nor would they be acknowledged as members of the Aeonian race.
They had to rely on themselves.
The alternate option was to have the Aeonian Kingdom help them Awaken, but an enormous price would need to be paid. Thus, the Aeonian Kingdom had given them a test. They were to bring back the Eternal blood of Emperor Melobo, and if they succeeded the Aeonian Kingdom would help one of them Awaken! The Eternal blood wasn't that important to the Dao Alliance, but it was incredibly important to the Aeonian Kingdom, enough so that they would be willing to pay the price necessary to help one of their descendants Awaken.
Many of their descendants had done everything they could to fight over this mission. In the end, it had been Fukai and Arroyo who had managed to succeed in having it assigned to them.
According to the orders given by the Aeonian Kingdom, if they succeeded in acquiring the Eternal blood their status would skyrocket, and they would be Awakened to become true members of the Aeonian race.
But if they failed… they would die!
"Fukai, as per the lifeblood oath we swore all those years ago, once that freak of an Elder God appears we'll have to work together to seize the Eternal blood from him. Once we acquire it, we'll fight to the death. The survivor will take the Eternal blood back to the Aeonian Kingdom." Arroyo looked at Fukai.
"Naturally." Fukai felt quite confident as well. In a true life-and-death battle, he would unleash every single ability he had to offer. He truly didn't fear anyone below the Samsara Daolord level of power.
"Three thousand years is nothing. Even if we wait thirty thousand years or three hundred thousand years, it would be worth it." A cold light flashed through Arroyo's eyes.
Arroyo and Fukai waited impatiently on the outside. From the inside, Su Youji was left to speculate on how long she would have to wait for her master.
Ning, however, was completely absorbed within that sea of sword-arts.
He had never experienced something like this before!
Never in his entire life had he felt so confident in his own sword-arts.
Whoosh.
Ning appeared out of nowhere within the hall, then turned to stare at the thousands of sculptures on the four walls. At the very center of the hall there was a large pagoda-shaped tower. This was the Heavengazer Tower of Radiance.
Ning had spent almost every minute of every day meditating within the Heavengazer Tower, as he knew that completely dissecting and mastering these thousands of different sword-arts would require an incredibly long period of time. He naturally was going to make use of the Heavengazer Tower's time compression abilities.
"I've finally finished meditating on every single sculpture, and I've reached my limit for now." Ning waved his hand, putting aside the Heavengazer Tower.
Ning was filled with boundless vigor and excitement. As he stared at the surrounding statues, he bowed slightly and said, "Thank you, senior Allgod. If it wasn't for you collecting all these sword-arts, how could I, Ji Ning, possibly have gained sudden enlightenment today?"
Ning was being quite modest in describing himself as having 'gained sudden enlightenment' today. There was nothing sudden about the hard work he had put in.
As a saying on Earth went, comparisons can be deadly. What were the strengths and weaknesses of a sword-art? An amateur wouldn't be able to tell just by looking at it. Only by completely dissecting these sword-arts and carefully comparing them to each other would you slowly discover that while this sword-art was exceedingly profound in this area, it had certain flaws in other areas.
Why was it strong?
Why was it weak?
After dissecting all of those sword-arts, Ning had gained certain yardsticks which he could use to judge the qualities of various sword-arts. Slowly, he gained an increasingly deeper level insight into the Dao of the Sword. In fact, Ning now had a complete, systemic view of the Dao of the Sword that belonged to him and him alone.
These thousands of sword-arts could be divided up into several general categories. In the end, Ning had divided those five thousand-plus sword-arts into twelve primary categories. After ascertaining that his judgments were correct, Ning suddenly felt as though wide panorama had opened up before him. He almost felt as though no sword-arts were too mysterious for him to understand! Even if there were some which were so profound that he would not be able to understand them at present, if he was given enough time he would thoroughly master it!
This self-confidence came into being after he had finished visualizing these thousands of sword-arts.
"Let me test it all out using the [Nameless] sword-art and Violetjewel's quintessence core." Ning smiled slightly. In recent years, he hadn't spent any time truly focusing on the [Nameless] sword-art At most, he would just turn a small part of his attention to it when he learned something that would be relevant for it. Despite that, he had still long ago mastered the third stance of the [Nameless] sword-art, the 'Great Firmament' stance.
"The fourth stance of the [Nameless] sword-art – 'Horizon's End'. Quite profound, really."
Ning quickly began to work on dissecting this sword-art, starting from the basic essence of the sword and then slowly working up to mentally executing the technique.
He spent a total of twelve hours on it.
"So that's how it works. The creator of this sword-art truly was an incredible figure. This fourth stance is far more profound than those thousands of sword-arts I just finished analyzing." Ning sighed softly in amazement. Still, he knew that although those thousands of sword-arts weren't particularly profound in comparison, they had still served to help broaden his horizons and let him get a deeper understanding of the true nature of the sword.
It had only taken him twelve short hours for him to master the fourth stance of the [Nameless] sword-art.
"The fifth stance, then?" Ning began to meditate on the fifth stance, but a short while later he gave it up. "Even World God Northrest himself was only able to master the fifth stance. During the past three thousand years, I've been meditating in seclusion but haven't gained any practical combat experience."
Violetjewel suddenly appeared in Ning's hands. "I suppose I should take a look at my sword's quintessence core."
Ning carefully attuned himself to the savage, murderous, yet exalted sword-intent that lay hidden within Violetjewel's quintessence core. In the past, it was extremely hard for him to attune to it, but it was now noticeably easier. It took him a full day before he felt as though he could no longer make any further improvements or gain a better understanding of it… but the insights he did gain were more than enough.
Soon, Ning began to develop a new sword-stance of his own.
"This stance shall be the second stance of the [Quintessence Sword-Intent]. Since I developed it here in the Allgod Estate, let it be named the Allgod stance," Ning murmured softly.
In his heart, Ning felt a hint of gratitude.
If it hadn't been for Daolord Allgod spending many chaos cycles of hard work in watching master-class World Gods train in the Dao of the Sword, then laboriously carve these thousands of sculptures, how could Ning have been able to gain such tremendous enlightenment in such a short period of time?
But of course, this was also because Ning's own understanding of the sword was a pure one that guided him straight to the true essence of the sword. There might be many other experts of the Dao of the Sword who had more profound insights than Ning, but when they saw these statues they would probably say, "I have my own path already. These differ from my Dao of the Sword."
"Haha… I had planned on leaving this place after becoming a World God, but I didn't expect that this place would be far more valuable to me than the drop of Eternal blood." Ning let out a heartfelt laugh. Not only had he mastered the third stance of the [Nameless] sword-art, he had even mastered the fourth stance. The third stance was all that was needed to become a World God!
These past three thousand years had been a truly transformative period of time for Ning.
His sword had now truly gained a soul of its own.
He had established a firm foundation for becoming a peerless expert in the Dao of the Sword in the future.
"Mm. Time to break through to the World level." Ning sat down in the lotus position, calming his heart and soul.
If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know report chapter so we can fix it as soon as possible.
Report chapter
Book 26, World Level, Chapter 6 – Breakthrough, World Level!
BOOM!!!
The heavens shook and the earth quaked as the chaos energy in the area began to oscillate wildly.
Swoosh! Swoosh!
Two figures suddenly appeared in the plaza before the Castrum Divinitus. It was the bald three-eyed man and the formation-spirit maiden. Both raised their heads to stare deep into the castle.
"What a torrent of chaos energy." The maiden let out a sigh. "This is causing a far greater disturbance than is usually seen when a cultivator breaks through to the World level."
"You can't compare Ji Ning to ordinary World-level cultivators," the three-eyed man said.
It must be understood that they were located within the Allgod Estate, but they were still able to see the chaos energy surging violently. One could imagine how huge the disturbance outside was! When the Flamefairy had made her breakthrough, the disturbance had been much smaller.
"A breakthrough? It must be Ji Ning of Vastheaven Palace." The formation-spirit of the Ten Thousand Mountains appeared at the top of a mountain peak in white robes. He raised his head to stare at the chaos energy pulsating through the skies.
"The chaos energy seems to be shaking quite violently." Even though Su Youji was located within the Castrum Divinitus, she could still sense that something was happening. "Did someone make a breakthrough? Was it Master?"
Outside the Allgod Estate. The disturbance in the rest of the chaosworld was far greater than the disturbance within the estate itself. An utterly enormous chaos vortex had appeared high above the chaosworld, covering the entirety of the skies. Just looking at it would cause one's heartrate to speed up.
"What a huge event." The blood-robed Arroyo, the gold-robed Fukai, and World God Boneplate all raised their heads to stare coldly at the skies.
"That freak of an Elder God must have made his breakthrough," Fukai growled.
"Most likely. Good. Now that he's made his breakthrough, he'll be coming out soon." Cold light flashed through Arroyo's eyes. "He lives up to being an Elder God who can battle master-class World Gods to a standstill. Look at the size of that thing! He has to be close to being on par with me by now."
"Right." Fukai nodded as well.
Both had extraordinary backgrounds and were extraordinarily talented. When they had made their breakthroughs, they had caused similarly shocking disturbances to the local flow of chaos energy.
The Castrum Divinitus. Within the Hall of Swords.
Ning was seated in the lotus position, an endless torrent of chaos energy swirling around him and into his body.
Rumble…
Within his Jindan region. This had previously been a beautiful, peaceful place, filled with islands that floated within a sea of elemental energy. However… everything was now being destroyed and returned to the primordial chaos from whence they came.
The entire Jindan region had been reduced to a region of utter chaos.
"Sword-seed!"
A seed had appeared out of nowhere. This seed was a sword-seed that would naturally form once one reached the fifth stage of swordforce, the 'Sword God' stage. Generally speaking, it would be extremely hard to see it with the naked eye. However, now that the entire region had been reduced to primordial chaos it was now much more noticeable.
The entire region of chaos energy swirled around the sword-seed. It was the center of the entire region.
"The sixth stage of swordforce – Sword World!" A voice echoed throughout this world of chaos.
Whoosh….
This seed surrounded by sword-ki began to expand and transform. It slowly began to split open, allowing a sapling to emerge from its shell. Soon, the sword-seed had completely transformed into a small tree that was growing at an incredible pace. Its many branches began to furiously extend outwards as Ning poured his insights regarding the Dao of the Sword into it, nourishing it and allowing this tree which represented his Dao of the Sword to grow nonstop.
Rumble…
The tree continued to grow at an incredible pace, becoming thirty meters tall. Three hundred. Nine hundred. Eighteen hundred. Three thousand…
Ning's insights into the Dao of the Sword were simply astonishing. As a result, his Dao-tree was growing to a similarly astonishing size.
Ordinary trees allowed the ground they were rooted in to be stable, while a Dao-tree would allow a Chaos Immortal's Jindan chaos region to be stable. The presence of the Dao-tree would allow the Jindan chaos region to continuously grow and expand.
This Dao-tree represented a cultivator's insights into the Dao!
Ning's path was the Dao of the Sword, and so this tree was a tree which represented the Dao of the Sword! Of course, in the future Ning's Jindan chaos region could give birth to other Dao-trees as well, ones which embodied the Daos of Water or Lightning. However, at present Ning clearly was not sufficiently enlightened with regards to these Daos. His other Daos were not at the World level yet. He might be able to form Dao-seeds, but there was no way for them to bloom and grow into trees.
The height of a Dao-tree represented a cultivator's level of insights into a Dao.
Normal cultivators who had just broken through to become World-level cultivators would generally just have Dao-trees that were around a thousand meters tall! Only after stabilizing their foundation would their Dao-tree grow to become three thousand meters tall.
A Dao-tree of three thousand meters meant that one had become a 'normal' World-level cultivator.
A Dao-tree of thirty thousand meters meant that one was comparable to elite World-level cultivators.
A Dao-tree of 108,000 meters meant that one had reached the level of full mastery as a World-level cultivator.
For World-level cultivators, Dao-trees growing to 108,000 meters was the maximum possible limit. No World-level cultivator's Dao-tree could ever grow any higher. Only if one found one's own Dao and underwent a fundamental transformation would this limit be breached, allowing the Dao-tree to grow even taller and thicker. This was the level of the Samsara Daolord.
Rumble…
This Dao-tree became an increasingly towering presence within this region of primordial chaos, sprouting more and more leaves and branches. Every single branch represented a different sword-art which Ning had mastered. Because Ning had created many sword-arts of his own and had mastered thousands of sword-arts in the Hall of Swords, his Dao-tree was filled with leafy foliage.
15,000 meters… 24,000 meters… 30,000 meters…
The Dao-tree continued to grow.
It contained all of Ning's insights into the Dao of the Sword, and it clearly had an incredible foundation. When it reached 63,000 meters, it finally came to a halt and stopped growing taller, but its leaves and branches continued to stretch out in every direction.
It had three branches that were particularly thick. These three boughs represented the [Nameless] sword-art, the [Quintessence Sword-Intent, and the [Brightmoon] sword-art.
The bough that represented the [Nameless] sword-art emanated a boundless yet calm sword-intent.
The bough that represented the [Quintessence Sword-Intent] radiated an aura of savagery and violence.
As for the bough which represented the [Brightmoon] sword-art, it seemed to represent the vastness of the void itself, making it impossible for others to fully comprehend it.
"63,000 meters? It seems my insights into the Dao of the Sword are superior to that of most elite World-level cultivators, but is still quite a distance away from the level of full mastery." Ning understood that in cultivation, the latter stages were always the hardest ones. Still, he wasn't too far away from the level of full mastery.
"My insights into the Dao are somewhat inferior to the insights of master-class World Gods… but no matter how profound your insights are, what really matters is your ability to apply them."
It was common for two master-class World Gods to execute sword-arts that were world's apart in power.
Ning had mastered the fourth stance of the [Nameless] sword-art, the 'Horizon's Edge', as well as the second stance of the [Quintessence Sword-Intent, the 'Allgod' stance. On a technical level, he was on par with the Starlord of Fogstone or God Emperor Blacklotus. Those two had been roughly on par with each other in terms of technique; Blacklotus' advantage primarily came from the fact that he had an Eternal weapon.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The entire chaos region began to furiously expand, devouring more and more chaos energy from the outside world.
At a time like this, having a first tier, second tier, or third tier Jindan no longer made any difference. Upon becoming a Chaos Immortal, everything would return to the primordial chaos from whence all things arose.
Generally speaking, most Chaos Immortals would have a chaos region of a certain predetermined size. As their insights expanded and their Dao-tree grew, the chaos region would naturally grow as well. Because Ning had fused seventeen clones together, his heartforce and his Jindan regions were qualitatively superior to that of most cultivators, resulting in a larger chaos region. The Chaos Immortal energy he could draw upon would also be purer than that of most cultivators.
Training in a technique that allowed one to have many different clones then merging them together would indeed result in one becoming a significantly more powerful cultivator.
Ning had 'merely' merged seventeen clones, and so he hadn't become too ridiculously powerful.
Techniques like the [Thousand Bodies Sutra] allowed for the creation of a thousand clones. Once all those clones were merged together, one would be enhanced to a ridiculous level. Those who had successfully trained in the [Thousand Bodies Sutra] then broke through to become World Gods would have bodies that were comparable to the bodies of Samsara Daolords! This was proof of how truly incredible this technique was. Because Ning's own body was merely formed from seventeen different clones, his body was merely strengthened by a single small level.
Whoosh.
Ning could sense that the entirety of his Jindan region had been converted into primordial chaos. His Dao-tree was more than sixty thousand meters tall, and it was able to stabilize the entire region. A large amount of Chaos Immortal energy had taken form as well.
"This feels wonderful." Ning could sense his soul rapidly increasing in power thanks to it being nourished by his Chaos Immortal energy.
"Mmmm. I've already made my breakthrough as a Ki Refiner. Time to break through as a Fiendgod Body Refiner as well."
Ning was now at such an incredibly high level of insight that he was able to easily sense that every single cell in his body was filled with an urgent desire to transform and become stronger.
Boom!
Things had just started to calm down in the outside world, and the flow of chaos energy had finally started to stabilize. All of a sudden, the chaos energy began to pulsate wildly once more as an enormous amount of it was drawn into the Allgod Estate.
"Eh?"
"Is that…"
The faces of Arroyo, Fukai, and Boneplate all tightened.
"It seems he simultaneously made his breakthrough as a Ki Refiner and as a Fiendgod Body Refiner," Arroyo said coldly. Ki Refiners generally found it somewhat easier to make their breakthroughs, while Fiendgod Body Refiners found it a bit more difficult. Arroyo himself had first broken through to become a Chaos Immortal, then spent ten thousand more years in training before breaking through to become a World God as well. Ning simply had too high a level of insight into the Dao, which was why he was able to easily break through as both a Chaos Immortal and as a World God.
"So what if he did? He still has to die." Fukai's eyes were filled with a murderous look. Since Ji Ning had made his breakthrough, he was sure to come out soon.
If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know report chapter so we can fix it as soon as possible.
Report chapter
Book 26, World Level, Chapter 7 – Leaving the Castrum Divinitus
With the Sword World serving as his core, Ji Ning began to remold his divine power.
His divine power began to undergo a fundamental change, transforming him into a higher level of existence.
Boom!
Ning's entire body suddenly burst apart, then instantly solidified into a total of a hundred jewels. These were jewels formed from divine power – godgems! A flood of chaos energy surrounded these jewels, causing more and more godgems to rapidly form.
The Dao-tree was the core of a Chaos Immortal.
The godgems formed the core of a World God.
But of course, if one was a dual refiner one would have both types of cores.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! One godgem after another continued to coalesce. Every single godgem had to be infused with sufficient insights regarding the Dao of the Sword, but the insights within each jewel had to be different. Thus, the more insights into the Dao of the Sword you had, the more godgems you would create.
Newly ascended cultivators who broke through would be able to generate a few hundred godgems.
Cultivators who had stabilized their foundations would generally have a thousand godgems and be 'standard' World Gods.
Upon gaining a total of ten thousand godgems, one would be at the level of an elite World God.
At thirty-six thousand gems, one would have reached full mastery as a World God.
In the end, Ning formed a total of exactly 21,192 godgems. This was quite comparable to the height of his Dao-tree, and was what Ning had expected. Thanks to the fact that he had fused seventeen clones together, the divine power contained within his godgems was slightly purer than the divine power 'ordinary' World Gods had.
"Condense!"
The twenty-one thousand godgems that were scattered throughout the area instantly began to surge to a central location, joining together into a human figure that had the form of a white-robed youth.
"While I'm making my breakthrough, I have an unlimited amount of chaos energy at my disposal. I need to hurry up and use it to fill up my azureflower region." The azureflower seal appeared on Ning's forehead as he sent his senses into the azureflower region within his sea of consciousness.
A single azure flower was fluttering within his sea of consciousness. It now looked even more dazzlingly beautiful than it had before.
Within this azure flower was the vast azureflower region. As Ning poured his divine power and his Immortal energy into it, both were absorbed and converted into that misty energy. The power of the mist took Ning's breath away; it was now unfathomably more powerful than it had been when he had been an Elder God.
A short while later, the mist condensed to form a single liquid drop. Ning could now sense a slight pressure weighing down upon his azureflower region.
When he had been an Elder God, he had only been able to manifest a maximum of thirty-six drops of this azureflower liquid.
"I wonder how many I'll be able to manifest now." Ning continued to condense more and more drops of azureflower liquid, pouring all of his divine power and Immortal energy into the azureflower region as he furiously drew upon the chaos energy of the outside world.
When one was making a breakthrough, one would have the ability to directly draw upon virtually limitless amounts of chaos energy! The cultivator making the breakthrough would be able to swallow as much of it as he could handle. When he could no longer absorb any more, everything would naturally come to an end.
"What is taking so long?"
"How can Ji Ning be absorbing so much chaos energy?"
Su Youji, Dragonbinder, the formation-spirits of the Allgod Estate, Arroyo, Fukai… all of them were uniformly stunned at the amount of time Ji Ning was spending in absorbing chaos energy.
However, what they didn't realize was that the chaos energy was entering Ning's body at an unprecedented rate. He had actually absorbed far more of it than they had imagined.
108 drops!
This was the new limit, the maximum number of azureflower drops which the azureflower region could hold. Every single drop of 'water' contained an utterly overwhelming amount of energy; Ning had to use up nearly his entire reserve of divine power and Immortal energy in order to create a single drop. In other words, the amount of energy the azureflower region had just absorbed was a hundred times as much energy Ning would've 'normally' absorbed after breaking through to become a World-level cultivator!
But of course, there were some cultivators who deliberately slowed down the energy absorption process when they made their breakthroughs, so as to get a better feeling for the overall process. Thus, while Ji Ning was furiously absorbing as much chaos energy as he could, Su Youji and the others all merely thought that he was just taking a long time. They didn't truly understand how much chaos energy he had sucked in.
"This feeling…"
Ning stood there within the Hall of Swords, a stunned look on his face. He lightly balled his fist together. BOOM! He could sense that he had enough power in his fingers to effortlessly crush a chaos star to pieces.
"This is ridiculous. How can this azureflower mist energy be so powerful?"
Ning had merged seventeen of the clones created by the [Taowu Eighteen Fiendgods]. Now that he had broken through become a World God, he had the power of a half-step Daolord. And yet, when Ning activated the power of the azureflower mist energy his body underwent an utterly earthshaking transformation.
When the power of the azureflower mist energy filled his body, his body greedily drank it all in like a parched land drinking in the rain after a long drought. The azureflower mist energy filled him with vitality and life energy, giving his entire body such a terrifying amount of strength that Ning himself was frightened by it.
"With the azureflower mist energy reinforcing my body, I should be as fast as a Samsara Daolord," Ning mused. "Where did these Nine Chaos Seals come from? They are ridiculously powerful!"
This technique was not only of great benefit to Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals, it was of just as much benefit to World-level cultivators. This technique was simply unearthly. Someone who had mastered the [Thousand Bodies Sutra] would have a body comparable to a newly ascended Samsara Daolord… and Ning's azureflower seal was just as marvelously effective as that sutra!
"Daoist Three Purities said that he found it within the primordial chaos. It seems that I should send my Primaltwin to wander through the primordial chaos surrounding the Three Realms. I wonder if I can find the original Nine Chaos Seal." Ning had a feeling that these nine ridiculously powerful chaos seals had to have extraordinary backgrounds. His Primaltwin was already located in the primordial chaos outside the Three Realms and had nothing to do. He might as well send it out exploring.
In the instant that he made his breakthrough, his Primaltwin had also made its breakthrough. It now was also supported and reinforced by azureflower mist energy, giving it a level of power that was extremely close to that of Ning's true body. Its only weakness lay in the fact that it didn't have an Eternal weapon.
"I can't get too cocky though. The endless primordial chaos is filled with many mysteries. The [Thousand Bodies Sutra, the Nine Chaos Seals… although such incredibly powerful techniques are very rare, they still exist. I was lucky enough to acquire one but I can't let myself become too arrogant. As the saying goes, there's always a taller mountain somewhere. Daolord Allgod was someone who was capable of slaying Eternal Emperors!" Ning quickly calmed down and quelled his excited emotions.
There were too many freakishly powerful figures in the endless primordial chaos. Hell, the entire race of Aeonians actually devoured Samsara Daolords for sustenance! As for Daolord Badlands, he was the number three Numerancy expert of the entire Endless Territories.
There were many might figures of simply incredible power. Ning might have a bit of power now, but compared to them he still wasn't qualified to behave in a prideful, arrogant manner.
Hiss. Pop. A pool of lava bubbled and boiled, and next to it sat Su Youji. The Flamefairy was still waiting.
"That should've been Master making his breakthrough. He should be coming out soon, right?" Su Youji was waiting eagerly.
"Su Youji." A figure suddenly appeared, materializing directly above the lava. It was the nearly-nude, barefoot maiden. "Come, it is time to leave."
"Was it Master who made the breakthrough?" Su Youji asked.
"Yes." The maiden nodded.
Space twisted and distorted around her as she was forcibly teleported away once more.
"Eh?" Everything around her became blurred and distorted. By the time it all came back into focus, Su Youji realized that she had returned to the great plaza in front of the Castrum Divinitus, the one which had held the trial of the Samsara Grinders.
"Master." Su Youji immediately saw the white-robed youth who stood nearby.
Ning was just standing there, a sword on his back and an mighty aura of tremendous power radiating from his body. This was the aura of a World God.
"Congratulations, Master!" Su Youji said delightedly, "The Allgod Estate truly was a blessed place for the two of us. We both broke through to the World level here."
"Yes, it truly was a blessed place." Ning couldn't help but think back to the Hall of Swords and its thousands of sword-arts. That place truly had been of tremendous assistance to him.
"Senior." Ning looked at the nearby formation-spirit maiden. Although the formation-spirit didn't have a cultivation base, it had lived for far longer than even many Samsara Daolords had. Here within the Allgod Estate, it could probably wipe out most Samsara Daolords with ease. For him to respectfully address the spirit as 'senior' was just proper.
"Please send me and Su Youji to the Grove of Monoliths within the Fog Sea," Ning said.
"You are going to go to the Fog Sea first?" The maiden was puzzled.
"Yes." Ning nodded.
"Mm. You might as well go solidify your foundation in the Fog Sea, I suppose." The maiden nodded. "Go ahead." After speaking, she waved a finger and caused space to twist and distort around Ji Ning and Su Youji. It was like a whirlpool had formed around them, swallowing them up and causing them to disappear.
Mist billowed everywhere. This was the Fog Sea region of the Allgod Estate.
A series of spatial waves suddenly rippled out from a desolate patch of land, followed by Ji Ning and Su Youji appearing out of nowhere.
"Mm." Ning could clearly sense the ripples generated by the nearby Mirrorsnow Painting. He couldn't help but laugh. "That bugbeast is still hiding within the Grove of Monoliths. It has been several thousand years, but he remains hidden there."
The Grove of Monoliths was a dangerous place, but Ning no longer feared it. The main reason he had come to the Allgod Estate was to acquire the Mirrorsnow Painting, after all!
"You scared that bugbeast witless, Master. If it hadn't been for World God Foxblaze and his friend accosting us, the bugbeast probably would've died long ago. It knows we have a method to track it, so of course it is unwilling to leave the Grove," Su Youji said.
If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know report chapter so we can fix it as soon as possible.
Report chapter
Book 26, World Level, Chapter 8 – The Battle in the Grove of Monoliths
"Come, let's go to the Grove of Monoliths." Ji Ning laughed as he began to walk towards the Grove.
"Are we really going there, Master?" Su Youji was rather worried. She had started to grow a bit nervous as soon as she had heard Ning ask the formation-spirit girl to teleport them straight to the Fog Sea. The Grove was one of the truly dangerous parts of the Fog Sea, and even supreme World Gods would only have a decent chance at best to escape from that place alive. It truly was a deadly place to venture into.
"Yes." Ning glanced at Su Youji, then smiled. "But you won't be needed for this battle. Just go into the estate-world when the battle begins. If you stay by my side, I'll be distracted because I would need to protect you."
Ning's words were quite simply and ordinary, but Su Youji could sense the absolute self-confidence and the absolute dominance inherent in those words.
Her master had just broken through to become a World God, yet already possessed such incredible faith in himself?
Su Youji nodded slowly. "Alright. I'll listen to you, Master. I still hope that you'll be careful in your journey through the Grove." She stared very carefully at Ning as she spoke, trying to find some clues from his aura regarding his current level of strength. Ning's aura was that of a World God's, but it didn't seem as though there had been any other major changes.
Oh. One change was that Ning seemed calmer than before. Even though he was in a dangerous place, he seemed completely calm and unflappable.
"Master, why are you carrying that sword on your back?" Su Youji suddenly noticed the biggest difference. In the past, Ning would instantly materialize his sword when entering combat. He never kept it on his back before.
"I'm training," Ning said.
"Training?" Su Youji was puzzled. How could carrying a sword on your back be considered training? Still, she didn't ask any more questions.
Ning was carrying the Eternal weapon 'Violetjewel' on his back. By staying in contact with it at all times, he was able to better familiarize himself and attune himself to the quintessence sword-intent hidden within the sword's core at all times. He was attuned to it every day and every night
It must be understood that if a mortal carried a blade with him at all times to the point of holding it when sleeping, that mortal would also be able to develop an extremely terrifying saber-art.
Habits such as this were quite important. Ning wanted to be attuned to the quintessence sword-intent at all times, as this would allow him to comprehend it more quickly.
Right now, Violetjewel was the strongest weapon which Ning had!
The fourth stance of the [Nameless] sword-art, 'Horizon's Edge', was on the same level as the second stance of the [Quintessence Sword-Intent, the 'Allgod' stance. If Ning used a different sword to execute these two stances, they would be on par with each other in power. However, because the Allgod stance was developed based on the quintessence sword-intent within Violetjewel, it would be much stronger when Ning actually used Violetjewel and its quintessence core. When Ning used Violetjewel to execute the two stances the difference was actually quite great, with the Allgod stance capable of unleashing several times as much power.
"You have to be able to protect yourself on your path of cultivation. Otherwise, you'll die an early death. I've now gained insight into both the [Nameless] sword-art and the [Quintessence Sword-Intent]. For now, I should favor the [Quintessence Sword-Intent]. It will let me unleash greater power in battle for now." Although Ning was able to estimate how strong he had become, he didn't know exactly how strong that was.
Only through battle would he be able to truly ascertain how strong he had grown.
"The Grove of Monoliths…" Ning stared towards a distant, fog-shrouded monolith that had been planted into the ground.
"Stay prepared. Have Blacksun and Wilddog do the same. All three of you should be ready to be summoned by me at a moment's notice," Ning said.
"Yes, Master. Be careful, Master." Su Youji had a worried look on her face.
Ning chuckled, then waved his hand and collected her into his estate-world. He then turned and headed off by himself towards the Grove of Monoliths, a small smile playing on his lips.
Enormous monoliths were planted throughout the Grove of Monoliths, with tens thousand of them having been planted in total. Quite a few of them had powerful bugbeasts coiling atop them.
As for Ning, he strolled into the Grove as though he was entering his own private garden.
An avian beast with bright red claws was currently coiled around the top of a giant monolith that was a few hundred kilometers away from Ning. The creature's eyes were shut in slumber, and every so often a few streams of fire would flick out from its nostrils as it exhaled, with the streams of fire swirling around an area of a hundred meters. As Ning moved towards the creature, he could sense it open its eyes. Its two eyes were filled with a cold, murderous look in them as it stared at the human cultivator who had trespassed on its territory.
"An Outsider…" The flying beast let out a low growl. "Die."
Its black wings suddenly spread out as it shot forth like a dazzling streak of electric light, moving far faster than the limits of the Heavenly Daos. This avian creature was actually quite formidable, far more so than the crocodilian creature Ning had fought and pursued for the sword-ki painting. This creature had the power of an elite World God, giving it tremendous confidence in its abilities to deal with most Outsiders.
Even if it encountered someone stronger than it, it felt that it would at most be slightly suppressed. Once the battle went on for an extended period of time, other bugbeasts would soon begin to arrive. By then, the Outsider cultivator would have to choose between fleeing or dying.
"KREE." An ugly screeching sound rang out from the winged creature's mouth as its enormous bright red claws ripped towards Ning. As for its black wings, it swept them towards Ning's head.
Ning continued to walk forward in a very calm manner. Why wouldn't he be calm? Even when he was an Elder God, he wouldn't have feared a bugbeast like this, much less now.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Spatial ripples spread out from those giant claws as they tore through the air and struck with power comparable to that of Rocky's.
Finally, Ning moved.
Slash!
Ning's arms suddenly stretched out to become many dozens of meters long, and his fingers chopped out like the edges of a sharp blade. He used his hand to stab directly into the avian creature's brain, then pulled his hand back. A huge hole had appeared in the avian beast's head, with the insides of its skull completely destroyed. Life fled from its eyes and it died on the spot.
Although bugbeasts were born and bred for combat and possessed incredibly powerful bodies, they had their own weak spots as well.
A dull look of amazement could still be seen in the creature's now-lifeless eyes as its corpse fell from the skies, kicking up a storm of dust as it slammed into the ground.
Ning gave it a glance.
"Horizon's Edge. This truly is a formidable technique created by an ancient power. It really is formidable!" Ning couldn't help but mentally praise the technique. Just now, he had used his fingers to simulate the strikes of a sword. Because of his Seventh Cycle of the [Starseizing Hand, his two hands were now comparable to Dao weapons. Bugbeasts like these weren't worthy of him drawing his true weapons.
The Horizon's Edge technique could be summarized in one word – fast!
As soon as the sword struck, it would instantly be able to reach the very edges of the horizon! This is what was meant by the name, 'Horizon's Edge'. Ji Ning had simply struck out with his right hand, but the avian beast was given no chance to dodge or block whatsoever. The azureflower mist energy had given Ning incredible speed and power to begin with, and when he matched it with the Horizon's Edge technique, he was able to strike even faster. Even bugbeasts with incredibly powerful bodies such as the avian creature would be unable to dodge it in time.
"AROOOO!"
"GWRAAAAR!"
"KILL THE INVADER!"
"KILL THE OUTSIDER!"
The ripples generated by this sudden battle quickly spread out to cover the entire ten thousand kilometers of the Grove of Monoliths, causing the bugbeasts all began to furiously converge upon this location. This was the most terrifying aspect of the Grove! Formidable World-level cultivators could deal with these bugbeasts one or two at a time, but when they surrounded you and converged upon you in such a manner, you would have no choice but to flee even if you had the power of a supreme World God.
"Interesting. I'll use you all to test myself out and see how powerful I have become." Ning continued to stroll forwards, moving towards the direction of the crocodilian beast.
More and more bugbeasts began to appear within his field of vision. Some had enormous scaled wings, some crawled through the ground like centipedes, some were plant-type creatures with green leaves, while some looked almost humanoid and jogged across the land. All of them had auras of incredible power, but none of them were in a rush to immediately charge towards Ning. Instead, they continued to gather in number in the area around him. Ten of them. Twenty of them. Thirty of them…
They circled around Ning but didn't attack.
"How crafty. Even though bugbeasts are stupid creatures, the ones who can survive to reach the World level are all quite crafty." Ning chuckled as he glanced at the thirty-plus bugbeasts who had already arrived. All of these powerful creatures were staring intently at Ning, who remained as placid as a calm pool of water.
"Kill."
"Kill him!"
Finally, they moved. A total of thirty-nine bugbeasts had arrived by now, and one of them was a towering humanoid bugbeast whose entire body was covered with sharp spikes. As it let out a furious howl, the other thirty-eight bugbeasts instantly began to charge straight for Ning.
Ning just stood there without moving, allowing these thirty-nine bugbeasts to attack him en masse.
Whoosh.
Suddenly, Ning stretched his hand out. His palms transformed in size, looking almost like utterly enormous palm-leaf fans that were filled with enough power to easily crush any chaosworld to bits. When he struck out with these titanic palms, the very skies themselves seemed to grow dim. At Ning's current level of mastery, every single strike was filled with inconceivably profound mysteries and insights. He sent a palm smashing towards the head of the first creature to arrive, a fast-moving four-legged unicorn-like beast. BOOM! The four-legged unicorn's head caved in so deep that it was pressed down through the neck into its chest. It died on the spot.
If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know report chapter so we can fix it as soon as possible.
Report chapter
Book 26, World Level, Chapter 9 – We Meet Again
The many bugbeasts began to swarm around Ji Ning. Some blasted streaks of energy from their mouths, while the bugbeast that was covered with green leaves suddenly sprouted many branches as it charged into close combat range.
It must be understood that during the trial of the Samsara Grinders, only master-class World Gods were capable of successfully fighting those many weak (but berserk) World-level golden warriors to a standstill. These bugbeasts, however, were far stronger than those golden warriors had been, with a small number actually being comparable to master-class World Gods themselves. One bad strike could knock you to the ground, and you would instantly be entangled by vines, branches, tails, and other flexible weapons. After that happened, you would be dead.
Swish.
A cruel shadow suddenly streaked out. Ning's fingers had pierced straight through the skull of a centipede-like bugbeast! The strike was simply too fast. As soon as Ning's fingers had moved, they had gone straight through the enemy's defenses.
Boom!
Ning's palms suddenly expanded to become enormous in size, and he furiously chopped down with the edge of his palm like a hatchet! The power of his blow smashed an airborne winged bugbeast directly into the ground, its body shattering apart into countless pieces.
Swish!
Ning's hands looked almost crystalline as they transformed into streaks of blade-light that lashed out, chopping straight through the head of the savage, humanoid-shaped creature that was completely covered with spikes.
It was a massacre. Ning's two hands were weapons of mass destruction, and the more he killed the more excited he became. He suddenly manifested the [Three Heads, Six Arms] technique and began to slaughter any bugbeasts who dared to move close to him.
"I've been having a wonderful nap for the past chaos cycle. Why has it taken all of you so long to deal with this invader? Why is he still not dead?" A turtle-shaped bugbeast slowly flew towards Ning from afar, but moments later it came to a sudden halt as its beady little eyes widened. It could see that there were now more than eighty bugbeasts gathered in the area.
The area was littered with shattered corpses. Normally, bugbeasts loved to devour the corpses of other bugbeasts, but right now no one was even thinking of doing such a thing.
All of them had been terrified by the slaughter.
More than fifty bugbeasts had been slain, and that white-robed sword-bearing youth continued to hold the complete upper hand in the battle as he continued to slay even more.
"Run away!"
Finally, the first bugbeast broke ranks and began to flee. Instantly, the teetering morale of the remaining bugbeasts shattered. They had only dared to continue the fight because of so many others being present, but they now lost all their courage and began to flee in every which way.
"He's freaking terrifying. He killed more than half of them!" The turtle was so frightened that he immediately turned tail and fled.
"Ahahaha…" Ning suddenly transformed into a shadowy blur, his speed reaching incredible heights as his six arms savagely struck out in every direction. In the blink of an eye, more than ten more bugbeasts fell to the ground, dead. In the end, only eight of the bugbeasts that had surrounded Ning were lucky enough to escape with their lives.
Ning let out a laugh.
That had felt good.
He had utterly dominated them and massacred them, in the process getting a better understanding of his current level of power. During the trial of the Samsara Grinders, he had been able to easily defeat those golden-armored warriors, and he was now able to slaughter these bugbeasts with a similar degree of ease, including those master-class ones. They were like infants before him, easily slain by a casual blow.
This level of power completely and vastly surpassed that of a 'supreme' World God's. Even if God Emperor Blacklotus came back to life, Ning would be able to easily defeat and slay him without even using Violetjewel.
"Everyone kept on talking about how strong those bugbeasts are, but I'm much stronger than them. Even if I completely rely on raw brute force alone, I've reached the Samsara Daolord threshold of power. My sword-arts, however, can allow me to better unleash my true power." The reason why Ning was able to butcher these bugbeasts so easily was because he had the azureflower mist energy strengthening him as well as a terrifyingly strong divine body.
"Arroyo made certain breakthroughs on the Samsara Grinder and is now a transcendent World God. He probably has just barely reached the Samsara Daolord threshold of power as well. However, he can only reach that level when he unleashes his complete, full power in his strikes. Any random blow I unleash when using [Three Heads, Six Arms] is probably somewhat stronger than his full-force blows. If I was to use my Eternal weapon, Violetjewel… I think the power of my strikes would be enough to threaten even actual Samsara Daolords," Ning mused.
However, he would only be able to threaten a Samsara Daolord who had just recently made his breakthrough. True Samsara Daolords who had been Fiendgod Body Refiners would have divine bodies that were just as strong as Ning's, and they would generally have both Eternal weapons and more profound insights into the Dao! Given that they had other secret arts and divine abilities of their own… Ning was still some distance away from being able to battle them.
However, it was an indisputable fact that if Ning struck out with his sword, even Samsara Daolords would have to take his strike seriously.
"Flee."
"Flee!"
The remaining bugbeasts in the Grove began to disperse and flee.
As for Ning, he could sense where the crocodilian creature was and the direction it was fleeing towards. Ning quickly advanced towards its direction, and on the way he was able to see quite a few magic treasures and weapons scattered throughout the grove. These were the spoils of war which the bugbeasts had taken from cultivators they had slain! Ning went ahead and collected them as he advanced through the Grove.
"That crocodile is still fleeing?" Ning's speed suddenly skyrocketed.
Boom!
His speed instantly reached a terrifying new level as he blasted through the skies above the Grove. He almost instantly caught up with the blindly fleeing crocodilian bugbeast, which had been fleeing at its own top speed. "Who the hell was that invader, and why is he so strong? Everyone else is fleeing, so I guess I should flee as well. Right, right." The crocodilian bugbeast hadn't taken part in the fight, but it had began to flee when the other creatures had fled.
Swoosh! Ning suddenly appeared directly in front of the crocodile.
The crocodile came to a halt, shocked. It stared in utter terror at the white-robed youth who had just appeared in front of him. It recognized this youth! Years ago, this youth had pursued him so tightly that he had nowhere else to flee but the Grove. However, back then the youth's aura had been fairly weak; he had merely been an Elder God at that time. His aura was now much more powerful.
"He chased me through the Grove. Is he the one who wrecked it?" The crocodilian bugbeast was utterly terrified. Bugbeasts were sentient creatures and thus were capable of fear. Even in the Grove, it had merely been one of the weaker creatures present. How could it dare to battle against Ning now?
"Spare me, spare me!" As soon as Ning appeared before the creature, it hurriedly called out for mercy.
Ning blinked. He wasn't in a hurry to attack. "It knows to ask for mercy at a time like this? Interesting."
This was the first time that Ning had encountered a bugbeast which begged for mercy.
"Hand over your treasures," Ning instructed. "If you hold back so much as a single item… don't blame me for not having given you a chance."
"Y-y-yes!" The crocodile's entire body transformed into a stream of gray mist, and one treasure after another began to fly out of that misty region. Dao weapons, strange claws, scales, a scroll, Chaos treasures… a small pile of treasures appeared next to it.
"Everything I have is right here. I didn't hold anything back." The crocodile reformed and hurriedly spoke to Ning in an ingratiating manner.
Ning's eyes lit up. The claws and those scales were the spoils of war the crocodilian creature had acquired from defeating other bugbeasts. Ning didn't really care about them. However, that scroll emanated an aura of sword-ki that was particularly striking, and the fact that it was resonating with his own Mirrorsnow Painting told Ning that it had to be the item he was looking for.
Ning waved his hand, pulling the scroll over towards himself. He opened up the scroll to take a look. It was the painting of a palace.
"Man, these paintings really are ugly," Ning muttered to himself, but he had a smile on his face. He put the painting away.
"Four paintings in each set. I now have the first and the third paintings in this set." Ning turned away and flew back towards the Grove of Monoliths. The crocodilian creature nervously watched as Ning left before it frantically turned to flee once more, its four stubby legs moving furiously as it once more transformed into a streak of mist.
Ning had slain most of the bugbeasts in the Grove of Monoliths, and quite a few of them were in possession of valuable treasures they had acquired as spoils of war. Ning naturally was planning to collect it all.
Six days later, Ning emerged from the Fog Sea and returned to the Ten Thousand Mountains.
"It is time to leave." Ning turned back to glance at the fog, sighing mentally.
He still remembered quite clearly the scene of him entering Undermoon Lake for the first time. Back then, Ning had merely been an Empyrean God and had viewed World God Northrest as a figure of utterly overwhelming power. Now, Ning was at an even higher level of power than World God Northrest had ever reached. There were very, very few individuals below the Samsara Daolord level of power who were a match for Ning.
"But I'm still far from being strong enough to reverse the flow of spacetime and bring her back to life." Ning shook his head, then walked out of the mountains.
The outside world.
Clouds were drifting high up in the skies. The blood-robed Arroyo, the gold-robed Fukai, and World God Boneplate were silently seated atop the clouds, continuously scanning this entire chaosworld with their godsense. They had completely suppressed their auras, and they looked like three hungry wolves who were preparing to pounce upon their prey. For now, their claws and their fangs remained hidden as they continued to quietly wait.
They were waiting for Ji Ning to emerge!
Rumble…
Suddenly, there was a spatial ripple.
Arroyo, Fukai, and Boneplate simultaneously turned to look towards a direction off in the distance. Even though they were millions of kilometers away, they were capable of seeing with great clarity a white-robed youth who had a sword on his back materialize in the air above the Allgod Estate. It was that freak of an Elder God whom they had been awaiting for so long.
"Eh?" Ning could sense their godsense and so he spread his own godsense out as well. As he did so, he also turned to look in their direction, and he immediately saw those three distant figures seated in the lotus position above the clouds.
In that moment, their gazes intersected in midair!
If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know report chapter so we can fix it as soon as possible.
Report chapter
Book 26, World Level, Chapter 10 – Hellwind Golems
Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!
The three mighty World Gods flew through the air like three meteors, moving straight for Ji Ning at high speed. Although they were millions of kilometers away, they were able to arrive right next to Ning in a single breath's worth of time.
"Bold." Arroyo looked at Ning.
"You seem quite confident." Fukai's eyes were narrowed as he stared in a cold, weighing manner at Ning.
As for World God Boneplate, he quietly stood next to Arroyo.
Ning himself had reached the speed of a Samsara Daolord. Ning could tell at a glance that although these three were quite fast, he would be able to easily shake off any pursuit by them without even needing to use his Thunderlight Wings. Although the surrounding space had been locked down, preventing any teleportation, Ning's speed alone ensured that he could attack whenever he wished and leave whenever he wished. The initiative was with him.
Arroyo and Fukai never would've imagined that Ji Ning would vastly surpass them in speed as soon as he became a World God. For now, they were both filled with tremendous confidence.
"Hand over the Eternal blood," Arroyo said. "We're willing to trade treasures for it."
Fukai stared intently at Ning as well.
This was part of their agreed-upon plan. They wanted to first try and get Ji Ning to voluntarily hand over the Eternal blood. If they were able to acquire it by simply buying it from him instead of fighting for it, that would be ideal. They had many treasures and they didn't fear anyone below the Samsara Daolord level, but they weren't completely confident that they would be able to slay Ji Ning!
If Ji Ning completely focused on escaping… Arroyo and Fukai weren't certain if they would be able to catch him and bar his path.
But of course… if Ji Ning was unwilling to hand the blood over, the only option would be to kill him!
"You are willing to use treasures to trade for the Eternal blood?" Ning swept them with his gaze. "And what do you have to offer?" Ning couldn't even be bothered to deny he had the blood. No one here was an idiot, after all. They all knew the truth.
"We have treasures that are worth tens of thousands of cubes of chaos nectar. We're willing to use it to trade for your Eternal blood. You should be satisfied by this price." Fukai frowned.
"Ahahah… how generous!" Ning laughed.
"You are forcing us to fight." The killing intent within Arroyo's eyes began to strengthen. In the end, they were still just World-level cultivators. Although they had many treasures, for them to be able to produce tens of thousands of cubes worth was already quite impressive. What, were they supposed to hand over their Eternal weapons as well? Only a fool would be willing to hand over his trump card treasures.
"Cut the crap, you running dogs of the Aeonians." Ning's face turned cold as he snapped at them.
The faces of both Fukai and Arroyo tightened.
"You are the running dog of the Aeonians!" Arroyo immediately snapped back.
"What, we're members of the Aeonians just because we want the Eternal blood?" Fukai laughed coldly. "Not even the formation-spirit of the Allgod Estate would dare to claim that we are Aeonians. You, however, are quite audacious. How dare you sully us with such wild rumors!"
Neither of them would admit it, not even if it cost them their lives.
True Aeonians were all at least at the Samsara Daolord level of power, and they had auras that were completely different from the auras of normal Samsara Daolords. They could be recognized at a glance. However, the descendants and progeny of true Aeonians looked just like ordinary cultivators did. So long as they were not Awakened, there was no way to recognize them and there was nothing special about them.
Aeonians were mortal enemies of the Dao Alliance! Thus, any Aeonian slave who dared enter the territory of the Dao alliance would immediately be surrounded and attacked by all parties, once it was verified that they were indeed servants of the Aeonians. They were the common enemies of all cultivators!
As for Daolord Allgod, he absolutely detested the Aeonians. If the members of the Allgod Estate felt certain that Arroyo and Fukai were Aeonians, the Goldeye Golem and the other formation-spirits would've immediately attacked them and killed them. However, because there was no way to prove it, they had to follow the instructions left behind by Daolord Allgod prior to his death.
"The two of us were simply coerced by others to acquire this Eternal blood, that's all." Arroyo said coldly, "Hurry up and hand the Eternal blood over. Otherwise, today will be the day you die."
"Oh? Will it?" Light suddenly flashed from Ning's hands as sharp, icy sword swords suddenly appeared within them. This was a set of Dao weapons which Ning had acquired from the Grove of Monoliths, and it was one of the many Dao weapons he had plundered from that place.
This set of Dao weapons included six swords in total, each of which was a top-grade Dao weapon. They were incredibly sharp and perfectly suited for cultivators of the Dao of Water. These swords all seemed to be created from freezing cold ice, and thus Ning had decided to simply name them the 'Frostice Swords'.
Ning believed that the six Frostice Swords were most likely weapons that had belonged to World-level cultivators. Of the Dao weapons Ning had found within the Grove, these six swords were the treasures which Ning liked the most. Not just anyone would be worthy of forcing Ning to use his Eternal weapon, after all. On the other hand, Ning wasn't arrogant enough to try to fight Arroyo and Fukai barehanded either.
The faces of Arroyo and Fukai instantly turned cold and forbidding as well.
"Kill!" A fierce light flashed through Arroyo's eyes as a total of eighteen golden golems appeared around him, each of which emanated with an aura of incredible power.
"Kill him!" Arroyo roared.
"Kill."
"Kill."
The eighteen golden golems suddenly transformed into a giant black-and-white tornado that moved incredibly fast as it charged towards Ning. The gigantic black-and-white tornado began to cause all sorts of strange phenomena in the surrounding area.
"There were actually eighteen of them?" Ning was rather startled, as Arroyo had merely used nine of the golems when he was fighting in the Samsara Grinders. Now, it appeared obvious that Arroyo had been limited by the rules of the trials back then. There were actually eighteen golems in total, nine of them Yang-aligned and nine of them Yin-aligned. When they joined together, they were able to cause tremendous disruptions to the surrounding fabric of space. In addition, each golem had the power of a master-class World God. Upon joining together into a formation, they were strengthened and would each have close to the power of a supreme World God.
When all eighteen of them fought together, they would be able to easily kill most supreme World Gods!
"Father bestowed this set of Hellwind Golems upon me. They are invincible against anyone below the Samsara Daolord level of power. Even though I've broken through to transcend past the supreme World God level of power, I'd still find it quite hard to battle these Hellwind Golems." Arroyo was extremely confident in his golems.
"Careful!" Fukai suddenly shouted loudly.
"What?!" Arroyo turned pale.
Ning had manifested six arms and was wielding six of those Frostice Swords. He transformed into a white blur and was able to easily charge out of the encirclement of those eighteen golden golems, then charged straight towards Arroyo who was located the closest to him. In doing so, he clashed with two of the golems and actually knocked both of them flying backwards!
Ning's eyes were filled with an utterly terrifying sword-intent and killing intent.
Arroyo held those two enormous scimitars in his hands, a dark look on his face. "What marvelous sword-arts." He had to admit that in terms of intricacy, his saber-arts were inferior to Ji Ning's sword-arts. Still, it made sense. Swords were more nimble and agile weapons than sabers to begin with. Sabers were weapons that focused on dominance and raw power. They were two completely different weapons.
Arroyo was still completely confident in his saber-arts. Those saber-arts had allowed him to transcend past the supreme World God level of power, after all!
"Die." As Ning charged towards him, Arroyo suddenly chopped out with both of his enormous scimitars, unleashing two streaks of blade-light.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Two criss-crossing streaks of blood-red light appeared in the air, filled with auras of absolute dominance. They hacked straight towards Ning with an aura of simply terrifying power.
"Soleheart stance." A black hole suddenly appeared in the skies, and both of those two terrifying streaks of saber-light were drawn into the black hole, the power of the black hole completely dispersing the two attacks.
Ning was simply too strong now. His sword-arts were clearly inferior to his foe's saber-arts, and Ning was clearly using just Dao weapons while his foe was wielding a pair of Eternal weapons, but Ning had the benefit of possessing as much physical strength as ordinary Samsara Daolords did. This was what allowed Ning's Soleheart stance to take these two streaks of saber-light head-on.
Whoosh! Ning borrowed momentum from the shockwave of the clashing attacks, shooting straight towards World God Boneplate who was standing quite close to Arroyo.
"Careful!" Arroyo's face tightened.
Although Ji Ning was already quite freakishly strong as an Elder God, Arroyo truly had not imagined that Ning would become THIS powerful as soon as he became a World God. Just like that, the freak of an Elder God had become a transcendent World God as well? Alas, it seemed as though this newly ascended World God was indeed just as powerful as Arroyo himself.
In their original plans, World God Boneplate actually served a special purpose. However, given how powerful Ji Ning actually was, World God Boneplate was now of limited use in this battle. The problem was that everything had simply happened far too quickly. World God Boneplate simply didn't have a chance to hide, and Ning's own speed was far faster than Boneplate's.
"No!" World God Boneplate was badly shocked as well.
Slash! Sword-light flashed as it pierced through the skies and pierced through Boneplate's forehead. Ning yanked his sword downwards, causing World God Boneplate's body to bisected into two halves. Despite that, Boneplate hadn't died yet.
"Get over here." A rope suddenly appeared out of nowhere and twisted itself around Boneplate.
Ning was actually quite surprised by what had just happened. He mused silently to himself, "He didn't even have a suit of Dao armor? His protective divine ability was quite weak as well." Ning actually hadn't expect his strike to go straight through the man's body. If the man had been wearing a suit of Dao armor or had learned a half-decent protective divine ability, not even someone as strong as Ning wouldn't been able to slice through his body with such ease.
Alas, Arroyo had quite a few servant and Boneplate was one of the weaker ones. Thus, he wasn't given access to many decent treasures.
"Shit." A look of fury could be seen on Arroyo's face. Although Boneplate was originally one of his weaker slaves, right now he was his only remaining slave.
If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know report chapter so we can fix it as soon as possible.
Report chapter
Book 26, World Level, Chapter 11 – When He's Ill, Go For the Kill!
Arroyo was enraged, but Fukai was shocked.
Arroyo was quite powerful. When he exchanged blows against Ji Ning, the difference in power between the two wasn't that great. However, Fukai was merely a supreme World God and was much weaker by comparison. A shocked, angry look was now on Fukai's face. "How could this be happening? How could this freak of an Elder God be so powerful after breaking through to the World level? It appears as though even Arroyo is slightly inferior to him! Those eighteen Hellwind Golems aren't able to stop him at all."
"Come out." Fukai immediately produced his jade green globe.
Whoosh. Whoosh. Whoosh…
One tiny jade green globe after another began to fly out of the first one. As they flew out, they quickly increased in size and began to release enormous, powerful bugbeasts. These bugbeasts all had auras of tremendous might and had the power of master-class World Gods. More than fifty of the bugbeasts appeared in the blink of an eye.
Even Ning was rather surprised upon seeing this. "What a fellow!"
Arroyo was a tough cookie. Apparently Fukai was no pushover either! It must be understood that although the Grove of Monoliths had held over a hundred bugbeasts, the number that had truly reached the master class could be counted on one hand.
Now, over fifty such master-class World God bugbeasts had appeared before Ning. Even supreme World Gods would be forced to flee or perish before such an onslaught of bugbeasts. Most likely, even Arroyo would be put into a very tough situation.
"On one side, we have a eighteen golems that are part of a set. On the other side, we have over fifty bugbeasts that are master-class World Gods in power."
Ning suddenly grinned. "Excellent. What fine treasures for the picking." Ning wasn't worried in the slightest.
"Kill him!"
Fukai pointed at Ning from afar and howled angrily, "Kill!"
"Kill."
The awe-inspiring army of bugbeasts charged towards Ning at the same time, their auras blasting outwards.
As for the eighteen Hellwind Golems, they surrounded Ning and furiously began to assault him once more. A look of delight appeared on Arroyo's face when he saw this. "Fukai finally pulled out his bugbeasts. When they work together alongside my golems, they should be more than strong enough to trap this freak."
Fukai's father was a member of the Aeonian Kingdom who specialized in rearing bugbeasts for them. Arroyo's father was also an Aeonian, but his skill lay in the art of golems.
Fukai and Arroyo were both considered Aeonian descendants. In fact, both were two of the most outstanding descendants of the Aeonian race.
It must be understood, however, that the price to forcibly Awaken any descendant of the Aeonian race was a staggering high one, so high that not even the Aeonian Kingdom could pay it with impunity. This was why they repeatedly sent their descendants to take on these danger-filled challenges!
Both sets parents would do everything they could to ensure that their progeny would win the chance to be Awakened, and thus they had each prepared special killer weapons as well.
Fukai's killer weapon was his horde of bugbeasts. Arroyo's killer weapon was his powerful formation of Hellwind Golems.
"That really is a lot of bugbeasts." A pair of wings suddenly appeared on Ning's back, flashing with electric light. It was the Thunderlight Wings! Ning's insights into the Dao of Lightning were now higher than before, with his insights into the Dao of the Sword having improved even more dramatically. As soon as he activated his wings they allowed him to stab through the air like a sharp sword, moving much faster than before.
Swoosh!
Ning was already quite fast to begin with. Now, he was being assisted by the Thunderlight Wings! He left behind a beautiful, solitary streak of light in the skies as he easily evaded both the fifty-five bugbeasts as well as the nearby Hellwind Golems.
And then… he charged straight towards Fukai!
"What?!" Fukai's face turned pale.
"How is he this fast?" The smile froze on Arroyo's face as he saw this. Ji Ning was too fast, far faster than the two had imagined! It must be understood that although these bugbeasts had the power of master-class World Gods, they were quite lacking in terms of technique. They had incredibly powerful bodies, and a number of incredibly fast avian bugbeasts were amongst their ranks, but Ji Ning was even faster!
This was because Ning's raw speed and strength were both comparable to that of newly ascended Samsara Daolords! This was a completely different level of power. Now that he had activated the Thunderlight Wings, the Hellwind Golems and the bugbeasts were only able to stare in a daze.
If they couldn't keep up with him, there was nothing they could do to him!
"Careful, Fukai!" Arroyo sent frantically. Although they had started out as rivals, Ji Ning was simply too formidable a foe. If Fukai died, his bugbeasts would lose their master. In fact, it was entirely possible that both they and the jade green globe would fall into Ji Ning's hands!
"Go!" Fukai willed it.
Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!
Three more bugbeasts appeared. These three bugbeasts were all incredibly muscular and covered with golden fur. Fukai then produced a metallic plate that was covered with many golden runes. He poured his Immortal energy into this Dao-seal, activating it.
Rumble…
A globe of golden light that was thirty meters long suddenly appeared, covering Fukai within it.
"Stop him!" Fukai ordered his three bugbeasts, then turned tail and began to flee.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The three bugbeasts were almost instantly knocked flying as a streak of lightning snaked past them towards the fleeing Fukai.
Prior to this, Ning had actively dodged past the many bugbeasts and golems. However, since there were now just three bugbeasts Ning didn't even want to bother avoiding them. In fact, if he wanted to he could've quickly killed all three of them. As Ning saw it, however, if he could kill Fukai and seize the jade green globe then all of these bugbeasts would fall under his control.
"I'll be owning these bugbeasts shortly. I can't bear to kill them." Ning was clearly filled with confidence.
"He's too fast." Although Fukai was fleeing in terror towards Arroyo's direction, Ning was quickly able to catch up to him. Fukai turned his head to look back at Ning, a horrified look on his face.
"BREAK!"
A streak of sword-light came hammering down upon him.
[Quintessence Sword-Intent, second stance – Allgod stance!
The Allgod stance and the Horizon's End were attacks of equal power when Ning was using other weapons. Only when Ning used Violetjewel was there a significant difference in power between the two.
The Horizon's Edge technique focused on speed. As for the Allgod stance, it focused on explosive and furious power!
It was as though an enraged dreadwyrm had appeared in the skies, slamming down with tremendous, earth-rending force towards the golden globe of light around Fukai. The golden globe of light shuddered and turned slightly dimmer, but Fukai was able to borrow from the momentum of the strike to flee even more quickly.
"I wasn't able to break through?" Ning frowned slightly when he saw this.
"What?! He was able to consume 20% of the power of my Dao-seal with just one blow?" Fukai shuddered in his heart. "My Dao-seal is capable of withstanding a full-strength blow from a Samsara Daolord, yet a newly ascended World God was actually able to destroy 20% of its energy with one strike."
As Fukai was fleeing in terror, Arroyo was flying straight towards him. "Leave him to me. Use your bugbeasts to help me tie this freak down."
"Alright." Fukai understood that they had to work together in perfect unison if they wanted to kill this terrifying freak. Given how fast Ji Ning was, if he wanted to flee he would've fled long ago. Clearly, he felt absolute confident in his chances to win.
Ning watched as the many bugbeasts and golems surged towards him. As for Arroyo, he charged straight towards Ning with both giant scimitars held at the ready.
"That all you have?" Ning manifested [Three Heads, Six Arms, wielding a sword in each of his six arms.
"Kill!"
Every streak of sword-light that shot out was filled with terrifying levels of power and moved at incredible speed. Arroyo was immediately driven to the defensive. He did his best to block the attacks with his two scimitars, but he still forced into a rather ungainly position.
It must be understood that every single sword-strike Ning delivered was slightly stronger than Arroyo's strikes. The thing was, Ning had six swords while Arroyo merely had two scimitars. As the saying goes, it is hard for two fists to defend against six hands! Arroyo found it extremely hard to defend against the attacks, and his saber-light continuously surrounded him as he completely focused on defending against the oncoming streaks of sword-light. He wasn't able to fight back at all.
"Quick, quick, quick!" Arroyo frantically ordered his Hellwind Golems to hurry up.
"Move faster, Fukai!" Arroyo was yelling at Fukai as well.
He truly had begun to panic. As the saying went, if you focused exclusively on defense you would eventually lose. He felt as though he was walking on a tightrope, treading the fine line between life and death. Ning's swords were simply too fast, and Arroyo felt as though he might slip up and fail at any moment.
Slash!
Just before the Hellwind Golems and the bugbeasts arrived, Ning finally managed to land a streak of sword-light against Arroyo's waist. Arroyo instantly turned pale as he was knocked backwards by the force of that blow.
Boom! Boom! Boom! As the saying went, when he's ill, go for the kill!
When experts fought, victory or defeat could be determined by the slightest of things.
Ning already held the upper hand to begin with, and he was so fast that his foes wouldn't have any chance to recover from any mistakes. He sent out several furious sword-strikes on succession, each one landing directly against Arroyo. Arroyo was like a moth that had been swept into the raging waves of the sea, completely unable to resist whatsoever.
"N-n-no…!" Arroyo furiously did his best to fight back, but his two scimitars had been completely suppressed to the point that he wasn't even able to chop out with them. Just at this moment, a black serpent suddenly appeared.
Generally speaking in a duel of experts, when one person was at a disadvantage that person would immediately flee.
Alas…
Arroyo wasn't as fast as Ning. There was no way he would be able to escape.
The black rope quickly slithered forward like a viper, wrapping itself around Arroyo's body. It quickly bound Arroyo up tightly, causing a look of despair to appear on his face.
He was finished!
If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know report chapter so we can fix it as soon as possible.
Report chapter
Book 26, World Level, Chapter 12 – The Curtain Call
As the ropes tightened around Arroyo's body, he couldn't help but think back to his life within that cold, grim, ancient clan of his. His father had been a remote and exalted figure. All of his father's descendants had to work hard to cultivate and fight for everything they wanted! Arroyo himself had started off as just one of many weak descendants, but he had carved out a path all his own through the corpses of the others and eventually became a master-class World God. He became his father's most cherished child! But even in his dreams, Arroyo's truest desire was to become a real member of the Aeonian race.
"I lost." Arroyo stared forwards.
The white-robed youth was standing in the air in front of him, his main sword still slung over his back. The youth produced a small golden gourd. Whoosh! A powerful sucking force was applied to Arroyo's body, and he wasn't able to fight back against it at all due to the ropes that were binding him.
Swoosh! He was sucked straight into the gourd. Once he entered the gourd, the ropes automatically released him and flew back out.
"No. No! I can't accept this. I can't!" Arroyo stared at his surroundings. There were a pair of spinning maelstroms within this gourd, one of black energy and the other of golden energy. As soon as Arroyo appeared, both maelstroms instantly exploded with terrifying levels of power as both began to grind towards him.
Grind, grind, grind. The terrifying grinding power filled every inch of the entire gourd. There was no place to run or hide at all. Arroyo's only option was to rely on his divine power and his body to resist, but once his divine power ran dry he would be ground into dust.
"Right. I still have my Hellwind Golems." Arroyo could suddenly sense those eighteen ripples of power that were linked to him from outside the gourd. Those were his golems, all of which were completely loyal to him. He wasn't dead yet, which meant they were still in his service.
"Join forces with Fukai to kill that freak. Kill him!" Arroyo sent a mental order to his eighteen Hellwind Golems. "Kill him, seize his golden gourd, then release me."
"Yes, Master." The eighteen golems responded with complete devotion.
However, Arroyo himself knew that this was all just wishful thinking. From his battle against Ji Ning, he knew exactly how fast Ji Ning was. Would his eighteen Hellwind Golems really be able to succeed in killing that freak of a cultivator, even if they worked in harmony with all those bugbeasts?
Even if they were lucky enough to actually kill Ji Ning, Ji Ning's corpse would probably fall into Fukai's hands. It would be incredibly difficult for the eighteen Hellwind Golems to snatch Ji Ning's corpse, find the gourd, then manage to release him. Still, in principle Arroyo still had a shot to stay alive. All he could do was try his best to seize it.
Golden gourd in hand, Ji Ning stared at the eighteen Hellwind Golems charging towards him. He actually felt quite relieved upon seeing this. "Thank goodness these golems didn't self-destruct."
As Ning saw it, these golems would soon be part of his property. For them to self-destruct would be a terrible waste.
During the first great war of the Three Realms, when the Lord of All Things had died his Envoys had all self-destructed. However, this was primarily because the Lord of All Things himself was very skilled in the art of constructs. He had personally created those Envoys and had naturally left behind certain self-destruct seals within them. By contrast, Ning had no way of causing any of the golems he had purchased during the treasure auction to self-destruct.
Arroyo had received these eighteen golems from his own father and similarly had no way to make them self-destruct. The creation of each golem required an enormous amount of blood, sweat, and precious materials. If one of them self-destructed, it would make all that work go to waste and render the golem useless. At most, it could be melted down to have its Five Elements essence extracted from it. Thus, golems that were available for sale would rarely have self-destruct mechanisms built into them. Generally speaking, only golems that were created for personal use by their users would possibly have self-destruct mechanisms built into them.
"What should I do? What should I do?!" Fukai was completely stunned. "Arroyo was actually captured!"
"Should I flee?" Fukai wanted to run. "But if I can't acquire the Eternal blood, I'll still end up dying!" They had all sworn lifeblood oaths upon accepting this mission from the Aeonian Kingdom.
To flee was to die.
Then… the only answer was to fight!
"Those eighteen Hellwind Golems haven't given up yet. Good." Fukai's eyes turned bloodshot as he pointed towards Ning and roared furiously, "Kill him! Kill him for me!"
"AROOOO!" "GWRAAAAR!"
There was an awe-inspiring army of fifty-eight bugbeasts flying through the air, and they charged straight towards Ning alongside the eighteen Hellwind Golems. Alas, the Thunderlight Wings on Ning's back simply flapped gently, allowing him to transform into an arced line that easily moved past the attacking golems and bugbeasts. When Fukai saw this, he was filled with despair… which only strengthened when Ning charged straight towards him.
"Shit. Come on then! You think you can kill me?" Fukai began to go berserk and flew straight towards his bugbeasts and the golems. If he could ensure that they were by his side, then Ning would have to go through them in order to get to him.
"Oh? Still struggling? It won't work." Ning frowned slightly as he suddenly reached back and placed his right hand upon the hilt of the sword he was carrying.
Clang. The Eternal weapon, Violetjewel, came out from its sheath!
Ning moved with incredible speed as he charged straight towards Fukai. However, a black-armored avian bugbeast was still able to intercept him midway.
Bang! Ning casually struck out with the palm of his left hand, almost as if he was swatting away a mosquito. His massive palm had been transformed to become roughly the same size as the bugbeast, and when it landed against the bugbeast's body it sent the bugbeast tumbling backwards.
"Let's do this!" When Fukai saw Ning pressing near, a look of delight appeared in his eyes as more and more bugbeasts and golems were gathering around him.
"This Dao-seal of mine is enough to block several of his full-force attacks. If he lands a hit on me, I'll borrow the momentum of the strike to flee far away from him, but he'll remain trapped and surrounded by all these bugbeasts and golems. He's such an idiot! How dare he actually charge straight inside?" Fukai was wildly excited upon seeing this.
Previously, Ning had relied on his speed in order to avoid the bugbeasts and golems. He had never actually engaged them in battle, and this was his first time actually putting himself 'at risk'. Fukai felt the first stirrings of hope.
Whoosh. Ning charged down from above.
Boom! His mighty body smashed into a golem, sending it stumbling backwards as Ning swept straight past it.
Finally, Ning struck out with his Eternal sword, Violetjewel. Violetjewel instantly transformed into an enormous streak of bloody light, carrying an aura of terrifying sharpness as it chopped straight towards Fukai.
[Quintessence Sword-Intent, second stance – Allgod stance!
"B-b-but…" Fukai's face suddenly turned pale. When Ning chopped downwards with that terrifying sword, the bloody, baleful aura emanating from it instantly pervaded Fukai's mind, causing even him to be filled with a feeling of uncontrollable fear.
This was different.
This was completely different from last time!
Last time, Ji Ning's sword had 'merely' been able to consume more than 20% of the energy of Fukai's Dao-seal. The stance looked the same, but the aura was far more powerful this time! Fukai's very truesoul was shuddering in horror.
BOOM! The aura of golden light surrounding him trembled, then broke apart.
When the sword-light slammed against Fukai's body, Fukai couldn't help but vomit out a mouthful of blood. He stared ashen-faced at Ning, a look of despair in his eyes. "How is this possible? How could this have happened? My Dao-seal still had 80% of its power remaining. How could it have been shattered by one strike, with that strike still carrying enough excess power to wound me!? I have a Dao armor and a protective divine ability. Can it be that his sword is as powerful as the sword of a Samsara Daolord?"
A mocking look suddenly appeared in Fukai's eyes. "Kill! Kill! All bugbeasts, begin killing your peers. Wipe out all the other bugbeasts. Kill them!" Upon seeing that terrifying strike of Ning's, Fukai finally realized what was going on.
If even his Dao-seal had been incapable of resisting a full-force attack from this monster, this monster clearly wasn't someone he could possibly contend with. Most likely, Ji Ning would be able to dispatch the bugbeasts with a single blow each. Neither Fukai nor Arroyo were a match for him.
"Kill each other! Wipe each other out! You monster, the reason you didn't even kill a single bugbeast was because you wanted to take control over them, right? Haha, in your dreams!" Fukai had gone completely insane.
Arroyo was unable to destroy the golems under his control, and Fukai was similarly unable to cause his bugbeasts to commit suicide. Bugbeasts were living creatures, after all. One of the most overriding and basic of instincts for any living creature was to stay alive! However, what Fukai could do was to order them to fight amongst themselves. In fact, one of the most common ways of rearing bugbeasts was to have weak bugbeasts fight amongst themselves and devour each other, allowing the final survivors to be incredibly strong.
Boom! Boom! Bang!
The fifty-eight bugbeasts gave up chasing after Ji Ning and began to fight amongst each other. Blood, limbs, scales, and fur flew everywhere as the bugbeasts began a wild civil war amongst themselves.
"Aww, shit." Ning had originally been planning on drawing Fukai into his gourd and slowly 'digesting' him with it, but his face now sank as he changed his mind.
"Die, then." Ning exploded forth with full power.
Violetjewel once more stabbed through the air, causing a terrifying streak of bloody light to descend. Every single blow which Ning now delivered was filled with his maximum power and was capable of destroying a fully-charged version of the Dao-seal which Fukai had just used up. There was no way Fukai could possibly withstand such a strike! Although he had Dao armor and a protective divine ability, his divine power would be quickly wrung dry by the power of these consecutive attacks.
A mere twelve blows later, Fukai was all out of divine power.
Bang! Upon the thirteenth sword-blow, Fukai's body trembled a final time, then began to split apart and crumble as though he was made out of clay. His eyes, however, were fixed towards the skies. He could still faintly see the blood-colored streak of sword-light that had been left behind by the final blow.
"Such beautiful sword-light." Fukai closed his eyes.
Fukai's body completely crumbled apart and his truesoul dissipated along with it.
Arroyo and Fukai had sought to slay Ning in order to seize the divine blood of the Eternal. Alas, in the end Arroyo had been sucked into the gourd while Fukai had been slain on the spot.
If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know report chapter so we can fix it as soon as possible.
Report chapter
