Desolate Era (Book 1 - Book 5)

Ning continued to listen.

Xiantian lifeform? If it wasn’t for that huge disturbance in the Netherworld Kingdom, he probably would have already reincarnated and become a Deva in the Heavenly Realms. Naturally, that would mean he would already be a Xiantian lifeform. However, currently he was a mortal… and indeed, for a mortal to reach the Xiantian stage was an extremely difficult path.”

“The second great obstacle to becoming an Immortal… from the Xiantian stage to the Zifu stage!”

“Only by establishing a Zifu, also known as a ‘Violet Palace’, can one continue to train as an Immortal. Establishing a ‘Violet Palace’ is like laying the ‘foundation’ when building a house, or seeding the fields in order to harvest the crops. The Violet Palace is the crop field and is the core for an Immortal. It is the basic underpinning of the path of Immortals! Only after one has truly established a ‘Violet Palace’ in one’s body can one embark on the route to becoming an Immortal. And only then can one be titled a Zifu Disciple! For a Xiantian expert to establish a ‘Violet Palace’… perhaps one in a thousand will succeed. Tell me, is it hard or not?”

Ning nodded.

Right. It was hard.

At the same time, he continued to listen carefully. The books of the Ji clan of the West Prefecture only described these two obstacles. They didn’t describe the obstacles after that.

“In order to establish a Zifu and become an Immortal, one must possess a world-shaking power.”

“But becoming an Immortal, by its very nature, is against the laws of the universe. Thus, starting from the day you step onto the path of the Immortals, in other words from the day on which you establish your Zifu, you will be tested every three hundred years. Every nine hundred years, you will undergo a major tribulation. Thus, as the saying goes, ‘Three centuries a calamity, nine centuries a tribulation. Calamities are easy to avoid, but tribulations are hard to escape!’ A test every three centuries, and a tribulation every nine… after embarking on the path to becoming an Immortal, this will continue forever, unless you become a Celestial Immortal. Otherwise, the ‘Three Calamities, Nine Tribulations’ will become your eternal fate.”

Three Calamities, Nine Tribulations?

Three centuries a calamity, nine centuries a tribulation. Calamities are easy to avoid, but tribulations are hard to escape?

Ning truly was shocked by this. Unless one became a Celestial Immortal, everyone who trained in the path of Immortals would have to deal with a test every three centuries.

……

Ji Yichuan and Yuchi Snow looked at their son. Right now, there was a look of shock and disbelief on their son’s face. Seeing the stunned look, Yichuan nodded slightly. He had finally managed to shock the little rascal.

“Our son is still very young. Why did you tell him all those things?” Snow said unhappily.

“Mother.” Ji Ning lifted his head up, a smile on his lips. “It is fine.”

Ji Yichuan looked at him in surprise.

“Father.” Ji Ning laughed. “From mortal to Xiantian, from Xiantian to Zifu. These two obstacles alone… are extremely difficult. The ‘Three Calamities, Nine Tribulations’ are very distant and very far off. I don’t need to worry about them at all for now.”

“Mm.” Yichuan nodded. “Your attitude isn’t bad. You are correct. Right now, there truly is no need for you to think about becoming a Zifu Disciple. That’s too far away for you. At the vast area around Mount Swallow, the strongest people in the countless tribes and in the Ji clan are only at the Zifu Disciple level. The path of the Immortals is a hard one. Even our massive Grand Xia Dynasty would perhaps produce only a single Celestial Immortal in the space of a million years.”

Ning nodded gently.

In the Netherworld Kingdom, the Ruler of Cui Palace had told him that the ‘Nuwa Painting’ would only give him a chance at becoming a Celestial Immortal, and that there were still many obstacles to overcome. And that was assuming that he was going to be a Deva and also a soldier in the armies of Heaven. From this, one could imagine how hard it was for one to become a Celestial Immortal. To escape the confines of the Three Realms and no longer be subject to the Five Elements wasn’t so easily done.

“Do you still desire to train to become an Immortal?” Yichuan looked at Ning.

“Yes.” Ning nodded.

Yichuan nodded slightly. If the boy had been terrified just by hearing about this, Yichuan would have been disappointed. What he didn’t know was… how could Ning possibly be scared as easily as this? There was nothing without risk. Even walking on the street, one might be killed by a rock falling down from the skies. Even when eating, one might choke to death. Training to become an Immortal naturally would be extremely risky. It would be bizarre if it wasn’t.

“However…” Yichuan frowned. “You are too young, and training techniques are very complicated. If I was to transmit a high-class Immortal training technique to you and you trained in a wrong direction, it would harm your body. But ordinary Immortal techniques aren’t worth learning…”

“Father,” Ning said. “I wish to learn the Fiendgod Body Refining Technique.”

“Oh? You know about Body Refining?” Yichuan was extremely surprised, and Snow began to laugh. “It seems our son has read quite a few books. He even knows that there are two main paths of Immortal training.”

There were two primary paths of training to become an Immortal.

The first was in Ki Refining, refining ki energy! 99% of those who trained to become an Immortal chose this path. This path allowed one to use many mysterious Immortal treasures, create complicated golems, control large amounts of deadly magical beasts, develop powerful magical formations, and also use some extremely vile techniques… in a word, this was an extremely glorious and profound path.

The other path was in Body Refining.

Supposedly, the three Realms had each given birth to many Fiendgods. All of them were born from nature itself and were powerful from their birth! As for the creator of the universe, Pangu, he himself was the mightiest of them, the Fiendgod of Primordial Chaos. He also possessed the most powerful body… and thus, a number of elders managed to develop this ‘Fiendgod Body Refining’ technique, which would allow the practitioners to possess bodies on par with Fiendgods. Indestructible bodies, possession of boundless strength, having three heads and six arms, regenerating from a single drop of blood, immortal and undying…these all belonged to the Fiendgod Body Refining method.

Reputedly, at the same level of development, a Fiendgod Body Refiner would be able to totally suppress his opponents!

“Body Refining is a hundred times more difficult than Ki Refining,” Yichuan said seriously. “The Fiendgod Body Refining method allows one to possess the power of a Fiendgod. How powerful is that? Hard, very hard…”

“Father, first I’ll train the body. Afterwards, I will develop Ki,” Ning said. “These two training methods can be simultaneously progressed in. By then, I’ll take whatever path I am most skilled in, which will be my primary path. In addition, weren’t you afraid that I am too young and that training in ki will damage my veins? The Fiendgod Body Refining technique doesn’t have this risk.”

Yichuan and Snow glanced at each other.