Desolate Era (Book 1 - Book 5)

Ning’s eyes lit up. The highest level swordplay of the Ji clan?

“Our Ji clan is famous because of our swordplay.” Yichuan sighed with emotion. “In turn, the city of the Ji clan of the Main Prefecture, the ‘City of Ten Thousand Swords’, was named because the ancestors of the Ji clan rose to fame due to the [Melody of Ten Thousand Swords], which they used to establish themselves here.”

“After thousands of years, the Ji clan now has five highest level sword arts. They are the [Melody of Ten Thousand Swords], [Thunderflame Sword], [Illusion Sutra], [Raindrop Sutra], and the [Polaris Secret Manual]. Every single technique is extremely profound and is beyond what the ‘one with the sword’ level is capable of. If you can make accomplishments in any of them, you will find that their power is boundless.” Yichuan looked at his son. “I trained in the [Raindrop Sutra]. Most people, even after reaching the ‘one with the sword’ level, is at most able to select a single one of the arts to train in. This is because dividing the mind is simply too difficult. But Ning, since you are able to divide your mind in two, you would be able to choose two arts to train in.”

Hu!

In Yichuan’s hand, five books suddenly appeared. He casually tossed them out, and they flew straight over, landing in a neat stack on a nearby table, not touching any of the cups or plates.

“The highest level swordplay?” Ning looked at the five books. He understood that these were just abridged versions. Only after he made his choice would he receive the ‘full versions’.

“Make your choice.”

Yichuan looked at his son and said solemnly, “Once you have chosen, your choice will be recorded for the Ji clan of the Five Prefectures to review! If it isn’t recorded down, you will be considered to have learned in secret. Anyone who does that will be exterminated by the combined forces of the Five Prefectures.”

“Ah!” Ji Ning understood this, but he still couldn’t help but feel surprised. “Then why is it that there was no such restriction on the [Crimsonbright Diagram of the Nine Heavens] technique that I learned?”

“Although the [Crimsonbright Diagram of the Nine Heavens] technique is the number one Fiendgod Body Refining, it is extremely widespread. Virtually all of the tribes on the level of the Ji clan possesses a copy. Therefore, it doesn’t matter if our copy is leaked.” Yichuan looked at his son. “Most Ki Refining methods and Fiendgod Body Refining methods aren’t very valuable. Only the ultimate techniques of each clan are tightly restricted, like these five sword techniques here. In the area around Swallow Mountain, four of these techniques are possessed only by our Ji clan. Only the [Polaris Secret Manual] is also in the possession of another entity, the Blackflame Sect.”

Ning nodded.

He knew that in the area around Swallow Mountain, aside from the armies of the Grand Xia Dynasty that were stationed here, there were in total, five other hegemonic powers. The Ji clan was also one of them.

These six hegemons engaged in constant battle, but none of them dared to offend the armies of the Grand Xia Dynasty!

“Right.” Ning immediately lowered his head and began to read, flipping through these five top-class sword techniques. If a person was at the ‘one with the sword’ level and then also possessed this sort of top-class sword technique, his power would definitely multiply.

“Raindrop Sutra…” This was the first one Ning looked at. This was the top-class technique which had made his father famous.

His father’s nickname, after all, was the ‘Raindrop Sword’!





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Book 1, Chapter 14 - The Cage


[Raindrop Sutra]. The principle behind it was that of the saying, ‘dripping water can eventually tunnel through a rock’.

Its attacks were soft yet inexhaustible, seemingly as endless as the raindrops falling from the skies during a rainstorm, making the enemy find it difficult to even dodge. In turn, its defenses were utterly airtight… and at the same time, when tens of millions of raindrops converged on one point, it could form a terrifyingly explosive force. Even ordinary drops of water could eventually tunnel through a rock; the sword that had been transformed into ‘raindrops’ would naturally contain an unshakable, unyielding power.

“The [Raindrop Sutra] truly is profound and wondrous.” Ning nodded as he read it, then picked up the second book, [Polaris Secret Manual].

The [Polaris Secret Manual] was part of the legendary [Polaris Sword Manual]. It was divided into seven different sword stances, known as Dubhe, Merak, Phecda, Megrez, Alioth, Mizar, and Alkaid. These seven major sword stances all contained the power of the stars. They could be as ferocious and savage as the Voracious Alkaid Wolf Sword, or the extremely soft and extremely sinister Melodious Megrez Sword…

The sword technique was unfathomably mysterious, and was very hard to defend against.

“What a good sword technique.” Ning sighed in amazement as he read, before picking up the other three books.

[Thunderflame Sword]. This was something which the ancestors of the Ji clan, when roving and training themselves elsewhere in the world, had been lucky enough to find. They had found a half-burned remnant of a book, and the words in it were not very clear. Only two words on the title could be seen: Thunderflame! In addition, they were only able to reclaim three complete sword stances from the book.

All of the stances were used to attack. When the stances were used, it was as though it contained the power of heavenly thunder and hellish flames. There was no question that in terms of attack power, it was the undisputed champion amongst the sword techniques of the Ji clan! For just three stances to allow it to be ranked amongst the Five Major Sword Techniques of the Ji clan, one could imagine how that unnamed complete sword technique… definitely outstripped the other four sword techniques vastly.

However, although its strengths were apparent, its weaknesses were also apparent. This was because these vicious stances… were only three in number. Thus, they didn’t perfectly link to each other. In addition, all three stances were purely offensive, without any defensive stances. How could experts, when engaged in battle, have no defensive stances? Thus, very few people would choose to train in this sword technique.

“I really want to see what the complete Thunderflame Sword looks like.” Ning couldn’t help but sigh.

“If we had a complete copy,” the nearby Yichuan said, “Then it would be, without question, the number one Immortal technique in Swallow Mountain.”

Ning nodded, then picked up the fourth book.

[Illusion Sutra]. Strictly speaking, this wasn’t a sword technique, because once one truly understood the meaning of the word ‘Illusion’, one could execute an ‘Illusion Saber’ technique, or an ‘Illusion Spear’ technique, or an ‘Illusion Staff’ technique… this was an insidious and powerful attacking technique that allowed one to hide one’s true abilities and actions. Opponents often would die before even knowing what happened.

This technique was sinister to the extreme.

“This isn’t suited to my temperament.” The first technique Ning discarded was the [Illusion Sutra]. Picking something suited to a person was very important. A technique that was opposite of one’s natural instincts, no matter how profound… would be incredibly difficult to train. Naturally, Ning immediately discarded it.