Desolate Era (Book 11 - Book 15)

“Right. When cleaning the mountain paths, you have to personally sweep it using a broom. Most likely even Immortal cultivators will need half a day to clean the many levels and layers,” Silvermoon said.

Ning nodded. If one could use techniques it would be much faster, but if one had to use a broomstick, it would indeed take considerably more time.

“The first level is too simple. Junior apprentice-brother, follow me,” Silvermoon said.

“Alright.”

……

Ning, the Whitewater Hound, and Little Qing all followed Silvermoon, the manager of the Divinities Palace, up the stairs and to the second floor of the palace.

The bookshelves of the Divinities Palace also all had a line of characters above them. The line said: “ Wipe down every single table within the entire Divinities Palace and you can choose a technique at will.”

“…so easy.” Ning blinked, lowering his head to stare at the sword-arts manuals. “These are already comparable to some of the supreme manuals the Black-White College has.”

“What a precious place.” The Whitewater Hound was completely stunned as well.

“And this is just the second level? I’ve never even seen such deep and profound techniques!” Little Qing’s eyes were completely crimson.

“Hahaha, come, let’s go see the third level,” Silvermoon laughed.

……

They arrived at the third level. Above the bookcases were a line of characters: “Get rid of the weeds within a hundred kilometers and you can choose a technique at will.”

The nearby Silvermoon said, “You have to pull up every single weed manually. To pull up all the weed within a hundred kilometers, one weed at a time…that should take at least a month or so.”

“Getting harder.” Ning nodded. He was beginning to notice that each progressing level had a higher level of difficulty. Although it was all just manual labor, it took up time.

“Pulling up a hundred kilometers of weed for a single technique…then pulling ten or a hundred would need…” Little Qing muttered to herself.

“Let’s look at the fourth floor.” Ning led them upwards once more.

……

The bookshelves here had a new line of characters above them: “Personally plant ten thousand fruit trees, and you can choose a technique at will.”

“This seems a bit easier than the weeding,” Little Qing said in a puzzled manner. Ning nodded as well. Weeding had to be done within a hundred kilometers; there would definitely be far more.

“Ah, you don’t understand. These fruit trees are not the fruit trees of the mortal worlds. These are fruit trees that bear Immortal fruit or spirit-fruit; they naturally require tremendous care when planting. Even though Immortal cultivators have incredible abilities, for them to carefully plant one tree at a time by hand…ten thousand will take at least half a year,” Silvermoon said.

“Half a year?”

“So much hard work for half a year, just to learn a single technique? And this is just the fourth level, right?” Little Qing stared.

Ning was quite calm; he continued to the fifth floor.

……

One floor after another.

The trial of the first floor only required half a day’s worth of work.

The trial for the second floor required three days.

The trial for the third floor required a month.

The trial for the fourth floor required half a year.

The trial for the fifth floor required three years.

The trial for the sixth floor required twenty full years.

The trial for the seventh floor required a century.

……

“And here is the eighth floor.” Although Ning was filled with questions, he still looked calm on the surface as he arrived on the eighth floor of the Divinities Palace.

The number of books on this floor was clearly much lower. The Ki Refining techniques here had already surpassed the Pure Yang level and were at the Daofather level.

The divine abilities and secret arts here…any one of them could serve as a foundational treasure for the likes of the imperial Xiamang clan.

Ning, the Whitewater Hound, and Little Qing simultaneously turned their gazes towards the line of characters above the bookshelves. The line of words read: “Serve as novitiate guards for the Tristar Crescent Abode for a thousand years and you can choose a technique at will.”

“The seventh floor only required a hundred years, but this one requires a thousand.” Little Qing couldn’t help but say, “How long are we going to have to stay here at the Tristar Crescent Abode before we can leave it?”

“But the techniques and secret arts here…I imagine that not even the most treasured techniques of the Youngflame clan or the Northmont clan are so deep and profound.” Ning was still quite calm. “Come. Let us go to the ninth floor.”

……

The ninth floor was the final floor of the Divinities Palace.

On this floor, there were only three bookshelves, and they didn’t have that many books on them. Clearly, however…these were truly standouts. Any book here would allow the practitioner to become a powerful expert of the Three Realms. They could absolutely serve as pinnacle techniques…and for normal disciples here at Mount Innerheart, these were the ultimate techniques available!

Only personal disciples and those with special permission from Patriarch Subhuti could go to the Three Realms Palace!

“Eh?” Ning discovered to his astonishment that the bookshelves were completely black, with no characters above them.

“Why aren’t there any characters? Can it be that the techniques here on the ninth floor cannot be taught?” Little Qing was puzzled.

Ning turned his head to look towards the nearby Silvermoon. “Senior apprentice-brother, the trials for the first eight floors of the Divinities Palace require increasingly longer periods of time to complete…can it be that there is no trial for the ninth floor? And…can it be that the only way to learn the techniques of the Divinities Palace is to engage in manual labor? The eighth floor requires one to be a novitiate for a thousand years to learn a technique…does that mean if you want to learn ten techniques, you would have to spend ten thousand years?”

Ning had been planning to train for just a few decades or a century and then return to the world of the Grand Xia. This was his agreement with Yu Wei! To spend ten thousand years here at Mount Innerheart? He would be arriving far too late!

“Haha…you are quite clever, junior apprentice-brother.” Silvermoon waved his feather fan, then said leisurely, “The Divinities Palace actually has two types of trials. The first type consists of manual labors which naturally are not difficult at all; all one needs to do is spend some time. For those slightly dumber cultivators with poorer comprehension abilities, this is usually the type of trial they will choose. A thousand years as a novitiate to learn the powerful techniques of the eighth floor? It is worth it.”

Ning nodded. After one became a Primal, one’s lifespan became limitless; all one had to do was be able to overcome the Three Calamities and Nine Tribulations. To spend a thousand years on a single technique was indeed worth it.

“You can view this as a gift which Master gave to Mount Innerheart. Although it is said that the Dao cannot be casually taught, Master only required these simple ‘trials’ be passed,” Silvermoon said. “But of course, for truly peerless geniuses who have superior comprehension there is naturally no need to engage in all this manual labor. There are other trials for such individuals.”

“What trials?” Ning asked.

Silvermoon laughed. “Junior apprentice-brother, didn’t you notice that in the empty region outside the Divinities Palace, where all those humans, monsters, and Fiendgods were congregating, there were some restrictive formations and spells?”

Ning thought back to what he had seen, then nodded. “Right. That region was indeed marked with some formations and restrictive runes.”