Desolate Era (Book 11 - Book 15)

“I wonder when I’ll see Master again,” Xiaoyu murmured to herself. And then…


“Eh?” She suddenly frowned, glancing downwards at the stone beneath her. “Weird. If memory serves…there shouldn’t be a rock here. Where did this rock come from? Uh…well, this is Master’s Immortal estate; everything within it is under his control. No need for me to worry about it, I suppose. Mm…right. I’m going to go find that big dumb lunk. He’s at a fairly high level of enlightenment; he can provide me with some guidance.”

Bluecliff Xiaoyu stood up and quickly ran off.

Whoosh.

The stone transformed into a fur-clad youth, Ji Ning.

“…I was actually sat on by my disciple.” Ning took a deep breath. “Fortunately, no one saw this. Um…right. Definitely can’t tell anyone about this.”

“No more transforming into rocks. I’ll transform into a tree. I refuse to believe anyone is going to sit on me then.”

Whoosh.

In a corner of the estate, there were some trees and flowers. Another tree, a small pine tree that was a few meters tall, now joined their ranks. The branches of the tree even fluttered in the breeze.

Ning had already more than half-mastered the rudiments to the transformation aspects of the [Eight-Nine Arcane Art]. What he was doing every day was transforming into rocks, trees, creeks, grass, and other things. To this day, no one had been able to discover him. In fact, Ning’s Primaltwin had visually searched, used divine sense, and even opened the ‘Celestial Eye’, but was still unable to discover any flaws!

When Ning was transformed into a tree, his bark, his branches, his leaves…they were absolutely identical to real ones. Even the aura of his soul had transformed into a tree’s aura! There was nothing special about it at all!

……

Time flowed on, day by day. Ning constantly trained in his transformation techniques, testing himself repeatedly and accruing more and more experience. Finally, after spending a year and three months on the [Eight-Nine Arcane Art], Ning mastered all of the ‘seventy-two’ transformations.

“The final transformations truly were difficult. They took so much time! Still, I’ve finally mastered them. Change!”

Ning had been seated in the lotus position next to a creek, but suddenly his figure changed completely. Now, seated next to the creek was a handsome, fan-wielding, white-robed man; Empyrean God Silvermoon. He was identical in both appearance and aura. That incomparably powerful aura, so great as to cause others to tremble in fear…the aura of an Empyrean God…and the unique properties of Silvermoon’s own personal aura…Ning had replicated it all.

“Let me give it a try.”

Ning, appearing as Silvermoon, smiled as he walked through the Tristar Crescent Abode.

“Patriarch.”

“Patriarch.”

“Senior uncle-master.”

“Master.”

As he walked through the Tristar Crescent Abode, Ning heard others address him for the first time as ‘senior uncle-master’. It must be understood that amongst the other personal disciples, Ning was the newest addition, and so most people just addressed him as ‘uncle-master’.

“Haha. These Void-level Fiendgods and Diremonsters…none of them suspect a thing.” Ning was in an extremely good mood. He occasionally even nodded to them.

“Strange. Why isn’t Patriarch Silvermoon at the Divinities Palace?”

“It’s quite rare to see Patriarch Silvermoon out for a walk, isn’t it?”

“It is rather odd.”

After Ning walked away, the disciples of Mount Innerheart quietly speculated amongst themselves. Silvermoon was simply too famous for his ferocity; he was truly a demon-like figure. The amount of sin which swirled around him was utterly inconceivable! Silvermoon had accumulated so much sin that he was no longer covered in the bloody light of sin; rather, covering him were the legendary karmic sinflames!

However, given how unearthly powerful Silvermon was, he didn’t fear the karmic sinflames at all!

Ning quickly arrived at the Divinities Palace. In front of it, as always, were congregated many of the disciples of Mount Innerheart.

“Patriarch.”

“Senior uncle-master.”

They all called out with respect, and even Bluecliff Xiaoyu, who had been chatting with the other disciples, hurriedly rose to her feet and called out respectfully, “Senior uncle-master.”

But Little Qing and Uncle White stared in amazement at Ning.

“Who are you?!” Because of their spiritual connection to Ning, both Little Qing and Uncle White knew that it was him. However, they couldn’t help but feel completely amazed and confused. The terrifying aura of the white-robed man before them…his appearance…clearly, this should be Empyrean God Silvermoon! But their spiritual sense was telling them that this man before them was actuall Ji Ning.

This caused both of them to feel very strange. Previously, Ning had only displayed the ability to transform into a tree in front of them; he had never transformed into a person before.

“Mm.” Ning nodded, then smiled as he walked into the Divinities Palace.

Within the Divinities Palace there was another white-robed man, also holding a fan. Their gazes met. Their appearances and their auras were identical.

“Someone who dares transform into my appearance? Second senior apprentice-brother has better things to do, and Lord Jiang doesn’t have this sort of personality…junior apprentice-brother, it seems you’ve successfully trained in the [Eight-Nine Arcane Art]?” Silvermoon immediately guessed that it was Ji Ning.

“Formidable, senior apprentice-brother.” The figure of one of the white-robed men turned blurry, then transformed back into the figure of a fur-clad youth, Ji Ning.





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Book 13, Chapter 30 - The Power To Roam the Three Realms


Silvermoon shook his head and laughed. “It’s not that I’m formidable; it’s that there are only a few people at Mount Innerherat who have trained in the [Eight-Nine Arcane Art]. By process of elimination, I was able to guess that it was you, junior apprentice-brother.”

Ning nodded. The [Eight-Nine Arcane Art] was located in the Three Realms Palace; only personal disciples and those who had received special permission from the Old Patriarch could learn it.

“If you transformed into someone else, I might not have been able to tell that it was you,” Silvermoon said with a laugh. “These ‘seventy-two transformations’ cause a person’s aura to completely change; even the appearance of sin or karmic merit surrounding you changes. This truly is an incredible transformation divine ability.”

Ning nodded. Indeed. For example, when Ning transformed into a rock, he could use the technique to completely retract his three-foot aura of golden karmic light. If he transformed into a viledoer, he could transform to display the bloody light of sin.

“Back in the era of Pangu’s World, there was an ancient Diremonster who relied on these seventy-two transformations to transform into the appearance of a Buddha. He used it to trick people for thousands of years before being discovered,” [1. This is a reference to a story in Journey to the West, where a monster was transformed into the appearance of Buddha in order to trick travelers going on a pilgrimage to visit the real Buddha. He would eventually eat them.] Silvermoon said with a laugh. “You have now gained a basic level of expertise into the [Eight-Nine Arcane Art]; your foundation is set. These seventy-two transformations alone will serve as a top-notch escape method or hiding method.”