Desolate Era (Book 11 - Book 15)

Slowly…


The eggshell grew increasingly thin and translucent. In fact, one could even vaguely make out a human figure within it. Finally, the eggshell completely vanished, and a completely naked youth appeared, standing on the surface of the lake. Moments later, his body became covered with an exquisitely sewn set of fur clothes.

“Whew. I’ve finally reached the sixteenth stage of the [Crimsonbright Diagram of the Nine Heavens].” Ning let out a sigh of relief. “I should now be comparable to an ordinary late Void-level Fiendgod Body Refiner; before my Fiendgod tribulation comes, I can at most train to the seventeenth stage. I’m very close to my maximum level of power possible, prior to my tribulation.”

Once one reached the eighteenth stage of the [Crimsonbright Diagram of the Nine Heavens], the Empyrean Tribulation would quickly descend. Thus, prior to attempting the tribulation, one could at most train to the seventeenth stage.

Today’s breakthrough represented an advance to a major new level. It had thus involved a fundamental transformation.

Previously, Ning could at most train to the Third Cycle of the [Eight-Nine Arcane Art], because his divine body had reached a limit in power; there was no way it could withstand any further strengthening. But now that Ning’s divine body had fundamentally been transformed, he could train all the way up to the Sixth Cycle of the [Eight-Nine Arcane Art]! Alas…the price one would need to pay to reach the Sixth Cycle was more than a thousandfold the price one needed for the Third Cycle!

The Ninth Cycle, in turn, needed roughly a thousand times as many materials as the Sixth Cycle! The price was heart-clenchingly high. Even Ning’s senior apprentice-brother, Empyrean God Silvermoon, had merely trained to the Sixth Cycle. The number of people in the Three Realms who had reached the Ninth Cycle of the [Eight-Nine Arcane Art] could be counted on one hand; they were even rarer than Daofathers or True Gods!

“For a Fiendgod Body Refiner to advance from the early Void level to the late Void level represents advancing across two small stages.” Ning mused to himself, “I imagine that by now, my close combat power is probably superior to my power as a Ki Refiner.”

Previously, as a Ki Refiner, he could rely on his [Heavenraker] sword formation, which was somewhat more powerful than his close combat abilities. But Ning’s divine body was now far too powerful! It must be understood that Fiendgod Body Refiners were powerful to begin with, and Ning was now comparable to late Void-level Fiendgods…and he also had the [Starseizing Hand]! In terms of raw strength alone, when he went all out, he was even stronger than Celestial Immortals. With the Thousandbull Sword and his various sword-arts…he would now be considered a formidable figure, even amongst Celestial Immortals. He was definitely better now than he was in the past, where he would be considered a fairly low-class Celestial Immortal.

After making his breakthrough, Ning continued to lie there within his little boat, floating across the surface of Serpentwing Lake.

It was like he was ‘showing off’ to his parents after having accomplished something significant, in the hopes of earning a word of praise from them. After increasing his level of power, Ning simply floated there in the waters of Serpentwing Lake. He felt like he was by the side of his parents; he wanted to let them see how strong he had become. The gentle sounds of the waves were like the voices of his mother and father.

“My power has increased greatly after having gone to Mount Innerheart. It is time to take a look into what happened with my parents after they reincarnated,” Ning mused to himself.

After death, reincarnation.

Ning naturally had been thinking about this for quite some time now. He wanted to look into this matter. As for his parents from his previous life? Ning wanted to look into what happened to them as well. However, in the past, Ning was simply too weak; there was no way he could investigate them at all. Now, Ning could be somewhat considered a ‘powerful’ figure. Still…this was not an era of peace. In a peaceful era, everything was under the control of the Netherworld Kingdom, making investigations fairly simple. The Six Cycles of Reincarnation, however, had been destroyed; it would now be far more difficult to investigate anything.

Late night.

Ning returned to Brightmoon Island. After joining Uncle White, Little Qing, and Autumn Leaf in eating some delicacies which Autumn Leaf had personally prepared, Ning once more quietly slipped into his underwater estate.

……

The underwater estate.

The giant yellow bear looked at Ning, then laughed. “Congratulations. You’ve broken through to the sixteenth stage as a Fiendgod Body Refiner; this is a major leap for you. You now have two more chances to attempt the Wargod Hall, and can also choose yet another item from the Treasures Hall. And…I have to say, you’ve grown remarkably patient. You were actually able to wait until nightfall before coming here, after you made a break through.”

Ning just chuckled. He then asked, “Last time, I overcame the eighth floor of the Wargod Hall; the ninth and tenth floor now await me. Senior, how good are my chances for attempting the ninth floor?”

“Ninth floor? Mm…if your true body and your Primaltwin join forces, you’d just barely have a tenth of a chance, I suppose,” the giant yellow bear said.

“Just a tenth?” Ning was surprised.

He felt that he would be considered formidable even amongst Celestial Immortals by now…and he also had the [Eight-Nine Arcane Art] protecting him.

“How good of a chance did you think you’d have? When you overcome the ninth and tenth floors, you’ll receive a Pure Yang treasure,” the giant yellow bear said. “The seventh and eighth floor have Immortal-ranked treasures as their rewards, but these two have Pure Yang treasures; naturally, the difficulty level will have risen exponentially. Based on my estimations…one needs to have the power of a supreme Celestial Immortal to be absolutely sure of overcoming the ninth floor. As for the tenth floor…you’ll need to have close to the level of a Pure Yang True Immortal to overcome it.”

Ning blinked.

The ninth floor…a supreme Celestial Immortal?

The tenth floor…close to a Pure Yang True Immortal?

Ning knew his own limits. It must be understood that there was a huge gap between mastering the [Three-Foot Sword] and mastering the Grand Dao of the Sword. Thus, although in sword-arts Ning would be considered formidable amongst Celestial Immortals and would not be considered weak, he was still quite a ways off from the true peak of power. Most likely, Patriarch Unity had the strength of a supreme Celestial Immortal.

“Fine, I won’t try it for now. After all…I only have two chances before becoming an Empyrean God,” Ning said. “Senior, let’s go. Let’s go to the Treasures Hall; I want to choose my treasure.”

“You should be careful in making this choice. You wouldn’t be able to use a Pure Yang treasure right now, even if I gave one to you…so the most important thing for you right now is a good Immortal-ranked magic treasure. This is your third time choosing one, and so I’ll bring out all the Immortal-ranked magic treasures which Master left behind and let you choose from them.” As the giant yellow bear spoke, he led Ning to the Treasures Hall.

The many magic treasures within the hall were still levitating high up in the air, emanating powerful ripples of majesty.

However…to the current Ning, the ripples of power were virtually negligible. He was now able to forcibly seize even Pure Yang treasures.

“Mm, here is the list for all the Immortal-ranked treasures.” The giant yellow bear gave Ning a thick tome listing many treasures.