Desolate Era (Book 11 - Book 15)

Ning nodded. He then sat down in the lotus position, and with a wave of his hand, produced the five peacock plumes. The peacock plumes emanated powerful ripples of might that were not one whit weaker than that of an ordinary Immortal-ranked magic treasure. The space and world around them even seemed to begin to congeal. Still, compared to the Thousandbull Sword, it was still rather weaker.

“What a pity. A peacock with plumes that manifested from the Five Elements actually died at the Void-level. If he had overcome the Celestial Tribulation, the various major powers of the Three Realms would probably fight over him as a mount,” the giant yellow bear sighed. “The more monstrously powerful a Godbeast is, the harder it is for them to overcome the Celestial Tribulation.”

“…a mount?” Ning was speechless. Poor Godbeast; his destiny was just to become a mount at best?

Ning then stretched out both of his arms, beginning to absorb the extracted essence of the Five Elements contained within the five peacock plumes.

Ning executed a special technique, and his palms began to be covered with the Divine Starseizer Runes. The divine runes glowed with light, and the round runes began to spin, vaguely generating a devouring power that seemed to fill the region. The Five Elements peacock plumes began to try and resist, not willing to allow the essence of the Five Elements within theselves be lost.

However, these were nonliving items; how could they overcome the technique? Slowly, one strand after another of essence was extracted from and flew out of the five peacock plumes. The strands were golden, azure, watery-blue, fire-red, and dark yellow. The five types of essence continuously flew out and into Ning’s twin hands.

Slowly, Ning’s entire body began to send out one ripple of power after another as well.

Time passed on. The five-colored essences continuously flew into Ning’s hands. After a long period of time, Ning finally put his hands down, halting the absorption process.

“That’s enough.” After having absorbed enough of the Five Elements essence, Ning began to activate another technique. Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! His twin hands began to emanate a blinding, pentacolor aura of light. The strength of the light was incomparably strong! His hands were no longer ordinary items; they were more like magic treasures, and the powerful ripples emanating from them vastly surpassed those given off by Heaven-ranked magic items in power.

Slowly, the pentacolored aura of light swiveled and spun into Ning’s palms, transforming into a chaotic mash of colors. Immediately afterwards, the round divine tattoos on Ning’s palms once more began to expand and become even more profound, with some additional, complicated diagrams appearing. As they did so, the ripples emanating from them began to grow even more terrifiyingly strong.

“The [Six Cycles of the Starseizer]… the second Cycle is completed!” Ning revealed a look of delight.

“Whew.” Ning clenched his fists. BOOM! BOOM! Both fists exploded with power, causing sonic booms. Even the surrounding space, which had been congealed and frozen by the Five Elements peacock plumes, trembled and shook, with the energy within beginning to fluctuate.

“My pair of hands… they are far more powerful than even Heaven-ranked magic items. They are comparable to Immortal-ranked magic items now.” Ning sighed in amazement. “From the first Cycle to the second Cycle… it truly is a major rise in power. Only after training to the second Cycle can my Fiendgod body truly explode with the power it should have.”

Actually, the true [Starseizing Hand] technique was to transform one’s hands into weapons. When receiving the legacy, Ning had seen one image after another of Daoist Threelives using his own hands to launch attacks! The hands of Daoist Threelives were more terrifying than any magic treasure. He had no need of any magic treasures. His hands were the most powerful of magic treasures.

Ning, however, used his hands to control his swords!

“Ji Ning, after having mastered the second Cycle, your [Starseizing Hand] has already reached the highest level of power which your current Fiendgod body can withstand.” The giant yellow bear nodded and said praisingly, “Train harder. You are only at the eleventh stage of the [Crimsonbright Diagram of the Nine Heavens]; if you were to train to the tweltfth stage, then you would have an even better chance at the Conclave of Immortal Destiny.”

“Senior, if I use the [Starseizing Hand] at the Conclave… wouldn’t I be revealing myself? Supposedly, the Conclave will attract attention from some of the most formidable figures of the Three Realms,” Ning said.

“Don’t worry. As long as you don’t reveal the Divine Starseizer Tattoos, they won’t be able to realize what you are doing, no matter how many times you use the technique,” the giant yellow bear said with a laugh. “At most, they’ll believe that you have access to some sort of powerful divine ability or secret art… or perhaps they’ll believe that your weapons, the Darknorth swords, are incredibly powerful. There’s no way they’ll be able to guess at the true might of your divine ability.”

Ning nodded.

“There’s no major power who, just by glancing at your physical body, can recognize the divine ability you are using,” the giant yellow bear said. “Unless it’s one of those special attack divine abilities, or those divine abilities that allow the body to instanteously increase in size. Those are all immediately recognizable. Aside from that, it’s incredibly hard to recognize the vast majority of divine abilities.”

“Eh?” The giant yellow bear frowned. “Someone is coming.”

Ning could sense it as well. A servant had arrived outside the gates to his Immortal estate. “I’ll take a look,” Ning said.

Swoosh.

Ning quickly arrived at the gates to his Immortal estate. The servant outside it said respectfully, “Outside our royal estate, a short old man who styles himself ‘Immortal Fivecraze’ wishes to see you, milord.”

“Immortal Fivecraze?” Ning was startled, but he immediately said, “Understood.”

Outside the gates to King Yan’s Estate. There was a rather sloppily dressed short elder who was waiting here. As Ning appeared at the gates, Ning immediately cried out in delight, “Patriarch.”

“Ji Ning.” Immortal Fivecraze beamed as well.

“Please, come in, Patriarch.” Ning hurriedly led the way. “Come to my place.”

“Alright.” Immortal Fivecraze nodded.

……

Immortal Floatcloud had been waiting outside this entire time, waiting for a good opportunity to assassinate Ji Ning.

“Senior, Ji Ning has arrived at the gates to the royal estate.”

“Is he coming out?” Immortal Floatcloud grew eager and excited.

“No. He went back inside. It seems he was welcoming a short, sloppy-looking old man.”

“Keep watching for me.” Immortal Floatcloud was beginning to grow a bit frantic. When he had sworn the oath to the Dao of the Heavens, he had said that he would kill Ji Ning within three days; else, his soul would be shattered. If Ji Ning continued to hide within King Yan’s estate for three days and refused to come out, then Immortal Floatcloud would have no choice but to allow his soul to be destroyed.

……

Ji Ning led Immortal Fivecraze back to his own Immortal estate, preparing Immortal wine and fruit for him.

“Patriarch, how did you know I was here at King Yan’s Estate?” Ning said with a laugh.

“I came here for the express purpose of seeking you out,” Immortal Fivecraze said.

“Seeking me out?” Ning was surprised.