Desolate Era (Book 11 - Book 15)

All of them fell silent. The Celestial Tribulation? This was a nightmare for all Earth Immortals and Loose Immortals. The worst part of it was, every single Celestial Tribulation was different in power; just because one was strong, didn’t mean they would necessarily succeed in overcoming it!

“First, junior apprentice-brother Diancai needs to return safely. Otherwise, there’s no point in discussing the Celestial Tribulation.” The short elder’s eyes were filled with anticipation. “I wonder if I, a crazy old madman, will be able to see him again before I die.”

……

Within another world. The underwater estate.

Ning had no idea as to what had happened in the outside world. His attention was completely focused on the Primaltwin secret art; this was a soul-splitting technique, and he had to be incredibly cautious in using it.

Ning was seated in the lotus position on a prayer mat. Not too far away, the giant yellow bear and the old black bull were staring at him.

“He won’t fail, will he?” the old black bull said worriedly, They had already set up a barrier around them, preventing their voices from reaching out and disturbing Ning.

“Ji Ning’s visualization technique is an extremely impressive one. Even if he fails, he would at most lose control over half of his soul; he wouldn’t die,” the giant yellow bear said.

“Lose control over half his soul…” the old black bull murmured to himself. That was still quite severe.

If the Primaltwin art was a success, the soul would be split in two, but both parts would still remain in existence. Although Ning would temporarily be weakened, that would be a minor matter, and he would soon recover. If, however, one of the two parts of his soul was to be completely extinguished, Ning’s personality might change drastically. He might even develop mental issues such as depression or madness.

To lose control over half of one’s soul… this could indeed cause a drastic personality change.

Huff. Puff. Ning took several long breaths, completely calm. He had already memorized and mentally repeated the Primaltwin art several times now.

“Let’s begin.”

Ning shut his eyes.

Within his sea of consciousness. The spirit-Ning stood there, entire body emanating with sword-ki. This was an evolved sword-soul! Sword-souls were almost utterly indestructible, making a split even more difficult.

Whooooooosh. The forehead of the spirit-Ning began to glow with light, a vertical-shaped light. Ning used all of his energy in executing the secret art, causing his own divine will to form into a knife that began to cut both upwards and downwards from his forehead.

That vertical light slowly began to elongate.

“Arggggggh!” Agony. The soul-ripping agony caused even Ning, despite his incredible endurance and Dao-heart, to tremble. However, generally speaking, those who dared to execute the Primaltwin technique were all extraordinary figures who would be able to endure this level of pain.

The vertical light continued to elongate. It reached his neck… his chest… his abdomen…

The vertical light splitting the ‘body’ of the spirit-Ning had completely cut him in half. It was as though a ray of light had just cleanly bisected him. However, this wasn’t the dangerous part; what was going to happen next was the dangerous part.

“SPLIT!”

Ning’s soul began to split apart. That vertical light splitting his spirit in half separated, causing his spirit to split into two parts. One half, moving as fast as lightning, flew back into Ning’s physical body. In the instant his soul split apart, Ning felt a wave of dizziness overcome him, and while flying over his soul trembled as well. Ning’s Dao-heart, however, was resilient, and so although the dizziness caused him to feel incredibly tired, he was still able to withstand it.

This was a step that had to be fast and had to be endured. Otherwise, if the other half of the soul wasn’t able to enter the Sole-Ki Pearl of Primalwater, it would die on the way. After splitting the soul, there was no way to merge it again.

“Enter.”

The other half of the soul flew out like a streak of light, entering the Sole-Ki Pearl.

In the instant it did, the soul felt as though it was a son entering the embrace of the other, a wandering, adrift boat that had finally returned to harbor. There was a feeling of peace, of warmth, of calm which completely filled the soul. The soul had its vessel… naturally, it felt nice.

“Whew.” Ning let out a sigh of relief.

“Visualization technique!”

For the moment, Ning had no time to waste on training his Primaltwin. His very first response was to immediately have both of his souls immediately execute the visualization technique.

Within his sea of consciousness.

The now-shrunken spirit-Ning sat down in the lotus position. Ahead of him, within the vast void of his sea of consciousness, appeared an enormous image of Mother Nuwa. The image of Mother Nuwa, in the void, seemed to press down upon both the past and the future. It was eternal and unchanging, and it caused Ning’s soul to become incomparably stable as well. The aura of divine light emanating from her, filled with boundless warmth, illuminated Ning’s soul, causing the badly damaged soul to begin to heal.

Within the Sole-Ki Pearl of Primalwater, there was the second, also-shrunken spirit-Ning, who was also visualizing an image of Mother Nuwa. When her image appeared, her light seemed to stretch off into infinity.

Both souls were in a wounded state right now, but they rapidly began to heal. This healing process took nearly three full days, during the course of which both souls grew considerably stronger.

“Whew.” Ning opened his eyes. The Sole-Ki Pearl of Primalwater in front of him flew up as well, landing within his hand.

“How did it go?” The giant yellow bear asked hurriedly, “How is your soul?”

“I’ve healed to roughly seventy percent of normal,” Ning said.

“Seventy percent?!” The giant yellow bear was stunned. “It seems you truly do have a formidable visualization technique.”

When the soul split into two, both souls would have roughly half of the strength of the former soul. For an ordinary visualization technique, the user would be lucky to see each half-soul stabilize at fifty percent power. You could forget about having the soul quickly grow back! But Ning had not only stabilized his souls, he had already reached seventy percent power.

“However, this is a one-time thing. After all, the damage caused by the soul-splitting was fresh, which was why I was able to heal so much of it at one go. In the future, it will be slower. To return to a divine sense of a thousand kilometers… I’m afraid it will take a long time,” Ning sighed.

“Don’t be too greedy. You’ve already produced a Primaltwin, after all; this represents a second life for you,” the giant yellow bear sighed. “Your Primaltwin can also become an Earth Immortal or Celestial Immortal; in fact, if your true body dies, your Primaltwin will still survive.”

Laughing, Ning nodded.

The true body and the Primaltwin had linked memories; in all other ways, however, they were completely independent. Indeed, a Primaltwin could be described as a second life.

“Hurry up and begin your training. Completely refine all of the essence within the Sole-Ki Pearl of Primalwater,” the giant yellow bear laughed.

“Right.” Ning nodded, then had his Primaltwin within the Sole-Ki Pearl begin to train.





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Book 11, Chapter 6 - Primal Breakthrough


The Sole-Ki Pearl of Primalwater was a naturally occurring spirit-treasure that was one of the most superb resources for nourishing the soul.