Desolate Era (Book 16 - Book 18)

The awe-inspiring Immortal armies and Fiendgod armies had all gathered at the Eight Dragons Cloudcity. Fortunately, the city spanned ten thousand kilometers, and could also transform to become even greater in size; naturally, everyone was able to fit inside.

“These tens of millions Fiendgods are enough to form into seventy-eight Pangu War-Formations.” Daofather Crimsonbright was seated high up on his throne, a smile on his face as he gave his orders. “They shall be commanded by Empyrean God Fufang, Empyrean God Kindwater, Empyrean God Willowtemple…”

“These twenty-six Empyrean Gods shall each command three Fiendgod armies.”

“Yes.”

Instantly, the twenty-six Empyrean Gods all assented respectfully.

Not one of them disobeyed the Daofather’s order.

The twenty-six Empyrean Gods all immediately used cloning techniques. Empyrean Gods could easily create multiple clones of themselves. In a real battle, however, the fewer clones one created, the more powerful one would be. When these twenty-six each split into three clones, they sent each clone to command one of their three Fiendgod armies. Although their power was weakened due to the three-way split, resulting in weaker Fiendgod armies, they were still much more powerful than any Void-level Fiendgod commander.

In addition, with one Empyrean God commanding three Fiendgod army squads, each of the three would be able to better reinforce and support the other two.

“The forces that Daofather Raindragon sent…according to what Daofather Raindragon said, you eighteen Empyrean Gods and True Immortals shall continue to command those eighteen Raindragon armies,” Daofather Crisonbright said.

Instantly, eighteen Empyrean Gods and True Immortals stood up to salute.

These were the reinforcements which Daofather Raindragon had sent. In truth, Daofather Raindragon had only sent reinforcements due to the relationship he had with the Xia Emperor, as well as the fact that the three Diremonster Gods of Mount Dragoneater had been pulled into this war.

“The remaining Immortal armies shall be divided up to form 326 Heaven Punishers,” Daofather Crimsonbright said with a laugh. “The Heaven Punisher Formation is even better suited for battle than the Crimsonbright Formation I previously created. My 326 generals…I am entrusting you with these Immortals.”

“Yes.”

Instantly, twelve Empyrean Gods/True Immortals and 314 Celestial Immortals all rose to their feet, with Ning amongst the ranks of the Celestial Immortals.

“The Empyrean God golems and the other tools shall be left in the hands of Xiamang,” Daofather Crimsonbright said. “Alright…the Seamless Gate is completely focusing on defense for now. I imagine they will need some time to gather all of their forces. I expect that the great war will begin within a year. Previous commanders of the Crimsonbright Formation need to quickly become familiarized with the Heaven Punisher Formation. Now, all of you can leave.”

“Yes.” Everyone rose to their feet, then departed.

Even the Xia Emperor departed. As soon as he left the main palace, he mentally sent to Ning, “Ji Ning, Master gave me a special order; he told me to place an extra two thousand Celestial Immortals and two hundred thousand Loose Immortals under your command.”

“Eh?” Ning was puzzled.

“This way, you’ll have a total of three thousand Celestial Immortals and three hundred thousand Loose Immortals under your command, allowing you to form into an even more powerful Heaven Punisher,” the Xia Emperor said. “You are perfectly suited for your role as the commander of your Heaven Punisher; naturally, you need to be given more Celestial Immortals and Loose Immortals.”

The Perfect Heaven Punisher Formation involved a commander, 9000 Celestial Immortals, and 810,000 Loose Immortals.

“Fine.” Ning smiled. If the Xia Emperor hadn’t raised it, Ning was planning to do so himself. This was because Ning had made some additional improvements in his soul heartforce technique during this temporary ceasefire; he was now able to control 100% of the power of a Heaven Punisher formed from merely a thousand Celestial Immortals and a hundred thousand Loose Immortals.





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Book 18, Chapter 32 - War Erupts


“I’ll send the Immortals to your army camp right away. You need to quickly accustomize yourself to commanding three thousand Celestial Immortals and three hundred thousand Loose Immortals. The power of your Heaven Punisher will increase yet again; perhaps, at a critical moment in the war, I’ll have to rely on you to save my life,” the Xia Emperor laughed. “However, you have to be careful. The most outstanding tree within a forest is often the first to be felled. You’ll most likely suffer attacks from many members of the Seamless Gate.”

“Understood.” Ji Ning nodded.

“Ideally, you should keep some power hidden in reserve. If you suddenly unleash it at a critical moment in a battle, you can have a major impact on the course of the war,” the Xia Emperor reminded.

“Right.” Ning smiled and nodded.

He hadn’t even told his master, Subhuti, that he had become a Pure Yang True Immortal. By now, he had already created the twelfth stance of the [Three-Foot Sword], a stance which encompassed the entire Dao of the Sword. However, he had never before displayed this technique, nor had he spoken to anyone of his improvements in soul heartforce.

……

Time flowed onwards.

Nine months passed in the blink of an eye.

Ji Ning was seated in the lotus position within a private room inside his residence.

The Pure Yang Jindan within his body was swollen with golden light, and its luster had become an even denser color.

A series of ripples were currently emanating from his Jindan, ripples caused by the merging of his soul into it. The invisible, untouchable power known as ‘heartforce’ was constantly sending commands to his soul. He was meditating nonstop on the soul heartforce technique. When meditating, he would often meet with many puzzling problems. Ning would either ponder them alone, or compare them to the information he had in the [Heart Sutra] in the hopes that he might be inspired.

There naturally were differences between Ning’s technique and Old Man Yuan’s technique, but they sprang from the same foundation and had certain similarities. This was of assistance to Ning in terms of speeding up his meditations.

“Everyone, the Seamless Gate is prepared for battle.” The Xia Emperor’s voice rang out by the ears of the Empyrean Gods, True Immortals, and commanders.

The Eight Dragons Cloudcity was the Protocosmic spirit-treasure of the Xia Emperor; he was able to send out these messages with ease.

“Prepared for battle?” Startled, Ning immediately came to a halt.

Whoosh.

He pushed open the door to his private room, then walked out. Yu Wei gave Ning a puzzled glance. “Why have you ended your training so quickly?”

“The war is about to start again,” Ning said.

“Right now?” Yu Wei’s face completely changed.

“Yes.” Ning nodded.

“I had thought that I’d be able to give birth to our child first.” Yu Wei stroked her belly, which was very large by now. One could tell just by looking at her that childbirth was imminent.

She had a very gentle look in her eyes as she stroked her belly, a look that was filled with motherly love. She said softly, “I can feel our baby kicking about in my belly. It’s very likely that I’ll give birth in just another month or two.”

“I, too, was hoping that the war would only start after our child was born. Unfortunately…that’s not up to me,” Ning sighed.

“You have to take care of yourself. Don’t push yourself too hard. We have an absolutely massive Immortal army, while you are just one man.” Yu Wei looked at Ning.

“I know.” Ning nodded.

Forget about him; even if the seven Empyrean Gods all came out, they would most likely only be able to have a small, localized impact on the Realmwar. The three hundred Heaven Punishers alone were comparable to three hundred Empyrean Gods in power!

“Don’t worry about me. I have to go now.” Ning immediately turned and walked towards the outside.

Yu Wei had a look of worry in her eyes as she watched Ning leave.