Desolate Era (Book 16 - Book 18)

Ning had completely forgotten the flow of time, losing himself in battle. During the past twelve years, he had completely focused all of his attention on the application of heartforce; every single battle was a test for him, and he constantly tried and tested new methods. His method of applying heartforce to his fingers became more and more exquisite; by now, Ning was actually able to use up nearly 3% of his total heartforce through a single sword-finger. This was quite astonishing…but clearly, he hadn’t reached his maximum potential yet.

Rumble…

Rumble…

Two miniature versions of the Solar Star and the Lunar Star were hovering above Ning’s head.

A large amount of divine power was circulating through his body. During the past twelve years, Ning’s divine power had grown nonstop, becoming thicker, denser, and more perfect. And today…Ning had truly reached the peak of power possible for the sixteenth stage of the [Crimsonbright Diagram of the Nine Heavens].

BOOM!

His divine power finally began to transform.





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Book 16, Chapter 18 - Eighteen Stormy Years


Ji Ning’s breakthrough to the seventeenth stage of the [Crimsonbright Diagram of the Nine Heavens] didn’t cause too much of a disturbance; in fact, the nearby soldiers of the First Army of the Snaphorn world didn’t even realize that he had made a breakthrough. This was how the [Crimsonbright Diagram of the Nine Heavens] worked; only when one made a major breakthrough to a new level would the Solar Star and the Lunar Star transmit Solar Truefire and Lunar Truewater. Lesser breakthroughs caused a much smaller disturbance.

Whooooosh. Within Ning’s divine body, the increasingly pure Crimsonbright divine power began to transform into tiny little rivers that flowed through his veins, causing his divine body to grow even stronger.

The seventeenth stage!

This was the limit of power for his true body, before it underwent the Celestial Tribulation; if he dared to raise himself to the eighteenth stage, then the tribulation would descend at a moment’s notice afterwards. Although he now controlled heartforce and felt more confident in his chances…he was still surrounded by karmic sinflames and was a tremendous sinner. Most likely, the power of his Celestial Tribulation would be even more terrifying. If he could survive here and leave this place, the Nihilum Zone…Ning couldn’t even imagine what the scene of his tribulation would be like.

“I’m the sole heir of the [Starseizing Hand], the disciple of Patriarch Subhuti, a Fiendgod Body Refiner, and surrounded by karmic sinflames.” Ning truly couldn’t imagine it.

It was quite common for ordinary Fiendgod Body Refiners to undergo nine nine-sets of thunder tribulation. Upon overcoming the Celestial Tribulation, they would have become Empyrean Gods!

And he…he was no ordinary Fiendgod.

“I heard that some particularly monstrous geniuses amongst Ki Refiners will also encounter nine nine-sets of thunder tribulation,” Ning mused to himself. “I, on the other hand, am a Fiendgod Body Refiner. My Celestial Tribulation…”

To this very day, no one had ever fully understood which elements were taken into account in determining the power of the Celestial Tribulation. However, there were many past precedences; for example, Lu Dongbin was a Ki Refiner who had undergone nine nine-sets as a Ki Refiner.

Ordinary Fiendgods would often have to undergo nine complete nine-sets of thunder tribulation.

As for some truly monstrous geniuses, the most elite of the Fiendgods of the entire Three Realms…their backgrounds were so extraordinary that their tribulations were not like ordinary tribulations. Ning had the feeling…that he would probably be treated as one of the most peerless of Fiendgods of the Three Realms in this regard.

“Forget about that for now…I have so many enemies to battle, and I don’t have to hold anything back as I train in heartforce. I can’t waste this opportunity.” Ning opened his eyes, halting his cultivation.

“It seems he’s recovered. It’s my turn this time!” A muscular, violet-caped warrior roared with laughter, four giant warhammers in his four arms. Leaping through space, he charged towards Ning.

……

Although he was in a dire situation…since there was nowhere to run, Ning didn’t think about anything, completely focusing on battle. As he gained more experience with the application of heartforce, Ning’s power began to rise continuously. The more heartforce his sword-fingers were able to unleash, the more powerful his blows would become. This caused the violet-caped warriors to feel unspeakable misery.

After the twelfth year, which is to say after Ning broke through to the seventeenth stage, more than half the violet-caped warriors were at a disadvantage when fighting Ning.

As his control over heartforce grew increasingly powerful, Ning began to be able to suppress one violet-caped warrior after another. However, the difference in power wasn’t that great; they were more than capable of staying alive.

By the fifteenth year, Ning was confident in being able to kill in battle some of the enemies who matched up poorly against him, but he did not kill them. He was afraid that if he did kill the violet-caped warriors, they would be enraged; that wouldn’t be worth it! The most important thing for him right now was to delay; ideally, he would delay for a few decades or a century. The more time passed, the better the chances that his master, Patriarch Subhuti, would be able to find him.

By the sixteenth year, Ning was able to use up nearly a twentieth of his heartforce in a single blow of his sword-fingers. This was him using full power in a single hand; there was no way he could reach this level when using all six arms.

By the seventeenth year, Ning was able to use up a sixteenth of his heartforce in one stroke.

By the eighteenth year, Ning was able to use up a fifteenth of his heartforce in one stroke! By now, his application of heartforce was perfect, in that not a single bit of his heartforce was wasted or leaked out to the outside world. Ning could no longer come up with any way to further improve it. Although it was still a bit inferior compared to the amount of heartforce he could use when using [Houyi’s Archery]…there naturally were some differences between close combat and archery.

Aside from mastering the application of heartforce, Ning had also grown even more formidable in sword-arts.

Within the Nihilum Zone, there were no Daos to disturb him, allowing Ning to focus even more purely attuning with his sword-arts, causing him to just barely touch upon the true essence of the sword.

Ning had been fighting this entire time within the Nihilum Zone. His life was a very calm one…but within the distant Three Realms, the world of the Grand Xia was no longer calm.

Stillwater City. The Black-White College.

Night.

Within a mountain of the Black-White College, a black-robed maiden was seated opposite a black-haired, black-robed man. Both were quietly, pensively drinking wine.

“The Seamless Gate has grow more and more bold.” Immortal Diancai’s eyes were filled with anger…but he then shook his head and sighed. “However, they are indeed formidable. They were actually able to cause the Northmont clan of Stillwater to fracture internally. So many high-level members of the Northmont clan actually desired to throw their support to the Seamless Gate…but fortunately senior Unity was enraged and moved to slaughter them.”

Just two hours ago, this very day, Celestial Immortal Unity had struck out in rage, wiping out more than half of the Void-level experts of the Northmont clan! All the traitors were killed!

“After senior Unity made his move, the Seamless Gate sent a diplomatic note; if he doesn’t throw his support to the Seamless Gate, then they shall become mortal enemies.” Immortal Diancai looked at Yu Wei. “Yu Wei, what do you think we should do?”