Desolate Era (Book 16 - Book 18)

Although he did his best to visualize these seven beauties as skeletons, or as transformed toads and other abominations…deep in his heart, Ji Ning knew that they weren’t toads. They were part of the ‘red dust tribulation’ which the karmic sinflames had brought; they were created from his own heart, and they weren’t actually disgusting. This caused Ning to unconsciously be drawn further and further into lust.

“Hold, hold, hold…” Ning was repeatedly suppressing his own lusts.

But as time flowed on, the amount of lust he felt was increasing nonstop.

“Wait.”

Ning suddenly came to his senses. He thought about a legend he had read about on Earth, a legend about Yu the Great taming the floods. “Rather than dam it all up, he spread it out in channels. How can lust possibly be forcibly suppressed? The red dust tribulation…the red dust tribulation…according to the records of Mount Innerheart, in order to overcome a red dust tribulation, one has to both enter the red dust as well as emerge from the red dust.” [1. Yu the Great, Da Yu, was a legendary Emperor and founder of the Xia Dynasty in Chinese history. According to legends, he ‘tamed’ the Yellow River and its constant flooding problems by creating a system of irrigation canals as well as dredging the riverbeds, allowing Chinese civilization to flourish along the Yellow River.]

“But if I allow myself to enter the red dust…if I succumb to it, what then?”

“What should I do?”

All sorts of thoughts began to war with each other in Ning’s heart.

The more one knew, the harder it was to deal with the red dust tribulation. In addition…‘knowing’ was one thing, being able to actually ‘do’ was another thing.

“No matter what…”

“My heart cannot succumb.”

“This is nothing more than my baptism through the red dust.”

Ning didn’t dare to relax his vigilance in the slightest.

Actually…Ning had actually made the correct decision. This was because ordinary cultivators, when being tested by a red dust tribulation, would generally be able to first allow themselves to succumb for a long period of time. Afterwards, when the day came for them to suddenly be enlightened and emerge from the red dust, their Dao-hearts would naturally be strengthened tremendously. Ning’s situation, however, was different! His ‘red dust tribulation’ came from the descent of karmic sinflames; he absolutely couldn’t allow himself to succumb to them at all.

Time flowed on.

Lust. Gluttony. Rage. Avarice. Love. Hate…

Within the red dust tribulation, all the desires one could feel when trapped within the mortal world, the world of red dust, would be amplified to an extreme.

Lust – The most soul-stirringly beautiful women would appear.

Gluttony – Unimaginably delicious delicacies, delicacies that would cause your soul to quiver.

Rage – All sorts of arguments, jealousies, disputes…as well as the joy and jubilation that came after violent conquest.

Love – Parental love, spousal love, romantic love, brotherly love, master-disciple love…the word ‘love’ truly did involve many things that people were willing to die for.

Hate – Towering, earth-shattering hatred and resentment that filled every inch of one’s heart. Hatred that not even the waters of the four seas could wash away…boundless hatred and a desire to kill one’s foes…

……

At first, Ning did his best to suppress all of the desires of the red dust, trying to push them away from him. This, however, caused Ning’s heart to feel increasingly tired. But slowly…Ning began to understand.

“Let these enticements come as they may. My heart abides.”

“This…this is nothing more but a mortal, fleshly coil.”

Ning completely separated the innermost part of his heart from the outside world.

He let his lust soar to the skies. He let himself feel excitement, rage, hatred, joy, disappointment, grief, happiness…Ning no longer suppressed any of it, allowing the feelings to invade every part of his entire body. Ning’s heart, however, transcended it all. It was like a bystander, simply watching everything and keeping an eye on everything.

“One’s true heart…one’s fleshly body…?” Ning slowly began to understand…and he thought of [Houyi’s Archery].

The reason why [Houyi’s Archery] was able to rank amongst the top ten divine abilities of the universe and was considered comparable to the [Starseizing Hand], but the actual application of it was even more complicated. It had higher requirements with regards to skill, it required extremely good bows and arrows…and it only allowed for very, very few shots. However…its power was truly ridiculous as well.

At the peak of its power, [Houyi’s Archery] was even more terrifying than the [Starseizing Hand] at its peak! Even Houyi, a divine archer of the Primordial Era, would only be able to shoot out ten or so arrows at maximum power before growing exhausted. The power of those arrows, however, was truly terrifying.

In addition, the application of divine power was just one part of [Houyi’s Archery]. The true reason why it was dominant throughout the Three Realms and became acknowledged as the number one archery technique was thanks to…heartforce!

Heartforce was a source of power that was invisible, formless, but incomparably mysterious and miraculous.

This was a force that was completely outside the types of power which Immortals and Fiendgods could normally control. Elemental ki, Immortal power, and divine power were all visible to the naked eye…but heartforce was invisible. In fact, unless one was using it to support something like archery, heartforce alone was completely unable to injure anyone.

However, it was precisely this energy, ‘heartforce’, which allowed divine archers to become truly terrifying figures. Houyi was the most powerful of the divine archers, and the [Houyi’s Archery] technique which he developed was able to strengthen the application of heartforce to a truly frightening level. This was why this technique was such an unearthly, powerful one.

Heartforce, invisible and formless…

And yet, it allowed one to reach astonishing levels of power. In the Primordial World, not even True Gods or Daofathers would willingly become enemies with Houyi. He was truly an incomparably terrifying man amongst the True Gods and Daofathers, a legendary divine archer even in an age of legends.

[Houyi’s Archery] clearly differentiated heartforce into multiple levels.

The first level of heartforce could be considered the ‘basic’ level, the level which Ning had currently reached. If one could truly apply heartforce to one’s arrows and cause one’s arrows to be able to strike unerringly at a distance of ten thousand kilometers, one had reached the basic level.

Ning had spent many years training archery painstakingly at Mount Innerheart before reaching the basic level. Generally speaking, upon reaching the basic level, one could already be considered as having entered the ranks of the ‘divine archers’ and be viewed as one of them, having reached a level that was as far above the other archers of the Three Realms as the heavens were above the earth. If one didn’t understand heartforce, one would never be able to become a true ‘divine archer’. Only by understanding heartforce could one’s archery become truly terrifying.

The second level of heartforce was known as ‘iceheart’!

Iceheart…

This meant that one’s inner heart had completely transcended the body. It would no longer be shaken or bedazzled by foreign influences. The waters of one’s inner heart would have frozen into a cube of ice; there would no longer be any ripples within it! Once one’s heart reached this level, one’s ‘heartforce’ would begin to qualitatively evolve and also increase in power tremendously.