Desolate Era (Book 16 - Book 18)

“Ji Ning.”


Old Man Yuan charged over, an ugly look on his face. He snapped angrily, “That master of yours is like a big hunk of wood. You just can’t talk to him! Those who walk different paths can’t make plans together. I really can’t be bothered to talk to him any longer. You are quite talented, kid; although that rotten blockhead is very skilled in some respects, he’s complete crap in heartforce. Since we aren’t destined to become master and disciple…then forget it! This is a technique for applying heartforce which I developed. Although it’s not a complete system, it might be of help to you in some way. I’ll give it to you as a gift!”

As he spoke, he pointed a finger towards Ning.

Instantly, a streak of light shot out from his finger into Ning’s forehead.

An ocean of information instantly filled Ning’s mind.

“Subhuti!” Old Man Yuan turned to point at Subhuti, then cursed, “In terms of fleeing abilities, you are number one in all the Three Realms! You’ll be able to flee and survive, but how many of our other old friends will be able to survive? All those years ago, Threelives and the others all perished. How many more do you want dead?”

“If we retreat, even more will die. In fact, all of us might die!” Subhuti said angrily.

“Fine. Fine. Fine! We’ll wait and see!”

The enraged Old Man Yuan turned and walked away.

After taking two steps away, the now-ordinary old gardener suddenly slumped supinely to the ground as a streak of light shot into the skies, disappearing.

Subhuti waved his hand, and the old gardener was instantly teleported away. He was nothing more than an ordinary old man, after all; prior to this, Old Man Yuan had simply been possessing him.

Subhuti walked towards Ning, who was completely filled and preoccupied with the enormous amount of information regarding the application of heartforce.

……

It was awe-inspiring.

It was unfathomably profound.

When Ning viewed the awe-inspiring collection of information, he couldn’t help but feel veneration towards Old Man Yuan. Incredible! Old Man Yuan’s true power, however, most likely didn’t lie in heartforce; after all, in terms of heartforce, Ning could tell that Old Man Yuan shouldn’t be as powerful as Houyi had been.

Old Man Yuan, however, was different from Houyi.

Houyi was extremely focused on his archery, and he had systemized a way to apply heartforce to archery in a terrifyingly profound and powerful manner.

Old Man Yuan, however, was a jack of all trades. Most likely, he liked analyzing heartforce, and so had come up with multiple different heartforce techniques, some meant for the legs, some meant for the entire body, some meant for the fingers, some meant for the hair, some meant for the sword, some meant for other treasures…there were all sorts of techniques here! However, none of them were truly systemized; from the looks of it, Old Man Yuan had jotted down a few notes whenever inspiration struck him.

His most profound techniques regarding heartforce actually were in applying heartforce to the soul! This allowed the soul to control even more magic treasures. For example, if normally Ning was only able to control the third level of the [Greater Thousand Swords Formation], if he applied heartforce to his soul, he would be able to control the sixth level or even the seventh level. This was a technique which Ning was truly eager to learn.

Heartforce was like a marshal, with the soul being the soldiers; if one used them together properly, the number of magic treasures one could control would instantly explode. In addition, the amount of heartforce that was used up was neglible; after all, it merely served as a commander, without much of it being actually burned away. The increase in power, however, was still astonishing! This was definitely a killer technique for any Ki Refiner.

However…none of it was systemized, which meant that no one could simply ‘learn’ the technique after reading about it.

Still…

Ning wasn’t an uninformed outsider to this art.

He was someone who, after learning how to apply heartforce through [Houyi’s Archery], had first come up with a way to apply heartforce to his sword-fingers, then come up with a way to apply heartforce to his swords! Ning was capable of creating these techniques himself; now, after having seen the more profound techniques of Old Man Yuan, he was of course stimulated by them and had new insights. These insights would absolutely be enough to allow Ning to come up with a suitable method for applying heartforce to his legs or to his entire body, or even to his soul.

Aside from Old Man Yuan’s own techniques, there were also techniques which other major powers had devised for the application of heartforce.

All these non-systemized heartforce techniques…this collection was known as the [Heart Sutra].

“The [Heart Sutra]? With this [Heart Sutra], I’ll be able to grow dramatically more powerful in every aspect, whether it be dodging in close combat, fleeing, or anything else. My Primaltwin will become more powerful as well.” Ning was unspeakably excited right now. Before this, he was only formidable in his attacks; he was quite lacking in other respects. Thus, almost any Empyrean God or True Immortal would probably be able to capture him.

Now, however, Ning would be able to improve himself in every area. He would no longer have any obvious weaknesses, and so capturing him would become far more difficult in the future.

“Wow.” Ning opened his eyes, a look of delight on his face.

As he did so…he saw his master, Patriarch Subhuti, standing not too far away from him. Ning’s face quickly stiffened.

“Master,” Ning immediately called out.





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Book 17, Chapter 23 - Before The Tribulation


Ji Ning’s heart clenched. He could tell that there were some disagreements between his master, Subhuti, and Old Man Yuan. Was his master going to forbid him from training in the [Heart Sutra]?

“What did Old Man Yuan transmit to you?” Subhuti asked.

“The [Heart Sutra].” Ning didn’t dare to hide this. “It contains his many experiences with various heartforce application techniques, as well as a mix of heartforce application techniques from a few other Daofathers. However, they are all un-systemized…but they will still be of great benefit to me, especially the one that applies to using heartforce on the soul. It will be of tremendous help to me in controlling the [Greater Thousand Swords Formation] as well as in overcoming the demonheart tribulation.”

Subhuti gave Ning a glance, then revealed a calm smile. “Your master isn’t the pedantic, unflexible sort; since Daofather Yuan has gifted you with this sutra, and since he hasn’t forced you to become his disciple…go ahead and learn from it! If in the future, Daofather Yuan decides to stand with us, you shall naturally repay his kindness. If, however, he stands with the Seamless Gate…then when a war to the death erupts between our two alliances, you’d have to fight against him with all your might. This would be true even if he really was your master, to say nothing of him merely having transmitted a technique!”

Ning’s heart shivered. He immediately said, “Your disciple understands.”

This was a storm!

A storm which no one would be able to avoid.