Desolate Era (Book 19 - Book 21)

“Agreed. We can’t be hasty,” Lu Dongbin concurred.

There were actually many major powers who were supportive of Subhuti’s decision. This was primarily because the five mighty overlords were all standing alongside Subhuti. Their influence and power was simply tremendous.

Thundergod began to grow frantic. Although many of the major powers here wanted this divine ability, mots of them would follow the lead of the five mighty overlords. In addition, the chance that they would be able to actually succeed in mastering this divine ability was miniscule. Ninehorn Lightning Serpents weren’t so easily tamed, after all. Thundergod, however, felt that he had a much better chance than the rest of them.

“I was born from the primordial chaos as one of the eighty-one original True Gods.” Thundergod could no longer hold himself back, and he immediately spoke out in a thunderous voice that echoed within the Void. “There’s no way that I could possibly be willing to become a spy for the Seamless Gate. In addition, in terms of control over lightning, I am the number one expert in the entire Three Realms. I’m also extremely familiar with Ninehorn Lightning Serpents. There’s a very high chance that I will be able to master this divine ability. Sovereigns of Mankind, Tathagata, Three Purities…can it be that all of you believe that I, Thundergod, am not able to learn this divine ability?”





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Book 20, Chapter 4 - Icefire Jindan Smelting


Daoist Three Purities’ eyes had been shut this entire time. Suddenly, they opened up slightly, his sword-like gaze landing upon Exalted Celestial Thundergod. “Thundergod, this isn’t just about you. This will have an impact on the lives of countless living beings on ours die. How can we be so blasé about handing out this divine ability? If we make just a single misstep and the Seamless Gate acquires it…we might very well end up losing this entire war. We’ll never be able to recover!”

“I know that…but do you really think that I’m a spy?!” Thundergod was still unwilling to bow his head.

Daoist Three Purities said calmly, “I know that you badly desire to learn this technique, and that you think you have a good chance of succeeding.”

“Of course! Even Ji Ning was able to learn it. My mastery over lightning is second to none in the Three Realms. Why wouldn’t I be able to?” Thundergod glanced at Ning, who was standing next to Subhuti. A lofty, self-confident look was in his eyes. “I know more about Ninehorn Lightning Serpents than anyone else. All I need is a tiny hint about this technique and I might very well master it at one go.”

“Such arrogance.” A deep, sonorous voice suddenly rang out.

Thundergod immediately turned his head to look. He discovered that the speaker was the fur-clad Suiren. Suiren’s beard flowed like the whiskers of a dragon, and his gaze caused even Thundergod to feel his heart clench. This was the most ancient, most powerful member of the human race. Long ago, he had caused even Elder God Zhurong to bow his head and admit inferiority. In the past, for the sake of protecting the human race, Suiren had challenged all comers to display his power. He had actually beaten Thundergod senseless.

“Most of the major powers present understand that the big picture is what matters. They know what matters and what doesn’t.” Suiren gave Thundergod a look, then swept his gaze towards the others. “However…I imagine that all of you are quite curious regarding this evasion divine ability. I’ll let you all take a look.”

“No!”

“Human Sovereign, you must not.”

“You absolutely must not.”

Instantly, quite a few major powers began to cry out in disagreement.

“If we really do have a spy amongst our ranks, that would be disastrous.” Exalted Celestial Carefree argued frantically against it.

As for Thundergod, his eyes lit up. If he was able to acquire this technique, it would be a wonderful thing.

“There’s no need to worry,” Suiren said. “I’ll only reveal a very small part of this evasion divine ability. This part is just one of the many difficulties that are inherent in cultivating this technique. I trust that after seeing this part…everyone will understand how difficult it is to learn this technique.”

After he spoke, one flame after another began to appear within the Void around him. Every single flame twisted into the form of a character, resulting in a dense cluster of characters appearing within the Void. This was a record of part of this technique. Instantly, all the major powers looked towards it.

“Eh?” The nearby Ning hurriedly turned to look as well. “That’s really the Ninehorn Lightning Serp-…”

“Wait. They changed it a bit.”

Ning quickly finished reading through it. He continued to stand there quite calmly, not saying a word…but in his heart, he sighed with utter amazement.

The part of the technique which Suiren had just made public pertained to the taming of the Ninehorn Lightning Serpent. Originally, the technique had described three items which one could use to tame the serpents; chaos nectar, Myriad Thunders Godgems, and Thousandrot Godfruits. One of them had to be used! The version which Suiren had publicized, however, had a fourth, additional option…

To ‘use heartforce to commune with the Ninehorn Lightning Serpent, then tame it’.

“Everyone, you can see it for yourself.” Suiren’s sonorous voice boomed out, reverberating within the Void. “This is the final part of the [Ninehorn Lightning Serpent] evasion technique, the part which involves the taming of the serpent itself. You can succeed by using either chaos nectar, Myriad Thunders Godgems, or Thousandrot Godfruits. But do any of you have any? Do they exist anywhere within the Three Realms?”

Dead silence.

Everyone was thinking on this matter.

Some of these major powers had previous slain alien Outsiders and had acquired techniques from them, and thus had heard of those three items. Even in the infinite primordial chaos, those three treasures were incredibly rare and precious. They didn’t exist in the Three Realms at all!

“Without those three treasures, the only option remaining is the fourth option, the most clumsy option,” Suiren said. “To use heartforce to commune with a lightning serpent and tame it. Ninehorn Lightning Serpents are sentient, which is why they can be tamed, but to use heartforce to do so is incredibly difficult, and the chances for success are incredibly low. All of us have tried to use heartforce to tame the serpents, but all of us failed.”

Daoist Three Purities shook his head. “I can be considered as quite learned in the art of heartforce, but I was still unable to tame a serpent.”

No one present knew what to say. All five of them, with Subhuti being the sixth, had failed?

It must be understood that almost all of them had reached the fourth stage of heartforce. Daoist Three Purities in particular was particularly skilled in the application of heartforce; his breadth of knowledge in heartforce was not one whit inferior to that of Old Man Yuan’s.

“In the end, it was my young friend Ji Ning who succeeded. He is extremely talented in the application of heartforce.” Suiren looked towards Ning, letting out an approving sigh. “He was able to come up with a heartforce sword technique years ago, after just a few decades of cultivation. Then, during the Realmwar, he came up with his own soul heartforce technique. Now, he’s successfully mastered the [Ninehorn Lightning Serpent] evasion technique. I feel tremendous admiration for him.”