Desolate Era (Book 19 - Book 21)

The Seven Dragon Gods and the many other Empyrean Gods off in the distance were all completely dazed as well. They were only able to watch, not fight…and they all stared at the white-robed youth.

“We lost. I lost.” The demon king looked at the two Ji Nings. One of them vanished, leaving behind the other one.

The attack of the demon army could indeed be described as a calamity or as a tribulation. To survive it, there were two options. The first was to endure for long enough and wait for the demon king to order the retreat. The second was to slay the demon king; in this case as well, the demon army would disperse.

However, during all of the previous tribulations, they had relied on the first method to succeed. They had supported each other and had managed to endure the deadly calamity with difficulty. Normally, one or two Empyrean Gods would die. This was because so long as a single one died, the demon army would slowly begin to lower the pace and power of its assaults. The creator of Undermoon Lake’s goal was to temper Empyrean Gods, after all, not to wipe all of them out.

In the past, they had relied on the first method…but this time, Ning had slain the demon king!

“Empyrean God Darknorth. Ji Ning.” The demon king looked at Ning. “After entering Undermoon Lake, you made it all the way here in one try…and, from what I can tell, even the countless demons under my command who guard the ‘Demon Icepass’ won’t be able to hold you off for long. You should already have the power to make it to the fourth island. After you make it there, the only one you have to worry about is the final guardian. Your talent and your power is far superior to Jueming’s; there is a very high chance that you will be able to survive and depart from Undermoon Lake.”

“Work hard, young man.” The demon king looked at Ning, a deep, long smile on his face. “When you reach the fifth island…you’ll find a surprise in store for you.”

“Children, let’s go!” The demon king turned and left. The demon commanders and lesser demons all whistled through the air after him, but as they left quite a few gave Ning curious glances.

The demon army had come like a tidalwave. Now, they receded like the waves as well.

Eastvoid and Zhenbu let out sighs of relief, but they were still frightened as they thought back to what had nearly happened. The other Empyrean Gods all landed on the ground as well.

“Darknorth.” Eastvoid walked over, a smile on his face. “Thank you. You saved my life.”

“And mine as well.” Zhenbu also grinned, then patted Ning on the shoulders.

“Admirable.”

“Darknorth, I am in complete awe of you now.”

The nine Empyrean Gods had previously viewed Ning as someone on their level, but now they were filled with the utmost of admiration towards Ning. It must be understood that Redsnow’s ‘Seven Planets God’ or Ning’s ‘Rahu God’ and ‘Heaven Punisher’ all primarily relied on the power of a formation, on the combined energy of many other Immortals and Fiendgods. Only then were they capable of getting close to the Daofather level of power.

Ever since Pangu established Heaven and Earth, there were extremely, extremely few Empyrean Gods and True Immortals who were able to reach that level of power on their own. They could be counted on one hand! Every single one was truly a favored son of the heavens. But of course, the only Empyrean God who had ever actually slain a True God or Daofather had been Houyi.

However, aside from the unequalled Houyi, Ning now stood at the absolute pinnacle amongst the countless Empyrean Gods of the Three Realms!

……

Within the private room inside the Immortal estate. A white-robed Ning appeared out of nowhere, immediately levitating into midair to continue training in the [Icefire Jindan Smelting] technique. Slowly, the giant formation of golden light appeared below him, as did the formation of black light above him. The red-jade gourd and the green-jade gourd once more released Ninefire Lava and Iceheart Pith, and Ning once more began to slowly refine his Jindan.

His Pure Yang Jindan had yet to be upgraded to the limit.

……

After this battle, Myriad Mountains Island once more became calm and tranquil. Both of Ning’s bodies focused on upgrading their Pure Yang Jindans to the second tier. By the time both of them had reached their maximum potential, more than a month and a half had passed since the demon army’s attack.

“I plan to head to the fourth island,” Ning said. “Prior to this, the demon king spoke of the ‘countless demons guarding Demon Icepass’. What’s this all about?”

Upon hearing his words, the other nine Empyrean Gods all laughed.

“So you are finally heading out?”

“Given your power, Ji Ning, it is indeed true that you have a chance of traversing Demon Icepass.”

“We’ve been waiting for you to say these words for a long time now.”

All of them laughed as they spoke. Feiyou hefted his gourd of wine, then said, “On the other side of Myriad Mountains Island is yet another floating wooden bridge. This floating wooden bridge passes through an endless chasm of ice, which has countless demons hidden within it. The number of demons in that place are far more than the number you saw in the demon army that attacked. What you need to do is continuously fight your way through them, to do your best to wipe them all out. You have to fight for a hundred years. After doing so, the demon king will decide whether or not you are qualified to enter the fourth island, based on how many demons you have slain.”

“Fight for a hundred years?” Ning was surprised. The last three times, he merely had to defeat the respective guardians. But this challenge, the fourth challenge, actually required him to battle for a hundred years?”





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Book 20, Chapter 22 - I Dont Regret It


“Right.” Empyrean God Oddwitch said in his hoarse voice, “Because you need to constantly battle, there’s no way you can just use up all your divine power as you please; you need to conserve it and use it sparingly. Darknorth, when you challenge the pass, you’ll have to rely on your swordforce when you fight. Swordforce comes from the very essence of the sword itself, and so it is endless and inexhaustible.”

Ji Ning nodded. If he truly did have to fight for a century, then most of his Ki Refining techniques would be useless. This was because the amount of energy consumed by the ninth-level [Greater Thousand Swords Formation] was quite high. Although his second-tier Jindan gave him far more Pure Yang energy than he had before, far more than any ‘ordinary’ True Immortal had, it still wasn’t possible for him to inexhaustibly release jade swords. He would only be able to unleash them for half a day at most, much less a century.

To battle for extended periods of time, he would have to rely on swordforce! As for divine abilities…Ning wouldn’t even dare to use [Three Heads, Six Arms], much less the [Starseizing Hand]; that would use up divine power at far too fast a rate.

The only way Ning would be able to fight for a century would be if he was able to ensure that the amount of divine power he used up was no more than the amount he was able to naturally replenish.

“So challenging Demon Icepass means overcoming an endless swarm of lesser demons?” Ning asked.

“Almost all of them will be lesser demons,” Empyrean God Autumnwing said. “A demon commander will only spawn on occasion, and the demon king will appear once towards the end. However, when the commanders or the king appears, they will appear by themselves! The lesser demons, however, will come in an endless horde; there simply is no way you can possibly massacre them all. No matter how many you kill, more will be reformed and manifested.”

Ning nodded.

“Actually, aside from battling for a century, there’s one more method,” Eastvoid said with a laugh. “The demon king once told us that if you can fight your way all the the way to the end of Demon Icepass and step onto the other island, that would of course be considered success as well.”