Desolate Era (Book 19 - Book 21)

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Sword-light howled forth with incredible, extraordinary speed, seeming to cover the skies with its might. The ninth guardian was so startled he immediately used [Three Heads, Six Arms]. Ning, however, did the same. An infinite amount of sword-light seemed to blast forward like an inexhaustible, seamless flow of water, carrying an aura and intent of mournfulness within it. In but a single breath’s worth of time, the ninth guardian was knocked flying backwards. He fell onto the ground, rolling over several times before managing to clamber back to his feet.

“You win.” The ninth guardian grinned. “Darknorth, the only one standing between you and escape is the final guardian, the tenth guardian. Be careful.” After speaking, he vanished into thin air.

Ning grinned as well. When he used full power, his opponent had only been able to just barely hold on for a breath’s worth of time. Ning was quite satisfied with this result.

Swoosh! He advanced deeper into the Path of Blades at incredible speed!

The sky was completely dark in this part of the path. The countless titanic spears, blades, and swords that were jutting out from the ice on each side of the wooden bridge were glowing with dim light. Without their light, it would probably be completely pitch-black here.

“How odd,” Ning mused to himself.

Soon, a black-robed youth appeared in the distance. He was seated in the lotus position, and when Ning arrived he opened his eyes to look towards Ning.

Those eyes…

They contained a deathly silence within them. They seemed to have no life within them at all, just utter despair, enough to freeze one’s heart.

“View the sword-art,” the black-robed youth said calmly.

Ning turned his head to look at the sword-art which had appeared on the nearby giant sword. As with before, the entire sword-art was displayed from start to finish, from simple to complex. As Ning watched, he began to feel stunned. Even after watching three times, Ning didn’t recover from his dazed state.

“Enough.” The black-robed youth rose to his feet, a pair of swords appearing in his hands.

Ning came back to his senses.

“What is this sword-art?” Ning immediately asked.

“The name of this sword-art is Seversoul!” The black-robed youth replied.

“Seversoul? Seversoul…? The name is just like the sword-art itself…it really does sever the soul.” Utter agony filled Ning’s heart when he just visualized that sword-art. He knew, however, that there was no way for him to truly master this sword-art, because the essence and intent of this sword-art was the ruination of the soul that would come when one experienced true, absolute, eternal despair.

Ning, however, had no way of forcing himself to feel this sort of absolute despair! The techniques of this sword-art were also far superior to that of the [Mourning] sword-art; in fact, it was no weaker than Ning’s own [Brightmoon] sword-art. It was only surpassed by the [Five Treasures] sword-art itself.”

“Come,” the black-robed youth said calmly.

Ning nodded, swords appearing in his hands as well.

Swish! Swish!

Their two figures became blurred as they started to fight.

Two mighty sword-arts. One was filled with the intent of mourning, its sword-light flowing out in a consecutive stream. It had been created by distilling the essence of [Five Treasures], [Mourning], and many other techniques.

The other was filled with the essence of a ruined soul and utter despair. Its profoundness and marvelousness came from the creator of Undermoon Lake, who had intended it. Although it was different from the [Five Treasures], it was also quite shocking and brilliant.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The two continuously battled, advancing and retreating.

They actually fought to a complete standstill. Both sword-arts had their own strengths; both could be described as having reached the apex of skill possible for the fourth stage of swordforce. If their swords moved any faster, they would have surpassed the limits of the Heavenly Daos. If the intent of their swords was any deeper and stronger, they would have reached the Sword God stage.

“So the sword can actually be used in a way like this.” Ning had viewed this sword-art three times prior to this. Upon seeing how the tenth guardian actually wielded this sword-art, he instantly gained a much deeper understanding of some of its mysteries. New insights regarding the [Seversoul] sword-art began to fill his mind.

There was an intrinsic difference between Ning and the tenth guardian.

The tenth guardian was only capable of unleashing this single sword-art.

Ning, however, was capable of learning from the tenth guardian and fusing what he learned into his own [Brightmoon] sword-art. Although the learning process resulted in him occasionally being put at a disadvantage, Ning’s overall level of power was slowly, steadily beginning to rise. His sword-art became even more unpredictable and ephemeral, and it became faster and more powerful as well.

The battle continued for a day…two days…three days…

Neither side used any divine abilities. They were solely competing in sword-arts.

The insights Ning had gained into this sword-art were merging together nonstop in his mind, then inspiring him further. This sort of feeling, the feeling of of nonstop improvement, was quite intoxicating…but he had still essentially reached the limit possible for him at his current level of sword-arts. Any improvements he was now able to make would be minute. He would at most be able to put the tenth guardian at a disadvantage, but the tenth guardian would still be able to launch occasional counterattacks as well.

“Eh?”

Ning was suddenly stunned, and his sword-light turned sluggish for a moment.

Boom! A streak of sword-light crashed against his body, knocking him flying.

“Why did you stop?” The tenth guardian stood there, a frown on his face. Ning’s sword-art was clearly on a slightly higher level than his. If they continued to fight without Ning making any improvements at all, he would’ve permitted Ning to go into the fifth island. However, he could sense that Ning was still slowly improving, and his sword-arts were slowly transforming. Thus, he didn’t stop the fight and instead continued to battle against Ning.

This was because the purpose of Path of Blades was to temper and train Empyrean Gods. If Ji Ning was still improving, then of course the guardian wasn’t going to halt.

But Ning had suddenly come to a halt…this puzzled the tenth guardian.

Ning stood there atop the wooden bridge, a dazed look in his eyes. In his mind, however…there was a disturbance that felt like Pangu cleaving apart Heaven and Earth.

BOOM!!!!

The [Seversoul] sword-art worked in a way that was completely different from the [Five Treasures] sword-art. Ning’s [Brightmoon] was derived from the essence of the [Five Treasures], and so as Ning gained more and more insight into [Seversoul] and began to fuse it with the essence of the [Five Treasures] within [Brightmoon]…with a boom, he suddenly understood. He blew through the last bottleneck preventing him from mastering the [Five Treasures].

Prior to this, it was as though a thin curtain of mist had been preventing him from seeing the final parts of it clearly. But now…Ning broke straight through that final barrier.

Boom…..

“The [Five Treasures]…” Ning shut his eyes, the many profound mysteries within his mind rapidly beginning to join together. All of the insights he had gained into the [Five Treasures] were merging into a perfect whole at high speed.

He had mastered the entire [Five Treasures]!

There was no doubt about it, no questions left in his mind.

“So this…this is what it means to surpass the Heavenly Daos.” Ning opened his eyes to stare at the dark skies surrounding him. He lightly flicked out with a finger, and it seemed to create a ripple as though it had touched something.





* * *





Book 20, Chapter 31 - The Fifth Island