Desolate Era (Book 19 - Book 21)

Ning accepted it in a very practiced manner, then sent his coresense into it.

A large amount of information began to flood into his mind, but after just two breaths worth of time, it came to an end. This was a fairly simple technique, but despite its simplicity, it would be hard for even World Gods or Chaos Immortals to intentionally devise an idea like it. This technique…the principles behind it were quite interesting.

When royal figures died on Earth during the early ages, they would have jade treasures buried with them. Because those treasures would be covered in dirt and mud for hundreds or thousands of years, once they were excavated they would still be imprinted with some dirt or mud which would have seeped into the jade itself.

It wouldn’t be very practical to come up with an idea to actively ‘seep’ dirt and mud into jade on Earth unless one used extremely high-tech methods, akin to how World Gods and Chaos Immortals would be able to use their tremendous power to forcibly bind this sword. However, given a long enough period of time, just keeping jade in constant contact with mud would eventually cause the mud to ‘seep’ into the jade. This was the essence of the ‘Heartseep’ technique.

“What?” Ning’s face changed. “It needs that long? A thousand years?”

“Is a thousand years really that long?” The golden-armored warlady looked towards Ning, puzzled. “For you, an Empyrean God and a True Immortal, to spend a mere thousand years binding a priceless treasure like this and complain about how long it takes…? This technique is already quite formidable, and the amount of time is already quite short.”

Ning grew frantic. He didn’t have the time needed to slowly bind the treasure. The outside world had already descended into a state of calamity, and he had already spent more than a century in Undermoon Lake. He naturally wanted to leave as soon as possible.

“Can I take this sword back with me? Can I slowly bind it in the outside world?” Ning asked.

The golden-armored warlady shook her head. “You can try. If you can move it, go ahead.”

“Oh?” Puzzled, Ning immediately walked forward and reached out to grab the terribly damaged sword. Since the warlady wasn’t going to stop him, this shouldn’t prove dangerous.

Boom!

As soon as Ning’s palm descended upon the sword, an invisible burst of power blasted out, knocking Ning backwards and sending him flying away like a meteor.

A short while later, he flew back.

“B-but…” As Ning once more walked into the jade shrine, he stared in astonishment at the badly damaged sword. It clearly was in terrible shape, but it still possessed incredible power.

“If you take it out without binding it, once the Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals of the Three Realms notice it you’ll be doomed.” The golden-armored warlady shook her head. “I heard you say in Undermoon Lake that the Three Realms has entered a state of war between two main allied camps? If you go out and end up losing that treasure to the major powers of the Seamless Gate, you’ll become a sinner in the eyes of all your allies.”

Ning understood what she was saying…but was he really going to be trapped here for a thousand years?

“You only have two clones here.” The golden-armored warlady chuckled. “Two absolutely identical clones. Techniques like these always produce more than just two, right? I imagine you have other clones in the outside world at all. If that’s really the case, then they should be able to deal with any emergent situations in the outside world.”

Indeed. In the outside world, Ning had sixteen ‘true bodies’ and eighteen Primaltwin bodies.

“In addition…this sword has suffered tremendous damage. Just look at it; it’s almost fallen apart. Only its energy source remains undamaged. It shouldn’t be that hard to bind it; five hundred years if you are fast, a thousand years if you are slow.” The golden-armored warlady explained, “Oh, right; aside from this treasure, Master has left behind other techniques for you to receive. He spent tremendous effort recording them all down for you.”

As she spoke, the warlady waved her hand. Instantly, one bamboo scroll after another began to materialize in the air, coming together to form a small mountain of scrolls!

“Some of his techniques could not be transmitted, due to the rules of Vastheaven Palace. The others, the ones that he was permitted to teach, are all here.” The golden-armored warlady pointed towards the small mountain of bamboo scrolls.





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Book 20, Chapter 37 - The Sole True Body


“One of your clones can focus on using the Heartseep technique to bind the sword while the other can begin the slow process of memorizing all these techniques,” the golden-armored warlady suggested.

Ji Ning nodded.

Whoosh. Whoosh.

Two white-robed youths appeared within the jade shrine. One stood silently in front of the mountain of bamboo scrolls, with every single scroll emanating ripples of power. The other walked next to the divine sword, moved the prayer mat closer to it, then sat down by himself and quietly began to use the Heartseep technique.

Using the Heartseep technique was quite simple, but there was one prerequisite; one had to have a basic understanding of heartforce!

World God Northrest knew for certain that his chosen successor would have a basic understanding of heartforce. It must be understood that most of the True Gods and Daofathers of the Three Realms had reached the second or third stages of heartforce. Truly powerful experts all generally had at least some mastery of heartforce. Anyone capable of mastering the [Five Treasures] would definitely have some level of understanding of heartforce.

As noted by the instructions included with the Heartseep technique, heartforce was ephemeral and formless, yet extraordinarily marvelous and effective. The Heartseep technique, in and of itself, was a special way of applying heartforce.

Ning’s heartforce had reached the fourth level. Based on his calculations, he would need a thousand years to bind the sword. If his heartforce had only been on the first or second level, the amount of time needed would’ve been even greater.

Ning’s invisible heartforce seeped into the body of the Violetjewel sword. It entered the sword effortlessly.

Ning’s heartforce could sense that within Violetjewel, there was a blurry region that was filled with countless cracks and scars. Clearly, Violetjewel had been damaged tremendously. Within the blurry region, there was a complex, octahedral crystalline structure. Every single face of the octahedral crystal was covered with extremely complicated runes. The runes were far, far more complicated than anything Ning had ever encountered, even the nine chaos seals.

The surface of the octahedral crystal was covered with a layer of flowing light that prevented Ning’s heartforce from penetrating through it in the slightest, but he was still able to sense the unearthly power that lay hidden within it.

This was the power source of the Violetjewel sword! The most central core of it!

So long as the core remained intact, even if the entire physical sword was destroyed, it could one day be repaired.

“Time to begin.” Ning’s heartforce was like an invisible hand within the sword. It began to form countless dots of starlight, all of which joined together to form slender threads. The many starlight threads swirled around the octahedral crystal, beginning to ‘seep’ into it as instructed by the Heartseep technique.

Two white-robed youths; one seated atop a prayer mat next to the sword on the stone dais, the other standing in front of a mountain of bamboo scrolls.

Time flowed on nonstop. In the blink of an eye, four months passed.