Desolate Era (Book 19 - Book 21)

“Oh?” Ning was surprised.

“The Immortal Slaying Swords’ sword-diagrams were modeled after my nine chaos seals. Daoist Three Purities joined four mighty Chaos swords together, then infused them with seven layers of seals of his own devising. That’s the reason why it has such extraordinary power, and why the Immortal Slaying Swords were reputed to be the number one killing treasure of the Primordial Era. But in terms of the profoundness of the seals? The seven seals which Daoist Three Purities devised simply cannot compare to the nine chaos seals inside me.” The handsome child looked at Ning. “Daoist Three Purities said himself that even though I am ‘only’ a supreme Protocosmic spirit-treasure, anyone capable of mastering and controlling all nine chaos seals would be able to unleash a level of power that was no lower than that of his Immortal Slaying Sword Formation. That’s why I’m the supreme killing treasure!”

“Honestly, he’s the only one who calls himself that.” The old man on the boat snickered.

“More like the meanest killing treasure,” the small bald monk agreed.

“Anyone capable of binding all nine seals would probably be on Pangu’s level. By then, every single casual punch or kick would be comparable to the power of the Immortal Slaying Sword Formation,” Ning laughed.

“You guys…!” The handsome child was frantic with rage.

“Enough, enough. You are pretty formidable.” Ning laughed. “Let me give those nine chaos seals a test first.”

“You have to be able to bind at least one of the chaos seals if you want to be able to control me at all. Otherwise…the only way you’ll be able to use me is as little balls to throw at people. It’d be a complete waste of my status as the supreme killing treasure.” The handsome child said arrogantly, “Very, very few Empyrean Gods or True Immortals can master even the first chaos seal. Generally speaking, it’s impressive for even Daofathers to be able to master three of the chaos seals. Daoist Three Purities had to spend countless years in order to master seven of them.”

Ning just sat down in the lotus position, completely focusing his heart and mind on binding the chaos seals.

Rumble…

The 3600 stargold beads levitated in the air above Ning, glowing with light as dark golden runes flowed over them, transforming as they did so. No matter how long one stared at them, the divine runes would constantly change and appear different from the ones that came before.

These were the chaos seals!

They would constantly change, never remaining constant and forever transforming. It was like the circular ratio, ‘pi’, of the human world, a number that stretched off into infinity with no pattern. The chaos seals were similarly without any pattern or end. The only way to master them was to master the fundamental essence that lay beneath them. When Daoist Three Purities had found the nine chaos seals, he had been stunned and shocked by them. He had spent a total of 120,000 years in the primordial chaos meditating on them. After sensing that he had gained a basic understanding of them, he had chosen to infuse the nine chaos seals into the 3600 stargold beads.

But alas…he had only been able to completely copy and infuse the nine chaos seals into the beads! As to comprehending and mastering them? He was far from it!

“Simply inconceivable. So the chaos seals are actually this arcane and profound.” Ning’s mind was completely focused on the seals. He felt like an ordinary mortal on Earth who was staring at the vast, seemingly infinite stars of the Milky Way. He wasn’t capable of knowing what was on a single one of those stars…and yet, before him lay the entire Milky Way…

This caused Ning to feel a sense of despair that halted him in his very tracks.

Beautiful. Simply beautiful. Simply stunning.

This was definitely the most profound, the most stunning seal which Ning had ever seen! Not even the mysteries of the Heavenly Daos could even come close to comparing to these nine chaos seals.

“Let me focus on the first chaos seal for now.”

Ning focused all of his efforts into understanding the most basic, the most simple, and most rudimentary chaos seal; the first seal. By now, Ning was applying the full force of his powerful heartforce in analyzing the chaos seals. This was extremely taxing on his heartforce and extremely exhausting. However, thanks to the fact that his heartforce had reached the fourth stage, Ning was able to force his way into completely binding and mastering the first chaos seal in one try.

The first of the nine chaos seals began to wriggle about like a tiny tadpole…then completely disappeared, having fallen under Ning’s control.

Ning opened his eyes. His eyes were filled with strange divine runes which flowed through them.

“No wonder my master, Daoist Threelives, procured this treasure for me.” After mastering the first chaos seal, Ning instantly understood. “The disciples of Daoist Three Purities are most likely all extremely close to the Daofather level. I, however…I’ve only mastered the Grand Dao of the Sword. I haven’t even mastered the Grand Dao of the Waterdrop, to say nothing of the Heavenly Dao of Water.”

Although he was extremely powerful, his power came from his heartforce and his divine abilities. As for the Dao? Ning was very, very far away from being able to comprehend the Heavenly Dao of Water. The likes of Patriarch Lu, Silvermoon, and Redsnow had long ago mastered multiple Grand Daos. They were extremely close to mastering a Heavenly Dao; in fact, some of them had reached the final bottlenecks. Upon breaking through the final bottlenecks, they would become Daofathers! Ning, however, hadn’t even mastered the Grand Dao of the Waterdrop. He was very, very far from their level.

“So the Grand Dao of the Waterdrop was this simple.” Ning could clearly sense that his insights into the Grand Dao of the Waterdrop was rising at a simply monstrous rate.

After having encountered the incomparably profound and exalted chaos seals, he could sense that mastering the Grand Dao of the Waterdrop would become far simpler.

“This treasure is tremendously beneficial to me in comprehending the Dao and in improving my sword-arts. Compared to those seals…my sword-arts are simply too crude.” Ning had already found the right direction for himself.

“Condense.” Ning willed it, and whoosh! The 3600 stargold beads actually began to merge together. Every ten beads joined into one, resulting in a total of 360 larger goldstar beads. Ning, however, felt great pressure when he did this.

“Condense!” Light flashed in Ning’s eyes. He was forced to employ his heartforce. With heartforce guiding his Immortal energy, he was able to cause the 360 goldstar beads to once more merge together to form a total of 36 goldstar beads. Every single goldstar bead emanated an utterly shocking amount of power. By now, controlling them was just as hard as controlling a perfect Heaven Punisher; he had to employ his heartforce in order to succeed.

“What?! You are able to condense me into the Thirty-Six Heavens?” The handsome child levitating next to Ning cried out in shock.

“How can that be?!”

“Just controlling those 3600 beads is incredibly difficult. Only a fraction of the Empyrean Gods and True Immortals of the universe are even able to bind and control them. As for controlling the supreme Thirty-Six Heavens, there are no Empyrean Gods or True Immortals who can do such a thing. This is something which only Daofathers can do!” The small bald monk was shocked as well. He turned to look towards the handsome child. “Were you just bragging in the past and spouting hot air in front of us?”