Desolate Era (Book 19 - Book 21)

“Quite a few people here.” Ning glanced downwards. There were mountain peaks below them, and at the base of the mountain peaks sat many Immortal cultivators and Diremonsters. They were in the lotus position, quietly meditating and training.

“However, even the most powerful are merely at the Loose Immortal or Earth Immortal level,” Ninefangs said.

“Normally, Sword Immortal world would have plenty of Empyrean Gods and True Immortals. East Phoenix world would have a good number of Celestial Immortals…but given the current status of the Three Realms, the Celestial Immortals have all been ordered to join their respective armies. Naturally, the strongest remaining figures are at the Loose Immortal level.” Ning swept the mountains below with his gaze. There really were many cultivators seated there.

The vast majority were actually Zifu Disciples and Wanxiang Adepts. They were all seated on prayer mats which had been left behind by the Empyrean God and True Immortal disciples of Daofather Fuju. This was to provide them with organized seating for their meditations. Otherwise, if all of them just haphazardly squeezed together, how could anyone calm down and concentrate?

“Manorlord, I’ll move them away,” Ninefangs said.

“No need. Look; that little Diremonster is planning to give us a seat.” Ning chuckled as he pointed towards a skinny, horned Diremonster who sat in the very first row of seats. The Diremonster stared unblinkingly at the mountain cliffs, but his eyes were bloodshot. Blood was beginning to leak from his mouth; clearly, he was beginning to succumb and go insane.

The sword-arts left here were simply unfathomably profound. They had been left by a Daofather! If you gave up when you couldn’t understand, you would be fine, but if you tried to force your way through…you’d easily go insane.

“Go.” Ning willed it, and whoosh! The Diremonster instantly disappeared into thin air, with Ning then appearing onto that prayer mat. The Immortal cultivators around him were all focused on their meditations. Although two or three of them noticed Ning appear, they didn’t pay too much attention to him. Ning and Ninefangs were both keeping their auras reserved as they wandered the Three Realms. Otherwise, if they were to release their Empyrean God auras, they would’ve terrified all of the Immortals and Fiendgods present to the point of quivering.





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Book 19, Chapter 12 - Meditating


“I’ll meditate here. Ninefangs, you can either meditate as well, or go find some other things to do,” Ji Ning sent mentally.

“Understood,” Ninefangs said respectfully. He then flew to a distant winehouse. He was going to stand guard in the surrounding area, ready to carry Ning’s orders whenever necessary.

……

The skinny little Diremonster who had vomited blood stared around blankly. “What…why am I here.” The area around him was filled with the waters of a flowing river. This was not the meditation area.

“Wasn’t I on Mount Dashcloud? Right…I went too far just now. I almost went crazy. Some expert must’ve intervened and rescued me.” The little monster felt fear for what had almost happened. In Ning’s eyes, he was nothing more than a ‘little monster’, but in truth he was a Primal-level Diremonster. His heart had been filled with hatred, and he had deeply desired to gain insight into a profound sword-art to take revenge. However, he had been too forceful in his attempts to cultivate and so had fallen into madness.

In truth, it was very risky for anyone below the Celestial Immortal level to meditate on the sword-arts of a Daofather. The path of Immortal cultivation, however, was a path filled with many pitfalls. There were many, many stories of those who had developed powerful sword-arts after having gazed upon the sword-arts of a Daofather. It was very common for one to gain sudden insight on Mount Dashcloud, resulting in them establishing a school of their own.

Thus, there were often many weak cultivators who would come here to meditate.

……

Ning sat there in the lotus position, staring at the sword-arts that had been left behind upon the mountain walls. The mountain walls were protected by layers of formations, none of which were particularly special; they had most likely been left behind by Daofather Fuju’s Empyrean God and True Immortal disciples.

The sword-intent which radiated towards him, however, truly stunned him. He felt as though it was stabbing into his very heart.

“What powerful sword-intent. The scars on the mountain wall that were created by casual blows from his sword-arts…countless years have passed, but they are still this terrifying.” Ning stared at the scars carefully. These had been left behind by a supreme Sword Immortal that was on Subhuti’s level!

“Eh? That’s odd.” Ning immediately had a strange feeling as he stared at the scars. “There seems to be a fundamental difference between these sword-arts and the other Daofather-created sword-arts I studied at Mount Innerheart.”

“The style is completely different…as though they belong to two completely different schools of thought.” Ning frowned. “But what exactly is different…?”

He was searching for the answer. Ning was now an Empyrean God and a True Immortal. He was a master of the sword, and was extremely talented in this regard. He could immediately sense that something was different. It was a very indistinct, blurry feeling…and Ning wasn’t immediately able to pinpoint what exactly was causing it.

“I have it.” Ning had a sudden thought. He waved his hand, and a stargold bead appeared within it.

Ning had already bound all of the stargold beads. As a Protocosmic spirit-treasure, it could be controlled by Ning to reveal no presence or aura whatsoever. It was like a completely ordinary item right now.

Every single one of the 3600 stargold beads had been infused with the nine chaos seals.

“The chaos seals.” Ning stared at the constantly changing runes that flowed over the surface of the stargold bead. The runes were changing ceaselessly, never repeating in any discernable pattern.

“Right. The sword-arts of Daofather Fuju remind me of the nine chaos seals. They feel very similar.” Ning immediately realized what the difference was.

“The sword-arts created by Daofathers are generally bound by the mysteries of the Dao of the Heavens.”

“But Daofather Fuju’s sword-arts, as well as these nine chaos seals…they seem to have surpassed the Dao of the Heavens,” Ning mused to himself. “The nine chaos seals were discovered by Daoist Three Purities when he roamed the primordial chaos. It makes sense for them to have surpassed the Heavenly Daos, as they sprung forth from the primordial chaos. But Daofather Fuju’s sword-arts have surpassed the Heavenly Daos as well?”

The Dao of the Heavens was the Heavenly Daos of the Three Realms! They were the laws that governed the functioning of the Three Realms. Outside the Three Realms…the Heavenly Daos were without effect.

For example, in the primordial chaos, only the Heavenly Dao of Primordial Chaos would function. The other nine Heavenly Daos were useless!

“According to the stories, Daofather Fuju’s sword was shockingly fast, surpassing the limits of the Dao of the Heavens,” Ning mused. “Perhaps this is the reason why Daofather Fuju’s sword-arts were so terrifying.”

“I need to carefully meditate on this.”

Upon noting the similarities between the nine chaos seals and Daofather Fuju’s sword-arts, Ning immediately began to meditate.

Every so often, he would switch over to meditating on the nine chaos seals. Whenever he reached a roadblock, he would then switch to meditating on his sword-arts. He would compare and contrast the two.

Unexpectedly, Ning began to discover that the previous bottlenecks he had encountered when training in the Grand Dao of the Waterdrop and the Grand Dao of Qiankun were actually easy to break through. Clearly, the insights he had gained into the nine chaos seals and Daofather Fuju’s sword-arts were of tremendous benefit towards him in training in other Grand Daos.