Desolate Era (Book 19 - Book 21)

“I have no other choice.”


“I’ll have to take the risk.” Ning stood atop the Voidboat, gazing deep into the endless lightning sea.





* * *





Book 19, Chapter 48 - Deep Within the Lightning Sea


“I have to enter the lightning sea in order to train this divine ability.” Ji Ning had no other options.

Ning had fifteen other clones of his true body by his side, hidden within the Starseizing Manor. One of them emerged from the manor, then flew towards the endless sea of lightning.

After flying for a short while, the clone reached the borders of the lightning sea.

“Whew.” Staring at the countless flashes of white lightning before him, Ning couldn’t help but feel his heart shudder.

“Time to go in.” With a boom, Ning charged forward into the endless flashing streaks of lightning. Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Countless lightning bolts surged around him. Ning had long ago put away his magic robes, leaving him completely nude within the sea of lightning. He allowed the white lightning bolts to crash down upon his body repeatedly, and almost instantly close to a thousand lightning bolts came hammering down against him.

These lightning bolts were countless times more powerful than the lightning bolts Ning had encountered during the ninth nine-set of his Empyrean Tribulation. Fortunately, Ning had already mastered the Ninth Cycle of the [Eight-Nine Arcane Art] and so was able to take them with ease.

“Time to begin training in the [Ninehorn Lightning Serpent] and transform my divine body.” Ning allowed his nude body to bathe in the lightning, shutting his eyes and focusing on activating the divine ability. Instantly, a series of divine golden tattoos began to appear on the surface of his body. As the divine tattoos continued to appear, the white lightning around Ning that had been attacking him seemed to become more gentle.

Slowly, Ning’s entire body became covered in countless golden tattoos. These golden tattoos were all linked together, and one could vaguely make out a single massive character…the character for lightning in the script of the Pangaea chaos-kingdom.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Once the barrier of golden tattoo-light was formed, the surrounding white lightning all began to swirl around it. Slowly, a vortex of lightning was formed, and at the center of this vortex was what looked like a cocoon of lightning, with Ning located within the cocoon.

Inside the lightning cocoon.

The muscles and skin of Ning’s naked body were all twitching and shuddering as strands of white lightning continuously flowed into them.

Previously, Ning’s body had been capable of easily withstanding the white bolts of lightning thanks to the [Eight-Nine Arcane Art], which completely blocked all the lightning. But to transform his divine body, he had to allow the lightning to enter every single part of it. Only then would his divine body undergo a qualitative change. Right now, his body wasn’t truly ‘defending’ against the lightning; it was just lowering the power of the lightning dramatically. One slip-up, however, and the body would instantly be reduced to dust.

This was just the beginning. The body’s elemental composition had to be complete changed.

All bodies had elemental affinities and natures. Some, for example, were born with bodies of water, while others were born with bodies of fire. Generally speaking, at Ning’s level, the nature of the body didn’t really matter. For example, even Exalted Celestial Thundergod, who was born with control over the Grand Dao of Lightning, didn’t have a body that could allow lightning sea serpents or Ninehorn Lightning Serpents to roam within it without causing damage. What Ning had to do was to change his body to become a perfect lightning vessel, capable of allowing lightning sea serpents and Ninehorn Lightning Serpents to roam about it with impunity.

Perhaps in terms of power, there was no way he could match Exalted Celestial Thundergod, but his affinity towards lightning would become closer than even the Thundergod’s.

In truth, this alone was testament to how difficult it was to transform one’s divine body. The major power who developed this evasion technique was definitely an extraordinary individual. The only reason why the True God which Ning had acquired this technique from even had access this technique was because he had been extremely lucky when adventuring in a dangerous area.

“Argh.” Ning could sense his entire body being wracked by pain.

The divine body had to be transformed in a procedural manner.

The first step was to use weak lightning bolts to transform it. Next, he would slowly upgrade the power of the lightning, allowing his divine body to become even more perfectly affiliated with lightning, until finally it was suitable for Ninehorn Lightning Serpents to reside within!

The other types of lightning were easily encountered. Ninehorn Lightning Serpents, however, were incredibly rare and precious. Ning had been planning to slowly train within the Three Realms, but he was now forced to enter the lightning seas. The power of the lightning within the lightning seas would increase the further he went in, making it quite a suitable place for him. However, what awaited Ning within the heart of the lightning sea wasn’t the Ninehorn Lightning Serpents; it was the even wilder race of mindless lightning sea serpents.

As for the final step of perfecting his divine body…

Ning had planned to use the Ninehorn Lightning Serpent to do this. The lightning sea serpents were simply too wild; clearly, using them to transform the body would be much more dangerous. However…since he didn’t have a Ninehorn Lightning Serpent, he had no choice but to accept the dangerous alternative.

Time slowly passed on. His divine body transformed at a very slow pace, and every so often a small part of his body would break apart. Ning would hurriedly use his divine power to repair the damage, then continue with his efforts. He spent more than a month within the white cocoon of lightning. Still completely naked, he allowed the white lightning to roam across his body and even inside his body, suffering no damage at all.

“Continue.” Ning soon began to advance towards the deeper parts of the lightning sea.

Slowly, the color of the lightning began to turn darker and darker, and they began to increase in power as well.

Ning came to a halt, then once more began his cultivation. He guided the dull white lightning bolts into his body, allowing them to transform it. He spent merely half a year before succeeding, then once more headed deeper into the sea…

Once Ning reached an area where all the lightning was gray, he came to a halt. He began to use the gray lightning to transform his divine body. This time, he succeeded after just a few days.

“The final step is before me.” Ning stared forward. Past this region of gray lightning was the region of black lightning.

The black lightning serpents swam everywhere. Once they moved at full speed, they would be moving at the speed of light, giving them extraordinary power and savagery.

No matter where Ning looked, he could only see these lightning sea serpents; he was unable to see any Ninehorn Lightning Serpents at all.

“Using lightning sea serpents to transform my body is very dangerous…” Ning stared forward, sensing a certain pressure that made it hard for him to breathe. His [Eight-Nine Arcane Art] was completely incapable of withstanding such terrifying lightning bolts. Even major powers would fear them; Ning was nothing by comparison.

“If I had a Ninehorn Lightning Serpent, my chances would be comparatively greater. Well…there’s nothing for it.” Ning once more activated the body transformation technique. Once more, the golden tattoos appeared atop his skin, quickly forming together into a cocoon of golden light, causing the lightning around Ning to begin to swirl towards him.

Ning continued to advance forward, moving towards the region where the black lightning intersected with the gray lightning.

Whoosh.

Whoosh.