Desolate Era (Book 19 - Book 21)

But of course…given that Ning had fourth-level heartforce, it would be extremely, extremely difficult to follow him without him noticing. The Seamless Gate did have some individuals who were capable of it, but for now at least Ning wasn’t important enough for those figures to lower themselves to sneak after him.

“Of course I’m talking you battle. Number One, Number Two, Number Three…this time, we’re going to let the Seamless Gate get a good taste of your power!” Ning laughed.

“Those Seamless Gate imbeciles…they are so dead.”

“We definitely have got to let them know our power!”

“Right on.”

The three little fellows were all extremely excited. The process of gaining a soul via the [Armaments of Sin] upgrade was a fairly slow one, and the Darknorth swords hadn’t been with Ning for that long to begin with. Sufficiently old Pure Yang treasures would be able to gain souls even without any special techniques. Now that these three had all broken through to become Protocosmic treasures, they all gained spirits of their own.

In truth, Protocosmic spirit-treasures could be considered living creatures. They could exist on their own, and they could even engage in cultivation.

The big bear of the Starseizing Manor, for example. Ning had seen it cry, which had made him feel as though the bear was an actual, living being. And it was true; thanks to his extreme age, the giant yellow bear had long ago broken through and had begun to cultivate on his own. After Ning had barged into the ‘underwater estate’ and become the heir to Daoist Threelives, the giant yellow bear had naturally wanted to take care of him. Prior to Ning becoming an Empyrean God, though, the giant yellow bear refused to let him completely bind the estate.

This was the reason why, when Ning had taken on Subhuti as his master, Subhuti had said that it was not yet the right time for the giant yellow bear to leave the manor. It was because once the bear escaped the manor and lived on his own, there would be no way for Ning to control it.

Now, Ning had complete control over the manor. But since they were in dangerous, stormy times, the giant yellow bear was willing to remain as the spirit of the treasure, accepting Ning as his continued master. If he was to venture out alone, his chances of dying would be too high.

“Let’s go.” Three Darknorth swords in hand, Ning headed out.

Upon returning to the Three Realms, Ning immediately used his talisman to contact his master. He then returned to the Crescent major world.

Mount Innerheart. The Daoist monastery.

“Master,” Ning said respectfully.

Subhuti looked at Ning.

“Master, please take a look.” Ning handed a furled scroll over to his master.

“Can it be yet another technique?” Patriarch Subhuti chuckled upon seeing this. Still, he accepted the scroll with a smile. He immediately sent his coresense into the scroll…and then he fell silent.

Ning just stood there quietly, waiting.

Finally, Patriarch Subhuti couldn’t help but let out a surprised sigh. Scroll in hand, he said, “A fine divine ability. A fine divine ability! Even I want to train in it after reading it. Alas, the requirements of this divine ability are extremely hard to meet. Transforming the divine body, then taming a Ninehorn Lightning Serpent…all of this is extremely difficult.”

“Right. Disciple, I heard that you paid a visit to Exalted Celestial Thundergod. I was wondering why you went to seek him out…but upon seeing this technique, I imagine that you must’ve sought him out for the sake of acquiring a Ninehorn Lightning Serpent, yes?”

“Yes.” Ning nodded.

“Ugh. To Thundergod, those serpents are as important as his life.” Patriarch Subhuti shook his head. “Thundergod has a foul temper. During the Primordial Realm, when all the powers were struggling for domination, Thundergod became legendary for his temper and for being a solitary figure. He offended quite a few major powers. The only reason why he was able to survive was because he was extremely powerful and didn’t take part in any of those wars. That temper of his…even if the Human Sovereigns, Tathagata, and Daoist Three Purities visited him, it’d be useless.”

Ning laughed. He had personally witnessed the legendary temper of Exalted Celestial Thundergod! In truth, if Thundergod was a good-natured person, he could’ve simply spent a few extra moments explaining the situation to Ning, and Ning naturally would not have pressed him further. However, Thundergod had instead turned immediately hostile, shouting for Ning to leave. Clearly, Thundergod really did have an arrogant, foul disposition that made it so that he didn’t even wish to waste time explaining.

“This divine ability really is excellent.” Subhuti couldn’t help but praise it again. “Right now, in the Three Realms, the fastest person is the Lord of All Fiends of the Seamless Alliance. Daofather Goldcrow is on our side and he is ranked second.”

Ning knew this quite well. Daofather Goldcrow was the sole Golden Crow that had survived Houyi’s slaughter of the ten. Mother Nuwa had saved the Golden Crow from Houyi. Back then, he had merely been an Empyrean God, but by now he had become a Daofather. By relying on his Golden Sunstreak divine ability, he was tremendously powerful and fast. However…the Lord of All Fiends was even more formidable.

At the end of the war that destroyed the Primordial Era, Mother Nuwa had broken through to Pangu’s level and slaughtered the Lord of All Things, then forced the ‘king’ of the Seamless Gate into merging himself into the Heavenly Daos in order to survive. The Lord of All Fiends, however, had rescued and led away many of the powerful experts of the Seamless Gate. They had fled without a trace! To be able to escape the clutches of a Pangu-level deity…from this, one could see how formidable the Lord of All Fiends was.

“The major powers of the Three Realms have tried to come up with an ability like this long ago, but none of them were successful. Only the Golden Crows are born with this sort of innate ability. These alien Outsiders…they truly are formidable figures. Although the body transformation process of this divine ability is quite difficult, there should be some major powers in the Three Realm who are capable of succeeding in it. However, taming Ninehorn Lightning Serpents is another matter. Thousandrot Godfruit, Myriad Thunders Godgem, chaos nectar…I’ve heard of all three of them, but the Three Realms doesn’t have any of them at all.”

“If some of the most elite major powers on our side were to master this technique, they might become comparable to the Lord of All Fiends in speed.” Subhuti let out a long sigh.

Although Daofather Goldcrow had the assistance of his Golden Sunstreak divine ability, in many other areas such as the Heavenly Daos he was far inferior to the Lord of All Fiends.

“A pity. A pity.” Subhuti shook his head and sighed.

Ning, however, handed Subhuti six little black bottles.

“Eh?” Subhuti was startled. Ning just looked at his master, not saying a word.

A thought suddenly entered Subhuti’s mind. A stunned look appeared in his eyes, and he hurriedly accepted those six black bottles and sent his coresense into them. The black bottles all contained drops of chaos nectar that seemed to contain countless tiny worlds within them. Although he had never seen chaos nectar before, since the various powers of the Three Realms had slain and soulscoured many alien Outsiders, they had acquired books and records that taught them how to identify it.

Upon his coresense sensing how unfathomably profound and mysterious the liquid was, and how it contained the aura of chaos…Subhuti instantly knew that it had to be chaos nectar.