Desolate Era (Book 22 - Book 24)

It had been a long battle. At first, his sword-arts had continuously improved, but towards the end he was unable to improve any further. He had already made full use of all the insights and experiences he had gained during six thousand years of meditation in the Three Realms. No rate of explosive could be maintained forever. Clearly, the insights Ning had gained in recent years weren’t enough to allow him to truly master the ‘Killsword stance’ just yet.

However, he now comprehended the majority of the ‘Killsword stance’. The parts he had yet to comprehend were the hardest parts…but of course, the power of Ning’s sword-arts had increased significantly as well.

“It’s rare to encounter someone on Fogstone who understands the Dao of the Sword. You can come seek me out whenever you wish,” World God Blackmist said with a smile.

“Understood.” Ning was overjoyed.

Although Blackmist had said ‘whenever you wish’, Ning wouldn’t be so foolish as to actually seek him out all the time. When training in the sword, one had to have both insights and actual combat experience! Only when he had enough insights would he seek Blackmist out for another duel.

“Based on how quickly I’m improving…I should be able to master the second stance in about ten thousand years.” Ning mused to himself, “If I use the Heavengazer Tower, it should only take me a few centuries.”

If it wasn’t for World God Blackmist, Ning would probably need a hundred times as much time in order to succeed. In fact, it was entirely possible that Ning would encounter a bottleneck that would stymie him, no matter how hard he tried to breach it. With a capable teacher providing guidance, he would be able to easily make his way past those bottlenecks. A good teacher could make a tremendous difference.

“Darknorth.” The Starlord of Fogstone spoke out as Immortal Abyssus and World God Blackmist both looked towards Ning.

“Starlord.” Ning looked at him respectfully.

“You are quite strong indeed. Fogstone has a total of five generals. As of today, you are now the sixth.” The Starlord smiled.

Ning was slightly startled. ‘General’ was an important rank; not only did one have to be powerful, one generally also needed to have rendered accomplishments for the organization.

“Understood,” Ning hurriedly said.

“Since you are a general, we won’t place too many restrictions on you,” the Starlord said with a smile. “If my guess is correct, you probably haven’t been training for too long.”

“Right,” Ning said.

“Mm. Since you’ve only trained for a short period of time, I imagine you are definitely working hard to try and break through to the World-level.” The Starlord continued, “That means in the future, you’ll go out adventuring. This is the lifeblood oath I need you to make in order to join the Fogstone Army. It is a fairly loose one.” As he spoke, he waved his hand, causing a scroll to fly down towards Ning.

Ning accepted the scroll. Anyone who wished to join an organization would have to swear a lifeblood oath. However, if one merely joined as a ‘guest retainer’, the terms of the lifeblood oath would generally be much looser.

Ning glanced through the scroll. Indeed, this lifeblood oath was a fairly relaxed one. It placed almost negligible constraints on Ning, only requiring him to be loyal to Fogstone.

“Starlord,” Ning said respectfully. “Can we make a slight alteration to this oath?”

“Alteration?” The Starlord frowned. This oath was already an extremely loose one. “What part needs altering?”

“In the future, my journeys will most likely take me beyond the Badlands Territory,” Ning said respectfully.

“Leave the Badlands?” The three World-level experts were all puzzled.

The Badlands Territory was a vast place with many World-level experts. A territory of this size was more than large enough for an Elder God or Ancestral Immortal to adventure through.

“I don’t have a choice. I’m bound by another lifeblood oath. In the future, I’ll definitely have to leave the Badlands Territory and seek out a place known as Vastheaven Palace.” Ning immediately asked, “Might I ask the three of you, seniors, if you know where Vastheaven Palace is?”

There was no need for him to hide the fact that he had to seek out Vastheaven Palace.

These three World-level figures were all much more experienced than him. Perhaps they might know where Vastheaven Palace lay.





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Book 24, Chapter 12 - Sentinel


World God Blackmist, Chaos Immortal Abyssus, and the Starlord of Fogstone were all slightly startled.

“Vastheaven Palace?” The Starlord glanced towards the other two, puzzled. “I haven’t gone to many places, just the Badlands Territory, the Cicada Territory, and three other territories. You two have been to many more places.”

“I’ve never heard of it either.” World God Blackmist shook his head. “Abyssus, you’ve journeyed through the primordial chaos for quite some time. Have you heard of Vastheaven Palace?”

Chaos Immortal Abyssus glanced downwards dubiously. “Elder God Darknorth, what is this Vastheaven Palace? Is it a region, the name of a palace, or an organization?”

“An organization. It should be quite a powerful one,” Ning said.

“Haven’t heard of it.”

Abyssus was rather puzzled. “I’ve spent countless years traveling in the territories surrounding the Badlands as well as quite a few distant territories. I’ve been to many places and collected many star maps, but I’ve never heard of an organization known as Vastheaven Palace!”

“The other World-level members of Fogstone have been to far fewer places than Abyssus has. If not even Abyssus has heard of this place, it must be located extremely far away or in a very remote area. In fact, it could’ve been wiped out many chaos cycles ago,” the Starlord said.

A chill entered Ning’s heart.

World God Northrest, what did you do? You ran around in such a crazy manner that even a sword like Violetjewel was nearly destroyed, ending up in a place you didn’t recognize.

This was going to be even harder than he thought!

World God Northrest had never heard of the Badlands Territory, while the Starlord of Fogstone, World God Blackmist, and Immortal Abyssus had never heard of Vastheaven Palace! It must be understood that Vastheaven Palace controlled the entire Vastheaven Territory, which meant that it should be a fairly famous organization. And yet, even someone like Immortal Abyssus who had journeyed through many territories had never heard of the place. From this, one could imagine just how far the Badlands Territory was from the Vastheaven Territory.

“Will I be able to find it within a single chaos cycle?” Ning began to worry.

“I’ll help you ask the other World-level experts about Vastheaven Palace. I’ll also ask my friends if any of them have heard of it,” the Starlord said.

“Thank you, Starlord.” Ning nodded.

The Starlord gazed downwards at Ning, then shook his head and laughed. “That’s all I can really do. However…if not even Immortal Abyssus has heard of the place, it’s unlikely that any of my friends would have heard of it. Mm, right. Yes, we can make a slight alteration to the lifeblood oath you need to swear in order to join the Fogstone Army.” As he spoke, he pointed at the scroll. A twinkling little sparkle of star light instantly descended, covering the scroll in Ning’s hands and changing its contents.

“What do you think?” The Starlord asked.

Ning lowered his head to look at it. There were now even fewer restrictions than before, and once he became a World God there would be virtually no restrictions on him whatsoever.

“If you are willing to accept this, you can swear the lifeblood oath now,” the Starlord said.

“Yes,” Ning said respectfully, scroll in hand. This scroll effectively acted as an oathstone on its own.

“I swear on my very life itself…”

From this day forth, Ning was now a formal member of Fogstone. Even if trillions of years passed and he became far more powerful than he was now, he would still be a member of Fogstone.

Within the hall.