Desolate Era (Book 22 - Book 24)

Rumble…


The primordial chaos around the area suddenly began to writhe. Even the stellar energy of the black star was being ravenously devoured as everything in the area began to swirl around Buddha Jueming. Enormous amounts of energy were being frantically pulled towards him, forming an enormous swirling maelstrom of primordial chaos! As for Buddha Jueming, every single speck of divine power in his body began to transform and be remade anew.

A short while later, the vortex of primordial chaos dissipated. Everything became calm again, and the black star once more regained its normal aura of grandeur.

A hint of sadness could be seen in the eyes of Buddha Jueming.

“I’ve become an Elder God.”

“A thousand years from now, I must leave the Three Realms.” Buddha Jueming was filled with a deep reluctance to part with the Three Realms. He had started as a weak mortal and had slowly risen to power here. He had made miracles happen in Undermoon Lake and as a result had been awarded the [Solitary World God]. After so many years of training in it, he had long ago found the necessary spark of insight within his divine body. He was able to break through from being a True God to being an Elder God whenever he chose.

However, he truly didn’t wish to leave. He had a gentle disposition and was innately suited for the Buddhist Sangha. He had no great desires or ambitions; he was quite satisfied with living a peaceful life in the Three Realms.

However, now that the Endwar was arriving, he had to stand up and step forward.

Only by becoming an Elder God would he be strong enough to have an impact on the outcome of the war. However…becoming an Elder God meant he would have to leave the Three Realms within a thousand years. If he did not, his lifeblood oath would rebound against him and destroy his soul.

“To be able to do battle alongside Master and my old friends against a common enemy…it is enough that I can do this before leaving.” Buddha Jueming sat down on his lotus flower, once more disappearing.

No one knew of his breakthrough in the endless primordial chaos, and he quietly slipped back into his own hall.

The only people present in his hall were those two Buddhist novitiates. He was a low-key figure who never left his palace. Much like Suiren, he used a technique which withdrew and suppressed his aura. Even if someone came to visit him, they probably wouldn’t be able to tell that he had changed. Given how tense the situation was with the Endwar ready to erupt at any moment, no one would come pay a visit, especially since Buddha Jueming was so low-key and spent all of his time in solitary meditation after becoming a True God.

No one in the Three Realms knew that a new Elder God had just been born.





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Book 23, Chapter 7 - Starseizing Hand


Within a quiet little mountain village. This village was a peaceful, calm place. There was an ordinary bamboo house located in the middle of it, and there was a white-robed youth who lived within this house.

The other villagers were all actually quite curious about this youth.

Most of the people in this village were ordinary mortal refugees who had fled to the depths of this mountain and built homes here. Thus, very few people knew each other. The white-robed youth had travelled alongside them and established a residence here as well. They had thought that the white-robed youth was a refugee like them…but then the white-robed youth had lived with them for five full years. During these five years, they noticed that the white-robed youth spent almost every day fishing.

He didn’t chase after pretty lasses, nor did he worry about starting a family, nor did he tend to any fields.

All he did was fish. He relied on fishing to make his living.

“This kid really doesn’t know what’s good for him. I tried to propose a wife for him, but he refused to hear of it. Old Li’s daughter is so pretty, and her family is a fine one! She’s one of the top two eligible maidens in our village. It’s rare for anyone to catch her fancy like he did, but all he did was smile and refuse…” The matchmaker granny grumbled as she walked out of the bamboo house. She even gave the bamboo door a hard kick as she left.

If this old granny knew that she had just kicked at the door of one of the most supreme Fiendgods of the entire Three Realms…what would her reaction be?

As for Ning, he just chuckled as he stood there next to the bamboo door, then grabbed his fishing pole and once more headed out to go fishing.

In previous years, he had wandered the Three Realms. Recently, however, he had chosen to merge into the ranks of commoners and live life alongside them. This actually resulted in Ning slowly gaining insights into a different aspect of the nature of water. In the mortal world, there was a saying that ‘water was life’. Water could lift up a boat, but it could also capsize it. Ning could vaguely sense a profound truth pertaining to the vast Heavenly Dao of Water…

“Eh?” Just as Ning picked up the fishing pole, he came to a halt.

“I’ve finally finished refitting my divine ability.” Ning revealed a hint of delight.

“Let’s take a look.”

Whoosh.

Ning soared into the skies, instantly disappearing into the horizons. However, none of the villagers were able to see this. They only saw the white-robed youth pick up his fishing pole and head off to go fishing. They had no idea that only an incarnation had been left behind.

……

Ning appeared out of nowhere atop a tattered, damaged star located deep in the Void of the Three Realms. As he descended upon the star, some dust was kicked up and sent flying into the endless Void.

“I’ll train in the [Starseizing Hand] here.”

Ning nodded, then waved his hand. The dust on the ground was all swept up together, then solidified into a stone boulder than landed next to Ning.

Ning sat down in the lotus position atop the stone boulder. Waving his hand, he produced a gourd. This gourd was filled with Five Elements essence, the essence that he had acquired from breaking down Pure Yang treasures and Protocosmic spirit-treasures in the Prisonworld through his Five Elements Cauldron. Ning needed to use the Five Elements essence to train the [Starseizing Hand] to the Sixth Cycle!

The Sixth Cycle of the [Starseizing Hand] was incredibly hard to train in.

Daoist Threelives had been lucky eough to acquire a piece of golden starstone which held certain divine runes within it. After spending a long period of time analyzing it, he had used the golden starstone as well as many other supplementary materials to master the Sixth Cycle of the [Starseizing Hand]. The only other person who had ever acquired golden starstone aside from Daoist Threelives was Daoist Three Purities!

However, Daoist Three Purities had used the piece he acquired as a component of his Immortal Slaying Swords!

The Immortal Slaying Swords were based off of his insights into the Nine Chaos Seals. Countless precious materials had been consumed in their creation, and the four Chaos-level swords were like a single weapon that could be joined together to unleash utterly terrifying devastation!

“Golden starstone…this should have been the ‘Starheart’ item which World God Northrest’s records mentioned. It’s quite impressive that the denizens of the Three Realms managed to find two such items.” Ning shook his head. Without golden starstone, there was no way he could master the Sixth Cycle of the [Starseizing Hand].

And so…