Desolate Era (Book 22 - Book 24)

“Go.” The black-robed Ning pointed in front of him, causing the thirty-six frozen lotuses streaking forward through the skies and swiveling around the black-haired elder like thirty-six streaks of frozen energy.

Over the past twenty thousand years, Ning had improved dramatically both with the sword as well as in the Dao! He would also spend quite a bit of time meditating on the Nine Chaos Seals. Due to his tremendous level of insight into the Dao, he had already mastered six of the chaos seals. The sixth chaos seal allowed Ning to closely resonate with the ‘original essence of water’, something which was located infinitely far away. As a result he was now able to manifest these frozen lotuses, which could be used to emanate streams of unfathomably cold energy to bind and trap foes.

After activating the sixth chaos seal, Ning’s Thirty-Six Heavens were comparable to ordinary Chaos treasures in power. Alas, in this form they could only really be used to constrict and bind foes!

“You want to bind me?” The black-haired elder let out a cold laugh. “I am an Immortal cultivator, not a Fiendgod. I don’t even need to fight you in close combat. What can this technique of yours possibly do?”

“If you won’t come fight me in close combat, I’ll come fight you in close combat.” The white-robed Ning’s body momentarily blurred as he manifested the [Three Heads, Six Arms] technique, holding five Darknorth swords and Violetjewel in his six arms.

Whoosh.

The white-robed Ning immediately surged forward like a streak of light, flying towards the black-haired elder.

“Eh?” The black-haired elder’s face changed. Ki Refiners hated fighting in close combat. He immediately let out a cold snort, causing two streams of energy to emerge from his nostrils. These two streams of energy crystallized like ice, forming a pair of divine swords.

“Just two of them? Pull out all three of your swords,” Ning roared as he charged forward.

“Against you?” The black-haired elder sneered coldly, “Two swords is enough.”

The two crystalline swords sliced out in two streaks of light, causing the air itself to glimmer with frozen energy as they struck straight towards the white-robed Ning.

Clang!

The two attacks collided against each other.

The white-robed Ning was knocked backwards, his face changing slightly. “Damn.” As soon as they exchanged blows, he realized that this Ancestral Immortal definitely had the power of an elite Elder God! He was even more difficult to deal with than Godfiend Witherspike had been. Fortunately, Ning had mastered the Sixth Cycle of the [Starseizing Hand]; otherwise, Ning wouldn’t be able to do anything to him.

“That little bit of power you possess won’t be enough to allow you to even get near me,” the black-haired man sneered.

“Is that so?” The white-robed Ning charged forward once again, striking out with all six swords. This time, he applied the Sixth Cycle of the [Starseizing Hand] to each hand! His mighty divine power instantly burst forth, causing six streaks of sword-light to tear through the skies, carrying an aura of inexorable might.

[Brightmoon] sword-art, Heavenbreaker stance!

The two flashing crystalline swords that were striking out towards Ning were instantly struck by thise blow.

Boom!

The two crystalline swords were actually smashed flying backwards. On Ning’s side, the flashing strike from the blood-colored Violetjewel continued to streak forwards, striking out more than a thousand kilometers as it hacked towards the distant black-haired elder.

“His divine ability is pretty powerful.” The black-haired elder frowned slightly. A third sword that was golden in color flew straight out from his forehead, quickly expanding in size to become more than three hundred meters long. It swept forward in a straight line, carrying an aura of utmost forceful Yang energy as it struck against Ning’s Violetjewel.

BOOM!!!

Ning felt his hand go numb as Violetjewel was knocked backwards, but the golden sword was also knocked backwards.

“Again.” Ning once more charged forward, six swords in six arms.

“Damn.” The black-haired elder frowned as he glanced at the icy lotuses surrounding him. The icy lotuses were emanating streams of energy that furiously coiled around him, constricting his movements. Although he wasn’t fighting in close combat, his three swords were still somewhat impacted.

“Triult Sword, First Stance!” The black-haired elder’s eyes flashed with cold light.

The two crystal swords and the golden sword came together in midair to form a triangle, with the surface of the triangle flowing with runic light. Soon, the light solidified to form an shockingly sharp sword that was golden-white in color. When the sword appeared, an aura of infinite sharpness instantly appeared, slicing apart the energy streams surrounding him.

Ning’s face changed dramatically as he saw this. “Such power. They really do form a perfect set of Chaos swords. These three Chaos swords are at least high-grade Chaos treasures; in fact, they could well be top-grade Chaos treasures. When the seals inside of them combine together to unleash their full power, they are almost as powerful as my own Violetjewel.”

Daoist Three Purities of the Three Realms had something similar. He had those four Chaos swords, which he was able to link together with the Immortal Slaying Sword-Diagram. By Ning’s estimation, that set was also close to Violetjewel in power. This was how powerful a complete set of Chaos treasures could be.

“Smash!” The distant black-robed figure let out an angry roar.

Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish!

The thirty-six frozen lotuses that had merely been hanging in the air around him all suddenly rushed towards him like meteors, smashing against the white-gold sword. Every single Frozen Lotus of the Heavens moved with incredible speed, far beyond the limits of the Heavenly Daos. Although this was just a simple smashing movement, it was based off of the ‘Shadowless’ stance of the [Brightmoon] sword-art.

Clang! Clang! Clang! The Frozen Lotuses of the Heavens smashed down one after another.

“Kill!” The three-headed, six-armed, white-robed Ning once more charged forward with his six swords at the ready.

The gold-white sword blasted away all the attacks; the Frozen Lotuses of the Heavens were primarily meant to be used to constrict the foe through the release of freezing energy, after all. They were rather similar to the Waterflame Apocalypse Formation in that regard. If they were used to smash…they would at most be comparable to top-grade Protocosmic spirit-treasures. They were simply too weak in this regard, whereas the gold-white sword was almost as powerful as Violetjewel itself. When they were joined together, they had very nearly surpassed the limits of power possible for Chaos treasures.

Boom.

Violetjewel transformed into a black hole, moving to defend against the gold-white sword as the other five swords struck out. The black hole of sword-light was actually able to completely defend against the gold-white sword.

“What?!” The black-haired elder’s face completely changed. “This sword-art…” He himself was a sword-wielder; he could immediately sense how terrifying that sword-light was!

The black hole of sword-light seemed eternal and inexhaustible, with no end and no beginning.

Ning just smiled coldly.

The first stance of the [Nameless] sword-art, ‘Heartsword’ stance, was simply far too profound. Ning simply wasn’t able to master it. However, the main purpose of the ninety-eight stone steles which World God Northrest had left behind was to teach the principle of the ‘hidden blade’. The ‘Heartsword’ stance actually also represented a profound offensive and defensive technique. After analyzing the ‘Heartsword’ stance, then focusing on the principles of the ‘hidden blade’, Ning felt that there were many similarities with his own ‘Soleheart’ stance. Thus, he fused all of his insights into his ‘Soleheart’ stance, causing it to now be the most profound of the five stances he had developed.

“Kill!”