Desolate Era (Book 25 - Book 27)

“As for these two sword-arts legacies?” Ning waved his hand, causing a thick tome to appear.

This tome was six hundred pages long. Each of its pages was a legacy treasure. Ning had to acquire all six hundred pages before being able to merge them all into this book and acquiring the sword-arts legacy within it. This was the legacy that was ranked nineteenth.

Ning flipped the book open.

Every single page had a single character on it that was filled with the aura of the Dao of the Sword.

Ning had memorized this legacy long ago. As for the six hundred characters, they represented six hundred different types of sword-intents that allowed Ning to get a better understanding of this sword-art.

“This Daolord Shipstream truly loved calligraphy. I love calligraphy as well. That’s something we have in common.” After acquiring this legacy, Ning had also gained some information regarding Daolord Shipstream.

Daolord Shipstream was an ancient power who had reached the Verge of the Daomerge. In the end, he had failed his Daomerge. He had perished and his Dao dissipated.

He liked to wander about and disliked combat. He titled himself Shipstream because he liked to voyage through the Endless Territories. Due to his personality, his sword-arts didn’t focus on offense; instead, they were incredibly defensive!

He had left behind an extremely detailed and complete legacy, as well as those six hundred characters. Each legacy represented a specific sword-intent. Ning himself was fond of using calligraphy to symbolize his sword-intent, and so he was easily able to understand the information and insights which Daolord Shipstream had sought to transmit through these characters. Given that Ning’s sword-arts were quite defensively oriented to begin with, he was indeed able to quickly understand the true essence of the sword-arts of Daolord Shipstream. A short month after gaining this legacy, Ning had mastered the fifth stance of the [Nameless] sword-art.

Two sword-arts legacies.

The first was ranked seventy-three. It seemed dazzling but it actually had clear weaknesses.

The second was ranked nineteen. It had been created by Daolord Shipstream. It seemed ordinary and unremarkable, but it was actually filled with boundless wisdom.

Afterwards, Ning continued to focus on analyzing his sword-arts. Even though Kilostar once more issued Ning a challenge, Ning made his position quite clear. “I can admit defeat, but I absolutely cannot give you this sword-art legacy. If you don’t accept my terms, then I won’t admit defeat and we can just keep up this battle of attrition. In all honesty, most likely the only person capable of defeating Ning in a battle of attrition was Kilostar. But of course, that was if Ning didn’t use any of his chaos jewels. When Ning had left the Badlands Territory, he had converted quite a bit of his chaos nectar into chaos jewels.

None of the other cultivators could possibly beat Ning in a battle of attrition.

Kilostar walked the path of the Dao of the Saber. He really didn’t care about sword-arts at all and so he didn’t mind Ning’s terms.

Waterwalker… Ning wasn’t able to do anything to him, but he wasn’t able to do anything to Ning either.

Thus, the book which had been personally authored by Daolord Shipstream remained by Ning’s side. Each day, Ning would spend much of his time silently meditating on this book, and his sword-arts continued to rise in profundity, especially in defense.

Ning was so absorbed in his sword-arts that he very nearly forgot all about World God Pillsaint. As far as Ning was considered, if he could help out he would, but that was a favor and not an obligation. World God Pillsaint had been here for countless years anyhow. To be here for another ten thousand years or hundred thousand years wouldn’t be that big a deal to him.

Time flowed out. In the blink of an eye, more than five hundred years had gone by in meditation and battle.





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Book 26, Chapter 40 - [Nameless] Sword-Art, Stance Six Unicorns Heart


Within the estate-world of the first Mirrorsnow Painting.

There was a towering palace here that was absolutely beautiful. A figure slowly materialized atop the royal throne at the front of the hall. It was the golden-robed emperor.

“You’ve come again.” The golden-robed emperor stared downwards.

Ji Ning nodded from his position below the throne. “Be careful this time. If you are overconfident, you might end up being defeated by me.”

“This is the first time I’ve heard you say such a thing.” The golden-robed emperor’s eyes lit up as he produced that wide golden greatsword. He rose to his feet and began to walk down the stairs from his throne. “Come, come! Don’t disappoint me.”

Ning produced one of his Frostice Swords as well.

Ning stood there without moving. As for the golden-robed emperor, he slowly walked down the steps. Although the two had yet to engage, their auras were beginning to surge and press against each other. Both were carefully inspecting their foe. Although the golden-robed emperor had won every match, he himself was aware that Ning was posing an increasingly great threat to him.

“Something’s off.” The golden-robed emperor suddenly sensed something strange. Although Ning stood a distance away from him, he gave the emperor a sensation of unpredictable fluctuation. This was something he had never sensed before in his previous battles.

“Forget him. I’ll smash it all to smithereens.” The golden-robed emperor’s path was a Dao of righteous valor and honor. He raised his golden greatsword up high, then sent it crashing downwards towards Ning.

Boom! A terrifying aura of power blasted out as the greatsword chopped down furiously towards Ning, seeming to carry such great power that it could hack any foe to death. This terrifying aura alone was enough to freeze the hearts of many World-level cultivators.

Sniiiiick. Ning’s frozen sword flashed out like a streak of azure mist as it scraped upwards towards the golden greatsword.

Although he was just using the flat of his blade to push at and scrape at the sword, this actually made things harder for the golden-robed emperor than a frontal clash would have! The strange power held within Ning’s sword caused the emperor’s golden greatsword to change directions, causing it to completely miss Ning.

If you couldn’t hit your opponent, it didn’t matter how powerful your sword-arts were.

“So his technique really has changed.” The golden-robed emperor was startled.

“The [Nameless] sword-art truly is marvelous.” Ning was overjoyed. Although he had just learned this sixth stance of the [Nameless] sword-art, he hadn’t actually employed it yet. This battle against the golden-robed emperor was his first time actually using it in battle.

This clash had resulted in him easily defeating the valiant, killing blow of the emperor. Although Ning had been able to withstand this strike in the past, it had always been incredibly taxing for him. In fact, he would stumble backwards after each block.

This time, he didn’t have to use too much strength. He was able to effortlessly use a single strike to block this attack without even having to face it head-on.

“Again.” The golden-robed emperor let out an angry roar. Suddenly, a golden streak of crescent sword-light appeared high in the air of the palace, then chopped down horizontally towards Ning.

Crack! Once again, Ning unleashed that seemingly casual strike in response. He sent his sword scraping against the edge of that golden crescent. As their weapons collided, the power of each person’s sword-arts began to clash against each other. The golden-robed emperor’s sword-art were more dominating whereas Ning’s sword-art was more ephemeral and unpredictable. However, for some reason Ning was able to change the direction of the emperor’s sword yet again.