Desolate Era (Book 25 - Book 27)

Although it seemed to merely graze Bertulu’s fist, it instantly was able to have an impact on his fist technique.

“Oh? Interesting.” Bertulu laughed as he continued to stride forwards. He manifested six arms as well, then began to rain down blows with his fists like countless meteors shooting through the skies. His palms were like massive screens that blotted out the skies, and his fingers seemed to tear through everything in the world. Even though he still merely used his bare hands, his six hands were still strong enough to put pressure upon Ning with each strike. As for Ning, his pride prevented him from using his Elementum Waterflame Gourd.

Although Bertulu was strong, he was fighting empty-handed. Ning was already using six Eternal weapons against Bertulu’s bare hands; how could Ning possibly take out the gourd as well? If he lost in a situation like this, he would be thoroughly convinced of the latter’s superiority.

Rumble…

Bertulu circled around Ning at high speeds as he attacked, his aura flaring out and filling the heavens with each strike.

……

“Each time I watch Bertulu fight, I enjoy myself immensely.”

“Right. I truly would never have imagined that a World-level cultivator could reach such a high level of insight.”

The ancient powers in the dark abyss all sighed as they watched this battle go on.

The white-bearded elder nodded slowly. “When Dawnstar was at the World level, his saber-arts were comparable to Bertulu’s fist techniques. However, Dawnstar was merely a dual refiner who did not train in heartforce.”

“Dawnstar?”

“Palace Lord Dawnstar?”

“He was this powerful as well?”

“No wonder Palace Lord Dawnstar is so powerful now.”

All the ancient powers nodded.

Without question, the most powerful Daolord of the Twelve Palaces was Palace Lord Dawnstar. He was the Palace Lord of the Palace of the Saber. Although he was ‘merely’ a Verge-level Daolord, on one occasion when he was enraged he had slain an ancient Eternal Emperor with just three strokes of his saber. His reputation was instantly spread throughout the Endless Territories! He was so dominatingly powerful that he was even stronger than Daolord Allgod had been.

For the Hegemon to compare Bertulu to Palace Lord Dawnstar was a sign of how great his expectations were for Bertulu.

……

Rumble…

Although Bertulu repeatedly circled around Ning and furiously assaulted him, he was unable to injure Ning in the slightest.

“If that’s all you have, you won’t even be able to scratch me,” Ning said coldly.

“You are indeed worthy of making me use a weapon.” A sword suddenly appeared in each of Bertulu’s hands, and each sword was an Eternal weapon. The area around him became filled with endless flickers of light, and Bertulu himself was like the divine lord of the lights as he once more charged at Ning with those six swords at the ready.

His swords struck out in a fierce, dominating fashion. Ning was forced to defend with all his might.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

“What powerful sword-arts! Still, the stronger he is the better.” Ning only grew even more excited. The Thunderlight Wings suddenly appeared on his back, bolstering his footwork techniques. Each flutter of the wings and each step Ning took was like a stance from a sword-art. His movements and his attacks had all joined together into a perfect whole.

Ning struck out with his six Violetjewels simultaneously, transforming them into six streaks of bloody light that slashed out through the skies. Each time, he was able to defend against Bertulu’s swords.

“He was actually able to defend against me?” Bertulu was rather startled. He called out, “What is your sword-art named?”

“During my thousand years here at the Astral Islands, I merged the Unicorn’s Heart stance with my Astral stance and created a defensive technique,” Ning replied. “I named it the Unicorn’s Domain!”

“Unicorn’s Domain?” Bertulu was slightly surprised.

The Unicorn’s Domain represented Ning’s most profound insights into the Dao of the Sword.

The Unicorn’s Heart represented a certain level of insight into the sword that was focused on defense. Much like how the Heartsword stance represented the heart having full control of the sword and the world around it, or the Great Firmanent stance represented the power of an entire world, this stance represented a type of domain that was even more profound than the Unicorn’s Heart. Ning had used the essence of the Unicorn’s Heart and fused it with the even more powerful Astral stance to create this domain, his Unicorn’s Domain!

He was able to defend against any attacks that entered this domain. Each time, his defenses were able to deflect and then counterattack the enemy. The Astral stance was merely a ‘tool’ in that using it with Violetjewel resulted in tremendous gains in power. For him to incorporate it into his Unicorn’s Domain and use it to defend or deflect just made the power of the domain even greater and more effective.

By relying on this technique, Ning had been able to finally defeat the fisherman in the third Mirrorsnow Painting. However, Ning’s sword-arts had since reached a true bottleneck, which was why he had decided to leave the Astral islands.

“This is the most powerful sword-art I have at present,” Ning said. “Bertulu, I’ve already activated my Unicorn’s Domain. If you can defeat this domain of mine, I will admit defeat.”

“Haha, good. Aside from Kilostar, you are the only person in all the Astral Islands capable of forcing me to use my true weapons.” Suddenly, the six swords vanished from Bertulu’s hands. Moments later, two heavy warhammers appeared. One warhammer was black while the other was white, and both were Eternal weapons.

“Judging from the fist techniques you used earlier, I actually guessed that you specialize in something aside from sword-arts. It seems as though my guess was correct. You actually specialize in hammer-arts, using your hands as your hammers, right? Come. Let us see if you can break my Unicorn’s Domain.” Ning had absolute confidence in his Unicorn’s Domain. This was a technique which was perfect for a weaker cultivator to defend against a stronger foe with. It was a defensive sword-art that avoiding facing a stronger foe’s attacks head-on.





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Book 26, Chapter 45 - True Body?


The ancient powers watched the images of the battle from their position in the dark abyss.

“He’s infused an attacking sword-art into a defensive domain, but managed to keep the essence of his domain intact.” A partially bald man let out a laugh. “Although Darknorth isn’t a match for Bertulu, he’s still quite a rare talent. Once he enters our Palace of the Sword, we’ll give him some good training. Perhaps a miracle will happen and he will be able to be Bertulu’s equal in the future.”

“Has this kid even chosen your Sword Palace yet? Even if he has, should really be so shameless in praising him? His sword-arts aren’t bad and have reached incredible heights in terms of defensiveness, but for him to be Bertulu’s match in the future? Haha, how many Bertulus do you think our Brightshore Kingdom will give rise to?”

“Daolord Woodflower, you are going a bit too far in your praise.”

“Well, Woodflower belongs to the Sword Palace. It isn’t surprising for him to praise someone else who will be in his palace.”

“I do have to admit that Darknorth’s defensive abilities are quite excellent.”

The ancient powers all gave their own opinions as they watched Ning and Bertulu continue to furiously battle against each other.

……

Rumble…

It was as though the world itself was breaking apart. Space had been shattered and distorted, and each of those two warhammers carried enough power to cause this entire world to tremble. Ning had to use three or four swords to block each attack; for him to use just a single sword was no longer enough.