Desolate Era (Book 25 - Book 27)

Ning understood that in the future, he would spend much of his time meditating on the [Heartseal] sword-art and learning from it, infusing its mysteries into his own Dao of the Sword.

“If I could gain the complete [Nameless] sword-art legacy and the complete legacy of Emperor Violetmount, then I would now have three complete legacies. I could simultaneously absorb the teachings and mysteries of all three legacies, then go learn from the Forest of Sword Pagodas. I’ll definitely improve even more quickly then.” When this thought flickered through Ning’s mind, he couldn’t help but grin.

“Darknorth, was that helpful to you?”

“It seems you’ve gained quite a bit from it.”

“Given how strong Darknorth is already, he’ll soon be able to break through to become a Daolord whenever he wishes.” The four retainers all spoke out when Ning woke up.

Ning smiled and nodded. “I indeed can break through to become a Daolord. However, that path is not my path.”

The Unicorn’s Domain had indeed been dramatically improved.

The Unicorn’s Domain was a path akin to the fisherman’s path. Emperor Mirrorsnow’s [Heartseal] sword-art could be divided into four sword-arts, one of which was the [Fisherman’s Sword]. Ning’s highest level of attainment in recent years was in the Unicorn’s Domain, which was his Unicorn’s Domain had dramatically improved just half a month after Ning had received the legacy. Ning could already sense that his accomplishments in the Unicorn’s Domain were enough for him to use it as his core foundation to rebuild his divine body and become a Daolord of the First Step.

Samsara Daolords. Each step they took resulted in their divine bodies being completely reconstituted! If you took a single wrong step, you would cause your body to crumble. You would die and your Dao would vanish.

“Just as Emperor Mirrorsnow said, although all four sword-arts which make up the [Heartseal] sword-art can allow a person to become a Daolord of the Fourth Step, they will result in mediocrity.” Ning secretly shook his head. Just becoming a Daolord was not enough.





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Book 27, Chapter 12 - The Twelve Scrolls of the Sutra of Eternity


“The four of you.” Ji Ning looked at the four surrounding him. “According to what my master told me, you four shall follow me in the future, right?”

“Right.” The four all nodded.

“Might I ask how strong the four of you are?” Ning asked.

“The four of us are roughly comparable to peak-level Daolords of the Third Step. But of course, the swordsman’s sword-arts are a bit better, making him slightly more powerful,” the golden-robed emperor said.

Ning couldn’t help but feel stunned. All four golems were comparable to peak Daolords of the Third Step?

This was the legacy which his master had left behind for him? The more masters like this, the better!

“Golems comparable to Verge-level Daolords are too expensive. The Eternal Emperor did have one such golem, but he ended up selling it to procure forty golems comparable to peak Daolords of the Third Step for his personal disciples like you,” the golden-robed emperor said.

Ning was speechless.

Alright, fine. Maybe he had gone a bit too far in mentally praising his master. Still, Ning did know that golems with the strength of Verge-level Daolords were indeed quite expensive, and forging them was no easy task. After all, true Verge-level Daolords not only had considerable Immortal energy and divine power, they also had mighty magic treasures and high insights into the Dao. To have a mere golem be a match for one of them was extremely difficult. Daolord Allgod was an incredibly skilled artificer, but even he had been only able to painstakingly forge a single Verge-level golem.

The Sword Palace had collected many golems over the course of countless years, but even it had only acquire a total of nine Verge-level golems. Those golems were the ones titled Swordone through Swordnine.

Although the Daolord Cloudworld had many golems within it, those were all fairly weak. The strongest were probably just on par with the four standing right in front of Ning.

“If you are to follow me, should I bind you all?” Ning asked. He was too weak right now; there was no way for him to forcibly bind them.

“Unacceptable.”

“Per the Eternal Emperor’s instructions, we can each only help you out a single time prior to you defeating us in battle. Once you are able to defeat us, we’ll permit you to bind us and be your eternal servants.” The emperor, the swordsman, the fisherman, and the assassin all refused in solemn fashion.

Ning was instantly speechless.

Fine.

Most likely, Emperor Mirrorsnow was afraid that he would rely on the golems too much and so had restricted him to using them a single time. He probably just wanted to ensure that his disciples wouldn’t be killed while they were weak if they were unlucky enough to be trapped in a dangerous situation.

“Just one time each. Still, that’ll keep me alive in dangerous situations.” Ning was in quite a good mood.

“The divine ability my master taught me makes it so that someone with the body of a half-step Daolord is able to match a full Daolord of the First Step. Unfortunately, my azureflower mist energy ensures that I already am comparable to a Daolord of the First Step, and it lasts for a very long period of time.” Ning shook his head. This divine ability really was somewhat useless to him.

If he used it, his divine power would probably run dry after a short battle. How could it possibly last as long as the azureflower mist energy in battle?

“The most valuable part of the legacy were those memory fragments which Master transmitted to me.” Ning couldn’t help but feel excited. Although there had been legacies in the Astral Islands, those legacies consisted of simple information which any cultivator could learn and make use of. Those legacies within the Astral Islands would be transmitted to countless cultivators over the course of aeons, and they weren’t truly valuable.

These memory fragments of Emperor Mirrorsnow could only be transmitted a single time, and their creation had involved the Eternal Emperor infusing his own divine will into them.

……

The Brightshore Kingdom. The imperial palace.

Rumble…

The blazing beast stood there in a region of empty stace, staring at the distant, towering behemoth. Golden light began to radiate from the behemoth’s giant eyes, and the light completely swallowed the blazing beast.

Within that barrier of golden light, many mysteries and secrets were being transmitted to the blazing beast in an endless stream.

“GRWAAAR!” The blazing beast’s body trembled from the pain. Every so often, flames would flicker and burst out in the area around him.

Finally, the golden light dissipated.

“Hegemon.” The blazing beast revealed a look of delight as he stared at the distant, towering behemoth.

“After twelve separate transmissions, you have completely memorized the twelve scrolls of the [Sutra of Eternity]. Our race has very few members, and those who are suitable for my legacies are even fewer. Long, long ago, our race was forcibly enslaved by the Ancient cultivators. The Ancients are on par with us in terms of innate gifts, but they have many legacies. I was once fortunate enough to acquire a legacy left behind by a senior of our race, a set of ten scrolls called the [Ten Scrolls of Eternity]. It was thanks to that legacy that I was able to train to my present level, and I perfected them and supplemented them, transforming them into the [Twelve Scrolls of Eternity].

“In this era, our race is on an equal footing with the Ancients, precisely because of the [Twelve Scrolls of Eternity]. These twelve scrolls include all things with them. No matter what path you choose, it will be of assistance to you, which is why I will transmit this legacy to every single member of our race.