Desolate Era (Book 25 - Book 27)

“Child… as of right now, I am the only member of our race who has broken through to become an Eternal Emperor. I hope you will be the second one of our race,” the towering behemoth concluded.

“Yes, Hegemon.” The blazing beast was incomparably excited. In recent years, he had come to learn much of the history of his race from the time he had spent in the imperial palace. He naturally now felt a tremendous sense of kinship and belonging! As for these [Twelve Scrolls of Eternity], they included virtually all Daos. This caused him to feel even more awe towards the almighty Hegemon.

“Choose an imperial name for yourself,” the towering behemoth instructed.

“When I was born and gained consciousness, I gave myself a name, ‘God of Sky and Fire’. Let my name be Skyfire of the Brightshore Imperials,” the blazing beast said.

A look of amusement appeared in the towering behemoth’s eyes. ‘God of Sky and Fire’?

The members of his race were only born from the primordial chaos under certain, very unique situations. They were incredibly few in number, and if it wasn’t for the fact that the Hegemon went out of his way to hunt for them, many would probably wander the primordial chaos for countless years by themselves. Generally speaking, they would choose rather odd names for themselves. ‘God of Sky and Fire’ was a fairly amusing one.

“Spend some time training in the [Twelve Scrolls of Eternity]. I will give you a thousand years. A thousand years later, I’ll send you into an alternate universe, which will be your first training grounds,” the towering behemoth said.

“Yes, Hegemon.” The blazing beast was very excited, and he knew he neded time to study the [Twelve Scrolls of Eternity]. Actually, after he learnt this precious technique he would continue to rise in power even as he roamed the outside world.

This was how the Brightshore Kingdom worked. After the most powerful World-level cultivators were selected and recruited, they would receive endless legacies and secret arts from the Twelve Palaces. The same was true for the imperial clan. New entrants to the imperial clan would also be forced to undergo certain tempering experiences, after which they would be transmitted the [Twelve Scrolls of Eternity].

……

The imperial palace. There were thirteen royal thrones here hanging high in the skies.

The white-haired, six-horned old man dressed in snowy robes spoke out. “A thousand years from now, I will select the four most powerful World-level cultivators and have them accompany Skyfire Brightshore to the alternate universe. It will be up to them to make the most out of it.”

“A thousand years?”

“So we have another thousand years.”

Now that the twelve golden-armored powers knew exactly how long they had, they began to be filled with anticipation.

Time flowed on. More and more of the cultivators who had been acknowledged by the pagodas and who had been out adventuring within the Brightshore Kingdom began to return, responding to the summons of the Twelve Palaces.

“Senior apprentice-brother Wildfire, I heard from Lord Woodflower that a great opportunity awaits us?”

“Yes. Everyone acknowledged by the pagodas will have a chance at it. However, only the four most powerful members of the Twelve Palaces will be granted it.”

“Just four?”

……

The Palace of the Sword.

Two youngsters were striding within it. One was the red-haired Wildfire, whereas the other was an icy-faced child who was wielding a shortspear.

“We don’t have much time left, just nine hundred years,” Wildfire warned.

“I plan to spend the next nine hundred years in the Forest of Sword Pagodas,” the icy child said.

“I’m planning to do the same. I’m going to spend my time in meditation.” Wildfire agreed with this idea. The Forest of Sword Pagodas was the most sacred place within the entire Sword Palace. It had many sword-arts which had been personally left behind by the mighty Daolords from a previous era. If you chose to learn from sword-arts that were similar to your own, you would benefit greatly from it.

The icy child swept the area with his gaze. He saw a distant thatched cottage, and within that cottage sat the white-robed Ji Ning.

“Who is that?” The icy child asked curiously.

“His name is Darknorth. He’s a newly arrived junior apprentice-brother,” Wildfire said.

“Why is he using a temporal acceleration treasure? Has he been acknowledged by the Sword Pagodas as well? Is he also trying to seize every moment to train?” The icy child asked.

“No.” Wildfire shook his head. “He’s new, and as soon as he came here he began to use a temporal acceleration treasure. He’s probably trying to finish something as fast as he can.”

The icy child nodded.

Normally, cultivators wouldn’t go out of their way to use temporal acceleration treasures, as they didn’t make much of a difference. The more one trained, the more those moments of epiphany mattered. Only when there was a pressing need would people use temporal acceleration treasures.

“Our opponents shall be all the World-level cultivators who were acknowledged by their respective pagodas. Senior apprentice-brother Wildfire, you’ll be one of my opponents as well.” The icy child looked at Wildfire.

“I won’t take it easy on you.” Wildfire chuckled as well.

The two didn’t care about Ji Ning at all. Right now, all of the talented geniuses of the Twelve Palaces who had been acknowledged by their pagodas were trying to seize every moment to strengthen themselves as much as they could.

Ning, however, knew of none of this. He was still completely absorbed in his cultivation.

He had the memories of his master, Emperor Mirrorsnow, providing him with careful and detailed guidance. He also had the opportunity to analyze the Eternal Emperor’s sword-arts and compare them to the many sword-arts of the Forest of Sword Pagodas. His level of insight was continuously rising at a pace that was unspeakably faster than before he had acquired the Eternal Emperor’s legacy. Ning enjoyed this process very much, and was completely intoxicated by it.

And so, in the blink of an eye, more than eight hundred years passed with Ning consumed by his quiet meditations.





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Book 27, Chapter 13 - The Seventh Stance of [Nameless]


The Forest of Sword Pagodas was filled with tens of thousands of towering Sword Pagodas which stood silently erect. Numerous cultivators were scattered throughout the Forest of Sword Pagodas, quietly training with no one disturbing them.

There was a thatched cottage in the forest as well, and within the thatched cottage was a white-robed youth. Streams of sword-ki surged in the area around him, occasionally flicking out as sword-stances.

Suddenly, the youth opened his eyes. A look of delight could be seen in his gaze.

“I’ve finished mastering the seventh stance of the [Heartseal] sword-art, the ‘Reincarnation’ stance.” Ning was in a superb mood. “My master, Emperor Mirrorsnow, used the Reincarnation stance to break through to become a Samsara Daolord, and now I myself have learned this stance as well.

Whooooosh.

Sword-light began to flood the area around Ning. Some of the sword-light was filled with an aura of murder, some of it was fluctuating and unpredictable, while the rest was dominating and savage. The different types of sword-arts cycled through in a perfect manner, and no flaws could be seen at all from any of the attacks. It truly was like the perfect cycle of reincarnation itself, and when any enemies made even the slightest of mistakes the Reincarnation stance would ensure that they would be trapped and buried.

“Emperor Mirrorsnow was a dissolute, adventurous man, but his sword-arts were extremely cautious and tight.” Ning sighed in amazement.