Desolate Era (Book 25 - Book 27)

This divine ability was actually a very simple one. All it needed was energy. Divine power, Immortal energy, chaos energy, spirit-pills…it accepted all types of energy. Ning had started with complete mastery over the [Eight-Nine Arcane Art] and so was able to use its energy to easily master the upper portion. The middle portion, however, was much more complicated…but it allowed for the cultivator to make his body comparable to a top-grade Chaos treasure. The amount of energy it required was correspondingly great as well!

If Ning continued to simply train slowly, he would need roughly a million years before he was able to master this technique. Even when using the Heavengazer Tower to save time, he would still need tens of thousands of years. Ning had indeed been preparing to spend that time slowly cultivating, because if he wanted to rely on the energy of chaos jewels or chaos nectar he would need to spend dozens of cubes worth of energy. This price was far too high! Even most World Gods would rather spend twenty or thirty thousand years cultivating rather than pay such an enormous price.

Chaos jewels and chaos nectar were used like currency in the Endless Territories.

Chaos nectar’s advantage lay in its quality! It was incredibly marvelous and could be used in many ways. Many divine abilities, secret arts, pill-making techniques, and protective spells needed it.

Chaos jewels’ advantage lay in energy quantity! They were jewels that were naturally formed through a crystallization of chaos energy, which meant that every single chaos jewel held an enormous amount of chaos energy within it. Powerful formations and powerful golems all required chaos jewels to be used as their energy sources. Chaos jewels had many uses as well.

“I need to break through this bottleneck as quickly as I can. If I do so, I’ll stand a better chance of surviving any future dangers. Although big brother Solesky said that I should be able to handle the dangers here, nothing is absolute. Best to be safe.”

Ning waved his hand, causing a chaos jewel to fly into his palm.

Ning then sat there in the lotus position, drawing out an enormous amount of chaos energy into his body from the chaos jewel. His divine body began to transform, and Ning’s skin began to emanate a faint golden light…

Two days later.

After having used up nineteen chaos jewels, Ning opened his eyes.

“Mm. My body has broken through to the Chaos treasure level. I’ll pause here for now. When I go to the outside world and have some more free time, I’ll finish the process.” Ning had spent hundreds of years slowly drawing in energy, resulting in him reaching a bottleneck. Within the Heavengazer Tower, he was able to cause time to flow fifty times faster than in the outside world, resulting in his body eventually breaking through to the Chaos level. Although this used up quite a bit of energy, Ning wasn’t worried about the cost in chaos jewels.

Whoosh.

Ning appeared within the pavilion once more.

“Master.” The stone titan looked at Ning.

“Rocky, there should have been two other World-level experts on this island, right?” Ning asked.

“Yes.” The stone titan pointed at the other distant islands. “There are twelve islands surrounding Daolord Windsource’s residence. These islands housed his twelve disciples as well as some servants.”

“Twelve disciples?” Ning was startled. “What of this island?”

“The three World-level experts who resided on this island were World God Cavecry, Chaos Immortal Bloodpool, and Chaos Immortal Origination. World God Cavecry was the Daolord’s disciple while Immortal Origination and Immortal Bloodpool were responsible for serving World God Cavecry,” the stone titan said. “World God Cavecry was far more powerful than Immortal Origination and Immortal Bloodpool.”

Ning’s curiosity had been aroused. “World God Cavecry was Daolord Windsource’s disciple. Was he ordered to accompany his master into death as well?”

“The disciples who were summoned here were all the ones he didn’t really like. The Daolord was a strange man with a strange personality. If he didn’t acknowledge and respect you, you would die with him,” the stone titan said. “However, Daolord Windsource still bestowed a painting upon World God Cavecry. I still remember what the Daolord said to him when giving him the painting. ‘If you can comprehend and master this painting, you’ll be be given your freedom and allowed to leave.’ Alas, World God Cavecry didn’t manage to master it before his death.”

“Oh.” Ning nodded.

“Actually, Daolord Windsource gave all twelve of these disciples a chance to live. The problem was that he gave them extremely harsh tests that were far too difficult for them. I don’t think any of the twelve managed to live,” the stone titan said.





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Book 25, Chapter 5 - The Underground Hallway


The stone titan said hurriedly, “These twelve disciples were not favored by the Daolord and weren’t acknowledged by him. However, although the Daolord had a rather strange temperament, he would still work hard to cultivate and rear powerful subordinates. Thus, the stronger ones were all expelled and driven away once the Daolord returned to his home. The ones who were required to follow him to this place were the ones who didn’t have much potential.

“Didn’t have much potential?” Ning immediately asked, “Did World God Cavecry have an Eternal weapon?”

“He did not.” The stone titan shook his head.

Ning felt a bit of disappointment. When he had heard that the lord of this island was World God Cavecry, who had two Chaos Immortals serving him, he had thought that Cavecry had to be a truly incredible figure. Who would’ve thought that he didn’t have so much as a single Eternal weapon?

“Eternal weapons are extremely valuable. Not even Daolords can just toss them around casually, and the Daolord preferred for his disciples to adventure for their treasures rather than just wait for him to hand them out,” the stone titan said. “Based on what I know, only nine of the Daolord’s disciples had Eternal weapons. Most of them acquired them on their own. The Daolord doted dearly on his first disciple and his second disciple, and he only bestowed Eternal weapons upon the two of them.”

“None of the twelve disciples who accompanied him in death had Eternal weapons.”

“However, quite a few of his hundreds of slaves had Eternal weapons. They had acquired those weapons by chance as they had accompanied the Daolord in his adventures,” the stone titan said.

Ning nodded slowly.

“Don’t feel disappointed, Master.” The stone titan said hurriedly, “As I recall, before World God Cavecry died he would often spend his time staring at that painting. My master said that painting is equal to an Eternal weapon in value.”

“Painting?” Ning suddenly remembered that Daolord Windsource had bestowed a painting upon World God Cavecry, promising to release him if Cavecry was able to comprehend it.

Alas…World God Cavecry was unable to do so.

“Are you familiar with the palace?” Ning pointed at the Immortal estate before them.

“Of course. Follow me, Master,” the stone titan said.

The stone titan shrank down to a size of three meters, then walked down the mountain alongside Ning and entered the palace.

“Master, you must be careful. World God Cavecry was a cruel, narrow-minded, vicious man who was exceedingly selfish,” the stone titan warned. “Even though he knew he was going to die, he still didn’t wish for others to be able to acquire his treasures. His extreme selfishness was the true reason why Daolord Windsource disliked him. Early on, he improved incredibly fast as a cultivator, and so the Daolord held high hopes for him. However, later on he stopped improving. Given how selfish he was…the Daolord ended up choosing him to be one of the twelve to accompany him in death.”

Ning nodded as he gripped Violetjewel carefully in his hand.

“He spent most of his time within the underground study, focusing on the painting,” the stone titan said. “Daolord Windsource’s death came suddenly. As a result, World God Cavecry died in that underground study, and his corpse remains there.”