Desolate Era (Book 25 - Book 27)

A Dao-tree of thirty thousand meters meant that one was comparable to elite World-level cultivators.

A Dao-tree of 108,000 meters meant that one had reached the level of full mastery as a World-level cultivator.

For World-level cultivators, Dao-trees growing to 108,000 meters was the maximum possible limit. No World-level cultivator’s Dao-tree could ever grow any higher. Only if one found one’s own Dao and underwent a fundamental transformation would this limit be breached, allowing the Dao-tree to grow even taller and thicker. This was the level of the Samsara Daolord.

Rumble…

This Dao-tree became an increasingly towering presence within this region of primordial chaos, sprouting more and more leaves and branches. Every single branch represented a different sword-art which Ning had mastered. Because Ning had created many sword-arts of his own and had mastered thousands of sword-arts in the Hall of Swords, his Dao-tree was filled with leafy foliage.

15,000 meters… 24,000 meters… 30,000 meters…

The Dao-tree continued to grow.

It contained all of Ning’s insights into the Dao of the Sword, and it clearly had an incredible foundation. When it reached 63,000 meters, it finally came to a halt and stopped growing taller, but its leaves and branches continued to stretch out in every direction.

It had three branches that were particularly thick. These three boughs represented the [Nameless] sword-art, the [Quintessence Sword-Intent], and the [Brightmoon] sword-art.

The bough that represented the [Nameless] sword-art emanated a boundless yet calm sword-intent.

The bough that represented the [Quintessence Sword-Intent] radiated an aura of savagery and violence.

As for the bough which represented the [Brightmoon] sword-art, it seemed to represent the vastness of the void itself, making it impossible for others to fully comprehend it.

“63,000 meters? It seems my insights into the Dao of the Sword are superior to that of most elite World-level cultivators, but is still quite a distance away from the level of full mastery.” Ning understood that in cultivation, the latter stages were always the hardest ones. Still, he wasn’t too far away from the level of full mastery.

“My insights into the Dao are somewhat inferior to the insights of master-class World Gods… but no matter how profound your insights are, what really matters is your ability to apply them.”

It was common for two master-class World Gods to execute sword-arts that were world’s apart in power.

Ning had mastered the fourth stance of the [Nameless] sword-art, the ‘Horizon’s Edge’, as well as the second stance of the [Quintessence Sword-Intent], the ‘Allgod’ stance. On a technical level, he was on par with the Starlord of Fogstone or God Emperor Blacklotus. Those two had been roughly on par with each other in terms of technique; Blacklotus’ advantage primarily came from the fact that he had an Eternal weapon.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The entire chaos region began to furiously expand, devouring more and more chaos energy from the outside world.

At a time like this, having a first tier, second tier, or third tier Jindan no longer made any difference. Upon becoming a Chaos Immortal, everything would return to the primordial chaos from whence all things arose.

Generally speaking, most Chaos Immortals would have a chaos region of a certain predetermined size. As their insights expanded and their Dao-tree grew, the chaos region would naturally grow as well. Because Ning had fused seventeen clones together, his heartforce and his Jindan regions were qualitatively superior to that of most cultivators, resulting in a larger chaos region. The Chaos Immortal energy he could draw upon would also be purer than that of most cultivators.

Training in a technique that allowed one to have many different clones then merging them together would indeed result in one becoming a significantly more powerful cultivator.

Ning had ‘merely’ merged seventeen clones, and so he hadn’t become too ridiculously powerful.

Techniques like the [Thousand Bodies Sutra] allowed for the creation of a thousand clones. Once all those clones were merged together, one would be enhanced to a ridiculous level. Those who had successfully trained in the [Thousand Bodies Sutra] then broke through to become World Gods would have bodies that were comparable to the bodies of Samsara Daolords! This was proof of how truly incredible this technique was. Because Ning’s own body was merely formed from seventeen different clones, his body was merely strengthened by a single small level.

Whoosh.

Ning could sense that the entirety of his Jindan region had been converted into primordial chaos. His Dao-tree was more than sixty thousand meters tall, and it was able to stabilize the entire region. A large amount of Chaos Immortal energy had taken form as well.

“This feels wonderful.” Ning could sense his soul rapidly increasing in power thanks to it being nourished by his Chaos Immortal energy.

“Mmmm. I’ve already made my breakthrough as a Ki Refiner. Time to break through as a Fiendgod Body Refiner as well.”

Ning was now at such an incredibly high level of insight that he was able to easily sense that every single cell in his body was filled with an urgent desire to transform and become stronger.

Boom!

……

Things had just started to calm down in the outside world, and the flow of chaos energy had finally started to stabilize. All of a sudden, the chaos energy began to pulsate wildly once more as an enormous amount of it was drawn into the Allgod Estate.

“Eh?”

“Is that…”

The faces of Arroyo, Fukai, and Boneplate all tightened.

“It seems he simultaneously made his breakthrough as a Ki Refiner and as a Fiendgod Body Refiner,” Arroyo said coldly. Ki Refiners generally found it somewhat easier to make their breakthroughs, while Fiendgod Body Refiners found it a bit more difficult. Arroyo himself had first broken through to become a Chaos Immortal, then spent ten thousand more years in training before breaking through to become a World God as well. Ning simply had too high a level of insight into the Dao, which was why he was able to easily break through as both a Chaos Immortal and as a World God.

“So what if he did? He still has to die.” Fukai’s eyes were filled with a murderous look. Since Ji Ning had made his breakthrough, he was sure to come out soon.





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Book 26, Chapter 7 - Leaving the Castrum Divinitus


With the Sword World serving as his core, Ji Ning began to remold his divine power.

His divine power began to undergo a fundamental change, transforming him into a higher level of existence.

Boom!

Ning’s entire body suddenly burst apart, then instantly solidified into a total of a hundred jewels. These were jewels formed from divine power – godgems! A flood of chaos energy surrounded these jewels, causing more and more godgems to rapidly form.

The Dao-tree was the core of a Chaos Immortal.

The godgems formed the core of a World God.

But of course, if one was a dual refiner one would have both types of cores.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! One godgem after another continued to coalesce. Every single godgem had to be infused with sufficient insights regarding the Dao of the Sword, but the insights within each jewel had to be different. Thus, the more insights into the Dao of the Sword you had, the more godgems you would create.

Newly ascended cultivators who broke through would be able to generate a few hundred godgems.

Cultivators who had stabilized their foundations would generally have a thousand godgems and be ‘standard’ World Gods.

Upon gaining a total of ten thousand godgems, one would be at the level of an elite World God.