Desolate Era (Book 31 - Book 35)

“Yes.” The distant Ning revealed a smile. “Archon Silksnow, you live up to your reputation. You recognized my technique at a single glance. This is indeed the eleventh stance of the [Heartsword] art.”


The reason why it was comparatively easier for cultivators to make breakthroughs in near-death situations was because those situations placed the soul and truesoul under enormous pressure, causing them to enter a special state that made it easier for one to have epiphanies and then make breakthroughs. Ning wasn’t just in a life-and-death situation, he was also under the pressure of being responsible for Ninedust’s survival. This made his desire to win even stronger, and those strong emotions and tremendous desire to survive caused his [Heartsword] art to finally break through.

In the instant that he made his breakthrough, he finally understood. The eleventh stance of the [Heartsword] art, the ‘Teardrop’, required incredible resolve and willpower! Long ago, Emperor Heartsword had been facing certain death for the sake of protecting those he loved. He had smiled into the face of death as tears spilled down his face… but in that instant, he had a sudden epiphany and managed to develop the eleventh stance.

Each cultivator had their own paths to take if they wished to create such profound, abstruse sword-arts. God Emperor Helong, for example, had created his [God Emperor’s Apocalypse] technique, a technique similar to the [Heartsword] art in that it perfectly merged heartforce, divine power, and Immortal energy together. It also required a terrifying amount of resolve and strong emotions, but the emotions involved had to be a feeling of benevolence and care towards all living beings.

“Only such a blazing level of determination can allow heartforce, divine power, and Immortal energy to merge together in a more perfect manner.” Ning finally understood.





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Book 35, Chapter 20 - Hegemon Brightshore


“How is this possible? How could his [Heartsword] art have advanced to the eleventh stance? That means he’ll reach the twelfth stance soon!”

The ‘first stage’ of the [Heartsword] art consisted of the eighth to tenth stances, while the second stage consisted of the eleventh and twelfth stances.

Ning had made consecutive breakthroughs in the ‘first stage’ back when he was in Crimsonwave Temple. Breaking through between stances within the same stage was quite fast, while breaking through from one stage to another was far more difficult. Since Ning had already reached the eleventh stance, the twelfth stance wouldn’t be too far behind.

“Daolord Darknorth’s sword-arts are extremely well-rounded and extremely durable. If he can master the twelfth stance… he’ll be on par with even me.” Archon Silksnow’s killing intent began to grow stronger.

Emperor Heartsword, even after becoming an Eternal Emperor, was only comparable to supreme Daolords when it came to his actual insights into the Dao of the Sword. He was actually weaker in this regard than the current Ning. However, thanks to his mastery of the fifteenth stance of the [Heartsword] art, he had completely eclipsed all other Archons and was second only to the Hegemons. He was known throughout the Endless Territories as the only Emperor who was comparable to Hegemons in power.

Now that Ning had mastered the eleventh stance, the power of his strikes was three times as much as it was ‘normally’. Soon, when he mastered the twelfth stance, his strikes would be comparable to six times his ‘normal’ power! How incredible would this be?

It was all thanks to this terrifying technique that Emperor Heartsword had been able to battle those who were two levels of power above him and be able to battle the three mighty Hegemons!

Boom! Boom! Boom! The two continued to battle furiously. Ning was knocked flying repeatedly, but he was able to endure the blows with ease. This was because his sword-arts were faster and fiercer than before, allowing him to completely defend against his foe’s attacks. “A hundred strikes? I can block even a thousand strikes from him. He might hold the upper hand, but if I completely focus on defense I can endure fairly easily.”

“Die, die, die!” Archon Silksnow’s oily green eyes grew colder and colder as his saber-arts fluctuated between incomparable savagery and snow-like unpredictability. Ning was completely unable to fight back at all, and with each strike he sent Ning flying away. He was completely dominating Ning, forcing Ning to focus exclusively on defense… but Archon Silksnow really was completely unable to do anything to the defense-oriented Ning.

“His defenses are completely without flaws. His sword-arts have no weaknesses whatsoever.” Archon Silksnow was extremely vexed by this; foes with perfect defensive abilities were extremely difficult to deal with. Even those more powerful than Ning would find it hard to breach his defensive sword-arts. “Am I really going to have to use one of my treasures to deal with a single Daolord?”

“Given his current level of power, not even common Hegemon-level treasures are certain to kill him. I would have to use one of my most important treasures.” Archon Silksnow felt a bit of heartache at the prospect. “I’ve only accumulated so many of them despite the passage of countless years… I was planning on using them in critical situations to defend against Hegemons.”

Archon Silksnow continued to hesitate as the two exchanged blows. Archon Silksnow was vacillating; he really didn’t want to use up his most important treasures. His more ordinary treasures such as ‘common’ Hegemonic treasures might be precious to Daolords, but Archon Silksnow had quite a few of them. However, those treasures generally only held twenty to thirty percent of the full power of a Hegemon’s strike. It wasn’t enough to kill an Archon of the Sacred Cities, nor was it enough to kill the current Ning.

……

While Archon Silksnow hesitated, he continued to hope that his furious barrage of attacks would be enough to kill Ning. If he could avoid using one of his life-saving treasures, he would do so; he wasn’t going to use those things up casually.

Riiiiiip. Far away, within the empty void that was beyond the area of ten billion kilometers covered by the blurry light, a tear in spacetime suddenly appeared. This tear was enormous in size, and from it emerged the enormous head of an absolutely titanic beast. The eyes on this head looked like blazing stars, and they turned to stare at the distant field of combat, locking in on both Archon Silksnow and Daolord Darknorth.

Archon Silksnow sensed this new presence, and he immediately turned to look.

“Archon Silksnow, stay your hand,” the titanic beast said in a rumbling voice.

“Hegemon Brightshore!” Archon Silksnow’s face immediately turned pale. Hegemon Brightshore had actually charged over here in person, using his true body?

Archon Silksnow had been hesitating, but a savage look immediately appeared on his face. He produced an ordinary-looking black hammer in his hands, then immediately tossed it out. The black warhammer transformed into an enormous streak of golden light which smashed straight towards the distant Ning. As it flew, the black warhammer’s light began to increase dramatically as it became golden in color.

The warhammer was dazzling to behold, and its aura alone caused Ning to feel the desire to prostrate himself before it. Ning forced down that thought, but he still felt a sense of shock in his heart. He hurriedly crushed two protective treasures, causing a barrier of water to appear around him as well as a strange river to cover him.

“Silksnow!” Hegemon Brightshore was enraged. His enormous body stretched out a single claw which tore straight through the blurry light. Boom! The barrier was completely ripped open. However… by the time he tore through it, the dazzling golden warhammer had already reached Ning.