Desolate Era (Book 31 - Book 35)

……

Each of the seven colors of the rainbow chains which stretched across the first abyss represented a type of truesoul life aura! One had to be able to transform one’s life aura to match those chains in order to safely traverse them. If the truesoul aura was not imitated perfectly, then one would be swept into that endless abyss and perish!

The Sithe used very brutal methods to train their Daolords.

“[Vitalis]…” After learning this technique, Ning felt more and more certain that the Sithe had reached truly inconceivable heights in certain areas. For example, their mastery of truesoul-relaetd techniques clearly surpassed that of the Endless Territories by a significant amount. Otherwise, they would never have been able to create a technique such as this.

What Ning didn’t know was that although the Sithe had been exterminated, the many treasures and techniques they had left behind were furiously fought over in countless places. Crimsonwave Temple was nothing more than one of the many relic sites left behind by the Sithe.

“Focus.” Ning made use of his temporal acceleration treasure. Years passed inside although just half a month or so had gone by outside. He was now able to use a tiny amount of his truesoul and godsense to form a ‘lifecloak’ around him, with the lifecloak capable of simulating any truesoul aura Ning had met before.

This amount of his truesoul and godsense was of neglible impact to Ning. He was a heartforce cultivator, after all, and a very high-level one at that. Learning this technique was thus quite easy for him.

“Success.” Ning put away the spacetime cabin and turned to stare at the stone pillar. He sighed silently, “Their abilities were utterly unearthly, but their ambitions were simply too vast. In the end, they were wiped out!”

Ning understood that the little he knew about the Sithe came from what Realmsoul Polo and the Grovekeeper had told him. He realized that this was nothing more than the tip of an iceberg, and that he still knew very little as to what the truth was.

The Grovekeeper had merely been an artificial construct created by the Sithe race in order to take care of the trees here in Crimsonwave Temple. He had never been able to leave this place. As for Realmsoul Polo, he was nothing more than a servant of Emperor Waveshift’s.

……

Ning stood there atop the seven-colored chains, every single colored chain containing a different truesoul aura. The different colors all stretched out across several meters, allowing the Daolords enough time to falsify their truesoul auras.

Whoosh. Whoosh. Whoosh.

Ning continuously transformed. First he was a terrifying demon, then he became a suave and graceful cultivator. If they closed their eyes, not even Brightmoon or Patriarch Subhuti would be able to recognize that this aura came from Ji Ning.

Soon, Ning traversed the entire set of chains and reached the giant rocky island on the other side.

“The first command talisman.” Ning stared at the octahedral black-gold command talisman levitating in the air, then reached out to grab it. The command talisman’s surface was warm on one side but cool on the other, and the temperatures on each side continuously alternated. This first command talisman, along with the second command talisman, were amongst the least valuable of the command talismans. However, the fruit they gave access to only ripened once every 30,000 chaos cycles. Given that the Sithe were willing to place such valuable trees here in Crimsonwave Palace, the fruit would definitely still be extraordinary.

“One talisman down. Keep going.” Ning stared off into the distance towards the tri-colored chains leading across the second abyss. At the end of the tri-colored chains was the altar which held the fourth command talisman at the bottom! At the very top of the altar was the ninth command talisman.

“Eh?” Ning stared at the stone pillar which stood deep at the ends of the second abyss. “If I wish to pass through the second abyss, I must master the [Daoheart] technique…” This stone pillar was also covered with dense runic script that explained yet another mysterious, ancient technique of the Sithe race.

He had been stunned when he saw the [Vitalis] technique. This time, he had already mentally fortified himself, but upon seeing the [Daoheart] technique he was still completely dumbfounded.





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Book 33, Chapter 14 - [Daoheart]


Whoosh. A cold wind blew out from the deep abyss in front of Ji Ning. Ning however just stood there blankly, not seeming to even notice it at all.

The [Vitalis] technique allowed one to disguise one’s truesoul aura. It could merely be described as a rare technique that wasn’t really of much use for either the Daomerge or cultivation in general. This [Daoheart] technique, however, was of enormous benefit to cultivators!

For cultivators, the Daoheart mattered more than anything else! Without a sufficiently strong Daoheart, you couldn’t even so much as become a Celestial Immortal. Once your Daoheart collapsed, you might even fail to control the powerful Immortal energy coursing through your body, resulting in death via self-detonation! All Samsara Daolords, especially supreme ones, had incredibly formidable Daohearts.

Usually, the stronger a person was the more powerful his Daoheart would be as well, which meant that on average Eternal Emperors had stronger Daohearts than Samsara Daolords did. But of course, there were a few extremely rare exceptions.

When Ninedust had been poisoned by that redscatter venom, he had been in such agony that he wanted Ning to kill him. The redscatter venom had originally been devised for usage against powerful Eternal Emperors, who had very strong Daohearts. It would weaken them, but it wouldn’t incapacitate them to the point where they would beg for death. This alone was a testament as to the difference in Daohearts between Ninedust and powerful Eternal Emperors.

However, as more time passed Ninedust’s Daoheart had been tempered and strengthened by the redscatter venom. Towards the late stages of his poisoning, he had no longer screamed in pain. If someone was to apply redscatter venom to him again, he might be dramatically weakened but he wouldn’t beg for death. This signified that his Daoheart had improved!

“Redscatter venom is terrifying, but it’s also a good treasure for tempering one’s Daoheart. Alas, the effect only lasts for twelve days,” Ning mused. In the end, twelve days simply wasn’t long enough, especially given how incredibly rare and expensive redscatter venom was. When applied at the right time in a duel between Eternal Emperors, it could allow one to be able to slay a foe outright. Hence, no one would be so wasteful as to use it to temper the Daoheart.

“This [Daoheart] technique… once you use it, you’ll suffer such tremendous agony that you’ll feel as though you’ve been hit by redscatter venom!” Ning was truly stunned.

It sounded quite simple; it was nothing more than a pain technique, right? But it must be understood that supreme Daolords had such incredibly formidable Daohearts that they would calmly smile in the face of death itself! To cause them to feel such agonizing pain that they would be at the verge of suffering a mental breakdown was incredibly hard to do. That was what made the redscatter venom so valuable! This [Daoheart] technique, however, was able to cause increasingly terrifying levels of pain. This sort of technique was completely unheard of in the Endless Territories!