Desolate Era (Book 36 - Book 40)

“My master spent untold amounts of effort to construct this Azureflower Estate… and its heart is this stone dais,” the white-haired elder said as he pointed at the stone dais. “The countless formations in this estate have pooled their power within it, ensuring that it has an absolutely incredible supportive effect! Sitting on it is akin to being in a prajna-state of constant epiphany.”


Ning nodded. When he sat atop this stone dais, the effect was indeed much stronger than that of the Stone Censer of Reunion. Ning couldn’t help but lower his head to look at the stone dais. This was simply too incredible and marvelous. With this stone dais, he would be able to cultivate the Dao much more quickly than before. Most likely, even his chances at the Daomerge would be improved by a bit.

“My master originally constructed this stone dais for himself. He spent his time cultivating atop it, and he paid an absolutely astronomical price to create it. Now, he has left it to those who are linked to this place by karma and destiny.” The white-haired elder watched as Ning excitedly lowered his head and gently stroked the stone dais, then continued; “Now that you have passed the trials, you can come use this stone dais for as long as you are alive. I suspect that it is highly unlikely a second destined person will make it here in the next 108,000 chaos cycles.”

Ning nodded excitedly. This was definitely a truly supreme and peerless treasure.

“Calm down first. Once you’ve completely calmed down, I’ll talk to you about something else,” the white-haired elder said.

“Alright.” Ning could sense that his heart was still trembling. He had first viewed the countless techniques belonging to two different types of civilizations, then discovered this stone dais which vastly surpassed the Stone Censer of Reunion. Ning naturally was in a state of shock!

……

A long while later, Ning finally began to calm down. He looked at the white-haired elder, his heart tranquil.

“Now that you are calmer, I’ll explain.” The white-robed elder said, “The reason why my master left behind so many arrangements and even permitted you to view all of these techniques… is because of a final, dying wish he had.”

“A final wish?” Ning was stunned.

“Yes.” The white-robed elder nodded. “You should have already trained in the ‘Ninespace’ technique, yes?”

“The ‘Ninespace’ technique?” Ning was startled.

“Those Nine Chaos Seals,” the white-haired elder explained. “My master created the Nine Chaos Seals. They allow you to establish a brand new space within your sea of consciousness where an azure flower will bloom. This is the ‘ninespace’ region. It can convert Immortal energy, divine power, heartforce, and all other types of energy into a single mist-like form of energy. Of all the techniques which my master created in the countless years after he reached Autarchy, this is his proudest… but also his greatest regret. Even when he died, he still felt regret over this technique.”





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Book 36, Chapter 28 - Creating Ten Techniques


“His greatest regret?” Ji Ning was rather puzzled. The Nine Chaos Seals were indeed quite marvelous. They were capable of transforming his heartforce, his divine power, his Immortal energy, and even the chaos energy of the outside world. It made the energy inside his body far more pure, and was extremely nourishing to the soul and truesoul. Wasn’t it perfect?

“Yes… his greatest regret. Master had always felt regret over this technique and was unhappy with it,” the white-haired elder said with a nod. “The ‘Ninespace’ technique has many inherent flaws. For example, one can only master it before reaching the World level! Otherwise, there will be no way to establish the ninespace region within the sea of consciousness. For another example, there’s no way the mist-energy can leave the body.”

Ning nodded. This was true, and the reason why in the past he had always relied on close combat. However, the more powerful one became, the more important one’s mastery over the Dao would be. By now, the additional strength granted to him by the azureflower mist energy was negligible.

“But these are all small flaws. If Master spent a bit more effort, he would be able to perfect them,” the white-haired elder said. “The fatal flaw to this technique… is that the ninespace region is at most able to convert the power of Samsara Daolords! The divine power, heartforce, and Immortal energy of Eternal Emperors cannot be converted at all.”

Ning was stunned. “Eternal-level energies cannot be converted?”

“Right. Thus, this technique is only useful to cultivators below the Eternal Emperor level.” The white-haired elder shook his head and sighed. “My master’s original plan was to create a total of twelve of those chaos seals! Not only would this technique be able to convert the energies of Eternal Emperors… it would even be able to convert the energies of Autarchs! Only then would this technique be considered perfect. If it could convert an Autarch’s energy, it would be of huge benefit to even the Autarchs!”

Ning could only nod. He didn’t really understand what Autarchs were truly capable of, but being able to convert their energies had to be quite helpful.

“The reason why my master created this technique was because the Sithe race relied upon a source of energy that was very pure and similar to this mist energy,” the white-haired elder said. “Every member of the Sithe race, from the weakest to the strongest, all used something akin to your mist-energy.”

“Ah?!” Ning was stunned. “They don’t use divine power or Immortal energy?”

“They do not.” The white-haired elder shook his head. “Their energy source can be used the same way as divine power or Immortal energy is used, but is even more powerful. Why would they need divine power or Immortal energy?”

Ning was truly stunned now. It seemed as though the Sithe truly were fundamentally different from cultivators; even their techniques were completely different! Perhaps there were justa few simple techniques like the [Daoheart] or the [Vitalis] arts which both sides could use. This was the reason why Emperor Waveshift had moved Crimsonwave Temple to his home without destroying the [Daoheart] or [Vitalis] techniques.

“To create an entirely new system of cultivation is unspeakably difficult. Master labored by himself for untold aeons to find a way to merge divine power, Immortal energy, heartforce, and all other types of energy into this mist energy,” the white-haired elder said. “This was Master’s greatest goal, and he poured all of his effort into it.”

“He scoured the cultivator civilizations for techniques, and even retrofitted countless Sithe techniques for us to use… but his true goal was still to create the Nine Chaos Seals.” The white-haired elder looked at Ning. “Master is dead now, and his dying regret was this technique. Thus, he hopes that his successors will be able to create a tenth chaos seal… and perhaps help him realize his hypothesized eleventh and twelfth chaos seals.”

Ning nodded slowly. He couldn’t help but ask, “If even the Autarch failed, how could we successors possibly succeed?”

“Do not underestimate any cultivator. Master was able to become an Autarch due to his talent, but also due to the countless strokes of good fortune he encountered. You juniors aren’t necessarily less talented than my master… and in fact, you yourself were able to develop an Omega Sword Dao at the Samsara Daolord level. When my master was a Samsara Daolord, he wasn’t even close to being a match for you,” the white-haired elder said. “There are some things which you can do which my master might not be able to.”

Ning was enlightened. Indeed, every single extremely talented cultivator had their own experiences and insights, and they would create techniques with those different thoughts in mind. Autarch Awakener had failed, but that didn’t mean that all cultivators would fail.