Desolate Era (Book 36 - Book 40)

“After training for over a thousand accelerated chaos cycles, I’ve finally gained mastery over this formation-diagram.” Ning was absolutely delighted.

This had been an extremely difficult task. To fully unlock the formation-diagram, one needed to have reached extremely profound levels of insight into the Dao of Space and the Dao of Fire… and of course, the Dao of Formations.

Thus, Ning had first spent quite a bit of time analyzing the Dao of Fire. Fire and water mutually opposed each other but also reinforced each other. Ning thus chose to spend some time on the Dao of Water as well, so as to more quickly and thoroughly understand the Dao of Fire.

It took Ning a full chaos cycle to reach the Archon-level in the Dao of Water, even with the aid of the Autarch’s stone! As for the Dao of Fire, it took three entire chaos cycles.

Next, Ning focused on ‘space’. Ning wasn’t really talented in this regard, and ‘space’ was an incredibly difficult Dao to comprehend. While focusing on the Dao of Space, Ning also spent part of his time analyzing the Dao of Lightning, because he discovered that the Dao of Lightning was intimately connected to the Dao of Space.

Ning was quite skilled in the Dao of Lightning. It took him only two chaos cycles for him to reach the Archon level in this Dao. Only after finishing his work on the Dao of Lightning did he focus all of his attention on the Dao of Space once more.

It took him more than two hundred accelerated chaos cycles before he was able to create an Archon-level technique pertaining to the Dao of Space!

Now, he had reached sufficient heights in both fire and space. Ning turned all of his attention to the art of formations itself.

The Dao of Formations was an extremely complicated and awesome Dao. Ning spent more than eight hundred chaos cycles in accelerated time before he was finally able to reach a high enough level that he could understand how the Seven Flaming Hells’ formation-diagram worked! Thankfully, Ning had access to the many Sithe formation records which Autarch Awakener had left behind. Those techniques had included many descriptions on them, allowing Ning understand their fundamental principles and then take control over the formation-diagram.

“The Dao of Formations truly is insanely difficult.” Ning was speechless. “I had the Autarch’s stone dais helping me out, but I still spent over eight hundred accelerated chaos cycles working on it! If I didn’t have the stone dais, I could’ve spent a thousand times as much time in training without being able to succeed. In other words, there would’ve been no chance that I would’ve been able to finish mastering it during my 108,000.”

Ning felt a bit celebratory. Thank goodness he had the Autarch’s stone dais! That was why he had ‘only’ spent eight hundred chaos cycles to solve the Seven Flaming Hells formation-diagram.

This was proof that it was best for Daolords to focus on their areas of expertise. Ning was skilled in the Dao of the Sword, and so he trained in it quite quickly. He was also skilled in water and thunder, and thus he trained fairly quickly in those two Daos as well. Fire was a bit slower, while space had been ridiculous; it took him two hundred chaos cycles to reach the Archon level in it. As for the Dao of Formations? That went without saying.

“For me to have found the Autarch’s stone dais was a stroke of tremendous luck. Oh, Ninedust… you have no idea how lucky you are as well, to be able to make it out of this place.” Ning chortled. He really was delighted! After spending over a thousand chaos cycles in total, he had finally solved the Seven Flaming Hells formation-diagram. This sense of excitement and accomplishment truly was joyful.

“Let me see if I can control it all.” Ning’s divine power clone stared downwards, sending out a tendril of its will.

Rumble… the enormous flower-like diagram of the Seven Flaming Hells began to light up. Countless shadow images appeared throughout the hidden control room, and the images represented the entire Jadefire Realm! Every single flaming passageway and prison appeared, all of them under Ning’s control. He was now able to activate any prison cell with but a thought.

“Eh?” Ning’s divine power clone suddenly narrowed its eyes, turning to stare at the very center of the Jadefire Realm projection. There was actually another hidden region located directly beneath the prison region.

“There’s ANOTHER secret region?” Ning frowned.





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Book 37, Chapter 27 - Flamewing God


The hidden control room at the very center of the prison region was meant to control the formation-diagram which governed the entire Jadefire Realm. What, then, was this second hidden room directly beneath the prisons meant for?

“Turn!” Ji Ning sent out a strand of his will, causing the entire outer layer of the Jadefire Realm to rumble as it began to turn and swivel. Every single prison cell began to swivel as well as it switched to a new configuration.

“As I thought. This hidden room is actually the energy source for the entire Jadefire Realm.” Ning revealed a smile. How was it that the many mechanisms of the Jadefire Realm had been maintained for so long? Where did that energy come from? Although the Jadefire Realm was able to absorb energy from the outside world, it must be remembered that the Jadefire Realm was once capable of unleashing unleashing a Decimatus Wave of terrifying power. There was no way that the amount of energy absorbed from the outside world alone would be enough to unleash such an attack; it had to have an internal energy source to do this.

As soon as Ning discovered the second hidden room, he immediately surmised that it had to be the energy source for the Jadefire Realm. When he tested ‘turning’ the Jadefire Realm, he immediately discovered that energy began to flow out from that hidden room.

“What sort of energy well is capable of unleashing a ‘Decimatus Wave’?” Ning was rather intrigued and curious about this.

……

Ning’s realmship was parked peacefully in the air at the center of the Jadefire Realm’s prison region. The white-robed Ning was seated atop a prayer mat in the lotus position, silently meditating. As for Azurefiend, in his boredom he was drinking and eating by himself.

“We’re going to make a short trip,” Ning said as he opened his eyes.

“Have other Hegemons come?” Azurefiend asked, puzzled.

“No. We’re going to another part of the prisons,” Ning said. He was going to go check out the hidden room first, then save Ninedust; Ninedust had already waited for quite some time, a few more minutes wouldn’t kill him.

Swish. The realmship quickly began to descend through the prison region. After flying for a full hour, it reached a region of absolute empty darkness at the very bottom of the prison region.

“Open up.” Ning was in control of the Seven Flaming Hells formation-diagram. With but a thought, he caused the hidden room to open up before him.

Whoosh. A giant red copper gate suddenly appeared in the darkness and slowly began to open. As it did, a surge of blasting heat swept out from the other side, causing the void in the surrounding area to twist and distort like steam.

Ning was able to see the blazing heat and fire on the other side of the red copper gate.

“Ohoho!” Hegemon Azurefiend was quite excited. He said with a laugh, “I thought that the Jadefire Realm was already quite a hot place, given the many flames which fill its passageways… but there’s no way to compare those flames with this place. Let me out of the ship, I want to go take a look and see just how hot those flames are. They actually have caused space to twist and distort!”

“Alright.” With but a thought, Ning put away the realmship. Ning, Azurefiend, and Whitethaw all stood there in the emptiness of the void. The realmship gone, they could now directly sense the waves of heat which washed across them.