Desolate Era (Book 6 - Book 10)

Snowdragon Mountain’s side, however, was shocked and enraged.

Ning, who was battling in midair against the two Flood Dragons of sword-light, suddenly began to move in a different way; the extremely forceful and dynamic swordplay suddenly became incomparably reserved and stately.

Bang!

Bang!

The sword-light in the air seemed to have transformed into the light of the moon; it was incomparably soft. It also seemed like the caress of a lover…silently, soundless, the two Flood Dragons of sword-light began to crumble.

“What?!” Daoist Snowplume was shocked. This sword technique, ‘Yin-Yang, Divide and Transform’, was an extremely powerful one. And yet, even this technique was unable to resist Ning? Holding nothing back, he immediately unleashed the most powerful technique available to him: “Binary Commingling!”

Those two Flood Dragons of sword-light, on the verge of collapse, actually began to twist into each other, connecting into each other as though they were two living creatures bound into one body.

The commingling Flood Dragons of sword-light supported each other, reinforcing each other’s deficiencies and completely blocking Ning’s sword technique.

“In terms of profoundness of sword techniques, he is absolutely inferior to me.” Ning knew this quite well. “However, the foundations of Daoist Snowplume are simply too strong…and those two Heaven-ranked swords are also exceptionally powerful.”

The Darknorth swords were Bloodforged weapons; the more one used them to kill, the more death-energy and baleful energy they would absorb and the more powerful they would become. However, during the past nine years, Ning hadn’t killed many people…and so these Darknorth swords continued to be the equivalent of top-grade Earth-ranked magic treasures. Compared to the Binary Diffraction Swords, they were unfathomably weaker.

Ning’s superiority in sword techniques had cancelled out his inferiority in weaponry.

“I have to unleash the advantages of my Fiendgod body.” Ning’s primary goal in this battle was to test his own ability; however, since the opponent’s pair of Binary Diffraction Swords had already unleashed a power which surpassed his most powerful sword techniques, he could no longer just use sword techniques to compete.

Swish!

Swish!

Instantly, the surrounding wind began to howl as Ning himself merged into a gust of wind, moving with ghostly speed as he charged directly towards Daoist Snowplume.

Nine years. Not only had he improved tremendously in using the Heavenly Transformation technique, his Windwing Evasion technique had also improved an astonishing amount. And now, he was unleashing his full power!

Daoist Snowplume was tremendously shocked, and hurriedly controlled the Binary Diffraction Swords to try and block Ning.

Clang! Clang!

Ning’s swordplay became even softer, only defending and not attacking. In the blink of an eye, he managed to charge towards Daoist Snowplume’s side.

“Not good.” Daoist Snowplume was shocked; how could he dare fight against Ning in close combat? If Ning was struck by a sword, by relying on his Fiendgod body, he could almost instantly heal; if he, Daoist Snowplume, was struck by a sword, he would only be heavily wounded if he was lucky. If he wasn’t that lucky, he would truly perish!

Whoosh!

Daoist Snowplume immediately utilized his own evasive technique. A snowy white light flashed, and Daoist Snowplume immediately retreated back onto his warship.

“Master.” Adept Xu Ke and the gray-robed man stared, astonished, at Daoist Snowplume, who had suddenly appeared in the midst. The two distant streaks of sword-light flew over as well; it was the Binary Diffraction Swords.

Daoist Snowplume’s face was incomparably unsightly to behold. He spoke out, “What a formidable Ji Ning. Sword Immortals live up to their reputation. Admirable, admirable!”

His voice was deep and it shook the heavens.

“Let’s go.”

After Daoist Snowplume finished his words, that gigantic warship instantly soared away, quickly disappearing into the horizons.

Ning stood there in midair, watching Daoist Snowplume and the others depart. “Daoist Snowplume is quite a decisive fellow. He hadn’t even lost, but upon seeing that the current state of affairs was set in stone, he immediately retreated.”

Ning had engaged in this battle, primarily to test his strength. Over the past nine years, his [Crimsonbright Diagram of the Nine Heavens] had already reached the eleventh stage, and he had a body that was comparable to a peak Fiendgod Body Refiner. The main issue was that after advancing through one of the major stages, training in the [Crimsonbright Diagram of the Nine Heavens] would become considerably harder; thus, in the past, every two or three years, Ning would advance by a stage. But from the tenth stage to the eleventh stage, Ning had spent six years!

Clearly, the amount of time he had spent was much more.

Still, at least his Fiendgod body was all but perfect, superior to the likes of Bloodshadow. In addition, he also had the divine ability, [Starseizing Hand]; upon using it, his power was no less than that of a peak Primal Daoist’s! And this was with his [Starseizing Hand] being only at the first cycle; if he were to train to the second cycle of the [Starseizing Hand], then the power would be even greater.

The training method of the [Starseizing Hand] was known as the [Six Cycles of the Starseizer].

At the Zifu level, one could train in the first cycle.

At the Wanxiang level, one could train in the second cycle.

And so on and so forth.

However, training in the [Starseizing Hand] required a large amount of precious essences of the Five Elements. A large amount of external support was required. When Ning had trained in the first cycle in the underwater estate, he had used the Five Elements essence left behind by Daoist Threelives. Now, however, to train in the second cycle, Ning would have to go seek out the precious essences by himself. During the past nine years, although Ning had collected quite a few treasures, he was still far from having enough.

“A divine body and divine abilities…with these two, I’m comparable to a peak Primal Daoist Ki Refiner,” Ning sighed to himself. “My swordplay has reached the fifth stance of the [Three-Foot Sword], and is at a level even higher than his! But I’m at a disadvantage in terms of weapons…my Darknorth swords cannot compare to his Binary Diffraction Swords.”

The Binary Diffraction Swords even possessed some rudimentary sentience. Those two transformed Flood Dragons held a degree of sentience in their eyes…but it only made sense. After all, these were high-grade Heaven-ranked treasures. Upon reaching the higher ‘Immortal-ranked’ treasures, then a treasure spirit would emerge, such as the black bull of the underwater estate, which was the spirit of the Immortal-ranked magic treasure which Immortal Juhua had left behind.

“Master.”

“Ji Ning.”

“Young master…”

A distant group of people, riding on a leaf-type magic treasure, were flying towards them. Ninefire and the others were all in a state of delight and excitement.

Good heavens. That had been a peak Primal Daoist! He had actually been forced to retreat by Ji Ning. They could tell…that when fighting against Daoist Snowplume, Ning hadn’t been at the slightest disadvantage.

“My Ji clan is about to truly rise to prominence, to true prominence!” Ninefire roared with laughter. “Haha, I, Ji Ninefire, even at the moment of my death, will be satisfied. How many years…how many years! My Ji clan has finally produced such a figure! Ji Ning, I trust that soon, your name will be known throughout Stillwater Commandery!”