Desolate Era (Book 6 - Book 10)

What did this mean? Even if Ning went all out, it was hard to say if he would acquire it. If that was the case, then of course Ning would have to go all out!

“Kill.” Ning’s mind was filled with the clear images of the old, cunning Ji Ninefire; of Granny Shadow, who had threatened suicide to force him away; of Ah Xing, the devoted old servant of Granny Shadow; of the heroic, steadfast Truekeep; and of course, of his glacial-face, warm-hearted father, Ji Yichuan. And Uncle White, who had doted on him ever since he was young…

“I want you to all live! Father, Uncle White, Patriarch. You all must live.” Ning stared at the strongmen charging towards him, and in his mind, there was only a single word – kill! Kill! Kill all who barred his way!

He had those he wished to protect! Those he valued! Nobody could take them away!

…….

The nine swords controlled by divine will assisted Ning, helping him block nearby attacks. Those nine swords supported him, but the flood of strongmen continued to roar furiously as they threw themselves towards the encircled Ning. Ning’s struggling efforts grew weaker and weaker, but his gaze was filled with ever-greater berserk fury and steadfast resolve.

He knew what he needed to do. He knew his own heart.

“Bang!”

Within his soul, there was a colossal explosion, a sound akin to Pangu splitting open the heavens and establishing the universe. Ning’s divine will, which had originally been those nine flying swords…could now sense with incomparable clarity the location of every single strongman around him. He could even clearly sense every single bit of skin, flesh, and hair on their bodies. That distant, pitch-black tablet nearby. Those giant tables, filled with large amounts of weapons. It was all within his range of sense.

It was as though…Ning had gained an additional eye, an eye which could clearly see everything around him, letting nothing escape!

“Divine sense!” Ning instantly understood. His divine will had already evolved to a new, higher level. Zifu Disciples were generally all capable of dividing their minds, and Wanxiang Adepts were mostly capable of manifesting their divine will to control material items. Only Primal Daoists were capable of opening the Celestial Eye and manifest their divine sense. Everything within the range of one’s divine sense would be revealed, as though seen clearly with the naked eye.

It was extremely hard to progress in the soul, but in the path of Immortals, the soul was incomparably important. Only a sufficiently powerful soul would be able to command ever-greater amounts of elemental energy. If an ordinary mortal was in possession of the elemental energy of an Immortal, there was only one possible outcome; he wouldn’t be able to tame the elemental energy, which would wildly burst forth and shatter his bones and his flesh, slaying him.

Advancing in the soul was something which could be done through visualization techniques, through gaining comprehension into the Dao, through strengthening the body to support the soul, or through training one’s will.

Training the will…another phrase for it might be training one’s Dao-heart! Ning had already reached the ‘divine will’ level when he was eleven. In the past five years, Ning had made astonishing amounts of progress with regards to comprehending the Dao, eventually reaching the Dao Domain level. Clearly, this had all been very beneficial to his soul.

His body had just reached the Blood-Drop Rebirth level as a Fiendgod refiner, allowing him to once more strengthen the body to support the soul. And, in the past five years, he had visualized the [Nuwa Painting] every single day, allowing him to rise in power ceaselessly. And today…

Ning had first battled at Oxhorn Mountain, then witnessed his clansmen decide to fight to the death, and had even chosen to flee alone, then undergo the Divine Abilities Hall’s trial in the hopes of acquiring one of the top three divine abilities. Everything he had experienced today…it had all tested and forged his will. In utter despair, his will had grown only stronger. And his Dao-heart had become even more perfectly pure and durable.

The Dao-heart and the will…to the soul, they were like the commanders of an army! The same soldiers, if led by strict military discipline, would only rise in battle-strength considerably. But if the military leadership was poor, they would be much less effective.

The same was true for the Dao-heart and the will. A soul, when determined, would allow the Immortal practitioner to unleash great power. Even if one’s base of elemental ki energy was extremely deep, one would still need to use will in order to forcibly summon and activate that power. When one’s will was weak, however, the excessively formidable amount of elemental energy would be rendered unusable, and perhaps even some simple bewitching illusions would cause one to perish.

Thus, to Immortal practitioners, training one’s Dao-heart was extremely important. The more perfect and pure one’s Dao-heart was, the farther one would be able to travel on the Immortal path.

“Five years of comprehending the Dao. Five years of visualization. My increase in power as a Fiendgod refiner. All of these things established a firm, solid base for me. Today, my Dao-heart has been further tempered, allowing me to break through at one blow, to open my Celestial Eye and establish my divine sense.” A vertical-pupiled eye suddenly appeared in the middle of Ning’s forehead. This vertical-pupiled eye was the corridor to the ‘soul’ in Ning’s consciousness; it was as though Ning’s soul was staring towards the outside world through this eye.

Within the Celestial Eye’s range of vision, Ning could instantly tell how these strongmen had been condensed from the fog and energy. “Close.” The eye in the middle of Ning’s forehead closed.

Upon the Celestial Eye opening, even some of the high level transformations which various monsters and devils were capable of unleashing would be easily seen through. In addition, the divine sense covered an extremely wide region, and could see everything within it with perfect clarity. Even in the middle of a bewildering formation, the divine sense could sense everything clearly, preventing it from bewitching Ning.

Ordinary formations, especially bewildering formations, were generally of limited use against Immortal practitioners who were capable of using divine sense. But of course, there were some powerful formations capable of bewildering even the divine sense, but the vast majority of Wanxiang Adepts didn’t have access to those sorts of grand formations.

…………

“Whoosh!” The nine swords, controlled by divine will, suddenly increased in power tremendously. Nine rays of sword light howled as they flashed through the air, chopping one row after another of strongmen into two pieces. All of their heads went flying, their bodies shattering and dissolving into the mist.

“Kill, kill kill.” A look of delight appeared on Ning’s face. “All of you, come over here.” Ning stared towards the table in front of him, which was covered with many weapons. One sword after another rose into the air, and a dense cluster of nearly a hundred flying swords flew towards him, all of them transforming into flowing, liquid streams of sword light. With each blow, they slaughtered a heap of strongmen, and many strongmen constantly collapsed, dispersing into mist.

Nearly a hundred swords, transformed into nearly a hundred rays of sword light, danced around Ning. As for Ning himself, he stood there, not needing to fight personally any longer.