Desolate Era (Book 6 - Book 10)

The old black bull understood this very well.

This book was nothing more than a sort of ‘guide’, guiding the consciousness of practitioners on an extremely deep level to gain certain insights. The more words one read, the deeper a level of insight gaining one would reach! But of course…how much one would gain from it would depend on how many experiences that person had built up normally in life. Good preparation was the key to success; only by normally accumulating experiences would one have sudden insights.

“Which star is he looking at?” The old black bull saw Ning raise his head to stare at the sky. He couldn’t help but feel curious “According to what Juhua said, every single star contains a different Dao.”

A calm smile was on Ning’s face, as though he were by the side of his mother.

That smile contained an inexhaustible charisma…when the old black bull saw Ning’s smile, he seemed to feel even his own heart grow warm.

This was a form of longing.

A mental warmth.

“Sword.” The old black bull stared.

Ning rose to his feet, leaving the stone table. He pressed his forefinger and middle finger together into the shape of a ‘sword’, then began to brandish them about in training swordplay within the Stellar Hall. This was a type of swordplay that contained inexhaustible, endless longing…Ning didn’t release any rays of sword-light, nor did he use any elemental energy; this was seemingly a very ordinary display of swordplay.

But it made the old black bull sense the boundless longing contained within it.

The old black bull was able to sense the surrounding Serpentwing Lake area. He knew that over the past few years, Ning had gained insights into many hints regarding the True Meaning of the Dao, the majority of which belonged to a longing-type sword intention.

“It changed.” The old black bull instantly saw how Ning’s swordplay had become purer.

“Rustle…”

In the area around Ning, who wasn’t using any elemental energy at all in executing this swordplay with just his fingers, suddenly appeared drops of rain. One drop of rain after another came to form, and they constantly fell. The rain fell nonstop, landing atop the scattered stones…and Ning, in the center of the rainstorm, was like the favored son of the rain, which surrounded him and protected him.

“This this this…” The old black bull stared. “Accumulated effort which results in sudden rewards!”

The accumulated hints of insight into the True Meaning of the Dao which Ning had gained over the past five years, at this moment…finally made a qualitative breakthrough!





* * *





Book 6, Chapter 4 - Rainwater Sword Domain


The raindrops were sprinkling downwards. Ji Ning, amidst the rain, was completely absorbed in his swordplay. His sword-fingers alone were able to execute a sword technique that activated the ‘Dao’.

How comfortable.

Ning felt as though, in this moment, he himself had become a drop of rainwater! He was swirling about, playing and jesting with the other droplets of rain, and joining with them to form a single strand of it. That sort of interconnected-ness and mutual affection…caused the countless drops of rain to all join together.

“Rustle…..” The sprinkling rain surrounding Ning transformed into countless drops of rain which transformed into a drizzling rain. The countless crystalline strands of rain appeared all the more mesmerizing.

Swish! Swish! Swish!

Every single strand of rain seemed to secretly be like a knife.

“Rumble…” The rain grew heavier and heavier, transforming into a tempest. The tempest seemed incomparably ferocious, and Ning’s swordplay carried a ferocious, unstoppable power as well.

………..

The old black bull stared, stupefied. Rain drops, rain drizzle, tempest…and in the end, the rainwater once more transformed into that sprinkling, drizzling rain.

One line of rain after another…they seemed like incomparably precious, crystalline jade sculptures that were carved into thin lines. They were also like the hands of a mother, gently stroking down.

Finally, Ning came to a halt.

“This…is Dao?” Ning murmured to himself.

“Congratulations, Ji Ning.” The old black bull’s mouth was hanging wide open, and he was incomparably excited. “You have already truly immersed yourself into the Dao, truly and complete. The feeling of becoming part of the Dao itself is very marvelous, isn’t it?”

Ning nodded gently.

Just now, that feeling had indeed been incredible. He was like a pearl of water, a droplet of rain! In that instant, he felt incomparably familiar to and close with the rainwater. Ning understood…that he had developed his own Dao. The Dao of Rainwater!

“Over the past five years, you have gained insights into many strands of the True Meaning of the Dao. Your accumulated insights have allowed you to break through to a new threshold, with the final result being that you have gained a ‘Dao Domain’.” The old black bull sighed in praise.

“Dao Domain?” Ning looked puzzled. “What is that?”

The old black bull said, astonished, “You don’t even know this?”

“No idea.” Ning said honestly.

The old black bull sighed, shaking his head. “Your clan really is an ordinary one. You don’t even have a basic understanding of the different levels of insight. I’ll tell you, then. In training, one aspect is improving on a technical level; be it sword, saber, spear, or even painting and music and other artistic endeavors, technique matters. The first level is the ‘foundation’! Which is to say, becoming familiar with the basic techniques of an art. The second level is the ‘advanced’ level; it represents that you have all but perfected your mastery of the techniques. The third level is ‘one with the world’; this represents that you are already getting close to the ‘Dao’, and have begun to attune to heaven’s will.”

Ning listened. Naturally, he knew about these first three levels.

“After ‘one with the world’, the next step is in attuning with the intricacies of the natural world, and slowly discovering one of the ‘Daos’. Once you discover it! You will have gained a hint of the ‘True Meaning of the Dao’. That is the fourth level; ‘True Meaning of the Dao’.” The old black bull shook his head. “It is very hard to gain insight into a ‘True Meaning of the Dao’. Even some Zifu Disciples aren’t capable of doing it.”

When Ning had been meditating on the Dao by the side of the pool that year, he gained his first insight into a ‘True Meaning of the Dao’.

“Afterwards, when you continue to gain insight and continuously accumulate many more hints of the ‘True Meaning of the Dao’, your insights into the Dao will grow greater and greater. There will then come a day when the many hints of the ‘True Meaning of the Dao’ will coalesce and then transform qualitatively. Only then will you truly be able to become one with the Dao itself, to the point where, with but a thought, you can summon the power of the Dao in your surroundings, to form it into your own Domain. This is the fifth level; ‘Dao Domain’. This is the level you are currently at. Formidable, formidable.” The old black bull sighed. “Only very few Wanxiang Adepts are capable of reaching this level; generally speaking, only people at the Primordial Daoist level are capable of reaching this level of insight into the Dao.”

“Oh? I’m that amazing?” Ning said with a laugh.

“Your innate talents are extremely high, especially your talents as pertain to the sword. You are an absolute monster! With the assistance of the Stellar Hall, at the young age of 16, you’ve actually reached this level!” The old black bull said.

Ning understood as well.

He possessed the [Nuwa Painting] and was incomparably hard-working. He also had an innately high comprehension ability, and also the Aquatic Estate…there were many variables which contributed to him being able to achieve what he had.