The Desolate Era (Web Novel)

Wrapped within that cocoon of deep azure light, Ji Ning shut his eyes. It was as though he was asleep. A surge of enormous power was currently being transmitted straight into his soul.

“I swear on my very life itself that within a thousand years of becoming an Elder God, I must leave the Three Realms. I must reach ‘Vastheaven Palace’ within a chaos cycle and inform a Welcomer of Vastheaven Palace that World God Northrest was slain by the three Wujiao Godbeasts.” Ning’s soul was no longer his control as he was forced to swear yet another lifeblood oath.

This caused Ning to feel quite irritated. This sort of sensation, of being forced to swear a lifeblood oath, was extremely unpleasant.

However, Ning instantly realized the real purpose behind the creation of Undermoon Lake.

“World God?” Ning mused to himself, “The creator of Undermoon Lake was actually a World God. However…he seems to have died.”

“This lifeblood oath isn’t that bad. I have to leave within a thousand years of becoming an Elder God, but I’m a long way off from that level. And I have a full chaos cycle to reach Vastheaven Palace. However…where exactly is it? What type of a place is it?” Ning was quite puzzled.

Although he had soulscoured the memories of the prisoners inside Prisonworld 17, he had never before heard of this ‘Vastheaven Palace’.

However, judging from the lifeblood oath he had just been forced to swear, World God Northrest had to be a member of Vastheaven Palace! He was killed but wanted to find someone to send a message, which meant that Vastheaven Palace should be powerful enough to take revenge for him! But of course, this was just logical reasoning; it was also possible that other stories were hidden within this seemingly-simple message.

Boom!

Just as Ning was pondering this question, an enormous amount of information began to flood into Ning’s soul. Ning was instantly sent into a half-dazed state, as the enormous flood of information made it almost impossible for him to think.

After six full hours, Ning finally regained his consciousness.

Whoosh.

Ning, still within that tattered-looking shrine, finally regained his freedom and mobility. The cocoon of azure light that had wrapped around him had completely vanished. Ning just stood there blankly, not moving at all.

“First the stick, then the carrot?” Ning muttered to himself.

He had first been forced to swear a lifeblood oath, but then he was given the real reward. Two major techniques now existed within Ning’s memories.

The first was a Fiendgod Body Refining technique, [Forlorn World God]. The second was a divine ability, [Nine Elements Annihilation]. Both were for Fiendgod Body Refiners to train in.

In truth, the creator of Undermoon Lake, World God Northrest, was himself a Fiendgod Body Refiner. This naturally meant that he was more skilled in this respect, which was why he only permitted Empyrean Gods to enter this place. Empyrean Gods were more moldable; those who had relied on other techniques to become True Gods would be much less moldable.

[Forlorn World God] was a technique that was unfathomably superior to the [Crimsonbright Diagram of the Nine Heavens]. It was an extremely detailed and exquisite technique that could guide someone all the way to becoming a World God!

But of course, just having the technique wasn’t enough; actually training in it was the key part. For example, even though Ning had the [Crimsonbright Diagram of the Nine Heavens], he had yet to break through to become a True God. But no matter what…this unfathomably profound Fiendgod Body Refining technique pointed out with tremendous clarity a path for Ning to walk. There was simply an enormous difference between a profound technique and a simple technique.

For example, a person who perhaps only had a 1% chance of becoming a True God when training in the [Crimsonbright Diagram of the Nine Heavens] might have a 10% chance of reaching that level when training in [Forlorn World God].

“Empyrean God. True God. Elder God. World God.” Ning was filled with eagerness.

As for the other technique, it was a divine ability. [Nine Elements Annihilation].

This was an extremely old divine ability that was spread throughout the primordial chaos. Meant for Fiendgods to train in, one could say that it’s power was quite ordinary…but one could also say that its power was almost limitless!

The reason for this was because the [Nine Elements Annihilation] involved a total of nine fundamental, basic elemental runes.

These elemental runes were very simple, like the basic strokes in Chinese characters; a dot, a slash, a vertical line, etc. But those simple strokes could came together to form the words for a word, the words could come together to form a language, and the language could give birth to profound idioms, poems, songs, and novels.

The same was true for this divine ability, the [Nine Elements Annihilation].

These nine elemental runes could join together in countless ways, forming increasingly complicated and increasingly perfect divine tattoos!

For example, the foundation of the [Starseizing Hand] was its Starseizing Tattoos. As for these nine elemental runes, their potential for growth was nearly limitless, as they could be joined together in increasingly complicated, profound, and powerful divine tattoos, which would be used to unleash divine power to execute divine abilities. Theoretically, the power of these runes could allow this divine ability to surpass the [Starseizing Hand] and countless other divine abilities.

However…

This ‘unlimited power’ was only in theory. For example, there were countless people throughout human history who had learned Chinese characters, but almost none had been able to master it to the level of writing poems and stories that would be passed down for generations. The same principle was true for the [Nine Elements Annihilation]; it was extremely widespread amongst the powerful experts of the primordial chaos, but very, very few were actually able to develop truly outstanding divine tattoos based on it.

“Although it will be hard, based on the description that I saw, quite a few World Gods within the primordial chaos use and train in this technique,” Ning mused to himself. “This is a key. A key that will allow me to potentially unlock and develop a truly dazzling divine ability.”

“World God Northrest truly went to great lengths.”

“The refining technique is one that can allow my power to rise nonstop, while the divine ability theoretically has no limit to its maximum combat power. The more talented one is, the more powerful this divine ability will become.” Ning was extremely moved.

The silver-haired man was still standing outside the shrine. When Ning walked outside, the silver-haired man said with a smile, “Now that you have these two techniques, you are different from all other living creatures within the Three Realms.”

“You knew?” Ning frowned.

“Master died, leaving all the matters within Moonfall Island to me to control. Of course I know,” the silver-haired man said with a smile.

“Then I ask you…where is Vastheaven Palace?” Ning asked.

“I don’t know.” The silver-haired man shook his head.

“You don’t know?” Ning was puzzled. “Was your master World God Northrest? Was he the creator of Undermoon Lake? Was he from Vastheaven Palace?”

The silver-haired man nodded. “My master was indeed World God Northrest, and he was one of the top-tier World Gods within the primordial chaos. If it hadn’t been due to the three Wujiao Godbeasts joining together and trapping him, how could he have died? He was caught in a trap and surrounded, nearly dying in body and soul. Just a tiny bit of his soul managed to escape, and he plunged through one dangerous region after another, eventually ending up here. Because of all the dangerous regions he went through as he fled, not even he himself knew the path back to his original sect. This the reason why Master gave you a full chaos cycle in the lifeblood oath for you to find Vastheaven Palace. That’s a tremendous amount of time! If you aren’t able to find it in a full chaos cycle and end up being devoured by your oath, you have no one to blame but yourself.”

Ning was quite calm.”

A full chaos cycle!

That was the amount of time needed for an ordinary chaosworld to be born and then perish. It was countless trillions of years! He had only lived for a bit more than three hundred years. He felt no pressure at all.

“After Master reached this place, he used the remainder of his strength to build Undermoon Lake,” the silver-haired man said with a cold laugh. “You should be able to tell how powerful my master had been. Even the small amount of power he had left was equal to the amount of power an ordinary World God would have.”

“Yes.” Ning nodded.

He understood now. World God Northrest came from Vastheaven Palace and was a figure of incredible power…but disaster struck and he fled with heavy injuries. Unwilling to just die like that, he had created Undermoon Lake as a place to choose a suitable Empyrean God to send a message to his comrades for him.

“Fortunately, World God Northrest didn’t force me to swear an oath to take revenge for him,” Ning chuckled.

“You?” The silver-haired man shook his head and sneered, “The three Wujiao Godbeasts are three Godbeasts that were born from the primordial chaos with the power of Elder Gods. Later on, thanks to many fortuitous experiences over their countless years of roaming through the primordial chaos, they all reached the World God level. When they join together, they are a match for even my master; how could someone like you possibly kill them? All you need to do is deliver the message. When you do that, my master’s many friends will take revenge for him.”

Ning nodded. Fine, then. Northrest, the three Wujiao Godbeasts…all of that was very distant from him.

“Is Vastheaven Palace very powerful?” Ning asked curiously.

“It…should be.” The silver-haired man was slightly hesitant. “Master created me here, so I don’t know much of Vastheaven Palace. I trust that after you leave the Three Realms and begin to roam the endless primordial chaos, you should be able to find information regarding Vastheaven Palace.”

“Why is it that the written language of Undermoon Lake seems to be a bit different from the written language of the Three Realms?” Ning asked. He had noticed long ago that the language here was absolutely identical to the written language used by the chaos-kingdom of Pangaea.

“This is a common language that is used throughout the primordial chaos,” the silver-haired man explained.