The Desolate Era (Web Novel)

Ji Ning opened his eyes and looked at the beautiful bloodlotus flowers hovering in the air around him. Although their baleful aura filled the entire region, the aura was unable to disguise their beauty. Ning almost felt as though he could see a dazzlingly beautiful woman surrounded by that sea of blood. The woman’s face was the face of the woman he wished to see the most. She silently stood there, amidst the bloodlotus flowers, smiling at him.

“Senior apprentice-sister…”

Ning gently murmured these words to himself. He was silent for a moment, then waved his hand and took back the bloodlotus flowers.

Then, Ning sat down in the lotus position and began to train in the [Solitary World God].

Stillness.

His heartrate began to slow down; in fact, it very nearly stopped. His blood flow began to stop as well. Ning just sat there, seeming to have become a solitary, withered tree. However, his senses were more acute than ever before.

“My divine body…” Ning traced the sensations of starvation back to its source, finding the sense of hunger that permeated his entire body.

“There we go.”

“Time to begin.”

Ning immediately initiated the technique for making the breakthrough.

“Let the Dao of the Sword serve as the core.” Instantly, the divine power that permeated every single cell in Ning’s body began to change, transforming into countless tiny swords. Every single drip of divine power was in the shape of a sword, making it as though Ning’s entire body was composed of countless tiny swords. Every single tiny sword embodied the essence of a Grand Dao, the Dao of the Sword.

When breaking through to become a True God, an Elder God, or a World God, there was one thing in common that was needed: A specific Dao had to be used as the core.

Two identical sets of rocks. If one’s construction techniques were poor, they would result in a flimsy, easily destroyed building. But if one’s construction techniques were good, they would result in a building that would last for thousands of year.

The principle was the same. If one wished to build a powerful divine body, one needed to use absolutely brilliant techniques. The trick here lay in the Dao that was used for the core.

Take Ning, for example; as an Empyrean God, his divine body had reached the level of perfection long ago. He wasn’t able to make any further improvements whatsoever. However, to step into the higher realm of True Gods, he first had to have sufficiently pure divine power. His divine power had to more than a hundred times more pure than that of an ordinary Empyrean God, which meant that he would have to change even the core Dao which was the source of his divine power. When Ning had become an Empyrean God, his core Dao had been the Dao of Rainwater. Now, for the sake of breaking through to become a True God, Ning chose to use the Dao of the Sword as his core.

In in the Three Realms, it was believed that there actually weren’t any ‘taboo’ Daos that could not be used as the core. Upon mastering a specific Heavenly Dao, one would generally use that Heavenly Dao as the core for becoming a Daofather.

However…

The techniques passed down by World God Northrest included many details notes within them.

With each breakthrough to a new realm, the divine body would be remade anew and perfected. The core Daos used each time should not be contradictory ones! For example, if he had become an Empyrean God through using the Dao of the Inferno as his core, then when he became a True God he shouldn’t use the Grand Dao of the Waterdrop. If he did, the two Daos would interfere with each other. He would still be able to become a True God, but he would never have any chance of becoming an Elder God again.

In the Three Realms, becoming a True God through cultivation was considered the apex of power; they naturally wouldn’t care about such a thing.

However, some of the high-level cultivators within the endless primordial chaos had set their sights on greater heights. They learned from the wisdom of their elders, and so also set down rules of their own to ensure their successors would know which choices were taboo. For example, the Daos that you chose for making your breakthrough absolutely could not be Daos that repelled each other! Once that happened, the divine body would have an unstable foundation and it wouldn’t be able to advance much further.

The element of water and the Dao of the Sword, however…one was an elemental Dao, while the other was an attacking Dao; there were no contradictions at all. Thus, there wouldn’t be any issues caused by choosing the two.

If both Daos were elemental Daos, such as the Daos of Fire, Water, Metal, Earth, and Wood, there would be contradictions. The only question would be how serious the contradictions were.

If both Daos were attacking Daos, such as the Daos of the Sword, the Saber, etc., there would also be contradictions.

If the contradictions were minor, one would still eventually be able to become an Elder God, but becoming a World God would be much more difficult.

If the contradictions were major, with the Daos being opposite-aligned, then even becoming an Elder God would be extremely difficult. As for becoming a World God, there would be no hope of that at all.

In the primordial chaos, this was considered to be secret information. Only people with exalted statuses would be in possession of this knowledge. World God Northrest, for example, knew these things because Vastheaven Palace had an excellent repository of legacies. Ordinary cultivators weren’t in possession of this information. Ning wished to tell his master and the others, but when World God Northrest had transmitted these legacies to Ning, Ning had long ago been forced to swear a lifeblood oath that unless he became a World God, he was not permitted to teach anyone the things which World God Northrest had taught him.

Boom!

Ning activated the technique for making a breakthrough.

Instantly, his divine body gave birth to an incredibly powerful sucking effect that filled the prisonworld. The prisonworld had an enormous formation that was meant to distill the primordial chaos within it into chaos nectar, but as Ning made his breakthrough, his body began to ravenously draw energy from the primordial chaos. This caused the formerly calm primordial chaos within the prisonworld to suddenly become turbulent.

Rumble…

More and more chaos energy was drawn into Ning’s body and converted into divine power.

The Dao of the Sword served as his core, and it transformed the chaos energy into divine power that was far purer than the divine power he had as an Empyrean God. It was the divine power of a True God.

As more and more divine power built up inside Ning’s body, it slowly began to evolve and transform. Every single bit of divine power in his body was transforming.

……

“What’s going on?”

“Why can’t I draw any more divine power? The prisonworld’s formation is constantly leeching energy from the primordial chaos, taking away more than 90% of it, but we should still be able to draw power from the remaining amount. But now, I can’t draw any power from it at all.”

“What happened to the primordial chaos? Why did it become so frenzied and turbulent?”

The Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals imprisoned within the prisonworld, alongside exceptional True Gods and True Immortals who were able to tap the power of primordial chaos such as True God Shiyu, all became puzzled.

“A breakthrough?”

“A Fiendgod Body Refiner has made a breakthrough. By the looks of it, it is at least a breakthrough to the True God level. In fact, it could very well be a breakthrough to the Elder God level.” Upon sensing how frenzied the primordial chaos had become, the prisoners quickly understood what was happening. However, they were quite puzzled. Generally speaking, those with enough potential to make a breakthrough would’ve done so long ago in the outside world. There was no way to even sense the Daos in this world. In the past three chaos cycles, not a single prisoner had made a large breakthrough like this. Who had just broken through?!

Some prisoners quickly thought of the newly arrived Overseer.

“Could it be the Overseer?” True God Shiyu, who had replanted his flower garden within the gorge, couldn’t help but frown.

The Fiendgod Body Refining techniques of the Three Realms generally drew on the power of outside stars. The [Crimsonbright Diagram of the Nine Heavens], for example, drew from the energy of the Solar Star and the Lunar Star. The other techniques would draw from the Seven Big Dipper Stars or from other star systems and constellations.

Where did the energy of stars come from?

The primordial chaos gave birth to many stars. The energy given off by stars, ‘stellar energy’, was essentially the energy of primordial chaos that had already been converted. This sort of pre-converted energy was naturally easier to absorb. The [Solitary World God], however, was even more profound; when breaking through, one could draw energy straight from the primordial chaos itself.

However, only in the exact moment of the breakthrough would this be possible. It was much like how the [Crimsonbright Diagram of the Nine Heavens] allowed for the energy of Lunar Truewater and Solar Truefire to descend upon its practitioners in the moment of breakthrough. During normal cultivation, however, one needed to slowly, steadily draw upon stellar energy.

The [Solitary World God] was able to absorb all types of stellar energy. It could even absorb energy from the frozen star on which Ning was currently located.

If Ning had some insights into the Dao of Primordial Chaos, then even during normal cultivation he would be able to draw energy from the primordial chaos.

……

A grassy area.

Ning was seated in the lotus position, surrounded by an crater. It was as though he was an enormous meteor that had smashed on the ground and created a crater, but in reality it had been created by the enormous flow of chaos energy that had surged here earlier.

“Whew.”

Ning opened his eyes.

“I’ve changed.” Ning could sense how powerful his body had become. Previously, he was a mere Empyrean God, but thanks to the [Taowu Eighteen Fiendgods] and the [One True Body] technique he was equivalent to a half-step True God! Now that he had broken through to become an actual True God, he could be considered half a step into the Elder God realm of power.

“In all the Three Realms…”

“The likes of Daoist Three Purities, Lord Tathagata the Buddha…the likes of Suiren, Shennong, and Fuxi…and even the likes of Daomother Devilhand and Keeper Everwood of the Seamless Gate…they are nothing more than True Gods,” Ning murmured to himself. “I am a True God as well, and I can be considered a half-step Elder God. Finally…I finally have the power I need to change the course of the entire war for the Three Realms.”

The major powers of the three Realms were primarily composed of Daofathers and True Gods.

Three Purities, Tathagata, Suiren, Shennong, Fuxi, Subhuti, Houyi, Daomother Devilhand, Keeper Everwood…all of them were True Gods! True Gods and Daofathers!

The reason why they were able to unleash the overlord level of power and be comparable to Elder Gods in might was primarily because their insights into the Dao were far, far too profound.

Tathagata, for example, had thoroughly mastered all five of the Heavenly Daos of Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, Earth. These five Heavenly Daos formed a complementary set known as the Five Elements, joining together to unleash a truly dominating level of force. His insights into the Dao of Primordial Chaos had also reached an inconceivable level! By relying on his insights into the Daos, he was able to unleash a level of power that was comparable to that of Elder Gods.

The same was true for the likes of Fuxi, Shennong, and Suiren; they all had exceedingly high levels of insights into the Daos!

Mastery of the Heavenly Daos of Yin and Yang, mastery of the Heavenly Daos of the Five Elements…all of them had extremely profound levels of insight into the Dao, which was why they were comparable to Elder Gods!

Daofathers could be divided into three levels of power.

Ordinary Daofathers were quite ordinary indeed; they would usually have mastery over one or two of the Heavenly Daos.

Top-tier Daofathers generally held mastery over fifth-stage taiji-force, infiniforce, swordforce, or other types of force.

Overlord-class Daofathers were equivalent to Elder Gods! Firegod Zhurong, Watergod Gonggong, the Ancestor Dragon, the Phoenix, and the other Elder Gods were born with mastery over one Heavenly Dao, and their insights into the Daos were significantly inferior to that of Tathagata and Three Purities. However, thanks to the great power of their divine bodies, they still were overlord-class powers. Alas, some died in the wars for supremacy during the Primordial Era, while others died in the war that ended the Primordial Era.

Nuwa had eventually left.

Fuxi had chosen to reincarnate. He had become a human, but to this very day he had yet to awaken his memories from his past life. He was just a True God and a Daofather, not an Elder God.

A number of the Elder Gods of the Seamless Gate had also died in battle, with the Lord of the Demonheart having fused himself into the Heavenly Daos.

In all the Three Realms…the only true Elder God was the Lord of All Fiends. Him and him alone! The second could be considered Ji Ning…a half-step Elder God!

“My insights into the Dao, compared to the other overlords, are rather lacking. However, my path is the path of swordforce. By relying on my fifth-stage swordforce and my sword-arts which surpass the limits of the Heavenly Daos, as well as my half-step Elder God divine body, I should have the power of an overlord Daofather.” Ning had battled against Daomother Devilhand, and so he knew exactly where he ranked in terms of power.

“Seamless Gate. Godking!” Ning’s eyes were filled with a strong, murderous intent. Now that he had become more powerful, his murderous intent had only strengthened even further.

“I’ve changed.”

“The world…shall change as well.”

Ning murmured these words softly to himself, his voice filled with a thick desire to kill.

In the past, he had to wait. Had to endure.

That was only because back then, he wasn’t strong enough yet. But now…he was!

“I won’t rush things. First, I’ll repair the surface layer of Violetjewel. By then, I’ll be even more powerful.” Ning waved his hand, putting away the stone sword-steles and the jade shrine. He then transformed into a black lightning serpent, disappearing into the horizons with a flash as he flew towards the location of the Five Elements Cauldron.