The Desolate Era

Book 9, Chapter 35 - Moving Out of Swallow Mountain

“Eh?” The distant Daoist Snowplume’s face completely changed. Ning’s power was even greater than he had expected...but as one of the three Patriarchs of the sect, how could he just give up so easily?

Bang! Bang!

The sword-light of the Binary Diffraction Swords, which had been knocked flying back, suddenly increased tremendously in brilliance. One sword completely transformed into a Flood Dragon whose entire body glowed with blue light, while the other transformed into a Flood Dragon whose entire body glowed with golden light. These two Flood Dragons of sword-light were each three hundred meters long, and the scales on their body were clearly visible. The eyes of the double dragons were filled with a killing intent, as though they were alive!

The two Flood Dragons of sword-light, their power having explosively increased, let out earth-shaking draconic roars as they charged straight towards Ning.

Ji Ning, despite being thirty meters tall, felt pressure from this attack. The Darknorth swords in his hands once more sliced out, as though preparing to chop apart the heavens themselves as they once more left that dazzling scar of sword-light in the skies.

BANG!

BANG!

Ning’s entire body trembled. He felt as though he had been struck by two giant mountains; he couldn’t help but be knocked back several steps by the collision.

“What a fellow.” Ning wasn’t shocked; rather, he was delighted! The black wings on his back began to tremble as he used the Windwing Evasion...and for a moment, he seemed to be a ghost as he once more charged forward.

“Yin-Yang, Divide and Transform!”

The distant Daoist Snowplume’s face was extremely solemn as well. He now viewed Ning as a true, worthy opponent.

The azure Flood Dragon and the golden Flood Dragon of sword-light, high in the air, once more let out a series of earthshaking dragon roars as they wildly enveloped Ning with their attacks. As for Ning, the Darknorth swords in his hands, he clashed against them repeatedly...and with each collision, the surrounding air blasted apart and distorted. Even the water of Serpentwing Lake below them began to distort, with troughs of many dozens of meters and massive waves of many hundreds of meters.

Even at a distance of ten kilometers, Ninefire, Truekeep, Granny Shadow, Autumn Leaf, and the others who were on Brightheart Island all felt a savage wind sweep towards them.

“What tremendous power.”

“Ji Ning is actually this powerful.”

Ninefire and the others were all speechless and stupefied.

The distant, thirty meter tall Ji Ning was like an exalted god of the heavens, battling against those two massive Flood Dragons!

“He’s actually able to battle a peak-stage Primal Daoist to a standstill?”

“That’s one of the three Patriarchs of Snowdragon Mountain!”

“Too strong.”

“It’s only been ten-plus years since the battle at Oxhorn Mountain, but Ji Ning has advanced to such a level. If Yichuan were still alive, he would definitely be incomparably delighted.” Ninefire and the others were both stunned and excited; after all, the incomparably dazzling figure before them was the ultimate expert of their Ji clan.

The Ji clan’s side was excited and animated.

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!”

“Your name will be known throughout Stillwater Commandery. All of the major powers will known of you and will spread your fame.” Truekeep was excited as well.

The Ji clan was merely a minor power, located in Swallow Mountain. And yet, it had produced someone like Ji Ning. Someone capable of forcing a Primal Daoist like Daoist Snowplume to voluntarily retreat...this battle could be described as the battle which truly established Ji Ning’s reputation. His fame would be spread throughout the region; after all, he hadn’t battled a mere middle-stage Primal Daoist, or an ordinary, unaffiliated practitioner. Daoist Snowplume was a truly formidable figure!

“It wasn’t bad. I didn’t achieve victory, after all,” Ning said. “That Daoist Snowplume is truly formidable as well; if I were to truly battle him, it’s hard to say who would win.”

This was the truth.

It was true that Daoist Snowplume hadn’t really gone all out. Upon realizing that even his supreme technique, the ‘Binary Commingling’ was unable to do anything to Ning, he had immediately retreated. If this had been a true life-or-death battle, however, Daoist Snowplume wouldn’t have been so stingy in his usage of the skywater in his body; he would have wildly filled the skies with it as he attacked Ning, while also controlling flying swords to attack. Ning, in turn, wouldn’t have tried to avoid injuries and would have wildly fought back.

As a Fiendgod practitioner, for Ning, injuries were a minor thing. Thus, in a true life-or-death battle, Ning would’ve had a higher chance of victory! But that was just hypothetical; after all, no one knew what sort of treasures Daoist Snowplume carried with him.

“Master, don’t be so humble. You beat him into running away! You are a Fiendgod Body Refiner...I refuse to believe that he would dare fight with you to the death. When two combatants who are on par with each other fight, and when one is a Fiendgod Refiner while the other is a Ki Refiner, it will generally be the Ki Refiner who dies.” Little Qing was incomparably excited.

Aboard the distant warship, soaring through the skies.

Daoist Snowplume could still feel his heart trembling. When a Fiendgod practitioner whose power was on par with his had charged straight towards him...that was like death sweeping directly for him. He had been so terrified, he had immediately used an evasive technique.

The nearby Adept Xu Ke and the gray-robed man didn’t even dare to make a sound.

“Disciple,” Daoist Snowplume said, looking at Adept Xu Ke, “Go and have your Xu clan immediately evacuate from Swallow Mountain. Ideally, avoid any and all trouble with the Ji clan in the future. Although Snowdragon Mountain doesn’t fear them, they don’t need to fear Snowdragon Mountain either.”

“Yes,” Adept Xu Ke immediately said.

“Soon, the news of this battle will be spread throughout the entire Stillwater Commandery.” Daoist Snowplume shook his head. “I truly didn’t expect...that I, Snowplume, would end up becoming a stepping stone for another’s rise to fame.”