The Desolate Era

Book 12, Chapter 34 - A Mighty Divine Ability

Seatopple was an extremely famous figure of the Three Realms. He was a Diremonster who had trained all the way to the Empyrean God level. Generally speaking, others would refer to him as ‘Empyrean God’ or ‘Great Sage’ when being respectful to him...but in reality, since Empyrean God Seatopple was something of an unruly, lawless individual who was also quite savage and tyrannical, others would often secretly refer to him as the ‘Demon King’.

The sloppy, chubby youth had indeed been badly frightened. After all, Seatopple’s savage aura...was utterly terrifying within the main hall of the Skylight Palace. Even the Celestial Immortals were shocked by it, to say nothing of the Wanxiang Adepts.

“I, I am...” The Sloppy Daoist rose to his feet.

“Oh?” Seatopple turned to look at him, then nodded in satisfaction as he revealed a smile. “You really are pretty sloppy-looking.”

As he spoke, he walked over, then grabbed the Sloppy Daoist by the arm, pulling him over as he walked towards the Grand Xia Emperor. A new table had already been prepared, covered with Immortal nectar and fruit.

The Sloppy Daoist was slightly panicking now. Still...this Empyrean God, Seatopple, was far too powerful. After having his arm grabbed, the Sloppy Daoist was completely unable to resist.

“What in the world is going on? Why has this savage-looking man with a dark-green Flood Dragon armor sought me out upon entering the Skylight Palace? Even the Grand Xia Emperor is polite to him, but I have never met such a formidable figure before.” The Sloppy Daoist was panicking, but could do nothing but just go with the flow.

At the same time...the Sloppy Daoist that the gazes of those nearly thousand Celestial Immortals who were looking at him were filled...with envy! In fact, some of these Celestial Immortals smiled in a friendly manner towards him.

“I was eliminated...but these Celestial Immortal Patriarchs are still this polite towards me? And they are envious of me?” The Sloppy Daoist’s mind began to be filled with many thoughts.

“Junior apprentice-brother, come and sit.” Seatopple first sat down, then pulled the Sloppy Daoist to sit next to him.

“Junior apprentice-brother?” The Sloppy Daoist was completely bewildered now.

“Seatopple, it seems your junior apprentice-brother doesn’t understand the situation yet,” the Xia Emperor laughed.

Seatopple turned his head to look at the rather confused Sloppy Daoist. He said in a very straight manner, “Junior apprentice-brother, Master ordered me to come to the Grand Xia world, one of the three thousand major worlds, in order to take you back!”

“Senior, are you...sure you aren’t mistaken?” The Sloppy Daoist was feeling rather unnerved. He had no idea who this person was.

“Little Sloppy,” Lu Dongbin laughed, “This person before you is a disciple of Grand Emperor Xuanwu, Empyrean God Seatopple! He’s not just an Empyrean God; he’s also reached the Pure Yang True Immortal as a Ki Refiner as well. In the Three Realms...he is extremely well-known. Not too long ago, he actually wrecked the Celestial Court.”

“Empyrean God? Pure Yang True Immortal? Wrecked the Celestial Court?” The Sloppy Daoist stared at this savage-looking man, completely shocked.

“Hahaha...” Seatopple began to laugh loudly. Slapping the Sloppy Daoist on the shoulder, he said, “Junior apprentice-brother, I have come on Master’s orders to receive you. Master said that you took part in this Conclave, and said that you come from the Black-White College, that your name is Zhang Qi, the Sloppy Daoist. There shouldn’t be a second person in this entire Conclave who comes from the Black-White College and who is known as the Sloppy Daoist Zhang Qi, right?”

The Sloppy Daoist nodded. In this competition, the Black-White College only sent a total of three participants. There was naturally only one called the Sloppy Daoist.

“Little Sloppy,” the Xia Emperor laughed as well, “Don’t question it. Earlier, the divine ability which you displayed is called the ‘Grand Black Tortoise’ divine ability. Did you know that?”

“I did.” The Sloppy Daoist nodded.

“The Grand Black Tortoise divine ability was created by Grand Emperor Xuanwu. Without his permission, there’s no way you could’ve learned this divine ability,” the Xia Emperor laughed. “Perhaps you don’t realize this, but Grand Emperor Xuanwu has long ago viewed you as his disciple. He is a major power of the Three Realms, on the same level as my own master. He is a Daofather! When you put your divine ability on display earlier during this Conclave, all of us already guessed that you are the disciple of Grand Emperor Xuanwu.”

The Sloppy Daoist began to think back to the strange encounter he had so long ago...

“So...he was Grand Emperor Xuanwu...” The Sloppy Daoist was stunned.

So...there had been no need at all for him to fight so crazily in order to become Daofather Crimsonbright’s disciple. He had long ago been chosen as a disciple by Grand Emperor Xuanwu. However...this Conclave had been extremely beneficial to him. His insights into the Dao, especially into the ‘wavefolding’ secret art, had reached a very high level.

“Junior apprentice-brother, you’ve learned the Grand Black Tortoise divine ability? Then there’s no mistake about it; without Master’s permission, there’s no way you could’ve learned this.” Seatopple knew quite well that someone who had been accepted by his master at the Wanxiang Adept level or perhaps even earlier was someone who his master clearly viewed with tremendous favor. Thus, it would be best if he made friends with this Sloppy Daoist.

Seatopple himself usually caused quite a bit of trouble. In the future, once this junior apprentice-brother became powerful, he’d be able to give Seatopple a hand.

As the saying went, every hero should have at least three helpers by his side. The more powerful figures by his side, the better. That would naturally give him more confidence in roaming the Three Realms!

“Greetings, senior apprentice-brother,” the Sloppy Daoist immediately said while saluting him.

“Hahaha, don’t be so courteous.” Seatopple was extremely happy. “A while ago, I wrecked the Celestial Court and was confined by Master to my quarters. It’s rare for me to be allowed out. And today, I’ve even run into Eastflower, this old fogey from the Northlands, and all of these others as well. I’m just going to drink some wine first; in a bit, I’ll take you back to meet Master.”

“I’ll listen to your arrangements, senior apprentice-brother.” The Sloppy Daoist naturally was willing to follow his lead.

Seatopple patted the Sloppy Daoist on the shoulder. “Junior apprentice-brother, you have quite a good temper.”

“Eastflower, this Grand Xia world is holding a Conclave...why have all of you come as well?” Seatopple’s gaze swept forward as he asked this question. He felt quite puzzled. Pure Yang True Immortals were considered experts of the Three Realms. For nine of them to be gathered in one place was indeed fairly rare.

“This Conclave is quite special. One of the top three of this Conclave shall be chosen by Daofather Crimsonbright as a disciple,” Lu Dongbin said with a laugh. “Including little Sloppy, this Conclave actually includes two Daofather disciples.”

“What? Daofather Crimsonbright is taking on a disciple?” Seatopple looked towards the Xia Emperor. “Who is he choosing? Let me take a look.”

“The top three of this Conclave consist of Ji Ning, Blackstone, and Woodpass,” the Xia Emperor said. “As for who Master shall choose...my Primaltwin is heading towards Master’s estate right now. After a little bit more time, I imagine we’ll know the results.”

Seatopple immediately nodded, his eyes gleaming. Daofather Crimsonbright was taking on a disciple? This was quite an interesting affair. He had been confined to his quarters for years now, and had been incredibly stifled.

“Come, let’s drink while chatting. Xiamang, you are of the Primordial Imperial Clan...you need to prepare more wine.” Seatopple immediately guzzled down all the wine on his table, causing the corners of the Xia Emperor’s eyes to begin twitching. The others were drinking in a fairly graceful way, but this Great Sage Who Topples the Seas was a Flood Dragon; it was a minor matter for him to swallow all the water of a river with a single gulp. In drinking Immortal wine, he was similarly savage beyond all compare.

......

The imperial treasury of the Grand Xia was located on the sixth floor of the main hall of the Skylight Palace.

“This place holds the abridged versions of all of the books held by the Dao Repository of our imperial Xia clan,” King Qi said with a laugh as he pointed towards countless bookshelves that were filled with books. “You can choose a divine ability at will, or a secret art or technique. But only one!”

Ji Ning, Adept Blackstone, and Adept Woodpass all nodded.

Although their minds were still occupied with the matter of becoming Daofather Crimsonbright’s disciple, for now they put that matter aside. The three began to search through this Dao Repository.

Soon, they saw a black jade table that was the most eye-catching of all.

This enormous black jade table was filled with abridged versions of divine abilities! On another table, a white jade table, there were abridged versions of precious secret arts.

[Moving Mountains, Overturning Seas]

[Qiankun Arrow]

[Myriad Hibernating Venoms]

[Formless Illusions]

......

Ning and the other two hurriedly grabbed one divine ability book after another, flipping through them. These books all had had some prerequisites listed on the front; for example, some required a person to have reached a certain level in order to train in it. These requirements, however, were all meant for the clansmen of the imperial Xia clan. Ning and the other two could choose as they pleased.

They read for a long period of time.

......

They flipped through all the secret arts as well. In the end, as if by tacit agreement, all three of them chose the same divine ability – [Torch Dragon’s Eye]!

“Are you certain you are going to choose the [Torch Dragon’s Eye]?” King Qi asked.

“Yes.” Ji Ning, Adept Woodpass, and Adept Blackstone all nodded in unison.

“Fine.” King Qi revealed a smile. “Come with me, then.” King Qi was actually fairly happy that all three had chosen the [Torch Dragon’s Eye], because this technique was still fairly widespread amongst the various major powers of the Three Realms.

However, this [Torch Dragon’s Eye] really was the most powerful divine ability within the imperial treasury of the Grand Xia! Although this was only the first part to the whole technique...this was still a technique that ranked in the top hundred of the Three Realms.

Rumble...a stone door was pushed open. King Qi led Ji Ning and the others into the stone room. In the center of the stone room, there were bamboo books that was hovering in midair, emanating a dreamy light and covered with restrictive spells.

“This is the [Torch Dragon’s Eye].” King Qi pointed towards a bamboo book. “The restrictive spells covering them have been unsealed. The other ones remain sealed; there’s no way for you to touch them.”

“All you need to do is touch the bamboo with your hands. The large amounts of information contained within the bamboo will instantly be transmitted into your soul,” King Qi said. “Fortunately, this is merely the first part of the [Torch Dragon’s Eye], and so it won’t take too much time to accept the transmission. For each person, it will at most take as much time as needed to brew a pot of tea.”

Ning understood. This divine ability was one of those that increased dramatically in difficulty at the higher levels. Most likely, the part meant for Empyrean Gods was thousands of times more difficult than the part meant for Void-level cultivators. In addition, the part meant for True Gods would be thousands of times more complex than the part meant for Empyrean Gods.

Ning had accepted the complete transmission of the [Starseizing Hand], which was why it had taken him months to do so.

“Ji Ning, you come first,” King Qi said. Ning nodded, stretching out his hand and pressing it against the hovering bamboo book.

As soon as he touched it!

Boom! Instantly, a large amount of information began pouring into his soul. Although the transmission wasn’t as efficient and fast as when he had received the [Starseizing Hand] transmission, Ning’s soul was far more powerful than it had been back then, and the speed at which he accepted the data was faster as well. In just a short while, the complete first part of the [Torch Dragon’s Eye] had been transmitted into Ning’s soul.

“So that’s how it is.” Ning was secretly startled and delighted. The [Torch Dragon’s Eye]...this was a divine ability developed by the Torch Dragon, one of the major powers of the Three Realms. This divine ability was extremely famous! The legends often mentioned abilities like the [Torch Dragon’s Eye] or [Houyi Shooting the Sun]. Now, upon seeing the real method to activate this technique and its real power, Ning was secretly startled as well.

The [Torch Dragon’s Eye], in short, relied on harvesting the light of the Nine Heavens and focusing it in the eye, and then cultivating a so-called ‘innate torch-light’.

“Although this is just the first part, which any Fiendgods up to the Void-level can train in...it’s enough. After all, beyond that is the tribulation that results in Empyrean Gods. Upon becoming an Empyrean God, I’d be someone on the level of the Xia Emperor. I can just rely on my own powers to search for the second part to the [Torch Dragon’s Eye].” Ning was extraordinarily excited.

Aside from the [Starseizing Hand]...he had finally acquired yet another truly powerful divine ability.

Ning, Adept Woodpass, and Adept Blackstone all meditated on the contents of the [Torch Dragon’s Eye]. Each of them felt delighted in their hearts; after all, this was a technique comparable to the [Grand Black Tortoise] technique. If it hadn’t been for the fact that the Torch Dragon had perished, how could they have had a chance to learn this?

“Alright,” King Qi suddenly said. Ning, Adept Woodpass, and Adept Blackstone all raised their heads to look at him.

“His Imperial Majesty has sent word to me that Daofather Crimsonbright has chosen a disciple. The three of you need to hurry back with me to meet his Imperial Majesty at the main hall,” King Qi said.