The Desolate Era

Book 19, Chapter 35 - Meeting Fuxi

They emerged from the spatial vortex. In front of them, as far as the eye could see, were endless flows of primordial chaos. A short while ago, Ji Ning had journeyed by himself into the primordial chaos, but of course he had only toured the region that was very close to the Three Realms.

“Fuxi is currently within the primordial chaos, working on various formations,” Subhuti said. “Of the Three Sovereigns of Mankind, Shennong and Fuxi spend most of their time in the primordial chaos, with Suiren usually staying at the Kindlefire world.”

As he spoke, he led Ning forward at high speed.

Space and time constantly shifted about them, causing them to move incredibly fast.

“Is that...” Due to the speed at which they were moving, the flows of primordial chaos around them became blurry and hard to see. However, Ning suddenly saw an enormous blazing fire appear in the distance.

“There we are.” Subhuti’s voice rang out as their speed suddenly and dramatically lessened.

Ning was quickly led by his master towards those towering flames. The flames roared and hissed in a veritable sea of conflagration. It was hard to see where the sea of flames ended.

“Water?” Ning suddenly discovered to his astonishment that there seemed to be dark, barely-visible waves that were rippling above the sea of flames. Only when he stared at them carefully did he recognize them for what they were...countless waves of black water.

Below was an endless sea of flames, while above were endless waves of black water. The two seemed to be part of a whole, and the space between the flames and the waves seemed to be continuously destroyed.

“Fuxi,” Subhuti called out.

Whoosh!

Instantly, a corridor appeared within the sea of flames in front of them. The flames on each side of the corridor couldn’t enter it in the slightest.

“Come, let’s go inside,” Subhuti said.

Ning followed behind Subhuti, the two of them flying inside.

“Is this a formation which the Human Sovereign set up?” Ning couldn’t help but ask. “These flames...I can’t even tell what type of flames they are.”

The most famous flames in the Three Realms were the nine types of truefire.

“This is the ‘Eternal Kindlefire’ which Human Sovereign Suiren developed,” Subhuti said. “These flames surpass the nine types of truefire in power. As for the waves of water above them, they were formed by extracting the essence of Arcane Moonwater from the Lunar Star. The Kindlefire was established with the help of Suiren, which is why the flames are so numerous. The essence of the Lunar Star, however, has to be extracted by Fuxi himself, which is why there is a bit less of the water. This is a formation that Fuxi has been working on for some time, and it isn’t perfected yet.”

Ning was stunned. Eternal Kindlefire? Arcane Lunar Water?

Most weaker cultivators, including Ning himself, had no idea that there were any flames more powerful than the nine types of truefire. Ning himself only found out now.

Solar Truefire was commonly seen on the surface of the Solar Star; there was an enormous amount of it there. However, Golden Solarfire came from the very core of the Solar Star, and its power was far greater than that of Solar Truefire. Golden Solarfire...even True Gods and Daofathers had to be careful around it. If they weren’t carefully, they’d be burnt to death.

Golden Solarfire came from nature itself. However, the Zhurong Godfire which Elder God of Fire Zhurong created was also a type of fire that surpassed the nine mighty types of truefire. Alas...Elder God Zhurong himself had perished long ago.

Human Sovereign Suiren had developed the Eternal Kindlefire, which was another type of fire that surpassed the nine types of truefire.

The Three Realms also had nine types of truewater. Above them in power were two types of water; Arcane Moonwater from the Lunar Star, and the Gonggong Godwater from Elder God of Water Gonggong. Alas, Elder God Gonggong had also died long ago.

The ten exalted Elder Gods had fought amongst themselves during the Primordial Era, and several of them had died in their struggles for supremacy.

In truth, Pangu wasn’t really an ‘Elder God’, he was a World God. However, back then the various Fiendgods didn’t know what ‘World Gods’ even were. Because Pangu was simply far too overwhelmingly powerful, the ten Elder Gods considered Pangu to be in a class of his own, the ‘Pangu level’, a level which surpassed all Immortals, Buddhas, Fiends, and Gods.

Pangu established Heaven and Earth, then died from his labors.

Mother Nuwa entered the primordial chaos, never to return.

Elder God Fuxi had been reborn as a human, becoming Human Sovereign Fuxi.

Multiple Elder Gods had died during the struggles for supremacy of the Primordial Era.

The war against the Seamless Chaosworld and the Lord of All Things that destroyed the Primordial Era had resulted in the deaths of even more Elder Gods.

Thus, the likes of Human Sovereign Fuxi were now forced to laboriously extract Arcane Moonwater from the Lunar Star. Fortunately, Fuxi was a master of the Heavenly Daos of Yin and Yang, which was why he was able to draw upon the supremely Yin-aligned Arcane Moonwater. However, clearly his skill in controlling water was not a match for Suiren’s skill in controlling fire.

“Fuxi has focused his efforts on the art of formations. If he was to focus his efforts on water...given his power and his insights into the Heavenly Daos of Yin and Yang, he probably would’ve long ago been able to develop a form of arcane water that surpassed the nine types of truewater,” Subhuti said with a sigh.

“In his past life, he was an Elder God that was a master of the Heavenly Dao of Destruction. In this life, he is a Human Sovereign, but he has decided to focus on formations.” Ning felt extremely curious regarding Fuxi.

Fuxi was someone who stood at the very peak of the Three Realms, in both this life and the previous one.

Whoosh.

After they passed through the flame corridor, they saw an island that was a few hundred meters long hover there in the midst of the primordial chaos. Atop the island was a tall, muscular man dressed in Daoist robes who was seated in the lotus position. His robes were covered with many Taiji diagrams, Eight Trigrams diagrams, stellar diagrams, and other types of formation-diagrams. The area surrounding him was filled with countless swirling runes. Fuxi was staring at the countless runes, occasionally changing them and occasionally moving them around.

“Don’t be impatient. Wait a bit,” Subhuti instructed.

“Understood.” Ning nodded.

After the time needed to boil a kettle of tea, the distant Fuxi finally came to a halt, allowing all the runes around him to disappear.

Smiling, Fuxi looked towards Subhuti and Ning. “Subhuti, why have you brought your treasured disciple here? Come, sit.”

He waved his hand, producing a pair of prayer mats in front of him. In front of each prayer mat was a table covered with wine.

Subhuti led Ning forward. The two seated themselves.

“Naturally, I come bearing good news.” Subhuti handed the scroll Ning had given him to Fuxi. “Take a look.”

“Oh?” Fuxi accepted the scroll, then immediately sent his coresense into it to examine it. Upon doing so, he instantly became completely transfixed.

“Don’t be impatient,” Subhuti said to Ning. “This is just how Fuxi is. Let’s just wait here for now. Come, taste the wine. This is wine which Fuxi personally created using his insights into the art of formations. There’s no other place with wine like this.”

Ning lifted up his winecup, taking a sip. Instantly, an incredibly comfortable feeling spread throughout his body. Even his soul felt more relaxed.

“It really is fine wine.” Ning sighed in amazement.

“No one else can make it,” Subhuti agreed.

These two, master and disciple, began to chat and drink the wine. The tables were covered with what appeared to be small flagons of wine, but in truth every single flagon contained an enormous lake of Immortal wine within it. The two drank to their hearts content for more than a full day before Human Sovereign Fuxi finally withdrew his coresense from the bamboo scroll.

“Good. Good. Good!” Fuxi was so excited, he said the word ‘good’ three times in a row.

“What do you think?” Subhuti looked at him. “The [Jewel Talisman] is nice, eh?”

“The Dao-seals recorded within the [Jewel Talisman] are all incredibly marvelous. I had to spend six hours to completely comprehend all of them. Once I acquire all the necessary materials, I’ll be able to construct quite a few powerful Dao-seals.” Fuxi chuckled, “Thanks to these Dao-seals, our Nuwa Alliance will have an extra tool to rely on. Although the benefits will be minor...when many minor effects are added together, they’ll be able to influence the overall course of events.”

Upon hearing the words ‘benefits will be minor’, Ning instantly understood that the Nuwa Alliance had an extremely deep foundation, many of which he had no idea about.

The Seamless Gate had formidable abilities, but the Nuwa Alliance did as well.

“At this point in time, there are very few things that can increase the power of our Nuwa Alliance as a whole. This [Jewel Talisman], however, is one of them.” Fuxi shook his head and sighed. “However, as far as I’m concerned, the most beneficial technique of the seven was the [Qiankun Reversing Gestalt-Formation]. The reason I spent so much time just now was primarily because of that formation.”

“What? The [Qiankun Reversing Gestalt-Formation]? It helped you significantly?” Subhuti was puzzled. “This formation requires eighteen individuals to set up, and it also requires them to be of completely one mind. How could it have been of assistance to you?”

“Ah, this is where you are wrong.” Fuxi shook his head. “Although this is an excellent formation, the formation that I’m developing is even more astonishingly powerful. I naturally won’t turn towards setting up the [Qiankun Reversing Gestalt-Formation]. However...the mysteries and secrets this formation contains are completely different from those used to set up formations in the Three Realms. In addition, it is especially powerful in the ‘Qiankun Reversal’ aspect.”

Fuxi sighed. “All these years, I’ve been slowly working on my Waterflame Apocalypse Formation and coming up with ideas on how to better combine these two types of supreme fire and water. The ‘Qiankun Reversal’ in the gestalt-formation gave me many new ideas. Although the [Qiankun Reversing Gestalt-Formation] isn’t that powerful, the person who developed it is most likely much more powerful than even myself in the Dao of Formations.”

At Fuxi’s level, when he looked at a formation, Fuxi looked at how the formation was constructed. He was able to completely ‘disassemble’ it into its component parts. Clearly, Fuxi had gained what he had needed from this formation.

And it was true; this [Qiankun Reversing Gestalt-Formation] had indeed been created by a major power within the primordial chaos, expressly for those who trained in the [Taowu Eighteen Fiendgods]. However...when Fuxi said that this person was superior to him in the Dao of Formations, Fuxi had been wrong. The major power that had created this formation had lived in a completely different environment, which was why there were naturally many differences in the mysteries this formation contained. This was the reason why Fuxi had gained so many new ideas upon seeing this formation. In terms of actual insight into the Dao of Formations, however, the creator of the [Qiankun Reversing Gestalt-Formation] was just barely on par with Fuxi.

“Can it help you perfect the Waterflame Apocalypse Formation?” Subhuti was surprised and delighted.

Eternal Kindlefire, Arcane Moonwater; either of the two were tremendously powerful on their own. But if Fuxi was to successfully and perfectly combine the two of them...the results would be utterly astonishing. It would be extremely useful during the final Endwar, and it would give them better chances of winning it.

“It was indeed of use.” Fuxi nodded. “However, I’m still far, far away from being able to completely perfect this technique. I still need to spend some more time analyzing this gestalt-formation in detail. Mm. These seven techniques...all of them are excellent. They clearly do not belong to the Three Realms; they should have come from alien Outsiders. Since you brought your disciple over...was it Ji Ning who discovered these seven techniques?”

“Yes.” Subhuti nodded.

Fuxi looked towards Ning, then sighed in a gratified manner. “All people are selfish. Petty selfishness is focused on the self; nobler selfishness is focused on one’s family, one’s clan, one’s nation, one’s race, and even one’s entire world. You are merely an Empyrean God and a True Immortal. For you to be willing to hand over these seven precious techniques...this really is quite rare and admirable.”

Ning felt ashamed upon hearing this. He had indeed given the seven techniques to his master for the sake of the Nuwa Alliance, but he had kept the stone stele for himself. He had hidden it away without telling anyone, partially because he was worried about the Seamless Gate’s formidable intelligence mechanisms, but also because he wanted to keep something in reserve for himself. It was very possible that he might die as a result of this storm that was sweeping the Three Realms. He wasn’t afraid of dying, but if he died, who would protect his daughter?

“Of the seven techniques you provided, the [Jewel Talisman] will be of benefit to the entire Nuwa Alliance, while the [Qiankun Reversing Gestalt-Formation] is of considerable benefit to me. Mm...I can’t just take these things from you without giving anything back,” Fuxi said.