The Desolate Era (Web Novel)
chapter-33

The giant yellow bear, upon hearing Ning speak of his master, ‘Daoist Threelives’, couldn’t help but feel very happy. He immediately said, “Ji Ning, do you know that when Fiendgods are born, there are differences in their levels as well?”

“Differences in Fiendgods at birth? Aren’t they all born from the universe itself?” Ning asked. “No.” The giant yellow bear said. “Before the Three Realms were born, and even before Pangu established the universe, there was nothing aside from primordial chaos. In that era, the primordial chaos gave birth to some ancient and powerful Fiendgods, such as Pangu or Nuwa. They were Fiendgods who were born from the primordial chaos. Some of these Primordial Fiendgods were strong, while others were weak. The most powerful of them was naturally Pangu!”

“After Pangu established the universe, the universe itself gave birth to some new living creatures. These creatures, being born from the universe itself, were also referred to as innate, Heavenborn Fiendgods. Afterwards, after many transformations, the three thousand major worlds were created, and in the process of the creation of each major world, some Fiendgods would be created. These are the most ordinary of Fiendgods.”

“In short, Fiendgods can be classified according to when they were born; there are Primordial Fiengods, Heavenborn Fiendgods, and ordinary Fiendgods.” The giant yellow bear looked at Ning. “As for Master, he is one of the Primordial Fiendgods.”

Ning held his breath. What a tremendous history! But when he thought about it carefully, it made sense for Fiendgods to be divided into three different tiers, based on their birth. After all, Pangu was capable of establishing the universe itself; from this, one could imagine how powerful he was. As for many of the other Fiendgods which Ning had heard of, some of them were only at the Xiantian level when born. Compared to Pangu…they were countless times weaker.

As for this Daoist Threelives, since he was so powerful, it made sense that he was born as a Primordial Fiendgod. “One’s tier of birth determines both one’s potential as well as one’s power at birth.” The giant yellow bear said. “But no matter how lowly one’s class is at birth, one still has the chance to become an awe-inspiring, major figure of the Three Realms. For example, there are some individuals who were born as members of extremely ordinary races, but after undergoing countless tribulations, also became powerful figures who could stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Master.”

“Ji Ning, although you are merely a human, you too have this chance.” The giant yellow bear said. Ning nodded gently. He understood. For example, the Lord of Cui Palace was another person from his homeland of Earth. And yet, he rose to become one of the most exalted figures of the Netherworld Kingdom, the First Judge of the Dead.”

“Master had countless experiences.” The giant yellow bear’s gaze grew dreamy as he thought back to the past. “He personally knew figures like Pangu and Nuwa, and even provided some guidance to the giant Roc and some other juniors. He then established his own school, and many Fiendgods flocked to his banner to listen to him expound on the Dao…and thus, Master ended up having many titles. Daoist Threelives, Daoist Starseizer, One-Armed Divine Master, True God of the Right Arm…”

Ning had a thought, and he hurriedly asked, “Could it be that Master, Daoist Threelives, was born with just one arm?”

“No.” The giant yellow bear shook his head. “Although I don’t know the details, I know that when Master was born from the primordial chaos, he had two arms. Afterwards, because of a major battle, he lost an arm. Master felt deep shame due to this, and thus from that day onwards, only permitted himself to have a single arm. But precisely because he only had a single arm, Master made a further breakthrough in the divine ability, ‘Starseizing Hand’, which he had developed while meditating within the primordial chaos. He reached an even more divine, miraculous level! This breakthrough made it so that the Starseizing Hand could be ranked as one of the ten strongest divine abilities out of the countless divine abilities that had been devised after Pangu established the universe!”

A look of surprised shock appeared on Ning’s face. What an incredible fellow! This Master of Ning’s, whom he had only seen as an illusion, was actually this powerful? How many Fiendgods had there been since Pangu had established the universe? How many divine abilities had been divised? For the Starseizing Hand to be ranked amongst the top ten…it was far more astonishing than he had been able to imagine, previously.

“You have no need to ask about anything else for now.” The giant yellow bear looked at Ning. “After countless years have passed and countless eras, the universe is now in the era of the three thousand major worlds and the trillion minor worlds. This is the era of the Celestial Court administering the Three Realms harmoniously. To you, these ancient secrets of the primordial eras are far too distant and irrelevant. There is no point in you learning these things; they will only vex you unnecessarily. Master once said that only after you become a Celestial Immortal, will you truly be considered Master’s disciple.”

Ning nodded.

“It is time for you to leave now.” The giant yellow bear said. “No rush.” Ning said hurriedly. “My Fiendgod body has just reached the Zifu level. According to the rules of the Treasure Hall, I should be able to select another Mortal-ranked magic treasure, right?”

The giant yellow bear nodded. To acquire a magic treasure from the Treasure Hall, there were only two possibilities; one was to rise to a new level as a Fiendgod, while the other was to challenge the Wargod Hall.

“Senior, please provide me with a list of the Mortal-ranked magic treasures of the Treasure Hall.” Ning said. “I’ll read it here, and decide on which treasure I want. After I leave, I’ll be able to choose it immediately.”

“You certainly know how to save time.” The giant yellow bear laughed. The list of treasures was extremely complicated. It required quite a bit of time to review. In this place of transmission of knowledge, separated from time and space from the outside world, time moved at a much slower rate. It naturally would be best for him to do the reading here.

“Right.” The giant yellow bear said. “Your soul has now reached the level of having ‘divine sense’, and you have learned the divine ability, [Starseizing Hand]. It would be simplicity itself for you to challenge the second level of the Wargod Hall, and you even have a chance to challenge the third level. Would you be willing to do so?”

“I only have a ‘chance’ at challenging the third level?” Ning asked. His power had already risen by an astonishing amount. He had made a spiritual breakthrough! He had also now acquired an incredibly powerful divine ability, the [Starseizing Hand]. He was completely confident in being able to slay Adept Xu with a single blow.

“If your divine power was strong enough to allow you to use the [Starseizing Hand] with abandon, then of course you would have a high chance of success.” The giant yellow bear smirked. “But how many times will your current level of Crimsonbright divine power permit you to use the [Starseizing Hand]?”

Ning hesitated slightly, then stretched out his hands. The Divine Starseizing Tattoos appeared, and the Crimsonbright divine power in his body filled his two palms. A surge of incomparably powerful might filled Ning’s mind, and he even felt as though he could shatter a mountain with a single slap from his hands.

“Bang!” “Bang!” Ning’s two hands each formed sword-fingers, chopping down towards the air in front of him. Swish! Swish! Two rays of pressured energy waves, emitting an ear-piercing howl, rumbled out like crashing thunder.

“So powerful.” Ning was tongue-tied from awe. He hadn’t used any sword techniques, simply pointed with two fingers in a sword-finger position, and yet the energy wave had been so astonishing…Ning had the feeling that if Jadechild was in front of him, he could smash Jadechild to smithereens with a single palm.

“However, the amount of divine power which is used up is also astonishing.” Ning mused to himself, “I only struck out a single time, but I used up so much. The Crimsonbright divine power in my body probably is only enough to permit me to strike out a few dozen times.”

In a life-and-death battle, a few dozen strikes was more than enough. But to challenge the Wargod Hall, for his divine power to only be able to last for so long truly wouldn’t be enough.

“I won’t challenge the Wargod Hall.” Ning said. “I don’t have the time to waste.” “Right.” The giant yellow bear nodded. He pointed to an empty space nearby, and an extremely thick book with golden lettering appeared. Atop it were two characters, for the words ‘Precious Treasure’. “Because this is your second time selecting a Mortal-ranked magic treasure, the amount of treasures available in this book will be greater than previously. If you were to challenge and overcome the second level of the Wargod Hall, when choosing your third magic treasure, you would be permitted to freely choose from all of the Mortal-ranked magic treasures which Master acquired.”

Ning understood. This was the difference between challenging the first and the second levels of the Wargod Hall. The second level was far more difficult than the first level, so naturally, the rewards would be different as well. Although it was still a matter of selecting Mortal-ranked magic treasures, the further along this path he went, the greater his choices would be.”

“Indeed.” As Ning flipped through the book, he immediately saw the difference. “There are some more treasures recorded here than there was last time, and the additions are all extremely rare and powerful treasures.”

“Jade Dragon Cutters…what a savage magic treasure.” Ning read carefully. “Souldrinker Bell. Far more powerful than the Myriad Wraths Banner, and on a much higher level.” Ning sighed in praise. If Bei Zishan had completed his Myriad Wraiths banner, it would have become a top-grade Mortal-ranked item. The methods by which it was created, however, were simply too despicable. By comparison, this Souldrinker Bell was far more intricate and exquisite, and in terms of power, it was even more powerful than a Myriad Wraiths Banner.

Ning read through the descriptions of one treasure after another. There were magic treasures, there were formation flags…although all of them moved Ning, there wasn’t a single one which inspired a great feeling of desire within Ji Ning. This was because, after acquiring the divine ability, [Starseizing Hand], the Darknorth swords in Ning’s hands would swing out with extremely great power already. Although these magic treasures were powerful, if Ning were to control them, the power released would be far weaker from the power released from him using his divine ability.

“Magic treasures are inferior to divine abilities, it seems.” Ning sighed in his heart. In reality, he had forgotten that the real issue was…what sort of divine ability he had just learned!

“Eh?” Ning flipped past another page. His eyes suddenly lit up. This magic treasure was known as the Evanescent Demonslayer Sword. It was a top-grade Mortal-ranked magic treasure, a magic treasure that had been created for the purpose of slaughter. It was forged from an extremely precious material, the golden Nirvana crystals. This was a magic treasure which was extremely well suited for slaughter and for sneak attacks. It was originally an Earth-ranked magic treasure, but after repeated forgings, it had dropped in power to become a top-grade Mortal-ranked magic treasure. However, after committing enough slaughter, it could slowly rise in power to its innate level, and once more become an Earth-ranked magic treasure.

Ning read through the descriptions carefully. There were incomparably detailed notes regarding this magic treasure. According to the notes in this book, it was indeed true that some of the top-grade Mortal-ranked magic treasures Daoist Threelives had kept here had the potential for future growth. However, it wasn’t its potential for growth which attracted Ning.

“Alright. This is the one I choose.” Ning felt joy in his heart. The Evanescent Demonslayer Sword had an aura of impermanence and transience about it; it was very hard to detect. Even if the Evanescent Demonslayer Sword drew close to a foe, the foe probably wouldn’t sense anything. This was what pleased Ning the most about it.

Ning continued to flip through the book at a slightly faster clip, finally finishing it. “And?” The giant yellow bear looked at Ning. “Evanescent Demonslayer Sword.” Ning said.

“Haha, good eye.” The giant yellow bear nodded. “I, too, felt that the Evanescent Demonslayer Sword is the most suited to you. This Evanescent Demonslayer Sword is extremely good at hiding its aura, and quite suited to stealth attacks. Now that you have made a breakthrough in your soul, your divine will is incomparably astonishing. You can absolutely control this Evanescent Demonslayer Sword to engage in long-distance sneak attacks! More importantly, you don’t even need to fill it with your elemental ki; this will further lessen the ki ripples, making it even harder for your enemies to detect your Evanescent Demonslayer Sword.”

Ning nodded. This was what he had been thinking about as well. He didn’t need to use his elemental ki, and could simply use divine will to control this Evanescent Demonslayer Sword…

This magic treasure was innately hard to detect. Without any elemental ki ripples, it was just like an ordinary piece of muddy rock. It was too hard to notice it. His divine will could stealthily control the Evanescent Demonslayer Sword to drill through the ground until it reached the enemy, then suddenly attack!

Even a Wanxiang Adept, upon suffering a sneak attack at close quarters, probably wouldn’t have enough time to command his magic treasures before having his head pierced.

“My divine will is perfectly matched for combination attacks with this Evanescent Demonslayer Sword.” Ning mused to himself. “Senior, let’s go now.” Ning said hurriedly. Since he had acquired the Evanescent Demonslayer Sword, he needed to immediately return to Oxhorn Mountain.

“Alright. Hurry up a bit. Previously, you spent roughly an hour undergoing the trial of the Divine Abilities Hall.” The giant yellow bear grabbed Ning, and then in the next breath, they vanished into thin air.