The Desolate Era

Book 21, The Bloodlotus Blooms, Chapter 32 – An Unexpected Surprise

Ji Ning first soulscoured him, then took away his treasures. Of course…he gave the True God some spirit-pills as well. Due to their length battle, this True God had used up quite a bit of his divine power; if he wasn’t given enough spirit-pills, his life probably wouldn’t last for much longer. Although there was no way to replenish his divine power, replenishing his Immortal energy would also suffice for him to sustain his life.

There were relatively few Ki Refiners who also trained as Fiendgod Refiners, but almost every single Fiendgod Body Refiner was also a Ki Refiner; the only question was how talented they were in that respect. Subhuti, Daoist Three Purities, Tathagata, and many others were all born as True Gods, and they eventually trained to become Daofathers of the Great Firmament as Ki Refiners.

Through the use of spirit-pills, these prisoners would be able to live a very, very long time. Right now, they only used up energy to keep themselves alive, after all; their energy expenditures were quite low.

“It seems that it is unlikely that I’ll find what I need from the memories of these prisoners,” Ning mused to himself. “Still, it makes sense. I’ve already acquired many techniques from World God Northrest. Given what I already have, it is quite unlikely that a prisoner of Pangaea will be able to provide me with a nice surprise. Still, I won’t give up hope, no matter how faint it is.”

Different chaosworlds would give birth to different civilizations. Perhaps some of them would produce unique techniques of their own. With the Endwar nigh, Ning naturally wanted to seize every chance he could find to grow more powerful.

One had to remember that the prisonworld itself had been located in the hands of someone as weak as Youngflame Freak. The prisoners of Pangaea were far more powerful than Youngflame Freak; perhaps one of them might’ve had a great stroke of fortune in the past and acquired certain special treasures or unique abilities.

Whoosh. Ning landed atop an island within a placid lake. With a wave of his hand, he caused the jade shrine to descend upon the island as well as many stone steles. Finally, the enormous goldstar beads plummeted like meteors to land on the island as well.

Ning stepped into the jade shrine, then sat down in the lotus position atop the prayer mat. He stilled his mind, beginning to mentally go through his recent battles and experiences.

Every single battle had to be analyzed with great care. He had to pull the experience he needed out of them and use it to improve himself.

There were only so many True Gods and True Immortals in the prisonworld; after fighting all of them, Ning would no longer be able to find any new opponents. Thus, he had to value every battle and opponent.

Ning spent more than ten days meditating on his insights, supported by the goldstar beads and the stone sword-steles. After ten days, he had gained all that he could, and so Ning put away the treasures and once more transformed ino a streak of black lightning, flying towards the next True God.

Battle. Meditation. Battle. Meditation…

It became a regular pattern!

Ning gained experience from every single battle, allowing him to further perfect his sword-arts. However, upon encountering the fifth True God prisoner, Ning suffered a sudden, unexpected loss.

“Die.”

The tall, ugly, skinny old man’s six arms all rapidly expanded in length as he sent his six claws tearing towards Ning from multiple directions. His claw-arts were unfathomably strange, and Ning’s body was covered with blood. Just now, he had been able to withstand the first wave of attacks but his body had been ripped open. In the face of this terrifying opponent, it seemed that the [Eight-Nine Arcane Art] wasn’t going to be very useful.

“Mirrors of the Heavens!” The battered Ning immediately willed it, and the skies above him became filled with ancient copper mirrors. The 3600 mirrors hung in the air, blocking the impending claw attacks and buying Ning just a tiny bit of time.

Swoosh!

Ning hurriedly used the [Ninehorn Lightning Serpent] technique to dodge more than a thousand kilometers away, leaving the jail ‘cell’ region.

“What a terrifying True God Ultrafish. It seems that the information I gained from soulscouring the other True Gods and True Immortals wasn’t completely correct.” Ning stood outside the restrictive formation, filled with terror at the close call. This foe’s claw-arts were absolutely terrifying; Ning had been badly injured in their very first clash, and the only reason he had been able to survive was because his own sword-arts were formidable as well. Otherwise, he would’ve instantly been ripped apart into tiny pieces.

Ning didn’t just pick foes randomly; there was a plan behind it. He had soulscoured many prisoners and thus he knew a fair amount of information regarding the many True Gods and True Immortals of Pangaea.

Ning had mentally divided these True Gods and True Immortals into three different types.

The first type was comparable to an ordinary Daofather of the Three Realms.

The second type was comparable to a top-tier Daofather of the Three Realms.

The most powerful type was close to overlord-class Daofathers in power.

Most of these True God and True Immortal prisoners were at a fairly low level of insight into the Dao, with very few having gained insight into the Heavenly Daos. This was why most of them were merely comparable to ordinary Daofathers! Some, by relying on powerful divine abilities that were as dominating as Ning’s own [Starseizing Hand], were able to unleash the power of a top-tier Daofather. And some were like True God Ultrafish.

“True God Ultrafish…in the memories of the other True Gods and True Immortals, he was supposedly quite an ordinary True God with very ordinary divine abilities.” Ning mused to himself, “I didn’t expect that he would’ve reached the fifth stage in abyssforce; in terms of power, he should be comparable to a top-tier Daofather now.”

Abyssforce wasn’t that powerful in attacking, relatively speaking. If Ultrafish had reached the fifth stage in an offensively oriented type of power like swordforce, Ning probably would’ve been completely destroyed in their first exchange.

It really was true that True God Ultrafish’s life experiences and luck had been average, resulting in him not being able to acquire any particularly powerful divine abilities. Otherwise, if he was able to use them in concert with his fifth-stage abyssforce, he would absolutely be close to an overlord-class Daofather in power.

“I need to be more careful,” Ning mused to himself. “Although I do have the intelligence I gained from soulscouring those prisoners, they’ve all been trapped here for a very long period of time; it isn’t strange that some of them may have made breakthroughs. Mm…in the future, each time I fight someone, I need to first use [Three Heads, Six Arms]; just now, if I had used that technique, I wouldn’t have suffered so badly.”

Ning had been so caught off-guard by the suddenly, unexpected danger that he didn’t even have the time to activate the [Ninehorn Lightning Serpent] technique, to say nothing of [Three Heads, Six Arms].

[Three Heads, Six Arms] allowed him to manifest two more heads and four more arms with his divine power. This meant it needed time to activate, albeit just a tiny bit of time. By comparison, activating the [Starseizing Hand] was so fast as to be nearly instantaneous, requiring just a thought.

“Ahahaha…kid, is that all you have? And you want to make me submit?” The tall, skinny old man laughed in an ugly manner. “You ran pretty fast just now, and your mirrors are quite bizarre as well. Otherwise, you would’ve lost your little life. You should feel lucky that you managed to witness my claw-arts and survive to tell the tale.”

“True God Ultrafish.” Ning actually chuckled. “Very good. Yet another powerful opponent for me.”

“Opponent?” The skinny old man laughed coldly, “You want to use me as a way to train yourself? Hmph. Careful that you don’t die from it.”

“I’ll be back.” Ning turned, transforming into a black lightning streak that quickly flew away.

“Hmph.” The tall, skinny old man watched coldly as Ning left. After Ning departed, he finally frowned “This Overseer has a pretty Immortal energy aura, but his divine power’s aura is clearly weaker than mine. Just now, I actually wasn’t able to kill him in one blow, and his sword-arts really were quite fast, even faster than my claw-arts. Was that a sword-art that has surpassed the Heavenly Daos? Where did he learn such a thing?”

……

Ning felt happy whenever he encountered a powerful opponent. He could sense that he was continuously improving, and that he was gaining more and more insights into the sword-arts left behind by World God Northrest.

Ning continued his voyage through the prisonworld, battling True Gods all the way. Some True Gods, Ning could defeat. Some, Ning could just barely fight to a standstill. Whenever Ning encountered foes like these, he would immediately leave after a short battle. He would come back for them later.

There were also some who could completely suppress Ning in strength. In fact, there were some like True God Ultrafish who could very nearly kill Ning.

As for the most absolutely, monstrously talented True Gods who were comparable to Elders Gods or overlord-class Daofathers in strength…Ning didn’t even dare to touch them. He didn’t have an Envoy on him right now; fighting such an opponent would be like courting death.

Of course, if he chose to focus on long-range attacks using his Daofather-level energy with his [Brightmoon] sword-art, he would definitely be able to match a top-tier Daofather in power. But Ning’s goal here was to temper his sword-arts, which was why he focused on close combat, which his weakness right now.

Whoosh.

The True God’s body was split in half and knocked flying away. Far off in the distance, the two halves joined together into a new whole.

“I lost.” Yet another True God bent the knee to Ji Ning.

Ning reached out with his hand, placing it atop the True God’s head. The True God did not try to fight back.

Ning quickly flipped through this person’s memories, discarding all the useless ones in search of something that would benefit him. Although none of the previous soulscours had proved fruitful, Ning had never given up. So long as there was even a hint of a chance, he would continue in his current path.

“Eh?” Ning suddenly saw a seemingly ordinary memory, but was instantly stunned by it. Then…he revealed a look of joy.

“A Heavengazer Tower of Radiance?” Ning murmured to himself. “A treasure like this actually exists? How marvelous. The chaos-kingdom of Pangaea truly does have a much more powerful foundation than that of the Three Realms.” Ning’s pulserate began to quicken.

Heavengazer Towers were a type of Chaos treasure…and the type which Ning desperately needed right now. In truth, while soulscouring his defeated opponents, Ning had discovered quite a few treasures which he desired, but none of them existed within the prisonworld.

The Heavengazer Tower’s owner, however…was imprisoned right here inside the prisonworld!