The Desolate Era

“No need.” Ji Ning shook his head.

“Whatever you need, whatever you are lacking for...just speak.” Subhuti continued, “Three Purities, Tathagata, and the others all feel that we owe you.”

Ning shook his head again.

He had gained many legacies from World God Northrest, and he had also acquired the treasures of the many prisoners of Prisonworld 17. He really didn’t need to ask these major powers for anything.

“Junior apprentice-brother.” Houyi looked at Ning.

Ning looked back at this plainly dressed man, the legendary Houyi. The great divinity still looked as though he was nothing but an ordinary mortal, but Ning felt true admiration towards him. Long ago, Houyi had dominated the Three Realms through archery! But today, he had actually been able to injure Daomother Devilhand when using his hatchet. How powerful would he be when using his arrows? How truly unfathomable! Houyi’s sudden appearance and intervention had stunned everyone. They weren’t just stunned at the fact that he was Houyi; they were mainly stunned that the number one divine archer of the Three Realms, Houyi, was actually so terrifying when wielding a hatchet.

“In the end, the war for karmic luck will only have a certain degree of effect on the final Endwar,” Houyi said. “In the end, winning the Endwar will primarily be dependent on the respective major powers on each side! The more powerful one is, the more of an impact one will make on the battlefield. The gain or loss of an overlord-class Daofather will have an enormous impact on the battlefield...and of course, if a Pangu-level expert appears, that person will be able to completely dominate all comers. In that scenario, a war for karmic luck would be completely useless.”

Ning nodded.

“Thus...focus calmly on your training.” Houyi looked at Ning. “Train hard. If there’s no need for you to take part in the war for karmic luck, then you might as well focus on your training. In the end, the most important affair of all is the Endwar.”

“Right.” Ning agreed with this analysis.

Ning wasn’t opposed to not being able to take part in the Endwar. What he truly wished for was the destruction of the Seamless Gate, and his deepest desire was to personally kill the Godking!

......

The Allfiend world.

“Windfiend, I really am not happy that the Envoys are not going to be able to take part in the world for karmic luck.” Daomother Devilhand’s slender face was as cold as ice, and her eyes were filled with murder.

“It might be a good thing that the Envoys will not take part.” The nearby Keeper Everwood explained, “Although Ji Ning’s true body has been destroyed, he still has his Primaltwin. If he uses his Primaltwin to control the Rahu Formation, he has the power to kidnap yet another Envoy. He’ll be strong enough to be close to matching overlord-class major powers. That’ll make him equivalent to a host of Envoys.”

“Letting him capture an Envoy is one thing. Would we really let him capture a second?” Daomother Devilhand laughed coldly.

“Ji Ning isn’t alone; he has the entire army of the Nuwa Alliance supporting him. There are no absolute certainties in war.” Keeper Everwood shook his head. “And this time, our side was in the wrong to begin with. The furious Nuwa Alliance might very well have actually launched the Endwar. You saw Houyi’s power for yourself.”

“I was overconfident. I had no idea he was Houyi. If I knew he was Houyi, do you think I would’ve fought against him with just one hand?” Daomother Devilhand shook her head. “If we both fought at full strength, it’s not certain who would win and who would lose.”

Thus far, the Lord of All Fiends had remained silent. Now, however, he made a calm comment: “But Houyi was using a hatchet. What if he was using his Houyi Godbow?”

Daomother Devilhand was stunned.

“Houyi is clearly far more powerful than he was during the Primordial Era; even I can vaguely sense danger emanating from him.” The Lord of All Fiends shook his head. “The true purpose of building the Envoys is to have Daofathers command them and use them against the enemy overlord-class powers. If they can’t be used in the war for the karmic luck, then that is that. It’s almost worth it just to ensure that Ji Ning cannot participate either.”

“Right; did you ruin that Envoy he had?” The Lord of All Fiends asked.

“I did.” Daomother Devilhand nodded.

There had been multiple layers to their plans. Ruining the Envoy was one of them. If one of them was to destroy a critical part of the golem, Grandmaster Blackheaven would be able to easily fix the damage once they brought it back. But since the Nuwa Alliance lacked the critical formation-diagram, there was no way whatsoever for them to repair it.

“Good.” The Lord of All Fiends nodded. “Ji Ning cannot participate in the war for karmic luck; he’ll only be able to participate in the Endwar. Without the Envoy, he’s now much less of a threat.”

“When the Endwar comes, Ji Ning won’t amount to much,” Daomother Devilhand agreed calmly.

“His true body has been destroyed, while his Primaltwin is only a Ki Refiner,” Keeper Everwood said. “There is no way a pure Ki Refiner can reach the overlord class of power.”

It was true. In all the Three Realms, be it in the Nuwa Alliance or the Seamless Gate, the most supreme figures were not merely Ki Refiners.

Three Purities, Tathagata, Fuxi; they were born True Gods of Primordial Chaos, but gave up their bodies when they sent themselves into the cycles of reincarnation. However, even in their later lives they were dual refiners, training as Fiendgods and as Ki Refiners! Shennong and Suiren both had incredibly powerful divine bodies, while even Subhuti and Old Man Yuan were born as True Gods of Primordial Chaos! As for the Seamless Gate’s side, Daomother Devilhand, the Lord of All Fiends, and Keeper Everwood all specialized in close combat; all three of them trained as both Ki Refiners and as Fiendgod Body Refiners!

Theoretically, a pure Ki Refiner could also reach the overlord level if they reached a sufficiently high level of insight into the Dao. However, to date the Three Realms had never produced anyone who could reach such heights as a pure Ki Refiner. Moreover, attempting to reach that level of power purely through cultivating in the Dao would take time. Ji Ning had yet to master even a single Heavenly Dao; he was far, far away from becoming an overlord.

Thus, the Seamless Gate believed Ning to be much less of a threat with his true body gone. This made quite logical sense.

“If he only has a Primaltwin, he’s much less dangerous now. He’s only been training for so many years; his weakness is quite apparent.” Keeper Everwood shook his head. “This Ji Ning truly is a monstrously talented figure. If he was given another hundred thousand years, he probably would become an extremely dangerous figure. Unfortunately for him, he won’t have enough time to train...”

“Right.”

“I still feel as though giving up our plans to have Envoys take part in the war for karmic luck will have an excessively large impact.” Daomother Devilhand frowned.

“There’s no need to discuss this matter any longer,” the Lord of All Fiends said. “Right – Everwood, how are your negotiations with Old Man Yuan coming along?”

“He wants access to our Seamless Gate’s three great secret manuals.” Keeper Everwood let out a sigh. “He wants all three, not a single one less. Only if we give him all three would he be willing to join us.”

“The three great secret manuals? And all three of them?” Daomother Devilhand let out a cold laugh. “Old Man Yuan really is quite ambitious. Even I have merely studied two of them.”

Long, long ago, when the Seamless Chaosworld was still intact, when the Lord of the Demonheart had been roving the primordial chaos he had accidentally discovered three incomparably profound secret manuals. These manuals were the [Seven Hearts], [Coiling River], and [Shadowless]. These became the most important and most profound techniques techniques which the Lord of the Demonheart used, and they were one of the most important reasons why he was able to unify the entire Seamless Chaosworld in such a short period of time.

In order to draw more allies to his side, Lord Demonheart would occasionally bestow the techniques upon others.

Originally, [Seven Hearts] was something which Lord Demonheart kept for himself; he was only willing to teach the [Coiling River] and [Shadowless] to the others. However, after the Lord of All Fiends rescued the entire Seamless Gate after they lost the war, Lord Demonheart had decided to bestow [Seven Hearts] upon the Lord of All Fiends, even though Lord Demonheart himself had already become one with the Heavenly Daos.

In other words, the only people in the entire Seamless Gate who had studied all three of those secret manuals were Lord Demonheart and the Lord of All Fiends.

“The [Seven Hearts] is a heartforce technique,” the Lord of All Fiends said. “Truthfully speaking, most major powers can’t even make use of it. One has to reach the fifth level of heartforce before one can master this technique. In truth, it’s not impossible for us to impart it to Old Man Yuan. His faction has quite a few major powers, after all, and they are quite powerful.”

“Right.” Keeper Everwood and Daomother Devilhand both nodded.

The most powerful members of Old Man Yuan’s faction were known as the Four Ancestors of the River Source! They also had other major powers within their faction as well. Although Old Man Yuan himself had already revealed himself to be close to the overlord level of power, who knew if he was hiding his true strength?

Thus, both sides wished to draw this incredibly powerful faction into their ranks.

“My worry is that once we give him the three secret manuals, he’ll then decide to join the Nuwa Alliance and hand them over,” the Lord of All Fiends said. “I heard that alien Outsiders have a way to set down something known as a ‘lifeblood oath’, but none of us have any idea as to how that is done.”

“I’ll go speak with him a bit further.” Keeper Everwood frowned. “We have to draw Old Man Yuan into our orbit. If he joins us, the Nuwa Alliance will have lost one of its original members. This will represent a significant shift in the balance of power. We have to recruit him. Also – Windfiend, I’ll leave the other matters in your hands.”

“Yes, leave the matters in the primordial chaos to me.” The Lord of All Fiends nodded. “It has been more than half a chaos cycle since the war that ended the Primordial Era. Although we’ve hidden much of our power, the Nuwa Alliance is not to be underestimated. Don’t forget that Nuwa had reached the World God level of power. It’s hard to predict what she left behind her for her alliance.”

Both sides were extremely cautious. The war for karmic luck was just one element out of many that would impact the Endwar. However, both sides were doing everything they could to increase their chances of winning...because when the Endwar erupted, either your side would die or my side would die.

......

Within the endless primordial chaos. Inside a frozen star.

This star was fairly unremarkable, and it didn’t even have a name assigned to it. It was, however, the place where Ning had placed Prisonworld 17.

Ji Ning had already been forgotten by the Seamless Gate, having been deemed to no longer be a threat. And yet, at this moment, he quietly emerged from the prisonworld.

The black-robed Ning stood there within the deep crevice, staring at the endless glacial ice before him. “In the coming days, unless something major happens, I’ll just calmly spend my time in the prisonworld, working on improving my power as best as I can.”

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