The Desolate Era

Even though they were hundreds of kilometers apart, Ji Ning’s clone could still see the distant form of the utterly emaciated wild dog lying on the ground. He immediately grew even more courteous and respectful. His heartforce had shown him how formidable this seemingly-unremarkable wild dog was. It had been able to devour even the invisible, formless power of heartforce; how could Ning possibly be a match for it?

“Senior, this junior is the newly-arrived Overseer. There’s something I would ask of you, senior,” Ning’s clone said.

Sniff. Sniff. The wild dog’s nostrils flared a few times, and then its eyes opened, revealing a pair of ancient-looking dark-yellow pupils. It opened its mouth.

Rumble...

Everything within a thousand kilometers began to change.

The platter which Ning’s clone was holding actually flew into the air and towards that mouth. The fine wine and delicacies on the platter flew with especial speed!

“Eh?” Ning’s clone was completely unable to resist this power. “What a formidable divine ability.”

As the wine and food reached the wild dog’s mouth, they began to shrink in size, then flew straight into it. Even Ning’s clone was about to be sucked in!

“Senior! Senior!” Ning’s clone called out repeatedly, but the wild dog completely ignored him.

Whoosh.

Ning’s clone could sense that he was shrinking in size, while the wild dog before him was growing larger and larger, seemingly as large as the heavens themselves. It flew helplessly into the mouth of the wild dog, then dispersed.

Outside the formation.

“Thank goodness I only sent a clone; all I lost was a bit of my divine power.” Ning stood outside the formation, calling out, “Senior, there’s something I need to ask of you.”

But the wild dog, a few hundred kilometers away, just continued to lie there as though he was asleep.

“And of course, if there is anything you need, senior, I’ll do my best to satisfy you,” Ning said.

“Lucky kid, are you able to release me? Let me out of here?” Finally, an ancient voice rang out by Ning’s ears. The eyelids of the distant wild dog lifted upwards as he glanced at Ning.

“Uh...” Ning immediately asked, “Might I ask, what do I need to do to release you?”

“There are two methods,” the ancient voice said. “The first method is to have an Elder God or an Ancestral Immortal with a talisman of command from the King of Pangaea come here, then activate the talisman to unlock the prison chains. At that point, you as the Overseer can bring me out of this prisonworld, and I will regain my freedom. The second method is to have a mighty individual who has reached the World-level to forcibly shatter these shackles.”

“World-level?” Ning was stunned. “What’s the ‘World-level’?”

The wild dog glanced at Ning, a hint of disappointment in its eyes. Still, it answered Ning’s question. “They are the ones who have ascended beyond the Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals. You look as though you live in a chaosworld. You should have heard rumors that your chaosworld was originally formed from the primordial chaos by a mighty Fiendgod, yes?”

“Yes.” Ning nodded.

“Those who are capable of creating a chaosworld are at the World-level of power. However, those Fiendgods who are born from the primordial chaos at the World-level will all perish upon creating their chaosworld. They were born for the sole purpose of establishing a world, and there is no way for them to continue living afterwards. As for other Gods or Immortals who manage to train to the World-level after countless years and experiences, they are even more powerful than those Fiendgods who were born at the World-level. Those individuals are capable of destroying these shackles outright. In fact, given enough time, they are even capable of destroying this entire prisonworld.”

Ning now understood.

Pangu!

The World-level was Pangu’s level! Mother Nuwa had reached Pangu’s level as well. No wonder Mother Nuwa had been able to effortlessly dominate the Lord of All Things as soon as she broke through to Pangu’s level! The Lord of All Things had been powerful, and the Seamless Chaosworld had been quite formidable, but Mother Nuwa had immediately slaughtered the Lord of All Things, then frightened the Lord of the Demonheart into merging himself into the Heavenly Daos. As for the Lord of All Fiends, his escaping abilities were quite impressive; he had been able to escape while bringing along many of the shattered remnants of the Seamless Gate’s forces. They had hidden themselves in the primordial chaos, not daring to return until Mother Nuwa left the Three Realms.

Once anyone reached her level, they would be able to effortlessly dominate all comers. The difference in power was like the difference between Heaven and Earth.

“So above the Elder God and Ancestral Immortals are the World-class experts? Then what level has the King of Pangaea reached?” Ning asked.

“He’s also a World-class expert.” The wild dog looked towards Ning. “However, he’s an extremely powerful World-class expert. The Pangaea chaos-kingdom has a total of three World-class experts, which is why it is so powerful. You must understand that it is very, very rare for a chaosworld to give birth to even a single World-class expert.”

Ning nodded.

The Seamless Chaosworld, for instance, hadn’t produced a single one. As for the Pangu Chaosworld, only Mother Nuwa had reached that level. Apparently, this was a level of tremendous power, even within the endless primordial chaos.

“Your master, your elders...are any of the experts you know at the World-class?” The wild dog looked at Ning. “They can be World Gods of the Fiendgod path or Chaos Immortals of the Immortal cultivation path; so long as they have reached the World-class, they can forcibly break apart these shackles.”

“I know of one.” Ning nodded.

“Truly?” The wild dog’s eyes lit up with eagerness. Given his incredible level of power, he was completely capable of telling if Ning was telling the truth or not.

“However, I haven’t personally met this person yet.” Ning looked back at the wild dog.

“I can sense that you aren’t lying to me.” The wild dog’s attitude instantly became noticeably better. Previously, he had been rather indifferent towards Ning, because his experience was that it was incredibly rare for a World-class expert to appear within the primordial chaos. However...now that he knew that Ning’s side had a World-class expert behind it, and given that he himself knew that Ning’s side wasn’t an enemy...suddenly, he saw the light of hope.

Freedom.

He desperately craved it.

The many prisoners jailed here all craved their freedom.

“Senior, tell me more about these ‘World-class’ experts. My master has met that mighty individual before, but I have not. I know nothing about them. Please tell me a bit more, senior,” Ning said. And indeed, Subhuti had met Nuwa before. Ning was telling the truth.

“Your master met this person?” The wild dog’s attitude became even better. “Mm. The paths of cultivation are divided into three. The first path is the Fiendgod path. The primordial chaos will give birth to some living creatures that will title themselves ‘Gods’, and they will subconsciously choose to call their enemies ‘Fiends’. The Fiendgod cultivation path is generally created by these Fiendgods who were born from the primordial chaos, which is why it is named that.”

“The second path is the Ki Refining path, which allows ordinary commoners born from the mortal dust to constantly improve themselves and break through to higher levels.”

“Finally, there is the invisible, formless path of the heart.”

“These three paths are the three major paths of cultivation.”

“The Fiendgod path can be divided in the ‘mortal’, ‘Empyrean God’, ‘True God’, ‘Elder God’, and ‘World God’ levels. Supposedly, there are even higher levels of power in the primordial chaos, as well as figures who are even more powerful than the King of Pangaea. However, in my sixteen chaos cycles of life, I’ve never encountered such a powerful figure.”

“The Ki Refining path can be divided into the ‘mortal’, ‘Celestial Immortal’, ‘True Immortal’, ‘Ancestral Immortal’, and ‘Chaos Immortal’ levels.”

“As for the path of the heart...even I do not understand it.”

The wild dog continued, “The core of any Ki Refiner lies in the Jindan golden pellet within the body. This is their heart, which contains all of their ineffable might. At the World-class, however, the cultivator shall completely destroy the Jindan region, letting it return to the primordial chaos it sprang from. When that happens, a chaosworld will emerge within the Jindan.”

Ning was surprised. The region within the Jindan was extremely vast; all of Ning’s magic treasures were placed within it, as was his sea of Immortal energy. To destroy it all and let it return to the primordial chaos, then give birth to a chaosworld...?”

“When that happens, the Chaos Immortal shall have a chaosworld located inside his very body. Naturally, his power will be utterly indomitable,” the wild god said. “As for the ‘Daos’ which young fellows like you inside the chaosworld train in, these ‘Daos’ are nothing more than the rules by which the chaosworld operates. The ‘natural energy of Heaven and Earth’ which you cultivate is the energy of the chaosworld itself. All you are doing is temporarily borrowing it for your own use.”

“However, to reach the World-level, you’ll have to establish a chaosworld of your own, inside your body. Although the chaosworld within your Jindan wouldn’t be as vast as a real chaosworld in the outside world, you will be the ruler and absolute master of it. Naturally, your power will become enormous. It would be very easy for you to destroy an actual chaosworld.”

Ning nodded. Mother Nuwa did indeed have the power to destroy the Three Realms.

“Because Immortal cultivators at the World-level have established a world region of primordial chaos within their Jindans, they are known as Chaos Immortals.”

“As for Fiendgods, their path involves continually increasing the power of their divine bodies. With each improvement in their body, their power will increase greatly. World Gods possess almost limitless power, and they are capable of establishing chaosworlds of their own. Thus, they are referred to as World Gods.”

“These two paths are equal in power,” the wild dog said.

“Equal?” Ning was suddenly startled. “Senior, are you saying that Empyrean Gods and Celestial Immortals should be equals? True Gods and True Immortals should be equals? Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals are equals?”

“Of course. Although these are two different paths of cultivation, the two paths are indeed equal in power.” The wild dog nodded.

Ning was stunned. How could the two paths be equal?

True Gods were clearly comparable in power to Daofathers, while Empyrean Gods were on the same level as True Immortals.

“The Ki Refining path is a path that has been slowly developed and tested over countless years, a path that allows ordinary mortals to cultivate and rise in power. Thus, there are many different methods of Ki Refining.” The wild dog stared at the distant Ning. “However, there are three primary methods through which a person can overcome the Celestial Tribulation and become a Celestial Immortal. These three different methods will result in Jindans of different qualities.”

“As for you...you’ve trained in the worst method.” The wild dog shook his head. “Your Jindan is incredibly puny. Even though you are now a ‘True Immortal’, powerful Empyrean Gods and Celestial Immortals are probably on par with you.”

“Right, right, right! Earlier, I fought against a Celestial Immortal in here. We were indeed on par with each other,” Ning immediately said.

The wild dog shook his head. “The Ki Refining path you people train in is too weak. If your world had a Chaos Immortal within it, things wouldn’t be this bad. I believe the person on your side who broke through to the World-level had to have made the breakthrough as a Fiendgod cultivator. This person must be a World God.”

Ning didn’t deny it. Nuwa had followed in Pangu’s path. She had indeed walked the Fiendgod path.

“There are three different paths for Ki Refiners. Breaking through to become a Celestial Immortal is the most important checkpoint in all of cultivation. The Jindan formed during the breakthrough will determine the power and potential the cultivator will have in the future,” the wild dog said. “The weakest type of Jindan is formed when the cultivator has to laboriously draw in the natural energy, condensing it into a Jindan.”

“A higher level method is to rely on many precious treasures in forming the Jindan, guiding the essence of those treasures to come together through your own personal power. These Jindans are much more powerful.”

“The best method of all is a method which imitates the birth of Fiendgods from the primordial chaos. The bodies of those Fiendgods are formed from the power of chaos itself. To create the most supreme of Celestial Immortal Jindans, you have to use an entire vast world as your furnace. This world needs to be extremely large, at least on par with this prisonworld. What you need to do is to summon all the limitless power of that vast world, then condense it into a Jindan. This is the best-possible Jindan, and it will contain tremendous power of incredible purity.”

“Of the three methods, the best method is to use the energy of an entire world in order to cultivate the Jindan. The second method is to rely on precious items to help you increase your power. The third method primarily relies on you relying on your own power to draw more in.”

“But of course, there are advantages and disadvantages to everything. The best method requires you to use an entire vast world as your furnace, which is only possible with the assistance of a Chaos Immortal. In addition, when undergoing your tribulation, the power of the Celestial Tribulation will be a bit more powerful than even an Empyrean Tribulation.” The wild dog looked at Ning. “In the Pangaea chaos-kingdom, only a very small percentage of the core members are capable of using the best method to produce a Jindan.”

“As for you...it’s too late. You are already a True Immortal. Your path is set. There’s no way to change it.” The wild dog shook his head.