The Desolate Era

Ning could feel his consciousness passing through multiple layers of the world’s obstructions, constantly going forward... after passing through countless layers, he entered an infinite, endless void. Deep within that infinite void was two incomparably enormous stellar bodies.

One was an enormous stellar body which had huge plumes of raging flames dancing on its surface. It seemed like an enormous ball of flame, and it illuminated the endless void.

The other was covered with a layer of unending ice, with an enormous osmanthus tree in the middle of the ice. The stellar body’s cold light also illuminated part of the world.

These two ancient stellar bodies, one was the Solar Star (the Sun), the other was the Lunar Star (the Moon).

“Too beautiful. Too incredible.” Ning was absolutely stunned. He felt that he could even ‘see’ those enormous plumes of flame and ‘see’ the enormous leaves of the osmanthus tree.

Others, when training in accordance with the [Crimsonbright Diagram of the Nine Heavens], found it very hard to even hazily sense the Solar Star and the Lunar Star, but Ning could even ‘see’ the plumes of flame and the leaves on the osmanthus tree.

....

Within the hall.

Yichuan and Snow were watching in astonishment. They saw countless spots of starlight appear in the area around Ning. The countless spots of starlight were primarily gold and silver in color; scorching hot gold starlight and ice cold silver starlight. They swirled around Ning, not stopping in any location. Slowly, beneath Ning’s left hand, a miniature star formed beneath his left hand, and on it an Osmanthus Tree could vaguely be seen. This was the Lunar Star.

And on his right hand, there formed a fiery hot miniature star that was surrounded by a flying Golden Crow. This was the Solar Star.

The Solar Star in one hand, and the Lunar Star in the other.

Surrounded by starlight, Ning’s face seemed so peaceful, so pious.

“This... this...”

Yichuan and Snow looked at each other, stunned.

“The Moon in one hand and the Sun in the other?” Yichuan couldn’t help but show his shock on his face, no matter how calm and collected he normally was. “The Osmanthus Tree was born on one, and the Golden Crow flies around the other?”

“The legendary, ‘Moon in one hand, Sun in the other’?” Snow stared fixedly at the two miniature stellar bodies which had formed in her son’s hands. “And even the Osmanthus Tree and the Golden Crow have appeared...”

The two were in a state of absolute shock. They were not ordinary people. Naturally, they knew much more than the common person, and they had personally read the contents of the [Crimsonbright Diagram of the Nine Heavens] before. They naturally knew what this scene portended. The [Crimsonbright Diagram of the Nine Heavens] was extremely difficult to train in, and the training speed would normally be very slow.

There were several types of ‘initiations’ one might see.

The first type was called, ‘threads of starlight’. Only two threads of starlight would slowly enter the body. This was the poorest type of initiation and guaranteed that one would be extremely slow in training.

The second type was called ‘clouds of starlight’. A large amount of starlight would surround the body and form a cloud. This was quite good, actually.

The third type, was known as ‘a vortex of starlight, the Moon in one hand, the Sun in the other’. Countless flecks of starlight would swirl around the body like a vortex, while the left hand would form a ‘Lunar Star’, while the right hand would form a ‘Solar Star’. This was the peak result. But if the two miniature stars formed to be so realistic as to even show the ‘Osmanthus Tree on the Lunar Star, Golden Crow on the Solar Star’, then this would be the legendary perfect result.

Actually, it wasn’t strange for this result to occur.

Ning had trained using the [Nuwa Painting] visualization technique since he was born, a technique which even in the Deva realm would be a top class technique. He was even capable of dividing his mind. One could imagine how powerful his soul had become. And in addition, after being born, every day he had been nurtured and cleansed by natural elemental energy, rendering his body as pure as a newborn infant’s body, without any impurities. The purity of his body was on par with a Xiantian lifeform!

His body was as pure as a Xiantian lifeform’s.

His soul was so powerful that he could divide his mind.

With these two strengths combined, it was natural that he would have the utmost aptitude for Fiendgod Body Refining.

“For my son to have this sort of natural gift...” Snow’s face had turned red, and she was so excited that her body was shaking. “Yichuan, the Moon in one hand, and the Sun in the other. Osmanthus Tree was born, and the Golden Crow flies! This is something out of the legends! Our son will definitely have great accomplishments when training in accordance to the [Crimsonbright Diagram of the Nine Heavens].

“Right.” Yichuan was very excited as well.

When his son was born, he had sensed that his son’s arteries were very weak, and his bones were very ordinary as well. Although he knew that his son had been injured in the womb, he was still somewhat disappointed, because he knew... in this brutal, man-eat-man world, anyone who had no power would find it hard to live a good life. While he was alive, he could protect his son, but what if he died?

“This is my son! The son of Ji Yichuan!” Yichuan held his wife’s hand tightly, and the two stared with excitement and hope towards their son.

Which parents didn’t hope that their ‘children would fly like dragons’?

......

Ning’s eyes were closed, and he continued to sit on his knees, holding his two hands in front of him limply, with the Lunar Star in one, and the Solar Star in the other.

Those two miniature floating Solar Star and Lunar Stars were separately transmitting energy nonstop into Ning’s body. The power of the Sun and the power of the Moon were quickly absorbed by the ravenous cells in his body, and Ning’s entire musculature and bone structure were undergoing constant transformations.

“Swish...” A layer of ice suddenly appeared on the beast fur clothes which Ning was wearing.

But then, “Crackle crackle crackle.” The back of Ning’s clothes suddenly began to burn with fire.

Both frozen and blazing.

This constant interchange was resulting in his furs starting to split apart.

“Hrm?” Yichuan frowned. He pointed with a finger, and a ray of blue flowing light leaped out of his finger towards Ning’s back, and the already half-ragged fur clothes totally split apart and collapsed, leaving Ning’s back totally bare. On Ning’s tender, young back, there was silver light flashing on the left, while golden light flashing on the right.

On the left, frozen side, the silver light was constantly flowing and slowly forming into a pattern.

On the right, blazing side, the golden light was also constantly flowing and also formed a separate pattern.

“Divine Tattoos!” Snow said softly. “The very first time he trains, he is already beginning to form the Divine Tattoos. Given this tattoo forming speed, in ten days or so the tattoo will have been fully formed. By then, the first level of the [Crimsonbright Diagram of the Nine Heavens] will be done.

“Right.” Yichuan watched quietly.

Time passed...

The Divine Tattoos on Ning’s youthful back continued to grow. One could faintly tell that the left tattoo was that of a rabbit, while the right side was that of a crow.

The two great Divine Tattoos. The Divine Moon Tattoo was that of the Moon Rabbit, while the Divine Sun Tattoo was that of the Golden Crow.

“Hu.” Ning suddenly let out a long breath and opened his eyes. The Divine Tattoos on his back disappeared as well, and the two stellar bodies in his hands quickly dissipated. This caused Ning to be greatly startled. He had carefully read the [Crimsonbright Diagram of the Nine Heavens], and he knew exactly what it meant for him to have the Moon in one hand, the Sun in the other, especially with the Osmanthus Tree being born and the Golden Crow flying.

“What a powerful force.” Ning clenched his fists, feeling his body surge with power. “I’m just a four-year-old child and I’ve just been initiated into the Fiendgod Body Refining method, but I already am this strong.”

Suddenly, a cold voice rang out.

“Put on a change of clothes.” With a wave of his hands, his father Yichuan made a set of children’s fur clothes appear out of midair, then tossed it to his son.

“Yes.” Ning immediately grabbed it.

Snow was still looking at her son, her face filled with joy. The more she looked at him, the happier she felt. Her son was her pride and her joy. On the day he was born, she had been worried about her son’s future...but now, her son had demonstrated such inconceivable potential. As a mother, in her heart, naturally she felt filled with joy.

“Ning,” Yichuan said calmly.

“Father.” Ning listened carefully.

“Your potential is extraordinary. However, if you wish to break through the bottleneck of ordinary lifeforms and become a Xiantian lifeform, and then embark on the road to becoming an Immortal, potential alone isn’t enough.” Yichuan looked at his son. “You need to receive the best instruction possible.”

Ning said respectfully, “Father, please instruct me.”

“Snow.” Yichuan looked at his wife, Yuchi Snow. She nodded, and with a flip of her hand, two items appeared. One was a deep green gemstone, roughly the size of a fingernail. It was cut and very beautiful. The other was a flashing, rainbow-colored, fist-sized rock.

“This deep green stone is known as a kalestone.” Snow smiled. “This is a naturally forming gemstone which contains a miniature dimension inside of it. You can use it as part of a ring and store small items in it, or you can hide and store it within your belt. All you need to do to make it yours is to bind it with blood.”

“Kalestone!” Ning was overjoyed.

Training to become an Immortal was divided into two paths; the Body Refining path and the Ki Refining path.

Body Refiners belonged to the Fiendgod path and didn’t teach someone how to use magical treasures.

Ki Refiners, after becoming Xiantian lifeforms, would be able to control a few low level treasures... but even the lowest of manufactured treasures had a minimum requirement of the user being a Ki Refiner of the Xiantian level. Thus, most Fiendgod Body Refiners would also concurrently train in Ki.

However, Heaven always gave people a chance.

There were some naturally occurring objects which only needed to be bound by blood and didn’t have any strength requirements. kalestone was one of them!

“Bind it first.” Snow handed the kalestone and a shortsword over.

“Yes, Mother.” Ning accepted them. He didn’t hesitate at all, as he gently pricked his finger with the edge of the shortsword. A single drop of blood fell onto the kalestone and was quickly absorbed, giving the kalestone a hint of a blood color.

“Get in.” Ning willed the shortsword in his hand to disappear, and it did, reforming and floating within the miniature dimension inside the kalestone.

“Come out.” The shortsword appeared in his hands.

“How magical.” Ning was absolutely delighted.

He knew long ago that these naturally occurring dimensional gemstones existed. They weren’t like those manufactured treasures, which all had relatively large internal dimensions. The kalestone, as a naturally occurring object, had a much smaller internal dimension. Some were only the size of a fist or a head! These half-meter long ones were definitely an extremely precious treasure.

“Mother,” Ning hurriedly said. “Please help me make a belt and put the kalestone inside of it.”

“Alright.” Snow nodded. “The kalestone can be considered a treasure, but to our Ji clan, it isn’t something particularly valuable. Given your father’s status... a kalestone isn’t even worth discussing! However, the other treasure is something which your father only obtained after a life-and-death crisis!”

Snow solemnly handed over the fist-sized rock which shone with the colors of the rainbow.

“Bind it.” Snow looked at her son.

Ning stuck out his finger and once more pricked it gently with the shortsword. A single drop of blood fell onto that flashing rainbow stone. The blood was quickly absorbed, and inside the rock, countless red ‘arteries’ could suddenly be seen. And then, the fist-sized rock turned into a liquid and flowed towards Ning.

“What’s this?” Ning felt his entire body turn cold.

“It is like the kalestone. It is a naturally occurring treasure. The name of this treasure is the Goldstar Shirt.” Snow explained. “You can use it immediately after binding it. It will quickly enter and become part of your skin. With the protection of the Goldstar Shirt... nothing below the Xiantian lifeform level will be able to harm you with its attacks.”

Ning was shocked. “So powerful?”

He had never read of this in any of the books.

“The Grand Xia Dynasty, from the Fiendgod Era until now, has existed for countless of years, and the territory it rules over is vast. In the area around Swallow Mountain, our Ji clan reigns supreme. But in some of the more distant areas... there are clans that are even more powerful than our Ji clan,” Yichuan said. “In some of those ancient, mighty clans, some of the promising young youths, while they are still young, they will be given this Goldstar Shirt to help protect them.”

Ning was startled. Turning to look at his father, he felt a warm feeling in his heart.

His parents truly were very good to him.

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