Desolate Era

by RWX

  “Ji Ning, you’ll have to be the one to go.” Ninefire looked towards Ji Ning. “You are our only hope for stopping them. If even you are unable to stop them…then, the rest of us will have no choice but to try and delay, to try and hold on as long as possible.”

  Ning nodded slightly. “Alright.”

  This tribulation…it came in waves! After killing Jadechild, they had thought that they had won for sure, but then Adept Xu had arrived. This caused the Ji clan to once more face a terrifying danger.

  “This battle…I must win.” Ning’s heart billowed with a boundless desire for battle.

  He had to win!

  He was the only one who could stop Snowdragon Mountain!

  If even he were to fail, then he would be forced to flee, while his Patriarch, his father, and the others would remain trapped here by the grand sealing formation. They would only be able to rely on using their lives to battle for as long as possible.

  “Xu Li, I will make sure you die!”

  “All of you will die!”

  Ning had only one thought – to kill his enemies. For the sake of survival. For the sake of the Ji clan. For the sake of his family. For the sake of not having to leave, grief-stricken, by himself.

  He had to kill the enemy!

  “Careful.” Yichuan looked at his son.

  “Stopping them is important, but staying alive is more important.” Granny Shadow instructed in her hoarse voice.

  All of them looked at Ning.

  Ning nodded gently. Before him, a corridor in the black fog appeared. He dashed through it, moving like a blur at high speed towards the enemy.

  ……..

  Moments later.

  Ning stood next to an old, gnarled, crooked tree. The area around him was filled with a dense cluster of more than seven hundred flying swords, forty five of which were Mortal-ranked flying swords. After killing Jadechild’s group of Zifu Disciples, Ning’s collection of Mortal-ranked flying swords had increased to forty six, enough to create five formation bases.

  “Rumble…” The flying swords around him all began to emit a blurry aura.

  Ning frowned, sweat beginning to form on his forehead. He was struggling to control them, and the flying swords around him constantly rose and fell.

  “No. I still can’t do it.” Ning shook his head. “Last time, when I fought Jadechild, I had twenty seven Mortal-ranked flying swords…I was only able to just barely use the ninth level of the [Lesser Thousand Swords Formation]. But now, I have forty five Mortal-ranked flying swords…no matter what I try, I’m unable to execute the ninth level of the [Lesser Thousand Swords Formation].”

  “Level eight, then!”

  Ning gave it a try.

  The flying swords around him all rose into the air, flashing with a white light, but it was still quite difficult.

  “Arise!” Ning gritted his teeth. His head hurt to the point of splitting, but he was just able to manifest a flying sword, glowing with white light, in front of himself.

  “Disperse.” With a thought, Ning collected the flying swords hovering about him.

  Ning pondered to himself, “I am, at most, able to execute the eighth level of the [Lesser Thousand Swords Formation], and it is quite difficult. I imagine that executing three sword flashes using the eighth level of the [Lesser Thousand Swords Formation]…that is my limit.”

  Although he was only able to activate the eighth level, in terms of power, the strength of his attack was 30%-40% greater than in the past, when he had used the ninth level of the [Lesser Thousand Swords Formation] to kill Jadechild.

  “Patriarch, where are they?” Ning said. “I am prepared.”

  “Right ahead of you. I will guide you.” Ninefire sent mentally.

  “Alright.”

  Ning wielded a pair of the Darknorth swords in his hands, his eyes filled with a killing intent. He rapidly advanced forward.

  ………

  The snowy white Flood Dragon roved about, its draconic scales glistening with snowy white light. It was shockingly, breathtakingly beautiful. As for Adept Xu, Nong Zidao, and the others, they were protected and surrounded by the snowy white Flood Dragon. Nong Zidao was focused on analyzing the formation; he had to understand the intricate secrets of the nether fog generated by the Dragonbody Formation.

  Suddenly…

  “Rustle…”

  Within the nether fog, a drizzling rain suddenly appeared out of nowhere. The drizzling rain drifted downwards, cool and comfortable. This was an enjoyable, pleasurable drizzle, but the faces of the nine Immortal practitioners of Snowdragon Mountain all changed.

  “Rainwater!”

  “Rainwater! Ji Ning’s rainwater!”

  “Rainwater Sword Domain. Ji Ning has unleashed his Rainwater Sword Domain. He is about to attack.” The Zifu Disciples were all extremely nervous. Even Nong Zidao temporarily paused his musings, a hint of concern on his face.

  The descent of the rainwater was like a call from the Deathgod. The last time it came, Dong Ziqi, Jadechild, and the other Zifu Disciples had all perished. And now, the rain had come again.

  “Rainwater Sword Domain?” Adept Xu, dressed in a beautiful black robe, swept the surrounding area with his gaze, his pupils contracting to slits, like that of a venomous viper. He was the calmest of the group, but he was still extremely cautious and wary. After all, he was still some distance away from being able to comprehend a Dao Domain.

  “Hmph.” A cold snort rang out.

  Within the nether fog, one dazzling star after another began to appear. Amongst the dazzling stars was a brilliant moon. The watery glow of the moon shone down upon Adept Xu and the other Zifu Disciples, covering the entire region of the snowy white Flood Dragon. The moonlight completely, forcibly blocked off the rainwater.

  “Ji Ning, you lurk and sneak about. This really makes one look down on you.” Adept Xu stood there in the moonlight, the snowy white Flood Dragon swirling around him as he spoke in a cold voice. “If you want to fight, then come and fight.”

  “As you desire!”

  A thunderous shout, like a spring thunderbolt, exploded forth.

  Boom!

  From far away, a bolt of light suddenly shot out from within the nether fog. A giant, fiery winged Roc suddenly surged forth, surrounded by a Waterflame Lotus. In but an instant, the fiery Roc appeared before Adept Xu, moving so quickly as to astonish even him.

  “Rumble…” The draconic tail of the snowy white Flood Dragon Phantom slapped towards the giant fiery Roc.

  But the giant fiery Roc was simply too fast; the tail slap of the Flood Dragon actually missed!

  “This is…” Adept Xu could instantly tell that this was no Roc; it was a youth! This youth’s entire body emanated a fiery light, like that of a Fiendgod’s, while on his back was a set of wings that fluttered agilely. The wing-type magic treasure was also covered with a fiery light, allowing him to move so quickly as to cause fear.

  Divine ability – Windwing Evasion!

  Once a Fiendgod Body Refiner learned a divine ability, he would be able to fight enemies of a higher power level. Although Ning was only at the seventh stage of the [Crimsonbright Diagram of the Nine Heavens], he already had the combat ability of an ordinary late-stage Fiendgod Body Refiner. Now that he was also using the exquisitely agile divine ability, ‘Windwing Evasion’, his speed had instantly risen by several levels, to the point of being even faster than Adept Xu.

  “Ji Ning?” Adept Xu’s face finally changed as he stared at this fur-clad youth, who wielded two swords, was bathed by the Crimsonbright divine power, and who was so fast as to astonish even him. “He is Ji Ning? Supposedly on par with Jadechild? What sort of joke is this? Jadechild was nowhere near this strong!”

  “Die!”

  A fierce shout!

  Sword light flashed!

  * * *

  Book 6, Chapter 25 - 72 Flying Swords

  Adept Xu stretched out his hand, and the giant seal suddenly expanded, sweeping towards Ji Ning
like a gigantic rampart.

  Swoosh! Swoosh!

  Ning, bathed in fiery light, fluttered the wings on his back, sending himself arcing out in a line, dodging the grand seal and continuing to charge towards Adept Xu.

  “Go.” Adept Xu controlled the giant seal, sending the giant seal, glowing with that earthen yellow light, to curve and turn towards Ning once more! The grand seal struck at Ning repeatedly; it was, after all, an Earth-ranked magic treasure, and so it moved in a straight line at tremendous speeds. Only, in terms of agility, it was significantly inferior to Ning.

  Crackle!

  Ning’s swords flashed, transforming into lines of rainwater that ‘scraped’ by the edges of the grand seal. The grand seal spun out of control to one side, while Ning once more swept out in an arc, charging straight towards Adept Xu.

  “He’s too fast. His speed is too fast, and he’s too nimble.” Adept Xu was completely stunned. Just now, in that short period of time, his Earth-ranked magic treasure had clashed against Ning several times, but even his Earth-ranked magic treasure had been thrown off by Ning’s movement techniques.

  “Go.”

  Adept Xu let out a loud shout, and a black rope appeared in his hands. The black rope was covered with a layer of black energy, and as Adept Xu waved his hands, the black rope quickly expanded until it was the size of a giant python that was more than three hundred meters long, then swept entanglingly towards Ning.

  Earth-ranked magic treasure, ‘Earth Garrison Seal’.

  Earth-ranked magic treasure, ‘Black Serpent Cord’.

  These were the two mighty Earth-ranked magic treasures which Adept Xu relied on as he roamed the world. One was hard, while the other was soft; the two paired together perfectly. Generally speaking, upon encountering those weaker than him, he would use the ‘Earth Garrison Seal’ to viciously smash them to death! Unexpectedly, he hadn’t been able to smash Ning at all, and was forced to bring out the second of his two killing techniques.

  “A cord?” Ning stared at the giant black cord, over three hundred meters in length, and his face changed slightly.

  “This is troublesome. This giant seal moves in straight lines and isn’t able to do anything to me, but that cord is perfectly suited for locking opponents.” Many thoughts flashed through Ning’s mind. “I definitely cannot permit myself to be constricted by that cord. Once it captures me, I will lose for sure.”

  In this battle, Ning had immediately used the Windwing Evasion at full power from the very start. He wanted to rely on his far superior speed and agility to kill his foe!

  However…

  Adept Xu stood there, unmoving; all he had done was unleash two powerful Earth-ranked magic treasures, and Ning already felt shaken.

  “Water Rampart!”

  “Waterflame Lotus!” Ning, with a thought, instantly summoned one swirling curtain of water after another in the area around him. These curtains of water, as thin as the wing of a cicada, were all incomparably sharp. They directly chopped apart the moonlight barrier, forming multiple layers of watery curtains.

  At the same time, in the air around him, one Waterflame Lotus after another appeared and stabilized. A total of nine lotuses appeared, locked into various locations in the rainwater that perfectly entangled and blocked the rope.

  “Hmph, with simple techniques like this, you wish to block my magic treasure?” Adept Xu let out a cold laugh.

  The Black Serpent Cord began to wildly wave about and dance. Bangbangbang! One curtain of water was forcibly shattered after the other. Whapwhapwhap! The Waterflame Lotuses were also crushed to bits. How could these water curtains and Waterflame Lotuses possibly block the power of an Earth-ranked magic treasure, when unleashed by a Wanxiang Adept?

  But Ning didn’t need to actually block them; what he needed to do was to slow down the speed of the cord, just a bit. Given his ‘Windwing Evasion’ divine ability, his speed would then naturally result in him moving beyond the cord.

  “Swish!” “Swish!”

  Rainwater filled the skies. Curtains of water swirled around him. Lotus petals of fire and water.

  The Black Serpent Cord and the Earth Garrison Seal all strove to slay Ning…but Ning arced out in jagged lines, flashing about like a crooked bolt of lightning, charging straight towards Adept Xu.

  “I want to see how many Earth-ranked magic treasures you have.” Ning swiped out with the Darknorth swords in his hands, chopping straight towards Adept Xu.

  ………….

  Nong Zidao and the others, watching from the side, were completely stupefied. They didn’t even dare to breathe. They had no idea at all that this monstrous genius of the Ji clan would actually be able to fight head on against Adept Xu! Adept Xu had already activated two Earth-ranked magic treasures, but still hadn’t been able to do anything to Ji Ning.

  “Clearly…he clearly was just at Jadechild’s level.” Nong Zidao couldn’t believe what he was seeing. “How could Ji Ning’s speed have suddenly risen by so much? Even two mighty Earth-ranked magic treasures, under the influence of his Rainwater Sword Domain and his Waterflame Lotuses, are unable to touch him.”

  His speed was simply too fast!

  “If he had moved this fast in his earlier battle against Jadechild, Jadechild probably would have lost in their first exchange of blows.” Nong Zidao’s eyes were filled with disbelief. “Can it be that he just made some sort of a breakthrough?”

  Monster.

  What a monster!

  “Adept Xu will definitely win.”

  “Definitely win.”

  Lu Huang and the other Zifu Adepts all prayed quietly. Once Adept Xu lost, Adept Xu could leave through his Lesser Teleportation Dao-seal, but they wouldn’t be able to escape.

  ………….

  “Ji Ning will definitely win.” On the other side, Ji Ninefire and the others were praying as well.

  “Ji Ning and Adept Xu are fighting to a standstill.” Ninefire, as the controller of the Netherwyrm Heavenlock Formation, was able to watch this battle. As he did, he spoke with the nearby Yichuan. “Adept Xu is using two Earth-ranked magic treasures; his power is indeed exceedingly great. However, Ji Ning’s speed is astonishing; he’s simply inconceivably fast.”

  As Ninefire spoke, Yichuan, by his side, was holding his breath.

  He was nervous.

  This was the critical battle!

  ………

  Seeing that even two Earth-ranked magic treasures hadn’t been enough to stop Ning, Adept Xu suddenly let out an explosive shout: “Formation!”

  Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

  In the air around him, seventy two flying swords suddenly appeared out of nowhere. Every single flying sword glowed with black light, and the seventy two flying swords formed into a circle around Adept Xu, providing him with layers of protections.

  “What?!” Ning, just about to display his swordplay and kill Adept Xu, stared in astonishment at the flying swords which had suddenly appeared in front of him. These flying swords all transformed into rays of flowing black light, stabbing straight towards him.

  “Clang!” “Clang!” “Clang!” Ning wielded a Darknorth sword in each hand, and in the blink of an eye, he used them to block nine attacks from flying swords. He was knocked flying backwards by the force of the collision, and from behind, the Black Serpent Cord and the Earth Garrison Seal came flying towards him once more.

  The wings on Ning’s back trembled violently, and he immediately arced away, dodging the attacks.

  The layers of Waterflame Lotuses and curtains of rainwater around him continued to hinder everything.

  “How could it be like this!” Ning’s face changed. He stared at the distant Adept Xu, securely protected by those seventy two flying swords.

  “Seventy two flying swords, each of which strikes with power no weaker than a full-force attack from one of my Darknorth swords.” Just now, Ning had attacked with full force. Although his swordplay was intricate, Adept Xu’s flying swords wer
e still filled with middle-stage Wanxiang-level power, and in terms of technique, they were only slightly inferior.

  Every single flying sword was indeed no less than a full-force blow from Ning’s Darknorth swords.

  “Hahaha…”

  The distant Adept Xu began to laugh. “Ji Ning, I’ve already discovered your weakness. For me to use these two Earth-ranked treasures against you is using my weakness against your strength!”

  “Although your speed is astonishing, you are still a Zifu Disciple. There’s no need for me to use Earth-ranked magic treasures; these Mortal-ranked flying swords are already enough to deal with you.” Adept Xu laughed. “In addition, to deal with your fast speed, I should use large amounts of magic treasures to attack you in unison.”

  “With many magic treasures at hand, I will just so happen to perfectly counter your speed.” Adept Xu laughed.

  When fighting against different foes, naturally one had to use different measures. Adept Xu normally battled against other Wanxiang Adepts…and against them, the power of these flyings words would be considered too low. They would generally only be able to achieve victory through the use of Earth-ranked magic treasures. But against Ji Ning, these Mortal-ranked flying swords were enough to deal with him.

  “Return.” Adept Xu laughed softly, and the giant seal and black cord that had been chasing after Ning returned to him, swirling about him.

  “Go.” Adept Xu pointed towards the distance.

  Swoosh!

  Instantly, thirty-six flying swords pierced through the skies, attacking Ji Ning.

  Although those blossoms of Waterflame Lotuses and layers of watery curtains strove to block the flying swords, the Mortal-ranked flying swords of Adept Xu were no weaker than the full-force blows of Jadechild. Naturally, these flying swords were able to peirce straight through, and although they slowed down a bit, they were simply too numerous. They surrounded Ning from every direction.

  It was as though thirty-six people were simultaneously attacking Ning.

  “Against you, the path to victory is through sheer numbers.” Adept Xu was extremely confident.

  ………..