Desolate Era

by RWX

  “Your alluring charms are useless against me.” Xiao Lang emitted a shrill screech, and his fiery, lava-like eyes became even more savage. “Have a taste of my bloodflame earthfire!”

  As he let out the screech, Xiao Lang suddenly opened his mouth. Whoosh! Instantly, flames that reeked of blood billowed out, instantly filling the region. The petals of fire that were hovering in the area around him, under the guidance of the earthfire, actually formed into an enormous formation, transforming into an enormous midair millstone formed from bloodflame earthfire that slowly swiveled, grinding downwards.

  Swish… the jade-green ribbon continued to swim about in circles, and the runes on it began to glow, with undulating ripples rising up then snapping back down like bubbles. The ribbon was incomparably flexible and resilient, and it was able to forcibly resist the bloodflame earthfire.

  ……

  Outside the formation, Ji Ning and the others focused their attentions as they watched. Kindwater Xiaolou said, “Xiao Lang’s ‘bloodflame earthfire’ has already reached the first grade. When forged into this ‘Bloodfire Millstone’ technique, it is quite formidable. Ordinary Primal Daoists aren’t able to withstand the crushing pressure of the Bloodfire Millstone.”

  The nearby Skyfarmer Songspear laughed, “Fairy Wavecolor perfectly counters him; her ‘Skywater Net Formation’ is perfect and legendary for defense. To break through it is actually an incredibly hard feat.”

  “Fairy Wavecolor has fairly few techniques.” Xiaolou shook his head. “She generally uses her Skywater Net Formation to protect herself, then relies on her divine will and her charming abilities… and she has indeed reached a formidable level in them. But Xiao Lang is a madman; it’s simply too hard to mesmerize him.”

  “Aside from her charming techniques, Fairy Wavecolor is skilled in other divine will techniques as well. So long as Xiao Lang succumbs to one of them, she will immediately be able to switch from defending to attacking!” Songspear said.

  Ning, curious, just listened. The report from the Heavenly Treasures Mountain only had cursory explanations; how could they be as well-informed as Songspear and Xiaolou regarding their own friends?

  ……

  “You crazy bitch… argh!!!!” Xiao Lang pressed a hand against his head, howling savagely. As for Fairy Wavecolor, she just laughed coldly. Those ribbons that had been circling around her suddenly expanded dramatically, and at the same time, one drop after another of incomparably dense and heavy water, each one having the weight of a mountain, came smashing towards Xiao Lang!

  “Graaaaaaaah!” Xiao Long howled shrilly, and then he suddenly grew out four more arms, and two more heads emerged from his shoulders as well.

  [Three Heads, Six Arms!]

  Each of Xiao Lang’s six arms clenched a long black awl in them, and with the shrill howl, the long black awls transformed into a rainbow streak of light as it struck straight towards Fairy Wavecolor, carrying the limitless force of the bloodflame earthfire with it. Every single one of those six long black shuttles were capable of causing the colors of the world to change, and gave off the strange feeling of being able to puncture a hole through reality.

  Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Xiao Lang, with three heads and six arms, attacked wildly as the surrounding area once more manifested the millstone of bloodflame earthfire, which crushed down towards her.

  “F*ck off.” Fairy Wavecolor struggled to execute her divine will technique once more. She was skilled in three mighty divine will techniques; one was a charm, one was for ambushing, and one was for forceful assault. She had trained all three to an extremely high level, and by relying on her powerful soul as a reincarnated Immortal, she was extremely powerful when using them. She had, indeed, gained quite a bit of fame.

  But if, however, an opponent was able to resist her secret arts, then her chances for victory would be much lower.

  BOOM. With the support of the millstone of bloodflame earthfire, the three-headed, six-armed Xiao Lang attacked with incomparable savagery, forcibly breaking through one layer of the defense of the jade-green ribbon.

  “I admit defeat,” an unhappy voice rang out.

  “Bahahaha…”

  Only now did Xiao Lang stay his hand, dismissing his bloodflame earthfire and his divine ability. He laughed wildly, and his body continued to emit a scorching heat. “Fairy Wavecolor, I told you that you’d lose. That divine will technique of yours? Bahaha, you want to shake my soul? In your dreams.”

  The grand sealing formation disappeared. Fairy Wavecolor, with a cold face, flew back to her own position, not even bothering to look at Xiao Lang.

  “Ji Ning, wanna spar?” Xiao Lang gave Ning a glance, appearing quite smug.

  “No need,” Ning said calmly.

  “Hmph.” Xiao Lang flew straight back to his own seat, clearly quite delighted with himself. Generally speaking, madmen with twisted personalities actually had extremely tough Dao-hearts. Xiao Lang was one such twisted madman. He was the sort who would never bow his head, even in the face of death; he’d remain as arrogant and unbridled as ever. Although he had offended quite a few people, he remained true to his own personality.

  Still… he also knew who he couldn’t afford to offend. For example, he never tried to set himself up against Kindwater Xiaolou.

  Cloudwater Manor. In the air above the long passageway that led to the place where Ji Ning currently was, a bald old man suddenly appeared. It was Immortal Floatcloud, who had changed his appearance.

  “Ji Ning!” Immortal Floatcloud walked through the midair corridor, no thoughts in his mind save one – to kill Ji Ning!

  When he saw Ji Ning lead a group of Golden Imperials to Cloudwater Manor, Immortal Floatcloud understood that he would have no other opportunities. In King Yan’s Estate, there was no way to kill Ji Ning at all. When leading a group of Golden Imperials on his flying ship, Immortal Floatcloud still didn’t have even the slightest hint of a chance.

  But right now, Ning was chatting and merrymaking with others, and his servants and guards were all stationed somewhere else. This… this actually gave Immortal Floatcloud his one and only chance.

  Although the Cloudwater Manor definitely had experts guarding it, as well as layers of protective formations and spells, as far as Immortal Floatcloud was concerned, this was going to be the best chance he had. If he continued to hesitate, then by the time Ning returned to King Yan’s Estate and rested for a day without leaving, he, Immortal Floatcloud, would have his soul devoured and shattered due to his oath to the Dao of the Heavens.

  “This is my final chance.”

  “Ji Ning. Either you die, or I die.” Immortal Floatcloud walked on the levitating pathway, moving straight through the main door towards that three thousand meter tall building.

  There were two Wanxiang Adepts standing guard at the door; they were here to prevent others from disturbing the people inside.

  “Eh?” One of the guards immediately spoke out. “What are you doing here?”

  The noise-cancellation features of the Cloudwater Manor’s buildings were simply too good; there was no way for the people inside to hear the noises coming from outside. Ning and the others continued to eat, drink, chat, and laugh. They weren’t on guard at all.

  “I came to meet young master Kindwater,” Immortal Floatcloud said. As his words rang out, the two Wanxiang guards suddenly felt their souls grow dazed.

  And in that instant that their souls were stunned!

  Immortal Floatcloud, with a single step, appeared before the door, then pushed it open and charged in.

  Bang! The door immediately swung open.

  “Haha, Fairy Wavecolor, I don’t want to criticize you, but your weakness is way too obvious. If your divine will technique is useless, then you are guaranteed to lose.” Xiao Lang, who had just won, was incomparably smug right now. “And Ji Ning. Hey, Ji Ning, you’ve only trained for thirty years; I recommend that you don’t go embarrass yourself in the Conclave of Immortal destiny. Train for another three cent
uries.”

  “Enough,” Xiaolou spoke out.

  And just as Xiaolou spoke out… the door suddenly opened.

  “Eh?” Xiaolou, Songspear, Ning, and the others all turned their heads to look. Because the building in which they were having their banquet was three thousand meters high, the servants who brought in food and wine, as well as the dancers and musicians, would all come in through another corridor. And when they did, they would all be completely silent. Very few would just push the main door open.

  Swoosh.

  Immortal Floatcloud, after pushing the door open, took a single step and appeared directly in front of Ning. At the same time, a white bone needle suddenly appeared in his hand, and he sent it flying forward, straight towards Ning!

  The surrounding world instantly froze! A powerful, deathly aura emanated outwards as the white bone needle, carrying an infinitely terrifying aura, pierced straight towards Ning.

  “Whitebone Immortal Slayer Needle!” Xiaolou, Songspear, Ning, Fairy Wavecolor, and the smug Xiao Lang all had the looks on their faces completely changed.

  In this instant… all of them felt cold fear. They all knew how terrifying the Whitebone Immortal Slayer Needles were… and they all watched as one of them flew straight towards Ji Ning!

  “It must be a Deathsworn the Youngflame clan has sent over… and it is a Loose Immortal Deathsworn at that. Only an Earth Immortal or Loose Immortal can activate this Whitebone Immortal Slayer Needle.” Xiaolou immediately shattered a Dao-seal, and a stream of jade water immediately began to glow as it flowed over his body. “With the emergence of this needle… even though Ji Ning is a Fiendgod Body Refiner, even his soul will probably be destroyed, to say nothing of his Fiendgod body.”

  “He’s dead. He’s dead for certain. That’s a Whitebone Immortal Slayer Needle; it’s a killing technique against even many Loose Immortals. Many Loose Immortals would perish to it; only a few, extremely powerful Loose Immortals would be able to block it, but they would still be injured. Ji Ning is absolutely dead.” Xiao Lang was actually delighting in Ning’s misfortune; he, too, could guess that this was a Deathsworn from the Youngflame clan.

  In this instant, Xiaolou, Songspear, Fairy Wavecolor, and Xiao Lang were all certain that Ning was most likely going to die.

  As for the Golden Imperials which Ning had brought with him, they were shocked as well. “Protect the young master!” The problem was, it would take the fifty Golden Imperials a little bit of time to assemble into a Dao-soldier formation, then hurry over to save Ning. But… how fast was the Whitebone Immortal Slaying Needle flying? There was no time for them at all.

  No one could save Ning. Everything relied on Ning himself!

  “The Youngflame clan.” Ning instantly understood, and he immediately unleashed his divine ability.

  Ning’s body instantly exploded forth with divine power, becoming incomparably tall and muscular. Lightning began to crackle on his body as he seemed to transform into an enormous vajra. At the same time, four more arms grew out from his body, and two more heads emerged from his shoulders.

  [Three Heads, Six Arms]!

  Ning’s six arms wielded the three Darknorth swords and three Heaven-ranked flying swords. These three were all top-grade magic treasures left behind by Immortal Juhua which he personally used for battle.

  “Waterflame Lotus!” Thanks to the treasures which Youngflame Nong had left behind, Ning’s earthfire and dire-ice had both reached the second grade already.

  An enormous Waterflame Lotus appeared, swiveling around this three-headed, six-armed Fiendgod.

  “[Starseizing Hand]!”

  Ning’s six arms exploded with awe-inspiring power!

  “Grand Dao Domain!”

  The three-headed, six-armed Ji Ning, wielding six enormous Immortal swords, crackled with electricity. His aura filled the heavens, and a Waterflame Lotus swiveled around him. At the same time, the entirety of the building became instantly transformed into a world of sword-ki. The limitless field of sword-ki instantly filled the entire building, and sword-ki was stabbing everywhere. The six enormous swords in Ning’s hands began to glow with an incomparably dazzling golden metallic light, a light that was so strong that it was all but in material form.

  “Block.” The three-headed, six-armed Ning used all six swords to simultaneously block towards the Whitebone Immortal Slaying Needle!

  * * *

  Book 11, Chapter 28 - Bloodcoil Heavenlock Formation

  Although this was slow to describe, in reality it happened in an instant!

  Faced with the lightning-fast Whitebone Immortal Slaying Needle, Ji Ning didn’t even have time to make his Primaltwin emerge to block. After all, although he could indeed make his Primaltwin emerge from the underwater estate extremely quickly, it would still need to unleash the hundreds of Heaven-ranked flying swords and execute the [Lesser Thousand Swords Formation]. All these things took time! The Whitebone Immortal Slaying Needle, however, gave Ning no such time at all.

  Ning only had enough time to immediately activate his divine abilities, then block!

  BOOM!

  Although the Waterflame Lotus surrounding Ning was incomparably resilient, it was still instantly penetrated through!

  The three-headed, six-armed Ji Ning held his Immortal swords in his hands, unleashing his most powerful attacks to block the Whitebone Immortal Slaying Needle.

  CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

  Six consecutive and incomparably ferocious collisions. Of the six swords, three were Darknorth swords and thus possessed tremendous power. As for the other three Heaven-ranked swords, although Ning’s true body couldn’t fill them with his elemental ki, as Heaven-ranked artifacts, they were still quite tough and strong.

  If Ning had used Earth-ranked flying swords, the Whitebone Immortal Slaying Needles probably would’ve pierced straight through them. These three Heaven-ranked flying swords Immortal Juhua had left behind wouldn’t shatter, at least! They would at least allow Ning to unleash the full power of his [Starseizing Hand]!

  Each collision was like an enormous mountain range smashing towards Ning. Six consecutive collisions! Fortunately, Ning’s palms had been strengthened by the [Six Cycles of the Starseizer] to be even more powerful than Heaven-ranked magic treasures. That’s the only reason why he was able to hold the hilts of the swords securely.

  BOOM!

  As the six sword-wielding arms all executed the [Starseizing Hand] and strove to block the Whitebone Immortal Slaying Needle, Ning himself was knocked flying back by the terrifying collisive force. He shot out backwards like a meteor.

  “Block, block, BLOCK!” Ning strove his utmost to block for as long as he could.

  Although Ning had already trained to the eleventh stage of the [Crimsonbright Diagram of the Nine Heavens] as a Fiendgod Body Refiner and was nominally only at the peak Wanxiang Adept level, because Ning had acquired the peacock plumes and trained to the second Cycle of the [Six Cycles of the Starseizer], his [Starseizing Hand] technique was now capable of exploding with incomparably terrifying force. This caused Ning’s power to instantly surpass the Primal stage and charge all the way into the Void-level Earth Immortal stage!

  With the additional support of his current Grand Dao Domain, his nearly perfect Dao of Rainwater, and the fact that Sword Immortals were extremely skilled in attacks…

  BANG!!!! Ning’s towering Fiendgod body struck heavily against a wooden pillar. This wooden pillar, however, was covered by the restrictive spells which stretched across the entire Cloudwater Manor. It was extremely stable, and it wasn’t damaged in the slightest.

  “Ugh.” Ning spat out a mouthful of fresh blood. His physical body actually was already covered with all sorts of scars and wounds by now, and blood was oozing out from them. The collisive forces had been far, far too powerful. Although Ning had executed [Heavenly Transformations] and [Pentabolt Vajra] to stabilize and bolster his divine body, his body was still vastly inferior to his two hands. The force of th
e collisions caused his flesh to split open into countless wounds.

  “I didn’t die.” Ning was startled.

  He had gone all out to block the Whitebone Immortal Slaying Needle, and as he had continued to block, the power of the needle had continuously been whittled away. In the end, as it smashed down against the final sword, it had caused the sword to slash across Ning’s chest. The force of that final collision had nearly caused Ning’s body to implode… but in the end, although countless tears and rips appeared on his body, he didn’t truly perish.

  “I blocked it.” Ning mentally began to celebrate wildly. “Fortunately, I trained in the second Cycle of the [Six Cycles of the Starseizer]. And fortunately, during this past year, I’ve begun to train in the [Three Heads, Six Arms] ability. This allowed all six of my arms to execute the [Starseizing Hand]!”

  Crimsonbright divine energy began to flow over the countless wounds covering his body, and the divine energy quickly began to cause the wounds to heal and close. Ning’s six arms continued to each grasp an Immortal sword. The sword-light unique to Sword Immortals filled the skies. Sword-ki filled the entire area with their awe-inspiring might.

  “He didn’t die?”

  As Ning was knocked flying backwards, Immortal Floatcloud had charged forward as well. Although he was amazed by the fact that Ning had managed to block it, he didn’t pause or hesitate at all! This was because he had sworn an oath to the Dao of the Heavens for this assassination. If Ning didn’t die, then his soul would be shattered. Thus, his reaction came quite quickly.

  Whoosh! As he charged straight towards Ning, Immortal Floatcloud waved his arm. Instantly, a golden heart appeared in midair. The golden heart immediately began to manifest thousands of veins and arteries, forming an enormous net that completely covered the empty central region they were in. This enormous net formed from countless blood vessels glowed with a bloody light, and an aura of power emanated from it.