Desolate Era

by RWX

  “Something like this can only be used once. Next time, they’ll know and be prepared for Venomsong’s power,” Gatemaster Azurefox sent back. “However…once is enough. We’ve already caused them to suffer a tremendous loss.”

  How many Celestial Immortals and Loose Immortals did each side possess?

  Both the Heaven Punishers and the White-Faced Flood Dragons…the ‘death’ of a single one represented an utterly staggering amount of casualties.

  Generally speaking, battles amongst Immortals could last for extremely long periods of time. This first clash, however, had already resulted in such major losses for the enemy; it could be considered a tremendous victory. And so, the Empyrean Gods and True Immortals on the walls of the Seamless City all had smiles on their faces.

  “Mm.” True Immortal Whitepole had a smile on his face as well…but suddenly, his face changed.

  The faces of the Hallmaster, the Gatemaster, the Cavemaster, and the others all changed as well.

  “Not good!”

  One of the few Celestial Immortals alongside the True Immortals, Immortal Venomfreak, stared unblinkingly at the distant battle scene.

  ……

  On the field of battle, no one could predict exactly how things would turn out.

  This was because sometimes, new variables would appear so suddenly that neither side would be able to react in time. For example, just now the Loachwater Heaven Punisher was suddenly defeated and its body was torn apart, resulting in the entire Immortal army being defeated and in countless casualties. This was simply too sudden, as was the Xia Emperor’s decision to suddenly send out two Empyrean Gods to slow down the enemy!

  In truth, in terms of raw strength, both Empyrean Gods were slightly weaker than the Heaven Punishers and the White-Faced Flood Dragons. The Heaven Punishers and the White-Faced Flood Dragons were formed from an enormous amount of natural energy, after all, and so possessed enormous amounts of strength; they could be considered as having reached the very apex of power possible for Empyrean Gods.

  However, their fatal flaw was that once their defenses were breached, they would be finished.

  By contrast, Empyrean Gods could rapidly heal from even the most devastating of wounds. This was because their physical bodies were the bodies of Fiendgods! In addition, they were also comparatively more nimble. When two joined forces and used magic treasures and magic spells to support each other, they would still be able to fight evenly.

  ……

  As the strongest White-Faced Flood Dragon battled against the Loachwater Heaven Punisher, Ning and the other seven Heaven Punishers were assaulting the other three Terrorbeasts. Of the eight towering Heaven Punishers, it was obvious that the one Ning led was the strongest one. He was able to unleash more power from the Heaven Punisher Formations than the others, and so his speed was naturally the fastest as well. His Heaven Punisher ran forward with great galloping steps, and was the first to reach the White-Faced Flood Dragon, not giving it a chance to join forces with the other two.

  “Stop him!”

  “Hold on!”

  The other two White-Faced Flood Dragons shouted out furiously in the human tongue.

  Multiple towering figures suddenly appeared out of nowhere. They were all black aberrations that were thirty thousand meters tall, but their auras were clearly weaker than the auras of the White-Faced Flood Dragons. These nine Fiendgods appeared out of nowhere next to the other two White-Faced Flood Dragons, because they had previously been hiding within the minor world magic treasure which was being carried by the White-Faced Flood Dragon which the Unity Heaven Punisher had been battling.

  “Die!” Ning’s Darknorth Heaven Punisher noticed the nine figures appear, but he still moved with lightning speed as he bounded through the wild landscape. With a flying pounce, he struck out with his right arm, which had taken the form of a sharp longsword, and stabbed towards the head of the White-Faced Flood Dragon in front of him.

  The White-Faced Flood Dragon hurriedly retreated while waving its claws to block.

  Clang!

  It managed to block the sword-attack, but it stumbled several steps backwards upon doing soon. Ning’s Heaven Punisher, however, continued to fly forwards, taking a second leap and once more arriving next to his opponent.

  Clang! Clang! The initial clash between Ning’s Heaven Punisher and the enemy caused the enemy to feel shock, because Ning’s attack power was clearly lower. This made no sense at all…the earlier sword-strike from Ning had been incredibly powerful! In addition, they all knew that of the nine Heaven Punishers, the one controlled by Sword Immortal Darknorth, Ji Ning, was the most powerful one.

  “Fly.” As Ning’s hands collided with the opponent…his right knee suddenly came flying upwards!

  There were differences between the Heaven Punishers and actual Empyrean Gods. The Heaven Punishers were stronger, but if commanders were unable to control the full power of the Heaven Punishers, they would be unable to unleash its full might, to say nothing of wielding every part of its body perfectly. The arms of the Heaven Punisher were significantly weaker than its legs. Ning had been pondering on his Heaven Punisher, and he had slowly gained insights on the best ways to use it.

  It was very risky to incorporate the legs into his attack patterns; if he was to lose his balance, it would be easy for the opponents to break through his defenses and finish him.

  However, the power of his earlier sword-strike was clearly superior to the power of his foe; this meant he could take the risk! Risk-taking could result in major rewards, as the power of his mighty legs was definitely enough to break apart his foe.

  BOOM!

  Ning’s powerful Heaven Punisher sent its right knee flying upwards, smashing viciously against the face of the White-Faced Flood Dragon!

  CRUNCH!

  One could hear the sound of ‘bones’ shattering. The pale, humanoid face of the White-Faced Flood Dragon instantly twisted into unrecognizable shape as it stumbled and fell backwards.

  A longsword suddenly appeared in each of Ning’s Heaven Punisher’s hands. The two longswords were actually just long, sharp spikes; they had a sharp tips, but no blades!

  Ning wielded a longsword in each of his two hands. After his earlier knee-strike, he delivered a pair of blows with the swords towards the head of the fallen White-Faced Flood Dragon!

  As the White-Faced Flood Dragon fell, it knew that things were looking dire and so it hurriedly brandished its claws, seeking to block…but it was only able to block one of the longswords.

  As for the other longsword…

  PIERCE!

  The sharp tip of the longsword carried the full, unfathomable power of the Heaven Punisher, and it forcibly punched its way through the twisted, mangled neck of the White-Faced Flood Dragon.

  And as it penetrated in…it began to grind away at the innards of the White-Faced Flood Dragon’s body!

  “AHH!”

  “NO!!!!”

  An enormous amount of baleful energy began to flood towards Ning. Clearly, many Celestial Immortals and Loose Immortals had just died, resulting in the creation of so much baleful energy. As Ning was the commander of the entire formation, the baleful energy naturally ignored everyone else and swirled straight towards Ning, being absorbed by the three Darknorth swords that were located within the Jindan region inside Ning’s body.

  The entire White-Faced Flood Dragon instantly collapsed, revealing the countless Celestial Immortals and Loose Immortals inside of it! These Loose Immortals and Celestial Immortals all fled in panic, trying to use any idea they could come up with to escape, hide, or flee.

  Ning’s Heaven Punisher, however, swung both hands towards them in a savage blow. His hands were like massive stormclouds, covering the entire area where the countless ant-like Immortals were.

  BANG! BANG! The cloud-like palms descended, causing countless Immortals to perish!

  An even greater flood of baleful energy poured into Ning’s Jindan region, and his three Darknorth sword
s greedily drank in all of it.

  * * *

  Book 18, Chapter 13 - Armies Retreat

  Ji Ning didn’t hesitate to slaughter these Immortals at all. He showed no mercy whatsoever, because showing mercy to his foes was the same as being cruel to those he needed to protect.

  Bang! Bang!

  The enormous, stormcloud-like palms continued to slam down towards the frantically scurrying Immortals, causing them utter terror and agony. Some of them even began to curse in rage, but they were nothing more than the lowest of ants that would take part in this storm. In truth, in the face of this storm, the Loose Immortals would have even more miserable outcomes than normal mortals would.

  “Stop!”

  “Halt!”

  The two closest White-Faced Flood Dragons and the nine black aberrations came charging towards Ning.

  Ning immediately recognized the black aberrations. “Empyrean God golems?”

  These newcomers had auras that were slightly weaker than the auras of the massive formation-created Fiendgods; they were Empyrean God golems. The reason why Ning was able to recognize them right away was because when the forces of the Seamless Gate had attempted to assassinate him at Brightheart Island, Old Man Yuan had killed them and given Ning their treasures…and one of the treasures Ning acquired was an Empyrean God golem! It was identical to these nine new Empyrean God golems; black-colored, savage-looking, and horned.

  “Darknorth, well done!”

  “Excellent.”

  “Well-struck!”

  “Hahaha…kill them all!”

  The other seven Heaven Punishers excitedly moved to join forces with Ning. They couldn’t be blamed for their excitement; the Seamless Gate had just slain the Loachwater Heaven Punisher, while Ning then immediately killed a White-Faced Flood Dragon afterwards. Just now, the other Heaven Punishers had been enraged by the destruction of the Loachwater Heaven Punisher. Upon seeing Ning wipe out an enemy Terrorbeast in bloody fashion, how could they not grow excited?

  “Haha, the other nine black Fiendgods are all Empyrean God golems,” Ning sent mentally. “They should all be weaker than the White-Faced Flood Dragons.”

  Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

  The three closest Empyrean God golems pounced towards Ning.

  Ning willed it, pulling all the treasures left behind by the countless slain Immortals into hisi storage treasure. Of course, quite a few Immortals managed to escape. Given that Immortals fled at high speed, that they were fleeing in every direction, and that some had even hidden themselves within their Immortal estates, there was no way Ning could wipe them all out. Similarly, when the Loachwater Heaven Punisher had been destroyed, quite a few Immortals had managed to survive as well. But of course, those who survived were the fortunate ones; in a battle at this level, surviving after the formation collapsed was purely a matter of luck!

  “Hmph.” Ning’s Heaven Punisher took a single side-step, then launched a fierce claw attack towards an attacking Empyrean God golem.

  Ning’s normal combat style involved the usage of the [Starseizing Hand], and so he was very experienced in bare-handed combat.

  Fists? Claws? Palms? Sword-fingers? His two hands could use all these techniques!

  The Empyrean God golem hurriedly raised its arms to block.

  BOOM! When contact was made, Ning’s claw-hand attack changed into a fist-strike, and his fist became covered with a series of sharp, protruding spikes. These spikes were formed from the top-grade Pure Yang treasure, the Splitters. The punch landed heavily against the twin arms of the Empyrean God golem, and although the arms managed to block and withstand the strike, the golem itself was still knocked flying backwards. It flew a tremendous distance, then landed deep into the waters of the great lake. It rolled several times before being able to rise to its feet and once more charge forward, but by this time Ning had already engaged in combat with the other two Empyrean God golems.

  Ning’s strikes all focused on using overbearing amounts of power!

  As for the three Empyrean God golems, they were much as Ning had protected; due to being created from precious materials, they were incredibly tough defensively, but their attacks were clearly on a lower level. However, because the three golems were attacking Ning in unison, Ning didn’t have enough time to fight them and defeat them one-on-one.

  “Kill!”

  “These Empyrean God golems aren’t that tough.”

  “Significantly weaker than the White-Faced Flood Dragons.”

  The other Heaven Punishers began to exchange blows with the Empyrean God golems and the White-Faced Flood Dragons.

  Battle continued unabated.

  To completely tie down Ji Ning required the usage of three Empyrean God golems, but only two were needed to tie down the other Heaven Punishers. The nine Empyrean God golems and the two White-Faced Flood Dragons had joined forces, supporting each other in defending against Ning and the rest of the eight Heaven Punishers. Although they were at a disadvantage, the Seamless Gate’s forces were able to hold.

  The Empyrean God golems were incredibly resilient, after all; their bodies were comparable to Pure Yang treasures! But of course, they had their weaknesses as well; once they were captured or bound, they were finished.

  ……

  Empyrean God Venomsong’s White-Faced Flood Dragon battled furiously for a time against the two Empyrean Gods of the Grand Xia, but was unable to kill them. Upon seeing the two White-Faced Flood Dragons and the nine Empyrean God golems suffer assaults from the eight Heaven Punishers, he immediately let out a furious roar and began to charge towards them. Although the two Empyrean Gods of the Grand Xia did their best to bar the path, they were unable to stop this mighty White-Faced Flood Dragon.

  “This White-Faced Flood Dragon is too powerful,” Empyrean God Firecloud sent mentally.

  “My guess is that it has to be an Empyrean God or a True Immortal commanding it,” the female Empyrean God sent back. “Let’s use our spells to assist Ji Ning and the rest of the eight.”

  “Right. Right now, it’s best if we use spells,” Empyrean God Firecloud agreed.

  The female Empyrean God and Empyrean God Firecloud charged forwards while casting their spells.

  Both of them were using binding-type spells! A roaring black river of water and a flood of golden magma began to furiously swirl about and entangle the three enemy White-Faced Flood Dragons and the nine enemy Empyrean God golems.

  “Damn.” The Venomsong Terrorbeast was enraged.

  “The binding power is nauseating.”

  “I’m moving even slower now.”

  The other two White-Faced Flood Dragons felt the effects even more strongly. Before this, they had an advantage over the Heaven Punishers in terms of speed, but now they were at a disadvantage. Even their attack power had dropped significantly.

  As for the nine Empyrean God golems, they were impacted even more heavily. They were weaker to begin with, and now that they were being slowed down by the spells, their power dropped dramatically. Fortunately, the two Empyrean Gods of the Grand Xia had cast wide area-of-effect spells that weren’t focused on them, which was why they were able to continue battling against the Heaven Punishers.

  “Damn.”

  The Venomsong Terrorbeast was impacted the least, and he charged forward in berserk fashion.

  Ning and the other seven Heaven Punishers instantly felt great danger impending.

  “Whacko, Allbeasts, Dustfloat, let’s go deal with it,” Celestial Immortal Unity sent. The four of them were facing the Venomsong Terrorbeast, and were the closest ones to him; thus, it was up to the four of them to receive his attacks.

  BOOM! Celestial Immortal Unity was sent flying backwards from the initial collision, but the other three Heaven Punishers immediately moved to block the Venomsong Terrorbeast, giving him no chance to press the assault.

  For a time, four Heaven Punishers launched wild joint attacks against the Venomsong Terrorbeast. They rained down their blows in sequence, su
pporting each other and managing to withstand the terrifying White-Faced Flood Dragon!

  As for Ning and the remaining Heaven Punishers, they continued to wildly battle the nine Empyrean God golems and the other two White-Faced Flood Dragons. Ning alone was suffering assaults from six separate Empyrean God golems.

  ……

  Atop the distant walls of the black citadel, the Seamless City. True Immortal Whitepole, Gatemaster Azurefox, and the others were watching from afar.

  “I told them long ago to be wary of the one named Ji Ning.” Gatemaster Azurefox had a frown on her face, as well as a hint of anger on it.

  “You can’t blame them.” The Hallmaster of the Bloodcloud Hall shook his head. “Things change too quickly on the field of battle. Once you give your enemy an opening, you won’t even have a chance to flee. In addition…that Ji Ning took on a tremendous risk. He actually dared to use jump up and use a knee-strike? True Fiendgods rarely use techniques like that.”

  True Immortal Whitepole said coldly, “To do what others dare not do; that’s what made him formidable. For true Fiendgods, their full power is merged together with each strike, and so it is enough to use the arms to attack. The formation commanders of the Heaven Punishers and the White-Faced Flood Dragons are only able to control part of their strength, to say nothing of merging it all together in each blow. The legs of the Heaven Punishers are far more powerful than their arms. If Ji Ning hadn’t used such a risky attack, our side would’ve been able to hold on and the nine Empyrean God golems would’ve been able to make it there in time. But Ji Ning’s risky maneuver…he broke through the defenses of the White-Faced Flood Dragon with a knee, then slaughtered it.”

  The others present all needed.

  “This Ji Ning truly has become a dangerous variable,” Gatemaster Azurefox said.