by RWX
The most powerful Empyrean God in the entire history of the Three Realms was Houyi!
Perhaps there were some other monstrously talented Empyrean Gods who were able to give Daofathers a fight and live to tell the tale, but when Houyi was an Empyrean God…he had actually KILLED a Daofather! Of course, Houyi eventually broke through to become a True God himself, at which point his reputation and his power grew to an even more incredible level. He was publicly acknowledged as the number one divine archer of the Three Realms, and he came up with the systemized heartforce archery technique known as [Houyi’s Archery].
This was the one and only heartforce technique that was completely systemized, allowing anyone to train in it. The techniques which Ning had come up with, for example, were only suitable for himself to train in; there was no way he could teach it to someone else, no matter how hard he tried. Old Man Yuan, in turn, had simply provided Ning with the sum of his own personal experiences, allowing Ning to benefit from them in coming up with his own ideas.
Alas, this great divinity Houyi, who had caused the entire Three Realms to quiver in terror during the Primordial Era, had completely vanished.
“Crimsonbright?” Daofather Ink Bamboo stared into the distance.
Daofather Crimsonbright stood there atop the distant walls of the Eight Dragons Cloudcity, staring towards the Seamless City.
These two Daofathers stared at each other from afar. As their gazes met, it was as though a streak of black light had suddenly clashed against a streak of azure light, causing space itself to tremble.
“Crimsonbright, long time no see!” Daofather Ink Bamboo said.
“Indeed, long time no see. Only…it would be better if you died and I never saw you again,” Daofather Crimsonbright said coldly.
Everyone on their side, be it Subhuti or Crimsonbright, felt nothing more than the utmost of enmity towards the Seamless Gate.
This sort of enmity had existed from the eareliest of days.
This was why Subhuti, Crimsonbright, and the others were so utterly enraged that Old Man Yuan was just watching without choosing a side. As Subhuti and the others saw it, he shouldn’t have even hesitated to stand with the Nuwa Alliance.
“Me? Die? Haha…I, Ink Bamboo, specialize in staying alive. During those bygone years, when I followed his Majesty, we nearly wiped you out.” Daofather Ink Bamboo sighed. “Alas…in the end, Nuwa actually broke through to Pangu’s level. Otherwise, you would’ve been doomed. Now, the storm has risen once again…and this time, you won’t be able to escape it. You True Gods, you Daofathers…all of you will die. None of you will survive!”
“Quite arrogant of you. Back then, the Primordial World was shattered, Mother Nuwa made her breakthrough, the Lord of All Things was slain, and even your ‘king’ was forced to merge himself into the Heavenly Daos and transform himself into part of them to survive. Even if he’s awakened…so what? He’s still merely a part of the Heavenly Daos, restricted and bound by them at all times, unable to be truly free.” Daofather Crimsonbright laughed coldly, “He’s no longer the king he once was.”
“His Majesty remains his Majesty.” Daofather Ink Bamboo smirked. “Now that the storm his arisen, I trust that you can subconsciously sense the way in which the river of destiny is flowing…and that you understand that there is no way to avoid this storm. His Majesty will move in concert with the Dao of the Heavens in aiding our Seamless Gate in wiping you all out.”
“Wiping us out is the will of the Dao of the Heavens?” Daofather Crimsonbright laughed coldly. “What a joke. If the Dao of the Heavens wished for us to perish, then why engage in a battle for karmic luck?”
Daofather Ink Bamboo was startled. He then shook his head, no longer saying anything.
In his heart, Daofather Crimsonbright felt regret…
The Seamless Gate was still able to maintain some degree of contact with their ancient king, and so they knew many secrets. Daofather Crimsonbright wished to suss out some of their secrets, but alas, the Seamless Gate was very cautious, only revealing information which the Nuwa Alliance already knew.
One thing was for certain; the Nuwa Alliance was going to fight for every scrap of karmic luck they could! Afterwards, they would wipe out the Seamless Gate in the Endwar.
The ancient, slumbering king of the Seamless Gate was very terrifying, but in the end he was now nothing more than a part of the Dao of the Heavens. All things within the Three Realms were ruled by the Dao of the Heavens; one couldn’t simply do whatever one wished! This was the reason why the Nuwa Alliance felt absolutely certain that it would win. If that old bastard could do as he pleased, the Nuwa Alliance would’ve lost long ago; Mother Nuwa herself had left the Three Realms, after all, having gone exploring the infinite primordial chaos around it. With her gone, no one was strong enough to face that presence head-on.
“Fight for more karmic luck.”
“Win this war for karmic luck, no matter what the cost. The more karmic luck we have, the more the Dao of the Heavens will support us. That old bastard is being restricted by the Dao of the Heavens, and so the amount of aid he can provide the Seamless Gate will be lessened as well.”
Daofather Crimsonbright swept the vast enemy army with his gaze. These countless Immortals and Fiendgods were all here for the sake of karmic luck. Only by winning this war could the countless geniuses of the world, such as Ji Ning, be able to survive this great storm…because they had chosen to stand with the Nuwa Alliance.
If they lost their karmic luck, and if even the Dao of the Heavens stood on the side of the Seamless Gate…it was likely that they would lose the final Endwar, at which point Ji Ning and the countless Immortals and Fiendgods would all be wiped out and exterminated.
“Attack!” Daofather Crimsonbright’s voice rang out by the ears of Ji Ning and every single commander. Ning and the others all felt their blood begin to surge and boil. Their eyes instantly turned red with battle-lust.
“Attack!”
Instantly, the awe-inspiring armies began to charge forward. More than three hundred Heaven Punishers bound forward on bare feet, charging towards their foes.
As for the great armies of the Seamless Gate, they too let out an earth-shaking howl: “Kill!” They too charged forward.
Fiendgods…Terrorbeasts…awe-inspiringly large armies…the world was filled with them. It was like two giant floods of power had jsust crashed into each other.
* * *
Book 18, Chapter 33 - Death Is But A Statistic
The bare feet of Ji Ning’s Heaven Punisher pounded against the ground as it charged forward. Ning lead the charge, the other Heaven Punishers by his side. More than three hundred of them were charging forward against the forces of the Seamless Gate, including many Empyrean God golems, White-Faced Flood Dragons, Zhuyan Apes, and other types of Terrorbeasts and Fiendgods.
BOOM!
The two armies collided against each other.
“Kill!”
Despite charging forward, Ning’s Heaven Punisher continued to move at the speed the other Heaven Punishers were moving at. Although there were twelve Empyrean God or True Immortal commanders amongst the 326 Heaven Punishers, neither they nor Ning moved beyond the pack. Once the two armies collided, however, Ning and the twelve all exploded with full power, their speed and their strength increasing dramatically!
“That one is Ji Ning’s Heaven Punisher.”
“Careful.”
The forces of the Seamless Gate were naturally able to recognize Ning, but there was no way for them to avoid him on this vast field of battle; the only choice was to take him on! A Zhuyan Ape, completely covered with white fur and with red feet, bellowed and charged forward with a similarly ferocious aura of power, pushing past the other Terrorbeasts and becoming the first to bar Ning’s path.
“If he dares to block me, he must have at least a bit of power behind him. This is most likely a Zhuyan Formation commanded by an Empyrean God or a True Immortal. This is the first clash in the Realmwar, wit
h both sides striking each other head-on; such a chaotic battle is the perfect chance to render military merits!” A savage light flashed through Ning’s eyes, and the top-grade Pure Yang ‘Splitter’ in his hands instantly transformed into an utterly massive shield.
The headless Heaven Punisher held the shield in its two mighty arms and continued to smash forward!
The burly Zhuyan Ape was shocked. “How sly of Ji Ning! I am a Pure Yang True Immortal with many marvelous spells; in skill and technique, I’m naturally vastly superior to him. Although I’ve heard that Ji Ning’s Heaven Punisher is very powerful, if he was to use sword-arts, I trust I could tie him down for at least a short period of time. If I can do that, the other members of the Seamless Gate will have arrived to assist me. But he instead chooses to ram forward with a shield; my only option is to take him head-on.”
“Still…even if we are competing in raw strength, I’m in command of 1800 Celestial Immortals and many Loose Immortals. I don’t believe I can’t beat him!”
Zhuyan Apes were incomparably savage and strong as well.
“ROAAAR!” The Zhuyan picked up a shield and also charged straight forward towards Ning.
The two great figures, each holding a giant shield, rammed straight towards each other, their footsteps causing the earth to tremble.
BOOM!!! The two shields collided.
“What?! How can he be so strong? He’s even stronger than Azurefox and Whitefox claimed him to be!” The Zhuyan Ape felt a terrifying, irresistible surge of energy push straight towards him. He was knocked flying away, completely unable to control himself.
The spectators, however, only saw that as soon as Ning and the Zhuyan Ape collided, the Zhuyan was immediately knocked backwards, causing the other Zhuyan Apes behind it to hurriedly clear a path to avoid being hit.
During the year-long ceasefire, Ning had improved greatly in his soul heartforce technique. In this exchange, however, Ning still concealed his true power and true level of improvement. The simple fact that he now had three times as many Celestial Immortals and Loose Immortals resulted in his Heaven Punisher instantly and automatically becoming much more powerful.
“This isn’t the time for me to unleash my full power yet. I need to find a turning point, a turning point capable of influencing the entire war.” Massive shield in hands, Ning immediately threw himself towards a second Zhuyan Ape after having knocked the first one flying.
“Get over here, quick!”
“Stop him!”
The second Zhuyan Ape was panicking. In truth, a Pure Yang True Immortal was already flying towards them, preparing to cast a spell. A dazzling golden light suddenly appeared in the skies, shining down upon Ning’s Heaven Punisher. This sort of constrictive spell, however, was almost negligible to something as powerful as Ning’s Heaven Punisher. Most likely, only ten Pure Yang True Immortals casting the same type of spell simultaneously would be enough to tie Ning down.
“Let’s fight together!” Five more nearby Zhuyan Apes charged forward in unison.
However…despite being slowed down slightly by the spell, Ning was still able to bound forward far more quickly than the five were. He soon arrived next to the fleeing Zhuyan Ape.
Although the terrified Zhuyan Ape wanted to block, the difference in power between him and Ning was far, far too great.
Ning’s Heaven Punisher leapt forward, his right hand chopping downwards as sword-light flashed.
Swish!
A simian head went flying, and the white-furred Zhuyan Ape completely disintegrated, revealing the utterly terrified Immortals that had been inside of it.
BOOM! A palm-leaf fan appeared within Ning’s hands. Ning swung it towards the many fleeing Immortals, some of whom were using evasive techniques while others were hiding within Immortal estates. BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! Countless Immortal estates were instantly disintegrated, with only a very small number of extremely powerful Immortal estates being able to safely withstand the power of Ning’s palm-leaf fan.
Alas, the Yin-Yang Arcane Ki Bottle appeared before Ning as well. The bottle began to ravenously devour all of the surving estates, swallowing all of them and the Immortals inside them.
In this war, they had to wipe out all living creatures on the enemy’s side!
If he merely destroyed the Zhuyan Ape and allowed the majority of the Immortals to escape, they would quickly be used to form yet another army.
“Let’s attack!”
“Damn him!”
There were now a total of eight Zhuyan Apes surrounding Ning, as well as two Pure Yang True Immortals.
In truth, in a battle like this, both sides would quickly end up in a deadlocked quagmire. Only at the very beginning would there be a tiny chance to achieve a quick victory, and Ning used that chance to completely destroy that Zhuyan Ape! Only a few dozen Celestial Immortals with exceptionally astonishing evasive techniques had been able to escape.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Ning, all by himself, wildly assaulted those eight Zhuyan Apes. Even after having joined forces together, the eight were still being utterly dominated and outclassed. Fortunately, they had two Pure Yang True Immortals supporting them, allowing them to just barely hold on.
“Darknorth, we’re coming!”
“Nice kill, Darknorth!”
Instantly, the Heaven Punishers of Celestial Immortal Unity, Celestial Immortal Dustfloat, and a few others came charging from behind to help Ning.
“Kill!” The White-Faced Flood Dragons of the Seamless Gate were drawing near as well.
Soon…
Ning’s combat region became a fairly densely populated battlefield. Almost a tenth of the full power of each side was concentrated within this region.
“So that’s Ji Ning? The Godking seems to pay a great deal of attention to him.” The three Diremonster Gods of Mount Dragoneater were quite accustomed to battlefields. They had already transformed into their true Diremonster forms. Of the three, the eldest brother known as the ‘Great Sage Who Swallows The Mountains’ was actually a gold-feathered eagle. His wings allowed him to move as fast as a streak of lightning; in terms of speed, this ‘Great Sage Who Swallows The Mountains’ was the fastest one on this field of battle!
The second brother, the Great Sage Who Swallows The Seas, was an ugly dragon that had broken horns and a completely pitch-black body. He swam through the battlefield, his claws striking out with such power that space itself shattered apart.
The third brother, the Great Sage Who Swallows The Skies, was a nine-headed lion that was as massive and majestic as a mountain. Every step he took caused the world to shudder with a strange, inexplicable cadence. Even when the Pangu War-Formations on the side of the Crimsonbright Realm collided head-on against the nine-headed lion, they would be knocked backwards by it.
It must be understood that even True Immortal Whitepole, when going all out, was just barely strong enough to tie down a Pangu War-Formation.
Each of these three Diremonster Gods possessed overwhelming power, so mighty that it could be said that not a single Empyrean God or True Immortal of the Crimsonbright Realm could compare to them on this field of battle. In turn, none of the Empyrean Gods or True Immortals of the Seamless Gate who were taking part in this battle could compare to them either.
Their fame had long since spread throughout the Three Realms.
“Let me give that Ji Ning a test.” The gold-feathered eagle, the Great Sage Who Swallows The Mountains, let out a loud laugh, then gave his wings a flap.
Swish!
With but that one motion, he threw himself straight towards Ning like a streak of light, moving at an utterly astonishing speed.
“Follow him!”
“Don’t let him run off!”
There were a total of six Empyrean Gods/True Immortals on a ship of pure light, with the Xia Emperor one of them. These six were riding on a Protocosmic spirit-treasure, the Worldspan Lightship. It was only thanks to the speed of this ship that they were able to keep up with the gold-feathered eagle. Of
the three Diremonster Gods, the eldest wasn’t actually the strongest, but he was definitely the fastest. If he was allowed to run about as he pleased on the battlefield, with no one tying him down…he would be incredibly deadly.
Thus, the responsibility of the Xia Emperor and the rest of the six was to keep an eye on him and tie him down.
“Chasing me?” The gold-feathered eagle let out a snicker, making sudden and unexpected left and right turns as he moved through the field of battle.
When moving in straight lines, the Worldspan Lightship was actually slightly faster than the gold-feathered eagle…but in terms of agility, it couldn’t compare.
“We’re coming as well.”
“Whoever kills Ji Ning will have won a great victory. His bounty is worth more than the bounty of twenty ordinary Heaven Punishers!” The other two Diremonster Gods of Mount Dragoneater all immediately charged towards Ning as well. When they attacked, certain forces of the Crimsonbright Realm were forced to give chase. Multiple Raindragons and Pangu War-Formations frantically attacked them, but the two were still able to force their way towards Ji Ning’s direction.
……
“Ji Ning.”
The gold-feathered eagle quickly reached Ning’s location, and it charged straight towards him.
Although Ning was currently battling others, he was still keeping an eye on his surroundings. His side had managed to kill some foes, but the Seamless Gate had killed some of them as well. The six Diremonster Gods of Mount Tonglian were particularly deadly; after they joined together into the ‘Six Unities Formation’, the six of them were able to support each other and sweep through their foes with power far greater than each of them could individually muster. The combined strikes of these six Diremonster Gods had slain two Heaven Punishers and destroyed a Pangu War-Formation. In the end, it had taken three full Raindragons to tie them down!
But of course, the Empyrean Gods and True Immortals on Ning’s side were similarly extraordinary, also gaining many victories.
