Desolate Era

by RWX

  “The Godking.” Sword Immortal Evergreen was shocked.

  He understood that upon seeing that this war was about to be lost, the Godking was no longer able to remain calm. The Godking was now personally giving orders.

  “Hurry up and charge towards the Crimsonbright Realm’s army. If you attack them, you’ll at least be able to buy some time for our army to retreat.” The Godking was suppressing his anger as he gave the orders. “Attack with all your power. Do everything you can. The more Immortals and Fiendgods you can tie down, the more of our forces will be able to retreat safely.”

  “Yes.” Sword Immortal Evergreen acknowledged the order.

  The enormous Daofather spider-golem turned and immediately began to leave, intending to charge towards the Crimsonbright Realm’s army.

  “You want to leave?” Ning ran forward, his tremendous power granting him incredible speed! Perhaps his Heaven Punisher was a bit weaker in terms of agility, but in terms of running speed alone he wasn’t slower than the Daofather golem at all; he was in control of 90% of the power of this perfect Heaven Punisher!

  In terms of strength, he was noticeably and significantly stronger than the Daofather golem.

  In terms of speed, he wasn’t any weaker than the Daofather golem either.

  Whoosh. Ning took eight giant steps forward, then launched a blow of sword-light towards the retreating Daofather golem.

  “What?!” Sword Immortal Evergreen was absolutely shocked.

  He hurriedly shot forward like a streak of twisted light, seeking to dodge…but the massive Heaven Punisher, clad only in a fur loincloth, took yet another great leap forward. It caught up with just a step and once more launched a sword-light assault of incredible power.

  ……

  “Ahahah, the Daofather golem has been completely tied down. It can’t even slow down our army’s assaults. Kill them, kill them all!” Daofather Crimsonbright was absolutely beside himself with joy.

  “Kill them all!” The Xia Emperor and the others finally let loose all of the repressed anger they had felt.

  The Raindragons, the massive Pangu War-Formations, and the countless Heaven Punishers…they began a wild slaughter of the enemy forces. Some of the Empyrean God golems were suppressed so thoroughly that they were even sucked away into magic treasures.

  The Seven Planets God in particular…its longspear was an absolute slaughterer!

  Slash! Slash! Slash!

  Fresh blood flew everywhere!

  Countless Immortals and Fiends perished!

  A massacre, led by the Seven Planets God. It was an absolute massacre. The Seamless Gate’s forces began to show signs of collapse.

  Nobody could stop the Seven Planets God. The only one that could, the Daofather golem…had been tied down by the inconceivably powerful perfect Heaven Punisher of Ji Ning.

  “How could this have happened? How?!” Sword Immortal Evergreen, the commander of the Daofather golem, was now completely dazed and stunned. He was supposed to become the most dazzling figure to take part in this final battle…but instead, this had turned into an unexpected nightmare.

  Right. A nightmare.

  This terrifying Heaven Punisher in front of him…it was merely a Heaven Punisher, merely a formation composed of some Celestial Immortals and Loose Immortals. How could it possibly be able to tie down his incomparably powerful Daofather golem, which had been created from incredibly precious materials?

  “How can he be so powerful? The Three Realms holds several formations like the ‘Heaven Punisher Formation’ or the ‘White-Faced Flood Dragon Formation’…why is it that the one Ji Ning is commanding is so powerful? It should’ve been…it should’ve been my chance to dominate the battlefield…my chance to massacre them…”

  Sword Immortal Evergreen was truly panicking now. He couldn’t even imagine how he was supposed to face the other members of the Seamless Gate.

  As for Ning, he remained completely focused on shutting down the Daofather golem, making it so that it was able to advance only at a very slow speed. There was no way he would be able to make it to the Crimsonbright Realm’s forces. The Crimsonbright Realm’s forces were thus able to utterly massacre their foes.

  “Ji Ning, stay your hand! Stay your hand!” The Godking’s voice rang out in Ning’s mind.

  “Godking?” Ning replied calmly, “This is war.”

  BOOM!

  Ning launched yet another sword-blow, once more forcing the Daofather spider-golem to its knees.

  “Stay your hand immediately. Otherwise…don’t blame me if I kill your Dao-companion, Yu Wei! I’ll let her truly perish!” The Godking went straight to threatening Ning.

  Ning’s eyes remained as cold as ice. “If you want to kill her, then kill her.”

  The Godking was instantly stunned.

  “She’s suffering endless torment within your Infinity Hells. If you kill her…it’ll be a form of release for her.” Ning’s reply was very calm, but it filled the Godking’s heart with utter ice.

  * * *

  Book 18, Chapter 55 - Curtain Call

  “Let us withdraw!” The Godking sent mentally to Daofather Ink Bamboo.

  “A straight withdrawal? Without the Daofather golem protecting them, their losses will be castastrophic. The majority will probably die. Weren’t you going to use Yu Wei to threaten Ji Ning? Was it useless? If he just stays his hand slightly, the Daofather golem will be able to escape and help guard our retreat,” Daofather Ink Bamboo sent back.

  If they were to begin a haphazard, unguarded retreat, there would be no one to protect them from the pursuing forces of the Crimsonbright Realm. It would be an absolute massacre! And this time, it would be even worse than last time. Last time, both forces were roughly equal in power, but the Seamless Gate still had suffered heavy losses. This time…the difference in power was significant.

  “There’s nothing I can do,” the Godking sent mentally. “Withdraw. The sooner we withdraw, the more of our forces will survive.”

  “Fine.” Daofather Ink Bamboo had an ugly look on his face.

  “WITHDRAW!” Daofather Ink Bamboo’s instantly rang out in the minds of every single commander of the Seamless Gate.

  “Withdraw.”

  “Withdraw right away.”

  This had already been an unbearably miserable battle for them. In fact, parts of the Seamless Gate’s army were already showing signs of collapse prior to this. Now…like floodwaters bursting through a dam, they began to collapse and flee.

  “It’s finished.” The three Diremonster Gods of Mount Dragoneater transformed into streaks of light, moving lightning-fast as they fled.

  For the three of them at least, fleeing and staying alive was effortless.

  “The Daofather golem isn’t even guarding our retreat.” The three of them were the fastest, and so they soon arrived within the Seamless City. They then turned to stare and sigh at the massacre occurring behind them.

  “What a slaughter.”

  “I wonder how many will survive.”

  The three Diremonster Gods could only stand there and watch from the walls of the Seamless City. They didn’t dare to re-enter the fray again at all.

  They were able to escape due to how fast they were, but if they had been encircled and surrounded by layers of soldiers, they would end up dying as well!

  “Ji Ning’s Heaven Punisher is a bit excessively powerful.” The three stared towards the distance. Ji Ning’s Heaven Punisher wasn’t weaker than Sword Immortal Evergreen’s Daofather golem at all; it was able to completely tie the golem down.

  “With Ji Ning tying down the Daofather golem, the Seven Planets God is now invincible on the battlefield.”

  “A massacre. A simple massacre.”

  The three of them shook their heads. Even figures as hard-hearted as them felt an ache in their hearts as they watched. It was a miserable scene!

  “No!”

  “Save me!”

  “Rescue me!”

  The terrified arm
y of the Seamless Gate fled frantically…but how many would actually escape? Some were killed as soon as they turned to flee. Some were surrounded and slaughtered shortly after running! As for the Empyrean God golems…given how terrible the Seamless Gate’s position was, some powerful figures joined forces to completely suppress them and seal them away into treasures.

  Flee, flee, flee!

  The Seamless Gate’s forces were completely focused on fleeing.

  “They kept on telling us how powerful that Daofather golem was, but a single Heaven Punisher was able to suppress it. They’ve doomed us all!”

  “That Sword Immortal Evergreen is a useless piece of garbage!”

  “Evergreen doomed us all.”

  “Ahhhh!”

  The slaughtered Empyrean Gods and True Immortals were filled with towering amounts of resentment. In the face of such an overwhelming disparity of power, even they were being slaughtered, with only a few managing to escape. Most were surrounded and killed! The Crimsonbright Realm’s army was actively focusing on them, after all.

  ……

  The Celestial Realm. Mount Ling, in the western regions.

  Lord Buddha sat upon his throne, gazing through the Void and watching the battle within the Grand Xia.

  “Victory.” Lord Buddha revealed a smile.

  “This Ji Ning truly is formidable…and Subhuti truly is incredible in teaching disciples.” Amitabha nodded as well. “The rate at which this Ji Ning is improving isn’t the slightest bit slower than the rate at which that monkey improved at.” [1. This monkey is clearly Sun Wukong.]

  “That monkey is different from him. The monkey was born from the five-colored rainbow stone which Mother Nuwa used to repair the heavens. It absorbed and distilled the essence of Heaven and Earth, and so after taking on Subhuti as his master, he quickly became an Empyrean God. It is hard, however, for someone’s natural disposition to be changed. We suppressed him and tempered him for many years before he slowly gained enlightenment. After going into seclusion for a long period of time, he finally managed to truly evolve and reach the True God level.” Lord Buddha nodded.

  The Primordial Era had given birth to some awe-inspiringly famous monsters, such as Erlang Shen, also known as Yang Jie, or Sun Wukong of Flower-Fruit Mountain. Although they were born in the early Primordial Era rather than when the universe was first established, they still possessed astonishing levels of talent. After experiencing the destruction of the Primordial Era, quite a few had reached the True God or Daofather level. But of course, the vast majority of those monstrous talents hadn’t been able to make a breakthrough.

  There were only so many major powers within the Three Realms, after all.

  ……

  The Celestial Realm. The Dao Palace, in the eastern regions.

  “This Ji Ning…from the looks of it, his heartforce has reached the fourth stage.” Daoist Three Purities nodded in approval.

  “Yes. If his heartforce hadn’t reached the fourth stage, there’s no way his Heaven Punisher could be this powerful.”

  “He truly is formidable.. His heartforce has reached the fourth stage, and he’s also learned a soul heartforce technique. Amongst Empyrean Gods and True Immortals, Ji Ning truly is number one when it comes to commanding formations like the Heaven Punisher Formation.”

  The major powers seated below Daoist Three Purities all nodded as well.

  Prior to this, they might’ve believed that Ji Ning had only reached the third stage of heartforce, but upon watching this battle…well, none of the major powers were fools.

  No matter how formidable a third-stage heartforce cultivator was, he wouldn’t be this formidable.

  The fourth stage, however…

  With it, Ji Ning could already be considered one of the most supreme Pure Yang True Immortals, even if he didn’t have many other Immortals supporting him in formation; he was comparable to the other supreme divine archers in strength. With the other Immortals supporting him, and with his soul heartforce technique…he definitely had the power of a Daofather or a True God!

  ……

  The primordial chaos. Outside a thatched cottage.

  Shennong and Patriarch Subhuti were also watching the battle for the Grand Xia through the Void.

  “Subhuti, you’ve produced an excellent disciple. Our side has gained yet another formidable general.” Shennong laughed while praising Subhuti.

  “A teacher can show the way, but cultivation relies on one’s self! It can only be said that I helped to guide him to his current accomplishments. But for him to reach the fourth stage of heartforce in such a short period of time…I truly did not expect this. I always thought that his talent in sword-arts was superior to his talent in heartforce,” Subhuti said. “That’s why I was actually hoping that he would spend more of his time and efforts on the sword. After all, when swordforce is trained to a sufficiently high level, it is no weaker than heartforce!”

  “All that can be said is that this disciple of yours has tremendous potential in both swordforce and heartforce,” Shennong said with a laugh.

  ……

  As the many major powers of the Nuwa Alliance were all celebrating their side having gained yet another powerful general, the Seamless Alliance’s major powers were filled with frustration and resentment.

  They had lost this Realmwar!

  In addition, the Nuwa Alliance had gained a valiant general in the form of Ji Ning. Ji Ning, all by himself, was probably an even greater threat than the three Diremonster Gods of Mount Dragoneater. Most likely, only the truly supreme Empyrean Gods and True Immortals of the Seamless Gate, the ones who were protecting the Seamless Gate’s most important worlds within the Three Realms, would be a match for him.

  Empyrean Gods or True Immortals who were absolutely superior to Ji Ning? There were none!

  But of course, there had been some in the past.

  The most powerful Empyrean God in history, Houyi…one-on-one, at the Empyrean God level, he had slain a Daofather! The current Ji Ning, even while leading a million Immortals, would find it difficult to survive a battle against an actual True God or Daofather. Thus, he was still far from having reached the level of the legendary Houyi. However, in the current Three Realms, no monster like Houyi existed.

  “They actually lost. Even with a Daofather golem, they actually lost.” The Allfiend world. Celestial Immortal Blackheaven was watching the battle for the Grand Xia be displayed within a mirror in front of him.

  “My Daofather golem…wasn’t able to defeat Ji Ning? He’s only trained for a hundred years or so.”

  Celestial Immortal Blackheaven was enraged. “Imbecile. Idiot. Garbage!” He gritted his teeth. “That Sword Immortal Evergreen…he’s a useless piece of garbage! Although he’s skilled in sword-arts, he’s only reached the second stage of swordforce. If he had reached the fourth stage of swordforce, how could he fail to kill Ji Ning? Ji Ning’s only trained for a few years, but he’s actually reached the fourth stage of heartforce.”

  “What should I do? What can I do?” Blackheaven was filled with frustration as he suddenly realized…killing Ji Ning would be far more difficult than he had anticipated.

  “No matter what, I can’t let Sword Immortal Evergreen take control over my Daofather golem again. He’s just a useless piece of garbage.” The enraged Celestial Immortal Blackheaven took out all his frustrations upon Sword Immortal Evergreen.

  …….

  The Daofather golem continued to focus on fleeing. Although Ning continuously moved to stop it, resulting in it moving a bit slower, in the end it was still able to escape into the Seamless City.

  This Daofather golem was truly unbreakable, after all; there was no way for Ning to damage it at all.

  “Victory.”

  “Victory.”

  “Victory.”

  Earth-shaking cries of victory echoed throughout the entire battlefield. Countless Immortals and Fiendgods were roaring together, and an endless flood of Immortal blood had bathed the la
nd, staining it an indelible red.

  The towering figures of the Ning’s Heaven Punisher stood alongside the Seven Planets God. Together, they stared towards the distant, dark Seamless City.

  “It’s over,” the Seven Planets God sent mentally. “The Seamless Gate’s losses were catastrophic; less than twenty percent managed to escape! This Realmwar has truly ended.

  “Yes.” Ning’s Heaven Punisher nodded.

  “Ji Ning…given your current breakthrough in power, you should be able to attempt the Empyrean Tribulation, I imagine?” The Seven Planets God sent towards Ning.

  * * *

  Book 18, Chapter 56 - Departure

  “Yes. Once the Realmwar ends, I shall prepare for my Empyrean Tribulation,” Ji Ning sent back. His original plan had been to wait until his soul heartforce technique had been perfected before attempting the tribulation, as that would give him a better chance. However, things never happen quite according to plan. His heartforce had advanced from the third level to the fourth level; this was a qualitative change.

  The stronger his heartforce, the greater his chances were of overcoming the demonheart tribulation of the Empyrean Tribulation.

  By this point…there was no point in delaying any further.

  “If my guess is correct, you haven’t merely become a Pure Yang True Immortal; you made a breakthrough in heartforce as well,” the Seven Planets God sent.

  “Yes.” Ning admitted to it.

  When he unleashed his full power and tied down a Daofather golem with just his Heaven Punisher, he knew that any of the truly experienced experts of the Three Realms would most likely be able to guess at what had happened. For the sake of achieving victory in the Realmwar, and for the sake of wiping out as much of the Seamless Gate’s forces as he could, Ning didn’t mind revealing his true power.

  The only thing that mattered was making sure that the outcome of his reveal was worth it.

  And now…

  This was an outcome that was completely worth it!

  “So many of the Seamless Gate have died.” The Seven Planets God stood next to him, staring at the rivers of Immortal and Fiendgod blood that stained the vast wilderness. Countless corpses and magic treasures littered the ground. He couldn’t help but let out a sigh.