Desolate Era

by RWX

  “Understood.”

  “Empyrean God Darknorth is doomed.”

  “Doomed.”

  The demon commanders all charged towards their respective targets. Aside from Ning, whom they weren’t familiar with, they knew the Empyrean Gods quite well. They were able to choose whichever target suited them the most, but the Empyrean Gods didn’t have that luxury; they were being surrounded and attacked by too many demons! They were also far slower than the demon commanders in movement speed.

  “Careful. They are all coming.” Feiyou let out a loud roar. This was the critical moment; when the demon commanders all attacked in unison, the Empyrean Gods would easily be at risk of death or injury!

  Boom! Boom! Boom!

  The demon commanders battled furiously against their respective Empyrean God opponents, with crowds of lesser demons assisting them!

  As for Ning, however…he was under the attack of the most terrifying demon of them all. The demon king.

  “You actually killed number three.” The demon king wielded the long black staff in his hands, filled with an overpowering aura that caused even Ning to feel pressure. The demon king strode forward with wide steps, causing the earth to shake. “I want to see exactly how strong you are. All of you, step aside.”

  Whoosh. The surrounding demons all gave way.

  The demon king suddenly leapt into the air, soaring straight towards Ning with both hands around his staff, delivering a mighty, smashing blow towards Ning’s head.

  Clang. The three-headed, six-armed Ning sent all six of his swords into an upwards block.

  BOOOOOOM!!

  A deep hole appeared in the ground, with Ning having been smashed straight underground.

  As for the demon king, he held the long black staff in a single-handed grip as he charged towards that hole with an aura of astonishing power!

  Boom! A streak of sword-light flew out from the ground, with Ning ensconced within it.

  “What an incredible aura.” Ning’s heart was shaking. This demon king was far too powerful, much stronger than Ning himself. Ning had used all six swords in order to block a single strike from the enemy, and one of the swords had been reinforced by heartforce. But it was useless! He had still been smashed underground. Clearly, the difference in power between them was enormous.

  The demon king leapt high into the sky, soaring through the air as he chased after the fleeing Ning. In terms of power or speed, the demon king was definitely superior to Ning.

  Boom!

  Bang!

  Ning was knocked everywhere; high, low, left, right…but thanks to the [Eight-Nine Arcane Art] protecting him, the demon king remained unable to harm Ning. What Ning had to do was to use every tool available to him to ensure that his foe wouldn’t be able to trap or bind him. Ning’s sword-arts were still quite formidable, and thanks to his six arms the lesser demons were unable to even move close to him. This made it so that the demon king didn’t have a chance to use the golden gourd to absorb Ning.

  “Being dominated and trampled like this pisses me off. This demon king is way too strong.” Suddenly, Ning’s face changed.

  “Attack.”

  “Shit!”

  Faced with attacks from nine demon commanders and many lesser demons, Feiyou, Zhenbu, and the rest of the nine were trapped in a quagmire. Even Ning, when facing off against two demon commanders and many lesser demons, had been in a dangerous situation. Although the demon king seemed powerful, he was simply very fast and very strong; as long as one was able to withstand his attacks, one would only be knocked flying; there was no risk of dying to him.

  During the last calamity, it had been Feiyou who had withstood the demon king’s attacks. In terms of defensive techniques, he was actually far superior to Ning, and so he was able to withstand even the demon king.

  During this calamity…the demon king had sought out Ning. Clearly, he didn’t want to deal with the troublesome Empyrean God Feiyou, whose defenses were airtight.

  As time passed, the positions of the other nine Empyrean Gods grew increasingly dire. Being at a constant disadvantage would, sooner or later, lead to catastrophe. Based on their past experiences, only after one of the Empyrean Gods died would these demons relax a bit with their attacks.

  The ten Empyrean Gods each had their own abilities.

  Empyrean God Cloudscar had amazing agility techniques that vastly surpassed the techniques of Ning and the rest of the other nine. Surrounded by an army of demons, he was still like an unpredictable cloud that manifested and dissipated at will. He moved about constantly, continuously launching attacks.

  Empyrean God Feiyou’s forte was defense. Not even the demon king was able to do anything to him, and he was naturally in quite a stable position right now as well. However, his attacks were weak. When surrounded and trapped, it was difficult for him to assist the others.

  After battling for a long period of time…Empyrean Gods Eastvoid and Zhenbu fell into danger! Although the other Empyrean Gods had helped them out two or three times, there was no way they could be there every time.

  “Shit!” Zhenbu let out a furious roar.

  “These damned demons.” Eastvoid was growing frantic as well. Both of them specialized in attacking, and so they were in similar, incredibly dire straits right now. Many scars had already appeared on both of their bodies.

  “Eastvoid and Zhenbu are almost done for,” Feiyou said through a frantic mental roar as he did his best to charge towards them.

  “Feiyou? Don’t even think about going over there.” A demon commander who wielded clanking chains let out a bizarre laugh as he sent his chains lashing outwards, forcibly preventing Feiyou from moving past him.

  “Darknorth!” Oddwitch sent out a frantic mental shout as well.

  Boom!

  The demon king sent out yet another smashing staff blow, knocking Ning aside. Ning grew frantic as well. “There’s no way for me to move close to them.” He was barely able to keep himself safe from the demon king as it was.

  Slash! A blade scraped past Eastvoid’s waist. A gaping wound instantly appeared, and fresh blood came spurting out from it. Moments later, a wave of divine power flowed over the wound and quickly healed it.

  “My divine power is almost depleted,” Eastvoid sent mentally. Each time his body was injured, a large amount of divine power would be used up to heal it.

  “Eastvoid.”

  “Brother Eastvoid.”

  The other Empyrean Gods were all frantic. Once his divine power was used up…no one would be able to help him.

  ……

  Within the quiet Still Room.

  Down below, there was a golden light formation of three hundred meters.

  Up above, there was a black light formation of three hundred meters.

  Ning was seated in the meditative position between the two. Spheres of Ninefire Lava and Iceheart Pith were floating in front of him, and a large amount of the essence of the two was flowing into the two diagrams. The two spheres had already shrank significantly.

  “I’ll have to halt for now.”

  Ning willed it, and both great formations slowly vanished into thin air. As for the two spheres of Ninefire Lava and Iceheart Pith, they flew back into their respective jade bottles.

  As for Ning, he landed on the ground.

  “Although my Pure Yang Jindan still needs upgrading…I have no choice but to halt for now. After the battle, I’ll continue the upgrade process.” Ning took a look inside his body. The gleaming, spinning golden pellet Jindan within his body had an aura that was already tens of times more powerful than it had been previously. The Jindan region inside his body had also dramatically expanded, and a torrent of powerful and pristine Pure Yang energy was flowing through it.

  The Icefire Jindan Smelting technique was a process that was extremely slow and extremely gentle. As the Pure Yang Jindan absorbed more and more of the icefire essence, it would constantly improve and evolve. But of course, it could be halted at any time as this wa
s a very gentle, slow type of transformation.

  The difference between a Daofather’s Jindan and a True Immortal’s Jindan was like the difference between Heaven and Earth!

  A Daofather’s Jindan was on the same level as one of Pangaea’s first-tier True Immortal’s Jindan. If Ning was able to upgrade to a second-tier Jindan, he would be half a step into the Daofather level of power. After having worked on it for more than twenty days, he was actually quite close to completing the upgrade process; it could already be considered a second-tier Jindan. But of course, only after a few more days of refining would it truly reach its maximum potential.

  “Let’s take a look and see how powerful this second-tier Jindan is.” Ning willed it, and he instantly vanished from the Immortal estate, appearing within Myriad Mountains Island in the world outside.

  ……

  Myriad Mountains Island.

  The battle between the Empyrean Gods and the demons had reached a fevered state. Ning had just been knocked flying away…and suddenly, a second Ning appeared out of nowhere. The sudden appearance of a second Ning caused all of the Empyrean Gods present, as well as the many Empyrean Gods watching from far away, to gawk in amazement.

  “Two Empyrean God Darknorths?!”

  * * *

  Book 20, Chapter 21 - That Sword!

  When the two Ji Nings appeared in midair, the only one who wasn’t surprised was the demon king. He had learned from Snowfiend long ago that Ning had two clones, and this was actually the reason why he had given Ning the ‘special treatment’.

  “Your clone has finally appeared.” The demon king laughed loudly. “I’ve been waiting quite a while.”

  Whoosh! He charged straight towards Ning.

  One of the Nings flew straight towards him with [Three Heads, Six Arms] activated. Six streaks of sword-light lashed out as this Ning engaged the demon king in close combat. As for the other Ning, the Ning who had just appeared…a total of 729 top-grade Pure Yang swords appeared around him, slowly undulating up and down. His Pure Yang energy, far more pure and powerful than the energy of the True Immortals of the Three Realms, flowed outwards through his body, filling each and every one of those Immortal swords.

  Ning’s energy was simply too pure. The solidified energy sword that was created by the [Greater Thousand Swords Formation] was thus improved dramatically as well. All of the energy from the many swords levitating around Ning flowed towards his chest, merging into a single jade sword that appeared before him.

  “Eh?” The demon king, who had just knocked aside the other Ning, suddenly felt a feeling of shock in his heart. He turned to take a look and saw the jade sword. He immediately sensed an invisible aura of menace coming from that sword, causing him to feel stunned. “That flying sword actually makes me feel as though I’m in danger. How can this be? How can he be so powerful?”

  “That flying sword…”

  “The power of that sword-formation…”

  The lesser demons, the demon generals, Feiyou and the rest of the Empyrean Gods…everyone last one of them was stunned. There was no way to suppress or retract the aura of a sword-formation, and the jade sword was the crystallized essence of sword-ki itself; waves of power emanated outwards from it! This caused all of the demons and Empyrean Gods to feel a nameless fear.

  Ji Ning…had already reached a qualitatively higher level of existence than they had.

  “Go!” Ning pointed. Whoosh! The jade sword left behind a solitary, arcing scar in the skies. It transformed into a crescent streak, and the jade sword, covered by black sword-light, turned to strike at the demon king. All of the demons and Empyrean Gods present could sense the solitary, desolate beauty of the crescent streak…and could also sense the terror that it brought.

  Ning had both fourth-stage swordforce and fourth-stage heartforce, and both gave him power comparable to the most supreme of Empyrean Gods. Ning’s [Starseizing Hand] also gave him power that was close to that of a supreme Empyrean God by itself. And prior to his Jindan evolving, when Ning used 729 top-grade Pure Yang swords in the ninth-level of the [Greater Thousand Swords Formation] formation, he similarly was capable of unleashing power that could only be matched by the most supreme of Empyrean Gods and True Immortals.

  Fourth-stage swordforce, fourth-stage heartforce, the [Starseizing Hand], and the ninth level of the [Greater Thousand Swords Formation]; all of them were on the same level. Although the [Starseizing Hand] and the [Greater Thousand Swords Formation] were slightly weaker by comparison, they were still on the same general level as the other two.

  But now…!

  Now that Ning’s Jindan had begun to evolve, his Pure Yang energy had become tens of times purer than before. Without any question, the jade sword formed through the crystallization of this pure energy via the [Greater Thousand Swords Formation] was now tens of times more powerful than before as well! It had already surpassed the apex of power possible Empyrean Gods; it had stepped into the Daofather level! In fact, in power and presence alone, it was a bit more powerful than Redsnow’s ‘Seven Planets God’ or even Sword Immortal Evergreen’s Daofather golem! It was comparable to Ning using the perfect Heaven Punisher!

  “Fast!” The demon king’s face changed dramatically.

  The jade sword shot towards him at incredible speed. After Ning’s energy had been upgraded and purified, his jade sword’s speed had been greatly enhanced as well. The demon king hurriedly brandished his longstaff, seeking to block…but the jade sword covered by black sword-light was quite bizarre. It slashed out in a strange, ghostly manner, arcing past the longstaff and scraping through the demon king’s body.

  Swish.

  The demon king, longstaff in hand, just stood there blankly. And then, his body began to fall apart. He had already been bisected by that sword attack.

  “I lost.”

  The demon king’s bisected body quickly reformed, but he still stared blankly at Ning. In fact, the entire battlefield turned completely silent. Those frantically attacking lesser demons and demon commanders had come to a halt as well. They all raised their heads, staring at their demon king in disbelief. They also stared at the white-robed youth who was surrounded by a countless cluster of levitating swords.

  The nine Empyrean Gods raised their heads to stare at Ning as well.

  “Darknorth…” They all felt stunned.

  The Seven Dragon Gods and the many other Empyrean Gods off in the distance were all completely dazed as well. They were only able to watch, not fight…and they all stared at the white-robed youth.

  “We lost. I lost.” The demon king looked at the two Ji Nings. One of them vanished, leaving behind the other one.

  The attack of the demon army could indeed be described as a calamity or as a tribulation. To survive it, there were two options. The first was to endure for long enough and wait for the demon king to order the retreat. The second was to slay the demon king; in this case as well, the demon army would disperse.

  However, during all of the previous tribulations, they had relied on the first method to succeed. They had supported each other and had managed to endure the deadly calamity with difficulty. Normally, one or two Empyrean Gods would die. This was because so long as a single one died, the demon army would slowly begin to lower the pace and power of its assaults. The creator of Undermoon Lake’s goal was to temper Empyrean Gods, after all, not to wipe all of them out.

  In the past, they had relied on the first method…but this time, Ning had slain the demon king!

  “Empyrean God Darknorth. Ji Ning.” The demon king looked at Ning. “After entering Undermoon Lake, you made it all the way here in one try…and, from what I can tell, even the countless demons under my command who guard the ‘Demon Icepass’ won’t be able to hold you off for long. You should already have the power to make it to the fourth island. After you make it there, the only one you have to worry about is the final guardian. Your talent and your power is far superior to Jueming’s; there is a very high chance that you will be ab
le to survive and depart from Undermoon Lake.”

  “Work hard, young man.” The demon king looked at Ning, a deep, long smile on his face. “When you reach the fifth island…you’ll find a surprise in store for you.”

  “Children, let’s go!” The demon king turned and left. The demon commanders and lesser demons all whistled through the air after him, but as they left quite a few gave Ning curious glances.

  The demon army had come like a tidalwave. Now, they receded like the waves as well.

  Eastvoid and Zhenbu let out sighs of relief, but they were still frightened as they thought back to what had nearly happened. The other Empyrean Gods all landed on the ground as well.

  “Darknorth.” Eastvoid walked over, a smile on his face. “Thank you. You saved my life.”

  “And mine as well.” Zhenbu also grinned, then patted Ning on the shoulders.

  “Admirable.”

  “Darknorth, I am in complete awe of you now.”

  The nine Empyrean Gods had previously viewed Ning as someone on their level, but now they were filled with the utmost of admiration towards Ning. It must be understood that Redsnow’s ‘Seven Planets God’ or Ning’s ‘Rahu God’ and ‘Heaven Punisher’ all primarily relied on the power of a formation, on the combined energy of many other Immortals and Fiendgods. Only then were they capable of getting close to the Daofather level of power.

  Ever since Pangu established Heaven and Earth, there were extremely, extremely few Empyrean Gods and True Immortals who were able to reach that level of power on their own. They could be counted on one hand! Every single one was truly a favored son of the heavens. But of course, the only Empyrean God who had ever actually slain a True God or Daofather had been Houyi.

  However, aside from the unequalled Houyi, Ning now stood at the absolute pinnacle amongst the countless Empyrean Gods of the Three Realms!

  ……

  Within the private room inside the Immortal estate. A white-robed Ning appeared out of nowhere, immediately levitating into midair to continue training in the [Icefire Jindan Smelting] technique. Slowly, the giant formation of golden light appeared below him, as did the formation of black light above him. The red-jade gourd and the green-jade gourd once more released Ninefire Lava and Iceheart Pith, and Ning once more began to slowly refine his Jindan.