Desolate Era

by RWX

  Once one’s truesoul was extinguished, there would no longer even be a way for one to recover it from the River of Destiny. He believed that Ji Ning absolutely would not be willing to allow Yu Wei’s truesoul to be extinguished.

  Whoosh.

  “He’s moving.” The black-robed Godking’s eyes lit up. The distant Ji Ning had suddenly exploded with power, his six arms wielding six divine swords in a wild, frenetic assault upon the Envoy of All Things.

  The Envoy had just a set of two claws, while Ning had six arms. Ning’s sword-arts were far too terrifying, and so for a time the Envoy was covered, surrounded, and completely suppressed by countless sword-shadows.

  “Why have his attacks only grown more berserk?” At first, the Godking was angered, but he then turned calm, as though he had thought of something.

  “This Ji Ning really is clever.” The Godking’s eyes lit up again. “He’s using his six arms to furiously attack, which means his defense is naturally weaker now. No matter how powerful his attacks are, there is no way he can wound the Envoy…but his lowered defense means that there is a chance that the Envoy might wound him. So long as he is wounded, Ji Ning would naturally have an excuse to quit the field of battle. He would be able to excuse his failure to the rest of the Nuwa Alliance as caused by his desire to gain a quick victory, which was why the Envoy had a chance to wound him.

  “He really is clever.” The black-robed Godking waited eagerly.

  “Still…his attacks are a bit too berserk. He’s completely suppressed the Envoy. Even the Envoy’s attacks are being shut down.” The Godking frowned, then immediately sent another mental message. “Ji Ning, you have to give the Envoy a chance.”

  And right at this moment…

  A sudden boom could be heard from the Envoy of All Things, which had been completely surrounded and bombarded by those countless sword-shadows. Ning was wielding six Darknorth swords, and the one that had reached the Chaos treasure level had just unleashed a sword-stance that was filled with seemingly infinite power. This could be described as the most fierce and most dominating attack he possessed, and it was the stance that he had origally used to send those two violet-light golems flying far backwards, past the entire army of the Seamless Gate.

  [Brightmoon] sword-art, Heavenbreaker stance!

  BOOM!!!!

  An incomparably savage stroke. The sword smashed down upon the back of the right knee of the Envoy. Its power was like that of the divine axe which Pangu had used to cleave apart Heaven from Earth. A thunderous boom could be heard as the Envoy was knocked off balance and fell to the ground.

  To knock down the Envoy was actually extremely difficult, because its two legs were extremely powerful and stable. Even if it was knocked flying, it would be very hard to make it actually fall down onto the ground. Experts at this level of skill all were extremely good at keeping their balance and remaining stable. To cause someone to lose his balance was far, far too hard. The many sword-strikes which Ning had blanketed the Envoy in seemed useless, but in truth they were meant to keep the Envoy off its balance.

  By relying on his absolute advantage in technique, he had managed to destabilize the Envoy…and then he had sent the Heavenbreaker stance to smash at the back of the knee. And with a boom! The Envoy had fallen to the ground.

  “No!” The Envoy’s controller began to panic…but what greeted his protestation was a fierce, sharp streak of sword-light that smashed away at the Envoy’s twin claws, giving them no chance to resist.

  Whooooosh! Four of the six arms of the Rahu-Ning were currently wielding swords. The other two arms were holding onto a rope that glowed with black light. The rope quickly wrapped itself around the Envoy’s body. The Envoy had been knocked to the ground and its arms had been completely suppressed by Ning’s nonstop attacks. The rope instantly and completely wrapped itself in circles around the Envoy.

  Any golem, no matter powerful, would be able to do nothing once it had been completely bound. Although the Envoy roared furiously and tried to struggle, it still wasn’t able to break free from the Protocosmic spirit-rope.

  Everyone across the entire battlefield turned silent.

  Even the two battling Pangu Gods. Even the seven smiling major powers of the Nuwa Alliance. Even the panicking black-robed Godking. Even the ashen-faced Daomother Devilhand. All of them fell silent. All of them were stunned.

  They just stared blankly at what had just happened.

  The Envoy of All Things…had been tightly bound by a Protocosmic spirit-rope. It was like a zongzi [1. This is a type of Chinese sticky rice cake that is usually wrapped up in banana leaves, then tied with string.] that had fallen to the ground. It was completely unable to break free whatsoever.

  The Rahu-Ning raised his head, staring towards the Seamless Citadel. Staring towards the black-robed Godking standing atop the citadel walls.

  “Y-you…” The black-robed Godking was dazed.

  Daomother Devilhand was rather dazed as well.

  All the Immortals and Fiendgods on the entire battlefield were dazed.

  Even the seven major powers of the Nuwa Alliance were dazed.

  Captured?

  The Envoy of All Things…had been captured?

  This was an incredibly valuable and precious military asset. If a Daofather was in command of it, it would instantly possess utterly earth-shaking levels of power. The Seamless Gate had paid an incalculably vast price to create each of the Envoys. The only reason they had even sent one of them to take part in this Realmwar was because this one was an incredibly important one!

  Right at this moment…

  An azure-skinned gourd suddenly appeared in the Rahu-Ning’s hands. The stopper was pulled open.

  “Come in.”

  Ning gently murmured these words…and with a whoosh, the tightly bound Envoy that lay on the ground was transformed to a tiny size, then sucked straight into the mouth of the gourd.

  Then…

  Ning gently plugged the gourd with the stopper once more.

  * * *

  Book 21, Chapter 19 - Defeated In Battle

  The Allfiend world.

  At the peak of a solitary mountain.

  The red-robed, azure-haired Lord of All Fiends was seated in the lotus position. He stared through the infinite Void, his gaze focused on the battle that was occurring within the Deerchaser major world.

  “Ji Ning?” The Lord of All Fiends murmured softly to himself. For the first time, he paid close attention to this minor figure who he had never cared about before.

  “We lost.”

  “This critical battle…has been lost. We even lost an Envoy of All Things.” The Lord of All Fiends shook his head.

  Suddenly, a figure appeared next to his side. It was Grandmaster Blackheaven, and he had an absolutely frantic look on his face.

  “Master,” Blackheaven said frantically, “We have to take the Envoy back! We spend enormous amounts of effort to create them, and now one of them has been stolen! We now have one less, while the Nuwa Alliance has one more. This is going to have a huge impact on the war.”

  “Take it back…how?” The Lord of All Fiends stared at Blackheaven.

  Blackheaven was stunned.

  “There’s no way to take it back. We lost it in battle during a Realmwar…and everyone in the Three Realms is watching this battle. All of the major powers, on our side or in the Nuwa Alliance, are watching this battle. If I make a move, most likely all of the other major powers will make a move as well. There’s no way the Nuwa Alliance will give us any chance whatsoever.” The Lord of All Fiends was quite calm.

  “But…but…” Blackheaven was absolutely besides himself.

  “If we lost, we lost…and we should admit that they won cleanly.” The Lord of All Fiends shook his head. “During the Primordial Era, the Nuwa Alliance was able to produce Houyi. Now, it has given birth to Darknorth. This is destiny.”

  “Doesn’t the Godking have the soul of Ji Ning’s Dao-companion, Yu Wei? Can’t we use i
t to trade with Ji Ning for the Envoy?” Blackheaven immediately asked.

  “Impossible.” The Lord of All Fiends shook his head. “The ownership of the Envoy is something that has a significant impact on the war as a whole. It isn’t something which Ji Ning can decide on his own. Even if Ji Ning was willing to give it to us, his master Subhuti, Suiren, Shennong, Daoist Three Purities, and the rest absolutely would not permit it. The loss and gain of an Envoy of All Things is something of enormous impact.”

  “Right.” Blackheaven nodded helplessly.

  He had to admit it. All personal feelings and emotions would have to be discarded when the stakes impacted one side’s chances of winning the war. There really was no way the Nuwa Alliance would permit Ji Ning to give it up.

  “Windfiend…” Suddenly, a dreamy, ghostly voice rang out.

  The Lord of All Fiends was startled.

  The mist around him began to coalesce, slowly forming into a human-shaped figure that was dressed in a simple gray robe.

  “You remain as distant and detached as always.” The gray-robed figure’s voice was insubstantial and ephemeral. “Fighting a war…the key lies in the word ‘fight’. Fight for every scrap of opportunity. Only then will you have a chance to be the final victor.”

  The Lord of All Fiends stared at the figure before him…at the king who had once unified the entire Seamless Chaosworld. The one who had been a match for Mother Nuwa in power, and who had only been just one step away from becoming a World God himself.

  “Long time no see…Demonheart,” the Lord of All Fiends said softly.

  ……

  The Deerchaser world.

  After Ning took out the gourd and sucked away the Envoy of All Things, the entire battlefield became deathly still. The Seamless Gate’s forces no longer had any desire to fight whatsoever!

  “We lost.” Daomother Devilhand had a look of regret in her eyes.

  “How could this have happened? How could…this Ji Ning…” The black-robed Godking ground his teeth. “This was the critical battle…and we actually lost it because of Ji Ning.”

  The black-robed Godking truly couldn’t accept this outcome. He was the one to plan out all the wars, and he was also the titular head of the entire Seamless Gate! Ji Ning was nothing more than a pawn that he had never truly cared about.

  “Withdraw.”

  “Withdraw immediately.”

  “Don’t try to keep fighting.”

  Daomother Devilhand immediately sent mental orders to all of her forces, ordering the remnants of her army to immediately retreat.

  The outcome of this battle had clearly been determined.

  The Envoy of All Things had been captured by Ji Ning. Even if Ji Ning no longer participated in this battle, those two Pangu Gods alone, when reinforced by the great army of the Nuwa Alliance, would be powerful enough to utterly decimate the surviving soldiers of the Seamless Gate.

  “We lost.” The black-robed Godking closed his eyes, murmuring to himself.

  Suddenly, he opened his eyes. His eyes were as cold as ice as he stared downwards at the Rahu-Ning…and Ji Ning just so happened to be staring back at him.

  “Hmph.” The black-robed Godking let out a cold laugh, then waved his hand, causing a semi-translucent figure appeared within it. It was Yu Wei’s soul. The black-robed maiden, Yu Wei, stared at her surroundings in puzzlement.

  Ning’s body trembled. He stared blankly at the semi-translucent figure atop the walls of the Seamless Citadel. This was the person he had been thinking about, day and night.

  “Senior apprentice-sister.” The towering, valiant Fiendgod just stood there, murmuring to himself.

  Yu Wei saw Ning as well. She opened her mouth to speak towards him, and although no sounds came out, Ning was able to read her lips.

  Junior apprentice-brother. Yu Wei was looking at Ning.

  “I told you that if you disobeyed me, I would kill her. I told you that I would shatter her soul and extinguish her truesoul.” The black-robed Godking clenched his enormous hand around the semi-translucent Yu Wei, and his voice echoed within the heavens. “Didn’t you say…that she’s already dead, and that you killed her? Haha…then, let me let her truly die.”

  “No-”

  Ning stretched his hand out, as though he was about to say something…but the black-robed Godking tightly clenched his fist. As he did so, the semi-translucent shadow of Yu Wei stared at Ning, her lips moving one final time. Take care of…Brightmoon…

  BOOM!

  Her soul vanished…and her truesoul flickered with one final gleam of light before it too was disintegrated, melting away into nothingness.

  Ning stood there blankly, his hand outstretched.

  Pain.

  Heart-rending pain instantly filled his entire body. It was as though an endless wave had instantly swallowed him, drowning him within its tide.

  His wife.

  She was dead. She was truly dead.

  “You’ve hidden your daughter quite well. You keep her within the Crescent major world. If she was in any other place, I would’ve killed your daughter as well. Ahaha…it seems that I am destined to forever be the demon that lurks in your heart, the demon that haunts your nightmares. Ahahaha…our war has just begun! Are you truly prepared for it? Your daughter will die in the future as well. She’ll also die…ahahaha…” The black-robed Godking cackled with utter madness.

  Ning just stood there, not moving at all.

  The army of the Nuwa Alliance pursued their foes, but everyone was also paying attention to Ning. He stood there, surrounded by an aura of power that seemed to fill the entirety of the heavens…and yet, he also seemed to have become a bit fragile and frail.

  Atop the walls of the Nuwa Alliance’s citadel.

  Subhuti, Shennong, Xuan Yuan, and the rest of the seven major powers all had ugly looks on their faces as they witnessed this. However…there was nothing they could do. Even if they did try to intervene, there was no way for them to rescue Yu Wei, because Yu Wei’s fragile, weak soul had been effortlessly wiped out by the Godking in an instant.

  “Ji Ning.” Subhuti turned his head, staring towards the other, black-robed Ning who stood behind him. He said softly, “This is war. On the field of battle, many Empyrean Gods and True Immortals, many disciples of True Gods and Daofathers, many family members and loved ones, will perish. And this is just the start. In the future…if our side loses the war, all of us ‘major powers’ will be wiped out, to say nothing of the rest.”

  “This is the nature of war.” Xuan Yuan spoke in a consoling voice as well.

  There was nothing else they could say.

  This truly was the nature of war. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. Blood for blood. Neither side would show any mercy or care about their former friendships; they would use any tools they could to weaken their foes. Ji Ning deeply cared about love, and so to shatter Yu Wei’s soul and destroy her truesoul was an act that would forever plant a thorn into his heart. It was entirely possible that in the future, the thorn would result in a devastating, breathtaking outcome.

  The black-robed Ning just stood there, his eyes bloodshot. Tears flowed down his face from his bloodshot eyes.

  “Ahahaha…” The black-robed Ning raised his head and laughed loudly, the tears in his eyes instantly vanishing.

  “Ahahaha…” The distant, towering figure of the Rahu-Ning also raised his head to laugh.

  His laughter shook the heavens. His laughter caused the earth to tremble.

  His laughter caused one’s heart to freeze.

  Everyone could hear the agony and the frenzied hatred contained within his laughter…the limitless, infinite amount of hate. But the black-robed Godking, standing atop the distant walls of the Seamless Citadel, didn’t care at all. He just smield coldly. “The more you hate, the better. The more you hate, the more it will affect your Dao-heart…and if the effect is strong enough, it’ll make it hard for you to make any more breakthroughs.”

  The laughter con
tinued to ring out…and then it suddenly stopped.

  The Rahu-Ning lowered his head. He clenched the swords in his hands, then murmured to himself in a low voice. “Senior apprentice-sister…I’m sorry. Brightmoon…I’ll take care of her…”

  The Rahu-Ning raised his head to stare at the walls of the Seamless Citadel and the Godking. He murmured to himself, “And that Godking…I’ll kill him personally and sacrifice his soul to you…”

  Every member of the Nuwa Alliance on the battlefield, especially the Empyrean Gods and True Immortals who were close to Ning and viewed him as a brother, was staring at him with worry. Subhuti was staring at him with worry as well.

  The Rahu-Ning’s laughter had come to a halt…and then, he moved.

  “KILL!!!” A black serpent of lightning suddenly flashed, streaking towards the fleeing army of the Seamless Gate.

  The Seamless Gate’s forces had been engaged in a tactical retreat, staving off the two Pangu Gods while continuing to flee. And now…a black lightning serpent had suddenly entered their midst.

  Whooooosh.

  Sword-light flashed.

  Blood sprayed.

  Immortals and Fiendgods died in countless numbers.

  “What?! His Rahu God can also use the [Ninehorn Lightning Serpent] evasion technique?” The black-robed Godking’s face completely changed. To be able to use the Rahu God in performing the [Ninehorn Lightning Serpent] technique meant that Ji Ning was in complete control of the Rahu God’s power, not allowing any of it at all to leak out. This meant that Ji Ning was able to control all of the Rahu God’s potential power.

  Daomother Devilhand’s face changed as well, and she immediately issued a frantic mental order. “Retreat at will!”