Desolate Era

by RWX

  “If we are to make a move, we must ensure it kills them.” Godfiend Witherspike said calmly, “Head out.”

  Whoosh.

  The castle instantly flew into the air and began to move towards the Goldriver world at high speed.

  The figures within the castle remained quite calm. Godfiend Witherspike and his six golden-armored generals had experienced many, many dangers in the past. Celestial Immortal Blackheaven, however, was quite excited. “If we are able to kill Fuxi and Tathagata…”

  * * *

  Book 22, Chapter 19 - Critical Danger

  The leaders of the Seamless Gate were all excited upon hearing that Godfiend Witherspike was making his move. They were waiting eagerly for Witherspike to slay Fuxi and Tathagata.

  The Goldriver world.

  Ji Ning and the rest of the seven were resting at a beautifully scenic place. Their squad included the incredibly fast Kuafu and the shockingly fierce Ji Ning. They ended up being the squad that fought forward at the fastest pace.

  “We have to wait a full day. I’m going to take a nap here.” Luwu chortled as he lay down onto the grassy ground.

  “You lazy fellow.” The nearby Xingtian shook his head.

  “With Kuafu and Darknorth in our squad, what have I to worry about?” Luwu felt quite relaxed.

  Xingtian glanced at Kuafu, who was drinking some wine as well, as well as the distant Ji Ning. Ji Ning was seated in the lotus position atop his boulder, holding a gourd of wine in one hand while experimenting with a few sword-stances with his other. Ning’s fingers moved like a blur, but if one paid careful attention to them, one would sense a sword-intent that was absolutely terrifying. Even Xingtian couldn’t help but feel his heart shudder.

  “I’ve been praised as being a ‘god of war’, but Ji Ning has the number one sword-arts of the Three Realms, and he improves so incredibly fast.” Xingtian was secretly amazed. “I really can’t compare to him.”

  But of course, he had no idea that Ning’s Primaltwin was located in the Heavengazer Tower. A day in the outside world meant a hundred days had passed inside the tower. How could Ning’s sword-arts NOT improve quickly?

  Actually, Ning spent more than seventy percent of his time in the Heavengazer Tower meditating on the Dao!

  However, completely focusing on just one thing wouldn’t necessarily be ideal. Thus, Ning would occasionally train in his sword-arts as well as various divine abilities. He tried to balance his training regime, but even so his improvement in the sword remained quite astonishing.

  “That nameless sword-art really is unfathomably profound.” Ning sighed mentally to himself.

  World God Northrest stood at the very peak of power, even amongst World Gods. This was primarily thanks to the nameless sword-art! He had actually only acquired Violetjewel later on.

  The nameless sword-art was truly unfathomable. After mastering it, World God Northrest had developed ninety-eight sword-arts which he had placed on those ninety-eight stone steles! Ning could now train in these techniques without any problems at all, but every time he tried to train in the nameless sword-art, he found it to be incredibly taxing and difficult to understand.

  From this, Ning could tell that the sword-spirit of Violetjewel was correct; he had to master all ninety-eight sword-arts before he could truly begin to train in the nameless sword-art!

  However, Ning still did gain a few minor insights over the course of nearly two thousand years in the tower as he occasionally meditated on the nameless sword-art. Those minor insights were enough to allow Ning’s sword-arts to grow dramatically more powerful.

  “Violetjewel is nothing more than a weapon,” Ning mused to himself. “Compared to Violetjewel, the most important gifts left to me by World God Northrest were those ninety-eight stone sword-steles and the nameless sword-art within the jade shrine.”

  He continued to take a few gulps of wine while practicing his sword-stances.

  The surrounding area was quite beautiful. The area around them was filled with lovely grass, but farther away there was only violently shaking regions of shattered space.

  The Primordial Ruinworld had many regions of distorted spacetime and shattered space, or strange seas of blood. These things were extremely rare in the Three Realms, but extremely common here in the Ruinworld. Not even the creatures who lived here dared to move too close to those regions. If they were drawn into them, they would quickly die unless they were strong enough.

  “Not good.” Graceful Peacock suddenly called out.

  Swish! Swish! Swish! All of them turned to look. True God Luwu, who had appeared asleep, instantly rose to his feet as well.

  “What’s wrong?” Kuafu immediately asked.

  Graceful Peacock said hurriedly, “This Goldriver world is fairly dangerous. The squad led by Lord Buddha has been trapped into a danger zone.”

  “Oh?” Kuafu let out a sigh of relief, then laughed. “Given how powerful Lord Buddha is, I trust he’ll be able to handle it himself.”

  Daofather Windfate smiled as well, twirling his fan. “Lord Buddha is incredibly powerful. He’s generally able to easily deal with any dangerous situations he might encounter. If even he cannot resolve the situation, the rest of us would be of no use either.”

  “Lord Buddha said that he can deal with it, but he’ll need some time.” Graceful Peacock nodded. “Lord Buddha’s been trapped in a complicated formation. There’s no way to destroy it through raw power; the only option is to slowly solve the formation and deconstruct it. Fuxi’s squad is moving towards him at high speed to assist him.”

  “Fuxi’s heading there as well?” Empress Xi nodded.

  Everyone felt relaxed.

  Tathagata was the leader of the Buddhist Sangha and incredibly skilled in defense. Even if three or four other overlord-class figures were to simultaneously assault him, he would be able to hold on for a period of time.

  As for Fuxi, he was the number one formations expert of the Three Realms. He was the ideal candidate for helping Tathagata solve the formation.

  “Let’s head over there as well and take a look at what the formation is all about,” Ning said with a laugh.

  “Yes, let’s go take a look.”

  “Although we won’t be of much help, we can still take a good look. It’s boring and pointless just to sit here and wait.”

  Ning and the rest of the seven True Gods were quite relaxed. They immediately soared onto a cloud and flew towards Tathagata.

  No one felt much concern over the fact that Tathagata’s squad was trapped!

  Not even the major powers located inside the Allclans Palace of the Nuwa Alliance were concerned. Lord Tathagata himself wasn’t too worried either. In the past twenty years, they had encountered numerous dangerous situations in the Primordial Ruinworld. On multiple different occasions, they had been trapped within a dangerous region for a brief period of time. In each case, they were able to resolve the situation quite quickly.

  After being trapped, Tathagata had put it this way: “The formation is just a bit complicated. Once Fuxi arrives, he’ll soon be able to defeat it.”

  They had experienced so many situations like this that they no longer considered it a big deal.

  Graceful Peacock laughed. “Fuxi’s already arrived.”

  “How long does the Human Sovereign need in order to break the formation?” Kuafu asked.

  “Fuxi is still inspecting the formation. Umm…the formation’s a bit complex, but Fuxi said that he should be able to break it in under an hour.” Graceful Peacock smiled.

  “An hour? We might as well slow down a bit. By the time we get there, the Human Sovereign and Lord Buddha will probably have just escaped the formation.” Daofather Windfate laughed. “There’s no point in getting there early and just waiting.”

  “Let’s keep flying at our normal speed,” Ning said.

  Graceful Peacock’s face suddenly changed. This immediately captured the attention of Ji Ning, Windfate, Kuafu, Empress Xi, Luwu, and Xingtian.
<
br />   “What’s wrong?” Ning immediately asked quietly.

  “There’s a bit of a problem.” Graceful Peacock frowned. “Something’s wrong.”

  Two of her clones were accompanying Lord Buddha’s squad and Fuxi’s squad, and so she knew exactly what was happening in each squad.

  “Not good!” Graceful Peacock called out in shock. “The formation’s completely changed! Another formation has also appeared outside of the first formation, and it’s completely trapped Fuxi’s squad inside of it. Three golden-armored major powers just appeared! We’ve never encountered these three before.”

  “Three major powers we’ve never encountered before? Are they the Four Thearchs?” Xingtian asked frantically.

  “No, they aren’t the Four Thearchs.” Graceful Peacock’s face turned even uglier. “Tathagata’s squad is under attack as well, and other alien Outsiders have also appeared. A large group of alien Daofathers have appeared…dozens of them! All of the Daofathers of the Primordial Ruinworld have appeared and are assaulting them! Fuxi’s been locked down by those three golden-armored Outsiders. Those three are incredibly powerful; they’ve completely tied him down.”

  “Let’s move!” Kuafu immediately bellowed.

  “The rest of you should enter my estate-treasure. Let me lead the way,” Ning barked right away.

  “Alright.” None of them hesitated at all. Ning waved his hand, collecting all six of the True Gods into his estate-treasure. Ning then transformed into a black lightning serpent, moving at maximum speed towards the place where Tathagata had been trapped.

  ……

  Daoist Jade Cauldron’s squad, which had similarly been relaxing, was notified as well.

  “What? Almost all of the alien True Gods and Daofathers of the Primordial Ruinworld have appeared? They are surrounding and attacking Tathagata? The Human Sovereign’s actually been tied down and won’t be able to reinforce him?” Daoist Jade Cauldron immediately understood how ugly the situation had turned.

  “Right.” Graceful Peacock’s faced was covered with worry.

  “Let’s go!” Daoist Jade Cauldron immediately bellowed.

  The seven major powers of the Daoist Path immediately boarded a boat-type Chaos treasure and moved at high speed towards the place where Tathagata was trapped.

  ……

  Although both Ning’s squad and Jade Cauldron’s squad were worried, the most worried figures of all were within the Allclans Palace in the Three Realms.

  Upon hearing this news, the major powers there immediately knew that things were dire.

  “All of the True Gods and Daofathers of the Primordial Ruinworld have appeared…and three golden-armored figures that we’ve never seen before have appeared and are capable of tying down Fuxi.” Daoist Three Purities hurriedly shouted, “The Primordial Ruinworld really was hiding its true power, but its true power is far more terrifying than what we expected! Houyi, Suiren, immediately lead squads of True Gods and Daofathers to go rescue Fuxi and Tathagata!”

  “Alright.” Houyi and Suiren both nodded.

  Suiren was believed by many to be the most powerful figure in the Nuwa Alliance, while Houyi’s true power unknown and unfathomable. The two immediately took command over a group of thirty-six True Gods and Daofathers, then departed from the Allclans Palace at high speed.

  “Graceful Peacock, after Houyi and Suiren reach the Primordial Ruinworld, it’ll take them some time to fly over to Tathagata’s location. Have Jade Cauldron, Kuafu, and Darknorth do their best to try and help Fuxi defeat those three golden-armored figures,” Daoist Three Purities hurriedly instructed.

  “Yes,” Graceful Peacock immediately acknowledged.

  * * *

  Book 22, Chapter 20 - Reinforcements

  The Allclans Palace. Everyone was in a state of panic.

  “These three golden-armored Outsiders that we’ve never seen before have actually managed to stop Fuxi in his tracks.” Daofather Subhuti frowned. “Where did such powerful enemies come from?”

  Fuxi was a Human Sovereign, and he had True Gods and Daofathers in his squad. And yet, they had all been completely stymied by these three alien Outsiders.

  “Such powerful individuals shouldn’t be completely unknown figures.” Tathagata laughed calmly. “No need to panic. Although I’m being attacked by many, my true body is present; although these alien Outsiders are formidable, they won’t be able to do anything to me.”

  “Right.” Daoist Three Purities nodded. “I feel slightly better that you are the one trapped there.”

  “Hm?” Tathagata’s face suddenly changed.

  “What’s wrong?” All the major powers in the hall looked towards Tathagata.

  “My Great Sun Buddha body has been injured.” Tathagata said in a low voice, and his customary smile was no longer on his face. Instead, he looked as calm and tranquil as the deep seas. “I sensed long ago that things in the Primordial Ruinworld wouldn’t be as simple as we thought them to be, but…the one-armed golden-armored figure who injured me just now is definitely no weaker than I am.”

  “No weaker than you?” All the major powers in the hall were stunned.

  Tathagata had reached the overlord level of power back in the Primordial Era, and his defensive prowess was number one in all the Three Realms.

  “Yes. He’s extremely powerful,” Tathagata said softly. “He’s definitely an overlord. My only option is to focus entirely on defense for now.”

  “Hold on as long as you can,” Daoist Three Purities said hurriedly. “Houyi and Suiren are on the way. Once they get there, this crisis will be resolved.”

  “Buddha Leafswirl’s true body has just been destroyed.” Tathagata’s face suddenly changed yet again.

  “Buddha Leafswirl’s true body has been destroyed?”

  Everyone cried out in shock as they turned to look at a woman located in the corner.

  Buddha Leafswirl was an incredible figure of the Buddhist Sangha. She was born a True God, and when Tathagata became an overlord-class figure and established the Buddhist Sangha during the Primordial Era, she had joined him! When she had seen how much suffering there was amongst the common people of the Primordial World of Pangu, she had decided to truly become a mortal herself and join them. She would start as a mortal and train to become a Buddha from scratch so that she might truly experience and understood the sufferings of mortals. That way, she would also be able to better understand the profound mysteries of Buddhism.

  She had shattered her own soul and sent her truesoul to be reincarnated. She had experienced countless tribulations, but her truesoul was that of a True God, after all; she had incredibly high talent, and she actually ended up establishing her own Buddhist school, the ‘Leafswirl Sect’. She now had the power of an elite Daofather, and she had both a true body and a Primaltwin. It was her true body that had ventured into the Primordial Ruinworld for this campaign.

  “Our foe is very powerful. With a single claw-strike, he was able to break through our protective formation and slay me,” Buddha Leafswirl said.

  The atmosphere in the palace instantly grew heavy.

  Lord Tathagata said slowly, “Two terrifyingly powerful Outsiders have appeared. Both are overlord-class experts. I’ve already stowed Maitreya and the others into my [Buddha-Realm Within the Palm], and I’m now fighting off all of these fiends by myself. Given how strong my golden body is, they won’t be able to do anything to me within a short period of time.

  Lord Tathagata’s golden body was so formidable that it could be said to be number one in all the Three Realms.

  “Be careful,” Daoist Three Purities urged nonetheless. The two of them were the leaders of Buddhism and Daoism. Upon seeing Tathagata fall into such dire straits, Daoist Three Purities couldn’t help but feel frantic as well.

  However, he had already sent out Suiren and Houyi. The remaining forces they could use to protect the Three Realms were now clearly weaker than before. No matter what, they had to conserve enough power so that they could
deal with the Seamless Gate. If all of them left the Three Realms, the Seamless Gate would probably seize the opportunity to completely destroy the Nuwa Alliance’s foundation and truly take over the Three Realms.

  When that happened, the war for karmic luck would definitely be completely lost.

  “We’ve done what we can. I hope Houyi and Suiren will be able to make it in time.” Daoist Three Lives let out a soft sigh.

  “As long as they can make it, there won’t be any problems at all,” Shennong agreed quietly.

  “Two overlord-class experts. The Primordial Ruinworld actually has a pair of overlord-class experts…” Daofather Subhuti shook his head. “And extremely powerful ones at that.”

  ……

  The Primordial Ruinworld.

  The Sakyamuni body of Lord Buddha was seated in the lotus position, golden light radiating from his body. He had actually manifested a total of eighteen arms, and those eighteen dazzling golden arms were striking out in every single direction.

  For now, the many alien Outsiders assaulting him were unable to do anything to him.

  “This weak little aboriginal has actually managed to train a protective divine ability to such a level.” The distant Godfiend Witherspike was watching from afar, his tail slowly swaying in the air.

  “His protective divine ability is extremely formidable, and his divine body is definitely comparable to a top-grade Protocosmic spirit treasure.” The one-armed man next to him spoke out in agreement. “And his palm-arts are also quite formidable. They fill the skies and leave no openings whatsoever! I’m able to occasionally land a saber-blow on him, but it’s still very hard to injure him. If he completely focuses on defense…all we can do is exhaust his store of divine power. Once he is out of divine power, he’ll die.”

  “I really hate those with strong protective divine abilities like this.” Godfiend Witherspike frowned.

  “Are the T’ya brothers able to hold on?” Godfiend Witherspike suddenly asked.

  “They are skilled in defense, and the three of them fight as if they were one. When they join together in their formation, they are easily capable of holding down Fuxi’s group. Fuxi’s skill mainly lies in formations; he’s a bit weaker in actual combat,” the one-armed man said calmly.