Desolate Era

by RWX

  “Master, Daoist Jade Cauldron is about to arrive.” The red-nose elder flew over and bowed respectfully as he spoke.

  “Oh?” Godfiend Witherspike nodded. “I almost forgot about Jade Cauldron’s squad and Darknorth’s squad. Let the Four Thearchs take control over twelve True Gods and bar their path! Stop Jade Cauldron and Darknorth’s squads.”

  Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

  Soon, a number of True Gods and Daofathers who had been assaulting Tathagata retreated, the Four Thearchs amongst them. They headed off to stop Daoist Jade Cauldron and Ji Ning.

  “The Nuwa Alliance sent out two overlord-class experts. One is Tathagata, and his defensive skills are formidable. The other is Fuxi, who is even more formidable in the art of formations. Both are extremely skilled in dealing with large groups of attackers.” Godfiend Witherspike gritted his teeth. If it had been Daoist Three Purities or Suiren, things would actually have been much easier. Experts skilled in defense caused quite the headache.

  “Saber, come up with a method to defeat his palm-arts.” Godfiend Witherspike looked at the one-armed man. “Let’s join forces to suppress him, then deal with him.”

  “Alright.” The one-armed man nodded.

  Swoosh! Swoosh!

  Godfiend Witherspike and the one-armed man instantly charged towards Lord Buddha. Lord Buddha continued to sit there calmly, his eighteen golden arms blocking attacks frome very direction. He completely focused on defense. His goal was not to win; it was only to avoid making any mistakes.

  As for Ji Ning, he was advancing at high speed through the [Ninehorn Lightning Serpent] technique. However, his squad had been the farthest up ahead; the entire reason why they had been planning to wait for a day was to give the other three squads enough time to catch up.

  Thus, Daoist Jade Cauldron and his Chaos boat was the first to arrive at Tathagata’s location.

  “Jade Cauldron’s squad has already arrived.” Graceful Peacock spoke out to Ning from with his estate-treasure.

  “Not good. The Four Thearchs have all appeared, as well as twelve other alien True Gods. They are able to easily block Jade Cauldron’s path. In fact, they are actually suppressing him.”

  Ning frowned upon hearing this, but there was nothing he could do aside from continuing to advance at high speed while using the [Ninehorn Lightning Serpent].

  The Four Thearchs were all elite Daofathers. They also had twelve other alien True Gods supporting them, while Daoist Jade Cauldron’s team consisted of just seven individuals! The Four Thearchs would indeed have the power needed to suppress Daoist Jade Cauldron’s squad.

  “Darknorth, the Four Thearchs have a total of sixteen in their squad! Jade Cauldron only has seven, while we only have seven as well. The Four Thearchs have more than enough power to completely tie our two squads down,” Xingtian sent mentally. “I think we should move to avoid the Four Thearchs and instead go assist Fuxi.”

  “No. Jade Cauldron’s been surrounded as well; if too much time passes, his squad will also be in danger of losing their lives.”

  Kuafu and the others had become rather frantic as well. The Primordial Ruinworld’s forces now held the absolute upper hand. Tathagata was in danger, Fuxi had been tied down, and Jade Cauldron had been surrounded!

  “They hid their true power quite well. They forebore from striking for a long time, but as soon as they did they immediately knocked us off-balance.” Ning mused to himself, “Fortunately, Three Purities and the others were worried about something like this happening, which is why they sent Fuxi and Tathagata. Those two are very skilled in defense.”

  Tathagata relied on his powerful body to defend.

  Fuxi relied on his formations to defend.

  Both were very skilled in delaying and buying time for themselves.

  “According to what Graceful Peacock is telling us, two new overlord-class figures have appeared in the Primordial Ruinworld?” Ning’s eyes flashed with sharp light. “Weren’t the most powerful figures here supposed to be those Four Thearchs? Where did these two overlords come from? Such powerful figures can’t possibly be nameless and unknown…but no one has any idea as to who they are. They must have come from the primordial chaos, then.”

  Alien Outsiders from the primordial chaos…

  Multiple such figures had invaded during the Primordial Era, but the Three Realms era had been much more peaceful. Although there had been a few invasions, those figures had all possessed low levels of strength. They weren’t as terrifying as Rahu or the Lord of All Things had been. So in truth, powerful alien Outsiders had arrived long ago! They had simply chosen to hide within the Primordial Ruinworld instead.

  “It seems this divine sword of mine is going to see blood soon.”

  Swoosh!

  The black lightning serpent streaked through the skies, moving towards the direction of a major battle. It was a battle between Daoist Jade Cauldron’s group and the alien Outsiders commanded by the Four Thearchs.

  “It is Darknorth. Darknorth has arrived. The six of you, follow me. We’ll stop Darknorth!” Instantly, two of the Thearchs and six True Gods turned to charge towards Ning.

  * * *

  Book 22, Chapter 21 - Overlord

  Thearch Fusha had handsome features, a large frame, and a natural aura of dominance. Thearch Vileye, by contrast, was incomparably ugly. His body was covered with a layer of thick jade skin, and his body was filled with countless bulges and bumps. On his forehead, there was a particularly large bump that had an eye inside of it, and that eye was filled with endless malevolence. Weaker Empyrean Gods and True Immortals would probably be instantly dominated by a single glance of that eye.

  “Come with me, but be wary of Darknorth and Kuafu. Be wary of Darknorth in particular; his sword-arts are extremely powerful,” Thearch Fusha instructed.

  “Yes.” The six figures immediately followed directly behind them.

  Ji Ning was flying through the air, surrounded by his black lightning serpent. He swept the battlefield with his gaze. In his heart, he was most worried about Lord Tathagata the Buddha. Based on what Graceful Peacock had told him, Tathagata was currentingly being assaulted by two overlord-class figures! Even worse, these were figures that no one had ever encountered before.

  Two overlord-class figures…it was entirely possible that the two of them were both Elder Gods! If they truly did come from the vast primordial chaos, there was no way for Ji Ning to predict how powerful they might be. If things went on for too long, Lord Buddha might very well be slain!

  The Seamless Gate’s alliance with the Primordial Ruinworld meant that they had gained two more overlord-class figures on their side. Ning’s side, the Nuwa Alliance, could not afford any more losses!

  “F*ck off.” Ning pointed from afar.

  Instantly, rainbow-colored sword-light began to descend upon the world around him in an utterly dazzling fashion. Next, the countless rays of sword-light began to spin together, condensing into a total of nine rainbow swords. They struck down towards Thearch Fusha and six of the True Gods like nine rainbow lighting bolts! This scene stunned all of the major powers present.

  [Sword-Heaven-Earth], third of seven stances: Heavenly Swords Descend!

  BOOM! Layers of black light appeared around Thearch Fusha and the rest of the eight. The layers of black light whittled away at the power of the rainbow-colored swords, in the end forcibly halting Ning’s strike.

  “Darknorth, these aliens of the Primordial Ruinworld have learned some powerful combination formations. Be careful!” The distant Daoist Jade Cauldron sent a hurried mental message.

  “Everyone, be careful. All we need to do is keep Darknorth tied down.” Thearch Fusha and the rest of the eight were all badly frightened as well. They hadn’t even engaged Ji Ning in close combat yet. They never would’ve imagined that those nine long-distance strikes would contain such incredible power! Fortunately, they had been taught certain things by the Godfiend, and so were able to jointly resist those at
tacks.

  “Sword Immortal Darknorth is too arrogant. He actually dares to fight against us by himself. If he had worked together with Kuafu just now, we might’ve been in a bit of trouble.” Thearch Vileye snickered coldly. “Now that we have this formation which Master taught us…hmph. Sword Immortal Darknorth won’t be able to do anything to us.”

  Whoosh.

  Ning came to a halt in midair, frowning as he glanced at the alien Outsiders in front of him.

  Time was very precious right now!

  They were in a hurry to go reinforce Fuxi and rescue Tathagata! But now, Daoist Jade Cauldron had been trapped here. Thanks to the [Ninehorn Lightning Serpent], Ning would indeed be able to move at high speed and circle around this region, but that would mean Daoist Jade Cauldron’s squad would be in serious trouble. If more time passed, they might very well die here. Thus…Ning decided that he might as well spend a bit more effort here.

  “Die!” Ning transformed into a streak of light and charged forward.

  “He still isn’t having Kuafu and the others come out?” Thearch Vileye and Thearch Fusha were both startled. “Ji Ning is underestimating us a bit too much. The only reason he is formidable is because of his swordforce. It’s not as though he is an Elder God.”

  Whoosh! Whoosh! Ning’s two arms dramatically increased in size, expanding to become more than three thousand meters long as the tips of his fingers shone with rainbow-colored sword-light.

  “Fall down!” The vile-looking vertical pupil in Thearch Vileye’s forehead was staring fixedly at Ning, and an invisible wave of force struck out towards him.

  Ning, however, just stared back coldly at these alien Outsiders. He was completely unaffected. His soul had been nurtured by the power of his half-step Elder God body. His soul was so powerful that it would probably rank within the top three of the entire Three Realms! His heartforce was at the fourth stage as well! In fact, Ning had also learned a heartforce soul-locking technique from World God Northrest. How could an innate domination technique like this possibly shake his soul? Even if it was a hundred times more powerful, it wouldn’t be able to do anything to Ning.

  Those two elongated arms were like a pair of extremely long spears!

  Bang! Bang!

  Ning’s palms pierced straight through the layers of black light surrounding the two Thearchs and the other six! The Thearchs had felt as though Ning’s palms were quite far away, but in the next instant the two palms had already pierced through the protective black light. The attack was simply too fast; it had completely surpassed the speed of light.

  Ning had distilled the best aspects of many different sword-arts to create the most penetrative stance of the [Brightmoon] sword-art: Blood Drop Stance!

  Given Ning’s power as a half-step Elder God and his terrifying sword-arts, the power of this blow was so great that it arguably had reached the apex of power in the Three Realms! Although Ning’s palms had merely been trained to the Fifth Cycle of the [Starseizing Hand], it was still more than enough when dealing with these alien Outsiders of the Primordial Ruinworld!

  “How can this be?!”

  “No!”

  The two Thearchs and the six True Gods were completely scared silly. Their first reaction…was to flee!

  This was an instinctive desire, separate from all conscious thought!

  Whoosh!

  The two massive palms that had pierced through their formation were like a pair of metal hammers smashing together! They were like a pair of enormous stormclouds that were joining together in a tremendous clap, capturing the terrified Thearchs and the True Gods between them. Agonized, terrified cries rang out as the ten tried to flee…but alas, how could they possibly move as fast as Ning’s palms?

  BOOM!!!!

  The two massive palms clapped together violently in midair.

  The True Gods and Daofathers were completely destroyed, their bodies transformed into dust and their truesouls destroyed.

  “B-b-but…” The distant Daoist Jade Cauldron and his squad were dazed by what they had just seen.

  They had battled against these alien Outsiders for quite some time now, and they knew exactly how tough and durable that formation was. They had yet to find a way to penetrate the formation, but Ji Ning had managed to shatter it through just his hands? In fact, he had clapped to death those eight True Gods in an instant! Thearch Fusha and Thearch Vileye, two incredibly tough foes, were amongst their ranks as well!

  “Flee!”

  “Flee right away!”

  “He’s an overlord!”

  “He’s an Elder God!”

  “Quick, flee!”

  The other alien True Gods and Daofathers who had been battling Daoist Jade Cauldron were completely scared senseless. Thearch Darkstill and the other Thearch no longer had their usual composure; their only thing on their face was utter terror.

  “Flee?” Ning, who had just wiped out those eight True Gods, turned his head to look towards them. Swoosh! He transformed into a black lightning serpent and charged towards them.

  “Flee in different directions.”

  “Split up!”

  They didn’t hesitate at all. They didn’t even dare to think of using their formation to defend against Ji Ning’s attacks. They immediately split apart, fleeing in different directions. Their formation naturally dissipated as well.

  Swoosh!

  Ning came to a halt. He stood there in midair, staring at the eight True Gods that were fleeing in every which way.

  “Arise.” Ning pointed his finger towards the heavens.

  The skies turned dark, and streams of rainbow-colored sword-light began to appear in the area around them. The entire region became a world of rainbow sword-light. This caused the fleeing Thearchs and True Gods to reveal looks of horror on their faces, especially Thearch Darkstill. He had sent his nine bugbeasts against Ning, and they had all been wiped out by this technique.

  The dazzling rainbow sword-light unfolded like the blooming of a flower, shooting out in every direction.

  It was beautiful and dazzling.

  Slash! Slash! Slash! Slash! ……

  Sword Peacock, a stance meant for slaughter. Six of the eight alien Daofathers were instantly slain. The two Thearchs managed to resist for a brief moment, but in the end even they found it difficult to resist the consecutive strikes of rainbow sword-light from Sword Peacock. One was disintegrated, while the other, Thearch Darkstill, was able to survive thanks to his defensive skills. However, he was still heavily injured.

  Slash! The black lightning serpent flashed past him, and as it did his head went flying, eyes still filled with a look of celebration at having ‘survived’ Sword Peacock.

  The entire world turned silent.

  The sixteen alien True Gods had all been slain! The distant Daoist Jade Cauldron, Chijingzi, Holy Mother Turtlesoul, and others all stared blankly. Sixteen True Gods and Daofathers…they had all been wiped out in such a short period of time, and in such a completely overwhelming fashion. This sort of power…there was only one explanation.

  “He’s an overlord?” Old man Chijingzi murmured to himself.

  The six Daofathers by his side all shivered.

  Overlord?

  They stared at the distant white-robed youth, the ordinary-looking kid. He was an overlord?

  “Sword Immortal Darknorth? He’s reached the overlord level?” Daoist Jade Cauldron still couldn’t believe it. None of the seven really could.

  In their hearts…Ji Ning was just a lovesick man who was exceedingly talented. In truth, they felt quite a bit of pity towards Ji Ning. They knew of his history, and they also knew that his wife ‘Yu Wei’ had been a spy for the Seamless Gate. In fact, Yu Wei’s betrayal during the Crimsonbright Realmwar had very nearly caused them to lose that Realmwar.

  Almost everyone in the Three Realms knew that during the battle in the Deerchaser world, the black-robed Godking had personally crushed Yu Wei’s truesoul! None of them could forget the agonized howl of rage which
Ji Ning had unleashed…

  In their hearts, whenever they thought of Ji Ning, they would at most sigh to themselves and say, “What a pitiable man. He is a genius, but alas the war arrived too soon for him.”

  This was what many believed, including many of the major powers.

  In fact, even Ning’s own master, Subhtui, often mused to himself that it truly was a pity that Ji Ning had been born so late. If he had been born just a few years earlier, he might’ve stood a good chance of reaching Houyi’s level.

  A pitiable man with a pitiable life!

  These feelings of commiseration and pity were what most major powers felt when they faced Ning.

  * * *

  Book 22, Chapter 22 - The Apex of the Three Realms

  None of them ever would have imagined that this poor youth who had suffered so many setbacks would have climbed up to the apex of the Three Realms.

  Right.

  The apex of the Three Realms!

  The peak of power amongst all the cultivators of the entire Three Realms!

  A position which only the likes of Lord Tathagata the Buddha, Daoist Three Purities, Human Sovereign Suiren, Human Sovereign Fuxi, Human Sovereign Shennong, and the inconceivably talented Houyi had reached. But now, yet another figure had appeared by their side…this ordinary-looking white-robed youth who stood before them!

  Sword Immortal Darknorth! Ji Ning!

  “The world just changed,” Holy Mother Turtlesoul said softly.

  “Yes, it has changed. Yet another overlord-class figure has appeared in the Three Realms.” Daoist Jade Cauldron said softly, “And he’s trained for less than a thousand years. He’s an absolute legend, a legend which surpasses even that of Houyi’s.”

  The seven Daofathers present all felt a bit dizzy.

  They had just watched a legend be born.