Desolate Era

by RWX

  Ning had been unable to find that spark of insight inside his body. Despite that, Ning had never given up on trying. He continued to search for that spark at all times.

  “SNOW SCORPION!!!” Suddenly, an agonized cry rang out from behind Ning. It was Redsnow, and he had a frantic, heartbroken look on his face.

  Redsnow had left his secluded meditation when Ning was fighting against the Primordial Ruinworld. He had already broken through to become a True God! Redsnow was staring at a distant Pangu Genesis Formation, one which had already been broken apart. Empyrean God Snow Scorpion had been inside that formation, and her body had been torn through by the sharp claws of an Envoy of All Things. She died on the spot.

  “Snow Scorpion…” Ning felt pain in his heart as well. Seven Empyrean Gods had followed him from the Starseizer world…and one of the seven, Snow Scorpion, had just perished.

  Compared to Ning, however, Redsnow felt far greater pain.

  Redsnow and Snow Scorpion had been the right and left arms of Daoist Threelives. He would never be able to forget how the two had fought side-by-side for countless years. The other Empyrean Gods and True Immortals under Daoist Threelives’ command had all slowly trickled away, with only a few remaining within the Starseizing Manor. Redsnow and Snow Scorpion had stayed behind, and the two had long ago grown close to each other. Although they didn’t formally join together to become Dao-companions, they had lived alongside each other for so long that they were like family.

  “Damn.” Redsnow’s eyes glistened with unshed tears.

  Rumble…

  Suddenly, a streak of black light appeared in the distance. The streak of black light moved faster than the limits of the Heavenly Daos, charging straight towards the vast armies of the Nuwa Alliance. This alpha strike had been launched by the most terrifying figure of the Seamless Gate, the Lord of All Fiends. He was simply far too fast when he attacked…but the Nuwa Alliance had been watching vigilantly this entire time.

  “KILL!” Daoist Three Purities’ face changed and he immediately let out a furious bellow!

  “KILL!” All of the major powers had been keeping their growing rage suppressed. Now, they let it all explode outwards. True God Redsnow and the others had bloodlusted eyes as all of them instantly went berserk.

  “ALLFIEND!” Ning and Suiren simultaneously let out angry howls.

  The two of them were the fastest on the Nuwa Alliance. When faced with the sudden attack of the Lord of All Fiends, Ji Ning was actually the most suitable candidate for defending against it, thanks to his mastery of the [Five Treasures].

  Ning immediately executed the [Three Heads, Six Arms] technique as well as the Sixth Cycle of the [Starseizing Hand]! The divine tattoos appeared on his six enormous palms, filled with such power as to cause the entire Void to shudder. They were like six titanic stormclouds that swept through the skies, each palm surpassing the limits of the Heavenly Daos as they struck towards the armies of the Seamless Gate!

  Ning knew very well that in terms of speed, he was still a bit inferior to the Lord of All Fiends. Thus, he launched an attack in order to force the Lord of All Fiends to withdraw his attack as he sent his six cloud-sized palms towards the army of the Seamless Gate! In this way, he could ensure that the Lord of All Fiends would have to withdraw his attack.

  “Not good.”

  “Careful.”

  “Block it.”

  The soldiers of the Seamless Gate stared ashen-faced at the six titanic stormclouds that were descending towards them. The Lord of All Fiends had only struck with a single sharp blade that moved like a streak of black light, but Ji Ning had struck out with six gigantic palms. How many of them would die to this strike?

  “Hmph.” The Lord of All Fiends frowned. The black streak of light curved in midair, expanding to become hundreds of thousands of kilometers long as he swung it towards Ning’s palms.

  BOOM!

  A massive blast could be heard, and the incomparably powerful collision caused Ning to uncontrollably fly backwards a few steps.

  The Lord of All Fiends’ body trembled momentarily as well. The weapon in his hand was a strange, black-colored weaver’s shuttle.

  Sword Immortal Darknorth and the Lord of All Fiends had exchanged blows. Now, all the other major powers of the two alliances entered the fray as well. Some began to take command over Envoys of All Things, some began to take command over many Empyrean Gods and True Immortals to assume mighty formations…

  The battlefield quickly transformed from the final battle over karmic luck to the true Endwar!

  * * *

  Book 23, Chapter 16 - Guardian Formation

  “So powerful.” Ji Ning stared at the distant Lord of All Fiends, who continued to stand there in midair. “He really is an Elder God. If I only use the [Starseizing Hand], I’m at a complete disadvantage.” Even during the Primordial Era, the man had been able to save the Seamless Gate from the hands of a World God, Mother Nuwa. He was the person who the Nuwa Alliance feared the most.

  “Assemble the formation.”

  “Assemble the formation.”

  “Assemble the formation.”

  “Assemble the formation.”

  Daoist Three Purities, Lord Tathagata the Buddha, Shennong, and Fuxi began to take command over the Empyrean Gods and True Immortals on their side. Kuafu, Daoist Jade Cauldron, Xingtian, Exalted Celestial Carefree, and the rest of the True Gods and Daofathers quickly took command over their respective Empyrean Gods and True Immortals as well.

  “The final battle!” Yellow Emperor Xuan Yuan’s voice rang out by the ears of every single Immortal and Fiendgod.

  All of the Celestial Immortals immediately waved their hands, putting away the Loose Immortals and Fiendgods under their command. In the blink of an eye, the previously countless throngs of Immortals and Fiendgods began to dramatically sparsen and thin out. All of the weaker cultivators vanished, while the Empyrean Gods and True Immortals then instantly drew their tens of millions of Celestial Immortals into their estate-treasures and estate-worlds.

  Almost all of the cultivators on the side of the Nuwa Alliance instantly disappeared, leaving behind only the True Gods, Daofathers, Empyrean Gods, and True Immortals.

  Rumble…

  Daoist Three Purities gathered a total of 3600 Pure Yang True Immortals around him. A flood of Immortal energy began to activate, drawing upon enormous amounts of natural energy. Given Daoist Three Purities’ abilities, the energy was instantly formed into an enormous formation. The illusory image of a titanic Daoist Three Purities appeared above the formation, and beneath the feet of the illusion was an enormous deep azure diagram. Four Chaos swords floated around the illusion, one in each direction, their auras filling the heavens.

  “Nuwa Heaven Repairing Formation!” The major powers of the Seamless Gate hurriedly took control over their formations as well, with some entering their Envoys of All Things. However, when they saw the enormous formation which the distant Daoist Three Purities had just created, they couldn’t help but feel their hearts quaver.

  Mother Nuwa had left behind three ‘guardian formations’.

  What did this term ‘guardian formation’ truly represent?

  Mother Nuwa was worried about more alien Outsiders invading in the future, and so she spent enormous amounts of effort to develop these three guardian formations. Only then did she feel confident enough to leave.

  During the war for the Deerchaser world, the Nuwa Alliance had put one of their three guardian formations on display, the Pangu Genesis Formation. However, that time they merely had True Immortal Jimin command the formation, and his formation only held a total of around five hundred Empyrean Gods and True Immortals. It could be considered a simplified version of the Pangu Genesis Formation.

  However, Daoist Three Purities was now serving as the core of a massive formation with 3600 Pure Yang True Immortals, forming a perfect Nuwa Heaven Repairing Formation.

  Every single movement he made was filled with the power of He
aven and Earth. He was every bit as powerful as a true first-tier Ancestral Immortal!

  In addition to that, Daoist Three Purities had an extremely high level of insight into the Dao, and his Immortal Slaying Swords were tremendously powerful. One could imagine how deadly he was!

  “Arise.” Lord Tathagata folded his hands together in prayer. Around him were exactly 5800 Empyrean Gods, and they too began to summon an overwhelming amount of natural energy from Heaven and Earth. A titanic body was quickly formed around them, but it still had the appearance of Tathagata.

  This formation was the guardian formation known as the ‘Pangu Genesis Formation’.

  It had been manifested through the power of 5800 Empyrean Gods, with Tathagata serving as the core. The Pangu God created by this formation was every bit as powerful as any Elder God! Given Tathagata’s insights into the Dao and formidable palm-arts, it could be said that he did not need to fear anyone.

  “Assemble the formation.” Fuxi also took command over 3600 Pure Yang True Immortals to assemble a second Nuwa Heaven Repairing Formation.

  “Assemble the formation.” Shennong took control over 5800 Empyrean Gods to form a second Pangu Genesis Formation.

  “Arise.” Exalted Celestial Carefree commanded a total of 2200 Empyrean Gods and True Immortals, using them to form the ‘Origin of Duality Formation’.

  Three mighty guardian formations.

  The Pangu Genesis Formation used Empyrean Gods to form a Pangu God which was adept at close combat.

  The Nuwa Heaven Repairing Formation used True Immortals to manifest tremendous amounts of Immortal energy that could be used to launch long distance attacks.

  The Origin of Duality Formation was an extremely durable formation. It could be used on the battlefield to deal with the most dangerous situations. It could be placed wherever it was needed! It could launch long range attacks but could also tank attacks at close range!

  These three guardian formations were incredibly powerful!

  Even if alien Outsiders with the power of Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals invaded, the Nuwa Alliance would be able to rely on these three guardian formations and their profound insights into the Dao to fight back!

  The Nuwa Alliance had assembled into formations, but the Seamless Gate was doing the same. They had many Empyrean Gods and True Immortals as well, and they also had their Envoys of All Things…but when they saw the three guardian formations of the Nuwa Alliance reveal their full power for the first time, they couldn’t help but quiver.

  “Fiendlord, our karmic luck is weak while their karmic luck is strong. Our major powers are drawing far less natural energy than theirs!”

  “Our karmic luck is weak and our formations are weak…the difference is simply enormous.”

  “Fiendlord, what should we do?”

  Everyone in the Seamless Gate was beginning to panic.

  They knew that the Nuwa Alliance had three powerful guardian formations, but the Nuwa Alliance had never truly revealed them in the past! The versions they had previously seen were all just simplified versions. Daoist Three Purities, Tathagata, and the others had never personally taken command over those formations. Now that they had, the Seamless Gate was shivering in fear.

  Forget about the Seamless Gate; even the highly experienced Godfiend Witherspike had an ashen look on his face.

  “Prepare to fight.” Godfiend Witherspike was in charge of his retainers and the alien Outsiders of the Primordial Ruinworld, and he was about to command them to attack, but…upon seeing the enormous formations the Nuwa Alliance had just set up, he was dazed.

  “This formation…” Godfiend Witherspike previously always had a calm look on his face, but he could no longer remain calm. Awestruck, he said, “Nuwa…she was just a local aboriginal, right? And she left the Three Realms shortly after becoming a World God. A new World God who didn’t have much tutelage…how the hell could she have created three formations of such power?”

  “This is trouble.” The nearby Saber said in a low voice, “Master, these locals are much weaker than us, but that’s primarily because they are all just True Gods and third-tier Ancestral Immortals. Now that they’ve assembled these so-called ‘guardian formations’, they have become dramatically stronger. Look at Tathagata over there. That ‘Pangu God’ he’s created definitely has the power of an Elder God. Combined with his palm-arts…even if the two of us joined together, we wouldn’t be able to do anything to him.”

  “Agreed.” Godfiend Witherspike nodded.

  Tathagata was highly skilled in defense. Even in the Primordial Ruinworld, when the two had joined forces they had only been able to injure him, not capture him. Now that Tathagata had the body of a Pangu God, he could absolutely be described as invincible.

  “These local ‘overlords’ all have incredible insights into the Dao. They had just one weakness…and its just been covered by their formations.” Saber frowned. “They are not easy to deal with.”

  “I just KNEW that a chaosworld that gave birth to a World God wouldn’t be so easy to invade.” Godfiend Witherspike gritted his teeth. “Let’s watch for now and see how the Seamless Gate reacts. If they get completely manhandled, we’ll give up on our schemes and leave right away.”

  “Agreed.” Saber nodded.

  Although Godfiend Witherspike and Saber both had ultimate attacks that they had yet to use, when they saw the true power of the Nuwa Alliance they understood that even if they used everything they had, they still wouldn’t be able to take over the Three Realms. It was best to see what the Seamless Gate had up its sleeve first.

  The Seamless Gate was panicking…but it had no options but to fight.

  “Tathagata, Three Purities, Fuxi, and Shennong. Don’t worry about the formations they are in command of. All of you, go deal with the formations led by the other True Gods and Daofathers,” the Lord of All Fiends immediately instructed.

  “Yes.”

  The major powers of the Seamless Gate all heaved sighs of relief.

  The Seamless Gate had quite a few major powers on its side as well, especially after Old Man Yuan had led the Four Ancestors of the River Source into their alliance. These major powers had two types of large formations of their own to use.

  One of them involved three True Gods to take control over 3900 Empyrean Gods in the ‘Infinity Fiendgod Formation’.

  The other involved six Daofathers taking control over 5100 True Immortals to form a ‘Ragnarok Formation’.

  These were the two mighty formations which Keeper Everwood had come up with after spending countless years of effort. However, these formations were far weaker than the ones which Mother Nuwa had devised. The Ragnarok Formation, for example; it required six Daofathers and 5100 True Immortals, but the ‘Nuwa Heaven Repairing Formation’ was stronger, even though it only required a single Daofather and 3600 True Immortals!

  But of course…the more powerful the commander, the more powerful the formation. There was a huge gap in power between a formation commanded by Daoist Three Purities and a formation commanded by an ordinary Daofather.

  Three Purities, Fuxi, Shennong, and Tathagata had each taken control over a formation. If the Seamless Gate’s Daofathers didn’t need to worry about those four formations, they felt much more confident in their chances.

  “We can ignore the nastiest ones.”

  “We have nine Envoys as well. We can at least give the Nuwa Alliance a good fight.”

  “However…I wonder how the Fiendlord and the others are planning to deal with those terrifying formations of the Nuwa Alliance.” The major powers of the Seamless Gate continued to worry.

  * * *

  Book 23, Chapter 17 - A Host of Elder Gods

  The Nuwa Alliance was not going to show any mercy!

  As soon as the formations were established, they immediately began to press the attack.

  “Kill!” Daoist Three Purities, in command of a Nuwa Heaven Repairing Formation, pointed from far away, his aura towering to the heavens. Inst
antly, his four Immortal Slaying Swords joined together to form a single titanic sword that chopped downwards towards the grand army of the Seamless Gate. The tip of the giant sword instantly caused the Void to break apart, and the terrifying aura of power around the sword caused all the major power to feel their hearts grow cold.

  “What a killer formation.” The faces of both Godfiend Witherspike and Saber were rather ashen.

  Even Ji Ning sighed in shock upon seeing this.

  Although his Primaltwin was a first-tier Ancestral Immortal and capable of unleashing tremendous power with the Triult Swords, it wouldn’t be like this. Daoist Three Purities had acquired the Immortal Slaying Swords far too long ago, and he himself had developed the sword-diagram linking the four together! Daoist Three Purities was also at a higher level of insight and understanding than Ning. Thus when he used the Immortal Slaying Swords, the power of his attacks could be described as truly unequalled in all the Three Realms.

  “Three Purities!” A loud roar rang out.

  A wooden ruler suddenly expanded in size, becoming so gigantic that it seemed to completely block out the skies themselves.

  The gigantic sword collided with the massive wooden ruler, the collision completely obliterating the Void around them.

  Daoist Three Purities stared at the distant violet-robed figure, then said in a cold voice, “Everwood, I’ve never been able to get a good handle on the Lord of All Fiend’s power. The other one I was unsure about was you. You really did hide your power very well. You’ve actually become an Elder God!”

  Keeper Everwood’s face was turning slightly pale. The Immortal Slaying Swords were simply far too strong.

  “No need to waste words.” Keeper Everwood immediately attacked once again.