Desolate Era

by RWX

  It had been so many years.

  Although he was nominally the child’s ‘second uncle’, in reality Blackmist had spent far more time and effort on Starchild than the old Starlord ever had. He had been there when Starchild was a crying and screaming newborn, and he had watched as Starchild grew up. By now, Blackmist truly viewed Starchild as he would his own son.

  At a time like this…the Starlord was going to defend them?

  Was ordering him to flee?

  How could he possibly flee?

  However, World God Blackmist still felt a warm feeling in his heart.

  Whoosh. World God Blackmist’s body suddenly began to blaze with white light, and all of his skin instantly transformed to become a rocky-gray color as well.

  “Starchild, retreat!” World God Blacklist let out a loud roar as he charged forwards.

  Although Starchild was the Starlord, he had always obeyed his second uncle’s instructions. Eventually, however, he had become a World God and become more powerful than his second uncle. It had been a long time since his second uncle had given him any orders.

  The fact that he was doing so now caused Starchild to grow blank for a moment…and then he saw World God Blackmist charging forward, his entire body glowing with white light.

  The look in Starchild’s eyes instantly changed.

  “Second Uncle!” Starchild’s eyes instantly reddened. He was the current Starlord of Fogstone. He knew exactly what his second uncle had just done.

  “Not even your Starlord is a match for me. You think you are?” God Emperor Blacklotus once more chopped downwards with his enormous crystal scimitar.

  Ssssshrk. Whoosh!

  Sword-light and saber-light clashed against each other.

  World God Blackmist was different from Starchild. He had relied entirely on himself as he had grown up, with no one there to provide him with any protection. His sword-arts were unpredictable and savage, but also quite suited for defense. Still, even the most defensive of stances would be useless if the disparity in power was too great.

  “Eh?” God Emperor Blacklotus was astonished to see that World God Blackmist was merely knocked a few steps back. “H-how is it that you…”

  “Starchild, leave right now!” World God Blackmist sent mentally to the Starlord, who was standing there blankly.

  The Starlord gritted his teeth, his eyes glistening with tears.

  Second Uncle…

  Thanks to his second uncle, he had never worried about anything as a child. His second uncle had always been by his side, and the Starlord had grown used to his presence. Upon seeing his second uncle’s body be wreathed in white light, he immediately understood that his second uncle had just used the forbidden fourth stage of the [Fogstone Apocalypse]!

  Right. The [Fogstone Apocalypse] actually had a fourth stage!

  However, their [Fogstone Apocalypse] was a fragmented technique. Only the first three stages were complete, which was why using the first three stages posed no risks. Even when one used the third stage, so long as that person stopped before completely using up his divine power, he wouldn’t turn into fogstone and die. However, their records of the fourth stage were incomplete. Although it was still usable…once it was used, the body would begin an uncontrollable transformation into fogstone!

  In other words…once a cultivator used the fourth stage, he was doomed to die! This was why the Starlord had been so agonized and grief-struck upon seeing the white light wreathing World God Blackmist’s body. There was no way to reverse this process at all.

  “This is my choice, and there is no turning back. If you don’t wish for my death to have been for nothing, leave. Leave right now!” World God Blackmist roared furiously, “If you don’t run, I’ll have died for nothing! NOTHING!”

  “Aaaaaaaaaaargh!” The Starlord let out an agonized howl, but he still turned and fled at high speed, charging into the skies.

  He felt hatred and regret.

  Why. Why!

  Only now did he truly understand how important his second uncle was to him. His second uncle was his most beloved family member and just as important to him as Yi had been! Why? Why did it have to end up this way?

  “Stay alive and forget about revenge. Only when you become a Daolord should you come and seek your revenge. Otherwise, I’ll never forgive you. Never!” World God Blackmist’s voice echoed in the Starlord’s mind.

  The Starlord lowered his head to stare downwards, tears cascading down his face.

  “Second Uncle…”

  Boom!

  Whoosh!

  World God Blackmist continued to battle against God Emperor Blacklotus.

  “What type of divine ability did you use just now?” God Emperor Blacklotus was now quite intrigued. He sent mentally, “You clearly are quite weak, but this divine ability actually allows you to be on par with your Starlord. For a divine ability to be capable of strengthening you this much…Fogstone really does have quite a few nice things.”

  God Emperor Blacklotus did know that in the Endless Territories, there were a number of monstrously powerful forbidden divine abilities.

  “Hand this divine ability over to me and I’ll spare your life,” God Emperor Blacklotus sent mentally.

  “Don’t even think about it!” World God Blackmist roared back.

  To be honest, it wasn’t just that he didn’t want to hand it over. People like Ji Ning were only capable of acquiring the first and second stage, while the third stage came with many strict requirements. As for the fourth stage…only the most core members of the Fogstone lineage would have access to it. Although the fourth stage was fragmentary and incomplete, every generation of Starlords had done their best to repair it.

  The fourth stage was simply too powerful. If they were capable of restoring it to the point where they could use it safely, it would be wonderful!

  “You are now as strong as the Starlord, and your sword-arts are quite strange, but…do you think that’s enough to stop me?” God Emperor Blacklotus let out a furious roar as the giant scimitar in his hands suddenly unleashed hundreds of streaks of crescent saber-light, sending them swirling around World God Blackmist. Every single strike contained the power of his scimitar’s quintessence core.

  “I have to be able to block them all. For the sake of Starchild, I have to block them all.” World God Blackmist was wielding six swords in his hands.

  He had long ago stopped caring about whether or not he would survive.

  In this moment, he felt a greater desire than he had ever felt in his entire life.

  His six swords transformed into six streaks of utterly dazzling sword-light, criss-crossing in the area around him and forming an enormous sphere of black mist.

  Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! The hundreds of streaks of saber-light struck down upon the sphere of black mist. Although they carried tremendous power, World God Blackmist was completely capable of withstanding them.

  “Y-you…” God Emperor Blacklotus stared in astonishment at World God Blackmist. “You actually made a breakthrough?” Before this, World God Blackmist’s sword-arts were very unpredictable, but they weren’t as resilient and tenacious as they were now. His sword-arts had clearly improved to a brand new level, capable of enduring offensive blows as though they truly were made of mist.

  This was a terrifyingly strong defensive sword-art. Although God Emperor Blacklotus was stronger than his opponent, he remained unable to break through his defenses.

  “Yes. My sword-arts reached a bottleneck a long, long time ago…but fortunately, I was able to make a breakthrough today.” World God Blackmist revealed a relaxed, carefree smile. He was able to stop God Emperor Blacklotus’ attack. Starchild would be able to stay alive. It was enough.

  * * *

  Book 24, Chapter 47 - None Shall Escape

  At present, World God Blackmist was every bit the Starlord’s equal in the Dao of the Sword. However, the Starlord focused on offensive attacks, whereas World God Blackmist specialized in defense
.

  His sword-light was like a web of black mist that filled the entire region. Although God Emperor Blacklotus held an absolute advantage, he was still unable to breach it!

  “Damn.”

  “Do you really think…that you can stop me?!”

  “I, Blacklotus, spent countless years roaming across many territories. You think you can stop me with just a defensive technique like this? You underestimate me too much!” God Emperor Blacklotus turned his gaze towards the fleeing cultivators of the Fogstone Dominion, then let out a cold smile. “I trained as both a Fiendgod Body Refiner and a Ki Refiner!”

  Rumble…

  The entire imperial capital below them began to shudder, then slowly began to swivel. The city itself was in the shape of a nine-petal black lotus that covered an area of ten million kilometers. As the enormous black lotus swiveled, the entire Blacklotus Chaosworld began to shake. Countless black lotuses began to appear, and they covered the heavens and the earth as they furiously shot out towards the cultivators of the Fogstone Dominion.

  “What’s going on?!”

  “This is even more terrifying than the secret arts he used earlier.”

  “Why are there so many black lotuses?”

  Ning and the others were all dazed as they stared downwards.

  As the gigantic nine-petal black lotus below them swiveled, it emanated an aura of terrifying power that quickly spread over the entire chaosworld.

  “My Daoist name was Blacklotus. My true skills do not lie in close combat, nor was my reputation established because of this Eternal weapon. It was all because of my Dao, the Dao of the Black Lotus!” God Emperor Blacklotus smiled as every inch of the entire chaosworld began to shake. “The imperial capital of the Blacklotus Empire is actually a magic treasure which I used when I roamed through the Endless Territories. I poured all of my blood, sweat, and effort into it, and it contains my Dao.”

  “What?”

  “It’s a Dao weapon.”

  “His Dao?”

  The fleeing cultivators all started to panic.

  Usually, only Samsara Daolords were capable of forging Dao weapons! It was incredibly difficult for a World-level expert to forge a Dao weapon, but if a World-level expert successfully in doing so and infusing his own Dao into his creation he would have a weapon that was perfectly suited to him, allowing him to unleash tremendous power from it.

  The deceased Immortal Owlsoar, for example, had murdered countless living beings to create that ritual tower of great sin. He had personally forged that ritual tower, and the mysteries of the Dao within it belonged to him and him alone, which was why he was quite powerful when using it. His insights into the Dao were quite average, but with that ritual tower in hand, he was actually on par with someone like World God Blackmist.

  Some World-level experts who found themselves unable to make any more breakthroughs would generally focus most of their time, energy, and effort on forging a Dao weapon for themselves.

  The same was true for God Emperor Blacklotus!

  He had personally refined and forged this gigantic black lotus, infusing it with all of his insights into the Dao of the Black Lotus. When he used this new Dao weapon to execute his Forbidden Black Lotus technique, the power of the technique would increase dramatically.

  However, after he acquired an Eternal weapon, he rarely saw the need to use his original Dao weapon. In fact, after arriving at the Badlands Territory, he had actually transformed it to make it a hundred thousand kilometers in size and treated it as a city.

  Although there were some cultivators who had a strange feeling about the city, as though the entire thing was just one giant treasure, none of them knew that this city actually contained all of the insights into the Dao of God Emperor Blacklotus.

  “Now this…this is the true Blacklotus World.”

  “Long ago, I set down restrictive spells on every part of this chaosworld. The chaosworld itself can become one with my magic treasure, creating a Blacklotus World of enormous proportions.” God Emperor Blacklotus smiled, but his eyes were filled with madness. “This…is a world of lotuses…”

  The entire chaosworld was shaking. The earth had cracked apart in many places, revealing enormous formation leylines. The seas had parted, revealing divine runes that glowed with black light. The mountains had collapsed and the cities had crumbled. The entire chaosworld was like an enormous painting that had been filled with spells…and now, all of the formations that God Emperor Blacklotus had secretly set down long ago suddenly exploded in power.

  Countless black lotuses began to take shape.

  The activation of this formation alone resulted in trillions of living beings on this chaosworld dying. God Emperor Blacklotus didn’t kill them on purpose, but he also wasn’t willing to weaken the power of his mightiest attack, the ‘Blacklotus World’, just to keep them safe.

  The black lotuses filled every inch of the entire chaosworld, and they furiously flew through the air towards the fleeing Elder Gods and other cultivators.

  The planet of Fogstone had been rocketing downwards towards the cultivators, but it was now completely surrounded by the endless black lotuses and unable to move any further.

  “Be careful.”

  “Seven formations, join forces together and do your best to hold!” The Starlord sent frantically.

  “Hold!”

  The seven thousand Elder Gods had transformed into an enormous protective circle, with Immortal Abyssus and Immortal Skyram having hidden themselves inside the circle. However, the valiant Starlord of Fogstone remained outside the circle, lashing out with his sword repeatedly as he attempted to chop apart as many black lotuses as he could.

  However, there were simply too many lotuses.

  “We won’t be able to escape. Once God Emperor Blacklotus returns, we’ll be doomed.”

  “What should we do next?”

  “How could the God Emperor be this powerful?”

  All of them were frantic, Ning included. They weren’t capable of breaching past those black lotuses; there was no way they could make it back inside the planet of Fogstone.

  “Second Uncle.” The Starlord was still wracked by grief and agony.

  “If this continues, all of us are definitely going to die.” Ning was pondering his next steps. “Right now, we’re able to block the black lotuses because all seven formations are sharing the load together, but once God Emperor Blacklotus arrives and strikes out with his Eternal weapon, we won’t even be able to dodge. If his attack lands on me, my Minor Thousand Elder Gods Formation will collapse.”

  The seven formations weren’t truly as one. Given how strong the God Emperor was, it would be easy for him to break through the defenses of the formations one by one.

  “I have no other options.” Ning frowned. Violetjewel was his most important possession, and treasures were incredibly important for any cultivator. Ning truly didn’t wish to loan Violetjewel out to someone else! It was entirely possible that the Starlord would become greedy and not return it. As the leader of the entire Fogstone lineage, the lifeblood oath he had sworn was a very lax one.

  As the leader of their organization, he had tremendous authority. He could find excuses to issue punishments to his subordinates, and so it was entirely possible for the Starlord to find a way to put Ning to death without running afoul of his lifeblood oath!

  “I’ll have him swear another lifeblood oath of my choosing, then I’ll secretly lend him Violetjewel,” Ning mused. “That’s the only way to survive this.”

  “But…there’s just one problem.”

  “Spirit of the sword.” Ning immediately reached out to commune with the sword-spirit residing within Violetjewel.

  “Master,” the sword-spirit said.

  “If I was to allow the Starlord to bind Violetjewel for his own use, how long would it take?” Ning asked. Ning didn’t know much about Eternal weapons, but he had heard that binding them was actually quite difficult.

  “According to what the o
ld master told me all those years ago, Eternal weapons are quite hard to bind,” the sword-spirit said. “Normally speaking, anyone below the World level of power will not be able to bind Eternal weapons at all. The only reason why you were able to do so after a few centuries was because of the secret ‘Heartseep technique’ which Vastheaven Palace had access to.

  “The Starlord is a World God. He can bind it. But…the quintessence core of an Eternal weapon contains some of the insights into the quintessence of a Dao from the original creator of that weapon. Thus, if you wish to fully master an Eternal weapon, you have to be approved of by the sword’s quintessence core itself,” the sword-spirit said.

  Ning nodded.

  Creating Chaos weapons and Dao weapons, by contrast, was much simpler. They didn’t have quintessence cores, just a few divine runes and tattoos.

  “For a World-level…it’ll take anywhere from four or five days to forever,” the sword-spirit said.

  “Forever? You mean, he might never be able to bind it?” Ning was stunned.

  “Right. The quintessence cores have their own personalities and will try to seek out masters that suit them. If a core is completely opposed to the person trying to bind it, there’ll be no way to succeed in binding it. However, both you and the Starlord are quite talented in the Dao of the Sword. He should be able to bind it,” the sword-spirit said. “And it should be fairly fast for the Starlord. He should be able to succeed in just a few days.”

  Ning began to panic.

  A few days?

  That was far too much time. Given how furiously World God Blackmist was fighting, he would probably run out of energy in the time needed to boil a kettle of tea. A few days?

  ……

  “Let’s see how much longer you can hang on for.” God Emperor Blacklotus was quite relaxed as he used the giant crystal scimitar in his hands to chop towards World God Blackmist again and again.