Desolate Era

by RWX

  The faces of both the blood-robed youth and the gold-robed youth tightened… but then they smiled coldly.

  “Would those ants even dare to compete against us?”

  “If they come, they die.”

  Both felt quite confident in their abilities.

  “Mm…” The three-eyed man nodded slowly. “I can sense four other World-level experts within the Allgod Estate right now. I’ll teleport the three closest ones here.”

  ……

  “Hmph. You wanted to resist me?” World God Dragonbinder was seated atop a boulder, a somewhat excited look in his eyes as he stared at a flying needle which he had just recently acquired.

  Rumble…

  Suddenly, space around him began to twist and distort.

  “How can this-…” Dragonbinder’s face twisted. He had never heard of something like this happening before, of a person tripping a formation despite sitting there and not even moving. Space around him formed into a spatial whirlpool which quickly drew Dragonbinder into its folds.

  Swoosh.

  World God Dragonbinder disappeared without a trace.

  ……

  “Perhaps I’ll have a chance of succeeding once I become a master-class World-level expert.” A green-haired man dressed in long pink robes and whose narrow eyes were filled with foxlike cunning was staring at a palace in front of him. He had two females behind him, both Ancestral Immortals.

  “Yes, I have to reach the level of full mastery first. If I still fail, then I’ll simply accept my death within this Fog Sea.” A look of resolve was in the pink-robed man’s eyes.

  Rumble…

  Space twisted around him as well as that spatial vortex appeared.

  “What’s going on?” The pink-robed man was astonished. He had spent more than a thousand years in the Fog Sea but had never encountered a situation like this.

  “Master!” His two maids were shocked as well.

  The whirlpool of twisted space completely enveloped him as well as both of his maids.

  Swoosh.

  All three of them disappeared without a trace.

  ……

  “Youji, you need to spend some time thinking about how to infuse your insights regarding the Dao of Fire into your combat tactics.” Ning was by Su Youji’s side, watching as she filled the air around her with countless curved scimitars. These were the treasures left behind by Chaos Immortal Foxbold, and they actually a very good fit for the Flamefairy.

  But of course, Ning would help Su Youji acquire even better weapons after they left the Allgod Estate.

  “Alright.” Su Youji nodded.

  Rumble…

  Spatial ripples began to appear in the surrounding area.

  “What’s going on?!” Ning and the Flamefairy were both shocked. The spatial ripples twisted into a vortex which quickly encompassed the two of them, giving them no chance to hide or to dodge.

  Swoosh.

  Both Ning and the Flamefairy disappeared as well.

  ……

  The blood-robed youth, the gold-robed youth, and the five World-level retainers were all standing before the great plaza. As for the three-eyed man, he stood at the very front of them.

  At this moment, a series of spatial ripples began to appear next to him.

  Whoosh. Whoosh. Whoosh.

  A series of figures began to appear from within the spatial ripples. The three groups consisted of the pink-robed man and his two maids, World God Dragonbinder, and Ji Ning and Su Youji.

  “Even Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals were roped in?” The blood-robed youth laughed. “Why’d you even bring them? My servants are all World-level experts.”

  “For them to come means death.” The gold-robed youth laughed coldly.

  Although the two wanted nothing more than to kill each other, that was because they viewed each other as dangerous opponents. As for other World-level experts? They truly held very little respect for the vast majority of them.

  “What’s going on?”

  “Why are we here?”

  The cultivators who had just been forcibly dragged to this place all stared around in a bewildered fashion.

  “Senior apprentice-brother Dragonbinder.” When Ning saw Dragonbinder, he couldn’t help but call out to him mentally.

  “Brother Ji Ning. Flamefairy.” When World God Dragonbinder saw Ning and Su Youji appear, he was also delighted and hurriedly messaged both of them. They could all sense that something strange was happening and so confined their conversation to the mental realm.

  “Hmph. All of you were quite lucky. The seven of us risked our lives and nearly died to make it to this place, but you were lucky enough to be teleported straight here.” The blood-robed youth laughed coldly.

  “Wrong. They aren’t lucky. They are unlucky as all hell… because they are going to die very soon,” the gold-robed youth said calmly.

  * * *

  Book 25, Chapter 33 - The Samsara Grinders

  Ji Ning, Flamefairy Su Youji, World God Dragonbinder, and the rest of the cultivators who had been teleported here glanced cautiously at their new surroundings. They heard the words of both the blood-robed youth and the gold-robed youth, and it led them to come to a certain conclusion. This conclusion was simply so inconceivable that it caused all of them to feel shock and awe in their hearts!

  “Are we standing before the Castrum Divinitus?” Ning raised his head to stare at the infinitely vast castle before him. “According to the information I purchased, one has to experience countless dangers in order to make it to the doorstep of the Castrum Divinitus, the coremost region of the entire Allgod Estate. It is said that death is virtually assured for anyone who tries to make this journey! Can it be that these seven World Gods have all successfully made it here?”

  Seven had survived the journey through the Allgod Estate to this place. How many had originally been in those two squads? According to the accepted odds of only one in ten surviving, could it be that dozens of them had made the attempt? Were there really this many suicidal World Gods in the world?

  “Welcome, our three newcomers.” The three-eyed man’s voice rang out as he glanced at the three new World-level experts. Everyone on the plaza fell silent.

  “I forcibly teleported all of you here, and I imagine you are rather confused,” the three-eyed man said. “Although being teleported here can be described as a devastating disaster, it can also be described as a tremendous opportunity.”

  Ning and the others all looked at the bald three-eyed man. The three-eyed man, simply standing there, radiated a faint aura of absolute transcendent power. Although he was clearly suppressing his aura, Ning and the others could all tell that this man could probably wipe them all out with a single gentle breath! And indeed, their senses were accurate. This three-eyed man, the Goldeye Golem, was the First Guardian of the Castrum Divinitus. He was every bit as powerful as Daolord Solesky was.

  “The three of you, and the seven of you!” The three-eyed man pointed towards the cultivators on both sides, and all of them listened obediently.

  “You must take part in the trial of the Twin Samsara Heavens,” the three-eyed man said.

  “Senior.” World God Dragonbinder couldn’t help but speak out. “Why must we experience this trial? Must we take part in it? Also… you spoke of a ‘tremendous opportunity’. What are you speaking of?”

  “You must take part,” the three-eyed man replied calmly.

  Dragonbinder couldn’t help but sigh to himself.

  He wasn’t a fool. He could tell that this Twin Samsara Heavens trial had to be an incredibly dangerous one. Even though he was a disciple of the Badlands Court, he had never even heard of the Castrum Divinitus forcibly teleporting World-level experts to this location to take part in any trials. In addition, the other group of seven World Gods gave him a sense of enormous danger!

  Clearly, either of the two squads in that group could effortlessly kill him.

  He didn’t want this ‘tremendous opportunity’. A
ll he wanted to do was get out of here! But alas, there was no way out.

  “The seven of them experienced countless dangers on their journey, and many of their comrades died on the way to this place.” The three-eyed man pointed towards the two squads as he explained to Ning and the others. “They were allowed to make certain requests of me, and if they requested bugbeasts, golems, high-level techniques, or other similar items they would’ve been given fairly simple trials.”

  “However, they only desired one thing… the divine blood of the Eternal.”

  “The divine blood of Eternal Emperor Melobo.” A dangerous tone could be heard in the three-eyed man’s voice.

  Ning’s heart clenched when he heard this. Emperor Melobo?

  Wasn’t that the Eternal Emperor which Daolord Allgod had wished to kill for so many years?

  “The divine blood of the Eternal is of inestimable value.” The three-eyed man swept Ning and the others with his gaze. “Its value vastly surpasses the value of any items you are familiar with such as Pseudo Samsara Pills or Eternal weapons! It is one of the ten most valuable items in the entire Castrum Divinitus. As for its purposes… if one of you is able to obtain it, I’ll tell you then.”

  The blood-robed youth had a look in his eyes that could only be described as ‘berserk’.

  Although the gold-robed youth was more sedate, one could also see the flames of excitement burning deep within his icy cold gaze.

  “Blood of the Eternal? What’s that?” World God Dragonbinder and the pink-robed man were both quite puzzled. They had never even heard of such a thing.

  “Hmph. You fools.”

  “You know nothing.”

  The blood-robed youth and the gold-robed youth exchanged a glance, completely disdainful of the newcomers who had just appeared.

  The three-eyed man waved his hand. Suddenly, an enormous black and white millstone and grindstone appeared the air above the great plaza. The two giant stones were a hundred kilometers in size, and they slowly descended downwards before alighting on the plaza.

  “This is the Samsara Grinders.” The three-eyed man pointed at the enormous grinder. “I will split the ten of you into five pairs! Each pair will take turns battling atop the Samsara Grinders, and your opponents shall be the many warriors who will appear and attack you.”

  “In short, you will only achieve victory when your opponent and any forces he controls all perish!”

  “If both you and your opponent perish at the same time, you can only blame your own poor luck.” The three-eyed man continued, “As for the surviving cultivators, they will each blessed with a small bit of fortune. The cultivator whose performance was the best will have a chance of acquiring the divine blood of the Eternal.”

  “A chance?” The blood-robed youth and the gold-robed youth both spoke out at the same time.

  “If you wish to acquire the Eternal blood, then do your best to kill. Kill the warriors on the Samsara Grinders and kill your foe! The more you kill, the more power you reveal, the greater the chances that you will acquire the Eternal blood.” The three-eyed man said calmly, “You have to at least meet my minimum expectations. Otherwise, none of you should even think about acquiring the Eternal blood.”

  The breaths of the two youths turned ragged. They had paid an enormous price to get here! But alas, they had no other options.

  “The first pair.”

  The bald three-eyed man swept his gaze across the ten World-level experts. He first pointed towards the World God standing behind the blood-robed youth. This World God actually had bone armor growing out of his upper back and protecting his chest. Spikes grew out from his elbows and knees, and his face was covered with a mask of bone which covered everything but his eyes and his mouth.

  The three-eyed man pointed at the World God and said, “You!”

  “And… you!” The three-eyed man then pointed towards the pink-robed man.

  “Master.” World God Boneplate looked at the blood-robed youth respectfully.

  “Just kill him as fast as you can,” the blood-robed youth instructed.

  “Yes,” World God Boneplate said respectfully.

  The pink-robed man frowned as he carefully scrutinized his opponent in the Samsara Grinders. “Not good. I’ve never even seen this man before. He probably isn’t a World God of the Badlands Territory. I sense tremendous danger from this man! Still, since he’s willing to be the blood-robed youth’s servant, he probably shouldn’t be too powerful.”

  The pink-robed man murmured softly to himself, “Looks like I’ll have to go all out.”

  “The two of you, listen up! Each of you will only be permitted to use nine Elder Gods or Ancestral Immortals at most! You can at most use a total of nine bugbeasts! You are also limited to no more than nine golems! Furthermore, none of your World-level servants are permitted to take part!” The three-eyed man finished his instructions, then gave the final commands. “Now, go up onto the Samsara Grinders. Once I give the order, you can begin your attacks.”

  “Yes,” World God Boneplate said.

  “Shit. I can’t use my thousand-man Elder God Formation!” The pink-robed man’s face turned pale. That formation was one of his killer trump cards.

  Whoosh. Whoosh.

  World God Boneplate and the pink-robed man both flew atop the enormous black-white bedstone, rapidly shrinking to become ant-sized as they landed.

  “The Samsara Grinders contains a dimension of its own,” World God Dragonbinder sent mentally.

  “Agreed.” Ning nodded.

  The black-white bedstone and millstone were both covered with countless marvelous runes and patterns.

  World God Boneplate stood there, staring at his distant foe. He said aloud, “Chaos Immortal Flygrace. I recognize you. You have the power of an elite World-level expert.” His voice boomed with power and strength.

  “But I’ve never heard of you before,” the pink-robed Chaos Immortal Flygrace replied.

  Rumble…

  The enormous Samsara Grinders began to tremble as the countless runes covering its surface began to emit light. The light quickly began to swirl together and condense into human-shaped warriors dressed in golden armor. There had to be thousands of those golden warriors, and every single one of them had the aura of a World-level expert.

  “What?! How can there be this many golden warriors?” Everyone watching this was shocked, including the two combatants on the Samsara Grinders as well as everyone watching from below. Their faces all turned pale!

  The auras generated by these golden warriors indicated that all of them had reached the World level of power. Even if they were merely at the threshold, there were thousands of them! This was utterly terrifying.

  “Begin, then.” The three-eyed man gave the order.

  “Kill!”

  “Kill!”

  The thousands of golden warriors transformed into streaks of light, moving at the speed of light as they charged towards the pink-robed man and World God Boneplate.

  * * *

  Book 25, Chapter 34 - The Silkmaid Race

  “Not good.” The pink-robed Chaos Immortal Flygrace had an ugly look on his face. He immediately willed the area around him to become filled with silvery-white shuttles. After they appeared, he furiously poured all of his Immortal energy into them, unleashing the power of the seals hidden within this set of Dao weapons. Instantly, the nine silvery-white shuttles began to transform and blur, first dividing into a total of eighty-one shuttles, then dividing into 729 shuttles, then…

  Soon, more than ten thousand flying shuttles had appeared in the area around Chaos Immortal Flygrace, and they clustered around him in a dense array.

  “Kill!”

  “Kill him!”

  The golden warriors bellowed with rage. Some of them wielded warblades, some wielded spears, some wielded gourds, some wielded ropes, and some wielded whips. They all surged forward en masse as they wildly charged towards their foes.

  Boom! Boom! Boom! These golden warriors
quickly entered into combat against Chaos Immortal Flygrace. The thousands of flying shuttles around him all transformed into streaks of light as they furiously plunged down upon the gold-armored warriors. Due to the limitations of space, only a hundred golden warriors could attack him at the same time. Thus, there were over a hundred shuttles striking against every single golden warrior.

  Massive explosions could be heard ringing out nonstop.

  The golden warriors had no fear of death and continued to charge forwards fearlessly. Some died due to their injuries, but more of their fellows would charge forward to take their spots. The runes of the Samsara Grinders committed to emit that dazzling light, causing a steady stream of golden warriors to continue to be born. Slowly, the total number of golden warriors atop the Samsara Grinders began to increase.

  “Not good. I’m already using my most powerful area attack technique, and I’m using up my Immortal energy at an incredible rate. Despite that, I’m just barely able to hold on.” Chaos Immortal Flygrace was quickly forced into shrinking his defensive perimeter.

  “Kill!”

  “Charge!”

  The golden warriors charged forward in an endless flood, fearing neither injury nor death. Quite a few of the silvery-white shuttles actually vanished, as there were only nine real ones to begin with. The rest were all condensed out of Immortal energy.

  “Not good. I can’t hang on for much longer.” Chaos Immortal Flygrace spared a moment to glance at his distant opponent, wanting to see how his opponent was fairing. The distant World God Boneplate was slaughtering all of the golden warriors around him with incomparable valor. More and more golden warriors had appeared around him as well, and they had started to use teamwork, with some using ropes to slow him down and others using spears to strike at him from afar. World God Boneplate was starting to look a bit haggard, and yet he was still able to hold his own.

  “A master-class World God?” Chaos Immortal Flygrace’s face changed. When he saw World God Boneplate continue to dispatch the golden warriors with comparative ease, Chaos Immortal Flygrace immediately understood just how powerful his foe was. In addition, his foe had clearly slain more of the golden warriors than he had.