Desolate Era

by RWX

  As Fukai was fleeing in terror, Arroyo was flying straight towards him. “Leave him to me. Use your bugbeasts to help me tie this freak down.”

  “Alright.” Fukai understood that they had to work together in perfect unison if they wanted to kill this terrifying freak. Given how fast Ji Ning was, if he wanted to flee he would’ve fled long ago. Clearly, he felt absolute confident in his chances to win.

  Ning watched as the many bugbeasts and golems surged towards him. As for Arroyo, he charged straight towards Ning with both giant scimitars held at the ready.

  “That all you have?” Ning manifested [Three Heads, Six Arms], wielding a sword in each of his six arms.

  “Kill!”

  Every streak of sword-light that shot out was filled with terrifying levels of power and moved at incredible speed. Arroyo was immediately driven to the defensive. He did his best to block the attacks with his two scimitars, but he still forced into a rather ungainly position.

  It must be understood that every single sword-strike Ning delivered was slightly stronger than Arroyo’s strikes. The thing was, Ning had six swords while Arroyo merely had two scimitars. As the saying goes, it is hard for two fists to defend against six hands! Arroyo found it extremely hard to defend against the attacks, and his saber-light continuously surrounded him as he completely focused on defending against the oncoming streaks of sword-light. He wasn’t able to fight back at all.

  “Quick, quick, quick!” Arroyo frantically ordered his Hellwind Golems to hurry up.

  “Move faster, Fukai!” Arroyo was yelling at Fukai as well.

  He truly had begun to panic. As the saying went, if you focused exclusively on defense you would eventually lose. He felt as though he was walking on a tightrope, treading the fine line between life and death. Ning’s swords were simply too fast, and Arroyo felt as though he might slip up and fail at any moment.

  Slash!

  Just before the Hellwind Golems and the bugbeasts arrived, Ning finally managed to land a streak of sword-light against Arroyo’s waist. Arroyo instantly turned pale as he was knocked backwards by the force of that blow.

  Boom! Boom! Boom! As the saying went, when he’s ill, go for the kill!

  When experts fought, victory or defeat could be determined by the slightest of things.

  Ning already held the upper hand to begin with, and he was so fast that his foes wouldn’t have any chance to recover from any mistakes. He sent out several furious sword-strikes on succession, each one landing directly against Arroyo. Arroyo was like a moth that had been swept into the raging waves of the sea, completely unable to resist whatsoever.

  “N-n-no…!” Arroyo furiously did his best to fight back, but his two scimitars had been completely suppressed to the point that he wasn’t even able to chop out with them. Just at this moment, a black serpent suddenly appeared.

  Generally speaking in a duel of experts, when one person was at a disadvantage that person would immediately flee.

  Alas…

  Arroyo wasn’t as fast as Ning. There was no way he would be able to escape.

  The black rope quickly slithered forward like a viper, wrapping itself around Arroyo’s body. It quickly bound Arroyo up tightly, causing a look of despair to appear on his face.

  He was finished!

  * * *

  Book 26, Chapter 12 - The Curtain Call

  As the ropes tightened around Arroyo’s body, he couldn’t help but think back to his life within that cold, grim, ancient clan of his. His father had been a remote and exalted figure. All of his father’s descendants had to work hard to cultivate and fight for everything they wanted! Arroyo himself had started off as just one of many weak descendants, but he had carved out a path all his own through the corpses of the others and eventually became a master-class World God. He became his father’s most cherished child! But even in his dreams, Arroyo’s truest desire was to become a real member of the Aeonian race.

  “I lost.” Arroyo stared forwards.

  The white-robed youth was standing in the air in front of him, his main sword still slung over his back. The youth produced a small golden gourd. Whoosh! A powerful sucking force was applied to Arroyo’s body, and he wasn’t able to fight back against it at all due to the ropes that were binding him.

  Swoosh! He was sucked straight into the gourd. Once he entered the gourd, the ropes automatically released him and flew back out.

  “No. No! I can’t accept this. I can’t!” Arroyo stared at his surroundings. There were a pair of spinning maelstroms within this gourd, one of black energy and the other of golden energy. As soon as Arroyo appeared, both maelstroms instantly exploded with terrifying levels of power as both began to grind towards him.

  Grind, grind, grind. The terrifying grinding power filled every inch of the entire gourd. There was no place to run or hide at all. Arroyo’s only option was to rely on his divine power and his body to resist, but once his divine power ran dry he would be ground into dust.

  “Right. I still have my Hellwind Golems.” Arroyo could suddenly sense those eighteen ripples of power that were linked to him from outside the gourd. Those were his golems, all of which were completely loyal to him. He wasn’t dead yet, which meant they were still in his service.

  “Join forces with Fukai to kill that freak. Kill him!” Arroyo sent a mental order to his eighteen Hellwind Golems. “Kill him, seize his golden gourd, then release me.”

  “Yes, Master.” The eighteen golems responded with complete devotion.

  However, Arroyo himself knew that this was all just wishful thinking. From his battle against Ji Ning, he knew exactly how fast Ji Ning was. Would his eighteen Hellwind Golems really be able to succeed in killing that freak of a cultivator, even if they worked in harmony with all those bugbeasts?

  Even if they were lucky enough to actually kill Ji Ning, Ji Ning’s corpse would probably fall into Fukai’s hands. It would be incredibly difficult for the eighteen Hellwind Golems to snatch Ji Ning’s corpse, find the gourd, then manage to release him. Still, in principle Arroyo still had a shot to stay alive. All he could do was try his best to seize it.

  Golden gourd in hand, Ji Ning stared at the eighteen Hellwind Golems charging towards him. He actually felt quite relieved upon seeing this. “Thank goodness these golems didn’t self-destruct.”

  As Ning saw it, these golems would soon be part of his property. For them to self-destruct would be a terrible waste.

  During the first great war of the Three Realms, when the Lord of All Things had died his Envoys had all self-destructed. However, this was primarily because the Lord of All Things himself was very skilled in the art of constructs. He had personally created those Envoys and had naturally left behind certain self-destruct seals within them. By contrast, Ning had no way of causing any of the golems he had purchased during the treasure auction to self-destruct.

  Arroyo had received these eighteen golems from his own father and similarly had no way to make them self-destruct. The creation of each golem required an enormous amount of blood, sweat, and precious materials. If one of them self-destructed, it would make all that work go to waste and render the golem useless. At most, it could be melted down to have its Five Elements essence extracted from it. Thus, golems that were available for sale would rarely have self-destruct mechanisms built into them. Generally speaking, only golems that were created for personal use by their users would possibly have self-destruct mechanisms built into them.

  “What should I do? What should I do?!” Fukai was completely stunned. “Arroyo was actually captured!”

  “Should I flee?” Fukai wanted to run. “But if I can’t acquire the Eternal blood, I’ll still end up dying!” They had all sworn lifeblood oaths upon accepting this mission from the Aeonian Kingdom.

  To flee was to die.

  Then… the only answer was to fight!

  “Those eighteen Hellwind Golems haven’t given up yet. Good.” Fukai’s eyes turned bloodshot as he pointed towards Ning and roared furio
usly, “Kill him! Kill him for me!”

  “AROOOO!” “GWRAAAAR!”

  There was an awe-inspiring army of fifty-eight bugbeasts flying through the air, and they charged straight towards Ning alongside the eighteen Hellwind Golems. Alas, the Thunderlight Wings on Ning’s back simply flapped gently, allowing him to transform into an arced line that easily moved past the attacking golems and bugbeasts. When Fukai saw this, he was filled with despair… which only strengthened when Ning charged straight towards him.

  “Shit. Come on then! You think you can kill me?” Fukai began to go berserk and flew straight towards his bugbeasts and the golems. If he could ensure that they were by his side, then Ning would have to go through them in order to get to him.

  “Oh? Still struggling? It won’t work.” Ning frowned slightly as he suddenly reached back and placed his right hand upon the hilt of the sword he was carrying.

  Clang. The Eternal weapon, Violetjewel, came out from its sheath!

  Ning moved with incredible speed as he charged straight towards Fukai. However, a black-armored avian bugbeast was still able to intercept him midway.

  Bang! Ning casually struck out with the palm of his left hand, almost as if he was swatting away a mosquito. His massive palm had been transformed to become roughly the same size as the bugbeast, and when it landed against the bugbeast’s body it sent the bugbeast tumbling backwards.

  “Let’s do this!” When Fukai saw Ning pressing near, a look of delight appeared in his eyes as more and more bugbeasts and golems were gathering around him.

  “This Dao-seal of mine is enough to block several of his full-force attacks. If he lands a hit on me, I’ll borrow the momentum of the strike to flee far away from him, but he’ll remain trapped and surrounded by all these bugbeasts and golems. He’s such an idiot! How dare he actually charge straight inside?” Fukai was wildly excited upon seeing this.

  Previously, Ning had relied on his speed in order to avoid the bugbeasts and golems. He had never actually engaged them in battle, and this was his first time actually putting himself ‘at risk’. Fukai felt the first stirrings of hope.

  Whoosh. Ning charged down from above.

  Boom! His mighty body smashed into a golem, sending it stumbling backwards as Ning swept straight past it.

  Finally, Ning struck out with his Eternal sword, Violetjewel. Violetjewel instantly transformed into an enormous streak of bloody light, carrying an aura of terrifying sharpness as it chopped straight towards Fukai.

  [Quintessence Sword-Intent], second stance – Allgod stance!

  “B-b-but…” Fukai’s face suddenly turned pale. When Ning chopped downwards with that terrifying sword, the bloody, baleful aura emanating from it instantly pervaded Fukai’s mind, causing even him to be filled with a feeling of uncontrollable fear.

  This was different.

  This was completely different from last time!

  Last time, Ji Ning’s sword had ‘merely’ been able to consume more than 20% of the energy of Fukai’s Dao-seal. The stance looked the same, but the aura was far more powerful this time! Fukai’s very truesoul was shuddering in horror.

  BOOM! The aura of golden light surrounding him trembled, then broke apart.

  When the sword-light slammed against Fukai’s body, Fukai couldn’t help but vomit out a mouthful of blood. He stared ashen-faced at Ning, a look of despair in his eyes. “How is this possible? How could this have happened? My Dao-seal still had 80% of its power remaining. How could it have been shattered by one strike, with that strike still carrying enough excess power to wound me!? I have a Dao armor and a protective divine ability. Can it be that his sword is as powerful as the sword of a Samsara Daolord?”

  A mocking look suddenly appeared in Fukai’s eyes. “Kill! Kill! All bugbeasts, begin killing your peers. Wipe out all the other bugbeasts. Kill them!” Upon seeing that terrifying strike of Ning’s, Fukai finally realized what was going on.

  If even his Dao-seal had been incapable of resisting a full-force attack from this monster, this monster clearly wasn’t someone he could possibly contend with. Most likely, Ji Ning would be able to dispatch the bugbeasts with a single blow each. Neither Fukai nor Arroyo were a match for him.

  “Kill each other! Wipe each other out! You monster, the reason you didn’t even kill a single bugbeast was because you wanted to take control over them, right? Haha, in your dreams!” Fukai had gone completely insane.

  Arroyo was unable to destroy the golems under his control, and Fukai was similarly unable to cause his bugbeasts to commit suicide. Bugbeasts were living creatures, after all. One of the most overriding and basic of instincts for any living creature was to stay alive! However, what Fukai could do was to order them to fight amongst themselves. In fact, one of the most common ways of rearing bugbeasts was to have weak bugbeasts fight amongst themselves and devour each other, allowing the final survivors to be incredibly strong.

  Boom! Boom! Bang!

  The fifty-eight bugbeasts gave up chasing after Ji Ning and began to fight amongst each other. Blood, limbs, scales, and fur flew everywhere as the bugbeasts began a wild civil war amongst themselves.

  “Aww, shit.” Ning had originally been planning on drawing Fukai into his gourd and slowly ‘digesting’ him with it, but his face now sank as he changed his mind.

  “Die, then.” Ning exploded forth with full power.

  Violetjewel once more stabbed through the air, causing a terrifying streak of bloody light to descend. Every single blow which Ning now delivered was filled with his maximum power and was capable of destroying a fully-charged version of the Dao-seal which Fukai had just used up. There was no way Fukai could possibly withstand such a strike! Although he had Dao armor and a protective divine ability, his divine power would be quickly wrung dry by the power of these consecutive attacks.

  A mere twelve blows later, Fukai was all out of divine power.

  Bang! Upon the thirteenth sword-blow, Fukai’s body trembled a final time, then began to split apart and crumble as though he was made out of clay. His eyes, however, were fixed towards the skies. He could still faintly see the blood-colored streak of sword-light that had been left behind by the final blow.

  “Such beautiful sword-light.” Fukai closed his eyes.

  Fukai’s body completely crumbled apart and his truesoul dissipated along with it.

  Arroyo and Fukai had sought to slay Ning in order to seize the divine blood of the Eternal. Alas, in the end Arroyo had been sucked into the gourd while Fukai had been slain on the spot.

  * * *

  Book 26, Chapter 13 - The Three Realms

  “Seven died.” Although Ji Ning had seized control over the jade green globe as fast as he could, more than seven of the bugbeasts had died during those brief moments of fratricide. Now, only fifty-one remained.

  “Stop!” After binding the globe, Ning immediately exerted his control over the bugbeasts and ordered, “Surround those golems!”

  “Yes.” “Yes.” …

  The bugbeasts immediately acknowledged the order obediently and began to swarm around the Hellwind Golems, giving them no place to run.

  ……

  Within the golden gourd.

  Arroyo’s divine power was being depleted at an incredibly fast rate as the power of those two streams of energy continued to grind down at his body. His soul was linked to the Hellwind Golems outside and so he ‘saw’ everything that had happened.

  “Those who kill others and take their treasures are destined to be killed in turn, one day.”

  Arroyo emanated a bloody aura because his Dao was a Dao of slaughter. He had always been the winner in his battles, and so he had advanced step by step and left a trail of corpses behind his wake. However, this battle for the Eternal blood was the most important battle in his life. If he won, he would’ve become a true member of the Aeonians and skyrocketed in status in power. However… he had failed.

  “Ahahaha… today, Fukai and I have fallen to your hands. However, how many
cultivators shall truly gain eternity? One day, you will fall as well. You will die as well! Ahahaha…” Arroyo laughed wildly, and as he did so the last drops of his divine power were used up. His body was shattered apart, then ground into dust.

  ……

  Ning could sense the crazed death throes of Arroyo within the gourd, but he remained quite calm.

  It was true. The path of cultivation was a very difficult one to tread, and only a few Samsara Daolords existed in the Endless Territories to begin with. Samsara Daolords treaded the line between life and death with each step they took. How few of them would be able to take the final step, achieving the Daomerge and gaining true eternity for themselves?

  However, Ning was determined to continue moving forward on his path, motivated by a faint, dim hope that he would never release. He hoped that one day, he would gain the power to reverse the flows of spacetime and bring his wife back to his side. This was the only way he would ever be able to see her again.

  “One thing at a time.”

  The eighteen Hellwind Golems had lost their master. Ning had overwhelmingly superior power and thus was quickly able to forcibly bind them.

  “Time to leave.” Ning’s own godsense was spread out to cover this entire chaosworld. The disturbance caused by his battle against Fukai and Arroyo was quite enormous. Although both sides had kept control over themselves and their power, the Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals stationed in this chaosworld were still so terrified that all of them had gone into hiding and were unwilling to come out.

  Ning stepped forward and through the world-membrane, returning to the primordial chaos outside the world.

  ……

  Outside the Three Realms. Within the primordial chaos.

  A black-robed Ji Ning was standing here within the primordial chaos, staring towards the Three Realms. Although his Primaltwin had stood guard over the Three Realms this entire time, his lifeblood oath made it so that he was completely unable to actually re-join the Three Realms. Only upon reaching Vastheaven Palace and completing the lifeblood oath would Ning be able to return to the Three Realms.