Desolate Era

by RWX

  As for their earlier clash? Before revealing his true form and unleashing his full power, he looked just like an ordinary cultivator dressed in black robes. He had only been able to unleash roughly ten or twenty percent of his maximum power in that state, which was why his full-strength blow was merely on par with one of Ning’s sword-strikes. Things were completely different now.

  “You are definitely going to die. You are gonna die!” Sabafey’s hoarse, maddened voice rang out. He held an advantage in both speed and power!

  This was the first time since arriving at the Astral Islands that Ning had been in such a terrible situation. He was being completely dominated.

  This was someone who was just as fast and as strong as him, but who also had an even higher level of insight into the Dao. Sabafey had been training here at the Astral Islands for an extremely long period of time, and he possessed that strange domain which was even stronger than Ning’s [Novessence Thunder].

  Ning was being crushed.

  As the saying goes, if you always stay on the defensive, sooner or later you will lose. Ning no longer dared to let things continue like this.

  “Come out!” Ning was furious as well. This Sabafey really was trying to kill him and sever his path.

  Whoosh!

  A black-crimson gourd suddenly appeared out of nowhere next to Ning. This was the Elementum Waterflame Gourd! The gourd hovered behind Ning, then instantly spat out two streaks of dragon-shaped lightning. One streak of lightning was the Watersmoke Lightning, and it looked a flood of black water descending from an enormous stormcloud. The power of this lightning was so tremendous that it alone was superior to Ning’s [Novessence Thunder]. As for the second streak of lightning, it looked like a cloud of flame and was just as strong as the first streak of lightning.

  Two streaks of lightning. The first was Watersmoke Lightning, the second was Firecloud lightning. Fire and water were incompatible by nature! They were opposing forces! But these two streaks of Dao lightning simultaneously coiled around each other as they thundered towards the sable freak, Sabafey.

  “What is that?!” The sable creature was shocked.

  BOOM! BOOM!

  The two streaks of Dao lightning showed no mercy at all. They simultaneously hammered down upon the sable creature, then began smashing into each other as well. As the two streaks of fiery lightning and watery lightning collided, they unleashed an utterly ruinous level of explosive power that caused even Ning himself to be in awe.

  Even most supreme World Gods would be instantly slain by such an attack. As for transcendent World Gods, they would be heavily injured at the very least. A few consecutive blows would ensure that they would perish.

  Only Daolords of the First Step would be able to endure such a blow, but even they would be heavily restricted and bound.

  Boom! Boom! The two streaks of Dao lightning furiously swirled around the sable creature’s body, and each time they collided they released tremendous amounts of power, causing Sabafey’s speed and strength to both fall dramatically.

  “This is Dao lightning!” Sabafey called out in shock.

  “Yes it is.” Ning charged forward once more.

  “So what if you have Dao lightning? It can at most slow me down. It can’t kill me!” Sabafey remained as ferocious and savage as ever. His true body was indeed comparable to that of a Daolord of the First Step, allowing him to endure the strikes of these two types of Dao lightning. However, he was still hindered tremendously by them. He was now slightly slower than Ning!

  Boom! Boom! Boom! His warblade and his greatsword still held roughly half of their former level of power. He was still able to crush Ning in power.

  Still, things were now much simpler for Ning. Now that he had an advantage in speed, he was able to advance and withdraw at his leisure. In addition, his foe’s advantage in strength was now much smaller than before.

  “Kill!”

  “Kill!”

  The two continued to battle ferociously.

  “I am an Aberrant. This cultivator has to be using his divine power at an incredible rate. He won’t be able to hang on for much longer, while I’ll be able to keep going for quite some time.” Sabafey was filled with confidence. He was certain he would be able to keep fighting for an extended period of time.

  “Every single drop of my azureflower mist energy represents the distillation of all my divine power, heartforce, and Immortal energy. I’m not using any particularly powerful divine abilities for this fight. I’ll be able to go on for ages. This Aberrant has to be using some sort of secret art which allows him to release tremendous amounts of power, but I’m certain he won’t be able to maintain it for too long.” Ning was filled with confidence as well.

  Ning was merely using [Three Heads, Six Arms]. This divine ability used up fairly little divine power. Ning was mainly relying on his azureflower mist energy in this battle, and it wasn’t being used up that quickly.

  This battle went on for more than two full hours.

  At first, both were very confident. As time went on, both Sabafey and Ning grew increasingly amazed. By now, Ning only had sixteen drops of his azureflower mist energy left.

  “I admit defeat!” Finally, Sabafey let out a disgruntled growl. “Given how much power you have unleashed, you have to be using up divine power at an incredible rate. How is it even possible for you to continue fighting for this long? How?!”

  If Ning was using abilities like the [Starseizing Hand], he would indeed be using up divine power at an astonishing rate.

  Ning let out a sigh of relief.

  He had won. Finally, he had won.

  He could sense the golden book in his possession begin to transform. He was now under the protection of the Astral Islands, which acknowledged the fact that he had just won ten battles in a row on the fourth island.

  “Hand over your legacy treasures.” Ning stared at him. If it wasn’t for the fact that this person was also under protection, Ning would’ve shown him no mercy at all and slain him. This person wasn’t going to be able to hold on for much longer.

  “Don’t be smug. I was defeated by the others on the fifth stratum, after all.” Sabafey let out a hoarse growl. “There are many on the fifth stratum who are stronger than me. You are indeed quite strong, but your insights into the sword are quite mediocre. Ahaha… you are even inferior to an Aberrant like myself.”

  As he spoke, he waved his hand and tossed out a large amount of legacy treasures. Upon losing, he had to hand over everything he had unless Ning voluntarily accepted less. He didn’t dare violate the rules of the Astral Islands.

  “EXIT!” Sabafey raised his head and let out an angry shout.

  Whoosh! Spacetime twisted around him, causing his sable form to disappear into thin air.

  Ning waved his hand, collecting the many legacy treasures. His golden book immediately sent him an alert, informing him that he had already acquired a full legacy and that he was permitted to leave the Astral Islands whenever he wished.

  “A full set?” Ning wasn’t that surprised. He knew that Sabafey had many legacy treasures on him, including a full legacy set.

  Swoosh!

  Ning waved his hand again, causing the Elementum Waterflame Gourd to fly towards him as well.

  Ning put away the gourd. If it hadn’t been for this gourd he probably would’ve lost this fight, even if he was able to keep himself alive. Upon losing, he would’ve been knocked down to the third stratum once more, where he would’ve had to slowly accumulate enough wins for another promotion.

  “Sabafalle. He was merely an individual who wasn’t strong enough to stay in the fifth stratum permanently. He was beaten down into the fourth stratum… and yet, he is incredibly powerful. My sword-arts are indeed a weak point.” Prior to this, Ning didn’t fully realize how great a weakness this was. However, the more he battled against other incredibly talented figures, the more he realized how lacking his sword-arts were. In the end, he simply hadn’t spent enough time as a World-level culti
vator.

  “So many of the cultivators on the fifth stratum are more powerful than him?”

  A flicker of battle-lust appeared in Ning’s eyes. “Good. The stronger they are, the better.”

  Ning raised his head and called out, “Exit!”

  Whoosh.

  Spacetime twisted around Ning, causing him to be teleported away and back to his own astral island.

  * * *

  Book 26, Chapter 36 - The Watcher in the Dark Abyss

  The six strata of astral islands continuously circled around each other in a very orderly manner.

  At the very top stratum, the sixth stratum, there was just a single astral island. The fifth stratum had a total of twelve astral islands that slowly circled each other.

  Rumble…

  One of the hundred-plus islands belonging to the fourth stratum began to slowly fly upwards.

  “What?”

  “Is that…”

  “Someone made it to the fifth stratum.”

  The many cultivators on the lower strata of the Astral Islands all raised their heads to stare at the higher-level islands. Hundreds of thousands of them were watching as this particular island ascended from the fourth stratum to the fifth stratum.

  Many cultivators felt complicated feelings in their heart. They dreamed of being able to make it to the fifth stratum. That way, they would similarly be able to receive the protection of the Astral Islands! Alas, this was far, far too difficult a task.

  “A change in destiny…”

  This was what countless cultivators were murmuring silently to themselves.

  ……

  “He was quite fast. He was brought here alongside the rest of us in this batch, but he actually made it to the fifth stratum before I did.” A jade-haired woman dressed in silvery, semi-translucent gauze was murmuring to herself softly from within her island on the fourth stratum. “And a cultivator at that. I’ve never ever met any World-level cultivators who are a match for me, but almost as soon as I arrived in the Brightshore Kingdom I encountered one. How intriguing. What’s more, the Brightshore Kingdom treats cultivators and Aberrants equally, giving no special preferences or advantages to either.”

  “I like this place.” A smile appeared on the jade-haired woman’s face as natural mist began to swirl around her.

  ……

  “I never would’ve thought that those puny cultivators would give rise to someone who might be a match for me. He actually made it to the fifth stratum before I did.” A devilishly handsome silver-haired youth was murmuring softly to himself.

  He was a member of the Aeonians who had long ago found the path he needed to take to become a Samsara Daolord. However, he wanted to become more powerful before doing so. That way, he would benefit even further from his Awakening of his Aeonian bloodlines.

  Still, he had to admit that the Brightshore Kingdom truly had gathered many freakishly talented figures. The fourth stratum alone was filled with many figures who had been quite difficult for him to overcome. This made him quite cautious.

  Anyone capable of surging into the fifth stratum so quickly was definitely a powerful figure.

  “Although cultivators are individually weak, there’s simply too many of them. There are far more of them around than we Aeonians. In the end, the law of large numbers means they will give birth to many freakishly strong figures.” The silver-haired youth mused to himself, “Once I enter the fifth stratum, I’ll definitely have to test him out myself.”

  ……

  Ning’s ascension to the fifth stratum did indeed arouse the interest of quite a few of the other freakishly talented World-level cultivators. The ability to make it into the fifth stratum was a testament to his strength!”

  “Another person has joined us in the fifth stratum?”

  “Interesting. A few days from now, I’ll have to give him a challenge and see how he does.”

  “I wager that Kilostar will be the first challenger yet again. Ahh, forget it. Just let it be him.”

  The fourth stratum and the fifth stratum were completely different.

  The cultivators on the fourth stratum weren’t under any protection. As a result, they would rarely accept or issue challenges. They were all quite cautious. However, these twelve peerless geniuses on the fifth stratum were all incredibly strong and talented figures. This was why they were able to keep their positions within the fifth stratum stable. Even if they occasionally fell down to the next level, they would quickly rise up once more. All of them delighted in battle.

  In fact, the entire reason why they were still here was because they wanted to keep fighting!

  As for the legacies? There was no point in being greedy. They merely needed to local the ones they actually needed. The best part of being here was the ability to battle against all these World-level cultivators. The experience they gained through combat was quite useful to them.

  An astral island within the fifth stratum.

  A skinny, swarthy child dressed in a silver cape was flipping through his golden book, roaring with laughter. “Ahahah! He didn’t disappoint me. He actually beat that Aberrant named Sabafalle. Although Sabafalle is a bit of an idiot, beating him is no easy task. Interesting, interesting.”

  “Still, simply defeating Sabafalle doesn’t mean much. Sabafalle is completely incapable of standing stably amongst the ranks of the other fifth stratum individuals. Kid, I’m going to teach you the true meaning of the phrase, ‘there is always someone stronger than the strong’.” The skinny, swarthy child laughed.

  “Challenge issued!”

  He issued a direct challenge to Ning through the golden book.

  “Heh heh heh… the other eleven fellows on the fifth stratum will all give me some face. Same as always! I’ll be the first to challenge the newcomer.” A look of excitement was in the swarthy-skinned child’s eyes.

  All of them had lived together for quite some time. They had formed certain habits long ago.

  Each time a newcomer made it to the fifth stratum for the first time, it would be Kilostar who would challenge that person first. Kilostar wasn’t necessarily the most powerful of the twelve, but he had the fewest weaknesses. He was capable of dealing with any foes that appeared. Even if he had to fight against that terrifying fellow from the sixth stratum, he’d still be able to at least keep himself safe! In other words… he was capable of dealing with any World-level cultivator, no matter how freakishly talented that person was.

  ……

  The dark abyss directly below the hundreds of thousands of astral islands.

  At the very bottom of the abyss.

  Hiss. Crackle. Nine strange flames were flickering here.

  Above the flames was a horizontally placed longspear that was over a thousand meters long. An enormous haunch of meat that was at least three hundred meters long was currently spitted on the spear.

  The beast’s flesh was being slowly roasted by the nine flames, and its surface was just slowly turning red. To fully cook it would probably take quite some time.

  “Delicious. Absolutely delicious.” A burly, nearly-naked man with tousled black hair was seated, dressed in simple battle garbs. In front of him was a large basin that was over thirty meters long, filled with roasted meat. He was chomping through the meat with relish.

  Sitting opposite of him was a muscular golden-haired man dressed in golden armor. This man also had an enormous basin front of him, also filled with roasted meat.

  “King Wu, your hunting skills really aren’t bad. This Bloodflame Dragon had to be comparable to a Verge-level Daolord. Its flesh is simply savory.” The golden-armored warrior was crunching his way through the meat as he spoke. Not just anyone was powerful enough to chew through this! “Hunting these things really isn’t easy. I think you Imperials must have damn near wiped them out of the Endless Territories by now.”

  “We pretty much wiped them out ages ago.” The black-haired, nearly-naked man shook his head. “The Hegemon, that old bastard, captured more th
an anyone else. He’s able to instantly teleport to any territory he pleases, whereas I actually had to physically run across countless territories before I was able to find a single Bloodflame Dragon. I then had to pretend to be a cultivator, for fear that once it realized who I was it would self-destruct rather than let me capture it. It took forever for me to capture it! Ehehe… but now that I have one, I can slowly savor it for an extremely long period of time.”

  Bloodflame Dragons were incredibly, terrifyingly powerful beasts. They were unlike cultivators or Aeonians; they neither used divine power nor had any Immortal energy. They were actually similar to bugbeasts, but they were far more powerful than bugbeasts.

  However, it was incredibly rare for one of them to be found in the Endless Territories. They had been driven to the point of extinction long ago, precisely because the Brightshore Imperials’ favorite food was Bloodflame Dragons.

  A Bloodflame Dragon which had reached the Verge of the Daomerge had a body that was comparable in size to an entire chaos star. If you ate just a thousand meters of it with each meal, you would be able to able to feast for an extremely long period of time.

  Alas, ancient creatures such as the members of the Brightshore Imperials would live for even longer.

  “King Wu.” The golden-armored warrior glanced off into the distance towards a strange beast that was wreathed in flames. This creature possessed tremendous vitality and power, but it was currently suffering all sorts of unspeakable torments. “I heard that you Imperials just gained a new clansmen. Shouldn’t you take his training a bit more seriously?”

  “For me to even keep an eye out for him is me being much more serious than usual. Yeah, this abyss is filled with plenty of danger, but so long as I keep an eye out I’ll be able to guarantee that he stays alive,” the black-haired man said between mouthfuls of meat.

  “Eh?” The black-haired man suddenly raised his head to stare upwards.