Desolate Era

by RWX

  Ning could sense an invisible surge of power spread out and cover him, instantly warping him away.

  “Eh?” When he could once again make out his surroundings, he was rather startled.

  The area around him was filled with living creatures, as far as the eye could see. He could even make out a giant citadel off in the distance, a citadel that emanated an aura of utterly breathtaking power. Although it didn’t affect Ning too much, normal World-level cultivators wouldn’t be able to resist the aura at all.

  “What’s this?” Ning’s gaze suddenly fell upon a seemingly-ordinary rock nearby.

  This rock was a very ordinary one… but all of a sudden, a series of golden characters began to fly out from within it, as well as a map.

  “The Abyss of Fiends has a thirty-six layered world. It was created as a trial ground by three grandmasters of the Dao of the Sword. The twelfth layer, the twenty-fourth layer, and the thirty-sixth layer all have exit tunnels. These are the only ways out, the only ways by which you can leave and return to the Genesis Lands.

  “Remember this. Only the strong will win what they desire.”

  The golden words and the map levitated there in the air for a moment, then quickly disappeared.

  Ning turned his gaze while sweeping out with his godsense to scan the area for a billion kilometers around him. The only building in this area was that towering citadel, and the citadel was filled with ten million cultivators, with the three strongest being a trio of World-level cultivators. Those three World-level cultivators were bold, heroic figures, but when they sensed Ning’s godsense lock onto them they were horribly frightened.

  What powerful godsense!

  It must be understood that many years ago, when Ning had visited the Eastsmoke branch of the Bluegrace Sect, he had been able to use his godsense to simultaneously crush the godsenses of more than three hundred other World-level cultivators.

  “The three grandmasters died countless years ago, but there are still so many living creatures here within the world they left behind to test their would-be heirs,” Ning mused. The reason why he had scanned the area was because he could tell that the restrictive spells covering the citadel didn’t seem to be all that powerful.

  Whoosh. Ning took a step forward, then completely disappeared.

  ……

  “Who did that godsense belong to?! It was ridiculously strong. This world is a trillion kilometers in size, but there aren’t many with godsense on that level.” A golden-robed elder was seated in the lotus position, a frown on his face.

  Whoosh.

  A white-robed youth suddenly appeared out of nowhere on the seat located next to him. The youth sat there calmly as he stared at the golden-robed expert.

  “You…” The golden-robed elder was horrified as he stared at the white-robed youth. “Y-you…”

  He was a World-level cultivator! He was someone who stood at the very peak of power within this world. And yet, this youth was powerful enough to appear next to him without him even noticing?

  “I have a few questions,” Ning said..

  “Please ask them, senior.” The golden-robed elder’s heart was quivering in fear.

  “I hope you will not try to lie to me. If you lie… you should be able to guess what will happen,” Ning said.

  The golden-robed elder hurriedly smiled. “Senior, if you wished to kil me you could probably do so with a flick of your fingers. This junior would never dare to deceive you or hide anything from you.”

  Ning nodded. “I ask you this – have you heard of the Abyss of Fiends?”

  “The Abyss of Fiends? I have, of course I have.” The golden-robed elder gave Ning a curious look. Logically speaking, every top-level expert in this world should know about the Abyss of Fiends.

  Ning’s gaze hardened.

  The golden-robed elder said hurriedly, “This world of ours is a trillion kilometers in size, and powerful experts are as common as the clouds. Many experts have been born over the course of countless years, but the most powerful figures have always been the terrifying devils of the Abyss of Fiends. According to the stories, there are a total of thirty-six levels to the Abyss of Fiends. Countless devils live in that place, and some of them are so incredibly strong that they are honored with the tile of ‘fiendlord’.”

  “Every single chaos cycle, a large number of devils will charge forth from the Abyss of Fiends under the guidance of a fiendlord and sweep through this world. When this happens, all of the experts within this world must join together if they wish to withstand the assault. But of course, sometimes we will fail. In any case, the devils will have to retreat back into the Abyss of Fiends after a brief period of time.”

  Ning frowned. “fiendlord?”

  Know thy enemy and know thyself; only then would you be the victor in every battle. The reason why Ning had come to interrogate this local expert was because he wanted to learn more regarding this Abyss of Fiends. This was at trial-world established by three Eternal Emperors, after all, and one of them was on the same level of power as the almighty Hegemon himself. There was no such thing as being too cautious.

  “According to the legends, the first twelve layers of the Abyss only hold a single fiendlord. Starting from the thirteenth level, each level shall have many fiendlords within them. The fiendlords are extremely powerful, and it is easy for them to kill us.” The golden-robed elder sighed. “As for what the final twelve levels hold… that is a mystery to us all.”

  Ning nodded slowly, as if enlightened.

  ……

  This world was merely a trillion kilometers in size. After some detailed questioning, Ning came to understand that the strongest experts here were merely are the World level. Those who reached the Daolord level would all vanish without a trace.

  “The Abyss of Fiends?” Ning stood at the peak of a mountain, staring off into the distance towards the great black abyss, a circular hole in the earth that was a million kilometers in circumference. The abyss was so deep that there was no way one could see to its bottom. The only thing one could sense was that terrifyingly baleful aura emanating from it.

  “So this is the trial which the grandmasters left behind?” Ning revealed a hint of a smile. These so-called ‘trials’ were actually processes of elimination. Major powers were all incredibly proud figures, and thus ordinary cultivators were not qualified to even attempt to peek at their treasures. It must be understood that any of the treasures left behind by Hegemon-level figures would assuredly be valuable beyond price.

  “I wonder if I, Ji Ning, will be found worth by the three grandmasters.” Ning transformed into as treak of sword-light, then flew out while using a hint of the Blood Drop sword-intent. The streak of sword-light instantly charged into the Abyss of Fiends.

  Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

  A black mist wafted outwards from this place, carrying strange spatial ripples with it.

  “Eh?” Ning soon arrived at the first level of the Abyss of Fiends. This first level was a world of volcanos, lava, and endless amounts of blazing light.

  Ning swept out with his godsense but wasn’t too worried. The first twelve levels only held a single fiendlord, after all. Even the local World-level cultivators would often come adventuring through the first level.

  “This leve is roughly ten billion kilometers in size and constitutes a world unto itself. It has more than three hundred devils, each of which has the aura of an ordinary World-level cultivator.” Ning’s hands tightened around his sword, Violetjewel.

  “Someone has come from the World Above!”

  “He actually dares to intrude into our world, the Abyss of Fiends?!”

  “Kill him!”

  When Ning stretched out with his godsense it instantly attracted the attention of some of the nearby devils, causing them to charge towards Ning. These fiends all belonged to the same race, a race with grayish-black skin, veiny wings, and a pair of sharp claws that glimmered with metallic light. These devils were able to easil
y surpass the limits of the Heavenly Daos when flying, and the invisible aura of power surrounding them was quite great.

  Ning swept the area with his gaze… and his gaze transformed into swords!

  A series of sword-intents burst forth, transforming into an enormous Yin-Yang Sword Domain that was like a terrifying grindstone that easily ground away all of the attacking devils. The attacking devils were utterly terrified – this foe was actually able to kill them with just his sword-intent alone?!

  Ning, however, was quite calm. These little devils weren’t even worthy of him using his Dao lightning or Dao water. Using his intent alone to form the Yin-Yang Sword Domain resulted in a domain which had perhaps only 10%-20% of his full power, but it was enough to effortlessly wipe through these opponents.

  Rumble…

  The terrifying sword-intent washed out wantonly, easily annihilating all invading devils.

  Ning continued to fly downwards, passing through the ground and another layer of black mist before arriving at the second level of the Abyss of Fiends.

  * * *

  Book 28, Chapter 28 - Death Approaches

  Ji Ning charged through one level after another, easily battling his way all the way down to the twelfth level. Thus far, he hadn’t even needed to draw his sword; his Yin-Yang Sword Domain was enough to sweep through all obstacles.

  “Level twelve.”

  Ning stood atop a hill and was staring off into the distance.

  The twelfth level of the Abyss of Fiends was a world of dark-red earth and dark-red mountains. Even the rivers were dark-red in color. The only thing that was different was a pitch-black whirlpool that could be seen off in the distance. The whirlpool was enormous in size and emanated powerful spatial ripples.

  “Is that a teleportation tunnel?” Ning recognized it right away. This was a spatial corridor that would allow the user to safely pass through it and leave this place. However… was he supposed to leave before he even encountered any fortunes or opportunities? Ning certainly wasn’t willing to resign himself to such a thing!

  Ning knew very well that someone making it to the twelfth level meant nothing to those three grandmasters of the sword. Forget about Ji Ning; even some of the local World-level cultivators were able to make it to this level! As Ning had travelled downwards, he had discovered quite a few magic treasures left behind by the locals who had challenged this place.

  “This is the twelfth level. There should be a fiendlord here. Supposedly, large groups of fiendlords roam the deeper depths of the Abyss of Fiends, and every chaos cycle there will be a fiendlord who will lead the devils out of the Abyss to assault the world outside. However… since they are often defeated, I imagine that the so-called fiendlords aren’t that powerful either.” Ning revealed a smile. He really didn’t hold these fiendlords in any regard. He spread out his godsense once more, using it to instantly encompass the entire twelfth level.

  Once his godsense spread out, it immediately startled awake the devils on this level as well as an extremely powerful devil… the so-called fiendlord.

  A short period of time passed, enough for a kettle of tea to be boiled.

  Boom! Ning’s sword stabbed through the dark-red skin of a gigantic devil. Previously, the devils all had grayish-black skins. This particular devil was much larger and had dark-red skin; it was a fiendlord!

  “Graa… graa…” The fiendlord’s throat had been pierced through, but it continued to make those strange yelping sounds as it swiped its sharp claws towards Ning, seeking to dismember him.

  Swish! Swish! Swish!

  The divine sword in Ning’s hands sliced out out in a series of bizarre arcs of sword-light, splitting the fiendlord with three strikes. However, the fiendlord’s body then quickly reformed and healed and it let out a furious roar as it once more charged towards Ning. Every single punch and kick it unleashed was filled with incredible power that caused its own body to tremble. Clearly, it didn’t have extremely fine, minute control over its power.

  Ning, for example, was capable of easily crushing and annihilating the power contained within entire chaosworlds. He was completely surrounded by his sword-light, and none of the power was able to escape at all.

  Slash! Sword-light flashed out, resulting in the fiendlord being bisected at the waist once more.

  And so, just like that…

  Ning first used his Yin-Yang Sword Domain, then his Blood Drop stance, then the Shadowless stance, then his other techniques to repeatedly dominate and clobber the fiendlord for nearly a full hour. Although this was a creature which was born for battle, it had been dominated so effortlessly and rurthlessly that after a full hour, it finally knew fear and chose to flee.

  It wasn’t too hard to kill a fiendlord, but to frighten it so much that it would flee for its life? This wasn’t easy!

  “Mm. This fiendlord’s body is fairly tough, probably comparable to that of a Daolord of the Second Step.” Ning nodded slightly. “However… it has an incredibly low level of insight into the Dao. Any random World-level cultivator would be far superior to him in this regard.”

  After testing out the fiendlord several times, Ning realized that although a single fiendlord would pose no threat to other monstrously talented World-level cultivators like Prince Greatjoy, in sufficient numbers they would still be dangerous. This was because they had bodies comparable to Daolords of the Second Step, which meant their attack power was dangerously high. Their weakness lay in the fact that their attacks were a bit clumsy and easy to dodge, but with enough attacks they could bury you in a storm of strikes which would be very difficult to deal with.

  Still, since Ning had his Yin-Yang Sword Domain as well as seven types of Dao lightning and Dao water, it would be much easier for him to deal with massed fiendlords.

  “Time to go.” Bathed in sword-light, Ning began to fly downwards.

  Boom!

  He easily traversed the ground beneath him, passing through yet another world-membrane and reaching the thirteenth level of the Abyss of Fiends. This was a blood-red world which emanated an endless stench of blood and an alluring aura which sought to guide the hearts of any cultivators here in descending into madness.

  Ning’s godsense quickly spread out to cover this world. This world only had eight living creatures, all of which were fiendlords.

  “GWAAAR!”

  “Kill!”

  “Kill him!”

  The eight fiendlords were all located in separate regions of this world, but they all now flew straight towards Ning. In his previous battle against a single fiendlord, Ning had thoroughly dominated it for nearly a full hour before it chose to flee. This was a testament to how ferocious and savage these creatures truly were.

  “How weak.” Ning held them in no regard at all, easily defeating one of the nearest fiendlords as he flew down towards the fourteenth level.

  ……

  He continued to fly down one level at a time. His Yin-Yang Sword Domain ensured that these fiendlords were unable to pose any threat to him whatsoever.

  Soon, Ning reached the nineteenth level.

  Ning had thought that he would go through this level quite easily as well, but when he noticed that this level had an Eternal weapon within it, he immediately knew that things wouldn’t be that easy.

  “The first thirteen levels held quite a few treasures left behind by deceased cultivators, but those cultivators were probably all locals. At best, their weapons were mostly Dao weapons. From the fourteenth level to the eighteenth level, I saw no treasures at all.” Ning had a solemn look on his face. “But the nineteenth level actually has an Eternal weapon.”

  There was no way these locals could possibly forge an Eternal weapon.

  Ning scanned the level warily with his godsense. This level merely had nineteen of this fiendlords. It didn’t seem to be all that different from the seventeenth level.

  WHOOOSH!

  Suddenly, an aura of power burst forth from deep within the ground, so powerful as to cause even Ni
ng to be slightly shaken.

  He saw the ground split apart, far off in the distance, as a figure suddenly sprang out. This figure was dressed in azure armor and had a mask on, with only his cold eyes being visible behind them. On his back, he was carrying a total of nine blood-colored swords.

  “You…” Ning’s face turned pale.

  He had seen those three grandmasters of the sword in the outside world. The strongest had been comparable to the almighty Hegemon, the towering man who had been wielding that deep-blue greatsword. The other two had been his friends or retainers, and one of them looked exactly identical to the man who had just appeared, except the ‘original’ version had plunged those nine blood-colored swords into the ground.

  “If you can slay me, you will win the nine treasures which Master left behind. Those nine swords accompanied Master for countless years and possess such extraordinary power that they are incredibly close to Universe treasures in power. Even if you do not wish to use them and choose to sell them off… every single sword will fetch you at least fifty million cubes of chaos nectar. If you sell them off as a set, they will be of incalculable value,” the azure-armored figure said coldly.

  Those nine swords were indeed incredibly valuable… but Ning didn’t feel the slightest bit of avarice at all. The entire time, he stared unblinkingly at the azure-armored figure in an incredibly serious manner.

  Although the figure spoke of his ‘Master’, the terrifying aura of the sword-intent residing within his body was absolutely identical to that of the deceased grandmaster outside! Their auras were auras of murder and slaughter, but exalted to a level that surpassed Ning’s current level by unfathomable amounts. In fact… Ning felt certain that this was what the sword-intent of a true Eternal Emperor would feel like!

  “I’m just at the World level. To be able to beat the fiendlords is one thing, but this guy seems to have a terrifyingly high level of insight into the Dao.” Ning had already manifested his [Three Heads, Six Arms], and he gripped his six Eternal swords as he waited solemnly.

  “Do not be afraid. These nine swords on my back are not the actual swords which Master used; they are nothing more than nine Dao weapons which Master casually forged before his death.” The azure-armored figure walked towards Ning, every step echoing with his killing intent. His every movement felt like the crash of armies and chariots, filled with murder and such despair that even Ning felt breathless.