Desolate Era

by RWX

  The green-robed woman was moving closer and closer to Ning. Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Her magic ropes stretched out through the skies like giant pythons which coiled and lashed out against Ning.

  “Ahahah!” Ning stood there at the prow of his black vessel, his two hands gripped around a single sword. He struck out, sending a dazzling streak of sword-light out ten million kilometers and striking against one of the ropes.

  Daolord Kongsan was skilled in close combat, and for now Ning wasn’t confident in fighting him up close. But this eldest disciple? She was the perfect match for Ning. In the end, his close combat skills had the greatest latent potential for further development. His nine novessence arts were more powerful, true, but they had already reached the level of complete mastery. In the future, he would only be able to strengthen it by making it fit into his sword-arts, but there was a limit to how much stronger they would grow.

  “This kid…” Daolord Kongsan couldn’t help but feel shocked by what he was seeing from afr. “What incredible sword-arts.”

  Ning and the green-robed woman had moved closer and closer to each other, and the two had entered close combat. The green-robed woman actually reduced the range of each rope to be merely a million kilometers, causing them to grow noticeably more powerful. When the ropes were too long, they would naturally become harder to control and thus would be weakened.

  Ning brought out all six of his swords, fighting to his heart’s content and actually holding the upper hand.

  “He’s actually slightly more powerful than my disciple?” Daolord Kongsan’s face tightened slightly as he picked up the pace. “Keep him tied down, disciple.”

  “Don’t worry, Master. The kid has extremely profound sword-arts, but he’s on par with me at most.” The green-robed woman didn’t want to admit defeat in the face of a Daolord of the Second Step.

  ……

  Time slowly trickled on. The green-robed woman’s techniques were softer and more insidious, and a battle on this level gave Ning a few deeper-level insights into his own Dao of the Sword. Life-and-death battles, especially ones against different types of opponents, were of great benefit to him training in the Dao of the Sword.

  “Hm?” Ning glanced backwards, only to see that the fast-moving black mist was about to reach him. “A pity.” Ning turned to look back at the green-robed woman, then laughed, “I wanted to tussle with you for a bit longer, but your Master has arrived.”

  “A pity indeed.” The green-robed woman spoke out as well. “You are a freakishly talented Daolord who should’ve been able to rise to the heavens and stun the Endless Territories… but today, you shall die and your Dao shall vanish.”

  Ning shook his head. Suddenly… boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! ……

  One surge of incredible power after another began to blast out from the area around Ning, each contained unbelievable amounts of force. Generally speaking, Daolords of the Fourth Step would immediately die if touched by a single one of these streaks of power, and there were nine of them roaming around in the skies. Moments later, they swiftly began to twine around each other, transforming into two dazzling streaks of sword-light.

  The novessence fire, novessence water, and rest of the Five Elements techniques all joined together under the leadership of the novessence water. Water supported all things without complaint, and was able to tolerate everything.

  The novessence thunder, novessence wind, novessence light, and novessence void were led by the novessence void. The novessence void technique was the most powerful of the nine novessence arts, and it was actually capable of commanding all eight of the other arts. For it to merely command three was simplicity itself.

  The two groups transformed into two enormous streaks of sword-light, which then gave birth to the Yin-Yang Sword Domain of Ning’s Omega Sword Dao.

  “What the hell is that?!” Daolord Kongsan was still trying to catch up, but his face instantly tightened when he saw this. He could tell that this was a technique of incredible power, but for a brief moment he wasn’t able to recognize it. The Endless Territories held far too many secret arts, and in the past he had never battled against experts who had mastered the nine novessence arts.

  “B-but…” The green-robed woman’s face turned completely ashen as she called out, “Master, save me!”

  “He won’t make it.” Ning glanced at the green-robed woman. Whoosh! The two enormous streaks of sword-light formed into an awesome, enormous vortex that instantly encompassed and surrounded the green-robed woman. She frantically tried to use her ropes to defend against them, but the power of the nine novessence arts when applied through the Yin-Yang Sword Domain of Ning’s Omega Sword Dao was simply too powerful. There was no way she could possibly endure such an attack, and her magic treasures were knocked flying away like duckweed in a raging river.

  As for the green-robed woman, she frantically tried to use other spells or magic treasures to buy herself some time, but alas they were all knocked flying away. In the blink of an eye, the enormous whirlpool had ground its way to her body.

  “NO!!!!” The green-robed woman let out a resentful howl. She truly couldn’t accept this outcome. Her master was an extremely selfish and vicious man, but for the sake of growing and improving herself she had still chosen to become apprenticed to him.

  Now, she was a Daolord of the Fourth Step. She was planning on helping her race survive and flourish. She couldn’t die. She couldn’t die!

  BOOM! She had tried everything she had, but there was nothing she could do in the face of this overwhelming disparity in power. Her skills were stronger than those of ordinary Daolords of the Fourth Step, but there was no way she could possibly endure Ning’s killer strike. Her body was instantly disintegrated, and as she died a hint of agony and despair flashed through her eyes.

  “Eh?” Moments later, she was stunned… because part of her body was actually left undamaged. Although the terrifying vortex of sword-intent surrounded her, it no longer pressed the attack. If it did, she would be totally destroyed.

  “Hurry up and get in here. Otherwise, I’ll take your life.” Ning tossed out a gourd which instantly flew to the green-robed woman’s side and sent out a surge of overwhelming strong sucking power towards her. What remained of the green-robed woman’s body didn’t dare to resist, and it allowed Ning to suck her into the gourd. If Ning was going to capture her, at least she wouldn’t die right away.

  Ning waved his hand, causing the gourd to return to him. He then turned to look at the attacking Daolord Kongsan. “Daolord Kongsan, your eldest disciple is now in my hands,” Ning said.

  “Damn.” Daolord Kongsan had an ugly look on his face.

  “Withdraw immediately and I’ll spare her life,” Ning barked.

  “Withdraw?” The baleful look in Daolord Kongsan’s eyes only grew stronger. “No one can threaten me. She’s just one disciple. Today, I shall take your life no matter what.”

  Seeing this, Ning just shook his head. What a madman. The information which the Skywood Sect had given him was quite accurate; Daolord Kongsan was an exceedingly selfish man who didn’t really care about his disciples, only himself. The reason he had chosen to kill Ning was not because he cared about his disciple or felt sorry for him, but because he felt as though his personal dignity had been affronted by his disciple’s death.

  “If that’s the case, let’s fight.” A fierce light flashed through Ning’s eyes. “Kill!”

  Rumble… those nine novessence arts once more formed into those two enormous streaks of sword-light, and they illuminated each other as they intertwined and lashed out through the skies towards the distant Daolord Kongsan.

  “Attacks on this level are useless against me.” Daolord Kongsan was filled with a desire to kill, and he revealed his true form as the black mist roiled around him. He stretched out with his right hand, producing an enormous, pitch-black scimitar within it.

  Slash!

  The enormous scimitar swept out, carrying a hint of black light on its ed
ge. Space itself parted in a natural way in front of that edge, but not a single iota of his power leaked out. It was like space was nothing more than butter, with his knife cutting neatly through it.

  The scimitar chopped out towards those nine rampaging novessence arts as the two began their midair clash.

  * * *

  Book 29, Chapter 38 - A Furious Fight

  “What a terrifying scimitar.” Ji Ning could sense that the flows of his nine novessence arts were being parted as though they had been split in half. “But my secret arts were formless to begin with!”

  If you cut a stream of water with a knife, the water would continue to flow. Ning’s nine novessence arts of lightning, wind, fire, void, and everything else were all types of formless energy that could assume whatever shape he chose.

  In the face of that terrifying scimitar, the rampaging flood of the novessence arts was instantly split in half. Despite that, the power of the secret arts didn’t lessen at all, and two dragon-like streams of sword-light continued onwards towards Daolord Kongsan.

  “Not good.” Daolord Kongsan’s face paled, and the black mist around him instantly became far denser and thicker than before. Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! The sword-light formed by the novessence arts were able to transform into many forms. They instantly transformed into eighteen different streams of sword-light, each of which was violent beyond care. Filled with the sword-intent of the Omega Sword Dao’s Blood Drop stance, they forcibly pierced through the black mist!

  In truth, Ning’s nine novessence arts were far stronger than Daolord Kongsan’s darkness-based secret arts, and so penetrating them was very simple.

  “Heavenbreaker!” As soon as those eighteen streams of sword-light pierced through the black mist, they suddenly transformed. They became like eighteen whips of flowing water that furiously lashed out, striking Daolord Kongsan on his body.

  Ever since Ning had come up with his Omega Sword Dao, he had been able to perfectly join together all different types of sword-arts and Sword Daos. This was why his attacks could seem incredibly soft and yet unleash a dominating display of sword-intent.

  Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! These eighteen streaks of sword-light contained both the criss-crossing power of the Yin-Yang stance as well as the ferocity of the Heavenbreaker stance. Daolord Kongsan was forced to instantly transform his body into darkness itself. The sword-light roamed through the darkness unimpeded, causing his form to shudder a few times, but he was able to easily endure the strike.

  “What formidable secret arts. Your sword-intent roams everywhere, letting no opening go untouched.” Daolord Kongsan’s face suddenly appeared from that pool of darkness, and he had a cold smile on his face as he spoke.

  “It does indeed leave no opening untouched,” the distant Ning said. “My secret arts are formless like water; of course they flow over and into everything. But precisely because of that, they aren’t particularly powerful when I use them to display these sword-arts.”

  You could use a stream of water to stab or to whip someone, but there was no way it would ever hit as hard as an actual weapon meant for those purposes. Weapons were both tougher and sharper.

  “Omega Sword Dao, Yin-Yang.” Ning’s gaze turned cold. Rumble… instantly, the energy of the nine novessence arts began to crush and grind down upon everything within a hundred million kilometers. Yin and Yang criss-crossed with each other, grinding away at each other and everything between them. Even though Daolord Kongsan had transformed into darkness incarnate, he could still sense how terrifying this Yin-Yang Sword Domain was, and it was suppressing and restraining him from every possible angle.

  “Damn.” Daolord Kongsan felt as though he had been trapped in quicksand. Ning’s secret arts were simply too strong, and they were omnipresent; there was no way Daolord Kongsan could completely block them. Or at least, there was no way he could use his secret arts or magic treasures to block them.

  “I had thought that by using my nine novessence arts, I would be able to cause him serious injury even though I probably wouldn’t be able to kill him. Daolord Kongsan truly does have a virtually indestructible body. There’s no way to injure him at all.” Ning couldn’t help but sigh. He had already unleashed his most powerful attacks, but all he was able to do was to suppress this foe.

  In the end, Ning simply was at too low a level. His Omega Sword Dao might be formidable, but he was still just a Daolord of the First Step.

  Daolord Allgod was a grandmaster of formations and had reached a much higher level than Ning was currently at. When he used those nine same arts alongside his formations, his power was much greater than Ning’s was.

  ……

  While Ning was sighing to himself, he had no idea just how stunned and furious Daolord Kongsan was. Daolord Kongsan was a venerable Verge-level Daolord who had roamed the Endless Territories for many years… but today, he was actually being beaten down by a Daolord of the Second Step?

  “GRAAH!” The endless darkness suddenly released a low, furious growl. Instantly, the darkness quickly began to solidify into a black silhouette that had a noticeably more powerful aura than before, and which was wielding an enormous scimitar.

  “Kid, you should feel proud that you’ve forced me to use my supreme attack. Now die!” The blurry black silhouette instantly charged towards Ning as he furiously chopped towards Ning with that enormous scimitar.

  This chop caused spacetime to freeze. It was filled with a towering killing intent that struck out from incredibly far away, slamming directly through Ning’s body as it struck against his soul. Ning was still standing at the prow of his distant black vessel, but he could still clearly sense a soul attack of immense power striking at him.

  “Hmph!” Within Ning’s sea of consciousness, his soul let out a furious snort. The murderous intent slammed towards Ning’s soul like a wave, but Ning’s soul was completely unmoved. It was comparable to the soul of a Daolord of the Fourth Step, after all, and his heartforce was at the point where he could break through to the sixth stage of heartforce at any moment. Once he did, he would be a true Heartforce Cultivator! Less than 1% of Daolords were Heartforce Cultivators, and so this enormous advantage in terms of heartforce made Ning’s mental and soul defenses incredibly strong.

  In addition, Ning had already read an intelligence report stating that Daolord Kongsan had a soul attack, but the attack was only able to confuse and disrupt; it wasn’t all that powerful. In the end, Daolord Kongsan was most skilled in close combat!

  “Eh?!” The distant Daolord Kongsan looked at Ning both angrily and expectantly.

  “Daolord Kongsan, did you really think you would be able to shake my soul with an attack on this level?” Ning laughed coldly.

  Daolord Kongsan was shocked. It was true that soul attacks weren’t his forte, but the soul attack wasn’t a weak one either. Daolord Kongsan felt certain that this mere Daolord of the Second Step had to have a fairly weak soul, even if he did have a fairly high level of insight into the Dao. Logically speaking, the soul should’ve been an enormous weak point. Even Daolords of the Fourth Step would’ve been confused and impacted by his soul attack.

  “You aren’t bad at all, kid. But if you are really so tough, stop running and fight me in close combat!” Daolord Kongsan bellowed angrily as he flew towards Ning.

  “Haha, I’m just a Daolord of the Second Step! You want me to fight in you in close combat? Do you have any sense of shame? If I broke through to become a Daolord of the Third Step, I’d be more than happy to fight you in close combat.” Riding his black vessel, Ning was able to easily pull away from Daolord Kongsan once more. He also continued to use his nine novessence arts to either slow down or attack Daolord Kongsan repeatedly.

  Daolord Kongsan was getting angrier and angrier as this ‘fight’ continued. Ning continued to flee, and he continued to chase. Ning had it quite easy in this battle, as he continued to attack while fleeing thanks to his overwhelming advantage in speed.

  ……

  “If this
continues… I really won’t be able to do anything to this kid at all.” Daolord Kongsan shook his head. “If memory serves, the secret arts this kids is using should be the nine novessence arts of the legendary Daolord Allgod.” The reason why hadn’t recognized the technique earlier was because he had never personally battled it before, but he had read the description of the techniques within the Spellworld. After having battled against Ning for so long, he had some insights into what it was that he was up against.

  “I really wonder how a Daolord of the Second Step like him was able to master such terrifying secret arts,” Daolord Kongsan mused. “I heard that in order to master those nine novessence arts, you not only need to have certain insights into the likes of lightning, wind, and fire, you also have to be a grandmaster alchemist; if your alchemy skills are even the slightest bit deficient, you will never be able to master the nine novessence arts. Is this Daolord of the Second Step a grandmaster alchemist?!” Even Kongsan was secretly speechless.

  “If he is… there’s no way he could’ve learned alchemy by himself. He either won an incredibly powerful legacy or has an incredibly powerful teacher behind him.” After having battled for so long, Daolord Kongsan was starting to grow wary of Ning. This person definitely wouldn’t be as easy to deal with as the other Daolords of the Fourth Step he had slain.

  “Screw it. I’ll capture him alive first! If he really does have a powerful figure behind him… hmph. I’m a core member of the Dao Alliance. Very few people are qualified to threaten me. When the time comes, I’ll chat with him a bit. I can force the kid to swear a few lifeblood oaths, then let him go.” Daolord Kongsan mused to himself, “But if he doesn’t have any powerful figures behind him, I can do whatever I want to him.”

  Whoosh. Daolord Kongsan sent his will outside the grand sealing formation and towards one of the hundred thousand estates located at the margins of Skywood City. Aside from Kongsan, there were a few other incredibly powerful and ancient Daolords who lived in seclusion in those estates.