Desolate Era

by RWX

  Just as Ning was attacking and the Ninedust Sectlord was dodging…

  BOOM!

  The ringed curtains of golden light emanating from the golden throne suddenly retracted, like the petals of a flower suddenly be drawn back into the pistil. Swish!

  A streak of golden light suddenly tore through spacetime. Whoosh! Ning and the Ninedust Sectlord had both been covered by that curtain of golden light, and they instantly disappeared without a trace, leaving only the golden throne behind.

  No other living beings remained within the Void Pathway.

  Rumble…

  More and more power emanated from that golden globe, bathing the entire golden region in a layer of golden light.

  ……

  Whoosh. A golden ripple of power suddenly spread out from one of the decorative ‘mountains’ within the Eastroad Sect. Moments later, it completely vanished without a trace.

  “What?!” Daolord Thunderheat had been watching carefully from a safe distance. When he saw this, his face instantly turned pale. He appeared within that courtyard in a flash. “Where’s the Void Pathway? Where’d it go? Why did it suddenly vanish?! His godsense had been infused into the formation protecting the sect, and so was able to cover and scour every inch of the region. And yet, he was no longer able to find that decorative mountain.

  “Daolord Darknorth and the Ninedust Sectlord have both vanished as well?” Daolord Thunderheat was starting to panic. “I always felt certain that the Void Pathway was holding certain mysteries. Those thirty thousand soldiers were unreasonably powerful, especially the final two; those two were on par with Patriarch Eastroad himself. I imagine that when Daolord Darknorth and the Ninedust Sectlord battled within the Void Pathway, they must have activated some of its secrets.”

  “Well… now what should I do? Daolord Darknorth suddenly vanished. If he died, then…” Daolord Thunderheat felt rather guilty, because he did have a trump card which he hadn’t used yet. Still, he couldn’t be blamed for holding it back; the Eastroad Sect would need to conserve all the resources it had if it wanted to survive. It looked as though Daolord Darknorth was strong enough to hold back the Ninedust Sectlord; Thunderheat naturally hadn’t been willing to use up his one and only trump card.

  “Daolord Darknorth asked for nothing; he whole-heartedly wished to help my Eastroad Sect. And now, his whereabouts are unknown.” Daolord Thunderheat had a complex look on his face as he murmured softly, “I promise the Eastroad Sect will never forget your benevolence.”

  As for the disappearance of the Void Pathway? Daolord Thunderheat felt a bit of regret, but he didn’t care all that much. For it to be able to vanish despite local spacetime being completely distorted thanks to the Eastroad Sect’s formations meant that it was a treasure that was beyond the Eastroad Sect’s ability to control.

  If it stayed here, it would only cause more trouble in the future. It was a disaster waiting to happen, not a blessing!

  ……

  Outside the Eastroad Sect. The Ninedust Shrine continued to hover there in the empty skies.

  Within the Ninedust Shrine. Daolord Graceful had already fled all the way back into the shrine. Both he and Daolord Clevermind were standing in front of its gates, staring towards the distant Eastroad Sect.

  “Eh?” Daolord Clevermind’s face suddenly paled. “Not good.”

  “What’s wrong?” Daolord Graceful immediately asked.

  “I can no longer sense the Sectlord’s presence.” Daolord Clevermind said frantically, “The Sectlord has one of my talismans on him; I can sense him from several territories away. But now, I can no longer sense his presence at all.”

  “What?!” Daolord Graceful’s face paled as well. Daolord Clevermind’s position within the Ninedust Sect was second only to the sectlord’s himself, which was why he was on very good terms with the sectlord. Each had given talismans to the other.

  “The Sectlord should still be be alive, but I can no longer sense him.” Daolord Clevermind said frantically, “The Sectlord is probably in a very, very distant place. Alternately, he might be trapped in a dangerous place which prevents any information being transmitted outwards. However, a site capable of blocking off my senses would definitely be an incredibly dangerous place. There shouldn’t be any such place within the Eastroad Territory.”

  “It seems as though the Eastroad Sect holds certain mysteries within it,” Daolord Graceful said softly. “That white-robed Daolord was incredibly strong. Now, even our Sectlord is in trouble.”

  “Mm.” Daolord Clevermind turned to stare at the Eastroad Sect with great trepidation.

  “Let’s keep waiting here for the Sectlord to return,” Daolord Graceful said.

  And so, the Ninedust Sect permanently stationed itself outside the Eastroad Sect. They would wait for their sectlord’s return… but even after waiting more than a hundred thousand years, their sectlord still did not return.

  ……

  Ning and the Ninedust Sectlord were both rather nervous as the streak of golden light grabbed both of them and sent them hurtling through spacetime.

  “Where in the world are we going?”

  “How could a spacetime teleportation last for this long?” Ning kept his [Three Heads, Six Arms] divine ability active, and he continued to warily wield all six Northbow swords in his hands. It was extremely difficult to use spacetime teleportation across such a great distance. Even spacetime transfer arrays were all fairly close to each other, allowing the various formations to interlink and send people from one territory to another. The spacetime tunnels created by the almighty Brightshore Hegemon and the Paragon of Pills covered a much greater distance, but this golden spacetime tunnel? Based on Ning’s perception regarding spacetime, they should be hurtling towards an incredibly distant place.

  “Ninedust, do you really have no idea where we are being sent to?” Ning glanced at the nearby Ninedust Sectlord.

  The Ninedust Sectlord glanced at Ning, then let out a cold snort. “No idea.”

  Ning didn’t doubt this at all, because he could sense how nervous the Ninedust Sectlord was.

  The two just stood there calmly, neither daring to move. If they got into a fight and disturbed the flows of spacetime around them, who knew where they would end up? They might disappear into the endless Great Dark, where they could fly for thousands of chaos cycles without seeing a single other living being. That would be horrifying.

  Whoosh.

  The changing flows of spacetime around them suddenly came to a halt, allowing them to vaguely make out what was hidden outside the field of golden light.

  “We’ve arrived.” Both Ning and the Ninedust Sectlord were even more cautious now. The golden light slowly dissipated, allowing them to clearly see an enormous stone passageway in front of them. A number of boulders were levitating within the stone passageway, which was brimming with blazing flames.

  “Eh?” Both Ning and the Ninedust Sectlord stood there in midair. A curtain of water emerged from the Ninedust Sectlord’s body, blocking off the flames. As for Ning, the nine novessence arts appeared and swirled around him, defending him from the fire.

  “Such powerful fire. I imagine these flames would roast Daolords of the Third Step to death.” Ning was rather amazed.

  “What type of fire is this?” The Ninedust Sectlord was puzzled as well. He had seen many things, but still had no idea what these flames were.

  “And those boulders?” Both of them turned their attention towards the levitating boulders. These flames were capable of killing Daolords of the Third Step, but weren’t able to damage these boulders at all. Those boulders were definitely extraordinary items.

  “Those things have to be treasures.” Both Ning and the Ninedust Sectlord immediately charged forwards. Ning stabbed out with his sword, seeking to carve out a large boulder from the crooked, curved ‘walls’ of the stone corridor. As for the Ninedust Sectlord, he swung his longstaff and delivered a fierce below to the stone walls of the passageway.

  Bang
! Boom!

  Two explosions rang out against the stone walls, which rumbled as invisible ripples spread out across its surface. BOOM! A shockwave burst out and struck Ning, knocking him flying backwards. A second shockwave was applied to the Ninedust Sectlord, whose body seemed to shudder and briefly transform into a flowing stream of water as he flew backwards.

  “Such incredible power. The shockwave generated by me stabbing at the sword seemed to be several times stronger than my blow.” Ning rose into the air once more, a nervous feeling in his heart. “And it seems as though all of the stones within this stone passageway are part of one entity.” When he had stabbed out with his sword, he felt as though the entire stone wall had joined together to unleash a surge of counter-force.

  “Damn.” The Ninedust Sectlord rose into the air as well. For a moment, his body had transformed into a human-shaped pool of water, but he now returned to his normal appearance as he glanced at the distant Ning. “The kid actually managed to endure that counter-force with such ease? It seems as though he has a protective divine ability that is just as tough as mine.”

  Ning and the Ninedust Sectlord both had rather blazing looks in their eyes. Both were amongst the ranks of the most talented of Daolords, on the same level as Kongsan… and yet, they weren’t even able to harvest any rocks from this stone wall. This meant the stone here was definitely quite extraordinary… and the more marvelous an item was, the more valuable it was.

  Swoosh. Ning and the Ninedust Sectlord immediately charged towards the floating boulders and bits of stone, waving their hands and collecting as much as they could.

  Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Although it was quite difficult to collect each of those rocks as they were all incredibly heavy, in the end it was still possible to store them within an estate-world.

  “Master! Master! I can no longer sense my clone!” The servant within Ning’s estate-world who was responsible for maintaining contact with the Brightshore Kingdom suddenly sent a frantic mental message to Ning.

  “Right.” Ning, however, was quite calm. He had sensed long ago that this was an extraodinary place; in truth, as soon as the teleportation had begun he almost instantly lost contact with both his Primaltwin and his avatar. The last time something like this had happened, he had gone into the alternate universe!

  * * *

  Book 30, Chapter 14 - An Unkillable Form

  Two figures could be seen darting through the blazing flames within that stone corridor, collecting the various stones that were hanging there in the air. A short while later, Ji Ning and the Ninedust Sectlord had completely collected all of the levitating stones as far as they could see. After collecting the final pieces, they turned to stare at each other with vigilance in their eyes.

  “Our battle has resulted in both of us being trapped in this unknown region. It can be said that the ties of karma bind us together… but I don’t even know your Daoist title,” the Ninedust Sectlord said.

  “I am Darknorth.” Ning revealed a smile. “Given our current situation, there’s no need to continue hiding things from each other. I trust you know much more about this place than I do, Lord of the Ninedust Sect.”

  The Ninedust Sectlord shook his head. “I really know nothing about this place.”

  “Oh?” Ning raised an eyebrow. “Well, it truly is an odd place.” Ning scanned his surroundings as he spoke. “These flames… I can’t even tell what type of flames they are. I can’t recognize the stone here either. Even my godsense and my heartforce are constrained, preventing me from exploring any further.”

  “Quite.” The Ninedust Sectlord had a solemn look on his face as well as he scanned the area, a restless feeling in his heart. Suddenly…

  Whoosh. A fiery-armored figure suddenly flew out of a turn in the tunnel ahead of them. This humanoid figure’s entire body was brimming with flames, and his hair was a blazing red color as well.

  “Eh?” Ning and the Ninedust Sectlord simultaneously turned to look at the blazing figure.

  “The two of you truly are daring, to have infiltrated your way to this place without anyone noticing.” The humanoid figure spoke in a cold, piercing voice. “For me to end up stumbling into you two… it seems my luck today is quite decent. Prepare to die.” After speaking, the blazing figure transformed into a streak of blazing light that seemed to draw in the flames which filled the entire stone passageway, forming a fiery halo of energy around him.

  Looks of puzzlement appeared on the faces of both Ning and the Ninedust Sectlord.

  “Halt!” The Ninedust Sectlord barked, “We have no idea who you are.”

  “Have you mistaken us for someone else?” Ning asked.

  “Your lies won’t save you.” The flaming figure let out a furious shout, manifesting a scimitar in his hand.

  “If that’s how you wish to behave, go ahead and die.” An angered look flashed through the Ninedust Sectlord’s icy, sinister face. He swung out his longstaff, seeming to manifest an endless ocean of water which carried the roaring song of the sea with it, then struck out against the blazing figure with a boom.

  Although the blazing figure used his scimitar to defend, he was blown backwards and smashed against the stone walls of the passageway.

  “He didn’t die?” The Ninedust Sectlord was rather surprised. Although he hadn’t struck out with full force, most Daolords of the Fourth Step would’ve perished from that blow. Who would’ve thought that this flaming humanoid would actually have survived?

  “It seems you are fairly strong.” The fiery figure growled, “Good. The stronger you are, the better. After I kill you, it’ll feel even better when I feast on your corpses. Die!”

  “Feast on me?” The Ninedust Sectlord said furiously, “Die, you imbecile.” This time, he used his staff to strike out with full force.

  BOOM! The longstaff caused cracks in space to appear around it as it struck forwards, the power of the blow causing the entire area around them to shake and tremble. This blow was not just fast and savage, it also seemed to carry the cadence of the waves of the ocean, moving sometimes fast and sometimes slow. The flaming creature sought to defend against this attack, but its scimitar wasn’t even able to touch the longstaff. The head of the longstaff smashed directly against the fiery creature’s chest, and it was like the heavens themselves had crashed down upon him. The flaming creature instantly let out a frenzied scream… and with a boom, the creature’s body instantly blew apart.

  “Imbecile.” The Ninedust Sectlord showed no mercy at all, striking a second time with his longstaff with the intention of completely annihilating its shattered body. Whoosh! The longstaff swept out, completely smashing apart the shattered remnants of the creature’s body and dispersing it into flames once more.

  “Kill me? You want to kill me?! You aren’t able to kill me!!!” A furious voice rang out as a large amount of the flames within the stone corridor gathered together and almost instantly reformed into the flaming humanoid. He still wore that armor around him, and his scimitar was completely undamaged as well.

  “What?!” Ning had simply been observing with interest, but now his face began to turn pale. “He didn’t die? His body was completely shattered, but he still didn’t die?”

  For normal cultivators, once their bodies were completely destroyed they would lose their lives. Only unique types of cultivation could result in ‘invulnerable forms’, such as the virtually indestructible ‘darkness incarnate’ form of Daolord Kongsan. Palace Lord Dawnstar was far more powerful than Kongsan; Kongsan was just barely comparable to ordinary Eternal Emperors, while Palace Lord Dawnstar was able to kill them with ease. The difference in power between the two was obvious… and yet, due to having an ‘invulnerable form’, Kongsan could be ground into dust but then transform into darkness incarnate, ensuring that he didn’t die! Very few people had techniques like this, and it was this technique which made Kongsan so famous.

  “An invulnerable form?” The Ninedust Sectlord had a look of shock on his face.

 
“Not just an invulnerable form; he’s also able to harvest the flames floating around in this region.” Ning frowned. “His aura didn’t weaken in the slightest.”

  “Ahahaha! The two of you are dead meat.” The flaming creature once more charged towards them, an angry howl escaping his lips.

  “Let me give it a try,” Ning barked.

  “Alright. You go!” The Ninedust Sectlord wasn’t certain in his own chances to succeed.

  Ning wielded just a single sword, raising it up high with all six arms clutching it by the hilt.

  “DESTROY!!”

  The entire region began to tremble and shake. It was like a volcano was building up its power, preparing for a final explosion. Ning’s sword-light suddenly slashed through the air, chopping down furiously upon the flaming creature’s form.

  BOOM! This was Ning’s most savage and most dominating strike. It caused the creature’s entire body to shudder, then completely break apart.

  “Nine novessence arts, go!” With but a thought, Ning sent nine dragons of energy flying out of his body. Rumbling, they transformed into a chaotic Yin-Yang Sword Domain and furiously ground away at the scattered bits of the flaming creature’s body. The creature’s body quickly dissipated into flames, but the nine novessence arts completely covered the entire area with their domain, continuously extinquishing the flames. After a very long period of time, the mysterious flames in the area were finally and completely extinguished.

  “Dead.” Ning dispelled his nine novessence arts.

  “That took forever.” The Ninedust Sectlord nodded slightly.

  Hiss…

  Suddenly, a spark appeared in the air in front of them. The spark quickly grew in size, transforming into a towering conflagration that then once more coalesced into that blazing, flame-covered humanoid figure.

  “What?! Even after being completely annihilated, it can rise anew from the void?” The Ninedust Sectlord could hardly believe it. “B-but…”

  “That’s not possible. I had already completely extinguished it, leaving behind not even so much as a trace of its aura. How could it be born anew?” Ning couldn’t believe it either. “This ‘invulnerable form’ it has is terrifying.”