Desolate Era

by RWX

  Ning chuckled, then nodded. The main issue was that there was simply far too much of the golden sand. The entire core was cracked, resulting in much of that golden sand having spilled outside of it. The region of spilled quicksand filled an area of over a hundred million kilometers.

  “I still can’t tell what this golden quicksand is.” The Ninedust Sectlord made a grabbing motion towards a handful of quicksand on the ground. Moments later, his face turned pale. He tugged viciously, causing all of the golden sand within the hundred million kilometer region to tremble slightly… but alas he wasn’t able to pull it to him.

  “Ninedust, you can’t even pick up a handful of this sand?” Ning was startled by what he saw. He then chuckled teasingly, as he himself was beginning to realize how special and unusual the golden sand was.

  “Why don’t you test it out yourself.” The Ninedust Sectlord gave Ning a hard look.

  Ning reached out as well. It was quite easy for him to insert his fingers into the sand, but when he tried to pull out a handful of it he felt as though the sand was part of a complete whole.

  BOOM! Although Ning used all the power he had, he was only able to cause the sand in the area to slightly tremble. He wasn’t able to pull any out at all.

  “Can’t do it either, right?” The Ninedust Sectlord smirked.

  “It reminds me of the stone passageways,” Ning said. “When we tried to hack the stones apart, we felt a counter-force emanate from the entire passageway.”

  “Right.” The Ninedust Sectlord nodded. “When we try to grab a handful of the sand, all of the sand in this entire area is fighting back against us.”

  The Ninedust Sectlord suddenly reached out once more. “Let me try a single grain of sand.” These grains of sand were roughly the size of a fingernail, much larger than ordinary ‘sand’. The Ninedust Sectlord let out a grunt as he pulled with all his strength. Boom! He managed to pull a single grain of sand into his hands.

  “Now, let me try two.”

  ……

  Both the Ninedust Sectlord and Ning were analyzing the sand of the planet’s core with interest. Since this sand had filled the entire core, it had to be the core’s primarily element. When undamaged, the planet’s core should’ve possessed enough power to wipe out the two of them with just the slightest of shockwaves. It was almost unbelievable that they managed to find a core of such power that was completely defenseless; there was no way the two would just pass such an opportunity up.

  After a period of time, they verified that the more sand they tried to pull out at once, the stronger the resisting power from the rest of the sand would be. The difficulty level would quickly skyrocket.

  “If we slowly pick this stuff up one grain at a time, it’ll take us forever. Let me see if I can perhaps hack it apart with my sword.” Ning pulled out a Northbow sword.

  “Yes, if you can hack it apart into smaller pieces it’ll be much easier.” The Ninedust Sectlord stood back to watch.

  “Chop!” Ning manifested [Three Heads, Six Arms] and gripped a single Northbow sword with all six arms, then unleashed his most powerful attack: Omega Sword Dao – Heavenbreaker. BOOM! The sword slammed into the defenseless sand, but when it moved deeper and sought to sever a piece of it, an invisible source of power suddenly arose to stop it. The power of Ning’s sword seemed to have sunk into a quagmire, having been completely absorbed by the endless sand and causing just a few vibrations.

  “Won’t work.” Ning shook his head. “I can’t cut it apart. I’m not even close to being strong enough.”

  “Master!”

  “Master!”

  “Hey, Master!”

  One clear, child-like voice rang out after another as six adorable children appeared. All of them stared wide-eyed at Ning.

  “Why have the six of you come out?” Ning chuckled. These six were the sword-spirits of the six Northbow swords. They were Lifeblood weapons, and so they were connected to Ning’s spirit and essence. Ning almost viewed himself as their father.

  “Master, the golden sand…” The first Northbow sword, ‘Boss Northbow’, hurriedly pointed to the flows of golden sand. “That golden sand is very important to us. We can sense it! Can you give it to us?”

  “Very important ot you?” Ning immediately understood. Lifeblood weapons needed to grow, but ordinary materials would be of no use to them. Clearly, the golden sand had attracted their interest.

  “Yes.” The six children nodded simultaneously.

  The nearby Ninedust Sectlord watched with amusement. “You actually have SIX of those Lifeblood swords? Not bad, Darknorth.”

  Ning couldn’t be bothered to banter with him for now. He said to the six children, “But there’s no way for me to harvest or mine the golden sand.”

  “No need. Master, just insert us into it.”

  “Yes, insert us into it. Let us absorb it into us.” All six of the children continued to stare at Ning.

  * * *

  Book 30, Chapter 30 - The Growing Northbow Swords

  Ji Ning was delighted when he heard this. He waved his hand, causing all six black swords to fly out from the sheath on his back and into the sea of flowing sand.

  Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish! They all plunged deep into the sand.

  “Haha!”

  “Here we go!”

  “Oh, this is lovely.”

  “Mm…”

  The six children let out excited cries as they flew back into their respective swords. The six Northbow swords began to glow with a layer of golden light as the sand around them began to lose its luster, quickly changing to become a grayish-white color before then completely disappearing without a trace.

  “In the future, if you encounter anything you like you can just let me know,” Ning sent mentally to his six sword-spirtis.

  “We don’t know what we like either. We can only sense something we want from a close distance.”

  “Right! Master, if you find anything powerful in the future, give it a few whacks with us first and we’ll get a good sense of it,” the six sword-spirits replied in chorus.

  Ning laughed, a smile on his face as he watched the six Northbow swords furiously devour the essence of the golden sands around them. A large amount of golden sand was being rapidly converted into white dust and then vanish. In the twinkling of an eye, more than half the golden sand in a thirty meter area had completely vanished.

  The nearby Ninedust Sectlord was rather jealous when he saw this. He hurriedly lifted up his longstaff, then plunged it into the golden sand.

  “Ugh.” The Ninedust Sectlord shook his head, putting away his longstaff. He glanced at Ning. “Congratulations, Darknorth. It seems your Lifeblood weapons are able to absorb the golden sand quite rapidly. Why is it that my own Lifeblood weapon can make no use of it?”

  “I guess they aren’t a good fit for each other,” Ning laughed.

  The Endless Territories were filled with countless marvelous curios, but only a few of them would be suitable for each person. Ning’s six Northbow swords had been personally forged to perfection by Emperor Gonflame, as perfection was needed in order to match Ning’s own Dao. They were already nigh-flawless and thus very picky; thus far, they had shown no interest in anything Ning had encountered.

  Whooooosh. Entire swathes of golden dust turned white and then vanished.

  “This golden sand can be considered a type of treasure. Actually harvesting it, however, is a pain.” The Ninedust Sectlord laboriously gathered the golden sand to himself, two grains at a time. After more than two hours, he had only managed to gather roughly a washing basin’s worth of sand. By the time he turned to look at Ning, he realized that virtually all of the golden sand around them had been sucked away. He could do nothing but shake his head and sigh. “Compared to how fast your Lifeblood weapons are harvesting these things, I’m moving at a snail’s pace. Mm. Well, I’ll keep harvesting. In the future I’ll ask and find out what type of treasure this is.”

  Ning smiled as he w
atched, his mood excellent. He could sense that his six Northbow swords were slowly growing in power as they themselves began to transform and evolve. They had originally been black in color but now they were starting to be tinged with gold, almost as though their abyssal darkness was now brimming with faint golden light. They were beginning to look like dark gold.

  Four hours. Twelve hours. One day. Two days. One month. Two months…

  The six Northbow swords remained plunged into the golden sands that had leaked out of the shattered planet, furiously sucking away at the sand’s essence. Not only were they changing in color, they were even changing in shape. They were now even slimmer than before, but their tips and edges were much sharper. Just looking at them, one could sense a terrifying aura of power from them.

  Ning and the Ninedust Sectlord had been fairly relaxed at first, but as time passed both of them grew increasingly astonished. As the Northbow swords had continuously drawn in more of the golden sands and evolved, the rate at which they drew in the sand began to dramatically increase as well.

  Rumble…

  The entire sea of golden sand was rumbling and rolling about, because the golden sands at its deepest depths were being continuously wiped out. As a result, ‘waves’ were sweeping through the sea unceasingly and flowing towards the six Northbow swords that had been inserted into the heart of the shattered planet’s core.

  “Your Lifeblood weapons aren’t going to suck up all of the golden sand of this planet’s core, are they? When in perfect condition, the planet’s core possessed such power that neither of us would even dare to approach it. If your weapons somehow managed to absorb all of that power… how strong would they become?” The Ninedust Sectlord stared in slack-jawed amazement. It must be understood that the outer layer of the hundred-million-kilometer sea of golden sand had already completely vanished. The swords were now primarily drawing from the sands deep within the sea.

  “The more powerful, the better.” Ning smiled. “This is an ancestral site of you Ancient cultivators; I imagine there won’t be any legacies for me here. I need to get what I can out of this place.”

  The Northbow swords had completely transformed by now. They were now extremely thin, completely golden in color, and glowed with a layer of light. If other cultivators saw these new Northbow swords, they never would’ve believed that they were the same swords as Ning had been wielding just a short while ago.

  Ning continued to watch eagerly. The planet’s core was truly an incalculably valuable treasure; most likely, its value was comparable to that mountain of darkspace flamestone in the alternate universe. His swords had already absorbed so much of that precious golden sand that they had undergone a fundamental transformation.

  Boom. Boom. Boom. A series of booms rang out, followed by the six Northbow swords flying into the skies and towards Ning.

  “Master, I’m full.”

  “I can’t eat another bite.”

  “I feel wonderfully stuffed.”

  The six children appeared once more on the blades of the Northbow swords, incredibly excited. With but a thought, Ning sent all six swords flying into the sheath on his back.

  “Look! Look over there!” The Ninedust Sectlord pointed at the planet’s core. Your six swords must’ve drained roughly twenty to thirty percent of the golden sand. I daresay that in material quality, they have a shot of becoming Universe treasures.”

  Ning waved his hand, pulling out one of the Northbow swords. “Let me test one out first.” Ning felt extremely comfortable when holding that Northbow sword, and its entire body glowed with that golden light.

  Swish. Swish. Ning began to display his sword-arts. He first started with his defensive sword-arts, because judging from how thin, slender, and sharp the sword was he felt certain that its offensive properties would have been strengthened. He wanted to savor this and save the best for last, and so he decided to test out his defensive sword-arts first. Upon doing so, Ning discovered to his joy that his sword-arts came out even faster and more fluid than ever before. They were also significantly more powerful as well; most likely, his defensive prowess had increased by fifty to sixty percent.

  “Omega Sword Dao – Heavenbreaker!” Ning unleashed a furious chop. BOOM! A stream of sword-light visible to the naked eye flew out from the tip of the sword, slamming down through the rainbow light for several kilometers before finally dissipating.

  “It’s merely twice as strong as before.” Ning shook his head slightly; this would be of limited use to him.

  “Omega Sword Dao – Shadowless!” Next, Ning chose to test out the Shadowless stance. This instantly caused a look of joy to appear on Ning’s face, as the new Northbow sword was perfect for the Shadowless stance; it was now faster, sharper, more ethereal, and more unpredictable.

  “This one is four times stronger than before,” Ning estimated.

  “Omega Sword Dao – Blood Drop!” Ning struck out with a seemingly casual stab, but in the final instant of the strike the sword-light twisted slightly. It destroyed the local power of the Dao-aura unleashed by the prime essences of the universe, forming a true void.

  “What?!” The nearby Ninedust Sectlord cried out in shock, “Y-you… your sword has actually transcended space itself?”

  “It’s actually transcended space.” Ning revealed a delight look as well.

  The technique which Emperor Mirrorsnow had mastered and used to gain eternity for himself was a sword-art that transcended both space and time, allowing him to pierce through his enemies even from countless kilometers away. Neither space nor time could constrain his sword-arts, and his enemies would be dead before they even had a chance to react. The power of this attack was simply incredible.

  To surpass the limits of time was to be inconceivably fast. As soon as Emperor Mirrorsnow struck, his sword would slay his foe; there would be no ‘attack time’ at all, as the attack would be instanteous. This was what made transcending time so terrifying.

  As for transcending space, it meant that distance was no longer an obstacle. Emperor Mirrorsnow was capable of using his sword to slay an enemy who wasn’t even in the same territory as him!

  Transcending space was comparatively easier. Transcending time was extremely difficult! Ning had originally thought that when he became a Daolord of the Third Step, his sword-arts would be able to transcend space. Who would’ve thought that he’d accomplish it at the second step! But still, when he thought about it in detail, it made sense to him. The essence the Northbow swords had absorbed had caused them to be extremely ‘skewed’ in one area, whereas they had previously been balanced. They were now much sharper and thus better-suited to the Blood Drop stance! The Shadowless stance wasn’t improved as much, while the berserk Heavenbreaker stance was barely improved. As for his defensive sword-arts, they were improved the least of all.

  In addition to his swords now being more suited to the Blood Drop stance, Ning had improved the most in the Blood Drop sword-intent to begin with. The Blood Drop sword-intent was highly destructive and thus suited for tearing through the bonds of space and time; it naturally became the first technique he could use to succeed in transcending space.

  “Now that you’ve transcended space, ordinary dimensional bindings will no longer have an effect on you. Even if an Eternal Emperor wished to kill you, you would be able to easily pierce through the dimensions and then flee through a dimensional tunnel. Only an Eternal Emperor who is incredibly skilled in the Dao of Space would have a chance of tying you down, with the vast majority of them being helpless against you.” The Ninedust Sectlord looked at Ning, then let out a sigh. “Darknorth, from this day forth, you now have a true life-saving measure that you can use when you please. Very, very few people are now capable of slaying you. You’ve transcended the bounds of space… I have to admit, I truly envy you now.”

  * * *

  Book 30, Chapter 31 - The Ancient Ancestor

  Ji Ning laughed. When he had been at Skywood City and encountered Daolord Kongsan, the latter h
ad dimensionally locked the area with a formation, making it impossible Ning to escape; his only option would’ve been to use his vessel to slowly fly around inside! But now? His sword-arts surpassed the limits of space and were able to forcibly rip out dimensional passageways, allowing him to easily escape. Only someone who had reached an extremely high level in the Dao of Space would be able to restrict Ning’s movements.

  The vast majority of Eternal Emperors would not be able to bar Ning’s path. This was a true life-preserving method he now had!

  Kongsan was able to transform into darkness incarnate, a virtually invulnerable form. This was his own life-preserving method which ensured that even the likes of Palace Lord Dawnstar would be unable to do anything to him.

  Ji Ning would be able to use his swords to transcend space, making it so that dimensional shackling would be unable to bind him. He would also be able to tear through space and flee at a moment’s notice. This was a life-preserving method that was every bit a match for Kongsan’s.

  There were very few figures even amongst exceptionally powerful second-tier Daolords like Ning and Kongsan who had such incredible life-preserving methods. The Ninedust Sectlord, for example, didn’t have any such technique.

  However, the most supreme of Daolords such as Dawnstar or Skyaxe, the ones who stood at the very precipice of power, all had Daos of such incredible power that they had life-preserving abilities similar to that of spatial transcendence.

  This was why they were all generally extremely difficult to kill. However, a Hegemon would probably be able to wipe them out with the wave of a hand. Perhaps some of the freakishly powerful ancient figures such as the lords of the eight Sacred Cities, second only to the Hegemons in power and who Hegemons wouldn’t necessarily be able to kill, might be able to slay the supreme Daolords. These figures were far more powerful than even Emperor Mirrorsnow.