Desolate Era

by RWX

  “Die, die, die, DIE!” The Fiendqueen grew increasingly berserk and her attacks actually grew increasingly powerful. The formations were already shuddering under her assaults. Now, they quickly began to reach the brink of collapse as the outermost formation’s runes began to crumble.

  “Let’s move!” Daolord Badlands, seeing the situation, sent his friend a furious mental message. “Do what I planned out earlier. Let’s move, now!”

  “Let’s move.” Daolord Solesky waved his hand, putting away Daolord Badlands’ avatar. Just as the formation began to break apart, he transformed into an endless stream of water that quickly fled off into the distance.

  “You want to flee?” The Fiendqueen’s gaze turned even colder. She waved her crystalline right hand, sending an unearthly amount of power out with her attack. BOOM! The already-shuddering formation was finally, completely destroyed. Her hand swept towards the fleeing stream of water, and the water touched by that hand was all completely extinguished.

  However, the stream of water split up into countless rivulets that furiously fled in every direction.

  “Solesky’s life-preserving abilities aren’t bad at all.” The Fiendqueen let out a cold laugh as she flickered through the skies, striking out with both hands in hot pursuit.

  Daolord Solesky was famous for his fleeing and life-preserving abilities. He was on the same level as Patriarch Clearwind, but his attacks weren’t that strong! His fleeing abilities, however, vastly surpass Clearwind’s, especially his self-created ‘invulnerable aquaform’. Although it wasn’t as perfect and as powerful as that of the Ninedust Sectlord, it shared some of its mysteries and abilities. To kill Daolord Solesky would be fairly difficult.

  It was precisely because she knew how good Solesky was at staying alive that the Fiendqueen dared to attack in such a wild manner. Otherwise, her goal would’ve been to capture him with weaker attacks so that she could force him to hand over his information.

  ……

  Daolord Solesky fled in front of the group of three, which chased after him in hot pursuit.

  Whoosh! The endless streams of water suddenly burrowed into a grove of trees.

  “Another formation!” The black mist roiled around the Fiendqueen as her face turned grim with rage.

  “Come on in, if you dare!” The water within the forest reformed into a humanoid shape. It was Daolord Solesky, but his face was rather ashen and his aura was noticeably weaker than before. However, he still refused to bend the knee. “Fiendqueen Dustrain, come break this formation if you are strong enough!”

  Daolord Solesky waved his hand, causing Daolord Badlands’ avatar to appear next to him.

  “Are you alright, brother Solesky?” Daolord Badlands hurriedly asked.

  “Fiendqueen Dustrain is far too powerful. Normally, Daolords who are one level of power above me are unable to harm me, but she’s overwhelmingly stronger than me. In the end, my ‘invulnerable aquaform’ isn’t perfect enough.” Daolord Solesky shook his head. “Roughly 70% of my divine body was wiped out. I can use chaos jewels to rebuild it, but my soul and truesoul were both heavily wounded. It’ll take me at least a century to recover.”

  “A century?” Daolord Badlands frowned as well. Countless Daolords had entered after the Voidsea Jadeseals had announced their presence. Ever since then, they had lived miserable lives, because every single squad of Daolords they ran into would furiously chase after them! Given that the Waveshift Realm was quite dangerous to begin with, even someone as skilled in Numerancy as Daolord Badlands was still unable to ensure that they could avoid all trouble. They had repeatedly fallen into dangerous situations, with this one being the worst thus far.

  Daolord Badlands only had his avatar present, and it was very weak. If Daolord Solesky had now been injured so heavily as to need a century to recover, they were in serious trouble.

  BOOM! The enraged Fiendqueen began to once more launch attacks upon the formation from outside.

  “Badlands, are you sure she cannot break this formation?” Daolord Solesky was rather worried.

  “Don’t worry, this formation uses this forest as its foundation and is far more stable than the previous one.” Daolord Badlands was quite confident.

  “Break! Break for me!” The Fiendqueen launched repeated palm attacks. Her hands were as beautiful and as pale as jewels, but they contained terrifying amounts of power. Each time she attacked the forest, runes would appear and flicker above it as the forest resisted her attack. Although the formations were shaking slightly, they still remained quite stable.

  “Fiendqueen, it’ll probably be quite difficult if you wish to destroy this formation through raw power,” the nearby Daolord Incense Dragon said hurriedly.

  “Yes, it is much tougher to deal with than the previous one.” A layer of frost seemed to be on the Fiendqueen’s face. “They clearly know much more about the Waveshift Realm than we do.”

  Some formations could be destroyed through raw force, but some were too strong and could not be! For example, the one that had trapped Ning and Ninedust was too strong. It had taken them three years before they worked out the formation and managed to escape it.

  “Incense Dragon, can you unlock it?” the Fiendqueen asked.

  “Same tricks as always. I’ll try to find some of its critical points, then you’ll use force to power through,” Daolord Incense Dragon said. If one struck a formation at its critical points, you would be able to achieve ten times the normal effect, giving you a chance to break through it with raw power. “This formation is fairly complicated. It should take me quite some time.”

  “Work quickly.” The Fiendqueen nodded, then waved her hand. Whoosh! Dark mist spread out to cover the entire forest. That way, any Daolords passing by would be unable to discover that Solesky and Badlands were hiding here.

  “Very well.” Daolord Incense Dragon waved his hand, causing a wooden cottage to descend. He sat down in the lotus position within the wooden cottage, then stared at the formation in front of him and began to carefully analyze it.

  ……

  Time slowly flowed onwards. One year, two years, three years…

  The Fiendqueen and the other two Daolords continued to wait outside. Two other squads of Daolords passed by during this period of time, but when they saw the baleful aura of Fiendqueen Dustrain they kept a safe distance away from her. She had earned her deadly reputation, and very few were willing to offend her.

  “Fiendqueen, these are three of the critical points of the formation. You need to strike all three at the same time.” Daolord Incense Dragon suddenly emerged from the wooden house and pointed at three of the critical junctions. As the critical points continued to shift positions, the Daolord’s markers continuously shifted with them.

  “Mm.” The Fiendqueen’s body blurred as she suddenly manifested six arms. She struck out with three of them, launching three crystalline palm-strikes at those three critical points simultaneously with overwhelming power. With a single massive boom, the runes of the formation immediately began to crack apart.

  “What?!” The two ashen-faced Daolords inside the formation began to panic.

  “Break apart and disappear.” Fiendqueen Dustrain dismissed her secret art, leaving just two arms behind. It was now time for her to unleash her most powerful attacks, and she continuously rained down strikes upon the remaining formations. The formations trembled and shook, causing the entire forest to sway, but they continued to endure her strikes.

  “This grand formation was formed through seven linked formations. We’ve already defeated two layers of formations.” Daolord Incense Dragon said hurriedly, “I think if we can defeat the third one, the remaining four would be unable to resist your power, Fiendqueen.”

  “Then hurry up!” The Fiendqueen was clearly growing rather impatient.

  “Right.” Daolord Incense Dragon entered the wood room once more. Time flowed a hundred times faster than normal in here, and he continued his research from within. While he did his research, t
he other two sat in the lotus position outside the forest and kept a quiet watch. Suddenly, two figures appeared off in the distance.

  “Eh?” Fiendqueen Dustrain and Daolord Feiting both turned to look, only to see a white-robed youth carrying a golden sword on his back alongside a grim-faced silver-robed man.

  “Daolord Darknorth?” Daolord Feiting’s face turned grim. He sent mentally, “Fiendqueen, that’s Daolord Darknorth. He also belongs to Vastheaven Palace!”

  “The puny Darknorth wouldn’t dare to fight with me.” The Fiendqueen didn’t hold Ning in any regard at all. She stood amongst the most supreme Daolords of the Endless Territories, after all.

  Whoosh. Whoosh. Ning and the Ninedust Sectlord flew close to them. “Fuck off,” the Fiendqueen barked. “Otherwise, don’t blame me for taking your lives!”

  “You and what army?” A cold light flashed through Ning’s eyes.

  “Don’t waste words with her. Let’s do this!” A longstaff appeared in the Ninedust Sectlord’s hands, and he charged forwards with a mighty roar.

  * * *

  Book 32, Chapter 3 - Frenzied Battle

  Fiendqueen Dustrain was flabbergasted by this. She never would’ve imagined that the two Daolords before her would actually dare to assault her. Enraged to the point of laughter, she said, “Suicidal fools!”

  BOOM! A dense black fog suddenly swept out from her and surged towards Ji Ning and Ninedust.

  “Is that all you have?” Ninedust’s body became protected by rippling curtains of water that surged forward like waves. They clashed straight against the surging black mist, with both actually being stalemated for a time.

  “Descend.” The white-robed youth with the golden sword on his back, Ji Ning, let out a low growl. Instantly, the area around him became filled with a partial illusion of an absolutely enormous world. At the center of this world was an enormous sword-shaped mountain that came crashing down with ferocity! The heartworld projection came down. BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! The black mist, already stalemated by the rippling curtains of water, actually started to be crushed apart by the force of Ning’s heartworld projection.

  “Nine novessence arts!” Nine energy dragons flew out of Ning’s body, howling with rage as they attacked.

  The Ripplewater art, the nine novessence arts, and the heartworld projection, all at the same time. The Fiendqueen’s black mist was completely overwhelmed and destroyed, and both her and her two Daolord allies were suppressed and weakened by the effects of the three enemy domains.

  “They actually have such powerful secret arts?” The Fiendqueen felt her body grow sluggish, almost as though entire worlds were pressing down against her. She felt as though she was an ordinary person trapped in quicksand, with every single movement and motion being incredibly taxing. She could hardly believe this. “Right now, I’m only able to use perhaps 60% of my full power at most! How could they have developed such powerful secret arts?”

  “Ahh! Fiendqueen!” Daolord Feiting let out a horrified cry from next to her. He was suffering the same thing she was, but the repercussions for him were far greater. “Fiendqueen, I’m able to unleash at most a tenth of my full strength. What should we do?”

  A look of crazed rage appeared in the Fiendqueen’s crimson eyes. The two sides had yet to actually engage in battle, but these two had already seized the upper hand!

  Secret arts were extremely important types of support skills, but in the end they relied on outside sources of power, making it extremely difficult to truly upgrade them! Ninedust only reached his current level of power in his Ripplewater art due to countless years of accumulating resources, as well as him being lucky enough to acquire the Dragonfish ki within the core of the planet he had been in. As for Ning, he had insights into many different Daos and the guidance of the [Seven Leafpill Chapters], which was why he had been able to master those nine novessence arts.

  The Ripplewater art, the nine novessence arts, and a heartworld projection! When the three were applied in succession, their power was comparable to Daolord Allgod at his peak when he personally used the nine novessence arts.

  Daolord Allgod had once been ranked as one of the top three cultivators of the Endless Territories, and his nine novessence arts were an important part of the reason for this. He was able to use these arts to suppress the likes of Emperor Melobo, causing Melobo to be dramatically weakened in combat.

  “Feiting is just barely on par with ordinary Eternal Emperors in power, but he’s actually been suppressed to the point where he can barely fight. However… even though I’m only able to unleash 60% of my power, that’ll still be more than enough.” The Fiendqueen’s face became even more savage as she growled, “Die!”

  BOOM! She shot straight towards the Ninedust Sectlord, who was also charging straight towards her. The Fiendqueen growled furiously as she struck out with her crystalline hands, a layer of black light covering them as she reached towards the Ninedust Sectlord.

  “Hmph.” The Ninedust Sectlord struck out with his longstaff, sending it arcing through the skies in a beautiful line that culminated in a lashing strike against the Fiendqueen’s hands.

  Both felt absolute confidence in themselves. Both chose to fight head-on!

  BOOM! An enormous explosion could be heard. Both the Fiendqueen and the Ninedust Sectlord were knocked flying backwards.

  “What?! Impossible!” The Fiendqueen could hardly believe it. At her level of power, she should’ve been able to trample over second-tier Daolords even with just 60% of her full strength. How was it that she hadn’t been able to gain any advantages at all just now?

  “She’s actually on par with me, even when two secret arts and a heartworld projection are suppressing her?” The Ninedust Sectlord was enraged by this. “Again!” Whoosh! This time, his aura skyrocketed in power as he raised his longstaff high in the air, then delivered a furious frontal strike with it. The Fiendqueen’s face tightened, but she still elected to use her hands to block this blow.

  Thud…

  This time, the sound of the collision was a very low and deep one. However, Ning could feel his own heart tremble from it. The Ninedust Sectlord’s body trembled as his momentum was halted, while Fiendqueen Dustrain was knocked flying backwards, a few flecks of blood visible on the corner of her lips. She said angrily, “I didn’t expect you to actually be an Ancient cultivator!”

  “Yes.” The Ninedust Sectlord was quite proud and confident. “You aren’t bad at all.”

  “If you didn’t have these secret arts and the heartworld projection, do you think you would be able to kill me?” A cold light flashed through the Fiendqueen’s eyes.

  “What I think is that you should fuck off. You aren’t able to beat the two of us,” Ninedust said.

  “Scram,” Ning agreed coldly.

  In truth, both of them realized that Ninedust had only been able to seize a slight advantage thanks to his usage of that forbidden divine ability. If they really were to continue this fight, they wouldn’t be able to do anything to Fiendqueen Dustrain.

  “Fuck off? Did you actually just tell me to fuck off?” The Fiendqueen’s emerald-colored face was filled with rage. Gritting her teeth, she produced a strange fiery-red globe in her hands. The globe was covered with many twisting, protruding lines. She tossed it high in the air, and the protruding lines on its surface instantly flared with light.

  Moments later, it was like a fiery star had appeared in the skies and was emanating streams of blurry red light. The streams of hazy red light covered the entire area. When the nine novessence arts and the Ripplewater art touched the red light, the two instantly could sense their secret arts were dramatically weakened. Ning could even sense that the influence of his heartworld projection was being similarly weakened by the countless streams of red light.

  “What type of treasure is this?” Ning and Ninedust exchanged a glance.

  “Fiendqueen, I’m doing much better now. I’m now able to unleash eighty to ninety percent of my full power.” Daolord Feiting re
vealed a smile, his body now protected by that blurry red light. Although the heartworld projection still continued to have an impact on him, he was clearly doing much better than before.

  “Fiendqueen.” Daolord Incense Dragon, who had been analyzing the formations from far, walked out of his wooden house. Earlier, the power of the secret arts and heartworld projection had been so great that he had no choice but to remain in hiding. “Let Feiting and I work together to fight Darknorth.”

  “Fine. The two of you should work together to get rid of him as soon as possible. As for the Ancient cultivator… hmph. He’s going to die as well.” The Fiendqueen once more charged forwards.

  “Haha, let’s have a fun fight!” The Ninedust Sectlord once more charged forwards.

  Ning stretched out his arms, a Northbow sword in each hand as he slowly strolled towards Daolord Feiting, a smile on his face. “Ninedust, there aren’t as many people as famous as Fiendqueen Dustrain. If you can beat her, you’ll definitely become famous.” As he spoke, he suddenly charged straight towards Daolord Feiting, who was wielding a set of six azure swords as well.

  “Kill!” The distant Daolord Incense Dragon waved a finger from afar, causing a thousand golden globes to shoot towards Ning like a storm of meteors. As they flew outwards, they actually came together to form a strange formation-diagram that came crashing towards Ning.

  “How laughable.” Just as Ning began to battle against Daolord Feiting, Ning suddenly unleashed a heartforce attack. Two surges of heartforce struck out, smashing against the souls and truesouls of both of them. Both of the Daolords managed to endure the hit, but next came the even more bizarre [Dreamstar] art.