Desolate Era

by RWX

  “Big brother Solesky?”

  “Big brother Solesky!!!”

  Daolord Solesky was in secluded meditation within Ning’s estate-world, not accepting any communication from the outside world.

  “What?!” Ning was frantic. Solesky had actually gone into secluded meditation at a time like this?

  “Halt!!” Ning drew his six Northbow swords and charged forwards, grabbing the Ninedust Sectlord. Ninedust continued to scream in agony, his eyes filled with pleading as he stared at Ning. He really did want for Ning to kill him and spare him any more of this. With but a thought, Ning pulled Ninedust away into his estate-world.

  Right now, Ninedust was completely defenseless and unable to fight back at all. He would probably die in short order if he stayed out here, and so Ning had no choice but to drag him away.

  “Are you looking to die, kid?” The Kingfreak brandished the great scimitar in his hands. BOOM! Ning was smashed flying backwards, while the Kingfreak staggered one step back.

  “Die.” As Ning was knocked flying backwards, he produced a deep blue crystalline leaf in his right hand. This was the second and final Dao-seal the Sword Hegemon had bestowed upon him!

  Crack. He shattered the deep blue leaf.

  * * *

  Book 32, Chapter 17 - The Dao-Seals Power

  The deep blue crystal leaf shattered, and a flood of terrifying power that had been hidden inside it was completely unleashed! Although it held only a fraction of a full-force strike from the Sword Hegemon, the power of this blow still vastly surpassed a full-power blow from one of the eight lords of the Sacred Cities. There was no way even the most supreme of Daolords would be able to resist this level of power!

  “Ahhhhhhhhhhh!” Ninedust was now within Ji Ning’s estate-world, and he continued to scream in pain. His face remained a rictus of agony as those dark red lines continued to spread throughout his body. Clearly, the terrifying pain he was in hadn’t lessened in the slightest after entering this estate-world.

  “Ninedust!” Ning felt both regret and fury in his heart. “All of you can go die!!!” Ning was filled with a murderous intent as he activated that flood of incredible power. Instantly, an enormous, horrifying illusion of a greatsword appeared in the area around Ning!

  The illusory greatsword lay horizontal, causing spacetime to freeze and severing karma itself. Its incredible, terrifying presence caused the Kingfreak, Daolord Shaka, Daolord Snowjoy, and even Sectlord Timedream to turn pale.

  “How is this possible?! He used up one of those things when he killed Kongsan. How does he have another one?!” This was the second time Daolord Shaka had ever encountered this terrifying illusory greatsword. Gritting his teeth, he immediately produced the most powerful protective treasure he had purchased prior to entering the Waveshift Realm, causing a palm-sized black seed to appear in his hand.

  “Brother Snowjoy, don’t move!” Daolord Shaka sent mentally. Crack! The black seed shattered into tiny pieces of dust as the power within it was released. Vine-like tendrils furiously sprouted out the shattered black seed, spreading out in every direction and quickly covering both Shaka and Snowjoy from head to toe, forming a vine cube that was roughly thirty meters in diameter! Shaka and Snowjoy were completely covered and protected by this rattan vine cube.

  ……

  “Ninedust has been poisoned by our redscatter venom and is no longer a threat. After we kill him, the Voidsea Jadeseal will be ours.” Sectlord Timedream had begun to move closer towards Ninedust’s direction as well as Shaka, Snowjoy, and Kingfreak had charged forward. All of them knew that the Voidsea Jadeseal was about to fall into someone’s hands; if he moved closer, his chances would be much greater.

  “What?! Darknorth actually pulled Ninedust into his estate-world?” Sectlord Timedream smirked. “He’s courting death. We were completely focused on Ninedust earlier and couldn’t be bothered with him. We should be able to wipe him out in a few seconds.”

  Although Ninedust was suffering indescribable torment, the fact that he was able to mouth out the words ‘kill me’ showed that he was able to maintain a modicum of consciousness. Ning was on his side, and so he wouldn’t resist being drawn away into Ning’s estate-world. The others, however, wouldn’t have that chance.

  “Die, then.” Sectlord Timedream followed the Kingfreak, Shaka, and Snowjoy in charging straight towards Ning. Much like how Solewind was decent in close combat, Sectlord Timedream was a first-tier Daolord in close combat as well.

  BOOM!

  The heavens turned dark. The world went silent. Time and space froze. Karma itself was severed.

  An overwhelming, awe-inspiring aura of power manifested as a giant illusory greatsword appeared out of thin air. Sectlord Timedream was shocked, his earlier confidence gone. Both he and Kingfreak were vile men who had wandered the Endless Territories for many years. As a result, they had battled against a number of mighty major powers in the past, and had encountered a number of terrifying Dao-seals. However, the illusory greatsword in front of him gave him a sense of terror that was greater than anything he had ever felt before!

  The Sword Hegemon’s field of expertise lay in annihilatory attacks, after all!

  “FREAK!!!” Sectlord Timedream screamed mentally as he reached out, producing a dazzlingly beautiful snow flower in his hands.

  “Sectlord.” The terrified Kingfreak was frantically retreating as well, seeking to reunite with Sectlord Timedream.

  Whoosh. The snow flower bloomed, expanding to cover the surrounding area and protecting both Sectlord Timedream and the Kingfreak.

  Generally speaking, the most valuable treasures would be kept in Sectlord Timedream’s hands! Only if they found a second copy would the treasure go to the Kingfreak. Treasures like the redscatter venom that had to be used in close combat, Timedream would let the Kingfreak hold on to, as the Kingfreak was responsible for charging into the fray as the vanguard. This flower, however, was a protective treasure that would cause a formation to appear once activated. The formation could be used to trap foes, but it could also be used to resist outside attacks. This was the most powerful tool Sectlord Timedream had at his disposal.

  The beautiful flower wrapped itself around the Kingfreak and Sectlord Timedream, protecting them in multiple layers of formations.

  ……

  Not a single one of the four supreme Daolords were able to escape from Ning’s illusory greatsword. They had instead chosen to produce the most powerful protective treasures they had to resist it. Escape on their own? All of them knew this was impossible!

  “Die.” Ning stared intently at Sectlord Timedream and the Kingfreak, as well as that enormous flower around them. He wanted to kill the two of them most of all, because they were the ones who had poisoned Ninedust!

  BOOM! The illusory greatsword chopped directly against that enormous flower. The flower instantly began to tremble as it swiveled, its layers of petals furiously shifting aside the force of the attack. As the petals continued to spin, waves of terrifying might began to blast outwards in every direction.

  Boom! Boom! Boom! The nearby Daolord Snowjoy and Daolord Shaka were protected within their vine globe, and the waves of power smashed against them as well. The vines, however, were incredibly tough and managed to resist the force.

  “Absolutely terrifying. We’re facing just a tiny amount of its full power that’s been diverted in our direction. How can it still be this strong?” Protected by the vine globe, Snowjoy and Shaka had ashen looks on their faces.

  “How can this be?” Sectlord Timedream’s face turned ashen as well from his position within the flower formation. He was in command of the formation and thus could clearly sense what was happening to it.

  The flower formation possessed incredible powers of endurance, and it operated on the principles of shunting aside power and enduring the rest, with more than 90% of any attack being diverted away. And yet, the chopping attack of this illusory greatsword was clearly still unleashing more power than the flower f
ormation could endure. Its petals were already beginning to rip and tear.

  “It’s about to crumble.” Finally, one petal completely crumbled apart. A second then crumbled, followed by a third… and as it did, the amount of power that was being shunted to the nearby vine globe began to gradually lessen as well.

  “Not good.”

  “Quick!”

  The Kingfreak and Sectlord Timedream almost simultaneously produced a pair of unique protective treasures to protect themselves. Although this formation was the only Hegemon-level treasure they had, they did have several treasures that were comparable in might to the eight lords of the Sacred Cities. As for the weaker treasures, those were merely on par with the Kingfreak and Sectlord Timedream themselves and thus were of no use to them.

  Rumble… whoosh… whoosh… Finally, the flower formation completely burst apart and shattered apart into small pieces. The remaining power of the illusory greatsword chopped straight towards the Kingfreak and Sectlord Timedream!

  Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! The barriers erected around them immediately began to break apart as the two of them were both knocked backwards.

  Thud! Sectlord Timedream slammed into the snowy ground, kicking up a wave of snow around him. He spat out a mouthful of blood, but a look of wild joy was on his face. “Survived. I survived!”

  “Survived. We both survived.” The Kingfreak was filled with joy as well.

  Only those who had faced that strike personally would understand how terrifying it had been. The illusory greatsword of the Sword Hegemon was a frontal, head-on, crushing attack! Even the remaining fragments of its energy had been enough to terrorize and terrify the Kingfreak and the Sectlord.

  “It first destroyed a Hegemon-level formation, then destroyed four other protective treasures… and it still had enough power to injure the two of us! What a terrifying treasure.” Sectlord Timedream glared at the distant Ning, his eyes filled with murder. “He destroyed quite a few of our treasures. Kill him, Freak.”

  “I will.” The Kingfreak was enraged as well. How could he not be? The puny Daolord Darknorth had brought him to the brink of death! He immediately unsheathed his great scimitar and charged straight towards Ning.

  Sectlord Timedream watched from afar, not following this time. In truth, he really had been badly frightened by Ning’s usage of that Hegemon Dao-seal. “He probably doesn’t have a second one… right?” For a person to have a single copy of such a treasure was already incredible. Two? Two would be inconceivable. Three? What, was it as common as dirt?

  In truth, given Ning’s level of power it would’ve been extremely difficult for him to acquire such treasures through adventuring. The Sword Hegemon had only chosen to give him two due to taking him on as an honorary disciple! This was because the Sword Hegemon had known that his death was impending and unavoidable, which was why he was willing to spend an enormous price to create these Dao-seals. In normal situations, not even figures like the Brightshore Hegemon would be willing to gift Dao-seals of such terrifying power to mere honorary disciples.

  The more power a Dao-seal packed, the harder it would be to craft. In ordinary combat, the Sword Hegemon would’ve been able to unleash ten or twenty full-strength blows with ease, but to compact and compress all of that power into a Dao-seal was incredibly difficult. If he merely put in a small portion of his full power, perhaps the same level of power as the eight lords of the Sacred Cities possessed, things would be much easier… but infusing a full-force blow into a Dao-seal truly required an enormous amount of effort and expense!

  * * *

  Book 32, Chapter 18 - Omega Sword Dao Level Three

  Ji Ning only had a total of two Dao-seals from the Sword Hegemon. The first had been used up against Kongsan and Shaka, while he had used up the second one here in the Waveshift Realm. He really was out of treasures on this level now.

  “Damn.” Hidden within his vine treasure, Daolord Shaka felt a sense of pain in his heart. He had paid an extremely high price for this seed, precisely because he had felt himself to be in life-threatening danger during his last encounter with Ning.

  “Daolord Darknorth actually focused all of his power against Timedream and Kingfreak, and I just suffered a few collateral shockwaves? That means I just completely wasted this seed for nothing.” Daolord Shaka felt endless regret. This vine globe’s protective powers were immense, but it was a single-use item. Now, it had been used up without actually making much of a difference.

  “Let’s wait a while longer. Darknorth might have a third seal!” Daolord Shaka mused to himself.

  “Brother Shaka, why aren’t we going out yet?” The nearby Daolord Snowjoy said anxiously. “The Kingfreak is already attacking. Once he kills Daolord Darknorth, the Voidsea Jadeseal will end up in his hands.”

  “Don’t be anxious. Let’s watch for a while longer,” Daolord Shaka said immediately. “Darknorth might have another one.”

  “Another one? Could he really have another such treasure?” Daolord Snowjoy didn’t believe it.

  “Don’t worry, I’m much faster than Timedream and Kingfreak. I’ll definitely intervene at the critical moment,” Daolord Shaka said.

  ……

  Daolord Shaka and Daolord Snowjoy continued to watch from behind the protective vine globe as the Kingfreak charged straight towards Ning.

  “Die, kid.” The Kingfreak’s eyes were filled with fury and murder. “I won’t give you any chance this time.”

  “No, Kingfreak. You’ll be the one to die.” Ning manifested three heads and six arms, wielding all six of his Northbow swords.

  BOOM! The Kingfreak’s enormous scimitar glittered with cold light as it chopped straight towards Ning. Although Ning was skilled in defense, the disparity in power was too great and he was still sent flying backwards! The Kingfreak quickly charged forwards once again in pursuit of Ning.

  Boom! Boom! Boom! The two battled fiercely, with Ning just barely able to defend. Thanks to his defensive sword-arts and his Hegemon armor, he was able to just barely hold on, even though he was fighting against a higher-tier Daolord.

  “He doesn’t have any more Dao-seals with that level of power.” The distant Sectlord Timedream revealed a delighted look as he charged forwards as well. “Freak, this kid is taking you pretty long. Let me help you out.”

  “He’s weaker than me, but he has a very powerful protective divine ability,” the Kingfreak sent mentally. “Sectlord, if we work together we’ll be able to defeat and capture him with ease.”

  “Attack.”

  “Kill.”

  Daolord Shaka and Daolord Snowjoy charged out of the vine globe they had been watching from as well. Based on how badly Ning was being beaten, they felt certain that Ning didn’t have any more terrifying Dao-seals left. They naturally chose to immediately come out and fight over the Voidsea Jadeseal as well.

  ……

  Ning was in dire straits! The Kingfreak, Sectlord Timedream, Daolord Shaka, and Daolord Snowjoy were all attacking him. They wanted to kill him.

  “AHHHHHHH!!!!” Ning suddenly let out an enraged howl as his aura expanded dramatically!

  Ninedust had been helping out strictly out of a sense of loyalty to Ning, but he was now suffering unspeakable torment and was in such pain that he begged for death. When Ninedust silently mouthed the words ‘kill me’ towards Ning, Ning felt as though his heart was being stabbed by knives. He was filled with pain, regret, and guilt!

  He wanted to hand over the Voidsea Jadeseal to end this battle, only to discover that his big brother Solesky had gone into secluded meditation. He truly had been driven to his wits end!

  When he used the Sword Hegemon’s Dao-seal…

  When that overwhelmingly awesome phantom of a giant greatsword had appeared and emanated that terrifying aura of sword-intent, Ning’s soul had suddenly trembled. The bottleneck that had trapped him for so many years had suddenly loosened, with many new insights slowly beginning to enter his mind.

  Many years ago, when he ha
d used the Stone Censer of Reunion in the Thundersouth Palace, he had managed to reach the third stage in all five of his sword-intents – the Blood Drop sword-intent, the Shadowless sword-intent, the Soleheart sword-intent, the Heavenbreaker sword-intent, and the Yin-Yang sword-intent. However, he had been unable to fuse them together into the third-level Omega Sword Dao. Right at this moment, however, his mind, heart, and truesoul were all in a completely berserk, frenzied state.

  When the illusory greatsword manifested, these many emotions mixed together with the insights he gained from that terrifying sword-intent. And so… although the Hegemon’s Dao-seal hadn’t slain anyone, when the Kingfreak attacked Ning, Ning didn’t move to flee despite having no more seals available to him. Instead, he ‘foolishly’ chose to engage the Kingfreak in close combat… and as he fought, a new surge of sword-intent slowly took form in his mind.

  When the sword-intent was completely and fully formed, the third stage of his Omega Sword Dao finally took shape!

  The rage, regret, and guilt Ning had suppressed inside his heart fully exploded.

  “AHHHHHHHHH!!!!” Ning reared his head to let out a frenzied roar, his primal cry echoing in heaven and earth.

  “Prepare to die!” Ning turned his gaze towards the attacking Kingfreak, Sectlord Timedream, Daolord Shaka, and Daolord Snowjoy.

  Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! One energy dragon after another flew out of Ning’s body as his nine novessence arts burst forth, transforming into an utterly terrifying Yin-Yang Chaosworld. His Omega Sword Dao – Yin Yang was already on par with the formations which Daolord Allgod had used at his peak, and when used via his Omega Sword Dao they exploded with terrifying levels of power.

  Sectlord Timedream’s heartworld projection was actually forcibly held at bay!

  “Expand, my heartworld!