Desolate Era

by RWX

  “Darknorth, I have many life-preserving abilities. It won’t be easy for you to kill me either.” When Timedream saw Ning draw closer and closer to him, he barked mentally, “Don’t push me too far.”

  “I’ll be pushing you to your wit’s end!” Ning actually sped up the pursuit.

  “Then go die!” Timedream’s face turned savage as he produced a black stone which was covered with countless golden spots that came together to form a strage diagram. Sectlord Timedream crushed the black stone, causing an overwhelming torrent of power to instantly flood out and form a dazzling halo of golden light around him.

  “Eh?” Ning frowned. Swish! He disappeared without a trace.

  “Where is he? Where is he?!” Sectlord Timedream was anxious and angry. His heartworld projection was weaker than Ning’s, and Ning was using his own heartworld projection and nine novessence arts to prevent the Sectlord from scanning the area. As a result, he naturally wasn’t able to find Ning’s true location.

  “Die!” Sectlord Timedream let out an enraged roar as he caused the dazzling halo of golden light around him to explode outwards in every direction, striking all within their path.

  BOOM! Roughly a hundred thousand kilometers away, some of the energy struck an obstacle. Moments later Ning appeared, Northbow swords at the ready. Sword-light gleamed in front of him, transforming into a black hole that allowed him to easily defend against the attack.

  “Sectlord Timedream, even if the full power of that strike was concentrated on me, it would only be able to cause me a few injuries at most,” Ning smirked. “As for when its spread out like this? It poses no threat at all!”

  The power contained within that treasure was roughly on par with 60% - 70% of a full-power strike from one of the eight lords of the Sacred Cities. Ning was now a supreme Daolord and just one stage away from their level. Even if one of the eight lords personally intervened, they wouldn’t be able to kill Ning with one blow, given the fact that he was protected by the Hegemon armor! An area attack? Completely out of the question.

  “Damn.” Sectlord Timedream gritted his teeth, then turned and continued to flee at high speed.

  “His evasion art is impossible to deal with. Whenever I take out a treasure, he’ll use this ‘Shadowless’ evasion art and I won’t even be able to hit him!” Sectlord Timelord was turning frantic. “Even if I had a Hegemon-level treasure, I still probably wouldn’t be able to kill him.”

  Even the most powerful of treasures needed a target. When Ning used his Shadowless evasion art, he was able to completely and totally vanish. Given that he was able to move at a hundred times the speed of light, he would be able to easily move a million kilometers away in the blink of an eye. There was simply no way for him to aim at or hit Ning. When he unleashed the power in a dispersed area attack, it would quickly become a hundred times weaker than normal.

  Whoosh. Ning once more flew straight towards him.

  “He’s faster than me, and his heartworld projection is stronger than mine. How am I supposed to escape?” Sectlord Timedream was about to go crazy. He was both slower and weaker than his opponent. His strength lay in heartforce, but Ning was also a powerful Heartforce Cultivator.

  “Emperor Waveshift. Damn you, Emperor Waveshift!” Sectlord Timedream felt hatred in his heart. “If we were in the outside world, I would’ve torn a hole through spacetime and fled long ago.” He had plenty of treasures that would allow him to flee through spacetime, and more than one at that!

  * * *

  Book 32, Chapter 22 - End of the Road

  Time flowed on, with six hours going past in the blink of an eye. During theses six hours, Sectlord Timedream used a total of nine offensive items, all of which had the power of lords of the eight Sacred Cities. Some were stronger, some were slightly weaker. However, Ji Ning’s usage of the Shadowless evasion art rendered Sectlord unable to aim the treasures. As a result, Ning was able to block the attacks effortlessly; he wasn’t even knocked backwards by them.

  “He just disappeared again.” Sectlord Timedream continued to flee in terror. He glanced backwards, unable to discern where Ning had gone.

  Boom! An explosive sound rang out as the countless threads surrounding him shuddered as something slammed into them.

  “Darknorth’s here again!” Sectlord Timedream stared ashen-faced at Ji Ning, who had just appeared. Ning had already burst through those threads and was charging straight towards him.

  Boom! Boom! Boom! Swish! Whoosh! The streaks of sword-light shot towards him, some fast, some slow, some savage.

  Sectlord Timedream was being completely dominated. Even Daolord Snowjoy wasn’t a match for Ning in close combat, to say nothing of Timedream. Timedream was, by comparison, much weaker in close combat.

  Whoosh. He once more transformed into a stream of light-silhouettes that then reformed off in the distance. This was his dreamform.

  “Die.” Ning’s sword-light didn’t slow down in the slightest as it pursued with its chops, stabs, and strikes against the humanoid silhouette. Although Timedream’s dreamform was able to dissipate a great deal of his attack power, it clearly was far inferior to the likes of the invulnerable aquaform.

  Crack! Crack! Crack!

  Sectlord Timedream reformed off in the distance, his face ashen. He hurriedly gulped down a few spirit-pills, a look of despair in his eyes. In six short hours, he had been forced to use his dreamform to flee over a hundred times. Each time, he had been heavily injured and needed to rely on spirit-pills to heal himself.

  “I want to see just how many spirit-pills you have.” Ning was still brimming with a murderous intent.

  “Daolord Darknorth, spare my life. Spare my life! I’m willing to be your retainer for a chaos cycle, and I’ll give you all of my treasures. What do you think?” Sectlord Timedream once more begged for mercy, and this time he actively offered to serve as a retainer for a chaos cycle. He was an extremely proud man; it was a testament to how much despair he felt that he was willing to serve another as a retainer and hand over all of his treasures. He wanted to save his own life, but he was out of all other ideas. He had used up an enormous number of spirit-pills. If this continued, he wouldn’t be able to last for so much as another day.

  “A retainer? You are weaker than me, and your heartforce is inferior to mine as well. What would be the point of taking you on as a retainer?” Ning barked coldly.

  “You are going too far!” Sectlord Timedream roared coldly.

  “Damn right I am!” Ning didn’t even try to disguise his hatred. Given how long he had chased after Timedream, how could he stop now?

  It would be nice, having someone as powerful as Timedream as his retainer… but Ning would never forget that it was Sectlord Timedream who was primarily responsible for Ninedust being forced to suffer such agony. The guilt Ning felt towards Ninedust prevented him from sparing Timedream!

  ……

  “Spare my life!

  “Damn you, Waveshift.

  “Why, why, why?!

  “I can’t accept this! This is ridiculous!

  “Ahahaha…

  “Winesage! Winesage! Hurry up!

  “Why? WHY?!”

  As death slowly moved closer and closer to Sectlord Timedream, he began to go completely insane. Although Winesage was moving closer and closer to Ning, he was still a few days away. Sectlord Timedream wouldn’t be able to hold on for much longer. As for the other supreme Daolords, they didn’t even dare to move too close to Ning.

  Shaka, Snowjoy, Kingfreak, and Timedream… these four supreme Daolords had attacked Darknorth. And what had happened? Kingfreak died! Shaka and Snowjoy had been terrified into fleeing! And Timedream had been chased to the brink of death!

  Something like this was more than enough to terrify the vast majority of Daolords. Second-tier Daolords wouldn’t even dare to think about getting involved, while even the supreme Daolords grew nervous! Most likely, only Winesage felt no fear at all, but he still had to make it here in time.

/>   “How can it be that things will end up with me dying here?” Sectlord Timedream’s aura continued to weaken. He once more transformed into a humanoid light-silhouette, then raised his head to stare despondently at the skies.

  Ning’s merciless sword-light once more came howling towards him, chopping towards the humanoid light-silhouette. The humanoid light-silhouette slowly began to dim.

  “Darknorth, today I’m going to die by your hand… but in the future, you will die as well! Ahaha…” Sectlord Timedream’s light-silhouette let out a berserk laugh as he continued to grow dimmer and dimmer. In the end his silhouette completely vanished, leaving just a few magic treasures behind.

  Ning waved his hand, collecting the left-over treasures. Prior to dying, Sectlord Timedream had used up all of his Dao-seals and other disposable treasures. Since he wasn’t going to be able to escape, he didn’t want to let his death to benefit Ning any more than necessary. Only a few unbreakable treasures and precious materials ended up in Ning’s hands.

  Ning stood there in midair, staring at the distant mountain peaks. He remained very calm. He could still sense the Ninedust Sectlord within his estate-world, and a hint of guilt appeared on his face. He murmured softly, “Brother Ninedust, hold on. Keep holding on.”

  “And big brother Solesky…” Ning could also sense Daolord Solesky remaining in secluded meditation within a different estate. “Once you come out, I’ll expect an explanation from you.”

  He had indeed made a breakthrough, which was why he had managed to turn defeat into victory! He had defeated Shaka and Snowjoy, then slain both Kingfreak and Timedream. But if he hadn’t made that breakthrough, both he and Ninedust would’ve been finished!

  Big brother Solesky, I’ll demand an explanation from you!

  ……

  Ning was fairly calm after having killed Timedream, but the countless other Daolords within the Waveshift Realm were all in a state of shock. He had fought four supreme Daolords by himself and won! Two had fled in terror while the other two, ‘Kingfreak’ and ‘Sectlord Timedream’, had died?!

  When King Gorsch had died, it had been because he was outnumbered. Ning, however, had been the outnumbered one… and he had instead killed two of his attackers, supreme Daolords both! This was completely different.

  “Daolord Darknorth also trains as a Heartforce Cultivator! His heartworld projection is even stronger than Sectlord Timedream’s was.”

  “Daolord Darknorth is skilled in one of those legendary assassination arts. Godsense cannot locate him, allowing him to quietly appear in front of you without any trace at all. He’s utterly terrifying.”

  “Daolord Darknorth is also extremely strong in close combat. In close combat, he was able to defeat four supreme Daolords at once.”

  All sorts of news spread throughout the land. Countless other Daolords were in a state of horror as yet another terrifying supreme Daolord appeared within their midst!

  His heartforce was strong enough that all second-tier Daolords were in a state of terror, as well as a few supreme Daolords! Even if you were skilled in escape, so what? If you weren’t able to resist Ning’s heartforce, you’d still perish.

  His assassination arts struck fear in the hearts of supreme Daolords, while his close combat skills were without flaw. He was even more terrifying than the Radiant King, Sectlord Timedream, Palace Lord Dawnstar, and the others! He was someone who was so terrifying, he could be spoken of in the same breath as Winesage! If Winesage didn’t have a Universe treasure, his position might be in danger.

  ……

  Virtually all of the supreme Daolords of this era were within the Waveshift Realm, and this naturally attracted the attention of the various organizations, the Palace of Immortals included.

  Atop an Immortal bridge which was deep within the distant Palace of Immortals.

  A black-robed elder and a bald, golden-furred alien were seated on this bridge, drinking some wine. Next to them hovered a large mirror which was displaying images of what was happening inside the Waveshift Realm. They were able to clearly see the scenes of Ning fighting against four supreme Daolords as well as his slaying of Timedream.

  “Old brother Blackcloud, this Darknorth kid is pretty tough. He’s even tougher than your disciple,” the gold-furred alien said in a praising tone.

  “In close combat alone, my disciple should be on par with him. The thing is, this Darknorth kid is extremely balanced in every area. He’s without flaw. My disciple’s attacks might be a bit more powerful, thanks to that bloodblade of his…” The black-robed, black-haired man paused momentarily as he gave his evaluation. “Still… only people like him who are balanced and flawless are able to survive for long periods of time. His sword-arts are completely without flaw and are perfect in every aspect.”

  “Agreed.” The bald, gold-furred alien nodded.

  “This Daolord Darknorth also concurrently trains as a Heartforce Cultivator, and has extremely strong heartforce.” The black-robed elder nodded. “I feel as though I’m seeing the second coming of Winesage. Winesage was like this as well, but he now has a Universe treasure.”

  “Without it, it’d be hard for me to say which of the two is stronger; they’d have to fight it out,” the gold-furred alien said. “Now that he does have that Universe treasure, he’s the undisputed number one.”

  “A pity. The exalted rank of number one Daolord is ‘owned’ by a Daolord of the Dark Kingdom.” The black-robed elder shook his head. “Although Darknorth is a member of the Brightshore Kingdom, he’s still a member of our Dao Alliance.”

  The Dao Alliance was a very relaxed organization. One could join the Brightshore Kingdom or even the Ancient cultivators without causing much of a fuss. However, joining the Aeonian Kingdom or the Dark Kingdom was a no-no; those organizations were mortal enemies.

  “I have to change the listings again.” The gold-furred alien produced that golden book once more. “I’ve changed the listings more in the past few years than I have in the past thousand chaos cycles.”

  He flipped the book open. The book was filled with lines of names. He filled the book with his Immortal energy, and the names instantly began to change once more. As they did, all of the other subordinates of the Palace of Immortals received notification and began to spread the news.

  In the Endless Territories, this was the latest listing:

  The top Daolord: Winesage

  The second Daolord: Daolord Darknorth

  The third Daolord: Palace Lord Dawnstar

  The fourth Daolord: Daolord Dreamlore

  The fifth Daolord: the Radiant King

  The sixth Daolord: Daolord Skyaxe

  The seventh Daolord: Daolord Tigrone

  The eighth Daolord: Fiendqueen Dustrain

  The ninth Daolord: the Starking

  The tenth Daolord: Palace Lord Cloudwalker

  The eleventh Daolord: King Cliffbank

  The twelfth Daolord: King Wu

  The thirteenth Daolord: Daolord Shaka

  * * *

  Book 32, Chapter 23 - Another Hegemon

  This updating of the Daolord rankings was quickly spread throughout the Endless Territories.

  Atop an icy chaos planet. This planet had been frozen into a solid ball of ice for trillions of years, and a cold, knife-sharp wind swept across its surface.

  Two figures were seated atop this planet facing each other. The first was a white-bearded old man who had six horns on his head and who was dressed in snowy robes. This was the Brightshore Hegemon. The other person in front of him was a single-horned young man dressed in deep blue robes. The youth had a few scales on his face, and his eyes seemed to contain the stars themselves. He radiated an aura of peace and calm.

  “Brightshore, this realmverse of yours really has quite a few incredible Daolords.” The horned youth smiled. “That Winesage is not only a Heartforce Cultivator, he also has a Universe treasure. The only thing that ‘Darknorth’ kid needs is a Universe treasure; once he gets that, he’ll be ever
y bit Winesage’s equal.”

  “Haha.” The Brightshore Hegemon began to laugh. “Welkin, do you know how long Darknorth has been training for?”

  “How long?” The horned youth was startled. The public ranking didn’t even include each cultivator’s special techniques, much less details such as how long they had been cultivating for.

  “Less than a chaos cycle,” the Brightshore Hegemon said. “To be more precise… for less than a hundred million years.”

  “What?!” The horned youth said in shock, “How is that possible? I’ve visited countless places while wandering through the vast Great Dark, including quite a few alternate universes. To train to become a Daolord of the Fourth Step, especially one of such power… without question, every single person I met spent an enormous amount of time to reach such a level. Samsara Daolords… each step they take is extremely difficult and more difficult than the last! To go from the third step to the fourth step in particular requires an inordinate amount of time. How could he have accomplished it in less than a hundred million years?”

  “But it’s the truth. He belongs to my Brightshore Kingdom.” The Brightshore Hegemon grew even more smug. “Impressed yet?”

  “Such a short time period.” The horned youth said softly, “He must have encountered some special circumstances, such as entering a region where time naturally flows much, much faster than normal. It might seem to us as though less than a hundred million years have gone past, but in reality he must’ve trained for thousands of times longer.”

  “Perhaps.” The Brightshore Hegemon chuckled. “Even if that’s true, that’s still a very short period of time.”