Desolate Era

by RWX

  “Damn.”

  “They’ve made it to the second world.”

  “These warriors are too tough to deal with, and any Dao-seals we use are actually cancelled out.” Daolord Skyshatter and the other two were starting to grow anxious. They went so far as to use Dao-seals, but the dazzling golden light radiated by the golden globe above them quickly suppressed and wiped out all the effects of the Dao-seals they used. The Sithe used this place to temper their Daolords; no cheating would be permitted here.

  Ning gave the three a long, final glance. If he hadn’t been able to master the ninth stance, ‘Blissheart’, it probably would’ve taken him another ten years to traverse the dimensional walkway. The three probably would’ve caught up to him.

  “Those three cannot be underestimated,” Ning mused.

  “Let’s go, Darknorth,” Ninedust said.

  “Let’s go.” Ning nodded.

  Ning and Ninedust both walked straight towards the black throne. Instantly, the golden globe above them shot down a streak of dense light which covered the black throne and an area of thirty meters around it. Boom! Both the sword-wielding, white-robed Ning and the staff-wielding, silver-robed Ninedust disappeared without a trace.

  “Faster, faster, faster! Fight harder! We need to make it to the second world as soon as we can!” Daolord Skyshatter and the other two were going crazy.

  ……

  The world twisted and changed around them before reality reset itself around Ning and Ninedust.

  “Eh?” Ning glanced at what was up ahead. In front of them was an enormous palace that was held up by a series of black pillars. The pillars were covered by many carvings and diagrams, including sword-arts diagrams, saber-arts diagrams, flame diagrams, wave diagrams, golden light diagrams, flaming chariot diagrams, animal diagrams… all sorts of diagrams were here, and they all emanated auras of mystery and power.

  “Hmph.” Six golden-armored warriors were standing in front of them, with three more crimson-armored warriors standing shoulder-to-shoulder off in the distance. Very far away, a black-armored general was seated on a distant throne. The general was playing around with a palm-sized chunk of jade.

  “The Voidsea Jadeseal.” Ning and Ninedust both stared at the palm-sized chunk of jade in the hands of the black-armored general who was seated on the distant throne. They had both seen a Voidsea Jadeseal before and thus recognized it right away.

  “Daolord Darknorth. Daolord Ninedust.” Rainbow light gathered next to them, coalescing into a white-robed figure. It was Realmsoul Polo. The realmsoul smiled and said, “Congratulations on making it to the second world… but you two need to hurry it up. Winesage was able to make it to the second world after just a single year in the first world.”

  * * *

  Book 33, Chapter 9 - The Second World

  “Just one year?” Ji Ning’s heart sank. After he had mastered the ninth ‘Blissheart’ stance, he and Ninedust had taken nearly ten additional years.

  “Thus, your opponents shall not merely consist of Daolords behind you like Dreamlore. Winesage shall be your opponent as well. Once he acquires the first Voidsea Jadeseal, he’ll definitely come for yours.” Realmsoul Polo pointed in front of them. “This palace holds a total of 134 pillars, with each pillar containing multiple formations left behind by the Sithe race. If you have enough time, you can go study them.”

  Ning and Ninedust glanced sideways at the realmsoul. Study? They were fighting for every scrap of time. Who had the time to waste on studying? In addition, the majority of supreme Daolords merely dabbled in non-core techniques.

  “In this palace, you’ll need to defeat the six golden-armored warriors, the three crimson-armored warriors, and then finally defeat the black-armored general. Only then shall you be able to seize the Voidsea Jadeseal.” The realmsoul smiled. “Oh, right. The runic cores at the center of their chests are their weak spots. If you can stab it, they’ll admit defeat.”

  “Move as fast as you can. If you move fast enough, you might even be able to seize the other Voidsea Jadeseals… and if you are too slow, you’ll lose even yours.” The realmsoul grinned, then vanished.

  “Let’s go.” Ning and Ninedust transformed into two streaks of light that charged straight forwards.

  “Just two Daolords? And you dare attack?” The six golden-armored warriors standing next to each other shared a smile, then began to move in unison. Whoosh! Each of them brandished a long golden halberd as they strode forwards.

  Ninedust wielded his longstaff and charged straight towards them. As he reached them, he instantly transformed into an enormous flood of water.

  Ning transformed into his three-headed, six-armed form as he shot forward with all six Northbow swords, then suddenly vanished.

  Whoosh! The halberds in the hands of the six golden-armored warriors struck out simultaneously. Smash! Smash! Smash! The waters in front of them exploded as an invisible burst of power spread out in every direction, causing Ning to reveal himself after having used his ‘Shadowless’ evasion art.

  “Fuck off!” Ning flew forwards with incomparable valor, immediately using his Omega Sword Dao – Heavenbreaker and sending six massive fog banks crashing down. Boom! Boom! Boom! The strikes landed on the halberds of the six golden-armored warriors, causing all of them to stagger backwards from the strikes.

  “He’s very strong.”

  “He’s able to suppress us by himself?” The six golden-armored warriors shared a glance.

  “Careful,” Ning sent mentally to the Ninedust Sectlord. “All six of them are at the supreme Daolord level of power.”

  “Six supreme Daolords. Interesting.” The Ninedust Sectlord charged once more, carrying the vast ocean with him. As for Ning, his actions were even more dominating; his sword-light transformed into streaks of dense fog and lashed out at his foes. It must be remembered that the Northbow swords enhanced all of Ning’s sword-arts. Now that he also had the [Heartsword] sutra enhancing them, his combat power was truly astonishing.

  Ninedust was able to tie down two of the golden-armored warriors, while Ning battled the other four by himself.

  Swish! Every so often he would suddenly disappear, followed by that strange, fog-like sword-light emerging out of nowhere. This was the Omega Sword Dao – Shadowless. A sword stabbed straight into the dazzling runic core located over the golden-armored warrior’s chest!

  “Eh?” The golden-armored warrior’s face tightened. He lowered his head to take a look, then let out a snort. “Nice sword-arts.” He immediately stepped back.

  When the six of them worked together, they complimented each other very well and made for a formidable team. Ning’s sword-arts, however, moved more than a hundred times the speed of light and was unfathomably unpredictable, making it difficult for even their tough defenses to withstand it.

  “Hahaha…” Ninedust laughed loudly. “Darknorth, let’s move fast. We need to get that first Voidsea Jadeseal quickly, so that we can go for a second one.”

  Ning smiled as well. Now that one warrior was down, beating the others would be much easier. They quickly defeated the other five in succession. All six of the warriors retreated, moving to one side.

  ……

  There were six golden-armored warriors, three crimson-armored warriors, and one black-armored general. With the golden-armored warriors defeated, it was the three crimson-armored warriors who now stood in Ning and Ninedust’s path.

  “You two are pretty strong. You were able to beat those six idiots fairly easily,” one of the tall, crimson-armored warriors snickered.

  “You are the idiot!”

  “If you try to fight us six-on one, we’d beat you until you went crying to your mother.” The six distant golden-armored warriors immediately began to unleash a torrent of curses, while the three crimson-armored warriors just smirked at them.

  “You’ve already been beaten. Stop bragging.”

  “Looks like it’ll be up to us brothers. Hah!” The three crimson-armored warriors s
eemed quite smug as they looked at Ning and Ninedust. “Let me tell you a little story. In the other area, that ‘Daolord Winesage’ was able to beat the six golden-armored warriors in one strike, but he was stymied by the three crimson-armored warriors for six full years. Right now, he’s still trying to figure out how to deal with the black-armored general.”

  “Oh?” Ning and Ninedust traded a glance. They knew just how strong Winesage was. Given his Universe treasure, there was no question that he could crush the six golden-armored warriors effortlessly. Despite that, the three crimson-armored warriors had held him back for six years?

  “Let’s go,” Ning ordered. Whoosh! Whoosh! Both he and Ninedust charged forwards.

  Boom! With the very first strike, a crimson-armored warrior landed a cleaving blow with his warblade, causing Ninedust’s body to crumble apart into a wave of water. “Darknorth, I can’t block these hits. They are too strong.”

  Bang! Ning started fighting against a crimson-armored warrior as well. That particular warrior wielded a war club, and he delivered a furious blow downwards at Ning, almost as though he was crashing down from a mountain. The two collided head-on, and an incredibly dense wave of energy smashed into Ning, causing him to stumble three steps back. As for the crimson-armored warrior, he took a single step back.

  “Eh?” Ning’s face tightened. “He’s just as strong as me?” He had grown significantly more powerful, but even now he was merely on par with the crimson-armored warrior. If the three joined forces… no wonder Winesage had been stymied for six full years!

  “Daolord Darknorth has a few tricks up his sleeve. Big brother, third brother, let’s fight together!” the crimson-armored warrior shouted, and the other two immediately charged towards him.

  Rumble… all three of the three crimson-armored warriors were Ning’s equal in might, and they were extremely skilled in working together. Ning was being completely suppressed in this battle. Although Ninedust was able to occasionally cause some trouble and disrupt the enemy formation, he wasn’t able to have a material impact on the fight.

  “Darknorth, their teamwork is flawless. There’s no way for us to stab the runic cores on their chests,” Ninedust said anxiously.

  “They are too strong. When the three of them work together, there’s nothing I can do to them.” Ning frowned. “The only way we can win is through greater numbers. If more Daolords come and work with us, we might be able to find a chance to strike the runic cores.”

  They needed either superior numbers or overwhelming power like Winesage.

  “Perhaps I’ll have a chance to master the tenth stance, the ‘Killheart’ stance.” Ning was surrounded and attacked by all three of the crimson-armored warriors, but his defensive sword-arts were very strong and thus he was still able to hold on. He began to take advantage of this enormous pressure to think on the tenth stance of the [Heartsword], the ‘Killheart’ stance.

  ……

  Time continued to flow on, with a half-year passing by in the blink of an eye. Ning and Ninedust remained locked in combat against the three crimson-armored warriors, but of course they continued to be at a disadvantage in the fight. In short, they were being completely dominated.

  Boom!

  Suddenly, a thunderous explosion caused the entire Crimsonwave Temple to shake. Everyone in the temple heard and felt it, be it the Daolords battling in the second world such as Ning, Ninedust, Dawnstar, Cloudwalker, Ninestone, Shaka, and Snowjoy, or the Daolords still stuck in the first world such as Daolords Dreamlore, Tigrone, the Starking, the Radiant King, Skyaxe, Dustrain.

  “Daolords.” Realmsoul Polo’s voice boomed out, filling every inch of the Crimsonwave Temple. “Winesage has already acquired one of the three remaining Voidsea Jadeseals. Be careful – he’ll be coming for yours next!”

  “What?”

  “Shit!”

  The faces of Dawnstar, Cloudwalker, Ninestone, Shaka, and Snowjoy all turned pale. The path Cloudwalker’s team had chosen was the path which Dawnstar had originally taken! The four of them joined forces upon entering the first world and thus moved even faster than Ning’s group had. This was the advantage of raw numbers! The fact that Ninestone and Snowjoy were exceedingly strong defensive specialists made them very well-suited for dealing with the first world.

  “We need to move faster.”

  “Not good.”

  “We need to speed it up.”

  “Everyone, let’s work together.” The supreme Daolords who were still within the three dimensional walkways of the first world were beginning to grow anxious. They were still in the first world while Winesage had already acquired a Voidsea Jadeseal!

  ……

  Ning and Ninedust felt their hearts turn cold as well. They hadn’t even beaten the three crimson-armored guards, while Winesage had already acquired a seal?

  “He might be headed straight here for yours,” the three crimson-armored guards teased in amusement.

  “Don’t be worried though. If Winesage comes we’ll attack him as well, and the two of you can focus your attacks against him. The two of you plus the three of us… that should shut him down, right?” the three crimson-armored guards suggested. They had spent unfathomable lengths of time being bored and lonely here in Crimsonwave Temple. The happiest days of their lives were when supreme Daolords came to visit.

  * * *

  Book 33, Chapter 10 - Killsword

  “Darknorth, what should we do?” Ninedust was anxious as well.

  “Seize every moment and try to beat these three crimson-armored warriors as soon as we can,” Ji Ning said immediately. “Winesage’s actions have probably driven all of the supreme Daolords into a panic. Seven, eight, or even more of them might well work together to blow through the first world as soon as possible. Once they reach the second world, we probably won’t be able to deal with these three in peace.”

  “Alright.” Ninedust agreed with this assessment.

  In the Endless Territories’ rankings of Daolords, there were over twenty publicly acclaimed ‘supreme’ first-tier Daolords! If you factored in the low-key ones that very few had heard of, there had to be at least thirty or more.

  Although the warriors in the dimensional walkway of the first world were tough to deal with, they were still just equivalent to second-tier Daolords. If seven or eight supreme Daolords joined forces against them, they’d be able to burst past with ease.

  “We don’t have much time left,” Ning said anxiously.

  “Kill!” Both Ning and Ninedust fought even more frantically.

  “Haha, the two of you aren’t bad, but you aren’t strong enough to beat us.”

  “It is useless! You should wait for the other Daolords to arrive, then join up with them.” The three crimson-armored warriors continued to crush the Ning-Ninedust combination.

  “Kill! Kill! Kill!” Ning only grew more and more frantic. He knew that they were running out of time; his only chance lay in mastering the tenth stance of the [Heartsword], the ‘Killsword’ stance. He had already spent many years studying it again and again, but hadn’t been able to master it thus far.

  “Haha… Winesage has gone to Palace Lord Dawnstar’s dimensional walkway. However, five supreme Daolords including Dawnstar have joined forces against him. My guess is that Winesage is going to give up. He’ll be coming straight for your walkway instead,” the three crimson-armored warriors said.

  “Palace Lord Dawnstar’s tunnel has five supreme Daolords in it, but the two of you are by yourselves. It’ll be quite tough for you to deal with Winesage. He might actually take the Voidsea Jadeseal away from you.”

  The crimson-armored warriors clearly knew exactly what was going on elsewhere as well.

  “Are we out of time?” Ninedust grew increasingly anxious.

  “Break!” Ning’s streaks of foggy sword-light suddenly transformed. The foggy mist suddenly condensed and solidified into clear streaks of sword-light, and the power of Ning’s sword-arts once more skyrocketed! They became even faste
r and were filled with even greater power!

  “So this is the ‘Killsword’ stance?” Ning finally understood the essence of the tenth stance of the [Heartsword] – the Killsword stance.

  It required one to not only feel intoxicated and blissful, but to also feel a sense of incomparable resolve and determination! Only when this determination and resolve reached a certain level of strength could heartforce be woven more perfectly into one’s sword-arts. One’s heartforce would move in a more natural way and achieve a greater level of harmony, allowing the power of one’s sword-arts to increase. This was reflected in the real world by the dense fog solidifying into the shape of a sword!

  Slash! Slash! Ning executed the Blood Drop stance. The Omega Sword Dao – Blood Drop! This was Ning’s most powerful attack, as the Northbow swords increased its power fivefold! Now that even more heartforce was infused into it via the ‘Killsword’ stance, its power doubled yet again!

  The ninth stance, ‘Blissheart’, increased his power by 50%.

  The tenth stance, ‘Killheart’, increased his power by 100%!

  Thanks to his [Heartsword] and the Northbow swords, Ning’s Omega Sword Dao – Blood Drop was now ten times more powerful than it had any right to be! It was a technique that focused on obliterating everything in its path with unstoppable speed, and now it had sped up even more and reached an incomprehensible level of might.

  Clang!

  Slash!

  The crimson-armored warrior used his warblade to execute the same stance as he had in the past to block Ning’s sword-arts, but his face suddenly turned pale. He was able to just barely block two strikes from Ning, but he wasn’t able to withstand the third strike. Slash! The tip of the sword stabbed straight into the runic core at the center of his chest.

  “I lost?!” The crimson-armored warrior was stunned.

  “Big brother!” The other two crimson-armored warriors were stunned as well. Even when the three of them were fighting together, their big brother had been stabbed in his runic core? How were the two of them supposed to hang on?