Desolate Era

by RWX

  “Darknorth, look!” Ninedust had already flown over, and he immediately called out to Ning. Ning flew over as well. When he did, he was able to see that underneath the carved-out pit of deepfire blackstone was some sort of silvery-white material that was covered with many runes. These complicated runes seemed to be part of a single, utterly massive character.

  “This script… it seems quite similar in style to the azureflower seal, the Dreamdust script, and those three characters I saw at Crimsonwave Temple.” Ning narrowed his eyes.

  “Darknorth, this Stone Hellephant Wall seems to contain a great secret within it.” Ninedust was excited as well.

  * * *

  Book 34, Chapter 9 - Heavenbreaker Stance

  With the deepfire blackstone carved away, a strange silvery-white material of unknown origins was revealed beneath it. The silvery-white material was completely sealed and seamless, and the countless runes covering it caused Ji Ning and Ninedust to feel a sense of alarm.

  “No openings at all.” Ning frowned, sending out his will. Swish! A fog-formed sword sliced out using the Omega Sword Dao – Blood Drop and struck against the silvery-white material. Clank! The power of this strike caused the entire vast Stone Hellephant Wall to tremble, but it wasn’t able to leave the slightest mark behind on the silvery-white material. The Northbow sword launched consecutive attacks against other parts of the silvery-white material, only to fail each time.

  “There’s no way to break it at all, and there’s no way for the Northbow sword to absorb it.” Ning shook his head.

  “The Stone Hellephant Wall has an outer layer of deepfire blackstone and an inner core of silvery-white material… can it be that the core is completely solid? What in the world was this thing meant for?” Ninedust was puzzled.

  “Let’s keep digging!” Ning grinned. “I want to see if the silvery-white object inside the Stone Hellephant Wall really has no openings whatsoever. Even if we end up being unable to discover its secrets, the deepfire blackstone ore alone is still worth quite a sum.”

  Ning was quite calm, mentally. He embraced good fortune and misfortune alike! When encountering strange, unknown secrets while adventuring, one could easily fall into danger if one lost mental balance. Death would soon follow.

  ……

  Ning and Ninedust continued to watch from within the endless darkness as the six Northbow swords continuously devoured more and more of the outer layer of deepfire blackstone, chopping the Stone Hellephant Wall up into multiple cubes and spheres that were roughly a thousand kilometers in length. Each time, they only ‘ate’ a thin superficial layer of the ore. Only by doing so would they be able to completely ‘eat’ their way through the entire wall and carve it up.

  Time passed, one day after the other. Ning collected every single chunk of deepfire blackstone his swords harvested, causing the outer layer of the Stone Hellephant Wall to continuously shrink in size and reveal more and more of the silvery-white core within. As time passed, the Northbow swords only began to increase the speed at which they ‘ate’.

  Two months passed in the blink of an eye. By now, half of the Stone Hellephant Wall had been carved up.

  Clank! Yet another giant chunk of deepfire blackstone was revealed.

  “Quick, look over there! There’s an entranceway!” Ninedust pointed while exclaiming in surprise.

  “An entrance?” Ning’s gaze instantly fell upon the silvery-white core as well. Previously, the giant silvery-white object had been completely seamless. Now, however, they saw a wide passageway that was nearly thirty meters long and sixty meters high! It was completely dark and rather windy, preventing Ning and Ninedust from seeing what lay within.

  “There’s actually an entrance?” Ning immediately looked at the opposite end of the chunk of deepfire blackstone that he had just carved out. The ore actually had a passageway within it as well, ending in a door. From the outside, however, there would’ve been no way to see anything at all.

  “It seems this is the way inside,” Ning said.

  “What should we do, Darknorth? Should we enter?” Ninedust asked. Even a fool could tell that the Stone Hellephant Wall had been artificially created; otherwise, how could it have such a neat and symmetrical entrance?

  However, not even Hegemons could produce the vast quantity of deepfire blackstone which made up the outermost layer of the Stone Hellephant Wall. Both of them could sense that the mysteries hidden within had to be absolutely terrifying.

  “This was a massive feat in engineering. No ordinary Hegemon could’ve created this wall.” Ning frowned. “Let’s not rush into things. It’s not going anywhere, and it seems unlikely that anyone else in the Great Dark will just so happen to stumble upon this place. Let me finish fully harvesting the deepfire blackstone, then we’ll decide.”

  “Alright.” Ninedust nodded as well.

  ……

  The Northbow swords were devouring the ore faster and faster. After merely another month, the entire outer layer of deepfire blackstone ore covering the Stone Hellephant Wall had been completely chopped up into thousand-kilometer pieces and put away.

  “Mining complete.” Ning revealed a smile. “Children, have you absorbed enough?”

  The six Northbow swords flew towards Ning, with six children seated upon them. “Almost full.” “Master, I need just a bit more.” “A little more and I’ll be full.” By now, the Northbow swords had changed yet again in appearance. They now looked almost black in color, with just a faint sheen of golden light and blue light covering them.

  “Alright. Eat your fill first. After eating, accompany me inside to take a look.” Ning looked curiously at the completely harvested Stone Hellephant Wall. It was now completely silvery-white and covered with countless runes which formed a single character. Although he had never seen this character before, he understood that it represented the term ‘Tigerhill’.

  The Stone Hellephant Wall only had a single entrance, and it had been so well-hidden that not even Hegemon Welkin had been able to discover it. Ning had only been able to find it thanks to his swords being able to carve the deepfire blackstone apart.

  The six Northbow swords plunged deep into the final chunk of deepfire blackstone ore, furiously eating away at it. Just half a day later, they had reached their utmost limit.

  “Master, I’m completely full. I can’t eat another bite.”

  “I’m not able to eat any more of the deepfire blackstone.” The six Northbow swords were happily satiated and flew straight towards Ning.

  Ning grabbed one of the Northbow swords to inspect it. They were now noticeably heavier than they had been in the past, and even the pommel was a bit thicker. The blade, however, was as sharp as ever.

  “Let me give them a try.” Ning immediately began to execute the five stances of his Omega Sword Dao while Ninedust watched enviously off to one side. He had a lifeblood weapon as well, but it clearly wasn’t developing as nicely as Ning’s was.

  BOOM! Ning delivered a chop with a double-handed grip, causing the dark space around him to completely shatter apart. Even time itself broke apart, rendering spacetime a completely meaningless concept in the region around him! This terrifying strike carried a dense mist with it as it struck, crushing through all things that opposed it. It almost instantly vaporized everything within ten billion kilometers, including spacetime itself. This strike was so terrifying that even ten thousand Daolords facing Ning would perish to it.

  “How terrifying!” The Ninedust Sectlord was shocked upon seeing this. “T-t-this strike… even Winesage and his Universe treasure are merely on par.”

  “Good!” Ning revealed a look of delight as he clenched his sword. This strike was the most powerful attack Ning currently had… the Heavenbreaker stance!

  It must be remembered that previously, the Northbow swords had only enhanced the Blood Drop stance to a significant degree, but even then the raw power of the Blood Drop stance was inferior to that of the Heavenbreaker stance! The Blood Drop stance specialized i
n speed and penetrative power, while the Heavenbreaker stance truly relied on overwhelming might. Ning had relied on successive strikes from the Heavenbreaker stance to overwhelm and completely destroy the Kingfreak, literally beating him to death.

  Now that he had infused his Heavenbreaker stance with the power of the [Heartsword] art and absorbed a prodigious amount of deepfire blackstone with his Northbow swords, his Heavenbreaker stance was comparable to his Blood Drop stance. In raw power, this strike was on the same level as the strikes of the eight lords of the Sacred Cities. This was Ning’s most dominating, devastating strike to date!

  “This feeling of overwhelming, crushing power is absolutely wonderful.” Ning felt quite delighted. It wouldn’t matter if his foes used intricate techniques; he would be able to smash through them with dominating force! This was what Winesage had done and how he had been able to force all the other Daolords to bow their heads before him. Even Ning had been beaten to the point where he didn’t dare fight the man head-on.

  “Darknorth, your lifeblood swords have improved quite a bit after devouring all that deepfire blackstone,” Ninedust said enviously.

  “Yes.” Ning gently stroked the flat of the sword. “This was of great help to my Northbow swords… but the [Heartsword] art helped quite a bit as well.”

  “The [Heartsword] art? The sword-art which Emperor Heartsword created?” Ninedust was shocked.

  “Yes.” Ning nodded.

  “You actually succeeded in training in the [Heartsword] art? I had no idea. Is that why your strikes seem to be filled with sword-shaped mist now? I’ve heard of it long ago, but I’ve never seen it in action myself.” The Ninedust Sectlord was instantly intrigued by this, as the [Heartsword] art was incredibly famous. Unfortunately there were very, very few were able to gain any level of skill in it; thus far, Ning hadn’t encountered a single Daolord capable of using the [Heartsword] art.

  “No wonder you are so strong, Darknorth! Ugh, I need to work harder. I can’t let you get too far ahead of me.” Ninedust was filled with a strong competitive desire.

  Ning walked over, reaching out to grab what remained of the final piece of deepfire blackstone and putting it into his estate-world. “Let’s go. Time to go inside the Stone Hellephant Wall and see what lies within it.”

  “Yes, let’s go inside.” Ninedust looked at the distant passageway as well, his eyes blazing with eagerness. “It definitely holds some incredible secrets within it. Maybe I’ll find a Universe treasure that will acknowledge me as its master! Haha… I would have my invulnerable aquaform for defense and a Universe treasure for offense. I’d probably be even more powerful than you, Darknorth!”

  “If there really are Universe treasures, make sure I get one as well,” Ning said as he flew forwards alongside Ninedust. Laughing and smiling, the two moved closer and closer to the entranceway.

  After going inside, their faces slowly turned solemn. Ning manifested three heads and six arms and held all six Northbow swords at the ready, while the Ninedust Sectlord advanced carefully with his longstaff in hand.

  “I’ll scout the path ahead,” Ninedust said.

  “Alright.” Ning nodded. Ninedust’s invulnerable aquaform was indeed far better at keeping him alive than what Ning had at present.

  Book 34, Chapter 10 - Tigerhill

  The two flew forwards together into the entrance passage. The silvery-white passageway’s walls were lined with mysterious runes. Ninedust glanced at them and said, “Those should be barrier formation runes.”

  “An invisible field of energy is protecting the core of the Stone Hellephant Wall,” Ji Ning said solemnly. “I can sense an invisible, omnipresent form of pressure. Even my godsense is affected by it and rendered inoperable.”

  “Same.” Ninedust grew even more cautious as well. Both moved forward with great care, ready to unleash their power at a moment’s notice.

  After following this passageway for roughly three kilometers, they reached a fork in the road.

  “Let’s choose this one,” Ninedust said.

  “Alright. No matter what, the two of us need to stick together. Don’t give them any chance to pick us off separately.” Ning’s expression grew increasingly solemn. When he saw those runes on the walls, he understood that these barriers definitely possessed incredible power.

  “Look over there!” A short while later, Ninedust called out excitedly from a corner up ahead as he pointed towards something in front of him. Ning hurriedly charged over, only to see a gaping ‘wound’ in the silvery-white walls that emanated an aura of terrifying power.

  “What in the world?” Ning and Ninedust both moved closer to inspect it carefully.

  “Wow.” Ninedust stared.

  “How is this possible? The entire passageway is formed from this silvery-white substance. I can’t even scratch it with a full-force blow. Could it have been completely torn open like this?” Ning stared at the jagged, gaping wounds in the walls of the passageway up ahead. There were five of the tears in total, and all of the runes within the passageway had been completely wrecked.

  Every single tear was over three hundred meters long and more than thirty meters deep, thoroughly destroying the formations and script which had covered the passageway walls. In fact, there was some silvery-white debris littering the walls as well.

  “Those five tears… they look like they were made by someone using his hand.” Ninedust had a look of disbelief on his face.

  “His hand?” Ning couldn’t help but say, “Let me try again. Perhaps the silvery-white substance here is weaker than elsewhere.” As Ning spoke, he set up a barrier to block out any trembles generated in this area, then put away five of his Northbow swords. He gripped the single remaining Northbow sword with all six hands, then struck out with his Omega Sword Dao – Heavenbreaker, sending it directly against a palm-sized silvery-white fragment on the ground.

  BOOM! A boundlessly savage blast of power smashed out along with his sword against the silvery-white debris, sending it flying off the ground and smashing directly into the nearby walls.

  “Hm.” Ning waved his hand, catching the ricocheting piece of rubble. “Completely undamaged?” Ning stared at the slick piece of debris. The only damage visible was the damage at the very edges, which had been generated when it had been originally torn off the walls by that unknown major power.

  “The eight lords of the Sacred Cities might be a bit stronger than me, but this is on a completely different level.” Ning carefully scrutinized the piece of rubble. “It seems someone who was at least as strong as a Hegemon caused the damage here.”

  “Right.” Ninedust agreed with this assessment.

  Hegemons were far more powerful than them. Their Eternal divine power and their Daos were all far superior… and they generally had Universe treasures at their disposal!

  “The runes and barriers in this tunnel have all been wrecked. Come, let’s keep searching,” Ning said.

  “Can’t let the rubble go to waste. They might be useful.” Ninedust waved his hand, collecting the bits of silvery-white rubble laying on the ground.

  ……

  They continued to advance through the passageway. Ning and Ninedust soon saw another hall that had a strange sacrificial altar within it, but the terrifying claw-marks appeared atop the altar as well. The entire altar had been torn asunder.

  They also saw a round, fiery-red pillar that was also covered with countless runes. Clearly, these had been part of a powerful and mysterious formation… but alas, the pillar had also been clawed open as well.

  “There clearly was a battle here,” Ninedust said while walking. “An unknown major power caused all of this destruction, wrecking many of the formations here. The person in charge of the Stone Hellephant Wall was completely unable to fight back… but why is it that we don’t see any corpses at all?”

  “Look up ahead.” Ning pointed towards the path up in front of them. A completely empty void was there.

  “Have we reached the end?” Nin
g and Ninedust quickly reached the opening, then stared into the void. The vast void was filled with a faint, light blue mist that covered an area of over a hundred billion kilometers. At the very center of this vast void was a dazzling planet that was billions of kilometers in diameter.

  “Ninedust, are you thinking what I’m thinking?” Ning asked.

  “Ah, so you are thinking about that as well?” Ninedust laughed.

  “Right.” Ning nodded. “This style… it should be the Sithe race’s style.” When they had been in that giant humanoid’s body, they had seen that it was filled with countless stone passageways as well as vast planets. Ning had acquired his third disciple in one of those planets, the young man named ‘Skywind’. That giant humanoid had been Sithe, and it had slain one Hegemon outright while injuring a second one so gravely that the second Hegemon, a member of the Ancient race, had passed away from his wounds.

  “The creator of the Stone Hellephant Wall was able to manipulate both deepfire blackstone as well as this unknown silvery-white material in its creation. This really does seem like something the Sithe might do,” Ning said.

  “Yes, the Sithe greatly surpassed us cultivators in many areas,” Ninedust agreed. Although the Sithe had been wiped out, their power was undisputable. It was precisely because of how powerful they were that the Autarchs had been forced to lead all cultivator civilizations to war against them. The flames of war had filled countless places, causing the Flamedragon Realmverse to lose all of the Hegemons it had at that time. One could only imagine how miserable that war had been!

  “Given how it was floating through the Great Dark, my guess is that the Stone Hellephant Wall was left behind from the Dawn War,” Ninedust said. “It shouldn’t hold too much danger.”

  “But it’s completely filled with that invisible aura of power… and I have the feeling that it is even more dangerous than that humanoid creature we were in,” Ning said. “Although it logically shouldn’t be dangerous, even the slightest bit of remaining power might be enough to wipe us both out.”