Desolate Era

by RWX

  “If I can reach the fourth stage of the Omega Sword Dao… not only will I be able to stay alive, I’ll be able to win!” Ning’s eyes were blazing with unshakable resolve.

  “Die.” Archon Silksnow’s saber-light descended. It was so cold as to freeze Ning’s heart, so fast as to cause Ning to shudder. This time, Archon Silksnow struck out at Ning with all six sabers at the same time. Clearly, he wanted to leave nothing up to chance at all and was seeking to slay Ning with one attack.

  “I absolutely have to block this.” Ning strove to execute his sword-arts, generating an enormous black hole around him which sought to devour all of the saber-light.

  BOOM! This collision was far larger than the last one. Ning was sent flying through the air, a line of blood leaking out from the corner of his lips.

  “Haha, you really have some power after all. I used six sabers and struck at you with my full power. I thought that I’d be able to reduce you to dust… but you only suffered a few light wounds. Your protective divine ability truly is formidable.” Archon Silksnow’s voice echoed through the void as he continued to charge after Ning, not pausing at all.

  “Thankfully, his strikes are within the realm of what I can endure.” Ning licked the blood from his lips. “Although he’s strong, he won’t be able to kill me. Given my Hegemon armor and my protective divine ability, only a real Hegemon should be able to crush my body in one shot. I still have a chance. I still have a chance!”

  “You were able to block me once… but will you be able to block ten times? A hundred times? You are doomed.” Archon Silksnow’s oily green eyes were filled with an awesome savagery.

  * * *

  Book 35, Chapter 19 - A Single Tear

  Ji Ning wasn’t a fool, nor was he foolishly overconfident. Although he hoped to be able to make use of this deadly battle to break through his current bottleneck, he knew that there were too many variables in play here. He might actually be able to make a breakthrough… but it was more likely that he would fail! Breaking through the bottleneck to become a Daolord of the Fourth Step was no easy task, after all. Ning’s path was that of the Omega Sword Dao; if he wanted to break through, it would be even harder than it had been for Ninedust and harder than it would be for Badlands.

  He didn’t dare to completely entrust all his hopes into making a breakthrough. Thus, as soon as the spacetime disc failed he immediately asked Hegemon Brightshore for aid.

  “Send word to Hegemon Brightshore. Tell him that Daolord Darknorth is willing to give him fifty of the coldflame cauldron fruits and all the remaining fruits from Crimsonwave Temple, in order to request the Hegemon to intervene and save his life. Archon Silksnow is currently trying to kill him, and he can die at any moment,” Ning instructed the servant who was in charge of maintaining contact between him and the Brightshore Kingdom.

  “Yes, Master.” The servant was shocked upon hearing how grim the situation was, and he immediately sent word over to the Brightshore Kingdom.

  “I hope the Hegemon will intervene,” Ning mused to himself. The Hegemon was an exalted figure who was the supreme leader of the entire Brightshore Kingdom! To the supreme figures of the Endless Territories, a Daolord really didn’t count for much, no matter how monstrously talented the Daolord was. This was because the more talented a Daolord was, the lower his chances of succeeding in the Daomerge would be. The Brightshore Kingdom had its Twelve Palaces, but in all of its years of existence none of its supreme Daolords had ever succeeded in the Daomerge. Hegemon Brightshore remained the one and only Hegemon of the Brightshore Kingdom.

  Thus… Hegemons generally didn’t care about whether Daolords died or not. For them to perish while out adventuring was quite normal. They’d calmly watch as one generation of Daolords after another rose to power, followed by one generation after another perishing…

  “But fifty coldflame cauldron fruits might be enough to convince the Hegemon to intervene. Although the Hegemon managed to trade for some of that fruit after our trip to Crimsonwave Temple, I don’t think he got fifty,” Ning prayed.

  “Master, Master! The Hegemon sends word that he is heading towards you with my clone. However, he is going to need some time. He asks you to hold on for a bit,” the servant immediately replied.

  Boom! Right at this moment, Ning had been knocked backwards with blood leaking from the corner of his lips. He couldn’t help but feel delighted upon hearing this. “Good.”

  “I need to hold on for a bit. If I can hold on for a while, the Hegemon will be able to make it here,” Ning thought eagerly. He knew that since the Hegemon wasn’t sure as to where he was exactly, the Hegemon needed his servant to guide the way. That delay, combined with what a great distance the Hegemon had to traverse via tearing through spacetime, meant that the Hegemon did need some time before he could arrive.

  Normally, such a short period of time was meaningless. However, Ning was in the middle of a life-and-death battle against someone who was one of the lords of the Sacred Cities. That short period of time was quite long in this situation, more than enough for Archon Silksnow to strike a hundred times.

  ……

  “Arise.” Archon Silksnow’s long hair fluttered behind him as he let out a loud shout. Boom! Countless streams of saber-ki flew out from around him, forming a vast world of saber energy that crashed down upon Ning. Clearly, Archon Silksnow wished to end this battle as quickly as possible.

  “Come forth!” Ning didn’t dare to hold anything back at all. Nine energy dragons immediately flew out of his body, forming the Yin-Yang Chaos Domain as his awesome heartworld projection came crashing down as well. The heartworld projection merged into the Yin-Yang Chaos Domain, then clashed straight against the surrounding world of saber-ki.

  The two domains collided against each other… and the saber-ki domain was actually at a slight disadvantage. This caused Archon Silksnow to feel rather flabbergasted. He then smiled coldly: “So you have a few tricks of your own. However… you are still going to die.”

  Archon Silksnow charged straight towards Ning with pure, unadulterated savagery! His six sabers executed his exceptionally brutal and valiant Dao of the Saber. Before his sabers, even spacetime was frozen and even karma was severed!

  Attack! Attack! Attack!

  “I have to survive. For Ninedust’s sake if nothing else, I have to survive.” Ning labored to defend himself.

  Boom! Boom! Boom! The battle between the two caused the skies to darken. Archon Silksnow lived up to his reputation as one of the top three Archons. His attacks were incredibly ferocious, which only made sense; the Dao of the Saber was an offensive Dao, after all. Ning was completely unable to fight back, but when he focused completely on defense his six swords were able to form a truly airtight defense. Still, he was knocked backwards again and again.

  “This Daolord Darknorth really is pretty formidable.” Archon Silksnow struck out ten times in a row, but Ning was able to endure all ten attacks. This caused Archon Silksnow to narrow his eyes. “Everyone says that Winesage is the most powerful Daolord, but it seems as though this Daolord Darknorth is actually more powerful than Winesage! I can hardly believe that there’s a Daolord capable of taking ten blows from me in a row.”

  In truth, Ning was only able to accomplish this thanks to his [Heartsword] art, which had increased his strength dramatically and made his sword-arts even faster and more ferocious! Without it, Archon Silksnow probably would’ve been able to blast Ning’s six swords out of his hands and then kill Ning right away!

  “He’s too resilient. If this continues, I don’t even know how many attacks it’ll take to kill him.” A cold light flashed through Archon Silksnow’s oily green eyes. “Forget it. I’ll make an exception for him and use my [Icesnow] saber-arts.”

  Whoosh! Archon Silksnow’s six sabers began to move in unison. Three of them became incredibly savage and overbearing, while the other three actually became unpredictable and ephemeral, almost like the dancing of the snow. Their movements were very soft and
extremely difficult to see through.

  When Ning saw this, his face turned extremely pale. Although the earlier attacks were savage and powerful, they were fairly easy to block as a result. Now that Archon Silksnow was using this strange combination of savagery and softness, merging the principles of Yin and Yang together, blocking the attacks became far more difficult than before. The snow-like saber-arts didn’t have as much power behind them, but they were much more troublesome for Ning to defend against.

  It was much like how the Heavenbreaker stance was much more powerful than the Blood Drop stance, but the Blood Drop stance was far superior in speed thanks to having sacrificed a degree of power. The most powerful attack wasn’t necessarily the best attack.

  Clang! Clang! Slash! Slash! Swords and sabers collided nonstop. Ning was forced to use four of his swords to defend against those three sabers executing the unpredictable [Icesnow] saber-art, leaving him only two swords to defend against the other three extremely savage sabers.

  BOOM! Using just two swords to defend clearly wasn’t enough. A savage burst of power rocked Ning’s entire body, causing it to tremble as he was sent flying backwards. Ning vomited out a mouthful a blood, his face ashen. His divine power was being depleted far too quickly. Ning’s hands were numb, and even his soul was beginning to feel a bit woozy. Clearly, his sword-arts weren’t able to ablate enough of his enemy’s attack power, causing his divine body to endure most of it. As a result, his injuries were now much heavier than before.

  “After I became one of the Archons of the Sacred Cities, on the occasions when I acted against Daolords I always used my most powerful and overwhelming attacks to crush them directly. You are the first Daolord I wasn’t able to crush in such a manner, forcing me to use my [Icesnow] saber-arts. Normally, I’ll only use it when I battle against other Emperors. You should feel proud to die these saber-arts,” Archon Silksnow said as he once more charged forwards.

  His saber-arts fell upon Ning like the snow, drifting and ephemeral.

  His saber-light flashed like lightning, piercing directly into one’s heart.

  These were two diametrically different types of saber-arts, making it far more difficult to defend against them.

  Slash! Ning was starting to grow dizzy from the hits he was taking. His divine body found it hard to endure these attacks, and he was starting to decline from peak condition.

  “No. If I let this continue, I’m going to die!” Ning understood that each time he blocked, he was walking on a fine line between life and death. In less than ten stances, he would perish to this opponent.

  “If I die, I can be revived thanks to my Dao-seal… but Ninedust will be dead for sure.” A surge of indomitable will and resolve came out of Ning’s soul. This resolve was absolutely unshakable, a form of power that came from his very spirit… and Ning’s sword-arts suddenly changed.

  Previously, his strikes had taken the form of mist-formed swords. All of a sudden, the mist began to condense and transform into drops of water. The countless water drops condensed into a sword that looked as though it was made out of water. The watery swords rippled with absolute beauty but emanated a mesmerizing level of might… and both the speed and power of Ning’s strikes skyrocketed.

  [Heartsword], stance eleven… ‘Teardrop’.

  Boom! Boom!

  The two forces collided. Ning was still knocked flying backwards, and he was still at a disadvantage… but this time, he didn’t spit out any blood at all. Clearly, the force of the collision was not enough to cause him any injuries.

  “What?!” Archon Silksnow’s face completely changed. “The eleventh stance of the [Heartsword] art?!”

  “Yes.” The distant Ning revealed a smile. “Archon Silksnow, you live up to your reputation. You recognized my technique at a single glance. This is indeed the eleventh stance of the [Heartsword] art.”

  The reason why it was comparatively easier for cultivators to make breakthroughs in near-death situations was because those situations placed the soul and truesoul under enormous pressure, causing them to enter a special state that made it easier for one to have epiphanies and then make breakthroughs. Ning wasn’t just in a life-and-death situation, he was also under the pressure of being responsible for Ninedust’s survival. This made his desire to win even stronger, and those strong emotions and tremendous desire to survive caused his [Heartsword] art to finally break through.

  In the instant that he made his breakthrough, he finally understood. The eleventh stance of the [Heartsword] art, the ‘Teardrop’, required incredible resolve and willpower! Long ago, Emperor Heartsword had been facing certain death for the sake of protecting those he loved. He had smiled into the face of death as tears spilled down his face… but in that instant, he had a sudden epiphany and managed to develop the eleventh stance.

  Each cultivator had their own paths to take if they wished to create such profound, abstruse sword-arts. God Emperor Helong, for example, had created his [God Emperor’s Apocalypse] technique, a technique similar to the [Heartsword] art in that it perfectly merged heartforce, divine power, and Immortal energy together. It also required a terrifying amount of resolve and strong emotions, but the emotions involved had to be a feeling of benevolence and care towards all living beings.

  “Only such a blazing level of determination can allow heartforce, divine power, and Immortal energy to merge together in a more perfect manner.” Ning finally understood.

  * * *

  Book 35, Chapter 20 - Hegemon Brightshore

  “How is this possible? How could his [Heartsword] art have advanced to the eleventh stance? That means he’ll reach the twelfth stance soon!”

  The ‘first stage’ of the [Heartsword] art consisted of the eighth to tenth stances, while the second stage consisted of the eleventh and twelfth stances.

  Ning had made consecutive breakthroughs in the ‘first stage’ back when he was in Crimsonwave Temple. Breaking through between stances within the same stage was quite fast, while breaking through from one stage to another was far more difficult. Since Ning had already reached the eleventh stance, the twelfth stance wouldn’t be too far behind.

  “Daolord Darknorth’s sword-arts are extremely well-rounded and extremely durable. If he can master the twelfth stance… he’ll be on par with even me.” Archon Silksnow’s killing intent began to grow stronger.

  Emperor Heartsword, even after becoming an Eternal Emperor, was only comparable to supreme Daolords when it came to his actual insights into the Dao of the Sword. He was actually weaker in this regard than the current Ning. However, thanks to his mastery of the fifteenth stance of the [Heartsword] art, he had completely eclipsed all other Archons and was second only to the Hegemons. He was known throughout the Endless Territories as the only Emperor who was comparable to Hegemons in power.

  Now that Ning had mastered the eleventh stance, the power of his strikes was three times as much as it was ‘normally’. Soon, when he mastered the twelfth stance, his strikes would be comparable to six times his ‘normal’ power! How incredible would this be?

  It was all thanks to this terrifying technique that Emperor Heartsword had been able to battle those who were two levels of power above him and be able to battle the three mighty Hegemons!

  Boom! Boom! Boom! The two continued to battle furiously. Ning was knocked flying repeatedly, but he was able to endure the blows with ease. This was because his sword-arts were faster and fiercer than before, allowing him to completely defend against his foe’s attacks. “A hundred strikes? I can block even a thousand strikes from him. He might hold the upper hand, but if I completely focus on defense I can endure fairly easily.”

  “Die, die, die!” Archon Silksnow’s oily green eyes grew colder and colder as his saber-arts fluctuated between incomparable savagery and snow-like unpredictability. Ning was completely unable to fight back at all, and with each strike he sent Ning flying away. He was completely dominating Ning, forcing Ning to focus exclusively on defense… but Archon Silksnow real
ly was completely unable to do anything to the defense-oriented Ning.

  “His defenses are completely without flaws. His sword-arts have no weaknesses whatsoever.” Archon Silksnow was extremely vexed by this; foes with perfect defensive abilities were extremely difficult to deal with. Even those more powerful than Ning would find it hard to breach his defensive sword-arts. “Am I really going to have to use one of my treasures to deal with a single Daolord?”

  “Given his current level of power, not even common Hegemon-level treasures are certain to kill him. I would have to use one of my most important treasures.” Archon Silksnow felt a bit of heartache at the prospect. “I’ve only accumulated so many of them despite the passage of countless years… I was planning on using them in critical situations to defend against Hegemons.”

  Archon Silksnow continued to hesitate as the two exchanged blows. Archon Silksnow was vacillating; he really didn’t want to use up his most important treasures. His more ordinary treasures such as ‘common’ Hegemonic treasures might be precious to Daolords, but Archon Silksnow had quite a few of them. However, those treasures generally only held twenty to thirty percent of the full power of a Hegemon’s strike. It wasn’t enough to kill an Archon of the Sacred Cities, nor was it enough to kill the current Ning.

  ……

  While Archon Silksnow hesitated, he continued to hope that his furious barrage of attacks would be enough to kill Ning. If he could avoid using one of his life-saving treasures, he would do so; he wasn’t going to use those things up casually.

  Riiiiiip. Far away, within the empty void that was beyond the area of ten billion kilometers covered by the blurry light, a tear in spacetime suddenly appeared. This tear was enormous in size, and from it emerged the enormous head of an absolutely titanic beast. The eyes on this head looked like blazing stars, and they turned to stare at the distant field of combat, locking in on both Archon Silksnow and Daolord Darknorth.