Desolate Era

by RWX

  As Ning spoke, he waved his hand. A series of treasures appeared before them, with the most important one being a jade slip. This jade slip emanated a terrifying aura of power even though it simply levitated there in the air, and its aura was so strong that Nuwa could barely breathe.

  * * *

  Book 39, Chapter 16 - Soldiers Descend on Houwu City

  A total of four treasures were hovering in front Ji Ning. The first was a silver throne, the second was a set of beautiful silver robes, , the third was a blood-colored diamond, while the fourth was a jade slip. The first three were the Sithe weapons which the Lonely King had often used.

  “These three Sithe weapons, I acquired after I slew the Lonely King of the Icepeak Army,” Ning said with a laugh. “The silver robes are protective in nature, while the blood-colored gemstone can instantly unleash attacks of incredible power which are so fast that even Otherverse Lords might perish if caught off-guard! In fact, there truly have been Otherverse Lords who have perished to the Lonely King as a result of this gemstone. The silver throne, however, is the most important treasure. It allows one to warp through space, create multiple illusory clones, and even launch attacks. At full power, its attacks can destroy an entire otherverse.”

  Nuwa was shocked upon hearing this. These three treasures truly were extraordinary! If all three were used together, even most Otherverse Lords would feel a sense of fear. The Lonely King had relied upon them more than anything else.

  “Starting today, these three Sithe treasures shall belong to you.” Ning looked at Nuwa.

  “I can’t accept this,” Nuwa rejected instinctively. Although they had adventured to a Sithe armory and she had acquired a treasure, any of the treasures which the Lonely King had used to dominate the Chaosverse was vastly superior to hers.

  “Don’t decline. I’ve failed the Daomerge and won’t use energy without a good reason,” Ning said. “And… a casual blow from me would be more powerful than these treasures by far. In the Three Realms, my master Subhuti and the others are incapable of using these treasures. The only person in the Three Realms who can use them is you, Nuwa! With these treasures, you’ll be strong enough to protect the Three Realms. Accept them.”

  Nuwa wasn’t the wishy-washy type. She immediately nodded: “Very well. I’ll accept them. The Three Realms is my home; of course I’ll protect it!”

  Ning smiled. “As for this slip, it contains my Eternal Omega Sword Dao. I’ve recorded it all here, and no one has ever viewed it before.” Ning chuckled. “Take a look and see if it can give you a few new ideas.”

  “Eternal Omega Sword Dao?” Nuwa stared at the levitating jade slip. Its aura continued to cause her to feel a sense of shock. She knew that compared to the first three treasures, the jade slip was the most valuable treasure of them all!

  “Thank you.” Nuwa didn’t decline, nor could she decline. She reached out to gently touch the jade slip, then instantly sent out her godsense.

  A flood of information entered her mind. The first thing Nuwa did was to swear a lifeblood oath that she could only allow members of the Three Realms to study the Eternal Omega Sword Dao. But of course, if she herself was able to glean certain insights from the Eternal Omega Sword Dao she wouldn’t be limited in her ability to transmit them to others.

  “This Sword Dao…” Nuwa was stunned when she sensed how vast and overwhelmingly powerful the Eternal Omega Sword Dao was.

  “Accept the jade slip. You can view it and ruminate on it as you please,” Ning said. The Eternal Omega Sword Dao was simply far too profound; not even a direct transmission into one’s mind could allow one to brute-force memorize it all! If you read through it quickly, you’d soon begin to forget it all. Your memories would grow blurry… because this was something which vastly surpassed your ability to understand it! You had to have the jade slip by your side and constantly meditate on it and study it. As a result, the jade slip itself was incredibly important. This was why Ning had requested that Nuwa only allow the members of the Three Realms to be trained in it.

  “Alright.” Nuwa accepted the jade slip, then sat down in the lotus position and began to meditate on it. She was completely consumed by it, completely intoxicated by this truly grand Dao. As for Ning, he sat down next to her as well.

  “Darknorth, this sword-art seemed to have its own spirit. Why is it that it is so marvelous and agile?” Nuwa raised her head and asked, her fingers demonstrating as she spoke.

  Ning began to demonstrate his sword-arts while answering each of her questions. Ning held nothing back from Nuwa at all, because once he died and his Dao vanished, Nuwa would become the most powerful expert of the Three Realms.

  Ning had been able to vaguely scry parts of the future. He was able to see that Nuwa would indeed continue to safeguard the Three Realms and that she was definitely worthy of his trust. But of course, there were many other images that had appeared as he scryed the future. In the end, the future was in a state of flux. Since it had yet to actually happen, all things were technically possible.

  In the blink of an eye, Ning had spent more than half a year guiding Nuwa as she trained. Nuwa was completely absorbed with training in the Eternal Omega Sword Dao, and for Ning to personally instruct her and resolve her questions was a truly rare opportunity. Ning wouldn’t even be this detailed when teaching his own students! As for Lord Houwu or Patriarch Treewind, none of them dared to disturb the two.

  Rumble… a terrifying wave of power suddenly spread out into the city from afar. Ning frowned and rose to his feet. He walked over to the entrance to take a look towards the distant horizons. He could sense that a vague, malevolent aura was surging towards them from afar.

  “What’s going on?” Nuwa rose to her feet and walked over to the entrance as well. “Something feels wrong.”

  “I can sense that a force is drawing near,” Ning said. “And it is quite strong. Let’s go take a look.” Ning and Nuwa flew out side-by-side. In truth, figures were flying out from residences throughout Houwu City. These Hegemons, Emperors, and Samsara Daolords could all sense the increasingly powerful ripples generated by the encroaching power.

  “Master.” Flamewing, Su Youji, Whitethaw, Azurefiend, and Hegemon Goodsong all immediately flew towards Ning.

  “Daolord.” Lord Houwu flew out as well, behaving as warmly as before.

  “Lord Governor,” Ning asked, “What’s going on?”

  Lord Houwu hesitated slightly. Suddenly, a figure appeared at the horizons. This was something who had four hooved legs but the upper body of a human. This strange creature was as crimson as blood, and it galloped through the skies. These creatures were wielding all sorts of weapons, including greataxes or heavy warhammers. They all radiated auras of tremendous power.

  “Crimson bloodfiends?” Lord Houwu growled, “Over a hundred crimson bloodfiends have appeared at the same time?”

  Rumble… the hundred-plus crimson bloodfiends galloped towards them. Moments later, towering eight-armed giants whose bodies were as white as snow suddenly began to appear as well. The many eight-armed giants each had just a single eye, and they let out furious roars as their awesome auras spread out as well.

  These were all unique lifeforms… but what truly surprised Ning was that all the members of these two races had reached the Hegemon level.

  “These are incredibly powerful races… and for the two to appear at the same time?”

  Ning was surprised. “Lord Houwu, does this happen often here?”

  “No. We rarely see such powerful beings.” Lord Houwu was puzzled as well.

  Suddenly, the two races of creatures split apart into two sides, revealing three figures in their midst.

  To the left was a towering crimson bloodfiend whose entire body was covered with golden armor. The fiend wielded a double-edged battleaxe which was covered with runes and emanated a shocking aura of power; clearly, this was a very unique Sithe weapon.

  To the right was an eight-armed giant who was holding a set of fiery chains. Mo
st of the fiery chains were wrapped around him, and his aura was just as terrifying as the fiend’s.

  Finally, there was a red-robed maiden in the center.

  The faces of quite a few cultivators turned gray when they saw these three appear. “Them?!” Lord Houwu’s face tightened as well. “Where did they come from?”

  Ning frowned as well. Although he didn’t know who these three people were, he could roughly estimate how strong they were. The three leaders… two were unique lifeforms, while the other was a Sourcewalker. All three of them were extremely strong, significantly stronger than most Otherverse Lords.

  The red-robed maiden stepped forward to stand in front of her allies. She said: “All cultivators of Houwu City, hear my commands!” Her voice was ice cold and it shook every part of the region.

  “I have come on orders from the Ruler of the Blazesun Domain. I have come to Houwu City to capture five cultivators.” The red-robed maiden waved her hand as she spoke, causing a scroll to instantly unfurl and reveal a total of five images. These were images of Patriarch Treewind, Imperator Jade Rainbow, Nuwa, and the other two. In the images, Patriarch Treewind and the others were advancing carefully.

  “Same rules as always.” The red-robed maiden actually glanced at Patriarch Treewind, then at Nuwa who stood behind Ning. “Hand the five of them over and we won’t harm anyone else. If you dare to refuse… then that means Houwu City shall enter yet another war against us!”

  A total of more than two hundred Hegemonic creatures were hovering in the air behind the three leaders. The pressure they brought upon the cultivators was quite enormous… and they were backed by the even more powerful Blazesun Ruler. This was a threat which another type of civilization was levying against the cultivators… and here in the Eight Domains, the cultivator civilizations were clearly the weaker party.

  “Walker Scarletbind,” Lord Houwu called out loudly, “Can you tell us how they have offended the Blazesun Ruler?” The Blazesun Ruler was one of the most supreme of Sourcewalkers, comparable to Sithe Exalts in power. So long as an Autarch didn’t intervene, these creatures were invincible.

  “Hmph. These five thieves actually dared to barge into one of the Ruler’s hidden residences. They caused an enormous amount of damage and wiped the place clean. They even destroyed one of the Ruler’s favorite treasures, the Jadeheart Lamp! The Ruler was infuriated by this, and so he sent the order to capture them and bring them back. They are to be tortured to death! Otherwise, there’s no way he can give vent to his rage,” the red-robed maiden said angrily.

  * * *

  Book 39, Chapter 17 - Battle Erupts

  Patriarch Treewind, Imperator Jade Rainbow, Nuwa, and the others all turned pale.

  “A fine disciple you have, Treewind!” Imperator Jade Rainbow instantly sent a frantic mental message: “A ‘Sithe armory’? It was actually one of the Blazesun Ruler’s hidden estates. We’re in serious trouble now!”

  “What’s the use of saying all of this now? When we broke through layers of formations and penetrated to the very depths of the estate, we already suspected that this was actually a place which belonged to the Blazesun Ruler, right? You still chose to take the Sithe treasures away with you. The entire reason we chose to hide within Houwu City was because we wanted to see what would happen next!” Patriarch Treewind said angrily.

  “Damn it.” Imperator Jade Rainbow was extremely nervous. He glanced at the white-robed youth standing next to Lord Houwu, then sent mentally, “Old man Treewind, do you think Daolord Darknorth would be willing to help us out? And… do you think he can beat the Blazesun Ruler?”

  “Hard to say,” Patriarch Treewind sent back. “If he was in perfect shape with unfettered access to his divine power and Immortal ki? Given how he was able to slay the Lonely King with just one strike, he definitely wouldn’t need to fear the Blazesun Ruler. Even if he wasn’t able to win, Daolord Darknorth would definitely be able to defend against him! The problem is that he has failed his Daomerge, which means he can’t battle for too long. It’ll probably be very hard for him to fight against the Blazesun Ruler, who is in perfect shape.”

  “Ugh.” Imperator Jade Rainbow said nervously, “I hope Daolord Darknorth cares about Nuwa to defend her.”

  ……

  Ning frowned. Of course he had to protect Nuwa! He’d protect her even at the cost of his own life.

  “Flamewing, release a bit of your aura,” Ning sent.

  “Need me to attack?” Flamewing asked rather eagerly.

  “Don’t be impatient,” Ning instructed.

  “Fine!” Flamewing immediately flew into the air while returning to his true form. The enormous, flame-bathed body of the Flamewing God appeared in the skies, emanating an aura of inexhaustible power. As a Chaos Primordial, its energy stores were virtually limitless, and its body was all but indestructible. Even Sithe Exalts had to attack in numbers; a single one wouldn’t be able to do anything to it.

  “A Chaos Primordial!” The mighty experts serving the Blazesun Ruler were all shocked, while the three leaders felt a sense of trepidation.

  “Chaos Primordial, why are you standing with cultivators?” the crimson bloodfiend leader roared angrily.

  “We’ve come on orders from the Blazesun Ruler. Are you going to make an enemy out of him?” the eight-armed chain-bearing giant roared angrily as well.

  “You two idiots,” the red-robed maiden muttered.

  “Who the hell is the Blazesun-whatever? I don’t know him!” Flamewing bellowed back.

  The red-robed maiden secretly felt helpless. All Chaos Primordials had the intelligence of children, and they were born completely fearless. Nothing and no one could control them! Yes, the Blazesun Ruler might have the power of a Sith Exalt and was indeed stronger than Flamewing… so what if he was? He still wouldn’t be able to capture Flamewing, much less kill it! There was nothing the Blazesun Ruler could do to this troublemaker.

  “Chaos Primordial, why must you interfere? This is an affair between us and these cultivators,” the red-robed maiden said.

  “What’s with all the questions?!” Flamewing bellowed.

  Ning said, “It is true that the five of them offended the Ruler by trespassing on his estate, but they weren’t aware that it belonged to him. They thought that it was a relic site of some sort. Although they are in the wrong, capital punishment would not be fitting. I’ll have them return all the treasures they took to the Blazesun Ruler and have this matter be brought to the end. Is that acceptable?”

  “Is that a puny little Daolord speaking?” the red-robed maiden glanced downwards with a smirk. “And one who failed the Daomerge at that. You actually dare to speak?”

  “He’s my master!” Flamewing bellowed, turning to look at Ning. “Master, let me eat them!”

  “Don’t be impatient.” Ning continued, “A minor matter like this isn’t worth starting a war with us over.”

  “Hmph. A Daolord was actually able to tame a Chaos Primordial? This Chaos Primordial truly is a fool.” The red-robed maiden chuckled. “As for this being a ‘minor matter’? Hmph. The Jadeheart Lamp was something which the Ruler loved dearly. If all they had done was steal a few treasures, this matter would be at an end after they returned them… but they caused a large amount of wanton destruction and even wrecked the lamp! No one can save them now. Lord Houwu, don’t hide in the back! Speak! Are you going to hand them over or not? If not, we’re going to attack.”

  “B-but…” Lord Houwu turned frantically towards Ning. Based on how he normally handled things, he would lower his head and endure the threats while trying to come up with a way to let Patriarch Treewind and the others flee. As for whether or not Patriarch Treewind would perish during their flight, that was up to luck.

  ……

  “Make your choice!” the red-robed maiden barked coldly, while the two leaders by her side emanated auras of murderous malice.

  Seeing this, Ning frowned. He immediately instructed, “Flamewing, attack with all your
power.”

  “Hahahaha!” Flamewing had been waiting for just this order. Delighted, it immediately charged forwards while belching out that dark-red fire from its mouth. The flames covered the entire region, spread out in every direction.

  The crimson bloodfiends and the eight-armed giants were all instantly swept up within the flames. Although it felt rather painful, they were still in fine shape. These special beings were born with more powerful bodies than cultivators, after all! More importantly, they had always lived within the Blazesun Domain and thus were born with a fondness and affinity to fire. As a result, fire wasn’t all that harmful to them.

  Their bodies were extremely sturdy, but they would still die if the fire made its way inside of them. But of course, there was no way they would allow the flames to enter their bodies.

  “Stop that Chaos Primordial!” the red-robed maiden commanded.

  “Alright!”

  “Leave it to us!” The crimson bloodfiend leader and the eight-armed giant leader both charged forwards, but they were clearly quite a bit slower and wouldn’t be able to catch up to Flamewing.

  Slash! Slash! Two of the eight-armed giants were torn into tiny pieces in the blink of an eye, the pieces then burnt to ashes by the flames.

  “Damn it!” The two leaders were stunned and enraged.

  “It is quite fast, much faster than the last Chaos Primordial I saw.” The red-robed maiden frowned slightly as a semi-translucent dirt-colored gemstone appeared in her palm. She waved her hand, casuing a series of black tentacles to appear out of nowhere and reach out towards Flamewing. These black tentacles were incredibly tough and took no damage from the flames which Flamewing belched out. A total of eight tentacles were created, and they came from all directions, making it impossible for Flamewing to avoid them.