Desolate Era

by RWX

  “Heartworld projection, descend! Sword Dao domain, manifest!” Ning instantly used all of his most powerful domain-type techniques, sending both his heartworld projection and his sword domain crashing down upon them. The Sithe Exalts felt as though they were swimming through molasses as their flying speeds dropped dramatically. They were very close to the formation and should’ve been able to enter it in the blink of an eye, but they were now moving a thousand times slower than before.

  “Hurry up and run! Hurry!” the Sithe Exalts continued to do their best to escape.

  “Good luck, everyone. There’s no way he can kill all eight of us at once.” The Sithe Exalts were quickly able to judge the situation. The eight of them were scattered in eight different directions around the vast temple! They were all physically flying towards the center of the temple because spacetime in the area had been suppressed, making warping through it impossible. Ning was very fast, but the eight Sithe Exalts were all very close to the formation. They’d be able to enter it soon, and Ning wouldn’t be able to kill all of them before the rest made it inside.

  “Die.” Ning instantly charged towards the closest Sithe Exalt, a female whose eyes were filled with terror.

  “Don’t kill me!” the female Exalt screamed, her voice filled with a strange cadence that tried to seep into Ning’s soul and truesoul. This was an illusory technique!

  “Playing around with illusions in front of me?” Ning smiled coldly. When he had been in the failed Daomerge state, his cracked truesoul might’ve been weak enough to partially succumb to such a technique… but now that he had succeeded? His truesoul was far more powerful than ever before, and he had also gained a high level of mastery over the Dao of Illusions. How could this Sithe Exalt possibly shake him?

  “Die.” Sword-light howled past him in the form of countless dimensional blades. Ning knew that these Sithe Exalts all had such powerful bodies that one or two blows probably wouldn’t be enough to kill him, and so he unleashed all six Northbow swords in a windmill of rapidfire attacks. Given Ning’s power, twenty strikes was all that was needed to completely annihilate her! Ning then began to fly towards the other Sithe Exalt close by.

  “N-no…” The fiery-armored Sithe Exalt had a look of despair and resentment in his eyes as he stared at the eight revolutions formation in front of him. It was just inches away, but Darknorth’s terrifying domain pressed down upon him with such might that he was only able to fly very, very slowly.

  Ning, in contrast, was able to fly at maximum speed. He arrived in just a moment, and his terrifying sword-light descended as well. Once again the most terrifying offensive Dao in all the Chaosverse, the Eternal Omega Sword Dao, revealed its deadly brilliance. Strengthened by Ning’s perfect mana, it had only become even more powerful than the past. This Sithe Exalt was tougher than the previous one, but it still only took Ning a total of twenty-six strikes to slay him.

  Ning turned his gaze towards a bald and muscular Sithe Exalt off in the distance. That Sithe Exalt instantly started to panic. “Run, everyone! Run!”

  Whoosh! Ning quickly sped towards the man. Slash! His sword-light hammered the Sithe Exalt from afar, and the heavily-wounded Exalt just barely survived it and charged into the formation. By now, the other five had all entered the formation as well.

  “Thank goodness we made it inside.” The six lucky survivors all felt a sense of fear wrack their hearts. The Exalts glanced at each other, their eyes filled with joy at having survived. That had been utterly terrifying! They were supposed to be Autarchs, but here in this Chaosverse they had been weakened so dramatically that they were at most comparable to the Blazesun Ruler in power. This was the natural disadvantage all invaders faced – they would be suppressed and prevented from using even a wisp of the Dao’s power.

  “He won’t be able to break through the formation so easily. We’re safe inside here.”

  “For now, we’re saved.”

  “We did our best, but we weren’t able to carry out Iyerre’s orders,” the Sithe Exalts said to each other.

  “Look over there!” the black-haired Sithe Exalt suddenly cried out fearfully.

  Two of them had perished, but the six of them were still more-or-less in control over the entire temple and were able to keep the eight revolutions formation active. Their control over the formation allowed them to clearly see what was happening outside… and they saw Ning transform to become absolutely towering in size, on par with the entire temple itself.

  The titanic Ning was now far larger than many chaos planets. He was in three-headed, six-armed form, and his six Northbow swords had increased in size to match.

  “DIE!” the titanic Ning roared furiously, sending his six gargantuan Northbow swords descending like the punishment of the heavens towards the formation protecting the temple.

  After being lucky enough to escape once, Ning wasn’t going to be so foolish as to dive back inside! However, he wasn’t going to let the Sithe off either.

  As far as the other Autarchs, Autarch Titanos had been forced to sacrifice an avatar to allow Autarch Ekong to escape, and Ekong himself suffered heavy injuries; he was in no condition to keep tussling against the Sithe Exalts. Autarch Stonerule had merely used his avatar to set up a few formations to seal that temple away, making it impossible for them to escape. Autarch Stonerule didn’t dare to use his avatar to actually enter the temple and fight them there.

  Ning was the only exception. He had enough power to continue fighting against and killing these Sithe Exalts! This was because he was actually capable of defeating even the most powerful formations they had thrown at him.

  Boom! Boom! Boom! Ning sent the six colossal Northbow swords crashing down with all his power. The outermost dimension protecting the eight revolutions formation was destroyed in just three seconds, but the formation quickly began to regenerate and rebuild the destroyed dimension.

  “Not good. He already knows how to solve the eight revolutions formation, and there are only six of us left. It’s hard for just six of us to keep the entire thing active. The formation is going to be much less stable than before!”

  “Hold on for as long as we can!”

  “Keep it stable, men!”

  “The eight revolutions formation has many different worlds within it. It will take him time to destroy them one-by-one, while the six of us can continue to remake new ones. After attacking for a while, Emperor Darknorth will probably give up.” The Sithe Exalts clung onto this faint hope as they struggled to defend.

  ……

  There was no way Ning would spare them. He continued to use all of his power to furiously assail the formation with his six Northbow swords, destroying one world after another. New worlds were quickly reborn, but this was costing the Sithe an enormous amount of energy!

  A short while later, a figure flew over towards Ning from afar. This was Autarch Mogg’s avatar.

  “Darknorth.” Autarch Mogg’s avatar had actually arrived long ago, but he hadn’t dared to intervene by going inside.

  “Haha, Mogg! Perfect timing,” Ning laughed. “Give me a hand. It doesn’t matter what techniques you use, just hammer away at the formation with all your power.”

  “Sure.” Autarch Mogg’s body transformed to become absolutely towering in size, and he manifested a total of six arms as well, each of which wielded a long and slender saber. He began to furiously assail the temple’s formation alongside Ning! Ning understood the flaws within the worlds and so his attacks had already put the formation under incredible stress. Now that another Autarch-class combatant had joined him, the stress was further amplified. The worlds began to crumble even faster than before.

  Now, a world was crumbling every two seconds. One world after another shattered before their blows…

  “We’re almost at the point where we can’t keep up with how fast they break our worlds.”

  “Our energy stores are almost gone.” The Sithe Exalts were filled with despair. If they were at full power, they could at least us
e the spacetime formation or other formations to protect themselves once the eight revolutions formation broke apart, but they had virtually exhausted their energy stores in their attempts to first trap and then kill Ning. Now, Ning and Mogg were forcing them to use up their final bits of energy.

  “We’re finished.” Their faces were filled with despair.

  Boom! Boom! Boom! The final worlds were broken apart, causing the six Sithe Exalts to abandon all hope. As the remnants of the eight revolutions formation began to crumble, they shared a final glance.

  “If almighty Iyerre succeeds, those of us who died in battle might have a chance to be revived.”

  Boom! Boom! Boom! A series of explosions rang out, followed by the complete collapse of the remnants of the eight revolutions formation, which now lacked any controllers.

  “Self-detonation?” Mogg’s avatar gritted its teeth. “Why are the Sithe so loyal? None of the Sithe Exalts we captured and tortured after the last war have surrendered either.”

  “Destroying one of their temples counts as a victory in my book,” Ning said. He waved his hand, drawing the remnants of the temple into his own estate-world. “Let’s go.”

  “Let’s leave.” Mogg nodded. Riiip! The two tore through spacetime and left side-by-side.

  ……

  Iyerre was still flying through the Great Dark at maximum speed. He looked calm, but flames could be seen flickering deep within his eyes. He was eagerly looking forward to the moment where he could kill Emperor Darknorth. By killing Emperor Darknorth, his victory over this war would be secured!

  Whoosh. The barefoot Iyerre came to a sudden halt within the empty darkness of space… He stared off into the distance. He could sense the deaths of each and every Sithe Exalt under his command, and his face gradually grew increasingly unsightly to behold.

  Book 44, Chapter 16 - Rage

  Iyerre could sense that two of the Exalts in control of the Eight Revolutions Spacetime Temple had just been slain. Clearly, the situation had just taken a turn for the worse. Generally speaking, so long as the formation protecting the temple was undamaged the Exalts in control wouldn’t be killed.

  A short while later, he could sense that the other six Exalts had all died as well.

  “All eight of them died. All they needed to do was trap Emperor Darknorth for eighty-two days. They just needed to hold out for a few more days… those useless idiots!” Iyerre felt rage blazing away at his chest. He had been preparing for countless aeons. Victory had been within his grasp… but at the most critical moment, his servants had been unable to keep Emperor Darknorth confined. How could he not be angered by this?

  “If I can’t kill Emperor Darknorth, I’ll have to switch to the second plan and start killing off the other Autarchs one-by-one.” Iyerre nodded slowly.

  This was a more difficult prospect. Killing Emperor Darknorth would have given him a 99% chance of success. Now that Ning had escaped, his chances of success had just dropped sharply. Still, he remained confident in his overall chances. He knew what forces he had available and what his opponents were capable of, which was why he felt so confident.

  Iyerre suddenly waved his hand. Whoosh! Three figures suddenly appeared by his side. Their auras were all tremendously powerful, far more powerful than the auras of ordinary Sithe Exalts. All three of them appeared humanoid, and it looked as though two were male while one was female. The first man was dressed in black robes, while the second was dressed in red robes. As for the woman, she was dressed in dazzlingly beautiful silver robes and had a soul-stirring smile on her face.

  “Iyerre.” The three bowed fractionally to show respect, but they addressed him simply as ‘Iyerre’ rather than giving him the title of ‘almighty Iyerre’ as most Sithe Exalts did.

  “It is now time for the three of you to take action,” Iyerre said.

  “You need to remember your promise,” the black-robed man said sinisterly.

  “Don’t worry. After this battle is over, I’ll give you your freedom and also give you treasures as a form of thanks. My master himself has personally attested to this. Are you really worried that I would go back on my word?” Iyerre said.

  The three traded glances, then nodded.

  “Starting today, we shall operate in two groups,” Iyerre said.

  “Eh? What’s this? You won’t be needing us to help you against Emperor Darknorth after all? Oh, I know. Those useless subordinates of yours weren’t able to tie him down for long enough, right?” the silver-robed woman laughed. The two men next to her had mocking smiles on their faces as well.

  Iyerre frowned slightly, then continued: “Yes. They weren’t able to tie him down. Emperor Darknorth has already escaped! Our only choice is to carry out our second plan. The four of us will work separately, with you three in one team and me by myself. The cultivators don’t even know that we exist, so if we are careful we might just be able to ambush and kill two of their leaders at once.”

  “Agreed.” The three all nodded.

  “Remember, once we separate you need to hide behind the treasure I gave you. Don’t reveal any hint of your aura at all. Once the Chaosverse discovers any traces of your auras, the cultivator leaders will also be instantly warned as to how dangerous you are,” Iyerre said.

  Iyerre was at such a high level of enlightenment that he could cut off all detection from the Chaosverse by himself, but the Sithe Exalts and the three people before him could not. Thus, they had to use the treasure which Iyerre had given them! This was the reason why Ning and the others hadn’t noticed any of the hidden dimensions prior to them disgorging their contents at the start of the war.

  “Don’t worry. We won’t make such foolish mistakes,” the red-robed man smirked.

  “This is your first time entering a different Chaosverse. It is best to be cautious, as you are unable to use the power of the Dao here. You’ll be much weaker than you are used to,” Iyerre warned. These three weren’t his subordinates, and so he could not command them. All he could do was offer them warnings, for fear of them making a mistake and revealing themselves before they managed to kill a native Autarch. If that happened, this war would become even more difficult to win.

  The cultivator Autarchs were in their own Chaosverse and backed by the boundless power of the Dao. All of them were mighty beyond measure, and the only way to kill them was to catch them off-guard! Once Iyerre revealed himself, the cultivator leaders would be able to quickly flee and hide from him.

  As for Emperor Darknorth… he was the most powerful of the local cultivators. If Iyerre had to fight him by himself, victory was far from assured. Iyerre was still being suppressed by this Chaosverse, after all! That was why he had brought his second trump card as well. He had been planning to work alongside those three powerful experts. Together, they would’ve spelled certain doom to Ning.

  But of course… that was only if Ning had remained trapped inside the temple! Outside the temple, Ning could flee whenever he wanted to. It was very difficult to kill anyone who was of the same level of strength.

  “Let’s head out,” Iyerre instructed.

  Whoosh! An ordinary-looking realmship suddenly appeared next to him with a Hegemon in control of it. This Hegemon was a Sithe descendant who had been born into this Chaosverse, and so his aura was identical to that of an ordinary cultivator’s.

  The Hegemon was responsible for control of the realmship and sending it hurtling through the Chaosverse, while the three experts would remain hidden within a treasure the Hegemon carried.

  “Very good.” Iyerre watched as the realmship departed, cold light shining in his eyes. “Thus far, the cultivators have only lost a few avatars. None of them have actually perished! I’ll wager that they have no idea that the temples were only meant to confuse them, making them lower their guard once they ‘knew’ what they were up against. Those weren’t my real trump cards at all.”

  “Come, then. Let’s see who shall be the first ‘Autarch’ I kill once I reveal my presence.” Iyerre waved
his hand, causing a white lotus to appear in his palm.

  Rumble… Iyerre’s energy flowed into the white lotus, quickly spreading out to cover an extremely vast area that was a hundred times greater than the area Ning could scan using his godsense! Iyerre could accomplish this because he had vastly surpassed all the others in terms of insight, even though he was being suppressed by the Chaosverse. As for the white lotus, it was an incredibly valuable scanning treasure which his master had helped him forge.

  “So… who shall be the first to die?” Iyerre smiled as he stepped into a spatial rift, hurtling through spacetime. He moved to one region after another, wandering through many different regions. Ever since the temples had appeared, the cultivator Autarchs had stopped attacking in person and had only sent out their avatars to do battle. Thus, actually locating one of them was no easy feat.

  ……

  Time flowed on, one day after another. In the end, Autarch Skyfeeder and Autarch Bolin’s trapped avatars all ended up perishing in battle. However, the temples ended up being trapped by the other Autarchs who cast giant formations around them, making it impossible for them to flee!

  Thus far, the Sithe had revealed a total of five temples. These temples had cost the cultivators three Autarch avatars belonging to Bolin, Skyfeeder and Titanos. As for the temples themselves? Ning had captured one, while the other four had been sealed and rendered immobile.

  The cultivators had lost three peak power avatars, but they quickly began to remake new ones, even though the new ones would be significantly weaker for quite some time.

  ……

  Over two months after Ning had escaped the Eight Revolutions Spacetime Temple.

  Whoosh! Iyerre’s muscular form suddenly exited a spacetime rift and appeared within a realmverse. He continued to hold that white lotus in his hands as he carefully scanned the vast area around him. “Eh?” Iyerre revealed a look of delight.