by RWX
Boom! Boundless amounts of power began to coil around the Grassland World, compressing and crushing it. As it continued to expand in size, the amount of pressure it faced continued to increase as well. By the time it reached a size of nine billion kilometers, it was unable to expand any further! Every single part of its enormous bulk was under utterly horrendous levels of pressure.
“I can’t believe a mere artifact is able to resist the power of our formation and still expand to such a great size,” Ning said. “It really is far more powerful than any of the temples we saw earlier.”
“Find its weak points. If we can’t find any, just launch an all-out attack,” Autarch Titanos sent mentally.
“Alright.”
“Let’s take a close look at the thing. Ning and the others all began to inspect the Grassland World from their various vantage points, searching for weak points. Alas, they couldn’t see anything from the outside.
A short while later, as they were still inspecting the thing, a gray part of the ovaloid object suddenly began to ripple like the clouds. An enormous creature began to emerge, quickly resolving into the giant head of the vast, foolish-looking cyclopean bear. Next to his head was a stormcloud that seemed to be filled with countless black tentacles as well as an unremarkable-looking red-eyed, white-furred humanoid.
Each just sent parts of their bodies from within the rolling screen of clouds, keeping the rest of themselves within. They stared curiously at the outside world, but they saw nothing but a mishmash of chaos. How could they tell what was going on?
“Autarch-class void dwellers!” Ning recognized them right away.
“Those were the three which attacked me previously,” Bolin’s avatar sent.
“Perfect. Everyone, attack! When they retreat, follow them inside the Grassland World,” Autarch Titanos ordered.
“Alright.”
“Attack!”
Ning and the others began to carry out the plan they had practiced a number of times in the past.
The five avatars of Titanos, Mogg, Skyfeeder, Stonerule, and Ekong within the inner formation all began to activate their respective parts of the formations. They transformed into an enormous five-headed black serpent, with each head representing one of the avatars. The main head of the black serpent was led by Autarch Titanos, who commanded the other four in attacking.
As for the ones in the outer formation, they were even more powerful but chose to be cautious and launch long-range attacks from afar.
“Go!” Autarch Mogg waved a finger from afar. Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! A series of round arcs of saber-light flew out, filled with the boundless mysteries of the Space Daobirth Essence.
Bolin’s avatar waved a finger as well, causing ten thousand beads to appear which were filled with the mysteries of the Samsara Daobirth Essence. To keep his true identity hidden, he did not use his Claw Daobirth Essence.
The other Autarchs all used their most powerful long-distance attacks as well.
“All Daos Are The Sword!” Ning willed his six Northbow swords to come flying out, filling them with the power of his mana and linking them together with the power of the other Autarchs. Ning was responsible for guiding the powers of all six Autarchs, because as an Omega Emperor he was skilled in virtually every aspect. He understood illusions, karma, the samsara of life and death, and both space and time.
He was a bit weaker than Bolin when it came to life and death and a bit inferior than Titanos when it came to karma, but he remained incredibly skilled in all respects. Thus, he was the perfect mediator for their powers, allowing the six to join together in a flawless manner and truly transform their attacks. It was a pity that Ning’s avatar was still tied down within the Annihilation Hive. Otherwise, he could’ve also taken responsibility over the five avatars attacking from the inner formation, allowing them to become even more powerful!
Book 44, Chapter 26 - Unstoppable
The three Autarch-class void dwellers were in the ninth layer of clouds of the Grassland World, nervously reaching out to the outside world.
“See anything?” the cyclopean bear said, carfully scanning the primordial chaos outside.
“I don’t see a damn thing.” The tentacled stormcloud was extremely cautious as well.
“Look out!” The red-eyed, white-furred humanoid’s eyes were glowing with bloody red light as it stared intently towards a distant place, and it suddenly sent a mental warning to the others.
Riiiip! An enormous black five-headed serpent suddenly slithered forward from within the mishmash of primordial chaos, its head glaring ferociously at the three as it charged towards them with an overwhelming aura.
“I’ll block it!” The red-eyed, white-furred humanoid was the closest to the serpent. It felt a sense of fear, but it still sent its two furry arms forward in an attempt to block.
Whoosh! The five heads of the black serpent suddenly attacked simultaneously while using the full power of the entire formation. This strike completely eclipsed that of any ordinary Autarch’s and was every bit the equal of Iyerre’s ultimate attack.
“Dodge!” After the black serpent crushed the red-eyed, white-furred creature, it cruised straight towards the tentacled stormcloud. The stormcloud creature was terrified but it still sent out many probing tentacles to try and defend against the impact while preparing to flee.
The black serpent slithered closer towards it, the five heads striking simultaneously once more and tearing countless tentacles apart. However, the serpent was noticeably slowed down by them.
A heartbeat later, the black serpent gave a little wriggle and then shot out once more, its speed skyrocketing to incredible heights as it flew towards the final remaining combatant, the giant cyclopean bear. Autarch Titanos’ avatar was standing in the central head, and it murmured to itself: “Where there is cause, there is effect. Karma lies in all things.” The five heads of the serpent struck out in perfect harmony.
Boom! The giant cyclopean bear furiously struck out with its twin paws, managing to block the attack of the black serpent head-on. It was the physically strongest of the Autarch-class void dwellers, and so although it was at a noticeable disadvantage it wasn’t instantly destroyed by the clash.”
“Haha, I’m not as fragile as those other two!” the giant cyclopean bear laughed excitedly.
“Titanos, prepare to enter the Grassland World!” Ning sent mentally.
Behind the giant black serpent, a sword suddenly appeared. The sword shone with dazzling light and was filled with awesome power. The five heads of the black serpent were able to cooperate together in perfect harmony thanks to the power of karma, but this sword had transcended mere ‘cooperation’ and represented many different powers being merged into a perfect whole! Ning was commanding all of the long-distance attacks from the seven Autarchs in the outer formation, and he manifested them through his Sword Dao to create a terrifying divine sword that surpassed even the black serpent in power.
“CHOP!” The awesome divine sword came crashing down with such power that even the cyclopean bear felt a sense of fear. It hurriedly retreated, seeking to use its paws to defend once again.
Slaaaash! Sword-light descended, annihilating all within its path. The upper body of the giant cyclopean bear was completely destroyed by this strike.
“Ahhh!” The giant cyclopean bear was completely terrified. Thankfully it had kept its life-core within its lower left leg, and its entire lower body remained within the ninth layer of clouds. As a result, it was sable to survive this strike. The three had only agreed to expose part of their giant bodies, precisely because their life-cores were what really mattered the most.
Swoosh! The vast sword stabbed straight into the ninth layer of gray clouds. It shuddered slightly, seeking to tear through the surrounding area and rip apart the hundreds of millions of kilometers of clouds.
“Eh?” Thanks to the divine sword, Ning immediately sensed a powerful force resisting him. “Bolin was right. The ninth and outermost layer of clouds is so
incredibly durable that ordinary Autarchs have no chance of destroying it at all. Even though we’re joining our power together and summoning the might of the Chaosverse itself, we’d probably only be able to cut apart a hundred thousand kilometers of it.
Autarchs were completely unable to breach the ninth layer of clouds, while a full-force blow from this divine sword was able to break through a hundred thousand kilometers of it. This was a testament to the sword’s might! The more of the clouds you wanted to destroy, the more power was needed.
“Titanos, help me keep the rift in the clouds open,” Ning sent mentally.
“Leave that to me!” Titanos sent the black serpent in to cover the rift while sending back, “I’ll leave the attack against the world of grass to you!”
The towering black serpent slithered its way into the tear within the gray clouds, its five heads slowly swiveling around its body and keeping the tear open, preventing the gray clouds from covering it back up again! It must be understood that once the tear was closed, Ning’s squad wouldn’t even be able to sense the insides of the Grassland World, much less maintain the sword and continue to fuel it with their mana. They had to keep the tear open and prevent it from closing!
The black serpent was filled with unearthly power, but it was only able to just barely maintain a thousand-kilometer sized rift.
“Sever the connection to the outside world! Quick! Sever it!” the red-robed man shouted frantically. The Grassland World truly was a complete world unto itself and as such could be completely detached from the rest of the Chaosverse, making it impossible for the Chaosverse to sense and detect it. The two men and the woman inside the Grassland World were absolutely horrified at the power of that sword.
“There’s no way to break the link!” the silver-robed woman said frantically. “That black serpent is preventing the clouds from reforming. We can’t break the connection!”
“Not good! That sword is about to attack!” the black-robed man bellowed.
The giant black serpent continued to hold the gray clouds apart within the ninth layer, while the mighty sword transformed to become incomparably vast as it stabbed downwards.
Boom! The tip of the sword stabbed through the eighth layer, then the seventh layer, the sixth layer…
Clang! A violet-gold chain suddenly appeared out of nowhere. The dazzling iridescent chain flew towards the black serpent which was holding the rift in the clouds open, and it was quickly followed by yet another chain as well. The violet-gold chains launched continuous attacks against the giant black serpent. If they were able to destroy it, the clouds would close over and sever the tip of the sword from the outside world, preventing it from controlled and thus causing it to collapse on its own.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
More and more violet-gold chains appeared.
“Hm?” The hilt of the absolutely titanic sword remained within the ninth layer of clouds, while the tip of the sword continued to stab downwards.
“Break!” Ning caused a series of sharp surges of sword-ki to fly out from the hilt of the sword. Each stream of sword-ki was shaped like a fish, and a total of thirty-six swordfishes quickly flew out and took up blocking positions before the black serpent. They then began to swim together to form a whirlpool of sword-light which smashed outwards at the encroaching violet-gold chains.
These thirty-six streams of sword-ki merely represented 20% of the divine sword’s power, but this defensive sword-technique in the form of a vortex of sword-light was still enough to suppress all of the attacking chains.
By now, there were nine violet-gold chains which were furiously assaulting the whirlpool of sword-light, only to be unable to break through.
“Break! Break! Break!” The toughest layer of clouds was the ninth one. With the black serpent maintaining the tear, the other eight layers were now much easier for the gigantic sword to stab through.
Boom! Boom! Boom! The sword continued to penetrate one layer of clouds after another.
“This sword is too powerful! These native Autarchs must have come together and used something akin to a Daoguard Tower which allows them to summon the power of the Chaosverse, then had Emperor Darknorth merge all of these disparate energies together with his Omega Sword Dao. This sword is so powerful that not even all three of us working together can stop it!” The two men and the woman hidden in the center of the Grassland World began to grow a bit nervous.
“If I knew that this was going to happen, I would’ve had us rendezvous with Iyerre before coming here. Iyerre could’ve dealt with these problems,” the silver-robed woman said anxiously.
Iyerre had instructed them to go rescue the Sithe Exalts, while he himself was coming from a completely different region of the Chaosverse. As a result, their reunion was delayed.
“He was overconfident in his Grassland World,” the red-robed man said frantically. “That sword is about to pierce through the last layer of clouds!”
“We’re hidden here in the depths of the Grassland World, while the sword isn’t able to blink through the earth above us. There’s no way it’ll be able to injure us,” the black-robed man said coldly.
“But if we let them cause destruction unchecked, they might end up destroying some of the important components of the Grassland World. Once we lose this weapon, the upcoming battles will be even harder,” the red-robed man said.
“Hmph. That’s not our problem. Staying alive is what matters; losing a weapon is a minor matter. We’ve done our utmost,” the black-robed man said.
……
Ning’s sword was filled with the power of seven Autarch-class combatants. It started at the eighth layer of clouds and stabbed through one layer after another. The clouds sought to form whirlpools of defensive energy to resist, causing the sword to come under tremendous pressure, but it was still able to persevere… and so, just like that, it punched all the way through the first layer of clouds.
“Bolin, return immediately!” Ning sent mentally. Bolin’s true body was hidden within the first layer of clouds.
Book 44, Chapter 27 - Quintessence Ignition
The towering divine sword had stabbed through all eight layers of clouds. Mana flowed through the area immediately around it, blasting away at its surroundings. This was the combined mana of Ji Ning, Autarch Titanos, Autarch Bolin, and all of the others. For their mana to be there was equivalent to them being there in person, and they could use mana to scan and scry an area. Every single drop of mana contained parts of their soul and truesoul, after all. As their mana surged through the area, it quickly covered the area where Autarch Bolin’s true body was located.
“You finally made it.” An unremarkable spark of energy quickly began to fly through the mana towards the titanic sword. This was the form Autarch Bolin’s true body had taken once it entered the false death stage.
“Thank you, everyone.” Bolin’s true body only showed itself after going inside the giant sword, and he immediately laughed loudly and delighted. All this time, he had been worried that his hiding spot would be discovered, at which point he would have nowhere to run and would most assuredly die.
“Bolin, hurry up and take control of the formation! With your main body in control, we’ll be able to up the power even further,” Ning sent.
“Alright.” Bolin’s body quickly sped up through the interior of the giant sword, rising through the clouds. The divine sword was like a giant mountain which stretched from the very bottom all the way through the ninth layer of clouds, allowing Bolin to easily traverse the Grassland World and stealthily pass through the five heads of the black serpent which were keeping the rift in the clouds open! No one was the wiser as he reached the void outside the Grassland World.
“I’ve made it out alive.” Only after exiting the Grassland World did Autarch Bolin finally let out a sigh of relief. He flew through the void and quickly reached his avatar’s location in the formation, which he swapped with. The power of the entire formation instantly increased by another 20%. His avatar ha
d already died once, after all, and so it was fairly weak. It was by far the weakest link in the outer formation, far weaker than the true body.
“Congratulations, Bolin!”
“Bolin, remember that you owe us some fine wine for saving you from that calamity.” Stonerule, Ekong, and the others all sent happy messages to him.
Autarch Bolin smiled. “Easily done! I’ll send my avatar back and hide inside the Grassland World in my stead. Who knows, it might serve us in good stead!” He then willed his avatar to fly back into the Grassland World, following the same path he had taken in leaving. After mastering the Samsara Daobirth Essence, Autarch Bolin was superior to all other Autarchs when it came to hiding himself.
He was able to completely hide his aura and sever all karmic connections, making it impossible for even the Chaosverse to detect his existence. Even if his avatar ended up being discovered and failed its missions, its loss was a minor matter. To let his true body die while exploring would be a true shame.
……
Boom! After the towering sword stabbed straight through all of the blocking clouds, it stabbed into the grasslands themselves. However, the grass was so extremely sturdy that the sword didn’t manage to pierce too deeply inside of it.
“There’s no way to dig any deeper into the grassland,” Ning sent mentally. “Gentlemen, what do you think we should do?”
“The Grassland World’s core should be located deep within its depths,” Autarch Titanos said. “Based on what I’ve seen from researching various powerful Sithe weapons, the most powerful formations will be located around the most important regions. Right now, the problem is that the sword needs to endure the restrictive power of eight layers of clouds while continuing to drill downwards. It’s only able to unleash a fraction of its full power, and I don’t think there’s any chance we’ll be able to damage the core components while doing so.”
“Right,” Ning agreed. “Stabbing through the eight layers is already consuming a bit over half of the power, while those nine chains are taking up another twenty percent. That leaves just thirty percent to deal with the grasslands below.”
