Desolate Era (Book 1 - Book 5)

“Pengcheng!” The sound of metal chains hitting the floor.

“Hoooooowl!” Instantly, a carefree wolf’s howl rang out. In the air above, Yichuan, his wife, and the Whitewater Hound stared carefully down below.

Ning held his breath.

From the distant tunnel, a massive creature slowly made its way out. Its entire body was covered with beautiful silver fur. It was over two meters tall, and its steps were graceful. It stared at the tiny little pipsqueak standing in the distance; a human male. As one of the special types of monstrous beasts, a Godbeast, the creature’s intelligence wasn’t lower than that of humans.

It knew that there were only two possible outcomes after entering this cage. The first was to kill this human and continue to live. The other was to be killed by this human youth.

“He picked a Godbeast for me the first time here.” Ning stretched out his right hand, and a sword appeared in it out of nowhere, gleaming with cold light. “Then let’s kill it.”

The Howling Moonwolf’s massive body weighed nearly ten thousand pounds, but its four legs moved with great agility as it closed the distance. Its long, narrow eyes inspected this human youth.

Ning walked forward, one step at a time, with longsword in hand.

The distance between the two quickly drew near.

“Shua!” The Howling Moonwolf’s movements suddenly changed from being graceful to being savage, and it suddenly transformed into a blur as it pounced at Ning, and its previously soft paws suddenly had sharp claws emerge from it as well.

Swoosh!

At the critical moment, Ning suddenly moved, as graceful as the wind as he dodged the Howling Moonwolf’s pounce, and then stabbed out with the sharp sword in his hand! The stab was extremely forceful and straight, and it was also fast as lightning. If it managed to land on the Howling Moonwolf’s body, it would be able to borrow the charging force of the Moonwolf and tear its body open!

“Huh?” As he stabbed, Ning’s face suddenly changed. The sword tip had met with a powerful blocking force. The Howling Moonwolf’s fur had blocked the tip of the sword, preventing it from penetrating through.

At the same time, the Howling Moonwolf suddenly sent its tail whisking towards Ning. Unable to dodge in time, Ning quickly used his sword to block.

Bang!

The Moonwolf’s tail landed against the blade like a heavy iron whip, and the powerful force knocked Ning flying away, his body slamming against the distant blackwater iron wall with a boom. Bang! The thick wall trembled violently.

“Roar!” The Howling Moonwolf immediately followed up with another pounce as it slashed at Ning with its claws.

Ning quickly dodged with a flying leap.

Chi! Chi! Chi! Several deep claw marks appeared on the blackwater iron wall. The Moonwolf landed on the ground, then stared at the distant human youth. Its tail attack was its killing weapon. Its tail had sent the human youth slamming into the wall, but the human youth had actually been able to quickly dodge far away. It understood that this human youth truly was very powerful, powerful enough to give him a good fight.

“An ordinary Ninefang Warrior, upon meeting with that tail, would probably have their organs split open.” Ning frowned as he stared at the Howling Moonwolf. “It seems I’ll have to rely on the power of the Fiendgod Body Refining.”

These years, he had also engaged in Ki Refining and had reached mastery of the Houtian level.

But his attacks with Houtian level Ki Refining techniques couldn’t even break through the fur. How could he use it to fight?

“Hrmph!”

Ning let out a deep growl, and from his nostrils came forth two streams of energy that were visible to the naked eye. The streams of energy were causing the air itself to shake. At that moment, the hidden, terrifying potential strength that was lying dormant in his body suddenly exploded forth, and the hidden Solar Strength and Lunar Strength exploded as well, and his entire body began to turn faintly red.

With a slight movement of the sword in his hands, Ning shattered the air before him and carved a huge ditch into the thick earth.

The distant Howling Moonwolf let out a low growl, staring fixedly at this youth.

……

“The child has finally begun to use the [Crimsonbright Diagram of the Nine Heavens].” Snow laughed. “Before this, he was still trying to avoid doing so.”

Yichuan nodded. “The Howling Moonwolves have the lineage of the Fiendgods. Their fur is incomparably tough, and ordinary Houtian experts aren’t able to break through it. I chose this creature on purpose… to force Ning to use all of his strength, and see how much of it he can use in a real, life-and-death battle.”

“What do you think about the look on Ning’s face?” Yuchi Snow asked.

“Average.” Ji Yichuan stared down. “He’s fairly calm.”

……

Spinning the sword in his hand, Ning slowly walked towards the Howling Moonwolf, circling around it.

The Moonwolf stared at Ning as well, choosing not to rashly attack. This was because once it attacked… it would expose its own flaws as well. That would be the moment which determined life or death.

“Hrmph.” Not hesitating at all, Ning suddenly charged forward after the Moonwolf, his body becoming a blur.

With a howl, the Howling Moonwolf immediately pounced over as well, opening its massive maw and revealing its sharp fangs. Its sharp claws tore at Ning as well.

Shua!

A flash of the sword!

The shadow of a sword slashed through the air, striking in a short range while changing trajectories nine times. Its speed was terrifyingly fast, so fast that it was as though even the void was being chopped apart with it. Chi chi chi chi chi. The flashing sword chopped at the Moonwolf’s chest, carving out a massive wound, and fresh blood instantly spurted out.

“Block.” Just after Ning chopped out with one sword, he immediately turned his sword back and blocked the Howling Moonwolf’s claw, while simultaneously borrowing the clashing force to fly backwards and retreat.

The Howling Moonwolf stared furiously at Ning. The massive wound on its chest was shrinking, and the flow of blood began to slow, but it still continued to drip blood. Clearly, that wound had simply been too massive.

The Howling Moonwolf was now truly sensing the impending arrival of death!

“The [Thunderflame Sword]’s technique, ‘Thunderflash Flint’, really is extraordinary. Ning sighed softly.





* * *





Book 1, Chapter 16 - Causing Devastation


After having received two consummate sword techniques, Ning had been training hard, of course. He was now capable of utilizing the techniques of the [Raindrop Sutra] and the [Thunderflame Sword], and his power had increased. However, he had only learned a tiny bit, and he wasn’t even at the level of expertise, much less mastery. After all, even his father, Yichuan, was still pondering on the secrets of the [Raindrop Sutra].

Thunderflash Flint was one of the three killer moves of the [Thunderflame Sword]. It relied on a single word; fast!

As fast as lightning! As swift as flame!

“Ning’s swordplay and his footwork are both exquisite,” Snow said in praise from the viewing platform. “Although the Howling Moonwolf is as fast as a shadow, even faster than Ning, Ning has relied on the [Shadewind Steps] to constantly change directions. He’s in complete control of this battle. His swordplay has reached the ‘advanced’ level, and he can quickly make multiple changes in his movements. In dealing with that monstrous wolf… it can be said that his defense is airtight.”

Yichuan nodded. “With the Fiendgod Body Refining, Ning’s great strength is his forte, while his speed is a bit weaker… but this is a Godbeast, after all. It has an extremely strong life force. A wound like this is just a skin wound to it. When it starts fighting all out, and with Ning never having experienced such a vicious life and death battle before, the results will be hard to predict.”