Desolate Era (Book 1 - Book 5)

“Don’t give him the chance to utilize his footwork.”


“All together.”

The seven youths once more charged forth.

But Ning slowly walked towards them.

In an instant, the seven youths and Ning once again collided. Swords and sabers flashed in the air, but Ning still moved as though he was taking a casual stroll. The longsword in his hands became like a whip, with all of his force being transmitted to the tip of the sword as he then viciously struck out. In order to reduce the amount of casualties as much as possible during the Ceremony of the Golden Sword, all of the weapons were blunt, and thus were more suited to chopping, sweeping, and whipping type attacks.

Fast!

Ning’s sword was so fast as to make one’s heart shudder.

Ning gracefully walked out from the combined attacks of the seven, while at the same time, making seven lightning-fast whip-like attacks.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

Five figures were sent flying backwards by the whip-strikes, flying over thirty meters before falling down onto the ground. All of them struggled to their feet, covered with dust. A few couldn’t help but hold their chests, coughing out a hint of blood. Some had cuts on their faces, and their faces were filled with disbelief. This was because just then, they clearly had seen Ning attack with his sword, and they had tried to block it, but none of them had been able to touch Ning’s sword.

They hadn’t even been able to touch it! Ning had sent them flying!

“One with the sword!” The five talented youths instantly knew what sort of level this young master Ji had reached in swordplay, and understood how great the gap was between them.

Only three youths were left on the dueling platform.

Black sword in hand, Ning looked at the nearby scimitar wielding youth and the golden-furred beast. He nodded to himself. “I struck once against each of them, but these two were able to touch my sword. That scimitar wielding youth is very fast with his blade strikes, but he hasn’t reached the ‘advanced’ level yet. That golden-furred beast…has actually reached the advanced level of ‘one with the saber’.”

“Young master Ji, remember…my name is Grizzly! Ji Grizzly!” The golden-furred bestial man stared at Ji Ning. “The one who is going to defeat you is me, Grizzly!”

The scimitar wielding youth’s face changed slightly. “So I am not the strongest one after all in these many tribes. There are actually two who are stronger than me. Even this Grizzly has already reached the ‘one with the saber’ level.”

He had been training painstakingly for many years in the martial pavilion.

He knew that he was born into a low status and wouldn’t be able to obtain the ultimate saber techniques, and thus he gave up focusing on any complicated saber techniques, and instead focused on making his saber ‘fast’! His saber…had to be fast enough. The faster the better. He pursued the fastest possible attacks, combining them with his ‘advanced’ footwork…if he used his saber, he definitely would be able to defeat the other youths.

But now he discovered to his amazement that it wasn’t just this son of the Raindrop Sword, Ji Yichuan, who was stronger than him. The virtually unknown golden-furred fellow next to him was stronger than him as well.

“Ji Ning.” The scimitar wielding youth suddenly growled. “I know you are stronger than me, but I want you to take three saber blows from me! Just take these three saber blows of mine alone…as for you, Grizzly, don’t interfere.”

Grizzly stood there disdainfully, a cold smile on his face. This scimitar wielding youth was far weaker than him, and what’s more, Ning’s footwork was simply too formidable, and there was no way to successfully do a combined attack on him anyhow. So he might as well let this scimitar wielding youth seek his own humiliation.

Ning, as though thinking about something, glanced at the scimitar wielding youth. He had the feeling that this scimitar wielding youth’s words had some special belief hidden within.

“Alright.” Ning nodded.

“Hua!”

The scimitar wielding youth charged forward like a blur, howling. His eyes were as vicious as that of a wolf’s, and as he drew near Ning, his scimitar came out! The scimitar gleamed brilliantly, and the very first saber-blow was directed towards Ning’s neck. Logically speaking, since the scimitar was blunt, this sort of slashing technique wasn’t very suitable.

But clearly, this scimitar wielding youth wanted to demonstrate his strongest, ultimate attacks.

“Retreat.” Ning moved like the wind, taking a step back, allowing the scimitar to howl past his body.

“Chi!”

Suddenly, with the flip of his hand, the scimitar wielding youth launched another attack, and this saber-blow was even faster, slashing towards Ning’s neck from the opposite direction. With leap, Ning still managed to dodge, but he even he felt it was a bit difficult. If he continued to use ‘advanced’ level footwork and the opponent’s scimitar moved any faster, Ning would have to use his sword.

“Swish!” The flashing blade suddenly left his hand, moving even faster, arriving close to Ning’s eyes in an instant.

The third saber-blow – The flying saber!

The flying saber was spinning in the air, and borrowed the speed from those two earlier attacks, allowing this final flying saber attack to reach an even more incredible speed. Not hesitating at all, Ning attacked with his sword.

“Clang.” The scimitar and the sword intersected, and the scimitar immediately was sent flying away, landing back into the hands of the scimitar wielding youth.

The scimitar wielding youth nodded. “I lose.”

And then with a leap, he jumped down from the dueling platform. The scimitar wielding youth knew…that this Ji Ning and himself simply weren’t on the same level at all. Even aside from the fact that Ji Ning trained in the ultimate sword techniques of the Ji clan, the simple fact that he had reached the ‘one with the sword’ level made it impossible for the youth to do anything to Ji Ning. He was already very satisfied with being given the chance to show off his most powerful attacks on this dueling platform.

“Recruit that scimitar wielding youth into the Ji clan!” The distant, spectating Ji Young said to one of his personal servants standing behind him. “He has the potential to reach the Xiantian level.”

Yes, master.”

….

The dueling platform only had Ning and Grizzly left.

Grizzly’s eyes flashed with golden light, staring from afar at Ning, while at the same time, his entire body began to glow with a faint gold light as well, and a powerful aura began to emit from him. This caused the distant Ning’s eyes to narrow. “This Grizzly is also a Fiendgod Body Refiner? It seems he’s reached quite a high level as well.”

“Ji Ning.” Grizzly growled. “I admit that your footwork is superior to mine! But today, we must determine who the strongest person is, and you won’t be able to acquire the golden sword just by fleeing! You must fight me head on, but unfortunately, if you fight me head out, you aren’t a match for me at all. You will definitely lose!”

Black sword in hand, Ning looked calmly at his opponent.