Desolate Era (Book 1 - Book 5)

The two of them passed each other!

“Pa!” In that instant when they moved past each other, a terrifying shadow suddenly emerged from the water, striking towards Ning. Ning, unable to block in time, was struck heavily on the chest with a ‘Bang!’ sound…Ning couldn’t help but immediately vomit out a mouthful of blood, his face turning red as he was sent flying across the surface of the lake.

Huahua…

The Azure Skysnake King swam at high speed through the waters of the lake, pouncing towards Ning’s position.

“Those whip-strikes of that tail are too fast. Much faster than the tail strikes of that old monster Serpentwing.” Ning, in mid-air, flipped around and gracefully landed on the surface of the lake. He couldn’t help but clutch his chest. He could faintly sense that his bones were broken, but the powerful regenerative energies of the Fiendgod Body Refining method was quickly restoring them.

Kakaka…the two shattered ribs in his chest quickly were repaired.

“But his strength is quite a bit lower than Serpentwing’s.” Ning stared at his chest. Only his fur clothes had been ripped apart. With the added protection of the Goldstar Shirt, his body hadn’t been injured too badly.

“Swish!”

The Azure Skysnake King once more shot towards him as fast as lightning.

So very fast!

“Come.” Ning wildly wielded his twin swords in an effort to defend. The Azure Skysnake King moved its head as if to bite, moved its body as if to coil around him, and also used its serpentine tail to strike at him. Its entire body was a weapon, and it coiled around Ning, wildly attacking. In this sort of extremely close quarters combat, often, a single second would allow numerous blows to be exchanged.

Ning’s [Raindrop Sutra] and [Thunderflame Sword] had both reached the ‘advanced’ stage, but he had yet to reach the ‘one with the world’ level of swordplay!

If his swordplay was at the ‘one with the world’ level, every ordinary pierce, thrust, scrape…any attack would be able to call on the natural power of the world. Only then was one’s level of swordplay truly at the ‘one with the world’ level. Because Ning had yet to reach this level, thus in this sort of high-speed combat, some of the postures and movements of his attacks were no longer carrying the power of the world.

Upon losing the natural power of the world, the power of his swordplay decreased noticeably. This was an enormous flaw, one which Ning was relying on his twin swords to make up for, but still, in the end…if one only defended, one would be defeated!

“Chi!”

The Azure Skysnake King’s serpentine head bit viciously at Ning’s calf, and its sharp, venomous fangs pierced straight through the fur clothes and the Goldstar Shirt, the venom in its fangs instantly transmitting into Ning’s body. A powerful, numbing, intoxicating sensation quickly spread from Ning’s calf to the rest of his body, and Ning hurriedly swallowed the antivenom spiritual pill which he had been holding under his tongue.

“Die.” Ning struck out with the Darknorth swords in both hands, both of them simultaneously executing the ‘Moth Flies into the Flame’ of the [Thunderflame Sword]. The two swords instantly seemed to have transformed into two scorching lines of fire, piercing down directly towards the head of the Azure Skysnake King which was latched onto his calf!





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Book 2, Chapter 15 - One With the World


The white-robed skinny man stealthily popped out of the water, staring at the distant battle between the Azure Skysnake and the human youth.

“That human youth is truly formidable.” The white-robed man couldn’t help but let out a soft sigh of amazement. “He’s actually able to force the King to shrink in size to fight him. In terms of power, even I am inferior to that human youth…it seems in the future, when I encounter human youths, I need to be more careful. Still, it looks like that human youth is about to die!”

“After he dies, I need to go have a taste of that youth’s flesh. Such a powerful human youth…I haven’t seen another like him in the three hundred years I have spent training.”

“Huh.”

“How unfortunate for him.” The white robed man shook his head as he watched.

Most of Ji Ning’s beast fur clothes had been ripped to tatters, and blood was dribbling down his chest. His hair-bindings had been shattered, and his hair was now loose and unbound. But he still wielded those two Darknorth swords with hands that were as stable as ever, and his eyes were still very bright, as though fires were burning in them!

Desire!

A desire to achieve victory. Even though he was currently at a disadvantage and was being wounded repeatedly, Ning had never even thought of giving up.

–––––––—

“So what if you trained in a Fiendgod Body Refining method?” The white robed man snickered. “He’s still only at the Houtian level. Injured repeatedly, then healing repeatedly. Each recovery will take up a large amount of his energy! After the energy in his body is depleted…then, utterly exhausted, he will no longer be able to fight back.”

He could all but see the astonishingly talented youth collapse, and then be dismembered and eaten by the Diremonsters.

“How sad. A heroic figure who would have doubtlessly become legendary throughout this area is going to die, right here.” The white robed man watched, not wanting to miss a thing.

“Huh?”

The white robed man’s face changed slightly. “Why is his swordplay…”

–––––––-

The Azure Skysnake King was simply too strong. After having shrunk in size, the body of the Azure Skysnake King became even tougher, like an iron whip. It had also become even more agile and even fiercer! In terms of strength, defense, speed, it was superior to Ning…Ning’s only advantage was that the pair of Darknorth swords he wielded in his hands.

The Azure Skysnake King’s pressuring attacks had caused Ning to enter an empty mental realm where nothing existed except the next attack! He didn’t have any other thoughts, other than thoughts of battle!

Kill!

Kill!

The Azure Skysnake King in front of him was like a nightmare. Its striking attacks was even faster than Ning’s ‘Thunderflint Flash’! Its coiling body was even more elastic than Ning’s ‘Thin Streams Flow Forever’ attack! Its whip-like tail struck against Ning, causing him to lose his breath, but fortunately, his two Darknorth swords were able to complement each other.

If one sword couldn’t take it, then the second sword would join in!

“Clang!” “Clang!” “Clang!”

At first, he was constantly being wounded.

However, because he had a Fiendgod Body and had eaten an antivenom spiritual pill, the venom of the Azure Skysnake King, despite causing a bit of numbness, didn’t have any effect on his ability to perform in battle. As for bloodloss…Ning cared about that even less!

Slowly…

The Azure Skysnake King seemed to find it harder and harder to break through the defenses of the Darknorth swords. It was growing harder for him to wound Ning.

“Huahuahua…” The swords flashed everywhere, summoning the power of the world.

The Azure Skysnake King transformed into an emerald ray of light, swirling around Ning, attacking him wildly time and time again, but that perfect, mastered swordplay which carried with it the power of the world had created an utterly unbroken defense…one sword attack flashed after another, flowing like quicksilver, revealing no cracks at all, causing each of the Azure Skysnake King’s attacks to be fruitless.