Desolate Era (Book 11 - Book 15)

Aboard the ship, the formerly ordinary-looking Ji Ning suddenly exploded forth with a terrifyingly powerful presence. The world itself seemed to instantly grow silent, and even the powerful, turbid waves of the Viledragon River went still. In fact, the waves and even sea spray suddenly froze mid-motion. The enormous flamewing bug was paralyzed in its attacking posture as well.

The imperial Qi clansmen who were hiding behind their formation were all frozen as well. Some had frozen looks of astonishment on their faces, others had mouths open, while still others were mid-step. They were all frozen.

The entire world had turned still.

The wind had stopped. The water had stopped. The people had stopped. The monsters had stopped. Everything had stopped.

That vast, terrifying presence caused everyone present to feel terrified. The crown prince and the others couldn’t even change their facial expressions…but shock and terror could be seen in their eyes.

In this region, only Ning alone was the same as he had been before. He stood there atop the prow of his ship, staring at the giant flamewing bug before him. He shook his head and sighed. “It was you who sought death. You have no one else to blame.”





* * *





Book 13, Chapter 17 - Forced


The twelve Diremonsters that had formed into the massive Dao-soldier formation of a giant flamewing bug were all filled with terror.

This formation was formed by a Primal Diremonster leading eleven Wanxiang Diremonsters. Through the Dao-soldier formation, they were extremely powerful when fighting together, and only foes who at least had the power of a Loose Immortals or Earth Immortals were able to do anything to them. They had held this fur-clad youth atop the ship’s prow in no regard…but now, just standing there without moving at all, the fur-clad youth had unleashed such an aura of majestic power that they were completely frozen!

“Where did this expert come from?!”

“How…how can he be so terrifying?! What level of insight into the Dao has he reached?!”

The monsters were completely stunned. They had held the fur-clad youth in no regard and wanted to just dispose of him…but now they realized they had stomped down on a giant steel plate that was harder than any they had ever seen.

Boom! Boom! Boom! One streak of light after another appeared in the skies. They instantly pierced through the enormous flamewing bug and the twelve Diremonsters within it. The Primal Diremonster, the Wanxiang Diremonsters…they all instantly perished.

……

Ning stood at the prow of his ship, looking at the twelve dead Diremonsters. He couldn’t help but shake his head and chuckle.

Killing these twelve Diremonsters was as easy as waving his hand. They had actually dared to assault him without even saying a few words to him; naturally, Ning had shown no mercy in dealing with them.

As for why Ning was laughing…

It was because he was thinking back to the ancient Fiendgod he had met back in the wild marshes of the Gaol Mountains. “When I had encountered that ancient Fiendgod, the Dao Domain the Fiendgod unleashed was enough to freeze everything, causing me to be unable to move…and now, I just used the exact same sort of technique to kill a squad that was far more powerful than I was back then, led by that Primal Diremonster.”

Dao Domains…through one’s mastery and insights into a Dao, one could use the power of the natural world to form a Domain that solely belonged to one’s self!

Dao Domains, Dao-Realms, Grand Dao Domains…although they had differing levels of power, in truth, they were all variations on Dao Domains. They shared the same principles.

Ning’s Rainwater Sword Domain was also a sort of Dao Domain.

At a higher level, after one mastered a complete Dao-Path, one’s mastery over the energy of the natural world would become even stronger; this was what was known as a Dao-Realm.

But of course, that only referred to lesser Daos!

There were also Grand Dao Domains. They belonged to Grand Daos, and were actually even more powerful than Dao-Realms. And beyond them were the Grand Dao-Realms! After one completely mastered an entire Grand Dao, one would be able to summon an even more terrifying amount of natural energy than Ning was currently able to. In the face of this sort of power, even Loose Immortals or Earth Immortals would probably be paralyzed.

……

Dao Domains were linked to one’s insight into the Dao. The higher one’s level of insights, the more natural energy of Heaven and Earth one could activate. As one’s insights into a Grand Dao increased, the power of the Grand Dao Domain would similarly increase, until finally it reached the Grand Dao-Realm level.

Ning’s level of insight into the Dao of the Sword was already at Immortal Northwalker’s level! This level of insight was even superior to the level which that ancient Fiendgod of the Gaol Mountains had possessed. Thus, just by using his Dao Domain, he had been able to completely suppress those twelve Diremonsters who had been in a Dao-soldier formation, to the point of making it completely impossible for them to fight back.

……

Everything was back to normal now. The waves of the Viledragon River continued to crash forward, and the large ship continued to sail forward.

The survivors of the Qi Empire, standing atop the deck of the ship, stared towards Ning in utter terror and unease.

“The survivors of the Qi Empire?” Ning sat down relaxedly, then said slowly, “Are you still trying to hide it, given the situation? Are you still going to try and tell me that your name is Shi Feng?”

The crown prince Qi Rufeng exchanged glances with the two princesses. The guards behind them looked towards Ning with fear in their gazes as well. The look in Qi Xiaoyu’s eyes was especially complicated. This Daoist Darknorth wanted to take her on as his disciple, and the power he had just displayed was truly inconceivable.

“Big brother, what should we do? When the Flamewing Guard attacked, they revealed our true identities. This Darknorth knows that we are of the imperial Qi clan,” the black-robed woman sent mentally.

“Word of the destruction of our Qi Empire has long since spread. This Darknorth must know very well by now that we are the lucky survivors of the imperial clan. He might act to seize our treasures,” the violet-robed princess sent frantically. “We need to seize the advantage and use up our magic treasures to kill him.”

“Idiocy. Although the remnant treasures of the Qi Empire are in my hands, I have no confidence in being able to deal with this Darknorth.” Crown Prince Qi Rufeng sent back with anger, “Just by relying on his Dao Domain, he was able to summon enough energy from the Heavens and the Earth to cause a squad of the Flamewing Guard to be completely unable to move. His insights into the Dao are superior to those of even supreme Earth Immortals and Loose Immortals. Although judging from the ripples of power emanating from him, he should still be a peak Primal Daoist, his power is definitely at the Earth Immortal or Loose Immortal level. And given that he was able to so easily bring out a hundred high-grade Heaven-ranked flying swords, he certainly has powerful treasures of his own. I imagine that he has the power of a supreme Loose Immortal or Earth Immortal.”

His nation had once spanned a million kilometers. The final survivors, including the crown prince of the nation, naturally had quite a few formidable treasures of their own.

“Then what should we do?” The violet-robed princess was panicking now.

“We only have two Greater Teleportation Dao-seals; at most, two of us can escape,” the crown prince said. “This Daoist Darknorth hasn’t moved to attack us yet; we can still negotiate with him.”

“Right. Let’s negotiate,” the violet-robed princess said hurriedly.

“We have no other choices,” the black-robed princess sent as well.

……