Desolate Era (Book 16 - Book 18)

As the Xia Emperor watched this battle, he suddenly understood everything. Right…as he was feeling misery for the Celestial Immortals and the Loose Immortals who had perished under his command, the exalted Daofathers were watching things on a much higher level. During such a violent tempest as this one which had swept the Three Realms, the deaths of Celestial Immortals and Loose Immortals simply wouldn’t cause too much of a reaction from the Daofathers. Only the deaths of Empyrean Gods and True Immortals would arouse the attention of the True Gods and Daofathers.

In the eyes of the Xia Emperor, his losses had been unsustainably catastrophic. In the eyes of the Daofathers, however…the battle in the Grand Xia had resulted in comparable losses for both the Xia Emperor and the Seamless Gate. Things had yet to reach a truly dire state.

“This great storm is one which has swept the entire Three Realms. In the end, it will cause many True Gods and Daofathers to perish…and to think, I was about to give up so easily? It seems that I’ve been living a comfortable life for far, far too long…just the slightest setback was enough to make me feel despair and a desire to retreat,” the Xia Emperor mused to himself.

“Xiamang.” Suddenly, a voice rang out within the Xia Emperor’s mind.

The Xia Emperor couldn’t help but raise his head to look. The speaker was Daofather Crimsonbright.

“The battle for the Grand Xia has just started,” Daofather Crimsonbright sent mentally. “The Seamless Gate has only sent a small portion of its forces; the assault is mainly being led by the Gatemaster Azurefox’s Seamless Gate. That is why none of us were in a hurry to intervene. If the Seamless Gate lets it go, then we’ll let it go as well. But if they are to summon their forces and attack en masse, then we will assist you.”

The Xia Emperor instantly grew excited.

“But of course, if you aren’t even able to withstand the limited forces which Azurefox has brought out from her branch of the Seamless Gate, then you have no one to blame but yourself,” Daofather Crimsonbright sent mentally. “You can only blame yourself for not working hard enough, for not even being strong enough to force Azurefox’s branch to request reinforcements.”

“Understood.” The Xia Emperor nodded.

When he thought back…

Indeed, he, Xiamang, hadn’t been ruthless enough.

He hadn’t been ruthless enough to his subordinates. He hadn’t been willing to let any of his Empyrean Gods, True Immortals, or Heaven Punishers to perish. But in a real life-and-death war, sacrifices sometimes had to be made. The more you tried to ensure that none of your people died, the more likely it was that you would fail. The Seamless Gate, for example; they had essentially sent many of their Bloodcloud golems into certain death, but the Bloodcloud golems had been very successful. The deaths of just eight of those golems had resulted in them slaying a Heaven Punisher and a Fiendgod army. This sort of mindset, of going all out even at the risk of your own death, could indeed be astonishingly successful.

He hadn’t been ruthless enough to himself either. He hadn’t been willing to use up a large amount of his own Jindan essence in activating the Grand Xia’s Worldguard Formation a second time, because if he had, his white-robed Primaltwin wouldn’t have been able to recover for a very long period of time.

“The Seamless Gate needs to engage on multiple battlefronts, fanning the flames of war throughout the entire Three Realms,” Daofather Crimsonbright sent mentally. “Their forces are limited. Although their intelligence reports provided them with a rough estimate of the power of your Grand Xia and allow them to make some arrangements, they can’t waste too much of their power either. If it hadn’t been for the fact that three thousand Celestial Immortals of the Grand Xia had been seduced into their service, they actually would’ve been at a disadvantage in manpower compared to you.”

“The highest level members of the Seamless Gate have ordered their subordinates to go all out.”

“You…need to go all out as well.”

“Some Celestial Immortals may die; even Empyrean Gods and True Immortals may die. So what? This is a tribulation, a true storm. If we can kill seven or eight of the Empyrean Gods and True Immortals of the Seamless Gate in exchange for just losing four or five of ours, it would be worth it; it would be a great victory.” Daofather Crimsonbright’s voice caused the Xia Emperor to feel rather stunned.

Killing a thousand foes while losing five hundred allies; this would be considered a tremendous victory.

“In the midst of a storm, you need to be awakened as to how to behave within it. When the Primordial World was destroyed, you were very weak and so did not take part in the battle; you have no idea how terrifying these great storms can be. This is just the beginning…because that old bastard has yet to fully awaken.” Daofather Crimsonbright sent mentally, “Once that old bastard truly awakens, this storm will reach its crescendo. By then, Empyrean Gods and True Immortals will be like ants, and a large number of True Gods and Daofathers will perish.”

“Your disciple erred.” The Xia Emperor now completely understood.

He had to be ruthless.

Ruthless to his subordinates.

Ruthless to himself.

Only then could he survive this storm!

……

Within the Eight Dragons Cloudcity, there was a joyous celebration.

The Fiendgod armies, Raindragon army, and Heaven Punisher armies were all sent back to their quarters.

“Fellow Daoist Darknorth, it is very rare for me, Floatwater, to admire someone…but I truly admire what you did this day.” After the Raindragon army was dissolved, a willowy maiden dressed in black armor came flying out from it. She was a Pure Yang True Immortal.

“Respectful greetings to you, True Immortal Floatwater,” Ning said. He was still pretending to be a Celestial Immortal.

“No need for such courtesy. In fact, in terms of leading and commanding a thousand Celestial Immortals and all those Loose Immortals, you are actually superior to me.” True Immortal Floatwater gave Ning a close look. “To tell the truth…I even suspect that you’ve already become a Pure Yang True Immortal.”

Ning just chuckled.

“Ji Ning.”

“Darknorth.”

One delighted voice after another rang out. It was Unity, Allbeasts, Whacko, Rainsoar, and Dustfloat.

Ning looked at his four sworn brothers and sworn sister, both joy and grief in his heart. He felt grief because his sixth brother, Rainbow, had already perished.

“Alas…sixth brother didn’t have a chance to see it.”

“Rainbow, he…”

As the six of them reunited, they quickly turned sorrowful.

“There will always be deaths in war.” The black-robed Xia Emperor flew over, a group of Empyrean Gods and True Immortals by his side. It was Empyrean God Kindwater, Empyrean God Coldsavage, Empyrean God Firecloud, True Immortal Skyfarmer, and True Immortal Dongyan.

“Imperial Majesty.” Ning and the rest of the six all hurriedly saluted.

“This time, many Celestial Immortals, Loose Immortals, and even Fiendgods perished. Rainbow was just one of them,” the black-robed Xia Emperor said. “This is just the start of this great storm. We should all understand that even more of us will die.”

Ning and the others all understood this point. Subhuti had spoken to Ning of this as well. These two great alliances were both seeking to destroy the other.

“However…” The black-robed Xia Emperor looked at Ning, revealing a smile. “Hahaha, Ji Ning, you truly gave me a wonderful surprise. Haha, I had even given an order for us to temporarily withdraw…but who would’ve thought that you would bring me such a wonderful surprise? You even killed a Pure Yang True Immortal!”

‘Temporarily withdraw’? It most certainly was not! Back then, the Xia Emperor had wanted to completely flee from the Grand Xia and admit defeat.