Desolate Era (Book 16 - Book 18)

“Yes. Once the Realmwar ends, I shall prepare for my Empyrean Tribulation,” Ji Ning sent back. His original plan had been to wait until his soul heartforce technique had been perfected before attempting the tribulation, as that would give him a better chance. However, things never happen quite according to plan. His heartforce had advanced from the third level to the fourth level; this was a qualitative change.

The stronger his heartforce, the greater his chances were of overcoming the demonheart tribulation of the Empyrean Tribulation.

By this point…there was no point in delaying any further.

“If my guess is correct, you haven’t merely become a Pure Yang True Immortal; you made a breakthrough in heartforce as well,” the Seven Planets God sent.

“Yes.” Ning admitted to it.

When he unleashed his full power and tied down a Daofather golem with just his Heaven Punisher, he knew that any of the truly experienced experts of the Three Realms would most likely be able to guess at what had happened. For the sake of achieving victory in the Realmwar, and for the sake of wiping out as much of the Seamless Gate’s forces as he could, Ning didn’t mind revealing his true power.

The only thing that mattered was making sure that the outcome of his reveal was worth it.

And now…

This was an outcome that was completely worth it!

“So many of the Seamless Gate have died.” The Seven Planets God stood next to him, staring at the rivers of Immortal and Fiendgod blood that stained the vast wilderness. Countless corpses and magic treasures littered the ground. He couldn’t help but let out a sigh.

“Not enough,” Ning replied calmly. He watched as the armies of the Crimsonbright Realm tidied up the battlefield, collecting the many spoils of war. When their foes had fled, the Crimsonbright Realm’s forces had naturally been completely focused on pursuing them, hoping to make their victory even more overwhelming. They hadn’t had a chance to pick up the magic treasures that had been left behind by the slaughtered Immortals.

“Withdraw!” After a long period of time, Daofather Crimsonbright’s voice rang out, echoing throughout the battlefield.

“Ahahaha…”

“Time to go back.”

“Let’s go back.”

“That was excellent.”

Filled with laughter and joy, the forces of the Crimsonbright Realm rejoiced as the entire army escorted Ning’s Heaven Punisher and the Seven Planets God back to the Eight Dragons Cloudcity.

……

While the Crimsonbright Realm’s forces were jubilant, the Seamless City was filled with a deathly silence. The aura here was both heavy and incredibly oppressive.

Too many of them had died.

“Alas.”

“This really was…”

All three of the Diremonster Gods of Mount Dragoneater were perfectly fine, but four of the six Diremonster Gods of Mount Tonglian had been slain. As for the Nine Cloudmist Fairies, only the youngest Ninth Fairy had survived; the other eight had all died. Even True Immortal Whitepole, Empyrean God Threesuns, Empyrean God Beastleave, the Cavemaster of the Myriad Demons Cave, and the Hallmaster of Bloodcloud Hall had perished on the battlefield. Only Gatemaster Azurefox, who was skilled in escape techniques, had been lucky enough to survive.

Including Sword Immortal Evergreen, the total number of surviving Empyrean Gods and True Immortals on their side…was merely eleven!

“Disastrous.”

“Disastrous.”

The few lucky survivors felt only two emotions; joy for having survived, and grief for their losses.

The main hall of the Seamless City. The surviving Empyrean Gods and True Immortals were all gathered here. All of them were silent.

Daofather Ink Bamboo stared downwards towards them. His gaze lingered on Sword Immortal Evergreen for a moment, a cold light flashing through his eyes, before he said in a calm voice, “We have lost this Realmwar!”

The mood of the room became even heavier than before.

“However…there are always victories and defeats in war. There have been multiple previous Realmwars. We’ve won some of them, and we’ve also completely shattered their forces and massacred them.” Daofather Ink Bamboo continued calmly, “This was merely one war in one of the many areas of the Three Realms. Since you all survived, you all have your own special abilities. In the future, our Seamless Gate shall continue to battle against the Nuwa Alliance. We’ll need you to continue to go to war for us.”

“Yes!” Sword Immortal Evergreen was the first to assent to this, and he did so hurriedly.

The other Empyrean Gods and True Immortals assented as well…and as they did, they couldn’t help but glance sideways in a disdainful manner towards him.

“Evergreen.” Daofather Ink Bamboo looked towards Sword Immortal Evergreen. He said coldly, “This time…you have truly disappointed me. Forget about ‘defeating both Ji Ning and Redsnow’; Ji Ning by himself was enough to stun you.”

Sweat appeared on Sword Immortal Evergreen’s forehead. He understood that their losses in this Realmwar had been utterly catastrophic. He naturally had to shoulder blame for it. He immediately fell to his knees, then said respectfully, “Evergreen disappointed you, Daofather. Ji Ning’s power truly was far beyond my expectations, which is why I ended up in such dire straits. Don’t worry, Daofather; Evergreen shall definitely work hard to gain further insights and grow in strength, so as to be able to better unleash the power of the Daofather golem. Next time, I shall definitely slay Ji Ning.”

“No need.” Daofather Ink Bamboo shook his head. “The major powers have already issued an order. You are no longer required to control the Daofather golem.”

Sword Immortal Evergreen’s face instantly turned white. His control over the Daofather golem gave him a status which was slightly higher than that of even the three Diremonster Gods of Mount Dragoneater. Without it, he was much weaker than them. In addition, if he had the Daofather golem with him throughout this great storm, his chances of survival would be thousands of times greater. After all, unless a Daofather personally intervened, it was almost impossible to kill him when he was hiding within the Daofather golem.

Thus, Sword Immortal Evergreen cared tremendously about this Daofather golem. Ever since he had been assigned it, he had made up his mind to keep perpetual control over it.

Sword Immortal Evergreen was unwilling to just give up. He said frantically, “Daofather, I simply didn’t have enough time. If you give me some more time, I’ll definitely be able to unleash more power from the-”

“Enough!” Daofather Ink Bamboo snapped.

Sword Immortal Evergreen shut his eyes. He respectfully kowtowed, pressing his forehead down to the ground and saying nothing else.

“Quietly focus on your training and your meditations. The Godking and I both view you with great favor. If you can become a Daofather, you shall command far more power than you would with the Daofather golem,” Daofather Ink Bamboo said.

“Understood,” Sword Immortal Evergreen said respectfully.

Daofather Ink Bamboo nodded, then turned to look towards the three Diremonster Gods of Mount Dragoneater. In a noticeably more pleasant manner, he said, “Skyswallower, the three of you should make the arrangements for this Seamless City to leave the Grand Xia and return to the Fifth World.”

“Understood,” the three Diremonster Gods said respectfully.

Sword Immortal Evergreen, seeing this, couldn’t help but secretly feel regret and hatred.