Desolate Era (Book 16 - Book 18)

Ning felt pressure as well. He nodded lightly. Right…


Upon returning to the Three Realms, Ning’s subconscious premonitions had grown strong once again. Just discussing his true body’s tribulation instantly caused Ning to feel nervousness in his heart. He knew that this was Fate’s way of warning him in secret. The Three Realms occasionally gave birth to truly peerless, monstrous geniuses who were blessed by the distilled virtues of the universe, but the more of a genius one was, the more terrifying one’s Celestial Tribulation would be. If he could overcome it, he would soar to the heavens in a single leap, becoming a mover and shaker of the Three Realms. But…the vast majority would end up perishing to the Celestial Tribulation!

“Little bear!” Subhuti suddenly called out.

Whoosh.

The giant yellow bear suddenly appeared next to Ning. The giant yellow bear respectfully fell to his knees and said, “This little bear greets you, Daofather.”

“Let the other seven come out,” Subhuti instructed.

“Yes.” The giant yellow bear didn’t dare to disobey.

Ning’s heart clenched. Ning was extremely curious about those seven Empyrean Gods; after all, back in the Wargod Hall of the underwater estate, it had been a clone of Empyrean God Redsnow, formed from a drop of Redsnow’s blood, who had served to test Ning. In addition, when he encountered danger just now, it had been the seven of them who had intervened to rescue him.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Seven figures appeared out of nowhere, all in human form. In truth…they had all changed their appearances; after all, as Fiendgods, their true forms were quite enormous. They all looked quite odd, but Pangu, Nuwa, and many other supreme powers all looked quite humanoid, which was why Fiendgods like to take on the appearance of humans. In fact…in secret, many Fiendgods speculated that the reason why humans had such astonishing potential was because Nuwa had used ‘Pangu’ as the blueprint for creating humanity.

“Greetings to you, Old Patriarch.” All seven Empyrean Gods saluted reverently.

“Thank you, Old Patriarch, for saving our lives.” Empyrean God Redsnow was the first to respectfully offer his thanks.

“Even if I hadn’t gone, you would’ve been able to stay alive,” Subhuti said with a laugh. “You could’ve simply returned to the Starseizing Manor and your own world within it, bringing Ji Ning inside and hiding him within it. In a true battle, you wouldn’t be able to defeat the Snaphorn world, but if you were to rely on the formations protecting your own world, you would’ve been able to withstand them.”

“But the three of them were Daofathers…” Empyrean God Redsnow was amazed. The other six Empyrean Gods were amazed as well.

Returning to the world of Threelives and relying on its formations to resist the foes; this was their final option. However…Daofathers had utterly astonishing levels of power. In addition, there were three of them this time! They didn’t believe they had the power to fight back against such a force.

However…given who Patriarch Subhuti was, if he said they could do it, he definitely had a reason for saying so.

“Three Daofathers? You give too much credit to those three little worms.” Subhuti shook his head. “Those creatures are not of the Three Realms, and you know nothing at all about them; they simply cannot be judged so easily, just by using the power levels of the Three Realms.”

All seven Empyrean Gods were now curious, as was Ji Ning.

“In the Snaphorn world, there were a total of eighteen golden-caped warriors; in your eyes, you viewed them as being eighteen Empyrean Gods, yes?” Patriarch Subhuti explained, “But in reality, all of the horned warriors of that race have a weakness; once the cores in their body are destroyed, they will die.”

“Consider the Immortals of our Three Realms. Although their physical bodies are fairly weak, they can control magic treasures at a long distance. There’s no need for them to fight in close combat as well. As for the Empyrean Gods and True Gods who do fight in close combat…they have no weaknesses at all,” Subhuti said. “These aliens, however, are only capable of close combat, and they all have a weakness; the core.”

“As for those three little worms…their true combat power wasn’t that formidable. They were merely at the peak of the Empyrean God level. Their strength lies in giving birth; their childbearing abilities are quite astonishing.” Subhuti sighed. “During that great, calamitous war…there were more than ten thousand of those little worms. They gave birth to countless warriors, all of whom were able to fuse together into one body…you’d kill one batch and another would come. Under the control of their master, those myriad little worms caused the Three Realms to suffer heavy casualties.”

Ning said, stunned, “More than ten thousand? Master…did you just say they have a ‘master’?”

What in the world had happened during that great war?

“These little worms shared a common master,” Subhuti sighed. “A person who was far more powerful than even myself. Only Mother Nuwa was able to suppress him. Fortunately…that demon has long since perished.”

“Redsnow…you are just one step away from becoming a True God and having a Daofather’s power. Train hard and reach that level as soon as you can.” Subhuti looked towards Empyrean God Redsnow.

“Redsnow understands,” the Empyrean God said respectfully.

“I imagine you and Ning have some things to say to each other.” Subhuti chuckled. “Alright…you can all go back to the world of the Grand Xia now. If you want to chat, go ahead.”

Subhuti waved his hand, and yet another spatial vortex appeared in front of him.

Ning bowed respectfully, as did the seven Empyrean Gods, and then they all entered the spatial vortex. They departed from Mount Innerheart, heading back to the world of the Grand Xia.





* * *





Book 16, Chapter 24 - Meeting the Seven Empyrean Gods


Stillwater Commandery. Swallow Mountain. The air above Serpentwing Lake.

The Golden Crow hung high in the sky, illuminating the world. However, the trees below were covered by a layer of thick snow. If one took a deep breath, one would feel the cold, crispness of the air.

Whoosh!

A youth appeared in the sky, staring at the nearby Brightheart Island.

Swish! Swish! Swish!!!

A depressed-looking gray-robed youth, an azure-robed maiden, and a giant, snowy-white dog all suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

“Senior apprentice-brother?” The gray-robed youth, Mu northson, stared at the distant Ji Ning in disbelief.

“I told you that Master was back, but you didn’t believe it. I’m Master’s spirit-beast; how could my senses be off?” Little Qing charged towards Ning excitedly, transforming into an azure serpent mid-flight, then wrapping herself around Ning’s arm. The little azure serpentine head nuzzled Ning’s arm in a very friendly manner. “Master, I nearly died of worry for you over these recent years. You finally came back.”

Ning’s right hand gently patted the little azure serpent’s head.

“It’s good that you are back.” Uncle White didn’t say much, but his eyes were filled with joy.

“Senior apprentice-brother, it was all my…” Northson stared at Ning.

In truth, over the past eighteen years, Ning had been deeply worried about Northson’s situation. This was because, prior to Ning’s battle with the Youngflame clan, Northson had been tormented for decades, followed by the loss of his Dao-companion. With Ning himself being exiled to a danger zone while covered by karmic sinflames…he was afraid that his junior apprentice-brother Northson would be filled with self-recrimination. Given his junior apprentice-brother’s current state…Ning was worried about what so many years of self-blame would result in.

Fortunately…