Desolate Era (Book 19 - Book 21)

“Although there are many secrets involved, the workings of fate have already revealed to us that only one side can survive; either the Seamless Gate, or the Nuwa Alliance.” Ning continued, “Even the True Gods and Daofathers must pick a side. As for the Four Ancestors of the River Source, who have yet to choose…they are only able to stay on the sidelines for now. When the final Endwar comes, they’ll have to make a choice as well. The two alliances absolutely won’t allow any powers to remain on the sidelines and potentially wipe out the exhausted victor.”


“All of you are Empyrean Gods. If we were to return to the Three Realms…do you think you’ll be able to escape this war?” Ning swept the nine with his gaze.

“Zhenbu…if you were to return to the Three Realms, which side would you choose?” Ning looked at him.

Zhenbu opened and closed his mouth several times. Finally, he said in a low voice, “My master, my brothers, my friends…all of them are with the Seamless Gate. Of course I would choose the Seamless Gate.”

“Why…why does it have to be like this…why has this storm descended…” The nearby Autumnwing found this hard to believe. “Everything was perfectly peaceful…”

“None of us have ever been able to control the destiny of the Three Realms. When the war that ended the Primordial Era occurred, it wasn’t a long period of time had passed that we realized the Lord of All Things, an alien Outsider, had been the one to instigate it. There are definitely secrets behind this castastrophe as well…but they aren’t for the likes of us to understand.” Oddwitch let out a sigh.

Feiyou suddenly said in a low voice, “Darknorth, I’ll leave with you.”

“Big brother Feiyou?” Ning was shocked. “All you need to do is make a breakthrough in taiji-force and you’ll be able to make it past Demon Icepass. In fact, you even stand a good chance of leaving Undermoon Lake on your own.”

“Now that a storm has swept the Three Realms, no one can simply act selfishly for themselves. Yes, if we hide in Undermoon Lake, we’ll be able to avoid this storm,” Feiyou said, a look of agony on his face, “But many of my fellow disciples already died during the war that ended the Primordial Era. I avoided one storm already. This time…I can’t keep hiding. I’m going to face this storm alongside my brothers and my fellow disciples.”

“I’ll go back as well.”

“And I.”

“The storm has descended. Every little bit of extra power counts.”

Of the nine Empyrean Gods, seven belonged to the Nuwa Alliance. Feiyou, Jibu, and Coppersong had been planning on staying, but now they decided to return as well.

News of the storm quickly spread throughout Myriad Mountains Island…and the Empyrean Gods who viewed each other like brothers had to make their choice.

Three days later, every single Empyrean God of the Nuwa Alliance elected to follow Ning. As for the twelve who belonged to the Seamless Gate, all of them remained on Myriad Mountains Island.

“I don’t wish to one day be forced to kill them in the outside world.” Ning stood before the floating wooden bridge. He murmured softly, “I’d rather have them stay here at Undermoon Lake and wait for this storm to pass. No matter which side wins, they wouldn’t go so far as to act ruthlessly against such a small number of survivors.”

“Let’s go.”

Although Ning felt quite miserable in his heart, he had already made his decision. He had no regrets.

He stepped onto the floating wooden bridge.





* * *





Book 20, Chapter 23 - A Hundred Years


Demon Icepass was unfathomably long…and with each step Ji Ning took, an unbelievable number of demons fell before him.

At every moment in time, Ning was striking out with his swords using his full power. He would only succeed if he killed enough demons within the allotted timespan. Empyrean God Feiyou had managed to battle for a hundred years, but he wasn’t able to kill enough of the demons. Now that the Three Realms had been embroiled in war, it was hard to say when the Endwar would begin. Thus, Ning had to move quickly! Experiencing a hundred-year battle once was enough; he didn’t want to fail and have to try a second time or a third time!

In addition, Ning didn’t dare to slacken off for even an instant. Every single one of these countless demons had the power of an Empyrean God. Fortunately, they didn’t use any formations, and so at any given moment Ning only had to deal with the dozens of demons closest to him.

Time slowly flowed on. In the blink of an eye, nearly a hundred years of frenzied battling had gone past.

Within a gorge that had been completely frozen solid by ice, a white-robed youth was battling frenetically with a pair of twin swords in his hands. His sword-light flickered around as fast and unpredictably as lightning.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Sword-light flashed, and a demon was cleft in twain from the waist.

Sword-light stabbed forward, and a demon’s head instantly exploded.

Sword-light curved outwards, causing three nearby demons to collapse.

“His sword-arts are becoming increasingly fast. Of all the Empyrean Gods I’ve witnessed since the creation of Undermoon Lake, his sword is the fastest.” The demon king stood atop one of the two icy canyon walls above the gorge. He stared downwards at the thronging, ant-like horde of demons that were surrounding and attacking Ning.

This sort of battle had already gone on for a century.

“Right. When he first entered the icepass, his sword wasn’t this quick.” The Purgatory God, body wreathed in flames, spoke out. “He’s advancing almost nonstop, and his sword-arts are becoming increasingly powerful. If I were to fight him again, I would probably be effortlessly defeated.”

“His sword truly is fast. How did it become so fast? From what I can tell, it must have reached the speed of light, right?” The hideous sea yaksha spoke out as well.

“Yes, very nearly. Even if it isn’t at lightspeed, it’s not too far from it.” Snowfiend agreed.

The guardians of Undermoon Lake spent most of their time together, albeit the Purgatory God, Snowfiend, and the sea yaksha merely kept clones of themselves here at Demon Icepass. They were all quite curious about Ning, and so they naturally wanted to watch him battle through Demon Icepass.”

“His sword’s speed is very close to the limit set by the Heavenly Daos.” The demon king nodded. “My guess is that he must have learned a particularly powerful sword-art. Otherwise, there’s no way he would be able to advance in such a fashion without embarking on any wrong paths of cultivation at all. Normal Empyrean Gods, no matter how powerful they are and no matter what weapons they wield, are quite far from the limits of the Heavenly Daos.”

“Agreed.” Snowfiend, the Purgatory God, and the sea yaksha all nodded in agreement.

The [Golden Sunstreak] and the [Ninehorn Lightning Serpent] had both reached the limits of the Heavenly Daos, allowing Ning to move 300,000 kilometers in an instant! Normally, even major powers were much slower than this.

However, experts were naturally capable of wielding weapons much more quickly than they moved. Generally speaking, their goal was to do their best to close in on the limits of the Heavenly Daos!

Ning’s sword speed, however, had already come very close to those limits!

But of course…it was also possible to go faster than the limits of the Heavenly Daos! Those who mastered the [Five Treasures], for example, would be able to strike with their swords at a speed that was faster than the speed of light. The missing deity Houyi, as well; his arrows were the fastest in the Three Realms, capable of killing that Golden Crow ‘Emperor of Monsters’.

“It’s about time.” The demon king nodded, then shouted loudly, “Withdraw!”

His shout echoed within the frozen gorge. All of the demons heard it, and with a series of whooshing sounds, they all withdrew in unison like the tides. They all parted in two directions, entering the frozen mountain walls.

“Eh?” Ning was a bit surprised. They withdrew?

He had been battling for a hundred years. This was the first time the demons had withdrawn, and he wasn’t quite ready for it.

Whoosh. A figure flew down from the skies. It was the demon king, that golden gourd still on his waist. The demon king landed on the floating wooden bridge. He shook his head, the two enormous curved horns shaking as well.