Desolate Era (Book 19 - Book 21)

There were no longer any surviving Empyrean Gods or True Immortals of the Seamless Gate on the battlefield at all.

Below the walls of the Seamless Citadel, the towering, bloodlusted Rahu-Ning stared upwards towards the black-robed Godking. His eyes were filled with a bone-chilling murderous intent. Ji Ning truly wanted to attack the Seamless Citadel and battle the Godking…but he saw that Daomother Devilhand was next to the Godking’s side. Daomother Devilhand was a terrifying figure who had actually been able to battle Mother Nuwa herself for a period of time during the war that ended the Primordial Era. If he truly was to attack, Daomother Devilhand would probably have enough of an excuse to attack and most likely kill him with a single palm blow.

He still didn’t have enough power to fight against the most truly supreme figures of the Three Realms yet.

……

The forces of the Seamless Citadel were filled with agony and rage…but the Nuwa Alliance’s castle was filled with the sound of rejoicing.

The seven major powers atop the walls were all laughing.

“We won.” For once, Daoist Three Purities had a broad smile on his face as he stroked his beard.

“When Darknorth said to give him a month, he really did have the power to back up what he said. He wasn’t just spouting rubbish.” Lord Tathagata the Buddha chortled, “He was actually able to unleash such astounding power through the Rahu Formation. I saw that he was able to command his Rahu God while using the [Ninehorn Lightning Formation]. It seems that he must have mastered all of its power, preventing any of it from leaking outwards.”

“Yes.” Fuxi nodded, then chuckled curiously. “I really wonder how Ji Ning accomplished it. Perhaps it really does have something to do with Undermoon Lake.”

“Undermoon Lake?” Lord Tathagata nodded as well. “After Jueming returned from Undermoon Lake, he’s been almost perpetually in secluded, solitary meditation. He rarely comes out, but is so powerful that even I am uncertain of his true strength. Like him, Ji Ning left from Undermoon Lake under his own power. He must have gained some special rewards.”

“Most likely.”

“Must be it.”

The major powers chatted amongst themselves for a time. Undermoon Lake was quite a mysterious place in their heart, and they had once tried everything they could to enter, only to fail.

Because the black-robed Ning was next to them, not too far away, he was able to clearly hear the conversation going on amongst the major powers. In fact, some of the major powers actually sneaked peeks at Ning’s face. Clearly, however, Ji Ning was not in the mood to discuss anything. He was finding it extremely difficult to recover from the state of frenzied agony and rage that he had fallen into upon Yu Wei’s death.

“Withdraw our troops.” Yellow Emperor Xuan Yuan gave the order.

……

The Seamless Citadel.

“It’s over.” Daomother Devilhand’s face was rather pallid and wan. This was the first time in her life that she had suffered such a disastrous defeat. “More than two thousand Empyrean Gods and True Immortals…in the end, less than two hundred survived.”

The black-robed Godking was silent for a long moment. He then couldn’t help but ask, “Aunt-master, how could Ji Ning be this powerful? I simply don’t understand. Is it possible that he’s actually already a Daofather, but has been keeping his aura hidden and thus has been pretending to be an Empyrean God? If he is a Daofather, he shouldn’t even be allowed to take part in the war for karmic luck.”

“If he’s a Daofather, he would have to have already mastered a Heavenly Dao.” Daomother Devilhand said softly, “But I saw quite clearly that although Darknorth’s sword-arts were incomparably transcendent, perhaps the best in all the Three Realms, that was simply because he has trained in and mastered the [Five Treasures]. His sword can surpass the limits of the Heavenly Daos, and he’s reached a wondrous level of technique, which is why he is so powerful. However, I can’t find any traces of the Heavenly Daos in his sword-arts.”

“His movement techniques, his combat methods…I can find no trace of the mysteries of the Heavenly Daos in them at all.”

“In addition…”

“If he truly had gained insight into a Heavenly Dao, then Demonheart definitely would’ve found out. He is part of the Heavenly Daos, after all.” Daomother Devilhand looked towards the Godking. “Demonheart is your master.”

The black-robed Godking was stunned. Slowly, reluctantly, he nodded his head. It was true. If Ji Ning had mastered a Heavenly Dao and caused a resonance with the Heavenly Daos, how could it have escaped the notice of the Lord of the Demonheart?

“Then is it possible that he became a True God?” The black-robed Godking couldn’t help but ask.

Daomother Devilhand frowned as she glanced at the black-robed Godking. “The Rahu Formation uses Immortal energy to control countless Celestial Immortals and Loose Immortals, using their power to summon and control the vast nature energy of Heaven and Earth. Even if he was a True God, if all he had was his powerful divine power, it would be useless in the formation. Not even a True God would be capable of unleashing such power from the Rahu Formation. Don’t you even understand something as basic as this?”

Rebuked, the black-robed Godking lowered his head. He just couldn’t accept this. He really couldn’t.

A pawn that he had held in no regard had ended up ruining their entire plan for the war!

“Then what should we do?” The black-robed Godking said, “The Envoy has been seized. Ji Ning has a true body and a Primaltwin; he can have his true body command the Rahu Formation while having his Primaltwin command the Envoy. If his terrifying sword-arts are paired up with the power of an Envoy, the power of his Primaltwin in the Envoy would probably be comparable to yet another Rahu God.”

The Godking’s guess was wrong.

He didn’t know that in truth. Ji Ning had the Immortal energy of a Daofather. If he was to use his Daofather-level energy to command an Envoy of All Things and use it to unleash his terrifying sword-arts…he would be able to unleash the full power of the Envoy, a level of power comparable to that of the Envoys under the control of the Lord of All Things all those years ago. Those Envoys were close to the overlord-level, and if three to five of them joined forces, they were absolutely a match for the leaders of Daoism and Buddhism.

Clearly, Ning’s energy and sword-arts were all at a high enough level for him to command the Envoy effectively, allowing it to unleash a level of power close to that of the overlord-level Daofathers! His power would vastly outstrip the power of a Rahu God; he would essentially be equal in power to figures like Subhuti and Old Man Yuan.

“A true body and a Primaltwin…” Daomother Devilhand frowned as well. “Troublesome. Very troublesome. Very well…we need to go back and think on how we are going to deal with this new issue. Ask your master and the others to ponder on this as well. What should we do with this Ji Ning?”

Prior to this, the Nuwa Alliance had a headache over the question of how to deal with the Envoy.

Now, it was the Seamless Gate’s turn to have a headache, this one over Ji Ning.

“It is now time for us to leave the Deerchaser world,” Daomother Devilhand said in a low voice.

This war had been lost. It was time to leave.





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Book 21, Chapter 21 - Secret Discussions


They had won.

Critical wars like this would generally continue for many years before ending, but an unexpected variable had appeared in the form of Ji Ning.