Desolate Era (Book 22 - Book 24)

“Alright.” Ning nodded.

“Also…this is a sword-art I personally devised. It has a simple name: [Blackmist] sword-art. You are already so talented with the sword that this sword-art of mine won’t be of much use to you, but if you read through it you might gain a few ideas.” World God Blackmist waved his hand, producing a jade slip which he tossed to Ning.

Ning immediately caught it, then said gratefully, “Thank you, senior.”

“To be honest, I was thinking about taking you on as my disciple. However, judging by your performance today, I can tell that you’ll soon catch up to me and perhaps even surpass me.” Blackmist smiled. “Alright. Continue with your preparations for the war.”

“Right,” Ning said.

World God Blackmist departed in as leisurely a fashion as he had arrived. His hair still tousled and mussled, he casually sauntered off before slowly disappearing into thin air.

Ning felt tremendous gratitude towards the man. The very first time Ning had arrived on Fogstone and met with World God Blackmist, Blackmist had personally sparred with him and guided him as well.

Time continued to pass, and Ning spent his days analyzing World God Blackmist’s sword-arts. Soon, a full month had gone past. It was time for the grand army to go on campaign!





* * *





Book 24, Chapter 37 - Invasion


The Starlord’s estate. An enormous empty region within the estate was filled with a teeming mass of Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals.

“I wonder what they are planning to do with such an enormous force.”

“They have to be planning on attacking a different organization.”

“Even if they plan to launch an attack, is there a need to go this far? The Fogstone Army usually has around three thousand Elder Gods, and they normally would use just three of those formations. But now, they’ve actually managed to summon a force of seven thousand Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals, including some who were servants or slaves of the various Chaos Immortals and World Gods.”

“Let’s just watch and see.”

The Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals were all discussing this amongst themselves.

Ji Ning, Elder God Imperius, and a few others who knew the truth felt a certain tightness in their chests. Yes…their leaders had spared no expense on this war.

They had originally numbered just three thousand, but after recalling all of their far-flung forces and adding in many servants and slaves, the Fogstone Army now numbered seven thousand! Ancestral Immortal Imperius was a good example of an irregular who had been pulled in. He was the disciple of Chaos Immortal Abyssus and was incredibly strong, which was why he had been assigned to command one of the seven armies.

“I wonder what sort of a feud exists between the Blacklotus Empire and the Fogstone Dominion. Why is the Starlord going all out in this fight?” Ning murmured these words to himself.

“Here they are.” Ning’s eyes suddenly lit up as he saw the nine figures walking towards them from afar.

The leader of the nine was the astral-robed Starlord of Fogstone. Next to him were the other World-level major powers. The nine of them walked forwards together, causing all of the gathered Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals to fall silent.

“Everyone,” the Starlord said, “This campaign is an extremely important one. When the fight begins, all of you need to listen to the orders of your generals.”

“Yes,” all the soldiers acknowledged.

‘Come in.” The Starlord waved his hand. Whoosh. Instantly, a ripple of power spread out. None of the Elder Gods or Ancestral Immortals resisted, resulting in all of them disappearing into thin air.

“By my command, the planet of Fogstone is to be completely sealed. No one is to be allowed to enter or leave.” A sonorous voice suddenly spread out into the ears of every single cultivator on the planet. Even the normally public trading markets were quickly sealed away as the entire planet was put on lockdown.

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh swoosh! Swoosh!

The nine World-level experts soared upwards, quickly appearing in the skies and staring down upon Fogstone.

“Come in.” The Starlord waved his hand, causing the enormous planet of Fogstone itself to disappear as well. The planet had long ago been refined into an enormous magic treasure. This was the core legacy of the entire Fogstone lineage. Now that the entire Fogstone Army was on campaign, the Starlord naturally wasn’t willing to leave the planet here undefended.

“The Starlord really is going out this time,” a green-robed elder said with a chuckle.

“This time, we’re going to have a chance to witness the Starlord’s true power.”

“If all of us go all-out, we might very well be able to wipe out the entire Blacklotus Empire, even though that isn’t our goal. The only thing I’m concerned about is the guardian formation protecting the imperial capital of the Blacklotus Empire.”

“Starlord, that guardian formation truly is quite deadly.”

The other World-level experts all issued words of caution.

An enemy’s capital was bound to be an incredibly dangerous place to invade. Every generation of Starlords had worked hard to further reinforce Fogstone, rendering its formations increasingly deadly. Although the Blacklotus Empire wasn’t as old as Fogstone and mainly relied on God Emperor Blacklotus’ personal power, without a doubt the God Emperor and his vassals had set up many mighty formations around the imperial capital.

“Don’t worry. Just carry out our plan,” the Starlord said. “All you need to do is do what I told you to do. Don’t worry about anything else.”

“Alright.”

“Right.”

These World-level experts were just giving the Starlord a few words of caution. They weren’t ordinary pawns who could be sacrificed for the sake of a greater goal. Given their power, they were qualified to speak and treat with the Starlord as equals.

“Alright. We can’t waste any time.” The Starlord frowned. “The sudden disappearance of Fogstone will soon be noticed, but it’ll take a bit of time before the word gets to the imperial capital of the Blacklotus Empire. We need to get there as soon as possible. Ideally, we’ll arrive before the Blacklotus Empire is prepared for us.”

After speaking, the Starlord waved his hand and caused a ship of stars to appear before him.

The nine World-level experts all boarded this ship, which then twinkled with starlight and disappeared.

The imperial capital of the Blacklotus Empire was located within the Blacklotus Chaosworld. It was the central administrative city for the entire Blacklotus Empire.

The entire city was actually an enormous magic treasure which was shaped like a nine-petal black lotus. The entire city stretched out ten million kilometers and was seated at the very tip of a mountain. The city’s layout was actually quite similar to the layout of the Badlands Everworld’s Waveshift City. This was a testament to how ambitious God Emperor Blacklotus was. He was an incredibly arrogant figure, which was why he had styled himself as the ‘God Emperor’.

“I wonder what’s been going on with the Fogstone Dominion lately. They actually summoned back all of their Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals from their various stations.” A gray-robed, black-haired man was frowning in thought as he sat within a winehouse located in the imperial capital.

This gray-robed, black-haired man had lofty brows, and the look in his eyes made it so that not even the winehouse’s attendants dared to go near him.

“Can it be that Fogstone is about to launch a grand campaign?” The gray-robed man muttered to himself, “It can’t be for the sake of that Ji Ning fellow, right? He shouldn’t have that sort of ability.”

“Ji Ning.”

“Goddamn Ji Ning.” The gray-robed man’s face grew uglier by the moment.