Desolate Era (Book 22 - Book 24)

The black-robed Godking was filled with sullen resentment. When he saw that lovely sword-strike, even he felt uncontrollably mesmerized by it. It was simply too beautiful.

The next moment, however, he remember that the person who had displayed that sword-strike was Ji Ning. Ji Ning was once a minor figure who he held in complete contempt, so much so that the Godking didn’t even care that much about using Yu Wei as a chess piece. Who would’ve thought that this minor figure would have become even more powerful than him! Although he didn’t want to admit it, he knew quite well that Ji Ning no longer needed to use any formations to fight with him. That sword-strike alone was proof that Ji Ning had vastly surpassed him. This sword-art alone ensured that Ji Ning was very close to the overlord level of power!

“No one could’ve imagined that Ji Ning would advance so rapidly. The actions the Godking took against him, such as the destruction of Yu Wei’s soul…normally speaking, those actions should’ve cast a shadow over his heart and perhaps even thrown him into an eternal stupor, never to advance any further. The Godking’s actions weren’t wrong. Ji Ning…Ji Ning is simply too much of a monster,” Daofather Augur said with a laugh.

“A shadow over his heart?” Daomother Devilhand shook her head. “I heard that during the Crimsonbright Realmwar, this dear Godking of ours tried to force Ji Ning to choose to join us. Instead, he broke through to the fourth stage of heartforce in the blink of an eye. This time, our Godking went straight to killing Yu Wei’s soul…and in yet another blink of an eye, Ji Ning’s nearly become an overlord-class figure. Last time in the Deerchaser world, Ji Ning had to rely on the Rahu Formation and his Envoy in order to reach this level of power. This time, he no longer has to rely on any external sources of help.”

“Godking.” Daomother Devilhand turned and smiled at him. “Some people are irrepressible. You simply can’t beat them down. The more you pressure you place upon them, the more dazzling their performance shall be. Ji Ning is one such person.”

“Thank you for your lesson, aunt-master.” The black-robed Godking bowed towards her.

“Ji Ning has already turned into a serious problem for us.” The Lord of All Fiends looked at the others, then instructed, “Blackheaven, keep a close eye on him in the Primordial Ruinworld. If you can find a chance to kill him there, do so.”

“Yes,” Celestial Immortal Blackheaven assented respectfully.

……

The Primordial Ruinworld. The Darkstill world.

A titanic foot that was tens of thousands of kilometers in size pierced through the skies, slamming downwards towards the land. Mountains and rivers alike were completely crushed and flattened by this foot as an enormous footprint was gouged into the earth.

The giant foot then quickly shrank in size, and a bare-chested, muscular man who was dressed in a fur loincloth appeared. The laughed loudly, “Ahaha, these dogshit formations sure are a pain in the ass. They seem so mysterious and profound, but when I put my foot down even the earth itself is blasted apart. Doesn’t that wreck those formations perfectly?”

“The ones you can destroy are all the weaker ones.” A golden-robed woman with draconic horns on her head laughed as she walked towards him.

“That was a bit anticlimactic. I wanted to spend a bit more time studying the mysteries of this formation.” A handsome, silver-haired, fan-wielding youth shook his head.

“Kuafu took advantage of the fact that he runs faster than me. Otherwise, I would’ve split that formation apart with a blow of my axe.” A massive headless Fiendgod walked next to them as well. This headless Fiendgod was bare-chested as well, but he had eyes where his nipples should have been and a mouth where his belly button should have been. His belly-mouth was speaking rather unhappily.

“Xingtian, I didn’t ‘run’ per se. I just stretched my leg out and stepped on that dogshit formation.” The muscular man holding a wooden staff in his hands was Kuafu. Kuafu laughed smugly, and he even twiddled his toes a bit.

The six Fiendgods chatted and joked amongst themselves as they continued to cause destruction. Deadly formations? Screw’m. They’d first give them a chop of the axe or a good hard stomping.

When the six of them worked together, their actions were straightforward and brutal.

“Eh?” The handsome, fan-wielding youth’s face changed slightly as he turned to look off into the distance. “Something’s happening?”

The other five Fiendgods, upon hearing his words, all grew careful as they turned over as well. They knew very well that although their good friend ‘Windfate’ was an ordinary Daofather, his senses were incredibly acute. He could use the wind to sense many things which others could not sense. In fact, he was also very skilled at scrying on the workings of fate itself, which was why he was known as Daofather Windfate. In this squad, he was the best detector of danger; without him, these brutish figures would’ve easily been drawn into dangerous, trap-filled regions.

Swoosh. A black lightning serpent was flying towards them from afar.

“A Ninehorn Lightning Serpent?” Upon seeing the black serpent, all of them relaxed slightly.

“It’s Sword Immortal Darknorth, Ji Ning.” Xingtian laughed. “The only person who can use this [Ninehorn Lightning Serpent] technique in the Three Realms should be Ji Ning. But…it’s a bit odd. Wasn’t his true body destroyed by the Seamless Gate?”

“Patriarch Subhuti told me that Ji Ning would come, but I didn’t expect him to come using the [Ninehorn Lightning Serpent],” a soft, gentle-looking maiden said.

Ning’s figure appeared in midair above them, then began to descend.

“Ji Ning.”

“Darknorth.”

The six Fiendgods walked towards him in a very friendly manner.

“Respectful greetings to you,” Ning said hurriedly. He had something of a friendship with Xingtian the Heaven Punisher long ago, thanks to the latter permitting him to use the ‘Heaven Punisher Formation’. As for the other five, he had met four of them before. It was back when Exalted Celestial Thundergod and some other major powers had sought to learn the [Ninehorn Lightning Serpent] technique from him; back then, a large group of major powers had congregated around him.

True God Xingtian laughed. “Ji Ning, let me make the introductions. This fellow here is Kuafu, a barbarian who has warts for brains.”

“You make it sound like you are very refined and gentile,” Kuafu said with a laugh.

“Kuafu actually knows the word ‘gentile’? How unexpected.” The fan-wielding Daofather Windfate chortled.

“Ji Ning, Subhuti told me that you’d be coming. Not bad, not bad…it seems your true body is in perfect shape.” Kuafu reached out with his hand and patted Ning on the shoulders.

Xingtian continued with the introductions. “This is Daofather Windfate.”

Daofather Windfate folded his fan, then nodded and smiled at Ning.

“This is Empress Xi.” Kuafu pointed at the dragon-horned woman dressed in golden robes.

Ning nodded. Empress Xi was also a Fiendgod. She was actually the grand-daughter of the Ancestor Dragon. The Ancestor Dragon had nine sons. One of them, the Bi’an Tiger, had a daughter who he named Xi. No one expected that Xi would actually prove to be even more formidable than her father, and she eventually became an elite Daofather.

“This is Luwu.” Xingtian pointed at the honest-looking man.

“True God Luwu.” Ning greeted him.

Luwu smiled. He looked like the honest, straightforward man he was. He had become an Empyrean God long ago, and he had served as a guard for quite a few different major powers. In fact, he had once been a guard and general for the Celestial Emperor which Xingtian had slain. When Xingtian had assaulted the Celestial Court, Luwu had attempted to stop him, only to fail.