Desolate Era (Book 22 - Book 24)

Ever since Pangu had established Heaven and Earth, there had never been a Sword Immortal who could reach such heights.

Daofather Fuju was very famous and was once acknowledged as the number one Sword Immortal of the Three Realms, but he only held the same level of status as Subhuti. World God Northrest had been focused on keeping himself alive, after all, and he truly was quite weak compared to his true level of power; he wouldn’t even dare to fight against Mother Nuwa.

Swordfather Darklight, Daofather Holyflame, and the other Sword Immortals were even weaker than Daofather Fuju!

The Pangu Chaosworld, the Seamless Chaosworld, the Three Realms…none of them had ever produced a Sword Immortal which stood at the very apex of power!

But now!

A Sword Immortal had risen up to stand at the very peak of the Three Realms!

Sword Immortal Darknorth! Ji Ning!

“Sword Immortal Darknorth.”

“Sword Immortal Darknorth.” Many of the major powers in the palace were all murmuring softly to themselves. A sense of dread and respect arose in their hearts, a natural dread that one would feel towards those that were more powerful than one’s self!

Many of the major powers would casually refer to Ning as ‘Ji Ning’. Now, however, they no longer dared to do so. They would now respectfully refer to him by his Daoist title of ‘Darknorth’. Only those who were very close to Ning, such as Subhuti, or those who were extremely powerful, such as Daoist Three Purities and Tathagata, would continue to address Ning by his given name.

From this day forth!

Ji Ning stood at the same lofty heights as Three Purities, Suiren, Tathagata, and the other overlords!





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Book 22, Chapter 24 - Ripping Open the Formation


The Allfiends World.

“What?! Overlord level?” The black-robed Godking couldn’t believe it at all.

“Didn’t you say last time that he was just ‘close’ to the overlord level, thanks to his fifth-stage swordforce? It’s only been a few years. How did he suddenly reach the overlord level?” The black-robed Godking felt as though a ball of fire was raging in his stomach, making him feel quite miserable. He barked, “Blackheaven, are you sure about this? Are you sure you weren’t just seeing things?”

Celestial Immortal Blackheaven couldn’t even be bothered to look at the black-robed Godking. Instead, he said solemnly and respectfully towards the Lord of All Fiends, “Master, Godfiend Witherspike is quite angry. Ji Ning is indisputably at the overlord level of power already. Master, what should we do?”

“Indisputably?” The black-robed Godking ground his teeth when he heard this.

Damn.

How…how…how did this kid who had trained for less than a thousand years suddenly rise to the very apex of the Three Realms? Even he, the exalted disciple of the Lord of the Demonheart and the nominal leader of the Seamless Gate, had yet to reach that level!

“You imbecile.” Daomother Devilhand glanced sideways at the black-robed Godking, smiling coldly.

Upon hearing the words ‘you imbecile’, the black-robed Godking snapped out of his daze. He had always played with the hearts of others, but this time he had played himself. He had watched as Ji Ning grew powerful, and he had personally acted to deliver one setback after another to Ji Ning. Now, Ji Ning had advanced to the very apex of the Three Realms…and indeed, the Godking’s role in this could not be overstated. How could the Godking not feel miserable and stifled? However, he was an extraordinary figure as well. He quickly recovered from his momentary fugue state.

“Fiendlord, Darknorth has already become an overlord-class power. He trains much too quickly. We have to get rid of him right away,” the black-robed Godking said.

“I know.” The Lord of All Fiends frowned. “I heard that Houyi, Suiren, and a group of True Gods and Daofathers have already headed out. Even if we want to intervene, we would have to first travel to the Goldriver world, then slowly fly to the battle site. We probably won’t be able to to catch up to Houyi’s group. We won’t be able to help. Blackheaven…tell Godfiend Witherspike that we won’t be able to make it in time. There’s nothing we can do. It will all be up to him.”

“Alright.” Blackheaven nodded.

“Tell him this as well,” the Lord of All Fiends instructed, “Kill as many as he can. He should still do his best to kill Tathagata as soon as possible.”

“Alright,” Blackheaven said respectfully.

The Lord of All Fiends was silent for a moment, then said softly, “The roots of the Nuwa Alliance truly are deep…we haven’t been able to force them to reveal their full power, but we ended up creating a Ji Ning for them. Godfiend Witherspike…hmph. This alien Outsider has a belly full of bad plans. Let him fight it out with the Nuwa Alliance.”

……

The Goldriver world. Outside the grand formation.

Fuxi stared at Ning in delight. He immediately said, “No time to chat about that for now. For you to make your breakthrough at a time like this is proof that Heaven is on our side. Tathagata’s used up too much of his divine power; he won’t be able to hold on for much longer. We have to immediately break into the formation and rescue him.”

“This formation is quite complicated.” Ning stared at the formation before him.

“Yes.” Fuxi nodded. “If we slowly take our time to analyze it and deconstruct it, we’ll need roughly an hour. By then, Tathagata would be long dead.” Fuxi continued, “Tathagata is an extremely important member of our alliance. If his true body is destroyed, we’re going to be in trouble during the Endwar. No matter what, we have to save him.”

“What do you need me to do?” Ning immediately asked. Although he knew a bit regarding formations, compared to Fuxi he was like a completely ignorant child.

“In order for a formation to remain intact, it has to remain stable,” Fuxi said. “If a formation is destabilized, it can easily collapse. It is reliant on outside power, after all.”

Ning nodded. He understood this principle.

“Over there.” Fuxi pointed towards the distance. Instantly, a strand of divine power flew out towards that part of the formation. “That’s one of the critical parts of the formation. I need you to do your best to tear the formation open at that point. Tear it open as widely as you can, using your full power. This will place an enormous amount of stress on the formation, making it much easier for me to deconstruct it.”

“Alright.” Ning understood.

Ning immediately flew towards that location.

Whoosh!

His body instantly expanded in size, transforming from an ordinary white-robed youth to a massive giant that was thirty thousand meters tall. At the same time, Ning manifested his [Three Heads, Six Arms] technique. His six arms simultaneously stretched out, causing six sharp swords to appear within them. He then stabbed forward violently, using the ‘Blood Drop Stance’ of the [Brightmoon] sword-art. His swords stabbed out towards the formation faster than the speed of light.

The formation was incredibly tough. When Ning’s six arms struck out, he could sense a powerful repulsive force pushing him back. This was a formation which Godfiend Witherspike had designed to trap Tathagata and kill him. To forcibly break it open…there was no one in the Three Realms capable of it.

Fortunately, Fuxi didn’t ask for Ning to do that. All he asked Ning to do was disturb and disrupt it! Once the formation grew unstable, it would be much easier for Fuxi to deconstruct it…but despite that, only an overlord-level figure would be capable of ‘merely’ disrupting the formation.

“All of you, go assist Darknorth,” Fuxi hurriedly barked. “Attack the same part of the formation which Darknorth is attacking.”