Desolate Era (Book 25 - Book 27)

“Yes it is.” Ning charged forward once more.

“So what if you have Dao lightning? It can at most slow me down. It can’t kill me!” Sabafey remained as ferocious and savage as ever. His true body was indeed comparable to that of a Daolord of the First Step, allowing him to endure the strikes of these two types of Dao lightning. However, he was still hindered tremendously by them. He was now slightly slower than Ning!

Boom! Boom! Boom! His warblade and his greatsword still held roughly half of their former level of power. He was still able to crush Ning in power.

Still, things were now much simpler for Ning. Now that he had an advantage in speed, he was able to advance and withdraw at his leisure. In addition, his foe’s advantage in strength was now much smaller than before.

“Kill!”

“Kill!”

The two continued to battle ferociously.

“I am an Aberrant. This cultivator has to be using his divine power at an incredible rate. He won’t be able to hang on for much longer, while I’ll be able to keep going for quite some time.” Sabafey was filled with confidence. He was certain he would be able to keep fighting for an extended period of time.

“Every single drop of my azureflower mist energy represents the distillation of all my divine power, heartforce, and Immortal energy. I’m not using any particularly powerful divine abilities for this fight. I’ll be able to go on for ages. This Aberrant has to be using some sort of secret art which allows him to release tremendous amounts of power, but I’m certain he won’t be able to maintain it for too long.” Ning was filled with confidence as well.

Ning was merely using [Three Heads, Six Arms]. This divine ability used up fairly little divine power. Ning was mainly relying on his azureflower mist energy in this battle, and it wasn’t being used up that quickly.

This battle went on for more than two full hours.

At first, both were very confident. As time went on, both Sabafey and Ning grew increasingly amazed. By now, Ning only had sixteen drops of his azureflower mist energy left.

“I admit defeat!” Finally, Sabafey let out a disgruntled growl. “Given how much power you have unleashed, you have to be using up divine power at an incredible rate. How is it even possible for you to continue fighting for this long? How?!”

If Ning was using abilities like the [Starseizing Hand], he would indeed be using up divine power at an astonishing rate.

Ning let out a sigh of relief.

He had won. Finally, he had won.

He could sense the golden book in his possession begin to transform. He was now under the protection of the Astral Islands, which acknowledged the fact that he had just won ten battles in a row on the fourth island.

“Hand over your legacy treasures.” Ning stared at him. If it wasn’t for the fact that this person was also under protection, Ning would’ve shown him no mercy at all and slain him. This person wasn’t going to be able to hold on for much longer.

“Don’t be smug. I was defeated by the others on the fifth stratum, after all.” Sabafey let out a hoarse growl. “There are many on the fifth stratum who are stronger than me. You are indeed quite strong, but your insights into the sword are quite mediocre. Ahaha… you are even inferior to an Aberrant like myself.”

As he spoke, he waved his hand and tossed out a large amount of legacy treasures. Upon losing, he had to hand over everything he had unless Ning voluntarily accepted less. He didn’t dare violate the rules of the Astral Islands.

“EXIT!” Sabafey raised his head and let out an angry shout.

Whoosh! Spacetime twisted around him, causing his sable form to disappear into thin air.

Ning waved his hand, collecting the many legacy treasures. His golden book immediately sent him an alert, informing him that he had already acquired a full legacy and that he was permitted to leave the Astral Islands whenever he wished.

“A full set?” Ning wasn’t that surprised. He knew that Sabafey had many legacy treasures on him, including a full legacy set.

Swoosh!

Ning waved his hand again, causing the Elementum Waterflame Gourd to fly towards him as well.

Ning put away the gourd. If it hadn’t been for this gourd he probably would’ve lost this fight, even if he was able to keep himself alive. Upon losing, he would’ve been knocked down to the third stratum once more, where he would’ve had to slowly accumulate enough wins for another promotion.

“Sabafalle. He was merely an individual who wasn’t strong enough to stay in the fifth stratum permanently. He was beaten down into the fourth stratum… and yet, he is incredibly powerful. My sword-arts are indeed a weak point.” Prior to this, Ning didn’t fully realize how great a weakness this was. However, the more he battled against other incredibly talented figures, the more he realized how lacking his sword-arts were. In the end, he simply hadn’t spent enough time as a World-level cultivator.

“So many of the cultivators on the fifth stratum are more powerful than him?”

A flicker of battle-lust appeared in Ning’s eyes. “Good. The stronger they are, the better.”

Ning raised his head and called out, “Exit!”

Whoosh.

Spacetime twisted around Ning, causing him to be teleported away and back to his own astral island.





* * *





Book 26, Chapter 36 - The Watcher in the Dark Abyss


The six strata of astral islands continuously circled around each other in a very orderly manner.

At the very top stratum, the sixth stratum, there was just a single astral island. The fifth stratum had a total of twelve astral islands that slowly circled each other.

Rumble…

One of the hundred-plus islands belonging to the fourth stratum began to slowly fly upwards.

“What?”

“Is that…”

“Someone made it to the fifth stratum.”

The many cultivators on the lower strata of the Astral Islands all raised their heads to stare at the higher-level islands. Hundreds of thousands of them were watching as this particular island ascended from the fourth stratum to the fifth stratum.

Many cultivators felt complicated feelings in their heart. They dreamed of being able to make it to the fifth stratum. That way, they would similarly be able to receive the protection of the Astral Islands! Alas, this was far, far too difficult a task.

“A change in destiny…”

This was what countless cultivators were murmuring silently to themselves.

……

“He was quite fast. He was brought here alongside the rest of us in this batch, but he actually made it to the fifth stratum before I did.” A jade-haired woman dressed in silvery, semi-translucent gauze was murmuring to herself softly from within her island on the fourth stratum. “And a cultivator at that. I’ve never ever met any World-level cultivators who are a match for me, but almost as soon as I arrived in the Brightshore Kingdom I encountered one. How intriguing. What’s more, the Brightshore Kingdom treats cultivators and Aberrants equally, giving no special preferences or advantages to either.”

“I like this place.” A smile appeared on the jade-haired woman’s face as natural mist began to swirl around her.

……

“I never would’ve thought that those puny cultivators would give rise to someone who might be a match for me. He actually made it to the fifth stratum before I did.” A devilishly handsome silver-haired youth was murmuring softly to himself.

He was a member of the Aeonians who had long ago found the path he needed to take to become a Samsara Daolord. However, he wanted to become more powerful before doing so. That way, he would benefit even further from his Awakening of his Aeonian bloodlines.

Still, he had to admit that the Brightshore Kingdom truly had gathered many freakishly talented figures. The fourth stratum alone was filled with many figures who had been quite difficult for him to overcome. This made him quite cautious.