Desolate Era (Book 25 - Book 27)

The first time one passed the Blackcloud World, a suit of black armor would be awarded. The first time a person overcame the Azurecloud World, a suit of azure cloud would be awarded. Ning had acquired his black armor long ago, which was a top-grade Dao armor. It wasn’t even as useful as the aquaflect armor he had purchased during the treasure auction. The azure armor, however, was an Eternal-level treasure.

“C’mere.” Ning stepped forward and accepted the azure armor, then sat down in the lotus position and began to slowly bind it while mentally preparing himself for the third level, the Silvercloud World.

The Silvercloud World…

World-level cultivators had absolutely no chance of making it to the end of this level! To make it past this level meant that you had reached the threshold of power of a Daolord of the Third Step. This was completely impossible. Even if Ning reached the third stage in the [Novessence Thunder] and [Novessence Water] and was thus able to slay a Daolord of the First Step, he would merely be equivalent to a fairly formidable Daolord of the Second Step. There was no way he’d be able to overcome the Silvercloud World.

Bertulu… Eastcult… none of them, not even the most talented of geniuses, could accomplish this task!

However, more than 90% of the geniuses acknowledged by the ancient pagodas were able to reach the threshold of Daolords of the Second Step. Ning, for example, was already equivalent to a Daolord of the First Step with his azureflower mist energy alone. Given that his sword-arts were even more profound than the Reincarnation stance and the Cosmic Heart stance, his skill in this area was actually somewhat higher than that of many actual Daolords of the Second Step! This was why he had been able to make it through the Azurecloud World with just a single sword.

“The azure armor is a low-grade Eternal treasure. It has no special properties other than its ability to absorb some degree of energy.” Ning couldn’t help but shake his head. At least his aquaflect armor was able to reflect damage. “Still, the more powerful my future opponents are, the less useful my current armor will be. As for my opponents on the Silvercloud World, they will all be at least at the threshold of the Daolord of the Second Step level.”

Ning switched armors, but he still elected to make it look like a set of white clothes.

Ning then sat down in the lotus position again and began to breathe quietly as he started to work on replenishing the azurelower mist energy he had used up during the first two levels. At the same time, he also thought back to some of the mistakes he had made in his earlier battle. This was the first time in the hundred years he been trying out in the Cloudworld that he had made it all the way through the second level. He had gained quite a few insights from this.

He thought back to the previous battles he had fought as he pondered on his sword-arts.

“On the final day, I will test myself against the Silvercloud World.” Ning came to a decision.

Ning was actually one of the slowest ones, as most of the World-level cultivators acknowledged by the ancient pagodas had already finished.

……

The imperial palace. The thirteen thrones levitating within the void of space.

“Ahaha, Heartforce Cultivators truly are impressive. Solewind’s heartforce is becoming more and more frightening.” Daolord Yinwind laughed merrily. “Our Saber Palace won’t say a single begrudging word if he is ranked number one.”

At present, aside from Heartlord Solewind of the Heartforce Palace being ranked as number one, the rest of the top four had been completely dominated by the Palace of the Saber!

“Hmph.” The nearby Lord Woodflower just let out a cold snort.

The Sword Palace and the Saber Palace had always been somewhat at loggerheads, because the Dao of the Sword and the Dao of the Saber had always been the two most offensive, combative Daos in the Endless Territories. Generally speaking, more cultivators trained in the Dao of the Sword! Slightly fewer trained in the Dao of the Saber.

“Woodflower.” Daolord Yinwind glanced sideways at Lord Woodflower, then let out an odd chuckle. “Five members of your Sword Palace have already finished their attempts, yes? The highest ranking member is merely ranked seventh. You have no chance at all.”

“Hmph.” Lord Woodflower had an ugly look on his face. He did not, however, try to argue. The Saber Palace’s performance truly had been dominating, while the Sword Palace’s performance truly had been lackluster.

These Palace Lords and Vice Palace Lords had all reached the end of the line. If they succeeded in their Daomerge, they would gain eternity. If they failed, they would die and their Dao would vanish. At their level, face mattered more than almost anything else.

“We’ll see about that,” Lord Woodflower said flatly.





* * *





Book 27, Chapter 20 - The Altar


Time passed quickly, and the final day of the three days the almighty Hegemon had allotted the challengers had arrived. Ji Ning and quite a few others had spent the previous day recuperating in the Azurecloud World, so as to be in peak condition when they challenged the Silvercloud World. Only a few people like Ning were able to fight for so long, after all; the majority relied on highly exhausting divine abilities that could allow them to unleash obliterating levels of power for brief moments.

On the third day, all of the remaining geniuses of the Twelve Palaces began to challenge the Silvercloud World.

“Greatjoy has come out.”

“That’s Greatjoy.”

Every person seated on the thirteen thrones, the almighty Hegemon included, was staring at one particular scene. This was the image displaying Prince Greatjoy challenging the Silvercloud World.

“So fast.”

“He’s blowing through them like rotted wood.”

“Hegemon, I feel upset each time I see Greatjoy. I really feel regretful that I wasn’t able to recruit him into our Skymetal Palace.” A handsome youth dressed in beautiful golden robes let out a sigh. “I could tell all those years ago that he had excellent potential, even though he was very weak starting off. In the end, the Spacetime Palace managed to lure him in… and then he somehow became one of your honorary disciples, Hegemon! Judging from how he is blasting through the Silvercloud World, he’s clearly become much more powerful once again.”

“Ahaha, Severtrip, jealousy won’t get you anything. Greatjoy is now a member of our Spacetime Palace.” A jade-eyed man with tousled hair let out a loud laugh.

“It is true that Greatjoy has improved quite rapidly.” The almighty Hegemon stroked his pristine white beard.

The almighty Hegemon’s accomplishments in the Dao of Spacetime allowed him to look down upon all others in the Endless Territories. In the Twelve Palaces, he was particularly close to the Spacetime Palace, and some of its dazzling geniuses would be given a chance to earn one of his legacies and become an honorary disciples! Prince Greatjoy was one of them.

The Hegemon and the twelve golden-armored lords continued to stare at the many scenes playing out in midair. Prince Greatjoy was moving farther and farther up the stairs to the altar, defeating one golem after another along the way.

Rumble…

Prince Greatjoy’s body shone with golden light as he manifested six arms and began to sweep forward with even greater power.

His palm-arts, fist-arts, finger-arts… they were all unfathomably profound and ridiculously powerful. Sometimes he moved quickly, sometimes he moved slowly, but the region of spacetime surrounding him was in a perpetual state of flux. It was extremely difficult for the golems attacking him to unleash their true power, but every single strike of Prince Greatjoy’s contained tremendous might.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

He devastated his way through the golems, his entire body have transformed into a golden color. He looked like a golden god of war, but a look of absolute, glacial calm was in his eyes.