Desolate Era (Book 25 - Book 27)

“We’ve spent five hundred years here at the Badlands Court,” Ning said. “My sword-arts have now reached a bottleneck. It is time for us to go out adventuring.”


Five hundred years in the Badlands Court actually translated into more than ten thousand years within this estate-world.

“Master, just now…?” Su Youji’s eyes were shining.

“I developed a sword-stance.” Ning chuckled.

Alas, it wasn’t the Great Firmament stance!

He had long ago reached a bottleneck in the [Nameless] sword-art. In recent years, Ning had turned most of his efforts towards understanding the quintessence core of Violetjewel. Today, he had developed a sword-art that had an incredibly powerful offensive potential. Ning called it the first stance of his [Sword Quintessence] – Blackmist stance!

“World God Blackmist…” Ning couldn’t help but sigh to himself.

He would never be able to forget how he met this man after he had left the Three Realms. He would never be able to forget the sight of World God Blackmist slowly transforming into a statue. He had named this stance the ‘Blackmist’ stance in order to memorialize this deceased World God.

The creation of the Blackmist stance was the final result of the ten thousand years of hard work and effort Ning had spent within this estate-world!

“In terms of killing power, this stance should be quite close to the power of the ‘Great Firmament’ stance of the [Nameless] sword-art. Because I based it off Violetjewel’s quintessence core, it’ll actually make it easier for me to summon some of the core’s power.” Just now, Ning had tested that stance out. He was now able to summon more than ten times as much power from Violetjewel’s quintessence core, and the power of his strike was definitely comparable to that of a master-class World God’s strike.

Thanks to the azureflower mist energy strengthening his divine body, his body was comparable to a World God’s body.

His sword-arts were comparable to an elite World God’s techniques.

With the ‘Blackmist’ stance activating a good amount of his Eternal weapon’s quintessence core…Ning was now qualified to battle against master-class World Gods.

“It’ll be hard for me to improve my sword-arts any further just by sitting here and studying on my own. It is time for me to leave this place.” Ning glanced at Su Youji and the others, then instructed, “Youji, Wilddog, Blacksun, the three of you shall follow me.”

“Yes.” The Flamefairy and Wilddog were quite calm, but Elder God Blacksun was absolutely overjoyed.

Whoosh.

Ning led the three in departing from this place.

Ning had purchased those three mighty golems during the treasure auction. One was meant for the Flamefairy while the other was meant for Wilddog. As for the third, Ning had chosen to let Elder God Blacksun to command it. Elder God Blacksun was one of the most powerful Elder God retainers Ning had under his command, and he was also a bit more honest and obedient than the others. Ning preferred subordinates who were able to follow orders.

“Youji.” They had returned to the Water Curtain Home inside the Badlands Court. “You can go and pay some visits to your friends in the Badlands Court. You can tell them that I am heading out towards the Allgod Estate.”

“The Allgod Estate?” Su Youji was startled.

“Yes.” Ning nodded.

“Alright. I’ll make sure the entire Badlands Court knows.” Su Youji laughed delightedly. She had far more friends here than Ning did, which was only natural; a woman of such charm and beauty would naturally be welcomed wherever she went.

“Also…I’m planning for us to leave three months from now,” Ning said.

“Understood.” Su Youji nodded.





* * *





Book 25, Chapter 21 - Allgod Estate


Three months later.

A white-robed youth and a fat man whose eyes brimmed with flames were striding shoulder-to-shoulder across the surface of a lake, advancing across the waves as they departed from the Badlands Court.

“Brother Ji Ning, you picked something of a bad time.” The pudgy man chatted to Ning as they continued their journey forwards. “Quite a few people came back to the Badlands Court to take part in the treasure auction, but once it ended all of them quickly headed out to go adventuring. If you had spread the word right after the treasure auction that you had chosen to head to the Allgod Estate, at least four or five World-level experts would’ve chosen to go with you. But you instead chose to wait for more than two hundred years!”

The pudgy man chuckled. “Most of the people who wanted to go out already have.”

This pudgy man was quite an amiable fellow, even though he looked rather ugly due to the jagged scars and tattoos that lined his face. His eyes brimmed with flames, and his skin was suffused with a faint red color as well. Even when he was smiling, he still looked quite frightening.

“I still have you, senior apprentice-brother Dragonbinder.” Ning laughed.

“I purchased a treasure during the auction and spent a bit of time binding it. I was just about to head out anyhow. Our timing was perfect,” the pudgy man said.

The two moved across the ground, their bodies flickering like illusions as they advanced nonstop.

Ning had waited three months for word of his journey to spread, but only a single member of the Badlands Court had chosen to journey with him – the pudgy fellow next to him, World God Dragonbinder!

They entered the spacetime transfer array and left the Badlands Everworld. They then boarded a flying ship, flew for several months, then finally reached the Allgod Estate.

The Allgod Chaosworld was an oceanic world. There were two great continents and a vast ocean that covered everything else. One continent held countless living beings while the other held the Allgod Estate.

Whooosh.

A cloud was floating through the skies. Ning and the pudgy man were standing atop the cloud, staring down at the vast world before them. They could vaguely make out the outlines of a towering edifice far off in the distance. That distant sight was enough to cause both Ning and World God Dragonbinder to feel breathless, as though they were staring upwards at something supreme.

“The Allgod Estate!” The pudgy man’s eyes blazed with fire as he stared at the great edifice. He said in a low voice, “Brother Ji Ning, we’ve been fairly relaxed on the way over. Now that we are about enter the Allgod Estate, though…I want to make a few things clear to you! Once we go in, we need to do exactly as we discussed. You can’t act rashly! If you do, then I’ll have to part ways with you.”

“Acting rashly in a place like this is suicide. Don’t worry, senior apprentice-brother Dragonbinder,” Ning said.

“Good.” The pudgy man nodded. In truth, he felt certain that Ning wouldn’t be so foolish. At the same time, he knew that unexpected things would sometimes happen! As a member of the Badlands Court, he was naturally quite a talented figure. He hadn’t trained for very long, but he had already become a master-class World God. If he was to lose his life due to an act of foolishness on the part of Ji Ning, how lamentable that would be!

“The Allgod Estate was created by Daolord Allgod,” the pudgy man said. “Daolord Allgod was an incredibly powerful Daolord. Although he failed his Daomerge, based on what I’ve learned I believe that he was a thousand times more powerful than other Daolords who were on the Verge of the Daomerge.”

“That much more powerful?” Ning was shocked. A thousand times?

This was insane!