Desolate Era (Book 25 - Book 27)

“This is an extremely simple formation. You’ll know once you take a look at it.” World God Xiang Lu smiled.

Ning accepted a formation disc. After sending his power into it, he quickly understood that this was indeed a very simple formation. It merged all the energy of the cultivators into one mass, making it so that all the cultivators were reinforcing and supporting each other. They would all be much more powerful as a result.

There were actually many formations that were more powerful than this one, but none of the World-level cultivators here really knew each other or trusted each other. It was precisely because this formation was so simple that everyone had no suspicions regarding it and were willing to use it.

Boom.

Boom.

Boom.

As the cultivators bound the formation-discs, streams of light began to surge into the skies. The ninety-nine streams of light connected with each other, and all of the cultivators were blessed with the strength and power of the formation.

“I swear on my very life itself…”

“I swear on my very life itself…”

“I swear on my very life itself…”

The ninety-nine World-level cultivators simultaneously sent their Immortal energies into the oathstone they were surrounding. As they all swore the lifeblood oaths, they could sense the oaths of the others taking effect as well.

All of the oaths were identical. So long as they were in the Sea of Darkness, they were absolutely not permitted to launch attacks against their comrades. If the oath was violated, the assaulted party wouldn’t even need to fight back; the lifeblood oath itself would ensure that the violator’s truesoul was destroyed.

Once the oaths were sworn, the cultivators all grew noticeably friendlier towards each other. There was now at least an element of trust amongst them.

“My name is Poisonfeather. This flying vessel of mine is a top-grade Dao treasure that is specialized for long-distance flying. It should be quite suitable for traversing through the Sea of Darkness.” A bald, silver-eyed man suddenly spoke out. “We can ride it together! If anyone has any better flying treasures, we can use that instead.” [1. Poisonfeather’s name is actually ‘Flying Zhen’, with ‘Zhen’ being a Chinese mythological beast that is often called the ‘Poisonfeather Bird’, for self-explanatory reasons.]

Soon, the cultivators all decided to use Daoist Poisonfeather’s ship for their journey through the Sea of Darkness.

“Let’s head out!”

The ninety-nine cultivators all boarded the ship, keeping the formation active as they departed from Trifount and headed off towards the Sea of Darkness.





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Book 26, Chapter 20 - The Sea of Darkness


The flying vessel was three thousand meters long, completely black, and was shaped like a weaver’s shuttle. It continuously advanced through the dark void of space towards the vast sea before them.

If Ji Ning wished to reach Vastheaven Palace, he absolutely had to pass through the Sea of Darkness! If he went around it, it would result in an incredibly long detour. What’s more, the map which Daolord Solesky had given Ning didn’t even specify the details to any such detour, instead simply telling him to go straight through the sea. This was because this was actually the safest option; the other options were even more dangerous!

Although this was safer by comparison, it was still a rather dangerous trip for World-level cultivators. If they weren’t careful, they would easily die in this place.

This was one of the reasons why very few World-level cultivators would embark on such long journeys! When Ning had been in the Badlands Territory, he had queried the Starlord of Fogstone regarding the location of Vastheaven Palace, but neither the Starlord nor his subordinates had even heard of it. This was because the distance between the two territories was utterly enormous. Even the Badlands Court, the most powerful organization within the Badlands Territory, only held a few cultivators who were aware of Vastheaven Palace.

“We’ll reach the Sea of Darkness soon,” Ning sent mentally. “I recommend you go into the golem now. Don’t stray too far from my side.”

“I know my own limits, Master.” Su Youji was quite excited. “The legendary Sea of Darkness. Actually, I’ve never even heard of it before this! To think that I’m going to be going into it just a short while from now. Wow. This trip from the Badlands Territory to the Vastheaven Territory will give me something to brag about for many, many years to come.”

Ning chuckled, then closed his eyes and focused on attuning to the sword-intent of his Violetjewels.

He was attuned to its sword-intent at all times as he continuously meditated on the Dao of the Sword.

Whoosh.

The flying vessel continuously teleported through the emptiness of space. Roughly a day later, they finally arrived at the borders of the Sea of Darkness.

The entire vessel was completely silent as all ninety-nine cultivators stared at the distant sea of spatial chaos. Even here, at the mere borders of the sea, they could sense the spatial waves crashing against their flying vessel.

“Everyone.” World God Xiang Lu spoke out. The other cultivators turned their gazes from the Sea to him.

“According to what fellow Daoist Poisonfeather said, although this vessel is fast, it’ll still take over six hundred years to go through the Sea of Darkness. During these six hundred years, we’ll be in a state of constant danger. Thus, if anything happens I would like to ask that the more powerful experts among us to hold back. Please help out our weaker fellow Daoists. Once one of us dies, the formation will be dramatically weakened as well. The more of us die, the weaker the formation will be, making it even more difficult for us to safely traverse the Sea of Darkness,” World God Xiang Lu said.

“Naturally.”

“Since we are all on the same ship, we should all support and help each other.”

“Fellow Daoists, I hope all of us will be able to make it safely through this Sea of Darkness.”

The cultivators aboard the vessel were all quite nervous. This was the Sea of Darkness, after all. Most likely, few to none of them would dare to traverse this place all by themselves.

As for Ning, he watched quite calmly from his little corner. His original plan had been to venture into the Sea of Darkness alongside Su Youji, but that would have indeed been rather dangerous. Now that ninety-nine World-level cultivators had joined forces, if nothing went awry they would stand at least a ninety-plus percent chance of successfully traversing the Sea. If you factored in Ning’s true level of power, it could be said that they were virtually guaranteed to succeed.

Boom!

The pitch-black vessel flew forward at high speed, smashing straight into the Sea of Darkness. It continuously sped up as it flew forward, quickly breaking past the limits of the Heavenly Daos and continuing to skyrocket in speed. Soon, it reached a level of speed that was roughly double the speed of light. This was the vessel’s limit, and it began to cruise forward at this speed.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Dark, turbulent waves of distorted chaos and space repeatedly crashed the sides of the vessel.

As for the ninety-nine cultivators, they all stared intently at their surroundings. Even Ning elected to draw Violetjewel from its sheath on his back.

“What a nervous feeling.” Su Youji stared at her surroundings as well.