Desolate Era (Book 28 - Book 30)

During the past three months, all they had seen were stone passageways and endless flames! They had never encountered such a vast, empty region. A hundred billion kilometers, and a planet in the center of it! The aura of power emanating off of this planet was so great that Ning and the Ninedust Sectlord both felt rather breathless. This place could very well be the endpoint.

“Kill!” A group of flaming beasts burst out of the stone passageway, seeking to chase down the two of them. However, they suddenly began to slow down as they looked rather hesitantly at the distant planet in the center. The flames covering the bodies of the various creatures all seemed to die down slightly.

“Hurry up and kill them.”

“Don’t let them escape!”

The flaming creatures once more picked up the pace.

Swoosh! The black vessel didn’t hesitate at all as it flew straight towards the planet. The flaming creatures continued their furious chase, but the closer they moved towards the planet the more they seemed to be suppressed. The flames disappeared from their body, revealing the fiery armor, hair, and body which lay underneath! The closer they moved to the star, the more their aura weakened.

“Everything has its bane.” Ning couldn’t help but sigh with amazement when he saw this. “These flaming creatures were completely unkillable, but as soon as they started to move towards this planet they began to weaken dramatically.”

“That planet doesn’t seem to have any effect on us at all.” The Ninedust Sectlord glanced at the planet warily as they moved closer and closer to it. “But its aura of power is tremendous. It might hold certain dangers within it.

Ning looked at him. “What of it? Do you want us to go back into the stone passageways?”

“I’d have to be mad to do that,” the Ninedust Sectlord snorted. Clearly, after spending roughly three months in the stone passageways, he had more than had his fill of them.

“In the end, we definitely have to go take a look at this place. Let’s just be careful,” the Ninedust Sectlord said.

“Alright.” Ning stared at the planet as well.

The black vessel flew closer and closer to it, with the flaming creatures still in hot pursuit but growing weaker by the moment. Finally, they all came to a halt and let out angry, resentful growls. They had no choice but to simply watch as the black vessel flew ever-closer to the planet.





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Book 30, Chapter 17 - The Prophets Descend


The black vessel finally came to a halt outside the star. Ji Ning and the Ninedust Sectlord stood on the prow of the vessel, able to see the planet clearly.

“What a beautiful star,” Ning praised. The planet was protected by layers of defenses, almost like the yolk of an egg being protected by a shell.

“But also dangerous,” the Ninedust Sectlord warned solemnly.

“Let’s go.” Ning glanced at the Ninedust Sectlord, who did not respond. Whoosh! The black vessel began a slow advance, soon arriving in front of the first barrier protecting the star.

This was a gaseous barrier that was pitch-black in color and extremely solid. When the black vessel sought to advance through it, the two could both sense the first barrier resisting the vessel mightily. The black vessel had to use all of its power in order to just barely advance through the barrier, crackling all the way. After advancing for roughly a hundred thousand kilometers, they left the region of black mist and appeared in front of a region of deep azure mist.

“I imagine that most Daolords of the Fourth Step wouldn’t be able to make it past this,” Ning said softly. “If my judgment is correct, there’s no way this protective membrane could’ve been naturally created. It has to have been man-made.”

“Agreed. Nine out of ten says it was created by a major power that vastly outstrips us in might.” The Ninedust Sectlord nodded.

Swoosh! The vessel continued to advance, passing through one layer of gas after another. There were nine of these gas layers, and they were colored black, deep azure, azure, light azure… the colors continuously lightened until the final layer, which was composed of completely white mist.

By now, the white mist posed almost negligibly low levels of resistance for the black vessel. Starting from the azure layer, a few special lifeforms began to appear. They lived within the gas itself, and were like gaseous entities. They could transform into any shape, with some being strong and others being weak. The most powerful were roughly on par with Daolords of the Fourth Step, while the weakest were on par with ordinary World-level cultivators.

Whoosh. After passing through the ninth layer of mist, Ning and the Ninedust Sectlord saw a brand new open world appear in front of them. This was a vast and beautiful world, filled with cities, villages, and many ordinary mortals as well.

“So this place actually holds living creatures.” Ning let out a moved sigh. “The endless primordial chaos truly is filled with endless marvels. Life can survive in even a dangerous place like this.”

“I suspect that the major power who created those nine layers of protective mist did so for the sake of these mortals.” The Ninedust Sectlord carefully sent out his senses, then said in a soft voice, “This region is filled with invisible laws, preventing ordinary cultivators from being able to fly at all. Only Daolords are able to fly here.”

“The skies are sealed?” Ning frowned. “Can it be that this planet holds an Eternal Emperor within it?”

Upon gaining eternity, your very words became edicts of law. You could issue certain edicts that all within a certain region had to follow! However, sufficiently powerful Daolords were capable of completely ignoring these edicts. It must be understood that certain supremely powerful Daolords were capable of suppressing even the might of the prime essences of the Dao, located at the heart of the universe. In comparison, mere edicts issued by Eternal Emperors were nothing.

“Right. This place might have an ancestor of my Ancient race.” The Ninedust Sectlord swept the area with his gaze. “Darknorth, I’m sure you’ve sensed it as well. This vast world gives me an incredibly strong sense of danger. If we aren’t careful, we could easily die here.”

“Yes, I can sense it.” Ning nodded. As soon as he had seen this planet from afar, he had sensed a terrifying danger emanating from it. Now that they had truly entered it, that sense only grew stronger.

……

A total of eight strange-looking four-legged beasts were pulling a giant carriage through the grassy plains directly below Ning. Surrounding the carriage there were three hundred valiant knights, all of whom were advancing at high speeds. The carriage was protected by formations which faintly flickered around it, ensuring it didn’t bump or jostle at all.

The carriage itself was thirty meters long and twenty-four meters wide. Within the carriage sat a young man who was casually dressed in sleek silk clothes, as well as two bewitching women who were cuddling against him while feeding him.

The youth casually ran his hands across the two women, toying with them. His eyes, however, had a faraway look in them.

“Your Highness, Dragonwing City is up ahead. Should we pay a visit to the governor?” The voice of a knight rang out from outside the carriage. Although their lord had already informed them as to which experts they would visit on this journey, the young master wasn’t the type to just do as he was told. There were two experts who he had declined to meet with thus far.

“The governor of Dragonwing is one of my seniors and has always treated me very well. We certainly must visit him,” the youth chuckled.

“Acknowledged,” the knight said from outside.

The youth inside the carriage caressed one of the women by his side, a dreamy look in his eyes. He murmured softly, “So this is the path which Father has arranged for me? I can already see what the rest of my life will be like. I really am not happy with it.”