Desolate Era (Book 28 - Book 30)

“This guy isn’t too bad. He can be considered to be as physically strong as an apex Daolord of the Third Step,” the assassin said coldly. “His shield-wielding techniques are weak, though, and his greataxe-wielding abilities are even weaker. Overall, he can just barely be considered as strong as a weak Daolord of the Third Step. I was the perfect counter for him in every respect. This was an easy win.”


The four of them were all comparable to apex Daolords of the Third Step. In terms of speed and power, they had actually reached the threshold of Daolords of the Fourth Step, and they all had exceedingly profound sword-arts. Although Ning had ‘defeated’ them, that was because Emperor Mirrorsnow had ordered them to only use a certain level of sword-arts! But of course, their skills were slightly inferior to that of the sword-arts of a true Daolord of the Third Step. Thus, they averaged out to be as strong as an apex Daolord of the Third Step!

Strength? Speed? Comprehension? They surpassed this new golem in every way.

……

Within the pavilion.

Ning continued to sit there on the ground. Waterlord Firesurge slowly reformed his true body out of the currents of water, while Skyfire Brightshore turned to look towards Ning. Solewind let out a long, relaxed sigh. As for Prince Greatjoy? He began to roar with laughter.

“That was close,” Solewind laughed.

“Brother Darknorth, I owe you my life.” Prince Greatjoy looked towards Ning.

Ning let out a sigh of relief as well.

That golem had brought them far, far too much pressure! In the end, they were still just a five-man group of World-level cultivators. When faced with a golem that was comparable to a Daolord of the Third Step, they were completely flattened with each class. If too much time passed, they probably would’ve lost their lives.





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Book 28, Chapter 13 - The Black-Robed Daolord


“Thanks, Darknorth.” Skyfire Brightshore and Waterlord Firesurge both looked towards Ji Ning gratefully. Just now, had Ning been just one moment too slow, the two of them would’ve perished. Of the five, the two of them were undoubtedly the weakest.

“Brother Darknorth, just now I saw a dark figure appear, capture the golem, then say something about only helping you once?” Prince Greatjoy frantically asked, “We’ve disposed of the golem, but it was probably just equivalent to a Daolord of the Third Step. There’s no way its master was the Daolord we slew earlier… which means that it is highly likely that a second Daolord resides within the estate. If we can’t even deal with his golem… we’re probably going to be in grave danger once that Daolord attacks.”

The others all understood this point as well. They had disposed of the golem and managed to stay alive, buying themselves some extra breathing time, but the danger was still there! Still… there was nothing that could be done! If there truly was an even more powerful Daolord here, there was nothing they could do except face him. This was the Daolord’s estate, after all. They were on enemy grounds.

“Yes, he can only help me once.” Ning nodded. “My master once said I can’t rely on him to deal with every danger I encounter, which is why I’ll only be assisted a single time.”

Greatjoy, Solewind, and the others all nodded. They understood this principle.

Ning didn’t reveal the fact that he had three more golems. It was best for him to be able to leave a few more trump cards up his sleeve.

“Skyfire, you are a member of the Imperials. Don’t you have any trump cards of your own? If Darknorth had been just one second slower, you would’ve been finished.” Greatjoy glanced at Skyfire. The five had completely severed this local region of spacetime from the rest of the estate, and Solewind’s heartworld projection was keeping a close watch as well. There was no way any form of godsense or heartforce would be able to spy on them.

Skyfire laughed awkwardly. “So what if I’m a Brightshore Imperial? Shortly after I joined the kingdom, I was dragged off by the Hegemon and sent here to the Archaeus region. Since the entire point of this adventure is for me to learn and grow, he naturally refused to give me any protective treasures at all. Once you have too many trump cards, an excursion like this would no longer be an ‘adventure’, it would be ‘tourism’. So… I really don’t have any trump cards at all.”

Ning and the others were truly surprised to hear this.

It was very hard for cultivators like them to acquire particularly powerful trump cards they could use. Ning himself had to become the personal disciple of Emperor Mirrorsnow before he learned that he would have four golems who could each assist him once. Most likely, the other disciples of Emperor Mirrorsnow wouldn’t divulge this fact either.

The more powerful a golem was, the more valuable it would be. A golem that was comparable to a Verge-level Daolord would be an utterly priceless treasure. Even the Sword Palace itself had only been able to acquire a few such golems over the course of countless chaos cycles! Daolord Allgod was an incredible grandmaster of artificing, but even he was only able to create a single such golem in his lifetime, one which he would never even think about selling. After all, there was simply no way one could possibly find another such golem of tremendous power and unswerving loyalty!

Emperor Mirrorsnow similarly had just a single golem of such power. In the end, he had traded it for forty golems that were comparable to apex Daolords of the Third Step which he left behind to his personal disciples.

Thus… it truly was quite rare and difficult for one to acquire truly powerful golems! Weaker golems, those which were comparable to Daolords of the First Step or Second Step, were much more common. Every single one of the twelve Daolord Cloudworlds of the Twelve Palaces had an enormous number of these golems.

As Ning and the others saw it, the person in their group who was most likely to have a truly, ridiculously powerful trump card had to be Skyfire Brightshore! After all, his backer was the almighty Hegemon, someone who could truly be described as standing at the absolute apex of the Endless Territories! Even the most casual of trump cards bestowed by the almighty Hegemon would be terrifyingly powerful. Alas… Skyfire’s response disappointed all four of them.

“Ugh. This is going to be tricky. That shieldbearer golem was roughly comparable to a Daolord of the Third Step. Those golems are very expensive. His master might very well be a Verge-level Daolord.” Prince Greatjoy was rather worried.

……

Ning sent a divine power clone to descend upon the estate-world of the Mirrorsnow Painting.

“Gentlemen.” Ning looked at the assassin, the fisherman, the golden-robed emperor, and the swordsman.

“Can you help me bind this golem?” Ning glanced at the captured shieldbearer golem. Although it was much weaker than the golems which Emperor Mirrorsnow had left behind, it still had the power of a Daolord of the Third Step and was capable of dominating Ning’s group and even killing them in a short period of time.

Alas, Ning had ‘cheated’ by releasing an even more terrifying golem… the assassin.

“Even if we helped you tie it down, you wouldn’t be able to bind it.” The golden-robed emperor shook his head. “All we can do is keep it trapped here and make sure it can’t fight back. In the end, it is still an extraordinary golem, while your Immortal energy remains at the World level. If you wish to forcibly send your energy into the golem’s body and wipe out its master’s seal… there’s no way you can do it.”

Ning nodded. He had simply hoped that the four golems might have some special tricks.

A mighty golem comparable to a Daolord of the Third Step was right in front of him, helpless and bound, but there was no way for him to bind it. It was a pity that his azureflower mist energy was unable to leave his body. Otherwise, he might’ve been able to use it to bind the golem instead.

“I have a question for you.” Ning shifted his gaze to the golem.

“Hmph.” The towering golem let out a cold snort. “Stop struggling, brat. The five of you are all going to die. You have no idea who you just pissed off.”