Desolate Era (Book 28 - Book 30)

“What do you think?” Daolord Solesky looked at Ning. “Still want to fight him?”


“Of course I’m going to fight him.” Ning nodded. “We can’t just let him continue to blockade the entrance of our Vastheaven Palace, right?”

“Good!” Daolord Solesky smiled. “Now that you are a Daolord, you are the fourth Palace Lord of Vastheaven Palace. This here is one of the central control mechanisms for our barriers and restrictive spells. If you aren’t able to overcome your foe, you can retreat within the palace.”

As he spoke, he handed over a black-gold sawtoothed disc which was covered in complicated divine runes. This thing was part of the core controls of the entire Vastheaven Palace!”

“These core controls can only be bound a single time,” Daolord Solesky said. “After you bind them, they can never be bound by others again.” This was for security reasons. If one of the Palace Lords of Vastheaven Palace died and their opponent managed to take over and bind the core controls… unacceptable! This place had been the headquarters for Vastheaven Palace for countless ages, after all.

After binding the disc, Ning could sense the many complicated and powerful formations covering all of Vastheaven Palace. Their power was indeed astonishing.

“Then I’ll head off.” Ning glanced at the others, then transformed into a streak of light that flew away.

“Be careful!” Solesky called out from behind.

Daolords Brightfish, Battlemaster, Pillsaint, and Su Youji all watched nervously.

“Big brother Battlemaster, Darknorth won’t be in any danger, will he?” Daolord Brightfish asked nervously.

“Overall, he probably isn’t a match for Clearwind. But he’s a sword cultivator! They are very skilled in battle…” Battlemaster paused.

“He might not be able to beat Clearwind, but he’ll definitely be able to keep himself safe. Let him have his fight,” Solesky said with a smile.

“Will he be able to win?” Su Youji couldn’t help but ask this question.

“It’ll be hard. Actually, there’s almost no chance of him winning.” Solesky shook his head.

……

The fierce gray tempest continued to blot out the skies and the sun, causing the entire Vastheaven Palace to be cast in stifling darkness. A streak of light, however, rose up from within Vastheaven Palace. It flew out of the barrier spells, then came to a halt in midair. It was a white-robed youth who was carrying a black sheath on his back.

“Clearwind!” Ning barked out, his voice echoing and reverberating in the air, causing innumerable sword-shadows to appear.

The trillions of sword-shadows all simultaneously shot out towards the distant shrine. When the sword-shadows collided against the blurry gray storm, a series of eruptions could be heard. The blurry gray wind began to splinter and break apart, as did many of the sword-shadows. However, more and more of the sword-shadows were born as they continued to press the attack.

As for the blurry gray wind, it also continued to be remade and surge out as well. The wind was an external manifestation of Patriarch Clearwind’s Dao, while Ning’s sword-shadows were external manifestations of his own Omega Sword Dao.

The two Daos began to clash against each other, harder and harder.

“Eh?” This entire time, the man dressed in handsome black robes had been seated within the shrine, his eyes closed. He suddenly rose to his feet and then walked to the entrance of the shrine, where he stared downwards at the white-robed figure in midair, ensconced by those countless sword-shadows.

“So you are Darknorth?” Patriarch Clearwind immediately recognized the man.

“I am,” Ning replied.

Patriarch Clearwind said, “A Daolord of the Second Step already? Or were you just pretending to be at the World level earlier? Hmph. I will admit that your Sword Dao is extraordinary, and it’s impressive that a weak Daolord of the Second Step like you could have such an incredible Sword Dao. If you choose to pit yourself against me, however… then you truly are overestimating your capabilities.”

“Let’s cut the crap. Eat my sword!” The distant Ning let out a furious bellow. Clang! A Northbow sword immediately flew out from the black scabbard on his back.





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Book 29, Chapter 19 - Battling Patriarch Clearwind


Ensconced by trillions of sword-shadows, the mid-air Ji Ning manifested three heads and six arms, with each of his six hands gripping that single Northbow sword.

“Kill!” Ning raised his Northbow sword up high, the swords emanating auras of incomparable dominance and power. He then unleashed a single furious chop directly towards his opponent.

It was like the Northbow sword was cutting an utterly massive yet extremely neat chasm through space. Sword-light immediately filled those chasm, almost instantly chopping directly towards Patriarch Clearwind. The power of this strike suddenly exploded, as though it a volcano that had been building towards an eruption suddenly erupted in an instant.

Ning was using his Omega Sword Dao – Heavenbreaker! The Omega Sword Dao could be gentle or savage, insidious or dominating. It was all up to his personal decision. Once the many mysteries of the Dao of the Sword were truly merged together, they instantly exploded in power.

Ning had chosen to fight head on with his first strike, which was why he had merely used a single sword. For such a wild, furious strike, a single sword was actually better. The deceased Hegemon himself had used that single dark blue greatsword! This was because when the power of six arms were completely focused upon a single sword, it would give that sword even more dominating power.

“Hmph.” Patriarch Clearwind remained as calm and unflappable as the winds. He simply narrowed his eyes and snorted, then produced a seemingly slender yet incredibly sharp longsword in his hands. He didn’t understand much regarding the Dao of the Sword, but to him using swords or sabers really didn’t make much of a difference. The slenderness and incredible sharpness of this sword was just highly suited to his own Dao.

“Scram!” Patriarch Clearwind struck out with the longsword in his hands. If one strictly viewed this from the standpoint of the Dao of the Sword, this truly was a rather unsightly stance. But when the longsword in his hands struck out, it instantly began to roar like an endless tempest howling angrily through the lands.

The volcanic eruption from the Northbow sword clashed against the howling, gale-like slender sword. Two surges of terrifying, earth-rending power collided together.

“What?!” Patriarch Clearwind revealed a shocked look. He had actually been knocked backwards by that attack!

An utterly terrifying shockwave spread out in every direction, and space itself rippled as though a black wave had spread across its watery surface. Mountain ranges were instantly reduced to dust, while Vastheaven Palace’s barriers managed to withstand this shockwave. As for Patriarch Clearwind’s shrine, it was actually sent tumbling through the air, and the seven World-level cultivators within it were all filled with horror.

“Master!”

“Patriarch!”

They all stared nervously towards the outside world.

Ning had taken just a single step backwards, while Patriarch Clearwind had been knocked flying. However, the latter quickly found his footing, then turned to stare icily towards Ning. This was the first time he truly viewed Ning as a worthy opponent. “What a dominating Sword Dao. I never would’ve imagined that a Daolord of the Second Step would be able to threaten me.”

Patriarch Clearwind was truly stunned. Although he had delivered just a casual blow, it was still a blow from a Daolord of the Fourth Step. How was it that he had actually lost that exchange?

“You aren’t bad either,” Ning snorted coldly.