Desolate Era (Book 31 - Book 35)

It must be remembered that previously, the Northbow swords had only enhanced the Blood Drop stance to a significant degree, but even then the raw power of the Blood Drop stance was inferior to that of the Heavenbreaker stance! The Blood Drop stance specialized in speed and penetrative power, while the Heavenbreaker stance truly relied on overwhelming might. Ning had relied on successive strikes from the Heavenbreaker stance to overwhelm and completely destroy the Kingfreak, literally beating him to death.

Now that he had infused his Heavenbreaker stance with the power of the [Heartsword] art and absorbed a prodigious amount of deepfire blackstone with his Northbow swords, his Heavenbreaker stance was comparable to his Blood Drop stance. In raw power, this strike was on the same level as the strikes of the eight lords of the Sacred Cities. This was Ning’s most dominating, devastating strike to date!

“This feeling of overwhelming, crushing power is absolutely wonderful.” Ning felt quite delighted. It wouldn’t matter if his foes used intricate techniques; he would be able to smash through them with dominating force! This was what Winesage had done and how he had been able to force all the other Daolords to bow their heads before him. Even Ning had been beaten to the point where he didn’t dare fight the man head-on.

“Darknorth, your lifeblood swords have improved quite a bit after devouring all that deepfire blackstone,” Ninedust said enviously.

“Yes.” Ning gently stroked the flat of the sword. “This was of great help to my Northbow swords… but the [Heartsword] art helped quite a bit as well.”

“The [Heartsword] art? The sword-art which Emperor Heartsword created?” Ninedust was shocked.

“Yes.” Ning nodded.

“You actually succeeded in training in the [Heartsword] art? I had no idea. Is that why your strikes seem to be filled with sword-shaped mist now? I’ve heard of it long ago, but I’ve never seen it in action myself.” The Ninedust Sectlord was instantly intrigued by this, as the [Heartsword] art was incredibly famous. Unfortunately there were very, very few were able to gain any level of skill in it; thus far, Ning hadn’t encountered a single Daolord capable of using the [Heartsword] art.

“No wonder you are so strong, Darknorth! Ugh, I need to work harder. I can’t let you get too far ahead of me.” Ninedust was filled with a strong competitive desire.

Ning walked over, reaching out to grab what remained of the final piece of deepfire blackstone and putting it into his estate-world. “Let’s go. Time to go inside the Stone Hellephant Wall and see what lies within it.”

“Yes, let’s go inside.” Ninedust looked at the distant passageway as well, his eyes blazing with eagerness. “It definitely holds some incredible secrets within it. Maybe I’ll find a Universe treasure that will acknowledge me as its master! Haha… I would have my invulnerable aquaform for defense and a Universe treasure for offense. I’d probably be even more powerful than you, Darknorth!”

“If there really are Universe treasures, make sure I get one as well,” Ning said as he flew forwards alongside Ninedust. Laughing and smiling, the two moved closer and closer to the entranceway.

After going inside, their faces slowly turned solemn. Ning manifested three heads and six arms and held all six Northbow swords at the ready, while the Ninedust Sectlord advanced carefully with his longstaff in hand.

“I’ll scout the path ahead,” Ninedust said.

“Alright.” Ning nodded. Ninedust’s invulnerable aquaform was indeed far better at keeping him alive than what Ning had at present.





Book 34, Chapter 10 - Tigerhill


The two flew forwards together into the entrance passage. The silvery-white passageway’s walls were lined with mysterious runes. Ninedust glanced at them and said, “Those should be barrier formation runes.”

“An invisible field of energy is protecting the core of the Stone Hellephant Wall,” Ji Ning said solemnly. “I can sense an invisible, omnipresent form of pressure. Even my godsense is affected by it and rendered inoperable.”

“Same.” Ninedust grew even more cautious as well. Both moved forward with great care, ready to unleash their power at a moment’s notice.

After following this passageway for roughly three kilometers, they reached a fork in the road.

“Let’s choose this one,” Ninedust said.

“Alright. No matter what, the two of us need to stick together. Don’t give them any chance to pick us off separately.” Ning’s expression grew increasingly solemn. When he saw those runes on the walls, he understood that these barriers definitely possessed incredible power.

“Look over there!” A short while later, Ninedust called out excitedly from a corner up ahead as he pointed towards something in front of him. Ning hurriedly charged over, only to see a gaping ‘wound’ in the silvery-white walls that emanated an aura of terrifying power.

“What in the world?” Ning and Ninedust both moved closer to inspect it carefully.

“Wow.” Ninedust stared.

“How is this possible? The entire passageway is formed from this silvery-white substance. I can’t even scratch it with a full-force blow. Could it have been completely torn open like this?” Ning stared at the jagged, gaping wounds in the walls of the passageway up ahead. There were five of the tears in total, and all of the runes within the passageway had been completely wrecked.

Every single tear was over three hundred meters long and more than thirty meters deep, thoroughly destroying the formations and script which had covered the passageway walls. In fact, there was some silvery-white debris littering the walls as well.

“Those five tears… they look like they were made by someone using his hand.” Ninedust had a look of disbelief on his face.

“His hand?” Ning couldn’t help but say, “Let me try again. Perhaps the silvery-white substance here is weaker than elsewhere.” As Ning spoke, he set up a barrier to block out any trembles generated in this area, then put away five of his Northbow swords. He gripped the single remaining Northbow sword with all six hands, then struck out with his Omega Sword Dao – Heavenbreaker, sending it directly against a palm-sized silvery-white fragment on the ground.

BOOM! A boundlessly savage blast of power smashed out along with his sword against the silvery-white debris, sending it flying off the ground and smashing directly into the nearby walls.

“Hm.” Ning waved his hand, catching the ricocheting piece of rubble. “Completely undamaged?” Ning stared at the slick piece of debris. The only damage visible was the damage at the very edges, which had been generated when it had been originally torn off the walls by that unknown major power.

“The eight lords of the Sacred Cities might be a bit stronger than me, but this is on a completely different level.” Ning carefully scrutinized the piece of rubble. “It seems someone who was at least as strong as a Hegemon caused the damage here.”

“Right.” Ninedust agreed with this assessment.

Hegemons were far more powerful than them. Their Eternal divine power and their Daos were all far superior… and they generally had Universe treasures at their disposal!

“The runes and barriers in this tunnel have all been wrecked. Come, let’s keep searching,” Ning said.

“Can’t let the rubble go to waste. They might be useful.” Ninedust waved his hand, collecting the bits of silvery-white rubble laying on the ground.

……

They continued to advance through the passageway. Ning and Ninedust soon saw another hall that had a strange sacrificial altar within it, but the terrifying claw-marks appeared atop the altar as well. The entire altar had been torn asunder.

They also saw a round, fiery-red pillar that was also covered with countless runes. Clearly, these had been part of a powerful and mysterious formation… but alas, the pillar had also been clawed open as well.

“There clearly was a battle here,” Ninedust said while walking. “An unknown major power caused all of this destruction, wrecking many of the formations here. The person in charge of the Stone Hellephant Wall was completely unable to fight back… but why is it that we don’t see any corpses at all?”