Desolate Era (Book 31 - Book 35)

“Look up ahead.” Ning pointed towards the path up in front of them. A completely empty void was there.

“Have we reached the end?” Ning and Ninedust quickly reached the opening, then stared into the void. The vast void was filled with a faint, light blue mist that covered an area of over a hundred billion kilometers. At the very center of this vast void was a dazzling planet that was billions of kilometers in diameter.

“Ninedust, are you thinking what I’m thinking?” Ning asked.

“Ah, so you are thinking about that as well?” Ninedust laughed.

“Right.” Ning nodded. “This style… it should be the Sithe race’s style.” When they had been in that giant humanoid’s body, they had seen that it was filled with countless stone passageways as well as vast planets. Ning had acquired his third disciple in one of those planets, the young man named ‘Skywind’. That giant humanoid had been Sithe, and it had slain one Hegemon outright while injuring a second one so gravely that the second Hegemon, a member of the Ancient race, had passed away from his wounds.

“The creator of the Stone Hellephant Wall was able to manipulate both deepfire blackstone as well as this unknown silvery-white material in its creation. This really does seem like something the Sithe might do,” Ning said.

“Yes, the Sithe greatly surpassed us cultivators in many areas,” Ninedust agreed. Although the Sithe had been wiped out, their power was undisputable. It was precisely because of how powerful they were that the Autarchs had been forced to lead all cultivator civilizations to war against them. The flames of war had filled countless places, causing the Flamedragon Realmverse to lose all of the Hegemons it had at that time. One could only imagine how miserable that war had been!

“Given how it was floating through the Great Dark, my guess is that the Stone Hellephant Wall was left behind from the Dawn War,” Ninedust said. “It shouldn’t hold too much danger.”

“But it’s completely filled with that invisible aura of power… and I have the feeling that it is even more dangerous than that humanoid creature we were in,” Ning said. “Although it logically shouldn’t be dangerous, even the slightest bit of remaining power might be enough to wipe us both out.”

“Right.” Ninedust narrowed his eyes. “Screw it. Let’s give it a try. We might just find a huge treasure trove inside.”

“Alright, let’s fly over.” Ning was the first to fly towards the planet.

The treasures the Sithe left behind often represented a vast fortune. Crimsonwave Temple was but a single relic, but it was more valuable than the combined networths of all three Hegemons of the Flamedragon Realmverse! Perhaps the Stone Hellephant Wall had something inside that was comparable to Crimsonwave Temple in value. How could Ning possibly shrink back from it?

“There might be living beings inside this planet,” Ninedust said while flying next to Ning. “Last time we entered the homeland of your disciple, Skywind, we were almost immediately discovered by those locals. Should we perhaps mask our auras this time?”

“Yes, yes we should. Let us pretend to be Daolords of the Second Step,” Ning said.

“Agreed.” Ninedust agreed with this idea.

“Change.” “Change.” Ninedust and Ning immediately changed their auras through the [Vitalis] art. This was the most formidable masking technique they knew, capable of changing even their truesoul’s aura. Ning was simulating the aura which Daolord Pillsaint had back when he was a Daolord of the Second Step, while Ninedust did the same for a different Daolord he knew. The simulation was only effective when used to emulate someone you actually knew. After masking their auras, the two quickly reached the region outside the planet.

“That invisible aura of power is growing stronger.” Ning and Ninedust exchanged a glance. Swoosh. Swoosh. The two carefully flew towards the planet.

The planet was surrounded by a thick layer of clouds and mist. They flew through the multiple layers of clouds, slowly beginning to see the world beneath them.

This was a vast world filled with many mountains, and it was teeming with countless living creatures.

“There’s life here. They look humanoid.” Ning’s vision was frighteningly sharp, allowing him to see them with clarity. “Judging from their auras, the living beings here are all quite strong. There are many Empyrean Gods and Celestial Immortals, and I can even see Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals.”

Boom! They could sense faint, violent ripples of power emanating from off in the distance. “There’s a fight over there.” Ninedust stared towards the direction of the battle. “Let’s go take a look.”

The two immediately flew over. From their midair position, they were quickly able to see the great battle which was occurring off in the distance. The forces of both sides were fighting furiously against each other.

“All World-level cultivators,” Ninedust said casually. To them, World-level cultivators truly were nothing more than ants. “Nearly sixty of them battling, divided up into two sides.”

“Someone capable of commanding so many World-level cultivators should be fairly strong,” Ninedust said. “We should be able to learn quite a bit regarding this planet from them, and thus more quickly divine the mysteries of this Stone Hellephant Wall.”

“Right.” Ninedust nodded. Both of them remained extremely cautious; just a fraction of the power originally held within the relic sites left behind by the Sithe was enough to claim their lives. How could they NOT be careful?

Ning and Ninedust immediately flew towards the group of battling World-level cultivators.





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Book 34, Chapter 11 - Tianello


Ji Ning and Ninedust flew quickly towards the mist to the battlefield. Meanwhile, the battle between the World-level cultivators was reaching a fever pitch.

Slash! Saber-light chopped through a World God’s body, slicing him in half. A heartbeat later, his body was ground into dust. The white-robed machete-wielding man then charged towards another World-level cultivator, a hate-filled look on his face. He was clearly the most powerful person on the battlefield. He was extremely fast and his saber-arts were exceptionally brutal.

“Maji!” The other World-level cultivator was clearly in dire straits.

“Maji, stop this!”

“Maji, you despicable lowlife. How dare you assault us members of the Tianello clan!” the other World-level cultivators bellowed furiously.

“You refused to give my clan a way out, so I’m not giving you a way out either! Kill them, my clansmen! Wipe them all out! If a single one of them escapes, we’ll be in big trouble. If we can wipe them out, we can relocate our tribe and join one of the Tianello clan’s enemies!” Maji had a savage look on his face as he bellowed.

“Kill!”

“Kill these Tianello clansmen!”

“Wipe’m out!”

Although the total combat power of the Tianello clansmen was higher overall, the one named Maji was simply too powerful as an individual. Thus far, he had already killed a total of twelve World-level cultivators by himself in this clash! He had been able to force the warriors of the Tianello clan to the brink of withdrawal, with only their fear of the strict laws of the clan holding them back from a complete retreat.

They had come on the orders of the Tianello clan to take away a treasure this minor clan had acquired, a certain bugbeast core component. They were so accustomed to behaving in a domineering fashion that they had been planning to massacre the minor clan and then offer the treasure to the high-level members of the clan. As for the other treasures the minor clan had owned? They were going to split them internally.

They had first set up a formation, planning to trap and massacre everyone. They never would’ve imagined that this weak clan’s leader, Maji, was so incredibly powerful that he had been able to burst the formation apart, then lead his clan’s World-level cultivators to fight their way out.