Desolate Era (Book 31 - Book 35)

“What?!” Archon Silksnow revealed a look of shock. “Is that… a spacetime disc? Hegemon Brightshore’s spacetime disc?” Given how long he had been around for, Archon Silksnow was naturally quite familiar with this type of spacetime disc. In truth, all of the top-tier elites of the Endless Territories knew how much Hegemon Brightshore cared about his royal clan, the Brightshore Imperials, and how much he cared about the Daolords of the Twelve Palaces.

For Hegemon Brightshore to bestow a spacetime disc upon a Daolord was a sign that the Hegemon viewed that person with great favor. Most major powers would give face upon seeing it and not act against the person in question.

“Hmph. For the sake of the realmship and the Sithe legacies, I’ll just bear the consequences,” Archon Silksnow said with a cold smile.

The power of the spacetime disc was doing its best to tear through spacetime, while the ten billion kilometers of blurry light was doing its best to stabilize and suppress it. The two were battling against each other.

Crack! The black-white disc in Ning’s hands suddenly and completely shattered apart. The blurry light covering the surrounding area was now much dimmer… but it was still there.

“It failed.” Ning was stunned. This was the most formidable escape treasure he had available to him… but he still hadn’t been able to breach the frozen field of spacetime. “What should I do now?”

Ning’s heart was ice-cold. His most formidable fleeing treasure had failed, while he wasn’t strong enough to overcome his opponent… what was he to do?

“If Hegemon Brightshore was here in person, he might be able to breach this field… but that treasure of yours was nothing more than something he created and infused with part of his power. He’s gifted them to quite a few Daolords! If that’s all you have, you won’t be able to escape… and if you won’t be able to escape, you are going to die. That Ninedust Sectlord hiding in your estate-world will die as well.” Archon Silksnow’s voice boomed outwards. He surpassed Ning in every single aspect, save for the [Heartsword] art! Ning’s [Heartsword] art was still too weak; he had merely reached the tenth stance and was still at the first ‘stage’ of it. It simply couldn’t make up for the overwhelming disparity in power between the two.

If Ning was like Emperor Heartsword and had mastered all fifteen stances, he would be truly and freakishly powerful. Alas, breaking through each stage of the [Heartsword] was simply too difficult, as was making a breakthrough with the Omega Sword Dao.

“I can’t die. If I die, Ninedust is doomed as well.” Ning felt a powerful urge to stay alive. If he died, he would be revived thanks to the Dao-seal he had acquired in that alternate universe… but his weapons and treasures would all be gone. The nine novessence arts and the protective divine ability he had trained in would be lost as well!

The loss of the treasures was secondary, as he would be able to come back to life. Ninedust, however, could not. Ninedust didn’t even have a Primaltwin!

“Die then.” Archon Silksnow had already appeared in front of him.

“I cannot lose. I cannot be defeated. I still have a chance, a tiny chance!” A terrifying blaze of light appeared in Ning’s eyes. “Time to go all out. This sort of deadly battle is extremely effective in helping one understand sword-arts better. I’ve been training in seclusion for hundreds of millions of years, but I still haven’t been able to reach the fourth stage of my Omega Sword Dao. Perhaps if I gain enough insights from this fight, it’ll aid me in making my breakthrough.”

“If I can reach the fourth stage of the Omega Sword Dao… not only will I be able to stay alive, I’ll be able to win!” Ning’s eyes were blazing with unshakable resolve.

“Die.” Archon Silksnow’s saber-light descended. It was so cold as to freeze Ning’s heart, so fast as to cause Ning to shudder. This time, Archon Silksnow struck out at Ning with all six sabers at the same time. Clearly, he wanted to leave nothing up to chance at all and was seeking to slay Ning with one attack.

“I absolutely have to block this.” Ning strove to execute his sword-arts, generating an enormous black hole around him which sought to devour all of the saber-light.

BOOM! This collision was far larger than the last one. Ning was sent flying through the air, a line of blood leaking out from the corner of his lips.

“Haha, you really have some power after all. I used six sabers and struck at you with my full power. I thought that I’d be able to reduce you to dust… but you only suffered a few light wounds. Your protective divine ability truly is formidable.” Archon Silksnow’s voice echoed through the void as he continued to charge after Ning, not pausing at all.

“Thankfully, his strikes are within the realm of what I can endure.” Ning licked the blood from his lips. “Although he’s strong, he won’t be able to kill me. Given my Hegemon armor and my protective divine ability, only a real Hegemon should be able to crush my body in one shot. I still have a chance. I still have a chance!”

“You were able to block me once… but will you be able to block ten times? A hundred times? You are doomed.” Archon Silksnow’s oily green eyes were filled with an awesome savagery.





* * *





Book 35, Chapter 19 - A Single Tear


Ji Ning wasn’t a fool, nor was he foolishly overconfident. Although he hoped to be able to make use of this deadly battle to break through his current bottleneck, he knew that there were too many variables in play here. He might actually be able to make a breakthrough… but it was more likely that he would fail! Breaking through the bottleneck to become a Daolord of the Fourth Step was no easy task, after all. Ning’s path was that of the Omega Sword Dao; if he wanted to break through, it would be even harder than it had been for Ninedust and harder than it would be for Badlands.

He didn’t dare to completely entrust all his hopes into making a breakthrough. Thus, as soon as the spacetime disc failed he immediately asked Hegemon Brightshore for aid.

“Send word to Hegemon Brightshore. Tell him that Daolord Darknorth is willing to give him fifty of the coldflame cauldron fruits and all the remaining fruits from Crimsonwave Temple, in order to request the Hegemon to intervene and save his life. Archon Silksnow is currently trying to kill him, and he can die at any moment,” Ning instructed the servant who was in charge of maintaining contact between him and the Brightshore Kingdom.

“Yes, Master.” The servant was shocked upon hearing how grim the situation was, and he immediately sent word over to the Brightshore Kingdom.

“I hope the Hegemon will intervene,” Ning mused to himself. The Hegemon was an exalted figure who was the supreme leader of the entire Brightshore Kingdom! To the supreme figures of the Endless Territories, a Daolord really didn’t count for much, no matter how monstrously talented the Daolord was. This was because the more talented a Daolord was, the lower his chances of succeeding in the Daomerge would be. The Brightshore Kingdom had its Twelve Palaces, but in all of its years of existence none of its supreme Daolords had ever succeeded in the Daomerge. Hegemon Brightshore remained the one and only Hegemon of the Brightshore Kingdom.

Thus… Hegemons generally didn’t care about whether Daolords died or not. For them to perish while out adventuring was quite normal. They’d calmly watch as one generation of Daolords after another rose to power, followed by one generation after another perishing…

“But fifty coldflame cauldron fruits might be enough to convince the Hegemon to intervene. Although the Hegemon managed to trade for some of that fruit after our trip to Crimsonwave Temple, I don’t think he got fifty,” Ning prayed.

“Master, Master! The Hegemon sends word that he is heading towards you with my clone. However, he is going to need some time. He asks you to hold on for a bit,” the servant immediately replied.