Desolate Era (Book 31 - Book 35)

BOOM!

A terrifying wave of power smashed against Ning, blasting through the river around him and shattering the watery barrier. Although Ning strove to use his Northbow swords to defend, the power of this strike vastly surpassed the strikes which Archon Silksnow had unleashed previously. Ning’s six arms were immediately torn apart, and his six Northbow swords were sent flying as the terrifying power from the strike swept through Ning’s entire body.

The power was simply too great.

“I-I… am going to die?” Ning only had enough time to turn his head to glance at the distant Hegemon Brightshore. As Ning stared at the titanic beast, his lips moved slightly. He wanted to say: “Save Ninedust.”

Alas, Ning didn’t have a chance to say a single word. His body was completely crushed into dust, leaving only a few magic treasures and his armor behind, floating in the void.

……

“NO! Damn you!” The blazing, star-like eyes of Hegemon Brightshore were filled with fury. He had already spoken, but Archon Silksnow had actually chosen to kill Ning right in front of him.

Riiiiiip. He had already torn straight through the blurry barrier of light. Now, the Hegemon’s claw tore straight towards Archon Silksnow.

Archon Silksnow had immediately transformed into a streak of light and flown towards Ning in the same instant that he used up one of his trump cards. He wanted to take away the treasures which Ning had left behind. He knew that Ninedust and the realmship parts were all within Ning’s estate-world treasure.

“And you actually think you are going to take the treasures as well?” This enraged Hegemon Brightshore even further. His eyes emanated an aura of blurry light which caused spacetime to congeal in the surrounding area. A wave of invisible pressure crushed down upon Archon Silksnow, causing him to dramatically slow down. As for Hegemon Brightshore’s claws, they tore straight through space itself as they reached out towards Archon Silksnow. Previously, that aura of blurry light had condensed local spacetime… but now that it had been destroyed, Hegemon Brightshore’s attacks were able to almost instantly reach the target.

“So fast! The old man really lives up to his reputation as the premier Hegemon amongst the three Hegemons in our realmverse.” Archon Silksnow hurriedly used his saber-arts to defend against that terrifying claw.

BOOM! The terrifying claw-strike came, filled with such power that it was equal in might to the black warhammer treasure which Archon Silksnow had just used. Archon Silksnow was instantly shattered into tiny pieces of snow, but that snow quickly reassembled far away into Archon Silksnow once more.

When Autarch Bolin was a Hegemon, he had trained and mastered a total of ten Hegemonic Daos! All that accumulated experience had allowed him to break through to become an Autarch. Emperors possessed endless lifespans and thus would generally train in many Daos, hoping that these other Daos might stimulate and inspire them! Emperor Silksnow himself was skilled in both the Dao of the Saber and the Dao of Snow.

He had undergone the Daomerge via his Dao of the Saber and reached the Archon level of power. Over the course of countless years, he had slowly upgraded his Dao of Snow to that same level. Clearly, he wanted to use these two Daos to inspire him and slowly train to the Hegemon level via them.

It was possible for Emperors to train and cultivate, but improving was extremely difficult. Every single person who had been alive for that long, however, had life-preserving abilities available to them. The difference in power between Archons and Hegemons was quite apparent, and in a real head-on battle the Archon would definitely perish.

However, some Archons had defensive techniques like invulnerable forms, while others were extremely skilled in other ways. For example, if one was extremely proficient in the Dao of Numerancy, one would be forewarned of danger and flee early on. Alternately, if one had an extremely formidable evasion art then one would be able to rely on it to escape and prevent even Hegemons from catching up to them and killing them.

Ning had already reached the Archon level, true… but he had merely trained in the Omega Sword Dao and didn’t have an invulnerable form. In addition, he had only been training for a very brief period of time and had not accumulated enough treasures yet. There was simply no way for him to compete against the likes of Archon Silksnow. The elder Archons had accumulated many treasures of the years, some of which could have an impact on even actual Hegemons.

……

“Hegemon Brightshore, are you really going to interfere over me killing a mere Daolord?” Archon Silksnow stood off in the distance. Although he was unhappy, he suppressed his anger. “You and I have both lived in the Endless Territories for countless years. These Daolords come and go; they are nothing more than passersby in our life. Daolord Darknorth angered me, so I decided to kill him; this is a minor matter. You, an exalted Hegemon, actually decided to interfere? This is a bit much, isn’t it?”

Hegemon Brightshore’s voice boomed out sonorously from afar: “Archon Silksnow, this was indeed a minor matter… but since I spoke out, you should’ve been willing to discuss things peaceably. You actually dared to kill Darknorth right in front of me!”

“This little thief was lucky enough to steal an item I needed,” Archon Silksnow said. “Hegemon Brightshore, I don’t want any of his other treasures, but I do want that little thief’s estate-world. If you are willing to give it to me, you can list any conditions you want.”

“Hmph, you killed Darknorth in front of me… and you think you’ll earn his treasures?” Hegemon Brightshore said coldly, “Fuck off. If you don’t… don’t blame me for showing no mercy.”

“You…!” Archon Silksnow had an ugly look on his face.

“I said FUCK OFF!” Hegemon Brightshore’s voice deepened even further.

“Fine. A Hegemon really is a Hegemon. I’ll accede to your request this time.” Archon Silksnow ground his teeth, then turned and disappeared within a dimensional ripple.

The reason why Archon Silksnow had chosen to kill Ning at that critical moment was partially for the sake of the realmship… but more importantly, he wanted to pull up grass by the roots! He understood that so long as Ning survived, Ning would quickly be able to master the twelfth stance of the [Heartsword] art. By then, the difference in power between the two would be very small. There was already a feud between them. If Ning failed his Daomerge, it would be guaranteed that Ning would die. If he went crazy before dying… while Archon Silksnow himself would be able to keep himself alive, the foundations of power he had spent countless aeons establishing might be completely annihilated by the maddened Ning.

If Ning succeeded in the Daomerge? Things would be even worse! Thus, he had to kill Ning right away. Taking the treasure was just a secondary benefit. Alas… the Hegemon had stopped him.

……

Hegemon Brightshore watched as Archon Silksnow left, neither chasing nor attacking. Killing Archon Silksnow would be no easy feat.

The Hegemon’s titanic figure blurred, transforming into a humanoid figure. He returned to his normal form of a snowy-robed, white-bearded old man with six curved horns on his head. He waved his hand, collecting the Northbow swords, estate-world, armor, and other treasures Ning had left behind. He murmured softly to himself, “These treasures actually still have an owner? Daolord Darknorth actually didn’t die… can it be that he has a Primaltwin?”

Hegemon Brightshore revealed a smile. He felt rather apologetic towards Ning for not having been able to rescue him, but now he felt much better. “He really does have a few tricks up his sleeve. Since he didn’t die… his avatar should be at Vastheaven Palace. I’ll pay it a visit.” Hegemon Brightshore took a single step forward, tearing through spacetime as he travelled towards Vastheaven Palace.