Desolate Era (Book 36 - Book 40)

Swish! In the end, secret arts were external sources of assistance. He, Emperor Goldface, was most skilled in close combat. His fame had been gained from his genuine abilities.

“Kill!” Ning charged forwards as well. Swish! Swish! Swish! Six tidal waves of sword-light clashed against the six shuttles. Both sides used very bizarre and rapid attacks. Ning was using his Omega Sword Dao – Shadowless and his Omega Sword Dao – Blood Drop. He was extremely confident in his close combat abilities. However, Ning’s face soon tightened. “He’s fast.”

Emperor Goldface walked the path of the Dao of Light, after all; in terms of raw speed, not even Daoist Bluestone was a match for him! In addition, the Dao of Light was omnipresent and omniscient. There were no openings at all, making it so that even Ning’s unpredictable sword-arts found it hard to break through Emperor Goldface’s wall of shuttle-light.

In addition… one of those six shuttles was a Universe treasure! Thus, some of Emperor Goldface’s attacks were incredibly powerful. This made it quite hard for Ning to battle him.

“Hm? He’s pursued speed to the utmost, focusing all of his efforts on it. Even I am inferior to Goldface in terms of speed… but I didn’t expect for Daolord Darknorth to be able to block these attacks.” Daoist Bluestone laughed as he evaluated the progress of the battle.

“Goldface’s path is that of the Dao of Light, after all. He is indeed highly skilled in speed and agility.” Empress Jade Phoenix nodded as well.

……

Ning and Emperor Goldface continued their furious battle, but this sort of fight was quite uncomfortable for Ning. It reminded him not to underestimate anyone who had nearly reached Hegemonic levels in the Dao. Even though he was suppressing his opponent with a heartworld projection and two secret arts, his foe was still able to move with unbelievable speed.

“Break for me!” Ning suddenly let out a furious roar, and his sword-stances changed. Previously, his attacks had been fast and bizarre, but now they completely changed to become incomparably brutal and explosive. Ning was now using his most overwhelming powerful attack, the Omega Sword Dao – Heavenbreaker.

Boom! Boom! Boom! His attacks exploded with power, causing the surrounding spatial fabric to collapse. The three spectating Hegemons hurriedly moved to stabilize spacetime, calming it down in the area around them. However, spacetime the area where Ning and Emperor Goldface were battling had been completely annihilated.

“What?!” Emperor Goldface suddenly turned pale as he saw a terrifying flood of sword-light crash towards him. This tsunami of sword-light was incomparably ferocious, so mighty as to cause even him to feel a tinge of fear. The only person in the Dao Alliance who had ever given him such a sense of pressure was Daoist Bluestone.

“Block!” Emperor Goldface hurriedly strove to defend against the attack.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Ning’s six swords continued to furiously chop out against him in accordance with the principles of the Omega Sword Dao – Heavenbreaker. Emperor Goldface was completely unprepared for this avalanche of attacks. He had reached an apex of speed and agility, and there was no one in the Dao Alliance who could compare to him in this regard. However, what he feared the most was having to deal such overwhelmingly powerful attacks that he had to face head-on.

Daoist Bluestone had crushed him in just this manner. Long before Daoist Bluestone’s Primaltwin had been transformed into a Black Emperor, the two had fought a public battle. Daoist Bluestone’s staff-arts had struck down like titanic meteors, causing Emperor Goldface to turn completely pale with fear. This was why he had chosen to go into seclusion and had trained so painstakingly in private. He wanted to one day wipe away the humiliation of that loss.

Alas… he wasn’t able to exceed Bluestone in power. When he heard that Daoist Bluestone’s Primaltwin had been transformed into a Black Emperor, he had instantly felt despair.

“I told you that I’d knock you on your ass, and that’s what I’m going to do.” Ning’s six Northbow swords howled down angrily like an endless storm of strikes. Delightful, truly delightful! No wonder so many cultivators chose Daos that were focused on crushing foes with overwhelming power. But of course, if one purely focused on such techniques then one’s foes would be able to avoid your lethal strikes with superior agility. Ning’s advantage lay in the fact that his Sword Dao was truly perfect. Foes were unable to avoid his strikes… and so even Emperor Goldface was being smashed down to the brink of defeat.

Swoosh! Emperor Goldface’s face turned uglier and uglier to behold. With a swooshing sound, he transformed into a dazzling line of light that quickly retreated far away at incredible speeds.

The battle came to a temporary halt as Ning simply stared at the distant Emperor Goldface.

Emperor Goldface felt incredibly ashamed and enraged. He roared loudly, “Everyone, Daolord Darknorth is nothing more than a Daolord, but his sword-arts have already reached incredible heights. This [Omega Sword Dao] truly is extraordinary! I imagine that it would be very useful even for Hegemons; the three of you might gain much from studying it. However, he asks too much!”

“Daoist Bluestone offered him many treasures, but he still refuses to show us his technique… and he dares act with such gall before us! Since he refuses to give us face, why should we give him any face? I think we should join forces to capture him and force him to hand over his [Omega Sword Dao]! Let’s work together. He won’t be able to escape!” Emperor Goldface roared.

Everyone fell silent.

Empress Jade Phoenix glanced at him, then turned to look at the other Emperors and Hegemons.

Hegemon Netherlily watched silently, not saying a word.

Emperor Blackcloud glanced at his peers as well.

The entire region fell into an unnatural, awkward stillness. Ning’s face tightened slightly. He then turned to glance coldly at Emperor Goldface. If they all worked together, he would indeed be in quite a bit of trouble… but logically speaking, Hegemon Brightshore and Daoist Bluestone probably wouldn’t act against him. If so, he wouldn’t be in that much danger. He had yet to reveal his ‘Shadowless body’. In truth, even if all of the major powers present struck against him simultaneously, the end result would at most be him being forced to disperse his body and reveal his invulnerable form.

“Enough!” Daoist Bluestone barked coldly. “Goldface, you go too far.”

“I’m trying to help you out, Bluestone!” Emperor Goldface was rather irritated.

“I didn’t ask for your help,” Daoist Bluestone said flatly. Emperor Goldface instantly felt even angrier.

“Since we weren’t able to come to terms, let us bring the conference to an end.” Hegemon Brightshore spoke up as well, breaking the unnatural stillness. Just now, there had indeed been a few major powers who were intrigued by Goldface’s suggestion… but since Hegemon Brightshore and Daoist Bluestone had both spoken up, that little ploy came to no fruition.

“Darknorth.” Hegemon Brightshore glanced at Ning and smiled. “Come and visit whenever you like.”

“If you are ever willing to let me view your [Omega Sword Dao], anything’s negotiable,” Hegemon Windrain said with a smile.

“We Ancient cultivators would also welcome a visit from you whenever you wish to come, fellow Daoist Darknorth.” Hegemon Netherlily rose to her feet as well. All three Hegemons were quite interested in Ning’s Omega Dao… but there was a limit to how much they were willing to pay for it.

“Hmph.” Emperor Goldface let out a cold snort, then waved his hand and tore a hole through spacetime. He stepped into the hole and then vanished.

Emperor Goldisle, Emperor Blackcloud, and Empress Jade Phoenix said a few words to Ning before leaving. This realmverse conference had come to an end, and the various major powers all departed.

……

Ning and Daoist Bluestone simultaneously appeared at the peak of a mountain.