Desolate Era (Book 41 - Book 45)

Boom! The quintessence core ignited, causing the entire world to flare with ten thousand times more power than before! The Grassland World became filled with power, with a blurry blue light appearing everywhere within it. As for the eight remaining conduit formations, they began to pump energy out at their absolute maximum capacities! A vast torrent of energy pumped out, causing all of the formations throughout the Grassland World to skyrocket to maximum power.

Still, there was a limit to how much the conduits could pass through. The remaining amount was simply wasted. One of the nine formations generating the nine cloud layers had been destroyed, after all. Despite that, the power of the formations still rose by over 60%! If all of the formations had remained intact, the power would have instantly doubled.

……

Riiiip! Autarch Titanos was right in the middle of using his giant black five-headed serpent to keep a rift in the clouds open while Ning used the giant divine sword to attack yet another conduit formation.

All of a sudden, all of the clouds began to glow with blurry white light. The white light was very comfortable and carried the blessings of radiance, but it also caused the restrictive pressure generated by the clouds to skyrocket in power by 60%!

It must be understood that once one reached an extremely high level of power, improving by merely 10% to 20% was already extremely difficult. A sudden increase of 60% made it impossible for the black serpent to keep the rift open any longer.

“I can’t break through it any longer.” The divine sword had to fight back against the combined assault of the nine violet-gold chains while also enduring the restrictive pressure of eight different cloud layers. There was no way for it to keep attacking the formation, especially now that the power of the violet-gold chains had increased multifold and the clouds had grown more powerful as well.

“I can’t keep holding any longer either.” Autarch Titanos was similarly anxious. His black serpent was fighting back against the ninth and strongest cloud layer.

……

Deep within a giant palace inside the Grassland World. The red-robed man and the other two were seated here, head raised and staring past the dimensional barriers to see what was happening in the world outside.

Below them were a host of other figures, including the three Autarch-class void dwellers and a number of Sithe Exalts. Iyerre had a number of ‘spare’ Exalts who hadn’t been needed to control the various temples, and they had been assigned to the Grassland World. ‘Bowenya’ was here as well.

“Should we attack?” the black-robed man said in his cold voice.

“Not just yet.” The red-robed man frowned. “We still haven’t managed to locate the true bodies of the Autarchs yet. That sword is merely composed of energy and magic treasures! Now that we’ve ignited the quintessence core, they won’t be able to cause any further damage to our formations. Let’s wait for their true bodies to descend, then trap them inside. When they are inside, we’ll be ready to wrap this battle up.”

“Agreed.” The silver-robed woman nodded.

……

Ning and the others were indeed in a tough situation. The power of the nine cloud layers in the Grassland World had increased dramatically, while the violet-gold chains had become several times more powerful as well. They were finding it difficult to fight back.

“Withdraw.” The divine sword, previously capable of piercing through eight cloud layers, quickly retracted to the ninth cloud layer and then flew over to help the black serpent push at the rift. Once the rift was closed, all connection to the outside world be lost. They would no longer be able to control those treasures using mana or godsense, resulting in the collapse of the sword.

Riiiiiip. The divine sword was still mighty enough to tear the ninth layer of gray clouds open, but it was only able to tear a thousand-kilometer hole now.

“Iyerre has yet to make his move. That means he probably hasn’t arrived yet. This is a perfect opportunity which won’t come again. We need to seize this moment to destroy this weapon!” Autarch Stonerule sent mentally.

“I feel like we should have us attack in person now,” Autarch Ekong said.

“Agreed. However, we need to remain cautious. Our true bodies should just remain in the outermost layer of clouds and keep it open,” Autarch Titanos said. “We can’t go any deeper inside! Once we do, the Sithe will probably use certain tricks to keep us trapped in there. We’d be shut off from the outside world and unable to maintain our connection to the formation, at which point we would probably all be wiped out!”

Ning and the others were all wary of this possibility as well. They couldn’t afford to take a risk like that.

“Alright. Let’s make our moves.”

Just a short while later, a towering figure suddenly appeared within the void and strode towards the gray clouds. This vast figure was barefoot and almost completely naked, wearing just a fur loincloth. It had seven faces and fourteen arms! The face in front resembled that of Ning’s, while the three faces to the left side and the three faces to the right side resembled those of Autarch Titanos and the rest of the six. The towering figure’s body was covered with a blurry layer of sword-light, and the very act of walking caused it to emanate an aura of terrifying destructive force.

Ning and the others had such powerful bodies that they were strongest in close combat. This formation-incarnation was formed by the seven of them using the power of the outside formations, but led by Ning using his Omega Sword Dao. All seven of their true bodies were located inside this formation-incarnation. As soon as it had been created, it had emanated a natural aura of infinite sword-light. Every single movement it made was filled with ineffable might.

“Being responsible for this incarnation is incredibly taxing.” Ning could feel his entire body aching, as could Autarch Titanos and the others. Not only did they have to keep the giant formation in the outside world active while controlling the divine sword, they also had to physically join together in this vast formation-incarnation.

Splitting their energies three different ways like this was no easy task!

“While we keep the sword active, we’ll only be able to use 70% of this formation-incarnation’s power,” Ning mused to himself. From a tactical standpoint, they would become deadlier if they completely abandoned the sword and instead focused on pouring all of the formation’s energies into this incarnation, using 100% of its power! Still, it wasn’t yet necessary for them to take such a drastic step.

Riiiiip. The formation-incarnation strode forwards towards the grayish clouds, its fourteen arms reaching out simultaneously in ripping motions. The clouds around them quickly began to roil about as a vast area of ten thousand kilometers was torn open by it.

It was quite easy for the formation-incarnation to keep this rift open, freeing up the giant black serpent and the divine sword to continue stabbing downwards.





Book 44, Chapter 29 - Iyerre Cometh


Deep within the palace located in the depths of the Grassland World. The silver-robed woman waved her hand, causing an image to appear next to her which displayed what was happening in the world outside. “All of you look so nervous. Fine. We’ll let you see what’s happening outside. That way, you can tell Iyerre that the three of us are being diligent in our efforts.”

The three Autarch-class void dwellers and the Sithe Exalts all stared at the images next to her. They saw a towering, seven-faced titan dressed in just a fur loincloth reach out with fourteen arms. The arms were filled with absolutely unearthly power as they tore apart the ninth layer of clouds and then kept the rift open.

Aside from the titan, there was also the giant black serpent and the gigantic sword. The black serpent was under assault by nine violet-gold chains. The serpent was clearly finding it rather hard to endure the assault, even though streaks of sword-light were assisting it in resisting the chains.