Desolate Era (Book 41 - Book 45)

In the blink of an eye, the four violet-gold chains’ furious attacks had caused the giant black serpent to completely collapse. All five avatars died in battle, with none being able to escape!

This caused Ning and the others to feel both sorrow and grief, but there was nothing they could do. It had all happened too quickly! As soon as Iyerre had returned, he had killed Bolin’s avatar and then immediately used those nine violet-gold chains to launch a series of consecutive attacks. There had been no chance to flee at all!

The Grassland World was a vast place, while spacetime was suppressed here. The black serpent needed to slowly fly away if it wished to escape, but Iyerre wasn’t going to give it the time needed. This was the exact reason why Ning and the others hadn’t dared to risk their true bodies inside.

Going in would be easy. Coming out would be very difficult!

“Flee.” The giant sword quickly fled backwards, while the nine violet-gold chains immediately swung to attack it. For a time, both sides appeared to be equal.

The giant sword was different from the black serpent. The sword had been formed from a complete merger of the energies of the seven Autarchs. This was far superior to the black serpent, which simply represented five Autarchs working together in harmony! The giant sword was a single whole and guided by Ning’s Sword Dao. Every single strike of the sword was filled with tremendous power, making it impossible for the nine violet-gold chains to defeat it, much less destroy it.

A short moment later, the giant sword flew out from the grayish clouds and escaped from the Grassland World.

Iyerre raised his head, glaring. If he had poured in all of his power he would’ve been able to prevent that sword from escaping, but there was no point. That sword had simply consisted of energy and some Universe treasures. Ning and the others could’ve quickly forged more Universe treasures to replace them.

“I should keep my true killer attacks hidden until the very end. It isn’t worth exposing it on just a few Universe treasures.” Iyerre raised his head, staring at the formation-incarnation in the skies.

The incarnation was staring at Iyerre as well. Moments later, it waved its arm and then retreated from the clouds as well. Whoooosh! The gray clouds quickly closed over, allowing the Grassland World to grow calm again.

……

The outside world. The great formation continued to cover the entire vast area surrounding the Grassland World.

Ji Ning, Titanos, Mogg, Bolin, Skyfeeder, Ekong, and Stonerule felt both sorrow and anger as they stared at the ovaloid Grassland World before them. Three of the five avatars they had just lost were peak-strength avatars, but they had been wiped out in just a twinkling. This taught them a lesson with regards to just how powerful Iyerre was once he joined together with the Grassland World.

In truth, Iyerre had carried the Grassland World with him in his mission to kill Ning. Alas, Ning managed to escape before he reached that temple! Thus, Iyerre had chosen to separate from his Grassland World and gone Autarch-hunting! Autarch Mogg had managed to survive thanks to his Golden Bridge of Freedom, while Autarch Bolin had nearly died while only barely surviving thanks to comprehending the Samsara Daobirth Essence at the critical moment.

“Iyerre and the Grassland World combine to form a much more deadly opponent,” Titanos said.

“He has a far higher level of insight than us.” Stonerule slowly shook his head.

“So what if he does? We’ll kill anyone who dares to invade our Chaosverse, even if it costs us our very lives.” Autarch Stonerule gritted his teeth.

Right at this moment… boom! The ovaloid ‘Grassland World’ quickly shrank in size inside the formation. Moments later, a spacetime rift appeared next to it. Swoosh! It flew straight into the spacetime rift. This caused Ning and the others to feel their hearts lurch. They had suspected all along that their formations were unable to bind Iyerre, but seeing it with their own eyes was still rather demoralizing.

“Wait, he didn’t leave yet!” Ning and the others turned to stare at the rift which had just appeared outside the reach of their formation. The ovaloid Grassland World had actually just flown out there!

“Cultivator leaders, did you think that I had fled? No, no. How could I flee?” Iyerre’s voice echoed throughout every inch of the void. “ Let’s see just how powerful your formations are.”

“BREAK!!!” Iyerre let out a furious shout, and those nine violet-gold chains suddenly appeared on the surface of the ovaloid object. The violet-gold chains expanded in size, each becoming a trillion kilometers in length as they swept through the void with ineffable majesty. With Iyerre in control of them and with the ignited quintessence strengthening them, they began to furiously smash down upon Ning’s enormous formation! Iyerre was able to immediately see the flaws in this formation and so his every attack was aimed at a weak spot.

Boom! Boom! Boom! The entire formation immediately began to shudder as a level of power comparable to the divine sword’s began to hammer down upon its various weak spots. This wasn’t a defensive formation; there was only so much punishment it could take!

“Let’s leave for now.” Ning and the others were all quite patient. All of them had prepared escape-type treasures, and they had also opened up a spacetime tunnel within the formation itself.

Whoosh! Ning and the others immediately flew into the spacetime corridor and departed.

1. In China, the plum blossom symbolizes perseverance, hope, and beauty.





Book 45, Chapter 2 - Weakness, Hunt


Now that Ji Ning and the other Autarchs were no longer actively maintaining the grand formation which covered this region, it quickly crumbled beneath the strikes of the violet-golden chains.

A short while later, four figures emerged from the grayish clouds which constituted the surfaced of the ovaloid Grassland World. It was Iyerre and his three allies.

“They fled,” the silver-robed woman murmured softly. “Iyerre, this is their homeland. These cultivators can fight or flee as they please. If we aren’t able to trap them, we won’t be able to kill them at all.”

“They are all extremely wily. As soon as the odds turn against them, they immediately flee.” The red-robed man frowned as well.

“I agree with everything you two just said.” Iyerre nodded. Killing Ning and the Autarchs would be very difficult, because they all fled at the first sign of bad news! Iyerre was constantly being suppressed by this local Chaosverse, and so once they fled in unison he wouldn’t be able to chase them down.

He could suppress spacetime to make it impossible for them to flee, then warp through spacetime after them… but as he tried to warp close enough to do this, ripples would be generated. Once Ning and the others sensed this, they would instantly flee far away. Iyerre still wouldn’t be able to catch them.

The reason why he had been able to do this to Mogg was because he had gotten close enough to use something akin to a domain-field to prevent Mogg from escaping. Now that Ning and the others were all together and working in concert, Iyerre’s domain would no longer be able to bind them any longer.

In other words… neither speed, suppression of spacetime, nor domains would work. There was nothing which could actually trap Ning and the others. They could come and go as they pleased! It must be remembered that the native Autarchs were in no hurry to conclude the war right away. The longer it dragged on for, the better. If it somehow dragged on for a few million chaos cycles, their Chaosverse would have given birth to another batch of experts that might include new Autarchs or Omega Emperors!