Desolate Era (Book 41 - Book 45)

Riiiiiiip! Beams of dazzling, destructive energy spat out from the other eight castle towers, moving with incomprehensible speed and striking with nigh-Autarch levels of power! The attacks were incredibly powerful, but in the end they were generated by treasures. There was no way these attacks could compare with attacks from actual Autarchs in terms of profundity; they relied strictly upon overwhelming speed and power.

Swoosh! Ning used his Storm Sword Dao to evade. Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! He evaded all eight destructive rays of light. By the time those eight rays of light had flown tens of billions of kilometers and reached Ning, Ning was able to brush past them and let them splatter against the distant dimensional membrane, causing it to tremble.

As for the vilefiends and living golems? The ones touched by the rays of light were instantly and easily chopped apart! However, the vilefiends and the living golems were able to quickly recover. Killing them wouldn’t be that easy.

Rumble… suddenly, yet another rift appeared at the margins of this sealed continuum. A total of fifty-plus Hegemons and Emperors flew out from within this rift! Ning raised an eyebrow, then immediately transformed into a streak of light as he flew towards those fifty-plus Hegemons. However, as he did so another rift appeared in the distance. Another squad of fifty-plus Hegemons and Emperors appeared from this second rift as well.

“Eight of the nine treasures remain intact. Good enough.” The Hegemons began to advance. When they saw that eight of the castle towers were once more glowing with destructive light, they couldn’t help but secretly feel a sense of joy.

“This ‘Daolord Darknorth’ is nothing more than a Daolord whose truesoul is crumbling away. We have over a hundred Hegemons on our side and are supported by treasures from the Daoguard Tower. I refuse to believe we cannot kill him.”

“We’ll smash him apart with one coordinated strike. We’ll be rewarded for our victory and this calamity shall be at an end.”

“Attack!” The Hegemons and Emperors were brimming with malevolence. Whether it was because they had to obey orders, wanted to protect their home, or desired the great rewards promised, they had to kill Ning!

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! A miniature star began to appear in front of each of the hundred-plus Hegemons and Emperors. The hundred-plus miniature stars manifested runes which began to accumulate different but equally terrifying types of power.

“Flameland Astral Chains!”

“Iceland Astral Chains!”

The Hegemons began to launch their various weapons as well. The nine castle-like treasures were fixed in location and didn’t need to be controlled, but the various ‘astral chains’ were more complicated and needed to be controlled. Thus, the Sithe had sent over a hundred Hegemons and Emperors to man them. Each of the miniature stars was drawing power from the Daoguard Towers, then controlled by a Hegemon or Emperor to launch attacks via a formation that made it hard for Ning to dodge.

Whoosh! The fifty-plus Hegemons and Emperors to the left released streams of icy energy from their miniature stars. The icy energy shot straight towards Ning like rays of frozen light, completely freezing even spacetime. The combined power of the freezing energy was absolutely at the Autarch level of power; even Autarchs would be temporarily suppressed by such an assault.

To the right, streams of fiery golden light appeared as well, joining together and shooting towards Ning at terrifying speeds.

To one side, freezing cold. To the other, blazing heat. These were two diametrically different types of energy, and each was capable of threatening even an Autarch. When used in concert, they became even more terrifyingly powerful, especially now that they came together in accordance with an incredibly profound formation. They flew towards Ning in an intricate manner, making it almost impossible for him to dodge.

Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish! The eight streams of apocalyptic light continued to attack as well, slowing down Ning’s movements.

“Hmph.” Ning moved like the storm, transforming into a blurry shadow of lightning and wind. However, the ‘Flameland Astral Chains’ and the ‘Iceland Astral Chains’ being used by the Hegemons and Emperors had completely locked onto Ning, and they arced in the air as they continued their pursuit of him.

“I can’t dodge them?!” A look of shock and anger appeared on Ning’s face, while looks of excitement appeared on the faces of the hundred-plus Hegemons and the eight Daolords.

Whoosh! Ning hurriedly retreated backwards, wishing to draw those two terrifying types of energy together and cause them to collide.

“That fool.”

“Did he think that our treasures would interfere with each other?”

“When the two astral chains link up, merging fire and ice together, the power shall only increase!” The Hegemons all smirked as they watched the freezing energy swirl together with the golden flames as both continued to shoot towards Ning. Finally, the energies began to clash together. Tink! Each collision was extremely soft, and the only result was a series of strange dimensional ripples being generated as the attacks became even more powerful.

They watched as Daolord Darknorth continued to retreat, his face ashen as he frantically used the Northbow sword in his hand to execute the Water Sword Dao. A stream of watery light circled around him, striving to block the attacks, but some of the destructive power managed to pierce through the water. Of course, this was with Daolord Darknorth doing his best to conserve his energy.

Daolord Darknorth had clearly been caught off-guard by the hundred-plus streams of energy assaulting him. He executed repeated sword-arts, striving to block as his truesoul began to crumble more quickly.

“Hahaha… the Exalt’s prediction was spot-on!”

“He might be fast, but the astral chains are a perfect counter for him. When the astral chains from the Flameland Elder Hall and the Iceland Elder Hall merge together, they are his absolute nemesis. It’ll be hard for us to kill him outright, but we’ll be able to exhaust a large amount of his energy and hasten the collapse of his truesoul.”

The Hegemons grew increasingly excited. To kill this terrifying Daolord was unrealistic; all they could do was exhaust as much of his power as was possible! Each time the Daolord defended, his lifespan would be shortened. Eventually, he would die without them needing to do a thing.

“Kill! Kill! Kill!”

“Again!” The Hegemons and Emperors were all in a wonderful mood.

Ning had gotten the worst of his first clash against them. This time, he transformed into a streak of light and shot straight towards them. Clearly, he wanted to try and capture or kill as many Hegemons as he could. If he succeeded, the astral chains would become ownerless and he could take them away with ease.

“Daolord Darknorth, our Exalt has already predicted your every move!” The Hegemons scattered every which way, but as they flew the miniature stars flew with them, allowing them to maintain the astral chain formations.

Boom! Yet another rift appeared at the borders, resulting in thirty-five more Hegemons appearing. After they appeared, they immediately produced their own treasures and joined together into a formation. Soon, a thick black miasma began to sweep out and cover the entire sealed continuum, causing an ominous feeling to arise in Ning’s heart.





* * *





Book 42, Chapter 5 - Exhaust Him!


Ji Ning remained quite calm, because this entire time he had the feeling that this sealed continuum had not finished revealing all of the dangers hidden within it. Although none of these dangers were truly lethal, if he didn’t handle them correctly he would pay a heavy price for it.