Desolate Era (Book 41 - Book 45)

The battle grew increasingly ferocious.

“He’s already captured over two hundred Hegemons and should have used his sword-arts at least eighty times by now. His truesoul is crumbling quite rapidly.” The avatars continued to make detailed combat reports to the Exalt.

“Over twenty Hegemons belonging to the Iceland Astral Chains have been captured. The formation has been destroyed!” Suddenly, this new report came out. The astral chain formations could still be maintained after suffering light casualties, but at a certain point it would still break apart.

“Keep fighting! Daolord Darknorth won’t be able to last much longer,” Exalt Bowenya said calmly. “He’s used his sword-arts many times… even if he didn’t go full-force for most of them, it should still have exhausted him tremendously.”

As time continued to flow on, three more of the major formations were breached as well. By now, Ning had either killed or captured over five hundred Hegemons and Emperors, and had used his sword-arts over 180 times.

“Almost. Almost!” Exalt Bowenya was waiting eagerly. “We’re going to win.” Each strike would consume a significant amount of Daolord Darknorth’s vitality, even if the strikes were not full-force. Based on his calculations, the Daolord would die after a total of around two hundred strikes.”

“We’ve lost over six hundred Hegemons and Emperors, while he’s already used his sword-arts more than two hundred times. We still have over two thousand people left, but we only have three formations remaining. Daolord Darknorth is quite clever; he’s been focusing his efforts on the Hegemons who are in control of the formations.”

“Hold nothing back!” Exalt Bowenya ordered coldly. “He’ll be dying any moment now, while we have over two thousand Hegemons and Emperors left. We’ll be able to exhaust him to death!”

But… for some reason, the closer they came to success, the more uneasy Exalt Bowenya suddenly began to feel. He shook his head, forcing down that uneasy feeling and reassuring himself that it had appeared because he wanted to win too badly.

“Over seven hundred Hegemons and Emperors have been captured, while we only have two main formations remaining; the other formations aren’t important and are just meant to screen the real ones. Daolord Darknorth hasn’t died yet!”

“Over eight hundred have been captured. He’s used his sword-arts over 250 times, but he still hasn’t died! We only have one main formation left.”

“Why hasn’t he died yet?!” Exalt Bowenya was growing increasingly nervous and impatient.

“Not good!”

“Exalt!” Suddenly, half of the remaining avatars turned completely ashen. One of them said frantically, “Exalt, we’ve been counter-trapped!”

“Counter-trapped?!” The Exalt was completely dumbfounded.





* * *





Book 42, Chapter 6 - Putting On a Show


Exalt Bowenya’s face tightened. He murmured softly to himself, “Is he actually exhausted, or was he just pretending?”

He was beginning to feel some suspicions. The battle had progressed far too smoothly, causing him to feel a hint of unease deep inside. Each time, however, he had reassured himself that he was simply overthinking things! Upon hearing the remaining Hegemons cry that they had been counter-trapped? Exalt Bowenya’s intuition, tempered by countless years of adventuring and battle, screamed that something was seriously wrong with this battle.

“Are all of you trapped?” Exalt Bowenya asked.

“We’re all trapped. This entire place is filled with black fog. I can’t see the other Hegemons and Emperors.”

“We’ve been trapped as well.”

“We’re trapped.” The various avatars of the Hegemons and Emperors all spoke out frantically, causing Exalt Bowenya to feel increasingly uneasy about this.

……

Within the sealed spacetime continuum of a hundred billion kilometers.

Ning stood there in midair, relaxed and at his ease. Hundreds of millions of kilometers away, some magic treasures and formations continued to rain down attacks upon a second white-robed Daolord Darknorth. This second Daolord Darknorth was doing his best to dodge and evade while using his Water Sword Dao, Storm Sword Dao, and other techniques, with his truesoul at the brink of collapse.

“What is real is false. What is false is real.” Ning murmured softly, “None of these Hegemons are able to see through my Illusion Sword Dao. I’m able to toy with them with ease.” Ever since he had been trapped within this sealed continuum, his ‘frenzied fighting’ and his ‘crumbling truesoul’ had all been falsified by his Illusion Sword Dao!

Ning’s Sword Dao Domain was able to spread out to a distance of one billion kilometers! With but a thought, he caused this entire region to be transformed into an illusory realm. At Ning’s current level of insight, the illusory beings within his domain had gained a basic level of sentience, emotions, and intelligence! This was an absolutely terrifying concept. In comparison, simply faking a battle scene within this domain was incredibly simple. The Hegemons and Emperors only saw what Ning wished for them to see!

If Ning was able to use his Omega Sword Dao to become an Autarch, his illusory domain would reach the level of being able to manifest reality itself. By then, his ‘illusions’ would be real on both the surface and inside. He could create an ‘illusion’ of a Universe treasure, and it would become a genuine Universe treasure. If he created the illusion of an expert, they would become real experts! But of course, this would require him to constantly consume a large amount of power.

Even now, the beings created by his illusions possessed intelligence, emotions, and sentience. Ning’s ‘Illusion Sword Dao’ had become one of his killer techniques. In a battle against an Autarch, it would be somewhat effective but wouldn’t necessarily be the determining factor… but against mere Hegemons and Emperors? The Illusion Sword Dao could toy with them with ease! However, it took Ning time to capture those Hegemons and break their formations, which is why he had continued to put on a show and buy more time.

“Master. We’ve already taken control of this formation,” Azurefiend’s avatar reported.

“Good.” Ning revealed a delighted look, then waved his hand. A formation-base which was ten million kilometers long suddenly appeared next to him. Azurefiend’s avatar, the Paragon of Pills, Lord Annihilation, Hegemon Tia, and Hegemon Flameleft were jointly controlling this grand formation, which was one of the many formations which Ning had taken away. He had let his team choose from the available formations and find one which they could use.

“Assemble the formation and use it to cover everything within a hundred billion kilometers,” Ning immediately ordered. “Trap them all. Let none escape!”

“Alright.”

“Leave it to us.” Azurefiend, Lord Annihilation, and the others were all quite excited. Capture two thousand Hegemons in one blow? They had never done or even seen anything like this before! All of them felt both eagerness and nervousness.

Whoosh. Whoosh. Whoosh. A large amount of black fog spread out from within the formation. It almost instantly covered the entire sealed continuum, spreading out to a distance of a hundred billion kilometers. This formation had been meant to deal with Ning. It only had a minor effect on him, but it was perfect for dealing with these Hegemons and Emperors.

“I can’t see anything!”

“What a terrifying aura of darkness. I’ve been suppressed!”

“I can’t see anything either.”

“I can’t resist it.”

“We’ve been completely trapped.”