“Damn! They’ve actually completely boxed me in.” Ning frowned when he saw this. His illusions were still active, but his opponents had launched such a large-scale attack that everything within his Sword Dao Domain was being assaulted, including both the illusory Ning and the real Ning!
There was really nothing Ning could do against such a large-scale area attack. He immediately drew a Northbow sword and lightly sliced the air, causing a dimensional ripple to spread out and surround him. He was going to use his Space Sword Dao to counter these dimensional ripples.
Ning was securely ensconced in a dimensional ‘bubble’ which resisted the all-encompassing attack. Ning could sense exactly how much power was pushing against him, and he made sure that his bubble held just a tiny bit more power. He also continued to maintain the illusions with his Sword Dao Domain, having the illusory Ning also ‘block’ with the Space Sword Dao.
“Attack!” Yet another order rang out. This time, the sixth floor of the Daoguard Tower unleashed a terrifyingly large streak of saber-light that shot out in a fan-shape. This fan of saber-light was composed of countless tiny streaks of saber-light that were densely clustered together. Their power was overwhelming, and they also constitute a vast area attack that completely covered the entire Sword Dao Domain, viciously smashing through everything within it!
There was nothing Ning could do except use his sword-arts to defend once again. Fortunately, it didn’t require too much energy as these untargeted area attacks were much less dangerous to Ning, in that the force exerted against each individual within the area was much lower than in the case of a targeted attack. It was just barely at the Blazesun Ruler level of power, and so Ning was able to block without too much difficulty.
“Attack!” This time, the attack came from the third floor of the Daoguard Tower. It burst forth with the most powerful attack yet, unleashing a stream of golden flames which covered the skies and blazed away at everything within the Sword Dao Domain.
“Have they already guessed that I’m using illusions? Otherwise, why would they exclusively use such large-scale attacks?” Ning frowned. These large-scale attacks weren’t that dangerous, but they still took up some of his energy. Ning couldn’t help but feel worried. “Time to change strategies.”
……
Exalt Bowenya and Jonnbech were carefully watching this battle from afar. It was impossible for Hawkfang to fully control the tower while using his godsense to maintain a connection with an incarnation, and so he had dispelled it for now. The only people remaining here were Bowenya and Jonnbech’s incarnation.
“Watch carefully, Jonnbech.” Exalt Bowenya stared at the distant Ning intently. “I hope Hawkfang can win this battle, but if he loses, you are next! You are one of the most impressive Sithe Hegemons to have come here. I don’t care too much if the others die, but I hope you will survive.”
“Don’t worry, Exalt,” Jonnbech said. Jonnbech was the only Hegemon within this entire hidden dimension who had a truly perfect Dao-heart. He was close to becoming an Exalt himself.
True Sithe were only able to become Exalts in this dimension, but their children could become Autarchs! This was why the Sithe had paid so much attention to Hawkfang. In his heart, though, Exalt Bowenya still felt closer to Jonnbech. He couldn’t help it; the two were both true Sithe.
“It doesn’t matter if Daolord Darknorth really is skilled in putting on a show. We’ll find out the truth soon enough.” Jonnbech stared from afar. “If he can endure even this sort of all-out assault from Hawkfang’s Flameland Elder Hall, we can be all but certain that his ‘injuries’ were a false front.”
“Yes. If he truly is at the brink of death, it’s highly unlikely that he will be able to defeat Hawkfang’s Flameland Elder Hall,” Exalt Bowenya agreed.
“Hawkfang’s quite intelligent as well.” Jonnbech continued to watch, then let out a cold smile: “He’s using up all the remaining power of his Daoguard Tower to launch repeated wide-scale attacks. That was the fifteenth wave of attacks!”
Exalt Bowenya just continued to watch silently. So what if Hawkfang died? So what if even Jonnbech died? He cared, but not that much. So long as he himself survived and managed to successfully kill Ning, he would be a happy man.
* * *
Book 42, Chapter 10 - Utterly Exhausted
The white-robed Ji Ning was continuing to dodge and retreat in midair, while the Flameland Elder Hall was continuing to launch frenzied attacks against him.
Rumble…
The Flameland Elder Hall launched attack after attack, using those massive streams of golden fire, the enormous fans of saber-light, and those giant dimensional waves. On top of these wide-ranging area attacks, they also launched quite a number of single-target attacks against Ning! These single-target attacks were more focused, and as a result they were more powerful!
“We’ve already launched a total of fifteen wide-range attacks, and also launched nineteen waves of attacks with our other formations. How is he still able to keep fighting?” The Hegemons within the Flameland Elder Hall who were in control of the formations were beginning to grow anxious.
“His truesoul is collapsing even more quickly now. He’ll probably be dying soon.”
“He’s so powerful that he far surpasses any other Daolord. His truesoul is probably much stronger as well, allowing him to stay alive for a longer period of time.”
“Let’s give him another blast.”
“He’ll die any moment now.” Under Hawkfang’s direction, the Hegemons and Emperors in the Flameland Elder Hall launched yet another furious wave attacks, while Ning continued to retreat while blocking as best he could.
Time continued to tick away. Hawkfang watched as the rate at which Ning’s truesoul crumbled away continued to increase. He was clearly in increasingly bad shape. Any ordinary Daolord would’ve died long ago! Ning, however, was able to somehow keep fighting.
More time passed. Ning continued to run around the area, blocking and defending. He looked as though he was in his death throes… but he simply wouldn’t die! By now, the Fireland Elder Hall had used up the majority of its energy stores.
“It’s all an illusion!” Hawkfang suddenly said coldly, a frozen look on his face.
“An illusion?” The avatars of the Emperors next to him were all stunned. As the battle had raged on for longer than they had expected, they too had started to grow increasingly uneasy, but they could tell that the white-robed Daolord’s truesoul really was crumbling away faster and faster. It looked as though they were very close to succeeding in their task of slaying this ‘Daolord Darknorth’. They really didn’t want to believe it was all an illusion.
Hawkfang gritted his teeth. “He was already at death’s door before we even started! By now, the Flameland Elder Hall has used up more than half of our energy stores, yet he is somehow still able to keep up the fight? He’s just a Daolord! How strong could his truesoul possibly be?”
“Then w-we…” the Hegemons and Emperors all started to panic.
……
“So it really is an illusion.” Exalt Bowenya watched from afar. “He is the first Daolord to master an Eternal Omega Dao in this Chaosverse. He truly cannot be underestimated! Still… while I knew his sword-arts were powerful, I never would’ve imagined that his illusions would be so incredible as well. Even I cannot see any flaws in his illusions.”
Exalt Bowenya remained quite calm. He had been alive for a very long time, and the Sithe Chaosverse was a far more advanced place than this one. Back in his homeland, there had been quite a few who had become Eternal Emperors via an Omega Dao! Thus, Exalt Bowenya was able to accurately judge Ning’s power and abilities. However, he felt that since Ning was a Daolord who had failed the Daomerge, by all rights he should’ve been lacking in areas aside from his primary Dao, as he simply hadn’t been alive long enough. Now, it seemed, Daolord Darknorth had reached incredible heights in the art of illusions.
Desolate Era (Book 41 - Book 45)
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