Desolate Era

by RWX

  “Kill!”

  “Kill him!”

  The three Bi’an Godbeast tigers charged downwards from midair. Ning raised his head, staring up at those three Bi’an Godbeasts. He suddenly sensed the castle behind him beginning to shake. Turning his head, he glanced backwards, only to see another Bi’an Godbeast charging from him from the castle gates as well.

  There had also been some bronze-armored Fiendguards within the castle. Because Ning had attacked so unexpectedly, they hadn’t had the chance to join together into a formation yet.

  “This white-robed man’s Immortal swords are quite formidable; he should be a powerful Sword Immortal who is a Ki Refiner. Although Ki Refining Sword Immortals are formidable…they hate close combat. If we attack en masse, and if one of our claws land on him…he’s dead.”

  “Kill him. Otherwise, both the general and us shall be doomed.”

  They all harbored murderous thoughts in their mind.

  None of them wanted to let Ning leave alive. This was because the fact that the Eastwoods mountain range was being used to manufacture golems was a matter of the utmost secrecy. Once this location was exposed…the Grand Xia Dynasty would probably begin a frantic investigation. Now that they had a specific target, they’d probably be able to uncover even more gathering spots.

  It must be understood…that up till now, not a single one of the gathering points had been exposed yet! Although the Grand Xia Dynasty had discovered that a few places were rather ‘strange’, they weren’t sure what the places were doing, and so the Dynasty hadn’t made any rash decisions yet.

  The Eastwoods mountain range gathering point was damnably unlucky. After all…the only person in the entire world of the Grand Xia who trained in the Seventy-Two Transformations was Ji Ning. Only he had the ability to stealthily infiltrate this place! Anyone else would have been completely unable to enter the area and discover the secrets within.

  “We can’t let him escape!” The silver-armored youth’s eyes flashed with cold light as he stared down from the skies towards Ning. “If he flees, we’ll be in big trouble. The Master will definitely blame me for this!”

  ……

  The four Bi’an Godbeast tigers all possessed auras of tremendous power and majesty. Every single one of them was comparable to the Ba-Serpent of Bloodcloud Hall which had attempted to assassinate Ji Ning…but this Ji Ning was no longer the Ji Ning of the past. After reaching the sixteenth stage of the [Crimsonbright Diagram of the Nine Heavens], his power had skyrocketed once more.

  “F*ck off.”

  An enormous palm, also three hundred meters long, swatted down towards one of the Bi’an Tigers. The Bi’an Godbeast howled and swept out with its sharp paws, making full use of its extremely long and knife-sharp claws.

  BANG!!!

  The giant palm, covered with golden light, completely knocked this Bi’an Godbeast flying. The other three Bi’an Tigers attacked wildly en masse, but Ning began to brandish his other palm as well. As he did so, this palm also instantly increased to a size of three hundred meters, and it too swatted a Bi’an Godbeast away.

  “Three Heads, Six Arms.” Ning transformed into his three-headed, six-armed form. Now, six utterly enormous palms were slapping and swatting in every direction.

  His palm-strikes all possessed the power of a Pure Yang treasure; they were far superior to Immortal swords. In addition, using Immortal swords required the use of elemental ki, whereas his [Starseizing Hand]-enhanced hands had been transformed into magic treasures long ago; just like the [Eight-Nine Arcane Art], his palms didn’t need to use any divine power at all. However, actively using the [Starseizing Hand] to unleash tremendous strength did require the use of divine power.

  BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! Six giant palms, each flashing with a sharp golden light, struck out like a series of sharp swords, either chopping or thrusting or swatting.

  The four Bi’an Godbeast tigers had intended on launching a group assault, but they were instead knocked flying backwards, one after the other.

  “General!”

  “General, this man is a fiendgod! And his divine body is extremely powerful; his body seems to be as unbreakable as a vajra. He’s actually able to block our attacks just using his hands.”

  The bronze-armored Fiendguards all sent hurried mental messages to the silver-armored youth.

  The silver-armored youth, upon seeing this happen from his position in midair, had an unsightly look on his face. “I didn’t expect that his close combat abilities would be even more formidable than his sword-formation abilities.” In truth, if Ning had to use Immortal swords, his close combat abilities truly would be a bit weaker…but by relying on the power of his palms, he was actually slightly more powerful than the second stage of the [Greater Thousand Swords Formation].

  “Ahahah! ‘General’…do you wish to keep fighting? You aren’t able to do anything to me, while I can leave whenever I want.” Ning’s laughter rang out from below.

  “Halt!” The silver-armored youth barked.

  Instantly, all four of the Bi’an Godbeast tigers hurriedly retreated, coming to hover in the air to each side of the silver-armored youth. They stared at the distant, white-robed Ning. All of them were rather shocked…the thirty-six of them, all Fiendguards, were actually unable to do anything to this person, even when fighting together. No wonder he had been able to so effortlessly slaughter them in the castle earlier.

  “Given your power, you should’ve been able to use a Greater Teleportation Dao-seal to leave long ago, when you were still inside the castle,” the silver-armored man said coldly. “But you didn’t. This was for the sake of Mu Northson, right?”

  Ning was startled. He had used the Seventy-Two Transformations to completely change his aura; why was it that this general immediately mentioned Mu Northson?

  “Ji Ning.” The silver-armored youth looked downwards. He said coldly, “Did you think I wouldn’t be able to guess that it was you? In the entire world of the Grand Xia, the only ability that could allow someone to so stealthily infiltrate this castle is probably you, after using your Seventy-Two Transformations. When I also noticed that the only grandmaster within the castle who vanished was Mu Northson…the only person I could think of who would come to save him would be you, Ji Ning.”

  “Previously, I wasn’t completely certain that you trained in the [Eight-Nine Arcane Art], but now…I am.” The silver-armored man let out a cold laugh.

  The white-robed youth below let out a loud laugh as well. His body flickered, then transformed into that of the fur-clad Ji Ning.

  “Correct. It is indeed me. I knew that I wouldn’t be able to hide the fact that I trained in the [Eight-Nine Arcane Art] for too much longer…after all, last time, I ended up trapped in your Eastwoods mountain range for quite some time. I didn’t expect you to be able to guess it right away this time,” Ning said. “I know that this Fiendgod Golem of yours is quite important. I can give it back to you, but you have to release my junior apprentice-brother, Mu Northson, and give him back his freedom.”

  “I trust that reobtaining a golem like this, comparable to a top-grade Pure Yang treasure, in exchange for just giving me my junior apprentice-brother is actually quite a decent bargain,” Ning said.

  “A decent bargain? No. This is nothing more than a half-finished golem; it’s not even finished. It isn’t actually worth that much,” the silver-armored youth said.

  “Perhaps not to outsiders, but to you, it is extremely valuable. You can work on it and complete it.” Ning raised his head to stare at the silver-armored youth. “I have only one request. Give my junior apprentice-brother his freedom back.”

  “Hahahaha…freedom?!” The silver-armored youth was so enraged, he began to laugh. “If I give Mu Northson his freedom, who will give me my freedom?”

  Ning was startled. Who would give him his freedom?

  “You’ve discovered this forbidden region, which means its secret has been revealed. If I don’t kill you…how can I esca
pe punishment?” A savage look was on the silver-armored man’s face. “Both you and your junior apprentice-brother can die.”

  Ning instantly understood. Given that the mysterious power divided up its forces into ‘Fiendslaves’, ‘Fiendserfs’, ‘Fiendguards’, and ‘Fiendlords’, they undoubtedly held their Fiendlords to very high standards. Ning had barged into this location…once he exposed its secrets, the mysterious power would be put on a very bad position.

  “Wait a moment,” Ning said hurriedly. “I’m willing to swear an oath to the Dao of the Heavens that I will not reveal what is happening here within the Eastwoods mountain range to anyone, and I will also return your Fiendgod Golem to you. You, in exchange, will release my junior apprentice-brother.”

  “Even if you swear an oath to the Dao of the Heavens, I will still be punished. Thus…only if you die will I be safe.” The silver-armored youth let out a lowl growl. “Do you think that just because you’ve trained in the [Eight-Nine Arcane Art] that I am unable to do anything to you? Hmph. Hmph! Many Celestial Immortals have perished before me, much less you, a mere Void-level.”

  As his words came out, an azure serpent that was more than ten kilometers long suddenly appeared in midair. This azure serpent was extremely slender, and it came coiling towards Ning.

  “A rope?” Ning was startled.

  The [Eight-Nine Arcane Art] divine ability feared restrictive magic treasures the most. For example, if he ended up being bound by this rope, there would be no way he could use any Dao-seals or enter his Immortal estate. That would be very bad indeed.

  Thus…he absolutely could not let himself be bound.

  “All I’m asking is that you let my junior apprentice-brother go free.” Immortal swords clustered around Ning as a sharp golden sword-light began to form in front of him.

  “Only if I kill you will I be able to live comfortably,” the silver-armored youth bellowed back.

  The golden sword-light collided against the enormous azure serpent in midair. The power of that rope, in the shape of the azure serpent, was truly tremendous. A single collision with it was enough to completely blast apart the divine black dragon which Ning’s golden sword-light had transformed into.

  “If you don’t agree…then I’ll beat you until you do!” Ning had grown angry now as well. A black-robed Ning suddenly appeared out of nowhere next to him.

  The two Ji Nings stood there, shoulder to shoulder.

  A total of 324 top-grade Immortal-ranked magic treasures appeared in midair. His true body and his Primaltwin each controlled 162 of these Immortal swords! It must be understood that the memories and minds of the two bodies were completely linked and synced, and both of them trained in the [Darknorth Sutra] as Ki Refiners…and in fact, both were ate the late Void level!

  The power of the [Darknorth Sutra] filled every single one of the top-grade Immortal-ranked flying swords. Although his true body and his Primaltwin controlled the swords separately, it was as though a single person was controlling them!

  And thus, a total of more than three hundred top-grade Immortal-ranked flying swords were able to completely join together in formation!

  Ruuuuuuumble…

  A golden Immortal sword, carrying a terrifying aura of majesty, manifested before Ning’s true body and Primaltwin.

  [Greater Thousand Swords Formation] – Stage Four!

  This was Ning’s true maximum combat power as a Ki Refiner! Power that was even greater than his true body’s close combat abilities!

  The fur-clad Ning and the black-robed Ning simultaneously let out an enraged roar.

  “KILL!!!!”

  * * *

  Book 15, Chapter 6 - Soultamer Jade

  Many combination-formations, such as the Ba-Serpent Formation or the Bi’an Formation, relied on different people occupying different parts of the formation. Upon coming together, their strength would increase explosively! What Ji Ning was currently using with his Primaltwin was something similar, something which mimicked a combination-formation. Although this wasn’t intentional, it was even more meticulate and intricate than many true combination-formations.

  “ROAAAAR!”

  The golden Immortal sword before them transformed into an incomparably massive divine black dragon that was coiled. The divine black dragon let out a draconic roar, and the sound of this roar completely shook the world around them.

  This was a majesty that came from more than three hundred top-grade Immortal-ranked flying swords, after their power had been merged together through the [Greater Thousand Swords Formation]!

  This power was so great, it eclipsed that of most divine abilities that Fiendgod Body Refiners trained in!

  “What?!” The silver-armored youth’s face changed slightly as he stared down from midair. “Block!”

  “Hissssss…”

  The azure serpent-formed rope in midair let out a hissing sound. The enormous azure serpent slithered forth, moving to collide head on against the divine black dragon.

  The divine dragon soared into the skies!

  The azure serpent came slithering forth!

  BOOM!

  The world itself shook tremendously…and then a blast of wild power exploded out in an omnidirectional ripple. When it struck the bodies of those four Bi’an Godbeasts, a series of crackling sounds could be heard…but of course, they were able to withstand this level of energy. As for those weaker black-robed Loose Immortals, they had fled far away long ago.

  The gorge around them, however, was in for some pain. It rumbled as the ground began to crack apart, and many nearby boulders were transformed into dust. The cliffs on each side of the gorge began to break apart on a large scale.

  Faced with that blast of wild power, the surface of the castle began to flicker with a dark light. It managed to withstand the collisive force.

  “Not good.” The silver-armored man’s face changed dramatically; the azure serpent in the air had been completely destroyed, transforming back into its original form of a rope. The divine black dragon, however, was still filled with enormous power. It continued to roar with abandon, wanting to continue to strike against the azure serpent. “This Ji Ning is actually so powerful! He’s not even a Celestial Immortal yet, but the power of his Immortal swords is already so great.”

  “You want to capture me? General, you aren’t strong enough yet!” The fur-clad Ning and the black-robed Ning both let out furious roars.

  ROAAAAR!

  The divine black dragon in the skies let out a draconic roar as well, then continued its upwards charge.

  “I don’t believe it. Don’t believe it! I have to capture him.” The silver-armored youth gritted his teeth. He didn’t want to fail; he wasn’t willing to accept the repercussions of failure. His hands joined together to form a seal as he shouted loudly, “ASURA!”

  A powerful Immortal power rapidly began to summon the majestic power of the Heavens and the Earth, forming a tall, skinny, hideous, and completely black warrior. This hideous warrior hefted a double-edged blade with three tips and pointed it straight towards Ning, letting out a bellow: “Little thief, die!” And then, the hideous warrior charged straight forward.

  “CELESTIAL GUARDIAN DRAGON!” The silver-armored youth’s hand-seals changed once again.

  Yet another creature appeared in midair, a coiling divine dragon which was golden in color. The divine golden dragon let out a draconic roar of its own, then charged downwards as well.

  “BIND!”

  The enormous rope in midair once more transformed into that queer azure serpent. This time, the azure serpent’s tail had a snakehead at the end; it now had a head on each end, and it howled through the air as it charged towards Ning.

  Controlling two secret arts and this magic treasure was actually extremely tiring for this silver-armored general as well.

  ……

  “Break. Break. Break!” The fur-clad Ning and the black-robed Ning simultaneously controlled the [Greater Thousand Swords Formation], using the more than thr
ee hundred top-grade Immortal-ranked magic swords to once more generate that incomparably sharp golden flying sword. The golden flying sword howled through the air, transforming into that divine black dragon. Now, there were two of the divine black dragons in the air.

  Simultaneously maintaining two of the fourth-stage [Greater Thousand Swords Formation] sword-lights was a tremendous burden on Ning as well.

  “Bind him. I have to bind him.” A look of savagery was on the face of the silver-armored youth. “I was only able to escape after enduring for countless years. I don’t want to be punished again. Absolutely not!”

  From high up in the skies, the hideous Asura warrior, the Celestial Guardian Dragon, and the two-headed azure serpent launched simultaneous attacks downwards.

  Two divine black dragons flew upwards, greeting the attacks.

  BOOM BOOM BOOM!!!

  A series of explosions could be heard from within the skies, and the surrounding area was filled with clashing blasts and ripples of power.

  “Hahaha…General, this bit of ability isn’t enough,” Ning laughed loudly. The fourth-stage [Greater Thousand Swords Formation] sword-light, in the shape of the two divine dragons, was actually able to blast apart the Asura warrior and the Celestial Guardian Dragon before vanishing.

  “Suppression!” The silver-armored youth suddenly waved his hand, and one giant seal after another began to appear in the skies. A total of seven grand seals appeared, each glowing with blurry light. The grand seals were covered with some characters, and they hovered there in the skies like giant mountains. Light flowed from one seal to another, merging them into a single whole.

  “Crush him!” The silver-armored youth pointed furiously towards Ning.

  The seven grand seals descended in awe-inspiring fashion en masse, rapidly joining together as they descended. They actually transformed into a true, enormous mountain as they smashed towards Ning.

  “Break!”

  Ning pointed upwards as well. The sword-light of the [Greater Thousand Swords Formation], in the form of two divine black dragons, soared straight into the heavens like fish that were swimming against the flow.