Desolate Era

by RWX

  “All of you have reviewed this technique.” Subhuti swept them with his gaze.

  The figures before him were the true top-level figures of the entire Nuwa Alliance. They all ruled over mighty domains of their own.

  “This technique is quite excellent, but what’s the use when it’s untrainable?” Fuxi laughed as he looked towards Subhuti. “Subhuti, what are you scheming? Spill it.”

  Subhuti waved his hand, causing six black bottles to appear before him.

  “These are…”

  Everyone’s eyes lit up.

  None of them were fools. They had all reviewed the [Ninehorn Lightning Serpent] evasion technique, and recorded in the technique was the information that the lightning serpents could be tamed using six bottles of chaos nectar. For Subhuti to suddenly produce six such bottles…they naturally were able to understand what it meant.

  “Here are six bottles of chaos nectar,” Subhuti said.

  “But…”

  “Where did this chaos nectar come from?”

  These supreme figures of the Nuwa Alliance all began to grow rather excited. This was something that would have an impact on the entire war. With their side strengthened, their chances of victory would be greater…but alas, at their current level of power it was extremely difficult to grow even more powerful.

  Subhuti explained, “It was my disciple, Ji Ning, who offered them up. Don’t tell anyone about this; if you do, you’ll only invite disaster upon my disciple.”

  “Ji Ning?” The stooped figure with the savage-looking mask suddenly spoke out in a hoarse voice. These two words were the only words which the stooped figure had said thus far during this gathering, and he said nothing else afterwards.

  Subhuti gave the stooped figure a glance. In his heart, he couldn’t help but let out a sigh.

  “He himself has already trained in this divine ability. He then gave me remaining chaos nectar as well as the instructions to the divine ability,” Subhuti said.

  Daoist Three Purities sighed softly. “For an Empyrean God and True Immortal to encounter such a tremendous stroke of karmic luck, but still be willing to part with it…rare, quite rare.” None of them were the slightest bit surprised that Ning himself had trained in this technique; after all, any of them would’ve done the same in Ning’s situation. Actually handing over such a priceless treasure, however, wasn’t something that just anybody could do.

  “He has gained tremendous virtue.” Lord Tathagata smiled.

  “Alright. Let’s decide who should train in it.” Subhuti swept them with his gaze.

  “Your disciple was the one to offer it up. Aren’t you going to train in it?” Shennong chuckled.

  “In terms of raw speed, I might not be as fast as the Lord of All Fiends or Goldcrow, but in terms of fleeing and staying alive, I’m every bit their equal,” Subhuti said. “No one in the Three Realms is a match for me in my mastery of spacetime. Although this divine ability would also be useful to me, it wouldn’t be of THAT much use. Don’t be shy or modest; hurry up and decide who should be the one to train in it.”

  The other six present all fell silent for a moment.

  “Let Suiren have it,” Daoist Three Purities said.

  “Yes, my elder brother is the most suitable figure.” Shennong nodded as well.

  None of the others argued against this decision.

  “Very well. I shall train in this divine ability, then.” Suiren noded. This man, the oldest and most powerful member of the human race, didn’t decline at all.

  “I owe your disciple.” Suiren looked towards Subhuti.

  “You can decide for yourself as to how you wish to pay him back.” Subhuti smiled.

  Suiren nodded.

  Suiren was tremendously powerful. In fact, there were many within the Seamless Alliance who believed that Suiren was actually the most powerful individual within the Nuwa Alliance! The invisible aura which Suiren gave off in particular…it was extremely, extremely similar to the aura which Pangu had when he established Heaven and Earth. Suiren was extremely powerful in head-on combat, but he was a bit lacking in terms of speed.

  If he was to train in the [Ninehorn Lightning Serpent] evasion technique…it truly would be liking putting wings on a tiger. He would instantly grow far more powerful.

  Whoosh.

  The stooped figure in the tattered gray robes suddenly disappeared into thin air, having departed.

  “It’s been so many years, but he’s still unable to get over it…” Fuxi shook his head.

  “No one has been able to convince him. Not even Mother Nuwa was able to convince him. What can you do?” Subhuti sighed. “That chasm in his heart…only he himself has the power to leap past it.”

  ……

  Sword Immortal World. Five Treasured Peaks.

  Ning was seated within his thatched cottage, quietly meditating.

  Whoosh.

  Ning entered the Starseizer world, leaving an incarnation behind within the thatched cottage.

  The Starseizer world.

  “Manorlord.”

  An awe-inspiring horde of Immortal soldiers all bowed before him. Ning stood there in midair, staring down at the people before him. There were more than a hundred thousand Celestial Immortals and far more Loose Immortals. Most of them came from the army which Daofather Hasbear had given him, with the rest being the Immortals of the Starseizer world itself.

  “Rahu Formation!” Ning gave the order.

  Swish! Swish! Swish! It was like a horde of locusts taking flight. A dense throng of countless Immortals soared into the skies. As soon as Ning had acquired the [Rahu Formation] and the army, he had moved them all into the Starseizer world and had them begin to train in it. The arrangements had been made long ago.

  The 90,000 Celestial Immortals and 8 million Loose Immortals had been waiting for a long period of time. The others were simply there as backup.

  With Ning at the center, the 90,000 Celestial Immortals formed into 90,000 veins and arteries, joining together and connecting with all 8 million Loose Immortals.

  This was an incredibly complicated formation. Even Daofathers who tried to analyze it would find it headache-inducingly complicated. Fortunately, every single individual only had to be responsible for his or her specific assignment. Ning didn’t need to worry about the other parts of the formation; he was the core, the mind, the commander they needed!

  Rumble…

  An endless flood of natural energy from Heaven and Earth began to wildly flood towards them.

  It was as though the skies themselves were about to collapse.

  The multicolored streaks of natural energy quickly solidified and condensed into physical form, and a Fiendgod of absolutely terrifying strength began to be born. First came his legs, his powerful, pitch-black legs. Slowly, the rest of his torso took form as well. His entire body was pitch-black in color, but by the sides of his waist appeared sleek, silver-colored fur.

  His arms appeared as well. One arm after another began to take form, until a total of six mighty, muscular arms had appeared.

  Finally, his head was created. His eyes brimmed with a murderous aura…but his face appeared to be similar to that of Ji Ning’s.

  “GWAAAAAARRR!”

  Ning’s Rahu God let out a furious, Heaven-shaking roar.

  “I’m…actually somewhat unable to control my temper now?!” Ning was in control of the Rahu God. The legendary Rahu had four faces and six arms; this wasn’t from a divine ability, it was how he was born. The formation which Fuxi had devised, however, only had a single, normal face, although it did keep all six of Rahu’s arms.

  “90,000 Celestial Immortals and 8 million Loose Immortals…the amount of natural energy they have summoned is simply incredible.” Even for Ning, controlling this much power was incredibly taxing. He was actually only able to command a very small part of the total power of this Fiendgod, but despite that his power now vastly, vastly surpassed that of the perfect Heaven Punisher.

  Although N
ing had other clones, there was no way he could mix them into the formation. This was because the 90,000 Celestial Immortals and 8 million Loose Immortals were mixed together in perfect harmony and balance. If Pure Yang True Immortals were to join into the formation in lieu of Celestial Immortals, it would actually cause an imbalance that would result in the formation becoming even harder to control.

  “Let’s go.”

  Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish!

  Ning’s Rahu God drew out six swords, one with each arm. Three of them were the Darknorth swords, while the other three were Ananda World-Swords.

  “Seamless Gate.” The Rahu-Ning murmured to himself, his voice filled with wrath and malice. Then, six swords in his hands, he teleported out of the Starseizer world.

  * * *

  Book 19, Chapter 52 - The Fiendish Ji Ning

  A Voidboat suddenly departed from Sword Immortal world.

  “Ji Ning has left Sword Immortal world.” The Seamless Gate’s watcher responsible for this world immediately made the report to his superiors. The exalted Godking naturally knew right away that Ji Ning had left, but he didn’t feel too concerned. During this recent period of time, Ji Ning had often left Sword Immortal world. Given that he had been quite low-key during the past century or so, without attempting a single attack, the Godking wasn’t too worried about this departure.

  Soon…he would suffer for his negligence.

  The Fuyi majorworld. Outside the world-membrane, a Voidboat suddenly appeared. The Rahu-Ning was located within the Voidboat, reaching out with his coresense to scan this major world with it. He quickly encompassed the entire world with his heartforce. He was much more careful this time, as it would be extremely easy for others to notice once he entered a major world.

  “The Fuyi world really lives up to its reputation. The Seamless Gate has three headquarters here, one of which has five Empyrean Gods and True Immortals.” A dim red light flashed through the Rahu-Ning’s eyes. “Excellent.”

  Swish.

  The Voidboat passed straight through the Void, entering the Fuyi major world.

  Fuyi world. Sacred Mountain Eastrise.

  The peaks of Sacred Mountain Eastrise pierced high up into the clouds. Every day, Loose Immortals and Earth Immortals would come visit this place.

  ……

  “I’ve finally managed to enter the Sacred Mountain. I’ll no longer have to feel worried about the Fuyi Dao-Palace continuing their pursuit of me. We monsters were born to eat people. After we became Void-level Diremonsters, all we did was eat a single city’s worth of people, but the Fuyi Dao-Palace became dead-set on hunting us down. Thank goodness Sacred Mountain Eastrise is here.”

  “Elder brother, Sacred Mountain Eastrise rose to sudden prominence just a hundred years ago. Is it really capable of resisting the power of the Fuyi Dao-Palace?”

  “Don’t worry. The Fuyi Dao-Palace once tried to assault it, but they weren’t able to succeed. Listen, behind Sacred Mountain Eastrise stands the legendary Seamless Gate. I’ve heard that the Seamless Gate is already strong enough to battle against the other major powers of the Three Realms and is currently struggling for supremacy over the Three Realms without showing any signs of weakness. How could they possibly fear the Fuyi Dao-Palace?”

  “Right, right.”

  Two Loose Immortal Diremonsters were chatting amongst themselves, feeling quite delighted.

  The Fuyi Dao-Palace had unified and taken over the Fuyi world long ago. Naturally, it had lain down rules of its own! This caused many Diremonsters and Fiendgods to feel disgruntled. Although some Diremonster cultivators were able to calmly abstain from a diet of meat, many had delighted in eating human flesh since they were young. Normally, they had to be extremely careful due to the suppressive power of the Fuyi Dao-Palace, and they would only dare to furtively eat a few people here and there. Whenever they were caught, they would immediately be faced with the pursuit of the Dao-Palace.

  ……

  “I heard that Sacred Mountain Eastrise has Empyrean Gods and True Immortals within it.”

  “If we were to become apprenticed to one of them…that really would be a tremendous stroke of fortune.” The two loose-haired, savage-looking men walked forward, shoulder to shoulder. These two were humans, but given how humanity had flourished throughout the Three Realms, the race had naturally given birth to a number of viledoers and miscreants. Clearly, the Seamless Gate was quite an alluring option for these vile fiends.

  ……

  Suddenly…

  An enormous boat appeared outside of Sacred Mountain Eastrise. The boat was many tens of thousands of meters long, and atop the boat stood a peerless six-armed Fiendgod. The baleful aura emanating from him caused the entire world to seemingly turn gray. The natural world was itself affected, and countless gray stormclouds began to appear.

  “What’s that?!”

  “Th-that’s…”

  “G-god…”

  The many Fiendgods and Immortals atop Sacred Mountain Eastrise were all completely stupefied. Just staring at that peerless Fiendgod caused them to shiver and feel their hearts fill with fear. In fact, they felt as though they couldn’t even move their fingers. The invisible presence and pressure emanating from this titanic Fiendgod caused even their very thoughts to turn sluggish. They weren’t even able to think normally. This was terror that sprung from their very lifeforce itself!

  The body of this Fiendgod was formed by Ji Ning commanding 90,000 Celestial Immortals and 8 million Loose Immortals, after all. Its presence alone was far more terrifying than that of even many True Gods and Daofathers. But of course, Ning was only able to actually make use of a very small amount of this Fiendgod’s body.

  “BREAK!”

  One of the Rahu-Ning’s Darknorth swords flashed outwards, leaving behind a terrifying scar in the skies as it stabbed towards a barrier of golden light covering Sacred Mountain Eastrise. The enormous golden barrier covered the entire mountain and was a protective formation. When the Fuyi Dao-Palace had attacked, they had been unable to break through this protective formation.

  Brightmoon sword-art, Blood Drop stance!

  A sword shot out, seeming to bore a hole through reality itself. The enormous barrier of golden light trembled for a moment, and then it quickly began to collapse as the enormous sword bored a hole through it as well.

  “Run!”

  “Oh my…”

  “He shattered the formation protecting Sacred Mountain Eastrise with one stance.” Many Loose Immortals and Earth Immortals were barely able think properly right now, thanks to the sluggishness of their mind. The Celestial Immortals and higher-ranking cultivators, however, were still able to maintain their calm. The five Empyrean Gods and True Immortals in particular, although absolutely terrified out of their mind, weren’t particularly affected by the awesome presence of the Fiendgod.

  “Flee!”

  “Flee right away!”

  “We’re doomed.”

  The five of them were both frantic and furious as they tried to come up with ways to escape.

  Whoosh!

  The Rahu-Ning took just a single step forward, trampling down upon the mountains and causing the entire mountain range to tremble. Six streaks of sword-light shot downwards, seeming to cover the entire sky with their might. The five Empyrean Gods and True Immortals did their best to flee, but they were all reduced to dust by the sword-light.

  “Five!” The Rahu-Ning took a single step backwards and re-entered the Voidboat. Swoosh! The Voidboat immediately tore through space and departed.

  ……

  “What?!” Within the vast world of darkness. The Godking was stunned and enraged. “Ji Ning is attacking again? He actually dares to attack yet again?”

  The Godking was absolutely beside himself with rage. He had felt that he had given Ji Ning quite a bit of face by not attacking Sword Immortal world or sending anyone to assassinate Ji Ning during the past century. He had thought that Ji Ning had learned his proper p
lace, as Ji Ning had been quite peaceful and calm during this past period of time. By now, the Godking had almost completely forgotten about Ji Ning!

  Who would’ve thought…

  Who would’ve thought that Ji Ning would attack yet again! “You are courting death.” This time, the Godking was truly furious. He was an exalted, revered figure; for Ji Ning to challenge him once was one thing, but a second time?!

  “Do you really think that there is nothing our Seamless Gate can do to you?” The true body of the Godking immediately departed towards one of the main headquarters of the Seamless Gate, the First World.

  ……

  The Rahu-Ning moved with incredible speed, and his power was far greater than it had been when he was in control of the perfect Heaven Punisher. This was due to multiple reasons.

  First of all, more than a century had passed since he had become an Empyrean God and True Immortal. His soul had been nourished by both his Pure Yang Jindan as well as his Empyrean God body, resulting in it growing until it had reached the limit of power possible. The increased strength of his soul resulted in him being able to control an increased amount of the power of the Rahu God.

  Secondly, over the course of the past century, Ning’s soul heartforce technique had also improved significantly.

  Third, the Rahu Formation contained a total of 90,000 Celestial Immortals and 8 million Loose Immortals, and it was a more powerful formation to begin with.

  Thus, in short, Rahu-Ning’s power was two levels higher than the perfect Heaven Punisher’s power. Even if he encountered an actual True God or Daofather, he’d be able to withstand at least a few blows. Of course, due to the huge difference in their respective mastery of the Dao, in the end he would still be defeated. The Rahu-Ning’s raw power, however, was unquestionable.

  Within the Fuyi major world, Ning destroyed two of the headquarters in succession, killing a total of nine Empyrean Gods and True Immortals. The enemies in the third headquarters all escaped, as Ning was just a bit too slow.

  Aboard the Voidboat, the Rahu-Ning travelled to another major world. Ning’s heartforce spread out to encompass this world, discovering just two Seamless Gate headquarters here. However, one of the headquarters was empty, with the other holding a total of fifteen Empyrean Gods and True Immortals.