Desolate Era

by RWX

  The starry-robed man moved to the front of the hall, then sat down in the lotus position as well. He smiled. “Second Uncle, Abyssus, please take a seat. Don’t stand on such ceremony. I just heard a short while ago that an Elder God named Darknorth wishes to join our Fogstone Army. I just so happened to leave my meditations and had nothing to do, so I came over to take a look.”

  “Haha, Blackmist was just about to personally test this Darknorth’s power.” Immortal Abyssus smiled. He was very respectful towards the Starlord of Fogstone because the Starlord was an incredibly powerful figure. Compared to him, even the other two nearby hegemons such as God Emperor Blacklotus and Sovereign Eastvictor were a bit lacking.

  Immortal Abyssus truly admired him, which was why he was willing to take up residence here.

  “Second Uncle, you plan to personally test him out? Haha, it seems like my decision to come here was the right one.” The Starlord laughed.

  “Darknorth seems to be quite talented in the Dao of the Sword.” World God Blackmist nodded his head and smiled. The little kid really had grown up and become powerful.

  The Starlord of Fogstone, Immortal Abyssus, and World God Blackmist chatted amongst themselves. None of the others could hear a thing.

  “Is that the Starlord of Fogstone?” Ning and the others, including the disciples of Immortal Abyssus, all felt breathless.

  The Starlord of Fogstone was a legend.

  Strictly speaking, every single Starlord of Fogstone had been a figure of incredible power. Fogstone had a long, ancient history that stretched even further back than the lineage of the Badlands Court itself! Whenever a successor became powerful, the previous Starlord of Fogstone would depart and go out to adventure through the primordial chaos. They would search for their own paths, and as a result many of them would die on other worlds during their adventures.

  After adventuring for many years, some would come back and visit their old home. Thus, although every so often the Fogstone lineage would be wiped out, in every case it had been quickly restored to power once more.

  In addition, whenever any of the successors formally assumed the mantle of ‘Starlord of Fogstone’, they would suddenly become dramatically more powerful.

  One of the reasons why Ning had decided to join Fogstone was precisely because the Starlords of Fogstone had very deep roots. They could rely on the power of Fogstone itself to quickly improve themselves.

  “Darknorth.” Immortal Abyssus spoke out.

  “Present.” Ning replied with respect.

  “It shall be World God Blackmist who tests you out,” Immortal Abyssus said. “World God Blackmist has long ago reached the ‘Sword World’ level in the Dao of the Sword. Don’t waste this opportunity.”

  “Understood.” Ning grew excited.

  Sword World?

  The sixth stage of swordforce? The stage which allowed one to become a World God through the Dao of the Sword?

  “My second uncle rarely shows his power. You need to treasure this,” the Starlord of Fogstone said with a laugh.

  “I won’t take advantage of you, kid.” World God Blackmist waved his finger, causing a drop of blood to fly towards Ning and manifest into an identical clone of Blackmist. However, this clone’s aura was noticeably weaker. “This blood incarnation is a bit weaker than an ordinary Elder God. Use your most powerful attacks against me.”

  “Alright.” Ning’s eyes lit up.

  Ning and Blackmist’s incarnation stared at each other from afar.

  Blackmist’s incarnation was rather weak in both speed and strength for an Elder God, while Ning was a half-step World God. This gave Ning a huge advantage…but Ning knew that his opponent was at a much higher level of skill and enlightenment than himself.

  “Senior Blackmist, this is the most powerful sword-art I have developed to date. Please provide me with some advice,” Ning said solemnly, holding a single sword with a twohanded grip. The entire hall suddenly seemed to echo with his sword-intent as Ning took complete control over the entire area.

  [Nameless] sword-art, Heartsword stance!

  Ning had gone into seclusion for three hundred years after the Endwar, which translated into six thousand years in the Heavengazer Tower of Radiance. Although he had spent much of the six thousand years restoring his bodies, most of his attention had been spent on meditating on the Dao and on the Sword. His sword-arts were even more formidable and perfected than they had been when he had slain Old Man Yuan.

  Swish! Ning flew forward, his entire being seeming to have transformed into a sword.

  “This sword-intent….he really is a true expert in the Dao of the Sword.” Blackmist’s incarnation let out a laugh as he produced a sword and began to fight against Ning.

  Clang! Clang! Clang!

  Tens of thousands of sword-shadows appeared as the two furiously battled against each other.

  Ning possessed tremendous power, formidable divine abilities, and shocking sword-arts. World God Blackmist’s sword, however, was even more unpredictable and ephemeral, causing each of Ning’s strikes to fall empty and miss their mark.

  “Second Uncle, you probably won’t be able to do anything to Darknorth with just an incarnation. He has gained certain insights into the true essence of the sword. Although he’s lacking in other respects, his control and mastery over the sword has reached a level of perfection.” The Starlord of Fogstone was even more skilled in the Dao of the Sword than World God Blackmist. Upon seeing this battle, he immediately laughed and gave his input.

  “He shows no openings or weaknesses at all. With every step he takes, he crushes down upon me, taking advantage of the fact that I don’t have enough divine power.” The incarnation of Blackmist simply didn’t have enough divine power to fight. “I need to take part with my true body.”

  Swoosh.

  World God Blackmist suddenly flew away from his seat, dispelling his clone and instead charging forward to battle against Ning personally.

  “What? World God Blackmist has engaged with his own body?”

  “The incarnation of World God Blackmist wasn’t enough to deal with Darknorth?” All the spectators, including Island Master Fushe and the disciples of Immortal Abyssus, were stunned.

  Immortal Abyssus himself was also puzzled. “Brother Blackmist is tremendously skilled with the sword. Although his incarnation is a bit lacking in physical strength, brother Blackmist should be talented enough in sword-arts to defeat Darknorth despite being physically weaker.”

  “That’s where you are wrong,” the Starlord of Fogstone said. “The Dao of the Sword is a Dao meant for battle and slaughter. Thus, when most swordsmen reach a sufficiently high level of insight into the Dao of the Sword, they will first gain insight over the sword-intent of slaughter. This Darknorth, however, didn’t gain insight into the sword-intent of slaughter; instead, he gained insight into something else, a sort of absolute control over the sword. He’s able to unleash the maximum power of every single stance he uses while showing almost no weaknesses or flaws, making it extremely difficult for anyone on the same level of power as him to actually defeat him.”

  “Absolute control?” Immortal Abyssus didn’t really understand.

  The Starlord of Fogstone chuckled calmly. “The true essence of the sword is a vast, endless sea. Different experts in the Dao of the Sword will gain different insights when they study the essence of the sword. The insights Darknorth gained pertain to control, control over the sword. His sword isn’t the fastest, nor is it the sharpest, but he has the most perfect control over his sword.”

  Indeed.

  The deceased World God Northrest had left behind ninety-eight stone steles for his successor, so as to help his successor master the concept of the ‘hidden edge’. This was a concept that centered around control, not an all-out attack. Later on, Ning had finally mastered the ‘Heartsword stance’ during the Endwar. The [Nameless] sword-art required its practitioners to have absolute control over their Immortal swords. If one couldn’t fully contro
l the sword as one wished, then one would never be able to become truly powerful, no matter how strong one’s blows became.

  “This is a level which many experts of the Dao of the Sword dream of reaching. If you are completely flawless, then when you encounter an enemy of the same level of power it will be very difficult for that person to defeat you.” The Starlord laughed. “I only reached this level after I became a World God. My second uncle still has yet to reach this level of mastery. He’s embarked on a different path in the Dao of the Sword.”

  World God Blackmist suppressed his own power as he fought, strictly competing against Ning in sword-arts.

  Rumble…

  Sword-light flashed throughout the hall.

  Ning felt as though he had been trapped in a web of countless sword-shadows, all of which were crushing down upon him. He couldn’t even see any of the other people in the hall. All he could see were those attacking streaks of sword-light, each of which seemed to emerge from a black mist of sword-shadows. Every single blow was ghostly yet brutal and overbearing.

  “Kid, this here is my Sword World. Take a good look!” World God Blackmist’s voice echoed in the hall.

  Ning was using every inch of power he had to defend. Supported by the ‘Heartsword Realm’, his [Brightmoon] sword-art was executed in a perfect, intricate manner…and yet, he still was at the verge of being defeated. All he could do was fight with full power, infusing all of the insights he had gained into his sword-arts.

  In recent years, Ning hadn’t been able to meet a truly skilled opponent in the Dao of the Sword! He had been painstakingly training on his own this entire time. Now, however, a World God who had mastered his own Sword World was sparring against him in person, giving him a chance to see a completely new world and gain an even deeper glimpse into the true, vast essence of the sword. In fact, Ning was actually beginning to gain more and more insights into the second stance of the [Nameless] sword-art.

  “Six thousand years of training wasn’t as useful as this single battle.” A berserk look appeared in Ning’s eyes as he did everything he could to continue fighting against World God Blackmist. He tested out many of the insights he had gained into the Dao of the Sword, hoping that this battle against World God Blackmist would persist for a bit longer.

  In fact, his sword-arts were improving at a rate which was visible to all the spectators.

  “He’s growing more powerful?”

  The Starlord of Fogstone continued to watch from his position, and his eyes lit up when he saw this. “It seems that this Darknorth has never encountered true experts in the Dao of the Sword in the past. Second Uncle, spend some extra time sparring with him! It’s quite rare for us to acquire such an expert in the Dao of the Sword.”

  * * *

  Book 24, Chapter 11 - The Sixth General

  Only when competing against a grandmaster of the sword would one truly be able to see one’s own weaknesses.

  Although Ji Ning’s ‘Sword Realm’ was very formidable, allowing him to perfectly control every single sword-strike he used, its weakness was that it was too balanced. His sword wasn’t fast enough, unpredictable enough, savage enough…it was lacking in many respects. When World God Blackmist used his sword-arts against Ning, Ning was completely suppressed in every respect. Blackmist’s sword-arts were truly terrifying and contained an entire system within it.

  The Sword World level represented a systemized understanding of the true essence of the sword, allowing one to form an entire world with it. World God Blackmist clearly had already reached that level.

  Slash.

  Swish.

  “That’s how it should be.”

  “The second stance of the [Nameless] sword-art…no wonder I always felt something was off.”

  “Right…”

  During this battle, many of the questions and mysteries that had puzzled Ning were dispelled one after the other, causing Ning to feel quite excited. In his homeland of Earth, there was a saying; ‘Listening to a word of wisdom from a master is more effective than ten years of reading.’ When competing against such a formidable master of the sword such as World God Blackmist, Ning found that he was improving at a shocking rate. He had trained for many years but had never encountered someone as terrifyingly formidable in the Dao of the Sword before.

  World God Blackmist had clearly suppressed his own level of power, allowing just a little bit of it to be put on display. If he was to allow the power of his Sword World to fully explode, it would be effortless for him to destroy an entire chaosworld.

  Although Ning continued to make improvements, he was still very puny compared to the true might of this Sword World.

  “A killing stance…”

  “Right. This stance doesn’t focus on stability; it focuses on attacking and killing.”

  Ning slowly began to understand.

  [Nameless] sword-art, first stance – Heartsword stance.

  [Nameless] sword-art, second stance – Killsword stance.

  “He truly is talented in the Dao of the Sword.” Immortal Abyssus watched from on high as World God Blacklist dueled against Ji Ning. Every single streak of sword-light from Ji Ning was more powerful and fiercer than the last as his Dao of the Sword noticeably grew sharper and deadlier.

  “He is improving quite quickly. My guess is that Darknorth hasn’t been training for that long,” the Starlord of Fogstone said with a smile.

  “Agreed.” Immortal Abyssus nodded.

  If one didn’t reach the World-level in a single chaos cycle, it was almost guaranteed that one would never reach that level.

  For Ji Ning to improve so quickly when dueling with a master of the Dao of the Sword meant that he was clearly still in his early growth period. And in truth, the reason why his rate of improvement was this fast was primarily because he had never before had the chance to duel such an expert of the sword.

  “B-but…” As the red-robed disciple of Immortal Abyssus watched this fight, he felt more embarrassed than anyone else.

  “Now do you understand the difference between the two of you?” Ancestral Immortal Imperius laughed.

  “Please don’t make fun of me, eldest apprentice-brother.” The red-robed youth said hurriedly, “Only now do I realize that Elder God Darknorth was taking it easy on me. If he had revealed such terrifying sword-arts from the very start, I probably would’ve been instantly defeated. His sword-arts have completely eclipsed the sword-arts of so-called ‘supreme Elder Gods’. He should be comparable to our five generals. Most likely you, eldest apprentice-brother, are the only one who is definitely capable of defeating him.”

  “If eldest apprentice-brother fights, of course he’ll win.”

  “No question.”

  All of the fellow disciples agreed on this.

  Chaos Immortal Abyssus had only joined this place after adventuring for many years in the outside world, and as he did so he was accompanied by his eldest disciple, Ancestral Immortal Imperius. Imperius was unfathomably strong, but he had never joined the Fogstone Army. He was a very low-key figure, but the disciples of Chaos Immortal Abyssus and the high-level members of Fogstone all knew that the most powerful figure below the World-level on this planet was actually Imperius. In fact, the five generals had once joined together to challenge him in secret, but all five of them had been defeated.

  Imperius was simply a low-key man who didn’t like to fight.

  Because he had been training for far more than a chaos cycle, his master and the Starlord didn’t force him to go out and adventure, allowing him to live his low-key life on Fogstone.

  “Beating him wouldn’t be easy.” Imperius watched as Ning continued to battle against World God Blackmist. “All of you are underestimating him. When World God Blackmist first used an incarnation to fight, his sword-arts were actually incredibly powerful. Despite that, he still wasn’t able to do anything to Darknorth. World God Blackmist has now used his Sword World, but Darknorth is still able to keep fighting. Although World God Blackmist is t
aking it easy on him, Darknorth’s defensive sword-arts truly have reached a terrifying level.”

  “He’s too stable.”

  “His defense is airtight and completely flawless. The other five generals each have their own special techniques, but when faced with Darknorth’s airtight defense…eventually, all of them will be defeated. Even I am not confident in being able to defeat him,” Ancestral Immortal Imperius said.

  “Completely flawless?” The other disciples, all of whom worshipped their eldest apprentice-brother, were all shocked.

  “Given how terrifying his sword-arts are…if he was to acquire a Dao sword…” Ancestarl Immortal Imperius shook his head. “That would make him truly dangerous.”

  “Agreed.” All of the other disciples nodded.

  Darknorth was already incredibly powerful and an expert of the Dao of the Sword. If he had a Dao sword as well…how deadly would he become?!

  Ning’s ‘Heartsword Realm’ was a technique allowing him absolute control over himself and his sword. Even those more powerful than him would find it difficult to break his sword stances, unless the difference in power was truly enormous.

  The [Nameless] sword-art was simply too formidable.

  Even someone like World God Northrest, who had access to the resources of the mighty Vastheaven Palace, had been smitten by this sword-art. And even to the very day of his death, he had still been far from completely mastering the entire [Nameless] sword-art.

  Whoosh.

  World God Blackmist ceased his attacks.

  Ning stood there, his face covered with sweat. His eyes, however, were blazing with excitement. He had been mentally exhausted just now, but he didn’t care at all. This was his first time fighting against such a formidable master of the Dao of the Sword; Ning naturally valued and cherished this opportunity.

  “Thank you, senior,” Ning said gratefully.

  Ning truly was extremely grateful.

  It had been a long battle. At first, his sword-arts had continuously improved, but towards the end he was unable to improve any further. He had already made full use of all the insights and experiences he had gained during six thousand years of meditation in the Three Realms. No rate of explosive could be maintained forever. Clearly, the insights Ning had gained in recent years weren’t enough to allow him to truly master the ‘Killsword stance’ just yet.