Desolate Era

by RWX

  Boom! The scaly creature’s head suddenly exploded. Its aura began to grow weak and its struggling wings slowly began to sink downwards.

  One of the two-headed serpent’s heads had been completely crushed, but its remaining head let out an excited roar.

  “GRWAAAR!”

  Its roars echoed in the skies.

  It then lowered its head, beginning to dine on the flesh of the scaly creature. This was how these bugbeasts lived; they would fight each other and consume each other, constantly growing and transforming. As the serpent continued to feed, its destroyed head began to slowly grow out anew.

  Swish!

  A figure suddenly drew close to it.

  The two-headed serpent was enraged, and its undamaged head immediately turned to stare angrily at the white-robed figure.

  Whoosh! Its tail suddenly moved, lashing out lightning-fast towards the offender.

  “Heartsword Realm.”

  Boom!

  Sword-light flashed. The enormous tail was deflected towards one side, with the sword-light itself stabbing straight towards the one remaining head of the two-headed serpent. The enraged two-headed serpent opened its giant maw, revealing a pair of crystalline fangs that glistened with translucent venom.

  Swish! The venom shot out from its fangs as fast as lightning.

  Slash! The sword-light blurred, easily deflecting the stream of venom.

  Stab! The sword-light pierced straight through the two-headed serpent’s head. The serpent’s body trembled, then slowly began to turn limp. As it fell down into the swamp, it caused the surrounding mud to tremble violently.

  [Brightmoon] sword-art, Blood Drop stance!

  “Thankfully, this bugbeast had already been heavily injured and had less than a third of its maximum power. Otherwise, killing it wouldn’t have been so easy.” A look of delight was on Ning’s face. The most dangerous aspect to killing a bugbeast was the possibility of the bugbeast summoning its kin! Once a bugbeast encountered a powerful invader that it couldn’t defeat, it would often let out a loud cry to summon more of its ilk.

  Thankfully, the two-headed serpent had been heavily injured and Ning had been very fast. Ning hadn’t brought Violetjewel with him on this excursion to the Windsource Ruins, as that was his most important treasure. If he died within the Ruins…losing the other treasures didn’t matter, but losing Violetjewel would be a tremendous blow. It simply wasn’t worth the risk.

  Violetjewel was a sword which even World Gods and Chaos Immortals would go crazy over. So long as Ning had enough Five Elements essence, he would be able to reforge Violetjewel and allow it to reveal its true power.

  “The treasures.” Ning immediately shot towards the distant hill. Next to that hill was the large, muddy boat that was filled with treasures. Those were the many treasures which the two-headed serpent had acquired over the years. Some had come from slain cultivators while some had come from slain bugbeasts.

  “Twenty-one Chaos treasures. Perhaps the storage treasures will also have fine items within them.” Ning swept through the treasures with his heartforce, then waved his hand and collected the entire boat.

  Swish!

  Suddenly, a streak of light flew towards Ning from afar.

  Ning turned his head to look.

  “Well, well. Isn’t this our Sentinel? Ahaha! Hand over those treasures and I’ll spare your life.” A golden-robed man was standing atop the warship, and an entire host of Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals stood behind him.

  “Elder God Skysouth?” Ning frowned.

  Elder God Skysouth had over a hundred Elder God and Ancestral Immortal slaves, while Ning had left Violetjewel behind. Dealing with him would be a bit tricky.

  In the Ruins, only part of the dangers came from the traps and defenses left behind by that ancient power. The other part came from the cultivators who might strike out at you out of greed!

  “Hand over the treasures!” Elder God Skysouth’s face turned cold as he stood there at the front of his boat. “Otherwise, die!”

  “Elder God Skysouth. I don’t wish to become enemies with you. The Windsource Ruins is a large place. There’s no need for us to fight to the death over these treasures,” Ning said.

  “Fight to the death with you? You?” Elder God Skysouth finally ran out of patience. He barked coldly, “Kill him.”

  * * *

  Book 24, Chapter 17 - Danger Zone

  As Elder God Skysouth issued the order, all of the Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals under his command immediately began to attack.

  Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Six streaks of light that moved faster than the limits of the Heavenly Daos charged straight for Ji Ning.

  “Flee.” Ning didn’t hesitate at all, immediately using the [Ninehorn Lightning Serpent] to evade.

  “Chase!” All of the Elder Gods charged straight after Ning.

  Ning was powerful, but when a hundred Elder Gods joined together into an Elder God Formation, they would be able to hold off even a real World God for a period of time. If Ning was surrounded by them, he would be unable to escape! They would slowly grind him down, exhausting his reserve of divine power and Immortal energy. Ning absolutely would not permit himself to be surrounded.

  “You won’t be able to escape.” Elder God Skysouth laughed coldly. He had spent quite a lot of money to purchase those two Ancestral Immortals who were capable of controlling magic treasures faster than the limits of the Heavenly Daos. They were generally responsible for briefly tying down opponents, giving the rest of the Elder Gods enough time to charge forward and trap them.

  These slaves made it so that Elder God Skysouth was virtually invincible to anyone below the World level of power!

  The six streaks of light chasing after Ning were six long shuttles. They clearly moved even more quickly than Ning, and they soon intercepted him and moved to block him.

  “F*ck off.” Ning unleashed his full power, using [Three Heads, Six Arms] and wielding six swords simultaneously.

  “Heartsword Realm!”

  The six swords struck out simultaneously!

  The [Starseizing Hand] was unleashed as well!

  After spending a hundred years training while living in the Windsource Chaosworld, Ning had improved his sword-arts even more, resulting in his strikes containing even greater power.

  Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

  The six long shuttles were all smashed away. Although Ning slightly slowed down for a brief instant, in the next instant he immediately regained his normal speed and continued to flee.

  “What?” Elder God Skysouth had been watching lazily from atop his warship, but in this instant his face completely changed. “Those two Ancestral Immortals are able to attack faster than the speed of light using their treasures. He was able to instantly defeat them?”

  The clash was simply too brief. It was as though those six shuttles had instantly been knocked away as soon as Ning had struck them…and thanks to his half-step World God body and the [Starseizing Hand], Ning was able to send them flying a very long distance.

  Whoooooosh.

  The hundred-plus Elder Gods were much slower by comparison. They were only able to watch helplessly as the white-robed youth continued to pull further and further away from them before finally disappearing into the horizons.

  “Hmph.” Elder God Skysouth frowned, then let out a cold snort. “Fine. You run fast. For your sake, you’d best hope you can keep running that fast the next time I see you.”

  “Let’s go,” he ordered calmy.

  “Yes.” The Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals all returned to the warship, which then quickly departed the scene as well.

  ……

  Ning glanced backwards, then let out a sigh of relief.

  “In the future, I’ll need to get a few Elder God and Ancestral Immortal servants of my own,” Ning muttered to himself. There was a great difference in power between Elder Gods and World Gods, but sometimes quantity could make up for quality! When a hundred Elde
r Gods joined together into an Elder God Formation, they would be able to withstand even a true World God for an extended period of time. If a thousand of them joined together into an Elder God Formation, they might very well be capable of killing some of the weaker World Gods!

  However, it wouldn’t be so easy for someone to acquire a thousand Elder Gods. The entire Fogstone Army only held a few thousand Elder Gods and first-tier Ancestral Immortals!

  In addition, the cost of a thousand-man Elder God Formation would be even higher than the cost of a thousand Elder Gods! Without the formation, the Elder Gods would be nothing more than a pile of loose sand. Only through usage of an Elder God Formation would they be able to join together into a perfect whole.

  “Time to go.”

  Ning continued to fly forwards at high speed.

  Given how strong Ning was, the swamp region of the Ruins didn’t pose much of a threat. So long as he was careful and stayed far away from any powerful auras he sensed, he would be fairly safe.

  “Ah, there it is.” Ning saw a chain of mountains appear off in the distance. “I’ve reached another part of the Ruins.”

  “The intelligence report I received regarding the Windsource Ruins is now essentially useless.”

  Ning was slightly worried. The swamp was the outermost layer and also the ‘safest’region.

  The other regions were controlled by the restrictive formation spells of the Ruins and would often change and transform. A place might be perfectly safe one day but transform into a death trap the next day. That was why his intelligence report was now of no use.

  Whoosh.

  Ning landed atop a mountain peak. Even he no longer dared to rashly fly about any longer, for fear of accidentally flying into a death trap.

  “Eh?” As Ning jogged forward, he suddenly turned his head to look off into the distance.

  A red-robed woman was seated in the lotus position at the top of a mountain peak. The woman’s face was delicate and beautiful, with eyes as gentle as the waters of autumn. She was surrounded by hundreds of crescent blades that were wreathed by fire, causing flames to billow out all around her.

  “What a beautiful woman.” Ning had very high standards, but even he couldn’t help but let out a sigh of praise. “Beauty like this could cause the collapse of an empire.”

  After glancing at her, Ning continued to jog forwards, instantly traversing ten thousand kilometers with each movement.

  The red-robed woman had noticed Ning as well. She couldn’t help but murmur softly to herself, “How odd. The [Libertine Dream] technique I devised carries an aura of natural charm which is far superior to those more blatant, forceful charm spells. And yet, he didn’t even pause to say a word to me? Hasn’t he heard of me, the Flamefairy?” [1. Su Youji is an interesting name. All three characters, Su, You, and Ji are actually surnames in Chinese as well.]

  Su Youji, the Flamefairy, was quite a famous figure amongst the Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals of the Badlands Territory.

  “And why is he running so quickly in a place as dangerous as this?” The fiery-robed woman mumbled to herself, “I’ve always felt that I’m pretty crazy, but he’s even crazier than me. If he keeps running around that fast, he’ll probably explore more of this place in one year than I would in ten thousand. Still, he’ll die faster than me as well. I hope you are lucky enough to survive…it’s rare for me to take a liking to someone.”

  The swamp was the outermost region. After exiting the swamps, one would enter the truly dangerous regions. Generally speaking, most people would advance very carefully through these regions and move at a glacially slow pace.

  However, given that the Windsource Ruins took up fully half of the Windsource Chaosworld, it truly was incredibly vast. If you moved through it slowly, you could spend a million years and still just explore a tiny part of it. Still, since Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals generally had very long lifespans, they wouldn’t be in a rush. Safety first!

  Ning, however, was different.

  Not only did he have a clone in the outside world, he also had mastered the ‘Heartsword Realm’ technique and had tremendous control over his surroundings. His skill empowered his boldness. In addition, he only trained for a relatively brief period of time; how could he possibly be willing to spend a few hundred thousand years here? He was planning to adventure through this place for a few years at most, then leave. Of course he had to move quickly!

  “Eh?” Ning’s eyes lit up as he saw a corpse off in the distance.

  “Get in here.” He flung out a Protocosmic spirit-rope, looping it over that corpse and pulling it into his estate-treasure.

  The corpse would have to be destroyed, but the treasures Ning would keep.

  “Keep going.” Ning was in an excellent mood. One would often encounter the corpses and skeletons of fallen cultivators in this place…but of course, if one wasn’t careful, one might easily end up joining.

  The place was simply too large.

  Ning spent more than a year traveling through the Ruins. Thanks to the keen senses provided by the ‘Heartsword Realm’, the protection provided by the Goldstar Beads of the Heavens, and the investigative power of his heartforce, he was able to avoid all of the most dangerous areas. Aside from Elder God Skysouth and the Flamefairy, he encountered six more cultivators. However, only one of the six tried to assault Ning; the rest steered clear of him.

  As for the one who tried to attack Ning? Ning killed him, of course!

  Whoosh.

  Ning was jogging through a mountain forest, sometimes moving fast and sometimes moving slow. He moved at quite a unique rhythm; clearly, Ning had gotten used to this place.

  Boom! Boom! Boom! Waves of power were rippling out from afar.

  “Eh?” Ning’s eyes lit up. “Those waves are pretty powerful, and it seems there are quite a few of them. Let’s go take a look.” Generally speaking, when multiple people fought aginst each other in a dangerous region like the one he was located in right now, it was over an extremely important treasure.

  Swoosh.

  Ning quickly and silently moved closer to the source of the ripples, soom arriving at a mountain peak. Ning hid within the grass, peering off into the distance. Within the distant mountain gorge, he saw five Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals engaged in a battle. The five were divided into two sides, with four cultivators on one side and one cultivator on the other.

  “Hellsword, there are two of these Dao weapons. Why can’t we split them? One for you, one for us. Isn’t that ideal?”

  “A Dao weapon for you four fools? Die, die, die!” The lone cultivator was dressed in black robes, and his six arms were striking with six blurry streaks of sword-light. As for the other four cultivators, they were able to just barely hold him off as they supported each other.

  Upon hearing these words, Ning’s eyes lit up. “Dao weapons? Two of them? Elder God Hellsword….mm, so that’s the legendary Hellsword. He truly is an expert of the Dao of the Sword. He should be on the same level of power as me.”

  * * *

  Book 24, Chapter 18 - Battling Within the Ruins

  “All of you, die!” Hellsword exploded with power as he wildly assaulted the other four. He knew that if this battle went on for too long other, Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals in the Windsource Ruins might be drawn to this place.

  “I can’t hold any longer.”

  A muscular Elder God who wielded six black staffs let out a low growl. Hellsword’s sword-light landed against his body, but only created a few sparks.

  “Be careful.”

  “Retreat.”

  A blood-robed Elder God who had been fighting Hellsword in close combat suddenly blanched, then hurriedly split his body into two and sent his two clones fleeing in two separate directions.

  Slash!

  A streak of sword-light fell down upon one of the clones, slaying it.

  “My divine body’s been weakened. I won’t be able to hold on for any longer.” The blood-robed Elder God
continued to flee at high speed. The other three Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals cursed, but had no choice but to begin fleeing in other directions as well. They weren’t actually members of a team; they had simply joined together on an ad-hoc basis simply because Hellsword was far too powerful.

  “Hmph. Those fools.” Hellsword came to a halt, grinning as he looked at the four fleeing figures.

  “Eh?” Hellsword’s face suddenly changed dramatically as he immediately turned his head.

  An icy ray of sword-light had suddenly appeared and was stabbing straight towards him.

  “So there was one more hiding in the weeds.” Hellsword let out a savage grin, striking out mercilessly with his six swords. He wasn’t worried about the enemy attack at all; although it was quite fast, it was too simple and straightforward a strike.

  BOOM!!!!

  The opposing streaks of sword-light collided.

  Hellsword was sent flying backwards, his face a mask of astonishment. As for the white-robed Ji Ning, he chased right after Hellsword.

  [Brightmoon] sword-art, Blood Drop stance!

  “What tremendous strength.” Hellsword was completely stunned. His opponent wasn’t just stronger, he was overwhelmingly stronger!

  “But raw strength is useless against me.” He suddenly came to a halt, spun around, then charged straight towards Ning.

  Slash! Slash! Slash! Slash! Slash! Slash!

  Streaks of sword-light filled the air between the two, then both fell back.

  Hellsword stared at Ning, then said in a low voice, “Who are you? Someone with such powerful sword-arts can’t possibly be an unknown figure.”

  “Sunrise,” Ning said calmly.

  “You must be a new expert in the Dao of the Sword,” Hellsword said coldly. “You are pretty strong. However, the Ruins aren’t a suitable place for sparring. Let’s compete after we leave this place.” After speaking, Hellsword transformed into a streak of black light, moving at light speed as he fled.