by RWX
They had sparred for quite a long period of time just now. Only when Ning was unable to gain anything further had Blackmist brought things to a halt. This sparring match allowed Ning to test and verify all the many insights he had gained during the past few centuries, which translated into thousands of years in the Heavengazer Tower. His sword-arts had improved by quite a bit.
“It’s rare for Fogstone to produce such an expert in the Dao of the Sword.” World God Blackmist looked at Ning. “I can sense that your talent in the sword is no lower than the Starlord’s was. Train hard. Oh, right. Be careful on this trip to the Blacklotus Empire. Staying alive is what matters the most.”
“Alright.” Ning nodded.
“Also…this is a sword-art I personally devised. It has a simple name: [Blackmist] sword-art. You are already so talented with the sword that this sword-art of mine won’t be of much use to you, but if you read through it you might gain a few ideas.” World God Blackmist waved his hand, producing a jade slip which he tossed to Ning.
Ning immediately caught it, then said gratefully, “Thank you, senior.”
“To be honest, I was thinking about taking you on as my disciple. However, judging by your performance today, I can tell that you’ll soon catch up to me and perhaps even surpass me.” Blackmist smiled. “Alright. Continue with your preparations for the war.”
“Right,” Ning said.
World God Blackmist departed in as leisurely a fashion as he had arrived. His hair still tousled and mussled, he casually sauntered off before slowly disappearing into thin air.
Ning felt tremendous gratitude towards the man. The very first time Ning had arrived on Fogstone and met with World God Blackmist, Blackmist had personally sparred with him and guided him as well.
Time continued to pass, and Ning spent his days analyzing World God Blackmist’s sword-arts. Soon, a full month had gone past. It was time for the grand army to go on campaign!
* * *
Book 24, Chapter 37 - Invasion
The Starlord’s estate. An enormous empty region within the estate was filled with a teeming mass of Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals.
“I wonder what they are planning to do with such an enormous force.”
“They have to be planning on attacking a different organization.”
“Even if they plan to launch an attack, is there a need to go this far? The Fogstone Army usually has around three thousand Elder Gods, and they normally would use just three of those formations. But now, they’ve actually managed to summon a force of seven thousand Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals, including some who were servants or slaves of the various Chaos Immortals and World Gods.”
“Let’s just watch and see.”
The Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals were all discussing this amongst themselves.
Ji Ning, Elder God Imperius, and a few others who knew the truth felt a certain tightness in their chests. Yes…their leaders had spared no expense on this war.
They had originally numbered just three thousand, but after recalling all of their far-flung forces and adding in many servants and slaves, the Fogstone Army now numbered seven thousand! Ancestral Immortal Imperius was a good example of an irregular who had been pulled in. He was the disciple of Chaos Immortal Abyssus and was incredibly strong, which was why he had been assigned to command one of the seven armies.
“I wonder what sort of a feud exists between the Blacklotus Empire and the Fogstone Dominion. Why is the Starlord going all out in this fight?” Ning murmured these words to himself.
“Here they are.” Ning’s eyes suddenly lit up as he saw the nine figures walking towards them from afar.
The leader of the nine was the astral-robed Starlord of Fogstone. Next to him were the other World-level major powers. The nine of them walked forwards together, causing all of the gathered Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals to fall silent.
“Everyone,” the Starlord said, “This campaign is an extremely important one. When the fight begins, all of you need to listen to the orders of your generals.”
“Yes,” all the soldiers acknowledged.
‘Come in.” The Starlord waved his hand. Whoosh. Instantly, a ripple of power spread out. None of the Elder Gods or Ancestral Immortals resisted, resulting in all of them disappearing into thin air.
“By my command, the planet of Fogstone is to be completely sealed. No one is to be allowed to enter or leave.” A sonorous voice suddenly spread out into the ears of every single cultivator on the planet. Even the normally public trading markets were quickly sealed away as the entire planet was put on lockdown.
Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh swoosh! Swoosh!
The nine World-level experts soared upwards, quickly appearing in the skies and staring down upon Fogstone.
“Come in.” The Starlord waved his hand, causing the enormous planet of Fogstone itself to disappear as well. The planet had long ago been refined into an enormous magic treasure. This was the core legacy of the entire Fogstone lineage. Now that the entire Fogstone Army was on campaign, the Starlord naturally wasn’t willing to leave the planet here undefended.
“The Starlord really is going out this time,” a green-robed elder said with a chuckle.
“This time, we’re going to have a chance to witness the Starlord’s true power.”
“If all of us go all-out, we might very well be able to wipe out the entire Blacklotus Empire, even though that isn’t our goal. The only thing I’m concerned about is the guardian formation protecting the imperial capital of the Blacklotus Empire.”
“Starlord, that guardian formation truly is quite deadly.”
The other World-level experts all issued words of caution.
An enemy’s capital was bound to be an incredibly dangerous place to invade. Every generation of Starlords had worked hard to further reinforce Fogstone, rendering its formations increasingly deadly. Although the Blacklotus Empire wasn’t as old as Fogstone and mainly relied on God Emperor Blacklotus’ personal power, without a doubt the God Emperor and his vassals had set up many mighty formations around the imperial capital.
“Don’t worry. Just carry out our plan,” the Starlord said. “All you need to do is do what I told you to do. Don’t worry about anything else.”
“Alright.”
“Right.”
These World-level experts were just giving the Starlord a few words of caution. They weren’t ordinary pawns who could be sacrificed for the sake of a greater goal. Given their power, they were qualified to speak and treat with the Starlord as equals.
“Alright. We can’t waste any time.” The Starlord frowned. “The sudden disappearance of Fogstone will soon be noticed, but it’ll take a bit of time before the word gets to the imperial capital of the Blacklotus Empire. We need to get there as soon as possible. Ideally, we’ll arrive before the Blacklotus Empire is prepared for us.”
After speaking, the Starlord waved his hand and caused a ship of stars to appear before him.
The nine World-level experts all boarded this ship, which then twinkled with starlight and disappeared.
The imperial capital of the Blacklotus Empire was located within the Blacklotus Chaosworld. It was the central administrative city for the entire Blacklotus Empire.
The entire city was actually an enormous magic treasure which was shaped like a nine-petal black lotus. The entire city stretched out ten million kilometers and was seated at the very tip of a mountain. The city’s layout was actually quite similar to the layout of the Badlands Everworld’s Waveshift City. This was a testament to how ambitious God Emperor Blacklotus was. He was an incredibly arrogant figure, which was why he had styled himself as the ‘God Emperor’.
“I wonder what’s been going on with the Fogstone Dominion lately. They actually summoned back all of their Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals from their various stations.” A gray-robed, black-haired man was frowning in thought as he sat within a winehouse located in the imperial capital.
This gray-robed, black-haired man had loft
y brows, and the look in his eyes made it so that not even the winehouse’s attendants dared to go near him.
“Can it be that Fogstone is about to launch a grand campaign?” The gray-robed man muttered to himself, “It can’t be for the sake of that Ji Ning fellow, right? He shouldn’t have that sort of ability.”
“Ji Ning.”
“Goddamn Ji Ning.” The gray-robed man’s face grew uglier by the moment.
He was one of the Nine Divine Generals of God Emperor Blacklotus, the Mindlord.
His Primaltwin had possessed Old Man Yuan in the Three Realms and had lived there for many years. As he saw it, for someone like him to wipe out a backwaters chaosworld was simplicity itself!
Although a World God in the form of Mother Nuwa had suddenly appeared out of nowhere, the Mindlord had remained hidden and didn’t reveal his true power or intentions. Eventually, Mother Nuwa left.
He had remained hidden, even after her departure. He was in no rush, and his long life had taught him to be patient.
Finally, the Endwar had come.
First, that ‘Lord of the Demonheart’ had appeared once more! Although Demonheart had the power of a supreme Elder God, Old Man Yuan felt confident in being able to handle him.
And yet, those yokels had actually given rise to a formidable Heartforce Cultivator, Houyi! Still, this was not entirely unexpected. Old Man Yuan had taken control over Chang’e long ago, precisely because he wanted to have some leverage over Houyi. As a Heartforce Cultivator, he knew exactly how devastating such a mental influence could have on a cultivator.
He had accounted for everything…except for this Ji Ning.
Ji Ning. He had trained for a very brief period of time, but he was an utterly terrifying monster. In the end, Ji Ning had broken through and become so powerful that he had utterly crushed Old Man Yuan, defeating his palm-arts through superior sword-arts, then stabbing him through the forehead.
“Someone who has the power of a truly transcendent Elder God.” Old Man Yuan had truly been terrified. He immediately planned a deception, and in the moment of his death he willed all of his servants and slaves to die. He even released his bindings over his various magic treasures, so as to put on a show of being truly dead. All of this was for the sake of preventing Ji Ning from finding him later.
However, when the Mindlord carefully analyzed this matter, he realized that he had made an miscalculation.
“Witherspike!” The gray-robed elder muttered to himself, “I didn’t give a damn about Witherspike, but he knew exactly who I was. It is very possible that he might’ve told Ji Ning and the others about me. If he did that…given how much those of the Three Realms hate me, they’ll definitely come for revenge. Given how strong Ji Ning is, he stands a very good chance of surviving the trip through that spatial vortex tunnel!”
“If he wants revenge…he’d probably want to find a backer. It’s entirely possible that he might’ve joined one of the nearby organizations.”
The Mindlord had instantly come to this conclusion, and so he immediately began to purchase intelligence reports to see if any transcendent Elder Gods had appeared in recent years! In the end, he finally found out that Fogstone had gained a new general by the name of ‘Sunrise’.
“Sunrise?” The gray-robed elder smirked. “Transcendent Elder Gods don’t just appear out of nowhere. If Ji Ning truly has left the Three Realms, he most likely is this ‘Sunrise’ figure.”
Although he had already guessed at the truth, there was still nothing that he could do about it.
Sunrise was stationed on the Windsource World and had three hundred Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals under his command. What was the Mindlord supposed to do? Ask a World-level expert to intervene? He didn’t have that sort of ability.
All he could do was hide!
“Ugh.”
“I don’t even know if this ‘Sunrise’ really is Ji Ning,” the gray-robed elder muttered to himself. “I hope he isn’t. I hope that Witherspike never told Ji Ning about me.”
To tell the truth, the Mindlord had been miserable in recent years! However, he knew that he had to keep enduring it and bide his time. He had to at least verify whether or not Sunrise really was Ji Ning.
If Sunrise really was…
Going outside by himself would be suicide.
“OUTRAGEOUS!!!” Suddenly, a furious roar rang out, echoing throughout the entire chaosworld and causing it to tremble. All the cultivators within the imperial capital of Blacklotus were shocked by this.
“Come to my estate immediately!” An icy cold voice that was tinged with rage suddenly rang out in the Mindlord’s mind.
“His Imperial Majesty?” The Mindlord was shocked.
Swoosh!
Ignoring everyone and everything else, the gray-robed figure immediately flew out of the innhouse’s window and headed straight towards the God Emperor’s estate.
* * *
Book 24, Chapter 38 - Legacy Treasure, Fogstone Planet
The Blacklotus Chaosworld. A giant warship with an aura of awe-inspiring majesty was forcing its way straight through this world.
The warship was ten thousand kilometers long, and at its prow stood nine World-level experts. Behind them stood a dense cluster of seven thousand Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals.
“This chaosworld is the home of God Emperor Blacklotus.” The Starlord’s face was icy and solemn. “There’s no way for us to escape his notice after we enter his chaosworld. Still…there’s no need to keep it hidden. It’ll be too late for him.”
Whoosh.
The great warship disappeared in a teleportation. When it reappeared, it was over the clouds that were above an enormous city that was shaped like a black lotus with nine petals.
Rumble…
A ripple of power spread out from the Blacklotus imperial capital. The ripple of power spread out to cover the entire chaosworld, seeking to completely seal it off from the space around it, but it was too late.
“This is the imperial capital of the Blacklotus Empire?”
“A city shaped like a nine-petal black lotus…it has to be it.” Only now did most of the Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals aboard the ship understand who their target was. It was actually the Blacklotus Empire! All of them felt both excited and nervous. If they were by themselves, they would never dare to cause trouble here…but now there were seven thousand of them as well as nine World-level powers!
This filled all of them with excitement and eagerness.
“Assemble the formations,” the Starlord commanded.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The seven generals, including Ji Ning and Imperius, immediately began to assemble their formations. In almost an instant, all seven thousand of the Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals were in place.
“Not a single one moved to flee?” The Starlord sat at the very front of the prow, staring downwards at the vast city below them. The entire chaosworld was now sealed so tightly that not even an ant could escape from it.
“Perhaps they feel that they are strong enough to leave when they please, if they feel the need to do so later,” Chaos Immortal Abyssus said with a chuckle.
“Hmph.” The Starlord laughed coldly. “They won’t be able to.”
Whoosh.
The Starlord swept open his astral robes. Instantly, an enormous planet suddenly appeared in midair. It was the planet of Fogstone! Fogstone was kept to a size of merely ten million kilometers, roughly the same size as the nine-petal black lotus below it, but Fogstone was emanating ripples of utterly terrifying power. And then…
Whoooooosh.
It shot out countless specks of astral light.
The starlight spread out to cover trillions of kilometers, completely illuminating the city beneath it, the nearby mountains and lakes, and the distant seas themselves as well as many mortal cities. In fact…its light spread out to cover this entire chaosworld.
“Ah?!”
“W-what’s…”
The countless living
beings within this chaosworld, mortals and beasts included, all stared in puzzlement at the starlight that had just appeared everywhere.
The starlight felt very comfortable to them.
“What’s going on?” A cultivator suddenly realized, to his shock, that it was now impossible to engage in teleportation here.
“The ripples of spacetime have become completely locked.”
Within the black lotus city.
Inside the God Emperor’s estate.
Six figures were standing shoulder-to-shoulder, staring upwards at the skies. When they saw the enormous planet of Fogstone suddenly appear and radiate starlight in every direction, their faces all paled.
“Damn.” A chubby, ruddy-skinned alien with just one vertical eye let out a growl. “The Starlord of Fogstone has actually moved his headquarters, the planet of Fogstone, to this place. According to the stories, the planet of Fogstone is actually the legacy treasure of the entire Fogstone lineage. When it spreads out its astral light, it will completely suppress the local ripples of spacetime, causing every single region to be completely locked down. There’s no way for us to escape, even if we wished to do so.”
“They actually brought their entire planet with them?”
“There’s not much of a feud between us and Fogstone. We have the occasional border skirmish, but none of our World-level powers have ever feuded against theirs. Why would the Starlord be so crazed as to move his entire planet here for this attack?”
The six were all quite puzzled. God Emperor Blacklotus was puzzled as well!
The Fogstone Dominion was of an ancient lineage, and its legacy treasure was the planet of Fogstone itself. In addition, every single Starlord of Fogstone was a terrifying figure. Even if a person was once nothing more than an ordinary World-level power, upon assuming the mantle of ‘Starlord of Fogstone’ that person would transform into an utterly terrifying figure. This was all because of the legacy treasure known as the planet Fogstone.
Fogstone could be used to attack…and if one paid an incalculable price, one would be able to unleash utterly ruinous power from it. The planet itself was filled with countless dangers and traps, making it so that very few organizations would dare to raid it or launch attacks within it.