by RWX
“This is the first stance of the Forbidden Black Lotus…Lotus Sea.” A calm look of supreme confidence could be seen in God Emperor Blacklotus’ eyes.
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Book 24, Chapter 43 - Slaying the Mindlord
The black lotuses bloomed throughout the area, carrying a unique sort of charm.
However, Immortal Abyssus, Immortal Skyram, and World God Goldcloud weren’t in the mood for enjoying their beauty. Immortal Abyssus hurriedly sent a mental message to the hundred Elder Gods surrounding him. “Hurry up and retreat. Don’t get involved in this.”
“Yes.” The hundred Elder Gods could sense that things were turning dangerous. They didn’t dare to push it too far.
“Go.” Immortal Abyssus waved his hand, causing a semi-translucent cloth banner to fly out. The cloth banner flew through the air, instantly covering the skies as an enormous number of divine runes began to flow through it. The semi-translucent cloth banner began to emanate streams of gloomy white light that completely suppressed the countless black lotuses. The lotuses tried to push them back, but the light of the cloth banner was extraordinarily tough.
“I’ve always heard that Immortal Abyssus of the Fogstone Dominion is unfathomable in his power, but I didn’t think that you’d be able to withstand the first stance of my Forbidden Black Lotus.” God Emperor Blacklotus spoke out calmly, but the murderous aura which had once pervaded him when he had roamed through the various territories was beginning to slowly reveal itself.
“He managed to block it.” World God Goldcloud and Immortal Skyram were both overjoyed.
Both of them had started to panic just now. They could sense that if they were completely surrounded by those countless black lotuses, they would most likely die within them.
“Brother Skyram, Brother Goldcloud, this God Emperor Blacklotus is far too strong. He’s already forced me to take out my most powerful treasure,” Immortal Abyssus sent mentally. “I’m already at my limit. Listen to my instructions. As long as we can hang on for a bit longer, the Starlord will soon arrive. With him by our side, we will no longer need to fear God Emperor Blacklotus.”
“Right.” Immortal Skyram and World God Goldcloud both held great faith in Immortal Abyssus. In the past, they knew he was strong but were uncertain as to how strong he actually was. Now they realized that he was strong enough to block those countless black lotuses that had inspired such terror in them.
“Ahaha…” God Emperor Blacklotus let out a laugh. “Now, try out the second stance of my Forbidden Black Lotus. This stance is known as ‘Lotus Hell’.”
His voice echoed throughout the skies and by the ears of the three World-level experts.
Whoosh….
Suddenly, one black lotus after another began to descend from the skies. Countless black lotuses descended, and as they did so they were actually beginning to resonate with the countless black lotuses on the ground that had been suppressed by Immortal Abyssus.
“Starlord, hurry over here!” Immortal Abyssus blanched as he hurriedly commanded the cloth banner to send out light to both suppress the black lotuses on the ground as well as the black lotuses falling from the skies. For a moment, he was able to establish a defensive perimeter and block the lotuses from every direction.
The Starlord knew that time was of the essence, and so he struck out with two sword at maximum speed, slaying six of the weakest Elder Gods in the Elder God Formation.
“Second Uncle, Ji Ning, let’s go. We need to get over there right now.” After breaking through the formation, the Starlord immediately waved his hand, causing dozens of streaks of sword-light to chop out towards the Elder Gods closest to him.
“Alright,” World God Blackmist said.
“Starlord, I’ll go right away, but first I need to kill the Mindlord.” Ning didn’t immediately follow behind him, instead flying at maximum speed towards the terrified, fleeing Mindlord.
The Starlord glanced backwards at Ning. Ning had said long ago when he had first joined the Fogstone Army that his goal was to kill the Mindlord. “Fine. Hurry up and get rid of the Mindlord, then come join us right away.” Ji Ning was now an important member of their force. The other six formation commanders were merely comparable to ordinary World Gods, while Ji Ning was comparable to World God Blackmist, an expert of the Dao of the Sword. He could be considered an expert amongst World Gods.
“Alright,” Ning said.
Swoosh.
Ning moved faster than the limits of the Heavenly Daos, furiously chasing after the Mindlord.
“Why is this happening? Why?!” The Mindlord was frantically fleeing, but the Starlord’s astral light was slowing him down too much. Ning caught up to him almost instantly.
“Ji Ning, spare me! Ji Ning!”
The Mindlord began to beg for his life. Earlier, when the Starlord had broken apart the formation, he had slain quite a few Elder Gods before heading off towards the other World-level experts. The entire Minor Thousand Elder Gods Formation had collapsed, resulting the Mindlord becoming much weaker as well.
“I gifted you my [Heart Sutra] long ago!” The Mindlord sent frantically. When he was in the guise of Old Man Yuan in the Three Realms, he had put on a truly flawless act! He had helped train juniors, ‘risked his life’ for his friends, and acted exactly as the true Old Man Yuan had. This was why the Nuwa Alliance had never suspected a thing or seen any flaws in his masquerade.
In fact, Patriarch Subhuti’s friendship with Old Man Yuan had only deepened!
He had casually bestowed the [Heart Sutra] to Ji Ning, but that was merely a manual with some extremely crude bits of information pertaining to heartforce. This was part of his usual act of pretending to be a kind old man!
“Die.”
Ning had already arrived, and his eyes flashed with murderous malice.
The Mindlord grew frantic.
“I’ve already informed one of my slaves about the Three Realms. Once I die, my slave’s lifeblood oath will compel him to immediately spread this information regarding the Three Realms. By then, quite a few adventurers of the Badlands Territory will probably set off towards it.” The Mindlord sent threateningly, “Eventually, an endless stream of adventurers will go from the Badlands to the Three Realms. It’ll be finished!”
Boom!
Sword-light flashed. Although the Mindlord was wearing armor, it was a very weak set of Chaos armor. There was no way it could withstand Ning’s full-force strike! Ning’s sword-light struck the Mindlord at the waist, chopping straight through the Chaos armor. The terrifying power of Violetjewel swept through the Mindlord’s entire body, wiping out all of his divine power as well as his truesoul.
Even when Ning was back in the Three Realms, his full-force blows were capable of piercing through top-grade Protocosmic treasures.
He now was strengthened by the azureflower mist energy, the World energy of his formation, and was wielding a fully repaired Eternal weapon. Even his sword-arts had improved! His full-force strikes were now completely capable of shattering ordinary Chaos treasures. If the Mindlord was wearing a suit of top-grade Chaos armor, Ning wouldn’t be able to chop through it, but the kinetic force of Ning’s blows would still be enough to reduce the Mindlord’s body to dust.
“I…” A look of true despair appeared in the Mindlord’s eyes.
Whoosh.
The two severed halves of his body suddenly broke apart and crumbled. Violetjewel’s power was more than enough to cause his entire body to break apart.
“The Mindlord…is finally dead.”
After slaying the Mindlord, Ning was momentarily dazed.
He could almost see his senior apprentice-brother Houyi in the moment of his truesoul’s dissipation. He could almost see the other major powers of the Three Realms who had all transformed themselves into enormous suns.
“This troublemaker has finally been dealt with. My fellow Daoists…seniors…rest in peace.”
Ning’s heart was filled with many complicated feelings.
> Was he happy?
Ning didn’t feel even the slightest bit of happiness right now.
He felt disappointment and frustration.
He also felt a sense of release.
The Mindlord’s death represented the true, final end to the great Endwar.
“He even dared to threaten me as he died.” Ning glanced at the Mindlord’s completely shattered corpse. The truesoul within the corpse had been wiped out, and there wasn’t any hint of life in his body. “Even if you really did tell your servant about the Three Realms, so what? How many adventurers would dare to brave the spatial vortex tunnel between it and the Badlands Territory?”
“And even if they do brave it…so what?”
“My Primaltwin has also mastered and unified the Nine Chaos Seals. It is capable of using the azureflower mist energy and has the power of a World-level expert as well. It doesn’t matter how many adventurers make it there; I’ll kill them all,” Ning murmured to himself. He didn’t believe that any World-level experts would go adventuring in the Three Realms.
In addition…
Ning himself would eventually become a World-level expert as well, and the azureflower mist energy would guarantee that he was far stronger than most World-level experts.
“I really wonder how Daoist Three Purities managed to acquire those Nine Chaos Seals.” This thought briefly flitted through Ning’s mind.
Rumble…
Ripples of incredible power spread out from off in the distance.
Ning turned his head to look. The black fog had long ago dissipated, and so he was now able to see everything quite clearly. The astral light from the planet of Fogstone continued to shine down upon the city, revealing the scene of Immortal Abyssus, Immortal Skyram, World God Goldcloud, the Starlord of Fogstone, and World God Blackmist all fighting against God Emperor Blacklotus.
The most dazzling figures were the Starlord and the God Emperor.
“Attack!” Each blow of his sword struck out like a stream of stars, leaving a trail of shattered black lotuses behind them. The Starlord was able to destroy more than half of the black lotuses by himself. He was so powerful that he was roughly comparable to the other four allied World-level experts combined.
As for God Emperor Blacklotus, he stood in the center, the enormous nine-petal black lotus below his feet still slowly swiveling. Even now, it was the God Emperor who was attacking while the other five were defending.
“Ji Ning, hurry over here and help protect Abyssus.” As soon as Ning slew the Mindlord, the Starlord of Fogstone immediately urged him to come.
“Acknowledged.” Ning transformed into a streak of light, moving faster than the limits of the Heavenly Daos as he charged straight towards the most terrifying place on the battlefield.
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Book 24, Chapter 44 - Supreme World God
As Ji Ning moved closer to the battlefield, he saw those countless black lotuses bloom and then be smashed apart. He couldn’t help but feel a hint of fear.
“Senior Abyssus.” Ning immediately flew towards Immortal Abyssus.
“Sorry for the trouble, my young friend.”
Immortal Abyssus smiled towards Ning, then once more turned his full attention towards controlling his swirling cloth banner. The cloth banner looked quite ordinary, but it made it so that the black lotuses weren’t able to move past it in the slightest. Of course, this was primarily because the Starlord of Fogstone had charged to the very forefront of the battle, destroying the majority of the black lotuses before they were even able to get close to him.
“Should I just stand here and watch?” Once Ning arrived next to Immortal Abyssus, he felt rather puzzled. The others were all launching furious counter-attacks against the black lotuses.
“Yes, just stand here and watch for now,” Immortal Abyssus sent mentally. “Don’t be deceived by the fact that I’m able to block these attacks. I’m almost at my absolute limit. If God Emperor Blacklotus was just a bit more powerful, I wouldn’t be able to hold them back any longer…and as a Chaos Immortal, I’m much weaker in close combat.”
Ning nodded.
Pure Chaos Immortals were innately weaker than World Gods. Most World Gods were dual refiners, giving them an overall advantage.
“Ji Ning, all you need to do is help protect Abyssus.” The Starlord’s voice rang out within Ning’s mind.
“Acknowledged.” Ning understood.
Ning began to simply watch the battle, while all the others such as Immortal Abyssus went all out.
As for God Emperor Blacklotus, his eyes were filled with a murderous intent. He showed no mercy in his attacks at all.
“It seems as though God Emperor Blacklotus is extremely strong,” Ning mused to himself. “The Starlord seems to be slightly weaker than him. Immortal Abyssus is right behind the Starlord! After him should be World God Blackmist. World God Goldcloud and Immortal Skyram are both significantly weaker.”
Ning could clearly see the difference in power between the various World-level experts.
Just as Ning was watching…
The stalemate had clearly angered God Emperor Blacklotus, who suddenly let out a furious roar: “Forbidden Black Lotus, third stance…Blacklotus World!”
Whoosh. Whoosh. Whoosh. Whoosh. Whoosh. Whoosh. The countless black lotuses had been falling from the skies and rising from the ground. Now, however, every single inch of space on the ground or in the air within a million kilometers began to manifest the black lotuses. The black lotuses even began to appear next to Immortal Abyssus and Ji Ning.
“Not good.”
“Careful.”
Everyone’s faces changed.
Immortal Abyssus immediately acted, willing an enormous black shadow to swirl around him and cover Ji Ning as well. The black shadow covered an area of roughly three hundred meters, and all the black lotuses in the area covered by the black shadow were immediately shattered.
Things weren’t so bad for World God Blackmist and World God Goldcloud. They were World Gods, after all; even though a few attacks made it through their defenses, they were able to hold on.
“Careful!” The Starlord was forced to divert some of his energy to protecting Immortal Skyram.
“All of you will die.”
God Emperor Blacklotus had a sinister look on his face as he stood there atop the enormous, slowly swiveling nine-petal lotus. The area around him had become completely filled with the trillions on trillions of small black lotuses, all of which were furiously striking out towards his World-level enemies.
Immortal Abyssus continued to use his illusory shadow, blocking out all lotuses within its range.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Countless black lotuses smashed towards the illusory shadow in an endless stream, exploding as they struck it.
“Darknorth, my young friend.” Immortal Abyssus’ face tightened. “I’ll use my magic treasures to block these lotuses as best I can, but if any slip through I need you to help me stop them. Try to minimize the number that end up striking against my Shadow Idol.”
While speaking mentally with Ning, Immortal Abyssus immediately took control over the cloth banner once more.
Part of the cloth banner separated from the rest of it, then coiled around Immortal Abyssus, blocking more than 90% of the black lotuses that had been striking towards him. Alas, some of the black lotuses materialized inside its defenses, and so the closest black lotuses continued to stream towards the enormous illusory shadow.
“Leave it to me.” Ning’s body momentarily blurred as he transformed to become three hundred meters tall. He struck out with Violetjewel, which pierced out beyond the protection of the illusory shadow and set up a protective barrier of sword-light that covered more than half of the empty space.
The sword-light transformed into a black hole, continuously weakening the power of the assaulting black lotuses.
The true, terrifying power of the Heartsword stance was now on full display. Ning had absolutely perfect control over his sword, especially th
e ‘Soleheart stance’ of the [Brightmoon] sword-art, which was a technique which focused on defense. As a result, when the black lotuses struck him, they did so after 90% of their power had been ablated. The remaining 10% was then mostly absorbed by the World energy that protected him, with the tiny remaining amount of energy being spread across a thousand Elder Gods. By then, there was only a tiny bit of power remaining.
“Whew.” Immortal Abyssus relaxed slightly.
With Ning helping him defend against the majority of the black lotuses, things were now much easier for him as well.
Things weren’t so bad for Ning and Immortal Abyssus, but this was primarily due to Immortal Abyssus’ usage of the cloth banner and the Shadow Idol. All Ning had to do was provide a bit of help in order to ensure that they would survive the danger.
“God Emperor Blacklotus is far too powerful. He’s able to fight against multiple World-level experts by himself and actually have the upper hand.” Ning stared past the swiveling cloth banner and stared at the distant God Emperor Blacklotus.
“Blacklotus!” The Starlord suddenly let out an angry roar.
His handsome face actually began to turn a grayish-white color, as did his hands. His entire body seemed to become almost statue-like as his aura suddenly exploded with might. His six arms wielded six swords, and he sent them forth as utterly dazzling streams of stars. He was using the same sword-arts as before, but the power of his attacks had increased tenfold!
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
Countless black lotuses were blasted apart as the sword-light easily chopped through them. The sword-light slashed all the way to God Emperor Blacklotus’ side and struck directly at the enormous nine-petal black lotus.
Boom! Boom! Boom! When the slowly swiveling black lotus was struck by the terrifying sword-light, it began to shudder slightly.
“So this is the [Fogstone Apocalypse] of the Fogstone Dominion, eh?” God Emperor Blacklotus was startled as well.
“Attack!” The Starlord’s skin had now completely turned the color of stone. His aura grew even more savage, and his blows even began to cause cracks to appear on the nine-petal black lotus.