Desolate Era

by RWX

  What use was a painting that was merely filled with sword-intent that couldn’t be interacted with?

  Violetjewel’s quintessence core had a similarly profound sword-intent, but Ning could actually make use of it to do battle!

  “Wasn’t this supposed to be equal to an Eternal weapon in value?”

  “Eh, it makes sense. Daolord Windsource told World God Cavecry to comprehend and master this painting, but he wasn’t able to succeed in doing so before he died. I’m probably at too low a level of insight into the Dao to understand the true secrets hidden within the painting.” Ning could do nothing save console himself with these words. Still, he couldn’t help but give the painting a few more glances. He had a strange feeling that this painting was hiding certain secrets within it…but alas, a gauze had been draped over these secrets, making it impossible for him to behold them.

  “What the hell is it?”

  Ning ended up spending six more hours on the painting before giving up and putting it away for now.

  “Master.” The nearby stone titan said curiously, “Why have you come to this place? I heard that only Samsara Daolords are capable of passing through the Hundred Streams of the Windsource Formation.”

  “I accompanied my big brother, of course.” Ning smiled.

  “Your big brother, Master?” The stone titan was quite curious, and his dark yellow eyes suddenly lit up. “Master, your ‘big brother’ is a Daolord? Where is he?”

  “He went to the central island.” Ning pointed to the central island. “We’ll just wait for him here. When he returns, he’ll take us out of the Windsource Ruins.”

  If Daolord Solesky didn’t return, Ning himself certainly wouldn’t be strong enough to lead.

  “But that’s where Daolord Windsource once lived. It is the most dangerous place in this world,” the stone titan said.

  Suddenly, a golden ripple of power burst out from the central island. The terrifying ripple instantly swept out in every direction, terrifying Ning and causing his face to turn ashen. Upon seeing the golden omnidirectional wave blast out towards him, he knew that if it touched him he was dead. He wouldn’t even have a chance to dodge.

  Fortunately, as the golden wave blasted out from the central island it parted past the various smaller islands.

  “What the hell?” Ning was badly rattled.

  “He must’ve activated some formation or trap,” the stone titan offered.

  “I know that! But he didn’t activate anything earlier. What happened?” Ning was rather worried out. He had spent six hours meditating on the sword-ki painting and nothing had happened…but now, all of a sudden, a huge shockwave had just blasted out in every direction. This caused Ning to feel extremely uneasy.

  Within the central island.

  A barefoot, raggedy old man let out a long breath. The buildings around him had been completely reduced to rubble. Only a towering palace located at the very center of this island remained standing.

  “Damn this Windsource. If he died, he died. Why the hell did he have to leave so many restrictive formations behind?” Daolord Solesky cursed softly. “What, did you want everyone to know how badass you once were?”

  He knew that it wouldn’t be easy, but upon actually entering the island he immediately found himself beset with countless dangers, even though there weren’t any treasures nearby! This caused Daolord Solesky to feel quite irritated.

  “Nobody can stop my dao!”

  “Not only are you dead, even when you were alive you wouldn’t have been able to stop me!”

  Daolord Solesky no longer looked as relaxed as he normally did. A terrifying light was now shining in his eyes.

  Whoosh!

  Daolord Solesky actually split into two…then into four…then into eight…

  In the blink of an eye, he split into more than ten thousand figures. Every single Daolord Solesky peered towards the undamaged main palace, then began to walk towards it from different parts of the island. The countless divine runes surrounding and protecting the main palace all began to flicker and flow.

  Boom. Boom. Boom. Boom. Boom. Boom. As the thousands of Daolords advanced, some attacks began to erupt forth and cause his bodies to burst open like bubbles. However, those bodies would then quickly reform. A disturbance was caused within the formation, and quite a few of the bodies seized this opportunity to march inside the formation.

  And so, in a seemingly simple fashion, the thousands of Daolords managed to completely bypass the protective barrier of countless divine runes.

  “If the actual Hundred Streams of the Windsource formation was activated, I might be in for a bit of trouble. These lesser formations, however, are no match for me at all.”

  “Like an illusion.”

  “Like a shadow.”

  “Space and time.”

  “Only I remain.”

  The thousands of bodies all vanished, leaving behind just one figure standing before the main palace.

  Daolord Solesky stood there, staring at the silver-haired figure seated in the lotus position within the main palace. The silver-haired man had a handsome face, was dressed in white robes, had a smile on his face, and emanated an aura of light. He said with a smile, “I don’t know which fellow Daoist has arrived. Given how hard you worked to defeat the thirteen formations surrounding my island, I imagine you must’ve come for my Talisman of Eternity. The Talisman of Eternity is right here. Before my Daomerge, I nearly perished in order to acquire this Talisman of Eternity. So long as you are willing to kowtow to me three times, fellow Daoist, you may take this talisman with you. But if you wish to take it by force…hmph.”

  “You want me to kowtow?” Daolord Solesky’s eyes bulged out.

  “You are already dead, and yet you still wish to toy with me? I’ll never kowtow to you, even if it means that I’ll fail my Daomerge as well!” Daolord Solesky was truly enraged now.

  He could tell that this was an illusory image when Daolord Windsource had left behind prior to dying.

  “The Hundred Streams of the Windsource Formation is an enormous formation. There’s no way its full power can be instantly unleashed. Let’s see what other tricks you have up your sleeve besides this formation!” Daolord Solesky smiled coldly. “I wasn’t afraid of you when you were alive. Now that you are dead, I’m even less afraid of you!”

  As he spoke, Daolord Solesky reached out with his hand.

  Whoosh.

  An enormous illusion of a giant palm suddenly appeared, and it made a snatching motion towards the clothes and treasures located at the very center of the palace. Daolord Windsource had failed his Daomerge, eventually perishing as a result. Since he had died due to failing his Daomerge, at the moment of his death his entire body crumbled apart. Even his truesoul vanished, leaving nothing behind aside from his clothes and his treasures.

  Whoosh. The giant palm grabbed the clothes and magic treasures. Although there were Eternal items in the pile, Daolord Solesky didn’t care about them. The only thing that mattered was the Talisman of Eternity.

  “I nearly died to acquire this Talisman of Eternity. Fellow Daoist, you want to simply seize it from me? Hahaha…”

  Suddenly, a cold laugh began to ring out throughout the main palace.

  Countless divine runes suddenly began to manifest from every inch of the palace, causing it to radiate with dazzling light. The entire main palace almost instantly blew apart, the terrifying shockwave sweeping through the entire area. Daolord Solesky’s face immediately changed. He didn’t even have a chance to curse; all he could do was immediately flee for his life.

  Rumble…

  The entire central island began to crumble as the savage wave of might spread out in every direction.

  Ning and the stone titan were waiting patiently on their island for Daolord Solesky to return. They suddenly saw the entire central island begin to break apart as an incomprehensibly powerful shockwave suddenly lashed out in every direction.

  “Careful, Master!” The stone ti
tan’s body instantly expanded dramatically as he transformed into a giant globe that completely surrounded Ning.

  BOOM!!!!!!

  The island which Ning was on began to violently tremble…and then, with a boom, it completely broke apart as well. The shattered bits of the island began to sink into the surrounding waters of the lake, and the palace itself was knocked thousands of kilometers away in the blink of an eye and sent into the distant, howling gray wind.

  The stone titan was protecting Ning in the form of a giant boulder that had surrounded him. It was also sent flying and was swept into the howling gray wind, quickly disappearing within it.

  * * *

  Book 25, Chapter 8 - Emperor Mirrorsnow

  A short while later.

  A stone titan was deep inside a giant pit, holding onto the edges of a giant crevice. The gray wind had dragged it inside here.

  “Master, the wind is much weaker here,” the stone titan sent mentally.

  “Yes.” Ji Ning let out a sigh of relief.

  That had been far too dangerous.

  Fortunately, he had taken on the stone golem as his servant. Otherwise, he probably would’ve lost his life just now!

  “I wonder how my big brother is doing,” Ning mused to himself. “That blast of power was simply incredible. Even though the stone titan covered me and absorbed more than 90% of the force, I still suffered serious internal injuries and used up a great deal of divine power. Without it, I definitely would have died.”

  Daolord Windsource’s protective spell was meant to kill other Samsara Daolords who were as powerful as he had been. It was ridiculously powerful! Just the collateral shockwave alone was enough to wipe out weaker Samsara Daolords!

  Ning truly had been incredibly lucky!

  The twelve islands themselves possessed strong defensive properties. The shockwave had first expended much of its power tearing apart the islands, then landed against the stone titan which had protected Ning, who was wearing a set of high grade Dao armor. All of these factors combined were why Ning managed to survive!

  “Master, what should we do next?” The stone titan sent.

  “Wait.” Ning sent mentally, “Let’s just wait here for my big brother to come.”

  “We should be inside the Hundred Streams of the Windsource Formation,” the stone titan sent mentally. “I heard that there are many windbeasts located inside this formation, each of which has the power of a World-level expert. Once a large number of them surround us, we will be in grave danger.”

  “I know.” Ning nodded. He had fought against the windbeasts before. “Don’t worry. If we just wait here quietly, it’ll be difficult for them to discover us.”

  “Right,” the stone titan replied.

  Time passed by slowly, one minute at a time.

  Ning and the golem continued to wait within the deep abyss. “I have the talisman of welcome with me. Big brother can sense exactly where I am located. Why hasn’t he come to me yet?”

  “Can it be that he…?”

  A thought came to Ning’s mind. Had Daolord Solesky died?

  Ning didn’t wish to believe it. Daolord Solesky had been incredibly powerful!

  However, he couldn’t help but logically follow this train of thought. That last blast of power had been incredibly strong. Even the weaker shockwaves generated by it had been so strong as to wipe out all the islands. One could imagine how powerful the blast had been within the central island itself! It was entirely possible that Daolord Solesky had died in the face of such great power.

  “Impossible.”

  “He won’t die that easily.” Ning didn’t wish to believe it, and so he continued to wait quietly.

  One hour.

  Two hours.

  Ning grew more and more nervous, but he continued to wait silently.

  “Big brother…”

  Ning truly didn’t wish to believe it.

  Thump!

  Suddenly, a rumbling sound could be heard from deep below them.

  “Careful, Rocky.” Ning looked downwards. “It might be a windbeast.”

  “A windbeast?” The stone titan was startled.

  Ning felt a headache coming. He wasn’t afraid of one windbeast, but if an entire group of them attacked…

  “It really is a windbeast!” Ning growled. Below them, at the very bottom of the deep abyss, he could vaguely make out the silvery-blue forms of three windbeasts. Ning instantly went on full alert…but then, he was confused. These three windbeasts were actually rolling forward.

  “They…roll?” Ning was speechless.

  Whoosh.

  A familiar figure suddenly appeared next to two of the rolling windbeasts, foot upraised to deliver a kick. A look of utter terror could be seen on the windbeasts’ faces.

  “Ahaha, brother Ji Ning! I finally found you. I searched forever.” The figure was initially quite blurry, but it quickly appeared before Ning. It was the ragged, barefoot Daolord Solesky.

  “Big brother!” Ning was delighted.

  “I’m glad you are safe.” Daolord Solesky let out a sigh of relief. “The Hundred Streams of the Windsource Formation is filled with twists and turns. It really is a pain in the ass. I could sense you weren’t too far away, but I just couldn’t find the right path to you. I ended up moving farther and farther away from you! I had to spend a bit of time understanding this formation before I could find the correct tunnel.”

  “All the twisting tunnels really pissed me off. I really wanted to wreck the entire damn thing, but in the end I managed to keep my temper down.” Daolord Solesky’s face was rather ashen. He waved his hand towards the nearby wall.

  Whoosh.

  A giant illusory hand tore the wall open, carving out a small cave.

  “I suffered a bit of an injury. I need to take a rest. We’ll leave later,” Daolord Solesky said.

  “Of course. I’m in no rush,” Ning said. Ning understood that Daolord Solesky had probably rushed off to search for him without even taking the time to heal.

  “This Daolord Windsource guy really is a dumbass. Even in death, he wanted to screw other people over.” Daolord Solesky entered the cave, then sat down in a rather frustrated, embarrassed manner. “Thank goodness this old man is pretty strong. Otherwise, this old man would’ve died just now.”

  “Hurry up and heal,” Ning urged.

  “Right.” Daolord Solesky nodded and closed his eyes.

  Rumble. Rumble. Rumble. A series of illusory circles began to radiate out from Daolord Solesky, causing spacetime to twist and distort. The flow of time in the surrounding area began to speed up rapidly, making time in the area move roughly a hundred times faster than in the outside world. Streams of condensed chaos energy began to swirl around Daolord Solesky, transforming him into a black hole that devoured chaos energy.

  “He’s absorbing energy from the primordial chaos even faster than I absorb energy from chaos jewels.” Ning was secretly speechless.

  Nearly an entire year went by before the process came to a halt.

  The streams of chaos energy vanished and spacetime in the cave went back to normal. Daolord Solesky opened his eyes. Nearly a year had gone by within the cave, while merely three days had gone by in the outside world.

  “I’m fine now.” Daolord Solesky rose to his feet, a smug look on his face. “That Windsource idiot had to have spent a lot of time and effort setting up that nasty formation. A pity for him that this old man completely recovered after spending just three days.”

  “Congratulations, big brother,” Ning said.

  “Ahaha! Yes, I should indeed be congratulated. This journey of mine into the Windsource Ruins was a success.” Daolord Solesky looked at Ning. “How about you? Did you get that painting?”

  “Yes, I acquired the sword-ki painting.” Ning nodded. “However, I can’t see anything special about it at all, aside from its aura of sword-ki.”

  “Ahaha! You don’t get it. Hand it over to me, I’ll help you take a look at it,” Daolord Solesky
said.

  Ning waved his hand, causing the painting to appear.

  Daolord Solesky accepted the painting, opening it and taking a look at it. He nodded slightly as he pointed at the mountains and rivers. “Artistically speaking, this painting really is hideous. Emperor Mirrorsnow clearly is terrible at painting, yet he still takes delight in it. If he spent just a bit of effort on the actual Dao of Painting, he would’ve immediately reached an incredibly high level of skill in painting and calligraphy. And yet, he refuses to actually train in it, instead insisting on treating it as his hobby.”

  “Ning said, “That’s how hobbies work, I suppose. If he treated it as part of his cultivation, he would’ve no longer enjoyed it.”

  “I suppose.” Daolord Solesky nodded. “Your words make sense. Anyhow, although this painting is quite unsightly, it definitely is as valuable as an Eternal weapon. Emperor Mirrorsnow succeeded in his Daomerge, after all. He became an ancient, eternal figure.

  “A successful Daomerge means becoming eternal?” Ning was surprised.

  “Yes. Eternal.” Daolord Solesky mused softly, a distant look in his eyes, “Truly eternal in every possible spacetime continuum. No matter how much time passes, they shall remain eternal and everlasting. This old man is just one step away from that level…but alas, this step is the hardest step of all.”

  “Enough of that.” Daolord Solesky looked at Ning. “In short…I once had the opportunity to meet Emperor Mirrorsnow. However, roughly a thousand chaos cycles ago, Emperor Mirrorsnow departed and ventured off into unknown realms. The endless primordial chaos is simply too vast. As someone who had become a truly eternal figure, Emperor Mirrorsnow naturally would want to continue his journeys and see more things.”

  “He was a fickle, restless man. He didn’t have the patience necessary to teach any disciples. However, before he left, he produced a total of forty sword-ki paintings,” Daolord Solesky said.

  “Forty?” Ning was surprised. That many?

  “Right.” Daolord Solesky nodded. “A total of ten sets of four paintings.”