Desolate Era

by RWX

The Badlands Court. Within a quiet room inside the Water Curtain Home.

  The Heavengazer Tower was located next to a prayer mat. Within the tower there was a golden leaf, which was itself an estate-world treasure.

  Within the estate-world.

  Whooooooosh. Waves gently lapped at the beach, caressing the sands before slowly retreating into the sea once more.

  A white-robed Ning was seated on the beach in the lotus position, a blood-colored sword resting over his knees. He kept Violetjewel with him at all times so that he could be in constant communion with the sword’s quintessence core and the exalted sword-intent within it. As a result, Ning’s sword-arts were beginning to increasingly align with the core’s murderous intent.

  The [Nameless] sword-art…

  Although it only had seven stances, Ning could tell from these seven stances that the creator of the sword-art had to be at least at the same level as the creator of Violetjewel. Both were definitely peerless powers who were skilled in the Dao of the Sword.

  The sword-intent of Violetjewel’s quintessence core was just as exalted as the sword-intent of the [Nameless] sword-art, even though these were two completely different interpretations of the Dao of the Sword.

  “I’ll meditate on both paths.” Ning lowered his head to look at the blood-colored sword resting across his knees. “In the future, I’ll definitely become a Samsara Daolord as well. I’ll have to find my own path.”

  The [Nameless] sword-art’s path wasn’t his path.

  Nor was Violetjewel’s quintessence core’s path his path.

  Every single Daolord had to find a completely unique path that belonged to them alone. In the Endless Territories, there were no creatures who had souls or memories that were absolutely identical. By this same principle, no two Daolords could ever have exactly the same Daos. Even if both walked the path of the Dao of the Sword, their paths still would not be identical.

  “The [Nameless] sword-art’s strength lies in its balance! Its very first stance, the ‘Heartsword’ stance, is a testament to this,” Ning mused to himself. “Although Violetjewel doesn’t have an actual sword-art connected to it, it does have an exalted sword-intent that I can meditate on. From this, I can tell that its greatest strength lies in its offensive attack power!”

  This estate-world was more than a million kilometers in size. It was a top-grade Chaos treasure which had originally belonged to Immortal Origination and was the sturdiest estate-treasure Ning had access to. He usually had his servants and retainers live within this estate-world, and it even had many other living beings who flourished within it.

  Ning continued to meditate on the sword by the beach, occasionally striding across the waves to stand upon the surface of the ocean as he trained.

  Sword-light flew everywhere with wild abandon, causing the waves around them to be annihilated.

  Day by day…

  Year by year…

  Ning continued his research into the [Nameless] sword-art and Violetjewel’s quintessence core. Every so often, he’d take a break and instead turn to researching the Daos of Water, Lightning, and Space. Sometimes he’d even go strolling about the world of ordinary mortals who lived within this treasure. The living beings in this world were divided up amongst six continents and many islands, and each continent held an enormous number of individuals. They even had their own various religions, with the most powerful figures having just barely reached the Pure Yang True Immortal level.

  Two hundred years passed in the blink of an eye.

  Atop an island in the sea.

  “Flamefairy, we’re bored senseless in this estate-world.”

  “Right! Flamefairy, when will Master lead us out into the outside world?”

  Eleven Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals were seated in a disorderly fashion, eating and drinking together. The most prominent figure within their ranks was Flamefairy Su Youji.

  Ning generally kept the Flamefairy and Elder God Wilddog by his side. He had released many Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals from the prisonworld. Some had chosen to be stationed on the Windsource Chaosworld, while nine of them had chosen to follow Ning in his adventures. They normally were stationed here within this estate-world.

  “How should I know?” Flamefairy Su Youji pointed towards a distant, small island located far away in the depths of the ocean. “Master is living right there on that island, but neither I nor Wilddog would dare to go there and disturb him without being summoned. When Master wants to come to us, he will. Let’s just keep waiting.”

  “Ugh.”

  “No choice but to wait.”

  These Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals truly were quite bored. They all had their own estate-worlds, and they had already spent countless ages in the prisonworld diverting themselves by living amongst the mortals of their own estate-worlds. What they really wanted was action and excitement.

  BOOM!

  Suddenly, a terrifying wave of power swept over from afar.

  “What?!” Su Youji, Elder God Wilddog, and the other nine Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals simultaneously rose to their feet. They turned to stare towards that distant island.

  Whoosh.

  A bloody streak of sword-light soared into the skies, spreading out into a rippling wave of power that caused all of them to quake.

  “This wave…” Su Youji was the strongest of the eleven, but even she was so terrified that her heart quailed.

  “What’s going on?” The more powerful figures who lived on the six continents and many islands of this estate-world all turned to stare at the same location! Although they couldn’t see anything physically, they could sense an utterly exalted and supremely terrifying sword-intent rising towards the heavens. Although the sword-intent was limited to this estate-world, all of the living creatures within it felt that it was something that was truly supreme and beyond all other power.

  After this day, quite a few new Sword Immortals began to arise from within this estate-world. In fact, quite a few of its citizens began to sail off into the seas in search of the source of that sword-intent. Alas, they were never able to find it.

  “Master is coming.” Su Youji and the other ten all stared off into the distance.

  A white-robed youth was striding across the waves, an ordinary-looking blood-colored sword on his back. He soon arrived at their island.

  “Greetings, Master.” Su Youji and the other ten all bowed respectfully.

  “Mm.” Ning nodded.

  “We’ve spent five hundred years here at the Badlands Court,” Ning said. “My sword-arts have now reached a bottleneck. It is time for us to go out adventuring.”

  Five hundred years in the Badlands Court actually translated into more than ten thousand years within this estate-world.

  “Master, just now…?” Su Youji’s eyes were shining.

  “I developed a sword-stance.” Ning chuckled.

  Alas, it wasn’t the Great Firmament stance!

  He had long ago reached a bottleneck in the [Nameless] sword-art. In recent years, Ning had turned most of his efforts towards understanding the quintessence core of Violetjewel. Today, he had developed a sword-art that had an incredibly powerful offensive potential. Ning called it the first stance of his [Sword Quintessence] – Blackmist stance!

  “World God Blackmist…” Ning couldn’t help but sigh to himself.

  He would never be able to forget how he met this man after he had left the Three Realms. He would never be able to forget the sight of World God Blackmist slowly transforming into a statue. He had named this stance the ‘Blackmist’ stance in order to memorialize this deceased World God.

  The creation of the Blackmist stance was the final result of the ten thousand years of hard work and effort Ning had spent within this estate-world!

  “In terms of killing power, this stance should be quite close to the power of the ‘Great Firmament’ stance of the [Nameless] sword-art. Because I based it off Violetjewel’s quintessence core, it’ll actually make it easier fo
r me to summon some of the core’s power.” Just now, Ning had tested that stance out. He was now able to summon more than ten times as much power from Violetjewel’s quintessence core, and the power of his strike was definitely comparable to that of a master-class World God’s strike.

  Thanks to the azureflower mist energy strengthening his divine body, his body was comparable to a World God’s body.

  His sword-arts were comparable to an elite World God’s techniques.

  With the ‘Blackmist’ stance activating a good amount of his Eternal weapon’s quintessence core…Ning was now qualified to battle against master-class World Gods.

  “It’ll be hard for me to improve my sword-arts any further just by sitting here and studying on my own. It is time for me to leave this place.” Ning glanced at Su Youji and the others, then instructed, “Youji, Wilddog, Blacksun, the three of you shall follow me.”

  “Yes.” The Flamefairy and Wilddog were quite calm, but Elder God Blacksun was absolutely overjoyed.

  Whoosh.

  Ning led the three in departing from this place.

  Ning had purchased those three mighty golems during the treasure auction. One was meant for the Flamefairy while the other was meant for Wilddog. As for the third, Ning had chosen to let Elder God Blacksun to command it. Elder God Blacksun was one of the most powerful Elder God retainers Ning had under his command, and he was also a bit more honest and obedient than the others. Ning preferred subordinates who were able to follow orders.

  “Youji.” They had returned to the Water Curtain Home inside the Badlands Court. “You can go and pay some visits to your friends in the Badlands Court. You can tell them that I am heading out towards the Allgod Estate.”

  “The Allgod Estate?” Su Youji was startled.

  “Yes.” Ning nodded.

  “Alright. I’ll make sure the entire Badlands Court knows.” Su Youji laughed delightedly. She had far more friends here than Ning did, which was only natural; a woman of such charm and beauty would naturally be welcomed wherever she went.

  “Also…I’m planning for us to leave three months from now,” Ning said.

  “Understood.” Su Youji nodded.

  * * *

  Book 25, Chapter 21 - Allgod Estate

  Three months later.

  A white-robed youth and a fat man whose eyes brimmed with flames were striding shoulder-to-shoulder across the surface of a lake, advancing across the waves as they departed from the Badlands Court.

  “Brother Ji Ning, you picked something of a bad time.” The pudgy man chatted to Ning as they continued their journey forwards. “Quite a few people came back to the Badlands Court to take part in the treasure auction, but once it ended all of them quickly headed out to go adventuring. If you had spread the word right after the treasure auction that you had chosen to head to the Allgod Estate, at least four or five World-level experts would’ve chosen to go with you. But you instead chose to wait for more than two hundred years!”

  The pudgy man chuckled. “Most of the people who wanted to go out already have.”

  This pudgy man was quite an amiable fellow, even though he looked rather ugly due to the jagged scars and tattoos that lined his face. His eyes brimmed with flames, and his skin was suffused with a faint red color as well. Even when he was smiling, he still looked quite frightening.

  “I still have you, senior apprentice-brother Dragonbinder.” Ning laughed.

  “I purchased a treasure during the auction and spent a bit of time binding it. I was just about to head out anyhow. Our timing was perfect,” the pudgy man said.

  The two moved across the ground, their bodies flickering like illusions as they advanced nonstop.

  Ning had waited three months for word of his journey to spread, but only a single member of the Badlands Court had chosen to journey with him – the pudgy fellow next to him, World God Dragonbinder!

  They entered the spacetime transfer array and left the Badlands Everworld. They then boarded a flying ship, flew for several months, then finally reached the Allgod Estate.

  The Allgod Chaosworld was an oceanic world. There were two great continents and a vast ocean that covered everything else. One continent held countless living beings while the other held the Allgod Estate.

  Whooosh.

  A cloud was floating through the skies. Ning and the pudgy man were standing atop the cloud, staring down at the vast world before them. They could vaguely make out the outlines of a towering edifice far off in the distance. That distant sight was enough to cause both Ning and World God Dragonbinder to feel breathless, as though they were staring upwards at something supreme.

  “The Allgod Estate!” The pudgy man’s eyes blazed with fire as he stared at the great edifice. He said in a low voice, “Brother Ji Ning, we’ve been fairly relaxed on the way over. Now that we are about enter the Allgod Estate, though…I want to make a few things clear to you! Once we go in, we need to do exactly as we discussed. You can’t act rashly! If you do, then I’ll have to part ways with you.”

  “Acting rashly in a place like this is suicide. Don’t worry, senior apprentice-brother Dragonbinder,” Ning said.

  “Good.” The pudgy man nodded. In truth, he felt certain that Ning wouldn’t be so foolish. At the same time, he knew that unexpected things would sometimes happen! As a member of the Badlands Court, he was naturally quite a talented figure. He hadn’t trained for very long, but he had already become a master-class World God. If he was to lose his life due to an act of foolishness on the part of Ji Ning, how lamentable that would be!

  “The Allgod Estate was created by Daolord Allgod,” the pudgy man said. “Daolord Allgod was an incredibly powerful Daolord. Although he failed his Daomerge, based on what I’ve learned I believe that he was a thousand times more powerful than other Daolords who were on the Verge of the Daomerge.”

  “That much more powerful?” Ning was shocked. A thousand times?

  This was insane!

  Daolord Solesky himself had admitted that he was vastly inferior to Daolord Allgod. However, Ning didn’t understand exactly how much more powerful Daolord Allgod had been. Even now, he could hardly believe what World God Dragonbinder was telling him. The difference in power was simply too great! If this was true, then it meant that Daolord Allgod had the power to easily slay other Daolords who were at the Verge.

  “I’m not exaggerating. Although he failed his Daomerge, he once attacked and chased after an Eternal Emperor who had successfully completed his Daomerge. He pursued the man for multiple chaos cycles, and to this very day no one knows what happened to that Eternal Emperor.” The pudgy man looked at Ning.

  “He was really that powerful?!” Ning felt rather stunned. He only spent a brief period of time by Daolord Solesky’s side and had spent most of his time at the Badlands Court in seclusion. Thus, he knew very little information regarding these mysterious, powerful figures. However, World God Dragonbinder was a true disciple of the Badlands Court who often conversed with his fellow cultivators. He knew quite a bit of ‘secret’ information.

  “It is true. I once discussed this with our eldest disciple at the Court.” World God Dragonbinder let out a sigh. “And…you should know that Daolords generally are afraid to try to enter the Allgod Estate.”

  The Allgod Estate was an extremely strange place.

  30% of Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals were able to survive it, 50% of World-level experts were able to survive it, but…of the Daolords who dared to enter it, less than 10% would be able to emerge! This was an incredibly high casualty rate, making it so that not many Daolords dared to even attempt it.

  “He was simply way too powerful!” World God Dragonbinder looked at Ning and smiled. “Although he’s a bit ruthless towards other Daolords, he’s quite benevolent towards World-level experts, Elder Gods, and Ancestral Immortals. He left behind more than ten thousand treasuries at the ‘Ten Thousand Mountains’ alone! Come, it is time for us to enter.”

  “Alright.” Ning smiled as well.<
br />
  Whoosh. Whoosh.

  As the two simultaneously charged downwards, they suddenly encountered a region of twisted space. Moments later, both of them vanished.

  Ning could sense space twisting around him. Moments later, he reappeared in the air with World God Dragonbinder next to him.

  “How beautiful.” Ning saw a long, winding series of majestic mountains located in front of him. The mountains were all interconnected and seemed to form a long, sinuous coiling dragon.

  “The Ten Thousand Mountains of the Allgod Estate,” World God Dragonbinder said softly.

  “Right.” Ning stared at them from afar as well.

  There were countless mountains before them. At the end of the mountains there was a region of endless mist…and beyond the ‘endless’ mist there was an utterly dazzling, eye-catching estate of vast proportions. This estate was simply too vast. Even though they were very far away, they could still make out its details quite clearly.

  “I can sense it…” Ning could sense the Mirrorsnow Painting within his Jindan region was calling out joyfully, having sensed a faint resonance nearby.

  “It should be up ahead. According to what big brother Solesky said, it should be within the center of the Fog Sea.” Ning stared at the endless Fog Sea located past the great mountains.

  The outermost layer of the Allgod Estate consisted of the Ten Thousand Mountains. There were exactly ten thousand mountains in this region!

  The second layer was the Fog Sea!

  The core region was the actual, towering edifice known as the Castrum Divinitus.

  “Brother Ji Ning.” World God Dragonbinder looked at Ning. “Let’s try out the Ten Thousand Mountains first. After that, I’ll go to the Fog Sea by myself. You shouldn’t go there; it is far too dangerous a place for you.”

  “Alright.” Ning nodded.

  He had come here mainly because he wanted to acquire the Mirrorsnow Painting. Since the painting was located within the Fog Sea, he naturally had to enter it! However, he knew that World God Dragonbinder was looking out for his best interests. According to what the vast majority of cultivators had experienced, although Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals had a good chance of surviving the mountain region, they would almost certainly die upon entering the Fog Sea.