Desolate Era

by RWX

  It didn’t matter how profound a formation was if an enemy could rip it apart using raw, overwhelming power!

  “Would I be able to breach a formation left behind by Daolord Allgod?” Ning mused to himself.

  He pondered for a moment, then he bowed respectfully and called out, “Revered Daolord, this junior is not capable of passing through these nine barriers through mastering and dispersing them. However, this junior would like to be so bold as to attempt breaking through using raw power.”

  After speaking, Ning turned his gaze towards the eight light barriers.

  “Break!” Ning thrust out his palm, forming a streak of light at the tip of his fingers. The streak of light had the vague form of a sword, and it was filled with Ning’s azureflower mist energy. Ning even activated the Seventh Cycle of the [Starseizing Hand] in his two hands, making his fingers comparable to Dao weapons.

  Boom!

  As Ning struck out, the second barrier of light trembled then shattered apart.

  “It broke?” Ning was overjoyed. However, he wasn’t in a hurry to press the attack, instead pausing for a brief moment to see if there were any repercussions.

  Nothing happened.

  “It seems as though using raw power to break through the formation isn’t considered a violation of the Daolord’s decree.”

  “Let me continue.” Ning took another step forward, his right hand quickly executing the savage ‘Blood Drop’ stance as he sent it stabbing towards a light barrier. Whoosh! It struck out like a sharp sword, stabbing into the light barrier. The light barrier trembled twice, then shattered apart.

  Ning laughed.

  His power was nothing to joke about. With the azureflower mist energy reinforcing him, he was every bit as strong as a World God! The power of this blow was as strong as a blow from an actual World God…but of course, this was merely the seventh barrier.

  “I still wonder where this ‘azureflower region’ formed by the merging of the Nine Chaos Seals came from.” Ning felt increasingly amazed by how unearthly powerful this technique was. Without it, he would at most have the body of a half-step World God. Even with Violetjewel, he would be just barely comparable to a normal World God at best. He wouldn’t even be a match for an elite World God! Now that the azureflower mist energy was reinforcing his body, he was definitely as physically strong as a World God. With Violetjewel in hand, he was able to give master-class World Gods a run for their money.

  “I wonder how powerful I will be when I become a World God.” Ning fantasized about it for a moment, then returned to the matter at hand.

  “Time to continue.” Ning once more struck out, attacking the sixth barrier. However, this one was clearly much harder to penetrate. Ning wasn’t able to breach it with his first strike and needed to hack at it multiple times before succeeding.

  “I’ll use my sword, I guess.” Ning waved his hand, producing Violetjewel.

  “Break!” He stabbed out with his sword, activating a hint of its quintessence core as he did so.

  Hiss!

  The sword easily stabbed straight into that barrier of light.

  “Again!”

  “And again!”

  Ning stepped forward one step at a time. With Violetjewel in hand, his strikes were now much more powerful. This was a formation meant to test Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals. Ning naturally found it quite easy to penetrate. Even without using the Blackmist stance, he was still able to breach the seven of the nine barriers.

  “The eighth barrier?” Ning once more stabbed out with his sword. This time, however, he failed.

  “Hmph.” Ning solemnly held Violetjewel in his hands…then suddenly lashed out, transforming it into a bloody shadow of sword-light. Violetjewel left a streak of terrifying, bloody red light in its wake as it pierced forward. This was the power of its quintessence core! Violetjewel itself was covered in bloody light that radiated an aura of astonishing might.

  [Quintessence Sword-Intent], first stance – Blackmist stance.

  Whoosh!

  The bloody sword-light stabbed straight through the eighth barrier, causing it to crumble.

  “Just one left.” Ning didn’t hesitate at all, once more striking out with his ultimate attack. The azureflower mist energy made Ning’s sword far faster than the limits of the Heavenly Daos, while the quintessence core of the sword made this Eternal weapon irresistibly sharp! It was very sharp, very powerful, and incomparably fast. This blow would’ve been able to easily shatter a chaosworld apart. Even if the Solar Star or the Lunar Star were in front of Ning, they would have been pierced through by this blow.

  Boom!

  When the tip of the sword slammed against the ninth barrier, the barrier began to tremble violently. Ripples shuddered over its surface as though a rock had fallen into a pool of water…and yet, it did not break.

  “I’m still a bit too weak?” Ning was stunned.

  His blows were now incredibly powerful thanks to his own great strength and the fact that he had an Eternal weapon.

  “I told you to break!” Ning once more struck out with his most powerful killing blow. Although the ninth barrier shuddered violently, it was clear that Ning’s blows were just a bit too weak to break it.

  “Eh?!” Ning frowned. This was already the most powerful sword-strike he was capable of mustering.

  “I guess I’ll have to find a way to strengthen the power of that blow.” Ning immediately stepped back, moving to stand just within the three hundred meter radius of the blurry light region.

  Whoosh. A pair of azure wings appeared behind Ning’s back, crackling with electric light. These were the ‘Thunderlight Wings’ which Ning had purchased during the treasure auction. The wings used lightning as their energy source and sword-light to tear through all obstructions, allowing the user to move at incredible speeds.

  “Attack!”

  The wings trembled, instantly sending Ning hurtling through the torn layers of space and allowing him to move at tremendous speed as he moved towards the ninth light barrier like a streak of light himself.

  Cultivators needed a bit of distance to build up speed as well. Long-distance flying speed and short-distance dodging speed were two completely different things. It was extremely difficult for one to instantly unleash all of his power and speed! Three hundred meters simply wasn’t enough. Ning had to use the Thunderlight Wings to build up enough speed to surpass the limits of the Heavenly Daos. Without it, Ning would perhaps only be able to move at 60% of his normal speed.

  “Break!” As Ning charged out, he once more struck forward with his Eternal weapon!

  A sword’s attack speed was extremely important.

  Even a pebble that moved at the speed of light could cause tremendous damage. By the same principle, a sword that moved 30% faster than it previously did could easily cause more than double the amount of damage! If Ning just struck out from point-blank distance, there was no way for him to increase the speed of his sword. Thus, he was forced to resort to the most primitive of options…fly forward at high speed and borrow from his own speed to deliver a full-force blow. This instantly allowed his sword to move 20% or 30% faster than before.

  BOOM!!! Ning’s terrifyingly sharp Eternal weapon struck out like a bloody blur. Although it paused momentarily, in the end it still pierced straight through the light barrier.

  BANG!!!! The final light barrier disintegrated.

  The light globe above the stone coffin was now within arm’s reach!

  * * *

  Book 25, Chapter 24 - Formation Spirit

  Ji Ning looked at the globe of light hovering above the coffin. He couldn’t help but feel slightly excited; this was a treasury left behind by Daolord Allgod, after all! He really was quite lucky to have encountered a treasury so soon after entering the Allgod Estate.

  Whoosh. Ning reached out with his hand, touching the light globe with his fingers.

  “Eh?” Ning’s face changed. He sent his fingers through the light globe two more times, c
ompletely confused. “Nothing? There’s nothing inside?”

  When his fingers touched the light globe, they went straight through the globe as though the globe didn’t even exist. There really was nothing inside.

  Rumble…

  Suddenly, a beam of light descended out of nowhere, materializing next to the stone coffin into the shape a white-robed old man.

  Although Ning was quite surprised, he was able to keep calm. This was because he knew exactly how powerful the restrictive spells Daolord Allgod had left behind. It was capable of easily slaying most Daolords; if the formation wanted him dead, he had no chance of fighting back at all! However, countless cultivators throughout countless chaos cycles had ventured through these treasuries. There was no danger here whatsoever! No one had ever lost their lives while trying to gain a treasure from within a treasury.

  “An Elder God?” The white-robed elder glanced at Ning. The old man emanated an aura of natural majesty and prestige, but he chuckled softly as he looked at Ning. “Can you tell me your name?”

  “Darknorth.” Ning looked at the elder. “Who are you, senior?”

  “The formation-spirit of the Ten Thousand Mountains. My master once gave me a name, ‘Myriad Mountains’,” the old man said.

  “Formation-spirit?” Ning was surprised.

  It was quite normal for treasures to give birth to treasure-spirits. However, it was incredibly rare for powerful formations to gain sentience as well. For example, the ancient spacetime transfer arrays that were spread throughout the various territories of the primordial chaos had existed for countless chaos cycles, but Ning had never heard of any of them gaining sentience. Similarly, although some incredibly powerful formations would appear during various treasure auctions, Ning had never heard of any of them possessing sentience.

  “Is it really that surprising? Master lay down three formations in total: the Ten Thousand Mountains Formation, the Fog Sea Formation, and the Castrum Divinitus Formation. He infused all three with his most profound insights into formations, and all three of us gained sentience.” The old man looked at Ning. “Someone on your level cannot possibly even imagine how truly powerful Master was. You might’ve met some Samsara Daolords in the past, but don’t even try to judge Master by their yardstick. They aren’t worthy! Only a Samsara Daolord who has pursued an Eternal Emperor after sending them fleeing can be discussed in the same breath as my master.”

  Although countless years had passed, the spirit of this formation was still filled with the utmost of pride in his master.

  “Understood.” Ning nodded.

  If you boasted while having nothing to back it up, others would mock you. However, Daolord Allgod was so powerful that even Daolord Solesky was in awe of him and admitted inferiority before his prowess. Even Daolord Badlands would sigh in awe when discussing Daolord Allgod with his subordinates and juniors. Clearly, Daolord Allgod had been so awe-inspiring a figure in life that even now, after having died countless ages ago, his fame continued to resonate with later generations of cultivators.

  “There’s no need for me to wax on any longer regarding how almighty Master was. Once you become a Daolord, you’ll understand,” the white-robed elder said.

  “Me? A Daolord?” Ning laughed. “Why do you have such confidence in me, senior?”

  “You clearly are just an Elder God, but you are capable of unleashing the power of a master-class World God.” The formation-spirit sighed. “It would be very easy for you to kill weak World Gods. An Elder God capable of easily killing most World Gods! There are very, very few monsters such as you. Many people will have a chance to encounter a Samsara Daolord in their lifetimes, but meeting a monster like you is incredibly rare.”

  “Monsters like you generally are blessed with tremendous luck. Based on what I know, roughly 80% of people like you end up becoming Samsara Daolords,” the formation-spirit said.

  “Oh? Eighty percent?” Ning nodded slowly.

  In the Three Realms, there was a belief in ‘karmic luck’. Luck was an ephemeral, fleeting thing. No cultivator had ‘fixed’ luck, as luck could often change. For example, you might be born into an incredibly good family with your parents both being powerful Immortals or Fiendgods. Someone born into a situation like this could be said to be born into a tremendously lucky situation. However, if this person ended up becoming a silkpants wastrel who didn’t work hard in cultivation, his karmic luck would begin to decline.

  Ji Ning, for example. He was reincarnated into a decent family and with the Nuwa Painting, and so it could be said that he was born with fairly decent luck. After he gained the legacy of Daoist Threelives, his karmic luck became even better.

  Every single person had to fight for their own karmic luck.

  However, the karmic luck of the Three Realms was quite weak compared to the overwhelming power of the primordial chaos. Ning was now fighting to gain the karmic luck of the Endless Territories! There were some World-level cultivators who would massacre the living creatures of many chaosworlds, causing great sin to accrue upon them. Daolord Allgod had once chased after and slaughtered countless great sinners, resulting in more and more karmic luck and karmic blessings being bestowed upon him. Karmic virtue and karmic sin existed in the Endless Territories…and so too did karmic luck!

  In the Three Realms, three people gained the Nine Chaos Seals – Nuwa, Ji Ning, and Daoist Three Purities. All of them gained tremendous karmic luck as a result. If it wasn’t for the Nine Chaos Seals, Ning wouldn’t be able to easily slay weak World Gods as a mere Elder God!

  “However, on the path of cultivation, either you advance forward or you slowly fall behind.” The formation-spirit looked at Ning. “My master was even more monstrously talented than you are. Alas, he still failed in his Daomerge. He died and his Dao faded away. Remember to treasure every single scrap of karmic luck you come across.”

  “Thank you for your words of wisdom.” Ning nodded.

  “Actually, all of the treasuries here in the Ten Thousand Mountains are empty.” The elderly formation-spirit looked at Ning. “I decide what treasures are to be awarded to those who pass the trials. Master left me with many treasures and decreed that I can teleport any of them into the globe of light. He certainly didn’t want to be bothered with such minor matters.”

  Ning finally understood.

  “In this treasury, I had originally intended the light globe to be filled with an idol of fire that was filled with the mysteries of the Dao of Fire.” As the elderly formation-spirit spoke, he waved his hand and produced a palm-sized fiery idol. This idol had eight faces, some beautiful, some ugly, some stern. The idol was covered with countless mysterious runes.

  “However…”

  “Every single Elder God who wishes to try and break the treasury formations here in the Ten Thousand Islands has to have at least the power of a master-class World God. If they do, then they can succeed.” The elderly formation-spirit looked at Ning. “Every single monstrously talented figure such as yourself is qualified to receive a treasure…but of course, you have to find a treasury first.”

  Ning nodded.

  “However, each person will only have one such opportunity.”

  “On your very first trip here, you defeated a barrier spell through raw power. As a result, the seeds of good karma have been sown between us! However, you’ll find that you will no longer be able to break through any of the other barrier spells using raw power,” the elderly formation-spirit said.

  “Understood.” Ning said in surprise, “But senior, you spoke of ‘sowing the seeds of good karma’. Although I feel confident in my powers, you are the formation-spirit of the Ten Thousand Mountains. Can it be that there is something you wish Darknorth to do, senior?”

  The elderly formation-spirit said, “There is indeed one thing. However, I won’t force you to do it; I merely hope that you can help.”

  “Please let me know what you wish me to do, senior.” Ning was puzzled.

  “My master had a hated foe.”
A savage light flickered through the elderly formation-spirit’s eyes, and a murderous aura permeated his voice. “Master pursued his foe for many years, spending enormous amounts of effort in his attempt to kill him. Alas, in the end he wasn’t able to do so. His foe ended up fleeing.”

  Ning was stunned. “Senior, are you speaking of that Eternal Emperor he pursued?”

  “Yes. The Eternal Emperor.” The formation-spirit explained, “His name was Emperor Melobo.”

  “Emperor Melobo?” Ning tasted the name. The name felt foreign, alien.

  “According to what Badlands told me, Emperor Melobo has already returned.” The elderly formation-spirit laughed coldly. “My master chased him all the way into the endless darkness, where he hid himself from my master’s sight. He must have returned only after learning that my master died.”

  Although Ning was surprised that Daolord Badlands was apparently acquainted with the formation-spirit, he couldn’t help but instead first ask, “Senior, are you asking me to deal with this Eternal Emperor in the future?”

  “I am.” The elderly formation-spirit nodded.

  Ning was speechless. “Senior, you think too highly of me.”

  Eternal Emperors were eternal figures who had succeeded in their Daomerge! Daolord Allgod had died countless years ago but Emperor Melobo was still alive and well.

  Daolord Allgod had chased after Emperor Melobo for countless years but had been unable to slay him. In other words, there wasn’t an enormous difference in power between the two. Given how much time had passed, Emperor Melobo had to have grown more powerful.

  “Haha, I’m just planting seeds to sprout in the future. I don’t expect all of them to blossom.” The elderly formation-spirit explained, “In addition, Emperor Melobo is an enemy of the entire Dao Alliance! You came here with World God Dragonbinder of the Badlands Court. Given that he trusts you, I imagine you should be a member of the Dao Alliance as well. There’s no way a monstrously talented genius like you would betray them for our enemies.”

  “What is a ‘Dao Alliance’?” Ning was rather dazed now.