Desolate Era

by RWX

  “Three supreme World Gods, supported by our formation, aren’t even able to withstand a single strike from it?”

  “How can…”

  The ninety-plus cultivators instantly felt their hearts freeze and their hopes vanish. Apparently, those three supreme World Gods weren’t even close to being a match for the golden Oddbat. Most likely, all of the supreme World Gods on the vessel would have to join forces in order to have a chance! Alas, the vessel was being assaulted by nine silver Oddbats and the thousands of black Oddbats as well.

  “We are finished.” Some of the cultivators began to feel despair. They couldn’t come up with any solutions for dealing with these foes.

  “In terms of technique or their mastery of the Dao, those three are my equals.” Ning had watched carefully as those three had charged forward. He had actually followed right behind them, watching them test out the golden Oddbat in the hopes that he could get a sense of how powerful it truly was.

  As soon as those enormous bat-wings had flapped, the three World Gods had been knocked flying backwards.

  Ning frowned slightly upon seeing this. He was quickly able to come to a series of judgements. “So it really is true! Oddbats are all incredibly dumb creatures. Even golden Oddbats are only talented in the Dao of Space because of their incredible innate gifts in this Dao. Despite that, their insights are only comparable to the insights of ordinary World-level cultivators.”

  Oddbats. The black Oddbats had the intelligence level of ordinary human infants, and they knew almost no combat techniques at all. They relied entirely on their innate gifts to battle.

  Golden Oddbats were far more powerful, but their insights into the Dao were merely comparable to the insights of ordinary World-level cultivators. They weren’t even close to being a match for Ning and the others in this regard.

  “Its insights into the Dao are quite ordinary! The problem is that it is incredibly fast and possesses overwhelming physical power.” Ning’s eyelids twitched slightly. “Its body is incredibly tough. No wonder everyone says that the corpse of a golden Oddbat is a priceless treasure. Its various parts can be used to forge Eternal weapons.”

  The claws, fangs, and tail of a golden Oddbat were all comparable to Eternal weapons. Its other parts were slightly weaker but still formidable. For example, its wings were soft but resilient, while its skin was quite smooth. Its entire body was terrifyingly strong, granting it incredible speed and strength. When it had flapped its enormous wings just now, it actually hadn’t used any intricate techniques. It had relied on its overwhelming superiority in strength to send those three cultivators halfway to Hell!

  “Cultivators are truly useless.” The golden Oddbat spread out its enormous wings once more as it stood there atop the flying vessel. It turned its cold, insidious gaze towards the other cultivators on the boat. All of the cultivators began to feel a sense of despair. What were they going to do? How were they supposed to stop it?

  “How boring. All of you can go die now. Ahahaha…” The golden Oddbat let out an ear-piercing laugh as it suddenly pounced towards the nearest cultivator, who hurriedly beat a frantic retreat in terror.

  Swish!

  A blinding streak of sword-light suddenly pierced through the air towards the golden Oddbat, colliding directly against the golden Oddbat’s sharp claws.

  Clang! The golden Oddbat was brought to a momentary halt.

  As for Ning, he couldn’t help but stumble backwards by three steps, each step so heavy as to cause the entire vessel to tremble.

  Ning’s eyes narrowed as he stared at the golden Oddbat. He was now supported by the azureflower mist energy; with its energy supporting him, the additional power granted by the formation was almost negligible. “What terrifying strength. It is far stronger than I am.”

  The golden Oddbat stopped moving as it turned to stare at Ning, weighing him.

  The entire vessel fell silent. All the cultivators turned to focus on this sight.

  Ji Ning had manifested three heads and six arms and was wielding six swords. He and the golden Oddbat were staring at each other intently from afar.

  The golden Oddbat continued to stare weighingly at Ning, then let out another one of those ear-piercing laughs. Its voice echoed throughout the surrounding void as it said, “I didn’t expect to find someone so powerful here. You should be the most powerful person on this vessel.”

  “That’s brother Darknorth.”

  “Fellow Daoist Darknorth!”

  The other cultivators were overjoyed upon seeing this. They were stunned at the level of power which Ning had just unleashed, but they were also filled with a powerful urge and hope to stay alive!

  “But it is useless. You will still die.” The golden Oddbat let out that bizarre laugh. “All the cultivators on this vessel will die!” As it laughed, it transformed into a blur as it pounced straight towards Ning.

  “Kill!” Ning didn’t back down in the slightest, charging straight forward with six Violetjewels at the ready.

  Ning was like a streak of light while the golden Oddbat was like an illusory blur. The two instantly collided against each other! Ning possessed astonishing speed and strength, but the golden Oddbat was superior to even Ning in these two aspects.

  Boom! Boom! Boom!

  The two instantly clashed dozens of times. No one dared to draw near the two of them.

  BOOM! An enormous explosion rang out as the golden tail and the sword-light both struck the deck of the flying vessel at the same time, knocking it askew and flipping it over. All of the cultivators and Oddbats were sent flying out of the vessel. They all hurriedly moved to avoid Ji Ning and the golden Oddbat, who had now truly begun to fight.

  * * *

  Book 26, Chapter 23 - Terror

  The Dao-tree Ji Ning’s Jindan chaos region was now more than ninety thousand meters tall. His Sword World was incredibly powerful, and the six Violetjewels in his hands were Eternal weapons of ridiculous power. Ning also had the azureflower mist energy reinforcing him, making his body comparable to that of a Daolord of the First Step, and yet…

  BOOM!

  Ning was sent staggering backwards, but his swordplay remained orderly. He stared intently at the distant golden Oddbat.

  “It is simply too physically strong.” Ning felt genuine amazement in his heart. “It clearly has terrible combat techniques, but it is still able to suppress me.”

  The golden Oddbat’s wings were spread, but its gaze was turned towards the other cultivators in the distance as it watched those ninety-plus cultivators fight against its many children. The cultivators were slowly gaining the upper hand as the number of black Oddbats began to decline, causing the golden Oddbat to feel rather impatient.

  “Hmph, I’ll let you stay alive for a bit longer.” The golden Oddbat let out an ear-piercing screech as it shot out in a solitary arc, seeking to move past Ning and assault the other cultivators.

  “What?!”

  “Not good!”

  The ninety-plus cultivators had all been paying attention to the battle between the golden Oddbat and Ning. They were all shocked to see the golden Oddbat head their way.

  They all knew how incredibly fast the golden Oddbat was. Previously, the golden Oddbat had simply been so proud and arrogant that it had stood there without moving, allowing those three World Gods to assault it. It had battled against Ning for quite some time before it began to grow impatient. It set aside its pride, intending to move around Ning and slay the other cultivators instead.

  “No running!” Ning let out a loud roar as the Thunderlight Wings suddenly appeared on his back. The Thunderlight Wings fluttered slightly, causing his speed to dramatically increase.

  “Halt!” A dazzling, eye-catching streak of crimson-gold lightning suddenly shot out of Ning’s forehead. This streak of crimson-gold lightning moved with incredible speed, far faster than the golden Oddbat itself. The lightning furiously smote the golden Oddbat with a direct blow! This was one of the streaks of [Novessence Thunder]
which Ning had mastered.

  Crackle! Hiss! The crimson-gold lightning completely surrounded the golden Oddbat’s body. The golden Oddbat was so powerful that it could completely ignore the damage caused by the crimson-gold lightning, but the lightning had a powerful restrictive effect on it. It was like a supreme World God was doing everything he could to keep his arms wrapped around it, causing the golden Oddbat’s movements to be encumbered.

  Ning was incredibly fast to begin with, his speed being comparable to that of ordinary Daolords. Now that he was using his Thunderlight Wings, the two were fairly close in speed. Given that golden Oddbat was being slowed down by Ning’s [Novessence Thunder], Ning was immediately able to catch up.

  “Damn.” The golden Oddbat was enraged.

  “Good!”

  “Well done, brother Darknorth!”

  “Fellow Daoist Darknorth truly is an admirable figure.”

  Shouts of delight rang out from afar, as well as some laughter.

  As Ning caught up to the golden Oddbat, his six Eternal weapons struck out like six blood-colored wyrms as he furiously assaulted the creature, once more stopping it in its tracks.

  “Everyone, help me out by getting rid of the other Oddbats as soon as possible,” Ning called out laughingly.

  “Right on!”

  “These Oddbats are easy to deal with.”

  “Hurry up, fellow Daoists. It isn’t easy for brother Darknorth to fend off the golden Oddbat!” The cultivators could now see hope, and so they did their absolute best to wipe out the remaining Oddbats.

  As for Ning, he continued to battle against the golden Oddbat in single combat while using the [Novessence Thunder] to bind it. The power of that crimson-gold lightning was completely applied to the golden Oddbat’s body, causing it to be slowed down slightly. Ning couldn’t help but sigh in amazement at how tough its body was.

  “If I were to use the Elementum Waterflame Gourd and release the lightning it holds, it would definitely release more power than my [Novessence Thunder] possesses.” Ning couldn’t help but secretly sigh. “The problem is that it would just be one level of power stronger. I would at most have the upper hand but I still would find it difficult to actually kill this golden Oddbat.”

  The Elementum Waterflame Gourd held two types of Dao lightning. Dao lightning was capable of sweeping aside almost anyone below the Daolord level of power! However, it was only capable of wiping out master-class World Gods in one strike; it was at most just slightly stronger than the [Novessence Thunder] which Ning had put such effort into creating.

  When these two types of water-attribute and fire-attribute Dao lightning joined together, they would be significantly stronger, most likely capable of slaying supreme World Gods in one blow! They were capable of heavily injuring transcendent World Gods and have a major restrictive effect on Daolords of the First Step. Alas, the golden Oddbat was simply too physically tough, and its claws, fangs, and tail were comparable to Eternal weapons in might. Even its skin and its wings, some of its weaker body parts, were comparable to Dao weapons. It would be extremely difficult for Ning to injure it with his sword.

  “In addition, the Elementum Waterflame Gourd is an important treasure. I spent five hundred and fifty thousand cubes of chaos nectar for it! If I was to use it, everyone would be able to recognize it right away. Elementum Waterflame Gourds are incredibly famous Eternal weapons. If they recognize it… once these cultivators reach the other end of the Sea of Darkness, word of it being in my possession will spread and I’ll probably be in a lot of trouble.”

  Although they were currently on the same vessel, a treasure worth over half a million cubes of chaos nectar was alluring for even many Samsara Daolords, to say nothing of World-level cultivators. The reason why Ning had purchased this treasure was to use it as a killer trump card! He would only use it in dire situations, when his very life was at stake. But of course, he also had it since he would need those two types of Dao lightning when training in the second part of the [Novessence Thunder].

  “Kill! Kill! Kill!”

  “Ahaha, this is fun.”

  “Kill them all.”

  Thanks to Ning tying down the golden Oddbat, the other cultivators slowly began to gain the upper hand as more and more Oddbats perished.

  “Fellow Daoist Darknorth, just hold it off for a while longer. We’ll be ready to reinforce you soon.”

  “We’ll be there shortly!”

  The cultivators began to pick up the pace in killing the Oddbats.

  As for the golden Oddbat, it let out a furious, ear-piercing screech. After having been tied down for so long, it finally couldn’t take it any longer. It roared furiously, “Let’s go, children! Let’s go! Go!”

  Boom! The golden Oddbat flapped its massive wings, creating a terrifying spatial tempest as it began to flee off into the distance.

  The nine silver Oddbats and the few surviving black Oddbats all hastily fled as well, moving at incredibly fast speeds.

  Ning stared as the golden Oddbat disappeared into the distance. He didn’t try to chase it. If he did, he would probably be surrounded and attacked by all of the Oddbats! In addition, these Oddbats were born and bred here in the Sea of Darkness. They knew it better than any cultivator. If Ning really did give chase, he might well be led into and trapped within a dangerous part of the Sea.

  “It is over.” Ning let out a sigh of relief. Being able to force these Oddbats into retreating was already an excellent outcome. Ning’s goal was to reach Vastheaven Palace, after all. It wasn’t to kill a golden Oddbat.

  Atop the flying vessel.

  The cultivators had all returned to the flying vessel, which once more began to accelerate.

  “Brother Darknorth, it was all thanks to you that we made it. If it wasn’t for you, we would probably all be dead.”

  “Haha, I’m embarrassed to say this, but all this time I felt certain that I was one of the strongest cultivators on this vessel. Now, it seems, brother Darknorth is capable of defeating me in a single blow.”

  “We actually encountered a transcendent World God on this trip, eh? This truly is a rare occasion. Come, fellow Daoist Darknorth. Let me offer you a toast!”

  The vessel was filled with the sound of laughter.

  Transcendent World Gods, when supported by the power of their formation, would be comparable to Daolords of the First Step. Thus, most of them felt certain that Ning was a transcendent World God. What they didn’t realize was that Ning’s own azureflower mist energy was actually far stronger than their formation, which had provided him with just a negligible amount of assistance.

  Ning, of course, wouldn’t tell them the truth. This was his secret.

  “Without everyone else helping out, I probably would’ve ended up dying after being encircled by the golden Oddbat and thousands of other Oddbats.” Ning also laughed as he chatted and drank with the other cultivators.

  The spatial waves within the Sea of Darkness remained as savage as ever. The ninety-eight cultivators continued to fly through the Sea within their vessel, chatting, drinking, and celebrating their victory. But just at this moment…

  Whoooooosh.

  An enormous, pitch-black opening suddenly appeared within the spatial waves around them. The opening was over a million kilometers in size… and a head slowly began to emerge from within it.

  This head was utterly enormous, at least a million kilometers in size as well. Its two eyes were like two enormous blazing suns, and it was staring right at the flying vessel.

  “What?!”

  “Good heavens…”

  “What is…”

  The carousing cultivators aboard the flying vessel all stared wide-eyed in horror, as did Ning. They could feel their truesouls quivering in terror as an incredible, indescribable sense of danger crashed down upon them. This was a warning that the Destiny Sea was sending to them…

  Whoosh. The enormous head opened its mouth, causing a pitch-black corridor of spacetime to appear. All of the culti
vators were instantly drawn inwards towards its mouth. Ning was the strongest cultivator present, and he tried to activate his Thunderlight Wings to escape, but even he found it impossible to shake off that sucking effect.

  The entire flying vessel was swallowed into the spacetime corridor of darkness located within the creature’s mouth, as were all ninety-eight cultivators.

  Spacetime was in a state of absolute flux within this dark corridor. Soon, the vessel and all ninety-eight cultivators completely vanished.

  The blazing, sun-sized eyes of the titanic head swept the surrounding area with a glance, then slowly shrank back into the enormous dark cavity from whence it came. That enormous dark hole then vanished as well and the Sea of Darkness once more returning to its regular appearance.

  However, the ninety-eight cultivators and the flying vessel they had been in had completely vanished from the Sea of Darkness.

  * * *

  Book 26, Chapter 24 - Taken By Force

  A territory located unfathomably far away from the Sea of Darkness.

  An enormous rhombus-shaped gemstone was located atop a chaos star, emanating ripples of power.

  “I need to get closer to it. I can still move a bit closer.”

  More than a hundred World-level cultivators had been gathered here atop this chaos star. Their gazes blazed as they stared at the enormous rhombus jewel that had been firmly planted into the ground off in the distance. The ripples emanating from the jewel were being transmitted straight into their minds.

  “A karmic fortune has been placed before me. I have to grasp it.”

  “I can keep moving closer.”

  The World-level cultivators were like children who had just started to learn how to walk. Every single step they took was incredibly difficult, and the closer they moved to it, the more invisible pressure was applied to their very truesouls. Despite this, they continued to strive to move closer to the rhombus so that they might more clearly hear the voice that was hidden within those ripples of power.