Desolate Era

by RWX

  If he spent a little bit of time training and became a Daolord of the Second Step, he would be capable of battling Verge-level Daolords!

  Although others such as Gorho were also capable of becoming Daolords whenever they wished, no one in the Twelve Palaces really cared about him, even though they knew that he was an Aeonian! So what if he was an Aeonian? Even Eternal Emperor Melobo of the Aeonians had been severely beaten and chased around by Daolord Allgod.

  Gorho’s level of enlightenment was far inferior to Bertulu’s.

  “Bertulu really is at the point where he should be breaking through to the Daolord level soon.” A look of anticipation was in the white-bearded elder’s eyes.

  All the major powers were staring at the midair images, watching as the battle was about to begin.

  ……

  The oceanic island.

  A white-robed youth who carried a sword on his back was staring off into the distance. He saw a white-robed, white-haired youth off in the distance, a youth whose eyes seemed to contain the all the stars of the cosmos. When Ning saw those eyes, he couldn’t help but be affected by their power.

  “Incredible.” Ning was secretly speechless.

  “Darknorth, my name is Bertulu.” The white-haired youth spoke out.

  “Bertulu. I’ve heard of you, and I’ve been waiting for this battle for quite some time,” Ning said. For some reason, although they had yet to fight Ning already felt a sense of tremendous pressure. “The stronger he is, the better. I want to see how powerful a World-level cultivator can become.”

  “You should be the strongest individual in the group of newcomers.” Bertulu smiled. “I hope you won’t disappoint me.”

  “Then take out your weapon,” Ning said.

  “Take out my weapon?” Bertulu smiled. “Let’s see if you are strong enough first.”

  Although this was Ning’s first time meeting Bertulu, he had heard long ago that Bertulu generally used his bare palms when fighting in close combat. The only time he had ever used his weapons was in his battles against Kilostar! This was Kilostar’s evaluation: “Only once you fight him yourself will you truly understand how powerful he is. He is powerful enough to drive a man into despair. Only by using my thousand bodies formation am I able to make it so that he can do nothing to me.”

  Whoosh.

  Ning stood there atop a mountain boulder. His body momentarily blurred as he manifested three heads and six arms, a sword in each of his six hands.

  “Hahaha…” Bertulu laughed, then began to stride through the air towards Ning. As he did so, he delivered a punch from far away.

  Boom! His punch seemed to strike out with the power of a meteor as its power crushed through Heaven and Earth, slamming down towards Ning from the air.

  Ning’s face tightened slightly, the desire to do battle growing even stronger in his heart. His opponent was fighting empty-handed, while he himself was using six Eternal swords. He had a huge advantage in this fight. “I have to force him to take out his weapons.”

  Whoosh. Ning’s sword moved, transforming into a streak of absolutely dominating blood-colored light as it struck out against that fist.

  Although it seemed to merely graze Bertulu’s fist, it instantly was able to have an impact on his fist technique.

  “Oh? Interesting.” Bertulu laughed as he continued to stride forwards. He manifested six arms as well, then began to rain down blows with his fists like countless meteors shooting through the skies. His palms were like massive screens that blotted out the skies, and his fingers seemed to tear through everything in the world. Even though he still merely used his bare hands, his six hands were still strong enough to put pressure upon Ning with each strike. As for Ning, his pride prevented him from using his Elementum Waterflame Gourd.

  Although Bertulu was strong, he was fighting empty-handed. Ning was already using six Eternal weapons against Bertulu’s bare hands; how could Ning possibly take out the gourd as well? If he lost in a situation like this, he would be thoroughly convinced of the latter’s superiority.

  Rumble…

  Bertulu circled around Ning at high speeds as he attacked, his aura flaring out and filling the heavens with each strike.

  ……

  “Each time I watch Bertulu fight, I enjoy myself immensely.”

  “Right. I truly would never have imagined that a World-level cultivator could reach such a high level of insight.”

  The ancient powers in the dark abyss all sighed as they watched this battle go on.

  The white-bearded elder nodded slowly. “When Dawnstar was at the World level, his saber-arts were comparable to Bertulu’s fist techniques. However, Dawnstar was merely a dual refiner who did not train in heartforce.”

  “Dawnstar?”

  “Palace Lord Dawnstar?”

  “He was this powerful as well?”

  “No wonder Palace Lord Dawnstar is so powerful now.”

  All the ancient powers nodded.

  Without question, the most powerful Daolord of the Twelve Palaces was Palace Lord Dawnstar. He was the Palace Lord of the Palace of the Saber. Although he was ‘merely’ a Verge-level Daolord, on one occasion when he was enraged he had slain an ancient Eternal Emperor with just three strokes of his saber. His reputation was instantly spread throughout the Endless Territories! He was so dominatingly powerful that he was even stronger than Daolord Allgod had been.

  For the Hegemon to compare Bertulu to Palace Lord Dawnstar was a sign of how great his expectations were for Bertulu.

  ……

  Rumble…

  Although Bertulu repeatedly circled around Ning and furiously assaulted him, he was unable to injure Ning in the slightest.

  “If that’s all you have, you won’t even be able to scratch me,” Ning said coldly.

  “You are indeed worthy of making me use a weapon.” A sword suddenly appeared in each of Bertulu’s hands, and each sword was an Eternal weapon. The area around him became filled with endless flickers of light, and Bertulu himself was like the divine lord of the lights as he once more charged at Ning with those six swords at the ready.

  His swords struck out in a fierce, dominating fashion. Ning was forced to defend with all his might.

  Clang! Clang! Clang!

  “What powerful sword-arts! Still, the stronger he is the better.” Ning only grew even more excited. The Thunderlight Wings suddenly appeared on his back, bolstering his footwork techniques. Each flutter of the wings and each step Ning took was like a stance from a sword-art. His movements and his attacks had all joined together into a perfect whole.

  Ning struck out with his six Violetjewels simultaneously, transforming them into six streaks of bloody light that slashed out through the skies. Each time, he was able to defend against Bertulu’s swords.

  “He was actually able to defend against me?” Bertulu was rather startled. He called out, “What is your sword-art named?”

  “During my thousand years here at the Astral Islands, I merged the Unicorn’s Heart stance with my Astral stance and created a defensive technique,” Ning replied. “I named it the Unicorn’s Domain!”

  “Unicorn’s Domain?” Bertulu was slightly surprised.

  The Unicorn’s Domain represented Ning’s most profound insights into the Dao of the Sword.

  The Unicorn’s Heart represented a certain level of insight into the sword that was focused on defense. Much like how the Heartsword stance represented the heart having full control of the sword and the world around it, or the Great Firmanent stance represented the power of an entire world, this stance represented a type of domain that was even more profound than the Unicorn’s Heart. Ning had used the essence of the Unicorn’s Heart and fused it with the even more powerful Astral stance to create this domain, his Unicorn’s Domain!

  He was able to defend against any attacks that entered this domain. Each time, his defenses were able to deflect and then counterattack the enemy. The Astral stance was merely a ‘tool’ in that using it with Violet
jewel resulted in tremendous gains in power. For him to incorporate it into his Unicorn’s Domain and use it to defend or deflect just made the power of the domain even greater and more effective.

  By relying on this technique, Ning had been able to finally defeat the fisherman in the third Mirrorsnow Painting. However, Ning’s sword-arts had since reached a true bottleneck, which was why he had decided to leave the Astral islands.

  “This is the most powerful sword-art I have at present,” Ning said. “Bertulu, I’ve already activated my Unicorn’s Domain. If you can defeat this domain of mine, I will admit defeat.”

  “Haha, good. Aside from Kilostar, you are the only person in all the Astral Islands capable of forcing me to use my true weapons.” Suddenly, the six swords vanished from Bertulu’s hands. Moments later, two heavy warhammers appeared. One warhammer was black while the other was white, and both were Eternal weapons.

  “Judging from the fist techniques you used earlier, I actually guessed that you specialize in something aside from sword-arts. It seems as though my guess was correct. You actually specialize in hammer-arts, using your hands as your hammers, right? Come. Let us see if you can break my Unicorn’s Domain.” Ning had absolute confidence in his Unicorn’s Domain. This was a technique which was perfect for a weaker cultivator to defend against a stronger foe with. It was a defensive sword-art that avoiding facing a stronger foe’s attacks head-on.

  * * *

  Book 26, Chapter 45 - True Body?

  The ancient powers watched the images of the battle from their position in the dark abyss.

  “He’s infused an attacking sword-art into a defensive domain, but managed to keep the essence of his domain intact.” A partially bald man let out a laugh. “Although Darknorth isn’t a match for Bertulu, he’s still quite a rare talent. Once he enters our Palace of the Sword, we’ll give him some good training. Perhaps a miracle will happen and he will be able to be Bertulu’s equal in the future.”

  “Has this kid even chosen your Sword Palace yet? Even if he has, should really be so shameless in praising him? His sword-arts aren’t bad and have reached incredible heights in terms of defensiveness, but for him to be Bertulu’s match in the future? Haha, how many Bertulus do you think our Brightshore Kingdom will give rise to?”

  “Daolord Woodflower, you are going a bit too far in your praise.”

  “Well, Woodflower belongs to the Sword Palace. It isn’t surprising for him to praise someone else who will be in his palace.”

  “I do have to admit that Darknorth’s defensive abilities are quite excellent.”

  The ancient powers all gave their own opinions as they watched Ning and Bertulu continue to furiously battle against each other.

  ……

  Rumble…

  It was as though the world itself was breaking apart. Space had been shattered and distorted, and each of those two warhammers carried enough power to cause this entire world to tremble. Ning had to use three or four swords to block each attack; for him to use just a single sword was no longer enough.

  “Although he is skilled in using heavy warhammers, I imagine he only has two of these Eternal warhammers.” Ning was able to hang on with some difficulty.

  Actually, it was with quite a bit of difficulty.

  Bertulu was most skilled in hammer-arts, and he sent his attacks forward in an open, straightforward, and awe-inspiring display of power! Ning was being completely crushed in this fight, and he was only able to just barely survive because his newly developed Unicorn Domain allowed him to perfectly execute every strike and avoid facing the power of each hammer head on.

  “His hammer-art is so profound that I can’t even understand it. Although the golden-robed emperor in the Mirrorsnow Painting also had an open and straightforward fighting style, there is obviously an enormous difference between the two of them!” Ning couldn’t help but sigh. If the golden-robed emperor was described as a child who had just learned to walk, then Bertulu was a valiant warrior who bounded to and fro with the fierceness of a tiger.

  Fortunately, Ning had infused his Astral stance into this Unicorn’s Domain. Otherwise, if he was merely relying on the Unicorn’s Heart stance, he would have been completely unable to withstand this assault.

  “You are actually still able to hold on?” Bertulu was slightly startled as well. He then called out, “Watch out, Darknorth!”

  “Eh?” Ning’s face tightened slightly.

  Rumble…

  The world around him suddenly changed.

  Previously, he had been on an oceanic island that was surrounded by an endless sea. Although the island had begun to crumble from the effects of their fight, the endless waters of the sea hadn’t changed.

  However, Ning now realized to his astonishment that the world around him had completely changed. It had become a world of rolling plains and towering mountains, and at the very peak of one mountain there was a sacred shrine that glowed with breathtaking light, allowing the great plains to bask in its radiance.

  As for Ning and Bertulu, they were battling within the plains.

  “Ning, son.”

  Yuchi Snow and Ji Yichuan both appeared. They were staring at Ning, eyes filled with joy.

  “Junior apprentice-brother.” Yu Wei appeared as well.

  A surge of invisible power had been applied to Ning’s truesoul, pulling his deepest desires and most sacred memories out from the bottom of his heart. Ning’s heart was forever occupied with his longing for his father, his mother, and for Yu Wei. They had been the most important people in his life, and he deeply desired to one day rescue Yu Wei and allow their family of three to reunite.

  “Break!” Ning continued to battle furiously against Bertulu, not allowing any of this to affect him in the slightest. He let out a furious roar, causing Yuchi Snow, Ji Yichuan, and Yu Wei to all vanish.

  “He actually wasn’t affected by it.” Bertulu was a bit surprised.

  “What a powerful heartforce illusion. Eh?” Ning’s face turned slightly pale as he realized that he was still surrounded by rolling plains and towering mountains.

  Ever since the Endwar of the Three Realms, Ning’s Dao-heart had continuously risen and grown more powerful. As he mastered the Heartsword stance, his own heartforce had reached the threshold of the fifth stage of heartforce. The problem was that he was still just a hair away from making that breakthrough. Although his heartforce was quite strong, it was nothing compared to Bertulu’s heartforce illusions.

  However, Ning’s strongest aspect was his truesoul! His truesoul was bathed in the power of the azureflower mist energy, causing it to be comparable to that of a Daolord of the First Step.

  Anyone who wished to successfully bewilder Ning would have to overwhelm his truesoul with a heartforce technique or some other secret art. Take Eternal Emperors for example. Eternal Emperors might go insane or berserk in some instances, but to shake their truesouls would be almost impossibly hard. Ning’s truesoul was incredibly powerful, and he had decently strong heartforce as well. This was why he had been able to withstand the illusions just now.

  “Come forth! As Bertulu continued to battle against Ning, he suddenly let out a loud shout.

  Boom!

  The plains around them suddenly split apart. Many long chains began to fly out from within the crevices and spin towards Ning.

  “More illusions? Break!” Ning willed his powerful truesoul and mighty will to cause all these things to dissipate.

  “Haha, illusions? You underestimate us Heartforce Cultivators. What is illusory is real, what is real is illusory.” Bertulu shook his head. “What you are seeing is all real.”

  Ning had no time to do anything else. Swoosh! A crimson-black gourd suddenly appeared next to him, then released two streaks of lightning that shot out like dragons. One streak of lightning caused dark stormclouds to gather as it shot out, with the other causing crimson clouds of flame to appear around it. The two swept out against the surroundings, incinerating and shattering the chains
that had sought to bind Ning. Alas, the chains reformed after being broken apart and continued to attack Ning in an endless stream.

  The two streaks of Dao lightning destroyed everything in the surrounding area, and Ning was like the god of lightning himself. Even Bertulu, who had been fighting Ning in close combat, was impacted by the lightning.

  “Omnipresence.” Bertulu said this word calmly.

  Whoosh.

  Instantly, golden light began to emanate from every single part of the plains. Endless streams of golden light surrounded Ning, constricting him and slowing him down. The two streaks of Dao lightly furiously hammered down upon the light, but it was omnipresent and inescapable.

  “Attack!” Ning took direct control over the two streaks of Dao lightning, sending them sweeping out against everything around him in a net.

  Boom! Boom! Boom!

  The warhammers continued their dance, causing the earth to shake and the mountains to tremble.

  Ning’s swords continuously formed Unicorn’s Domains, allowing him to defend with some difficulty. Thankfully, Ning had the azureflower mist energy supporting him, giving him the strength to withstand his foe.

  “Let’s stop here.” Bertulu suddenly retreated.

  The rolling plains and towering mountains around them all vanished, as did the shrine atop the mountain. The surrounding area returned to its normal, ‘real’ appearance. The island had long ago been completely reduced to rubble. The two were standing in the middle of the air, surrounded by the endless waves of the ocean.

  “Stop?” Ning was slightly surprised.

  Even though he had taken out his Elementum Waterflame Gourd, he still found it extremely hard to hold on. He could sense that defeat might come at any moment, but he had continued to do his best to delay the inevitable for as long as he could.

  “I admit defeat,” Bertulu suddenly said in a loud voice.

  “You admit what?” Ning was stunned. His foe’s hammer-arts were incredibly, incredibly profound. In addition, Ning could sense that Bertulu hadn’t really been going all-out in the fight; he had simply been fighting in a fairly casual, relaxed matter. Despite that, Ning had been able to sense that he was going to lose soon, if for no other reason than the fact that he was perpetually on the defense and unable to launch any attacks of his own.