Desolate Era

by RWX

  “Fairy Qingfan, all you need to do is stand back and watch.” Ning turned his head and said to Su Youji, “I’ll take you into my estate-world.”

  “Alright.” Su Youji nodded.

  Fairy Qingfan said unhappily, “Little sister Youji, this isn’t…”

  Ning just waved his hand, drawing Su Youji into his estate-treasure. He then turned and began to walk towards the outside.

  “You-!” Fairy Qingfan immediately hurried after him.

  The entrance to the estate.

  Ning emerged from the estate and saw the eighteen World-level cultivators seated outside of it.

  “Leaving already?” The black-robed elder stared at Ning in a very solemn manner, as did all of the other cultivators.

  “Did Fairy Qingfan ask you to help her out by taking the Flamefairy out with you?” The black-robed elder’s voice turned icy cold.

  “She did not,” Ning said.

  “Junior apprentice-brother, the Flamefairy’s matter has grave implications for everyone here. As a result, we can’t just let you leave like this.” A nearby red-haired child spoke in a hoarse voice.

  “Do you plan on inspecting my treasures?” Ning frowned.

  “Cultivators often hide many of their secrets in their treasures. We won’t insist on inspecting everything by force. However… you will need to swear a lifeblood oath that you are not taking the Flamefairy out of this place.” The black-robed elder said calmly, “If you truly are not carrying her with you, then this oath will have no impact on you at all. But if you are… then this lifeblood oath will immediately rebound upon you and devour your life. You’ll die on the spot.”

  “Swear the lifeblood oath and we will let you leave.” Swish! A dark-red crystalline rod was sent flying towards Ning.

  Ning glanced at the dark-red rod, then shook his head.

  Suddenly, he manifested three heads and six arms. His six arms dramatically increased in size, and his palms became so large as to block out the skies as he struck out towards the eighteen cultivators nearby.

  “What?!”

  “Careful!”

  Fairy Qingfan was standing right behind him, and her eyes immediately bulged out. He actually went straight to fighting? How could Su Youji’s master be such a fool? He actually dared to launch an attack within the Eastsmoke branch of the Bluegrace Sect?!

  “Hmph.”

  “What a fool.”

  The eighteen World-level cultivators instantly activated their formation, allowing Immortal energy to pool together and then flow over their bodies. The reason there were eighteen of them here was so that they could join forces and fight against tough foes. Even if Su Youji tried to use her bugbeasts and golems to force her way out of the estate, they would be able to hold on against her for a period of time.

  BOOM!

  As the six enormous palms swept towards them, an enormous collision could be heard as one of the World-level cultivators was captured as easily as one might pick up a little chick. The man was forcibly dragged into Ning’s estate-treasure, the entire formation having been forcibly torn apart.

  Whoooooosh. The six enormous palms continued to howl forth and strike out towards them.

  “Flee!”

  “How can he be this powerful?!”

  “Run away!”

  The remaining World-level cultivators were all stupefied. This initial clash had just resulted in Ning capturing eleven of them, and the rest hurriedly began to scatter and flee.

  However, the enormous power ripples caused by this clash spread out to encompass the entire Eastsmoke branch, which was merely ten million kilometers in size. Every single World-level cultivator here was able to easily sense that something had happened, and many streams of godsense swept outwards towards this region.

  “Who dare you! How dare you barge into our Bluegrace Sect!” One stream of godsense carried a voice that exploded loudly within Ning’s mind.

  “Hmph!” Ning suddenly poured out his own godsense, sweeping it in all four directions in an all-encompassing wave. Thanks to the nurturing effect of his azureflower mist energy, Ning’s soul was comparable to that of a Daolord of the First Step, as was his godsense. Other World-level cultivators truly had far weaker godsenses by comparison.

  As Ning’s godsense flooded out, it boomed as it slammed into the streams of godsense that had flooded this area. Ning’s godsense crushed everything in its path, smashing apart nearly three hundred different streams of godsense and chaosense. The difference between a World-level cultivator and a Daolord was simply too apparent.

  Rumble…

  For a moment, the only stream of godsense present within the ten million kilometer region of the Eastsmoke Sect belonged to Ji Ning. All the others had been completely crushed and wiped out!

  “The Flamefairy is my retainer. Today, I’ve come to the Eastsmoke branch of the Bluegrace Sect to take my retainer away from this place.” Ning’s voice boomed out, echoing in every corner of the entire Eastsmoke branch. “I trust that most of you know about the matter of your branch leader seeking to steal my retainer’s treasures, and you all know in your hearts who is in the right and who is in the wrong. I am going to take my retainer out of this place, and I’d rather not launch a massacre… but if anyone who seeks to bar my path shall die!”

  His voice blasted out across every inch of the local branch’s territory. Every single World-level cultivator found his godsense or chaosense completely suppressed, and they were all completely unable to push back.

  Fairy Qingfan stood there at the entrance to her home, staring in amazement as this all happened. When she heard this earth-shattering voice boom out in her mind, she couldn’t help but be shocked once again!

  * * *

  Book 26, Chapter 54 - Launching A Massacre

  Fairy Qingfan was completely stunned by the dominating power of Ji Ning’s godsense. The power of one’s godsense was derived from the strength of one’s soul. This was something that simply couldn’t be faked! All by himself, Ji Ning had crushed the godsenses of all the other World-level cultivators in the Eastsmoke branch. This alone was proof that he was a person who ordinary cultivators absolutely could not compare to! And, judging from Ning’s words… he had only revealed a tiny fraction of his true power.

  “Fellow Daoist Ji Ning.” Although Fairy Qingfan was so stunned that she immediately spoke and acted in a much more humble manner, she still said to Ning frantically, “This place is the local headquarters of our Bluegrace Sect. It is protected by many mighty formations which Daolord Bluegrace personally set down! No matter how strong are you, you can’t possibly withstand our guardian formations! You are acting far too impetuously!”

  Ning gave her a glance. “Fairy Qingfan, I already told you that you only need to do is stand back and watch.”

  “Then I’ll do just that.” Fairy Qingfan gritted her teeth. “Although that idiot branch leader is a real imbecile, he won’t show any mercy in activating those formations.”

  “If I really can’t beat him, I’ll just hide in your estate again, Fairy.” Ning tossed a smile her way.

  “You…” Fairy Qingfan stared, dazed. Good point. Ji Ning was standing right at the entrance to her estate. He really could simply retreat into it whenever he wished.

  Ning then turned to stare at the distant main palace of the Eastsmoke branch, his gaze turning cold. The choice of how to proceed was up to the local branch leader. If he was wise enough to let Ning leave, Ning wouldn’t pursue this matter any further and simply wipe the slate clean! It was very common for cultivators to fight each other out of greed for each other’s treasures, after all, and Su Youji hadn’t actually been harmed. This matter was a matter that could be easily glossed over.

  However, if he chose to fight…

  The outcome would be completely different. Ning wasn’t certain in his ability to overcome the local formations, and so he wouldn’t show any mercy at all.

  ……

  The main hall of the Eastsmoke branch.


  “Who is he? Where the hell did he come from?” The Eastsmoke leader was a fairly handsome man, but his eyes were as cold as ice.

  “No idea where he’s from.”

  “Given how powerful his godsense is, he’s definitely an extraordinary World-level cultivator. In fact, he might be strong enough to enter the Twelve Palaces or might have already done so.” There were three other World-level cultivators in the main hall. Usually the various World-level cultivators of the Eastsmoke branch would reside within their own residences, and so the main palace only had three on duty.

  The Eastsmoke leader’s face sank.

  “Branch leader, what should we do?”

  “Should we activate the formation and let them leave?”

  The other three all looked at their branch leader.

  The Eastsmoke leader was considering this very question as well. “It seems as though the master of the Flamefairy is quite a powerful figure… but no matter what, he’s just one man! So what if he really is a member of the Twelve Palaces? In this place, I can still kill him!”

  The almighty Hegemon had long ago ordered all members of the Twelve Palaces to swear lifeblood oaths, preventing them from killing each other. However, these oaths were not binding upon the other cultivators of the Brightshore Kingdom! Although World-level cultivators who had been granted entry into the Twelve Palaces were generally incredibly powerful, over the course of countless years there had been a few occasions in which ordinary World-level cultivators had managed to somehow kill World-level cultivators of the Twelve Palaces. When this happened, the response was simple: Too bad! It was his own damn fault!

  If you were protected from Daolords but ended up being killed by World-level cultivators, you deserved it!

  “His retainer had so many treasures. He has to have even more.” The Eastsmoke leader grew more and more greedy as he thought about this. “No matter what, he’s just a World-level cultivator. The sectlord once said that not even the most powerful World-level cultivator would be able to defeat these protective formations.”

  “Kill. Kill him!” The Eastsmoke leader made his decision, born of personal greed as well as confidence in the protective formation’s power. Ning’s own display of dominance and power had also angered the Eastsmoke leader, contributing to this decision.

  Boom! The Eastsmoke leader sent out a strand of his will, merging it into the protective formation that covered the entire Eastsmoke branch. This was a sealing formation that prevented anyone from entering or leaving the place. This formation was perpetually active, which was why Ning had to pretend that he was interested in joining the Bluegrace Sect and be granted entry. If he hadn’t, there would’ve been no way for him to force his way inside. The sealing formation would’ve stopped him dead in his tracks, and the many other formations would’ve begun to launch spells against him as various World-level cultivators took control over them.

  “Not only did you barge into the Bluegrace Sect, you act with such arrogance. It seems as though you truly have a death wish!” The Eastsmoke leader’s mind had become one with the formation, and his voice boomed out through the natural energy controlled by the formation as it echoed throughout the region. “On my orders, all disciples of the sect are to take control over our various formations and kill him!”

  Giving this order through godsense would’ve been more subtle, but Ning’s godsense had completely permeated this entire region, giving him no option but to send the order through his formation.

  “Yes.”

  “Take control of the formations!”

  “Quick!”

  Some of the World-level cultivators were hesitating, as they all knew that the Eastsmoke leader was in the wrong for lusting over the treasures of this man’s retainer! In addition, the man’s godsense was so strong that he was clearly an unfathomably powerful figure. Some of the vacillating cultivators began to delay on purpose, wanting to see exactly how powerful this mysterious expert was.

  However, some of them did obey the orders right away. As for the ones who were extremely good friends with the Eastsmoke leader, they all began to fly straight towards the various formation-cores. “Once we kill him, we’ll split some of the spoils as well.”

  “He dared to enter our base. He truly doesn’t know his own limits!”

  So long as they rendered merits in battle, there would be no way that the Eastsmoke leader would be able to refuse giving them a portion of the spoils. World-level fellow disciples were fairly important and respected, after all.

  ……

  Ning stood there in front of Fairy Qingfan’s estate. When Ning heard the Eastsmoke leader send out a booming order to kill him, he just slowly shook his head.

  “Think of something, quick!” Fairy Qingfan said desperately.

  “Formations… have to be operated by cultivators,” Ning said coldly.

  “Come out!” A crimson-black gourd instantly appeared in the air next to Ning. This was the Elementum Waterflame Gourd, and it immediately unleashed two dragon-like streaks of lightning. One was the Watersmoke Lightning, which surged out like a dark stormclouds that was filled with crashing waves of water. The other was the Firecloud Lightning, which spread out like an enormous billowing cloud of flames. The two streaks of lightning wrapped around each other, then began to blast out in every direction!

  It must be understood that Chaos lightning moved faster than almost all Daolords. As for Dao lightning, it moved with such terrifying speed that even Daolords would be befuddled by it, to say nothing of World-level cultivators.

  Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

  The Dao lightning blasted out in every direction. In the blink of an eye, every part of the ten million kilometers of the Eastsmoke branch became filled by the Watersmoke Lightning and the Firecloud Lightning. These two mighty types of Dao lightning were incompatible with each other, due to being water-aligned and fire-aligned, and each time they clashed with each other they would explode with utterly earth-shaking force.

  “What?!”

  “How is this possible?!”

  The cultivators who had been the first to move, hoping to help kill Ning and then get a share of his treasures, watched in utter despair as Dao lightning blanketed the skies above them! The Dao lightning moved with such incredible speed that they were filled with complete hopeless. It must be remembered that Daolord Allgod himself had used those nine secret arts including the [Novessence Thunder] to strike down Emperor Melobo. In terms of speed alone, Dao lightning was generally so fast that even Eternal Emperors were unable to dodge it.

  Boom! The two streaks of Dao lightning slammed downwards.

  “NO-!” Some of the World-level cultivators brandished their weapons, seeking to block. Alas, as the divine lightning swept past them they were instantly reduced to dust, their truesouls completely annihilated.

  ……

  The two mighty streaks of Dao lightning were so powerful that when they were completely focused on a single opponent, they would be able to slay even a supreme World God with a single blow. Even transcendent World Gods would suffer heavy injuries, and a few repeated strikes would result in their deaths!

  However, since Ning had spread out his two streaks of Dao lightning into an area attack, the power of the attack was somewhat lessened. The elite World Gods were instantly swept through and destroyed! The master-class World Gods would be able to survive for two breaths before also perishing. As for supreme World Gods, they would generally be able to survive. However, this small Eastsmoke branch only had a total of around three hundred World-level cultivators. It only had roughly ten or so who had reached the supreme World God level of power!

  Boom! The cultivators who had been the first to respond to their leader’s orders and charge forward began to die under the horrifying power of the two types of Dao lightning.

  There had only been a single supreme World God who had responded to the Eastsmoke leader’s orders right away, and Ning focused an enormous amount of lightning on him, causing him to per
ish after a few breaths as well.

  It had only been ten breaths worth of time, but all of the thirty-nine cultivators who had acknowledged their branch leader’s orders had perished! As for those who were hesitating or who were just watching, Ning didn’t act against them yet.

  “Thank goodness.”

  “Thank goodness I was cautious.”

  “Thank goodness I hate that idiot.”

  The many hesitating World-level cultivators in the branch all raised their heads to stare at the boundless streaks of Dao lightning filling the skies. The black lightning and the blazing lightning were tangled together, constantly crackling and exploding with such power that they all felt chilled to the core.

  ……

  Fairy Qingfan stared in a similarly stupefied manner at the endless lightning crackling in the skies. She then turned to stare at the crimson-black gourd hanging in the air next to Ning. The gourd was still emitting more streaks of lightning.

  “As I said. Anyone who seeks to bar my path shall die.’ Ning’s voice boomed out with the thunder, shaking the heavens and the earth. “If you do not get involved, I will not harm you. I do not harm the innocent.”

  “You’ve killed the disciples of our sect. You must die!” The Eastsmoke leader’s furious voice echoed in the skies as well. “The nineteen of you who are already in position, activate the formations right away and kill him!”

  The Eastsmoke leader had been driven absolutely furious. Normally, if an enemy attacked they would be able to rely on the protective sealing formation to defend them as the various World-level cultivators took control of the various attacking formations and used them to surround and assault their foe. The more powerful formations required multiple World-level cultivators to use, and there was obviously no point in having all of their cultivators be permanently stationed within the various formations. They needed to train and to go out on adventure! They would usually train in their own residences; all they had to do was hurry out and take part in any battles that did arise.