Desolate Era

by RWX

  “Not bad.” Ning grinned. His improvements weren’t exactly minor, but neither were they extravagant. More than five hundred million years had just gone past! During this period of time, Ning had slowly absorbed the insights he had gained from memorizing the teachings of the Autarch. He had broken through to the fourth stage with the Blood Drop stance early on, but now he had done the same with the Soleheart, Yin-Yang, and Shadowless stances. However, the Heavenbreaker stance had yet to make the breakthrough.

  Going from being a Daolord of the Third Step to being a Daolord of the Fourth Step was incredibly difficult to begin with. Ninedust and Badlands had both spent many chaos cycles doing just that, with Ninedust only succeeding thanks to the legacy he had gained from that ancestral Hegemon of the Ancient cultivators. As for Badlands, he still had yet to reach the fourth step. As for Ning? His path was that of the Omega Sword Dao; it was far more difficult than Ninedust’s.

  To be able to make so many breakthroughs in just a few hundred million years was already terrifyingly fast, much faster than Ning had originally anticipated. It was all thanks to the Stone Censer of Reunion as well as the Autarch’s guidance.

  “Based on this level of speed… if I’m lucky, I might be able to become a Daolord of the Fourth Step after a chaos cycle.” Ning felt quite eager. “If I’m not lucky, though, I could well be bottlenecked for ten or even a hundred chaos cycles.”

  Once he did take that final step and became a Daolord of the Fourth Step, the last great barrier awaiting Ning would be the Daomerge. That would be the true test, the deadly trial which he felt he had less than a 0.01% chance of passing.

  ……

  “Darknorth,” Ninedust said excitedly, “That senior said that he would give each of us a treasure based on how well we perform. He also said that you’ve improved quite a bit. You’ll definitely get one extraordinary treasure!”

  “He praised my improvements as being significant?” Ning revealed an excited look.

  “Yes, that’s exactly what he said.” Ninedust nodded.

  Ning grew excited. He himself didn’t know if his improvements counted as ‘major’ or ‘minor’ in the eyes of the treasure-spirit! Prior to memorizing the Autarch’s guidance, he had yet to break through in any of the five stances of his Omega Sword Dao. Now, however, he had reached the fourth stage in four of those five stances. Was this ‘major’? He wasn’t sure, but upon hearing Ninedust’s words Ning felt greatly relieved. He now eagerly awaited what would be coming next.

  In truth, the spirit of the beastworld had believed that Ning had long ago reached the apex of power as a Daolord and that Ning thus had very little room for improvement. Given how much stronger Ning had become, of course he viewed Ning’s improvements as being incredible!

  “Haha, good! Ninedust, you need to make your breakthroughs as soon as possible as well,” Ning said hurriedly. “The Autarch’s guidance truly is of incredible help in cultivation.”

  “Yes, after seeing the Autarch’s Dao, I finally understood what petty, irrelevant figures we are,” Ninedust said. “I’ve already gained many new insights, and I trust I should be able to make a breakthrough soon. Haha, I’ve fully memorized the Autarch’s Dao-guidance! If I still can’t beat the likes of Dawnstar, the Radiant King, or Dreamlore, even I would feel ashamed of myself.”

  “Haha, that’s the spirit!” Ning laughed as well.

  “My improvements are nothing. I imagine even Eternal Emperors and Hegemons would love to have a chance to gaze into the Dao-teachings of an Autarch.” Ninedust shook his head. “Alas, blessings like this can only be hoped for, not counted on. I’ve always felt that I’m incredibly talented… if even this blessing isn’t enough to propel me past the Radiant King and the others, I would view myself as nothing more than a joke.”

  “Hurry up and train,” Ning urged. “Improve as much as you can. After we pick up our treasures, we’re going to leave this world and return to the Endless Territories.”

  “Alright.” Ninedust nodded. “I’m gonna go find those Emperor-class golems and fight them again.”

  “You should probably stay away from me. Otherwise, those golems will refuse to engage with you,” Ning said with a laugh.

  “What? Why?” Ninedust was surprised. “Did you beat them up that badly?”

  “Kind of,” Ning said.

  “Darknorth… how many golems have you caught, exactly?” Ninedust asked rather excitedly. Emperor-class golems were definitely quite valuable; only the Sithe had them in fairly large numbers.

  Ning shook his head. “I caught a few early on, but all of them are quite clever; once they saw they couldn’t beat me, they refused to battle me any further.”

  “So how many have you captured, exactly?” Ninedust asked again.

  “When you first entered the beastworld, the Emperor-class golems began to assemble. A total of thirty-two of them joined forces against me.” Ning shook his head. “They really were quite cautious. Even I was put in rather dire straits by their combined powers! However, I intentionally held back some of my power, using them to temper my sword-arts. After I managed to make a new breakthrough, I suddenly struck out with full power and caught them offguard, capturing eight of them in a row. The others were frightened off at that point… and ever since then, they haven’t dared to approach me.”

  “Eight?! If we factor in the two you caught when helping me out, then add in the two you took when we captured three from the three great clans… that means you have a total of twelve Emperor-class golems?!” Ninedust had a state of disbelief on his face. “I only have two!”

  “Getting envious?” Ning smirked.

  “No wonder they don’t dare to approach you any further.” Ninedust shook his head. “Fine, I’ll go hunt them down and fight with them. When I feel I’ve improved as much as I can, I’ll come find you.”

  “Alright.” Ning nodded. Swoosh! Ninedust quickly soared into the distance, flying hundreds of kilometers away into a ruin-filled region. The golems knew exactly how strong Ninedust was; as a result, they feared Ning but not Ninedust! Three of the Emperor-class golems immediately appeared and surrounded the Ninedust Sectlord.

  ……

  Ning watched this all happen from afar. A few seconds later, he leapt forwards and transformed into a streak of light that shot towards the core Sithe residential zone.

  “This is the place.” Ning immediately came to a halt when he reached the borders of the core region.

  “You again?”

  “You actually dare to invade the Sithe grounds yet again?” Four figures appeared in the distance, roaring furiously at Ning as they transformed into streaks of light and moved towards him faster than a hundred times the limits of the Heavenly Daos.

  Ning just stood there, watching from afar. Ever since the weaker Emperor-class golems had refused to battle against him, Ning began to harbor designs upon these four stronger golems, each of which was on par with the eight lords of the Sacred Cities. Over the course of five hundred million years, Ning had already battled against them countless times.

  Each time he would go to the very margins of the core residences. Once the battle started to go against him, he would quickly retreat. So long as he left the core residential region, these four golems would cease their pursuit. They were golems, after all; now that their original masters were dead, they would forever carry out the final tasks their masters had ordered them to do without any deviations. Only if they were forcibly bound would they follow a new master.

  “The Sithe must’ve hidden quite a few treasures in the core regions, but these four won’t let me get even close to them. I can see some of them but I can’t acquire them,” Ning mused to himself. “I’ll see if I can get Ninedust to come up with a way to capture a few more of those Emperor-class golems. He can lead them and assist me in assaulting the core regions.

  The Sithe truly had left quite a few treasures here. Almost all of them had been shattered, but over the course of time they had slowly healed and recover
ed. All of them were under guard.

  Ning was quite intrigued by them, but he just wasn’t strong enough to take them; he needed help! Alas, the Emperor-class golems refused to even go near him, giving him no chance at all. The rest was up to Ninedust. Ninedust was viewed as much less dangerous, which meant he actually had a shot as he was able to lure the Emperor-class golems out of hiding. He might actually be able to capture a few more.

  * * *

  Book 34, Chapter 30 - Attack

  Within the Sithe ruins.

  “That ‘Ninedust’ fellow is much weaker than Darknorth. Its been a few million years, but he hasn’t been able to catch any of us.”

  “That’s normal! Did you think that every Daolord was as much of a freak as Daolord Darknorth is?”

  The Emperor-class golems were excited to battle against Ninedust. Ninedust had indeed improved, and quite a bit at that! But with the Emperor-class golems all helping each other out, Ninedust had not been able to catch any of them during the past few million years.

  “Endless.” Ninedust spun the longstaff in his hands, his staff surrounded by thousands of whirlpools as it furiously swept towards the four Emperor-class golems attacking him. Two of them had assumed invisible forms which tied Ninedust down, while the other two fought Ninedust head-on.

  “Traceless!” Ninedust let out a furious shot, his longstaff dramatically expanding in length as he lashed downwards at the warhammer-wielding golem in front of them. The golem hurriedly lifted its warhammer up above its head, seeking to block the attack.

  Boom! The longstaff twisted slightly in an almost whip-like fashion as it smashed towards the warhammer. An invisible ripple of power was transmitted from the longstaff to the warhammer, slamming directly into the golem’s body. Instantly, the golem’s entire body trembled as it was sent stumbling backwards, then fell into a seated position on the ground.

  “Careful, Warsky!” Another one of the Emperor-class golems hurriedly ran over to help.

  It was one against four, but Ninedust wasn’t at any disadvantage at all! The two sides had battled evenly for quite some time, with Ninedust clearly being much more powerful than before.

  “Haha…” Ninedust suddenly began to laugh loudly as a formation-diagram suddenly appeared with his palm. The formation-diagram quickly flew out and expanded in size to cover an area of ten million kilometers!

  “What?!”

  “We’ve been trapped.”

  “A formation?”

  The four Emperor-class golems were all shocked. As for the distant golems who were just watching, they were stunned as well. Ninedust had battled against them for many years, but he had never used such an insidious technique like this before! It was rare for them to encounter a worthy opponent, and so they quite enjoyed the chance to battle against Ninedust… but who would’ve thought that they’d suddenly fall into a trap?

  “Daolord Ninedust, I didn’t realize you were such a despicable person.”

  “Damnit.” The four golems were incomparably enraged. In the past, they had heard Ning address the Ninedust Sectlord as ‘Ninedust’, and so they naturally believed that Daolord Ninedust was his proper title. Ninedust himself naturally didn’t bother to explain or correct the misunderstanding.

  “Despicable? Hah! How am I despicable? Because of the orders the Sithe gave you, you’ve been stuck here guarding this rubble for countless aeons. Aren’t you bored out of your minds yet? When the three clan leaders caught your comrades, they would wipe out your golem-spirits and instill new ones. I, however, can guarantee that I won’t wipe your spirits out when I take you out of here,” Ninedust said loudly. “You’ll be able to see a much more colorful world. It’ll be a helluva lot better than guarding this place for sure!”

  “Don’t waste time talking to him.”

  “Come on then.”

  “Get ready to die!” The golems were blindly loyal and devoted; although they were curious about the outside world, as golems they would never think to disobey the orders of their masters. This was the tragedy of golem lifeforms… and if their new masters chose to wipe out their souls, their end would only become even more tragic. It was a form of death, with the new golem-spirit representing a completely different and new sentience.

  “Darknorth!” Ninedust called out loudly. Swoosh! The distant Ning had already transformed into a streak of light that was flying towards this place at high speed. Although he was hundreds of millions of kilometers away, he moved faster than a hundred times the speed of light and thus was quickly able to reach and move into the formation area, passing through the barriers with ease.

  “You finally made your move,” Ning said with a laugh.

  “Hurry up and help me catch them!” Ninedust urged.

  The two would naturally be able to capture these four Emperor-class golems much more quickly if they worked together. Two of the golems had invulnerable forms and would be a bit tougher to deal with, but Ning’s attacks were now so powerful that he was able to deplete their energy stores quite quickly. Before the formation even had a chance to dissipate, they had already been exhausted and captured ‘alive.’

  After putting away the golems, Ninedust willed the formation around them to dissipate.

  “Look at those golems over there.” Ning pointed off into the distance, where a number of golems were hiding behind a barrier. The golems were staring towards the two of them with mixed looks in their eyes; their gazes were filled with eagerness, anger, and indifference.

  “In their heart of hearts, they would love to leave this place with us.” Ninedust nodded as well. “But they are not only afraid of having their spirits wiped out, they are also bound by their original orders to stay at this place. Alas…”

  “If they continue to hide inside, there’s certainly no way for us to take them out of here.” Ning shook his head. As Ning and Ninedust saw it, they were helping these golems out by taking them away from this place! Eventually, Ning and Ninedust would die after they most likely failed their Daomerges, but the golems possessed perpetual life; they would be given to new masters and would continue to live exciting lives. To be trapped here within the Sithe ruins was far too meaningless an existence.

  “We aren’t strong enough yet.” Ning shook his head. “We can’t help them.” Ning had tested himself against the barriers long ago, but even though only a few fragmented barriers remained, the likes of him remained unable to damage them in the slightest.

  “Right. I haven’t had a chance to congratulate you on finally mastering those ultimate attacks of yours,” Ning said. The plan he and Ninedust had settled upon was for Ninedust to first use these golems to temper his staff-arts. Only after truly mastering his new ultimate attack would Ninedust actually move to capture them.

  “I came up with a few killer attacks back in Crimsonwave Temple, but each had their own flaws. After having a chance to view the Autarch’s Daos, I was able to perfect those killer attacks and then come up with my three ultimate attacks: ‘Boundless’, ‘Endless’, and ‘Traceless’. These three ultimate attacks of mine are just as strong as the three ultimate attacks used by the Radiant King… and perhaps they are stronger!” Ninedust said confidently, “Who knows? I might be able to defeat Daolord Dreamlore and be ranked as the third Daolord in all the Endless Territories.”

  Ning nodded. He agreed with this assessment. Ninedust definitely was on the same level as Dawnstar and Dreamlore by now. As for who would win in an actual fight? That could only be determined on the field of battle.

  “Rest for a bit. After your formation-treasure has regenerated its power, we’re going to go attack the core regions of the ruins,” Ning said.

  “Agreed.” Ninedust turned solemn. Attacking the core region would be extremely dangerous, the entire reason they had come here was in search of a Sithe fortune to claim. They had gained quite a bit from the Autarch’s Dao, but that wasn’t the reason they had come here.

  ……

  Another three days went past. Finally, Ning and Nin
edust simultaneously arrived at the outer borders to the region which held the core Sithe residential ruins.

  “No one is permitted to trespass within Sithe territory! Daolord Darknorth, you’ve already trespassed repeatedly… and now, you are bringing another Daolord with you?” The four figures flew over, eyes filled with murder. These were the four golems comparable to the lords of the Sacred Cities. These were the four most powerful golems in all the Sithe ruins.

  However, this wasn’t always the case. Long ago, these four golems were nothing more than ordinary guard-golems stationed to the core regions. Those onyx humanoids had Hegemon levels of power and were the mainstays in battle! Alas, the strongest had been either completely destroyed or taken away by the Autarch. In the end, only four of the ordinary guard-golems were able to slowly repair themselves and recover. These four ‘ordinary’ golems, however, posed an enormous degree of danger to Ning and Ninedust. They were on the level of the lords of the Sacred Cities, after all!

  “Daolord Darknorth, you’ve always been quite careful.”

  “You’ve never dared to truly risk it all.”

  “How about this? Only two of us four will participate in this battle. You can fight us in a two-on-one fight, but we’re going to fight over there, rather than here in the border areas,” the four golems said. By now, they knew Ning far too well.

  Ning just shouted back, “The four of you are extraordinarily strong. I really need to act with more caution instead.” The four golems were truly strong; even when Ning was focusing on defensive sword-arts, he could easily die from their blows. Thus, he only challenged them in the outer regions where he could immediately retreat once things started to go south.

  “Attack!”

  “Kill Darknorth’s companion first.”