Desolate Era

by RWX

  “Throw my life away? To you?” Emperor Blackrot was enraged. “Prepare to die.”

  “Hmph.” Ning’s body flickered slightly as he manifested three heads and six arms, then brought his six Northbow swords to the ready.

  Emperor Blackrot transformed into an enormous tornado of black mist which swept straight towards Ning. This wasn’t a simple invulnerable form; in truth, this was the attack which Emperor Blackform was most skilled in using. Anything touched by this black mist would immediately rot away until nothing was left. Even supreme Daolords would be unable to withstand this attack.

  In addition, a terrifying illusion was hidden within the black mist. Anyone trapped within it would smile and seek out death without even trying to fight back.

  “Daolord Darknorth has started to fight against Emperor Blackrot.”

  “Emperor Blackrot is an extremely terrifying Eternal Emperor. Not even supreme Daolords dare to offend him.” The countless cultivators within the Sacred City all watched.

  “Suppress!” Ning let out a cold shout. The formerly-restrained energy of the heartworld projection instantly flared in the area where the black mist was located! The terrifying heartworld projection was like a cage that completely trapped the black mist, causing its flying speed to lessen dramatically.

  “You can die now.” The six swords struck out like tidal waves, carrying an aura of utterly destructive power with them. Countless tsunami-swords swept through the black mist which so many Daolords were terrified of. Although it contained extremely strong corrosive and poisonous properties and was filled with terrifying illusions, it wasn’t actually less effective than Emperor Nightwell’s invulnerable form in terms of ablating the power of enemy attacks.

  “NO!!!” Emperor Blackrot instantly felt despair, and he let out a horrified scream. The last thing he felt before perishing was regret… and venomous hatred towards Archon Silksnow. It was Archon Silksnow who had warned him that Darknorth’s illusions were very powerful, but that Darknorth was slightly weaker than the Archon himself.

  Blackrot had felt certain that even if he had to fight Archon Silksnow, he would still be able to block a few dozen attacks. Daolord Darknorth, however, had just annihilated him with just a single attack. Weaker than Archon Silksnow? He was clearly much, much more powerful!

  Whoooosh. His black mist form was completely extinguished by Ning’s sword-shadows… and Emperor Blackrot became the second Emperor to perish under Ning’s sword since Ning’s decision to reveal his brilliance.

  The world returned to its normal calm. Ning called his swords back and sent them back into their sheaths. He stood tall and simply stared at the twenty-five completely awestruck Emperors. Archon Silksnow in particular had a look of utter disbelief on his face. He truly couldn’t believe what had just happened. Just a ‘short’ while ago, he had completely dominated Daolord Darknorth… how had the man become this powerful? This was completely impossible!

  “No. No. This makes no sense whatsoever.” Archon Silksnow couldn’t understand it. How could a Daolord be THIS powerful?

  * * *

  Book 36, Chapter 12 - All Together!

  Archon Silksnow and all of his Eternal Emperors were dazed and in a state of disbelief. They had been accustomed to being exalted figures for countless years, and they were used to holding Daolords in disdain! There was a qualitative difference between Emperors and Daolords, and the chasm between the two was as great as the gap between Heaven and Earth. Ever since the most ancient of times, there had never been a Daolord who could stand at the very apex of power in the Endless Territories.

  What did the apex of power mean? It didn’t mean you were necessarily the strongest… but it meant that you did not need to fear anyone.

  The Archons of the Sacred Cities were capable of making this claim. They might not be able to defeat the three Hegemons, but at least they were confident in staying alive in the face of a Hegemonic attack! Unless, of course, the three Hegemons were willing to pay the enormous price needed to kill an Archon. Otherwise, killing them would be extremely hard.

  These people made up the very apex of power in the Flamedragon Realmverse… and Daolords had never, ever joined their ranks.

  “H-he’s a Daolord… how can he be this powerful? He slew Emperor Blackrot in just one strike?”

  “He’s so strong! He should be even stronger than Archon Silksnow.”

  “None of the eight Archons are necessarily a match for him.”

  “Can Daolords really become as powerful as this?”

  “Can he have succeeded in his Daomerge and become an Emperor? Given how powerful he previously was… if he really did succeed in his Daomerge, he’d definitely become a Hegemon. He’s extremely powerful, but he doesn’t give me that sense of Hegemonic pressure… he probably isn’t a Hegemon yet. He’s still a Daolord. But how can a Daolord be this powerful?”

  These Emperors were filled with many different things. This had completely overturned their worldview, overturned common sense itself. When Ning revealed his fierceness, he had completely overthrown the notion that Daolords weren’t worthy of any consideration!

  ……

  “Eh?” Far away within the void outside Silksnow City was Hegemon Brightshore. He had secretly hurried here and was watching from afar.

  “Darknorth is actually this powerful?” Hegemon Brightshore was surprised, delighted, but also puzzled. He was surprised at delighted by the fact that the Brightshore Kingdom had finally gained a new major power (aside from himself) that was capable of overawing the various organizations within the Endless Territories. His confusion, however, stemmed from the fact that not even he understood how Ning had reached such a level of power.

  ……

  Ning faced Archon Silksnow and his Emperors, not even bothering to disguise the murderous look in his eyes at all. His gaze focused on Archon Silksnow, and he growled: “What… Archon Silksnow, are you afraid now? Too afraid to fight me? Do you want to send all of your Emperors out to surround and attack me?”

  Archon Silksnow had an ugly look on his face. His white brows fluttered, and his oily green eyes were filled with cold light.

  “Why are you hesitating? What are you afraid of?” Ning stared at him. “Haven’t you been doing your best to track me down? I’ve come right to you, and we’re in front of your base… and NOW you are afraid?”

  They were indeed afraid. Of the twenty-five Emperors, only Archon Silksnow and Emperor Bloodcloud were able to remain fairly calm. The others felt a sense of intense fear when they stared at the distant white-robed youth with a black sheath on his back. They did indeed fear him, because they understood that he could probably kill them with just one blow! He was even considerably more powerful than Archon Silksnow himself. How could they not be afraid of him?

  “What should we do, Silksnow?” Emperor Bloodcloud sent frantically, “This Daolord Darknorth is much more powerful than you claimed. He’s stronger than both of us! You want ME to deal with HIM? How?!”

  “Don’t panic. Don’t panic!” Archon Silksnow hurriedly sent a mental message to calm his old friend: “I didn’t expect him to be this strong either. Back when we fought, he really was weaker than me. In fact, he died once by my hands! I have no idea how he suddenly became as strong as this! But don’t worry, my true body is already returning at maximum speed and will soon arrive. We’ll work together to command the other Emperors to set up a formation together to deal with him.”

  “Set up a formation to deal with him?” Emperor Bloodcloud hesitated. “Using that against a Daolord… we’re going to lose a lot of face once people hear about it.”

  “Face doesn’t matter at a time like this! Daolord Darknorth is indeed powerful, and he’s qualified to force us to do this.” Archon Silksnow’s eyes glimmered with cold malice as he sent mentally, “Since he’s attacked our home and headquarters, the Silksnow Fiend Palace, then we should give him what he asks for. All of us shall join together into a formation to kill him. He walks the path
of the Dao of the Sword; he shouldn’t have an invulnerable form! That means we have a chance to kill him.”

  “He’s very powerful. Even if we do set up a formation, we won’t necessarily succeed.” Emperor Bloodcloud still wasn’t convinced by this plan.

  “Let’s give it a shot. We still have a chance,” Emperor Silksnow sent. “All Daolords are madmen when they fail their Daomerge. If Daolord Darknorth fails his in the future, he’ll act even more berserk than he is today. If he doesn’t die? We’ll probably have to hide for the rest of our lives and avoid him. Are you willing to live a life like that?”

  “Fine, we’ll give it a try.” Emperor Bloodcloud agreed.

  “My true body has just arrived.” Archon Silksnow revealed a delighted look. His avatar was still significantly weaker than his true body, especially since it didn’t have any formidable lifeblood weapons on it.

  ……

  Although this all took time to describe, only a few seconds had passed since Ning had slain Emperor Blackrot and said a few words. Right at this moment, a dimensional ripple appeared off in the distance. Ning couldn’t help but turn his head, only to see a skinny, white-robed man fly towards the city at high speed, his white brows fluttering. It was Archon Silksnow.

  “You came quite fast.” Ning chuckled softly. “Killing your avatar is meaningless. I’ve been waiting for your true body to come.”

  “Quite audacious.” Archon Silksnow immediately flew forwards, joining together with Emperor Bloodcloud and the others as he roared angrily, “Fellow Emperors, Daolord Darknorth has actually dared to assault us, the Silksnow Fiend Palace. Let us send him to his death. Everyone, attack!”

  “Attack!”

  “Attack!” Archon Silksnow and Emperor Bloodcloud were both filled with the desire to do murder. As they were the leaders of the group, the other Emperors all joined together, following their lead to attack. Although some were here in person, most were mere avatars. However, Emperor-class avatars had incredibly strong Immortal energy, and when used to set up a formation they weren’t much weaker than their true bodies. All of a sudden, an enormous blood-colored wheel appeared and began to slowly turn as it surged towards Ning.

  This killing formation was incredibly famous in the Endless Territories. It was known as the ‘Seven Killers of the Blood Disk’ formation. It had been created by a reclusive and ancient Emperor of the Dao Alliance, and the Silksnow Fiend Palace used it to guard themselves and fight against their opponents.

  “What a terrifying killer formation.” The countless cultivators in the Sacred City all held their breaths. They could sense that this time, Daolord Darknorth was in real danger. Who could possibly resist such a grand formation when set up by Archon Silksnow and so many other Emperors?

  Ning laughed. “A formation? Is that all you got?” An invisible surge of power swept out from Ning. [Heartforce Eradicator]!

  Ning’s Omega Sword Dao had already reached the fourth stage, making his heartforce eradication art even more profound than before. Ning’s [Heartforce Eradicator] had always been based off the secrets of his Omega Sword Dao. Now, a terrifying will of annihilation swept out and struck against the souls and truesouls of all of the twenty-plus Emperors. Although the formation was formidable, it didn’t hinder Ning’s heartforce in the slightest.

  Eradication!!!

  The twenty-five Emperors all felt their souls and truesouls suffer a powerful strike, and they hurriedly relied on their Dao-hearts to resist the strike.

  “Ahhhh!” A series of screams rang out. Of the twenty-plus Emperors, five of them perished on the spot, their souls exterminated.

  Ning was rather surprised. His [Heartforce Eradicator] was now far more powerful than it had been in the past, giving him a chance to slay even supreme Daolords. However, he knew that these Eternal Emperors had all been alive for extremely long periods of time, and their Dao-hearts had been tempered to be incredibly strong. To use the [Heartforce Eradicator] to slay them should’ve been quite difficult. How did he just kill five at one blow?

  “It makes sense. The ones which died were all avatars; avatars only have part of the true body’s godsense within it, after all.” Ning suddenly understood.

  Avatars contained part of their owner’s godsense within them. Their souls were much weaker than the souls within true bodies, and so they were much weaker when resisting heartforce attacks. Thus, five of them instantly perished to Ning’s [Heartforce Eradicator].

  “Not good.”

  “Our formation’s been broken!”

  “Quick, assemble into a different formation.” Archon Silksnow and Emperor Bloodcloud immediately realized that they were in trouble. Now that five Emperors’ avatars had been exterminated, their formation had been blown apart. They immediately changed into a different variation of the formation to make up for their losses. The ‘Seven Killers of the Blood Disk’ formation had to have at least seven people within it in order to set up the formation, but it could scale up indefinitely. All they had to do was to change the formation slightly, and they’d be able to make up for the breaches. However… things wouldn’t develop as smoothly as they had hoped.

  “Dreamstar art.” After unleashing the [Heartforce Eradicator], Ning immediately executed his [Dreamstar] illusions.”

  The [Dreamstar] art was even more insidious than the [Heartforce Eradicator]. It was harder to defend against and completely undetectable, capable of causing Emperors to be drawn into illusions before they even knew what was happening. It must be remembered that Emperor Nightwell had an extremely strong Dao-heart, but he was still caught by the illusions. One could imagine how powerful Ning’s [Dreamstar] art had become! The Archons who were at the same level as him might be able to resist it, but those who were a level lower than him would find it quite hard to defend against.

  Of the surviving Emperors, a total of sixteen were instantly trapped within the Dreamstar illusions. Five had died, while sixteen had been trapped within the illusions. The entire ‘Seven Killers of the Blood Disk’ formation crumbled apart before a single blow was struck.

  * * *

  Book 36, Chapter 13 - Absolute Massacre

  “Our formation! Our formation!” Archon Silksnow and Emperor Bloodcloud were both flabbergasted. Right now, only five Emperors were still able to maintain their clarity of mind, the two of them included. There was no way they could continue to form the ‘Seven Killers of the Blood Disk’ formation.

  “Attack!” After executing the [Heartforce Eradicator] and the [Dreamdust] illusions in succession, Ji Ning made his move.

  Rumble… countless arcs of light appeared in the area around Ning. At the same time, a dazzlingly beautiful pair of golden wings appeared above Ning as well. Under the direction of the golden wings, the countless arcs of sword-light began to form into a chaosworld generated by the Dao of the Sword. The golden wings then howled through the air, instantly flying over towards the Emperors.

  The golden wings simply flew far, far too fast. They had to be at least ten times faster than Ning’s flying speed!

  Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

  Omega Sword Dao – Yin-Yang! This domain had been created via a pair of partially-mastered Hegemonic secret arts, and its power was so great as to be inconceivable.

  The golden wings howled through the air as they sliced at the divine bodies of the Emperors who were present in person. The avatars all had bodies comparable to peak Eternal treasures, making them impossible to kill… but the ‘real’ Emperors had fairly frail bodies in comparison. Even though Ning had a precious Hegemonic legacy, he had to use up an absolutely enormous amount of treasures in order to train his body to the high-grade Eternal treasure level.

  Most of these Emperors had bodies comparable to low-grade Eternal treasures. A few had reached the middle-grade Eternal treasure level, and extremely few had reached the high-grade Eternal treasure level. If they were able to focus their efforts on defending, they would be able to do so… but they were trapped in illusions and completely
incapable of fighting back. Ning was able to attack them with impunity; how could they possibly endure in a situation like this?

  It was much like what had happened when Ning was still very weak and paid a visit to the Azureflower Estate. Although his body had been comparable to a low-grade Eternal treasure at the time, he had nearly been beaten to death by one of the two overseers. Thankfully, he had a suit of Hegemon armor on him! These Emperors, however, certainly didn’t have Hegemonic armor on them.

  Slash! Slash! Slash! In the blink of an eye, the sharp feathers of the golden wings sliced through six of the Eternal Emperors. They were chopped apart, then ground into dust by the countless arcs of light. They died on the spot. Two Eternal Emperors, had sufficiently strong protective divine abilities that they managed to survive.

  “Six more down.” Ning showed no mercy at all; he felt nothing save the desire to kill the Emperors under the banner of Silksnow Fiend Palace. All of them had gone beyond the bounds of mere dispassionate selfishness and into the level of being true ‘demons’. That was why so many Emperors hated them and wished to kill them. However, these demons had joined forces to form a powerful organization, making it so that the other Emperors didn’t dare to offend them.

  Clang! Clang! Clang! Sword-light continuously clashed against the avatars, creating clanking sounds. The avatars, however, managed to endure the strikes.

  As for the three Emperors who were able to maintain their mental clarity, they were completely stunned by this. Six of them had died almost instantly? Only now did they understand that Daolord Darknorth had the power to kill them with ease.

  “Archon, we can’t fight him head-on.”

  “Archon, we’re going to leave now.”

  “Ah?!” “B-b-but…” The two who had been trapped by the illusions but who had sufficiently strong protective divine abilities and thus survived Ning’s attacks now finally came back to their senses. They were terrified by what they saw, and they immediately began to flee. There was no time for them to show sympathy to others; they immediately used their best escape-type treasures to flee. The twin suppressive effects of the Sword Dao chaosworld and the heartworld projection caused their flying speed to be dramatically lowered, and they didn’t want to spend a minute longer than was necessary.