Desolate Era

by RWX

  ……

  As for Ning, he couldn’t help but sigh to himself. “The records indicate that the closer you get to a Daoguard Tower, the more dangerous it is, with the insides of the tower being the most dangerous of all. I’ve been quite far away from it, but it was still able to force me to use power thrice.”

  The first time was when he used his sword to break through the Sands of Time. The remaining power hadn’t been enough to break through the sealed dimension. He used a fair amount of power in this strike.

  The second time had been when he pierced through the sealed dimension and fled, while the third time had been when he used an evasion-art to dodge that strike. He had used up very little power here, with the evasion-art using up the least.

  “If I really wanted to break into the Daoguard Tower, I’d probably have to use several times as much energy. In fact, I could well die there,” Ning muttered to himself. He once more turned to follow his karmic senses, quickly using his karmic lines to locate the Paragon of Pills. He immediately turned towards one of the hundreds of sealed dimensions. Now that the entire world had been shattered, he was able to find her with ease.

  “The Mistress is located in that region over there.” Ning was certain of it. As for Lord Annihilation, he was located in another dimensional pocket that was quite close to her’s.

  Swish! Ning was able to move at incredible speeds when transformed into a streak of electric sword-light. In fact, he was a bit faster than when he had first mastered the Eternal Omega Sword Dao. He instantly appeared in front of the sealed dimensional continuum where the Paragon of Pills was located, then delivered a blow with his Northbow sword.

  Whoosh! The sword-light carved a giant gaping hole within the sealed pocket that was thousands of meters long.

  Ning had no choice but to do this. These sealed dimensions were so strong and stable that he wasn’t going to be able to breach them unless he used his sword.

  Through the gaping hole, he was able to clearly see what was inside that dimension. He saw a cold, austere-looking woman dressed in black gauze who was seated in the lotus position. No matter how calm and collected the woman normally was, she was unable to prevent a look of shock from appearing on her face as she turned to stare at the white-robed youth standing behind the gaping hole in the dimensional wall.

  “Darknorth?” She recognized this youth right away.

  * * *

  Book 41, Chapter 7 - Playtime is Over

  This was the only disciple her big brother had ever taken. In her heart, Ji Ning was arguably more important than even her own disciples. She had always felt that Darknorth was someone she had to protect… but somehow, without her even realizing it, the kid had grown up. She had received word that the kid had grown to become an absolutely incredible figure, slaying the Lonely King with just a blow of his sword. How unbelievable was this?! She was absolutely delighted to know that her big brother had taken in a truly remarkable disciple.

  And today… the young fellow had appeared before her once more, rescuing her from her plight.

  “Mistress, let’s hurry up and get out of here!” Ning sent mentally. At the same time, he sent out his Sword Dao Domain to ‘plug’ the gap, preventing it from healing. The Sword Dao Domain was unable to tear through the dimensional seal, but it was able to dramatically slow down the healing process.

  “Alright.” The Paragon of Pills rose to her feet, a smile on her face as she transformed into a streak of light and flew out of the dimensional tear. As she did so, she cast a radiant and joyful smile towards Ning. For some reason, she felt even happier than she would’ve if it was her own disciple who had reached such a level of power.

  “I was vaguely able to sense that we would meet again, but I never would’ve imagined that the circumstances would be you rescuing me.” The Paragon laughed. “I rather thought that it would be the other way around.”

  Ning could sense how happy the Paragon of Pills was. He was quite happy as well. There weren’t that many people who truly treated him as family, but the Paragon of Pills was definitely one of them. In fact, Ning could sense from the Paragon of Pills a sort of motherly love that reminded him of the love which his true mother Yuchi Snow bore him.

  “Mistress, you seem quite calm and relaxed. I’ve been worried sick over you! Thankfully, you are alright.” Ning let out a sigh of relief.

  “There’s always danger when adventuring through Sithe ruins. I’ve been in situations like this on multiple occasions,” the Paragon said.

  “But this place is different. There is a Daoguard Tower here!” Ning couldn’t help but feel a sense of fear. There was no way the Paragon of Pills or any of the others would’ve been able to flee on their own. A double-edged technique like the Dimensional Separator, which had completely shattered the planet apart and divided it up into many different pocket dimensions, were powerful enough to slay even Otherverse Lords… and that was just one of many techniques the Daoguard Tower had access to!

  “Daoguard Tower? What’s a Daoguard Tower?” The Paragon of Pills was rather puzzled, but she hurriedly said, “Let’s not waste any time, Darknorth. This place is extremely dangerous. Let’s leave right away. If you can save my two companions, you should do so; if you cannot, don’t try to force it.”

  “I’ll rescue them, but they need to wait a bit.” Ning smiled mysteriously.

  …….

  Within the Daoguard Tower.

  The short creature stared at the images of the outside world, puzzled. The white-robed Daolord had easily dodged his attack, then immediately moved to another sealed dimension and used his sword to slice through the dimensional membrane. He had rescued the woman who had been trapped inside that dimensional pocket, and the two clearly seemed quite happy to meet each other.

  “He came here to save his friends?” The short creature was puzzled.

  “Let’s go.” Ning let out a happy laugh, then led the Paragon of Pills in transforming into streaks of light that flew off towards the horizon.

  “What?! They are leaving?!” The short creature was stunned. His original plan had been to wait until Ning attacked the Daoguard Tower, then continue his own assaults. His hope was that Ning would actually enter the tower!

  But now… Ning did the exact opposite. After locating the Paragon of Pills, he had immediately moved to depart. Ning had gained a thorough understanding of the Daoguard Tower from the Autarchs; he obviously wasn’t going to be foolish enough to charge into the Daoguard Tower when he already knew how deadly it was.

  As a result, the short creature’s ‘perfect plan’ came to nothing.

  “Did you really think you could just leave whenever you wanted?” The short creature was completely berserk. This represented his only chance of escape and release. Even though his chances were slim, he was still going to use all his power to fight for it!

  “Triple Dimensional Hallway Chains!” The creature ranted in a crazed manner, “All Silver Goldhorns, move out and trap them! Daoguard Tower, release the seals and unleash those monsters!”

  Upon seeing that Ning was about to leave, the short creature finally unleashed all the tools at his disposal! There were some traps he was unable to use as Ning hadn’t moved closer towards him, but he had fully unleashed everything else.

  ……

  As Ji Ning led the Paragon of Pills in departing, he sent mentally to her: “That eight-storied tower is known as a Daoguard Tower, a truly terrifying Sithe guard tower. I’m unwilling to actually enter it, but it seems as though the tower’s master is hellbent on killing me. Now that I’m ‘leaving’, he’ll probably grow a bit anxious. Let’s see what he tries to pull.”

  Just as his words finished, Ning’s eyes widened. “What the…”

  The distant Daoguard Tower began to rumble menacingly as the entire thing began to tremble and crack apart like a turtle shell. Even the enormous foundation beneath it was beginning to split apart.

  The overwhelming power of the Daoguard Tower spread throughout every
pocket dimension surrounding it. The pocket dimensions that had previously hovered around it like little islands suddenly began to shoot out in every direction, forming a series of dimensional membrane walkways. The only things Ning could see in front of him were those dimensional walkways; he could no longer see the outside world at all.

  Ning turned to glance backwards at the Daoguard Tower, which was now filled with innumerable cracks. “He’s wrecking the Daoguard Tower?” Ning could hardly believe it. “Even the foundation is splitting apart!”

  The foundation was the most important part of the Daoguard Tower, but even it was beginning to break apart! Ning could tell how terrifyingly determined the Daoguard Tower’s controller was.

  A series of thunderous roars rang out, followed by Silver Goldhorns charging out of the various dimensional islands. They were completely unimpeded by the pocket dimensions, coming in threes and fives as they charged towards Ning. All in all, there was a total of sixty-five of the creatures!

  Not just that. Two creatures that looked like stone pythons suddenly came flying out of the crumbling Daoguard Tower. When the two stone pythons first flew out, they were quite small, but they quickly expanded in size to many tens of thousands of kilometers long. They were completely formed from stone, and their eyes were a dull gray color. They radiated an aura of life, but their eyes were completely dead.

  “They are clearly alive, but they don’t seem to be sentient at all?” Ning was rather shocked.

  “Darknorth, can you handle it? Do you need me to help?” The Paragon of Pills couldn’t help but feel nervous when she saw the sixty-five Silver Goldhorns swarming towards them. Her original team had been instantly defeated by four Silver Goldhorns, and so she knew that every single one of them was capable of battling an Otherverse Lord.

  It was said that the most dangerous Sithe bases were the ones which held Daoguard Towers, and the number of Silver Goldhorns this place held was proof of it.

  This was why the cultivators had been unwilling to actually attack these places during the Dawn War. They had lured the Sithe into the outside world, ensuring that the strongest Sithe bases were taken out of the equation. Only then did they manage to win and decimate the Sithe forces. Only after doing so did they attack the Sithelands, but even then they had only been able to successfully breach the outer perimeter. As for the Daoguard Towers in the outer perimeter, they had merely sealed them away rather than actually assault them.

  “Don’t worry.” Ning let out a chuckle as he released his Sword Dao Domain, causing countless streaks of sword-light to fill the entire area and begin to assault the Silver Goldhorns. The Silver Goldhorns began to stumble, stagger, or even be knocked backwards. There was no way for them to close in on Ning at all.

  As for the two stone serpents, they were slowed down by the Sword Dao Domain but they still managed to move closer towards him.

  Clack! Clack! Clack! The foundation of the Daoguard Tower splintered apart. Ning cast the shattered foundation a glance. The Daoguard Tower had always given him a sense of danger. Now that the foundation had shattered, he felt that the danger level was actually rising.

  A massive creature was slowly beginning to arise from within the vast, shattered foundation. Her body was unmistakably massive, nearly a hundred thousand kilometers in size. This creature had the lower body of a centipede but the upper body of a humanoid female. The nagapede’s face was beautiful and her eyes were shut, and as the foundation and its barriers crumbled around her, the power within her body began to skyrocket.

  She slowly opened her eyes. At first, there was a lost look in her eyes, but it was quickly replaced with endless malevolence. She opened her mouth, unleashing an earth-shaking roar of terrifying power that spread out in every direction.

  The short creature within the cracked Daoguard Tower stared at the distant Ning, his eyes filled with madness. “Now that I’ve destroyed the Daoguard Tower and released the monster beneath it, I’ll die… but you will die as well. This entire region has been locked by three levels of dimensional walkway chains. You won’t be able to escape. You’ll have to fight… and if you do, you failed Daolord, you won’t be able to withstand her power. You’ll die in battle, and the glory shall go to me! Ahahah!”

  BOOM! As the short creature laughed wildly, his body suddenly disintegrated as the shockwave from the nagapede’s earth-shaking roar washed past it, destroying even some of the weapons he was carrying before continuing to blast outwards.

  Even Ning turned slightly pale when he saw this. As for the Paragon of Pills, she was completely terrified by this display of power. “Such power!”

  “I didn’t expect that I would be so ‘lucky’ as to encounter something like this in my very first Daoguard Tower.” Ning had a solemn look on his face. He had learned many secrets from the Autarchs, and so he knew exactly what this creature which had been imprisoned beneath the Daoguard Tower was.

  * * *

  Book 41, Chapter 8 - The Nagapede

  The shockwave from the roar blasted outwards from the vast creature, causing space itself to tremble and shudder.

  This roar alone was capable of heavily injuring Hegemons, but it was still a bit weaker than Ji Ning’s Sword Dao Domain. Long before it even got close to Ning, it was blocked off by those endless streams of sword-light.

  “What is that freak?” the Paragon of Pills asked.

  “Many dangerous areas in the Sithelands have been sealed off, and some of those areas are places with Daoguard Towers,” Ning said. “Daoguard Towers vary in power; there’s obviously no way that a Hegemon’s Daoguard Tower would be as strong as an Exalt’s Daoguard Tower. This Daoguard Tower we ran into wasn’t all that strong; the owner definitely wasn’t a Sithe Exalt. However, all Daoguard Towers contain a multitude of attacks, ranging from long-distance strikes, traps to capture foes, close-range attacks, and a final kamikaze attack.”

  “A kamikaze attack?” The Paragon of Pills was surprised.

  “For example, this Daoguard Tower was used to suppress a creature known as a nagapede,” Ning said with a laugh. “Even back during the Dawn War, our side only encountered a total of nineteen such creatures. I didn’t expect to run into one of them today.”

  It was quite rare for a Daoguard Tower to be hiding such a powerful creature beneath it, which was why Ning had mocked himself as being ‘lucky’.

  The Autarchs and the cultivator civilizations all lived in a single enormous celestial entity known as their ‘Chaosverse’, while the Sithe hailed from a different Chaosverse. Chaosverses were the largest celestial bodies in the Infinite Void, but the Void did hold some other creatures within it as well. On the whole, these creatures were generally less intelligent than beings who lived within the Chaosverses, as only the vitality of a Chaosverse could give rise to truly perfect beings and the incredible figures who would become the Lords of Chaos.

  The creatures who lived within the Infinite Void were somewhat inferior… but many of them were born with incredible strength! However, their low level of intelligence made it easy for them to be manipulated and made use of. The Autarchs had once slain two strange creatures who were comparable to Autarchs in power. Both of them came from the Infinite Void.

  When the Sithe invaded Ning’s Chaosverse, they not only lost the benefit of having the Dao empower their strikes, they were also suppressed by the ‘foreign’ Chaosverse itself! This was why the local cultivators were able to make their invasion so difficult. But in the Infinite Void? There, they weren’t strengthened by the Dao but also weren’t suppressed. As a result, they were much more powerful and able to capture many of the strange beings which lived in the Void.

  “This creature is fairly powerful. It is probably on par with Sithe Exalts,” Ning said.

  “On par with Sithe Exalts? What are we supposed to do, then?” A look of worry appeared on the Paragon’s face.

  “Leave it to me,” Ning said.

  ……

  The titanic creature’s lower centipede-body s
lithered forward slightly, its giant head focused straight towards the area Ning was in. The Silver Goldhorns, Ning, and the Paragon of Pills were all there.

  “Kill! Kill! Kill!” the nagapede growled.

  “Can you tell me your name?” Ning said, his voice transmitting directly into the ears of the creature.

  The nagapede stared back at Ning with a savage, maddened look in her eyes. Suddenly, she let out a fierce howl and shot forwards, her centipede-like body scuttling forwards like a crawling streak of light that shot straight towards Ning.

  “Yet another one which has been driven mad. Many of these creatures caught by the Sithe end up being driven mad by them.” Ning shook his head. These powerful creatures weren’t very intelligent, but they were at least comparable to ordinary mortal adults. This one, however, was more like a madman.

  Whoosh! She scuttled forwards at incredible speeds. Ning and the Paragon of Pills were far away, with countless streams of sword-light barring the nagapede’s path towards them. Thus, she turned her attention towards the Silver Goldhorns.

  “Kill! Kill! Kill!” She flew next to the nearest Silver Goldhorn, then reached out towards it. Her giant alabaster fingers took a firm grip over the Silver Goldhorn, which howled and struggled fiercely. Alas, it was like a toy that had been firmly gripped by a pair of alabaster pincers. The nagapede clenched her fingers, causing cracks to appear throughout the surface of the Silver Goldhorn’s body.

  Clack! Clack! Clack! BOOM! The Silver Goldhorn was crushed to death!

  Ning raised an eyebrow when he saw this. “She’s strong.” The Sithe had brought only the most terrifyingly powerful creatures they had found and enslaved in the Infinite Void outside the Chaosverse. Every single one of these creatures possessed absolutely apocalyptic levels of power. Judging from the clench, this nagapede was clearly much stronger than even the Flamewing God. She might be able to rival even the Sithe Exalts!