Desolate Era

by RWX

  Last time, Ji Ning had indeed very nearly died within that castle. Thankfully, the combination of the Wind Sword Dao and the Lightning Sword Dao had granted Ning a level of speed which surpassed what the Sithe Exalt had expected, rendering all of those attacks useless.

  This time, however, Ning wouldn’t be so lucky. He had been trapped within a separate spacetime continuum, and breaking free would be extremely difficult.

  ……

  The Sithe Exalt in the Sacred Realm and the Hegemons in Purgatory were unable to contain their delight at Ning’s impending death.

  Within the formation itself, the field of blurry spacetime remained completely separated from the outside world. Ning was still trapped within, and his Sword Dao Domain strained against the continuum to no avail at all. There was nothing he could do.

  Far away from him, a spacetime ripple suddenly appeared, followed by a fiery red bird screeching as it shot towards Ning. Even as it attacked, the distant spacetime hole quickly healed and vanished.

  Boom! Ning used his Storm Sword Dao to dodge once more. “I’m going to die if this continues.” Ning couldn’t find any flaws to exploit at all, and so all he could do was wave his hand and produce a precious pagoda in front of himself. This was one of the many Sithe treasures Ning had acquired.

  Swoosh! Ning instantly entered the tower. “I hope it can last for a fairly long period of time.” For now, Ning’s only option was to rely on the tower’s defenses to buy him some time.

  Ning waved his hand, causing Azurefiend’s avatar to appear next to him. “Master?” Azurefiend’s avatar looked at Ning.

  “Hurry up and take control over this tower, then put your Immortal energy into it. Focus all your efforts on defending,” Ning barked mentally. It wasn’t worth it for him to waste his own Immortal energy on activating Sithe weapons.

  “Understood.” Azurefiend’s avatar didn’t hesitate at all. He could sense from Ning’s grim expression how much danger they were in, and he immediately poured his Immortal energy into the tower, causing the many runes and barriers on its surface to light up.

  “He hid inside a tower.”

  “The tower won’t be able to dodge effectively. Just destroy it.” The Hegemons and Emperors were out for blood. They weren’t going to give Ning any chance to rest at all.

  Slash! A dazzling streak of golden light flew out and appeared in front of the tower, delivering a vicious blow to it.

  Although Ning was able to control the tower and use it to fly around, the attacks were simply too fast. Ning himself had to rely on using evasion-arts to dodge. There was no way this type of tower-type treasure would be able to do the same. Even if it could… he would still be using up his energy, right? The entire point of Ning hiding inside the tower was to save as much power as possible.

  Boom! The surface of the tower erupted after being struck by golden light, causing a series of ripples to appear. The barrier remained unbroken, even though it looked a bit damaged. These were attacks that could threaten even Ning, after all; they were more than powerful enough to wreck ordinary Sithe artifacts.

  “Hurry up and bind this treasure as well!” Ning tossed Azurefiend’s avatar another treasure, one that looked like a star. It seemed somewhat similar to the Blacksun, but it was a bit weaker.

  ……

  “It isn’t breaking apart? Hit it simultaneously at two different places!” The Hegemons and Emperors quickly decided to launch two simultaneous attacks against it.

  As these two apocalyptic attacks landed, the barrier covering the tower was finally unable to endure any longer. The runes of the barrier collapsed, followed by the surface of the tower exploding into countless shards that blasted everywhere. Even the insides of the tower began to collapse and fall towards Ning, but before actually managing to hit him they would all be pushed to one side by his Sword Dao Domain.

  Ning lifted his head, staring at the many cracks that had appeared to his left. “Release that star,” Ning instructed.

  “Yes, Master!” Azurefiend knew that this tower wouldn’t be able to hold on for much longer, and so he immediately waved his hand, producing a jade-green star that the two of them instantly entered.

  BOOM! Soon, the Sithe attacks completely destroyed the tower, causing it to explode and revealing the undamaged jade-green star inside of it.

  “He has more treasures? Keep attacking!” The Hegemons and Emperors continued to fight fiercely.

  After three attacks, the star was destroyed… revealing a realmship! The realmship was even weaker; it was completely destroyed after just two two attacks. Azurefiend couldn’t help but feel aggrieved at how fast these priceless treasures were being used up, but Ning simply frowned. There wasn’t enough time; treasures on this level simply couldn’t hold on for long.

  “No other options.” Ning had Azurefiend’s avatar activate and take control over that Apocalypse-class castle.

  This was the most powerful Sithe treasure Ning had acquired to date! It was more powerful than the Blacksun, the Tigerhill, and even the castle which was protecting the Three Realms! Ning had been planning to give it to the Three Realms once he left this place, but he was out of options. His other treasures were too weak; they weren’t able to withstand more than just a few attacks. This meant he wouldn’t have any time to analyze the flaws of this place… and once he died, all his treasures would be lost. Even the Paragon of Pills would die here. Now wasn’t the time to hold back!

  BOOM! A strange, monstrous-looking dark-red castle appeared. Ning and Azurefiend’s avatars were located securely within the castle, while Azurefiend was burning up his Immortal energy at a rapid pace to maintain the castle’s most basic defenses.

  “That’s an Apocalypse-class castle!”

  “Wait, that’s the castle from earlier.”

  “Attack! Attack! Break through it!” The Hegemons and Emperors continued to attack furiously, raining down blows upon the castle. However, the barriers and runes flowing over the surface of the castle were completely undamaged! An Autarch-level attack would have a chance at breaking through the castle’s defenses, but these Sithe weapons weren’t quite at this level; at most, these attacks were comparable to the Blazesun Ruler’s attacks.

  The only reason these attacks were dangerous to Ning was because of how brittle his body was. He was extremely powerful, but attacks from the likes of the Blazesun Ruler would still consume some of his energy. Apocalypse-class castles, however, were extremely stable; they could easily endure the blows head-on.

  “Whew.” Ning let out a sigh of relief.

  “Master, if you had such a powerful treasure, why didn’t you take it out right away? We lost so many valuable treasures, including a realmship!” Azurefiend couldn’t help but feel some pain at the thought of all that lost wealth.

  “They don’t matter.” Ning didn’t explain, as he was still under tremendous pressure. He knew that hiding inside the Apocalypse-class castle would merely buy them a bit of extra time. There was no way the Sithe would just give up like that.

  Ning waved his hand, causing the Paragon of Pills, Lord Annihilation, Hegemon Tia, and Hegemon Flameleft to appear. The four of them instantly sensed how grim the atmosphere seemed to be, and the Paragon of Pills looked towards Ning in a rather puzzled way.

  Ning immediately explained, “Please take turns in launching area attacks with the castle.” The castle technically had thirty-six stone pillars as well, but Ning didn’t have the time to slowly lay down all of the stone pillars into formation. Moreover, this Apocalypse-class castle’s most powerful attacks were actually those rays of semi-translucent light! However, those incredibly powerful attacks consumed a similarly incredible amount of power.

  Azurefiend’s avatar was enough to maintain their defenses, but what about their attacks? Ning was forced to ask the Paragon of Pills and the others to help out. This castle needed a total of thirty-six Emperors to fully activate it, but it could also be used with a lower number.

  “All you need to
do is make sure you focus your attacks in the same direction,” Ning instructed.

  “I’ll go first.” Lord Annihilation instantly began to pour an enormous amount of Immortal energy into the castle. On top of his natural energy regeneration, he also began to make use of the many Immortal pills he carried with him.

  The nine towers of the ugly, dark-red castle all lit up. Nine semi-translucent rays of light began to shoot out, tearing through the surrounding space even though they were unable to tear through local spacetime.

  Slash! The nine towers shot out rays of light everywhere, causing the spacetime membrane of this dimension to ripple slightly. Alas, the membrane remained stable and unharmed.

  “These rays of light are more powerful than the attacks most Sithe weapons can unleash,” Ning mused. “The problem is that as a type of area attack, the power is diffracted. There’s no way to use them to breach this dimensional space.” This spacetime continuum was extremely stable. Ning had an Autarch’s power, but he had the feeling that there was no chance he could break through via raw power! If all nine rays of light managed to concentrate their power on a single location, they might just barely come close to the necessary power level.

  “Continue,” Ning instructed. The ugly, dark-red castle once more began to launch those repeated attacks. As for Ning, he carefully watched as those distant holes appeared in spacetime with each enemy attack. He was trying to understand the mysteries inherent to this place.

  “We can’t break through! The castle is too powerful. We aren’t able to breach it at all.” The exiles were starting to grow anxious.

  * * *

  Book 41, Chapter 25 - Remaining Lifespan

  Their attacks were completely ineffective against this castle, and each time they attacked they had to temporarily create an opening in the membrane surrounding this field of spacetime. The fluctuations generated by these brief openings was enough to let Ji Ning analyze the composition of the formations. Alas, the fluctuations disappeared so very quickly that he couldn’t actually go close and take a look in person. His only option was to scry them and their secrets from afar.

  “Damn.” The Sithe Exalt was watching everything from the Sacred Realm, and he was so angry that his teeth hurt. He never would’ve imagined that the castle he bestowed upon the first group would prove to be so troublesome now.

  “He has to die!” The Sithe Exalt knew that they wouldn’t necessarily have another chance like this. He instantly sent down eight more attack-oriented treasures which were strong counters for this castle.

  “Here is a diagram of the barriers surrounding the surface of the castle. There are a total of twenty-one critical points in total. If you attack eight of them at the same time, you’ll have a chance to destroy it,” the Sithe Exalt ordered. The reason why he handed out eight was because he only HAD eight of these dark corrosive treasures. These were the only treasures which were strong counters against this particular castle.

  ……

  The exiles began to launch another wave of attacks, while Azurefiend, the Paragon of Pills, Lord Annihilation, Hegemon Tia, and Hegemon Flameleft used all of their power to fight back!

  Whoosh. Whoosh. Whoosh. Suddenly, a series of illusory black longspears shot into the area, slamming against the castle. This time, the barriers of the castle began to tremble and break apart, but thankfully the castle itself was so incredibly thick and sturdy that the attack only blasted out a small crater on its surface.

  “Eh?” Ning’s face tightened slightly.

  “Master, the barriers were breached!” Azurefiend’s avatar said rather nervously.

  “It is fine,” Ning said calmly. “The Sithe created this castle. They know the weaknesses of the barriers, which is why they were able to breach them with ease. However, the castle’s outer layer remains incredibly thick. It won’t be easy for them to pierce through it.”

  The strongest defensive strength of this castle lay in the materials it was made from. The Tigerhill, for example, was sheathed in a thick layer of deepfire blackstone! Breaking through via raw power would naturally be extremely difficult.

  As for this castle? It was even more powerful than the Tigerhill. Its surface was created from a strange, dark-red metal that seemed to be alive. Ning didn’t really know how to describe it, but what he did know was that it was harder to damage than even deepfire blackstone! Those longspears had been filled with a strange type of corrosive energy, which was why they had managed to erode a small crater onto the surface of the castle. If it wasn’t for that, the castle probably wouldn’t have even been marked.

  “Attack!”

  “Attack!” One longspear after another flew towards the castle, breaking through its barriers repeatedly and gouging out more and more craters on its surface.

  Ning cast a sidelong glance at the black mist which clung to those craters. The corrosive black energy was continuing to slowly melt through the surface of the castle.

  “Those offensive weapons are applying the Dao of Darkness to a truly incredible degree.” Ning couldn’t help but sigh at this. The Sithe truly had reached the apex in virtually every single Dao.

  However, Ning didn’t really care. His attention was primarily focused on analyzing the ripples in spacetime which appeared with each attack.

  Time continued to flow on. The Hegemons and Emperors attacked nonstop, using up a large amount of Immortal energy. Thankfully, they had prepared a large amount of spirit-pills to replenish their power.

  They attacked nonstop for nearly an entire hour. By now, the entire castle was covered with a layer of incredibly dense and corrosive black mist. Everyone inside the castle looked quite nervous, because they all knew that this powerful castle was at the verge of collapse.

  “Darknorth, we can’t hold on much longer. What should we do?” The Paragon of Pills felt both anxious and guilty. She blamed herself for this, because Ning had only fallen into this Sithe trap due to having come here to rescue her.

  “Master, do you have any ideas?” Azurefiend’s avatar was worried about Ning as well.

  “At least it bought me an hour,” Ning said. “Don’t worry about the rest.” As he spoke, he waved his hand and drew away the Paragon of Pills and the others. As they disappeared, a look of worry was visible in their eyes. Some were worried about Ning, while others were only worried about themselves! Once Ning died, all of them would die.

  To be precise… the Paragon, Azurefiend, Flameleft, and Tia were not afraid of death. They were worried for Ning. Lord Annihilation, however, very much wanted to stay alive!

  “Nothing for it. Life and death shall be determined by this!” Ning suddenly cracked a smile. Both his true body and his Primaltwin had spent this period of time analyzing the mysteries of this dimension, seeking a way to destroy it. His Primaltwin had even made use of 100x temporal acceleration! Alas, this sort of spacetime formation would not be easy to deconstruct; even if Ning had 10,000x more time, it still probably wouldn’t be enough.

  “We broke through!” The Hegemons and Emperors outside were excited at their successes. BOOM! The dark-red castle’s outer shell was finally corroded through by that dark mist.

  “DIE!” A dazzling streak of sword-light suddenly lit up. In the middle of that sword-light was a white-robed figure whose eyes radiated a towering desire to do battle. Ning had discarded all other thoughts save for one – stay alive! He had to make it out of this place alive! Only if he made it out would the Paragon of Pills and the others survive as well.

  “Break! Break! BREAK!” Ning manifested three heads and six arms, simultaneously wielding all six Northbow swords for the first time since his Daomerge. He seemed to have gone completely berserk, and every single attack he used was that of the Space Sword Dao. The destructive yet ephemeral sword-light began to skyrocket in power as all six swords stabbed out at the same time.

  Ning attacked using maximum power with each sword, and his swords were the Northbow Swords, the preeminent offensive swords in all the Chaosverse. Ever
y single strike he unleashed had power comparable to those of the most powerful of Autarchs! It must be remembered that although Ning had fought for quite some time, he generally didn’t strike with full-force on his attacks, while very little energy was used up when he merely used evasion-arts. The amount of energy consumed when he went all-out was quite shocking!

  Sword-light flashed again and again and again.

  BOOM! Finally, a hole appeared in one corner of this dimension, revealing the dark world outside. Swoosh! Ning immediately charged outside.

  As soon as Ning charged outside the formation, he instantly appeared in front of a palace within the palace complex. He blinked inside the palace, slaughtering all of the true Sithe within it! As for the Sithe progeny, he confiscated all of their treasures and then locked them up for later testing. If they were truly loyal to the Sithe, they would be put to death in the future.

  “Whew.” Ning’s face was rather ashen after he finished mopping up everyone in the palace complex. “Now that sucked. I only have six hundred chaos cycles left,” Ning said with a self-mocking chuckle. He had been forced to use too much power, using maximum-force blows each time as he rained a total of eighteen consecutive blows upon the formation in order to escape it.

  And this was after Ning had spent a full hour analyzing the dimension, discovering some of its critical points. Although he wasn’t even close to being able to solve it, by focusing his attacks on those critical points he was able to make his attacks ten times more effective than they otherwise would be. This was why he had chosen to take the risk of launching eighteen full-strength attacks with his Space Sword Dao.