by RWX
He was a very patient man! There was no way he would be willing to risk exposing himself merely to kill Daolord Darknorth.
“I understand,” Bowenya said respectfully. Sharp light flickered in his eyes. He had sacrificed too much in his efforts to kill this damnable Daolord Darknorth.
“An Apocalypse-class servitor… hmph. Those are some of the most powerful servants under almighty Iyerre’s control.” Bowenya was filled with eagerness. “This time, we’ll definitely be able to kill you, even if we have to simply attrition you to death.”
He had previously used an ‘Apocalypse-class’ castle and formation against Ning. In truth, Apocalypse-class simply represented an overall level of power. Apocalypse-class servitors, however, were actual living beings. Every single attack they launched was comparable to the power of an Apocalypse-class treasure, making them far more deadly than the treasures themselves.
……
Rumble…
Deep within the spacetime maze. Ning stood there at the center of the maze, his Sword Dao Domain continuing to furiously expand as he ‘popped’ the various spacetime continuums and destroyed them. Each continuum was only able to last a single second in the face of Ning’s might, and just a short while later his Sword Dao Domain had already stretched out to encompass a hundred million kilometers.
“We’ve lost.”
“I really can’t accept this.”
“Who would’ve thought that after surviving the last great war in this Chaosverse, we’d end up dying here?” The true Sithe Hegemons were filled with despair as the Sword Dao Domain reached out to encompass them. They were captured without being able to fight back at all.
Ning continued to furiously expand his Sword Dao Domain as he moved closer and closer towards the center of the Daoguard Tower. Suddenly…
“Daolord Darknorth, I’m truly impressed. You were actually able to solve my spacetime maze. Not even my Daoguard Tower can suppress you! Heh. Still… since I know that I’ve lost this battle, I’m not going to stay here any longer. Before leaving, I’m going to give you one final gift.” Bowenya’s voice rang out from afar.
“Exalt, take us with you!”
“Exalt, save us!” Instantly, some Hegemons and Emperors began to beg for rescue. This hidden dimension was able to capture enemies from afar; naturally, it was also able to allow Exalt Bowenya free passage in escaping.
“As far as Bowenya is concerned, his life is the only life that matters. He won’t care about whether the rest of you survive or not, much less whether this dimension will survive,” Ning said coldly as he continued to furiously break apart the various spacetime continuums. However, it would still take him hundreds of seconds to reach the core of this tower. He simply didn’t have enough time to stop Exalt Bowenya from leaving.
“My final gift to you is the most terrifying of the many creatures which have been kept suppressed within this hidden dimension. If you can survive it, you’ll be able to leave this place. I, however, won’t be staying to watch,” Bowenya called out.
Rumble… a deep thrumming sound pervaded the entire Daoguard Tower as dimensional ripples spread out.
“He left?” Ning was quickly able to ascertain that Exalt Bowenya had indeed fled.
“Damnit.”
“Bowenya!”
“Bowenya, why couldn’t you take us with you?” Many Hegemons and Emperors were cursing at him.
……
Within the core of the Daoguard Tower. An enormous hand tore through space, ripping open a dark dimensional tunnel that led straight to the core. A giant tree suddenly came flying out from that dimensional tunnel! This giant tree was covered with countless branches and leaves, and the main trunk had a single giant eye on it. When it flew out of the black passageway, it gave Bowenya a cold glance.
Bowenya said, “I’ll leave the rest up to you.” He quickly fled into the dimensional tunnel.
Although this Exalt-class Daoguard Tower did indeed hold other creatures within it, those were all insane prisoners. How could he possibly have an Apocalypse-class servitor with him? These powerful beings always followed by Iyerre’s side.
“Mm.” The giant tree grunted, watching as Bowenya disappeared within the darkness of the tunnel. The tree was now in charge of protecting the core of this entire Daoguard Tower, and it quickly took control of it as the tunnel behind it vanished.
Whoooosh. Its countless branches all stretched out, extending out of the central room and towards the outside world as its countless branches grew longer and thicker. It must be understood that this creature had lived in the Infinite Void prior to being captured and tamed by Iyerre. Its true form was as vast as any celestial object! Its current form was just a miniaturized version of itself.
The spacetime maze was quite enormous. Ning had only dealt with a small portion of it. The branches quickly extended outside the Daoguard Tower, then began to twist themselves around it. As soon as they exited the Daoguard Tower, the branches began to rapidly expand in size, with each branch coiling around the tower like a titanic python. The entire Daoguard Tower was almost instantly surrounded by a cocoon of countless leafy branches. The branches covered every single inch of the Daoguard Tower in a tight embrace.
Next, the branches began to extend in every other direction, including both the Sacred Mountains, the skies, and the depths of the earth. They continued to furiously expand in size, snaking out longer and longer. After just ten seconds, the branches had filled every inch of the entire Sacred Realm, completely covering every inch of it.
……
Within the Doaguard Tower. As soon as the giant tree completely covered the Daoguard Hall, it began to attack Ning as well.
“Eh?” Ning turned pale. He could subconsciously sense that something incredibly dangerous was happening. Moments later, a series of enormous black branches shot through the air and entered the range of his Sword Dao Domain.
“Illusion Sword Dao!” Ning kept his illusory realm active, hiding the location of his true body.
“Daolord Darknorth, mm? Do you think you can hide from me?” A sonorous voice boomed out as a large number of twisting veins appeared on the surface of every single branch. The countless branches began to sweep through every inch of the Sword Dao Domain. There were simply too many of them, while Ning’s domain was merely a hundred million kilometers in size. There was nowhere for him to hide.
“Break!” The Northbow sword in Ning’s hand suddenly flashed with light. Crack! Twelve branches were instantly severed by this blow. It seemed as though this creature was actually more fragile than the other creatures Ning had encountered.
Still, Ning’s face remained quite somber. There were simply too many of these branching tendrils, and the ones he severed began to quickly regrow.
Whoosh. Whoosh. The branches quickly managed to locate where Ning was, then began to lash out at him with abandon. Each strike was just as powerful as the strikes from the first beast Ning had encountered.
What he didn’t know was that while this Apocalypse-class creature’s attacks weren’t all that strong, it was extremely difficult to actually get rid of and defeat. Iyerre had sent this servant because it was a perfect counter for Ning, whose truesoul was already crumbling away. The goal was to kill him through attrition.
“There are too many branches. I can’t get rid of them.” Ning was forced to strike eight times in a row, seeking to carve an escape path for himself, but each time new branches would spring up to cover the ones he had destroyed. Worse, Ning had the vague feeling that there were even more branches waiting for their turn!
“How could this Daoguard Tower have such an irritating creature within it?” Ning’s face was grim. If he was an Autarch, he could continue to attack with abandon, unleashing thousands of full-strength blows in an extremely short period of time. But he didn’t have much time or energy left. At most, he only had a few dozen strikes left in him. There was no way he could escape at all.
Boom! Boom! The branches continued to
furiously rain blows upon Ning, who was forced to use the Spacetime Sword Dao to create a tiny miniature spacetime continuum which served as a form of armor which covered him. This was his most powerful defensive technique thus far.
Focusing on defense allowed him to conserve more energy. Attacking consumed it far too quickly.
“Die! DIE!” The countless branches lashed at him like a thousand whips, furiously slamming against the spacetime armor covering Ning. They attacked at such high speed that they were like countless leafy blurs, and each strike was slightly stronger than a blow from the Blazesun Ruler! Ning continued to fly about and dodge while letting his armor absorb the blows, but just one second later he was forced to once more use his sword-arts to recreate the armor.
His divine power and Immortal energy was depleting at a fast pace, and the cracks in his truesoul were growing larger and larger as the crumbling process accelerated.
“Autarch Mogg, hurry up and deconstruct this hidden dimension!” Ning felt extremely anxious. “I’m not going to be able to hang on for much longer.”
He had been just one step away from success. If he died here, that meant the Paragon of Pills would die here as well! Ning truly couldn’t accept this outcome.
Book 42, Chapter 20 - The Autarchs Arrive
The outside world.
There were three figures located in the dark void outside this hidden dimension. They were the black-robed Ji Ning, the bald, red-robed avatar of Autarch Titanos, and the skinny, black-robed avatar of Autarch Mogg.
Boom! As Bowenya departed from this dimension and the tree-creature arrived, a dimensional ripple suddenly spread outwards.
“A spatial ripple!” Autarch Titanos revealed a look of delight, as did the black-robed Ning. Both of them turned to look at Autarch Mogg.
The black-robed Ning said, “Bowenya probably fled out of the hidden dimension.”
Autarch Mogg’s azure eyes narrowed intently as he stared at the dimensional ripples before him. He said softly, “Yes, I can sense a dimensional tunnel… but it was opened in an extremely careful and intricate way. The ripples are very minute.” The dimensional tunnel had not actually opened up from within the hidden dimension itself. If it had, the ripples would be far greater. This was a passageway created from afar by Iyerre, and the ripples were very subdued as a result.
“I’m being attacked by some sort of strange lifeform. It is incredibly powerful, and I won’t be able to hold on for much longer,” Ning blurted out.
“I’m moving as fast as I can,” Autarch Mogg said.
Fifteen seconds went by. “Found it!” Autarch Mogg’s eyes lit up. Those ripples were minute, but he was still able to use them to lock onto the location of that hidden dimension. Autarch Mogg was the Autarch of the Space Daobirth Essence, after all, and he was in his own Chaosverse. He had every factor on his side, and as a result he was naturally able to locate that dimension.
“Hurry up and open a path into it!” Autarch Titanos urged.
“Alright.” Autarch Mogg drew an extremely slender saber with his right hand, then gave it a wave. Slash! The space before him was torn open as easily as paper, producing a neat ‘wound’ in space. This slash tore through multiple layers of different dimensional continuums, reaching all the way towards the hidden dimension which Autarch Mogg and located.
Riiiiip! The slash clashed against the tenacious exterior membrane protecting the hidden continuum.
“There it is.” Autarch Mogg blinked in surprise. “The membrane is quite tough. BREAK!” Autarch Mogg instantly manifested a total of six arms. Each of them was grasping an extremely long and slender blade, and he leapt forwards to soar towards the membrane. Thousands of beautiful flowers seemed to bloom before him, with each snowy-white flower being formed from a slash of dimensional saber-light. Autarch Mogg was definitely the paramount expert in chopping apart dimensional membranes, and it took him just a single second to tear through it.
“Impressive.” Ning couldn’t help but sigh in amazement. He might have his Space Sword Dao, but its power was still fundamentally that of the Dao of the Sword; the Dao of Space was just a supporting Dao. There was no way it could compare to Autarch Mogg’s ‘Space Daobirth Essence’. Without question, Autarch Mogg’s mastery over space was superior to all others within this Chaosverse.
If Autarch Titanos had to assault the dimensional membrane, he would’ve been forced to tear through it by hammering it repeatedly through brute-force attacks. Autarch Mogg was able to accomplish it much more easily.
“Let’s go inside!” Autarch Mogg led Ning into the hidden dimension. As soon as the two avatars and the black-robed Ning entered it, they saw the countless leafy tendrils which completely filled this entire world. There were many places which were completely surrounded by those countless branches! This sight caused even Autarch Mogg and Autarch Titanos to reveal looks of surprise.
“DIE!” When the great tree saw that outsiders had arrived, it instantly sent countless tendrils sweeping towards them.
“My true body is right in the center of the Daoguard Tower,” Ning said hurriedly.
“Titanos, you take care of Darknorth’s Primaltwin. I’ll go to the Daoguard Tower,” Mogg said.
“Better that we go together. Darknorth’s true body isn’t going to be able to hold on much longer. Darknorth, go inside my estate-world for a short while.” Autarch Titanos waved his hand, sending the black-robed Ning into his estate-world. Ning didn’t try to resist it.
“Attack!” The avatars of Autarch Mogg and Autarch Titanos drew their weapons and began to fight. Thanks to their mastery over space and karma, they were able to accurately sense the location of the Daoguard Tower, and the two worked together to charge closer and closer towards it.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Autarch Mogg’s six slender sabers chopped through everything within their path. His weapons were like dimensional blades that could chop through all matter, and his strikes actually extended out on a multidimensional level to continue cutting through space itself. His attack speed was absolutely incredible.
“Die.” Autarch Titanos was wearing a set of inky black gloves on all six of his hands, and each glove unleashed boundless mystical power as he struck out towards the opponent. Although his movements seemed much more relaxed, each strike caused countless branches to decay and rot away. In terms of raw damage, he vastly surpassed Autarch Mogg.
“This creature has incredible vitality. Most of these creatures are unable to take more than three palms from me.” Autarch Titanos frowned as he realized how strong this creature’s vital force was.
The two continued to advance at high speed, with black gloves annihilating countless branches on one side and slender sabers chopping through everything on the other. The tree was suffering more and more injuries. It didn’t really care too much about Autarch Mogg’s chops, because it could regrow the parts that had been severed; Autarch Mogg’s attacks weren’t causing too much real damage. Autarch Titanos’ karmic strikes, however, were assaulting its very essence and causing it much more damage.
“I have to kill him.” The tree was under orders, and it began to fight in an even more frenzied manner. It didn’t have much time left; it had to kill Ning as soon as possible.
……
Within the Daoguard Tower.
Countless tough tendrils and branches were continuing to furiously rain blows upon Ning, whose truesoul was crumbling at an extremely fast pace. In order to conserve as much energy as possible, he didn’t launch any counter-attacks and instead focused completely on defense.
Ning’s body was covered by a miniature spacetime cocoon which accompanied him as he fled, dodged, and was occasionally knocked flying. Each time he was struck, he didn’t try to resist the momentum, instead borrowing from it to conserve as much of his own power as possible.
Time continued to flow on. Ning repeatedly used his sword-arts to defend, but each time it resulted in his truesoul crumbling faster and faster.
“Hurry up… hurr
y up! I can’t hold on much longer.” Ning grew increasingly desperate. “I have nothing left!”
BOOM! An enormous explosion rang out. The countless branches within the Daoguard Tower began to tremble as two figures charged inside the tower.
“No. No! I have to kill this Daolord!” The great tree was already heavily wounded, but it still had a considerable amount of power left. It continued to rain attacks down against Ning while sending many tendrils out to block the two intruders.
Whoosh! Boom! Saber-light flashed while black gloves struck out as Autarch Mogg and Autarch Titanos unleashed the power of their Daos. In the face of their attacks, these branches seemed unspeakably weak and were destroyed on a large scale.
A snowy-white streak of saber-light suddenly flashed out, severing all the branches and leaves within its path. Some of the branches which were furiously assaulting Ning were severed as well, and Ning could sense that the attacks against him had suddenly lessened. The saber-light was followed by two consecutive strikes from the black gloves, causing the surrounding branches to wither away and rot into nothingness.
Ning finally allowed himself to relax. He landed atop one of the undamaged spacetime bubbles, then sat down and took a deep breath. “Whew.” Ning smiled as he looked at Autarch Mogg and Autarch Titanos. “You finally made it.” Ning laughed, and his laughter was very joyful.
They had finally succeeded.
Autarch Titanos’ terrifying black gloves finally demolished the great tree’s remaining life force. The Daoguard Tower was now completely empty, with just a few remnants of the spacetime maze left behind as well as some terrified Sithe. The great tree had not gone out of its way to slay these Hegemons and Emperors.