by RWX
“I can’t expand my domain any further!” the scaled creature said frantically. It had created this flaming domain from its own power, and it wasn’t easy for him to strengthen those flames to a level where it could simultaneously suppress both Ning’s Sword Dao Domain as well as Ning’s heartworld projection! It could only maintain enough power to do both up to a distance of a million kilometers; this was the creature’s maximum limit! Alas, a million kilometers was a short enough distance that neither of the other two Autarch-class void dwellers would be able to interrupt Ning’s incredibly fast attacks.
“Damn.”
“Stop that!” Both the Autarch-class creatures were turning frantic.
Slash! One of the scaled creature’s arms was completely severed off.
“I surrender! I surrender! Spare me!” The scaled creature finally began to panic as those terrifying streaks of sword-light tore through its scales once more. “Spare me and I’ll obey you in all things!”
“Obey me? I wouldn’t dare to place any faith in you.”
There was no way for these Autarch-class void dwellers to swear lifeblood oaths. The only agreements they could make were oral agreements, and they could go back on those agreements whenever they pleased!
“No…!”
Ning’s sword-light continued to chop down mercilessly. Ning only sped up the pace after most of the creature’s scales had been destroyed, and his sword-light flew about with abandon as he completely chopped the scaled creature apart into countless pieces. A red gemstone suddenly appeared, and it was able to survive even Ning’s furious blows of sword-light. The faint outline of the scaled creature could be seen within the red gemstone, and it was still begging Ning: “Don’t kill me!”
Ning had unleashed a total of 3,220 strikes in destroying this Autarch-class void dweller’s body. He immediately grabbed the red gemstone, then cast a seal across it.
“I’ve already captured this one, and I can destroy it with a thought.” Ning turned to glance at the other two Autarch-class void dwellers, his voice echoing within the area: “Are the two of you willing to stand with us now? Or are you still going to stand with the Sithe?”
Book 43, Chapter 20 - Formation
The dragon turtle and the cyclopean creature shared a glance. The two Autarch-class void dwellers were unable to hide their shock. One of their peers had been defeated in just a few short moments, its body destroyed and its life-core taken?
“If you keep fighting against us, the only result will be that you both die,” Autarch Mogg said. “Stand with us. Once we deal with this behemoth hive, you’ll gain your freedom.”
“Do you really think you can threaten us just because you captured one of us?” the dragon turtle snorted coldly.
The cyclopean creature smiled coldly as it glanced at Ning and Autarch Mogg. “We’re not like that idiot. I’m fast enough that you two won’t even be able to touch me… and as for that tough old bastard over there? It is even stronger than me! You have no chance of defeating it.”
Mogg frowned. The cyclopean creature was telling the truth; neither Mogg nor Ning was a match for the creature in speed.
“If that’s the case, go ahead and die.” Ning didn’t want to waste any time. This behemoth hive was continuously devouring the power of this Chaosverse with each passing moment! Ning transformed into the storm once more as he charged towards the dragon turtle.
It must be remembered that Ning was extremely well-rounded and was skilled in almost every Dao. Thus, he was capable of seizing upon his opponent’s weaknesses and come up with a perfect counter each time! Ning felt quite certain that he would be able to deal with the seemingly-speedy Cyclops, and so he wanted to try out the dragon turtle and see how strong it was.
“Hmph.” The dragon turtle didn’t move at all. The grayish-white skin covering its neck looked as tough as a rock, and it just watched coldly as Ning approached it. Invisible waves of energy began to manifest in the area around the dragon turtle, pushing back against the Sword Dao Domain and the heartforce projection alike.
“Kill!” An absolutely dazzling streak of light shot out like a flaming meteor that was crashing to earth. This was Ning’s terrifying sword-light, and it was chopping straight at the dragon turtle.
Hiss… the dragon turtle’s draconian head reared up, hissing like a viper and moving with serpentine speed as it chomped upwards, with space being continuously destroyed and recreated within its maw.
Boom! The sharp sword-light came crashing down against the ears of that draconian head.
……
Ning and the dragon turtle began a furious battle against each other, with Ning putting the terrifying might of his Sword Dao on full display. He alternated between using overwhelming power to shut down the dragon turtle’s savagery and using unpredictable sword-arts to launch deadly stabs! He launched a thousand ferocious attacks in succession that came crashing down like waves, used the deadly corrosive power of his Cycle Sword Dao, and even use all of the various elemental Daos of his Five Elements Sword Dao.
Ning had completely suppressed the dragon turtle and was raining down blows upon it!
“He’s that powerful?!” the distant cyclopean creature was rather shocked.
“Darknorth really has become the strongest of us seven,” Autarch Mogg mused silently. “I’m only superior to him in the Dao of Space; in all else, he is better. He’s simply skilled into many different Daos!”
“Gwaaaar!” The dragon turtle was enraged by the beating it was taking. It furiously tried to fight back, but it continued to be completely dominated.
In terms of actual power, the dragon turtle was the strongest of the three Autarch-class void dwellers. Its deceptively simple bites were actually strengthened by an incredible innate ability that made those bites more powerful than even Ning’s most powerful strikes! It was all-enveloping and compressed space itself, making it impossible for most enemies to dodge this attack. Alas, Ning was at such a high level of insight that he was able to dissolve the attack with ease.
Ning, however, was feeling quite frustrated as well. “Its body is completely flawless and impregnable.” He had used everything he had and was beating the hell out of this dragon turtle, but he wasn’t able to do any damage! He had even used his sword-light to stab against the dragon turtle’s eyes, but he was unable to pierce through the grayish-white eyelids. As for the rest of the body? None of Ning’s attacks were able to injure it at all.
“Mogg,” Ning sent mentally to Mogg, “Its body is completely flawless and unbreakable. What should we do?” Mogg had been alive for much longer than him, and was much more experienced.
“When we fought the stone lifeform all those years ago, we similarly found it to be indestructible. There’s really no real option aside from slowly exhausting it to death,” Mogg sent mentally. “Use karmic attacks to destroy its vital essence, and just keep on at it until it dies! Last time, we bombared that stone lifeform for tens of thousands of years before managing to kill it. This dragon turtle seems to have a similarly powerful body, and I’ll wager it has just as much vital essence. Your karmic attacks, however, are inferior to those of Titanos. It’ll probably take you at least a million years to exhaust it, or perhaps even longer!”
Ning instantly felt helpless. This was the clumsiest method available, and apparently the only method available! Karmic attacks ignored all defenses, as they used the power of karma to attack someone at the very core of their essence! Alas, Ning was still significantly weaker than Titanos in this respect.
……
“I can’t kill you, but you can’t hurt me either!” The dragon turtle finally abandoned its attempts to counter-attack and instead just allowed Ning to uselessly rain down blows against it.
“How can any physical body be THIS tough?” Ning was secretly speechless. He was so powerful that his attacks would easily cause even Universe treasures or Chaos Primordials to crumble, but this Autarch-class dragon turtle was so tough that Ning wasn’t able to d
o anything to it at all.
“Let’s finish off the other one first, Mogg,” Ning sent.
“Alright,” Mogg agreed.
Swoosh! Ning instantly transformed back into a storm of wind and lightning as he shot towards the skinny cyclopean creature, which had been watching him from afar this entire time. Thanks to Ning’s illusions, the cyclopean creature had no idea that Ning was even moving towards it.
Even so, the cyclopean creature’s attunement to space and wind allowed it to realize that something strange was going on. “Eh?” Swish! It suddenly dodged, and as it did so a streak of sword-light stabbed straight through its after-image! The creature reappeared over a hundred million kilometers away. It narrowed its eyes and said in its shrill voice, “You want to sneak-attack me? You won’t even touch me!”
“As far as I’m concerned, you are the weakest of the three.” Ning stared at the cyclopean creature, then unleashed an awesome wave of mana which he connected to the boundless power of the Dao. The mana manifested in the form of countless swords that filled the illusory region. Countless millions of streaks of sword-light appeared, with each streak of sword-light filled with such power that they could easily slay Otherverse Lords.
When Ning had been a mere Daolord, his Sword Dao Domain was created solely through the power of the Dao itself. Now, however, Ning was using the power of his mana to actively control the Dao, allowing his domain to become even more powerful! The attacks might not be as mighty as physical strikes unleashed with the Northmoon swords, but they were still tens of times more powerful than in the past.
“This sword-light is very weak.” The cyclopean creature glanced disdainfully at the countless streams of sword-light, then let out a shrill chuckle: “You won’t even be able to scratch me with these things.” Although it was physically the weakest of the three Autarch-class void dwellers, it was still far tougher than any Chaos Primordial.
“Formation, assemble!” Ning called out coldly.
Boom! Countless streams of sword-light began to flow together rhythmatically within the domain, and moments later the entire scene changed.
“What’s going on?!” The cyclopean creature stared in shock at its surroundings, which had become transformed into a fragrant world of grass and flowers. It was standing in the middle of a prairie, and the dragon turtle was nowhere to be seen.
“B-but…” The dragon turtle stared at its own surroundings as well. The world around it had been transformed into a vast sea. The waves of the sea splashed around it, kicking up a few foamy bubbles. It was also unable to see any other creatures around it.
“A formation!” The dragon turtle grew anxious. It instantly flew forwards at high speed, sending its massive bulk hurtling through the air while it furiously tore at the area around it with its four stubby legs. Alas, the waves of the sea seemed to be completely illusory; no matter how it attacked the waves, it remained unable to see anything beyond them.
“You void dwellers do not understand the Dao. You are foolish! You can overpower weaker creatures, but if you encounter a formation set down by someone of equal power to you then you are completely helpless.” Ning’s voice echoed throughout the illusory realms the two creatures were in. “You will not be able to escape my illusions. I can do with you as I please.”
Ning had long ago reached Hegemony in the Dao of Formations. He had then infused it into his Dao of the Sword, creating the Sword Formation Dao. Now, he was using the power of his mana and his insights into the Dao to transform his countless streams of sword-light into formation-bases, which he then used to construct an enormous formation! Even people like Autarch Titanos or Autarch Mogg, who also had a high level of insight into the Dao, would need to spend some time to solve this type of formation. These Autarch-class void dwellers, however, were completely incapable of doing so.
Their advantages were obvious, but their weaknesses were obvious as well.
“Break! BREAK!” The cyclopean creature was growing desperate. It was now holding a long shuttle in its claws, and it was furiously attacking the world around it. Alas, the world remained a fragrant world of grass and flowers.
Riiiip! A streak of sword-light suddenly appeared right behind the cyclopean creature. It had appeared without any warning, and it instantly tore through the creature’s fur and stabbed into its body. Then… the sword-light began to spin! Slash! An enormous gaping wound instantly appeared, followed by golden blood fountaining outwards. The cyclopean creature frantically pulled back and tried to defend against any new attacks.
“Do you think your speed will be of any use to you within my formations? I can approach you without a sound. A few more attacks and you’ll be as good as dead.” Ning’s voice echoed out within the plains once more: “The other two had tougher bodies to deal with, but you’ll be easy to handle.”
“What should I do? Old bastard? Old bastard!!!” the cyclopean creature screamed frantically.
“Keep screaming. Scream as loud as you want. It won’t hear you.” Ning’s voice rang out once more. The beautiful world of flowers was like a nightmare which had completely enveloped the void dweller.
Book 43, Chapter 21 - Exalt Anitya
“No! This is just a formation. I can break it. I can break it!” The cyclopean creature could sense its doom impending, and the sensation was driving it mad. It brandished the shuttle, furiously striking at all directions with it. Slash! Slash! Space was churned apart into tiny little pieces by his blows, but the overall environment remained that of a fragrant world of grass and flowers. Ji Ning’s formation wouldn’t be so easily defeated!
“Break! Break!!!” the cyclopean creature yelled hoarsely.
In the past, it had never viewed formations as something to be afraid of. This was because it had long ago grown accustomed to bursting through formations with its overwhelming power. Formations which could successfully trap Autarch-class void dwellers were incredibly rare to begin with! This one in particular was ensuring that it was not able to put its speed to good effect at all.
“Poor bastard. He ended up running into you, Darknorth.” Autarch Mogg shook his head as he watched from afar, then sent mentally to Ning, “You can be described as the number one formations expert in all the cultivator civilizations.”
“That’s only because I infused the Dao of Formations into my Sword Dao,” Ning said with a smile. “Just a moment, please. I’m about to capture the creature.”
Swish! A streak of gloomy sword-light appeared in ghostly fashion, instantly piercing through the cyclopean creature’s skinny body. One of the creature’s legs went flying, with blood spewing everywhere. The cyclopean creature frantically retreated, not paying any attention to the heavy wound which was quickly beginning to heal. The severed leg was regrowing as well.
“You won’t be able to last. You Autarch-class creatures have very powerful bodies, but that also makes it extremely hard for you to truly heal.”
Sword-light flashed again. Ning’s attacks were coming from every single direction. This looked like an extremely beautiful prairie, but it was a death trap which could unleash sword-light from any and every part of it! There was no way to dodge, and each time the cyclopean creature would only detect the sword-light once the light was right in front of it. The creature’s tremendous speed was rendered useless here.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Just three seconds later, a total of over sixty attacks had appeared and then vanished without a trace. Finally, the cyclopean creature’s entire body crumbled apart. Its healing speed simply wasn’t able to keep up with the rate at which Ning was causing damage, and it was now completely incapable of fighting back at all.
Boom! The creature’s body imploded. Ning reached out with his sword-light to tug free a white and glossy pearl from the ‘corpse’, and it quickly flew over to Ning. The pearl held an image of the furry cyclopean creature within it, and it was begging Ning for its life: “Please spare me! Spare me! None of this was of my own free will!”
Ning waved his hand, g
rabbing the pearl and casting a seal over it.
So long as his seal prevented the pearl from absorbing energy from the outside world, the creature would be unable to revive! It could only reconstitute its body if given access to enough energy, but even without its body it would remain alive so long as its truesoul within its life-core remained unharmed. Only when the life-cores were destroyed would these Autarch-class void dwellers be truly ‘dead’! However, Ning didn’t feel much of an urge to actually kill them. He was going to simply imprison them for now.
And so… two of the three void dwellers had been captured by Ning.
“Congratulations, Darknorth.” Mogg flew over, his scaled face split by an amazed smile. “Thank goodness you came with me. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have been able to deal with them so easily.”
“Autarch-class void dwellers are indeed very tough to deal with, due to their innate gifts. However, their obvious weakness is that they do not train in the Dao. They have a very low level of insight,” Ning said. “I’m only able to attack their weaknesses and defeat them with such ease because I’m fairly well-rounded.”
“Any void dwellers capable of reaching the Autarch level of power have very few weaknesses.” Autarch Mogg sighed. “These three were all very powerful, with that cyclopean creature possessing unparalleled speed. The only way to handle it is to do what you just did – trap it in a formation, an extremely profound formation which it cannot break through with raw power. However, such formations generally require detailed and intricate preparations as well as for formation-bases to be laid down in advance. Given how crafty the creature is, it would never just watch us set down those formations and then just step into them. Only you could’ve done what you did, Darknorth. You created a formation with but a thought, making it impossible for it to escape.”
“That scaled void dweller was even more difficult to deal with. It had virtually no weaknesses at all! Thankfully, your sword-arts were able to breach its armor of scales. I’m truly impressed that you were able to capture both of them! As for this last one… it seems to be completely invulnerable,” Autarch Mogg said.