Desolate Era (Book 22 - Book 24)

His daughter was a bit more playful and hyper.

“Father, the Immortals and Fiendgods on the island are all saying that your true body was destroyed. They said you…” Brightmoon looked at Ning, her hands tightly wrapped around Ning’s arm. She said softly, “Can you stop fighting against the Seamless Gate?”

“The elders and teachers of those Immortals and Fiendgods on the island…are any of them shirking in their duties?” Ning shook his head. “I cannot simply run and hide. You should understand, Brightmoon.”

“But Father, you’ve already sacrificed enough. Your true body was destroyed and you’ve been drastically weakened. What more do they want from you? Father, you are now just a True Immortal. Even if you have powerful heartforce and can use it to command the Rahu Formation, you still aren’t a True God or a Daofather. There are many Empyrean Gods and True Immortals on the island who aren’t taking part in the war. You’ve already done much more than them, Father.” Brightmoon looked at Ning, at the verge of tears. “I’m so afraid. I’m afraid that your Primaltwin will also be killed. I’ve already lost Mother. I can’t lose you too!”

Ning’s heart shook.

“Promise me.” Brightmoon looked at Ning. “Just stay with me. Alright?”

“I’ll stay with you.” Ning’s heart ached when he saw that look in his daughter’s eyes. He nodded gently. “I’ll always stay with you. From today onwards, my Primaltwin will stay with you here.”

“Primaltwin?” Brightmoon was puzzled.

“Don’t you know? I only wear white robes with my true body.” Ning patted Brightmoon on the head.

“I thought…I thought…” A look of joy appeared in Brightmoon’s eyes.

“Others might underestimate your father, but you really should not.” Ning laughed. “My true body and my Primaltwin are both fine. In fact, I’m even more powerful than before.” Ning stretched his hand out, and his hand glowed dimly with a seven-colored sword-light. The dazzling, brilliant rainbow sword-light possessed an aura of utterly terrifying power.

Brightmoon stared at the rainbow sword-light in shock.

She was Ji Ning’s daughter, and a disciple of Mount Innerheart. She naturally knew many things. Given that Ji Ning walked the path of the Sword Immortal, Brightmoon had learned long ago what fifth-stage swordforce was like. Thus, she recognized it right away.

“Father, y-you…” Brightmoon was filled with both joy and pride. Fifth-stage swordforce, and speed which surpassed the limits of the Heavenly Daos? This was her father! Those Immortals and Fiendgods had all been prattling on and on, but her father had actually become far more powerful than before.

“Father, you said you were going to have your Primaltwin stay by my side. Then…your true body…?” Brightmoon suddenly realized what this meant.

Ning laughed. “Will go out and fight, of course. Your father can’t just hide.”

“B-but…” Brightmoon chewed on her lips, then said softly, “I, I really don’t want you to go to war any longer, Father.”

“The Endwar is nigh. We have to step forward to face it,” Ning said it with a smile.

“When the skies collapse, let the big guys handle it,” Brightmoon argued.

“Your father is now one of the big guys,” Ning laughed. “Enough. You are a Celestial Immortal now, you know. You are acting like a little girl.”

His daughter was by his side once more. Ning could sense a surge of strength and energy come from his heart in an unbroken stream. It came from an absolutely indomitable determination that was etched into his very bones.

“I have to protect my daughter.”

“Even if it costs me my life.”

……

The white-robed Ning turned his head, giving the black-robed maiden who was standing at the side of the lake a final glance. Then, he cast aside all his doubt. “Master, send me away,” Ning sent mentally.

“Be careful in the Primordial Ruinworld.” Subhuti’s voice rang out by Ning’s ears as well.

“Right.” Ning nodded.

A spatial vortex appeared in front of Ning. Ning stepped into it.





* * *





Book 22, Chapter 7 - Darkstill World


The Nihilum Zone of the Primordial Ruinworld. The waves of the Void continuously came crashing through this region.

Whoosh. A spatial whirlpool appeared within the Void, and from it emerged a white-robed youth. He stood there in the Void, staring towards the infinitely vast realm that was before him.

“According to what Master said, right now Fuxi and Tathagata’s squads are around the Darkstill world.” Ning’s eyes were blazing with torch-light, allowing him to clearly see the enormous, distant realm of the Primordial Ruinworld. He was quickly able to identify the region that was known as the Darkstill world.

The Primordial Ruinworld had been divided up into many parts by various alien Outsider organizations into many different ‘worlds’. The closer these worlds were to the core, the more powerful they were.

The ‘Snaphorn’ world was one of the outermost border worlds of the Primordial Ruinworld. Comparatively speaking, it was fairly weak. The most powerful members of the Snaphorn world were those three Queen Mothers, and strictly speaking they weren’t really at the level of True Gods or Daofathers! Empyrean God Redsnow, when commanding a Seven Planets God, had been able to battle against all three of them for a long period of time. Patriarch Subhuti had been able to easily annihilate all of them with a single palm. From this, one could see how weak the Snaphorn world had been.

The Darkstill world was far more powerful than the Snaphorn world.

……

The Primordial Ruinworld. The Darkstill world.

Riiiiiip.

Space was forcibly torn apart, allowing a white-robed youth to fly to this location atop a boat.

“The Darkstill world…it really is a dark, silent place.” Ning swept the area with his gaze. Even the skies were grey and dark. Everything seemed to be covered by a hazy layer of gray fog, and it was completely silent here.

“I wonder where Fuxi, Tathagata, and the other Daofathers are.”

Ning’s Primaltwin was still in the Crescent world. Ning had made a special Primaltwin incarnation to accompany Brightmoon, with the incarnation being able to converse with Patriarch Subhuti whenever necessary. According to what he had heard, Fuxi, Tathagata, and their squads were currently located at the Darkstill world, but it would be hard to find their exact locations without being there.

The main reason was because spacetime was in a state of chaotic flux here. One could set clear target coordinates for teleportation, but upon actually arriving one might be ridiculously far off from the original target!

This was why Subhuti had sent Ning to the Nihilum Zone, then told Ning to board his Voidship and fly from the Nihilum Zone to the Darkstill world.

“Let me search for them.” Ning immediately sent out his heartforce. Whoosh! His heartforce rippled out like the waters of a lake, spreading out in every single direction. This was a little trick which World God Northrest had taught him. With this technique activated, no one in either the Three Realms or the Primordial Ruinworld would be able to escape his detection.

His heartforce quickly spread out to encompass an enormous region. It spread out past tall mountains, deep lakes, and quite a few alien Outsiders. Those alien Outsiders were all quite weak. They weren’t even close to becoming Celestial Immortals.

“Eh?” Ning suddenly frowned. There were some regions where both space and time were both so badly shattered that not even Ning’s heartforce could see past them.