Desolate Era (Book 22 - Book 24)

“Sword Immortal Darknorth should be somewhere in that region up ahead.” A towering, eight-armed Fiendgod was carefully flying forwards. This eight-armed Fiendgod was the culmination of 199 alien Empyrean Gods joining together in the ‘Eight-Armed Warfiend Formation’. It was one of the formations that had been left behind by the Lord of All Fiends. Truth be told, when Thearch Darkstill was forced to send out this many Empyrean God subordinates, he felt quite distressed.

This sort of formation was quite similar in nature to the Seven Planets God. However, the Seven Planets God only needed seven Empyrean Gods to execute, while this one was used by a total of 199 Empyrean Gods. It could unleash a degree of power close to that of an elite True God’s. This could be considered a ‘secret technique’, and the wielders who learned the core parts of the formation were all forced to swear lifeblood oaths not to teach it to any others. The person who was currently the ‘core’ of this particular formation was one of the warriors who had followed the Lord of All Things.

“I see him.” The eight-armed Fiendgod had been searching for Ning. Suddenly, he saw in the distance a white-robed youth who was calmly standing in the air.

“You’ve arrived.” The white-robed youth produced a sword in his hand. “Since you’ve come, there’s no need for you to leave.”

“Attack!” The eight-armed Fiendgod’s aura surged explosively.

Ning, however, just sauntered forward lazily as though he was taking a stroll through a courtyard.

……

“Thearch, all 199 of our warriors have died in battle.” A look of grief was on the face of a golden-robed elder.

“None of them escaped?” Thearch Darkstill was incredulous. He barked out, “Show me the scenes of the battle!”

“They weren’t able to send back any scenes in time,” the golden-robed elder said.

“What?!” The Thearch was truly stunned now. How fast had Ji Ning killed them all, for not a single one of them to be able to send back a scene of their death?

“However, one of them trained in a special clone technique. His other clone is currently on assignment in a different region. I suggest ordering him to return immediately so that he can tell us what happened when they fought against Ji Ning,” the yellow-robed elder said hurriedly. “We have to move quickly. If he somehow loses his clone as well, then we’ll have no way of finding any information about that battle.”





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Book 22, Chapter 10 - Bugbeasts


Thearch Darkstill immediately gave the order for that soldier’s clone to return.

A short while later.

“Thearch, Fuyou was stomped to death by Kuafu as he was trying to lure Kuafu away.” A report quickly came from his subordinates.

“What?” Thearch Darkstill’s face turned ugly.

For a number of Empyrean Gods to die during a time of war was nothing, but this particularly one was the only one who knew what had happened during the fight against Ji Ning. And now…he was dead. This meant that the 199 Empyrean Gods who had died in the battle against Ji Ning had died for nothing at all. No intelligence had been gained whatsoever.

“Kuafu!” Thearch Darkstill’s face was black with rage.

“Where are those four squads currently located?” Thearch Darkstill asked.

The nearby golden-robed elder immediately waved his hand, causing an image to appear in midair. This was an enormous map of the Darkstill world. There were four specks of light on the map, and the golden-robed elder pointed towards one of the specks of light that was close to the edge. “This is the squad which Kuafu is leading. Kuafu, an ancient divinity of the Three Realms, possesses truly enormous power. I heard that when those ten Golden Crows wreaked havoc upon the ancient Pangu Chaosworld, Kuafu chased after them so furiously that all ten of them were terrified by him. None of them dared to turn back and fight against him. From our fights against Kuafu’s squad, I can say for certain that Kuafu is indeed astonishingly powerful and is quite close to an Elder God in strength.” [1. Kuafu was mentioned long ago in the story via the mention of the divine ability, ‘Kuafu Sunchaser’.]

“Agreed.” Thearch Darkstill nodded.

Houyi and Kuafu were once equally famous during the Primordial Era. By now, Houyi was publicly acknowledged to be unfathomably strong and being at least at the overlord level of power. As for Kuafu, he was a bit weaker but was still quite close to the overlord level of power as well, and he was an extremely valiant warrior who was extremely skilled in combat.

“This squad here is the squad led by Human Sovereign Fuxi. This is the toughest squad to deal with. Fuxi has been able to easily see through our traps and formations, and even when he enters them he can easily break them apart from within.” The golden-robed elder continued, “That’s why we are temporarily focusing on the other three squads right now.”

“Here.” The golden-robed elder pointed at yet another speck of light. “This is the squad led by the leader of the Buddhist Sangha, Tathagata. It is just as dangerous as Fuxi’s squad is.”

“And here. This final squad is led by Daoist Jade Cauldron of the Daoist Path. Daoist Jade Cauldron possessed formidable divine abilities and has reached the fifth stage of swordforce. He definitely isn’t an easy person to deal with either.” The golden-robed figure pointed at the final speck of light as he spoke.

Thearch Darkstill frowned as he heard this. Two of the squads sent out by the Three Realms were led by overlords Tathagata and Fuxi. The other two were led by Kuafu and Daoist Jade Cauldron, who were close to the overlord level of power as well. There were multiple elite Daofathers in their teams, as well as a few ordinary Daofathers who knew certain special techniques.

Daoist Jade Cauldron was a fairly low-key figure, but he was still viewed as one of the top two figures under the command of Daoist Three Purities. He also had an extremely famous disciple of his own, the number one general of the Celestial Court during the Primordial Era…Erlang Shen, also known as Yang Jian. [2. As mentioned before, this is a famous figure from Journey to the West, someone who fought Sun Wukong to a standstill when he assaulted the Celestial Court.]

“And where is Ji Ning?” Thearch Darkstill asked.

“Sword Immortal Darknorth is here.” The golden-robed elder pointed to a corner of the map where another speck of light had appeared. “He is closest to Kuafu’s squad.”

“Oh?” Thearch Darkstill nodded.

“Thearch!” A gray-robed subordinate charged into the room, then said frantically, “Our clansman Floatstone’s squad attempted to lure Ji Ning into the Forest of Dreams, but his senses were simply too keen. As soon as the squad drew close to him, he immediately discovered them and then killed them. There’s no way to lure him away from far away, but whenever our people get close he kills them!”

Thearch Darkstill frowned. “The terrain is to our advantage, but we still aren’t able to lure him into the places we want him to go? Are his senses really that keen?”

But of course, he had no idea that Ning was now a half-step Elder God. His soul was incredibly powerful and acute!

“Have them stay away from Ji Ning for now,” Thearch Darkstill instructed. “Go.”

“Yes.” The subordinate hurriedly departed.

“Thearch.” The golden-robed elder looked towards Thearch Darkstill. “Ji Ning is not an easy person to deal with. Even our ‘Eight-Armed Warfiend Formation’ was effortlessly annihilated by him. He is at least as powerful as an elite Daofather. We can tell from this alone that he has reached the fifth stage of swordforce.”