Desolate Era (Book 25 - Book 27)

Ning couldn’t help but sigh as well.

He couldn’t really blame Daolord Solesky. Daolord Solesky had only really been focused on Ning’s survival, after all; when he sensed that his brother Ning wasn’t in too much danger, he naturally didn’t feel the need to rush over.

“This ship is heading straight for the Windsource Ruins.” Daolord Solesky looked at Ning. “The Windsource Ruins were established by Daolord Windsource. Daolord Windsource was an absolutely incredible figure. He was every bit my equal and he very nearly succeeded in his Daomerge. The protective spells and formations he left behind to guard his estate are quite troublesome. I really don’t want to risk them, but I have to.”

Ning could tell that apparently Daolord Solesky was just as strong as Daolord Windsource had been.

“Before he died, he laid out all of his insights into the ‘Hundred Streams of the Windsource’,” Daolord Solesky said. “Once that formation is activated, it’ll cause the entire Windsource Chaosworld to completely blow apart. It will be as strong as a full-strength desperation blow from Daolord Windsource!”

“Fortunately, I don’t need to actually break his formation on this trip. All I need to do is enter the core region and acquire a certain treasure,” Daolord Solesky said. “Despite that, it’ll still be dangerous. If you are going with me…I recommend you either stay in my estate-world or wait for me outside the Windsource Ruins.”

Ning said hurriedly, “Big brother Solesky, is there a relatively safe location inside the Ruins that you can take me to?”

He had dared to adventure through the Ruins by himself. Now that he had a Daolord by his side, what did he have to fear?

“I knew it.” Daolord Solesky rather admired Ning’s adventurous spirit. “That place is divided into an outer region, an inner region, and a core region. I’m headed to the core region. If you come with me, I’ll find a relatively safe place inside the core region for you and set up a perimeter for you. No matter what, you are not permitted to leave that area!”

“Understood.” Ning nodded.

No kidding. The core region was the most terrifying place in the entire Windsource Ruins. If he ran about randomly within it, he would essentially be treating his own life as a joke.

“Good.” Daolord Solesky nodded.

Just two hours later, Daolord Solesky and Ning arrived at the Windsource Chaosworld.

Ning couldn’t help but sigh. Samsara Daolords travelled much more quickly than Ning himself could…and this was supposedly a slow, leisurely pace for Daolord Solesky. He would probably move much faster when time really mattered.

“The Windsource Ruins are right over there. I actually went there before, once. Ning pointed at a wide region covered by fogs.

“The Ruins…” Daolord Solesky stood there in the sky, staring downwards at the vast Windsource Ruins. A rather complicated look was on his face. He sighed, “He made it to the very last step. All he needed to do was complete his final step and merge his Hundred Streams into the Dao…but in the end, he failed. Knowing that he was about to die and his Dao was about to vanish, he decided to leave these Ruins behind to let people in the future know that a person named Windsource once existed.”

“Big brother?” Ning looked towards Daolord Solesky.

“Ahahah! My Daomerge is coming. Recently, I’ve developed a habit of thinking about all sorts of random things.” Daolord Solesky shook his head and laughed. “I’m much luckier than Windsource was, and my Dao is stronger than his was as well. Ahaha! Come, come! Follow me inside.”

Whoosh.

Daolord Solesky immediately led Ning to charge downwards into the clouds below.





* * *





Book 25, Chapter 2 - Sword-Ki Island


Within the Windsource Ruins.

Daolord Solesky and Ji Ning stood in the air, the area around them filled with streams of gray energy.

“Uhh…” Daolord Solesky stared at the streams of gray energy swirling in the skies. Every single stream of energy came out of great crevices within the earth, intermingled with the other streams of gray energy in the air, then plunged back down into a different crevice.

“Interesting. Daolord Windsource was quite a legend, and it seems he had the power to match his reputation.” Daolord Solesky stared at the many criss-crossing streams of gray energy in the skies. “A pity that my path is completely different from his. Otherwise, I’d burrow into the ground and spend some time getting a clear look of the Hundred Streams of the Windsource.”

Ning just stood next to him, not understanding any of this. It had been one of those streams of gray energy that had pulled him into one of the deep abysses.

“Big brother.” Ning pointed towards a pool of water below them, then said, “When I last entered the Windsource Ruins, I accidentally encountered a little house by that lake. The house held a deceased World God and a tower-shaped Eternal treasure he had.”

“An Eternal treasure?” Daolord Solesky glanced downwards, two streams of golden light shooting out of his eyes.

“No, nothing there. There’s no house.” Daolord Solesky shook his head. “The Hundred Streams of the Windsource are constantly changing. The house you encountered last time could well be ten million kilometers away by now.”

Daolord Solesky wouldn’t mind taking away an Eternal weapon if there was no effort involved, but alas it wasn’t there.

“Let’s go.” Daolord Solesky shook his head. “When Daolord Windosurce died, many of his World Gods died with him, but only four or five of them held Eternal weapons. All of them are scattered throughout the Ruins, and I’m not able to break apart the formation protecting this place. All I can do is try my luck, but I could spend thousands of years without finding one of the Eternal weapons.”

Ning agreed with this analysis.

Daolord Solesky himself had said earlier that when the Hundred Streams of the Windsource Formation unleashed its full might, it would be tremendously powerful. Quite a few Daolords, such as Daolord Waterwind or Daolord Badlands, had visited this place before, but all of them acted with great caution. None of them tried to actually breach the formation! This was a formation which Daolord Windsource had poured all of his heart, soul, power, and Dao into as he lay on the verge of death. When the formation was activated, it would possess as much power as Daolord Windsource himself did when engaging in a last-ditch final attack.

“I wouldn’t be afraid of fighting Daolord Windsource himself, but…” Daolord Solesky laughed. “Because he was dying, he poured everything he had into this formation. I don’t want to take on an explosive, full-strength from the thing.”

“Let’s go to the core regions.”

Daolord Solesky led Ning as they continued to fly forwards.

He didn’t try to breach the formation or bypass it. Instead he followed its natural flows, resulting in them slowly moving closer and closer towards the core regions.

Whoooosh. Before them were countless gusts of gray wind. The further they advanced, the more powerful the wind was and the more gusts of them appeared.

Ning stood by Daolord Solesky’s side, but he still couldn’t help but feel nervous.

He could sense that if he was by himself here, he would be completely ground apart into tiny pieces.

“These are all some of Windsource’s killer techniques, but those powerful enough can easily go through them without harm. In fact, they’ll actually form a giant corridor.” Daolord Solesky laughed as he led them through the gray wind.

Before them were a series of islands.

“We are now in a core region,” Daolord Solesky said.