Desolate Era (Book 31 - Book 35)

As for now? Ning was currently stronger than even Kongsan!

“An impressive fellow. Fast and furious.” The Ninedust Sectlord let out a growl. “Darknorth, use your secret arts.” As he spoke, waves of rippling water began to emanate from his body.

“Agreed.” Ning nodded. Although he was able to take these hits head-on, the Ninedust Sectlord didn’t have a suit of Hegemon armor, making it rather tough for him. The nine novessence arts flew out of Ning’s body in the form of nine energy dragons.

The Ripplewater art and the nine novessence arts merged together, spreading out throughout the palace.

The lightning guardian’s mouth crooked upwards slightly, almost as though he was laughing. “Interesting. Your secret arts aren’t bad at all… but I’ll use the power of the entire Thundersouth Palace in my third strike. I hope you can survive it.”

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! The hallways, gardens, rooms, and surface of the entire palace began to light up with runic script. The runes all seemed to flow and congregate around the lightning guardian. “Get ready for the third palm!”

Whoosh! The lightning guardian’s palm struck out like the firmament of heaven itself, enveloping the entire palace within it as he attacked the three. There was nowhere to run or hide from this strike.

“Can’t take it head on. Hide behind me!” Daolord Laya barked mentally as he produced a golden bone in his hands.

“I only have one treasure left.” The Ninedust Sectlord immediately dodged behind Daolord Laya. Clearly, he would’ve been forced to use his treasures if he wanted to take this attack head on. If Daolord Laya was going to use his, there was no point in Ninedust wasting one of his own treasures out of sheer pride.





* * *





Book 31, Chapter 9 - The Second Danger


“Darknorth!” As the Ninedust Sectlord dodged behind Daolord Laya, he discovered to his amazement that Ji Ning wasn’t doing the same. He knew very well that Ning was roughly on the same level of power as him. If he didn’t dare to take it head-on, how was it that Darknorth did? But there was nothing he could do except worry; the final attack of the lightning guardian was already descending upon them.

BOOM! The enormous hand descended upon them like the firmament of heaven itself. This strike contained the full force the lightning guardian was capable of mustering, and it had been reinforced by the wards of the palace itself.

Rings of white light appeared around Daolord Laya and the Ninedust Sectlord, allowing them to endure and withstand the strike.

Whoosh. The lightning guardian withdrew his palm, then glanced at the three and smiled. “I didn’t expect that one of you would be able to endure my palm through his own power. It seems you have quite an impressive protective divine ability, young fellow. One more trial awaits you, set down by my master. I hope you all survive it.”

The lightning guardian took a single step, then dispersed into countless streaks of lightning that quickly scattered in each direction. No more was the path in front of them blocked off by any lightning at all.

“Impressive, Darknorth. You actually took it head-on.” The Ninedust Sectlord walked over to Ning.

“According to my racial records, only the most supreme of Daolords can endure such a blow head-on. I’m impressed, Darknorth.” Daolord Laya truly was amazed. The power of that strike was far beyond what ordinary Eternal Emperors were capable of; that was a full-power strike from the lightning guardian which was reinforced by the palace’s formations!

“Eh, I simply have a decent protective divine ability. My entire body is still numb from that strike, though. My legs are about to give out underneath me.” Ning’s legs really were wobbling, but he laughed. “If that lightning giant launched multiple attacks against me, I wouldn’t have been able to endure it.”

“Just like that, I used up a boneseal which one of our Emperor’s personally made for me.” Daolord Laya laughed, “If there were multiple attacks, no number of boneseals would’ve been able to protect me.”

Ning couldn’t help but sigh in amazement as well. His divine body was close to but not quite on par with a low-grade Eternal weapon. He had mainly relied on his Hegemon armor to endure this hit. Alas, the treasures he needed to upgrade his protective divine ability were simply too rare and hard to find. He did acquire Dragonfish Ki, but he needed to find the rest as well. He needed to upgrade his divine body to make it on par with a middle-grade Eternal treasure as quickly as possible.

……

Ning, Ninedust, and Daolord Laya followed the winding hallways of the palace. The Thundersouth Palace was extremely large and quite beautiful. Every so often, they would see a few flickers of Eternal lightning swimming about them, but those lightning streaks all kept a long distance away from them. Clearly, now that they had survived the first trial the Eternal lightning would no longer cause any trouble for them.

“Halt!” Daolord Laya suddenly called out.

“Eh?” Ning and Ninedust came to a halt. In front of them was a lake that emanated an aura of freezing energy, and a faint layer of cold mist could be seen on its surface. There was a crooked wooden bridge which passed through the entire lake.

“The wooden bridge up ahead is the second dangerous trial which we will face in Thundersouth Palace, and the last one which could be life-threatening to us,” Daolord Laya said somberly. “This one is even more dangerous than the first one.”

“More dangerous?” Ning and Ninedust were both startled. Ninedust couldn’t help but frown. “You were already forced to use up an Emperor’s boneseal to survive the first one. Now you are telling me that this one is worse?”

“Yes.” Daolord Laya said somberly, “Quite a few of the more powerful Daolords of my race have visited Thundersouth Palace in their time. Each was given a single boneseal, but nearly half still ended up perishing here! It must be understood that there are two dangerous areas here. If you use up the boneseal during the first danger, you’d definitely survive it… and so the ones who didn’t, all perished here.”

Ning and Ninedust felt their hearts clench. Nearly half of the Daolords had perished here?

“Still, I’m confident in my chances.” Daolord Laya smiled. “The Emperor said that I have better than a 70% chance of surviving. Don’t worry at all, gentlemen. I’ll go up there and give the wooden bridge a try. If I really am so unlucky as to die here, then you can simply leave. The invisibility formation my race set up is only directed outwards, not inwards.”

“Brother Laya, what is so dangerous about the wooden bridge?” Ning asked.

“Once you step onto the wooden bridge, you’ll be trapped within an illusory realm,” Daolord Laya said somberly. “A very terrifying one! If you allow yourself to be led astray and accidentally fall into the waters of the lake, then you’ll die without question.”

“I’m planning to use the illusions here to temper my Dao-heart. My chances of making it are extremely high; if I can strengthen my Dao-heart, it’ll be of help to me in my Daomerge in the future.” Daolord Laya had a resolute look in his eyes. He was preparing for the Daomerge. No matter what, he was determined to embark on this path.

“Illusions?” Ninedust blinked.

“A terrifying illusory realm?” Ning stared blankly at Daolord Laya. “And your chances of surviving it are roughly 70%?”

“…What’s with the strange looks on your faces?” Daolord Laya immediately said, “The Emperor felt that my chances were high, but there’s still a chance that I might fail. I can’t give up a chance like this to temper my Dao-heart. Don’t worry, so long as I can make it across safely, I’ll come back and help you across as well. Otherwise, the two of you would fall into the lake.”

Ning and Ninedust blinked again.