Desolate Era

“His defensive sword-arts are far too powerful. He can probably rely on his sword-arts to defend against attacks from Netherlily and Windrain. As for me? He’s a member of the Brightshore Kingdom; there’s no way I’d act against him.” Hegemon Brightshore suddenly laughed. “I really never would’ve imagined that this kid Darknorth would reach a level where he needs fear no one at all within the Flamedragon Realmverse.”

“He’s a Daolord. How did he reach this level of power? I have never, ever heard of a Daolord as powerful as him, not even in the legends. He must have some secret about him.” Hegemon Brightshore looked at Ji Ning, an inquisitive look in his eyes. Even he was deeply intrigued and wanted to learn Ning’s secrets, as they might be of use to him in growing stronger as well.

Hegemon Brightshore was the number one Hegemon of the Flamedragon Realmverse, yes, but there were other realmverses and otherverses to worry about. There were still many who were stronger than him.

……

The white-robed Ji Ning was the only person left within the skies above the Sacred City. Ning swept the area with his gaze, then glanced in a certain direction. He could vaguely sense that it was most likely Hegemon Brightshore who was hiding over there, and that there were a number of other major powers watching from the shadows.

“Silksnow Fiend Palace.” Ning’s gaze finally turned to the towering palace which was the seat of Silksnow Fiend Palace.

Boom! Ning suddenly transformed to become a three million meter titan. He reached out with his two hands to claw at Silksnow Fiend Palace, trying to tear it upwards. This instantly caused many runes to light up as the barriers around the palace sought to protect it. When the runes lit up, Ning began to analyze them carefully. The reason why he was using brute force at first was so that he would have a chance to better analyze all of the mysteries contained within the barriers. That would make it easier for him to defeat the barriers and then annihilate the entire Silksnow Fiend Palace.

“Wow.”

“Daolord Darknorth is trying to uproot Silksnow Fiend Palace.”

“Is he really going to tear out the entire palace?” The countless cultivators of the Sacred City only grew even more excited. Low-level cultivators like them naturally delighted in chaos; to them, the more Emperors died, the more interesting topics of conversation they would have.

Rumble… as Ning tugged at Silksnow Fiend Palace, he manifested three heads and six arms. Four of those arms wielded Northbow swords as he prepared to breach the barriers through raw power.

“Daolord Darknorth.” A voice rang out. The titanic three-headed, six-armed Ning raised his three heads to stare into the skies. A furry gold alien had appeared in the skies. The alien’s entire body was covered with glowing golden fur, and his aura was so mighty as to be on par with Ning’s.

“Emperor Goldisle,” Ning said.

“Daolord Darknorth, you killed many Emperors and sent Silksnow and Bloodcloud fleeing… that’s enough,” Emperor Goldisle said. “There’s no need for you to annihilate Silksnow Fiend Palace. It is, after all, one of the eight organizations which rule over the eight Sacred Cities in accordance with the pact they made with the Dao Alliance. Even though you have defeated them, if you fail your Daomerge then 108,000 chaos cycles from now they will once again rise to power.

Ning frowned. He wasn’t certain of his Daomerge chances. If he failed his Daomerge, he would eventually die… and indeed, Archon Silksnow and the others would once more reappear.

“Whether Silksnow Fiend Palace rises or falls 108,00 chaos cycles from now… is something for them to worry about 108,000 chaos cycles in the future.” Ning’s voice was sonorous, shaking both Heaven and Earth: “So long as I, Darknorth, am alive I shall be working to destroy Silksnow Fiend Palace! If I hear word that anyone dares to proclaim himself as a disciple of Silksnow Fiend Palace, I’ll definitely kill him and show no mercy.”

“So long as I, Darknorth, am alive I shall be working to destroy Silksnow Fiend Palace!” These words echoed throughout the world around them. Ning was openly proclaiming the decision he had just made. He was now someone who stood at the very apex of power in the Flamedragon Realmverse. Not even Hegemons would be able to do anything to him! Few would be willing to challenge his decisions, and that only after careful consideration.

“Alas.” The midair Emperor Goldisle shook his head slowly upon seeing this. “If you’ve already made up your mind, then I won’t try to dissuade you. Let me remind you, however, that Silksnow Fiend Palace still has a large number of Eternal Emperors within its ranks. You might be able to kill a few, but many are scattered throughout the territories. They can avoid you while you are in your prime, but once you die your children will probably be in danger…”

A cold light flashed through Ning’s eyes. Archon Silksnow and his Emperors were all devils! If Ning was to die, they would come for revenge… and they would most likely take their vengeance upon the Three Realms and Vastheaven Palace.

Still, the reason why Ning dared to do this was because he didn’t fear these devils. First of all, the Three Realms were hidden quite securely. Its location had never been made public, and no one knew that his Three Realms was his homeland.

Second, he was planning to make another visit to the Stone Hellephant Wall and take away those four Archon-class golems as well as some of the Sithe discs. He was going to place them all in the Three Realms.

No matter what… if he truly did fail in his Daomerge and perish, he would ensure that things were taken care of. As for Vastheaven Palace? There was no need for him to worry about it. Emperor Solesky’s greatest forte was his invulnerable aquaform; not even Archons would be able to do anything to him.

“Take revenge upon me?” Ning looked at Emperor Goldisle. "If they want to take revenge… they need to stay alive until the day I die.”

Emperor Goldisle’s eyebrows raised slightly. He couldn’t help but sigh in amazement: “Daolords! Most of them really don’t care about life and death, and they are absolutely crazy. I pity Silksnow Fiend Palace for having offended Daolord Darknorth, the poor bastards.”

Ning’s eyes were filled with coldness. He had certain options available to him. He had only trained for a brief period of time and had already reached his current level of power. It wouldn’t necessarily be impossible for him to succeed in the Daomerge! Besides, his [Heartsword] art had more room for improvement, as did his heartforce secret arts. It must be remembered that his heartforce illusions were actually still weaker than the Daolord Featherdress’; the reason his heartforce attacks had already become this powerful was purely due to how strong his heartforce was.

Once he upgraded his heartforce and secret arts further… Ning’s heartforce abilities would definitely inspire terror in countless Eternal Emperors. If they were attacked by Hegemons, they might be able to flee… but once they were trapped in Ning’s illusions, they would have no chance to escape. This was what made Eternal Emperors who were Heartforce Cultivators so terrifying.

“I’ll take things one step at a time.” Ning was quite relaxed, continuing to try and uproot Silksnow Fiend Palace with two of his arms as countless runes flickered over its surface. As for his other four arms, they wielded the Northbow swords, executing sword-arts as Ning started to break the formations and barriers apart.

By now, not a single Emperor remained within Silksnow Fiend Palace; all of them had fled. If an Emperor was left, it probably would’ve been a bit more difficult for Ning to break these barriers apart… but since no one was actively managing them, Ning was able to forcibly tear through them with his overwhelming power.

Whoosh! Boom! A large number of formations began to be torn apart by force.

Rumble… the servants and retainers throughout Silksnow Fiend Palace began to flee in terror as Ning began to rip the palace out from its foundation. After just ten or so breaths of time, Ning’s Northbow swords managed to tear apart all of the formations.

Whoosh. Ning managed to uproot the entire Silksnow Fiend Palace just like a giant carrot.

The three-headed, six-armed Ning was over three million meters tall, and the sight of him uprooting Silksnow Fiend Palace caused all of the countless cultivators in the Sacred City to sigh in amazement. They would probably never be able to forget this sight… and they would forever celebrate the fact that they had witnessed this with their own eyes. This was, without question, the most freakishly powerful and talented Daolord who had ever existed in the annals of history.

“Come here.” With but a thought, Ning drew Silksnow Fiend Palace into his estate-world. The Sacred City of Silksnow looked just as peaceful and calm as before… but the place where Silksnow Fiend Palace had once been was now completely empty.

“Silksnow Fiend Palace is finished.”

“They’re doomed.”

“No one will dare to claim membership in Silksnow Fiend Palace for at least 108,000 chaos cycles.” The cultivators all sighed with emotion. Most of the members of Silksnow Fiend Palace were ordinary cultivators, after all; there were only thirty or so Emperors to begin with! Eight had died today, leaving only twenty-plus Emperors. The rest were all Daolords or World-level cultivators, but there was no way they would be able to live past 108,000 chaos cycles.

Thus… for the vast majority of cultivators, the formerly awe-inspiring Silksnow Fiend Palace was truly and completely finished, its foundation destroyed. Only the Emperors were left, but all of them had gone into hiding in fear of Ning discovering them.

……

The skies above the Sacred City. Ning, who had just uprooted Silksnow Fiend Palace, was standing face-to-face with Emperor Goldisle. “Daolord Darknorth, please follow me,” Emperor Goldisle said.

Ning turned to glance at him. He saw a gold-colored world rapidly expanding within the void, and within it Ning was able to vaguely make out the forms of Hegemon Brightshore, Hegemon Nightlily, Hegemon Windrain, and a number of other figures who emanated auras of incredible power.

“The three Hegemons and quite a few of the more reclusive Emperors have all shown up. They wish to meet with you, Darknorth.” Emperor Goldisle smiled. “You truly are the most powerful Daolord to ever exist since the ancient days. All of these old fellows wish to meet you.”

“I do indeed need to meet them.” Ning nodded.

“Come on over, Darknorth. There’s nothing for you to worry about,” the distant Hegemon Brightshore sent mentally from within that golden world. No matter what, Ning was a member of the Brightshore Kingdom; as the Brightshore Hegemon, he was definitely going to stand on Ning’s side.

“Coming.” Swoosh. Swoosh. Ning and Emperor Goldisle immediately flew towards the golden world. As the two flew inside, the golden world became completely sealed off. The world had been established just a few billion kilometers outside the Sacred City of Silksnow, but ordinary Eternal Emperors would never be able to discover it.