Desolate Era

“I’ll wait for you right here. Come over and kill me,” Archon Silksnow said with a cold laugh.

“I wouldn’t dare follow you inside.” Ji Ning stood off in the distance, staring at him. “It’d be pretty miserable to be trapped there for all of time.”

“Hmph. If you don’t come in… I might be trapped here, but I’ll continue to live. I’ll be able to live a very, very long time. After 108,000 chaos cycles, you’ll probably have failed your Daomerge and perished. I, however, will still be alive! My friends will probably come here and figure out a way to rescue me. Sooner or later, I’ll break free!” Archon Silksnow stared downwards at Ning, his white brows fluttering and a look of madness flashing in his eyes. “So why don’t you come over. Come over and kill me!”

“I’m not going to… but you are still going to die today.” Ning shook his head.

“Eh?” Archon Silksnow’s face tightened, his gaze turning colder. “Oh? I’m quite curious as to just how you think you are going to kill me.”

Ning stood there within the flaming passageway, head raised. He waved his right hand, causing a Northbow sword to appear.

“Break!” Ning stabbed out with his sword, causing sword-light flow like a wave of water. The sword-light came together in overlapping layers which stabbed straight towards the distant midair Archon Silksnow. In the instant that the Northbow sword stabbed it, it transformed to become a million kilometers long! It seemed to pierce through the skies themselves as Ning struck out with his Omega Sword Dao – Blood Drop. This was his most penetrative attack, and the attack which Ning decided was best-suited for dealing with this sort of invisible binding power.

Slash! When the sword struck out, it pierced straight through the binding area and was immediately impeded by that invisible force. Ning’s sword began to move slower and slower; after stabbing in a mere hundred kilometers, it came to a complete halt and was unable to advance any further.

“Eh?” Ning frowned. What an odd trap that was. His sword was only able to stab partially into the field, with Archon Silksnow still tens of thousands of kilometers away from it. Although the trap had bound Archon Silksnow, it also made it very hard for Ning to kill him.

“Haha, you aren’t even close. You can’t even touch me!” Archon Silksnow laughed coldly.

“You’re trapped inside and wrapped up so tightly in the air that you can’t even move… but you can still laugh? I really do admire you,” Ning said as he began to consider his options.

“Hmph.” Archon Silksnow let out a cold snort. In truth, he did feel quite miserable. He was completely bound in midair and wasn’t even able to move a finger. It was as though he had been paralyzed into a statue. He couldn’t even move his mouth to speak aloud and was forced to rely on using Immortal energy. How miserable a life would this be?!

And so the skinny, white-haired, white-browed Archon Silksnow just stood there frozen in the air, that tattered and ancient realmship next to him while Ning considered how to defeat the formation.

“Come out!” Ning tried to physically push the Northbow sword deeper, but the sword didn’t budge at all. Raw force was of no use! Archon Silksnow wasn’t even able to move. If Ning used some of his sword-stances to unleash his most powerful attacks, he might be able to make a bit of progress, but with his sword stuck like that he wasn’t even able to use any stances.

“Get back here.” Ning willed for the Northbow sword to shrink, and it quickly began to grow smaller in size. “Grow!” Ning tested out expanding the Northbow sword in size, but within the trapped region the sword was constantly being impeded by that invisible force. He could shrink it, but he couldn’t expand it.

Ning shook his head. He had no choice but to shrink his sword and to put it away.

“Master, this trap is meant to bind foes. After the foes are trapped inside, the Sithe would come to either capture them or kill them with ease,” Whitethaw said. “However, we’re unable to assert control over the trap and so we have no choice but to burst through it forcefully.”

“Do you have a way to do that?” Ning said.

“Let me try brute force first,” Whitethaw said.

“Brute force?” Ning’s eyes lit up as he glanced at the golem with surprise. “Right. Give it a try.”

Whitethaw was a golem and had brute force in spades; in strength alone, he was at the Hegemon level. Neither Ning nor Archon Silksnow had a chance to break through with raw power. They were cultivators, after all; they primarily relied upon their insights into the Dao, not raw strength! Golems, however, generally had ridiculous amounts of power, as they primarily relied on the overwhelming physical might of their golem-bodies. To them, the Dao was secondary.

“Break!” Whitethaw reached out with his furry right hand. His hand expanded dramatically as he reached into the trapped region and began to be impeded by that invisible force.

Ning watched closely, as did the distant and immobilized Archon Silksnow.

Boom! The hairy white hand slowly forced its way in, tearing past the impeding power.

“What?!” Archon Silksnow was shocked.

“Good!” Ning was delighted.

A smile appeared on Whitethaw’s stolid face. He then reached out with his other hand as well, appearing quite confident. His two large furry hands travelled nearly a hundred kilometers in an instant.

“How is this possible? How?!” Archon Silksnow was beginning to panic.

Ten thousand kilometers… the two giant furry hands moved closer and closer towards Archon Silksnow and the realmship, with the Archon’s face becoming grimmer and grimmer.

“I’m… actually going to die here.” Archon Silksnow’s facial expressions twisted. He knew that once he was drawn into the estate-world, he would definitely perish.

Time flowed on. Finally, one of the giant furry hands reached the realmship and latched onto it. The hand was so large that it was able to completely cover the vessel, separating it from that invisible binding power.

“Come here.” After getting a firm grip over the realmship, Whitethaw forcibly drew it into his own estate-world treasure.

“Now it is your turn.” Whitethaw turned to look at Archon Silksnow, reaching towards him as well.

“Brother Silksnow, I’d like to invite you into my estate-world. Let’s have a little chat.” Ning sent out his heartforce which easily pierced through the invisible power of the trap, surging forward to completely surround Archon Silksnow. Ning was worried that Archon Silksnow would transform into his invulnerable snowform when Whitethaw moved to grab him, making it impossible for Whitethaw to get a hold on him.

“I lost.” A forlorn look appeared on Archon Silksnow’s face as he sensed Ning’s heartforce take effect on him and watched that giant furry hand stretch out to him. He was still bound by that invisible power and completely unable to escape. His voice echoed throughout the empty area, “Daolord Darknorth, I lost. I have roamed the Flamedragon Realmverse for countless years, and I never thought that I would’ve died by your hands. However… you are the most powerful Daolord in all of history. To die by your hands is nothing to be ashamed of.”

“Darknorth, today I shall die… but soon, you shall die as well. Without question, you will die.” Archon Silksnow’s oily green eyes stared at the distant Ning, a crazed smile on his face. A moment later, his gaze grew dull and flat as all signs of life fled his body. Clearly, he had committed suicide by collapsing his own soul and truesoul.

……

Within Archon Silksnow’s estate-world. Two figures were seated there in the lotus position. One was Archon Silksnow’s avatar, the other was Emperor Bloodcloud’s avatar.

The aura of life began to vanish from Archon Silksnow’s avatar. The death of the true body meant that the avatr would perish as well. “Brother Bloodcloud, I lost. You know what to do.” This was the final thing Archon Silksnow’s avatar said before dying.

“Silksnow…” Emperor Bloodcloud’s avatar watched him die, then nodded slowly. “Yes, I know what to do.”

Emperor Silksnow’s avatar suddenly exploded into countless tiny pieces, the godsense contained within it being completely extinguished as well.

His avatar had committed suicide by self-detonation to ensure that there was no way Ning would know who he had been. Once an avatar broke apart, it was nothing more than a compilation of treasure fragments; there was no way to tell what they had originally belonged to.

……

An ordinary-looking chaosworld at the very margins of the Flamedragon Realmverse. Black clouds rolled about this world. Many Emperors were present here. This was where the Emperors of Silksnow Fiend Palace had chosen to hide. This place was filled with many barriers, ensuring that even if Ning did attack they would have ample time to flee.

“He died.” Emperor Bloodcloud sat at the peak of a mountain, a look of grief in his eyes. “Brother Silksnow died.”

Archon Silksnow had simply been far too crazy. Emperor Bloodcloud wasn’t willing to accompany Silksnow in his madness, but had been willing to help Silksnow out. Thus, Emperor Bloocloud had sent an avatar alongside Silksnow in the latter’s scheme to kill Ji Ning.

The end result, however, was that Silksnow failed.

“Daolord Darknorth… do you think you’ve reaped a great fortune now that the realmship is in your hands?” Emperor Bloodcloud smiled coldly. “Soon, the realmverses and otherverses closest to the Flamedragon Realmverse shall all learn that you, Daolord Darknorth, are in possession of a realmship as well as many other treasures.”

“Hmph… sometimes, owning too much treasure can be fatal.” Emperor Bloodcloud’s voice was cold. He was absolutely certain that the Hegemons and other major powers of the various realmverses would go crazy over the chance to acquire a realmship.

“This is the last gift which Silksnow prepared for you… a fatal gift.” Emperor Bloodcloud had an eager look in his eyes. He eagerly awaited the day where Darknorth would be killed.