The Desolate Era

As the violet-caped warrior attacked, the many black-caped warriors that had been assaulting Ji Ning all retreated. They were all filled with utter confidence in their commander.

Whoosh!

A silvery-white whip lashed out, more than thirty thousand meters long. It was like a giant, silvery-white serpent that was coiling with elegance and poise as it swept towards Ning. Ning’s sword-fingers struck out like swords, blocking the whip head-on. WHAP! A clear ringing sound rang out. Ning could sense a strange energy be transmitted into his body, including into his organs. Fortunately, the [Eight-Nine Arcane Art] refined the entire body, resulting in no weaknesses at all. However, Ning was still knocked flying backwards by several kilometers.

“His speed vastly outstrips mine, and the power of his whip is on a level higher than even me using the [Starseizing Hand] at full power. His whip is used in a way that gives me no way to dodge; it seems he is at an even higher level with his whip than I am with sword-arts. His power, without any question, is at the utmost peak of power possible for a Celestial Immortal,” Ning mused to himself.

Hard to deal with!

The black-caped warriors were merely at the level of Celestial Immortals Deadwood or Goldclock, but this violet-caped warrior was far more powerful than even Celestial Immortal Infatuation! Even the [Starseizing Hand], Ning’s proudest technique, was insufficient in the face of this foe. As for speed and sword-arts, Ning was clearly inferior in these regards as well.

Fortunately, only close combat was possible within the Nihilum Zone, which was why his [Eight-Nine Arcane Art] was able to be used to maximum effect. Within the Three Realms, Celestial Immortals on the level of this violet-caped warrior would probably be very close to Pure Yang True Immortals in power...their magic artifacts and formations alone would be enough to make Ning feel hopeless. However, in this place, only close combat was possible; thus, he still had a hint of a chance.

Clang! Clang! Clang! Ning used both the [Three Heads, Six Arms] and the [Starseizing Hand] simultaneously. As for the violet-caped warrior, his four arms clutched four silver whips which struck out long long serpents, wildly assaulting Ning.

Ning’s six arms strove mightily to defend.

In fact, every so often he would borrow the force of the collision to flee and dodge. Ning had been continuously searching for a way out, for a chance to counter-attack.

“I’m being completely suppressed by him. There’s no way for me to even go close to him. What should I do?” Ning was frantically pondering what to do. The foe’s long silver whip was rendering him incapable of drawing within fifteen thousand meters of the man, much less wound him.

......

“He clearly is using some sort of technique that allows him to increase his strength dramatically.” The violet-caped warrior, by contrast, was much more relaxed; he was in complete control of this fight. “Only his arms are capable of releasing such power; his legs and kicks are far weaker. I trust that there is a price to this ability; he shouldn’t be able to maintain it for too long.”

All things came at a cost.

For a human that was less than two meters tall to become the size of a three thousand meter Fiendgod came at a cost, and so too did having three heads and six arms. The cost of using the [Starseizing Hand] was even higher.

Crack! Crack! Crack!

The four long silver whips danced out like dragons, wildly lashing out at Ning again and again. Ning had to completely focus on defending them at all times. If he failed a single time...the whips would probably entangle him and completely bind him.

If the whips attacked quickly, Ning had to block quickly as well.

His six arms strove to defend as best they could. The more times they blocked, however, the more times he had to use the [Starseizing Hand], which meant the more divine power would be used up.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

His divine power was frantically depleting. Even though he had reached the sixteenth stage of the [Crimsonbright Diagram of the Nine Heavens], the Fourth Cycle of the [Starseizing Hand] used up so much divine power than in just a short period of time, more than half of Ning’s divine power had been used up. He hadn’t used up nearly as much in the earlier fight, despite it lasting much longer.

“Less than a third.”

“Less than a sixth.”

He was faced with the whip-strikes which came from every direction. Ning seemed to have become trapped within a net of whip-strikes; he was unable to dodge, and his only option was to block, resulting in his divine power depleting further and further.

When his divine power was completely used up...Ning would be completely subdued and captured.

......

Within the underwater estate. Within an undefined, void-like region.

The giant yellow bear was here. Next to him were seven figures, including a child with a necklace, a bald elder, a beautiful woman...

The seven figures all emanated incomparably powerful auras, and amongst them was the red-haired Fiendgod which Ning had previously battled.

“Big bear, the young master is in a crisis in the outside world. Are we supposed to just wait here and watch?” The beautiful woman, dressed in black leather armor, spoke out with a frown. Her eyebrows were snow-white, while her eyes looked just like a viper’s.

“I watched as this little kid, Ji Ning, grew up step by step. Do you think I care about him less than you lot do?” The giant yellow bear said angrily, “I’m under instructions from Master to find a successor for him. Ji Ning is the best successor yet; I wouldn’t dare be careless!”

“But you are letting him remain trapped in a dire situation!” The black-armored, beautiful woman said angrily.

“Do you seven think that you can protect him?” The giant yellow bear asked angrily. “Do you know who he has run afoul of this time? Foes from the Snaphorn world of the Primordial Ruinworld. The Primordial Ruinworld! They are one of remnant forces left behind from that ancient war! Anyone capable of controlling an entire world has most likely survived from that war, and anyone capable of surviving that war...even if they are weak, they can’t be too weak. They might be at the level of a Daofather or a True God! Even if you all go out to rescue him, do you really think you can block a Daofather or a True God?

The black-armored woman turned silent.

“Snow Scorpion.” The red-haired Fiendgod spoke out, “The big bear is right. Even if we intervene, we might not be able to overcome this Snaphorn world.”

“Big bear, you idiot...why didn’t you notify us when Ji Ning was faced with the descent of karmic sinflames?” The black-armored woman couldn’t help but berate him.

“Am I supposed to have you intervene whenever he encounters danger?” The giant yellow bear said angrily, “Per Master’s orders, until he becomes an Empyrean God, he can’t be truly considered Master’s disciple. No matter what sort of trials he has to endure, they can only be considered tests for him...and if he fails and dies, he has no one to blame but his lack of skills or his bad luck. Although we all like him and view him as having tremendous potential and a very good chance of becoming an Empyrean God...how was I supposed to know that the Youngflame clan had an ability like this, to teleport him straight into the Nihilum Zone of the Primordial Ruinworld? I thought that even if things did turn dangerous, we’d still be able to rescue him, which is why I let him face dangers as needed to temper him...but how can everything in life go as expected?! Ugh!”

“Let’s take Ji Ning into the underwater estate and hide him within our world. Even if the enemy binds the underwater estate, it’ll only be an elementary binding; they probably won’t be able to find our world,” the beautiful woman, Snow Scorpion, said.

“They might not find it...but it’s also possible that they might find it.” The bald elder suddenly spoke out in a hoarse voice.

The underwater estate did indeed have many secrets.

Immortal Juhua had always felt that there were secrets present within it. Ning had also felt that there were parts of the underwater estate that were not under his control...but he wasn’t able to find those parts!

But just because Ning wasn’t able to find them...didn’t mean that the master of the Snaphorn world wouldn’t be able to find out!

The red-haired man said in a gravelly voice, “No matter what...if Ji Ning dies, the Starseizing Manor will fall into the hands of the master of the Snaphorn world. If the master of the Snaphorn world is at the level of a True God or Daofather, he will definitely be able to find our world through the Starseizing Manor...at which point, our only option will be to fight with him. If the Snaphorn world’s master is not yet at the True God or Daofather level, then he won’t be able to defeat the formation which protects our world.”

“Since, no matter what, we will still have to end up fighting with the master of the Snaphorn world...we might as well rescue Ji Ning and bring him into our world. Although the Godking did indeed say that his disciple could only enter our world after becoming an Empyrean God, we are left with no other options.”

“Right.” The giant yellow bear nodded. “Since we can’t escape...we are indeed left with no other options. Make your preparations. Once we bring Ji Ning into our world, we’ll need to be ready for the Snaphorn world’s attack. I hope their master is weak; ideally, he won’t even be able to find our world.”

“Right.”

“Let’s prepare.”

The seven figures all had solemn looks on their faces.

The child, who had remained silent this entire time, suddenly spoke out: “Long ago, Father instructed us to leave him and stay out of that war. We’ve been waiting long enough...and so let’s have a good fight with the Snaphorn world.”

“Let’s have a good fight.”

“Let’s fight!”

Everyone present had flames of war within their eyes.

......

Within the emptiness of the Nihilum Zone. Enormous ships that were ten thousand kilometers long moved like streaks of light, advancing at high speed. The giant spaceships were tightly clustered together...and there seemed to be no end of them. Within the center of those giant ships, there was a golden warship.

Within the golden warship.

Everyone present was standing at solemn attention. Leading them was a horned warrior with a golden cape with black trimmings, and behind him were eight hundred violet-caped warriors. These were the most valiant, most capable commanders of the First Army who often engaged in wars against other worlds.

In front of them hovered an utterly enormous mirror. The images within the mirror were images of the commando squad of the Third Void Sector doing battle against Ji Ning.

“Benair is actually joining the fight in person.” The golden-caped warrior snorted angrily, “How despicable. Since he’s joining the fight in person...doesn’t that mean our First Army has made this trip for nothing?”

“This alien is quite tenacious and strong; he might be able to stay alive until we get there.”

“This is on the orders of the Queen Mother. It should be us, the First Army, who captures this alien.”

The almighty First Army...how could it possibly hold a small squad of the Third Void Sector in any regard?

“Quick, quick, quick!”

The general couldn’t help but urge them to move faster. “It has to be us that captures this alien!” It was rare for the Queen Mother to give an order; they naturally had to work hard to show their talents.

......

Within the void of the underwater estate.

“Ji Ning’s divine power has almost been completely used up. Once it is used up, he’ll fall into enemy hands. Red-hair, you personally intervene and wipe them all out, then return to our world and prepare to deal with the master of the Snaphorn world,” the giant yellow bear said.

“Alright.”

“Agreed.”

They all nodded in concurrence.

They all knew very well that falling into dire straits would truly temper one’s Dao-heart. However...they had no idea that Ning’s heartforce had already advanced from the second level, ‘iceheart’, into the third level, ‘ruler’.

......

Within the empty space of the Nihilum Zone. A tight cluster of black-caped warriors watched from not too far away as their commander, the violet-caped warrior, was completely dominating this alien.

“I’m almost done. I have less than a tenth of my divine power now.” Ning didn’t want to accept this. He truly didn’t. But...the serpentine whips were striking out against him from every direction.

Was he truly out of options?