The Desolate Era

The Celestial Immortals and Loose Immortals fled like mad.

“Hahahaha...”

“Fleeing?”

“Die!”

The four Bloodcloud golems butchered the surviving Celestial Immortals and Loose Immortals. In the past, when a Heaven Punisher was destroyed by a White-Faced Flood Dragon, only a single one of them would be available to butcher the survivors. Now, however, four Bloodcloud golems were massacring them together! Although the Bloodcloud golems were somewhat weaker than the White-Faced Flood Dragons, they were much faster and possessed more than enough power to effortlessly murder these Celestial Immortals. Given that there were four of them...in but the blink of an eye, all one thousand Celestial Immortals were completely wiped out!

Not one of them escaped!

Even those who hid themselves within Immortal estates were immediately captured by those Bloodcloud golems.

“Damn.” Empyrean God Kindwater let out a furious roar as he led his massive Fiendgod army in an attack.

“Rainbow!”

“Sixth!”

“Sixth brother!”

The eyes of the other Heaven Punishers became bloodshot.

It had all happened too fast.

Previously, when they encountered dangerous situations while battling against the White-Faced Flood Dragons, the Xia Emperor and the others would have enough time to intervene and help out. However, when the Rainbow Heaven Punisher suffered attacks from four Bloodcloud golems, there wasn’t even a chance to rescue them. The Rainbow Heaven Punisher was shattered in the blink of an eye, and in the next blink its Immortals were all massacred. It was far, far too fast.

......

“Sixth brother.” Ning’s eyes were bloodshot as well. It had all happened too fast. No one had been able to intervene.

“Damn.”

Ning brandished the Ananda World-Swords with his two hands, wildly assaulting the black chains around him. The distant True Immortal Crimsonjoy continued to strive to maintain the spell. Grinding his teeth, he thought to himself, “This Ji Ning really is a madman. He knows he can’t break out, but he continues to attack in such wild fashion.” His Pure Yang energy was continuing to deplete, while Ning was using up even more natural energy of Heaven and Earth.

“True Immortal Crimsonjoy.” Ning felt greater and greater hatred.

The power of these black chains was simply tremendous...

Ning truly wanted to ask the seven Empyrean Gods to come out. Given that the Grand Xia and the Seamless Gate were roughly on par, they could strike a decisive blow that would change the entire tempo of this war. However, the seven had only promised to help him out a single time. This was equivalent to providing Ning with a second life, if they were used to save him at a critical moment. In addition, even though Ning was truly enraged, his mastery of heartforce had reached the ruler level, and so he was able to remain completely calm; he wouldn’t act rashly due to his rage. The seven Empyrean Gods would be a tremendously powerful card to play; now was not the time to play them.

This was because the battle between the Grand Xia and the Seamless Gate clearly had not reached the climax yet!

“If...”

“If I were to master the Dao of the Sword...how wonderful that would be?”

“Break apart, damn you!”

Ning continued to use his sword-arts to frenetically assault the black chains, making it so that they were completely unable to coil around him.

......

The three Fiendgod armies were the most savage and most berserk forces on the side of the Grand Xia. The Pangu War-Formations possessed enormous, astonishing power. They were were also utterly gigantic, with their hands alone being greater than the Heaven Punishers in size. Thus, sometimes the Bloodcloud golems found it difficult to avoid the mighty palms and greataxes of the Pangus, even though the golems were very fast.

Whether they were struck by axes or by palms, the Bloodcloud golems would instantly shatter apart, the Celestial Immortals inside perishing.

Boom!

Boom!

Every so often, an enormous explosion would be heard as yet another Bloodcloud golem perished.

True Immortal Whitepole watched from far away, a cold look on his face. Although he had expected that he would lose many of the Bloodcloud golems, the rate at which they were being destroyed in this battle against the Grand Xia was far too fast! This was mainly because the three Pangu War-Formations took up far too much space. Although they were somewhat slower in moving and advancing, they were still extremely fast when striking with their arms and greataxes.

“Hmph.” A cold light flashed through True Immortal Whitepole’s eyes as his gaze locked onto the Fiendgod army led by Empyrean God Coldsavage.

Whooooooosh! Suddenly, thirty-six snow-white Immortal swords appeared behind True Immortal Whitepole. These thirty-six Immortal swords joined together, forming into an enormous circle in midair. Power exploded forth from them, as the thirty-six Immortal swords transformed into an enormous Solar Star, but one that radiated an aura of icy coldness.

A billowing cold. A penetrating, bone-deep cold.

Even the vast wilderness began to quickly freeze as a layer of frost appeared on everything.

“He’s finally making his move.” The Xia Emperor had been keeping an eye on True Immortal Whitepole this entire time. He had been able to sense the threat which Whitepole posed to him; in fact, Whitepole was the only person on the side of the entire Seamless Gate alliance that gave the Xia Emperor a feeling of danger. Thus, the Xia Emperor understood that True Immortal Whitepole, who had always been so low-key, was the most powerful member of the Seamless Gate.

Although the Xia Emperor had cast some supportive spells as well, he had mainly been focusing on True Immortal Whitepole.

Now that True Immortal Whitepole was making his move, his move was sure to be shocking.

“Whitepole’s World!” True Immortal Whitepole was at the very center of this icy sun, as though he was its master. He then pointed at the distant Fiendgod army led by Empyrean God Coldsavage.

Swish!

A freezing lance of light instantly shot through the skies, flying straight towards Empyrean God Coldsavage’s army.

Empyrean God Coldsavage raised his head, letting out a savage bellow.

Instead, the towering Pangu figure above his Fiendgod army also let out a furious roar as it swung its greataxe. BOOM! Although a layer of frost appeared on the surface of the greataxe, the attack was still blocked.

“Hmph.” True Immortal Coldsavage smirked.

Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish!

Instantly, countless lances of silvery-white light shot through the air, assaulting the Fiendgod army of Empyrean God Coldsavage. The area around the Fiendgod army transformed into an icy hell-trap. Even space itself began to freeze, and a layer of ice appeared on the towering body of Pangu as well. However, all of the Fiendgods roared in response, summoning their divine power to resist.

All of their power had been fully merged together; they were completely fearless.

“RAAAWR!” Empyrean God Coldsavage went berserk. The Pangu above him cleaved downwards with the greataxe, using its terrifying power to block the countless lances of light.

......

For now, this Fiendgod army had been completely stalemated by True Immortal Whitepole.

“Formidable.”

“A single Pure Yang True Immortal, all by himself, is actually able to stalemate a Pangu War-Formation led by an Empyrean God commanding countless Fiendgods.” The forces of the Grand Xia were shocked. It must be understood that nobody on the side of the Grand Xia dared to claim that they could single-handedly stop the White-Faced Flood Dragon led by Venomsong. Even the likes of Empyrean God Firecloud, who had once managed to tie down Venomsong’s Terrorbeast, had been sent flying with each clash.

But True Immortal Whitepole had done it!

“Perfect.” The Xia Emperor’s eyes lit up. “This is the moment.”

Rumble...

The empty space around the black-robed Xia Emperor seemed to implode. With him at the center, an area of three hundred meters around him became covered in absolute darkness. The space within this region began to collapse, twist, and swirl about. And then, from the field of absolute darkness, a black dragon began to crawl outwards. When this black dragon emerged, it blinked its golden eyes and stared at its surroundings.

“ROAAAAR!” An earth-shaking draconic howl.

And then, one black dragon after another came crawling out of the field of absolute darkness.

“Dawn of All Creatures!” The black-robed Xia Emperor growled out, his gaze turning savage.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

A total of nine black dragons came crawling out from the darkness, filled with auras of tremendous power. They then began to sinuously slither forward, moving at high speed as they assaulted the distant Bloodcloud golems.

This was a secret art that the Primordial Imperial Clan never taught to outsiders. At his current level of power, the Xia Emperor was just barely able to use the first level of this technique. If it were the major powers of the Primordial Imperial Clan who used this art, they would be able to release ten thousand black dragons at once.

“Azurefox, go help those Bloodcloud golems.” Seeing the situation, True Immortal Whitepole immediately sent a mental message. He was quite shocked upon seeing the Xia Emperor use this secret art. It must be understood that his intelligence reports hadn’t included a list of all techniques which the Xia Emperor used. As for this secret art, the ‘Dawn of All Creatures’, it was incredibly difficult to learn, and the Primordial Imperial Clan never taught it to outsiders. He hadn’t expected that the Xia Emperor would actually be able to use the first level.

Those nine black dragons were comparable to nine Empyrean God golems, and incredibly fast ones at that! Once the Bloodcloud golems were tied down, then the two active Fiendgod armies and the various Heaven Punishers would be able to destroy them with ease.

“Alright.” Seeing the situation, Azurefox didn’t dare hesitate; she immediately went all out, transforming into an enormous azure fox.

The azure fox stood there in the air, blue light billowing from its body.

“Transform.”

Her tail suddenly divided from one tail into nine tails. The nine enormous azure fox tails suddenly blasted out in each direction, chasing after those nine black dragons. Gatemaster Azurefox wasn’t actually one of the legendary nine-tailed foxes, the most exalted of all foxes. As an Empyrean God, however, she could temporarily change into a nine-tailed form, although her power was still a bit weaker than that of the true, legendary nine-tailed foxes. Still, she was able to die down the Xia Emperor for a time and give the Bloodcloud golems some breathing space.

If she was a true nine-tailed fox, and an Empyrean God at that, she’d probably be able to rely on her natural abilities alone to give the Xia Emperor a run for his money.

In reality...she wasn’t quite there yet.

......

The imperial capital of the Grand Xia. The main hall of the imperial Skylight Palace.

The white-robed Xia Emperor stood at the highest point of the Skylight Palace, staring down at the vast world.

“Thus far, the Seamless Gate has sent in less than ten thousand Celestial Immortals into battle, including the ones already killed. They’ve mainly been relying on their Empyrean God golems and their Bloodcloud golems, which is why they’ve been able to stalemate my Grand Xia.” The white-robed Xia Emperor murmured softly to himself, “These ten thousand Celestial Immortals...three thousand of them joined them from my Grand Xia. In other words, the total number of Celestial Immortals that originally belonged to the Seamless Gate was actually even less, perhaps only around six or seven thousand. And this can’t be the full power the Seamless Gate possesses. To assault my Grand Xia...the Seamless Gate led by Azurefox must have prepared many Celestial Immortals!”

“Since you aren’t willing to bring them out...I’ll force them out.”

The white-robed Xia Emperor knew quite well that if a dagger remained hidden in the darkness, it might appear at any moment in a lethal strike. Only by forcing the dagger out into the open could he feel at ease.

“Arise.”

The white-robed Xia Emperor reached out with his right hand, spots of glimmering black light appearing with it.

Rumble...

The entire Skylight Palace...in fact, the entire imperial citadel...began to shake. The runes and ley-lines of the plaza that had existed for countless years began to glow, and the Skylight Palace itself began to be covered with dazzling, flowing black light.

......

Stillwater City.

Although the Grand Xia was at war, the ancient city of Stillwater was quite calm. This wasn’t the place where the war was going on.

But suddenly...

The entire Stillwater City began to shake.

Rumble...

The entirety of Stillwater City suddenly began to glow with light. The countless rays of light circulated in the air above Stillwater City as an aura of absolute might soared into the heavens.

......

Flamedoor City saw the same pillar of light surge into the skies.

......

Countless cities throughout the 3600 commanderies of the entire Grand Xia suddenly began to unleash an unearthly amount of power. This power was even beginning to emanate from Whitepole City, which was located directly below the Seamless City.

The Skylight Palace of the imperial citadel as the core, and the 3600 capitals of the various commanderies as the formation-bases. Long ago, Daofather Raindragon had personally crafted the Grand Xia’s Worldguard Formation...and now, it had been truly activated. This was a formation which the Xia Emperor had asked Daofather Raindragon to create after the marquis-led rebellions. Ever since its creation, no one in the Grand Xia had ever dared to rebel again...until this time, that is.

After countless years of silence, the Grand Xia’s Worldguard Formation was once more revealing its might.

“Go.” The white-robed Xia Emperor stood guard at the Skylight Palace over the core of the Worldguard Formation, summoning its power and sending it towards the field of battle in Whitepole Commandery.