The Desolate Era

“Daofather Ink Bamboo?”

Upon seeing the titanic, swaying bamboo stalk, Ji Ning instantly guessed at who this was. There were only so many major powers within the Three Realms. If the man hadn’t shown off his trademark, Ning wouldn’t have been able to tell, but since he did, it became an easy guess.

From what he had heard...Daofather Ink Bamboo was famous for being ‘unkillable’. His true body was that of a stalk of inky-green bamboo that was filled with boundless vitality. By relying on his special life techniques, he had managed to survive even the great tribulation that had destroyed the Primordial Era.

“That must be Daofather Ink Bamboo. Just looking at him from afar makes my heart quiver. That halo of darkness around him...I can sense that if I touch it, I’ll definitely die.”

“This is the first time I’ve seen a Daofather.”

“A Daofather who controls a Heavenly Dao...I truly wonder how powerful Daofathers really are...”

The entire Eight Dragons Cloudcity was filled with discussions.

Loose Immortals made up the vast majority of the population within the city, after all; when Daofather Crimsonbright had summoned his million Celestial Immortals, the Celestial Immortals of the Crimsonbright Realm had seen him in person, broadening their horizons. The countless Loose Immortals, however...they truly didn’t have a chance to see Daofathers in person. This time, however...they saw Daofather Ink Bamboo.

“I heard that Daofather Crimsonbright will descend as well, for the sake of this Realmwar.”

“I wonder what Daofather Crimsonbright looks like.”

Everyone was filled with eagerness.

......

Three months after Daofather Ink Bamboo descended upon the Grand Xia, Daofather Crimsonbright descended as well.

On that day, the Xia Emperor had summoned Ning and the others to respectfully await his arrival. Even the solitary, arrogant Sword Immortal Evergreen was behaving with complete decorum.

BOOM!

Suddenly, the entire world shook once more.

And then...an unbelievably massive chasm appeared within the skies above them, many tens of thousands of meters long. An azure-haired old man strode out from within it. Taking a single step, he entered the Eight Dragons Cloudcity.

“Master.”

“Daofather.”

The Xia Emperor was the first to call out respectfully. After he did so, Ning and the others all bowed respectfully.

A single glance; that was all it took for Ning to form a deep impression of Daofather Crimsonbright in his mind. Daofather Crimsonbright was a very old, very solemn and silent individual. Looking at him was like looking at an ancient tree that had existed for countless ages.

Daofather Crimsonbright swept the host with his eyes, his gaze falling upon Ning. “Subhuti’s always had a strange disposition. He’s clearly taught an entire host of students, but he doesn’t command them to fight with him, instead letting them remain scattered across the Three Realms. This young apprentice of his, Ji Ning, clearly has tremendous potential, and Subhuti clearly cares about him deeply. And yet...Ji Ning is now following me instead of him.” Sometimes, Daofather Crimsonbright truly didn’t understand this old friend of his.

Subhuti had a very strange disposition. Or perhaps it could be said that he was excessively detached!

He clearly had a large group of extremely powerful disciples. If he gave the order, Subhuti’s many disciples would flock to his banner, immediately resulting in the creation of a force that was as powerful as the Four Ancestors of the River Source. If Subhuti truly put all of his resources into building up such a force, it would probably become even more powerful than the forces of the Four Ancestors of the River Source.

And yet...Subhuti had no intentions of commanding his disciples at all.

Daofather Crimsonbright didn’t understand. None of the major powers of the Three Realms understood. The feeling which Subhuti gave many of the major powers of the Three Realms was that of mysteriousness, and so he was acclaimed as the most mysterious Daofather of the Three Realms.

Rumble...

After Daofather Crimsonbright descended unto the Grand Xia, the massive chasm in the skies above remained open. A throng of Immortals began to flood in through the massive chasm in an awe-inspiring stream. The flood of Immortals seemed endless! They flew out from the chasm, then flew straight towards the Eight Dragons Cloudcity.

One great Immortal army after another...

The number of armies was far, far greater than the number which the Grand Xia itself had!

“Wo...wow...”

“This is really...”

“This is too...heavens...”

Even Ning felt breathless. As for the Celestial Immortal and Loose Immortal soldiers of the Grand Xia who were on duty and unable to leave their camps, they watched this sight breathlessly.

There was no limit to them!

It was like a flood! A flood of Immortals and Fiendgods!

“Compared to this...the so-called celestial soldiers and celestial generals of the Celestial Court aren’t worth a damn. I heard that the Celestial Court has several armies with hundreds of thousands of soldiers, the weakest of whom are merely at the Primal Daoist level. Celestial Immortals are high-ranking members of the Celestial Court, while the Celestial Emperor himself would frantically try to befriend any Empyrean Gods and True Immortals who appear. If this Immortal army before us went to the Celestial Court, they would wipe it out in the blink of an eye.”

“Right. I can see millions of Immortals.”

“Millions? There has to be at least ten million.”

“Those Fiendgods as well; there is definitely more than ten million of them.”

The soldiers of the Darknorth army camp and the other army camps of the Grand Xia had their horizons broadened today. The Grand Xia, all by itself, was comparable to the Celestial Court in power. The Realmwar before them...Daofather Crimsonbright had summoned all of his usable forces for it. This was the might one of the true hegemons of the Three Realms could summon, might which vastly surpassed that of the Celestial Court.

However, this sort of massive scale mobilizations only occurred during truly great tribulations.

......

Within the dark Seamless City.

The tall, skinny Daofather Ink Bamboo was standing atop the city walls. Behind him was a host of Empyrean Gods and True Immortals, and all of them stared towards the Eight Dragons Cloudcity.

“They have quite a few Celestial Immortals and Loose Immortals,” Daofather Ink Bamboo said with a laugh.

“Daofather Crimsonbright is just putting on a show of force for us; the number of Immortal soldiers we have on our side isn’t lower than his.” The three Diremonster Gods who stood closest to Daofather Ink Bamboo were the three who had come from Mount Dragoneater.

Mount Dragoneater had three mighty Diremonster Gods.

The boss was the Great Sage Who Swallows the Mountains.

The second was the Great Sage Who Swallows the Seas.

The third was the Great Sage Who Swallows the Skies.

Each of them had resoundingly shocking titles. When they had first given themselves these nicknames during the Primordial Era, it had been viewed by many as something of a joke. These three had styled themselves in a manner imitating that of the Seven Great Sages, who had been powerful Empyrean Gods during the Primordial Era. By now, the seven were even more unfathomably powerful than they had been. The three from Mount Dragoneater had grown increasingly powerful as well, and by now there was no one who dared to mock them for overestimating their abilities.

The three of them were invincible against anyone weaker than a Daofather.

“Second brother, we do indeed have as many Immortals and Fiendgods as they do, but many have yet to arrive.” The lion-headed Diremonster God Skyswallow rubbed his mouth as he spoke.

“The military strength of the Seamless Gate is still a bit weaker than the Nuwa Alliance’s, making it harder for us to mobilize,” Daofather Ink Bamboo said calmly. “We have to rely on our advantage in intelligence reports in order to effectively use our forces.”

Their intelligence reports were very formidable, allowing them to use just thirty percent of their military power to achieve hundred percent effectiveness.

Fortunately, the major powers of the Nuwa Alliance had formidable tools at their disposal as well which also allowed them to discover many things. Otherwise, they would’ve been defeated in this war for karmic luck long ago.

“Although we are weaker, we’re still capable of guarding this city,” Azurefox said with a smile.

“Right.” Daofather Ink Bamboo nodded. “Even if they attack, all we have to do is defend for now. After all of our forces arrive, we’ll give them a real fight. Victory over a single major world usually isn’t that important, but this is a Realmwar. All of you should understand that you have only one path open to you; the path of victory.”

Everyone, including the three Diremonster Gods of Mount Dragoneater, nodded solemnly.

Once they lost, it would be hard for them to flee and escape. Many, many Empyrean Gods and True Immortals of the defeated side would perish.

Comparatively speaking, the victors would suffer lighter casualties.

This was because the true slaughter would occur once one side was completely routed. That was when the most Empyrean Gods and True Immortals would perish!

Don’t want to be massacred?

Then win!

......

The awe-inspiring Immortal armies and Fiendgod armies had all gathered at the Eight Dragons Cloudcity. Fortunately, the city spanned ten thousand kilometers, and could also transform to become even greater in size; naturally, everyone was able to fit inside.

“These tens of millions Fiendgods are enough to form into seventy-eight Pangu War-Formations.” Daofather Crimsonbright was seated high up on his throne, a smile on his face as he gave his orders. “They shall be commanded by Empyrean God Fufang, Empyrean God Kindwater, Empyrean God Willowtemple...”

“These twenty-six Empyrean Gods shall each command three Fiendgod armies.”

“Yes.”

Instantly, the twenty-six Empyrean Gods all assented respectfully.

Not one of them disobeyed the Daofather’s order.

The twenty-six Empyrean Gods all immediately used cloning techniques. Empyrean Gods could easily create multiple clones of themselves. In a real battle, however, the fewer clones one created, the more powerful one would be. When these twenty-six each split into three clones, they sent each clone to command one of their three Fiendgod armies. Although their power was weakened due to the three-way split, resulting in weaker Fiendgod armies, they were still much more powerful than any Void-level Fiendgod commander.

In addition, with one Empyrean God commanding three Fiendgod army squads, each of the three would be able to better reinforce and support the other two.

“The forces that Daofather Raindragon sent...according to what Daofather Raindragon said, you eighteen Empyrean Gods and True Immortals shall continue to command those eighteen Raindragon armies,” Daofather Crisonbright said.

Instantly, eighteen Empyrean Gods and True Immortals stood up to salute.

These were the reinforcements which Daofather Raindragon had sent. In truth, Daofather Raindragon had only sent reinforcements due to the relationship he had with the Xia Emperor, as well as the fact that the three Diremonster Gods of Mount Dragoneater had been pulled into this war.

“The remaining Immortal armies shall be divided up to form 326 Heaven Punishers,” Daofather Crimsonbright said with a laugh. “The Heaven Punisher Formation is even better suited for battle than the Crimsonbright Formation I previously created. My 326 generals...I am entrusting you with these Immortals.”

“Yes.”

Instantly, twelve Empyrean Gods/True Immortals and 314 Celestial Immortals all rose to their feet, with Ning amongst the ranks of the Celestial Immortals.

“The Empyrean God golems and the other tools shall be left in the hands of Xiamang,” Daofather Crimsonbright said. “Alright...the Seamless Gate is completely focusing on defense for now. I imagine they will need some time to gather all of their forces. I expect that the great war will begin within a year. Previous commanders of the Crimsonbright Formation need to quickly become familiarized with the Heaven Punisher Formation. Now, all of you can leave.”

“Yes.” Everyone rose to their feet, then departed.

Even the Xia Emperor departed. As soon as he left the main palace, he mentally sent to Ning, “Ji Ning, Master gave me a special order; he told me to place an extra two thousand Celestial Immortals and two hundred thousand Loose Immortals under your command.”

“Eh?” Ning was puzzled.

“This way, you’ll have a total of three thousand Celestial Immortals and three hundred thousand Loose Immortals under your command, allowing you to form into an even more powerful Heaven Punisher,” the Xia Emperor said. “You are perfectly suited for your role as the commander of your Heaven Punisher; naturally, you need to be given more Celestial Immortals and Loose Immortals.”

The Perfect Heaven Punisher Formation involved a commander, 9000 Celestial Immortals, and 810,000 Loose Immortals.

“Fine.” Ning smiled. If the Xia Emperor hadn’t raised it, Ning was planning to do so himself. This was because Ning had made some additional improvements in his soul heartforce technique during this temporary ceasefire; he was now able to control 100% of the power of a Heaven Punisher formed from merely a thousand Celestial Immortals and a hundred thousand Loose Immortals.