The Desolate Era

“Who...who are you?!” Youngflame Freak stared towards the man before him in disbelief.

“It seems you’ve offended many, many people. You aren’t even able to guess at who I am.” Ji Ning stood there, his face and his aura beginning to completely change back to normal. The reason why he had used the [Eight-Nine Arcane Art] was so that he wouldn’t rattle the Empyrean Gods and True Immortals of the Seamless Gate, giving him the chance to first execute the sixteen clones of Youngflame Freak!

If he hadn’t hidden his true identity and had gone straight for Youngflame Freak, the Seamless Gate would’ve grown cautious and their Empyrean Gods and True Immortals might have immediately slipped away. If he had gone for them first instead, the Daofathers behind the Seamless Alliance would’ve been alerted, at which point Ning wouldn’t have the time needed to deal with Youngflame Freak.

“Ji...Ji Ning?!” Youngflame Freak couldn’t believe it. He hurriedly said in terror, “Spare me, spare my life!”

He had a total of eighteen clones. Sixteen were hidden here, while the other two were in the Crimsonbright Realm.

The Zhuanxu Realm was fairly safe, but the Seamless Gate had already lost the war for the Crimsonbright Realm. The two clones he had hidden there were in grave danger, but he didn’t dare disobey the Seamless Gate’s orders. As for creating new clones? It must be understood that every single clone of his was an extraordinary one, comparable to his ‘true body’. So long as one survived, he would remain alive.

But in turn, the creation of these clones required a very long period of time. The storm had already descended; he simply didn’t have enough time at all. Thus, once these sixteen were destroyed, only the final two would be remaining. If they died as well, then he would be truly dead.

“So long as you spare me, I can give all of the bugs that I’ve been raising to you. All of them!” Youngflame Freak said frantically. “And Protocosmic spirit-treasures; I can give them to you as well.”

“Just die.” Ning coldly stabbed out with the flagpole in his hands, and it pierced straight through Youngflame Freak’s chest. The difference in power between the two was simply too great; Youngflame Freak wasn’t able to resist at all.

“No!” Youngflame Freak was filled with terror and rage.

“When you die, your treasures will become mine regardless.” Ning casually ripped the flagpole out of Youngflame Freak’s body...and the soul in that body dispersed.

“Wiping out the sixteen clones of Youngflame Freak is just the appetizer. Soon, I will start preparing for the main course.” Ning’s gaze was cold as he turned to look at the other clones.

His true targets were the Empyrean Gods and True Immortals! They were what really mattered in this war for karmic luck. They were able to command armies of Immortals and Fiendgods, and were able to use incredibly powerful spells and magic treasures. Only when they were the commanders would the armies of Immortals and Fiendgods possess truly shocking levels of power. Without them at the head, those armies would be much weaker. The Three Realms only had so many Empyrean Gods and True Immortals; every single loss would be noticed and felt by the Seamless Gate. If ten were to die...that would be more than enough to cause heartache for the Seamless Gate.

......

The Starseizer world. A vast, desolate wilderness.

Ning appeared out of nowhere in midair.

“Respectful greetings to you, Manorlord.” An awe-inspiring sea of Celestial Immortals and Loose Immortals all fell to their knees upon seeing Ning.

“Manorlord.” Empyrean God Redsnow and the rest of the seven all bowed as well.

The reason why Ning had sent Ninefangs back to the Starseizer world was naturally to have the people here get ready for battle. They had made their preparations for war long ago.

“My Starseizing Manor has been hidden for many years now. The Three Realms have long since forgotten our might and our name. As for you...you have lived here within the Starseizing world for countless years. Now...it is time for you to show the Three Realms your fangs!” Ning spoke in an icy voice as he stared at the horde of Immortals.

“Fight!”

“FIGHT!” A heaven-shaking roar rang out from the mouths of the countless Immortals. Their eyes were all blazing with eager fire. They had always known that the Three Realms were just outside, but never had the chance to actually go out. They had been sealed in here for far, far too long. The other Immortals of the Three Realms could rove about, making friends everywhere, but they had to stay here.

Now that Ji Ning had bound the Starseizing Manor, they could leave, yes...but this was a time of war. Which Celestial Immortal would dare to travel about by himself to visit friends? The entire Three Realms had been swept up into a storm of blood, and many of the Immortals had all gathered together into armies.

These Immortals had all been feeling very stifled. But now...they would have the chance to show their power in the Three Realms.

“Assemble the formation!” Ning ordered.

Instantly, with a series of rumbling sounds, the countless Immortals began to fly into the skies. In a very orderly manner, they began to surround the midair Ji Ning. A flood of natural energy surged towards them, quickly coalescing into the form of an enormous Fiendgod. The Starseizing world was a major world, after all, and the amount of natural energy it contained was extremely vast. It was extremely simple for a perfect Heaven Punisher to be formed.

Soon, a Heaven Punisher took shape, with a Seven Planets God next to it. Both were thirty thousand meters tall.

“Redsnow, you go to the second headquarters. I’ll go to the first one,” Ning said. “We’ll handle the third one together.”

“Alright.” The Seven Planets God nodded.

“Let’s go.”

Ning’s Heaven Punisher and the Seven Planets God simultaneously left the Starseizer world.

They were simply too fast. Both of them used a spatial teleport to move towards their destination.

......

Ironsoldier Hall, one of the three headquarters.

“Come, drink.”

True Immortal Ironsoldier and the Goldred Couple were sipping wine and relaxing within a palace. There were maintaining a constant vigil, however; once they found that crazy Celestial Immortal, Empyrean God Goldspear would immediately attack.

“Come here, my pretty.” Goldspear pulled one of the dancing, singing women into his arms, and the woman laughed as she picked up a cup of wine. “Milord.”

“Come, let’s drink together.” Goldspear drank a cup, then lowered his mouth to kiss the woman, passing the wine into her mouth from his. As for his hands, both of them were already kneading and playing with the woman’s chest. The nearby female Immortal, Redflower, didn’t care at all....because she had two of her male playthings by her side, attending to her needs. Ironsoldier felt rather uncomfortable with this, but since he was a True Immortal, he was able to calmly ignore it all.

They had no idea that Ji Ning had already killed the sixteen clones of Venomflame Freak. Those fifteen hidden clones really had been hidden too well.

BOOM!

Suddenly, a massive explosion could be heard from outside. The entire Ironsoldier Hall shook violently, and even the palace itself was trembling. Winecups shattered and wine spilled everywhere as the dancers all cried out in shock.

“Not good.”

True Immortal Ironsoldier, Empyrean God Goldspear, and True Immortal Redflower all transformed into streaks of light, charging into the skies above the palace. But upon reaching the outside, they became dazed...because a massive, towering, thirty thousand meter Fiendgod had appeared before them. This Fiendgod had no head, was barefoot, and wielded a pair of massive swords in its hands. The formations in front of him were all gleaming with golden light, but they were all visibly shuddering as well.

“Xingtian the Heaven Punisher?”

“Look at the face on its chest; that’s Ji Ning! Sword Immortal Darknorth, Ji Ning!” The three of them were now stunned. Ji Ning had commanded a Heaven Punisher in the Crimsonbright Realmwar and displayed godlike valor; this story had long ago spread throughout the Three Realms. Ji Ning definitely stood at the very peak of power amongst the Empyrean Gods and True Immortals of the Three Realms. Although the three of them had been assigned to the Zhuanxu Realm, they had read very detailed intelligence reports regarding Ji Ning.

BOOM!

Ning’s Heaven Punisher slashed out with the giant twinswords, and with a boom, the entire formation completely broke apart.

“What?! How can this be!”

“The formation was destroyed?”

All three of them felt terror in their hearts.

“Flee!”

The formation had been meant to protect their headquarters; it would be able to hold out for a period of time even if twenty Empyrean Gods and True Immortals jointly assaulted it. However, Ning’s Heaven Punisher was far more powerful than twenty Empyrean Gods. It was at the Daofather level of power...and in truth, even a Daofather golem had been suppressed by Ning’s might.

All Ning had been forced to do was deliver nine successive sword-blows in a short period of time and the formation was completely chopped apart. As soon as the three Seamless Gate experts had charged out and recognized Ning, Ning had finished the job and charged straight towards them.

“Run, run, RUN!” All three of them were completely terrified.

“TOO LATE!” A flood of sword-light swept towards them, many tens of thousands of meters in size, covering the skies and blotting out the sun. In fact, this strike was even more terrifying than the strikes Ning delivered during the Realmwar, because his sword-arts had clearly grown even more exquisite and even faster. The slowest of the three, True Immortal Redflower, saw the sword-light sweep past her body...and her body was instantly transformed into ash. The only thing left behind was the final echoes of an unwilling scream.

“No.” True Immortal Ironsoldier hurriedly used an evasive technique, but how could he compare in speed to Ning’s weapons? He was slain as well.

At such close range, and faced with such a fast attack...there was no time to use a spatial teleportation technique at all, much less use Greater Teleportation. As for hiding within an estate-treasure? The only result would be that Ning would collect it; it represented certain death. Thus, if they wanted to escape, their only chance lay in fleeing at high speed! When true experts of the Three Realms engaged in battle against each other, they would generally rely on their evasive techniques. Thus, everyone possessed some formidable evasive skills. If they didn’t, possessing Protocosmic spirit-treasures that were highly suited for fleeing also worked.

The Xia Emperor, for example, had once commanded a lightship that allowed him to match the extremely fast speed of the Great Sage Who Swallows the Skies, of the three Diremonster Gods of Mount Dragoneater.

But alas, True Immortal Ironsoldier’s evasive techniques were poor, and he didn’t have any top-quality Protocosmic spirit-treasures meant for fleeing. Naturally...the only result was death.

“Spare me. Spare me!” Empyrean God Goldspear was utterly terrified. As he begged for mercy, he immediately transformed into nine clones that fled in nine different directions. Although every single clone was fairly weak, if he didn’t do this he wouldn’t have any chance to escape at all.

Rumble...

The sword-light spun around, causing the tens of thousands of meters around it to become a region of death.

All nine of Empyrean God Goldspear’s clones were slain!

Ning swept the area below with his gaze. Instantly, the world itself seemed to shatter as the terrifying, fleeing Celestial Immortals and Loose Immortals were blown into dust.

“Next.” Ning’s Heaven Punisher turned and used a teleportation technique to head towards the third headquarters.

His own Realmwar had ended more than two years ago. Ning’s soul heartforce technique had made some further, minor improvements. Now...he was able to control a hundred percent of the perfect Heaven Punisher’s power! He was already very close to reaching maximum power in the past, and now that he had perfect control over it, no energy leaked out of it at all. Thus, he was now able to use the Heaven Punisher to teleport with him, as though it was part of him.

If he didn’t have full control over it, there would be no way to teleport with it. He’d have to rely on treasures like the Voidboat in order to travel.

But now...there was no need!

Sneak attacks had to be carried out quickly, with overwhelming force. Thus, Ning immediately used the Heaven Punisher upon attacking!

The first headquarters had been wiped out with incredible speed. The news of its destruction had yet to even reach the third headquarters before Ning arrived. The massive, towering Heaven Punisher stood barefoot upon the desolate wilderness. Raising its twinswords up high, it furiously chopped down upon the palace that was built atop the towering mountain peak. The light of a formation began to flicker and flash as three Empyrean Gods and True Immortals charged out from the palace.

“FLEE!” A voice rang out in the minds of the three.

“It’s the Daofather.” The three instantly understood. The Seamless Gate’s Daofather had finally noticed and was frantically trying to warn them...but alas, it was too late!

BOOOM!!

The formation collapsed. Ning’s overwhelming powerful Heaven Punisher, two giant swords in its hands, began its massacre of the three Seamless Gate experts. The Empyrean God managed to have one of his clones escape, but alas, the other seven clones he created were all destroyed, and the parts of his soul in them were obliterated. He had lost too much of his soul; the remnants of his soul in the seventh clone were unable to survive on their own, and so his soul shattered and he died.

This was a weakness of Empyrean Gods. Although their divine bodies were formidable, once you destroyed their souls, they would die. For example, when Ning acquired the Rahu Bow in the Crescent world, he had encountered the corpse of Empyrean God Qi. Although Qi’s divine body was in perfect shape, his soul had been destroyed.

When one’s soul suffered too much damage, the remaining parts would crumble as well.

“Ji Ning, I’ve wiped out the second headquarters. They almost managed to escape. You moved much faster than me.” The space around Ning turned blurry for a moment as a voice rang out in his mind, then a towering, spear-wielding Fiendgod appeared. It was the Seven Planets God.

“Redsnow, let’s go,” Ning sent back.

As they spoke, a large boat that was three hundred meters long appeared. This was the Protocosmic spirit-treasure, the Voidboat. Ning currently had three top-grade Protocosmic spirit-treasures; this was one meant for escape.

Whoosh! Ning’s Heaven Punisher and the Seven Planets God both flew into the Voidboat. Although the Voidboat looked like it was only three hundred meters long, it was like a tiny speck of sand that was capable of holding an entire world within it. It was actually extremely spacious inside; naturally, Ning’s Heaven Punisher and the Seven Planets God were able to enter it.

Swish!

They tore a hole through space, and the Voidboat departed from the Winterherald world...heading towards a different majorworld of the Zhuanxu Realm.

Ning wasn’t going to let up so easily!

Nine dead Empyrean Gods and True Immortals? Not enough!

......

“What’s going on?”

“What’s this all about?”

The Winterherald Army on Winterherald planet had immediately noticed the ripples of power. Their Empyrean Gods and True Immortals were all gathered together, watching the scenes being displayed within the mirror. By the time they noticed it, however, Ning had already started to wipe out the third headquarters.

They saw a massive, nearly naked Fiendgod who was dressed only in a fur loincloth and who wielded two giant swords in his hands. The Fiendgod chopped down against the formations, then completely swept through the headquarters, not letting a single one of the three survive.

“Quick, look at the other two locations,” an Empyrean God said.

The images in the mirror quickly transformed to display the other two headquarters of the Seamless Gate.

Utter annihilation!

Utter devastation!

Both headquarters had been completely destroyed.

“Wiped out?” The commanders of the Winterherald Army stared at each other, stunned. The three headquarters of the Seamless Gate held a total of nine Empyrean Gods and True Immortals, all of whom were hidden behind the protective embrace of formations. They were all wiped out? They had battled these nine Empyrean Gods and True Immortals for countless years!

......

The major powers of the Three Realms all possessed remarkable abilities. As soon as Ning wiped out the first headquarters, some of them began to take notice.

“What a formidable man, Ji Ning!”

“He really is quite bold.”

“This Ji Ning actually dares to launch sneak attacks by himself, outside of a Realmwar? He really is going all-out against the Seamless Gate.” These major powers all sighed in amazement. They knew very well that launching this sort of merciless sneak attack against the Seamless Gate would utterly incense it!

......

Within a different major world. This vast world was filled with an endless aura of cold. This was one of the true, major headquarters of the Seamless Gate...the Third World!

The wars against Crimsonbright Realm and certain other realms were conducted by the Fifth World of the Seamless Gate.

As for the Zhuanxu Realm, the even more powerful Third World was responsible for attacking it.

Within the Third World.

“Ji Ning?” At the very peak of a towering mountain that emanated an aura of infinite cold, there was a palace with a man seated in the lotus position within it. The man had long, jade-green hair and jade-green eyebrows. His eyes were open, and they were filled with ice. His coresense had spread out to cover the entire Zhuanxu World. Nine of his Empyrean Gods and True Immortals had perished in such a short period of time...he was now completely enraged and stunned.