The Desolate Era

The area around the main palace was surrounded by rings of light. When the six colossal heaven-covering hands came crashing down, only the outermost layer of light was shattered, and they regenerated almost instantly.

“Ahahaha! There’s no way you’ll be able to break through.” The Eastsmoke leader was overjoyed upon seeing this. He stood there in the main palace, a cold smile on his lips. “This is the main palace. This is the most important part of the Eastsmoke branch, and it possesses the strongest defenses. It is guarded by eight layers of defenses, and you were only able to breach one of them. You aren’t even close! Since you can’t kill me, you’ll be the one to die. I refuse to believe you’ll be able to keep this divine ability of yours active indefinitely.”

Ji Ning stared down towards him from his position in the skies. Ning nodded slowly as he mused to himself, “The main palace lives up to its reputation. This is the source of power for the entire restrictive formation”

The grand restrictive formation protecting this place required a formation-core, and the formation-core was under the control of the Eastsmoke branch leader and located in the tightly guarded main palace.

“It seems I’ll have to use my full power.” A hint of a smile played at the corner of Ning’s lips. He then reached out with one hand towards his back, taking a firm hold over the sword which he had been carrying on his back this entire time.

“He’s about to draw his sword.”

“He’s been carrying that sword along this entire time. It seems that sword should be pretty powerful.”

“I wonder what will happen?”

The World-level cultivators of the Eastsmoke branch all watched intently, including both Fairy Qingfan and the Eastsmoke leader.

Clink.

The sword left its scabbard!

In the instant that Ning drew his sword, five other swords appeared in his other five hands.

Six hands, six Eternal swords.

“Astral stance!” As soon as Ning drew his swords, his six Eternal blades began to gleam with blinding light. They transformed into six streaks of bloody sword-light that descended towards the main palace like a tempest of blood.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

One layer of light after another was shattered. The main palace was guarded by eight formations, and six of them were broken through.

The shockwaves generated by the powerful collisions spread out in every direction, so strong as to cause even the surrounding mountains to crumble and topple. Countless trees were reduced to dust.

“What...” The Eastsmoke leader was so frightened that his face turned bone-white. He then swallowed, hard. “Thankfully, he didn’t break through. He won’t be able to break through.”

“Is this his true power?” Fairy Qingfan, still standing at the entrance to her estate, stared at the distant Ji Ning and the six mighty swords he was wielding. “No wonder little sister Youji was willing to follow and serve him. How can a World-level cultivator be this powerful.”

“Oh? It actually didn’t break?” Ning frowned, then raised his head to glance at the restrictive formations above him.

Swoosh!

Ning charged high into the skies.

“I knew he wouldn’t be able to hold on forever. He had to be using up an enormous amount of divine power to unleash those attacks.” A hint of delight appeared on the Eastsmoke leader’s face. Through the formation, he sent a mental message to the other sixteen cultivators. “Keep using your formations to attack him. Don’t be fooled by how powerful he looks. Soon, he won’t be able to fight back at all.”

“Right. He’s relying on his own power whereas we are relying on our formation.”

“He won’t be able to overpower us.”

The World-level cultivators continued to use their formations to attack.

“Impudent!” Ning frowned as he saw the greataxe, the sword, and the blazing Fiendgod charged towards him once more.

Whoosh.

Three streaks of bloody sword-light shot out into the skies, completely shattering the three oncoming attacks. Now that Ning was using his Eternal swords, these formations were nothing to him at all.

“Since I cannot break through the main palace with a full-force strike, I should give this grand restrictive formation a try.” Ning flew high into the air, head raised as he stared at the barrier in front of him. Although he knew that this barrier had to be extremely tough, he still wanted to give it a try.

“Go.” Six streaks of sword-light shot out like six meteors, simultaneously raining down together upon a thirty-meter region of the grand restrictive formation. Although the formation covered a region of ten million kilometers, Ning focused all of his attacks on one point. This would make piercing through it easier.

Rumble... the entire grand restrictive formation trembled slightly, then dispersed the power of Ning’s attack.

“It didn’t break?” Ning’s face changed slightly. “Again.”

Rumble... the six streaks of bloody sword-light sliced out once more as Ning furiously attacked the grand restrictive formation.

The entire Eastsmoke branch turned silent. All the World-level cultivators watched as the white-robed youth used his power to furiously assault the grand restrictive formation. It would be countless years before they would ever be able to forget this sight. A World-level cultivator was so audacious as to challenge the full power of their barrier... and was able to cause the entire barrier to tremble.

Ning sent ten consecutive attacks out against the formation!

“I really can’t break through.” Ning slowly shook his head. “It seems as though forcing my way out of this formation is impractical.”

If he wasn’t able to break out of this place, his only option was to carry out his original plan.

Ning lowered his head, staring downwards with a cold light flashing in his eyes.

Swoosh. Ning immediately charged downwards. In just two seconds, he arrived before a black palace.

“Break.” Six dazzling streaks of sword-light descended upon the the black palace. Although the black palace was protected by three layers of barriers, it still exploded into pieces.

“Spare me!”

“Spare us!”

The three World-level cultivators hiding within the black palace immediately ran out, staring at Ning in terror.

Every single formation-core was protected by barrier spells, but those barriers couldn’t possibly compare to the barriers protecting the main palace! Transcendent World Gods might not be able to breach them, but Daolords of the First Step would be able to breach them through raw power.

“Hmph.” Ning waved his giant hand. Whoosh! The heavens seemed to turn dark as he captured all three of them.

“Next.” Ning began to fly towards another formation-core.

“What?!”

“We can’t stop him.”

“Mystdragon, this is all your fault. You ruined us, you idiot! Qingfan was absolutely right when she said you were an imbecile and buffoon.”

“We are finished.”

“We are all doomed.”

“He said earlier that anyone who stands in his way will be killed.”

Ning blew through the various formation-cores with ease, capturing all sixteen World-level cultivators.

“All of them are doomed.” The Eastsmoke leader’s face was turning pale from his position inside the main palace as he watched this happen. “I’m the only one left. He won’t be able to enter. He can’t break the main palace’s barrier spells.”

Although he consoled himself by saying this, he was still filled with terror. Although the barrier was able to trap Ning, it wasn’t able to kill. If too much time passed, who knew what additional variables might enter the picture?

“Big brother.” The Eastsmoke leader waved his hand, causing a black message-talisman to appear. He gritted his teeth, then crushed it into tiny pieces.

“Big brother. You have to come save me.” The Eastsmoke leader could now sense how dangerous this foe was. At a time like this, his only option was to ask his big brother to come protect him. His big brother had always doted on him.

......

The main headquarters of the Bluegrace Sect.

The main headquarters was a vast place, stretching out to cover more than a hundred million kilometers. There were countless cultivators here, with more than three thousand World-level cultivators and innumerable Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals. There were also four Daolords! The most powerful was of course Daolord Bluegrace himself, and he was an extremely famous and reputable figure within the Brightshore Kingdom.

Bang!

A figure suddenly soared into the skies, leaving a deep gorge that was completely shrouded in black mist. This figure was dressed in black robes, had a cold and grim face, and looked quite similar to World God Mystdragon, the branch leader of the Eastsmoke branch. Only, his aura was colder and darker.

“Mystdragon actually shattered the message-talisman I gave him? What sort of danger has he encountered?” Daolord Batdragon’s face was grim, but his eyes were filled with worry.

Him and Mystdragon were actual brothers.

It was extremely rare for a pair of fraternal brothers to be able to train together and reach such heights in cultivation. Batdragon had long ago lost all his other kinsmen, and his little brother was the only one left. In truth, Mystdragon wasn’t really strong enough to qualify for his current position, but since Daolord Batdragon gave him his full support he was able to become a branch leader.

Mystdragon. His one and only little brother.

“I’ll go right now.” Daolord Batdragon didn’t hesitate at all. He immediately transformed into a streak of light as he flew out of the main headquarters and towards the Eastsmoke branch.

......

At the top of a mountain of the Eastsmoke branch.

Ning stood there, a group of thirty-four terrified World-level cultivators before him.

Of the thirty-four, sixteen had been using formations to attack Ning while eighteen were the Eastsmoke leader’s devoted followers. The eighteen were the ones who had been keeping tabs on the Flamefairy. Ning had captured them all.

“The eighteen of you obeyed the Eastsmoke branch leader’s orders and wished to slay my retainer and steal her treasures.

“The sixteen of you wished to slay me!”

Ning swept the thirty-four with his gaze. “Quite frankly, I should kill you all.”

The thirty-four were utterly terrified. When cultivators made the wrong enemy or chose the wrong master, they would often find themselves in mortal danger.

“However, I will give you two options. The first option is death! The second option is to immediately swear a lifeblood oath to be my slave.” Ning tossed out an oathstone. “The oath is right here. If you are willing to swear the oath, you’ll be able to stay alive.”

“Slave?”

The World-level cultivators had ugly looks on their faces. World Gods and Chaos Immortals had exalted statuses; how many of them would willingly become the slave of another?

The problem was, if they refused they would die! Ji Ning was simply too powerful, far more powerful than any World God had a right to be. To submit to him... it wasn’t completely unacceptable.

“This oath...”

“This is way too stringent...”

“B-but...”

When the thirty-four of them saw the oath, they were stunned.

Once they swore this oath, they would become absolute slaves who would have to serve Ning with utter devotion. In fact, they weren’t even permitted to lie to him! This was one of the most stringent oaths possible. The only thing that gave them hope was the clause that said they would regain their freedom after a thousand chaos cycles.

A thousand chaos cycles? This was an incredibly long period of time. How many cultivators would even be able to stay alive for that long?

Ning swept them with a glance. He had actually been planning on killing them all, but he had reconsidered as there was always a need for servants or slaves to take care of some minor matters that he simply didn’t have time for. In addition, when he was out adventuring there were some dangerous places he could use them to scout for him. If some of them were so lucky as to stay alive for a thousand chaos cycles, for him to release them then would be fine as well.

A thousand chaos cycles? Ning couldn’t even imagine what level of power he would have reached by then.

“Impossible.”

“One wrong step, and it all comes to nothing.” Several World-level cultivators raised their heads and sighed. Their truesouls immediately dissipated as they perished on the spot.

“I chose the wrong path. I’ll have to bear the consequences.”

“Forget it, forget it.”

In the end, a total of five of them chose suicide. Ning didn’t move to stop them.

The other twenty-nine chose to bow their heads and become Ning’s slaves. As they saw it, this incomparably terrifying World God would most likely become a Daolord in the future. They were willing to accept becoming the servants and slaves of a Daolord.

Whoosh. Ning waved his hand, accepting these twenty-nine World-level slaves.

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