The Desolate Era

Book 35, Chapter 17 - Negotiations

Archon Silksnow’s eyebrows fluttered, a look of surprise flashing through his oily green eyes. He then let out a cold chuckle: “You fled quite fast. I had thought that it was an Emperor... who would’ve thought it was you two kids?”

“Greetings, Archon Silksnow,” Ji Ning and Ninedust both bowed modestly.

“Hmph.” Archon Silksnow let out a cold snort. Instantly, a blurry aura of light appeared which covered an area of ten billion kilometers. Spacetime in this region was completely severed from the outside world. This caused Ning and Ninedust to turn pale. Archon Silksnow then made his move.

Whoosh. He suddenly charged downwards, leaving a streak of light behind in the skies as he arced downwards like curved saber-light. An aura of supreme coldness pierced towards them, seeming to penetrate their souls and truesouls.

It was simply too fast. This strike was the fastest saber-strike Ning had ever seen, so fast that Ning felt a sense of panic.

It was also too cold. The saber-intent from this strike caused Ning’s very truesoul to shiver from the cold. This was the level which a true lord of the Sacred Cities was at! The golems Ning had previously encountered, as well as the flaming beasts and sea dragons he had encountered in the estate-world, were extremely strong and extremely fast but much inferior when it came to actual insights into the mysteries of the Dao.

In terms of insight and understanding, this Archon Silksnow definitely surpassed Ning in every regard!

“What?!” Ning and Ninedust were both shocked. They didn’t expect for Archon Silksnow to almost immediately attack after saying just a few words. Clearly, he wanted to take their lives!

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Ning immediately manifested three heads and six arms, drawing all six Northbow swords and executing his Omega Sword Dao – Soleheart in a full-power defense. Faced with such a terrifying strike, Ning didn’t even think about counter-attacking. His only thought was to hold and defend first! Three of his swords just barely managed to intercept the saber-light, and as they did a surge of cold energy seemed to slam into and through him like a giant hammer, crushing him with its power.

BOOM! Ning was immediately knocked flying backwards. He slammed into the ground of the planet, causing the planet to shudder and enormous crevices and gorges to appear on its surface which were hundreds of kilometers long. The planet now looked like a cracked turtle shell.

“He’s too powerful.” Ninedust didn’t even dare to block, instead transforming into a wave of water which frantically retreated.

Swish. Archon Silksnow used the saber in his left hand to strike at Ning. As for the saber in his right hand, he hacked at Ninedust with it. Slash!

The vast stream of water that was Ninedust was cut in half from the very center, and a low growl could be heard emanating from within it. Moments later, the two streams of water quickly began to flee. Only when they fled next to Ning did they reform into a single fleshly body.

Ning had flown out of the gorge. He stood alongside Ninedust, ugly looks on their faces. “I’ve already reached the Archon level, but I never imagined that the difference between me and an actual Archon of a Sacred City would be so great.” Ning’s heart was shaking.

“Too powerful. He’s too powerful. My invulnerable aquaform has been highly perfected, but he was still able to heavily injure me with one blow.” Ninedust’s face was rather ashen. He sent mentally, “Darknorth, this Archon Silksnow is too powerful. He’d probably be able to kill me in just ten or so blows.”

Ning nodded slightly. Invulnerable forms weren’t truly invincible! When Emperor Solesky had been a Daolord, he had been heavily injured by Fiendqueen Dustrain. If an enemy was at a sufficiently high level of power, not even an invulnerable form could completely nullify the attack.

“Hm. Daolord Darknorth... no wonder you rose to pre-eminence in the Waveshift Realm.” Archon Silksnow stared at Ning with his oily green eyes. “Your friend, the Ninedust Sectlord, has an invulnerable aquaform, but I was able to injure him heavily. You, however... you weren’t injured by my strike at all. Haha... given your level of power, you should’ve reached the Archon level by now.”

“However... you are still far from being a match for me.” Archon Silksnow smiled a cold, blood-curdling smile. “I’ve always had the habit of striking with full power when I attack, even if my target is a Daolord. The two of you can die now.” Archon Silksnow suddenly manifested a total of six arms, with each arm gripping a saber.

“Wait!” Ninedust called loudly.

“Oh?” Archon Silksnow looked coldly at Ning and Ninedust. “Is there something which the two of you wish to say?”

“Archon Silksnow, we are just Daolords; there’s no way we can match an Archon like yourself. If there’s something you want, you can just tell us,” Ning said.

“Yes, Archon. If there’s something you want, we can negotiate,” Ninedust agreed hurriedly.

Although the two had set up quite a few formations on this planet, they still weren’t confident in their chances. They had quite a few treasures, yes... but would the most savage of the eight lords of the Sacred Cities, Archon Silksnow, possibly have fewer treasures than them? He probably had more than ten times as many as they did! Even worse, their earlier clash had already shown Ning and Ninedust how huge the power gap between them was.

Ninedust would probably be slain within just ten strikes! As for Ning? He knew just how big the gap between him and his foe was. Archon Silksnow was highly ranked even for one of the lords of the Sacred Cities, and he was incredibly powerful. He had also been alive for an extremely long period of time. Although he didn’t have a Universe treasure, he did have lifeblood weapons! Those lifeblood weapons had grown over the course of many years to become just as powerful as Ning’s Northbow swords.

Ning didn’t even have an advantage in weaponry! As for insight into the Dao? He was superior to supreme Daolords, yes, but there was a clear difference between him and the Archons! That saber-strike from earlier... it was superior to Ning’s sword-arts in every single aspect. Ning’s Soleheart stance was able to mitigate some of his disadvantages, but the difference in power was still great.

......

The difference in power was so great that Ning might not be able to escape even if he used up his treasures. It really wasn’t worth it for him to risk and sacrifice so much just for a battered piece of a realmship.

Ning and Ninedust stared at the blurry glow surrounding them for ten billion kilometers. Archon Silksnow had immediately used a treasure to block out the surrounding spacetime continuum; from this, they could tell how determined Archon Silksnow was. He was definitely going to acquire the realmship parts, no matter what the cost! Ning could also sense that his sword-arts were no longer capable of tearing through spacetime. If he used the Hegemon’s spacetime disc, he might be able to succeed... but he also might fail in his attempt to flee.

His foe was a lord of the Sacred Cities, after all! Ning truly wasn’t confident in his chances.

“Negotiate? You wish to negotiate with me?” Archon Silksnow stared downwards at Ning and Ninedust.

“Yes, negotiate.” Ninedust said hurriedly, “Archon, you probably came for the sake of our realmship parts, right? To tell you the truth, we brothers sensed the resonance as well. That’s why we immediately fled.”

“If there’s anything you wish from us, Archon, just tell us,” Ning said. Faced with such a legendary tyrant, they had no choice but to lower their heads.

Archon Silksnow’s most famous action came during a gathering of Emperors in the Dao Alliance’s Palace of Immortals. Archon Silksnow ended up being angered by a dispute caused by clashing interests with the other Emperors! He had suppressed his rage when still inside the Palace, but after they all left he actually consecutively killed the twelve Eternal Emperors who had offended him. This was something which had rendered everyone in the Endless Territories completely speechless.

To occasionally kill a few enemy Emperors due to personal feuds was one thing... but to kill twelve of them because of a fit of pique? This was absolutely crazy! This was why he was famous for being the most savage and bloodthirsty of the eight lords of the Sacred Cities. He was a madman! He was also incredibly strong and had many trump cards ready to play. He had offended and angered many with his actions, and had incurred the displeasure of the other Archons as well. As a result, there had been a great battle which had spanned multiple chaos cycles and resulted in innumerable casualties, but in the end the matter was simply dropped.

“Realmship?” Archon Silksnow glanced at them, a not-quite smile playing at his lips.

“The two of us would naturally keep this information completely secret,” Ninedust said hurriedly. “We are willing to swear oaths that we will definitely keep this secret.”

“You two are quite clever. When you sensed how fast I was moving towards you, you immediately chose to flee.” Archon Silksnow glanced at Ning. “Daolord Darknorth is extremely powerful; if I was just slightly weaker, I probably wouldn’t be able to do anything to him. However... the difference in power between us is too great for you to overcome.”

Archon Silksnow nodded. “Since you are willing to bow your heads, I’ll give you a way to survive.”

Ning and Ninedust both looked at Archon Silksnow.

“First, you must give me all of your treasures, save for your weapons and your armor,” Archon Silksnow said. “Second, you are not to resist and must allow me to read through your memories and your soul. Don’t worry, I’ll swear an oath not to harm your souls or truesouls in the slightest; I simply wish to scan them.”

Ning and Ninedust turned grim. Ninedust said angrily, “Archon, don’t go too far.” Ning’s face turned as cold as ice as well.

Scan their memories? The two were incredibly proud figures. How could they be willing to allow others to rifle through their memories? Ning wasn’t willing to hand over all of his treasures either. The omnigeddon bloodfruit tree and the verdant azuresoul were both incredibly precious treasures. The latter had been personally fashioned by Autarch Bolin and was capable of controlling a Chaos Primordial!