The Desolate Era

Book 39, Chapter 16 - Soldiers Descend on Houwu City

A total of four treasures were hovering in front Ji Ning. The first was a silver throne, the second was a set of beautiful silver robes, , the third was a blood-colored diamond, while the fourth was a jade slip. The first three were the Sithe weapons which the Lonely King had often used.

“These three Sithe weapons, I acquired after I slew the Lonely King of the Icepeak Army,” Ning said with a laugh. “The silver robes are protective in nature, while the blood-colored gemstone can instantly unleash attacks of incredible power which are so fast that even Otherverse Lords might perish if caught off-guard! In fact, there truly have been Otherverse Lords who have perished to the Lonely King as a result of this gemstone. The silver throne, however, is the most important treasure. It allows one to warp through space, create multiple illusory clones, and even launch attacks. At full power, its attacks can destroy an entire otherverse.”

Nuwa was shocked upon hearing this. These three treasures truly were extraordinary! If all three were used together, even most Otherverse Lords would feel a sense of fear. The Lonely King had relied upon them more than anything else.

“Starting today, these three Sithe treasures shall belong to you.” Ning looked at Nuwa.

“I can’t accept this,” Nuwa rejected instinctively. Although they had adventured to a Sithe armory and she had acquired a treasure, any of the treasures which the Lonely King had used to dominate the Chaosverse was vastly superior to hers.

“Don’t decline. I’ve failed the Daomerge and won’t use energy without a good reason,” Ning said. “And... a casual blow from me would be more powerful than these treasures by far. In the Three Realms, my master Subhuti and the others are incapable of using these treasures. The only person in the Three Realms who can use them is you, Nuwa! With these treasures, you’ll be strong enough to protect the Three Realms. Accept them.”

Nuwa wasn’t the wishy-washy type. She immediately nodded: “Very well. I’ll accept them. The Three Realms is my home; of course I’ll protect it!”

Ning smiled. “As for this slip, it contains my Eternal Omega Sword Dao. I’ve recorded it all here, and no one has ever viewed it before.” Ning chuckled. “Take a look and see if it can give you a few new ideas.”

“Eternal Omega Sword Dao?” Nuwa stared at the levitating jade slip. Its aura continued to cause her to feel a sense of shock. She knew that compared to the first three treasures, the jade slip was the most valuable treasure of them all!

“Thank you.” Nuwa didn’t decline, nor could she decline. She reached out to gently touch the jade slip, then instantly sent out her godsense.

A flood of information entered her mind. The first thing Nuwa did was to swear a lifeblood oath that she could only allow members of the Three Realms to study the Eternal Omega Sword Dao. But of course, if she herself was able to glean certain insights from the Eternal Omega Sword Dao she wouldn’t be limited in her ability to transmit them to others.

“This Sword Dao...” Nuwa was stunned when she sensed how vast and overwhelmingly powerful the Eternal Omega Sword Dao was.

“Accept the jade slip. You can view it and ruminate on it as you please,” Ning said. The Eternal Omega Sword Dao was simply far too profound; not even a direct transmission into one’s mind could allow one to brute-force memorize it all! If you read through it quickly, you’d soon begin to forget it all. Your memories would grow blurry... because this was something which vastly surpassed your ability to understand it! You had to have the jade slip by your side and constantly meditate on it and study it. As a result, the jade slip itself was incredibly important. This was why Ning had requested that Nuwa only allow the members of the Three Realms to be trained in it.

“Alright.” Nuwa accepted the jade slip, then sat down in the lotus position and began to meditate on it. She was completely consumed by it, completely intoxicated by this truly grand Dao. As for Ning, he sat down next to her as well.

“Darknorth, this sword-art seemed to have its own spirit. Why is it that it is so marvelous and agile?” Nuwa raised her head and asked, her fingers demonstrating as she spoke.

Ning began to demonstrate his sword-arts while answering each of her questions. Ning held nothing back from Nuwa at all, because once he died and his Dao vanished, Nuwa would become the most powerful expert of the Three Realms.

Ning had been able to vaguely scry parts of the future. He was able to see that Nuwa would indeed continue to safeguard the Three Realms and that she was definitely worthy of his trust. But of course, there were many other images that had appeared as he scryed the future. In the end, the future was in a state of flux. Since it had yet to actually happen, all things were technically possible.

In the blink of an eye, Ning had spent more than half a year guiding Nuwa as she trained. Nuwa was completely absorbed with training in the Eternal Omega Sword Dao, and for Ning to personally instruct her and resolve her questions was a truly rare opportunity. Ning wouldn’t even be this detailed when teaching his own students! As for Lord Houwu or Patriarch Treewind, none of them dared to disturb the two.

Rumble... a terrifying wave of power suddenly spread out into the city from afar. Ning frowned and rose to his feet. He walked over to the entrance to take a look towards the distant horizons. He could sense that a vague, malevolent aura was surging towards them from afar.

“What’s going on?” Nuwa rose to her feet and walked over to the entrance as well. “Something feels wrong.”

“I can sense that a force is drawing near,” Ning said. “And it is quite strong. Let’s go take a look.” Ning and Nuwa flew out side-by-side. In truth, figures were flying out from residences throughout Houwu City. These Hegemons, Emperors, and Samsara Daolords could all sense the increasingly powerful ripples generated by the encroaching power.

“Master.” Flamewing, Su Youji, Whitethaw, Azurefiend, and Hegemon Goodsong all immediately flew towards Ning.

“Daolord.” Lord Houwu flew out as well, behaving as warmly as before.

“Lord Governor,” Ning asked, “What’s going on?”

Lord Houwu hesitated slightly. Suddenly, a figure appeared at the horizons. This was something who had four hooved legs but the upper body of a human. This strange creature was as crimson as blood, and it galloped through the skies. These creatures were wielding all sorts of weapons, including greataxes or heavy warhammers. They all radiated auras of tremendous power.

“Crimson bloodfiends?” Lord Houwu growled, “Over a hundred crimson bloodfiends have appeared at the same time?”

Rumble... the hundred-plus crimson bloodfiends galloped towards them. Moments later, towering eight-armed giants whose bodies were as white as snow suddenly began to appear as well. The many eight-armed giants each had just a single eye, and they let out furious roars as their awesome auras spread out as well.

These were all unique lifeforms... but what truly surprised Ning was that all the members of these two races had reached the Hegemon level.

“These are incredibly powerful races... and for the two to appear at the same time?”

Ning was surprised. “Lord Houwu, does this happen often here?”

“No. We rarely see such powerful beings.” Lord Houwu was puzzled as well.

Suddenly, the two races of creatures split apart into two sides, revealing three figures in their midst.

To the left was a towering crimson bloodfiend whose entire body was covered with golden armor. The fiend wielded a double-edged battleaxe which was covered with runes and emanated a shocking aura of power; clearly, this was a very unique Sithe weapon.

To the right was an eight-armed giant who was holding a set of fiery chains. Most of the fiery chains were wrapped around him, and his aura was just as terrifying as the fiend’s.

Finally, there was a red-robed maiden in the center.

The faces of quite a few cultivators turned gray when they saw these three appear. “Them?!” Lord Houwu’s face tightened as well. “Where did they come from?”

Ning frowned as well. Although he didn’t know who these three people were, he could roughly estimate how strong they were. The three leaders... two were unique lifeforms, while the other was a Sourcewalker. All three of them were extremely strong, significantly stronger than most Otherverse Lords.

The red-robed maiden stepped forward to stand in front of her allies. She said: “All cultivators of Houwu City, hear my commands!” Her voice was ice cold and it shook every part of the region.

“I have come on orders from the Ruler of the Blazesun Domain. I have come to Houwu City to capture five cultivators.” The red-robed maiden waved her hand as she spoke, causing a scroll to instantly unfurl and reveal a total of five images. These were images of Patriarch Treewind, Imperator Jade Rainbow, Nuwa, and the other two. In the images, Patriarch Treewind and the others were advancing carefully.

“Same rules as always.” The red-robed maiden actually glanced at Patriarch Treewind, then at Nuwa who stood behind Ning. “Hand the five of them over and we won’t harm anyone else. If you dare to refuse... then that means Houwu City shall enter yet another war against us!”

A total of more than two hundred Hegemonic creatures were hovering in the air behind the three leaders. The pressure they brought upon the cultivators was quite enormous... and they were backed by the even more powerful Blazesun Ruler. This was a threat which another type of civilization was levying against the cultivators... and here in the Eight Domains, the cultivator civilizations were clearly the weaker party.

“Walker Scarletbind,” Lord Houwu called out loudly, “Can you tell us how they have offended the Blazesun Ruler?” The Blazesun Ruler was one of the most supreme of Sourcewalkers, comparable to Sithe Exalts in power. So long as an Autarch didn’t intervene, these creatures were invincible.

“Hmph. These five thieves actually dared to barge into one of the Ruler’s hidden residences. They caused an enormous amount of damage and wiped the place clean. They even destroyed one of the Ruler’s favorite treasures, the Jadeheart Lamp! The Ruler was infuriated by this, and so he sent the order to capture them and bring them back. They are to be tortured to death! Otherwise, there’s no way he can give vent to his rage,” the red-robed maiden said angrily.