The Desolate Era

Book 8, Chapter 32 - Awoken

“Little Qing, pack up the bewildering formation,” Ji Ning instructed. This bewildering formation was of no use at all against the Dragonwhale King; it would only baffle themselves.

The formation vanished. The massive, bulky body of the Dragonwhale King could now be seen, standing off in the distance. The aura of the Dragonwhale King was now clearly far more savage and explosive than it had been in the past. In his subconscious...Ning felt a sense of danger. This was a warning from his divine soul.

“I have to thank you for helping me break through to become a Primal. Thus, I helped you kill those two humans. They should be your enemies, yes?” The Dragonwhale looked at Ning disdainfully, then said, “My brothers and sisters all died in the hands of you three. And you, Ji Ning...you deserve death more than anyone else.”

“Go.” The Dragonwhale’s eyes flashed with cold light. Swoosh! A giant black sword, thirty meters long, almost the size of a warship, chopped directly towards Ji Ning, the surface of the sword covered with the swirling flames of Primal Fire.

“Hmph.” Seeing this, Ning let out a cold snort, while at the same time, his own divine sense sent out the [Soulshaker Art]. The rolling waves of divine will swept forward like a flood, viciously striking against the Dragonwhale’s Primal soul! Rumble...the Dragonwhale felt its Primal soul shudder, and the power of its magic treasures was noticeably lowered.

This caused the Dragonwhale to be secretly shocked; how did this Ji Ning have such a powerful soul? Could he be a reincarnated Immortal? But even if he was, he still had to die!

“Haaaargh!” The giant black sword, carrying Primal Fire, howled as it flew towards Ning. Ning let out an angry roar, and his body instantly expanded as he transformed into a ten meter high giant. The Darknorth swords in his hands transformed into a blur as they moved to engage.

BOOM! Sword-light and the giant black sword collided in midair. Ji Ning, after using the [Starseizing Hand], had released incredibly great power with this sword attack, and was able to forcibly knock the giant black sword backwards, while he himself took two steps back. At the same time, the Waterflame Lotus appeared around his body. The petals of this breathtakingly beautiful lotus now contained both snowy dire-ice and golden earthfire...causing its power to increase dramatically.

“Dragonwhale, you want to rely on magic treasures alone to kill me? You are looking down on me a bit too much,” Ning laughed loudly.

The Dragonwhale noticed this as well. This Ji Ning’s power was far beyond that of those other two Wanxiang Adepts, especially in close quarters combat; he was exceedingly strong.

“As you wish, then.” The Dragonwhale King let out a massive howl, and instantly, its entire body transformed into a heaven-filling fog, but then, next to that underground river, its body began to transform into its true form.

Ning hurriedly sent to the nearby Northson and Qingqing, “Junior apprentice-brother, Little Qing, once this Dragonwhale takes its true form, it’ll cause the heavens to collapse and the earth to shatter; the surrounding parts of the mountain will definitely be shattered. I’ll battle against him and hold him off; you two, hurry up and go break out of this sealing formation. Junior apprentice-brother, use whatever means you must in order to break through the formation and uproot the formation flags. Once the formation is gone, I’ll have plenty of ways to escape.”

Northson hesitated momentarily, then nodded. “Fine. Senior apprentice-brother, be careful.”

“Don’t worry.” Ning lowered his head, glancing sideways his junior apprentice-brother and Qingqing. After having transformed into a giant due to the ‘Heavenly Transformation’ divine ability, it really did feel a bit odd interacting with them.

“Rumble...”

The true form of the Dragonwhale was beginning to take shape in this subterranean cavern. Its body was simply too vast, while the caverns were too small. After having used its divine ability, it was ten thousand meters in length, while its body was many hundreds of meters wide. For such an enormous body to be squeezed into a mountain cavern meant that the surrounding mountain itself would begin to split apart.

“Break apart!” The Dragonwhale felt too confined and cramped as well. When it was young, it had lived in the Darknorth Seas. After coming to this vast region, it normally battled in the wide, spacious skies. Naturally, it preferred wide spaces, and wasn’t very comfortable when underground.

Its enormous, ponderous body began to shake violently and wriggle about, its tail slapping about as well. Slash! It was like an earthworm flipping over, and in the process, the mountain peak above that had taken up ten kilometers suddenly fell over and collapsed. Many stones were knocked flying into the skies as well. Even the earth itself was ripped apart, while the underground river ceased to floor. The underground passage, previously thirty meters wide, was instantly, forcibly expanded to three thousand meters wide.

“Rumble...” Even the boiling lava beneath them began to soar towards the skies, belching forth in a paroxysm of fire as the river of lava itself reversed course. The Dragonwhale’s revealing of his true form had truly caused the heavens to split and the earth to shatter. As for Ning, he held his twin swords in his hands, watching this as the Waterflame Lotus bloomed about him.

“Hurry up and leave,” Ning immediately transmitted and shouted to them, “If we get separated, we’ll reunite at the dire-ice location.”

“Senior apprentice-brother, be careful.”

“Master, be careful.”

Qingqing instantly transformed into a small snake, wrapping herself around Northson’s arm. As for Northson, he transformed into a streak of light, breaking through the crumbling rocks and charging outside, moving as fast as lightning.

“Hahaha, fleeing? Do you really think you’ll escape?” The Dragonwhale’s massive draconic head released a wild, savage laugh. The sky was now visible from their location, and the lava around them bubbled and hissed. It was a picture of utter chaos.

“Die.” The two dragon-whiskers of the Dragonwhale descended in a sweeping movement towards Ning, surrounded by Primal Fire and moving as fast as lightning.

“Break!” Ning’s sword-light was especially dazzling. “BANG!” Ning’s twin swords clashed against them, and with the collision, Ning was knocked flying backwards.

“Its power increased by quite a bit.” Ning was sent smashing through tens of meters of the mountain rocks, and his face changed. “Ah, right. Those dragon-whiskers are its ‘intrinsic magic treasures’ which it spent many years cultivating. Now that it has become a Primal, in its true form...the power of its intrinsic magic treasures have naturally improved dramatically.”

After having reverted to its true form, the Dragonwhale’s power had increased significantly. Even despite using the [Starseizing Hand], Ning still felt as though he couldn’t be able to withstand it.

“It seems as though my power, now, is still quite a bit weaker than a Primal Daoists.” Ning faced the Dragonwhale King, not knowing how to battle him and trying to think of a way to delay. But suddenly...

The world went silent.

The river of lava, previously flowing in the opposite direction, came to a halt.

The spraying water of the underground river froze in midair.

The stones that had been blasted into the skies froze there.

Ning was still in the pose of executing the Windwing Evasion and retreating frantically...

Northson was standing in front of the grand sealing barrier, unmoving...

Even the incomparably massive Dragonwhale Diremonster that was floating in the air had come to a halt. Its dragon-whiskers that had been dancing in the air were now frozen there.

In this instant, it was as though everything in this region had gone still. But Ning, Northson, the Azure Skysnake, and the Dragonwhale King, these four living creatures, knew very well that this wasn’t the case!

“This is...” Ning could feel an incomparably powerful force instantly descend, so powerful as to completely suppress him. He felt like an ant atop of an iceberg, completely unable to move. He even felt as though he couldn’t change his facial expressions. That surge of power was simply too massive.

“What...what is going on?” Ning was completely stunned and uneasy. His soul was pulsing at him, screaming of a terrifyingly great danger. Ning had the feeling that whatever threat had appeared was capable of instantly annihilating him.

......

“What...what’s this??!” Northson, who had just reached the grand sealing formation, was incomparably frantic as well. In his heart, he was also completely stunned. He felt as though he had been completely suppressed and sealed away; he couldn’t even move a single finger. He could also see that even the rocks in midair weren’t moving at all, causing him to feel all the more horrified.

.......

The Dragonwhale was stunned as well. It was a Primal Diremonster, and a Dragonwhale at that; how incredibly great was its power? With but a single flip of its body, it could shatter the heavens and break the earth. And yet, in this instant, its massive body hung there in midair, completely unable to move.

“I’ve already reached the Primal stage. What power is this, which is capable of preventing me from even fighting back? Even Immortals shouldn’t be this powerful. Can it be a Celestial Immortal? Or a Loose Immortal who has lived for hundreds of thousands or millions of years?” The Dragonwhale’s heart was filled with many thoughts as well, and it too was both terrified and restless.

.......

Although Ning didn’t move at all, he could still see. “Is that...?!” Ning suddenly stared in astonishment as the distant, bubbling river of lava began to part. The entire earth began to crack open, as a massive, fiery red hand, wreathed in lava, emerged from it. This hand...just staring at it, Ning became filled with despair.

This was something which occurred only when the disparity in power had reached an unbelievable level.

This palm of this titanic hand was more than three thousand meters long, and the palm lines were all clearly visible. These ancient, criss-crossing palm lines appeared to be carved or sculpted. As this titanic, fiery hand stretched out from the lava, it seized the head of the Dragonwhale in midair.

CRUNCH.

Like crushing an egg, the titanic, fiery hand easily pinched and squished the skull of the Dragonwhale. Although the Dragonwhale was a Fiendgod Body Refiner, during the instant in which its head was pinched, even its soul was crushed and dispersed. It wouldn’t even have the chance to reincarnate.

An exalted Primal Diremonster had just died!

“This...” Ning’s heart was filled with incomparable shock, but his facial expressions remained completely unchanged from earlier. Even his facial muscles couldn’t budge.

“Rumble...”

An even more titanically massive, fiery red head suddently emerged from the splitting lava. Right; a head! He had a single eye, a nose, and a mouth. The size of his head alone was more than three thousand meters tall. His entire, massive body slowly emerged from the deep abysses of the earth. Only after half of his body was revealed did he come to a halt. His body seemed to be formed from solidified magma, and it emanated an incomparable, scorching aura. He glanced at the corpse of the Dragonwhale, which now lay amongst the shattered rocks. His single, fiery red pupil had a cold look in them.

“A puny earthworm actually dared to destroy my residence and disturb my slumber. He deserved to die,” this titan rumbled.

Ning was unable to reveal any expressions on his face. But in his heart, he was screaming in shock, “Fiendgod, this is definitely a true Fiendgod!”

In this instant, Ning could think of no other possibilities. Neither Immortals nor Diremonsters matched this creature’s appearance. This incomparably ancient, terrifying presence...in terms of appearance, aura, or power, the only type of creature which matched it was a Fiendgod! Fiendgods were born from the heavens themselves, and thus most had incomparably vast bodies.

They were incredibly powerful, and they had been born unfathomable ages ago, during the Fiendgod Era!

“And two humans, along with a little snake.” This ancient Fiendgod, who had been slumbering for who knows how long, swept his single eye to glance towards Ning, Northson, and the Azure Skysnake, as though he were looking at ants.