The Desolate Era

Book 18, Chapter 13 - Armies Retreat

Ji Ning didn’t hesitate to slaughter these Immortals at all. He showed no mercy whatsoever, because showing mercy to his foes was the same as being cruel to those he needed to protect.

Bang! Bang!

The enormous, stormcloud-like palms continued to slam down towards the frantically scurrying Immortals, causing them utter terror and agony. Some of them even began to curse in rage, but they were nothing more than the lowest of ants that would take part in this storm. In truth, in the face of this storm, the Loose Immortals would have even more miserable outcomes than normal mortals would.

“Stop!”

“Halt!”

The two closest White-Faced Flood Dragons and the nine black aberrations came charging towards Ning.

Ning immediately recognized the black aberrations. “Empyrean God golems?”

These newcomers had auras that were slightly weaker than the auras of the massive formation-created Fiendgods; they were Empyrean God golems. The reason why Ning was able to recognize them right away was because when the forces of the Seamless Gate had attempted to assassinate him at Brightheart Island, Old Man Yuan had killed them and given Ning their treasures...and one of the treasures Ning acquired was an Empyrean God golem! It was identical to these nine new Empyrean God golems; black-colored, savage-looking, and horned.

“Darknorth, well done!”

“Excellent.”

“Well-struck!”

“Hahaha...kill them all!”

The other seven Heaven Punishers excitedly moved to join forces with Ning. They couldn’t be blamed for their excitement; the Seamless Gate had just slain the Loachwater Heaven Punisher, while Ning then immediately killed a White-Faced Flood Dragon afterwards. Just now, the other Heaven Punishers had been enraged by the destruction of the Loachwater Heaven Punisher. Upon seeing Ning wipe out an enemy Terrorbeast in bloody fashion, how could they not grow excited?

“Haha, the other nine black Fiendgods are all Empyrean God golems,” Ning sent mentally. “They should all be weaker than the White-Faced Flood Dragons.”

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

The three closest Empyrean God golems pounced towards Ning.

Ning willed it, pulling all the treasures left behind by the countless slain Immortals into hisi storage treasure. Of course, quite a few Immortals managed to escape. Given that Immortals fled at high speed, that they were fleeing in every direction, and that some had even hidden themselves within their Immortal estates, there was no way Ning could wipe them all out. Similarly, when the Loachwater Heaven Punisher had been destroyed, quite a few Immortals had managed to survive as well. But of course, those who survived were the fortunate ones; in a battle at this level, surviving after the formation collapsed was purely a matter of luck!

“Hmph.” Ning’s Heaven Punisher took a single side-step, then launched a fierce claw attack towards an attacking Empyrean God golem.

Ning’s normal combat style involved the usage of the [Starseizing Hand], and so he was very experienced in bare-handed combat.

Fists? Claws? Palms? Sword-fingers? His two hands could use all these techniques!

The Empyrean God golem hurriedly raised its arms to block.

BOOM! When contact was made, Ning’s claw-hand attack changed into a fist-strike, and his fist became covered with a series of sharp, protruding spikes. These spikes were formed from the top-grade Pure Yang treasure, the Splitters. The punch landed heavily against the twin arms of the Empyrean God golem, and although the arms managed to block and withstand the strike, the golem itself was still knocked flying backwards. It flew a tremendous distance, then landed deep into the waters of the great lake. It rolled several times before being able to rise to its feet and once more charge forward, but by this time Ning had already engaged in combat with the other two Empyrean God golems.

Ning’s strikes all focused on using overbearing amounts of power!

As for the three Empyrean God golems, they were much as Ning had protected; due to being created from precious materials, they were incredibly tough defensively, but their attacks were clearly on a lower level. However, because the three golems were attacking Ning in unison, Ning didn’t have enough time to fight them and defeat them one-on-one.

“Kill!”

“These Empyrean God golems aren’t that tough.”

“Significantly weaker than the White-Faced Flood Dragons.”

The other Heaven Punishers began to exchange blows with the Empyrean God golems and the White-Faced Flood Dragons.

Battle continued unabated.

To completely tie down Ji Ning required the usage of three Empyrean God golems, but only two were needed to tie down the other Heaven Punishers. The nine Empyrean God golems and the two White-Faced Flood Dragons had joined forces, supporting each other in defending against Ning and the rest of the eight Heaven Punishers. Although they were at a disadvantage, the Seamless Gate’s forces were able to hold.

The Empyrean God golems were incredibly resilient, after all; their bodies were comparable to Pure Yang treasures! But of course, they had their weaknesses as well; once they were captured or bound, they were finished.

......

Empyrean God Venomsong’s White-Faced Flood Dragon battled furiously for a time against the two Empyrean Gods of the Grand Xia, but was unable to kill them. Upon seeing the two White-Faced Flood Dragons and the nine Empyrean God golems suffer assaults from the eight Heaven Punishers, he immediately let out a furious roar and began to charge towards them. Although the two Empyrean Gods of the Grand Xia did their best to bar the path, they were unable to stop this mighty White-Faced Flood Dragon.

“This White-Faced Flood Dragon is too powerful,” Empyrean God Firecloud sent mentally.

“My guess is that it has to be an Empyrean God or a True Immortal commanding it,” the female Empyrean God sent back. “Let’s use our spells to assist Ji Ning and the rest of the eight.”

“Right. Right now, it’s best if we use spells,” Empyrean God Firecloud agreed.

The female Empyrean God and Empyrean God Firecloud charged forwards while casting their spells.

Both of them were using binding-type spells! A roaring black river of water and a flood of golden magma began to furiously swirl about and entangle the three enemy White-Faced Flood Dragons and the nine enemy Empyrean God golems.

“Damn.” The Venomsong Terrorbeast was enraged.

“The binding power is nauseating.”

“I’m moving even slower now.”

The other two White-Faced Flood Dragons felt the effects even more strongly. Before this, they had an advantage over the Heaven Punishers in terms of speed, but now they were at a disadvantage. Even their attack power had dropped significantly.

As for the nine Empyrean God golems, they were impacted even more heavily. They were weaker to begin with, and now that they were being slowed down by the spells, their power dropped dramatically. Fortunately, the two Empyrean Gods of the Grand Xia had cast wide area-of-effect spells that weren’t focused on them, which was why they were able to continue battling against the Heaven Punishers.

“Damn.”

The Venomsong Terrorbeast was impacted the least, and he charged forward in berserk fashion.

Ning and the other seven Heaven Punishers instantly felt great danger impending.

“Whacko, Allbeasts, Dustfloat, let’s go deal with it,” Celestial Immortal Unity sent. The four of them were facing the Venomsong Terrorbeast, and were the closest ones to him; thus, it was up to the four of them to receive his attacks.

BOOM! Celestial Immortal Unity was sent flying backwards from the initial collision, but the other three Heaven Punishers immediately moved to block the Venomsong Terrorbeast, giving him no chance to press the assault.

For a time, four Heaven Punishers launched wild joint attacks against the Venomsong Terrorbeast. They rained down their blows in sequence, supporting each other and managing to withstand the terrifying White-Faced Flood Dragon!

As for Ning and the remaining Heaven Punishers, they continued to wildly battle the nine Empyrean God golems and the other two White-Faced Flood Dragons. Ning alone was suffering assaults from six separate Empyrean God golems.

......

Atop the distant walls of the black citadel, the Seamless City. True Immortal Whitepole, Gatemaster Azurefox, and the others were watching from afar.

“I told them long ago to be wary of the one named Ji Ning.” Gatemaster Azurefox had a frown on her face, as well as a hint of anger on it.

“You can’t blame them.” The Hallmaster of the Bloodcloud Hall shook his head. “Things change too quickly on the field of battle. Once you give your enemy an opening, you won’t even have a chance to flee. In addition...that Ji Ning took on a tremendous risk. He actually dared to use jump up and use a knee-strike? True Fiendgods rarely use techniques like that.”

True Immortal Whitepole said coldly, “To do what others dare not do; that’s what made him formidable. For true Fiendgods, their full power is merged together with each strike, and so it is enough to use the arms to attack. The formation commanders of the Heaven Punishers and the White-Faced Flood Dragons are only able to control part of their strength, to say nothing of merging it all together in each blow. The legs of the Heaven Punishers are far more powerful than their arms. If Ji Ning hadn’t used such a risky attack, our side would’ve been able to hold on and the nine Empyrean God golems would’ve been able to make it there in time. But Ji Ning’s risky maneuver...he broke through the defenses of the White-Faced Flood Dragon with a knee, then slaughtered it.”

The others present all needed.

“This Ji Ning truly has become a dangerous variable,” Gatemaster Azurefox said.

The horned Immortal Venomfreak had an even uglier look on his face now, but a mocking look was in his eyes.

Originally, when he was with the Nuwa Alliance, he had been worried that Ning would take revenge on him.

Now that he had joined the Seamless Gate...it became the Seamless Gate who wanted to kill Ning, even more than Venomfreak did.

“This battle can be concluded now,” True Immortal Whitepole said. “The Xia Emperor has other Empyrean Gods and True Immortals who have yet to appear, while we haven’t used our full power either. Even if both of us did use our full power, neither of us would be able to sweep away our opponents. This initial clash has been enough; it’s shown us our opponent’s strengths and weaknesses. It’s time for us to ponder on them.”

“Agreed.”

“We definitely do need to ponder on this. It seems...we’ll need to request additional reinforcements from the Fifth World.”

Everyone nodded.

None of them had expected to fully destroy their enemies in this first clash; that would be a gross underestimation of the Xia Emperor. If they were so foolish as to continue to flail about...even if they managed to win, the price they would pay would be catastrophic. What the Seamless Gate wanted to do was to conquer the entire Grand Xia while suffering the least amount of casualties possible. But of course...if there were no other options, they would be willing to pay whatever price was necessary.

“Venomsong.” True Immortal Whitepole looked towards the other Empyrean God of the Seamless Gate. “Halt the battle. Come back.”

The person he was speaking to was, of course, Empyrean God Venomsong, albeit just a clone.

As a Fiendgod, he was able to effortlessly create thousands of clones.

“Fine.” Empyrean God Venomsong narrowed his eyes and nodded. “However...before we retreat, I want to personally test this Ji Ning’s power.”

“Thank, you Venomsong.” The black-robed, black-haired, red-eyed elder suddenly said something for the first time.

“Haha, fellow Daoist Crimsonjoy, no need to thank me. I know that you were entrusted with fellow Daoist Blackheaven with the task of killing Ji Ning. I might be helping you out, but I am primarily acting to serve the Seamless Gate’s interests. This Ji Ning truly is an impediment to our conquest of the Grand Xia.” Empyrean God Venomsong nodded.

The red-eyed elder nodded lightly.

He wasn’t under the command of Gatemaster Azurefox at all. He had come on the request of Celestial Immortal Blackheaven, and he had just one mission...to kill Ji Ning!

......

“The Seamless Gate is most likely going to retreat soon. Beware their final attack,” Ji Ning sent mentally. He was the strongest member on their side, and so was able to read the flow of battle better than any of them.

“Right. Everyone, be careful.”

“Not good. The most powerful White-Faced Flood Dragon just ran off. Ah! Ji Ning, be careful!” Celestial Immortal Unity sent mentally.

Ning noticed this as well.

The most powerful White-Faced Flood Dragon moved incredibly fast. Upon disengaging, it shot out in a solitary line and charged towards Ji Ning.

Instantly, the other Heaven Punishers moved closer to Ning, intending to support him.

“Die.”

The Venomsong Terrorbeast charged forward ferociously. Venomsong wanted to test Ning...but of course, if he was able to kill Ning, that would be even better. His claws tore outwards, seeming to carry the power to rend apart the sky itself as he struck straight towards Ning’s Heaven Punisher.

Ning took one step back with his left leg, both knees bending slightly as he used both of his palms to meet the ferocious claw-strikes.

BOOM!!!

This was the most powerful exchange of blows in this initial clash. The shockwaves from the collision caused the ground itself to split apart, with enormous craters appearing in the ground beneath both Ning’s Heaven Punisher and the White-Faced Flood Dragon. Both their bodies sank downwards, their legs plunging knee-deep into the earth. The earth around them rippled outwards like massive waves, and the ripples spread all the way to the distant lake, kicking up absolutely shocking waves.