The Desolate Era

Book 22, Chapter 21 - Overlord

Thearch Fusha had handsome features, a large frame, and a natural aura of dominance. Thearch Vileye, by contrast, was incomparably ugly. His body was covered with a layer of thick jade skin, and his body was filled with countless bulges and bumps. On his forehead, there was a particularly large bump that had an eye inside of it, and that eye was filled with endless malevolence. Weaker Empyrean Gods and True Immortals would probably be instantly dominated by a single glance of that eye.

“Come with me, but be wary of Darknorth and Kuafu. Be wary of Darknorth in particular; his sword-arts are extremely powerful,” Thearch Fusha instructed.

“Yes.” The six figures immediately followed directly behind them.

Ji Ning was flying through the air, surrounded by his black lightning serpent. He swept the battlefield with his gaze. In his heart, he was most worried about Lord Tathagata the Buddha. Based on what Graceful Peacock had told him, Tathagata was currentingly being assaulted by two overlord-class figures! Even worse, these were figures that no one had ever encountered before.

Two overlord-class figures...it was entirely possible that the two of them were both Elder Gods! If they truly did come from the vast primordial chaos, there was no way for Ji Ning to predict how powerful they might be. If things went on for too long, Lord Buddha might very well be slain!

The Seamless Gate’s alliance with the Primordial Ruinworld meant that they had gained two more overlord-class figures on their side. Ning’s side, the Nuwa Alliance, could not afford any more losses!

“F*ck off.” Ning pointed from afar.

Instantly, rainbow-colored sword-light began to descend upon the world around him in an utterly dazzling fashion. Next, the countless rays of sword-light began to spin together, condensing into a total of nine rainbow swords. They struck down towards Thearch Fusha and six of the True Gods like nine rainbow lighting bolts! This scene stunned all of the major powers present.

[Sword-Heaven-Earth], third of seven stances: Heavenly Swords Descend!

BOOM! Layers of black light appeared around Thearch Fusha and the rest of the eight. The layers of black light whittled away at the power of the rainbow-colored swords, in the end forcibly halting Ning’s strike.

“Darknorth, these aliens of the Primordial Ruinworld have learned some powerful combination formations. Be careful!” The distant Daoist Jade Cauldron sent a hurried mental message.

“Everyone, be careful. All we need to do is keep Darknorth tied down.” Thearch Fusha and the rest of the eight were all badly frightened as well. They hadn’t even engaged Ji Ning in close combat yet. They never would’ve imagined that those nine long-distance strikes would contain such incredible power! Fortunately, they had been taught certain things by the Godfiend, and so were able to jointly resist those attacks.

“Sword Immortal Darknorth is too arrogant. He actually dares to fight against us by himself. If he had worked together with Kuafu just now, we might’ve been in a bit of trouble.” Thearch Vileye snickered coldly. “Now that we have this formation which Master taught us...hmph. Sword Immortal Darknorth won’t be able to do anything to us.”

Whoosh.

Ning came to a halt in midair, frowning as he glanced at the alien Outsiders in front of him.

Time was very precious right now!

They were in a hurry to go reinforce Fuxi and rescue Tathagata! But now, Daoist Jade Cauldron had been trapped here. Thanks to the [Ninehorn Lightning Serpent], Ning would indeed be able to move at high speed and circle around this region, but that would mean Daoist Jade Cauldron’s squad would be in serious trouble. If more time passed, they might very well die here. Thus...Ning decided that he might as well spend a bit more effort here.

“Die!” Ning transformed into a streak of light and charged forward.

“He still isn’t having Kuafu and the others come out?” Thearch Vileye and Thearch Fusha were both startled. “Ji Ning is underestimating us a bit too much. The only reason he is formidable is because of his swordforce. It’s not as though he is an Elder God.”

Whoosh! Whoosh! Ning’s two arms dramatically increased in size, expanding to become more than three thousand meters long as the tips of his fingers shone with rainbow-colored sword-light.

“Fall down!” The vile-looking vertical pupil in Thearch Vileye’s forehead was staring fixedly at Ning, and an invisible wave of force struck out towards him.

Ning, however, just stared back coldly at these alien Outsiders. He was completely unaffected. His soul had been nurtured by the power of his half-step Elder God body. His soul was so powerful that it would probably rank within the top three of the entire Three Realms! His heartforce was at the fourth stage as well! In fact, Ning had also learned a heartforce soul-locking technique from World God Northrest. How could an innate domination technique like this possibly shake his soul? Even if it was a hundred times more powerful, it wouldn’t be able to do anything to Ning.

Those two elongated arms were like a pair of extremely long spears!

Bang! Bang!

Ning’s palms pierced straight through the layers of black light surrounding the two Thearchs and the other six! The Thearchs had felt as though Ning’s palms were quite far away, but in the next instant the two palms had already pierced through the protective black light. The attack was simply too fast; it had completely surpassed the speed of light.

Ning had distilled the best aspects of many different sword-arts to create the most penetrative stance of the [Brightmoon] sword-art: Blood Drop Stance!

Given Ning’s power as a half-step Elder God and his terrifying sword-arts, the power of this blow was so great that it arguably had reached the apex of power in the Three Realms! Although Ning’s palms had merely been trained to the Fifth Cycle of the [Starseizing Hand], it was still more than enough when dealing with these alien Outsiders of the Primordial Ruinworld!

“How can this be?!”

“No!”

The two Thearchs and the six True Gods were completely scared silly. Their first reaction...was to flee!

This was an instinctive desire, separate from all conscious thought!

Whoosh!

The two massive palms that had pierced through their formation were like a pair of metal hammers smashing together! They were like a pair of enormous stormclouds that were joining together in a tremendous clap, capturing the terrified Thearchs and the True Gods between them. Agonized, terrified cries rang out as the ten tried to flee...but alas, how could they possibly move as fast as Ning’s palms?

BOOM!!!!

The two massive palms clapped together violently in midair.

The True Gods and Daofathers were completely destroyed, their bodies transformed into dust and their truesouls destroyed.

“B-b-but...” The distant Daoist Jade Cauldron and his squad were dazed by what they had just seen.

They had battled against these alien Outsiders for quite some time now, and they knew exactly how tough and durable that formation was. They had yet to find a way to penetrate the formation, but Ji Ning had managed to shatter it through just his hands? In fact, he had clapped to death those eight True Gods in an instant! Thearch Fusha and Thearch Vileye, two incredibly tough foes, were amongst their ranks as well!

“Flee!”

“Flee right away!”

“He’s an overlord!”

“He’s an Elder God!”

“Quick, flee!”

The other alien True Gods and Daofathers who had been battling Daoist Jade Cauldron were completely scared senseless. Thearch Darkstill and the other Thearch no longer had their usual composure; their only thing on their face was utter terror.

“Flee?” Ning, who had just wiped out those eight True Gods, turned his head to look towards them. Swoosh! He transformed into a black lightning serpent and charged towards them.

“Flee in different directions.”

“Split up!”

They didn’t hesitate at all. They didn’t even dare to think of using their formation to defend against Ji Ning’s attacks. They immediately split apart, fleeing in different directions. Their formation naturally dissipated as well.

Swoosh!

Ning came to a halt. He stood there in midair, staring at the eight True Gods that were fleeing in every which way.

“Arise.” Ning pointed his finger towards the heavens.

The skies turned dark, and streams of rainbow-colored sword-light began to appear in the area around them. The entire region became a world of rainbow sword-light. This caused the fleeing Thearchs and True Gods to reveal looks of horror on their faces, especially Thearch Darkstill. He had sent his nine bugbeasts against Ning, and they had all been wiped out by this technique.

The dazzling rainbow sword-light unfolded like the blooming of a flower, shooting out in every direction.

It was beautiful and dazzling.

Slash! Slash! Slash! Slash! ......

Sword Peacock, a stance meant for slaughter. Six of the eight alien Daofathers were instantly slain. The two Thearchs managed to resist for a brief moment, but in the end even they found it difficult to resist the consecutive strikes of rainbow sword-light from Sword Peacock. One was disintegrated, while the other, Thearch Darkstill, was able to survive thanks to his defensive skills. However, he was still heavily injured.

Slash! The black lightning serpent flashed past him, and as it did his head went flying, eyes still filled with a look of celebration at having ‘survived’ Sword Peacock.

The entire world turned silent.

The sixteen alien True Gods had all been slain! The distant Daoist Jade Cauldron, Chijingzi, Holy Mother Turtlesoul, and others all stared blankly. Sixteen True Gods and Daofathers...they had all been wiped out in such a short period of time, and in such a completely overwhelming fashion. This sort of power...there was only one explanation.

“He’s an overlord?” Old man Chijingzi murmured to himself.

The six Daofathers by his side all shivered.

Overlord?

They stared at the distant white-robed youth, the ordinary-looking kid. He was an overlord?

“Sword Immortal Darknorth? He’s reached the overlord level?” Daoist Jade Cauldron still couldn’t believe it. None of the seven really could.

In their hearts...Ji Ning was just a lovesick man who was exceedingly talented. In truth, they felt quite a bit of pity towards Ji Ning. They knew of his history, and they also knew that his wife ‘Yu Wei’ had been a spy for the Seamless Gate. In fact, Yu Wei’s betrayal during the Crimsonbright Realmwar had very nearly caused them to lose that Realmwar.

Almost everyone in the Three Realms knew that during the battle in the Deerchaser world, the black-robed Godking had personally crushed Yu Wei’s truesoul! None of them could forget the agonized howl of rage which Ji Ning had unleashed...

In their hearts, whenever they thought of Ji Ning, they would at most sigh to themselves and say, “What a pitiable man. He is a genius, but alas the war arrived too soon for him.”

This was what many believed, including many of the major powers.

In fact, even Ning’s own master, Subhtui, often mused to himself that it truly was a pity that Ji Ning had been born so late. If he had been born just a few years earlier, he might’ve stood a good chance of reaching Houyi’s level.

A pitiable man with a pitiable life!

These feelings of commiseration and pity were what most major powers felt when they faced Ning.