The Desolate Era

Book 23, Chapter 18 - A Bloody Battle

The overlords of the Seamless Gate all had ashen looks on their faces.

They had made extensive and careful preparations for this fight, but the might which the Nuwa Alliance had just displayed was just too strong. Five Elder God-level combatants had just appeared out of nowhere! Just one or two, the Seamless Gate would’ve been able to deal with, but now? They had instantly been pushed to the edges of the cliff.

“Ugh.” Old Man Yuan let out a sigh, then sent mentally, “Allfiend, I’ll do what I promised I would do. However, there’s no way I can change the overall situation by myself. Leave Gonggong to me. Deal with the rest yourself.”

Swoosh.

Old Man Yuan transformed into a streak of light, flying straight towards Gonggong.

Elder God Gonggong’s eyes were filled with murder as he stared at Old Man Yuan. He roared angrily, “Daoist Yuan, you traitor...die!”

“Who will kill me? You?” Old Man Yuan’s horsetail whisk struck out, causing countless strands of white hairs to flew towards Elder God Gonggong.

Godfiend Witherspike and the one-armed Saber watched from the sidelines. Right at this moment, the Lord of All Fiend’s voice rang out by their ears. “The situation looks grim. Do you plan to give up or do you plan to help us out?”

“Help out. Of course we will help out,” Godfiend Witherspike replied.

“Houyi, Ji Ning, Jueming, Suiren. Choose two of these four,” the Lord of All Fiends sent.

Godfiend Witherspike and Saber immediately made their decision.

Ji Ning? He was too hard to deal with.

Suiren? He actually also had the [Ninehorn Lightning Serpent]. He was also too hard to deal with.

Houyi? Intriguing. They hadn’t fought against him either.

Jueming? He’d hidden his true power quite well.

“Leave Houyi and Jueming to us,” Godfiend Witherspike replied. The two transformed into streaks of light, charging towards the Nuwa Alliance. These two had battled countless times in the primordial chaos; to exchange blows with Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals was a commonplace event and they felt no pressure whatsoever. Still...since they had chosen to get involved in this fight, they still had to give it their best shot.

“I’ll go stop Shennong,” Daofather Ink Bamboo sent, then moved to engage.

“Be careful.” The Lord of All Fiends sighed quietly to himself.

After the battle that destroyed the Primordial Era, the Seamless Gate had given birth to overlords of its own. Bloodswan and Ink Bamboo were two examples! As for Everwood, he had actually broken through to become an Elder God. Of course, all these things were kept highly secret. Daofather Ink Bamboo had always been a very low-key figure. Long ago, he had followed the Lord of the Demonheart as a loyal retainer. Later, when the black-robed Godking became the nominal leader of the Seamless Gate, he had willingly carried out tasks on the Godking’s behalf.

No one realized that this loyal, devoted servant, this ordinary Daofather, would actually come to possess the power of an overlord as well.

Tathagata did so by mastering the Five Elements of metal, wood, water, fire, and earth! Fuxi had mastered the Heavenly Daos of Yin and Yang!

But Daofather Ink Bamboo was different!

He had grafted his insights into the Seamless Chaosworld’s Heavenly Daos of Earth and Water with the Three Realms’ Heavenly Dao of Wood, joining them together into a seamless whole. This allowed him to reach an utterly inconceivably high level of insight into the Dao of Wood. Much like how Ning had reached a shocking level of power thanks to his skill in the Dao of the Sword, Daofather Ink Bamboo’s mastery over the Dao of Wood had allowed him to become an overlord as well.

Swoosh. The skies became filled with giant stalks of bamboo, all of which reached out towards Shennong’s Pangu Genesis Formation.

“Bloodswan, Devilhand, the two of you go deal with Tathagata,” the Lord of All Fiends instructed.

“Alright.” Daomother Devilhand and Daofather Bloodswan didn’t hesitate at all, immediately charging towards Tathagata. If they had to fight against Tathagata by themselves, they truly wouldn’t have felt any confidence at all.

The reason why Daofather Ink Bamboo dared to fight Shennong by himself was partially because Shennong wasn’t that skilled in close combat. In addition, Daofather Ink Bamboo was skilled in defense!

Whoosh. While Daofather Bloodswan flew forward, a second body suddenly appeared next to him.

There were now two of him; one in black robes, the other in blood robes. Both bodies were at the overlord level of power. Daomother Devilhand was by his side as well, and the three of them jointly struck out towards Tathagata.

As for the Lord of All Fiends, his divine body suddenly split apart into two different bodies. The two Lord of All Fiends separately attacked Ji Ning and Suiren!

Although all this took time to described, it actually all occurred in an instant.

Keeper Everwood, Old Man Yuan, Godfiend Witherspike, Saber, Daofather Ink Bamboo, Daofather Bloodswan, Daomother Devilhand, and the Lord of All Fiends attacked in unison.

Keeper Everwood, Godfiend Witherspike, Saber, and the Lord of All Fiends were actual Elder Gods!

Old Man Yuan and Daofather Ink Bamboo were both extremely skilled in defensive techniques, guaranteeing that even though they were somewhat weaker they would still be able to hold on in the face of enemy attacks. This was much like how Tathagata had been able to hold on for a long period of time against Godfiend Witherspike, Saber, and an entire host of Outsider major powers.

When Daofather Bloodswan’s two bodies joined together with Daomother Devilhand, they formed quite a formidable team.

......

“Die...all of you can go die...” Elder God Gonggong’s long hair fluttered about as he smashed at Old Man Yuan with his staff in a berserk manner.

Old Man Yuan continuously focused on defense, blocking the attacks.

“You should know that I hate traitors like you the most,” Elder God Gonggong bellowed.

“Hmph.” Old Man Yuan just smirked calmly, not deigning to respond.

......

“I heard you are pretty good with the bow.” Godfiend Witherspike stood there in midair, chuckling as he faced the hatchet-wielding Houyi. “Why don’t you show me?”

“You think you merit it?” Houyi suddenly charged forward, his aura bursting with power as he raised his hatchet up high.

This scene caused Godfiend Witherspike to feel a slight hint of terror. He felt as though he was facing a terrifyingly powerful World God who was chopping down at him with an axe. Still, Godfiend Witherspike was able to remain quite calm. His tail rapidly expanded in size as well, striking out like a giant whip that lashed out at the upraised hatchet.

BOOM!

Godfiend Witherspike was knocked slightly backwards, while Houyi’s body came to a halt as well.

“Quite powerful.” Godfiend Witherspike chuckled, then let out a sigh. “This is a bit interesting. Your heartforce really is strong; I nearly succumbed to your blow just now. Fortunately, I’m quite experienced myself.”

“Hmph.” Houyi just advanced coldly, continuing to swing his hatchet.

......

The one-armed Saber was battling against Buddha Jueming.

A dazzlingly brilliant golden palm came flying through the air, and it knocked Saber backwards. Saber’s eyes gleamed as he stared at Buddha Jueming, a hint of excitement in his gaze. “Your Three Realms has the so-called ‘Buddhist Sangha’. I’ve tangled with your Buddhist overlord, ‘Tathagata’. Your palm-arts are quite similar to his, and even your palms are like top-grade Protocosmic spirit-treasures. However, your palm-strikes are even more powerful than his!”

“Only because I have strong enough divine power.” Buddha Jueming replied calmly. His eyes were ice cold, and he continued to slam down with his mighty palms.

The Buddhists were all skilled in palm-arts. After Jueming became a Buddha, Lord Tathagata had naturally imparted many Buddhist secret arts and divine abilities to him. Buddha Jueming had meditated on these secret arts, then joined those insights to his [Nine Elements Annihilation]. He had spent countless years in order to develop a palm-art divine ability that was every bit as strong as Lord Tathagata’s; in fact, in terms of raw explosive power, it was actually superior! Now that he was an Elder God, this set of palm-arts allowed him to unleash the power of a truly elite Elder God. His only weakness was that his insights into the Dao weren’t as profound as Tathagata’s, making his palm-arts less perfect. Despite that, his advantage in raw power as an Elder God made it so that when he used this palm-art, his strikes were truly devastating!

For now, even Saber was kept at a disadvantage.

......

Daoist Three Purities commanded his Nuwa Heaven Repairing Formation to use his Immortal Slaying Swords to attack the Elder God ‘Keeper Everwood’, who found it difficult to endure his blows.

Lord Tathagata commanded his Pangu Genesis Formation to fight against Daofather Bloodswan and Daomother Devilhand, who also were just barely able to hold on.

Shennong was in command of another Pangu Genesis Formation, but Daofather Ink Bamboo had managed to tie him down.

Suiren’s strikes with his wooden staff were filled with incredible, extraordinary power. Each time he struck out with his staff, an ferocious burst of flame would erupt with absolutely devastating might. Even the Lord of All Fiends was forced to dodge, rather than take those attacks head-on.

“Allfiend, is dodging all you can do? Is that all you dare do?” Suiren roared angrily. He was quite fast, but the Lord of All Fiends was even faster.

“If we were fighting one-on-one, of course I’d fight you head-on. Right now, I only have part of my full power; a head-on fight isn’t in my favor.” The Lord of All Fiends flew about unpredictably, continuously circling around Suiren and ensuring that Suiren wouldn’t dare to act rashly. Although he had divided his body in two, causing both bodies to be slightly weaker than his normal body, each body could still just barely be considered as having the power of an elite Elder God. If Suiren acted rashly, he would still be in danger of dying.

But of course, only someone like the Lord of All Fiends, the physically fastest combatant in all the Three Realms, would dare to divide his body in half at a time like this.

Ning was facing off against a Lord of All Fiends as well.

“Lord of All Fiends, you split your body in two? I imagine that each body only has a portion of your true might.” Ning shook his head. “You underestimate me too much.”

Whoosh.

A black-robed Ning suddenly appeared next to the white-robed Ning.

Swoosh! Swoosh!

The white-robed Ning charged towards Daofather Ink Bamboo, while the black-robed Ning charged towards Daomother Devilhand.