The Desolate Era

Book 23, Chapter 20 - Escaping the Three Realms

“That voice...it sounded like the voice of the heavens themselves.” The countless denizens of the Three Realms, human and monster alike, stared questioningly at the skies. The weaker ones were confused, while the powerful cultivators and Diremonsters were stunned.

As for the two battling armies in the Void, their experts and major powers were similarly shocked.

“Is that...” Ji Ning and the others all felt fear in their hearts.

Rumble...

The entirety of the Three Realms was trembling. Heaven and Earth were thundering and shaking. Even the Void itself was booming! It was as though some invisible creature was attempting to tear the Three Realms asunder. This surge of power caused the major powers of the Nuwa Alliance, who had held the upper hand in the Endwar thus far, to have a bad feeling.

“Ignore him. Wipe out the Seamless Gate first,” Daoist Three Purities barked.

“Wipe them out first.”

The black-robed Ning pointed, causing the semi-translucent golden sword to rapidly swing towards the distant army of the Seamless Gate. The sword energy stretched out a million kilometers, aimed at a Ragnarok Formation that was formed by six Daofathers and 5100 True Immortals. Rings of black light swirled around the Ragnarok Formation as it did its best to defend.

Slash! The first strike of the semi-translucent golden sword nearly destabilized the Ragnarok Formation.

Stab! The Triult Sword Formation launched yet another attack, this one using the ‘Blood Drop Stance’ of the [Brightmoon] sword-art and striking with extraordinary speed.

Boom!

The entire Ragnarok Formation completely blew apart. Sword-ki sliced everywhere, causing the majority of the True Immortals in the formation to be reduced to dust. The six Daofathers and the remainder of the True Immortals sought to flee, but the semi-translucent golden sword then spun about, transforming into an enormous black hole that drew in and ground to death all of the Immortals and Fiendgods in the area. Some attempted to hide in their Immortal estates, but even those estates were ground to tiny pieces. Of the thousands of Immortals, only eight were able to survive, all of which were only able to do so because they had extraordinarily powerful estate-worlds or Immortal estates on them.

Three of the eight were Daofathers while five were True Immortals.

“Come here.” The black-robed Ning flew over towards them, waving his hand and collecting all eight of those treasures.

“Ashes to ashes...dust to dust.”

Lord Tathagata the Buddha, in command of a Pangu Genesis Formation, also advanced through the Void as he charged towards the Seamless Gate’s army. The mighty formations of the Seamless Gate quickly began to flee. Although these formations had many Immortals and Fiendgods inside of them, how could they possibly fight Lord Buddha head-on? A Ragnarok Formation had been destroyed by Ji Ning with just two blows!

“You shall BREAK!!!!” A furious roared echoed throughout the entire Three Realms, causing the infinite Void to shudder and shake.

RIIIIIIIIIP!!!!!!!!!!!

A blinding golden light suddenly appeared at the end of the distant Void. It was like a giant golden tear in the emptiness of space. Although the Nuwa Alliance and the Seamless Gate were in the middle of a giant battle, they couldn’t help but pay attention to what had just happened. The rift of golden light was at least a hundred million kilometers long, and it seemed to very nearly tear apart the entire Three Realms.

Deep inside the rift of golden light, something which looked like a massive, turbid flood could be seen.

BOOOM!!!!

The torrential flood of water gushed out from the golden rift, quickly passing through into the Void and flowing towards the battlefield where the Nuwa Alliance and the Seamless Gate were located.

As the waters finished flowing out the distant golden rift quickly healed and closed, completely disappearing from sight.

“Demonheart.” The Lord of All Fiends was the first to speak.

“Ahaha....ahahahahaha! I’ve finally returned...I’VE FINALLY RETURNED! AHAHAHA!” Wild, frenzied laughter rang out, echoing throughout the Void. The raging waters of the river quickly solidified into a tall, slender, black-robed figure. He had thick, bushy, ink-black eyebrows, and a pair of intoxicating eyes that caused those who looked into it to feel an uncontrollable urge to submit.

His black robes rustled about him as his aura surged towards the heavens.

“Tathagata.” The black-robed figure waved his hand, causing his palm to once more transform into a raging river that smashed directly towards Lord Buddha.

Lord Buddha, who had been charging towards the Seamless Gate’s army, was forced to turn his attention towards this oncoming palm attack.

BOOM!!!

The massive Pangu Genesis Formation shuddered violently, causing Tathagata’s face to change. The raging river then delivered a second blow with incredible speed, so fast that no one present was able to block it.

Boom! The Pangu Genesis Formation actually broke apart. Lord Buddha was knocked flying backwards, and as he did so he frantically waved his hand to use his [Buddha-Realm Within the Palm] to collect as many Empyrean Gods as he could. However, more than 90% of the Empyrean Gods were instantly reduced to dust.

“Die!”

As soon as the black-robed figure assaulted Tathagata, Ji Ning immediately used his Triult Sword Formation to counterattack, sending the awesome power of the semi-translucent golden sword forward.

The black-robed figure delivered yet another blow of his palm. His palm once more transformed into a raging river, striking against the tip of that semi-translucent golden sword. The sword let out a keening cry as the raging river shuddered and dissipated slightly. However, the sword itself was knocked flying backwards.

The entire battlefield turned completely silent.

The army of the Nuwa Alliance had been in hot pursuit, but now they quickly began to regroup. Ning’s true body and Primaltwin moved towards each other, while Lord Buddha flew back to his side as well. Everyone stared at that black-robed figure.

After appearing, he had attacked twice with his palms.

With one palm attack, he had effortlessly suppressed the Triult Sword Formation.

With the other palm attack, he had delivered a double-blow that had annihilated a Pangu Genesis Formation that had been commanded by Lord Buddha.

Swoosh. Swoosh. Swoosh.

The grand army of the Seamless Gate quickly reassembled as well. Even Godfiend Witherspike, Saber, and the others retreated temporarily. As he retreated, Godfiend Witherspike stared fixedly at the skinny, black-robed figure as he chatted mentally with Saber. “So he is the Lord of the Demonheart? He’s too powerful. Even in the endless primordial chaos, he would be one of the most supreme of Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals. He’s incredibly close to the World God level!”

“Yes. He’s definitely a transcendent figure amongst Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals.” Saber’s heart was quivering as well.

Ordinary Elder Gods had the power of an ordinary ‘overlord’; this was the power which Elder Gods were born possessing.

Elite Elder Gods included the likes of Ji Ning and Keeper Everwood. When Daoist Three Purities and the others used certain formations, they could also attain this level of power.

In the endless primordial chaos, most Elder Gods and first-tier Ancestral Immortals who did some adventuring and who worked hard would generally be able to reach the ‘elite’ level of power. However, less than one in a thousand Elder Gods would be able to reach such a supreme level of power, a level of power that was extremely close to that of a World God or a Chaos Immortal!

“Be careful, everyone. He is the Lord of the Demonheart,” Daoist Three Purities sent mentally. “Long ago, he merged his body into the Heavenly Daos. I never would’ve imagined that he would actually be able to escape from them.” Everyone who saw this scene could guess that it was most likely Lord Demonheart who had just broken free of the Heavenly Daos. If he hadn’t, how could he possibly have struck out at them and slain so many Empyrean Gods?

“He actually broke free.” Ning felt dread as well.

This was too terrifying.

His Triult Sword Formation was his most powerful technique...but it had actually been crushed in a head-on clash. This ‘Lord of the Demonheart’ was far too strong!

During the war that had ended the Primordial Era, the most powerful combatant of the Pangu Chaosworld had been Mother Nuwa, while the most powerful combatant of the Seamless Chaosworld had been Lord Demonheart! The two had been on the exact same level. Mother Nuwa had become a World God and left the Three Realms, while Lord Demonheart had merged himself into the Heavenly Daos and remained within them for countless years. But today...he had broken free.

“Demonheart.” The two bodies of the Lord of All Fiends merged together once more, and he stared calmly at the Lord of the Demonheart. “You owe me an explanation.”

“An explanation?”

Lord Demonheart’s black robes rustled, causing space around him to ripple like water. He chuckled. “Yes, I do owe you an explanation. You really are quite clever, Windfiend. Even all those years ago, I could tell that although Everwood’s reputation was second only to mine in the Seamless Chaosworld, only you were truly a match for me. I have to thank you for what you did during the clash between our two chaosworlds. If it wasn’t for you, I wouldn’t be able to see my disciple and grand-disciples today.”

“The explanation.” The Lord of All Fiends continued to look at him.

“Oh.” Lord Demonheart laughed. “Your guess is correct. I was indeed the one behind all of this.”

Lord Demonheart turned his hypnotic gaze towards the Nuwa Alliance, his voice reverberating within the Void. “It was all because of me. I wished to break free of the Three Realms, which is why I had to come up with a way to cause this great war.”

“What does you breaking free have to do with this great war?” The Lord of All Fiends frowned.

“Ahahaha...I’ll tell you, all of you. Especially you.” Lord Demonheart once more swept his gaze towards the Nuwa Alliance. “Before you die, I’ll let you know why exactly you are dying.”

The major powers of the Nuwa Alliance were all filled with murderous intent.

This ‘Lord of the Demonheart’ was behaving far too arrogantly. He actually held them in no regard at all! Still, Ning and the others all understood that although Lord Demonheart wouldn’t be able to effortlessly dominate them as a World God would, the power Lord Demonheart had displayed just now meant that multiple overlords of the Nuwa Alliance would most likely have to join forces against him in order to stop him.

“Ji Ning, your true body, Jueming, and myself will join forces and strike out simultaneously against Lord Demonheart,” Suiren sent mentally.

“Alright.” Ning and Buddha Jueming both assented.