The Desolate Era

Book 24, Chapter 18 - Battling Within the Ruins

“All of you, die!” Hellsword exploded with power as he wildly assaulted the other four. He knew that if this battle went on for too long other, Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals in the Windsource Ruins might be drawn to this place.

“I can’t hold any longer.”

A muscular Elder God who wielded six black staffs let out a low growl. Hellsword’s sword-light landed against his body, but only created a few sparks.

“Be careful.”

“Retreat.”

A blood-robed Elder God who had been fighting Hellsword in close combat suddenly blanched, then hurriedly split his body into two and sent his two clones fleeing in two separate directions.

Slash!

A streak of sword-light fell down upon one of the clones, slaying it.

“My divine body’s been weakened. I won’t be able to hold on for any longer.” The blood-robed Elder God continued to flee at high speed. The other three Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals cursed, but had no choice but to begin fleeing in other directions as well. They weren’t actually members of a team; they had simply joined together on an ad-hoc basis simply because Hellsword was far too powerful.

“Hmph. Those fools.” Hellsword came to a halt, grinning as he looked at the four fleeing figures.

“Eh?” Hellsword’s face suddenly changed dramatically as he immediately turned his head.

An icy ray of sword-light had suddenly appeared and was stabbing straight towards him.

“So there was one more hiding in the weeds.” Hellsword let out a savage grin, striking out mercilessly with his six swords. He wasn’t worried about the enemy attack at all; although it was quite fast, it was too simple and straightforward a strike.

BOOM!!!!

The opposing streaks of sword-light collided.

Hellsword was sent flying backwards, his face a mask of astonishment. As for the white-robed Ji Ning, he chased right after Hellsword.

[Brightmoon] sword-art, Blood Drop stance!

“What tremendous strength.” Hellsword was completely stunned. His opponent wasn’t just stronger, he was overwhelmingly stronger!

“But raw strength is useless against me.” He suddenly came to a halt, spun around, then charged straight towards Ning.

Slash! Slash! Slash! Slash! Slash! Slash!

Streaks of sword-light filled the air between the two, then both fell back.

Hellsword stared at Ning, then said in a low voice, “Who are you? Someone with such powerful sword-arts can’t possibly be an unknown figure.”

“Sunrise,” Ning said calmly.

“You must be a new expert in the Dao of the Sword,” Hellsword said coldly. “You are pretty strong. However, the Ruins aren’t a suitable place for sparring. Let’s compete after we leave this place.” After speaking, Hellsword transformed into a streak of black light, moving at light speed as he fled.

When the two had clashed, he had the feeling that Ning’s sword-arts were simply perfect. He couldn’t find any flaws at all, and so he decided to avoid wasting more time with such a troublesome opponent.

“Leaving?” Ning willed his swords to fly out.

Swish! Swish! Swish!

Nine streaks of sword-light shot out through the skies. These nine swords were all Chaos treasures that Ning had acquired in the Windsource Ruins. Although they weren’t part of a set, Ning’s Ancestral Immortal power filled them, ensuring that each of them possessed shocking levels of power. They spread out like a layered net, completely surrounding and blocking Hellsword’s path.

All nine swords moved faster than the speed of light and were thus able to quickly catch up to Hellsword.

“Damn.” Hellsword blanched as he stared at the nine swords surrounding him. “Where the hell did such a powerful expert of the sword come from? His sword-arts are completely flawless. Damn it all.”

He would rather fight against an enemy with ferocious offensive stances than someone like Ning, whose sword-arts could be described as truly flawless. One could easily succumb to a sense of despair when faced with such impeccable sword-arts.

The nine streaks of sword-light swirled around him, preventing him from fleeing any further.

“You won’t be able to escape.” Ning had already manifested three heads and six arms. He wielded six of his Darknorth swords as he charged straight towards Hellsword.

“Then let’s fight!” Hellsword went berserk as well, his eyes filled with bloodlust as he once more threw himself against Ning.

Neither would be willing to retreat. Two Dao weapons were at stake!

Dao weapons were incredibly rare, even amongst the other experts on their level. Every single Dao weapon was worth at least a cube of chaos nectar, with the best Dao weapons being worth more than ten! This was a sum of money that even World Gods would lust after. It was only natural that both Ji Ning and Hellsword went berserk over the two Dao weapons.

“If I get those two Dao weapons, I might be able to extract enough Five Elements essence to completely repair Violetjewel!” Ning’s killing intent began to soar.

“What’s going on?”

The four fleeing Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals could sense powerful ripples emanating from behind them. “Who is Hellsword fighting against now?”

The four of them carefully began to creep backwards. The allure of a pair of Dao weapons was simply too great!

“Eh?”

“Who is that?”

After sneaking back, they saw a white-robed figure battling furious against a black-robed figure.

The black-robed figure was the famous, highly regarded ‘Hellsword’.

The white-robed figure was an unknown youth.

“What? Hellsword is actually at a disadvantage?” The four were all shocked. “Where did such an expert of the sword suddenly come from? He’s so strong!”

“Brother Xiuyi, what should we do?”

“What can we do? Stay far away from them and watch. If both are heavily injured, we can try to seize the opportunity to attack them. If no chance presents itself, then we’ll immediately run away after their battle concludes.”

“Brother Xiuyi’s words are reasonable.”

“This white-robed Elder God is even more terrifying than Hellsword.”

Ning and Hellsword both suspected that those four had returned to watch them, but neither really cared about the four. Four supreme Elder Gods? Pffft. It might take them a bit of effort to kill the four, but it wouldn’t be too hard. Ning’s ‘Heartsword stance’ in particular ensured that he didn’t have to worry about group attacks at all.

The two continued to focus on battling each other.

Ning’s sword attacks seemed to be more casual and carefree, but they came in consecutive linked waves that made Hellsword feel as though he had no chance to even breathe.

Hellsword’s attacks were more frenzied and they were filled with a thick intent of darkness.

Clang!

Sword-light flashed. Finally, a blow landed upon Hellsword’s body. Ning felt as though he had just stabbed an extremely tough magic treasure. The power of the blow caused Hellsword to be knocked flying backwards, and he slammed into a distant boulder, causing it to break apart into tiny pieces that shot out in every direction.

“A protective divine ability?” Ning frowned slightly. “It seems as though I’ll have to suppress and seal him.”

“What!?” Upon Ning landed a blow against him, Hellsword’s face changed yet again. Clearly, his sword-arts were somewhat inferior.

“If I can’t overcome you in sword-arts...”

Hellsword gritted his teeth, then manifested an enormous violet hammer that emanated mighty ripples of power.

“A Dao weapon?” Ning immediately understood. So one of the two weapons which Hellsword had acquired was a warhammer. No wonder he hadn’t used it during this battle! Using sword-arts with a warhammer wasn’t really effective.

However...the difference in power between the two was obvious. Hellsword had no choice but to change the way he fought.

“Die!” Hellsword brandished the violet warhammer, then struck out with it.

Rumble...

As the warhammer struck out, streaks of lightning could be seen crackling around it. It compressed space in front of it as it smashed straight towards Ning.

“What tremendous might.” Ning could instantly sense how much power this strike held. He hurriedly willed his Darknorth swords to transform into black holes that he then used to defend.

Whoosh!

The warhammer was deflected off to one side, while Ning was knocked a few steps back.

“I knew it.” Hellsword had an ugly look on his face. This white-robed youth was ridiculously strong. Even though Hellsword had an advantage in weaponry, the white-robed youth was still able to defend against it with his techniques.

“A big warhammer like this must have lots of Five Elements essence inside of it.” Ning now wanted the weapon even more.

“There’s a total of two warhammers. You can have one, I’ll keep the other. Deal?” As Hellsword continued to battle, he began to send Ning a mental message. He was willing to compromise. There was nothing he could use against Ji Ning’s terrifying sword-arts, and he knew that he would definitely be defeated if this battle was to continued for much longer. This white-robed youth was also skilled in long-range attacks; there was no way he would be able to escape.

“Give me both and I’ll let you off the hook,” Ning sent back.

“Don’t even think about it.” Hellsword was beginning to go crazy.

“Then let’s keep fighting.”

Ning charged forward even more furiously than before, sending sword-light flashing everywhere. He even manifested a rope next to him, filling it with some of his will. If Ning was able to break through Hellsword’s defenses and catch him offguard, he would use this rope to bind and capture him.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Hellsword battled on the run, and while doing so he sent furiously to Ning, “This place is the Windsource Ruins. You never know when danger is going to appear here. If you keep chasing after me like this, you’ll end up in a death trap as well.”

Ning just continued with his furious attacks.

The four Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals watching from afar felt breathless.

“Both of them are crazy.”

“Hopefully, both of them will be killed by traps or protective formations, letting us pick up their treasures.” The four watched, prayed, and chased after the the Hellsword and the white-robed cultivator as those two continued their wild fight.

Boom!

Just as Ning clashed once more against Hellsword in midair...

Suddenly, a gray gust of wind suddenly appeared out of nowhere, spinning into a tornado and instantly whirling around both Ning and Hellsword. A few moments later, the tornado vanished...but with it vanished Ning and Hellsword as well.

When the four saw this from afar, their faces all changed.

“Everyone knows that the Windsource Ruins are too dangerous to fly through. You might end up being trapped inside some formation. Those two must’ve been teleported straight into a death trap.”

“Damn. Those two Dao weapons were swept away as well.”

Unwilling to just give up, the four of them continued to wait there for three full days, but they saw neither hide nor hair of Ji Ning and Hellsword, to say nothing of the Dao weapons. In the end, they had no choice but to leave unhappily.