The Desolate Era

Book 21, The Bloodlotus Blooms, Chapter 17 – Battling the Envoy of All Things

The white-haired Infinity Fiendgod’s head went flying!

The headless body instantly began to break repart, revealing the many Empyrean Gods and True Immortals that had been inside of it in the Infinity Fiendgod Formation. These Empyrean Gods and True Immortals were completely terrified. They didn’t even think of fighting back. All of them fled every which way, seeking to move as far as they could from the terrifying Rahu-Ning.

Whooooooooosh. Streaks of sword-light flashed out with the power of a vortex, transforming into six gigantic black holes that devoured all of the Empyrean Gods and True Immortals.

[Brightmoon] sword-art, Soleheart stance!

This was a stance meant for defense, but Ji Ning was far, far more powerful than his opponents right now. The difference in power was so great the vortexes created by the Soleheart stance had the power to break apart his foes, and so this technique that was meant for continuous defense was actually converted into a tool of slaughter. It was a terrifying killer move, as these ordinary Empyrean Gods and True Immortals, compared to Ning, were simply far too weak. They were all swept into the black holes, and the ablative, swirling power that was meant to weaken enemy attacks were instead used to effortlessly grind them to dust.

“No!”

“How can this be happening?”

“How can he be so strong?!” The Empyrean Gods and True Immortals were gripped by despair. They did their utmost, but remained unable to break free and escape from the terrifying black holes. They were all drawn inside, and all were ground apart and slain.

In but an instant, more than five hundred Empyrean Gods and True Immortals perished! Not one was spared!

This scene caused the face of Daomother Devilhand, who was watching on the walls of the Seamless Citadel, to turn absolutely bone-white. The black-robed Godking’s entire body was trembling slightly as well. It must be understood that the sudden appearance of the Envoy of All Things on the field of battle had only caused roughly five hundred casualties amongst the ranks of the Nuwa Alliance.

By comparison, Ji Ning’s sudden explosion of power had resulted in the destruction of a Seamless Infinity Formation and an Infinity Fiendgod formation. The number of Empyrean Gods and True Immortals he had slain already exceeded seven hundred.

“How is his sword that bizarre and that powerful?” The black-robed Godking shook his head, unable to accept what he was seeing.

The Shadowless stance had always been the most unpredictable sword-stance Ning had. After spending centuries learning the many terrifying sword-arts left behind by World God Northrest, Ning had distilled their essence and infused it into his own [Brightmoon] sword-art, causing the Shadowless stance to become even more bizarre. If a sword-attack was both unpredictable and ridiculously fast, it would become terrifying to fight against. In fact, if it was sufficiently fast, it could be completely unblockable.

This was what had happened to the Infinity Fiendgod. It had been completely unable to block against this sword-stance! A single blow had severed its head!

“Even I wouldn’t be able to block that sword at all.” The black-robed Godking’s heart was quaking. Previously, Ning had displayed the terrifyingly fast and penetrating Blood Drop stance, but at least it wasn’t unpredictable; it was a sword that was straight and aboveboard. The Godking felt that he should at least be able to block it. But the Shadowless stance…even he didn’t feel any confidence in being able to block it.

Ji Ning had actually caused him, the exalted, nominal leader of the Seamless Gate…to feel a faint sense of fear?

He truly didn’t want to believe this.

“How could he be this powerful? It makes no sense. This simply isn’t possible at all.” The black-robed Godking shook his head. Prior to this, he had held Ji Ning in no regard at all. How could a single weak Empyrean God have an impact on the overall situation? But now, this Empyrean God had unleashed the power of a top-tier Daofather. “Although Ji Ning’s sword-art is formidable, judging from the light surrounding his sword, he should have only reached the fourth stage of swordforce. The reason why Houyi was so formidable was because he, as an Empyrean God, broke through to reach the fifth stage of heartforce. That was why he had such terrifying power.”

“Ji Ning’s swordforce is only at the fourth stage. It makes no sense for him to be so powerful.”

“It makes no sense…”

The black-robed Godking felt a mixture of urgency and anger. No matter what the result of this battle was…the painful losses they had just suffered was enough to cause his heart to feel as though it was being roasted by flames.

The black-robed Godking simply couldn’t accept this…but the countless Immortals and Fiendgods of the Nuwa Alliance who saw this all felt their blood boil with excitement. Some of the Seven Planets Gods actually let out excited, heroic roars! The last fight had been a miserable one, but this time Ji Ning showed far, far too much power! In the past, Ji Ning had been able to use the Rahu God to force the Seamless Gate to bow its head, but back then he had barely been at the Daofather level of power. He was probably a bit weaker than even a Seamless Infinity Formation! But now, he was able to slay with a single-sword strike an Infinity Fiendgod that was close to a top-tier Daofather in power.

“Formidable.” Xuan Yuan exclaimed with surprise, “Compared to the incredibly fast sword-strike he used at first, the strike he used to slay the Infinity Fiendgod was even more dazzling.”

“Strange and unfathomable. The profound mysteries within his sword-art have already reached the apex. Without question, this is the number-one sword-art of the Three Realms.” Fuxi smiled as he spoke out in praise.

“He truly is formidable.” Lord Tathagata the Buddha revealed a smile as well.

“We can win this war.” Daoist Three Purities was laughing as well.

Only now did the seven major powers all begin to laugh and smile in a joyful way. From Ning using a single sword-strike to slay an Infinity Fiendgod that was close to a top-tier Daofather in power, they were able to tell that he definitely had the power to stalemate the Envoy of All Things. Given how many Empyrean Gods and True Immortals he had slain, their side definitely held the upper hand once more.

“Subhuti, it seems you underestimated your disciple.” Suiren glanced at the nearby Subhuti, who was smiling as well.

“Wonderful. Wonderful. You didn’t let your hatred blind you. Although you were filled with rage and the desire to kill, you were able to remain calm.” Subhuti casually said a few words of praise for his disciple. In truth, he was the happiest of the seven.

“Stop putting on a show of being calm. All I have to do is look at your twitching beard and I can tell how happy you are right now,” Shennong teased.

“What, can’t I be happy?” Subhuti stroked his beard and smiled. “If you have a problem with it, go and produce a similarly talented disciple of your own.”

“Enough with the chit-chat. Look, the Envoy has charged out, and Ning’s charging towards it as well,” Suiren said.

The seven major powers began to watch closely once more.

After Ning had dealt with the Infinity Fiendgod, he had charged straight towards the army of the Seamless Gate.

Whoosh! The Rahu-Ning’s footsteps were simply too fast, causing Daomother Devilhand, atop the distant city walls of the Seamless Citadel, to begin to worry. Although she was extremely skilled in commanding armies, there was no solution she could use in the face of such an absolutely superiority in speed and power. Even if she had her army immediately flee, there was no way that it would be able to escape from Ji Ning, given how quickly he ran.

As for blocking him? Even the Infinity Fiendgod, which had close to the power of a top-tier Daofather, had been slain in one blow, while the incredibly tough and resilient Seamless Infinity Formation had also been pierced through with one strike. No matter how many reinforcements she sent, they would simply be going to their deaths. Ji Ning was about to reach their army. Once he made it in, it would be an utter slaughter.

“Envoy, stop Ji Ning.” Daomother Devilhand immediately gave the order.

“The rest of the army, begin to withdraw.” Daomother Devilhand gave yet another order.

Although their side had yet to be completely defeated, the situation on the battlefield was quite apparent. Ji Ning was probably strong enough to withstand the Envoy. No matter what, retreating for now was the best option. If they let their army fight without being confident that they would win, it would be akin to sending them into a massacre.

But alas…

Quite a long period of time had passed between Ning’s two clashes, resulting in both armies now being quite close to each other.

“Darknorth!” The Envoy bellowed as it charged straight towards Ning, who moved to intercept.

The first was an ape-shaped Envoy of All Things, wreathed in dark-red flames. It had been invented by an alien Outsider, the Lord of All Things, and Grandmaster Blackheaven had been responsible for forging it.

The second was a Fiendgod that had been created based on the alien Outsider, Rahu, who had been used as the template.

Both of them were filled with unearthly amounts of power. They were evenly matched.

BOOM!

Sword-light flashed in an unpredictable, unfathomable manner, causing the heart of Empyrean God Bloodwave, the controller of the Envoy, to quiver. It was too bizarre and too fast! He hurriedly moved to block. The Envoy of All Things possessed absolutely astonishing power, and if a Daofather was in command of it, it would be able to unleash even greater levels of power. Three to five of them joining together would be a match for an overlord-level Daofather, like the leaders of Buddhism and Daoism. However, the current controller was ‘merely’ Empyrean God Bloodwave, and there was a limit to how strong an Empyrean God could be.

An enormous explosion rang out!

The Envoy stumbled two steps back before steadying itself…and then a hint of a smile appeared on its face.

“I really am a fool. I was scared silly by that terrifying sword-blow of his.” Empyrean God Bloodwave regained his composure. “His sword-arts are the most terrifying sword-arts I have ever seen…but so what? Not even the leaders of Buddhism and Daoism would be able to damage the Envoy in the slightest. Ji Ning can’t hurt me at all. There’s no need for me to even defend against his sword-arts; all I need to do is continuously attach. If I can manage to grab him, I’ll be able to tear that Rahu God body of his apart.”

Whoosh.

The Envoy pounced forward in a savage manner, striking out with twin claws at lightning speed towards Ning.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Sword-light flew everywhere.

Ning’s sword-arts were completely superior to his foe’s techniques. Sword-arts that surpassed the limits of the Heavenly Daos…there was no way his foe could block his attacks. In an instant, Ning unleashed more than a hundred ‘Shadowless’ strikes, hacking down repeatedly upon his foe, but he wasn’t even able to leave a tiny mark on the golem. Ning actually had to be more careful than before, as his own body was simply formed from the energy of Heaven and Earth. Once it was damaged, it would completely break apart. Fortunately, Ning’s sword-arts were at such a high level that he was able to completely block every single strike of the Envoy.

“No wonder the Envoy of All Things had such a fearsome reputation during the war that ended the Primordial Era. If a Daofather was in command, even I probably wouldn’t be able to withstand it. Fortunately, the one before me is merely commanded by an Empyrean God,” Ning mused to himself.