The Desolate Era

Book 24, The Starlord of Fogstone, Chapter 7 – The First Battle

“Won’t dare to accept? A bet with you?” Elder God Blackpeak’s face turned even uglier as rage began to burn within his heart. Ever since he had returned after losing a few Elder Gods, the soldiers of the Fogstone Army had all treated him in a completely different way. In fact, some would actually curse at him to his face or mock him, with Elder God Skyleave being one of them. These insults and this mockery caused him to feel quite unhappy.

He had lived for more than a chaos cycle and had no hope of breaking through to become a World God. For people like him, face mattered more than anything else. In recent days, he had been stewing angrily.

For Skyleave to duel him was one thing.

For a silverscale soldier like Baiwu to challenge him as well? Bah, forget it. He was still a figure with quite the reputation.

But now, a silverscale soldier he had never even met before was also daring to challenge him?

“Yes. A bet with me.” Ji Ning looked at him.

“What’s the bet?” Blackpeak smiled coldly. “No matter how much you bring out, I’ll match it.”

“Three hundred bottles of chaos nectar,” Ning said.

“Three hundred bottles?” Blackpeak blinked, then let out a cold laugh. “Do you even have that much? Take it out.”

Supreme Elder Gods would generally be able to take out a hundred bottles of chaos nectar. If they also added their magic treasures into the mix, they might just barely hit three hundred bottles worth….but how many would generally be willing to add their most important treasures to the stakes of a duel?

Ning waved his hand, causing more than ten thousand chaos gems to appear next to him. “There are 160 sets of chaos gems here.”

In the primordial chaos, chaos gems and chaos nectar were the most commonly used currencies. A single drop of chaos nectar was equivalent to a single chaos gem, with a set of chaos gems being equivalent to ninety-nine gems!

Ning had pillaged all of the Elder Gods of the prisonworld. He had acquired some chaos nectar as well as quite a few chaos gems from them. The total number of chaos gems he had acquired was over 160 sets.

“These two Chaos treasures should be worth at least 140 bottles of chaos nectar.” Ning waved his hand again, causing a pair of Chaos treasures to appear. One was a pair of flying scissors that was shaped like a Flood Dragon, while the other was a set of nine flying needles. These were both quite valuable top-grade Chaos treasures which Ning had acquired.

“So you have some treasures after all.” A cautious look appeared in Blackpeak’s eyes as he looked at Ning. This unremarkable little silverscale soldier appeared to be hiding quite a few secrets.

“Screw’m. I’ve made a few breakthroughs lately, and I daresay none of the supreme Elder Gods of the Fogstone Army are definitively stronger than me now. Only the five generals are definitely more powerful than me and can beat me. What, can this silverscale soldier possibly have the power of a general?” The flames of rage within Blackpeak’s heart began to burn brighter and brighter, and his aura began to increase in might as well.

“Fine. Three hundred bottles of chaos nectar. I’ll take that bet.” Blackpeak waved his hand, causing 240 black jade bottles to appear alongside the Ninestar Skyhooks. A hundred of the bottles had come from Skyleave while the hooks had come from Baiwu. Only the 140 of the bottles really belonged to him. He had actually prepared the chaos nectar for the sake of this duel, but he had all but wiped out his savings in doing so.

If Ning had chosen to wager five hundred bottles, Blackpeak really wouldn’t have been able to provide enough chaos nectar. He probably would’ve been forced to throw his most important treasures into the mix.

A bet of three hundred bottles of chaos nectar…this was quite the wager!

Supreme Elder Gods rarely made wagers of this magnitude. As for ordinary Elder Gods or even elite Elder Gods, most of them wouldn’t be able to come up with that much money, even if they pawned everything they had.

“Three hundred bottles?”

“I don’t think I’ve met that silverscale soldier before. Any of you know him?”

“No clue.”

“Never met him.”

“I don’t know him either.”

“The Fogstone Army only has so many Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals. Where did this guy come from? He probably is quite strong.”

“If he dares to make a bet of this size, of course he must be strong enough to back it up…but so what if he’s strong? Blackpeak might be an idiot, but he really is powerful. In the past, he’s always used warhammers, but just now he switched to using those slender swords. I bet Blackpeak is hiding even more techniques that we don’t know about. I’ll wager that none of the supreme Elder Gods of the Fogstone Army are definitively stronger than him. Do you really think a silverscale soldier will be able to beat him?”

“Agreed. He’s just a silverscale, after all.”

The spectating Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals all chatted amongst themselves. Clearly, in their eyes there was a limit to how impressive this unremarkable-looking silverscale soldier could be. They refused to believe that someone with the power of a general would be so bored as to pretend to be a silverscale soldier. Even if the man wanted to be low-key, there was no way he would be THAT low-key.

“Don’t do it, brother Darknorth.”

“Brother Darknorth, this Blackpeak guy is hiding his true power. I suffered due to it just now!”

“Darknorth…” The soldiers under Elder God Skyleave all hurriedly sent mental messages to him, urging him to stop. They had feasted alongside him just now and were rather friendly towards him. In addition, it could be said that Ji Ning had stood up for them just now. They didn’t wish for Ji Ning to lose his treasures to Blackpeak.

“No need to worry, my friends.” Ning turned his head and smiled towards them.

Skyleave and the others felt helpless. Cultivators at their level wouldn’t be so easily dissuaded!

“Brother Darknorth probably has some certain special techniques that he is confident in…but what he doesn’t realize is that the soldiers of the Fogstone Army all have access to the various legacies and techniques of Fogstone. They won’t have any glaring weaknesses in any areas. It’ll be hard for him to achieve victory using whatever special skills he has. Ugh…he’s too new. There’s too much that he doesn’t know.” Skyleave and the others all shook their heads in worry.

The more powerful a legacy was, the fewer flaws it would have.

Ji Ning, for example. He was skilled in soul defense, heartforce scouting, resistance to illusions, and had powerful protective divine abilities. He was quite formidable in every single aspect, all because of the many techniques included in World God Northrest’s legacy. Dealing with someone like him, who had no glaring weaknesses, would be an incredibly difficult task. Blackpeak was a supreme Elder God of the Fogstone Army; he naturally had learned quite a few formidable techniques of his own as well. The chances of successfully using a special technique to defeat him would be very, very low.

The drill area.

Blackpeak and Ji Ning stared at each other from afar.

“For you to gift me with so much chaos nectar…ahahaha…” Blackpeak held four heavy warhammers in his hands as he boomed out with laughter, his powerful aura rolling out in waves around him.

As for Ning, he just stood there in a very placid manner, his aura the same as it normally was.

He had been planning to familiarize himself with this army camp first, which was why he had kept his aura in check this entire time. His aura was merely that of an ordinary Elder God’s. If he was to allow his true aura of a half-step World God leak out, he probably would’ve immediately become the focal point of the entire planet. Ning wasn’t the flashy, ostentatious type. He preferred to keep a low profile whenever possible…and now an unexpected benefit of that was that he was going to earn some chaos nectar.

He was going to teach Blackpeak a lesson at the same time as he earned some money. Wasn’t this just perfect?

“Be careful now. I kicked your captain’s face in just a few moments ago,” Blackpeak said. As he spoke, he also attacked with his full power, not daring to be negligent.

“Just show me what you have.” Ning stood there without moving.

“This silverscale soldier isn’t even taking out his weapons? Is he actually planning to use his hands?” Blackpeak mused to himself. It was quite common for experts to use their hands to fight as hands were even more dexterous and nimble than most weapons. One could strike with a palm, a fist, a finger, or a claw. There were also some special body-enhancing techniques that could refine one’s hands to make them as powerful as magic treasures.

“Hmph.” Blackpeak instantly transformed into a streak of light and shot towards Ning. As he flew over, he lashed out with his giant warhammers, causing the air to shudder as though the heavens themselves had come crashing down to earth.

“FALL!” Blackpeak roared loudly.

“[Starseizing Hand].” Ning immediately struck out with his right hand. His palm was filled with tremendous power, as though it was the gigantic axe which Pangu had used to cleave Heaven from Earth. It became three hundred meters large as it smashed towards Blackpeak like a gigantic black stormcloud. Ning’s hands were comparable to Chaos treasures and were completely capable of withstanding the tremendous amount of divine power which was instantly unleashed by his [Starseizing Hand].

He had the body of a half-step World God. When he allowed his [Starseizing Hand] to burst forth with power, he was overwhelmingly stronger than almost any supreme Elder God.

“FALL!” Blackpeak’s words continued to echo in the air, and his eyes were filled with madness as he sent his great warhammer in a vicious blow towards the giant palm. So what if he makes his palm huge? Even if he makes it ten thousand kilometers long, I’ll still smash it into meat paste.

BOOM!

The warhammer smashed against the giant palm.

Rumble…

It was like swatting a mosquito. When the giant palm came crashing down, it smashed Blackpeak down to the point of imprinting him into the ground.

Ning withdrew his palm.

Everyone present was silent. All of the Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals turned to look at Ning.

Blackpeak crawled out of the Blackpeak-shaped impression in the ground, an ugly look on his face. He growled out, “I haven’t lost yet!” As soon as they had exchanged blows, he had instantly realized how terrifyingly strong this silverscale soldier was. In a head-on collision, there were very few supreme Elder Gods who would be a match for him…but in a real battle, raw strength alone wasn’t worth that much.

Whoosh. The warhammers disappeared from Blackpeak’s hands, replaced by those thin swords.

Swish. He transformed into a streak of light and shot towards Ning once more.

“Shameless.”

“You got the crap smashed out of you just now. If he had pressed the attack, you would’ve been finished.”

The spectators all shook their heads, but they didn’t say anything. This was because in a normal duel, the duel would proceed until one side was completely unable to fight back, had his body completely smashed apart, or perhaps had his protective magic treasures knocked far away. Only then would the duel be considered lost. Simply being knocked down didn’t really matter that much. Blackpeak’s body was comparable to a top-grade Protocosmic spirit-treasure; it wouldn’t be so easily damaged. If he didn’t want to admit defeat, there was nothing that could be said or done about it.

Generally speaking, he would’ve voluntarily admitted defeat for the sake of saving face…but the thing was, Blackpeak still thought he could win!

“He’s just physically strong. I won’t compete against him in strength.” Blackpeak’s four slender swords struck out towards Ning in a ghostly, unpredictable fashion.