The Desolate Era (Web Novel)

“Unfortunately, I have yet to truly be acknowledged by the spirit of the estate.” Ning understood this point. There were many secrets which the giant yellow bear refused to tell him. Instead, he had Ning go risk his life time and time again. If Ning truly were to die…then, it would be just like it had been for Immortal Juhua and Rampart. If he died, he died. The spirit of the estate would wait the next master. Even Daoist Threelives had stated that Ning would only be considered his disciple upon reaching the ‘Empyrean God’ level; clearly, Ning’s current level of power was far from being sufficient.

“It makes sense. The more powerful a person is, the more attention will be paid to him. Compared to the first time he met me, the spirit of the estate is being much nicer nowadays.” Ning remembered quite well that the first time he had met the giant yellow bear, the bear had paid him almost no attention.

These thoughts flashed through Ning’s mind, but he then immediately crushed them. This wasn’t the time to over-analyze them! What truly mattered right now was to defeat this Fiendgod avatar in front of him!

“I’ve heard that some powerful Fiendgods can create clones just by plucking hairs from their bodies.” Ning stared at the distant, golden-armored warrior, then said in a high voice, “However, in those legends, the power of those transformed hairs are extremely weak…I imagine that this avatar of yours is quite weak as well.”

The golden-armored warrior’s face changed slightly. Ning had cut straight to the heart of the matter; indeed, this avatar was simply formed from a strand of divine power, and even his ‘weapons’ were just formed from divine power. In terms of just comparing bodies, this avatar’s body was even weaker than Ning’s! However…his comprehension of the Dao was far too high.

“If my true body was here, a single breath from me would disintegrate you!” An arrogant look flashed through the golden-armored warrior’s eyes. “Even though this is merely an extremely weak avatar, formed from a strand of divine power…against you…hmph!”

“Disintegrate me with a breath? It seems as though his true body is indeed extremely formidable. No wonder I had such a sense of danger earlier. That sense of danger from my subconscious must have originated from his true body,” Ning mused to himself.

Ning spread out his divine will with a thought. Bang! His divine will poured out through the Soulshaker Seal, instantly surging forward in a tidal wave and crashing towards the soul of that golden-armored warrior.

BOOM. The tidal wave of divine will seemed to have crashed against an extremely unyielding rock; as it smashed against it, despite being powerful, it couldn’t overcome the resilience of the rock.

“Haha, divine will?” The golden-armored warrior shook his head, saying with disdain, “Although the hint of my soul contained within this wisp of divine power is very weak, the quality of it is far greater than yours. Your divine will could be ten times stronger than it is now, and you still wouldn’t’ be able to move me. Kid, use everything you have; later, don’t blame me for not having given you a chance.”

Although the golden-armored warrior appeared quite brash, in truth, he was pondering meticulously. This was because he, too, was both curious and cautious about this legendary place. “The legendary abode of the God-King…why have I been summoned to deal with a little child? He’s so weak…where did this child come from, and what is his relationship with the God-King? His soul is fairly strong, though; he’s not yet at the Primal level, but his soul is already this powerful.”

Although he was powerful, compared to the legendary God-King, he was filled with dread and veneration. That one-armed God-King would most likely be able to annihilate him with a single glance.

…….

Ning felt that the golden-armored warrior was mysterious. But the golden-armored warrior also felt that Ning was similarly mysterious.

…….

“Actually, it would’ve been enough to have a golem fight against you.” The giant yellow bear said to itself, amused, “But you are indeed someone with the potential to be the successor to Master, a person who will roam the Three Realms…and so, I might as well let you find a few things out in advance.” By letting Ning touch a few secrets, it would actually help instigate Ning to work harder and desire to learn more.

“Quite powerful, eh? It’s been a long, long time since I’ve interacted with those ancient, powerful presences as well.” The giant yellow bear was also filled with desire. He had been alone for far, far too long.

……

The third level of the Wargod Hall. Ning was rapidly considering his options. “He’s a weak avatar of an extremely powerful figure. His strength lies in the fact that his insights into the Dao are very high, but his weakness is that he is only formed from a strand of divine power. Because it has been separated from his true body, it is like water that has been separated from its source; after using up divine power, there’s no way to replenish it.”

The Dao of combat required one to be able to use one’s strengths to attack others’ weaknesses.

“Exhaust his divine power!” Ning immediately began to move. Swoosh! He didn’t charge directly forward. Instead, he rapidly retreated, while at the same time generating more than seven hundred flying swords in front of him. Late-stage Wanxiang elemental ki filled every single flying sword, and instantly, the flying swords began to undulate slightly. After having increased his comprehension of the Dao, it was now much easier for Ning to utilize the [Lesser Thousand Swords Formation].

“The ninth level of the [Lesser Thousand Swords Formation].” Ning formed an flying sword that seemed to be made of white jade in front of him. Swish! Swish! Swish! One white jade sword after another formed, then flew at high speed towards the golden-armored man.

“This sword formation is quite profound, but unfortunately, the user is too weak.” The golden-armored warrior raised his two massive warhammers in an extremely leisurely manner, then strolled forward. With each step, however, he traversed many hundreds of meters, even faster than Ning using the Windwing Evasion.

“Waterflame Lotus.” Ning divided his mind, using half of it to control the [Lesser Thousand Swords Formation] and the other half to generate Waterflame Lotuses. One enormous Waterflame Lotus after another began to bloom, surrounding the golden-armored warrior and furiously seeking to impede his movements.

“This is troublesome.” The golden-armored warrior frowned. A warhammer in his hand swung out, instantly creating rippling cracks in space. The outer layer of the Waterflame Lotus it collided into immediately began to crack, then finally shattered apart.

“I only destroyed a single lotus?” The golden-armored warrior was secretly surprised. But swish! Swish! Swish! The jade-white swords flew out, moving like strokes of the brush on the canvas of the sky, all of them seeming quite plain, simple, and reserved, but causing the golden-armored warrior to feel exceptionally cautious. “The Dao of the Sword? And what a fierce, terrifying sword technique.”

Clank. The golden-armored warrior swung out with his massive warhammer, blocking one sword-flash after another. Each time he blocked one of Ning’s sword-flashes, the warhammer would tremble. This was because the warhammers were formed from divine power, and weren’t actual magic treasures.

Clank. Clank. Clank.

Faced with the Waterflame Lotus that was infused with dire-ice and earthfire, and the rays of sword-light from the [Lesser Thousand Swords Formation], the golden-armored warrior was temporarily befuddled…

When roaming the wild marshes of the Gaol Mountains, the [Lesser Thousand Swords Formation] had been inferior to Ning’s close combat skills, but afterwards, at the Black-White College, Ning had trained all the way from the early Wanxiang stage to the late Wanxiang stage! The rise in power of his elemental ki made it so that when Ning now used the [Lesser Thousand Swords Formation], the power was two levels higher than it had been before. It was extremely close to Ning’s close combat power by now.

“His avatar is clearly very weak, but he’s still able to defend against all of my techniques.” Ning’s face turned cold, and the Darknorth swords in his hands disappeared. Immediately afterwards, a black greatbow appeared in his hands.

This black greatbow was an Earth-ranked magic treasure. It could only be considered an ordinary item, and it didn’t have any special, additional powers. It was quite hard for Ning to locate a legendary divine bow, but…this Earth-ranked greatbow was enough for Ning to display all of his power.

“[Starseizing Hand]!” Ning instantly executed the [Starseizing Hand], holding the grip of the bow with one hand and nocking the arrow and pulling the bowstring with the other…

Creaaak. He pulled the bowstring to its maximum length. Ning’s eyes seemed to spit lightning towards the distant figure. Pulling a bow didn’t require much mental effort; it only used his divine power! This, Ning could pull the bow, control the Waterflame Lotuses, and the [Lesser Thousand Swords Formation] at the same time.

Swish! The arrow flashed out, instantly passing through the distance between them and arriving before the golden-armored warrior. “Not good.” The golden-armored warrior was shocked ; this arrow was even faster than the sword-flashes sent out be that [Lesser Thousand Swords Formation]. He hurriedly moved to block.

Bang! The giant warhammer in his hands trembled so hard, it began to crack. It then quickly healed, but the golden-armored warrior had to take a few hurried steps back.

The power of an arrow…it came from accumulating strength, then letting it all explode forth from the arrow. The explosive power of an arrow was naturally even more powerful than Ning’s close combat power. However, the weakness of an arrow was its lack of agility; so long as enemies could dodge, the arrow would have been shot out for nothing.

But, Ning and the golden-armored warrior were only hundreds of meters away from each other! Given the speed of the arrows which Ning shot out while using the [Starseizing Hand], that distance would be passed in an instant. It was simply too fast! And the Waterflame Lotuses and the [Lesser Thousand Swords Formation] were also restricting and impeding the warrior’s movements! Due to these reasons, the golden-armored warrior wasn’t able to dodge at all, and had to rely on his own strength to block the arrows.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Each arrow carried a mountain-shattering force which burst forth with each collision. The nearby Waterflame Lotuses of dire-ice and earthfire, along with the late-stage Wanxiang-level [Lesser Thousand Swords Formation] sword-flashes were hard to deal with as well. For a time, the golden-armored warrior found it incredibly hard to cope, and his divine power was rapidly depleting.

“If this continues, my divine power is going to be used up. After this avatar of mine uses up its divine power, it’s going to dissipate.” The golden-armored warrior couldn’t hesitate any longer.

“RAAAARGH!” The golden-armored warriors suddenly let out an explosive shout. His entire body suddenly radiated a powerful golden light, and the warhammers in his hands transformed into streaks of light, shattering the nearby sword-flashes of the [Lesser Thousand Swords Formation] as well as the Waterflame Lotuses as he charged straight towards Ning.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

Ning shot out four arrows in a row! These arrows were all under the control of Ning’s divine will, and they were even able to slightly curve in midair, attacking the golden-armored warrior in unison. There was no way the golden-armored warrior could avoid the joint attack of these four arrows; all he could do was hurriedly block, and in doing so, he was immediately knocked backwards.

The Waterflame Lotuses and the sword-flashes of the [Lesser Thousand Swords Formation] once more formed and moved to entangle him…

One arrow after another, each containing astonishing, savage power. They all swept towards him! These arrows guided by divine will moved in eerie, unfathomably strange ways. Now only were the arrows too powerful…the divine will caused them to adjust in minute ways.

“You little rascal, do you dare fight me in close combat?” The golden-armored warrior bellowed.

“You lose.” Ning just replied in a soft voice as he shot out four more arrows simultaneously. The golden-armored warrior was barely able to block them, but then his entire body began to tremble, then collapsed and vanished into the void. As his body vanished, he growled in anger, clearly quite dissatisfied.

“Whew.” Ning let out a sigh. “This was a mere avatar of the Fiendgod, but he was already quite difficult to deal with. I had to use the [Starseizing Hand] eighteen times in a row, and 39 attacks with my [Lesser Thousand Swords Formation].” Ning could sense that his divine power had been enormously depleted, as well as much of his elemental ki, and he couldn’t help but feel secretly amazed.

Whoosh. Ning disappeareed into thin air. By the time the world grew clear, Ning found himself within the main hall of the underwater estate again.

“…you actually used the bow to win?” The giant yellow bear stared at Ning, disbelief in his eyes. He had expected that this would be an extremely difficult battle; the two would’ve fought savagely in close combat, and in the end, Ning stood a high chance of losing.

But in the end…Ning had annihilated his foe by using the [Starseizing Hand] to shoot arrows at him from far away.

“The divine ability which Master transmitted to me, aside from being used in close combat, can also be used to attack others with the bow,” Ning said meekly. “I was lucky enough to win.”

“Lucky?” The giant yellow bear saw through Ning’s meekness and saw the smugness underneath. “Fine, fine. You defeated the third level, and you can go choose an Earth-ranked magic treasure or item of equivalent value. Go!”