The Desolate Era

Ji Ning saw the Sword Titan shatter, then saw Autarch Mogg, Autarch Stonerule, Autarch Skyfeeder, and Autarch Titanos all perish in battle. Even he himself was about to die. Ning’s heart was filled with resentment and an unwillingness to accept this all. He was filled with remorse towards all the living beings of this Chaosverse, filled with remorse towards his daughter. I’m really sorry, everyone.

He felt resentment, pain, remorse… and boundless hate.

When he saw maniacally laughing Iyerre, Ning felt true hatred. To use a common saying from his first life in China on Earth, ‘even after dying and becoming a ghost, he still wouldn’t forgive or spare Iyerre’! However, in his heart he knew that once he died, his truesoul fragments would be completely swallowed and devoured. All that hatred he felt was completely meaningless! It was precisely because he understood this that the hatred and agony in Ning’s heart was only further heightened.

Hatred! Hatred aimed at himself for being too weak!

Hatred! Hatred aimed at himself for being unable to protect those he cared about.

He truly did want to annihilate all of these invaders!

Boundless hatred filled his heart. He didn’t want to die. Titanos, Mogg… they had felt the same way. They had died with their eyes open. Death held no release for them!

This powerful will of hatred caused all of Ning’s thoughts, his very consciousness itself, to become completely transformed into just one thing – an overwhelming desire to kill! An insatiable desire to destroy! As this completely unprecedented desire for destruction filled him, all of the questions and confusion Ning felt towards the Oblivion Sword Dao were completely wiped clean. Everything came to its logical conclusion, resulting in the Oblivion Sword Dao taking a complete and perfect form within Ning’s mind!

“So this is what ‘true destruction’ is. I always felt that I was lacking a little spark when it came to understanding it, preventing my version of it from being the real thing. So this is what I lacked.” Finally, Ning completely understood.

The power of pure darkness rippled out from Ning. It held the interlinked Five Elements, the transformations of Yin and Yang, both Light and Dark, and both Space and Time. They were all connected to each other by the binds of Karma… and the karmic links that existed between them were formed by Ning’s pure, destructive intent! All of them were being destroyed by Ning’s will, resulting in a chain reaction that came together to form ‘Oblivion’.

“I had actually built up enough insight long ago, and even my overall path was correct. The only reason why I hadn’t been able to succeed was because I was missing a truly intense will to cause absolute destruction, a will which linked all other Daos together and then annihilated them! Now, all of my insights have come together to form true destruction – Oblivion!”

……

“This is bullshit! Bullshit!!!” Autarch Ekong was filled with heart-rending grief and rage as the black warbeast charged towards him.

“Life and death are in an endless cycle… but once this civilization comes to an end, the cycle shall be broken for us. Everything shall truly be destroyed.” Autarch Bolin was filled with boundless grief as well.

Suddenly, they sensed the world around them turn completely still. Even the terrifyingly powerful aura of the Sithe was quickly suppressed, followed by an even more horrifying aura of destruction sweep out. Both Autarch Ekong and Autarch Bolin turned their heads to look, only to see a terrifying ripple of darkness emanating from that white-robed youth.

“Darknorth!” Despair vanished from the hearts of Autarch Bolin and Autarch Ekong. Both felt as though color had come back to the world. They both grew excited.

Iyerre and the three black warbeasts had simultaneously turned to stare at Ning, their hearts beginning to tremble. “Is that… true destruction?” Iyerre’s face turned pale. He immediately barked, “Kill them! Keep killing them!”

“Attack!”

“Attack!” The two black warbeasts that had been charging towards Autarch Bolin and Autarch Ekong hesitated slightly, then immediately obeyed the order and continue to press the attack. They knew that there was no way out. It didn’t matter what breakthrough Emperor Darknorth had just made. They had to follow this path to the bitter end!

The distant-white-robed Ning opened his eyes. He was able to read the situation at a glance.

“Oblivion Sword Dao!”

Rumble… the countless streams of sword-light which permeated this entire region all became pitch black. The streaks of pitch-black sword-light were absolutely terrifying to behold, and their power increased immeasurably. Although they didn’t possess as much power as the Sword Titan had when the seven Autarchs had sacrificed parts of their bodies, the pitch-black sword-light was still far more powerful than the normal World of Liberation domain. They also moved in much more marvelous and intricate ways than before.

The three black warbeasts and Iyerre all felt their bodies sink down under the weight of this domain’s pressure.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Previously, the Sword Titan had been wielding two of the Northbow swords, with a third Northbow sword beneath the Golden Bridge of Freedom which it was standing on. Upon its destruction, all three swords had gone flying. Now, under Ning’s control, the three Northbow swords began to shoot out towards those three black warbeasts at a speed far greater than Ning’s own flying speed.

“What’s this?” The black warbeast who was charging towards Autarch Ekong and trying to kill him suddenly noticed a black streak of light shooting towards it at terrifying speed. It was actually three times as fast as the warbeast itself! It was a Northbow sword.

“Beat it.” The black warbeast raked out with its claws, seeking to knock the Northbow sword aside. However, the Northbow sword dodged in an incredibly agile, almost ghostly manner. The sword easily dodged past the claws, then hacked straight at the black warbeast’s neck. This sword was filled with a pure will of destruction, and it caused the silver-robed woman inside the black warbeast to shiver in fear. Thankfully, she was inside the black warbeast. If she was outside, she probably would’ve died from the first blow.

The black warbeast stumbled backwards slightly from the blow, but it remained undamaged.

Swish! The black warbeast pursuing Autarch Bolin was also intercepted by a Northbow sword. Although a single sword controlled from afar wouldn’t be enough to defeat one of these black warbeasts, it was enough to tie it down.

“Damnit.” Iyerre’s face grew uglier and uglier. “He’s mastered true destruction? We have to kill him. Given enough time, he’s probably going to become an Omega Autarch and bind this entire Chaosverse. When that happens, we won’t even be able to fight back against him.”

Mastering true destruction meant that Ning had taken one step into the realm of Omega Autarchy! He was able to comprehend ‘Oblivion’, but at the very end of ‘Oblivion’ was ‘Creation’. This represented the true apex of all cultivation, Omega Autarchy! Ning was native to this Chaosverse, born and bred here. If he became an Omega Autarch, he’d naturally become able to take control over this Chaosverse. There was no way Iyerre could permit something like this to happen!

It was much like how Autarch Bolin had reached an extremely high level of insight into ‘life and death’ and was extremely powerful, but hadn’t been able to master the Samsara Daobirth Essence no matter how hard he tried until he himself was at the brink of death. Ning had been a bit better off; he had been able to take an incomplete step into Omega Autarchy by mastering ‘Oblivion’! He had gained a much higher level of insight, and the amount of power he could summon from the Dao had dramatically increased as well. All by himself, he was now slightly more powerful than the Sword Titan which all seven of them had to work together to create.

“Darknorth!” Autarch Bolin and Autarch Ekong were both overjoyed.

“You’ve become an Omega Autarch?” Autarch Ekong asked.

“Not yet.” Ning was radiating a will of destruction. “But leave Iyerre and the others to me.”

“Alright.” Bolin and Ekong both nodded. Ning immediately flew out.

The three black warbeasts and Iyerre wished to first kill Ekong and Bolin, but they were all stopped by Ning’s swords. Given that the Oblivion Sword Dao was suppressing and weakning them, they could do nothing but simply watch as Ning drew Ekong and Bolin into his estate-world treasure.

“Titanos. Skyfeeder. Stonerule. Mogg. Don’t worry, my friends. I’m going to kill them all. NO ONE shall ever be able to annihilate our civilization!” Ning stared at the distant Iyerre and those three black warbeasts, then manifested his three-headed, six-armed form. Three of his six hands reached out, grabbing the three Northbow swords which flew to him from afar. Moments later he had all six Northbow swords ready, and he emanated an aura of absolute murder.

“Mastering ‘true destruction’ won’t save you. Surround and kill him!” Iyerre roared as he, the three black warbeasts, and the seven violet-gold chains attacked Ning simultaneously.

Ning’s eyes were as cold as ice, and he charged forwards to meet them with all six Northbow swords at the ready.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Ning was noticeably faster than before, and he transformed into a streak of black light as he shot outwards. His swords were now even more shockingly powerful than before, allowing him to instantly battle against all three black warbeasts and Iyerre at the same time. Sword-light flashed around him, each flash filled with an awesome amount of power. As far as close combat went, he was now much stronger and more effective than previously when he was only able to use a single sword. He had also reached a much higher level of insight into the Dao of the Sword, allowing him to drill deep into the black warbeasts’ bodies with each strike from his sword!

Although his blows couldn’t compete to the final desperation attack the Sword Titan had used, they were more intricate and caused agony to the Sithe inside the warbeasts.

“We can’t hold on!”

“We can’t stop him for much longer!” The five Sithe Exalts sent mentally. Alas, it was too late! Ning struck incredibly fast, and he was in his three-headed, six-armed form. He landed three consecutive strikes against one of the black warbeasts, each strike transmitting the power of destruction inside of the warbeast. The main controller had a body tough enough to endure these blow, but the five Sithe Exalts all perished after taking three such collisions. Even worse, the awesome power of Oblivion which washed over them resulted in even their truesouls being devoured.

It was much like how the sphere of annihilation was able to devour anything, even truesoul fragments. Ning’s own power was coursing with the will of Oblivion, allowing him to do the same thing.

“Their truesoul fragments have been completely devoured!” Iyerre’s three allies began to panic. The only surviving Sithe were the three of them and Iyerre himself.