The Desolate Era

Book 21, The Bloodlotus Blooms, Chapter 24 – Killing Ji Ning

The distant Allfiend world.

“Everything needs to be carried out according to the plan.” The Lord of All Fiends sat by himself at the peak of the mountain, staring into the endless Void. His voice passed through the Void, reaching the minds of the major powers spread throughout the other worlds. “In this mission to kill Ji Ning and take back the Envoy, as long as we move quickly enough we should be able to succeed fairly easily. However, there is a chance that the Endwar will begin as a result. Everyone, make your preprations.”

“Yes, Fiendlord.”

“Don’t worry, Windfiend.”

“We’ve all made our preparations.”

The ten-plus most powerful figures of the entire Seamless Gate all understood that this night was likely to be the most important night they had experienced in countless eons. This was a night where the major powers of both alliances would battle, a night which could well cause the Endwar to erupt. The last Endwar had caused the destruction of two chaosworlds; from this, one could tell how devastating a battle between major powers could be.

……

“So we are about to fight soon…” A violet-robed woman was seated in the lotus position atop a jade bed. Her arms were sparkling white and crystalline, while a faint hint of eagerness could be seen within her eyes.

Of the supreme powers of the Seamless Gate, she was the one who loved battle the most.

……

“We absolutely cannot afford to lose this battle.” A man dressed in similar violet robes who had a wooden ruler on his back was seated within an ordinary wooden room. He waved his hand, and the wooden ruler on his back fell into his grasp. The Keeper of the Everwood gently stroked the wooden ruler with his hand as he stared at it. He said in a soft voice, “Old friend, we are going to go into battle together once more. The last time we fought together was during the war that ended the Primordial Era.”

Thrum…the wooden ruler vibrated slightly.

Keeper Everwood’s face turned solemn and his eyes turned cold. Although he disliked battle, when the time came for them to fight he absolutely would not show mercy.

……

“The Fiendlord is a bit too cautious. He prepared a total of three plans for us, and we’re attacking from ambush. There’s no way Ji Ning will even be able to assemble the Rahu Formation in time. Killing him will be as easy as killing a chicken. The primary plan is more than enough. In fact, there’s no need for us to even involve Shadowless in this. I by myself am more than enough.”

An icy look flashed through the eyes of this skinny old man who had a hideous, centipede-like scar across his face. This man was Swordfather Darklight.

He had reached the fifth stage of swordforce, and he could be considered the Seamless Gate’s number one expert in the art of assassinations. His sword was known as the Darklight Sword, and it was named that because enemies were unable to see his sword.

……

The first plan the Seamless Gate initiated only involved a tiny number of major powers. It was kept extraordinarily secret, and so no one in the Nuwa Alliance noticed anything at all.

The Deerchaser world. The imperial palace.

The white-robed Ning was seated facing Silvermoon. Both were staring at the countless stars in the skies.

“Peaceful days are the best.” Silvermoon stared at the starry skies, then said softly, “But I wonder how long this peace will last.”

“Once the war is over, everything will be right again.” Ning stared at the stars as well. “The tree wishes to be still, but the wind continues to blow. Although we wish to live peaceful lives, there’s a reason for this war. Only when we sever the hand that is manipulating things behind the scenes and slay the major powers who are focused on causing trouble and chaos throughout the Three Realms will peace return.”

“Haha.” Silvermoon chuckled. “Fortunately, we have you on our side. I really wonder what you experienced in Undermoon Lake, junior apprentice-brother. You are merely an Empyrean God, but you are able to unleash such incredible levels of power.”

Ning smiled but didn’t reply.

Everyone who had emerged from Undermoon Lake, including all of the two hundred-plus Empyrean Gods, had been completely silent about their experiences there. Everyone including Silvermoon knew that it wasn’t that they were unwilling to speak, it had to be that they were unable to speak, and so no one tried to force the story out of them.

“Eh? We’ve finished the wine.” Silvermoon lifted up the canteen, giving it a few shakes before laughing and rising to his feet. “Alright. Now that the wine’s all gone, it’s time for me to leave. No need to send me off.” As he spoke, he took a step forward and flew downwards, then lazily sauntered off into the distance. As he left, he called out in a loud voice, “Just make sure you help me kill a few more of those Seamless Gate bastards.”

“No problem,” Ning called back.

In the previous battle, Silvermoon’s capabilities had been tremendously degraded. He had lost more than half of his soul, resulting in him now being extremely weak. There was no way he could take part in battle at all. In truth, Ning could’ve let him quickly recover his soul by giving him just a tiny bit of chaos nectar, but Ning knew that given Silvermoon’s temperament, he would immediately choose to rejoin the war once more upon being healed.

It was best to let him stay in the back safely for now.

“And these Nine Chaos Seals are truly unspeakably marvelous.” Ning waved his hand, producing one of the Goldstar Beads of the Heavens. The more insight he gained into the Nine Chaos Seals which each goldstar bead contained, the more marvelous he felt them to be. Meditating on them allowed Ning to more easily understand and master the sword-arts left behind by World God Northrest, and it even made it a bit easier for him to comprehend the Dao.

Ning had originally thought them to be fairly ordinary chaos seals that had been found in the primordial chaos, but after learning the many techniques transmitted to him by World God Northrest, Ning felt all the more convinced of how extraordinary these Nine Chaos Seals were.

“Perhaps in the future, when I find Vastheaven Palace in the primordial chaos, I’ll be able to learn the history behind the creation of the Nine Chaos Seals.”

He continued to hold the goldstar beads in his hands, meditating on them.

After spending two hours in meditation, it was now very late at night.

“Eh?” Ning suddenly, inexplicably felt his heartrate quicken, and a shiver flashed through his soul. In fact, his subconscious was now screaming that an utterly terrifying danger was descending upon him, so unfathomably vast and deadly that Ning’s heart was naturally filled with an aura of despair.

“Not good.” Ning was shocked. Ever since he had mastered the second of the Nine Chaos Seals and became capable of transforming the goldstar beads in the Mirrors of the Heavens, Ning’s subconscious connection to the whispers of fate had become much stronger than before. But this time, things had happened without any warning whatsoever. Only when the danger had already descended upon him did the warning come, filling him with utter terror. Clearly, his foe’s mastery over fate and destiny was far superior to Ning’s, allowing him to even muffle the whispers of fate, which was why Ning didn’t sense anything until the very end.

And by now…it was too late.

“Flee.” Faced with such danger, Ning’s only thought was of flight.

Suddenly…

Rumble…

Like a peacock spreading his tail feathers, streaks of black light instantly swished towards Ning in a fan-like manner.

They were completely silent but incredibly fast.

By the time Ning noticed the fan-shaped streaks of black light, they had already reached him. The only thing that Ning could do was use the [Starseizing Hand] to block.

Whooooooosh. The fan-shaped streaks of black light instantly and completely penetrated through Ning’s body. Although Ning’s body was protected by the [Eight-Nine Arcane Art], it was still unable to defend against the black streaks of light. The [Eight-Nine Arcane Art] was completely shattered, and even his divine body was unable to withstand this attack. The golden pellet Jindan in his body, along with his soul, wasn’t able to withstand it either…and both were instantly annihilated.

The white-robed youth that had been sitting there was instantly reduced to nothingness.

“Hmph. So what if he is powerful? So what if he has the [Ninehorn Lightning Serpent]? So what if he has the [Eight-Nine Arcane Art]?” A skinny old man appeared in the air above the palace. It was Swordfather Darklight of the Seamless Gate.

This mission was extremely critical, and Ning possessed the [Ninehorn Lightning Serpent] evasion technique. If he was given any time to escape, he would definitely be able to do so. Thus, the Seamless Gate had invited their most skilled assassin, Swordfather Darklight, to engage. His sword was both secretive enough and powerful enough to instantly wipe out Ji Ning!

If Swordfather Darklight had failed, allowing Ji Ning to flee with his [Ninehorn Lightning Serpent], then the next to strike would be the Lord of All Fiends, who had the most terrifyingly fast movement technique in all of the Three Realms. The Lord of All Fiends would personally strike! His evasion technique was far superior to Ji Ning’s; not even the Golden Crow ‘King of Monsters’ of the ancient days could match up to the Lord of All Fiends in speed.

However…

Ning had been too relaxed and unguarded here in the imperial palace of Yellow Emperor Xuan Yuan. He had placed too much faith in Subhuti and Xuan Yuan, and had too much confidence in himself. And so…he had instantly been killed. He didn’t even have the chance to use the [Ninehorn Lightning Serpent] to escape, and so there was no need for the Lord of All Fiends to intervene.

Two powerful aura instantly burst forth from within the imperial palace.

“DARKLIGHT!!!”

An enraged roar instantly shook the entire world. This white-bearded, robed old man normally always had a calm, merry smile on his face…but now, he was filled with a towering desire to kill. His senses were quite acute and quite quick, but by the time he sensed what was happening, Ji Ning’s true body had already been slain, completely unable to fight back whatsoever.

“Subhuti, don’t be hasty.” A second, calm voice rang out within the imperial palace.

A violet-robed man appeared in the air above the imperial palace. He held a wooden ruler in his hands, and he pointed it at the distant Patriarch Subhuti. Instantly, a blurry violet light instantly sprang up to surround Patriarch Subhuti. Even the stunned and enraged Yellow Emperor Xuan Yuan was completely surrounded by the blurry violet light. Upon being trapped by it, Patriarch Subhuti and Yellow Emperor Xuan Yuan actually found that they were temporarily unable to break free from it.

“Shatter!” Patriarch Subhuti waved his finger. Whoosh…the spacetime around him began to splinter apart.

“It’s useless.” The violet-robed figure stood there calmly in the air. Although spacetime around him was shattering apart in layers, the boundless violet light was able to once more forcibly recompress and seal those layers together. In terms of pure defensive capabilities, Keeper Everwood was the most formidable individual in the Seamless Gate. Even if all three of the Three Sovereigns came, he would still be able to hold them off by himself, much less a mere Subhuti and Xuan Yuan.