The Desolate Era

“Hahahaha...come, come! The two of you, go! Leave this golem to me!” Silvermoon’s Seven Planets God roared like a frenzied devil, charging forward to block a violet-light golem on his own. This was the first time the Seamless Gate had deployed these golems in a battle, and they were fairly rare. Each of them was a bit more powerful than a Daofather golem.

There was no way a single Seven Planets God could withstand it...but Silvermoon’s Seven Planets God charged forward to fight it solo, as though he had gone mad.

Black dragons continued to descend from the heavens, assaulting Silvermoon as he fought against the Daofather golem. Even the golem was affected by collateral damage from their attacks; this was simply unavoidable.

Boom!

Silvermoon’s Seven Planets God finally collapsed.

The savage, violet-light golem was about to massacre the Immortals within, but right at this moment, a towering, handsome, white-robed man suddenly appeared before him. It was Empyrean God Silvermoon! Silvermoon transformed to become three hundred thousand meters tall, with each palm thirty thousand meters long. He stretched out his massive hands, simultaneously grabbing onto two of the closest violet-light golems next to him.

“Ahahaha....” The handsome, white-robed man roared with laughter, but held onto those two golems with a death-clutch.

Although both golems did their best to fight back, and although they were still able to move forward, their were clearly slowed down dramatically by Silvermoon’s deathgrip on them. There was no way they could possibly chase after other members of the Nuwa Alliance. There were only so many of them to begin with, and now two of them had been suddenly bogged down at the same time.

“Send two more. Trap him into a magic treasure and seal him away.” Daomother Devilhand, atop the walls of the Seamless Citadel, frowned as she sent the mental order.

“I’ve mastered the Ninth Cycle of the [Eight-Nine Arcane Art], precisely because I want to keep fighting without pause on this field of battle!” The white-robed Silvermoon allowed the enemies to freely assault him. The Seven Planets God was merely a formation, but his body itself had reached the Ninth Cycle of the [Eight-Nine Arcane Art]; it was nearly indestructible!

“Senior apprentice-brother Silvermoon.” Ning watched the seemingly berserk Silvermoon fight on the battlefield. Due to how recklessly and madly Silvermoon had fought each time on the battlefield, Subhuti had decided to give Silvermoon many Great Firmament Immortal pills, enough to ensure that he could master the Ninth Cycle of the [Eight-Nine Arcane Art]. Subhuti had warned Silvermoon, “Mastery of this art will only give you a higher chance of survival. If you insist on acting in a suicidal manner, no one and nothing will save you.”

On the battlefield, Silvermoon could see two more of the golems charging towards him. His divine body suddenly split apart into thirty, each of which fled towards one of three directions.

“Silvermoon, you’ve done enough! Hurry up and flee back here!” Xuan Yuan immediately sent mentally.

All by himself, Silvermoon had tied down four of the enemy golems, allowing the pressure to ease up considerably on the other Seven Planets Gods.

A short while later, the grand army of the Nuwa Alliance completed its withdrawal, leaving behind only the army of the Seamless Gate, which continued to call out mockingly towards them.

“Damn that Empyrean God Silvermoon.” A baleful aura was in Daomother Devilhand’s eyes.

Silvermoon’s sudden actions had indeed impacted the situation across the entire battlefield. If it hadn’t been for him, with a bit of luck the Seamless Gate might’ve been able to cause the entire army of the Nuwa Alliance to collapse. Even if there was no collapse, their losses definitely would’ve been much heavier.

“His divine body is quite powerful. He must’ve trained in the Ninth Cycle of the [Eight-Nine Arcane Art],” the black-robed Godking said. “He was willing to risk it all in using his own body to tie down our forces. This did indeed have an impact on our pursuit. But...aunt-master, Silvermoon split up into multiple bodies and fled in many different directions, and we killed many of them. His life essence has definitely been badly damaged. It’s entirely possible that it will be a thousand years before he can fully recover.”

“Perhaps.” Daomother Devilhand nodded, a cold smile on her lips. “It took multiple clashes for Xuan Yuan to kill a small portion of my forces. I managed to cause him painful losses in just one.”

“In this battle, he must have lost nearly six hundred Empyrean Gods and True Immortals...and that’s because they were lucky. Next time, they won’t be so lucky.” The black-robed Godking was filled with confident as well.

“You need to remain on your guard.” Daomother Devilhand instructed, “And ask for your master to help out. We have to get a clear sense of what the Nuwa Alliance is planning.”

“Yes.” The Godking smiled and nodded.

......

The Nuwa Alliance.

Within the levitating citadel.

The mood here was quite depressed. Those who were allowed to wander about freely within the castle were all Empyrean Gods or True Immortals. As for the Celestial Immortals and Loose Immortals, they were all required to remain within their respective camps. That way, they would be able to assemble more quickly.

“Senior apprentice-brother Silvermoon, you were too rash. You nearly died just now!” Ning looked at Silvermoon, whose aura was noticeably much weaker than before. Those destroyed clones had all contained part of Silvermoon’s soul. He had lost more than half his soul this time. Although his Dao-heart was powerful enough for him to remain clear-minded and have his soul dissipate, he was still at the very brink of it happening. After fleeing, he had to eat a spirit-pill Subhuti had given him before he was able to stabilize his soul. Right now, Silvermoon’s power was perhaps just barely on the level of an ordinary Celestial Immortal’s.

“If I didn’t try something crazy, even more Empyrean Gods and True Immortals would have died,” Silvermoon said softly. “To be honest...perhaps a death on the battlefield is the most suitable refuge for me. I was able to allow more of my friends to survive than would’ve otherwise. It was worth it.”

“Junior apprentice-brother Silvermoon. Junior apprentice-brother Darknorth.” A distant voice rang out.

Ning and Silvermoon both turned to look. It was their golden-haired, golden-robed senior apprentice-brother Goldcrow who was walking towards them.

“Senior apprentice-brother Goldcrow.” The two of them called out to him.

“Silvermoon, you truly rendered major merits to our cause this time. Just now, Yellow Emperor Xuan Yuan said that if it wasn’t for you, the situation would’ve been even uglier for us,” Goldcrow said.

“Senior apprentice-brother Goldcrow, after you took control of a Sidereal Star Formation, you rescued the Jimin-Pangu and its hundreds of Empyrean Gods on multiple occasions. You are the one who has truly done great things,” Silvermoon said. This was the truth as well; because the Jimin-Pangu had to hold off the Envoy of All Things, it had to be the last to flee. Since Goldcrow had the ‘Golden Sunstreak’ divine ability, he had indeed assisted the army in escaping, ensuring that the Seamless Gate was unable to catch up.

“No need for us to talk about who did more. We were defeated this time, and disastrously so.” Goldcrow shook his head.

“Yes. This was disastrous.” Silvermoon nodded. “Many of my good friends died in battle.”

“Yes.” Ning’s heart sunk as well.

Nearly six hundred Empyrean Gods and True Immortals had died!

Good heavens!

It must be understood that the Realms of the rest of the Five Emperors, such as Emperor Zhuanxu, each held just barely six hundred Empyrean Gods/True Immortals in total. For so many to die in a single battle...for every five that took part in the battle, one had died! How many friends, brothers, disciples had perished?

Subhuti’s disciples were all quite powerful, and they had all been quite lucky; all of them had actually survived. But most of them had just barely been able to escape, and even Silvermoon, who had mastered the Ninth Cycle of the [Eight-Nine Arcane Art], had very nearly perished.

This time, they had survived.

Next time?

The entire citadel was filled with agony, resentment, and an unwillingness to accept this result. Their casualties had been horrendous, primarily because they had lost a Myriad Immortals Armageddon Formation as well as a Sidereal Star Formation.

Ning had wandered the Three Realms for six centuries. He had visited every single major world, and he had made many friends such as True Immortal Luoshui. And this time...of the nearly six hundred slain Empyrean Gods and True Immortals...there were 129 friends who had drank, chatted, and laughed by Ning’s side. Some had even sparred with him before!

Ning’s heart was filled with misery.

“Master.”

Ning had gone to visit Subhuti by himself.

“Eh?” Subhuti was seated in the lotus position. He looked at Ning.

“Let me join the battle,” Ning pleaded. “My Rahu God is comparable to those violet-light golems. If I send eighteen of my clones, that’ll represent a force capable of matching eighteen violet-light golems.”

Subhuti sighed and shook his head. “I understand how you feel right now...but right now, the main problem isn’t the golems. It is the Envoy of All Things! No matter how many low-level forces we have, if we can’t use them together in an effective manner, there’s no way we’ll be able to overcome the higher-level forces. The Envoy of All Things is simply too strong. Even the Pangu Genesis Formation was at an absolute disadvantage when facing it. It would be able to survive a short clash, but if they fought for a long period of time, the only result would be destruction.

“Tell me.” Subhuti looked at Ning. “Would Seven Planet Gods, even a hundred of them, be able to deal with a single Envoy of All Things?”

Ning shook his head.

A thousand Empyrean Gods and True Immortals trying to mob a Daofather would be massacred, unless they were capable of some sort of formation that allowed them to join their power together!

“The Envoy of All Things has the power of a elite Daofather,” Subhuti said. “Your Rahu God is much weaker than it, and its body is merely composed of divine power. It will crumble as soon as its defenses are breached.”

“Yes.” Ning nodded.

“We have methods for dealing with the other golems and formations. The real problem is this Envoy of All Things. If we can’t find a way to deal with it, there’s no way we can win this war.” An expression suddenly flickered across Subhuti’s face. “Leave me for now. Other major powers have arrived. I need to go meet with them as well.” action

“Alright.” Ning respectfully withdrew, departing from Subhuti’s residence. Upon stepping out, he suddenly raised his head to stare off into the distance. Far away, one major power after another was descending, each of them surrounded by auras of incredible power. All of these major powers descended directly into Xuan Yuan’s palace.

“Now that an Envoy of All Things has appeared, things have become problematic for us. Not even the Pangu Genesis Formation can withstand it.” A graceful, poised woman was next to Ning, also staring towards the skies with her head raised. It was senior apprentice-sister Empyrean Phoenix. “The Pangu Genesis Formation was left behind by Mother Nuwa. It is extremely powerful, but it really needs a Daofather commanding it in order to unleash its true power.”

“Mm.” Ning nodded.

“Who can stand against an Envoy of All Things?” Empyrean Phoenix shook her head. “The major powers have all come here to discuss this very question, no doubt. For so many major powers to be forced to convene...this is testament to how problematic this Envoy is.”

Ning could sense the weight of the invisible pressure brought by the Envoy as well.

So many of his friends had died in battle...was it all for nothing? Were they going to lose?

Suddenly, Ning’s body trembled.

Rumble...

A flood of memories began to surge into his mind from far away.

......

At a blazing, fiery star within the primordial chaos.

Whoosh.

Spacetime twisted and a white-robed youth emerged from within.

“So the exit is actually located here. It’s quite well-hidden. After six hundred years...finally, I’m out.” The white-robed youth’s body suddenly trembled.

A flood of memories surged towards him from the distant Deerchaser world of the Three Realms.

A confluence of memories!

His two clones had been completely separated from the rest after they had entered Undermoon Lake, and so there was no way for their memories to join together. Upon exiting Undermoon Lake...instantly, the memories of the two clones once more connected together with the memories of all the other clones, joining together into a confluence.

Part of the memories were formed from his six hundred years in Undermoon Lake and his time spent studying World God Northrest’s many sword-arts, which allowed Ning to understand and master the number one sword-art of the Three Realms.

The other part of his memories were formed from his experiences of roaming the Three Realms, watching many events happen and gradually learning to understand the human heart. They also included his experiences and battles in Prisonworld 17.

The two different memories began to collide against each other, merging into one whole.

Different insights into the sword.

Different insights into the heart.

They continued to collide, merge, and fuse together...