Desolate Era

The black-robed Primaltwin Ji Ning spent all of its time within the Three Realms, accompanying his family members and enjoying a life of leisure. Ning’s true body, however, continued to fearlessly advance and improve, not slacking off in the slightest! If he had, he wouldn’t have reached such a terrifying level of power.

……

A young man and a woman were standing at the prow of a large ship that was cruising through the waves of a vast sea.

“Senior apprentice-brother, you’ve grown much more powerful and have reached the Foundation stage. You’ll definitely be ranked in the top three within our clan’s tournament. In fact, you might even take first place!” the green-robed woman said excitedly.

“I was able to reach the Foundation stage, but the others might have made breakthroughs of their own. The clan competition will have three thousand disciples competing within it. Seizing first place is not going to be an easy task,” the black-robed youth said. His words were modest, but a hint of a smile was playing at his lips.

He truly had made tremendous gains this time. He had no idea who that old fisherman was, but the man was incredibly powerful. That casual finger-wave had contained unfathomably profundity within it.

The black-robed youth stroked his chest, where an ordinary-looking little rock was hanging from a necklace. The old fisherman had given it to him, and it contained an extremely profound set of staff-arts within it.

“The clan competition? At my current level of power, the clan competition is nothing. My level of comprehension has skyrocketed so much that I should be able to break through to the Core Formation stage with ease.” The black-robed youth’s eyes gleamed.

……

Far away, within a flying ship that was hidden in the mists above the world. Ji Ning and Ninedust were seated aboard this ship.

“An old fisherman? Really? Ninedust, you aren’t exactly handsome, but there was no need for you to transform yourself into a rheumy-eyed, white-haired old man,” Ning said with a laugh. “And you went out of your way to give that mortal some guidance. What, is he very talented? Why didn’t I notice it?”

“He’s decent for a mortal, but to people like us he truly is nothing special.” Ninedust sighed. “But… when I saw him, I felt as though I saw myself from long ago. That’s why I decided to guide him.”

Ning was startled. Ninedust was a very arrogant and solitary person who killed without blinking and was unscrupulous when pursuing his goals. However, he was willing to risk his own life to aid those he viewed as friends. That young mortal youth was similarly a solitary and lonely figure, but he was just as willing to sacrifice everything for the sake of that junior apprentice-sister of his.

“He’s a lucky kid,” Ning said.

“You and I remade this world when we chose to set up our estate here, bringing countless living beings into existence,” Ninedust said smugly. “Thus, we are responsible for guiding and teaching them.”

“You? Guide and teach?” Ning shook his head.

The living beings on this world had already gone through the earliest barbarian days, discovered primitive cultivation techniques, experienced a dazzling golden age, suffered through a great apocalypse, and finally entered the current, fairly stable era. Ning truly did work attentively to guide this world… but Ninedust? He was a much harder-hearted figure than Ning. He didn’t give a damn about whether the living beings here lived or died.

Ninedust occasionally taught some people, but it was strictly due to sudden spurts of interest. For example, just now he transformed into a fisherman and transmitted a set of staff-arts to the kid, then tossed him a stone. That was it! He didn’t even teach the kid an actual cultivation technique.

“Eh?” Ning and Ninedust’s faces suddenly tightened.

“Let’s go,” Ning barked. Whoosh! The flying vessel disappeared as Ning and Ninedust instantly departed from this planet and arrived in the void beyond it.

“What’s going on? Why are the realmship fragments we found in the Sithe ruins resonating?” Ning frowned.

“Mine is resonating as well. My realmship fragment is trembling right now, as though it wants to fly in a certain direction.” Ninedust pointed towards a direction which led into the chaotic void.

The two each had part of the shattered realmship. Both of those parts were shaking right now, wanting to go flying off in a certain direction.

“Something’s wrong,” Ning said. “When we scavenged the realmship wreckage in the Sithe ruins, we each collected a fairly undamaged piece. There’s never been a resonance like this before! Now that there is a sudden resonance… it has to have something to do with the Sithe.”

“Shall we go take a look?” Ninedust asked.

“Yes, let’s go take a look.” Ning nodded. Both of them were bold due to their power. This thing which was resonating with their realmship fragments could very well be a great fortune! Realmships were treasures which even Hegemons would go wild over, after all.

Ning led Ninedust in tearing through spacetime and advancing. “Wait, something’s wrong.” As soon as they exited the spacetime tear, Ning’s face tightened. “I can sense that the distance between us and the resonance is rapidly decreasing. They’re moving towards us as well.”

“Yes, they are headed in our direction.” Ninedust’s face turned grim as well. For the resonance to grow stronger and stronger meant that the distance was clearly decreasing.

……

A skinny man with white eyebrows and deep green eyes was standing within the chaotic void. He was dressed in long white robes and had white hair. His oily green eyes emanated an insidious coldness that was more than enough to inspire terror in the hearts of other cultivators. He was one of the most awe-inspiring members of the Dao Alliance, one of the eight Archons of the Sacred Cities… Archon Silksnow.

Silksnow… this sounded like a woman’s Daoist title, but he was indeed a man. Archon Silksnow was an extremely evil individual. Comparing Sectlord Timedream to him was like comparing an innocent baby with a demon who had mass-murdered over a trillion people!

According to the legends, Archon Silksnow had been born within a great apocalypse where countless living beings had died. As a rain of blood fell from the skies, an infant came crawling out of the torn-open belly of his deceased mother. The child was savage and bloodthirsty by nature, and he was inconceivably talented when it came to cultivation. His path of cultivation was one of slaughter and an endless sea of blood.

Nobody could stop him! Nobody! He actually trained all the way up at one go, succeeding in his Daomerge and becoming one of the eight Archons of the Sacred Cities! He was definitely a dominating and overwhelmingly powerful figure, and the countless bloodthirsty, violent cultivators of the Endless Territories all submitted to his rule. In fact, there were quite a few extremely violent Emperors who chose to follow him! In the Dao Alliance, he was ranked third amongst the eight Archons of the Sacred Cities! He was one of the truly terrifying figures of the Dao Alliance.

“Eh?” Archon Silksnow stared towards a certain direction with his oily green eyes. “It’s coming from over there! My realmship is resonating powerfully with something in that direction.” An excited look flashed through Archon Silksnow’s eyes.

“Master, Master! It’s another part of a realmship. It’s another part!” The vessel-spirit of his tattered realmship was extremely excited.

“Excellent.” Archon Silksnow’s white eyebrows fluttered. “I’ll take it for you.”

In all the Endless Territories, the only ones Archon Silksnow feared were the three mighty Hegemons. He held no fear towards any of the other experts at all. It must be remembered that he had slaughtered his way to becoming a dominating figure. How could he possibly fear others?

Swoosh! A streak of snow-white saber light tore through spacetime. Archon Silksnow stepped into the tunnel, traversing through spacetime towards the direction of the resonance.

……

“It’s moving closer to us… and it’s moving incredibly fast. Much faster than me when I tear through spacetime!” Ning turned pale. “Ninedust, we need to leave immediately.”

“Even faster than you?” Ninedust was startled as well. The difference in speed at which one tore through the void in order to travel was a testament to a difference in insight. Ning immediately led Ninedust in a frantic retreat.

“They are starting to run?” Archon Silksnow gently stroked his long, droopy white eyebrows. “They won’t be able to flee.” He continued to tear through spacetime in hot pursuit.

Ning fled at full speed, wanting to flee somewhere safe such as the Brightshore Kingdom or one of the Sacred Cities.

“He’s too fast. We won’t be able to make it.” Ning gritted his teeth. “It seems our only choice is to pick a battlefield to fight him head-on.”

“Ninedust, set up your formations right away,” Ning sent. “We need to pick the battlefield, then set up formations and await his arrival.”

“Fine.” Ninedust nodded. Judging from how fast the person was, that person should’ve reached a higher level of enlightenment than Ning. How strong he actually was, however, would only be determined through actual combat.

“Focus.” Ninedust immediately tossed out a black globe. As the black globe flew out, it quickly flew towards a distant, desolate planet. It merged itself into the planet, causing a layer of black light to appear on the planet’s surface. Countless runes could be seen flickering over the surface of the black light.

“Hide,” Ninedust growled. The countless black runes all turned reserved and stately.

Ning produced a treasure as well. This was a treasure he had acquired from the Sithe ruins, a deep blue necklace that looked broken. Ning tossed it out, and it immediately flew towards that planet and merged into its depths.

Ning and Ninedust both flew towards that planet and landed on its surface. They only had enough time to set up three layers of defenses before they sensed a powerful aura appear off in the distance. A white-robed, white-haired, white-browed man tore straight through the void and appeared before them, his eyebrows fluttering in the astral wind. He turned to stare in their direction with his oily green eyes. Although he was very thin, Ning and Ninedust didn’t feel that he was small at all; they only felt an utterly terrifying and dominating aura spread out towards them.

“Archon Silksnow!” Ning and Ninedust both turned pale. They never would’ve imagined that their opponent was the most savage and brutal of the eight lords of the Sacred Cities… Archon Silksnow!

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