The Desolate Era (Web Novel)

Ji Ning’s six Violetjewels all chopped towards his opponents at the same time, and as they moved forwards they crushed everything in their path, causing space itself to tremble and distort. They moved forwards in seemingly slow arcs, but their power only continued to grow until they reached a crescendo of might, then slammed head-on into the giant stone fists of a volcano titan.

The power now contained with every single one of Ning’s six swords was stronger than when he previously used all six swords combined to execute the Blood Drop stance. This was the difference between the Heavenbreaker stance and the Blood Drop stance!

In terms of penetrative power, the Blood Drop stance was far superior to the Heavenbreaker stance… but it was still useless against these volcano titans, who had bodies that were comparable to precious treasures. But in terms of raw power, the Heavenbreaker stance was similarly far superior to the Blood Drop stance. It was perfect for head-on clashes!

BOOM!

The enormous volcanic body of the volcano titan shuddered violently, and he couldn’t help but stumble back quite a few steps. Even his giant stone hands were visibly trembling.

“Kill!”

“Kill!”

Ning was clearly much faster and more agile than the volcano titans. He only had to deal with one of them each time.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

A series of explosions rang out as the towering volcano titans were knocked stumbling backwards one by one, thanks to Ning’s overwhelming power. Although the volcano titans bellowed furiously and charged forwards repeatedly, Ning was able to beat them back each time. Ning was physically much smaller than them, but the power of his Heavenbreaker stance allowed him to completely outstrip them and shut them down.

“Eh?” An odd, surprised look appeared on the formerly emotionless face of the muscular, greatsword-wielding man who stood in front of the distant shrine.

“Is that…?!” The white-robed man and the azure-armored man next to him both revealed looks of joy.

“Big brother, that Sword Dao… isn’t that just like the Dao of the Hegemon, a Dao that overwhelms and crushes all foes in a straightforward manner?” The azure-armored man saif hurriedly, “Darknorth is a perfect fit for learning the Hegemon’s Dao of the Sword.”

The muscular man calmly shook his head. “Although he’s developed five Supreme Daos, he hasn’t been able to link them together in a perfect manner. He’s not even qualified to become my master’s honorary disciple.”

The deceased Hegemon would only accept one personal disciple and two honorary disciples. Not even that now-deceased World-level genius who had perfectly fused an offensive Supreme Dao with a defensive Supreme Dao had been able to qualify as an honorary disciple. In fact, the muscular man had personally slaughtered him!

“Big brother, your requirements are too stringent. The Sword Dao this kid has come up with is extremely similar to that of the Hegemon’s,” the azure-armored man said frantically. “There are incredibly few such geniuses of the Dao of the Sword. If you kill him, who knows how long it will be before we encounter another one?”

“I’d rather have no successors at all than poor ones.” The muscular man shook his head. “If I am to choose a successor, I will only choose a perfect one.”

“A perfect one?”

“Big brother, you… ugh.”

The white-robed man and the azure-armored man both shook their heads. But right then, both their bodies trembled. Even the muscular man was somewhat astonished as he stared at what was happening.

“What?!” The white-robed man and the azure-armored man called out this word at the same time.

“How could he have made yet another breakthough so quickly?” A look of true astonishment was on the muscular man’s cold features as well.

After Ning developed the Heavenbreaker stance, he immediately found the battle against the three volcano titans was now much easier than before. Thanks to the Shadowless evasive skill and the Blood Drop evasive skill, he was far more agile than his opponents. Defending was inherently easier than attacking, but now his attacks carried crushing power as well.

It was an absolutely delightful feeling. But just as Ning was battling to his heart’s content, he suddenly had the vague feeling that his five sword-intents could actually be linked together in some manner.

“Is this…” Ning suddenly realized that there were certain aspects of his five sword-intents that resonated with each other and attracted each other. They made up for each other’s weaknesses, and in fact it could be said they all stemmed from the same source.

The Dao of the Sword…

Although it was awesomely vast, different aspects of it could lead to different directions of development. Ning’s starting point was the essence of the sword itself, and he had divided it up into five different aspects that he believed included all types of sword-arts the Dao of the Sword could contain. His five aspects were the Blood Drop sword-intent, the Shadowless sword-intent, the Heavenbreaker sword-intent, the Yin-Yang sword-intent, and the Soleheart sword-intent. These five types of sword-intent, when separated thusly, truly did encompass all possible elements and aspects of all sword-arts.

These five types of sword-intents were, in truth, five parts of the complete Dao of the Sword.

When Ning had developed his first, second, third, and fourth sword-intents, he hadn’t realized this. But now that he had developed his fifth sword-intent, this battle instantly caused him to realize that there were deep, inextricable connections between his five sword-intents.

“The five sword-intents can be completely joined together.” And so, Ning naturally began to do just that.

……

He was unlike all other geniuses. Bertulu, Eastcult, Prince Greatjoy… they hadn’t actually truly understood or mastered all aspects of their chosen paths.

Eastcult had merely come up with a single offensive Dao and a single defensive Dao. When he managed to join them together in a perfect manner, his power increased dramatically! But of course, joining together two Supreme Daos was incredibly difficult.

The same was true for Prince Greatjoy. He too had only comprehended a pair of Supreme Daos, eventually joining them together here in the Genesis Lands of this alternate universe.

As for Bertulu, he was a bit stronger than the other two, having mastered and joined together a trio of Supreme Daos.

But…

Imagine a porcelain plate which had been shattered into five bizarrely-shaped pieces. Eastcult and Greatjoy had merely mastered two of those pieces. Thanks to their tremendous intelligence and wisdom, they had managed to find a way to jam these two pieces together into a complete whole, albeit with great difficult, and use the joined pieces to form their Daos.

Bertulu had been able to take control over three pieces, and had also had to work incredibly hard to join them together.

But Ji Ning?

He had mastered all five pieces, allowing him a degree of understanding of every single aspect of the Dao of the Sword. It was as though he had acquired all five pieces of that shattered porcelain plate. He didn’t need to waste time and effort finding out a way to make them fit together; they fit together in a natural manner, because they represented the five parts of the full Dao of the sword.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Ning’s sword… began to change. It was no longer limited to any specific stance.

Whoosh. He unleashed a sword that was almost invisible to the naked eye, a traceless and shadowless sword. And yet, when it appeared before the volcano titan it suddenly transformed into a swirling black hole of sword-light that dragged the volcano titan sideways. This had all happened too suddenly, and the volcano titan couldn’t help but stumble off-balance.

It was like he was toying with a child.

Boom. Whoosh! Boom.

Ning strode amidst the three volcano titans, his five mighty sword-intents having joined together to form a cyclical sword-intent, a Samsara sword-intent. His five mighty sword-intents were like five wooden spokes that now came together to naturally form a perfect wheel! This naturally-forming cycle allowed the different types of sword-intent to mutually reinforce and strengthen each other.

For example, Ning could first initiate the Heavenbreaker sword-intent. Once he built up enough power, he could suddenly transform it all into his Blood Drop sword-intent, giving it an even more terrifying degree of penetrative power.

The Blood Drop sword-intent’s incredible speed, in turn, could be transferred into the Heavenbreaker sword-intent, giving its ponderous strike a terrifying level of speed that only made it even more powerful than before.

Ning’s five mighty sword-intents flowed in a perfect cycle. As the saying goes, where water flows a canal shall naturally form. Just like that, the five mighty sword-intents easily came together to form a perfect cycle, the Samsara sword-intent.

……

“Five Supreme Daos? Just like that, he merged them together?” The azure-armored man muttered to himself, “Don’t you dare fight with me over him. Please oh please, don’t fight with me over him. He’s going to be my master’s personal disciple!”

“Third brother, Darknorth didn’t choose to leave when he reached the twenty-fourth floor. Clearly, he gave up the right to become your master’s disciple. As per the rules that were set down, you are responsible for the first twenty-four floors while our big brother and I are responsible for the final twelve floors,” the white-robed man said immediately. “Our big brother is incredibly strict when it comes to choosing a successor. So what if this kid has perfectly joined his Supreme Daos together? There’s no way our big brother will be interested in him. So, I think the best solution is to have him become my master’s personal disciple.”

Countless aeons ago, those three grandmasters of the Dao of the Sword had perished. For endless years, the three of them had abided by the orders of their master and had waited here in the hopes of finding successors.

However… finding suitable successors was simply far too difficult. Although Ji Ning had displayed a certain degree of talent, none of the three had been truly impressed by him. He hadn’t even been able to perfectly join any of his Supreme Daos together! Give him the treasures left behind by their Eternal Emperors masters? Preposterous!

But now, Ning had perfectly joined together FIVE different types of Supreme Daos! Looks of blazing desire instantly filled the eyes of the white-robed man and the azure-armored man. If looks could release energy, their gazes were so heated that Ji Ning would’ve instantly melted into a puddle.

“Hmph.” The muscular man let out a cold snort.

“Big brother, I’m certain that there’s no way someone as strict as you would be interested in him,” the white-robed man said hurriedly.

“So what if he has five Supreme Daos? So what if he’s perfectly joined them together? In the end, he’s still nothing more than a World-level cultivator.” The muscular man continued coldly, “The more difficult a Dao one choses, the more difficult the path a Samsara Daolord shall have. With each step, a Samsara Daolord must straddle the line between life and death. This is especially true with regards to the Daomerge. Every era has given birth to monstrously powerful Daolords, but how many of them have been able to gain eternity and become Hegemons? Don’t be fooled by how talented this Darknorth kid seems to be; I’m afraid that he has almost no chance of succeeding in his Daomerge in the future.”

There were many monstrously powerful Daolords; every single generation would give birth to a few. But…

Even the Endless Territories had only given birth to three Hegemons over the course of its entire history. The muscular man’s words were spot-on; to succeed in the Daomerge and gain true eternity was simply far too difficult for these monstrously talented geniuses.

“So… don’t be overly infatuated with him,” the muscular man said coldly.

“In other words, big brother, you aren’t interested in him, right?” The azure-armored man said.

“If that’s the case, then he’ll definitely become my master’s personal disciple,” the white-robed man said hurriedly.