The Desolate Era (Web Novel)

As soon as Ji Ning spoke out, all seven of the Empyrean Gods, along with the giant yellow bear, simultaneously turned to look towards him.

“You really want us to act?” The lovely Empyrean God Snow Scorpion sent urgently to him.

“Don’t regret it.” The child-like Empyrean God Primalfire sent mentally as well.

“We’ve only promised to assist you once,” the bald Empyrean God Ninefangs looked at Ning as well.

Empyrean God Dovesnake, Empyrean God Sunblaze, Empyrean God Darkmoon, and even the giant yellow bear sent urgent mental queries as well. The reason why they sent mental messages was because the battle outside had reached a fever pitch; they had to communicate in the shortest amount of time possible.

Only Empyrean God Redsnow remained silent. He just looked at Ning, who looked back at him. Their gazes met…and their was no hesitation in either of their eyes.

“Assemble the formation.” This was the only thing Empyrean God Redsnow said.

“Ahahaha…”

The other six Empyrean Gods couldn’t help but begin to laugh. Blazing eagerness appeared within their eyes. They had been in seclusion for far, far too long. Although they had been peaceful for countless years, they remained as hot-blooded as ever, and had always been looking forward to the day when they could once more enjoy a blood-soaked battle. The Realmwar for the Crimsonbright Realm…this was exactly what they were hungering for.

Instantly, there was an explosion of light within the underwater estate as a rainbow of colors appeared…

……

The outside world.

The battlefield where Ji Ning, the Xia Emperor, and the Three-Eyed Demon were located. The battle here between the two sides had truly reached a fever pitch, with the heart of the battle centering around the Three-Eyed Demon.

The Three-Eyed Demon served as the leader for the Empyrean Gods, True Immortals, White-Faced Flood Dragons, Bifang Cranes, Zhuyan Apes, and golems of the Seamless Gate.

On the Crimsonbright Realm’s side, the Heaven Punishers, Raindragons, Pangu War-Formations, Empyrean Gods, and True Immortals were struggling to hold on. Alas…they were at a clear disadvantage.

Sword Immortal Evergreen had broken the balance between the two sides, and the Three-Eyed Demon had just made things worse for the Crimsonbright Realm. Most importantly of all…even Daofather Crimsonbright had painfully given up on their region for the sake of the bigger picture. Ji Ning’s side was now in extremely dire straits. Fortunately, Ji Ning, the Xia Emperor, and some of the other powerful figures on their side were still able to fight back for now.

“Die, all of you. Just die. What’s the point of struggling?” The Three-Eyed Demon was acting with wanton brashness. At this moment, the Three-Eyed Demon was brandishing two giant warhammers in his hands, smashing them down in every direction. This was the weapon of choice, because the Three-Eyed Demon was being commanded by the nine-headed lion, the ‘Great Sage Who Swallows the Skies’, who was especially skillsed in using giant warhammers.

Whoosh!

A Raindragon that was being assaulted by the forces of the Seamless Gate was knocked flying towards the direction of the Three-Eyed Demon.

Seeing this, the Three-Eyed Demon immediately leapt forward, smashing down the giant warhammer in his hands.

“No!”

“Watch out!”

Although the Raindragon tried to dodge, and although the Xia Emperor and the others wanted to assist…it was too late.

BOOM!!!

A giant warhammer smashed directly on the body of the Raindragon. With a boom, the body blasted apart, revealing the many Immortals inside of it, as well as a terrified, silver-haired Empyrean God who immediately began to flee.

“Fleeing?” The incomparably savage Three-Eyed Giant once more smashed down with his giant warhammer, sending it towards the silver-haired Empyrean God in a vicious blow. Fortunately, the Empyrean God hurriedly split his body in half and began to flee in two different directions. Although one of his bodies was destroyed, the other one managed to escape, allowing him to avoid catastrophe. Despite this, half of his divine power was instantly used up.

“The Three-Eyed Demon has definitely reached the Daofather level of power. I couldn’t block him, no matter how hard I tried,” the silver-haired Empyrean God frantically warned the others mentally while flying away. After moving a good distance away, he cast a few spells and used some magical treasures, then began to battle against the other White-Faced Flood Dragons, no longer daring to fight against the Three-Eyed Demon head-on again.

The only ones who did dare to fight the Three-Eyed Demon head-on were Ji Ning, as well as the Raindragons, Pangu War-Formations, and Heaven Punishers that were commanded by Empyrean Gods and True Immortals. So long as they weren’t caught offguard, and as long as there was at least two or three of them, they were capable of blocking the blows of the Three-Eyed Demon.

Boom!

Ning was once more knocked flying backwards.

During that short period of time, he had already clashed three times against the Three-Eyed Demon. Each time, he had been completely suppressed; if the Three-Eyed Fiendgod had been given just an extra breath’s wortho f time, Ning probably would’ve been killed. Fortunately, many of his allies were helping him, giving him a chance to recover.

“They’re coming.” As Ning flew backwards, a hint of joy actually appeared on his face.

Whoosh!

Directly behind Ji Ning, a towering Empyrean God appeared out of nowhere, dressed in a rainbow-colored armor and wielding a longspear that was thirty thousand meters long. The face of this Empyrean God was fairly handsome; it was the face of Empyrean God Redsnow.

“An Empyrean God?”

“A Fiendgod?”

“Where’d he come from?”

As Ning flew backwards, the Terrorbeasts of the Seamless Gate who had come to try and pin him down were badly shocked. However, moments later, they dismissed the new threat. “Who cares which Fiendgod this is? Just kill him! If he appeared out of nowhere, he had to have come out from a dimensional treasure. He’s just here to provide a bit of help.”

They weren’t really to blame for the fact that they couldn’t tell how powerful the Seven Planets Empyrean God was. Empyrean God Redsnow and the rest of the seven worked together absolutely perfectly, and they had completely retracted their auras of power. In addition, this type of Empyrean God formation was different from the Heaven Punisher Formation; the Heaven Punisher Formation drew out the natural energy of Heaven and Earth, resulting in tremendous power that was hard to control. This type of Empyrean God formation, however, pooled together the divine power of the multiple Empyrean Gods who participated in it, using it to form a physical body that, from the surface, looked absolutely identical to a real body.

“Attack.”

“Kill!”

“Ji Ning’s Heaven Punisher is very hard to deal with; most likely, only the Three-Eyed Demon can kill him. Let’s get rid of this new Fiendgod instead.”

“Right. Get rid of him first.”

The Terrorbeasts of the Seamless Gate knew very well that in a fight, it was better to sever a single finger than to damage ten. Thus, quite a few combatants of the Seamless Gate chose to temporarily ‘spare’ Ji Ning, instead focusing their attacks on the Seven Planets Empyrean God.

The Seven Planets Empyrean God stared at them coldly in a manner reminiscent of Empyrean God Redsnow. However, the longspear in its hands swung out in a simple sweeping motion.

Whoosh…

It completed a full circle around.

The thirty thousand meter longspear instantly caused snow to begin to drift down in the surrounding area, with time itself beginning to turn chaotic.

“What’s going on?” A Zhuyan Ape was just about to charge forward, but it suddenly felt an incredibly sick feeling, one generated after suffering from temporal distortion. He felt as though his movements were alternately between speeding up and slowing down dramatically. This sort of temporal distortation made it want to vomit blood.

Boom…

It felt trapped within a nightmare. Before it could wake up…a longspear smashed directly onto its body. BOOM! Its body instantly blew apart. The Immortals within it began to flee in terror, but the drifting flakes of snow instantly froze them solid. Aside from a very small number who managed to hide into their Immortal estates, the rest all perished.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

That simple sweeping motion by the longspear resulted in the destruction of a total of four White-Faced Flood Dragons, two Zhuyan Apes, and three Empyrean God golems in the surrounding area. Even the incredibly resilient golems had been completely destroyed.

One of the four White-Faced Flood Dragons had been commanded by an Empyrean God!

“White snow drifting about…a longspear…can it be him?” The fleeing Empyrean God revealed a look of terror. “If it’s the Seven Planets Empyrean God…I’m finished…”

He instantly split his body into seven parts, beginning to flee in multiple directions.

Swish swish swish swish swish swish swish!

Light reflected off the longspear, creating seven flowery streaks of spear-light that wiped out all seven of the clones of the fleeing Empyrean God. If the Three-Eyed Demon could be described as focusing on ‘overwhelming’ and ‘crushing’ its foes, then the Seven Planets Empyrean God commanded by Redsnow focused on ‘accuracy’ and ‘precision’. His spear-arts were simply perfect. The field of temporal distortion only lasted an instant, but to the enemies trapped within, it felt like an eternity.

In truth, the fleeing Empyrean God already knew that he was doomed. If he divided into too many bodies, each body would be extremely weak; most likely, even the snowflakes would be capable of destroying him. However, if he didn’t create enough bodies, then he probably wouldn’t be able to dodge the spear. Thus, he chose to split into seven and give it a try…but he failed.

And so, he died.

“Ahahaha. How long has it been? Our Seven Planets Empyrean God of the Starseizing Manor has once more appeared in the world!”

“Wonderful, wonderful! Darkmoon, it’s been a long time since we brothers have fought together like this.”

“Kill, kill, kill! Kill them until their blood flows like a river. Fight until the heavens collapse and the earth caves!”

“Hmph. Kill them all!”

All seven Empyrean Gods were filled with a desire to do battle.

While the other six Empyrean Gods called out in delight, the controller of the Seven Planets Empyrean God, Redsnow, sent it charging forward with full power as he displayed the full power of the terrifying spear-arts he had spent countless eras perfecting. It must be understood that when the Seven Planets Empyrean God had battled against the three Queen Mothers, those three had created bodies from an enormous amount of energy, with each body having reached the Daofather level. When faced with the Seven Planets Empyrean God, however, they were still injured. The only issue was that their bodies had no weak spots at all, allowing them to automatically recover from any wounds!

Boom! The longspear swept sideways.

Slash! It stabbed forward.

Bang! It smashed downwards.

The longspear moved like a roving dragon. Wherever the Seven Planets Empyrean God moved past, it left devastation in its wake. It actually slaughtered its foes even faster than the Three-Eyed Demon. Clearly, its unfathomable, ghostlike spear-arts were even harder to defend against than the overwhelmingly powerful warhammers.

……

Atop the city walls of the Seamless City.

Daofather Ink Bamboo had a hint of a smile on his face as he watched the entire battlefield.

“Ink Bamboo, it seems we are going to win.”

“Yes. The stage is already set; Crimsonbright shouldn’t have any cards left to play that can change the course of events. You really are formidable; you were actually able to place a chess piece like Sword Immortal Evergreen by Crimsonbright’s side.”

“Haha…that was-” The Godking’s voice suddenly halted, but not before a hint of shock and rage appeared within it.

Daofather Ink Bamboo and the Godking were conversing through space through usage of coresense. Right now, they both revealed looks of astonishment…because they saw the Seven Planets Empyrean God suddenly appear out of nowhere. When it began to massacre their soldiers, when its longspear began to lay waste to the many Fiendgods and Terrorbeasts of the Seamless Gate, and especially when it slew an Empyrean God…all doubts were erased from their minds.

“White snow drifting about…hair as crimson as blood…can it really be…?”

……

“The three of you, be careful. That’s the number one wargod of the Starseizing Manor, Empyrean God Redsnow. He’s dressed in that rainbow army; this is very likely the former ‘Seven Planets Empyrean God’ of the Starseizing Manor, with Redsnow as the commander.” Daofather Ink Bamboo immediately sent a mental message to the three. He had never personally seen Empyrean God Redsnow before, but as a Daofather, he had long ago seen reports which included Redsnow’s appearance.

On the battlefield.

The Three-Eyed Demon had been engaging in a wild slaughter. Upon hearing this message, they took a look at what was happening…and saw the Seven Planets Empyrean God, which was slaughtering its foes even faster than the Three-Eyed Demon had been.

“The number one wargod of the Starseizing Manor? White snow drifting about, hair crimson as blood…Empyrean God Redsnow, who roamed about during the Primordial Era?” The nine-headed lion was shocked, while the gold-feathered eagle and the broken-horned dragon felt stunned as well.

They had lived through the Primordial Era.

Back then, however, they weren’t very well known. When they had styled themselves as the Great Sages, they had actually be mocked. Back then, however, Empyrean God Redsnow had been an even greater legend than the Seven Great Diremonster Sages. He was a peerless god of war who had been famous long ago, back when the humans had begun to fight with the Fiendgods for control of the world.

Of the Empyrean God spearwielders of the Primordial Era, there were two who were exceptionally famous and exceptionally powerful. The first was the most powerful wargod of the Celestial Court, Yang Jian 1. The second was the ancient Empyrean God Redsnow, who had followed the True God of Primordial Chaos, Daoist Threelives.

In the Primordial Era, the difference between them and Empyrean God Redsnow was simply unfathomable.

Now, however…the three of them stood at the very pinnacle of power amongst Empyrean Gods.

“So what if it’s him? So what if he was strong back then? We’re not the weaklings we used to be.”

“Right. I refuse to believe that we can’t beat those seven cowardly mice who have been hiding all this time. The Starseizing Manor? It might’ve been famous in the Primordial Era, but that was countless years ago.”

“Elder brother, second brother, let’s attack.”

“Attack!”

The Three-Eyed Demon didn’t show any fear at all as it charged forward.

“This is…”

“What a powerful Empyrean God. Where did he come from? Is he here to help our Crimsonbright Realm?”

“He’s too powerful.”

“White snow drifting about…a longspear…? Can this be the number one wargod of the Starseizing Manor of the Primordial Era…?”

“Is that Redsnow?”

“It’s the Seven Planets Empyrean God, with Redsnow as the commander!”

“Redsnow.”

“Right, that’s Empyrean God Redsnow!”

The forces of the Crimsonbright Realm also noticed this terrifying Fiendgod, filled with an unearthly, murderous aura and possessed of a power that had reached the Daofather level. There were quite a few Empyrean Gods and True Immortals who had been alive during the Primordial Era, and so they had heard of the legends of Empyrean God Redsnow. Some had even seen him in person. For example…the Xia Emperor himself.

“However, the three Diremonster Gods of Mount Dragoneater possess unstoppable might as well. They stand at the very pinnacle of power amongst Empyrean Gods, and the Three-Eyed Demon they’ve joined together to form has reached the Daofather level of power. Can the Seven Planets Empyrean God which Redsnow is commanding defeat the Three-Eyed Demon?”

“It’ll be dangerous.”

The Crimsonbright Realm’s forces were slightly nervous as well.

“DIE!” Bellowing loudly, the Three-Eyed Demon charged forward towards the Seven Planets Empyrean God with two warhammers at the ready, each step causing a minor earthquake. It no longer paid any attention to Ji Ning; its full focus was on the Seven Planets Empyrean God before it. The Three-Eyed Demon had only one thought in its mind…to completely wipe out this target!

Redsnow?

Hmph, naught but an old bastard who had been hiding like a coward for countless years.

Boom! Boom! Boom! The Seven Planets Empyrean God charged towards the Three-Eyed Demon as well, sending the longspear in its hands to sweep forward. It was like pushing through tall grass; the Fiendgods and Terrorbeasts of the Seamless Gate that were unable to dodge in time all exploded. Not even the armies commanded by Empyrean Gods and True Immortals dared to move close to the Seven Planets Empyrean God.

The two of them instantly closed the gap.

In this moment…

Almost everyone on the entire battlefield was focused on their location. Even the divine archer Eastbreak, who had only two Daofruits of primordial chaos left due to his frantic arrow storm assault, was focused on this location. Even the Daofathers on both sides were watching this fight nervously. The Seven Planets Empyrean God…the Three-Eyed Demon…if one of them was defeated, a lethally effective blow would have been dealt to their side.

“Die! Go die! I’m the strongest, now!” The Three-Eyed Demon struck like a giant windmill, hammering down with its two mighty warhammers. The warhammers even carried spatial ripples with them, a sensation of absolute massiveness and weight. It felt as though two unfathomably large continents were smashing towards the Seven Planets Empyrean God.

The Seven Planets Empyrean God didn’t use its marvelous, intricate spear-arts. Instead…it took the blow head-on.

The Seven Planets Empyrean God took a two-handed grip over the longspear. Focusing its strength around its waist, it suddenly unleashed its full power. Time itself seemed to twist as countless snowflakes suddenly began to manifest atop the longspear, forming an utterly enormous and snow-white silhouette.

BOOM!

A collision that seemed to cause the heavens themselves to collapse.

The snow-white longspear silhouette swept sideways against the great warhammer. Although it trembled slightly, it still twisted and struck against the body of the Three-Eyed Demon. The Three-Eyed Demon only had enough time to place a warhammer in a blocking position before its chest, but was still struck so hard that it was knocked off of its feet and sent flying backwards.

1. Also known as Erlang Shen, who once helped to defeat and capture Sun Wukong.