Desolate Era

As Ji Ning moved closer to the battlefield, he saw those countless black lotuses bloom and then be smashed apart. He couldn’t help but feel a hint of fear.

“Senior Abyssus.” Ning immediately flew towards Immortal Abyssus.

“Sorry for the trouble, my young friend.”

Immortal Abyssus smiled towards Ning, then once more turned his full attention towards controlling his swirling cloth banner. The cloth banner looked quite ordinary, but it made it so that the black lotuses weren’t able to move past it in the slightest. Of course, this was primarily because the Starlord of Fogstone had charged to the very forefront of the battle, destroying the majority of the black lotuses before they were even able to get close to him.

“Should I just stand here and watch?” Once Ning arrived next to Immortal Abyssus, he felt rather puzzled. The others were all launching furious counter-attacks against the black lotuses.

“Yes, just stand here and watch for now,” Immortal Abyssus sent mentally. “Don’t be deceived by the fact that I’m able to block these attacks. I’m almost at my absolute limit. If God Emperor Blacklotus was just a bit more powerful, I wouldn’t be able to hold them back any longer…and as a Chaos Immortal, I’m much weaker in close combat.”

Ning nodded.

Pure Chaos Immortals were innately weaker than World Gods. Most World Gods were dual refiners, giving them an overall advantage.

“Ji Ning, all you need to do is help protect Abyssus.” The Starlord’s voice rang out within Ning’s mind.

“Acknowledged.” Ning understood.

Ning began to simply watch the battle, while all the others such as Immortal Abyssus went all out.

As for God Emperor Blacklotus, his eyes were filled with a murderous intent. He showed no mercy in his attacks at all.

“It seems as though God Emperor Blacklotus is extremely strong,” Ning mused to himself. “The Starlord seems to be slightly weaker than him. Immortal Abyssus is right behind the Starlord! After him should be World God Blackmist. World God Goldcloud and Immortal Skyram are both significantly weaker.”

Ning could clearly see the difference in power between the various World-level experts.

Just as Ning was watching…

The stalemate had clearly angered God Emperor Blacklotus, who suddenly let out a furious roar: “Forbidden Black Lotus, third stance…Blacklotus World!”

Whoosh. Whoosh. Whoosh. Whoosh. Whoosh. Whoosh. The countless black lotuses had been falling from the skies and rising from the ground. Now, however, every single inch of space on the ground or in the air within a million kilometers began to manifest the black lotuses. The black lotuses even began to appear next to Immortal Abyssus and Ji Ning.

“Not good.”

“Careful.”

Everyone’s faces changed.

Immortal Abyssus immediately acted, willing an enormous black shadow to swirl around him and cover Ji Ning as well. The black shadow covered an area of roughly three hundred meters, and all the black lotuses in the area covered by the black shadow were immediately shattered.

Things weren’t so bad for World God Blackmist and World God Goldcloud. They were World Gods, after all; even though a few attacks made it through their defenses, they were able to hold on.

“Careful!” The Starlord was forced to divert some of his energy to protecting Immortal Skyram.

“All of you will die.”

God Emperor Blacklotus had a sinister look on his face as he stood there atop the enormous, slowly swiveling nine-petal lotus. The area around him had become completely filled with the trillions on trillions of small black lotuses, all of which were furiously striking out towards his World-level enemies.

Immortal Abyssus continued to use his illusory shadow, blocking out all lotuses within its range.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Countless black lotuses smashed towards the illusory shadow in an endless stream, exploding as they struck it.

“Darknorth, my young friend.” Immortal Abyssus’ face tightened. “I’ll use my magic treasures to block these lotuses as best I can, but if any slip through I need you to help me stop them. Try to minimize the number that end up striking against my Shadow Idol.”

While speaking mentally with Ning, Immortal Abyssus immediately took control over the cloth banner once more.

Part of the cloth banner separated from the rest of it, then coiled around Immortal Abyssus, blocking more than 90% of the black lotuses that had been striking towards him. Alas, some of the black lotuses materialized inside its defenses, and so the closest black lotuses continued to stream towards the enormous illusory shadow.

“Leave it to me.” Ning’s body momentarily blurred as he transformed to become three hundred meters tall. He struck out with Violetjewel, which pierced out beyond the protection of the illusory shadow and set up a protective barrier of sword-light that covered more than half of the empty space.

The sword-light transformed into a black hole, continuously weakening the power of the assaulting black lotuses.

The true, terrifying power of the Heartsword stance was now on full display. Ning had absolutely perfect control over his sword, especially the ‘Soleheart stance’ of the [Brightmoon] sword-art, which was a technique which focused on defense. As a result, when the black lotuses struck him, they did so after 90% of their power had been ablated. The remaining 10% was then mostly absorbed by the World energy that protected him, with the tiny remaining amount of energy being spread across a thousand Elder Gods. By then, there was only a tiny bit of power remaining.

“Whew.” Immortal Abyssus relaxed slightly.

With Ning helping him defend against the majority of the black lotuses, things were now much easier for him as well.

Things weren’t so bad for Ning and Immortal Abyssus, but this was primarily due to Immortal Abyssus’ usage of the cloth banner and the Shadow Idol. All Ning had to do was provide a bit of help in order to ensure that they would survive the danger.

“God Emperor Blacklotus is far too powerful. He’s able to fight against multiple World-level experts by himself and actually have the upper hand.” Ning stared past the swiveling cloth banner and stared at the distant God Emperor Blacklotus.

“Blacklotus!” The Starlord suddenly let out an angry roar.

His handsome face actually began to turn a grayish-white color, as did his hands. His entire body seemed to become almost statue-like as his aura suddenly exploded with might. His six arms wielded six swords, and he sent them forth as utterly dazzling streams of stars. He was using the same sword-arts as before, but the power of his attacks had increased tenfold!

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

Countless black lotuses were blasted apart as the sword-light easily chopped through them. The sword-light slashed all the way to God Emperor Blacklotus’ side and struck directly at the enormous nine-petal black lotus.

Boom! Boom! Boom! When the slowly swiveling black lotus was struck by the terrifying sword-light, it began to shudder slightly.

“So this is the [Fogstone Apocalypse] of the Fogstone Dominion, eh?” God Emperor Blacklotus was startled as well.

“Attack!” The Starlord’s skin had now completely turned the color of stone. His aura grew even more savage, and his blows even began to cause cracks to appear on the nine-petal black lotus.

“The [Fogstone Apocalypse].” Ning was secretly surprised by what he saw. “And he’s using the third stage of it.”

The third stage of the [Fogstone Apocalypse] involved transforming the entire body into stone. It would allow the user to become tremendously more powerful, with the body becoming comparable to a Dao weapon in toughness. However, this sort of explosive technique resulted in a rapid consumption of divine power. Once the divine power was used up, one would transform into a true statue forever. Thus, this divine ability generally wouldn’t be used until things were truly dire.

The Starlord had clearly grown nervous upon seeing that the five of them were at such a disadvantage.

“He truly has reached full mastery of his skills.” Immortal Abyssus sighed in amazement and nodded. “The Starlord hasn’t trained for very long, but this divine ability alone ensures that he is a master-class World God.”

“Master-class?” Ning was puzzled.

God Emperor Blacklotus was now being completely suppressed by the Starlord’s attacks. No more black lotuses were appearing around Ning and Abyssus. Clearly, the God Emperor was now focused on his own defenses.

“Yes.” Immortal Abyssus nodded and smiled. “There are differences in power amongst World-level experts, and they can be divided into several rough categories.”

“The first level is the level of brand new World-level experts. They are young, inexperienced, and quite weak. They can be described as having just barely reached the World-level threshold.”

“The second level is the ordinary level which most World-level experts are at! This is a level which every single World-level expert can reach after they spend a bit of time in training.”

“The third level can be described as the elite level! Blackmist, for example, is at this level, thanks to the fact that he has the body of a World God and is skilled in the offensive Dao of the Sword. I’m actually at this level as well, but I have a few more tricks up my sleeve than he does, which is why I’m a bit stronger than him.”

“The fourth level is the level of full mastery! Both the Starlord and God Emperor Blacklotus can be described as master-class World Gods.”

Ning nodded. “Are there any higher levels?”

“There are. If either of them had an Eternal weapon, they could be described as supreme World Gods,” Immortal Abyssus said. “This is a fairly widespread classification system used in these Endless Territories. As for why they are classified in this manner…once you reach the World level, you will understand.”

Ning nodded.

He wasn’t a World God yet. He naturally didn’t understand the cultivation mysteries of World-level experts.

Based on Immortal Abyssus’ classifications…World God Northrest was most likely a supreme World God! As for the deceased slave he had seen in that house by the lake inside the Windsource Ruins, he was probably a supreme World God as well.

“Are there any who are more powerful than even ‘supreme’ World-level experts?” Ning was curious.

“There are.” Immortal Abyssus nodded. “But you won’t possibly be able to understand why those World Gods are as powerful as they are. Some are World Gods who have unleashed the full power of their Eternal weapons, while some have cultivation paths that we can’t fathom. Perhaps they might have gained some particularly incredible legacies! However, those figures are nothing more than legends. I’ve wandered through many territories, but I’ve only seen just one of those terrifying figures. In our Badlands Territory, not a single one of them exists. Thus, to be a supreme World God is already quite incredible.”

Ning nodded secretly to himself. No wonder World God Northrest was such an incredible figure! Alas, in the end he had still fallen.

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