Desolate Era

Two figures could be seen darting through the blazing flames within that stone corridor, collecting the various stones that were hanging there in the air. A short while later, Ji Ning and the Ninedust Sectlord had completely collected all of the levitating stones as far as they could see. After collecting the final pieces, they turned to stare at each other with vigilance in their eyes.

“Our battle has resulted in both of us being trapped in this unknown region. It can be said that the ties of karma bind us together… but I don’t even know your Daoist title,” the Ninedust Sectlord said.

“I am Darknorth.” Ning revealed a smile. “Given our current situation, there’s no need to continue hiding things from each other. I trust you know much more about this place than I do, Lord of the Ninedust Sect.”

The Ninedust Sectlord shook his head. “I really know nothing about this place.”

“Oh?” Ning raised an eyebrow. “Well, it truly is an odd place.” Ning scanned his surroundings as he spoke. “These flames… I can’t even tell what type of flames they are. I can’t recognize the stone here either. Even my godsense and my heartforce are constrained, preventing me from exploring any further.”

“Quite.” The Ninedust Sectlord had a solemn look on his face as well as he scanned the area, a restless feeling in his heart. Suddenly…

Whoosh. A fiery-armored figure suddenly flew out of a turn in the tunnel ahead of them. This humanoid figure’s entire body was brimming with flames, and his hair was a blazing red color as well.

“Eh?” Ning and the Ninedust Sectlord simultaneously turned to look at the blazing figure.

“The two of you truly are daring, to have infiltrated your way to this place without anyone noticing.” The humanoid figure spoke in a cold, piercing voice. “For me to end up stumbling into you two… it seems my luck today is quite decent. Prepare to die.” After speaking, the blazing figure transformed into a streak of blazing light that seemed to draw in the flames which filled the entire stone passageway, forming a fiery halo of energy around him.

Looks of puzzlement appeared on the faces of both Ning and the Ninedust Sectlord.

“Halt!” The Ninedust Sectlord barked, “We have no idea who you are.”

“Have you mistaken us for someone else?” Ning asked.

“Your lies won’t save you.” The flaming figure let out a furious shout, manifesting a scimitar in his hand.

“If that’s how you wish to behave, go ahead and die.” An angered look flashed through the Ninedust Sectlord’s icy, sinister face. He swung out his longstaff, seeming to manifest an endless ocean of water which carried the roaring song of the sea with it, then struck out against the blazing figure with a boom.

Although the blazing figure used his scimitar to defend, he was blown backwards and smashed against the stone walls of the passageway.

“He didn’t die?” The Ninedust Sectlord was rather surprised. Although he hadn’t struck out with full force, most Daolords of the Fourth Step would’ve perished from that blow. Who would’ve thought that this flaming humanoid would actually have survived?

“It seems you are fairly strong.” The fiery figure growled, “Good. The stronger you are, the better. After I kill you, it’ll feel even better when I feast on your corpses. Die!”

“Feast on me?” The Ninedust Sectlord said furiously, “Die, you imbecile.” This time, he used his staff to strike out with full force.

BOOM! The longstaff caused cracks in space to appear around it as it struck forwards, the power of the blow causing the entire area around them to shake and tremble. This blow was not just fast and savage, it also seemed to carry the cadence of the waves of the ocean, moving sometimes fast and sometimes slow. The flaming creature sought to defend against this attack, but its scimitar wasn’t even able to touch the longstaff. The head of the longstaff smashed directly against the fiery creature’s chest, and it was like the heavens themselves had crashed down upon him. The flaming creature instantly let out a frenzied scream… and with a boom, the creature’s body instantly blew apart.

“Imbecile.” The Ninedust Sectlord showed no mercy at all, striking a second time with his longstaff with the intention of completely annihilating its shattered body. Whoosh! The longstaff swept out, completely smashing apart the shattered remnants of the creature’s body and dispersing it into flames once more.

“Kill me? You want to kill me?! You aren’t able to kill me!!!” A furious voice rang out as a large amount of the flames within the stone corridor gathered together and almost instantly reformed into the flaming humanoid. He still wore that armor around him, and his scimitar was completely undamaged as well.

“What?!” Ning had simply been observing with interest, but now his face began to turn pale. “He didn’t die? His body was completely shattered, but he still didn’t die?”

For normal cultivators, once their bodies were completely destroyed they would lose their lives. Only unique types of cultivation could result in ‘invulnerable forms’, such as the virtually indestructible ‘darkness incarnate’ form of Daolord Kongsan. Palace Lord Dawnstar was far more powerful than Kongsan; Kongsan was just barely comparable to ordinary Eternal Emperors, while Palace Lord Dawnstar was able to kill them with ease. The difference in power between the two was obvious… and yet, due to having an ‘invulnerable form’, Kongsan could be ground into dust but then transform into darkness incarnate, ensuring that he didn’t die! Very few people had techniques like this, and it was this technique which made Kongsan so famous.

“An invulnerable form?” The Ninedust Sectlord had a look of shock on his face.

“Not just an invulnerable form; he’s also able to harvest the flames floating around in this region.” Ning frowned. “His aura didn’t weaken in the slightest.”

“Ahahaha! The two of you are dead meat.” The flaming creature once more charged towards them, an angry howl escaping his lips.

“Let me give it a try,” Ning barked.

“Alright. You go!” The Ninedust Sectlord wasn’t certain in his own chances to succeed.

Ning wielded just a single sword, raising it up high with all six arms clutching it by the hilt.

“DESTROY!!”

The entire region began to tremble and shake. It was like a volcano was building up its power, preparing for a final explosion. Ning’s sword-light suddenly slashed through the air, chopping down furiously upon the flaming creature’s form.

BOOM! This was Ning’s most savage and most dominating strike. It caused the creature’s entire body to shudder, then completely break apart.

“Nine novessence arts, go!” With but a thought, Ning sent nine dragons of energy flying out of his body. Rumbling, they transformed into a chaotic Yin-Yang Sword Domain and furiously ground away at the scattered bits of the flaming creature’s body. The creature’s body quickly dissipated into flames, but the nine novessence arts completely covered the entire area with their domain, continuously extinquishing the flames. After a very long period of time, the mysterious flames in the area were finally and completely extinguished.

“Dead.” Ning dispelled his nine novessence arts.

“That took forever.” The Ninedust Sectlord nodded slightly.

Hiss…

Suddenly, a spark appeared in the air in front of them. The spark quickly grew in size, transforming into a towering conflagration that then once more coalesced into that blazing, flame-covered humanoid figure.

“What?! Even after being completely annihilated, it can rise anew from the void?” The Ninedust Sectlord could hardly believe it. “B-but…”

“That’s not possible. I had already completely extinguished it, leaving behind not even so much as a trace of its aura. How could it be born anew?” Ning couldn’t believe it either. “This ‘invulnerable form’ it has is terrifying.”

“You aren’t able to kill me! You aren’t able to kill me!” The flaming creature let out a low growl. “Come out! All of you, come out!”

Rumble…

As the flaming creature roared, a strange ripple of power quickly spread out. Just one second later, two more flaming creatures came flying out from behind the turn of the stone corridor.

“Not good.” The faces of the two cultivators turned grim.

Two creatures. Three creatures. Four creatures… one flaming creature after another began to fly out from behind the turn of the corridor.

“Not just there. There’s more coming from this side as well.” The Ninedust Sectlord turned to look at the other side of the corridor. Flaming, humanoid creatures were flooding in from both ends of the corridor.

“Let’s leave, immediately!” Ning roared.

“Let’s go!” The Ninedust Sectlord didn’t dare to hesitate either.

“Kill.”

“Kill them all.”

“Eat them.”

A total of twelve of flaming humanoids had already appeared at the two ends of the corridor, and their numbers were only growing. They began to launch a furious charge towards the two cultivators, who chose one direction and began to fight their way that way.

After Ning had developed the second level of his Omega Sword Dao, his speed had increased from ten times the speed of light to thirty times the speed of light. As for the Ninedust Sectlord, he was a bit faster than Ning. The two quickly beat aside the attacking creatures as they fled for their lives, not daring to tarry whatsoever.

……

Attack! Attack! Attack!

The flaming creatures were completely unkillable; even if you wiped them out, they would be reborn out of thin air. Their ability to draw from the omnipresent flames of this place gave them almost limitless amounts of strength. No one would be able to beat them in a battle of attrition.

“I knew the ancestral lands wouldn’t be so easily traversed. Shit, shit, shit!” The Ninedust Sectlord was starting to worry.

“There’s just too many of them. Why are these flaming creatures everywhere?” Ning was worried as well. The two of them had been fleeing for a full hour by now, and they had thrown off many different packs of the creatures while scurrying through the various stone passageways… and yet, every single stone passageway seemed to contain these creatures, and all of them were filled with the desire to kill the two of them.

There were differences in strength amongst the flaming creatures, with some being very close to Ning and the Ninedust Sectlord in power.

“The two of us need to work together,” the Ninedust Sectlord sent mentally. “We can’t keep such a wary watch on each other; we’ll only have a shot if we truly work together as one. Otherwise, both of us will probably die here.”

“I concur. Let’s swear a lifeblood oath,” Ning immediately agreed.

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