Desolate Era

“Trapping me between the two of you?” Ji Ning glanced at the two sides. No matter which way he flew, either Daolord Kongsan or his eldest disciple would be able to move closer to him. His free space would slowly lessen no matter what.

“Oh, my dear Daolord Kongsan... your eldest disciple is quite formidable, and if I hadn’t mastered the nine novessence arts I wouldn’t be able to do anything to her… but now?” A cold light flashed through Ning’s eyes.

Whoosh. The green mist twisting around the green-robed woman began to spread out as a number of long ropes began to reach out in every direction, with her at the very center. Every single rope-type magic treasure was able to stretch out a hundred million kilometers, and she was charging straight towards Ning. Clearly, she wanted to use these ropes to further lower Ning’s area of free mobility. As for Daolord Kongsan, he transformed into that endless black mist that billowed straight towards Ning.

“Daolord Kongsan, do you really think your eldest disciple will be able to capture me?” Ning’s voice rang out.

“Even if she can’t, she can at least tie you down,” Daolord Kongsan replied coldly. “There’s nowhere for you to run. No matter where you go, you will die.”

The green-robed woman was quite strong, fairly close to Patriarch Clearwind in power when he wasn’t using his killer attack. As Daolord Kongsan saw it, no matter how freakishly talented this Daolord of the Second Step was, even if she failed in capturing him she would still be able to slow him down.

“Is that so?” Ning smiled coldly. Swoosh! His black vessel began to flee at high speeds, and perhaps by accident it moved closer and closer towards the green-robed woman.

Daolord Kongsan wasn’t surprised in the slightest. In the end, Ning had to choose a direction, and Kongsan’s eldest disciple was naturally a bit weaker than Kongsan himself. It made sense for Ning to move in her direction.

“Disciple, kill him if you can. If you can’t, slow him down. Once I arrive, I’ll crush him to death,” Daolord Kongsan sent mentally.

“I definitely won’t disappoint you, Master,” the green-robed woman replied.

……

The green-robed woman was moving closer and closer to Ning. Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Her magic ropes stretched out through the skies like giant pythons which coiled and lashed out against Ning.

“Ahahah!” Ning stood there at the prow of his black vessel, his two hands gripped around a single sword. He struck out, sending a dazzling streak of sword-light out ten million kilometers and striking against one of the ropes.action

Daolord Kongsan was skilled in close combat, and for now Ning wasn’t confident in fighting him up close. But this eldest disciple? She was the perfect match for Ning. In the end, his close combat skills had the greatest latent potential for further development. His nine novessence arts were more powerful, true, but they had already reached the level of complete mastery. In the future, he would only be able to strengthen it by making it fit into his sword-arts, but there was a limit to how much stronger they would grow.

“This kid…” Daolord Kongsan couldn’t help but feel shocked by what he was seeing from afr. “What incredible sword-arts.”

Ning and the green-robed woman had moved closer and closer to each other, and the two had entered close combat. The green-robed woman actually reduced the range of each rope to be merely a million kilometers, causing them to grow noticeably more powerful. When the ropes were too long, they would naturally become harder to control and thus would be weakened.

Ning brought out all six of his swords, fighting to his heart’s content and actually holding the upper hand.

“He’s actually slightly more powerful than my disciple?” Daolord Kongsan’s face tightened slightly as he picked up the pace. “Keep him tied down, disciple.”

“Don’t worry, Master. The kid has extremely profound sword-arts, but he’s on par with me at most.” The green-robed woman didn’t want to admit defeat in the face of a Daolord of the Second Step.

……

Time slowly trickled on. The green-robed woman’s techniques were softer and more insidious, and a battle on this level gave Ning a few deeper-level insights into his own Dao of the Sword. Life-and-death battles, especially ones against different types of opponents, were of great benefit to him training in the Dao of the Sword.

“Hm?” Ning glanced backwards, only to see that the fast-moving black mist was about to reach him. “A pity.” Ning turned to look back at the green-robed woman, then laughed, “I wanted to tussle with you for a bit longer, but your Master has arrived.”

“A pity indeed.” The green-robed woman spoke out as well. “You are a freakishly talented Daolord who should’ve been able to rise to the heavens and stun the Endless Territories… but today, you shall die and your Dao shall vanish.”

Ning shook his head. Suddenly… boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! ……

One surge of incredible power after another began to blast out from the area around Ning, each contained unbelievable amounts of force. Generally speaking, Daolords of the Fourth Step would immediately die if touched by a single one of these streaks of power, and there were nine of them roaming around in the skies. Moments later, they swiftly began to twine around each other, transforming into two dazzling streaks of sword-light.

The novessence fire, novessence water, and rest of the Five Elements techniques all joined together under the leadership of the novessence water. Water supported all things without complaint, and was able to tolerate everything.

The novessence thunder, novessence wind, novessence light, and novessence void were led by the novessence void. The novessence void technique was the most powerful of the nine novessence arts, and it was actually capable of commanding all eight of the other arts. For it to merely command three was simplicity itself.

The two groups transformed into two enormous streaks of sword-light, which then gave birth to the Yin-Yang Sword Domain of Ning’s Omega Sword Dao.

“What the hell is that?!” Daolord Kongsan was still trying to catch up, but his face instantly tightened when he saw this. He could tell that this was a technique of incredible power, but for a brief moment he wasn’t able to recognize it. The Endless Territories held far too many secret arts, and in the past he had never battled against experts who had mastered the nine novessence arts.

“B-but…” The green-robed woman’s face turned completely ashen as she called out, “Master, save me!”

“He won’t make it.” Ning glanced at the green-robed woman. Whoosh! The two enormous streaks of sword-light formed into an awesome, enormous vortex that instantly encompassed and surrounded the green-robed woman. She frantically tried to use her ropes to defend against them, but the power of the nine novessence arts when applied through the Yin-Yang Sword Domain of Ning’s Omega Sword Dao was simply too powerful. There was no way she could possibly endure such an attack, and her magic treasures were knocked flying away like duckweed in a raging river.

As for the green-robed woman, she frantically tried to use other spells or magic treasures to buy herself some time, but alas they were all knocked flying away. In the blink of an eye, the enormous whirlpool had ground its way to her body.

“NO!!!!” The green-robed woman let out a resentful howl. She truly couldn’t accept this outcome. Her master was an extremely selfish and vicious man, but for the sake of growing and improving herself she had still chosen to become apprenticed to him.

Now, she was a Daolord of the Fourth Step. She was planning on helping her race survive and flourish. She couldn’t die. She couldn’t die!

BOOM! She had tried everything she had, but there was nothing she could do in the face of this overwhelming disparity in power. Her skills were stronger than those of ordinary Daolords of the Fourth Step, but there was no way she could possibly endure Ning’s killer strike. Her body was instantly disintegrated, and as she died a hint of agony and despair flashed through her eyes.

“Eh?” Moments later, she was stunned… because part of her body was actually left undamaged. Although the terrifying vortex of sword-intent surrounded her, it no longer pressed the attack. If it did, she would be totally destroyed.

“Hurry up and get in here. Otherwise, I’ll take your life.” Ning tossed out a gourd which instantly flew to the green-robed woman’s side and sent out a surge of overwhelming strong sucking power towards her. What remained of the green-robed woman’s body didn’t dare to resist, and it allowed Ning to suck her into the gourd. If Ning was going to capture her, at least she wouldn’t die right away.

Ning waved his hand, causing the gourd to return to him. He then turned to look at the attacking Daolord Kongsan. “Daolord Kongsan, your eldest disciple is now in my hands,” Ning said.

“Damn.” Daolord Kongsan had an ugly look on his face.

“Withdraw immediately and I’ll spare her life,” Ning barked.

“Withdraw?” The baleful look in Daolord Kongsan’s eyes only grew stronger. “No one can threaten me. She’s just one disciple. Today, I shall take your life no matter what.”

Seeing this, Ning just shook his head. What a madman. The information which the Skywood Sect had given him was quite accurate; Daolord Kongsan was an exceedingly selfish man who didn’t really care about his disciples, only himself. The reason he had chosen to kill Ning was not because he cared about his disciple or felt sorry for him, but because he felt as though his personal dignity had been affronted by his disciple’s death.

“If that’s the case, let’s fight.” A fierce light flashed through Ning’s eyes. “Kill!”

Rumble… those nine novessence arts once more formed into those two enormous streaks of sword-light, and they illuminated each other as they intertwined and lashed out through the skies towards the distant Daolord Kongsan.

“Attacks on this level are useless against me.” Daolord Kongsan was filled with a desire to kill, and he revealed his true form as the black mist roiled around him. He stretched out with his right hand, producing an enormous, pitch-black scimitar within it.

Slash!

The enormous scimitar swept out, carrying a hint of black light on its edge. Space itself parted in a natural way in front of that edge, but not a single iota of his power leaked out. It was like space was nothing more than butter, with his knife cutting neatly through it.

The scimitar chopped out towards those nine rampaging novessence arts as the two began their midair clash.