Desolate Era

The tri-colored rope coiled around Ji Ning, affecting and encumbering all of his movements.

“I did this in the past to others. Now, the same is happening to me. I can at most unleash 70% of my full power.” Ning was secretly stunned. This was despite the fact that the fire, lightning, and mist were being weakened by his heartworld projection and nine novessence arts. If it hadn’t been for the latter two, he would probably be weakened even more.

“Beat it!” When Ning saw the stone golem bound towards him and seek to grapple him, he immediately used his Omega Sword Dao – Heavenbreaker. BOOM! The stone golem was sent flying backwards.

“What? Even when we bind him, he’s still able to send Stone flying?”

“How can he be this powerful?” The other Emperor-class golems were all stunned.

“Stone, try again. You have to be able to grab him. We’ll help you!”

“If you can grapple him, he’ll be dead for sure.”

“Alright. I will try again.” The stone golem once more bounded forwards. This time, the swordsman golem also transformed into a single sword that hovered above the eight-armed knife golem. The eight-armed knife golem charged towards Ning as well, with the sword ready to strike at any moment. As for the stone golem, it also charged forwards at the same time.

“Need my help, Darknorth?” The Ninedust Sectlord was still in his oceanic form, but he wasn’t in a hurry to intervene just yet.

“No need,” Ning sent back. “I’ll feign weakness for now. Wait for a critical moment before intervening.”

“Alright,” Ninedust replied.

……

The tri-colored rope coiled towards Ning as the swordsman golem, the eight-armed golem, and the stone golem attacked simultaneously.

A fierce light flashed through Ning’s eyes. “This is the right moment.” Swoosh! Ning flew straight towards the eight-armed knife golem and the swordsman golem. The two golems naturally struck out at him, sending streaks of mysterious knife-light and sharp sword-light slicing towards him.

Boom! Boom! Ning responded with just two streaks of mist-formed sword energy; this was his Omega Sword Dao – Heavenbreaker.

This stance seemed clumsy and straightforward, but it contained the profundity of his Omega Sword Dao and his other stances, allowing him to easily strike his foes head-on.

These two strikes from his two Northbow swords contained power that was comparable to that of the eight lords of the Sacred Cities. The eight-armed golem and the swordsman golem were both sent flying backwards. It must be remembered that even the strongest golem, the stone golem, was unable to withstand this stance. How could these two possibly do so?

“Now come here.” Ning’s lips split open into a grin as he faced the stone golem that was charging towards him, arms spread wide. The swordsman golem and the eight-armed golem had already been knocked flying backwards; for the next few moments, they wouldn’t be able to assist the stone golem.

Whoooosh. Ning’s sword-light drifted out in an ephemeral, mysterious fashion. This was his Shadowless stance!

Although the tri-colored rope were slowing him down, preventing his sword-light from being truly traceless and shadow less, it was still incredibly unpredictable. Although the stone golem was extremely strong and ferocious, it had major flaws as well; namely, its speed and agility! When Ning executed this Shadowless stance and infused the [Heartsword] arts into it, the stone golem was only able to block a single one of Ning’s swords with its six arms. It was unable to withstand the others.

Swish! The Northbow swords furiously and rapidly began to coil around the stone golem like a soft rope, tying dozens of knots around it.

“No!” the stone golem let out a furious bellow. It had wanted to grapple Ning, but instead it had been captured.

“Get in here.” Completely bound, the stone golem was unable to fight back at all as Ning sent out his will, forcefully drawing the golem into his estate-world.action

“Ninedust, move to block the swordsman golem.” Ning turned, focusing his gaze on the nearby eight-armed golem which was once more seeking to charge at him.

“Alright.” Ninedust was excited as well. The other five Emperor-class golems, however, began to panic!

Ning’s initial clashes against them had been nothing more than probes designed to help him understand what the golems were skilled in, so as to prepare a proper battle plan! The initial clashes had let him understand that the flame golem, lightning golem, and mist golem all had abilities that were similar to ‘invulnerable forms’; there was nothing he could do to them at all. Thus, Ning turned his attention to the other three golems.

The stone golem had seemed to be the strongest and most ferocious, but its flaws were also the most obvious. In the end, it was the easiest one to deal with.

“Not good.”

“Stone’s been captured.”

“This Daolord is too powerful.”

“Master commands us to retreat immediately!”

“Master has commanded a retreat.”

“Withdraw!”

The three clan leaders had immediately received word that even though their six Emperor-class golems had assaulted Daolord Darknorth in unison, one of them had ended up being captured. They immediately issued an order to withdraw! The loss of every single Emperor-class golem, to the three great clans, was quite painful.

Swoosh! Swoosh! The eight-armed golem and the swordsman golem immediately began to flee.

“You aren’t going anywhere.” Ning’s heartworld projection and nine novessence arts were completely focused on suppressing the eight-armed golem and swordsman golem.

Ning’s first target was the eight-armed golem, and he charged towards it by himself. Both sides were being slowed and restricted, but Ning was faster than the eight-armed golem to begin with! The difference between them in power was apparent.

“Run! Run!” The eight-armed golem was panicking.

“You aren’t running anywhere.” Ning caught up, then used his Omega Sword Dao – Shadowless to once more launch an unpredictable sword-art attack against the golem.

The eight-armed golem was clearly quite agile, and its eight arms set up a mysterious defensive pattern to defend. As for Ning, he alternated between the Shadowless stance and the Heavenbreaker stance, sometimes also switching to the incredibly fast Blood Drop stance! Just three breaths of time later, the eight-armed golem’s defenses had been penetrated. One of Ning’s swords wrapped directly around the eight-armed golem’s waist, the Northbow sword having transformed to become long and soft as it wrapped itself around the golem like a ball.

“Come here.” Ning drew the eight-armed golem into his estate-world as well.

“How can this be happening?”

“How can this Daolord be so powerful?”

“Daolord Darknorth, you really are courting death!” The three golems which made up the tri-colored rope were howling furiously, but they were even weaker than the eight-armed golem in close combat. When used to bind and slow Ning, they were quite effective, but once they stopped doing so and Ning was able to unleash his full power… their defeat would be swift and sure.

“Ahahaha! None of you are escaping!” Ninedust transformed into a sea of water as he furiously battled against the swordsman golem. The water coiled around the golem, with Ninedust’s upper body visible as he used his longstaff to batter the swordsman golem at will. Given that the swordsman golem was being affected by both the heartworld projection and the nine novessence arts, Ninedust was able to completely dominate it. It had no chance to flee at all.

“No, no, NO! Get the hell away from me!” The swordsman golem was furiously struggling but unable to shake off Ninedust. Finally, Ning arrived. With Ning and Ninedust fighting together the swordsman golem was caught in literally a single second, then drawn into the estate-world.

The three elemental golems realized that there was nothing they could do. They had no choice but to quickly flee and retreat.

……

Tianello, Maji, and the others hadn’t moved too far away. They were able to watch this fight from afar. Truth be told, their situation was quite grim; they were terrified that the three great clans would view them as being a party to this and blame them, and thus they didn’t dare to move too far away.

“How terrifying.” They stared at the battlefield, the Cranesoar Mountains having been reduced to rubble long ago. The few mountains that remained were covered with the vicious scars of battle. All of this had been caused by the shockwaves generated from the earlier clashes. It must be remembered that this was a planet the Sithe had created and placed within the Stone Hellephant Wall. This planet was extremely stable and sturdy, but the shockwaves from this battle alone had been enough to annihilate most of the nearby mountains. This was more than enough to terrify Tianello and the others.

“Those two Daolords actually won. They actually won. They beat the three great clans.” Tianello, Maji, and the others could hardly believe it.

……

“Ahaha, we actually acquired three Emperor-class golems.” Ninedust said delightedly, “How absolutely wonderful. I hope they send a few more over for us to capture.”

“Don’t get cocky.” Ning had a serious look on his face. “Even though I had my heartworld projection and my nine novessence arts active, the restrictive effected generated by just three of those golems was enough to drop me to 70% of my maximum power. I doubt the three great clans sent their full forces against us. If they were able to drop me to 40% of my full power, things will get dangerous.”

“Agreed.” Startled, Ninedust immediately nodded. “How strong are these three great clans, exactly?”

“I’m not sure.” Ning shook his head, then grinned. “But those three golems should know.”

“The three golems?” Ninedust’s eyes lit up.

“We need to bind them immediately and have them spill the secrets they know regarding the three great clans,” Ning said. “Only when you understand both yourself and your enemy shall you be the victor in all your battles! Based on what I can see thus far, the three great clans are much more powerful than we had predicted.”

“Agreed.” And so, Ning and Ninedust immediately began to bind the three captured golems to themselves.