The Emergence of a Dominant Force

Ji Ning had come here with killing intent, but he wasn’t absolutely certain that Sin God or Throat-Cutter God were trustworthy. Based on the intelligence he had gathered before entering the Moon Underwater Abyss, neither of them struck him as the petty sort. Still, the Abyss was not the outside world. His time on Ten Thousand Mountains Island and his bond with Zhenbu God and the others had taught him not to indiscriminately strike down Seamless Gate gods.

So he gave Greatdream God the chance to ambush him.

He wanted to see what kind of person Greatdream God truly was. Ordinary gods might never dare to let themselves be ambushed, but Ji Ning—shielded by the Eight-Nine Arcane Art—had no fear.

And ambush him Greatdream God did.

“Whoosh.” Ji Ning unleashed the Starseizing Hand divine ability, using his fingers as swords. The fourth layer of Sword Force shrouded his fingertips in a hazy black sword-light. The instant Greatdream God struck, Ji Ning struck back. The distance was close, and Ji Ning’s sword was simply far too fast.

A sword at the speed of light! To save time, Ji Ning hadn’t even drawn a flying sword. His fingers were enough—speed was all that mattered.

“Not good.” Greatdream God tried to block and retreat.

But the distance was too close. The sword was too fast.

Shluck!

A massive gash appeared across Greatdream God’s belly, blood spraying. He transformed into a streak of bloody light and fled, utterly abandoning any desire to fight. “This Northernbright God—I struck him with everything I had, and I didn’t even scratch his divine body! What kind of defensive divine ability is he cultivating? Could it be the legendary Eight-Nine Arcane Art?”

Ambushing a god who had trained in the Eight-Nine Arcane Art… this was his own terrible luck. In all the Three Realms, very few had mastered that art. Those who had reached the ninth level were fewer still—and Ji Ning was one of them.

“Hah.” Ji Ning’s right hand stretched out hundreds of zhang and gave chase.

But Greatdream God’s escape art was extraordinary. Still, Ji Ning’s sword was far faster than his hand could extend. With a thunderous crash, Ji Ning’s right-hand sword-finger swept past the hall’s pillars and walls. Pillars snapped, walls shattered, and half the palace collapsed into ruin.

“What’s going on?” Outside the palace, a cluster of Seamless Gate gods had been lounging around. They all turned to look.

Greatdream God flew out as a streak of blood-light, urgently transmitting with divine power: “That Northernbright—he ambushed me! He’s here to kill me. Sin God and Throat-Cutter God sent him!” He pinned the blame first, asking questions later.

“Ambush? Kill?”

The Seamless Gate gods knew that their faction had been locked in a bitter struggle with Sin God’s side for years, and the other side had long wanted Greatdream dead. They didn’t bother to doubt his claim.

To be fair, Greatdream God was half-right: Ji Ning had indeed come to deal with him. But it had been Greatdream God who had struck first.

“Form ranks!”

“Kill Northernbright!”

The twenty-plus gods immediately began to array themselves, producing three Seven Luminaries Gods and a single Three-Eyed Fiendgod.

——

White-robed Ji Ning watched the scene before him: the three Seven Luminaries Gods and the Three-Eyed Fiendgod.

“Northernbright, ambushing Greatdream God—you’ve sealed your own fate.”

“You’re begging for death.”

“Die!”

They all stared at him.

Ji Ning said calmly: “If I told you that Greatdream ambushed me instead, would you believe it?”

“If you ambushed me, you wouldn’t be unharmed while I lie here gravely wounded!” one of the Seven Luminaries Gods roared. That Luminaries God’s face was eerily similar to Greatdream’s. “You infiltrated our ranks under false pretenses to strike me down—you’ve got some nerve. Everyone, attack! Let Sin God and his ilk know: any who dare to strike at us will be killed. One dies, ten die—all die!”

These gods, having sided with Greatdream, had nursed a deep grudge against Sin God and Throat-Cutter God for years. They had always been on the losing end, and their resentment was thick.

“If you’d all hidden inside the immortal estate and relied on its formations, I might not have been able to do a thing to you.” Ji Ning shook his head to himself.

Whoosh…

Over seven hundred Pure Yang flying swords appeared around him. The pure essence within his True Immortal Gold Core flooded into them, and through transformation, a single incredibly sharp jade sword condensed before him. He merely looked at the three Seven Luminaries Gods and the Three-Eyed Fiendgod—and the jade sword charged forth.

“Kill!”

“Kill!”

The three Seven Luminaries Gods and the Three-Eyed Fiendgod charged at Ji Ning as well.

In terms of pure power, none of these Seven Luminaries Gods matched the one that Red Snow God had once commanded. The Three-Eyed Fiendgod was even weaker.

Years ago, a single Daofather Puppet had been able to suppress a Seven Luminaries God. And Ji Ning’s mightiest Karmic Punishment Deity had been able to suppress that very Daofather Puppet. Now, with a half-step Daofather’s Pure Yang Gold Core, and wielding the deadliest stance of the Brightmoon Sword-Art—his swordplay honed further after a century of slaughter—Ji Ning’s strike was even more fearsome than his strongest Karmic Punishment Deity’s.

“Die!” roared the Seven Luminaries God ‘Greatdream’, brandishing two massive curved sabers, lunging at Ji Ning.

The jade sword traced a sorrowful, beautiful arc in the air.

Whoosh.

Though the Seven Luminaries God ‘Greatdream’ threw everything into blocking, the jade sword was too fast. He was just a hair too slow. Back then, even the Fiendgod of Annihilation—whose speed and strength were at least equal to a Seven Luminaries God—could not intercept that jade sword. And Ji Ning now was far more advanced than he had been a century ago.

Schlick! The Seven Luminaries God’s body was carved clean through.

“Onward.” Ji Ning watched coldly.

The floating swords churned around him, and two more jade swords formed before him, striking in relentless succession.

“How is this possible?”

“Heavens.”

“How can a mere god be this strong?”

In the space of a few heartbeats, the three Seven Luminaries Gods and the Three-Eyed Fiendgod scattered in terror. Greatdream God, in particular, could not believe what was happening. This was a power that broke hope.

“Spare us!” Greatdream God cried out.

Pshht. Pshht.

One jade sword was spent, but the other two wove through the air. Wherever they passed, the gods’ bodies were carved apart. Gods could regenerate, of course—but they tried to flee. Soon they were rent into shreds once more.

“Die.” Ji Ning’s hands shot out, swelling like two dark clouds. He crashed them down onto the gods’ scattered body fragments.

Boom. Boom. Boom.

Those two massive hands collided again and again, crushing the gods—including Greatdream—into powder. In just a few strikes, their divine power was exhausted. Every one of them. Soul extinguished.

Twenty-plus gods, annihilated.

If they had all holed up in the immortal estate behind its formations, Ji Ning could not have touched them. Even with the Rahu Formation, he would have needed help to shake the combined resistance of more than twenty gods. Alone, with only his Pure Yang Gold Core, he was roughly the equal of his strongest Karmic Punishment Deity. His sword technique was even better now.

But in open battle?

They had walked the path to their own deaths.

“I, Ji Ning, killed you,” he murmured to himself.

——

At Ji Ning’s level of Heartforce, he knew in his own heart when to kill and when to let live.

Having slain Greatdream and his followers, Ji Ning simply shook his head, sighing. He was calm.

“Eh?”

“It’s Northernbright God!”

“Wasn’t Northernbright with Sin God’s group?” Many gods looked on in confusion. Only Sin God and Throat-Cutter God knew what Ji Ning had set out to do.

Whoosh. Whoosh.

Two figures appeared: Sin God and Throat-Cutter God.

“You’re back safe—that’s a relief.” Both of them breathed a sigh of relief.

“I told you, there was nothing to worry about,” Ji Ning said. Fighting a group of gods alone was no threat to him.

“How did it go?” Throat-Cutter God pressed.

“Dead,” Ji Ning said.

Sin God and Throat-Cutter God both lit up with wild elation. Sin God murmured: “Excellent. We tried everything—he was too slippery. But now he’s dead. Perfect. Perfect.”

“All of them,” Ji Ning added.

“All… dead?”

Throat-Cutter God and Sin God stared at him, stunned.

——

Later that same day, Throat-Cutter God and Sin God went to the site where the Seamless Gate gods had been gathered. They found the collapsed palace, the shattered ground—signs of a fierce battle—but not a single god remained. Only then did they fully believe what Ji Ning had said.

“Twenty-plus gods, all dead. How?” Sin God was utterly baffled. “That many gods! Even if the others were weaker, there were so many of them. Just forming Seven Luminaries Gods would have given them tremendous strength.”

“If you can’t figure it out, then don’t. Northernbright has his own methods. I just know this: he’s terrifyingly strong,” Throat-Cutter God said with an admiring laugh. “No wonder the Fiendgod of Annihilation said he was the one most likely to leave the Moon Underwater Abyss. Now we’re truly safe. If only Greatdream had died, those Seamless Gate gods would have been a permanent nuisance. But now—all gone, once and for all.”

“Mm.” Sin God nodded.

——

Greatdream God’s matter was in the past. The only thing Ji Ning cared about now was the final obstacle. One more step between him and leaving the Abyss alive.

On the third day after arriving at Thousand Star Island.

A bright moon hung in the sky.

At another edge of Thousand Star Island, Ji Ning stood with Sin God and Throat-Cutter God, gazing ahead.

Sin God pointed into the distance: “There. That is the Ten Thousand Blades Path. The final obstacle. Walk out of the Ten Thousand Blades Path, and you will reach the fifth island. To live—and to leave.”

“Ten Thousand Blades Path?” Ji Ning looked at the floating-log bridge stretching ahead, past which countless enormous blades rose upright—swords, sabers, spears.

PS: Good news, everyone! The Desolate Era mobile game is finally done! The character concept art I posted before was from this game. I’ve been overseeing it from start to finish, making them redo anything I didn’t like. It’s a very fun, easygoing game. It includes the Golden Sword Ceremony, Western Prefecture City, Eastmarsh Swamp, Winged Serpent Estate, the Bloody Battle at Snowdragon Mountain, and many more story arcs—faithfully following the novel. I’m playing through the internal testing right now. It should be released soon.

Hehehe ~