The Desolate Era

The divine sword had pierced through all eight layers of clouds, and so Ji Ning and the others were able to see everything happening inside the Grassland World. They couldn’t help but feel shocked by Iyerre’s might. Bolin’s avatar was newly created and fairly weak, but for it to be destroyed in just a single blow was insane.

“Bolin, was your avatar actually destroyed?” Autarch Ekong asked, “Even though you are in control of the Samsara Daobirth Essence, you still weren’t able to escape?”

“It really was destroyed. Not even a scrap of energy was left,” Bolin said.

If even just a shred of his energy had managed to escape, he would have ‘survived’. This was much like how Bolin’s true body had been almost completely exterminated, but he had managed to survive at the border between life and death thanks to the Samsara Daobirth Essence. That tiny shred of life had entered the ‘false death’ state and hidden itself. Given that Bolin had access to nigh-infinite amounts of energy, he was able to quickly and soundlessly heal himself.

However, when Iyerre had attacked his avatar didn’t have any chance to escape at all.

“He’s become even more powerful,” Autarch Mogg said solemnly.

Ning nodded. “In this world of grass, his every strike is empowered by the blue energy of the surrounding area. He has indeed become more powerful here.”

......

“Neither dead nor alive... he’s managed to cut off all karmic links?” Iyerre had sought to use karma to link his strike and use it to attack Bolin’s true body, but it had been completely cut off from all karma and so the attack was unable to proceed.

“Damn.” Iyerre was in a foul mood. His specialty lay in light. Karma? Life and death? He wasn’t really skilled in either of these two Daos. As an Omega Autarch his insights into the Dao of Life and Death surpassed Bolin’s Samsara Daobirth Essence by just a hair.

As for destroying Bolin’s avatar? It made no difference at all, because the avatar was a new one. To destroy a peak avatar that took many years to strengthen would’ve been a resounding success, but a new avatar... Autarch Bolin would be able to recreate it in a twinkling!

“If you won’t come in, I’ll come for you!” Iyerre reached out with both hands. Whoosh! Whoosh! One enormous violet-gold chain after another began to clatter, their very auras transforming as they soared into the heavens. They seemed to transform into inviolable parts of heaven and earth which nothing could sunder. Moments later, their bodies began to glow with white light, and as they lashed out against the giant black serpent they seemed to represent the punishment of the supreme heavens.

Bang! Bang! Bang! The fish-like sword-light in front of the black serpent sought to block for it, but the violet-gold chains cracked them all apart. There was no way to defend at all.

“Not good. These chains just became even more powerful, far more powerful than they were previously. Our Karmic Wurm isn’t going to be able to withstand this.” Ning and the others were all shocked.

Swoosh! The enormous sword quickly shrank in size as it flew closer towards the giant black serpent, seeking to reinforce it. Inside the giant black serpent were their avatars, after all, and some of those avatar were at peak strength. There was no way Ning and the others wished to lose them.

As the divine sword flew over to reinforce the snake, the snake quickly retreated and attempted to flee. However, five more violet-gold chains lashed out towards the giant sword.

Clang! Clang! Clang! Ning and the rest of the seven had poured tremendous power into the giant sword, giving it incredible strength, but the five violet-gold chains were just as tenacious. The worst part was, their movements now became incredibly profound as well! Ning’s group clearly had a slight advantage in power, but the sword was still unable to shake off those violet-gold chains!

This was due to the difference in depths of insight between them and Iyerre. It was much like how three of those Autarch-class void dwellers had encircled Bolin to no avail. Even if they truly had attacked Bolin with their full power, they wouldn’t have been able to do anything to him. If your insights were lacking, you wouldn’t be able to defeat your foe unless you had an absolute advantage in personal strength.

The giant sword had been tied down by five violet-gold chains! As for the remaining four, they simultaneously struck out to attack the giant black serpent.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Explosions rang out as they clashed again and again. The giant black serpent hurriedly fled while trying to defend as best it could, but the violet-gold chains were now being marvelously controlled by Iyerre and tremendously strengthened by the ignition of the world’s quintessence core! Although Autarch Titanos was in control of the black serpent and the five avatars worked in harmony to defend, the defensive perimeter was still breached after just one round of blows.

Riiiiiip. One of the serpentine heads was securely latched onto by a violet-gold chain, then physically ripped off!

Crack! Moments later, another serpentine head was delivered a furious blow from up high by a different violet-gold chain, and the force of the collision was so great that Autarch Ekong’s avatar (located inside the head) was completely destroyed.

In the blink of an eye, the four violet-gold chains’ furious attacks had caused the giant black serpent to completely collapse. All five avatars died in battle, with none being able to escape!

This caused Ning and the others to feel both sorrow and grief, but there was nothing they could do. It had all happened too quickly! As soon as Iyerre had returned, he had killed Bolin’s avatar and then immediately used those nine violet-gold chains to launch a series of consecutive attacks. There had been no chance to flee at all!

The Grassland World was a vast place, while spacetime was suppressed here. The black serpent needed to slowly fly away if it wished to escape, but Iyerre wasn’t going to give it the time needed. This was the exact reason why Ning and the others hadn’t dared to risk their true bodies inside.

Going in would be easy. Coming out would be very difficult!

“Flee.” The giant sword quickly fled backwards, while the nine violet-gold chains immediately swung to attack it. For a time, both sides appeared to be equal.

The giant sword was different from the black serpent. The sword had been formed from a complete merger of the energies of the seven Autarchs. This was far superior to the black serpent, which simply represented five Autarchs working together in harmony! The giant sword was a single whole and guided by Ning’s Sword Dao. Every single strike of the sword was filled with tremendous power, making it impossible for the nine violet-gold chains to defeat it, much less destroy it.

A short moment later, the giant sword flew out from the grayish clouds and escaped from the Grassland World.

Iyerre raised his head, glaring. If he had poured in all of his power he would’ve been able to prevent that sword from escaping, but there was no point. That sword had simply consisted of energy and some Universe treasures. Ning and the others could’ve quickly forged more Universe treasures to replace them.

“I should keep my true killer attacks hidden until the very end. It isn’t worth exposing it on just a few Universe treasures.” Iyerre raised his head, staring at the formation-incarnation in the skies.

The incarnation was staring at Iyerre as well. Moments later, it waved its arm and then retreated from the clouds as well. Whoooosh! The gray clouds quickly closed over, allowing the Grassland World to grow calm again.

......

The outside world. The great formation continued to cover the entire vast area surrounding the Grassland World.

Ji Ning, Titanos, Mogg, Bolin, Skyfeeder, Ekong, and Stonerule felt both sorrow and anger as they stared at the ovaloid Grassland World before them. Three of the five avatars they had just lost were peak-strength avatars, but they had been wiped out in just a twinkling. This taught them a lesson with regards to just how powerful Iyerre was once he joined together with the Grassland World.

In truth, Iyerre had carried the Grassland World with him in his mission to kill Ning. Alas, Ning managed to escape before he reached that temple! Thus, Iyerre had chosen to separate from his Grassland World and gone Autarch-hunting! Autarch Mogg had managed to survive thanks to his Golden Bridge of Freedom, while Autarch Bolin had nearly died while only barely surviving thanks to comprehending the Samsara Daobirth Essence at the critical moment.

“Iyerre and the Grassland World combine to form a much more deadly opponent,” Titanos said.

“He has a far higher level of insight than us.” Stonerule slowly shook his head.

“So what if he does? We’ll kill anyone who dares to invade our Chaosverse, even if it costs us our very lives.” Autarch Stonerule gritted his teeth.

Right at this moment... boom! The ovaloid ‘Grassland World’ quickly shrank in size inside the formation. Moments later, a spacetime rift appeared next to it. Swoosh! It flew straight into the spacetime rift. This caused Ning and the others to feel their hearts lurch. They had suspected all along that their formations were unable to bind Iyerre, but seeing it with their own eyes was still rather demoralizing.

“Wait, he didn’t leave yet!” Ning and the others turned to stare at the rift which had just appeared outside the reach of their formation. The ovaloid Grassland World had actually just flown out there!

“Cultivator leaders, did you think that I had fled? No, no. How could I flee?” Iyerre’s voice echoed throughout every inch of the void. “ Let’s see just how powerful your formations are.”

“BREAK!!!” Iyerre let out a furious shout, and those nine violet-gold chains suddenly appeared on the surface of the ovaloid object. The violet-gold chains expanded in size, each becoming a trillion kilometers in length as they swept through the void with ineffable majesty. With Iyerre in control of them and with the ignited quintessence strengthening them, they began to furiously smash down upon Ning’s enormous formation! Iyerre was able to immediately see the flaws in this formation and so his every attack was aimed at a weak spot.

Boom! Boom! Boom! The entire formation immediately began to shudder as a level of power comparable to the divine sword’s began to hammer down upon its various weak spots. This wasn’t a defensive formation; there was only so much punishment it could take!

“Let’s leave for now.” Ning and the others were all quite patient. All of them had prepared escape-type treasures, and they had also opened up a spacetime tunnel within the formation itself.

Whoosh! Ning and the others immediately flew into the spacetime corridor and departed.

1. In China, the plum blossom symbolizes perseverance, hope, and beauty.

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