Book 36, Daolord of the Fourth Step, Chapter 11 – Inexplicable
Ji Ning’s heartworld projection covered the entire Sacred City, and so his voice naturally echoed throughout every part of it.
In truth, Silksnow Fiend Palace wanted to contain and minimize this disturbance as much as possible. Just the very fact that Daolord Darknorth dared to so flagrantly attack them was already a loss of face, even though they would kill him in the end. They naturally wanted fewer people to know about this matter! Alas, as soon as Ning’s heartworld projection descended they knew that there was no way to keep this secret.
Ning, however, wanted to ‘kill a chicken to scare the monkeys’ in a display of force. He wanted to let everyone know just how powerful he had become. Naturally, there was no need to keep anything secret.
“Absolutely dominating.”
“This is exhilarating! Just listening to him talk makes me excited. Will I ever reach a level where I would dare to stand in front of over twenty Eternal Emperors and tell them that I’ll fight them by myself? If I can ever have such a crowning moment of glory, even dying away the next instant would be worth it.”
“There’s never been a Daolord this powerful before, right?”
The countless cultivators within the Sacred City all felt their blood begin to boil with excitement when they heard Ning’s words. They all felt that for a Samsara Daolord to be able to act like Ning just did was simply incredible. Anything would be worth it.
“Daolord Darknorth has actually attacked the Sacred City of Silksnow. He’s facing off against twenty-six Emperors from Silksnow Fiend Palace.”
“The battle is about to start right away.”
“This is probably the last fight Daolord Darknorth will ever be in. He’s probably going to die here.”
“Move, move, MOVE! If you don’t get here in time, you won’t be able to see this battle.” Word quickly spread out. News of this incredible event almost instantly spread throughout the most elite organizations within the Endless Territories.
“What?!” Hegemon Brightshore was shocked as well when he heard this. “He actually attacked Silksnow Fiend Palace? He’s a Daolord! What gives him this sort of courage?”
“He’s actually attacked Silksnow Fiend Palace?” Emperor Anchen and the other Emperors of the Aeonians were shocked as well. They had been frantically searching for traces of Ning, wanting to kill him and take back that unique omnigeddon bloodfruit tree. “Daolord Darknorth… what the hell is wrong with him? Has he lost his mind? Or does he have some special item he’s planning to rely on? But he’s still just a Daolord, and he’s facing off against one of the eight Sacred Cities!”
“Let’s go, quick! We’re going to go watch.”
“I’m heading off right now.” Emperor Islehide immediately prepared for departure.
“My avatar will accompany with you. I want to see with my own eyes what this Daolord Darknorth character is up to.” Although Emperor Anchen had always stood guard over the Aeonian Kingdom, even he elected to send his avatar off to watch this fight.
News quickly spread throughout the Endless Territories. The three mighty Hegemons, some of the more famous Emperors, and some of the reclusive, lesser-known Emperors all grew curious and began to hasten towards Silksnow City. No one had ever heard of any Daolord ever daring to challenge one of the eight Sacred Cities; this was something that had never happened in all of history! Curious, they all hurried to the scene of battle. Alas, the distance was quite great; to actually get there would take some time.
“Quite bold, audaciously so. Do you really think that you merit all of us Emperors working together to kill you?” Instantly, a droopy-browed and ugly-looking Emperor began to shout at Ning.
“He doesn’t know his own limits.”
“He wants to die under our combined might? In his dreams.” These ancient Eternal Emperors all stared at the distant white-robed youth with disdain.
If they joined forces, even if they killed Ning they would have gained no face. For Emperors with eternal lifespans, face was of paramount importance.
“Even if you want to die, you still aren’t worthy of twenty-six Emperors doing the honors together,” Archon Silksnow laughed coldly. He glanced backwards at an Emperor who had a pair of black wings on his back and sent mentally, “Brother Blackrot, Emperor Nightwell died by the hands of Daolord Darknorth. Daolord Darknorth is extremely strong, just slightly weaker than myself. His illusions are particularly powerful; Emperor Nightwell died because he fell to Darknorth’s illusions. You were born with tremendous skill over illusions; you shouldn’t be susceptible to his heartforce illusions. You go first and test his power out.”
“Very well.” Emperor Blackrot narrowed his eyes as they gleamed with cold light.
“Brother Bloodcloud.” Archon Silksnow sent another mental message to the black-robed elder who stood virtually side-by-side with him. “Daolord Darknorth is probably just a bit weaker than me, but my true body is still on the way back from the outside world. My avatar doesn’t have any good weapons on it; it’s probably not a match for Darknorth. Of all the Emperors present, you are the only one capable of defeating him in a head-on fight. You shall be the one to decide how we are to deal with Darknorth.”
Emperor Bloodcloud was one of the old freaks who supported Archon Silksnow from the shadows. He was Silksnow’s equal in power.
“He doesn’t have an invulnerable form, does he?” Emperor Bloodcloud asked.
“He does not,” Archon Silksnow responded with certainty. He had used a treasure to kill Ning, and back then Ning hadn’t revealed a invulnerable form. Archon Silksnow felt certain that Ning didn’t have an invulnerable form! In addition, he had never heard of anyone developing an invulnerable form based on the Dao of the Sword. Alas, he had no idea that while it was indeed extremely difficult for the Dao of the Sword to produce an invulnerable form… there was always an exception. After Ning’s Omega Sword Dao had reached the fourth stage, he had finally gained an invulnerable form for himself… the Shadowless form.
“If he doesn’t have an invulnerable form, I’m confident in being able to kill him.” Emperor Bloodcloud nodded.
“I’m sending Emperor Blackrot to go first and test him out. Watch carefully,” Archon Silksnow said.
“Very well.” Emperor Bloodcloud nodded.
Just by standing there, the group of Emperors inspired terror in the countless cultivators who were watching… but Ning was completely unphased.
“Daolord Darknorth, was it you who killed brother Nightwell?” A cold voice rang out, followed by an ugly, black-winged alien Emperor flying out of the group, filled with murderous malice.
“It was.” Ning’s voice filled the entire region covered within his heartworld projection. “And you are Emperor Blackrot. Have you decided to throw your life away, just as Emperor Nightwell did before you?”
To use the terminology of the Three Realms, Emperor Blackrot belonged to the ‘Diremonster’ category. He had been born as a winged monster who was born with a fondness for eating rotten meat. He had an extremely strange and evil disposition, and his favorite hobby was massacring people, waiting for their bodies to rot, and then eat their rotting corpses. That was it – he murdered people to eat them. This fiend had long ago offended many other cultivators who wished to kill him, and so he joined the auspices of Silksnow Fiend Palace.
“Throw my life away? To you?” Emperor Blackrot was enraged. “Prepare to die.”
“Hmph.” Ning’s body flickered slightly as he manifested three heads and six arms, then brought his six Northbow swords to the ready.
Emperor Blackrot transformed into an enormous tornado of black mist which swept straight towards Ning. This wasn’t a simple invulnerable form; in truth, this was the attack which Emperor Blackform was most skilled in using. Anything touched by this black mist would immediately rot away until nothing was left. Even supreme Daolords would be unable to withstand this attack.
In addition, a terrifying illusion was hidden within the black mist. Anyone trapped within it would smile and seek out death without even trying to fight back.
“Daolord Darknorth has started to fight against Emperor Blackrot.”
“Emperor Blackrot is an extremely terrifying Eternal Emperor. Not even supreme Daolords dare to offend him.” The countless cultivators within the Sacred City all watched.
“Suppress!” Ning let out a cold shout. The formerly-restrained energy of the heartworld projection instantly flared in the area where the black mist was located! The terrifying heartworld projection was like a cage that completely trapped the black mist, causing its flying speed to lessen dramatically.
“You can die now.” The six swords struck out like tidal waves, carrying an aura of utterly destructive power with them. Countless tsunami-swords swept through the black mist which so many Daolords were terrified of. Although it contained extremely strong corrosive and poisonous properties and was filled with terrifying illusions, it wasn’t actually less effective than Emperor Nightwell’s invulnerable form in terms of ablating the power of enemy attacks.
“NO!!!” Emperor Blackrot instantly felt despair, and he let out a horrified scream. The last thing he felt before perishing was regret… and venomous hatred towards Archon Silksnow. It was Archon Silksnow who had warned him that Darknorth’s illusions were very powerful, but that Darknorth was slightly weaker than the Archon himself.
Blackrot had felt certain that even if he had to fight Archon Silksnow, he would still be able to block a few dozen attacks. Daolord Darknorth, however, had just annihilated him with just a single attack. Weaker than Archon Silksnow? He was clearly much, much more powerful!
Whoooosh. His black mist form was completely extinguished by Ning’s sword-shadows… and Emperor Blackrot became the second Emperor to perish under Ning’s sword since Ning’s decision to reveal his brilliance.
The world returned to its normal calm. Ning called his swords back and sent them back into their sheaths. He stood tall and simply stared at the twenty-five completely awestruck Emperors. Archon Silksnow in particular had a look of utter disbelief on his face. He truly couldn’t believe what had just happened. Just a ‘short’ while ago, he had completely dominated Daolord Darknorth… how had the man become this powerful? This was completely impossible!
“No. No. This makes no sense whatsoever.” Archon Silksnow couldn’t understand it. How could a Daolord be THIS powerful?