Desolate Era Book 32, Chapter 19 - Crushed

BOOM! The Yin-Yang Chaosworld came crashing down, swallowing the Kingfreak and Daolord Shaka within it. These two had charged to the very front.
“What a powerful secret art.” The Kingfreak and Daolord Shaka both could feel the weighty pressure surrounding them, causing them both to drastically slow down.
“Timedream, hurry up and push this secret art aside!” Daolord Shaka barked mentally.
“My heartworld projection cannot stop it!” Sectlord Timedream was furiously trying to batter the secret art aside, but the nine novessence arts continuously smashed his heartworld projection aside. Although the difference between the nine novessence arts and his heartworld projection wasn’t that great, Timedream’s heartworld projection was still defeated time and time again.
“I’ll have to do this instead.” Sectlord Timedream willed it, and his heartworld projection instantly changed to become illusory and overlap with the nine novessence arts rather than fight them head-on.
Heartworld projections were a unique form of energy that were completely different from the energy which secret arts used! They were completely capable of perfectly overlapping with secret arts and causing their power to increase, but they could also be used to cause trouble from within.
“Tie it down.” Sectlord Timedream’s eyes flashed with cold light. As the energies completely overlapped, the heartworld projection began to furiously wrap its energies around the nine novessence arts, causing them to be weakened so dramatically as to be negligible against supreme Daolords.
“Oh?” Ji Ning could sense each of his nine novessence arts be dramatically weakened and constricted, causing their power to plummet. “The heartworld projection? Hmph. Once my heartworld fully expands to its maximum size, I’ll crush you head-on.” Ning was filled with murderous rage right now, and he attacked the Kingfreak with his six Northbow swords.
Close combat was his true forte! Secret arts were merely meant to assist and reinforce him.
“Hmph. Even if you’ve broken through to become a supreme Daolord, you are merely on par with us. How dare you act so arrogantly? You want to fight the four of us head-on? Even the Radiant King or Palace Lord Dawnstar would choose to retreat in the face of us four.” The Kingfreak smirked. He could tell that Daolord Darknorth seemed to have made some sort of breakthrough, but the four of them were supreme Daolords; why would they fear him?
“Die!” The Kingfreak gripped his scimitar tightly in both hands, then sent it howling through the air with a baleful aura surrounding it. The giant scimitar left a crescent streak of light in the skies as it chopped down furiously towards Ning. If it wasn’t for the Waveshift Realm itself suppressing spacetime effects, his attack would’ve been far more terrifying thanks to certain spacetime elements it normally contained.
Whoosh. Ning’s six arms suddenly moved to grip a single Northbow sword. He lifted it high into the air, then delivered a furious chop of his own, one which caused even spacetime to tremble.
BOOM!!!!
Ning’s sword seemed to contain the ponderance and weight of an ancient god-mountain, and it struck head-on against the Kingfreak’s enormous scimitar.
The Kingfreak felt a surge of terrifying power crash towards him. He couldn’t help but be smashed downwards by this incredible power and be sent hurtling towards the snowy ground beneath him. He crashed into the ground, leaving behind an enormous crater as he landed in a kneeling position. The only reason he didn’t fall down was because he used his hands to prop himself up.
“How can he be this powerful?” The Kingfreak was shocked. He sent mentally to Sectlord Timedream, “Be careful, Sectlord. This Daolord Darknorth’s attacks are incredibly ferocious; my feeling is that he is on par with Daolord Skyaxe in raw strength. I’m at a complete disadvantage in a head-on clash.”
Daolord Skyaxe used a single greataxe and was legendary for his ferocious, overbearing power.
“Die.” After delivering that furious chop, Ning immediately charged downwards, wanting to pursue the Kingfreak.
“Daolord Darknorth, you seem to have become quite strong.” Daolord Shaka and Daolord Snowjoy hurriedly intervened, while Sectlord Timedream actually retreated slightly, becoming the most distant of the four Daolords. In truth, Daolord Shaka didn’t really care that much about this; if he was able to seize the Voidsea Jadeseal, they’d immediately be able to escape.
Swish! Daolord Shaka produced a series of golden feathers in front of him. All six of them transformed into streaks of golden light that shot towards Ning. At the same time, he manifested a total of six awl-wielding arms and charged straight at Ning himself.
He was the fastest of the four Daolords, faster than even Daolord Snowjoy.
“Break!” Ning didn’t care about Daolord Shaka at all. He manifested [Three Heads, Six Arms] and spun his six Northbow swords slightly, executing the Soleheart sword-intent with all six swords. An enormous black hole immediately appeared before him, devouring and destroying all in its path. When the six golden feathers touched the black hole, they were immediately knocked flying backwards.
“Die!” Daolord Shaka shot towards him, golden awls at the ready, moving faster than a hundred times the speed of light.
Whoosh. Suddenly, six dazzling streaks of sword-light lit up. Every single streak of sword-light looked quite ordinary, but just as they reached Daolord Shaka the tips of the swords began to rotate slightly. Instantly… boom! They tore through all obstacles, moving much faster as well. They actually surpassed a hundred times the speed of light, and their power vastly exceeded Daolord Shaka’s as well.
Omega Sword Dao – Blood Drop!
After becoming a Daolord of the Third Step, Ning’s Blood Drop stance, especially when executed via the highly suited Northbow swords, had reached an incredible level of power. Now, not even time could stand in front of this strike. Ning’s sword-arts had now transcended both space and time! They were on par with the most powerful strike Emperor Mirrorsnow had ever devised.
However, the Waveshift Realm suppressed all techniques that transcended spacetime. Still, the Blood Drop stance destroyed all Daos before it, and thus it was still able to forcibly breach the normal Daolord limit of moving a hundred times the speed of light.
When actually flying via the Blood Drop evasion art, however, Ning was only able to move at a hundred times the speed of light. In the end, his own body wasn’t nearly as formidable as his Northbow swords. The main reason he was able to strike faster than a hundred times the speed of light was primarily because of the Northbow swords themselves.
“Ahhh!” Daolord Shaka let out an agonized cry, staring in disbelief as three of the swords stabbed into his body. He then looked at Ning, his eyes filled with disbelief. “How can he be this fast?” He had absolute confidence in his speed, but he was defeated in speed. Daolord Shaka simply couldn’t understand or accept this.
Moments later… whoosh! Daolord Shaka transformed into countless light shadows that reformed far off in the distance.
“What? He actually beat both Kingfreak and Shaka in succession?” The distant Sectlord Timedream turned pale. “And he only needed one blow in each case?”
“Darknorth, it seems you can now rank in the top five. Haha, very well then! I’ve come to the Waveshift Realm because I wanted to fight the strongest in the universe.” Daolord Snowjoy actually charged forwards, and as he did so the starlight emanating from his body began to manifest into a pair of Stargod clones. All three of them surrounded and simultaneously attacked Ning.
“Fuck off.” Ning’s sword-light flared mightily. The battle between the two was absolutely shocking, with Ning clearly holding the upper hand but Daolord Snowjoy and his two Stargod clones managing to hold on.
In an actual battle, even Ninedust had been put on the defense by Daolord Snowjoy! Daolord Snowjoy’s defenses could be described as flawless. Even the Radiant King or Palace Lord Dawnstar wouldn’t necessarily be able to shake him.
“Of the four of us, Daolord Snowjoy is indeed the strongest in close combat.” The Kingfreak, Shaka, and Timedream all admitted to this fact.
“Heartworld, descend!” Ning let out a furious roar. Boom! An incredibly vast heartworld projection suddenly came crashing down from the skies. This world had mountains, rivers, grasslands, deserts, vast oceans, and an incredibly vast sword-shaped mountain at the very center of the world. Its aura and might was now clearly far greater than in the past, and when it came crashing down it merged into a seamless whole with Ning’s nine novessence arts.
BOOM! Sectlord Timedream’s heartworld projection instantly crumbled, resulting in Daolord Snowjoy, Shaka, Kingfreak, and Timedream all being put under an immense amount of pressure.
Ning’s nine novessence arts and heartworld projection were both terrifying, resulting in Daolord Snowjoy and the others being unable to exert more than 50% of their true power!
“How could his heartworld projection be this strong? Break! Break!” Sectlord Timedream repeatedly tried to cause his heartworld projection to descend, send it crashing against Ning’s projection repeatedly. This really did help relieve the pressure on the three of them! Timedream’s heartworld projection was on par with Ning’s after all; while Ning’s projection was slightly larger, there wasn’t that much of a difference in terms of power.
BOOM! Although the pressure had been somewhat relieved, Daolord Snowjoy was still only able to unleash roughly 70% of his true power. In just a few short clashes, he was smote by Ning’s Heavenbreaker stance six times in a row and was sent flying!
When faced with a flawless defense, the best way to deal with it was to burst through it with raw power.
“Kill!” After knocking Daolord Snowjoy aside, Ning immediately turned to charge towards the Kingfreak. The Kingfreak was the weakest of the four, and Ning wanted to kill him more than any of the others.
“He’s fighting us one-on-four and holds the upper hand?” Shaka, Snowjoy, Timedream, and Kingfreak were all rather stunned. They all felt a sense of a pressure, especially after Ning combined his nine novessence arts with his heartworld projection.
“If this continues, he’s going to break us down one by one. We need to work together to attack him jointly,” Sectlord Timedream sent mentally. “If the four of us join forces, even Winesage wouldn’t have been able to withstand us prior to finding that Universe treasure.”
“Fine.” Daolord Shaka agreed.
“Agreed.” Although Daolord Snowjoy was a very proud figure, he agreed as well.
Rumble… a strange ripple of power shot out of Ning’s body and invaded the Kingfreak’s body. This was the [Dreamstar] art! The [Dreamstar] art had reached a brand new level of power, as it was unleashed via the heartforce nurtured within Ning’s heartworld. The Kingfreak had been holding his scimitar in a double-handed grip, seeking to defend against Ning’s attack, but his movements now clearly slowed down.
Whoosh. Ning was in three-headed, six-armed form, and he sent his six Northbow swords in a series of furious strikes against the Kingfreak.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Ning launched a total of nine attacks in the blink of an eye, every single attack using the Omega Sword Dao – Heavenbreaker. This was Ning’s most savage and dominating attack! Although the Kingfreak did have a suit of Eternal armor protecting him, the power of Ning’s attacks continued to hammer down upon him without him being able to defend at all. By Ning’s fifth strike, his divine body had already completely disintegrated, and Ning didn’t stop until his ninth strike.
The Kingfreak’s corpse really had been reduced to dust, with only his armor and his scimitar left behind. A supreme Daolord, the ‘Kingfreak’… had just perished!
“No…” Sectlord Timedream’s eyes bulged out, and he let out an agonized, high-pitched scream.
“How is that possible?!” They were just about to join forces against Ning, but the Kingfreak was almost instantly killed. Both Daolord Shaka and Daolord Snowjoy were rather stunned by this.