Desolate Era Book 35, Chapter 5 - Surrounded by Observers

“Judging from the trunk, the branches, the leaves, and the aura of the fruit…” Ninedust frowned in puzzlement as well. “Yeah, that should definitely be an omnigeddon bloodfruit tree.” He was an Ancient cultivator who had a very high level of status within the race; as a result, he knew most of the precious materials and ingredients in the Chaosverse.
“But something feels off.” Ji Ning frowned.
“Yes, omnigeddon bloodfruits are round and slick; they don’t look long and skinny like that. In addition, there’s way too many fruits… and the tree itself seems to be a bit too large,” Ninedust said.
Ning blinked. Right. He hadn’t noticed it earlier, but ordinary omnigeddon bloodfruit trees were roughly just thirty meters tall. The crown of the mist-shrouded tree off in the distance, however, had to be over three million meters tall!
“Although it does look a bit odd, this tree is definitely a priceless treasure.” Ninedust’s gaze turned heated with eagerness. “Judging from the auras of those bloodfruits, they have to be quite extraordinary.”
“Let’s go take a look,” Ning said. The two didn’t hesitate, immediately flying carefully into the deep mist. Soon, they descended upon the area just outside the fog-shrouded region, the place where blazing heat met scorching cold and produced that mist. Ning and Ninedust were still able to see several tens of thousands of kilometers into the fog-shrouded region.
Whoooosh. Scorching waves of flaming heat washed over them from one side, while frigid waves of icy energy swept towards them from the other side. Ning and Ninedust descended upon the thin, narrow strip of land where the two elemental seas met and collided.
“Oh, a few more kids have come to test their luck.” A hoarse, grating voice that sounded like knives and swords grinding against each other suddenly rang out.
Ning and Ninedust were both badly startled. They hurriedly turned to look towards the direction of the voice, only to see the distant fog quickly begin to dissipate. A streak of deep blue light which was even denser than the fog came surging out of it, tearing the fog apart. Ning and Ninedust soon saw a strange deep blue creature that looked like a sea dragon crawl onto the thin ‘bank’ between the two sides of the world. It stared straight at Ning and Ninedust with its dark-gold eyes.
This dark blue dragon seemed to have been completely sculpted out of freezing ice, and it radiated a cold aura of incredible power. Most likely, even second-tier Daolords would end up having their truesouls frozen solid and then shattered, resulting in their deaths, unless they had particularly powerful life-preserving methods.
“Haha, intriguing. Two young fellows, come to play. Things are finally getting interesting.” A deep, rumbling laugh rang out from other side as well, and Ning and Ninedust both hurriedly turned to look.
The dense mist split apart once more, and from the other side of the bank appeared a muscular, four-hooved equine of fire which began to walk towards Ning and Ninedust.
The deep blue dragon and the fiery equine looked at Ning and Ninedust with some curiosity.
“Darknorth, this place definitely holds some secrets.” Ninedust grew rather nervous as he sent mentally, “These two are incredibly strong and pose an incredible threat. I’m worried that I won’t be a match for them at all.”
“We’ll match them blow for blow.” Ning remained quite calm. These two strange beasts brought a sense of pressure to him as well, but he still felt confident in his abilities to stay alive.
Ninedust suddenly called out loudly, “Greetings, seniors.”
“Oh, how nice. A junior who understands the proper way to behave.” The deep blue dragon lowered its giant draconic head to peer downwards at Ning and Ninedust. “After all these chaos cycles, the Aeonians have finally sent another Daolord over! But… you two don’t look like Aeonians. Have the Aeonians realized that they are outmatched and elected to ask outsiders for help?”
“The Aeonians truly are useless.” The flaming equine said with a snicker, “They have this world all to themselves, but they haven’t been able to produce so much as a single truly powerful expert. As far as Emperors go? They don’t even have a Hegemon! As for Daolords, all of theirs are mediocre.”
“Since the two of you are Daolords, we’ll follow the same rules as always. If you can defeat the two of us, we won’t bar your path,” the deep blue sea dragon said.
“You only have to defeat the two of us.” The flaming equine was quite eager as well.
Ning and Ninedust both were intrigued by this. They were starting to understand. “Seniors,” Ning said, “Do we have to defeat you individually, or shall we fight in a group?”
“You two kids can come against us, one at a time.” The sea dragon let out a chuckle. “Fight me first, then against the fiery guy over there. If you can defeat the two of us separately, you’ll be allowed to do as you please.”
“AWOOO! Stop sleeping! All of you, get over here!” The flaming equine lifted its head up and let out a mighty howl which echoed throughout every inch of this planet.
Whoooooosh. The entire vast planet suddenly began to tremble and rumble as the two great seas on both sides began to shake.
One deep blue sea dragon after another began to fly out of the deep blue seas, while more and more flaming equines flew out of the sea of flames. They differed in size and strength, with the large ones having auras that were even more terrifying than the two in front of Ning. The smaller ones were a bit weaker.
Nearly a hundred of the sea dragons and the flaming equines ended up appearing. They all looked over to this area, watching rather excitedly.
“This is utterly terrifying.” Ninedust was badly frightened by this. He immediately sent to Ning, “There were actually this many creatures hidden within this planet? If they were all to attack in unison… I’m afraid that only Hegemons would be able to survive.”
“Yes.” Ning sensed the terrifying danger the two groups posed. These beasts were simply too strong; neither he nor Ninedust could possibly resist them.
To be surrounded and watched by so many of those beasts… Ning and Ninedust both felt a sense of great pressure.
“These are members of our race,” the deep blue sea dragon in front of Ning said. “Don’t worry. Since you two are merely Daolords, they will only stand off to one side and watch. If an Emperor came, they would have to defeat both of our races in order to proceed! As mere Daolords, beating the two of us will suffice. Otherwise, you can forget about leaving with any of the treasures on this planet.”
“Which of you two will be the first to attack?” The flaming equine was starting to grow impatient.
Ning and Ninedust both felt rather stunned. Ninedust sent mentally, “The Aeonians do not have any Hegemons. It seems as though they are not able to defeat these two races, and I can’t even imagine how long it would take before they are able to give birth to a Daolord capable of defeating these two beasts without assistance.”
“Yes. I’ll go first and see just how tough these beasts are,” Ning said.
“It’ll be up to you. I have no shot at all,” Ninedust said helplessly. His subconscious was screaming danger at him, ensuring that he understood that he was no match whatsoever for these two beasts.
……
The two massive beasts standing at each end of the thin strip of land squinted at the tiny little dot in front of them. Far away, within the two vast seas, the two races of nearly two hundred terrifying beasts all watched with interest.
“I’ll go first,” Ning said aloud.
“Good.” The deep blue sea dragon grinned widely. “Come forward, young fellow.”
Ning instantly manifested three heads and six arms, bringing his six Northbow swords to the ready. Swoosh! Ning instantly charged into the skies, moving far faster than a hundred times the speed of light.
“Heeey. Pretty fast!” The sea dragon’s eyes lit up. It instantly and excitedly waved its right paw, sending it striking towards Ning at more than a hundred times the speed of light. This claw-strike emanated a bone-chilling cold that pierced towards Ning’s tiny little frame.
Ning moved in an almost ghostly manner. He merely had to gently rap the flat of his blade against the right claw to force it aside, then charged straight towards the sea dragon’s flank.
“This Daolord isn’t bad.”
“He’s pretty tough.”
“The Aeonian Daolords themselves are far too weak. I wonder where they managed to find such a formidable young fellow to help them out?” The two races of beasts watched from the distant seas with interest, commenting as the battle proceed.
“Break!” Ning stabbed straight towards the sea dragon’s flank, his Northbow sword immediately executing his Omega Sword Dao – Blood Drop. A mist-formed sword tore through the skies, stabbing straight at the deep blue flank. The sea dragon didn’t just look as though it had been sculpted out of an enormous piece of ice, it actually WAS covered by layers of thick, dense ice.
Slash! The tip of the sword stabbed into the ice, just barely managing to leave behind a tiny little wound on the outermost layer of the ice. Moments later, cold energy flowed forwards and quickly restored the damage down.
Whooosh. The deep blue sea dragon’s vast body suddenly flew backwards, coiling like a whip then snapping forward through the skies as it caused a vast illusory wave to appear in the skies.
It was simply too fast and too massive. There was no chance for Ning to dodge at all. He immediately used his six Northbow swords to defend as the sea dragon slammed its massive bulk straight against Ning.
BOOM! It was like using a giant whip to swat a tiny mosquito. Ning felt an enormous amount of power spread throughout his entire body, sending him flying backwards uncontrollably. He smashed into the distant ground, creating a giant crevice that was more than a thousand kilometers long.
“Eh? He didn’t die, did he?” The deep blue sea dragon hovered there in the skies, peering downwards with concern. Only when he could sense that Ning was still unharmed did he relax slightly.