Desolate Era

This was the only disciple her big brother had ever taken. In her heart, Ji Ning was arguably more important than even her own disciples. She had always felt that Darknorth was someone she had to protect… but somehow, without her even realizing it, the kid had grown up. She had received word that the kid had grown to become an absolutely incredible figure, slaying the Lonely King with just a blow of his sword. How unbelievable was this?! She was absolutely delighted to know that her big brother had taken in a truly remarkable disciple.

And today… the young fellow had appeared before her once more, rescuing her from her plight.

“Mistress, let’s hurry up and get out of here!” Ning sent mentally. At the same time, he sent out his Sword Dao Domain to ‘plug’ the gap, preventing it from healing. The Sword Dao Domain was unable to tear through the dimensional seal, but it was able to dramatically slow down the healing process.

“Alright.” The Paragon of Pills rose to her feet, a smile on her face as she transformed into a streak of light and flew out of the dimensional tear. As she did so, she cast a radiant and joyful smile towards Ning. For some reason, she felt even happier than she would’ve if it was her own disciple who had reached such a level of power.

“I was vaguely able to sense that we would meet again, but I never would’ve imagined that the circumstances would be you rescuing me.” The Paragon laughed. “I rather thought that it would be the other way around.”

Ning could sense how happy the Paragon of Pills was. He was quite happy as well. There weren’t that many people who truly treated him as family, but the Paragon of Pills was definitely one of them. In fact, Ning could sense from the Paragon of Pills a sort of motherly love that reminded him of the love which his true mother Yuchi Snow bore him.

“Mistress, you seem quite calm and relaxed. I’ve been worried sick over you! Thankfully, you are alright.” Ning let out a sigh of relief.

“There’s always danger when adventuring through Sithe ruins. I’ve been in situations like this on multiple occasions,” the Paragon said.

“But this place is different. There is a Daoguard Tower here!” Ning couldn’t help but feel a sense of fear. There was no way the Paragon of Pills or any of the others would’ve been able to flee on their own. A double-edged technique like the Dimensional Separator, which had completely shattered the planet apart and divided it up into many different pocket dimensions, were powerful enough to slay even Otherverse Lords… and that was just one of many techniques the Daoguard Tower had access to!

“Daoguard Tower? What’s a Daoguard Tower?” The Paragon of Pills was rather puzzled, but she hurriedly said, “Let’s not waste any time, Darknorth. This place is extremely dangerous. Let’s leave right away. If you can save my two companions, you should do so; if you cannot, don’t try to force it.”

“I’ll rescue them, but they need to wait a bit.” Ning smiled mysteriously.

…….

Within the Daoguard Tower.

The short creature stared at the images of the outside world, puzzled. The white-robed Daolord had easily dodged his attack, then immediately moved to another sealed dimension and used his sword to slice through the dimensional membrane. He had rescued the woman who had been trapped inside that dimensional pocket, and the two clearly seemed quite happy to meet each other.

“He came here to save his friends?” The short creature was puzzled.

“Let’s go.” Ning let out a happy laugh, then led the Paragon of Pills in transforming into streaks of light that flew off towards the horizon.

“What?! They are leaving?!” The short creature was stunned. His original plan had been to wait until Ning attacked the Daoguard Tower, then continue his own assaults. His hope was that Ning would actually enter the tower!

But now… Ning did the exact opposite. After locating the Paragon of Pills, he had immediately moved to depart. Ning had gained a thorough understanding of the Daoguard Tower from the Autarchs; he obviously wasn’t going to be foolish enough to charge into the Daoguard Tower when he already knew how deadly it was.

As a result, the short creature’s ‘perfect plan’ came to nothing.

“Did you really think you could just leave whenever you wanted?” The short creature was completely berserk. This represented his only chance of escape and release. Even though his chances were slim, he was still going to use all his power to fight for it!

“Triple Dimensional Hallway Chains!” The creature ranted in a crazed manner, “All Silver Goldhorns, move out and trap them! Daoguard Tower, release the seals and unleash those monsters!”

Upon seeing that Ning was about to leave, the short creature finally unleashed all the tools at his disposal! There were some traps he was unable to use as Ning hadn’t moved closer towards him, but he had fully unleashed everything else.

……

As Ji Ning led the Paragon of Pills in departing, he sent mentally to her: “That eight-storied tower is known as a Daoguard Tower, a truly terrifying Sithe guard tower. I’m unwilling to actually enter it, but it seems as though the tower’s master is hellbent on killing me. Now that I’m ‘leaving’, he’ll probably grow a bit anxious. Let’s see what he tries to pull.”

Just as his words finished, Ning’s eyes widened. “What the…”

The distant Daoguard Tower began to rumble menacingly as the entire thing began to tremble and crack apart like a turtle shell. Even the enormous foundation beneath it was beginning to split apart.

The overwhelming power of the Daoguard Tower spread throughout every pocket dimension surrounding it. The pocket dimensions that had previously hovered around it like little islands suddenly began to shoot out in every direction, forming a series of dimensional membrane walkways. The only things Ning could see in front of him were those dimensional walkways; he could no longer see the outside world at all.

Ning turned to glance backwards at the Daoguard Tower, which was now filled with innumerable cracks. “He’s wrecking the Daoguard Tower?” Ning could hardly believe it. “Even the foundation is splitting apart!”

The foundation was the most important part of the Daoguard Tower, but even it was beginning to break apart! Ning could tell how terrifyingly determined the Daoguard Tower’s controller was.

A series of thunderous roars rang out, followed by Silver Goldhorns charging out of the various dimensional islands. They were completely unimpeded by the pocket dimensions, coming in threes and fives as they charged towards Ning. All in all, there was a total of sixty-five of the creatures!

Not just that. Two creatures that looked like stone pythons suddenly came flying out of the crumbling Daoguard Tower. When the two stone pythons first flew out, they were quite small, but they quickly expanded in size to many tens of thousands of kilometers long. They were completely formed from stone, and their eyes were a dull gray color. They radiated an aura of life, but their eyes were completely dead.

“They are clearly alive, but they don’t seem to be sentient at all?” Ning was rather shocked.

“Darknorth, can you handle it? Do you need me to help?” The Paragon of Pills couldn’t help but feel nervous when she saw the sixty-five Silver Goldhorns swarming towards them. Her original team had been instantly defeated by four Silver Goldhorns, and so she knew that every single one of them was capable of battling an Otherverse Lord.

It was said that the most dangerous Sithe bases were the ones which held Daoguard Towers, and the number of Silver Goldhorns this place held was proof of it.

This was why the cultivators had been unwilling to actually attack these places during the Dawn War. They had lured the Sithe into the outside world, ensuring that the strongest Sithe bases were taken out of the equation. Only then did they manage to win and decimate the Sithe forces. Only after doing so did they attack the Sithelands, but even then they had only been able to successfully breach the outer perimeter. As for the Daoguard Towers in the outer perimeter, they had merely sealed them away rather than actually assault them.

“Don’t worry.” Ning let out a chuckle as he released his Sword Dao Domain, causing countless streaks of sword-light to fill the entire area and begin to assault the Silver Goldhorns. The Silver Goldhorns began to stumble, stagger, or even be knocked backwards. There was no way for them to close in on Ning at all.

As for the two stone serpents, they were slowed down by the Sword Dao Domain but they still managed to move closer towards him.

Clack! Clack! Clack! The foundation of the Daoguard Tower splintered apart. Ning cast the shattered foundation a glance. The Daoguard Tower had always given him a sense of danger. Now that the foundation had shattered, he felt that the danger level was actually rising.

A massive creature was slowly beginning to arise from within the vast, shattered foundation. Her body was unmistakably massive, nearly a hundred thousand kilometers in size. This creature had the lower body of a centipede but the upper body of a humanoid female. The nagapede’s face was beautiful and her eyes were shut, and as the foundation and its barriers crumbled around her, the power within her body began to skyrocket.

She slowly opened her eyes. At first, there was a lost look in her eyes, but it was quickly replaced with endless malevolence. She opened her mouth, unleashing an earth-shaking roar of terrifying power that spread out in every direction.

The short creature within the cracked Daoguard Tower stared at the distant Ning, his eyes filled with madness. “Now that I’ve destroyed the Daoguard Tower and released the monster beneath it, I’ll die… but you will die as well. This entire region has been locked by three levels of dimensional walkway chains. You won’t be able to escape. You’ll have to fight… and if you do, you failed Daolord, you won’t be able to withstand her power. You’ll die in battle, and the glory shall go to me! Ahahah!”

BOOM! As the short creature laughed wildly, his body suddenly disintegrated as the shockwave from the nagapede’s earth-shaking roar washed past it, destroying even some of the weapons he was carrying before continuing to blast outwards.

Even Ning turned slightly pale when he saw this. As for the Paragon of Pills, she was completely terrified by this display of power. “Such power!”

“I didn’t expect that I would be so ‘lucky’ as to encounter something like this in my very first Daoguard Tower.” Ning had a solemn look on his face. He had learned many secrets from the Autarchs, and so he knew exactly what this creature which had been imprisoned beneath the Daoguard Tower was.

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