The Desolate Era

World God Blackmist, Chaos Immortal Abyssus, and the Starlord of Fogstone were all slightly startled.

“Vastheaven Palace?” The Starlord glanced towards the other two, puzzled. “I haven’t gone to many places, just the Badlands Territory, the Cicada Territory, and three other territories. You two have been to many more places.”

“I’ve never heard of it either.” World God Blackmist shook his head. “Abyssus, you’ve journeyed through the primordial chaos for quite some time. Have you heard of Vastheaven Palace?”

Chaos Immortal Abyssus glanced downwards dubiously. “Elder God Darknorth, what is this Vastheaven Palace? Is it a region, the name of a palace, or an organization?”

“An organization. It should be quite a powerful one,” Ning said.

“Haven’t heard of it.”

Abyssus was rather puzzled. “I’ve spent countless years traveling in the territories surrounding the Badlands as well as quite a few distant territories. I’ve been to many places and collected many star maps, but I’ve never heard of an organization known as Vastheaven Palace!”

“The other World-level members of Fogstone have been to far fewer places than Abyssus has. If not even Abyssus has heard of this place, it must be located extremely far away or in a very remote area. In fact, it could’ve been wiped out many chaos cycles ago,” the Starlord said.

A chill entered Ning’s heart.

World God Northrest, what did you do? You ran around in such a crazy manner that even a sword like Violetjewel was nearly destroyed, ending up in a place you didn’t recognize.

This was going to be even harder than he thought!

World God Northrest had never heard of the Badlands Territory, while the Starlord of Fogstone, World God Blackmist, and Immortal Abyssus had never heard of Vastheaven Palace! It must be understood that Vastheaven Palace controlled the entire Vastheaven Territory, which meant that it should be a fairly famous organization. And yet, even someone like Immortal Abyssus who had journeyed through many territories had never heard of the place. From this, one could imagine just how far the Badlands Territory was from the Vastheaven Territory.

“Will I be able to find it within a single chaos cycle?” Ning began to worry.

“I’ll help you ask the other World-level experts about Vastheaven Palace. I’ll also ask my friends if any of them have heard of it,” the Starlord said.

“Thank you, Starlord.” Ning nodded.

The Starlord gazed downwards at Ning, then shook his head and laughed. “That’s all I can really do. However...if not even Immortal Abyssus has heard of the place, it’s unlikely that any of my friends would have heard of it. Mm, right. Yes, we can make a slight alteration to the lifeblood oath you need to swear in order to join the Fogstone Army.” As he spoke, he pointed at the scroll. A twinkling little sparkle of star light instantly descended, covering the scroll in Ning’s hands and changing its contents.

“What do you think?” The Starlord asked.

Ning lowered his head to look at it. There were now even fewer restrictions than before, and once he became a World God there would be virtually no restrictions on him whatsoever.

“If you are willing to accept this, you can swear the lifeblood oath now,” the Starlord said.

“Yes,” Ning said respectfully, scroll in hand. This scroll effectively acted as an oathstone on its own.

“I swear on my very life itself...”

From this day forth, Ning was now a formal member of Fogstone. Even if trillions of years passed and he became far more powerful than he was now, he would still be a member of Fogstone.

Within the hall.

After Ning swore the lifeblood oath, the gazes of the Starlord, World God Blackmist, and Immortal Abyssus all turned warmer as they looked at him. They were now on the same boat, after all.

“Per our usual rules, you should be bestowed with some treasures and techniques now that you have joined the Fogstone Army,” the Starlord said. “In a short while, I’ll arrange for Fushe lead you to the treasury and get your things.”

“Alright,” Ning said.

“However, be aware that Fogstone has many cultivators; we can’t just give you all of our treasures,” the Starlord said. “Thus, if you wish to acquire more than just the base package, you’ll have to render merits to the organization. Would you prefer to remain here on Fogstone, or would you prefer to venture outside and do battle on our behalf?”

“I’m willing to go out and do battle,” Ning said respectfully.

The Starlord smiled and nodded.

“Starlord,” Ning immediately said, “I’d like to ask you a question. How many people in the Badlands Territory know the ‘Blacklotus Guard’ technique, are Heartforce Cultivators, and are at least at the supreme Elder God level of power?”

“The ‘Blacklotus Guard’ is one of the consummate techniques of God Emperor Blacklotus. He will never teach it to an outsider, much like how we won’t teach outsiders our truly supreme skills either. Only the less important techniques will be transmitted to others.” The Starlord of Fogstone chuckled. “A Heartforce Cultivator who knows the ‘Blacklotus Guard’ and is at least a supreme Elder God...the only one who fulfills all of these requirements is one of his Nine Divine Generals, the Mindlord.”

“Does the Mindlord have a Primaltwin?” Ning asked. action

“He did.” The Starlord nodded. “Based on what I know, the Mindlord’s Primaltwin headed off to the Earthdrake area roughly a chaos cycle and ended up dying there.”

Ning was startled. The Earthdrake area? Wasn’t that the area he was from? Died a chaos cycle ago? Wasn’t Old Man Yuan possessed during the Primordial Era? There couldn’t be that many coincidences.

“So it really is the Mindlord.” A flicker of a killing intent appeared in Ning’s eyes. It made sense. He had the feeling that Godfiend Witherspike was telling the truth. As an extremely powerful cultivator who was skilled in heartforce, he was generally able to tell when others were lying to him or not. Perhaps true Heartforce Cultivators like Old Man Yuan would be able to deceive him, but people like Witherspike didn’t have skills in this area.

“You have a feud with the Mindlord?” The Starlord of Fogstone asked.

“I do,” Ning said respectfully.

“Oh...” The Starlord pondered a moment, then said, “How about this? Of the chaosworlds under my command, the Windsource Chaosworld lies closest to God Emperor Blacklotus’ domain. Combat occurs quite often there, which is why we have more than three hundred Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals stationed there permanently. You can go to the Windsource Chaosworld.”

“We already have a leader for our forces there,” World God Blackmist said.

The Starlord waved his hand, manifesting an insignia that glimmered with starlight. He tossed the insignia to Ning, who hurriedly reached out to catch it. The insignia had the word ‘Sentinel’ on it.

“This is the Sentinel insignia,” the Starlord said. “From this day forth, you are my designated Sentinel. When you reach the Windsource Chaosworld, you will be my representative. All the cultivators of the Windsource Chaosworld will obey your commands.”

“Yes,” Ning said respectfully.

“Also, I’ll send the word and make sure that the news of your arrival is kept quiet,” the Starlord said. “You’ve just joined us a short while ago; very few people know of your presence. I imagine that God Emperor Blacklotus and his forces don’t even know about you yet. Their ignorance of your allegiance to us will make it easier for you to strike out against them and take revenge. The Nine Divine Generals of God Emperor Blacklotus often travel to the Windsource Chaosworld. You’ll definitely find a chance to fight the Mindlord.”

“Thank you, Starlord.” Ning was overjoyed. This was a perfect arrangement. To be the Starlord’s Sentinel was quite a lofty position.

“Be careful.” World God Blackmist instructed, “The armies of God Emperor Blacklotus aren’t so easily dealt with.”

“Yes.” Ning was still filled with eagerness.

Sword-arts were meant for battle. Only in battle would his sword-arts be tempered and improved! Ning’s [Nameless] sword-art in particular needed both time and actual combat experience.

“Fushe, go ahead and lead Darknorth to the treasury. After he has his items, he can immediately head off towards the Windsource Chaosworld,” the Starlord instructed.

“Yes,” Island Master Fushe said respectfully.

Ning and Fushe then departed the hall together.

“What do you think?” The Starlord looked towards the other two.

“An excellent choice.” Immortal Abyssus chuckled. “We’re lucky to have such a formidable expert in the Dao of the Sword join us. My guess is that this Darknorth holds an enormous grudge against the Mindlord, which is the reason why he decided to join Fogstone to begin with. Otherwise, given his sword-arts he could have easily joined any organization aside from the Badlands Court.”

“That’s why I arranged for him to be in the Windsource Chaosworld,” the Starlord said.

The border regions between two major organizations served as a meat grinder. Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals often died there. As far as both sides were concerned, the border regions were a good place for the cultivators of both sides to gain experience through life-and-death battles. Only then would they be able to grow more quickly.

......

“Congratulations, brother Darknorth. You are now our sixth general.” Island Master Fushe flew alongside Ning as they left the Abyssus Palace. “When you go to the Windsource Chaosworld as the Starlord’s Sentinel, you’ll be the undisputed leader of our forces there. Being the leader of a chaosworld is quite an excellent position. All of the cultivators in the Windsource Chaosworld will try to curry favor with you.”

“Curry favor with me?” Ning was puzzled.

“Of course. You will be guarding the place as the Starlord’s representative. You can easily cause problems for any of them. They wouldn’t dare to NOT curry favor with you.” Fushe laughed. “Look, the Starlord’s estate is over there.”

Ning turned to look, only to see an enormous, city-sized estate appear in the distance. The estate was surrounded by countless sparks of star light, as though it was the very center of the entire planet of Fogstone.

“Ordinary Elder God soldiers might exhaust themselves for an entire chaos cycle without being able to acquire the treasures and techniques you are about to get.” Fushe had a look of envy on his face as he led Ning into the Starlord’s estate.