The Desolate Era

Book 23, Endwar, Chapter 14 – The Battle for Karmic Luck (1)

The two titanic armies of Immortals and Fiendgods began to charge towards each other, smashing upon each other like a pair of massive anvils! Of course, the ones who charged forward were the ones skilled in close combat. There were quite a few ancient, massive formations that were located in the rear, throwing large-scale spells and attacks against the battlefield. The attacks blotted out the sun, causing even the Void to splinter and shatter.

Yellow Emperor Xuan Yuan solemnly and carefully deployed his troops.

Lord Tathagata the Buddha, Daoist Three Purities, Suiren, Shennong, Fuxi, Ji NIng, Houyi, and the masked man all stood at the back lines, watching the battle and keeping an eye on the actions of the major powers of the Seamless Gate. They were determined to prevent the Seamless Gate’s major powers from launching any sneak attacks!

Now that the final battle for karmic luck had begun, it was possible that the Seamless Gate’s major powers would suddenly launch the Endwar if they thought they were losing.

“The advantage lies with us right now,” Daoist Three Purities said in a cold voice. “We won’t be in a rush to launch the Endwar. The Seamless Gate, however, is different. They have a slightly weaker hand to play; once they completely despair of victory, they will launch the Endwar. Suiren, Ji Ning, the two of you are the quickest; when the time comes, it will be up to the two of you to stop the Seamless Gate’s sneak attacks.”

“Right.” Suiren nodded.

“Alright.” Ning nodded as well.

The two of them had both mastered the [Ninehorn Lightning Serpent] technique; if the Seamless Gate was to launch a sneak attack, they would be able to intercept it.

“Our side is beginning to sustain casualties already,” Tathagata said softly.

“Casualties are impossible to completely avoid.” Suiren’s eyes glowed with divine power, a desire to do battle radiating from his entire body. He said in a low voice, “Sometimes, victory can only be won when you pay a price in blood.” It had been Suiren who had led the human race from obscurity to power. He knew very well that an enormous price had been paid in blood and bones for the human race to rise to its current illustrious state.

Ning watched it all unfold silently.

“Senior apprentice-brother Sloppy…” Ning suddenly saw an unremarkable figure located in a distant ‘Nuwa Heaven Repairing Formation’. It was his eldest disciple-brother of the Black-White College. 1

“I didn’t expect for him to become a Pure Yang True Immortal as well.” Ning sighed to himself. “If he hadn’t broken through, he might’ve been able to avoid this battle.”

The weaker disciples and family members of the various major powers, such as those who had merely become Celestial Immortals, were generally permitted not to take part in this battle. Ning’s own daughter Brightmoon was one example, and Daofather Crimsonbright’s disciple Adept Woodpass was another. Both were Celestial Immortals, and there was no real point to them taking part in this battle. No matter what, the Nuwa Alliance still had to preserve its next generation, and so its lower-level geniuses were not required to take part in the battle. As for the likes of Autumn Leaf or Bluecliff Xiaoyu, who weren’t even Celestial Immortals, there was of course no point whatsoever for them to get involved.

However, for anyone who became an Empyrean God or True Immortal, things were different. The Sloppy Daoist and Bodhisattva Eastluck were all geniuses as well, but they were required to take part in this battle.

There would only be an exception if an extremely important member of the Nuwa Alliance absolutely insisted on protecting them. Someone like Daoist Three Purities, Tathagata, Suiren, or Ji Ning could insist on protecting a particular Empyrean God or True Immortal. For example, if Ning’s daughter had theoretically become a True Immortal and Ning was unwilling for her to suffer any danger, the Nuwa Alliance would be willing to satisfy this personal request of Ji Ning’s.

Still, even major powers would only rarely make a request like this. Even if they did, they would at most request for one or two of their most dearly beloved family members to be protected.

Daofather Subhuti, for example, did not ask for a single one of his disciples to be protected! All of them had gone off to war!

“Those dazzling geniuses of yore have become nothing more than minor chess pieces on this battlefield.” Faced with such a deluge of Immortals and Fiendgods, Ning could keenly sense how irrelevant a single person’s power and ability was. Even most True Gods and Daofathers would feel powerless in the face of a war like this.

Both sides were using enormous formations, and the attacks from these formations surpassed the power of an ordinary True God or Daofather; the attacks were very close to the power of elite Daofathers!

The first time the two massive armies clashed, they battled for roughly an hour before both sides withdrew. This sort of battle caused both sides to use up Immortal energy and divine power at an absolutely staggering rate. Virtually every single Immortal and Fiendgod in the Three Realms was taking part in this battle, and so neither the Nuwa Alliance nor the Seamless Gate could possibly provide enough Immortal pills for them to replenish their energy. Thus, their only choice was to battle over and over again.

Both sides proceeded very carefully with each clash, doing their best to locate the enemy’s weak spots and tear them apart as much as possible.

On the very first day of battle, the Nuwa Alliance lost a total of 612 Empyrean Gods and True Immortals, more than 3.2 million Celestial Immortals, and countless lower-level cultivators. As for the Seamless Gate, they lost 122 Empyrean Gods and True Immortals, more than 1.89 million Celestial Immortals, and countless lower-level cultivators.

By the sixth day of battle, the Nuwa Alliance had lost a total of 925 Empyrean Gods and True Immortals, more than 5.62 million Celestial Immortals, and countless lower-level cultivators. The Seamless Gate had lost a total of 531 Empyrean Gods and True Immortals, more than 1 million Celestial Immortals, and countless lower-level cultivators.

By the nineteenth day of battle…

By the twenty-sixth day of battle…

Both sides continued to do their best to seek out the enemy’s weak points, and they proceed tentatively with each clash. Casualties were still fairly light, given that almost all of the Immortals and Fiendgods of the Three Realms were taking part.

The sixty-ninth day of battle. The battle this day was noticeably more vicious than on previous days. More Empyrean Gods and True Immortals died on this day than during all previous days combined. This was because on this day, both the Seamless Gate and the Nuwa Alliance had almost simultaneously revealed their bugbeast armies. The appearance of the dominating bugbeasts armies immediately destabilized the battlefield, resulting in large-scale massacres.

“Withdraw.” Yellow Emperor Xuan Yuan gave the order.

Both the Nuwa Alliance and the Seamless Gate began to withdraw their troops. The mood on the battlefield was noticeably much grimmer than before, with countless Immortals and Fiendgods having frenzied looks in their eyes. All of the cultivators knew that there was nowhere to run; their only choice was to stake their own lives in an attempt to take the lives of their opponents.

“They actually have slightly more bugbeasts than we do.” Fuxi frowned.

“They gained the legacies of the Lord of All Things. It’s not that strange that they also gained his bugbeast techniques.” Daoist Three Purities said coldly, “Although they have slightly more bugbeasts than we do, things are still manageable.”

“Sword Immortal Evergreen…” Ning shook his head.

Ning had always been wanting to find an opportunity to kill this traitor.

However, no one would’ve imagined what had happened. Due to both sides suddenly adding bugbeasts into their armies, the balance between the two sides had been completely disrupted. Faced with critical danger, Sword Immortal Evergreen had actually made a sudden breakthrough! He had mastered one of the Heavenly Daos, causing a resonance that everyone was able to feel. Sword Immortal Evergreen had immediately swallowed Great Firmament Immortal pills to breakthrough to become a Golden Immortal of the Great Firmament (Daofather). After he made a breakthrough, he immediately suffered frenzied, concentrated attacks attacks from the Nuwa Alliance. He became a focal point…resulting in him being slain almost instantly!

Just a few seconds after becoming a Daofather, Sword Immortal Evergreen had been assaulted by more than ten mighty formations. He had died on the spot!

In this sort of massive battle, anyone who seemed particularly impressive or eye-catching would immediately draw enormous amounts of concentrated firepower on his or her head. Only someone close to the overlord level of power would be able to survive; anyone else would almost certainly perish.”

“Too many died in this battle.” Shennong sighed softly.

“There are no other choices.” Suiren suppressed the pain he felt in his heart.

Ning felt miserable as well.

This latest battle was the most vicious battle to date in the final war for karmic luck. As a result of this battle, the total number of Empyrean Gods and True Immortals the Nuwa Alliance had lost had reached more than 8600! As for Celestial Immortals? Celestial Immortal casualties had surpassed a hundred million! Loose Immortals and Fiendgods? Forget about even trying to tell them.

Things weren’t much better for the Seamless Gate either. Although they were supported by many powerful golems, they were still the weaker side in this conflict. They had lost more than 6900 Empyrean Gods and True Immortals and more than 92 million Celestial Immortals. Their Loose Immortal casualties were also horrendous beyond count.

These simple, plain numbers represented a hideous loss of life amongst Immortals and Fiendgods!

Far, far too many had died in this battle…including many of Ning’s good friends.

“Old brother Buyou. Roughpeak…” Ning couldn’t help but sigh to himself. More than ten of the Empyrean Gods he had rescued from Undermoon Lake had died just now, including Empyrean Gods Buyou and Roughpeak. He had been particularly close to those two.

“And Eastluck…” Ning sighed again.

That stubborn wastrel of a prince…after his temper had been tamed, he had revealed his tremendous talent and brilliance. He had skyrocketed in power after entering the Buddhist Sangha, causing even Lord Buddha to take notice of him. In this battle, Bodhisattva Eastluck had actually been given full control over a large formation. But…just now, that dazzlingly talented Bodhisattva Eastluck had also died in battle.

If he had been given enough time, it was entirely possible that the Buddhist Sangha would’ve gained yet another Buddha into their ranks.

Alas, this was destiny.

No matter how talented you were or how much of a genius you were, if you weren’t given enough time to grow you still wouldn’t become a ‘major power’. Dying in a titanic battle like this was like a single wave disappearing into the sea, leaving behind no traces of its passing.

Not even Lord Buddha had enough time to grieve for each individual person. Far too many were dying, and every single major power had to watch as quite a few of their beloved disciples perished. Almost every Empyrean God and True Immortal had taken on a major power as master, after all.

1. The legend of Nuwa repairing the heavens is one of the oldest legends of Nuwa, and was mentioned previously with regards to how Gonggong damaged the pillars of Heaven, causing the skies to collapse.