“Just one year?” Ji Ning’s heart sank. After he had mastered the ninth ‘Blissheart’ stance, he and Ninedust had taken nearly ten additional years.

“Thus, your opponents shall not merely consist of Daolords behind you like Dreamlore. Winesage shall be your opponent as well. Once he acquires the first Voidsea Jadeseal, he’ll definitely come for yours.” Realmsoul Polo pointed in front of them. “This palace holds a total of 134 pillars, with each pillar containing multiple formations left behind by the Sithe race. If you have enough time, you can go study them.”

Ning and Ninedust glanced sideways at the realmsoul. Study? They were fighting for every scrap of time. Who had the time to waste on studying? In addition, the majority of supreme Daolords merely dabbled in non-core techniques.

“In this palace, you’ll need to defeat the six golden-armored warriors, the three crimson-armored warriors, and then finally defeat the black-armored general. Only then shall you be able to seize the Voidsea Jadeseal.” The realmsoul smiled. “Oh, right. The runic cores at the center of their chests are their weak spots. If you can stab it, they’ll admit defeat.”

“Move as fast as you can. If you move fast enough, you might even be able to seize the other Voidsea Jadeseals… and if you are too slow, you’ll lose even yours.” The realmsoul grinned, then vanished.

“Let’s go.” Ning and Ninedust transformed into two streaks of light that charged straight forwards.

“Just two Daolords? And you dare attack?” The six golden-armored warriors standing next to each other shared a smile, then began to move in unison. Whoosh! Each of them brandished a long golden halberd as they strode forwards.

Ninedust wielded his longstaff and charged straight towards them. As he reached them, he instantly transformed into an enormous flood of water.

Ning transformed into his three-headed, six-armed form as he shot forward with all six Northbow swords, then suddenly vanished.

Whoosh! The halberds in the hands of the six golden-armored warriors struck out simultaneously. Smash! Smash! Smash! The waters in front of them exploded as an invisible burst of power spread out in every direction, causing Ning to reveal himself after having used his ‘Shadowless’ evasion art.

“Fuck off!” Ning flew forwards with incomparable valor, immediately using his Omega Sword Dao – Heavenbreaker and sending six massive fog banks crashing down. Boom! Boom! Boom! The strikes landed on the halberds of the six golden-armored warriors, causing all of them to stagger backwards from the strikes.

“He’s very strong.”

“He’s able to suppress us by himself?” The six golden-armored warriors shared a glance.

“Careful,” Ning sent mentally to the Ninedust Sectlord. “All six of them are at the supreme Daolord level of power.”

“Six supreme Daolords. Interesting.” The Ninedust Sectlord charged once more, carrying the vast ocean with him. As for Ning, his actions were even more dominating; his sword-light transformed into streaks of dense fog and lashed out at his foes. It must be remembered that the Northbow swords enhanced all of Ning’s sword-arts. Now that he also had the [Heartsword] sutra enhancing them, his combat power was truly astonishing.

Ninedust was able to tie down two of the golden-armored warriors, while Ning battled the other four by himself.

Swish! Every so often he would suddenly disappear, followed by that strange, fog-like sword-light emerging out of nowhere. This was the Omega Sword Dao – Shadowless. A sword stabbed straight into the dazzling runic core located over the golden-armored warrior’s chest!

“Eh?” The golden-armored warrior’s face tightened. He lowered his head to take a look, then let out a snort. “Nice sword-arts.” He immediately stepped back.

When the six of them worked together, they complimented each other very well and made for a formidable team. Ning’s sword-arts, however, moved more than a hundred times the speed of light and was unfathomably unpredictable, making it difficult for even their tough defenses to withstand it.

“Hahaha…” Ninedust laughed loudly. “Darknorth, let’s move fast. We need to get that first Voidsea Jadeseal quickly, so that we can go for a second one.”

Ning smiled as well. Now that one warrior was down, beating the others would be much easier. They quickly defeated the other five in succession. All six of the warriors retreated, moving to one side.

……

There were six golden-armored warriors, three crimson-armored warriors, and one black-armored general. With the golden-armored warriors defeated, it was the three crimson-armored warriors who now stood in Ning and Ninedust’s path.

“You two are pretty strong. You were able to beat those six idiots fairly easily,” one of the tall, crimson-armored warriors snickered.

“You are the idiot!”

“If you try to fight us six-on one, we’d beat you until you went crying to your mother.” The six distant golden-armored warriors immediately began to unleash a torrent of curses, while the three crimson-armored warriors just smirked at them.

“You’ve already been beaten. Stop bragging.”

“Looks like it’ll be up to us brothers. Hah!” The three crimson-armored warriors seemed quite smug as they looked at Ning and Ninedust. “Let me tell you a little story. In the other area, that ‘Daolord Winesage’ was able to beat the six golden-armored warriors in one strike, but he was stymied by the three crimson-armored warriors for six full years. Right now, he’s still trying to figure out how to deal with the black-armored general.”

“Oh?” Ning and Ninedust traded a glance. They knew just how strong Winesage was. Given his Universe treasure, there was no question that he could crush the six golden-armored warriors effortlessly. Despite that, the three crimson-armored warriors had held him back for six years?

“Let’s go,” Ning ordered. Whoosh! Whoosh! Both he and Ninedust charged forwards.

Boom! With the very first strike, a crimson-armored warrior landed a cleaving blow with his warblade, causing Ninedust’s body to crumble apart into a wave of water. “Darknorth, I can’t block these hits. They are too strong.”

Bang! Ning started fighting against a crimson-armored warrior as well. That particular warrior wielded a war club, and he delivered a furious blow downwards at Ning, almost as though he was crashing down from a mountain. The two collided head-on, and an incredibly dense wave of energy smashed into Ning, causing him to stumble three steps back. As for the crimson-armored warrior, he took a single step back.

“Eh?” Ning’s face tightened. “He’s just as strong as me?” He had grown significantly more powerful, but even now he was merely on par with the crimson-armored warrior. If the three joined forces… no wonder Winesage had been stymied for six full years!

“Daolord Darknorth has a few tricks up his sleeve. Big brother, third brother, let’s fight together!” the crimson-armored warrior shouted, and the other two immediately charged towards him.

Rumble… all three of the three crimson-armored warriors were Ning’s equal in might, and they were extremely skilled in working together. Ning was being completely suppressed in this battle. Although Ninedust was able to occasionally cause some trouble and disrupt the enemy formation, he wasn’t able to have a material impact on the fight.

“Darknorth, their teamwork is flawless. There’s no way for us to stab the runic cores on their chests,” Ninedust said anxiously.

“They are too strong. When the three of them work together, there’s nothing I can do to them.” Ning frowned. “The only way we can win is through greater numbers. If more Daolords come and work with us, we might be able to find a chance to strike the runic cores.”

They needed either superior numbers or overwhelming power a la Winesage.

“Perhaps I’ll have a chance to master the tenth stance, the ‘Killheart’ stance.” Ning was surrounded and attacked by all three of the three crimson-armored warriors, but his defensive sword-arts were very strong and thus he was still able to hold on. He began to take advantage of this enormous pressure to think on the tenth stance of the [Heartsword], the ‘Killheart’ stance.

……

Time continued to flow on, with a half-year passing by in the blink of an eye. Ning and Ninedust remained locked in combat against the three crimson-armored warriors, but of course they continued to be at a disadvantage in the fight. In short, they were being completely dominated.

Boom!

Suddenly, a thunderous explosion caused the entire Crimsonwave Temple to shake. Everyone in the temple heard and felt it, be it the Daolords battling in the second world such as Ning, Ninedust, Dawnstar, Cloudwalker, Ninestone, Shaka, and Snowjoy, or the Daolords still stuck in the first world such as Daolords Dreamlore, Tigrone, the Starking, the Radiant King, Skyaxe, Dustrain.

“Daolords.” Realmsoul Polo’s voice boomed out, filling every inch of the Crimsonwave Temple. “Winesage has already acquired one of the three remaining Voidsea Jadeseals. Be careful – he’ll be coming for yours next!”

“What?”

“Shit!”

The faces of Dawnstar, Cloudwalker, Ninestone, Shaka, and Snowjoy all turned pale. The path Cloudwalker’s team had chosen was the path which Dawnstar had originally taken! The four of them joined forces upon entering the first world and thus moved even faster than Ning’s group had. This was the advantage of raw numbers! The fact that Ninestone and Snowjoy were exceedingly strong defensive specialists made them very well-suited for dealing with the first world.

“We need to move faster.”

“Not good.”

“We need to speed it up.”

“Everyone, let’s work together.” The supreme Daolords who were still within the three dimensional walkways of the first world were beginning to grow anxious. They were still in the first world while Winesage had already acquired a Voidsea Jadeseal!

……

Ning and Ninedust felt their hearts turn cold as well. They hadn’t even beaten the three crimson-armored guards, while Winesage had already acquired a seal?

“He might be headed straight here for yours,” the three crimson-armored guards teased in amusement.

“Don’t be worried though. If Winesage comes we’ll attack him as well, and the two of you can focus your attacks against him. The two of you plus the three of us… that should shut him down, right?” the three crimson-armored guards suggested. They had spent unfathomable lengths of time being bored and lonely here in Crimsonwave Temple. The happiest days of their lives were when supreme Daolords came to visit.