Desolate Era

by RWX

  Lastly, these things were a gift from Emperor Waveshift to his homeland. It was also a way to help his homeland temper its Daolords! If the Hegemons or the Dao Alliance dared to act rashly and angered Emperor Waveshift through their actions, Emperor Waveshift could very well take the entire temple back and ensure they would gain nothing at all in the future.

  For all of these reasons, everyone knew that everyone else would play by the rules.

  ……

  The insides of the Palace of Immortals were absolutely lovely. The light of formations glimmered everywhere, while their aura was so mighty as to ensure that even Hegemons wouldn’t dare to trespass within.

  “Treasures of the Flamedragon Realmverse aside, the treasury of the Palace of Immortals has collected many treasures from other realmverses as well,” Emperor Goldisle said with a smile. “It’s hard to even count how many treasures we have. Choose whatever you like, Darknorth. We’ll give you what you need for those fruits.”

  “Understood.” Ning nodded.

  “So this is Daolord Darknorth?” A deep voice boomed out from afar as a black-robed, black-haired old man walked towards them across the celestial pathways.

  Emperor Goldisle made the introductions: “Darknorth, this is Emperor Blackcloud! The two of us jointly administer the Palace of Immortals for the Dao Alliance.”

  Ning was secretly speechless. So it was these two Emperors who were in control of the Palace of Immortals? Perhaps they were a bit weaker than the Hegemons, but they were actually even more influential.

  “Daolord Darknorth, you’ve only trained for such a short period of time but have reached such incredible heights in power. Impressive.” Emperor Blackcloud smiled. “Goldisle and I shall open the treasury for you to peruse as you please.”

  “Sorry for the trouble, seniors,” Ning said modestly.

  While chatting, these two leaders of the Dao Alliance led Ning to the location of the treasury.

  “Open.” Emperor Blackcloud waved a finger.

  Rumble…

  The white stone door in front of him began to split apart, revealing a dark passageway inside.

  “The treasury is an important place, and so this passageway is filled with many barriers and wards. Not even Hegemons would dare to trespass here,” Emperor Blackcloud said smugly.

  “Come, Darknorth.” Emperor Goldisle led the way, with Ning following from behind. In truth, the reason why they dared to open up the treasury like this for Ning was because Ning was weak; if a Hegemon had actually come here, there was no way they would’ve dared to let the Hegemon actually enter the treasury.

  * * *

  Book 34, Chapter 4 - Treasures the Northbow Swords Need

  Ji Ning followed Emperor Goldisle and Emperor Blackcloud through the dark passageway. After walking for a short while, he finally saw yet another stone door.

  “Open,” Emperor Blackcloud command. The stone door instantly sank downwards, revealing the vast treasury behind it.

  “Wow.” Ning felt dizzy when he saw what was behind the stone door. He was able to sense many varied auras, some brutal, some cold, some stately… countless treasures were hanging there, so numerous that at a glance Ning was able to see tens of millions of treasures just with the naked eye alone.

  “All treasures stored within our treasury are quite extraordinary.” Emperor Goldisle smiled. “Many treasures here are one-of-a-kind! But of course, there are also some that are quite numerous, in which case we’ll just put a single sample item here.”

  “Seniors,” Ning said hurriedly, “My lifeblood weapons need to personally touch the treasures in order to sense if they can make use of them or not.”

  “Just touching is fine,” Emperor Goldisle said solemnly, “But don’t damage anything. Some of the treasures here are incredibly valuable.”

  “Please don’t worry. My lifeblood weapons wouldn’t dare,” Ning said.

  The nearby Emperor Blackcloud laughed. “Go, then. Inspect them to your heart’s content.”

  Ning nodded. “Come out,” Ning willed mentally. Swish! Swish! Swish! All six Northbow swords flew out from their scabbards, and as they did so an adorable child appeared from each of them.

  “Master! Master!” All six children began to call out repeatedly.

  “Listen up. This treasury is filled with countless treasures. You can touch them to sense which are of use to you,” Ning said, “But remember, you absolutely must not damage any of them, nor are you allowed to absorb any of them. After the inspection is complete, with any luck, I’ll be able to give you some treasures to absorb.”

  “Alright.”

  “Haha, don’t worry.”

  “Leave it to us!” All six Northbow sword-spirits were quite excited.

  “Go.” Ning immediately sent them flying into the skies towards the various treasures, which they began to scan.

  This vast treasury was filled with long stone tables that were covered with countless treasures. There were also incredibly long twelve-layered treasure shelves, with each layer filled with many treasures. The ones placed on the shelves were clearly less valuable! There were also individual stone daises that held only a single treasure each.

  This place had all sorts of weapons, even Universe weapons! There were all sorts of marvelous treasures here, including many strange curios that had been collected from the Terror Starsea…

  ……

  Time slowly passed on, one minute at a time. Ning continued to furiously send his six Northbow swords flying everywhere, touching the various treasures. After roughly the time needed to boil a kettle of tea…

  “Master! Master! I can sense that if I ate this flower, it would be of big use to me,” Northbow Five called out spiritually to Ning.

  Ning’s eyes lit up as he immediately looked towards the sword. This was a semi-ethereal flower that was surrounded by a faint gray aura. There was a jade slip next to it that introduced it as the ‘shadowless six-thief flower’. It was capable of hiding itself amongst other objects, making it extremely difficult to find. It was an incomparably marvelous item.

  “How many of those can you eat?” Ning asked spiritually.

  “I’m not sure. At least ten thousand,” Northbow Five replied.

  “Got it.” Ning nodded, silently memorizing this flower. He then continued to search for other treasures. This treasury most likely had copies of almost all of the decent treasures located within the Flamedragon Realmverse! When would he ever have another chance like this to just scan them as he pleased? Even if he wasn’t able to acquire what he needed due to not having enough fruit, he could at least memorize them for future collection.

  ……

  Outside the Palace of Immortals. Hegemon Brightshore, Hegemon Windrain, Hegemon Netherlily, Emperor Severfive, and Emperor Islehide continued to wait patiently alongside their retainers.

  “Brightshore,” Hegemon Windrain said hurriedly, “The Dao Alliance wouldn’t be playing a trick on our young friend Darknorth, would they? If he ends up trading with them without giving us a chance…”

  “Agreed. Brightshore…” Emperor Islehide said hurriedly, “Darknorth belongs to your Brightshore Kingdom.”

  “Don’t worry.” Hegemon Brightshore smiled. “I can reach out to Darknorth at any time! He’s currently within the treasury of the Palace of Immortals, scanning the countless treasures there. This process will take some time, so don’t be impatient. Once he knows which treasures he needs, he’ll publicly announce it.”

  “Good. At least we can compete fairly,” Emperor Severfive said. All of them were truly the most elite figures of the Endless Territories, but this competition over the coldflame cauldron fruits still made them nervous.

  There was a rough, accepted ‘value’ to these fruits, but they were simply never available for sale. Very, very few were willing to sell these fruits, which was why in normal times the Hegemons were willing to pay multiples of the ‘accepted’ value for the few coldflame cauldron fruits which appeared from time to time!
Now that Crimsonwave Temple was going to be located within the Endless Territories indefinitely, they’d be able to harvest 300 of the fruits every 100,000 chaos cycles. This was why they hadn’t offered excessively high prices in their negotiations with Ning.

  However… they also understood that the future couldn’t be predicted. Who knew when Emperor Waveshift would end up taking the temple away again?

  ……

  Within the treasury of the Palace of Immortals of the Dao Alliance.

  Ning continued to control his six Northbow swords, sending them flying about like streaks of light towards various treasures, then gently brushing against them.

  “Master! Master! I can sense that this stone is going to help me out a lot!” Northbow Three called out as well. Ning immediately memorized the stone in question.

  By the time he had nearly finished a complete scan of all the treasures within the treasury, he had already discovered a total of twelve treasures that would be of use to his Northbow swords! However, the Northbow swords would devour absolutely enormous amounts of material as they grew. Ning worried as to whether or not this would even be enough.

  Finally, after roughly ten hours of scanning, Ning had finished his first review of all the treasures.

  “How’d it go?” Emperor Goldisle and Emperor Blackcloud both looked at Ning.

  “There really are quite a few treasures that are useful to my lifeblood weapons,” Ning said.

  “Which treasures do you need? Go ahead and tell us and we’ll try to help you collect them as best we can,” Emperor Goldisle said.

  “I should probably say it outside,” Ning replied hurriedly. “The Hegemon reminded me long ago that we have to keep things fair.”

  “Oh. Right, right. Fair.” Emperor Blackcloud and Emperor Goldisle exchanged a glance, rather resigned. In the end, Ning belonged to the Brightshore Kingdom, making Hegemon Brightshore’s instructions quite effective.

  Emperor Blackcloud and Emperor Goldisle didn’t really worry too much. Given how filthy rich the Dao Alliance was, they were quite confident in their chances.

  “Let’s go.” Emperor Blackcloud and Emperor Goldisle led Ning in departing from the treasury.

  ……

  Outside the Palace of Immortals. Ji Ning, Emperor Blackcloud, and Emperor Goldisle flew out at the same time.

  “There they are.” The three Hegemons, Emperor Severfive, Emperor Islehide, and the various retainers all looked towards Ning, their eyes lighting up.

  The time for the final negotiations over the coldflame cauldron fruits had come.

  “Darknorth, did you find any suitable treasures?” Hegemon Brightshore asked.

  “I found twelve,” Ning said. The Hegemons and Emperors were all rather startled by this answer. Twelve? It seemed likely that everyone would be able to provide Ning with something he needed.

  “The first is known as the ‘shadowless six-thief flowers’,” Ning said. “I need at least ten thousand of them.”

  “The shadowless six-thief flowers?”

  “Over ten thousand?”

  “But…”

  The three Hegemons and the various Emperors exchanged glances, all feeling rather resigned.

  “What is it?” Ning was puzzled.

  “Darknorth, even if we scraped up all of the shadowless six-thief flowers that the Flamedragon Realmverse has accumulated over the countless years of its existence, we would probably only be able to find a few hundred of them,” Hegemon Brightshore said.

  Emperor Goldisle nodded as well. “The shadowless six-thief flowers are invisible, hidden throughout the cosmos. They are extremely hard to find. Although they aren’t that useful, they really are quite rare.”

  Ning felt quite helpless upon hearing this. If the Northbow swords were to grow, they needed materials in sufficiently large quantities. For example, they had absorbed a terrifying amount of that golden sand! Based on what the Northbow sword-spirit had predicted, he would need at least ten thousand of those flowers, but it seemed as though Ning wouldn’t even be able to acquire a tenth of that. Such a small amount would be of limited benefit.

  “The second type of treasure is known as the flamebearer tathata-metal,” Ning said. “I’ll need a mountain of it, a mountain which is roughly thirty thousand meters tall.”

  “Thirty thousand meters tall?” The Hegemons and Emperors sighed again.

  “You are asking for too much. Flamebearer tathata-metal is used in palm-sized chunks for forging treasures. You want a mountain of it?” Emperor Goldisle shook his head. “There’s no way to get that much in the Flamedragon Realmverse. If the Dao Alliance was willing to pay incredible prices to have other realmverses help out and deliver them, we might be able to do it… but the coldflame cauldron fruits in your possession aren’t nearly enough to trade for a mountain of the tathata-metal.”

  * * *

  Book 34, Chapter 5 - Stone Hellephant Wall

  Ji Ning was speechless. It was clear that everyone wanted his coldflame cauldron fruits, but the first two items he had requested, the ‘Six Bandits Shadowless Flowers’ and the ‘flamebearer tathata-metal’, weren’t available in the quantities he needed in the Endless Territories.

  What Ning didn’t fully understand was that the Northbow swords needed balance in order to grow to their maximum potential. They had absorbed such an enormous amount of that golden sand that they would need similarly prodigious amounts of other materials to gain that balance and reach their apex.

  “You have twelve types of treasures you can use, right?” Emperor Islehide said, “Keep talking. We might be able to provide you with the other treasures.”

  “Alright.” Ning had no choice but to continue with his requests. “The third type of treasure is known as astral forgestones. I need a three thousand meter mountain of it.”

  “Don’t have it.”

  “Don’t have enough.”

  “Where would you even find that many astral forgestones?”

  The Hegemons and Emperors, along with their retainers, all shook their heads. Most of the retainers were also Eternal Emperors and as such had seen many things.

  Helpless, Ning had no choice but to continue listing the things he needed. The fourth type, the fifth type, the sixth type… nothing, nothing, nothing!

  Ning simply needed too much; there was no way to acquire that much at all. The more valuable an item, the rarer it was, after all. When Ning had visited that alternate universe and had discovered that vast mountain of darkspace flamestone, it had been a momentous find, not because of how valuable the stone itself was, but because of how utterly enormous that mountain had been.

  The same principle applied here. The various treasures Ning sought were far more valuable than darkspace flamestone, and he needed an enormous amount of them; there was just no way to acquire that much!

  “The eighth type is known as the frozen ninesong pith,” Ning said. “I’ll need a lake of it that’s three hundred meters long, wide, and deep.” The numbers he listed out were still quite shocking.

  “Three hundred coldflame cauldron fruits,” Emperor Severfive immediately called out.

  “Two hundred and ninety,” Emperor Goldisle said.

  “Two hundred!” Emperor Islehide growled.

  “A hundred and ninety,” Hegemon Brightshore said.

  Ning had been feeling increasingly despondent. Now, he stared blankly as the Eternal Emperors furiously bid down the price. Was this frozen ninesong pith a very common item?

  Emperor Goldisle interjected, “Gentlemen, I think we should stop fighting against each other as there will be no ‘winner’. Since he’s asking for frozen ninesong pith, I’m sure that all of us will be able to provide it in enormous amounts. How about we split it evenly? Darknorth, give us a hundred and fifty coldflame cauldron fruits, a hundred and fifty golden sandsifter fruits, and a hundred and fifty darkheaven yin-fruits. All six of us will jointly procure the necessary frozen ninesong pith you need! We’ll give you double what you ask for; a lak
e of it that’s six hundred meters wide, long, and deep!”

  “Agreed.” The others all nodded after a brief pause. They understood and agreed that no one would really ‘win’ this auction.

  “What’s going on?” Ning asked.

  “Long ago, our Flamedragon Realmverse discovered a river that swirled around a strange star,” Emperor Goldisle explained. “This river is roughly a hundred thousand kilometers long and hundreds of kilometers wide… and it was filled with frozen ninesong pith. As a result, all six of us have large stocks of it.”

  Ning was stunned. A river that was a hundred thousand kilometers long and hundreds of kilometers wide? The tiny ‘lake’ he needed was in comparison just a tiny fraction!

  “We can give you six hundred meters of it. If you need more, we can easily give you a bit more,” Emperor Goldisle said. They really didn’t care about the frozen ninesong pith that much.

  “Go ahead and continue listing what you need,” Emperor Islehide said. “We might have it.”

  “Alright.” Ning smiled as he continued to list the items he needed. The ninth, the tenth, the eleventh… the twelfth.

  “The twelfth is known as deepfire blackstone. I need a mountain-sized pile roughly three hundred thousand meters tall.” Ning looked eagerly at the three Hegemons and the various Hegemons. Thus far, the only treasure they were able to provide had been was still just the frozen ninesong pith. The other treasures simply weren’t available.

  “Three hundred thousand meters?”

  “He’s pretty crazy.”

  “Are you sure your lifeblood weapons can swallow that much?” The various Emperors present couldn’t help but mutter amongst themselves.

  They knew that the deepfire blackstone was the last of the twelve types of treasures Ning needed, but the amount was just staggering.

  “Can’t do it. Deepfire blackstone isn’t all that useful; it’s mainly used for smelting a few treasures. However, the Endless Territories only has perhaps a three thousand meter mountain of it.” Emperor Goldisle shook his head. “You want a three hundred thousand meter mountain. The difference is just too great.”