Desolate Era

by RWX

  Ning and Ninedust were both startled.

  “Later, both of you must swear oaths not to divulge any information about what has happened here,” the black-robed man said solemnly.

  “Understood.”

  “Don’t worry, senior.” Ning and Ninedust both hurriedly assented, while Ning stared at the egg-shaped object with an eager look in his eyes.

  “The various realmverses of the vast Chaosverse are not truly eternal. There are certain destructive forces of nature within the Chaoseverse,” the black-robed man said. “There are certain terrifying celestial bodies, such as the ‘Ship of Mirrors’, the ‘Yin-Yang Samsara Wheels’, the ‘Apocalypse Star’, and more. Even Hegemons are helpless in the face of these naturally occurring celestial bodies, and they can easily annihilate entire realmverses. Even Autarchs need to pay enormous prices if they wish to be able to deal with them.”

  Ning and Ninedust were both surprised. They knew that the Flamedragon Realmverse was facing a grave danger from the Yin-Yang Samsara Wheels, but who would’ve thought there were multiple celestial bodies in the Chaosverse akin to the Wheels?

  “The Ship of Mirrors, the Yin-Yang Samsara Wheels, the Apocalypse Star… they are not living entities,” the black-robed man said. “However, the Chaosverse can also give birth to supremely terrifying creatures known as ‘Chaos Primordials’ that are just as deadly. Supposedly, these great beasts are born from the prime essences of the Chaosverse. Once they leave the prime essences, they’ll voyage through the Chaosverse… and they love to eat the realmverses they encounter.”

  “Chaos Primordials are born with nigh-indestructible bodies and are incredibly few in number. They are also fairly unintelligent, perhaps on par with mortal children. However, they are so incredibly strong that only Autarchs are capable of killing them. Even Otherverse Lords are only able to just barely fend them off.”

  “This ‘verdant azuresoul’ is what Chaos Primordials love to eat beyond all other types of food.” The black-robed man looked at Ning and Ninedust. “My master, Autarch Bolin, has made some special modifications to this one, converting it into a magic treasure. Darknorth, you’ll be able to bind it with ease just by dripping your blood onto it. After doing so, if you ever manage to encounter a Chaos Primordial, you can toss the verdant azuresoul over to it and let the beast eat it… and once it does so, the modified verdant azuresoul will take control over the Chaos Primordial and make it a servant that obeys your commands.”

  Ning and Ninedust were both speechless upon hearing this. “Can I use the ‘verdant azuresoul’ as payment to have an Autarch reverse the flows of spacetime to revive a Celestial Immortal?” Ning couldn’t help but ask.

  “You cannot. A single verdant azuresoul isn’t valuable enough,” the black-robed man explained. “However, if you can find a Chaos Primordial and have it eat the verdant azuresoul, then give that Chaos Primordial to an Autarch? That would be enough to convince the Autarch to intervene.”

  “Chaos Primordials are simply too rare, while the endless Chaosverse is far too vast. Finding one is a matter of luck,” the black-robed man said. “Alright. I’ve already given you each what you deserve. Remember – you are not permitted to tell others of what you encountered here,” the black-robed man instructed.

  “Understood.”

  Ning and Ninedust both immediately swore lifeblood oaths. Ning and Ninedust then felt space twist around them, followed by them reappearing within the Sithe ruins.

  “I’m leaving now,” the statue said. Suddenly, it transformed into an actual three-headed leonine beast that transformed into a streak of light that flew out of the mountains. “If you can succeed in your Daomerges, perhaps we might meet again.”

  Ning and Ninedust both watched as the statue flew away.

  ……

  A short while later, Ning and Ninedust left the Sithe ruins as well, returning to the surface of the planet.

  Hundreds of millions of years had gone by. By now, Darknorth Palace had reached an utterly towering level of strength, while the three great clans remained hidden within their headquarters and not daring to come out.

  The three great clans were simply terrified. They had always relied on their clan leaders, who had been completely wiped out. They naturally didn’t dare to take any further risks, and thus they had come to a decision: “After 108,000 chaos cycles, our three great clans will once more make our presence known within the world. By then, Daolord Darknorth would’ve definitely died. I refuse to believe that such a freakishly strong Daolord can succeed in the Daomerge.”

  Ning and Ninedust secretly inspected the world for a period of time, then quietly slipped away without causing any damage to the barriers or wards surrounding the three great clans.

  “Time to leave.”

  “Let’s go back to the Endless Territories.” With the treasures they had acquired from the Sithe lands in tow, Ning and Ninedust embarked upon their return journey.

  By now, Ning had reached an even more profound level in his Omega Sword Dao – Blood Drop. It was now much more powerful, and thus as the two tore through spacetime in the Great Dark they only had to spend a total of a bit over three hundred years before they reached the Endless Territories again.

  * * *

  Book 35, Chapter 1 - Realmship

  Within the Endless Territories.

  A dimensional gateway was suddenly torn open in the empty void next to an enormous, blazing star. A white-robed youth and a silver-robed man stepped out from within it.

  “We’re back! Haha, we’re back in the Endless Territories.” Ninedust laughed jubilantly, “We travelled through the Great Dark for so long without seeing any other living creatures at all. We didn’t even see any stars or chaosworlds. That sense of loneliness was truly stifling and oppressing. I can’t help but shiver when I think about how those Eternal Emperors choose to spend a million years traversing the Great Dark enroute to another realmverse.”

  “Once we succeed in our Daomerges and gain eternal life, perhaps we might come to the same decision.” Ji Ning smiled.

  “Yes… we have to succeed in the Daomerge. We have to! We made a killing off our visit to the Stone Hellephant Wall; to me, this place was just as beneficial as the Waveshift Realm was.” Ninedust was in high spirits.

  Ning nodded as well. He had indeed benefited greatly from this trip. The greatest benefit lay in how they had the chance to memorize the Dao-guidance left behind by that Autarch. Next came the verdant azuresoul Ning had acquired and those six Emperor-class golems… and then there were the various Sithe relics they had swept out of the Sithe ruins.

  “Unfortunately, that realmship we found was damaged. Otherwise, we really would’ve won a fortune,” Ninedust sighed.

  “It wasn’t just damaged, it was in pieces. It would’ve been wonderful if Autarch Bolin had held back just a little bit and didn’t destroy the shuttle.” Ning sighed as well. “Still… if he really hadn’t destroyed it, he probably would’ve taken it with him when he left.”

  “Yes.” Ninedust felt resigned as well.

  Realmships… according to what the golems Ning had captured and bound had told them, these were flying shuttles that had been created by the Sithe which allowed them to travel between realmverses. Using these vessels, it was possible to spend less than a hundred thousand years in travelling from one realmverse to another! To powerful cultivators, this was a negligibly short period of time.

  Even Hegemons found the trip from one realmverse to another a taxing one which required an extremely long period of time. Realmships, however, were able to accomplish it in a fraction of the time. They truly were incredibly fast, which meant they were incredibly precious as well!

  There had been more than thirty thousand Sithe within the Stone Hellephant Wall, but only the two highest-ranking Sithe owned realmships, one each. One had been taken away by Autarch Bolin, while the other had been destroyed in the fierce fighting. Because realmships possessed regenerative capabilities, some of its parts had m
anaged to slowly recover… but alas, the other parts were so totally trashed that they were completely unable to heal.

  There were two parts of the shuttle which were in fairly good shape. Ning and Ninedust had each taken one of the two parts.

  “A pity how severe the damage was. Less than half of it was remaining. There’s no way to use it at all.” Ning shook his head.

  “We would’ve struck it rich if it was usable,” Ninedust sighed.

  “Let’s not get too greedy,” Ning replied. The two continued to chat while separating themselves from the surrounding area, ensuring that no one was able to hear their conversation.

  ……

  The golems they had bound had all existed since the days of the Sithe. They naturally knew a great deal about the Sithe race! Ning and Ninedust learned a great deal after interrogating the golems, including many Sithe secrets. At first, they hadn’t really even understood how important the realmship fragments they had collected were; it was only after the golems helped them sort through the treasures that they knew what a realmship was.

  “Darknorth, didn’t we agree to go to the Aeonian Kingdom? This doesn’t seem to be the right way,” Ninedust said with some surprise.

  “We’re taking a slight detour,” Ning said. “It’ll only take a day or two.”

  “Something you need to take care of?” Ninedust asked.

  “The two of us have been visiting some truly extraordinary places recently. Although we’re both confident in our skills, it’s also true that we can die at any moment.” Ning sighed. “I’m planning to leave a few of these Emperor-class golems behind in my homeland. That way, even if I do fail my Daomerge and perish, my homeland will be at least somewhat protected with those Emperor-class golems present.”

  Ninedust felt a mixed bag of emotions upon hearing this. He asked, “Darknorth, is your homeland very weak?”

  “Yes. I can be considered the strongest person from my homeland, I suppose,” Ning said.

  The Three Realms… hundreds of millions of years had gone past, and it had grown quite a bit… but it was still quite young in the grand scheme of things. Thus far, it didn’t even have any other Samsara Daolords aside from Ning himself! How could Ning not focus his attention on it?

  “That’s quite a heavy burden to bear.” Ninedust sighed. “I’ve never had that sort of experience before. Although I acquired six Emperor-class golems, they really don’t mean that much to the Ancient cultivators as a race. These are all fairly weak Emperor-class golems, after all.”

  “The Ancients are one of the six major powers of the Endless Territories. If you had to be responsible for the entire Ancient race, you would have to at least be a Hegemon,” Ning teased. “If the Three Realms could ever rise to become one of the top organizations of the Endless Territories, I would feel plenty proud.”

  Whoosh. Ning and Ninedust emerged from yet another void tunnel, with a black-robed Ning standing at the other end of it.

  “What’s this?” Ninedust stared at the distant black-robed Ning with surprise.

  “My Primaltwin,” Ning explained. Not even the Dao Alliance or the Brightshore Kingdom knew that he had a Primaltwin; Ning had never made it public before! However, Ninedust was his friend for life; why should he hide it from Ninedust?

  “Primaltwin?” Ninedust was stunned. “You have a Primaltwin? I’ve never heard of this before.” Moments later, he felt extremely moved; the existence of a Primaltwin was definitely a huge secret which generally wouldn’t be made public.

  “You hid this very well indeed! I really can’t help but envy you. We Ancient cultivators are never able to have a Primaltwin,” Ninedust said.

  “Primaltwins can only be created when you start cultivating as a mortal. All of you Ancient cultivators are born at the World level; how could you possibly have one?” Ning sighed. “Countless mortal cultivators would dream of one day reaching the World level, but you start off being born at this level with bodies comparable to Daolords… and you complain about envying us?”

  As Ning spoke, he flew towards his black-robed Primaltwin. He sent a jade gourd flying out towards the Primaltwin. His Primaltwin accepted it, turned and tore open a spacetime tunnel, then departed.

  The jade bottle held a total of six Emperor-class golems, the Sithe disk, and some other treasures. Emperor-class golems were of some use to Ning, after all, which was why he kept half for himself and gave half to the Three Realms.

  ……

  After spending thirty more years traversing through the Brightshore Kingdom’s pathways, Ning and Ninedust finally reached the Aeonian Kingdom.

  “The Aeonian Kingdom.”

  Ning and Ninedust stood atop a chaos planet, staring off into the distance. At the opposite end of the vast void was an enormous, roling sea of blood. Above the sea of blood was an enormous citadel that glowed with dazzlingly beautiful golden light. This castle had to be trillions of kilometers in size and emanated an aura of unspeakable power that washed out in every direction. Even at Ning and Ninedust’s current level of power, they felt a breathtaking sense of pressure.

  This… this was the Aeonian Kingdom! It was this great castle which had kept the Aeonians alive for so long. Not even Hegemons would dare to barge into the Aeonian Kingdom, the homeland of the Aeonians!

  “I’ve always heard of how mysterious the Aeonian Kingdom is, but I’ve never had a chance to actually enter it,” Ninedust snickered. “I now finally have a chance.”

  “Is the Autarch’s medallion resonating with anything?” Ning asked.

  “It started to do so half a year ago,” Ninedust laughed.

  “Why didn’t you tell me? I kept on pulling you closer and closer through spacetime teleportation.”

  “I wanted to get an up-close view of the Aeonian Kingdom with my own eyes. It really is rather stunning.” Ninedust stared at the view before him contentedly.

  “So I spent the past half year doing all that for nothing, eh?” Ning enjoyed the view as well. The Aeonian Kingdom truly was a stunning and beautiful site to behold. The two viewed it carefully for quite some time before deciding to go inside.

  Swoosh. Ninedust waved his hand, pulling Ning into his estate-world. He then held the Autarch’s medallion up high as he activated the power within it.

  Boom! An exalted aura of blood-colored power covered Ninedust. Swoosh! It tore straight through spacetime, causing him to instantly disappear.

  ……

  The Aeonian Kingdom was a place filled with many secrets. The most mysterious, secretive place was within a certain world. This was a place which even the Aeonians found difficult to enter… and each time they did manage to enter, they had to first pay an enormous price.

  A rift suddenly appeared in the void above this mysterious world. Swoosh! The Ninedust Sectlord’s figure flew out from the rift.

  “We arrived.” Ninedust scanned his surroundings, rather puzzled. His face suddenly tightened. He waved his hand, causing a white-robed youth to appear next to him. “We’ve already been teleported inside, Darknorth. Look over there, quick!” Ninedust pointed off into the distance.

  Ning followed his gaze, only to see an absolutely enormous and dazzling astral river. There was a flying vessel within the flows of the astral river, and in front of the vessel was a strange tower-shaped flying object. At the very tip of the tower there were three royal thrones and three onyx humanoids seated atop them. The tower had a total of nine levels, and each level had silver-robed Daolords standing on them.

  A total of three hundred of those silver-robed Daolords could be seen!

  “The Sithe?” Ning was rather surprised.

  * * *

  Book 35, Chapter 2 - Bazu

  The flying vessel and the strange tower were facing each other. Atop the tower were three onyx figures and three silver-robed Daolords?

  “Wait, something’s wrong.” Ji Ning and Ninedust quickly noticed how something was off.

  “Their auras seem off. They don’t seem like the Sithe
we saw before,” Ning said softly.

  “Let’s go take a look,” Ninedust said. Ning agreed, and the two began to quietly creep forwards.

  As they moved closer and closer, the two were able to see the stone stele hanging right next to the flying vessel. “That stele…?” Ning and Ninedust hurriedly inspected it, quickly recognizing and reading the characters on the stone stele. The stele said:

  I am Bolin.

  I had five personal disciples. My fifth disciple, Bazu, was the most talented and the strongest of the five, far surpassing ordinary Hegemons. However, he was the first to die by the hands of the Sithe, and he was actually the third Hegemon to perish after the Sithe revealed their fangs and claws. In that battle, the Sithe sent out an entire regiment commanded by three of their Black Emperors to ambush and kill my disciple.

  In that battle, my disciple Bazu slew a hundred and twenty-six Silver Daolords and a Black Emperor, but in the end he was surrounded and slain as well.

  Although I hurried to him as fast as I could, I still arrived just a bit too late.

  By now… war has begun! If our cultivator civilizations are defeated in this war, my hope is that our many worlds will continue to give birth to more and more cultivators, who can test themselves against the Silver Daolords and the Black Emperors here. That way, they can gain a sense for just how strong the Sithe are. Remember, these are just common footsoldiers of the Sithe race; they cannot be considered the true Sithe elites. You absolutely must not be overconfident against the Sithe; when you fight, you must go all-out.

  The 318 nearby planets within the astral river next to us each hold a legacy within them which was left behind by one of the Hegemons who follow me. None of us know how many of them will survive this war, and it is possible that all of them will be doomed, representing an end to the cream of the crop of the cultivator civilizations and an end to a force that was built up over countless aeons. They have all left their legacies here in the hopes that our cultivator civilizations shall never fully perish.