by RWX
“Coldsky?” Ning was puzzled.
“Daolord Coldsky? Who?” Ninedust was puzzled as well.
Anyone capable of passing this trial had to be just as strong as the current Ning. By all rights, he should’ve been an incredibly famous figure. Even though nearly a million chaos cycles had gone by and very few would’ve remembered him, people like Ning and Ninedust who had access to many historical records and secrets should’ve heard of him. They knew all of the most dazzling and most talented Daolords in history. Neither, however, had ever heard of an incredibly talented Daolord by the name of Daolord Coldsky.
“Back then, Daolord Coldsky said that he belonged to a different branch of the Aeonian race. He had been invited here to help out the Flamedragon branch,” the sea dragon leader said.
“A different branch?” Ning and Ninedust were both shocked.
“Other realmverses also have Aeonians?” Ning was puzzled.
“The Aeonian race has quite an extraordinary background.” The sea dragon leader smiled. “The ones in the Flamedragon Realmverse represent nothing more than a single branch of that race. Otherwise, how could they possibly have acquired a treasure like this ‘Aeonian Kingdom’?”
Ning and Ninedust were both enlightened. Indeed, the Aeonian Kingdom was a place which not even Hegemons dared to trespass within. It really wasn’t a treasure which the local Aeonians, a race which merely had a few Eternal Emperors, would’ve been able to create on their own. Ning had always believed that the Aeonians must’ve acquired it somewhere when adventuring. Now, it seemed, it was actually created.
“Daolord Coldsky had already failed his Daomerge, but before his death he was invited to come here to the Flamedragon Realmverse. Ignoring the cost to his vitality, he consecutively defeated two of the younger members of our two races. By the time the battles concluded, his truesoul’s collapse had been hastened to the point where he only had less than a hundred thousand years to live.” The sea dragon leader shook its head and sighed. “The more monstrously talented a Daolord, the more difficult the Daomerge. A pity, what a pity.”
Ning felt mixed emotions in his heart. If he failed his Daomerge, he would probably do everything he could to help the Three Realms.
Once the Daomerge was failed, one’s truesoul would slowly crumble apart. If one actively avoided using divine power and Immortal energy, one might be able to live for a bit longer… but engaging in combat would result in hastening the truesoul’s collapse! The more times one fought, the more quickly one’s truesoul would decay and the shorter one’s lifespan would become. When the truesoul finally, truly collapsed… one would die.
* * *
Book 35, Chapter 9 - Omnigeddon Bloodfruit Tree
“The Flamedragon branch of the Aeonian race will generally send people once every million chaos cycles to harvest some fruit from this omnigeddon bloodfruit tree.” The sea dragon leader’s voice was quite calm: “That’s because every million chaos cycles, this omnigeddon bloodfruit tree will be filled with a complete harvest of fruit. They’ll either send their own Daolords or ask some extremely powerful Daolords to help out.”
Ji Ning and Ninedust both nodded. Generally speaking, every two or three ‘eras’ there would be a Daolord on par with the current Ning. Some would have techniques like the [Heartsword] art, some would have Universe treasures, some would have other special weapons. Daolord Dreamlore, for example, had a very unique ‘bloodblade’, while Ning had an incredibly powerful Hegemon armor which was on par with the bloodblade in might. However, the Hegemon armor was obviously meant for defense. Another good example would be the six lifeblood weapons which Ning wielded; all of them had been raised to incredibly high levels.
Powerful Eternal Emperors lived extremely long lives and generally were able to raise their lifeblood weapons to extremely high levels, but Daolords had short lives. It was generally very hard for them to upgrade their lifeblood weapons significantly… but every so often, there would be a freak like Ning. Ning’s Northbow swords were incredibly powerful weapons; by now, they made his Heavenbreaker stance and Blood Drop stance five times more powerful than normal! If the Daolord himself was also quite powerful, it was entirely possible for the Daolord to reach the same level as the Archons of the eight Sacred Cities.
“If my guess is correct… you weren’t invited here by the Aeonians, were you?” The sea dragon leader smiled.
“What?”
“They weren’t invited by the Aeonians?”
“How is this possible?” Quite a few of the airborne beasts were astonished. Most of them had assumed that Ning and Ninedust had to have been invited here by the Aeonians.
Ning and Ninedust felt their hearts lurch.
“From the moment you arrived,” the flaming equine leader added, “I could tell that you know almost nothing about this place. If the Aeonians invited you here, you should be quite familiar with this place and its rules… but you didn’t even know the basics about the trials and its rules.”
Ning and Ninedust felt resigned. They really didn’t know anything about this place. Ninedust sent mentally, “Darknorth, if these beasts attack us I’ll lead you in an immediate escape.”
“Don’t worry, you two. We’re here on the Autarch’s orders to protect this place and will bar any Daolords or Emperors who seek to approach,” the sea dragon leader said with a laugh. “We won’t stop any who pass our trials. Whether you are an Aeonian or not is none of our business.”
“Don’t worry, if we wanted to kill you, we would’ve done so long ago.” The flaming equine leader could also tell that Ning and Ninedust both had misgivings.
……
Ning and Ninedust were confident in their abilities. They were carrying the treasures they had acquired from the Sithe ruins, and they had the Autarch’s medallion on them; their chances of fleeing were quite good.
“As juniors, we naturally will believe your words, seniors. Dare I ask… is that fruit tree over there truly an omnigeddon bloodfruit tree?” Ning asked.
“Of course it is,” the flaming equine leader said.
“But… why does it seem different from the ones I’m aware of?” Ning was puzzled. “I’ve heard that omnigeddon bloodfruit trees are much smaller and only have three fruits at most.”
“This omnigeddon bloodfruit tree is a hundred times more precious than ordinary ones,” the flaming equine leader said. “Every single fruit is also far more marvelous than the ones from ordinary trees in the outside world. Haha… words don’t suffice. Once you harvest the fruit and give it a close examination, you will understand.”
Ning and Ninedust were speechless. Moments later, Ning grew excited. A hundred times as valuable? A single true omnigeddon bloodfruit tree was a priceless treasure that even Hegemons would go crazy over! Something a hundred times more valuable… Ning estimated that it had to approach the value of Crimsonwave Temple in worth. Even if it wasn’t quite that much, it wouldn’t be too far off.
“This tree is probably worth more than the networth of most Hegemons, right?” Ning couldn’t help but ask.
“Of course! The Aeonian race in the Flamedragon Realmverse treat this fruit tree as something more valuable than their very lives,” the flaming equine leader said.
Ning immediately came to the decision that he not only was going to harvest the fruit, he was going to uproot this tree! He was going to uproot this mysterious, unique omnigeddon bloodfruit tree and take it away with him at all costs! This mysterious tree might be enough to ask an Autarch to revive his wife. His goal was within his sight; there was no way he wasn’t going to give it his all.
“Darknorth, are you thinking of uprooting the tree to save your Dao-companion?” Ninedust sent mentally.
The fact that Ning wished to rescue his lover wasn’t exactly a secret. When Ning had met the leaders of the six major organizations after exiting Crimsonwave Temple, he had already asked about the price needed to reverse the flows of spacetime and revive his beloved Dao-companion. Ninedust had bee
n present and had heard everything.
“Yes. This omnigeddon bloodfruit tree sounds as though it is quite valuable; I should be able to use it to ask an Autarch to help out! I have to take this risk!” Ning sent mentally, “Let’s keep this a secret for now. If I mention taking the tree away, these two races might move to stop us. I’m planning on uprooting it at the very end. After doing so, we’ll leave right away.”
“Alright, I’ll listen to you!” Ninedust felt happy for his friend. The omnigeddon bloodfruit tree might be quite valuable, but Ninedust really didn’t care that much about it.
……
Ning and Ninedust began to walk towards the tree. The two clan leaders led the way in front of them, with the sea dragon leader rumbling, “We won’t move to stop Daolord Darknorth, but Daolord Ninedust, you haven’t passed our trials yet. We’ll only permit you to stand next to him and watch. You are forbidden from taking part, much less harvesting any of the fruit. If you dare to do so, don’t blame us from moving to exterminate you.”
“I understand,” Ninedust acknowledged. In his heart, he felt quite resigned… because his title was Daolord Redwater, not Daolord Ninedust! Alas, he didn’t want to argue over it. They were going to leave soon and most likely would never meet again. Why even bother?
Soon, Ning and Ninedust arrived before the omnigeddon bloodfruit tree. “Whoah.” Both of them felt quite stunned. The entire tree had to be over three million meters high, and its trunk was as thick as the pillars of heaven. As for its twisted branches, they were like sinuous dragons that were covered with glowing, vitality-filled leaves. And the fruits? It must be understood that the two of them were able to sense the rippling auras of the fruits from far away. Now that they were much closer, those ripples surged straight into their hearts and minds. Even their breathing was affected by it.
“What a fine treasure,” Ning said with a praiseful sigh.
“This is far more stunning than the fruit trees we saw in Crimsonwave Temple.” Ninedust sighed in amazement as well. The feeling this mysterious fruit tree gave him surpassed even the majestic aura of Hegemons!
“Only by combining all of those trees would you have something which surpassed this one. Of course it is stunning!” Ning’s heart was surging with excitement.
The nearby sea dragon leader said, “The Aeonians have set up many layers of barriers around this tree. Do you have a technique to open those barriers up?”
Ning and Ninedust were startled. Ning waved his hand, sending a wave of Immortal energy out and causing the formerly invisible and hidden barriers to immediately light up. Countless runes flowed on the surfaces of those barriers, causing Ning’s face to tighten. They weren’t invited here by the Aeonians; they naturally had no method for opening it up.
“But they don’t seem to be too strong,” Ning suddenly realized with surprise. Based on what he just saw, he should be able to destroy these barriers within a short period of time with his sword-arts.
“Of course they aren’t. Only Daolords have come here, and so these were personally set up by the Daolords who did make it inside,” the sea dragon leader said. “They brought many formations and barriers, but unfortunately they are on automatic mode. No one is actively managing them, which weakens them even further.”
Both Ning and Ninedust nodded. Formations which were actively controlled would be far more powerful. Without a controller present, they would be set to automatic and would thus naturally be much weaker.
There was nothing the Aeonians could do. Were they supposed to send Daolords to guard this place? Daolords only lived for 108,000 chaos cycles at most! Send Emperors? Eternal Emperors had zero chance of passing the trials.
“Although they aren’t all that strong, there are quite a number of them. Based on what I know, the Aeonians have set up a total of over 80,000 formations here,” the sea dragon leader said. “If you know the technique for unlocking the barriers, you can go through with ease. If not, you’ll have to break through all 80,000+ barriers before you can move next to the omnigeddon bloodfruit tree.”
“If you can’t break through the formations, you won’t be able to harvest so much as a single fruit,” the flaming equine leader said with a laugh.
Both the clan leaders smiled as they looked at Ning. They wanted to see just what this young fellow would do.
“More than 80,000?” Ning’s face tightened. Just now, he was able to sense that the outermost formation was quite weak. He would probably be able to destroy it with his sword-arts, but… 80,000? How long would that take? If some of the inner barriers were tougher, things would be even more difficult.
* * *
Book 35, Chapter 10 - Uprooting the Tree
The nearby Ninedust sent mentally, “Darknorth, should we use our Hegemonic treasures?”
“No, we don’t have that many of them to begin with. Once we use them up, we’ll be out,” Ji Ning refused mentally. “We’re keeping those to keep ourselves alive at critical moments. I’ll try a few things out first. Even if it takes me a million years or a hundred million years, that’ll be better than wasting a Hegemonic treasure. Besides… even if we did use it, it wouldn’t be of that much use to us!”
Ning knew that by now, he might be at a disadvantage when fighting against an actual Archon of the Sacred Cities but he was definitely on their overall level! His Omega Sword Dao – Heavenbreaker was capable of unleashing enormous power with a full-strength spike… and yet, it still probably wouldn’t be able to burst open one of those barriers instantly. Although the Hegemonic treasures were formidable and on a higher level of power than Ning, and they would most likely be able to shatter through a number of barriers, it was likely that they would at most be able to shatter through just a thousand barriers with each go. Unfortunately, there were over 80,000 barriers here!
“Let me try first.” Ning’s body blurred as he transformed into his three-headed, six-armed form and drew his six Northbow swords. Ninedust stepped back to watch from the side; all he could do was watch and wait. There was nothing he could do to assist.
“Omega Sword Dao – Blood Drop!” A cold light flashed through Ning’s eyes as he immediately executed his most penetrating attack.
Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish!
Six streams of mist-formed energy consecutively stabbed against the exact same spot upon the barrier in front of Ning. The powerful piercing force instantly caused the outermost layer of formations to flicker with light as countless runes began to flow over its surface.
“Omega Sword Dao – Heavenbreaker!” Next, Ning switched to a different stance. There were differences amongst barriers as well; some were extremely flexible and soft, making brute force useless and requiring penetrative power to break through. Others were extremely rigid and unyielding; in this case, the overwhelming power of the Heavenbreaker stance would be the most appropriate and effective. Some barriers were actually illusory!
This was very different from when he had to defeat the formations at Crimsonwave Temple. Those formations were there as part of a test! The formations here, however, had been set down by the Aeonians as a defensive measure to prevent others from stealing their treasures. They naturally poured everything they had into these formations.
“Haha, without anyone controlling these formations, they won’t be able to heal as quickly as I deplete their power. The end result will definitely be their destruction.” Ning quickly discovered a weakness in the formation, then immediately used his Blood Drop stance as the primary attack to break through it.
Just a single hour later, the barrier fell. Although it was able to automatically regenerate, it wasn’t able to keep up with the rate at which its power was being depleted. After breaking through the formation, Ning casually destroyed one of its formation-bases! If he didn’t do so, the formation would quickly regenerate and trap Ning inside of it.
……
One formation after another. Some were actually linked together, making it very hard for Ning to break through
them. He was actually forced to use his Immortal energy to control the Northbow swords in attacking different formations in different regions simultaneously.
……
Break, break, break… one layer of barriers after another was breached by Ning’s attacks. Although the Aeonians had paid enormous prices to set up these barriers, they were weakened by the fact that they were unmanned.
Time slowly passed on. One year, two years, three years… ten years, a hundred years, a thousand years…
While breaking through the formations, Ning continuously worked on his sword-arts. He felt as though he was virtually sparring with these many generations of departed formations masters. Some of these formations had been set up by the Aeonians themselves, while others they had purchased from the outside. Every single formation was difficult to breach, and while doing so Ning gained more and more insights into his sword-arts.
“A pity that my [Heartsword] art has yet to make a breakthrough. It seems as though going from the tenth stance to the eleventh stance truly is difficult,” Ning sighed.
Every single strike of his was reinforced by the [Heartsword] art, which showed itself as a mist-formed layer of sword energy. It must be remembered that when one truly trained in the [Heartsword] art, the eighth to tenth stances were considered part of the first stage. The eleventh and twelfth stances were part of the second stage, the thirteenth and fourteenth stances were part of the third stage, and the fifteenth stance was the final stage.
Ning was still stuck in the first stage, and breaking through to the second stage was very, very difficult. Although the three hundred-plus Hegemonic legacies he had gained included a few similar techniques which also involved fusing heartforce with divine power and Immortal energy, in the end Ning was an expert of the Dao of the Sword; studying through this Dao was the fastest solution, making the [Heartsword] art the most appropriate art for him. The others could at most be used as references to use.
