by RWX
“These two are nothing more than Daolords… yet they dare to try and steal one of the foundations of our Aeonian race?” Emperor Anchen only grew even angrier. “Kill!”
“Kill them both,” Emperor Duug growled as well.
“Kill.” Emperor Islehide felt just as murderous as the others. They held these two Daolords in no regard at all. They were the three most powerful Emperors of the Aeonian race! They normally viewed Daolords as young children; they were so powerful that eating Daolords was of very little help to them. Weaker Emperors like Melobo, however, did like to eat the Daolords of the Dao Alliance, as did the other Daolords of the Aeonian race. This was why the Dao Alliance and the Aeonians were mortal enemies.
……
Ning had transformed to become utterly titanic, and his six arms had reached out to grab the drop of Autarch’s blood as he sought to seize it. With each attempt, he saw those countless connecting lines appear throughout this entire world.
“These threads?” Ning stared at them carefully. He wanted to try and discern just how this drop of Autarch’s blood was connected to the rest of the world and how he could separate them. If he could come up with a way to sever the connection, it would be much easier for him to take away that drop of Autarch’s blood.
Ning had spent over 10 million years breaking through those 80,000+ formations. He had already grown accustomed to analyzing and dissecting his problems.
“The Aeonians!” Ninedust let out a startled cry from the skies above Ning.
Ning was startled upon hearing this. He turned his head, only to see three figures charging through the skies towards him with looks of absolute murder on their faces. Ning immediately recognized one of the three as Emperor Islehide, who had negotiated with him previously. Although he had never met the other two before, he had learned of them long ago and knew them to be extremely powerful Emperors of the Aeonian race named Emperor Anchen and Emperor Duug.
Emperor Islehide, Emperor Anchen, and Emperor Duug. These three were all comparable to the eight Archons of the Sacred Cities. But of course, much like ‘first-tier’ Daolords there were differences in power within this general stratum and amongst these three Aeonian Emperors.
Different weapons, different secret arts, different ultimate attacks… in short, there were many things that could cause a difference in power. Thanks to their Aeonian bloodlines, all three of these Aeonian Emperors were extremely strong. The youthful-looking black-robed Emperor Anchen was the strongest of the three, the most powerful member of the Aeonian race! Supposedly, his techniques were incredibly frightening and he had access to a Universe treasure. He probably wasn’t much weaker than a Hegemon in might.
“Clan leaders,” Ninedust sent anxiously, “You said that any cultivators who come here must pass your trials. The three Emperors of the Aeonian race should also have to pass the trials, right?”
“Of course.” The sea dragon leader nodded.
“Agreed.” The flaming equine leader nodded its massive head as well.
The sea dragon leader flew into the skies, coiling around itself in midair as it let out a deep, rumbling bellow: “Halt, Emperors.”
“If you do not halt, you shall be attacked by both of our races at the same time.” The flaming equine stood there on the ground, its entire body blazing with flames as it let out a furious, awesome roar.
“HALT!” There were nearly two hundred beasts in this area, and they roared out this word in unison with unstoppable majesty.
Swish! Swish! Swish! The three Emperors who had been diving downwards through the skies came to a screeching halt, ugly looks on their faces.
“He’s uprooted our omnigeddon bloodfruit tree, and now he wants to take away the Autarch’s blood!” Emperor Anchen stood there in the skies, staring angrily at the distant sea dragon leader as he bellowed, “We Aeonians are definitely going to kill these two thieves! Daolord Darknorth, Ninedust Sectlord… the two of you really are quite bold! How DARE you steal treasures from the ancestral grounds of the Aeonian race?!”
“Ancestral grounds?” Ning flew over to Ninedust, and the two stared back at the three Emperors. With the two races of beasts standing guard over them, they didn’t panic.
“Our two clans are here on the Autarch’s orders to protect this place. Anyone who wishes to benefit from the Autarch’s blood must first pass our trials. Our young friend Darknorth has done so, which means that we are in compliance with the Autarch’s orders. Even if he wishes to take the blood away, there’s nothing wrong with that,” the sea dragon leader said. “But you three? If you also pass the trials, we won’t interfere if you want to kill these two… but if you cannot, we have no choice but to protect our young friends.”
“B-but…” Emperor Islehide spluttered furiously.
“Just pass the trials. Easy, right? Come one at a time and defeat both of our races, that’s all you have to do,” the sea dragon leader said.
Emperor Anchen and the others had ugly looks on their faces. Defeat the two races in succession? Every single one of the flaming equines and sea dragons had reached the Archon level, with the clan leaders being even stronger. Only a true Hegemon would have a chance at surviving an assault from so many of these creatures. Emperor Anchen had already given it a try long ago, but he wasn’t even close to being able to succeed.
“But we are the Aeonians. This is our territory!” Emperor Anchen said furiously.
“No, this is the AUTARCH’S territory. The only thing we know and care about is the Autarch’s command,” the sea dragon leader said.
“B-b-but… but that omnigeddon bloodfruit tree belongs to our Aeonian race!” Emperor Anchen said.
“Hahaha! You were all too weak and unable to make much use of the Autarch’s blood, which was why you planted that omnigeddon bloodfruit tree here all those years ago. Over the course of countless aeons, you have harvested countless fruits from this tree… and the value of those fruits vastly exceeded the value of the original tree itself.” The sea dragon leader continued, “You’ve earned enough. Since our young friend Darknorth has passed our trials, he gets to decide what to do with the omnigeddon bloodfruit tree, not you.”
“But its ours! It belongs to the Aeonians!” Emperor Islehide was growing anxious as well. The omnigeddon bloodfruit tree had undergone a thorough transformation. Even if it lost access to the Autarch’s blood, it was still comparable in value to twelve ordinary trees. It truly was a marvelous treasure.
Most importantly of all… when it was able to absorb essence from the Autarch’s blood, the unique fruits it gave birth to were more than ten times more valuable than normal ones, making the tree close in value to Crimsonwave Temple! The Aeonians absolutely viewed it as important as life itself. Once they lost this tree, they’d have to wait millions of chaos cycles before any new tree they planted over the blood would have absorbed enough essence to transform.
But… in roughly a million chaos cycles, the Yin-Yang Samsara Wheels would destroy the Endless Territories! There was no way they could rear a second tree. This marvelous tree was literally one of a kind. They had already started to accumulate fruits long ago, as once the Yin-Yang Samsara Wheels destroyed everything this entire world would probably be devoured and destroyed as well. They would no longer have access to any more fruits! In the final million chaos cycles, they were planning to absorb as much of the essence from the Autarch’s blood as they could… and they were even planning to shatter the tree apart and drain the essence the tree had taken in from the Autarch’s blood.
* * *
Book 35, Chapter 13 - Mortal Enemies
The essence of the Autarch’s blood would greatly benefit the Aeonian bloodlines of the Aeonian race. To normal cultivators, this tree which Ji Ning had just taken away was nothing more than a tree that would allow for larger-than-normal harvests of fruit. To the Aeonians, however, the Autarch’s blood essence within it was worth more than ten million chaos cycles worth of fruit! It was something they absolutely could not afford
to lose.
“No point talking too much. Our young friend Darknorth has passed the trials, which means we shall protect him. If you want to act against him, you can simply attempt the trials as well,” the sea dragon leader said coldly.
“If you want to fight, let’s start. Otherwise, hurry up and beat it,” the flaming equine leader roared as well.
Emperor Anchen and the others were enraged, but there was nothing they could do. Ning and Ninedust both let out sighs of relief when they saw this.
“It seems there’s nothing they can do to us,” Ninedust said with a laugh.
“Once we leave, they’ll probably do everything they can to hunt us down,” Ning said.
“The Endless Territories are vast, while the Aeonians are mortal enemies of the Dao Alliance! These three Emperors wouldn’t dare to act too rashly.” Ninedust was quite relaxed.
Ning nodded. Once they left this place, they would be like wild geese disappearing into the skies. Given that the two of them had access to the [Vitalis] art, they could easily mimic the truesoul auras of others. They could literally go anywhere they pleased; there was no need for them to fear these three Emperors at all.
Suddenly…
“Good, good… good!” An utterly enraged laugh rang out, echoing in the heavens.
Ning and Ninedust both raised their heads, surprised, to stare at the three leading Emperors of the Aeonian race. The leader of the three, Emperor Anchen, was so enraged he was laughing. He let out a furious growl, “If that’s the case… estate-spirit, come out immediately!”
Whoosh. A ripple of power manifested, causing the light in the skies to coalesce into the form of a white-haired woman with an extraordinary aura. An enigmatic smile on her face, she asked, “What is it?”
“The spirit of the estate?” Ning and Ninedust were both shocked. Suddenly, they remembered that when they had been in the beastworld with the Autarch’s Dao, that world held an estate-spirit within it. It wasn’t unreasonable for this world to have an estate-spirit of its own as well.
“Spirit of the estate, this was a world created for us by our ancestor. These are our ancestral lands! But these two outsider Daolords have not only stolen away our omnigeddon bloodfruit tree, they even seek to steal the Autarch’s blood. Please intervene and slay these two interloper Daolords, estate-spirit!” Emperor Anchen said loudly.
“Ancestor?” Ning was surprised.
“Emperor Anchen, did you just say ‘ancestor’? Wasn’t this place created by Autarch Bolin?” Ninedust called out loudly with surprise.
The distant Emperor Anchen glanced downwards, a hint of a cold smile on his lips. “The members of the mighty Aeonian race are the descendants of Autarch Bolin!”
Ning and Ninedust were both rather stunned. The descendants of Autarch Bolin? Were the Aeonians really this incredible?
“Any member of the Aeonian race who has been Awakened shall possess the bloodlines of our almighty ancestor, Autarch Bolin!” Emperor Anchen said proudly, “The Aeonian bloodline is special… because it is the bloodline of an Autarch! This is a world which Autarch Bolin created for us; it is our ancestral lands. The Autarch’s blood was left behind for us by the Autarch as well.”
Ning and Ninedust were both stunned. It made sense. The Aeonians did possess an incredible bloodline; supposedly, after becoming Eternal Emperors they could use their bloodline to slowly improve in power even further. It must be understood that for most Emperors, improving in power was incredibly difficult.
“Spirit of the estate, you can go ahead and slay these two interlopers.” Emperor Anchen looked anxiously at the estate-spirit.
The white-haired woman let out a cold snort. “I am unable to intervene.”
“Unable to intervene? How can you be unable to intervene?” Emperor Anchen was starting to grow frantic. He knew just how powerful the estate-spirit was; within this estate-world, the estate-spirit was virtually invincible! Even Hegemons would probably be weaker than it in power.
“I must inform you that this world was not, in fact, created for you Aeonians,” the white-haired woman said. “During the Dawn War against the Sithe, Autarch Bolin was worried about our side being defeated and so he left behind many backup plans to help the cultivators rise to power again in the future. He created this estate-world for that purpose, and those three hundred-plus Hegemons willingly passed down their legacies as well. This was all for the sake of the countless cultivators who would be born in the future. It wasn’t just for you Aeonians!”
Emperor Anchen was stunned.
“Afterwards, we won the war. Autarch Bolin’s life grew peaceful once more, but he eventually grew lonely and so developed the Aeonian bloodline, creating your Aeonian race. The Autarch left behind a single undiluted drop of the original Aeonian blood in this place, hoping that some of the many descendants of the Aeonian race would be able to grow powerful enough to absorb it. Alas… this branch here in the Flamedragon Realmverse is far too weak. Despite the passage of countless years, none of you have been able to absorb this blood.” The estate-spirit chuckled.
Emperor Anchen, Emperor Islehide, and Emperor Duug all felt rather ashamed.
“Are you saying this isn’t the Autarch’s blood?” the distant sea dragon leader asked, puzzled.
“It is the Autarch’s blood, but it was formed after countless unique processes were applied to it. This blood was part of the original blood which gave birth to the Aeonian bloodlines and race, which was why I referred to it as the ‘original Aeonian blood’,” the white-haired woman said. “If any of the Aeonians were able to reach Hegemony, he would more or less be able to absorb this drop of Aeonian blood. Once he did so, he would finally and truly be qualified to refer to himself as a true child of Autarch Bolin, and he would be far stronger than ordinary Hegemons in power.”
“Unfortunately… this lot here is completely useless.” The white-haired woman shook her head, then turned to look at the still-stunned Ning and Ninedust.
“As for you two? You came into my estate-world using the Autarch’s medallion,” the white-haired woman said. “This naturally counts as being here with the Autarch’s commission. I won’t act against you two! However, the Autarch’s blood was the font for the entire Aeonian race. Ordinary cultivators like yourselves cannot absorb it, no matter how hard you try. Also… Daolord Darknorth, there’s no need for you to waste your efforts trying to move it. I am in control of this estate-world, and I absolutely will not permit anyone to take it away!”
“If someone wishes to take it away, the only method permissible is absorption… but only Aeonians can accomplish it. Hegemon-level Aeonians, at that.” The white-haired woman glanced sideways at Emperor Anchen. “You were given every advantage in the world, but you made nothing of it. The exalted Aeonians actually ended up having such useless progeny… what a pity. Hmph.” As she spoke, she began to vanish.
“Wait! This realmverse is about to be destroyed soon!” Emperor Anchen called out frantically, “When that happens there will be no way for this estate-world to exist by itself.”
“Relax. An estate-world which was laboriously created by Autarch Bolin will not be so easily destroyed,” the white-haired woman said. “However… when the Yin-Yang Samsara Wheels destroy this area, this estate-world shall vanish from it. The ties of destiny which link us together shall have come to an end, and I will go search for a different branch. Hmph… Autarch Bolin left behind many branches throughout the vast Chaosverse, and many of those branches were given no chance to absorb any of the Autarch’s blood. I gave you more than thirty million chaos cycles, but you weren’t able to make the best of this opportunity. Don’t blame anyone but yourself.”
Emperor Anchen and the others began to grow frantic. Become a Hegemon? Easier said than done! There had been quite a few supreme Daolords in the history of the Aeonian race in this realmverse, but their chances of succeeding in the Daomerge were absolutely miniscule. Thus far, not a single one of them had ever succeeded in the Daomerge and beco
ming a Hegemon.
As for existing Emperors who were at the Archon level to reach the Hegemon level? That was even harder. The Aeonians knew a great many things, but they had only heard of a single Hegemon known as the ‘Paragon of Pills’ who had started off as an ordinary Eternal Emperor but then managed to train all the way up to the Hegemon level.
“Haha, the beastworld we visited previously ended up flying away as well. It seems as though this estate-world is also capable of independent movement,” Ninedust sent mentally. “The Autarch’s blood truly is terrifying, though… apparently, only Aeonian Hegemons are capable of absorbing it. How powerful would they become upon doing so?”
“So this is what an Autarch is capable of.” Ning stared at the swirling globe of blood inside the massive crater. Its aura dwarfed that of any Hegemon; how strong would one become after absorbing it? Alas, Autarch Bolin had left it behind for the Aeonians alone.
“So what should we do next?” Ninedust sent mentally.
“What can we do? Since we cannot earn the Autarch’s blood, we might as well leave,” Ning sent mentally.
Right at this moment, Emperor Anchen’s voice rang down from the skies above: “Daolord Darknorth, Ninedust Sectlord… all you need to do is leave behind the omnigeddon bloodfruit tree and swear a lifeblood oath not to divulge any of those three hundred-plus Hegemonic legacies to outsiders! If you are willing to do this, then the three of us would also be willing to swear oaths to never attack or pursue you through any means at all.”
“The Hegemonic legacies? Haha, I’m a member of the Ancients! For the sake of all these legacies, the Ancients would definitely do everything in their power to protect me. Do you really think I’m afraid of you Aeonians?” Ninedust snickered.
Ning raised his head to stare into the skies as well. If he eventually failed in his Daomerge, these Hegemonic legacies were the most important thing he could leave behind for the Three Realms in the future.
“Darknorth, are you going to reject our offer as well?” Emperor Anchen growled.
