Desolate Era

by RWX

  “Understood,” Whitethaw said respectfully.

  Ning advanced with Whitethaw watching his back. The two quickly reached that bridge once again.

  “Milord Emperors! Long time no see.” Ning smiled as he looked at the two gray-robed elders who were seated facing each other within the grasslands up ahead.

  “Eh?” The two gray-robed figures turned to glance at Ning. The blood-eyed elder smirked: “Kid, you came back.”

  “That was pretty fast. We barely had time to finish a few games of chess before you came back, my young friend.” The silver-eyed elder was quite courteous.

  Ning was speechless. A few games of chess? Fine… for immortal Emperors who were trapped here for all eternity, perhaps he really hadn’t spent much time cultivating.

  “The Azureflower Estate has continued to attract my interest. After cultivating for many years, I felt that I was perhaps strong enough to pass its trials, and so I came to give it another try,” Ning said.

  “Judging from your aura… you haven’t completed the Daomerge and become an Emperor yet, have you?” the silver-eyed elder asked.

  “I have not.” Ning shook his head. Eternal Emperors all had auras that were tinged with the hint of inextinguishable eternity.

  “Ugh. I already told you last time, although a few extremely talented Daolords of the Fourth Step might be able to defeat the two of us, things will only become even more dangerous as you advance! If you aren’t careful, you will die. I really urge you to at least complete the Daomerge before you try your luck again.” The silver-eyed elder let out a sigh. “You are being far too rash.”

  “I want to give it a try.” Ning chuckled. “Maybe I’ll succeed. If I don’t, I’ll come back later.”

  “Hmph. If you insist on dying… let me see just how strong you have become.” The blood-eyed elder walked straight towards Ning as he was saying these words.

  “Sure, let’s give it a try.” Ning walked towards him as well.

  “Last time, you were completely unable to resist my power. Quite a few years have gone by since then. I hope I’ll be pleasantly surprised by your improvements. Otherwise, this will be boring.” A baleful look flickered in the old man’s blood-red eyes.

  The silver-eyed elder didn’t try to stop him this time. As he saw it, Ning should’ve already learned just how powerful the two of them were from his first visit. Given that the kid was back, the kid was probably was confident in his chances. If the kid still ended up being killed, he’d have no one to blame save his own dumb self.

  Ning walked past the bridge and onto the grasslands.

  “Go.” The blood-eyed elder waved his right sleeve, sending it sweeping through the skies and sending a surge of overwhelming power towards Ning.

  Ning responded by casually waving his palm as well. Boom! Ning’s palm struck out very casually, but it contained the dominance of his Omega Sword Dao – Heavenbreaker.

  Both attacks were extremely dominating in nature, and they came together in a thunderous clash. The blood-eyed elder was instantly sent flying backwards like a streak of light, smashing hard against a distant mountain. The barrier protecting the mountain instantly flickered but was completely undamaged. The blood-eyed elder, however, was ‘planted’ into the barrier in an extremely ungainly manner. It took him a full second before he landed.

  He stared at Ning in disbelief. “Y-you…”

  “Ah, a golem body?” Ning nodded slightly. He didn’t have any desire to kill these two Emperors at all; they were rather pitiful, after all, having been captured and imprisoned here for so long.

  “You were able to reach such a level of power?” The silver-eyed woman walked over as well, stunned.

  “I do alright.” Ning nodded. These two guardians were significantly weaker than even Ninedust. Ning was able to effortlessly defeat them with just a few punches and kicks.

  “You didn’t use any treasures. You don’t even have glove-type treasures on your hands!” The blood-eyed elder stared at Ning in disbelief. “You were able to crush me with ease using your palms alone. Not even the most powerful supreme Daolords are able to do such a thing. You should be the most powerful Daolord of the current era.”

  Ning nodded. “I am.” But it wasn’t just of the ‘current era’; he was the most powerful Daolord to have ever existed.

  “I’m completely convinced by your power.” The blood-eyed elder pointed at the passageway behind him, then said coldly, “Go on inside. The estate is filled with even greater dangers. Beating me doesn’t mean you’ll necessarily survive them.”

  “Be careful, my young friend. If you feel that you cannot overcome your foes, you should immediately retreat and flee,” the silver-eyed elder said. “So long as you survive, you’ll have other chances in the future.”

  “Understood.” Ning said, “Whitethaw, let’s go.”

  “Yes, Master.” The Sithe Protector silently fell in line behind Ning. The blood-eyed elder and the silver-eyed elder watched as the two of them headed into the passageway.

  “Do you think the kid will make it?” the blood-eyed elder said softly.

  “He’s extraordinarily powerful, even amongst supreme Daolords,” the silver-eyed elder said. “It’ll be extremely hard for him to make it into the depths of the estate… but he should be able to keep himself alive.”

  “Hard to say.” The blood-eyed elder smirked. “Overconfidence can easily lead to death.”

  ……

  As Ning walked along the passageway, he soon reached a point where he saw an azure stone plaza off in the distance… and in front of the plaza was a giant palace.

  The plaza was covered with over a hundred figures who were broken up into groups of two or three. Some were seated, some were facing each other, some were drinking, some were chatting. When Ning and Whitethaw appeared, all of them turned to stare at him. The invisible aura of might emanating from them caused even Ning to tremble. He could instantly tell that these hundred-plus Emperors were all extraordinary figures.

  Whoosh. A white-bearded elder suddenly appeared on the stairs before the plaza. The white-bearded elder was dressed in deep blue robes and emanated an aura of ice. He looked at Ning: “I am the spirit of this estate, and have been guarding it on Master’s orders.”

  Ning was briefly startled. Still, almost all ‘major powers’, including both weaker ones like Emperor Waveshift as well as supreme ones like Autarch Bolin or the creator of the Azureflower Estate would generally leave behind estate-spirits. This was the best way to ensure that their goals and orders were followed.”

  “This estate is protected by three deadly trials, each one deadlier than the last. The one you just passed on the outside was the simplest trial, the first trial,” the white-haired elder said. “If you can pass all three trials, you will encounter no further dangers.”

  “According to what Master said, you’ll earn certain things each time you pass a trial.” The white-haired elder tossed out a jade-green leaf towards Ning. “This is a ‘Lifeblood’ Dao-seal; it can revive virtually all Daolords.”

  Ning was startled. It seemed as though there were others besides Emperor Maniseal who were capable of creating these types of Dao-seals.

  “However… Daolords of the Fourth Step who trained in one of the legendary Omega Daos have completely surpassed all other Daolords and are on a completely different level. A Samsara-class Dao-seal of this kind is unable to revive them. They must use an Eternal-class ‘Lifeblood’ Dao-seal if they wish to be revived,” the white-bearded elder said.

  Ning narrowed his eyes. Omega Dao? The spirit of the Azureflower Estate actually knew of the existence of Omega Daos?

  * * *

  Book 36, Chapter 24 - Another Daolord

  “This ‘Omega Dao’,” Ji Ning began to say, but he was interrupted.

  “Don’t ask any questions. If you pass the second trial, you’ll learn about it… and if you fail, you aren’t worth of learning about it.” The white-bearded elder remained as cold and distant a
s ever: “You are a Daolord. To pass the second trial, you need merely face and pass through ten of the weakest Emperors here. As long as you can make it to the palace gates up ahead, you’ll have passed. Also… your golem is not permitted to interfere. If it does, it’ll count as your loss.”

  Ning nodded slowly. “Understood.”

  The white-haired old man transformed into an illusory blur, flying across the entire plaza and landing in front of the gates of the palace. There, he watched what would unfold with calmness.

  “So these are trials which an Autarch left behind for posterity, eh?” Ning was quite relaxed. It was much like the trials which he himself had set down for those who wished to acquire his legacy. Not just everyone was qualified to receive his techniques; they had to pass very stringent tests. The Autarch must’ve put quite a bit of effort into constructing this giant Azureflower Estate; it only made sense for him to put down a few trials as well.

  Those who were too weak would die. Being able to survive and flee was also a form of strength… but only those who were able to truly pass the trials would earn the rewards which the master of the Azureflower Estate had left behind.

  Whoosh. Ning stepped forward, moving up the stairs and towards the plaza with the muscular Whitethaw behind him. Ning instructed, “Whitethat, you are not to intervene unless directly ordered to.”

  “Understood,” Whitethaw said respectfully.

  “So it is a Daolord…” The hundred-plus Emperors in the plaza were clearly a bit disappointed when they saw the white-robed youth stride towards them.

  “A mere Daolord. Only ten of us are allowed to fight, and the weakest ten at that.” An evil-looking Emperor who had azure eyebrows and emanated the strongest aura out of the group shook his head. “When will an Emperor come? That way, all of us would be allowed to have some fun.”

  “Booooring.”

  “We’ve been here forever, unable to leave this plaza.”

  “How long will it be before we are granted our release?” The Emperors chatted casually amongst themselves. They had once been filled with rage and venom, as they had been restricted to this plaza for tens of millions of chaos cycles by now… and it was possible that they would be for all of eternity. This sort of loneliness would drive even Eternal Emperors insane. However… time dulls away all things. By now, they were quite relaxed and simply waited silently.

  Besides… the master of the Azureflower Estate did arrange for certain conditions by which they could be released.

  Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh! The other Emperors continued to chat while ten of their peers flew over at high speed, preventing Ning from advancing.

  “Hey kid, don’t blame us if we end up killing you. Everything is as the master of the estate has ordained.” One of the Emperors was a skinny old man with cold eyes, and a deep green mist begin to emanate from him as he spoke.

  “It has been a long, long time since I’ve seen a Daolord. Let’s not be hasty, gentlemen. Let’s take the fight against this kid slowly. If we move too fast, it’ll be boring. We’ll want to to enjoy killing him, slicing him apart one cut at a time. Oh my… I can hardly wait,” a youth with a ruddy face and long, blood-red hair said, his tongue forked like a snake’s.

  “Let’s do it.”

  “Don’t let him escape. Surround him.” The ten Emperors were all quite evil-looking, and they emanated murderous auras.

  The white-robed Ning nodded slowly when he saw this. “Ah. I now understand why the master of the Azureflower Estate captured you and sentenced you here as punishment. If I was the master, I would’ve killed you long ago.”

  “Hmph.”

  “You? Kill us?”

  “Such arrogance.” The ten Emperors were instantly enraged at being criticized by a Daolord in this fashion. They couldn’t help but feel both embarrassed and angered by his words.

  “Spirit of the estate.” Ning glanced at the white-robed elder standing in front of the distant palace entrance, then called out: “Can I capture them?” If he was permitted to capture them, it would be up to him if he wanted to kill them or not.

  The distant white-robed elder’s voice remained as cold as ever: “If you kill them, I’ll kill you!”

  Ning blinked. Moments later, he understood. After the lord of the Azureflower Estate captured these Emperors, he had apparently ‘modified’ them in some way. They weren’t true cultivators any longer; they were more like golems! They had been placed here to test future trial-takers, and Ning was just one of them. If he captured the Emperors, how would those who came after him be tested?

  “Haha… if that’s the case, I’ll just wrap it up quickly.” Ning stretched out his hands, causing two of the Darknorth swords to fly out of the sheath on his back and into them.

  “Arrogant brat.” The ten Emperors instantly transformed into mist, light, flames, and other things as they started to surround Ning, wanting to ensure that he wouldn’t be able to escape.

  Ning casually sauntered forwards, with Whitethaw behind him.

  Boom. Boom. Boom. All sorts of various attacks filled the skies as they flew towards Ning. Ning could immediately tell that these ten Emperors were roughly at the supreme Daolord level! Ning couldn’t help but shake his head: “They really are the ten weakest Emperors.”

  Ning’s twin swords began to move. Whap! Whap! Whap! Whap! Whap! Whap! The Northbow swords transformed into ferocious streams of water, striking back against the attacks like waves slapping against the shore. The streams of water struck straight upon the bodies of the Emperors, sending them flying backwards like swatted mosquitoes. Even though they had transformed into their invulnerable forms, Ning was able to beat them back into their original forms.

  The difference in power was simply too great. Ning was able to crush even Archon Silksnow, who was in turn able to slaughter supreme Daolords with ease. One could imagine how puny these ten Emperors were compared to Ning.

  “This Daolord… h-he…”

  “Has he succeeded in his Daomerge? But he clearly doesn’t have that whiff of eternity about him.”

  The many other Emperors who had been watching from afar were all stunned as well. A Daolord was able to crush ten Emperors like this? How?!

  In truth, prior to the trip to Crimsonwave Temple, Ning would at most be able to fight them to a standstill. Now, however, Ning had made breakthroughs in his [Heartsword] art… but even more importantly, he had reached the fourth stage with his Omega Sword Dao. He truly was one of the most supreme powers of this realmverse, and was naturally able to dominate these common Emperors with ease.

  The Emperors all stared, stupefied, at Ning as he casually strolled across the plaza and arrived at the entrance to the palace. As for Whitethaw, he continued to walk straight behind Ning with incomparable calmness.

  Boom. The white-haired and elderly estate-spirit watched in shock as Ning stretched his hand out and pushed at the palace gates. With a deep booming sound, the giant palace gates swung open.

  “You…?” The white-haired elder stared at Ning, rather puzzled.

  “Estate-spirit.” Ning looked at the white-haired elder respectfully.

  “A tri-force fusion technique?” the white-haired elder murmured softly.

  Ning was startled for a moment before realizing that he was referring to the [Heartsword] art. “Precisely.” Ning nodded.

  The [Heartsword] art was a technique which perfectly merged heartforce, divine power, and Immortal energy together. In truth, even if Ning hadn’t made a breakthrough with his Omega Sword Dao, his mastery of the twelfth stance of the [Heartsword] art would’ve still put him on par with Archon Silksnow. That by itself was enough to effortlessly sweep these Emperors aside. Now that he HAD broken through? He was probably invincible against anyone save for the Hegemons, and of course Daoist Bluestone.

  “A tri-force fusion technique…” The white-robed elder’s gaze grew distant. “Heartforce is indeed incredible. Even though the technique which Master created is capable of transforming and merging al
l types of energy, heartforce is still special and unique. The legends say that if a heartworld can truly reach the apex of power, the treasures formed within it will become real and can be actually used. The heartworld shall become a real world that you can manipulate at will. If someone could reach that level, that person would become truly invincible.”

  “The heartworld… a real world?” Ning deeply desired to reach that level, but he knew just how ridiculous and inconceivable it was. It meant that if he imagined a hundred realmships into existence within his heartworld, then a hundred real realmships would be formed. If he willed an army of Black Emperors into existence, all of them would be real as well.

  The level of power that would represent…

  Yes, from a theoretical standpoint once a heartworld reached the true apex of power, it was possible to manifest real objects within it… but no one had ever been able to accomplish such a thing. The cultivator civilizations had its Autarchs, but there had never been a Heartforce Autarch!

  “For you to have mastered a tri-force fusion technique is a sign that you are quite talented.” The white-haired elder nodded slowly. “Since you have passed the second trial, take your second reward.” The old man tossed out a rolled-up jade scroll.

  Ning immediately accepted it, then asked, “What is this?”

  “You were asking about Omega Daos, yes?” The white-haired elder explained, “This jade scroll was left behind by a truly dazzling Daolord which my master once encountered. He was so unspeakably, monstrously talented that he was able to enhance his Dao of Fire to the absolute apex, and then train to become a Daolord of the Fourth Step with his Omega Fire Dao! Alas, the Daomerge for an Omega Dao is far, far too difficult, far more difficult than for those supreme Daolords who seek to become Hegemons.”

  “In the end, that Daolord failed his Daomerge as well. After he failed his Daomerge but before he died, he ran into my master… and he passed down the secrets of his self-created Omega Fire Dao to my master,” the white-haired elder said.