Desolate Era

by RWX

Ji Ning stared at Archon Silksnow’s corpse as it lay there in the air above the flaming passageway. Ning would never have been able to feel at ease, knowing that some a crazed demon was still around and alive… but after actually killing him, Ning didn’t feel much much joy, only a sense of relief.

  At least one potential future source of trouble had been gotten rid of.

  “One of the eight lords of the Sacred Cities,” Ning murmured softly, “Just died in this place.” The eight Archons of the Sacred Cities… they were figures of legend. The first time Ning had visited a Sacred City, he had felt a sense of awe, admiration, and veneration. And yet, one of the awe-inspiring Archons had died, just like that. True, he had technically committed suicide, but in reality he had been forced to do it.

  “Ashes to ashes, dust to dust.” Ning waved his palm gently. It looked like a casual strike, but it actually encompassed the power of his Omega Sword Dao – Heavenbreaker. The power of the strike was like a wave of water that swept across the entire corpse. With no treasures protecting it, it was easily crushed into dust by the power of Ning’s palms.

  Ning waved his hand again, collecting all of the treasures which Archon Silksnow had left behind. Ning revealed a smile. He wasn’t particularly happy about killing Archon Silksnow, but he was excited and delighted by the fact that he had just acquired a realmship.

  “An unexpected benefit. This has now become the most valuable treasure I own.” Ning waved his hand, causing the realmship to be pulled into it. After acquiring the realmship, Whitethaw had naturally handed it over to his master immediately.

  The realmship was now within Ning’s hand, and it was merely the size of a palm. It looked quite shabby and ordinary, and it was covered with marks and scars. In fact, someone who merely looked at it would probably doubt if it could even fly! However, Ning had chased after Archon Silksnow for quite some time, and he knew that it could indeed fly.

  “Time to bind it.” Ning sent a strand of godsense into the realmship. It was now ownerless and thus he was able to bind it with ease.

  “Master! Master!” The vessel-spirit immediately sought to ingratiate itself with Ning, for fear that Ning would kill it. This was the sad fate which awaited some treasure-spirits and golem-spirits and made them rather pitiable.

  “Given the amount of damage this realmship has taken, is it capable of teleporting through spacetime?” Ning asked. The damage really did look quite severe, causing him concern.

  “It can!” The vessel-spirit said hurriedly, “It’s completely capable of teleporting through spacetime, but it can’t go too far. It’ll take many blinks to move within a single realmverse, primarily because it has suffered quite some damage. Although the core components are in good shape, many of the other parts have suffered varying amounts of damage. Some parts are completely missing, which is why the ship can only unleash a low level of power.”

  Ning nodded. He didn’t feel disappointed. If the realmship had been completely undamaged, Archon Silksnow would’ve escaped long ago. There’s no way Ning would’ve been able to tie him down, resulting in him eventually falling into a trap and being unable to escape.

  “Master, I can sense you have a component on you which I desperately need,” the vessel-spirit said quickly.

  “Oh?” Ning laughed and waved his hand, causing a part which was more than sixty meters long to appear next to him. This part was a strange component made up of multiple layers of metal that had many divine runes carved within it. It was vastly more complicated than any Hegemon-class golem, and as someone who didn’t understand the Dao of Artificing, Ning didn’t understand it at all.

  “Wow, this piece is huge!” The vessel-spirit grew excited. “Master, can I swallow it?”

  “Go ahead.” Ning nodded.

  Whoosh. A wave of invisible power instantly swept across the sixty-meter component, which rapidly began to shrink until it was just thumb-sized. While it shrank, it flew towards one of the damaged areas of the realmship. The part was pulled into the realmship, followed by the realmship’s surface instantly beginning to glow. The surface of the realmship began to spread out, with some of the damage being automatically healed.

  “Realmships possess regenerative powers, but there are certain important core materials they need. With this fairly complete part added into me, some of the other formerly-missing components can be used to regenerate and repair some of other parts.” The vessel-spirit was extremely excited. “Master, now that I’ve been able to repair a critical component, many of the minor damages are being healed as well. I can now move nearly a hundred times farther than in the past. Now, I can teleport through more than half a realmverse with just one blink!”

  Ning stared at the realmship in his hand. It now looked much better than it had in the past. Although it still was covered with scars and wounds, it didn’t look as ragged as it had.

  A single blink to teleport through more than half a realmverse? This was simply shocking.

  “How far are you from perfect status?” Ning asked.

  “Extremely far.” The vessel-spirit instantly appeared to be rather deflated. “Although I’m at 90% condition, some of the minor parts which I’m missing are having a major impact on me as a whole. That’s why I’m still not able to teleport nearly as great a distance as I would if I was at 100%.”

  Ning couldn’t help but nod in agreement. When he had been a Daolord of the Third Step, he was comparable to supreme Daolords as well as fairly powerful Emperors. Back then, it would take him roughly a million chaos cycles to move via teleportation from one realmverse to another realmverse! Even Hegemons needed to spend extremely long periods of time. Realmships, however, merely needed a few myriads of years.

  A few tens of thousands of years… to travel a distance which Ning normally needed to spend a million chaos cycles to traverse? Its teleporting powers were unfathomably superior to Hegemon Brightshore’s.

  “However, Master… I can sense that not too far away from me is another important component which I need desperately. If I can absorb it, I should be able to repair a great deal,” the vessel-spirit said immediately.

  “That’s a part which my friend has.” Ning nodded, then waved his hand and put the realmship away for now.

  Whoosh. Ning bound and scanned all of the treasures which Archon Silksnow had left behind. Although there were a few valuable things, none of them were of much interest to the current Ning.

  Despite that, Ning still felt quite excited. A single realmship was more than enough! “This realmship has to be far more valuable than even Crimsonwave Temple. It’s enough to ask an Autarch to help out.” Ning was extremely excited. “Autarchs possess incredible power and can create even alternate universes with ease. They are more than capable of reversing spacetime to rescue Yu Wei.”

  “With this realmship, I can bring her back to life. Hahaha… finally, finally, finally! I’ve finally done it!” Ning stood there within the twisting flaming passageway, so excited that his blood was boiling. The excitement he felt was simply indescribable.

  Trading away the realmship to revive Yu Wei… Ning wouldn’t even hesitate to make this choice!

  Although a realmship would allow him to travel from one realmverse to another with ease, doing so by himself would be far too boring. This was something which Emperors who had lost all their loved ones and who were curious about the outside world would choose! Ning had been training for a much shorter period of time. There were many, many places just within the Flamedragon Realmverse which he had never visited. And, as a Daolord, his lifespan was limited to just 108,000 chaos cycles. There was simply no need for him to wander about other realmverse and enjoy the sites there.

  If he could revive her… if he could speak with her once more… that would the happiest moment of his life. He had no interest in wandering the outside world by himself. The realmship was meaningless to Ning; the only thing it was good for was in trade for asking an Autarch to help him out.

  “I’ll have to ask Emperor Goldisl
e and Emperor Blackcloud to help out and invite an Autarch over,” Ning mused. The Dao Alliance had certain links to the other realmverses. Through the Dao Alliance, he would be able to send word to an Autarch.

  “I’ll go visit Ninedust first.” Ning suppressed his excitement and led Whitethaw to continue the advance. Thanks to the realmship resonance, Ning knew the rough area Ninedust was in and thus was able to find him fairly quickly.

  ……

  Things were quite calm on Ning’s side… but a storm was about to erupt within the Endless Territories. All the major powers, reclusive Emperors, and countless Daolords had just received word of something absolutely shocking… one of the eight lords of the Sacred Cities, Archon Silksnow, had perished!

  Archon Silksnow had been one of the eight lords of the Sacred Cities, which meant he had a lifeblood tower within the Palace of Immortals of the Dao Alliance. In the exact instant that Ning had forced him to commit suicide, his lifeblood tower had crumbled! This news quickly stunned the entire Palace of Immortals, and word quickly spread out.

  There was no need for this news to be suppressed or hidden. All the Emperors found out, as did the countless Daolords.

  Archon Silksnow had died? An exalted Archon of the Sacred Cities… it was possible to beat them, but to kill them was far, far too difficult. Even Hegemons found it extremely hard to kill one of them.

  Who killed him? How did he die? The entire Endless Territories was in a state of turmoil.

  ……

  Ning didn’t care about any of this. He continued to advance through the Jadfire Realm, following the realmship resonance. Finally, he passed through the flaming tunnels and reached the prison region, arriving directly at Ninedust’s prison.

  “Ninedust.” Ning immediately saw a silver-robed man seated in the lotus position within a cage of flames. It was the Ninedust Sectlord. Ning couldn’t help but to laugh loudly and call out to him.

  “Darknorth.” When Ninedust opened his eyes and saw Ning, he immediately revealed a look of delight.

  * * *

  Book 37, Chapter 8 - Prison Region

  “Just look at yourself,” Ji Ning grinned. “Trapped in a cage and unable to escape.” As he spoke he carefully inspected the flaming cage, hoping to find a way to break it open.

  “And just what was I supposed to do? I had nowhere to go and nowhere to run. I had no choice but to hide inside here!” Ninedust laughed helplessly. “I might be trapped, but at least I avoided death. It’s kind of funny, actually… I didn’t die, but Archon Silksnow did! Darknorth, you are simply incredible. You actually forced him into committing suicide!”

  Ninedust’s avatar was at Vastheaven Palace. Thus, as soon as Archon Silksnow had died Ninedust’s avatar had asked Ning’s avatar what had happened, resulting in him gaining a general idea of what had happened.

  Ning chuckled. “Don’t praise me. It was mainly thanks to my golem over here.”

  “To be able to command a golem of such strength is a testament to your power as well. Why don’t I have a golem like that? Archon Silksnow was alive for all those years, but he never acquired a golem like that. Why? Why did you have one instead of him? Because you are strong!” Ninedust said, seated in the lotus position inside the flame cage.

  Ning had acquired this golem in a trade from Daoist Bluestone. It was precisely because Ning walked the path of the Omega Sword Dao that Daoist Bluestone had been willing to hand over such an incredibly powerful golem to trade for it. Yes, it was indeed due to Ning’s strength.

  Strength was needed to acquire any and all treasures. Even if you were lucky enough to stumble across a treasure of incredible power, if you yourself weren’t strong enough you would quickly lose it to someone stronger than you.

  “Everyone in the Endless Territories is talking about how Archon Silksnow is dead. It has been a long, long time since any of the lords of the Sacred Cities have perished,” Ninedust said excitedly. “I rather want to tell everyone in the Endless Territories that you forced him to commit suicide! Haha…”

  “Don’t do that. What really matters right now is getting you out of there before something unexpected happens.” Ning continued to carefully examine Ninedust’s cage.

  “Any ideas?” Ninedust was rather eager.

  “Don’t be so impatient.” Ning scrutinized the cage while analyzing it. It looked quite ordinary, and it was easily entered… but there was no way out! Not even Hegemons would be able to escape this cage. The Ninedust Sectlord had charged into it because he didn’t know anything about it. Archon Silksnow had been alive for very long and knew that the most dangerous parts of the Jadefire Realm were its prisons, and so he didn’t dare to follow Ninedust inside.

  “This cage is part of an extremely large formation,” Ning said slowly. “I can sense some of its ripples in the air. Wait a moment, I’m going to go take a look at some of the other parts.”

  Swoosh. Ning flew off into the distance while following the spatial ripples, with Whitethaw immediately following behind him.

  “Be careful. I’m in no rush; I have plenty of time. Don’t let yourself get trapped as well!” Ninedust called out loudly. He knew how dangerous the Jadefire Realm was and was worried about Ning’s safety.

  ……

  Ning followed the ripples and soon reached another flaming cage in the air. This one was completely empty.

  Swoosh. Swoosh. Ning continued to advance while following the ripples. Soon, he encountered yet another cage…

  The cages were all formed of flames, and they scattered throughout the area in a disorderly and irregular manner. However, they seemed to be connected to each other by invisible threads.

  “Eh?” Ning’s eyes narrowed. The flaming midair cage up ahead was devoid of all life, but there were some magic treasures inside of it. There was a greataxe, a suit of armor, an estate-world, and other treasures. The greataxe was double-bladed, and a lightning-shaped scar was on its edges. It emanated an aura of power that was simply shocking; it had to be a Universe treasure.

  “A Universe treasure? Generally, only Emperors can take possession of Universe treasures. Even if the Emperor was trapped here during the Dawn Wars, he should still be able to be able to stay alive…” Ning pondered. “Perhaps some of the cultivators were trapped here during the Dawn Wars were killed by the ‘Decimatus Wave’, but the Sithe didn’t have a chance to collect their treasures.”

  Ning’s guess was spot-on. After enough cultivators were trapped within the many flaming cages within the Jadefire Realm, the Sithe would activate a single ‘Decimatus Wave’ to wipe them all out in one go! They would similarly sweep through the cages and collect all the treasures at one go as well.

  However, what happened was that when the Jadefire Realm had been attacked and breached, the despairing Sithe had chosen to unleash one final ‘Decimatus Wave’ before dying. The treasures of the dead cultivators were naturally left within the cages.

  The one who had breached the Jadefire Realm had been an exalted Autarch! There was no way someone like an Autarch would slowly pick through one prison cell after another to loot the various treasures inside. To Autarchs, such treasures were of minimal interest, and this one in particular was in a hurry to hasten off to another battlefield.

  ……

  After spending a full day, Ning finished inspecting the entire prison region. The prison region consisted of many flame cages which were clustered together like the stars in the night sky. The cages were all linked together as part of one massive and incredibly profound formation which was divided into seven primary regions! Each of the seven regions had extremely large cells at their center, with three of them having been completely destroyed. As a result, the prison as a whole was no longer able to unleash the ‘Decimatus Wave’.

  “How does it look?” Ninedust immediately asked as Ning flew back to him.

  “Some of the cages in the prison area have been damaged, and three of the seven primary cages have been destroyed.” Ning looked at Ninedust. “How
ever, the cage you are in is completely undamaged. I don’t think even a Hegemon could burst through it with raw power! As for finding its flaws… I haven’t been able to find anything yet. This prison formation is simply far too complicated.”

  Ninedust couldn’t help but feel both startled and despondent.

  “Ninedust, let me think on this. There’ll definitely be a way to bring you out.” Ning thought furiously. Even his Primaltwin, seated atop the Autarch’s stone dais in the second hall of the Azureflower Estate, was focusing its efforts on finding a solution.

  “Darknorth, don’t try to force things. This is nothing.” Ninedust smiled. He didn’t know much about the Jadefire Realm at first, but after his avatar had met with Ning’s avatar he had learned quite a bit of detailed information regarding the Jadefire Realm from Ning. Only now did he understand how terrifying the prison region was and how dangerous his situation was.

  “As you yourself said, even if Hegemon Brightshore and the others came they wouldn’t necessarily be able to breach the prison region. This was a place used to imprison cultivators during the Dawn War!” Ninedust said. “Don’t force yourself. I don’t mind be trapped here. If push comes to shove, I’ll just slowly train here and then initiate my Daomerge within this cell!”

  If I succeed, I’ll be a Hegemon with an infinite lifespan. I’ll have plenty of time to slowly work away at this cell. Sooner or later, I’ll succeed,” Ninedust consoled Ning.

  “The central components of the prison region have been destroyed. This cell might be undamaged, but there’s still a chance to break it open.” Ning gritted his teeth. He certainly didn’t wish for Ninedust to stay here until the time came for his Daomerge.

  Time passed, one day after another. Ning spent a total of nine days in silent meditation, but still was unable to come up with any ideas.

  “Master,” Whitethaw suddenly said.

  “Hm?” Ning glanced towards him.

  “There’s another place in the Jadefire Realm which might be of use to you in unlocking this cell,” Whitethaw said.